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Review Article: Thirty-Two Episodes of Karma-Eliminating, Life and Death Tribulations (Clearwisdom.net) September 8, 2003 Editor's note: In May 1992, Falun Dafa was introduced to the public for the
first time, in Changchun City, China. Why did it attract 100 million
practitioners in merely 7 years? In addition to publishing articles regarding cultivation experiences and
stories during the Fa-rectification period, the Clearwisdom website will publish
some cultivation experiences of Falun Gong practitioners in China before the
persecution began in July 1999, giving insights to why so many people came to
embrace the practice. **************************************** I am a retired teacher. Before I learned about Dafa, I had a severe
hemorrhage in 1983, which was confirmed to be a tumor. I again had a serious
illness in 1992 that lasted 4 years. In those 4 years, I was hospitalized 12
times, which cost me 280 thousand Yuan. I went through 3 major surgeries, and
all these surgeries shared the same incision site, leaving a foot-long scar on
my abdomen. The second surgery lasted 8 hours. Before the third surgery, the
surgeon wanted my husband to sign a document stating: 1) The patient would die
if she did not undergo surgery; the surgery would be very dangerous, but it
could create some hope. 2) The patient could go into a coma after surgery. 3)
Even if the patient did not go into a coma, internal organ damage could cause
the patient to become physically impaired. The tribulations seemed to be endless. Eight months afterwards, life became
even more unbearable than before. Severe pain caused jaundice, fever, tremors,
and even loss of consciousness. One time my temperature went up to 41 degrees
Celsius (105.8oF), and I was unconscious for more than 3 hours. My tongue
stiffened up and I could not speak. I was in critical condition three times, due to cross-contamination of the
bladder. After the Chinese New Year in 1996, the doctors were ready to perform
the fourth operation on me. I refused, because there was no guarantee that I
would live through it or that the surgery would be effective. The doctors had to
take a more conservative approach. I became a guinea pig for drugs. The strength of the antibiotics was
continuously increased, and there were all kinds of painkillers. I took nearly
100 pills just for supplements, as well as bitter-tasting Chinese medicine. A
nurse made fun of me for spending as much as the cost of a color TV everyday
(color TV was very expensive at that time). Because of the long-term use of
antibiotics, my blood cell count decreased dramatically. The white blood cell
count was 2100/ml, and the red blood cell count was 2900/ml, at its worst point.
This left me lethargic and bedridden all the time. Needle marks were all over my
arms. The hard, swollen spot on my buttocks had made an intra-muscular injection
there impossible. Before I learned about Falun Dafa, I had always complained about fate being
too cruel to me. After I graduated from teachers' school in 1959, at the age of
17, I became a teacher right away. I had worked so hard for 34 years; I spent
all my time and effort taking care of the students. But all kinds of
tribulations came, one after another. Before the New Year of 1980, my 7-year-old
child was run over by a car and died. 12 years later, again during the New Year,
while I was suffering from an illness, my 26-year-old son died from a lymphatic
tumor, right in front of me. That day was my 50th birthday! It was so hard for
me to handle, and the grief of losing my son was torturing me inside. Because of
my illness and my son's death, my husband ended up getting a cataract and needed
surgery. All these tribulations ravaged my body and my will. In the past 20
years or more, I had barely been surviving, with weak breathing. I often shouted
in my heart: Where is God? Why does he pick on me and give me all these
troubles? Is there a Savior? Who can save me? In 1995, I saw a copy of Zhuan Falun, through one of the patients. By
just flipping through it, I was immediately attracted to it. I came to
understand so many things in life, simply from reading it once. The second time
I saw Zhuan Falun, I read it thoroughly, from the beginning to the end. I
had a deeper understanding of the Fa, and realized that everyday people create
Karma from one lifetime to the next. My Karma from previous lives is the reason
for all the tribulations and illnesses in this life. What I had gone through was
fair. I had to suffer from the tribulations to pay the karmic debt. When Teacher
mentioned in the book that he did not want people with serious illnesses to come
to the class, because they could not give up the attachment of wanting to cure
their illnesses, I was very disappointed at that time, because if Teacher did
not want very ill people to be in the class, it would definitely not work for
me, since I had only read his book. So I did not take cultivation seriously at that time. But at that time, I
stopped needing intravenous injections for 38 days, and I was released from the
hospital not long afterwards. I was very confused after leaving the hospital,
wondering why I did not need to take drugs and injections for 38 days. This was
truly a miracle. Was it just because I read Teacher's book and Teacher was
taking care of me? Was that it? After that, one day, I was outside with my husband, and there were very few
people or cars on the street. While we were walking across the street, there was
a car going very fast that hit me before I knew it. I did not feel anything at
all until I heard the driver yelling at me. For me, who was so weak and who
could not withstand a gentle push, I was standing still, without a scratch. It
was unbelievable. Not until then, did I realize that it should have been a fatal
accident. This made me realize the power of Dafa, Teacher's care for me as a
practitioner, and the real meaning behind "when one's Buddha-nature
emerges, it will shake 'the world of ten directions.'" (Zhuan Falun)
Master offers salvation unconditionally and asks for nothing in return. I was so
moved, and realized I have a predestined relationship with Dafa, and have seen
an end to the tribulations. After I got home, I studied the Fa very diligently.
Within a week, I felt a big difference. In the past 6 months, I have gone through 32 episodes of life and death
tribulations, to eliminate my Karma. Every episode was as bad as those days when
I was hospitalized. I tossed and turned in bed, had fever, trembling, terrible
itches due to jaundice, and scratch wounds all over me. It got worse and worse,
and the eleventh time, the extreme pain in the liver and intestines caused me to
vomit uncontrollably. The worst illness I ever had was not even close to this
one. I had struggled for 11 hours and could not stand it anymore. I had one shot
of a painkiller, but the pain worsened after that. I did not know what to do, so
I waited until the next day. Three o'clock in the afternoon, I could not take it
anymore; I thought I did not get a high enough dose from the shot the day
before, so I decided to increase the dosage by adding "6542" to the
painkiller. It still did not work. Then I realized that Teacher was telling me
that since I had to eliminate my Karma, of course the drug wouldn't work. I
started to regret it, and the drug proved useless. My temperature was 39oC
(102.2oF) at 5:00 p.m., but I felt cold and was trembling, even with 2
comforters on me. I had fever-reducing shots at home, but this time I insisted
upon not using them. I told my husband: "If I go into a coma, don't be
scared: at the most I'd die. I don't care. I won't feel sorry if I die. I want
to learn Dafa in my next life." I fell asleep with a fever around 9:00 p.m.
When I woke up, it was 12 midnight. I had thrown off the comforters, and the
fever was gone. I was not in pain anymore, and three days later, my jaundice
disappeared. After this, I gave the painkillers and other drugs to other patients. I had
two more, even worse Karma-elimination experiences afterwards. One time was in
August and lasted for 6 months; each time the severe pain, vomiting and fever
would last 3-8 hours. The 25th time, with no warning signs,
Karma-elimination came. It was so strong that I was in severe pain for 14 hours
in a row. I could not stop crying and vomiting. I did not drink any liquid for
14 hours, and it felt almost like my internal organs were shifting around. I
thought, "My life has come near to Hell, so I should just close my eyes and
die. I almost could not keep my thoughts righteous. When it occurred to me that
this pain was actually eliminating my Karma, the pain stopped, and I became well
in 2 hours. I realized that I was in debt, and I needed to pay. If I died now,
that meant I would not be paying my debt. If I did not pay for it in this life,
the Karma would still be with me in the next life, and I would still have to pay
for it. No! The Karma that is with me in this life will be paid for in this
life, so therefore, I have to hang on. It was like this, with the blessings of Dafa, that I survived 32 life and
death tribulations. After half a year, I was as healthy as a young person, could
do housework again, and ride my bicycle outside like others do to study Fa with
practitioners, not feeling tired. The color of the age marks on my skin
lightened. Everyone who knew me was surprised, and could not believe I had
recovered so fast. Now I am an energetic person. Teacher said, "If you can let go of life and death, you're
a God; if you can't let go of life and death, you're
a human--this is the difference."("Teaching the Fa in New York
City" from Lectures in the United States) Teacher
also said, "This is why I have said that all of today's mankind has come to
this point with karma rolling on top of karma; besides sickness-karma, a person
has other kinds of karma as well. So people have hardships, tribulations, and
tensions in their lives. How could they only pursue happiness without paying for
karma?"("Sickness Karma" from Falun Dafa Essentials For
Further Advancement) Teacher's words really
have profound meaning, manifesting the great Compassion of the Buddha, and
offering salvation. Also, I came to realize that the more tribulations I have,
the more attachments I will give up, the more Karma I will eliminate, and the
quicker I will make improvements. I know in my heart that these tribulations are
not over yet. I need to prepare myself for more painful examinations, in order
to enhance my Xinxing and eliminate my karma. Thirty-two Karma-eliminating episodes of life and death tribulations: each
time is a reminder and check of how well I study the Fa, and a test of my
Xinxing enhancement and comprehension. I have to study the Fa, cultivate my
Xinxing, and improve my comprehension, in order to reach Consummation. In a life full of distractions and the unknown, Dafa never leaves my heart. I
always remember what Teacher has said, "The path for cultivating gong lies in one's heart I will be confident and cultivate diligently, to reach the shore of
Consummation. October 31, 1997 Posting date: 9/28/2003 |