By Kevin, a practitioner in the United States

(Clearwisdom.net)

1) In daily life, when an everyday person has an abnormal condition or "sickness" in one part of his body, people often do not think only that part of his body is sick. Instead, people think that "he" is sick or "his body as a whole" is sick. This is because people understand that this sickness may only be a sign that the whole body is weak or the body's immune system is out of balance. It is only that this whole body weakness is currently manifesting in one part of the body.

Therefore, when a fellow practitioner appears to be severely interfered with by the evil, by being "one body," instead of always thinking that one part (that one practitioner) is weak and being interfered with, we should also look at the situation to see if our body as a whole is "weak," and if this whole body weakness is being exploited by the evil with one part of the body being specifically targeted. If that is the case, this whole body's weakness has to be quickly removed. Otherwise, evil will continue to take advantage of this weakness, and other parts of this body may become the next target.

2) In Chinese or western medicine, it is generally thought that when a symptom appears in one part of the body, very often it is directly or indirectly caused by some problems in other parts of the body. For example, if a person eats and drinks too much and has a stomach ache, it is probably not just because the bacteria is causing trouble (external interference) or his stomach is weak (problem with that part of body), but probably it is also caused by the nose's attachment to the smell of the food, the tongue's attachment to the taste of the food and the mind's lacks of self-control. Therefore, when the stomach hurts, if other parts of the body merely focus on eliminating the bacteria and try to help the weak stomach to improve (although these are also very important) but not take it seriously to eliminate their own attachments, the situation may not improve much, or even though it improves temporarily, the problem may come back again and can even lead to other problems later.

Therefore, when a fellow practitioner is being interfered with or encountering a problem, by being "one body," in addition to sending forth righteous thoughts to eliminate the evil, denying evil arrangements and being compassionate and supportive, I feel it's equally important for each of us to realize that our own attachments may very well be the direct or indirect cause for that fellow practitioner to be "tested" and to have to endure the tribulation. If we don't eliminate our own attachments, it may continue to give the old forces excuses to cause the fellow practitioner to continue to suffer, or pick another practitioner to be the next target.

Of course, fundamentally we do not acknowledge these "tests." Then in addition to sending forth righteous thoughts, the best way to oppose these "tests" and deny the old forces' arrangements is to look inward. When a problem persists, maybe it is time for us to calm down and see if we have our own attachments to be eliminated, and recognize that eliminating attachments in our each "individual part" not only will ensure the "health" of the "one body", but it may very often be the solution to the problem.

I have seen a case just like this. One practitioner encountered a big tribulation. In the beginning, other practitioners focused only on sending forth righteous thoughts, looking after her and reminding her to study the Fa and keep righteous thoughts. But there was little improvement. Then everyone realized that when a problem occurred, not only the practitioner involved, but also every other practitioner who has heard about or seen the situation should also look into him or herself. Therefore, other practitioners around her started looking inwards, discovering and eliminating their own attachments, and purifying their own righteous thoughts. Only then did the practitioner in tribulation begin to listen to other practitioners' reminders and encouragement, and start to ask herself to face the tribulation like a true cultivator--and her situation began to improve.

Now when I read Master's words "The next person's things are your things, and your things are his things."(Teaching the Fa at the Washington, D.C. Fa Conference) again, I realize that "his things really are my things". Before, I took it as "I will treat his things as my own things and do my best to help." Now I realize that I may actually bear responsibility for the tribulation that is happening to a fellow practitioner. Also, when I was slacking off in my cultivation before, I thought I was the one who would be mostly interfered with or affected. Now when I realize that my slacking off in Fa study, sending forth righteous thoughts and xinxing improvement can be the direct cause of another fellow practitioner's being "tested" and enduring tribulation, I can no longer find any excuse for not being more serious and diligent in my cultivation and Fa rectification.

Posting date: 1/31/2003
Original article date: 1/31/2003
Category: Practitioners' Insights
Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.cc/mh/articles/2003/1/30/43656.html

 Yearly Archive  Printer Version