(Minghui.org) Greetings, Master. Greetings, fellow practitioners.
I am a newer practitioner, and I began practicing Falun Dafa in 2013. Almost from the very beginning, I started translating articles for the Spanish Minghui website. For me, this was the best arrangement ever to help me advance in my cultivation. Minghui has been present at every step in my cultivation and, together with Fa study, made a solid foundation to elevate my xinxing and to look within, understand the facts about the persecution, and learn to clarify the facts when participating in different Dafa projects.
No words can express my gratitude for working on this sacred project. I still have a long way to mature and improve, but I would like to share my experiences over these few years working for the Spanish Minghui site, learning to cooperate with fellow practitioners and assimilating to Dafa in the process.
Beginning to Participate in the Project
In 2013, much workforce was needed. In the beginning, I translated articles, because I am a teacher of English and I was very happy to use my knowledge for Dafa.
First, I started translating an article a week. Very soon I was translating every day, as I realized that there were many articles that would not be seen in Spanish and, consequently, practitioners would not be able to learn from them.
Personally, translating meant getting inside the universe of our fellow practitioners in China, and all the experiences I read and translated left a mark in my heart. I also felt touched when I translated news about the persecution and the cultivation experiences that showed the purity of the practitioners in China. I felt that the practitioners' hearts were truly full of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.
Master said in “Fa Teaching Given at the Fa Conference Marking the Tenth Anniversary of Minghui’s Founding:”
“Since the time when the persecution began, it has furthermore provided a true picture of the cultivation state of Dafa disciples in a timely manner, and served as a point of connection among students. Students everywhere—be it in the mainland, outside China, or wherever it may be—can share experiences via Minghui.”
I knew that at that moment, I did not understand the role of practitioners in the period of the Fa-rectification and validating the Fa, but I know that all my abilities come from Dafa and I wanted to give the best of me for this project. That was a time of great joy, I was like a sponge learning and reading the Fa all the time because I had obtained the Dafa of the Cosmos and there was nothing else that I needed or longed to have.
An Opportunity to Improve and Eliminate Attachments
Soon, it was announced that we would have the same visual front page as the English website. That was a huge change, and a challenge as well, as it meant we needed to work harder every day. I became very anxious as to when and how this would be implemented. How were we going to do it with the workforce we had at that time?
The change was very important, as there are many Spanish speakers, in Spain, all of Latin America and also a large Spanish speaking community in the USA. In fact, more than 572 million people speak Spanish worldwide. It is the second mother tongue by a number of users, surpassed only by Mandarin Chinese. Improving the Spanish page would be very beneficial to reach more ordinary people and practitioners, and to clarify the truth and save sentient beings more effectively.
Master said:
“The non-Chinese editions of Minghui are indeed very important for the many nationalities out there, and governments and human rights organizations are reading them.” (“Fa Teaching Given at the Fa Conference Marking the Tenth Anniversary of Minghui’s Founding” from Teaching the Fa at the Conference X)
There were many things we had to improve and learn about. We needed to be more strict with ourselves. We couldn’t just participate in Minghui because it was good for our cultivation, we needed to really give back to Dafa and the project in a serious and stable way. Also, we had to cooperate better, improve our workflow and communication. We needed to find more practitioners to step in and create a solid body and let the power of Dafa manifest in us.
At that moment, as I understood it, our coordinator was going through a hard test and he already had a lot of pressure, and he said he wanted to quit the project. As we shared about these new challenges, I do not know how, but I think he suggested that I help him with the coordination so that I could help with all these changes and push forward the team.
This meant a huge change for me. I was supposed to just be translating, and suddenly I should be helping with the team coordination. With the passing of time, I understood that sometimes we are asked to do things we do not expect to do or things we lack the knowledge or abilities, just to create opportunities to cultivate and eliminate attachments.
This role involved more responsibilities. Many times I felt fear of making mistakes and doing things wrong because I lacked wisdom. As a newer practitioner, I was also afraid of what others would think, afraid that others would judge me, especially because I know I do not have the level to be up to the circumstances. This was an attachment to reputation, fear of losing face and making mistakes, things that I had to eliminate. On a deeper level, I had to trust Dafa because it is not me who achieves things, everything that I do is done by Master and by Dafa.
Some practitioners who had been on the team for a long time did not want to change things at first. But others agreed we needed to be more responsible and strict with ourselves.
The coordinator seemed to be negative whenever I had a suggestion, and I became afraid of speaking and giving my opinions. I felt he was angry with me and that I did not do things correctly. We had such different personalities and opinions, and yet we had to cooperate together! Sometimes I communicated things to him once I had them solved or when I had the whole process sorted out, for fear he would reject my ideas. I felt he was harsh with me whenever I talked to him, and this heart of fear showed my soft personality.
I also felt he was not willing to invite more practitioners into the team, make changes or improve the workflow to boost our page. I always felt he was complaining all the time, he wanted to improve things but did not want to change anything.
We had a couple of arguments and some sharing, and at first I developed a heart of complaint and injustice, and I acted as if I could do things better. However, I knew that I had to look within, and get rid of my attachments and notions so that I could elevate my xinxing and the project could improve.
When looking within, I could see that my ideas and suggestions did not come with a pure heart of compassion, as they were full of complaints, criticisms, and competition. I did not consider that he was going through a hard test, and I complained that he had a small heart. But in fact it was my heart that was very narrow and selfish.
When facing conflicts, I went from understanding things from a human perspective to looking within myself as a practitioner and trying to understand everything from the Fa’s perspective. I didn’t always pass the tests, and I knew that my understanding was still limited.
Master said:
“The entire cultivation process for a cultivator is one of constantly giving up human attachments.” (Zhuan Falun)
And also:
“If you do not cultivate your xinxing or raise your moral standard, or if your bad thoughts and bad substances have not been removed, it will not let you ascend.” (Zhuan Falun)
It took some time, but I managed to see my inability to be flexible, my arrogance, my heart of criticism, my attachments to doing things my way and my competition. From then on, whenever there was a problem, an argument, or something to be done, I tried to look within and tried to eliminate all these things with the help of the Fa. I wanted to eliminate all these attachments because I knew they came from jealousy and that is an attachment a practitioner should not have.
Whenever I could see my shortcomings and I let go of all these horrible notions and attachments, I felt Master was helping me assimilate to Dafa and things were harmonized. I also had the help of veteran practitioners on the team, the coordinator, who always reminded me to study the Fa, be responsible in cultivation and look within unconditionally following Master’s teachings.
Many situations are just an illusion as well as an opportunity. If I had held onto my attachments, my own opinions and notions and never looked within, things would have had a different turnout. However, when I looked within and let go of those attachments, we managed to cooperate successfully: my coordinator would change his mind, accept my ideas, and start working together with me on something to improve on Spanish Minghui. He would even say how much he trusted in me, and started encouraging me to do something and prompt the team to do it.
Master said:
“For a cultivator, looking within is a magical tool.” (“Fa Teaching at the 2009Washington DC International Fa Conference” from Teaching the Fa at the Conference IX)
Some years later, I was studying the Fa and I had a new understanding and I managed to eliminate another layer of attachments and notions. I realized that the coordinator had been working on the project almost since the very beginning. At that moment, the practitioners who were translating from English to Spanish did not have a good level of English. Most used the translator software and just did their best so that other practitioners could read the articles about the persecution and the experience sharing articles, so that they could be updated with the Fa-rectification and learn from the understanding of the practitioners in China. But after many years, most of these practitioners involved had started to leave the team to help in other projects. But our coordinator remained, and did his best to push the project throughout all these years. I was deeply moved when I realized this.
At that moment, a heavy layer was removed from my heart, and I could really cherish everything that the coordinator had done for the project, and I also understood my role too.
When I started practicing Dafa, Master had the magnificent compassion of letting me be part of this project. I think it was a very good arrangement that both of us had such different personalities, and similar attachments too, because it provided us with precious opportunities for cultivation and improvement. I also learned to trust my own understandings. In time, I managed to improve my xinxing, accept criticism, think of others at all times, strengthen my main consciousness, and gain confidence too. I matured, at least a little bit.
Cooperating As One Body
The process has always been quite intense. Whenever I improved in one aspect, it seemed as if I would be ready to move forward, and a new challenge would appear.
When we put our hearts in improving and forming one body, the power of Dafa manifests and things that seemed impossible before, become a reality.
Master said:
“When it looks impossible and is said to be impossible, give it a try and see if it is possible. If you can actually do it, you will indeed find, “After passing the shady willow trees, there will be bright flowers and another village ahead!” (Zhuan Falun)
We started studying the Fa and sharing online with all the Spanish Minghui team members from different parts of the world. In the beginning, we thought it would be impossible to connect online once a week due to our different time zones, but we gave it a try. Finally, we started to study the Fa together regularly once a week. Then, we created a chat to be more connected and to push each other forward. We all agreed that we had to improve the quality of our translations and also agreed to increase our productivity.
As a consequence, the team started growing. With more practitioners from different countries participating, we were able to improve the level of our translations, the volume, and the quality, and we became much more solid. We only had one corrector on the team, but suddenly, two correctors joined the team and helped the project advance. We created training opportunities for everyone to become more efficient. Now, we connect once a week for Fa study and sharing and we try to keep a solid and serious workflow.
We went from only updating the site twice a week in 2013 with about 12 articles each time, to updating daily with about 10 articles a day, plus a weekly newsletter and podcast. We still have a lot to improve and to do, but it has been a huge change. That is the miracle of Dafa!
This is not a list of achievements, but the result of our process of cultivation and cooperation. All these things were possible because we managed to improve our xinxing and we were able to establish the mighty virtue of Dafa when forming one body.
All practitioners on the team have their hearts in the project and everyone supports each other actively. We try to help and complement each other when necessary and treasure our Fa-study and sharing opportunities. We consider each other, we have gotten to know each other very well, and we push each other forward to do things better.
Master said:
“For Dafa disciples as a whole, in the process of validating the Fa, when you work together in concert, the Fa power is great.” (Teaching the Fa at the 2003 Lantern Festival)
We can only improve faster and steadily as part of a Dafa project, as Master requires:
“Each Dafa disciple who has not been involved in a project must do it, try to find time to get involved in this undertaking of saving people.” (“Fa Teaching at the 2016 New York Fa Conference”)
Learning to cooperate is instrumental when doing a Dafa project and it is the best way to realize our shortcomings, eliminate attachments, become selfless and assimilate to the Fa. If we cooperate with each other, everything we do will have the expected result. In this process I learned that, even if I do not have the best idea or the knowledge to do something, if I can let go of my self, of my notions, of my ways of doing things, and I cooperate unconditionally, we can become one with the body of practitioners and with Dafa, and the power of Dafa will make things happen and the power of Dafa will be manifested.
We know we are never going to be comfortable, because whenever we improve in one area, it is time to move forward again and new challenges will arise.
About a year and a half ago, our coordinator arranged a training session for Radio Minghui. I wasn’t sure whether we would be able to carry out a radio project. I did not have any knowledge in that area.
Some team members shared their thoughts about this new proposal. One practitioner said that it was not necessary to record the experiences of practitioners because we’d be better off listening to Master’s lectures. Another said that the recorded voices of the practitioners would carry his or her attachments. Another practitioner said he would prefer not give his opinion about it. Overall there were many doubts about who would all do the jobs, as all practitioners were already very busy. I took it as another test to pass.
First, I thought I just had to do as I was asked. It does not matter if we know the reasons or understand why, we just have to trust and do it. Then, I had to figure out how to and who would make it possible.
In my mind, I saw it as a puzzle. The picture has already been chosen; you just need to find the pieces and put them in the right place. So, if we were asked to do that, the conditions must be there already. The only thing we needed to do was find the predestined practitioners with the knowledge and the abilities for this and let it happen.
With this in mind, we had a lot of help from Master, and very soon the Radio Minghui team was formed. The weekly podcasts we have published so far are all about cultivation, taken from the experiences of the China Fahui. The final product is of very good quality and we have heard positive comments from practitioners from all regions.
Those on the team who were skeptical before gave positive feedback and were glad we’d managed to move forward in the project. One practitioner even said that after listening to the podcast she was enlightened to the reason why it was so important to have the experiences of Chinese practitioners recorded. She said that she understood that the cultivation experiences of the practitioners, the path they have walked and their efforts in truth-clarification in China are going to become a legacy for all humanity. When I heard these words I felt very touched and agreed with her.
Master said:
“But Minghui is a media outlet, so although it reports openly on how Dafa disciples’ cultivation is going, I think it will, being a media outlet, probably be passed on to future generations. Even if you do not pass it on to them, posterity will dearly cherish the term “Minghui.”” (“Fa Teaching Given at the Fa Conference Marking the Tenth Anniversary of Minghui’s Founding” from Teaching the Fa at the Conference X)
Looking Forward to Doing It Better
All in all, I have to admit I have not done very well regarding my cultivation. I have not been very diligent, and I need to put more effort into my personal cultivation. Lately I’ve discovered an attachment to doing things. But working is not cultivation. I realized that I was hiding my attachments of comfort behind being busy with work. I also discovered my lack of diligence and determination in doing the exercises.
Every time I slack off, my main consciousness becomes weak and unclear. I get caught up in negative thoughts and become invaded with a sense of depression and loneliness. I know this is a part of the old cosmos’s arrangements, and I do not want any of this. So, I am determined to work harder and completely deny these arrangements, as I only accept Master’s arrangements.
Master said:
“Be a person in line with the Fa’s requirements and be a cultivator—only then will you be a Dafa disciple. Doing the exercises is the supplement to cultivation—neither can be omitted.” (“A Congratulatory Message to the Argentina Fa Conference”)
I want to make greater efforts to mature more and advance in my cultivation and fulfill my promise. Working for Minghui has been a magnificent path full of great opportunities to improve my xinxing, make progress and become an instrument of the Fa. Whenever I look back, I thank Master for this great opportunity and I treasure working for this sacred project: It is a pure land indeed.
Thank you, Master!Thank you, fellow practitioners!
Please feel free to point out my shortcomings.
(Selected Experience Sharing Paper from the 2018 Minghui Fa Conference, Abridged)
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