(Minghui.org) When a practitioner displays illness tribulation symptoms, everyone helps him to look within. Although some attachments can be found, it is slow in disintegrating the persecution. Here, I’d like to share my own understandings, which are categorized into five main points:
1. Desiring Change
The purpose of looking within is to improve based on the Fa, not to avoid persecution by the evil. When we truly improve our cultivation level based on the Fa and do not have any loopholes, the evil persecution will naturally disintegrate. If we keep using the illness tribulation symptoms to measure our physical condition subconsciously, this is a desire for change, which is equivalent to acknowledging the evil’s persecution. In this way, we are trying to resist the persecution from within the persecution.
We cannot acknowledge and must reject all of the old forces’ arrangements, persecution, and contracts that we have signed with the old forces in the past. Even though we still have human attachments that we have yet to get rid of, we also will not allow the old forces to persecute us. We do not acknowledge the old forces’ existence and all of their displays.
We only listen to Master and abide by Dafa’s requirements. The emergence of the persecution reflects the loopholes that still exist in us that gave the old forces a chance to take advantage. Only through true cultivation, solid cultivation, truly changing ourselves in accordance with the Fa, and cultivating ourselves well, can we fundamentally leave no excuses for the evil to persecute us.
When we can truly leave everything to the arrangement of Master and let go of life and death, things will definitely change. The crucial factor is that we must truly be able to let go of life and death and unconditionally listen to Master. We will gain when we have no desires.
2. Not Speaking From the Perspective of a Cultivator
We are used to using human notions to talk about the illness tribulation persecution. For example, when the practitioner who is going through illness tribulation is asked, “What happened to you?” She replies, “Stroke.” She knows that it is persecution but is still used to describing it in this way.
A cultivator is different from an ordinary person. Some practitioners display symptoms that resemble certain illness symptoms. Although they know that it is persecution by the old forces, they are still used to telling people about it in this manner. Some habitual ways of saying things may then become a loophole that the evil beings can take advantage of. Since you say that it is that, they will say that you have acknowledged it and that you are looking at this problem with human notions. They will say that your notions have yet to transform completely, and thus they may do evil by taking advantage of your loopholes.
3. Letting Go of Life and Death With No Complaints or Attachments
Master said:
“In such cases there are only two choices: You either go to the hospital and thus give up on trying to overcome the test, or you completely let go of everything, behave like an upstanding and noble Dafa disciple who has no resentment or attachments, and leave it to Master to arrange whether you stay or go. When you are able to do that, you are a god.” (Teachings at the Conference in Los Angeles)
I understand that we easily neglect “no resentment or attachments.” Many practitioners can face their illness tribulations by letting go of life and death, but after being in a tribulation state for a prolonged period of time, some of them will unknowingly start to have some complaints, attachments, and non-righteous displays, giving the evil an excuse to prolong and/or make the persecution more severe.
This behavior can be unknowingly caused by thought karma, human notions, external influences (especially those that are being forcefully introduced by the evil), and the many detailed arrangements by the old forces (even including arrangements within the contract signed before coming down to become human). They seem to arise without conscious thought, but actually they are not accidental; they are arrangements by the old forces. We must be clear about this point.
4. Not Paying Enough Attention to Small Things
Master said:
“Some of our practitioners are struggling with passing the tests of sickness karma. Don’t think that it’s necessarily something major [that causes that]. You might think that you haven’t done anything majorly wrong, and that you are very firm in your faith in the Fa. However, you shouldn’t treat the little issues you have like they are nothing. The evil will seize upon any gaps. Many practitioners have even passed away on account of little things; it really was due to something very minor. That’s because cultivation is something serious, and requires having no gaps. If for a long time you haven’t dealt with those things through cultivation, small as they may be, if you haven’t taken them seriously for a prolonged period of time, then it is a big issue. Many people have passed away on account of such things.” (“Fa Teaching at the 2015 West Coast Fa Conference,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. XIII).
When practitioners help a practitioner in an illness tribulation to look for his problems, most of them look at problems that are general and common. Many of the small things that really affect one’s xinxing can only be known by the practitioner himself, and many of them are habitual, so he may not have noticed or taken them to heart.
Many matters in life are really very small. For example, when I am shopping for fresh vegetables, I may be overly picky about the things that I am buying without even realizing it; I might be slightly calculating with a salesperson; I have a habit of looking at my spouse’s mobile phone to see if he has any new female friends; I often want to say something about the people that I don’t like; I often feel that something is out of place if I don’t take a look at my mobile phone; I can be too loud when I am speaking, with no consideration for the feeling of others; I lose my temper, throw tantrums, can be petty, take advantage of others, and more.
These matters are really small, but what they reflect is how my cultivation is not solid. There are still many areas where I have not truly improved my xinxing and many times I will be habitually controlled by these habits. When we are living among sentient beings, we seem to be the same as them, such that many of these small things have become a habit in our daily lives. If we do not pay attention to them, we will easily be influenced by the thoughts, notions and negative habits, and it is easy for us not to realize them, and thus we will not negate them.
However, the evil can see these matters very clearly, because these are all arranged by them. They are just waiting, guiding us to become like that so that they can start persecuting us. Therefore, we can only abide by Dafa’s requirement and start demanding ourselves to strictly find and be aware of every detail of these small matters, and let them go, so as not to leave the evil any opportunity.
5. Small Things Are Also Arrangements of the Old Forces
There are arrangements by the old forces in all of our lifetimes. There are no big or small matters in our cultivation. There is only the problem of whether we have truly improved in our xinxing. An area where we have not truly improved our xinxing is an area that has loopholes, which may become an excuse for the old forces to persecute us. They are there waiting for us to neglect those small matters and not take them to heart, so that they can take action and ruin us, thus ruining sentient beings. Therefore, we must abide by Master’s requirements and reject all of the old forces’ persecution with no exceptions. Only by doing so, we will not give the evil any chance to persecute us.
While we are disintegrating the illness tribulation persecution and placing emphasis on diligent cultivation and improving, we should not neglect strictly demanding ourselves to cultivate in regards to these small matters. We need to abide by the requirements of Master to truly cultivate and do it solidly. We also need to really put into practice the total rejection of the old forces in every detail when it comes to our notions, and solidly cultivate in our daily lives. In this way, there will be no loopholes for the evil to take advantage of and the persecution will naturally be disintegrated.
The above are my limited understandings. Kindly correct me if there is any room for improvement.
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Category: Improving Oneself
