Lessons Learned About Eliminating Karma

(Minghui.org) I’ve observed many Falun Dafa practitioners dealing with karma elimination in the form of illness symptoms. Some passed these challenges, but a number of them did not and lost their lives. Yan also went through this. Whenever I hear that a practitioner is experiencing serious illness karma elimination, I think of her and would like to share her story.

Before the persecution began, Yan was devasted when both her husband and son died. She later married a Falun Dafa practitioner, reorganized her life, and cultivated diligently.

Several years ago, another practitioner, Jin, told me he’d seen Yan the day before and she was having terrible health problems. She’d bled heavily for over three weeks and was very weak and pale. Since she could not stand up, she had to crawl to the toilet. Her husband went to work early in the morning and returned home late every evening. Yan was too weak to cook, so she had nothing to eat until her husband came home. She only had a little cold water to drink.

Jin said he was worried about Yan. When I heard about this, I was distressed and worried. I was also upset with Yan’s husband, who did not give her the care she needed.

Several days later, Jin visited Yan again and came back with the good news that Yan was fine. “It was very close,” Jin said. “I hate to think what could have happened if Master did not protect her!” Although we didn’t know the details of Yan’s ordeal, we breathed a sigh of relief.

A few years later, Jin’s wife went through illness karma. I went to their home with several other practitioners to study the Fa teachings and send righteous thoughts, and I saw Yan and her husband.

After we studied the Fa, Yan’s husband said, “When Yan was dealing with illness karma that year, I didn’t pay any attention to her for over 40 days. I just did things as usual, and she got through it on her own.” Hearing this immediately brought back my resentment for Yan’s husband.

“Yan got through it, which showed that she had a high xinxing, but it didn’t mean that what you did was right. As her husband, why didn’t help her during such a difficult time?” I couldn’t help myself and sounded perturbed.

“If I didn’t feel well, my husband would cook whatever I wanted and take care of me. But you acted as if it was none of your business. If I lived closer, I’d urge Yan divorce you, or help her set you straight!”

I said a lot of things that I’d been holding back for years. It seemed I finally had a chance to let out my anger for Yan’s husband. About seven practitioners were present, including Yan and her husband and Jin and his wife. Everyone was stunned, as none of them expected me to say such things. I’d only met Yan’s husband a few times, and we weren’t that close.

Jin broke the awkward silence by calling everyone to eat lunch. We ate in silence. I still felt indignant and asked Yan, “Who in your family does the household chores?” I couldn’t hold back any longer.

“My husband does all the laundry and cooking now. I don’t need to do much” she said.

“That’s better,” I said. Yet there was still something caught in my throat, something I had to say.

I looked at her husband and said, “When Yan couldn’t get up you didn’t even bother to cook for her or take care of her. All you did was buy some fried dough twists and bread. If you can’t be there for your family in their hardest moments, what good are you?” I was so distressed for Yan that I could hardly control my emotions.

Jin chimed in, “This may make you even more angry. When I went to see Yan back then, I did not see any food in the house, so I went to a small shop nearby and bought those fried dough twists and bread.”

Everyone laughed and so did I. I was half angry, half amused, and I didn’t know what to say.

Then Yan added, “Let me tell you something that will make you angrier still. My mother heard that I was bleeding heavily, so she bought me a kilogram of brown sugar, saying it was a blood tonic. That day, my husband was home. In the morning, he made two bowls of brown sugar water, one for each of us. After he drank his, he said that it tasted so good that he drank one bowl after another until all the brown sugar was completely gone. He told me not to worry because he would buy me more, but he still hasn’t bought me any!”

When Yan was telling us this, I saw that she was not upset at all, as if she was telling us a funny story. She had no complaints about her husband for not caring for her while she was feeling ill. But I spent the whole day feeling indignant for her.

Later, I shared Yan’s story with another practitioner. What the practitioner said shocked me:

“While undergoing a life-and-death test, Yan did not have any attachment of dependence, resentment, or the wish to treat illness. She was able to conquer the obstacles because of her firm belief in Master and Dafa, and she cultivated herself. Even her husband drinking all the brown sugar water could have been arranged by Master, which made her not even think of using brown sugar to replenish her blood!”

When I examined myself, I realized that I hadn’t acted like a Falun Dafa cultivator when I “stood up” for Yan. I was using human sentiment and human reasoning. If the situation had been handled in the way I considered “good”—if Yan was treated as a patient and had good food brought to her—would that have been better? Divine thinking is the opposite of the way humans think!

When I repeatedly spoke rudely to Yan’s husband, he never argued back, did not utter a word, and did not get upset. He just listened and endured it silently. I now realized that his xinxing was so much higher than mine! He didn’t make any accusations or complain about me—he was really tolerant of me.

Moreover, Yan’s husband was not troubled when he witnessed Yan eliminating karma. He was able to completely let go of human notions and continue doing what he should do. Didn’t this show his firm belief in Master and Dafa?

After thinking it through, I realized that I was the one who was not aligned with the Fa. Throughout the entire process, I remained focused on the surface of the matter, viewing the issue through the eyes of an everyday person. It also displayed my argumentative mentality, resentment, and human sentiment for practitioners. It was I who failed the test! It was a big lesson for me.

I also recall an elderly practitioner, who was widowed and childless. She suffered a stroke, and half of her body was paralyzed. It was winter, and she lived alone in a single-story house. It took her two hours just to get dressed in the morning. She then had to get firewood and coal, which were stored outside, for the stove so the house wouldn’t be unbearably cold. If she didn’t cook for herself, she wouldn’t have anything to eat. She could not lift one of her arms to do the exercises, so she asked another practitioner to put a nail on the wall and tie a rope to it. That way she could do the second exercise by using her good arm to loop her other arm around the rope. She did not have anyone to help her. Just with her firm belief in the Fa, her condition continued to improve, and she recovered in two weeks.

Several years ago, I experienced prolonged bleeding. Though it wasn’t that much, it was constant. I knew a non-practitioner who had uterine fibroids and had the same symptoms and wondered if I had the same problem. Sometimes at night, I checked my abdomen for lumps. One day I suddenly realized how ridiculous I was: Even when an ordinary person diligently recites “Falun Dafa is good,” his or her tumor may disappear. As a Dafa cultivator, how could a tumor suddenly appear? Ordinary people’s illnesses should have nothing to do with me! When I had this firm thought, tje bleeding stopped the next day. Dafa is miraculous!

I know many practitioners who had dealth with karma elimination in the form of severe illness symptoms. I’ve noticed that those who successfully pass this tribulation firmly believe in Master and the Fa. They are able to focus on looking within, letting go of human notions of illness, and do not treat themselves as patients. On the other hand, those who treat themselves as patients, although they might say they “negate the old force’s persecution” and “refuse to acknowledge it as an illness,” in reality, they can’t let it go at all. Especially those who ask their family members to take care of them. It is usually very hard for them to pass the test, especially in life-and-death situations.

Negating the old forces’ persecution requires looking within and letting go of human notions and empty words. Only with true cultivation one can pass karma elimination successfully.