PureInsight | March 19, 2026
[PureInsight.org] For a long time, I have observed a phenomenon: after their children divorce, many parents suddenly develop life-threatening illnesses. Some get cancer; others suffer cerebral hemorrhages that leave them paralyzed, or other serious conditions. Ordinary people explain this in ordinary ways—some say it is coincidence, others say the parents were angered into illness by the other party’s reprehensible behavior. But we who cultivate know that nothing happens by chance. At first, I thought it was the karma from the children’s divorce that affected the parents, until I came across the following story and finally understood the causal relationship involved.
During the Ming Dynasty, there was a xiucai (a government-certified scholar) named Ge Dingnai, renowned for his outstanding talent. Every time he went to the academy, he had to pass by a local Earth God temple. One day, the temple caretaker (the person responsible for incense offerings) dreamed that the Earth God said to him, “Whenever Ge, the future top scholar, passes by, I must stand up. Please build a screen to shield me.” The caretaker followed the Earth God’s instruction and prepared to begin construction. However, on that very day, he dreamed again that the Earth God told him, “There is no need to build it. Ge has written a divorce document on behalf of others; his scholarly merit has already been completely stripped away.”
It turned out that a villager wished to maliciously abandon his wife, but because he was illiterate, he asked Ge Dingnai to write the divorce document for him. For helping to write the divorce letter, Heaven took away Ge Dingnai’s scholarly honors. When Ge Dingnai learned of this, he was filled with remorse and did everything he could to save the couple’s marriage. In the end, he only passed the provincial examination and held merely a minor deputy post. His scholarly reputation was completely ruined, and the retribution came extremely swiftly.
Traditional Chinese culture holds that the relationship between husband and wife is a continuation of karmic ties from previous lives—formed through repaying kindness, settling debts, and other karmic causes. To forcibly persuade a couple to divorce is to interfere with another person’s karma and to disrupt the unfinished karmic balance between the two parties. Ge Dingnai’s loss of his scholarly honors for writing a divorce document clearly shows the severity of such karma.
Reflecting on this story, I realized that those parents who fell gravely ill after their children’s divorces were all people who had planned, instigated, or actively pushed the divorce forward. Because of deep parental affection, they believed their children had been treated unfairly in the marriage and wanted them to end it. They strongly urged their children to divorce, actively devised strategies, and ultimately achieved their goal—while also creating enormous karma.
For example, one of my relatives had a son who liked drinking and indulging in pleasure. His wife used forceful methods to control him, sometimes scratching him until his body was covered in blood marks. Anxious and distressed, my relative sought out a lawyer to file for divorce. I advised her at the time that if divorce could be avoided, it should be—after all, they had a child. But she insisted, saying, “If they don’t divorce, isn’t my son pitiful?” Out of social obligation, I even introduced her to a lawyer. At first, the woman refused to divorce; it took two lawsuits before the divorce went through. Not long afterward, this relative suddenly suffered a cerebral hemorrhage, became bedridden and unable to care for herself, and passed away several years later.
My friend’s younger sister had a husband who was unfaithful and refused to divorce. Eventually, her entire natal family brainstormed and devised plans for her. Not only did she get divorced, but the man also agreed to pay a high monthly child-support fee. Soon after the matter was settled, my friend’s father suffered a stroke and became paralyzed, and her mother developed cancer. My friend asked me more than once why this had happened—why both parents became so gravely ill at the same time. At the time, I was also at a loss.
There is another incident I heard about many years ago from a fellow practitioner. For reasons I no longer remember, her sister-in-law’s family incited her sister-in-law to divorce her brother. Under constant arguing, noise, and physical conflict, the family could no longer bear it and finally compromised. Just as they were about to go through the divorce procedures, the sister-in-law’s brother was suddenly killed after being hit by a train. This major upheaval brought everything to a halt. The practitioner’s parents followed customary in-law etiquette to offer condolences and attend the funeral, and the divorce matter was dropped. For many years since, the couple has lived well together. (Similarly, just a few days ago, I saw an article online by a fellow practitioner describing how a young woman’s father-in-law strongly urged his son to divorce her, only to suddenly be diagnosed with lung cancer requiring immediate surgery. The divorce was also abandoned.) There are many such cases. From this, it is clear that destroying another person’s marriage is indeed a grave sin.
Traditional culture views marriage as a major event in life, not child’s play. It is the union of two families, carrying on ancestral sacrifices above and continuing family lineage below. The ancients revered the divine and feared Heaven, and they valued filial piety. Thus, at marriage, one bows to Heaven and Earth so that Heaven and Earth acknowledge it; one bows to parents so that parents acknowledge it. Modern people, poisoned by the Communist Party culture and atheism of the evil regime, regard marriage as a trivial matter, devoid of any sense of sacredness. Some parents cannot tolerate even minor grievances suffered by their children in marriage and desperately want them to divorce immediately.
There is an old saying: “Better to tear down ten temples than to destroy one marriage.” Its core meaning is to emphasize the sacredness and stability of marriage, and that the sin of breaking up another family is greater than demolishing ten temples. When I first heard this saying, I wondered whether it was exaggerated. The karmic retribution for destroying temples is enormous (those who destroyed temples during the Cultural Revolution met horrific retribution). If the karma of demolishing ten temples cannot compare to that of destroying one family, then how immense must the karmic retribution be for breaking up a family? This is why families with deep cultural heritage do not permit divorce. It also explains why some wealthy heirs hesitate to marry—once married, divorce is not something they can choose at will. The family would not allow it, and they might even be expelled from the household, let alone inherit any family property.
As cultivators living among ordinary people, we inevitably encounter others who, with tears streaming down their faces, confide in us about marital hardships and suffering. In the past, I too was once emotionally stirred and indignant on behalf of ordinary people. On one occasion, I was even driven to say, “Why stay with someone like that?” Looking back now, that was truly wrong. You do not know the karmic cause and effect from past lives. Such adverse relationships often arise because in a previous life, the husband was the one who was wronged, and in this life, he has come merely to collect a debt. As cultivators, we should use the principles of Dafa to encourage kindness and forbearance, not incite people to divorce—that would be creating karma. This is something we must be especially careful about, particularly in guarding our speech.
Master said in Collected Teachings Given Around the World VI (Fa Teaching Given at Meeting with Asia-Pacific Region Dafa Practitioners), “As for divorce, I’ve told you to conform to ordinary society as much as possible; today, whether it’s getting divorced or getting married, I won’t say anything. I discuss things in terms of the Fa’s principles. But I will tell you, things [such as divorce] won’t be allowed in the future. They result from the current state of modern society. I can’t force you to do things a certain way, but the lives of the future won’t be allowed to do this, nor would they [if they could].”
Gratitude to Master for His compassionate salvation!
Wishing the great and compassionate Master a Happy New Year!
Chinese version: https://www.zhengjian.org/node/300149
