(Minghui.org) I suddenly developed a cough in December 2023. Although I knew it might have something to do with my cultivation, I didn’t look for the cause or pay much attention to it.

After a few days, the cough got worse, and I started vomiting blood. My chest hurt terribly, and I had difficulty breathing. I coughed so hard that I could barely catch my breath. I felt so weak I couldn’t stand. I couldn’t study the Fa or do the exercises. I was scared and realized the seriousness of the situation, so I asked Master to save me.

My mind was racing: I coughed so hard—was there something wrong with my lungs? The job I did in the past damaged my lungs. A relative who coughed and vomited blood was diagnosed with advanced lung cancer. These thoughts intensified my fear of death.

My family wanted me to go to the hospital, but I refused. Deep down, I knew my situation—Dafa extended my life, but I hadn’t cultivated diligently even though I firmly believe in Dafa.

My human heart and attachments were overwhelming me: I couldn’t let go of the fear of death and I could not let go of my emotional attachment to my daughter.

“Our savings are in her father’s name. What will happen to her if something happens to me?” All sorts of human sentimentality surfaced. My daughter played Master’s lectures for me and encouraged me to handle my fear with righteous thoughts.

Master said,

“If you face death today—regardless of what form of death—and are completely fearless, if you aren’t concerned about it whatsoever and think, “Perhaps I’ll go to Heaven after I die,” then death will truly no longer take place. The key is a person’s mind. Our Dafa cultivation aims exactly at one’s mind—to cultivate is to cultivate the human mind. If your mind doesn’t change, everything else you do means nothing. Outward acts mean nothing.” (Teachings at the Conference in Europe)

I suddenly understood what to do: Find and eliminate the attachments and negate the old forces’ persecution; send forth righteous thoughts and eliminate interference; let go of the attachment to life and death; and move forward, not backward. My life was extended by Master. I put everything in Master’s hands.

My daughter practices Falun Dafa, so Master will take care of her. I shouldn’t get carried away by my sentimentality and let the old forces use that to persecute us.

I regarded all the bad thoughts that entered my brain as traps set by the old forces, and I no longer fell for them. Instead I rejected and denied them. I decided to recognize them, identify them, and finally eliminate them.

I stopped obsessing about the sickness karma and began to look for problems in my cultivation.

I was shocked when I looked inward and realized I hadn’t cultivated well and was far from the requirements of the Fa. I hadn’t let go of my attachments to fame, profit, and sentimentality, and at times I behaved like an ordinary person. I didn’t use the standards of a cultivator to look within—instead I looked at other’s faults whenever a problem surfaced. I didn’t have kindness, let alone compassion, that a cultivator should have: When I talked to people about the persecution and gave them information about Dafa, if they didn’t understand or didn’t agree, I wouldn’t explain any further and just thought that I’d done what I could—it was up to them to make a choice.

Cultivation means genuinely and fundamentally transforming oneself from within. Otherwise, it’s fake. If I stick to my old self and notions and only cultivate the surface, that’s deceiving others and myself, and I’ll be throwing away this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

This tribulation made me face my own cultivation and identify my shortcomings so I could eliminate them and do better on my path of cultivation.

As I continued to rectify myself, the false appearance of sickness karma went away. Master protected me and I overcame the tribulation safe and sound.