(Clearwisdom.net)
In the past a few years, several elderly fellow practitioners in my local area passed away for different reasons. I thought about it a lot. Here I'd like to share some background information and my thoughts about this.
One of them passed away when trying to kill a chicken. She was trying to catch the chicken. Then she stumbled and fell. She didn't realize it was a hint. She got up and went after the chicken again. She stumbled a second time. This time, she passed away. When I heard about this, the first thought that came to me was, "Cultivation is very serious." Teacher said in Zhuan Falun, "We have a strict rule for practitioners: practitioners can't kill." If we don't follow the requirements of the Fa, we'll be going down the path arranged by the old forces.
A few other elderly fellow practitioners passed away with some form of illness. I knew one of them quite well. We lived in the same community. She had been doing the three things all along, especially during those few years when the Chinese Communist Party was rampant in persecuting Falun Dafa and Dafa practitioners. She had never given in to the evil. She had been clarifying the truth and saving sentient beings. Very quietly, she helped her fellow practitioners who had the attachment of fear. She delivered Teacher's articles and Minghui Weekly to them to help them improve together with everyone. I know she was a very diligent practitioner. Due to a heavy workload in my company, I hadn't shared experiences with her for a few months.
One Sunday, I went to her home to pay her a visit. She was so thin that I almost couldn't recognize her. She told me what happened. Her son and daughter-in-law fought often. They'd beat up and curse each other for days on end. She wasn't able to look at it from the cultivation perspective, and developed a thought that she'd rather die than watch this abuse. A voice often came to her mind, saying, "It would be better to die. It would be better to die." After that, she had a fever and a cough for a long time. She couldn't eat much. She slacked off with her Fa-study, exercises, and sending forth righteous thoughts too. She thought she was eliminating illness karma.
I told her right away, "Eliminate that thought. That's not the true you. You had an unrighteous thought. Those evil forces are trying to take advantage of you. Quickly eliminate it. Besides, you have been in this ill state for a long time. This is not eliminating illness karma. This is bodily persecution by the old forces, black hands, rotten ghosts, and the evil CCP specter. So you must completely deny it. With righteous thoughts and righteous actions, walk down the path arranged by Teacher." Then we studied the Fa related to her situation. She became clear with the Fa principles. Immediately, she felt all her illnesses were gone.
After another six months, I heard that she had passed away because of illness. This time, she passed away in two days after not feeling well. I was very sad. I wasn't being responsible! I should have visited her more often or shared understandings with her so we could have improved on the Fa together.
Another two elderly fellow practitioners passed away in their sleep. As far as I know, both of them were hospitalized a few years ago. After that, through Fa-study and with Teacher's protection, their life was extended a few years. One of them was my father.
Last winter, my father memorized Zhuan Falun in over two months. Back then, he was in a very good state. He did really well with studying the Fa, clarifying the truth, and sending forth righteous thoughts. He had less and less fear when working on Dafa things. However, when the Chinese New Year came, he slacked off with Fa-study, truth-clarification, and sending forth righteous thoughts. He indulged himself in the ordinary people's New Year celebration. In less than a month, on February 9 this year, he suddenly passed away in his sleep.
Teacher said,
"But some people are older and they don't have that many years left, so there's a chance they don't have enough time. Our Falun Dafa can solve that problem by shortening the cultivation process. And also, this is a practice that cultivates both nature and longevity, so when you keep cultivating, it keeps extending your life, and as you keep on practicing, it keeps on extending it. So this way the older folks among us with good bases will have enough time to practice. But there's just one condition. The time that your life is extended for beyond your predestined, original course of life, that time is solely for you to practice. If your thinking goes even a little off track it'll put your life in danger, because your course of life ended a long time ago. But this doesn't apply to you if you've gone beyond Triple-World-Law cultivation. Then it's different." (The First Talk from Zhuan Falun)
Through all these incidents and from studying the Fa, I came to understand how serious it is to cultivate ourselves, the importance of studying the Fa, and the responsibilities that we have for the Fa and our fellow practitioners. I know some of the older fellow practitioners didn't study the Fa enough, so they tended to relax in their cultivation.
Just think about it, how many more sentient beings could a practitioner save if he or she were alive? They could have saved hundreds of people every year! Besides, the countless sentient beings in their corresponding boundless firmaments would have been saved as well. It would bring such mighty virtue! I really feel sorry for those fellow practitioners who passed away. I feel more regret for myself because I didn't extend enough help and care to them.
I hope we can all care for and help those elderly fellow practitioners that we know so we can all catch up with Teacher's Fa-rectification progress. Let's walk down the path well in this final stage. Let's fulfill our prehistoric vows to save more people. Let's accomplish our mission.
