(Minghui.org) Greetings, Master! Greetings, fellow practitioners!
A year after I began practicing Falun Dafa, I was asked to help translate Minghui articles. In the beginning, I translated pretty much everything sentence by sentence in the Chinese article. After a few years, I became part of the rewriting team. I couldn’t get used to the change at first. Writing was never my strong point, and I tried to avoid it. Learning how to rewrite was frustrating at first. I often felt stressed out and agonized during the process, which prevented me from focusing on the article. I kept thinking about quitting.
I tried my best to finish each article and then I sent it to the coordinator. Each time it almost always came back heavily edited or even completely rewritten. The coordinator then walked me through the details and explained why the changes were necessary. I felt bad knowing that I would not be able to meet the standard. I felt like I was wasting her time. I also didn’t want to be rude and tell her that I wanted to quit, as she already spent a lot of time working with me. I bit the bullet and kept going.
I gradually noticed that no matter how stressed or disappointed I felt during the rewriting process, the minute I submitted my work, I felt refreshed and excited. I told myself, “That wasn’t so bad, maybe I could work on another article.” I believe the stressful feeling and the urge to quit was interference preventing me from learning how to improve my writing. When I tried my best to finish the article, the sense of happiness and relief was Master Li (Dafa’s founder) encouraging me to keep going. I realized this process was expanding my capacity. One day the coordinator wrote to me and said that one of my articles was well done. I couldn’t believe my eyes! That was the day I decided that I’d stay in the rewriting team.
In the early days, I often thought that it would be better if I were assigned shorter or simpler articles. This thought stemmed from my attachment to doing work and a sense of achievement, believing that the more I did, the better. I gradually also developed an aversion to working on persecution articles. To me, most of them had similar content, structure, and persecution tactics, except that they happened to different practitioners on different dates and in different places. Also with persecution articles, I had to be more careful with the facts, which sometimes took a lot of time to verify or make clear.
Reading the Teachings Makes All the Difference
Through constant Fa study, this aversion went away before I knew it. Many articles have similar content. For example, practitioners’ sharing articles often talk about doing the three things, going through tribulations, and improving one’s xinxing. Most event reports talk about parades, rallies, and setting up Falun Dafa booths at various events. My understanding is, that although the articles may have a similar format, the translators’ attitudes and righteous thoughts will give them different presentations and energy levels. Most importantly, the articles reach different groups of readers. I need to make sure that the truth and details are properly conveyed. This is what we do if we want to wake up more people, and this is a manifestation of forbearance and compassion. A Shen Yun artist wouldn’t think that the contents of this show and the next one are the same, and expect the audience of the next show to be awakened by showing them the video recordings.
Before I start a new assignment, I make sure that I study the teachings calmly so that I’m in the proper mindset to work on the article. I put myself in the shoes of the persecuted practitioner as I read the Chinese text. I feel how unacceptable the perpetrators’ actions are, and contemplate how to word and phrase the article so that the readers can better understand the extent of the evilness of the persecution and the bitterness the practitioners endure. While translating event reports, I understand that different events come from the practitioners’ constant giving of their time, energy, and resources. The details and photos of the events are precious and worth documenting. This process helped me realize that I was attached to new and interesting things, and I did not like routine and repetition.
Long persecution articles stressed me out. Besides taking a long time to complete, they also required extra attention to the continuity and logical flow, meaning that I had to be mindful of a lot of details. Sometimes it involved number crunching. It just so happened that during this time I kept getting super long persecution articles. Every time I felt stressed out, I calmed down and asked myself, “Why do I feel this way? Does my livelihood depend on it? Do I have to get it done in a few hours, or is it that I feel I can’t say no to the assignment?” The answers were all negative. I realized it was time for me to eliminate the interference and expand my capacity again.
I started to consciously suppress the negative agitated feeling when I was assigned long articles. Before I began working on it, I read the Fa to strengthen my righteous thoughts. One article after another, the negative feeling weakened. One time the coordinator asked me if I mind being assigned so many long persecution articles. I said no, as long as I was given enough time. An editor gave positive feedback on one of the articles, saying that it was necessary to have such a comprehensive review article to convince the readers. One time I got a nearly 20-page long assignment, and my first thought was “Wow! What is in an article this long? Let me see.” I am glad that the page numbers no longer give me mood swings. After I worked on that article I received positive feedback.
Toothache Points Out My Attachment
A few months ago I bit down on something hard while I ate, and the pain almost knocked me out. I did not go to a dentist believing that the roots of a molar were too short and they moved and injured the surrounding tissue. I decided to put up with the pain, believing that it was a good thing as it happened while I practiced Falun Dafa. The unbearable pain lasted a few weeks and I could only chew on one side of my mouth. However my mouth was not swollen, and the really painful moments always occurred before I went to bed, or on the weekends. It didn’t prevent me from functioning at work or doing Dafa work. Now I think back this was often the case when I suffered illness karma. I knew that Master helped me eliminate most of the karma.
One day I decided that I was done with the pain and would see a dentist. Before I called the dentist, I got a practitioner’s message saying that there was no assignment for me that day. Just as I silently cheered to have time to visit a dentist, the practitioner asked if it was okay for me to help with a different type of article. I could almost hear Master saying that if I had time to see a dentist, maybe I had time for an article. I pulled myself together and worked on the article.
Through constant Fa study, my understanding of illness karma improved. Many years ago I traveled out of town on New Year’s Eve, and that night my tooth hurt. I couldn’t find a pharmacy that was open, nor did I know where to find a doctor. I remember screaming in my hotel room. It took me a while to get a bottle of painkillers, which did not help at all. The pharmacist told me that she never saw a cheek that swollen. I had my tooth removed after the holidays. That amount of pain for days made a deep impression on me. From then on, even after I became a practitioner, as soon as my tooth hurt, I’d turn into an ordinary person and convince myself that it was fine to see a dentist. Toothaches have since become tests I couldn’t pass, and so I kept getting tested. The number of teeth implants in my mouth went up over the years.
Master said,
“...when he meets with adversity, hold fast to the guidance of his teacher—be it in whatever practice or belief—and remember that his is a spiritual life, see the situation for what it is, and embrace it and handle it in the manner set forth by his way of practice. Some people can just never believe in such things, though, and think that there’s more to gain by being worldly. What makes it so hard for them to believe is that they aren’t willing to open their minds.” (The Ninth Talk, Zhuan Falun)
I put up with the toothache for a few months this time. It finally stopped hurting, unless I purposely bit into it. I didn’t want to put up with the inconvenience and went to a dentist. After examining the tooth, the dentist told me that it cracked in half, and asked how I put up with the pain for so long. She pulled it out and split the tooth in half with a pair of tweezers in front of me. I know that I still fear pain, but I no longer see toothaches with an ordinary person’s notion.
I still have many attachments, and many times I have not conducted myself based on the Fa. Nonetheless, I believe that Master will help me eliminate my attachments if I continue to study the Fa, send righteous thoughts, and clarify the truth. Thank you, Master! Thank you, Falun Dafa and the practitioners who work on the Minghui website.
Please kindly point out inappropriate views in the above sharing.
(Presented at the 2022 Minghui Teams Experience Sharing Conference)
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