(Clearwisdom.net) Recently, on a Friday night, all of a sudden I developed a toothache. It hurt so much I couldn’t sleep. I thought it might be the evil interfering. I took advantage of the two-day weekend at home and focused on studying the Fa, practicing the exercises, and sending forth righteous thoughts. Every now and then it became better, but I couldn’t get rid of it. It was worse at night. I was so annoyed. Recalling the last time I had a toothache, it was gone soon after I had sent forth righteous thoughts, but this time it no longer worked. On Sunday my gum was swollen and it hurt severely when I opened or closed my mouth. It affected the left side of my face and gave me a headache, too.
I was supposed to work the next day. How could I go to my office if this toothache lasted like this? I was begging Master in my mind to help me through this tribulation. Although my co-workers did not yet know I was a practitioner, I still didn’t want them to see me like this. The more anxious I was, the worse the pain became. Although I kept sending forth righteous thoughts, reciting the Fa, and listening to Master’s lectures the whole night, I still suffered greatly and couldn’t fall asleep.
My head felt heavy the whole day at work. My co-workers suggested that I see a dentist and take medicine. I was irritated. My mind asked, "Why is this happening? Why is Master not helping me?" At the end of the day the pain became worse. I felt chilled, too. When I got home, the left side of my face became swollen. The pain made me tremble. I almost collapsed.
Right then I realized the seriousness of the problem: in order to break through this tribulation I hastened to "study the Fa, practice the exercises, and send forth righteous thoughts." I kept reciting the Fa to break through this barrier and kept begging Master for help. What a strong attachment of pursuit! The reason the evil was able to interfere was because I had a loophole. I should have looked for my true shortcomings.
"Calmly reflect on how many attachments you have
As you get rid of human mentality, evil is naturally defeated." ("Don’t Be Sad" in Hong Yin II)
As I was examining myself I turned on the music for the meditation exercise on my MP3 and started practicing the exercises, ignoring the pain.
Looking back, my recent attachments to leisure had been strong and I had slacked off doing the three things. My belief in Master and Dafa was shaken a little recently. Although those thoughts were negated as soon as they emerged, they still kept coming. This made me think of my time in the forced labor camp when I was persecuted the worst. For a while I felt deep down in my thoughts I was separated by the evil. I started developing doubts about Dafa, although I understood the principles from the Fa-standpoint. There was always this feeling of not believing in everything. When I left the forced labor camp I experienced some tribulations, although with help from fellow practitioners and Master, so far I had been able to walk on my cultivation path. But I didn’t have the close feeling for Dafa and Master that I had before the persecution. When I faced tribulations, most of the time, I would seek avoidance or help from outside. I also became indifferent toward other practitioners suffering under the persecution. I’ve puzzled over this for a long time. How did I get this way? I suddenly realized: all of these, including the newly developed non-righteous thoughts and behaviors were because of the perverted mindset the old forces had originally forced on me. I still hadn’t completely negated them. I thought I had eliminated all these non-righteous, evil, and forced-upon factors a long time ago.
Right then I felt I was surrounded by an energy field. Toothache? I couldn’t even feel my teeth; not even mentioning having a toothache. I had a thought: no matter how fierce the evil is, my firm belief in Master and Dafa can’t be changed! I will keep eliminating the evil until it’s all gone!
Then I felt something soft covering and tickling the left side of my face. I realized then that my swollen face was back to normal. I finished the exercises and also sent forth righteous thoughts twice, until the battery on my MP3 had run out of power. The toothache experience ended.
Recalling what my co-worker said during the day, "You should go see the dentist. Last time my toothache bothered me for a month. The dentist had to kill the nerve in my tooth." I felt odd. What’s even more ridiculous was that the MP3 I had used for three years all of a sudden couldn’t be recharged. The evil must have been out of ideas. I can still practice the exercises and send forth righteous thoughts, even without my MP3 player. But, the next day when I tried to recharge it at work, it functioned normally again!
I’m thankful that Master has helped me overcome this tribulation. Once again I experienced the power of righteous belief. I also realized: no matter what kind of tribulations we experience, as long as we firmly believe in Master and firmly believe in Dafa, all difficulties can be endured and overcome. With righteous thoughts we will eliminate all the evil!
