(Minghui.org) Greetings, Master! Greetings, fellow practitioners!
When I first became involved in translating for the Minghui website, I was also participating in other projects. I gradually realized that even if I put in all my energy after work, I still had little time left to spend on translation if I was also involved in other projects.
I tried to balance the workload between translating Minghui articles and other projects, but I struggled with how much time and energy I should devote to translating. At that time, my company’s HR department asked me to increase my workload—from working part-time to full-time. The company said that a part-time job only worked when there was not enough work. They also said that managing a team with many part-timers is less efficient and more challenging.
I realized that nothing was accidental. I looked inward and examined why I wanted to take on more projects. Was it because there weren’t enough translation assignments? On the contrary, we were too busy to finish our assigned translations on time. So why did I want to take on work from other projects when I had so many translation assignments? When I examined myself further, I found that it was because I lacked confidence in the Minghui translation project. Because the translation team is very confidential, I couldn’t tell how many people read the articles I translated or whether my work was effective in saving people. Because of this I had no confidence in the significance of this project and often worried that if I didn’t participate in other projects, I might fall behind in the process of Fa-rectification.
Master said:
“A Dafa disciple must do everything steadily, put his heart into it, not be attached to time, and not think too much. You have to give your very best in whatever you are supposed to do, and it will go well.” (“Fa Teaching on World Falun Dafa Day,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. XII)
I discovered my attachment to seeing is believing, which I realized came from Chinese Communist Party (CCP) culture and atheism. After I identified this attachment, I decided to eliminate it and be a translator who was fully devoted to Minghui. Of course, I will do as much as I can if my help is needed elsewhere, but I decided not to take on other long-term projects unless I had few translation assignments.
I gradually decided to focus on translating for Minghui. I translated articles every day from the day I made up my mind, as long as I had access to a computer.
It was not easy to stick to it at first. When I went out to help with other truth clarification activities and came home late, I wanted to take a break from translating. My thinking was that I had already clarified the truth, which is one of the three things Master asked us to do.
I told myself that I would not follow this thought, as it may not be from my true self. I instead examined what generated the thought of not wanting to work on translation after a long day of doing other Dafa activities. I found that I often unconsciously counted in my mind how many of the three things I did that day. I realized that behind this thought was the idea of treating the three things as an extra assignment. When I had that thought did I treat myself as a Fa particle? Didn’t it come from the selfish nature of the old universe?
Since I am a particle in the Fa, seizing all the time I have to do whatever I can to save people is the reason why I’m here. After I realized this I translated every day, no matter how tired I felt, except when I was out of town and could not access the Internet. Doing this day after day has become a responsibility, my daily routine, and a part of my life.
Even though I focused on translation, I didn’t use it as an excuse to cover up my attachment to comfort and avoid going out to tell people about Falun Dafa and the persecution. I go to local tourist attractions every weekend, rain or shine, to clarify the truth face to face. I found that clarifying the truth in person helps me greatly in translation. By talking to western people, I saw the differences between Chinese and Western cultures and our different ways of thinking. I understood further why we, the translation team, can’t translate Chinese into English mechanically. We should do everything we can to translate the article into something that westerners can easily understand and accept.
While fulfilling my promise to do the Minghui translations every day and do them sincerely, I became down-to-earth and moved up in my cultivation.
No Longer Controlled by Cell Phones and Cultivating My Speech
Nowadays, people are controlled by their cell phones. It’s as if they can’t do anything without them. I never thought I had an attachment to my cell phone as I did not visit ordinary people’s websites or self-media. I discovered this hidden attachment only after I devoted myself to Minghui translation work.
One night while I was translating articles, my productivity was poor because I often stopped to take phone calls and respond to text messages. I worked for hours but barely accomplished anything. I was frustrated and felt I had not kept my promise to the translation project. I thought, “The phone is just a device and a tool. As a Dafa disciple, how can my behavior be driven and controlled by a communication tool?”
When I looked at my incoming and outgoing calls, I was surprised to find that most of the phone calls I made, whether with non-practitioners or practitioners, were completely unnecessary, and many things I said were improper. Many phone calls with non-practitioners were driven by my pursuit of fame, personal gain, and my attachment to showing off and wanting to meddle in others’ business. Many phone calls with practitioners started as experience sharing but soon ended in senseless gossip.
Measuring myself with the Fa teachings, I realized I wasn’t meeting the standard of cultivation of speech required by Master. I immediately adjusted how I used my cell phone when I realized I had this big cultivation loophole. I muted my cell phone when I worked on translations and used it only when I was commuting or during my break time at work. I memorized Master’s Fa related to cultivating speech. I also sent forth righteous thoughts to eliminate the notions, CCP culture, and attachments that caused me not to watch what I said.
In the beginning, the constant ringing of my cell phone drew me, and I wanted to pick it up and look at it. Some people complained that I didn’t answer the phone. But after I improved my xinxing, and when I did better in cultivating my speech, I no longer received meaningless phone calls.
My contact with fellow practitioners and friends was not affected at all. In addition, my mind became much calmer and purer when I eliminated my attachments, cultivated my speech, and measured what I said with the Fa. I was more focused when I studied the Fa, did the exercises, and sent forth righteous thoughts. I simply wanted to do more translations and quietly focus on doing them well. Because of this thought of being responsible to the project, my cultivation has greatly improved.
Understanding Whether or Not to Rewrite the Chinese Article
Our team had several discussions on whether to rewrite the original Chinese articles when we translated them. I would like to talk about the process I went through to understand this issue.
I learned the translation principles of faithfulness, expressiveness, and elegance while studying English translation at a university. For many years, I only remembered the principle of faithfulness. I believed that we should translate the original text word for word.
Therefore, when I translated, even if the Chinese text had a lot of room for improvement, I still translated it with a hard head. I thought, “It’s not my responsibility. The author just wrote it this way. It is up to the readers to like or not.” Based on this thought, in the early years, I often did not accept the changes made by editors because I felt that they changed the original words.
One time, I received an article written with lots of dialects. I couldn’t fully understand what the author was trying to say. I didn’t know what to do, so I simply finished it using a translation app and handed it in. The assignment was picked out by the polisher, saying that he or she basically had to redo the entire article. After I read the comment I knew I hadn’t done well. But I was not convinced, thinking I could do nothing about it. The author just wrote that way.
Still not convinced, I told my child, who grew up in Western culture, that I would share a story with him. I then interpreted the article word by word, just as I would translate it. My child looked at me with a blank face, and kept saying, “Weird.” He didn’t want to listen to it. Then I read him the polished article, and he said, “Oh, so that’s how it is. This is great.”
I learned a lot from this lesson. I started to think about why we translate. No matter what kind of readership our articles target, our ultimate goal is to help people learn the truth.
Translation is not simply a matter of turning Chinese words into English. If that was the case, we can use a translation app. We should instead bridge the two cultures to help convey the original text’s real meaning clearly.
From that day on, I started to combine repetitive sentences, reassemble some paragraphs, or remove unnecessary details to clarify the content. I re-read the draft several times. I hope that our readers will enjoy reading about practitioners’ experiences.
In the process, I also discovered a lot of Party culture in myself that I was unaware of. For example, I found that most words or details that the polishers deleted were empty and big talk. I also found that the polishers often let the facts speak for themselves and rewrote vague speculations, such as the words “think” and “feel.” When I tried to digest why they made the change that way, I discovered my Party culture of suspicion and negative thinking. I was glad because otherwise I wouldn’t have recognized these aspects of Party culture I still had.
Eliminating the Illusion of Sickness While Working on Translations
I occasionally hear that a practitioner has died. Every project needs more people and so many people still haven’t been saved. So, losing a practitioner is a significant loss. I want to tell you how I eliminated the illusion of sickness karma several years ago in the hopes that it will be helpful.
A few years ago, I was bitten by a mosquito on my right leg. At first I ignored it. Within three days, the bite quickly developed from being red to causing my legs to swell, from my knees to my feet. On the morning of the third day, I woke up in pain and found that my legs were swollen so severely that I couldn’t even sit up due to the pain.
I thought, ”Should I call in sick?” I then quickly denied the thought, telling myself that it was not from my true self and that I should never go along with it. I told myself that it was time to get up and do the exercises. But when I moved a little, my legs and my entire body were in terrible pain. The pain eased when I lay down, but it seemed impossible to stand or even sit up.
I thought, “Would Master arrange for a disciple to not be able to do the exercises? Definitely not. Since this is not Master’s arrangement, I should do what a practitioner is supposed to do.”
I slowly got up, stood up, moved to the side of the bed, and did the standing exercises. Every movement was like a million knives cutting into my legs and feet. After I finished, a miracle happened. The unbearable pain suddenly disappeared. I looked at my legs and saw they were still swollen, but they didn’t hurt at all.
I knelt before Master’s photo with tears in my eyes. I knew that Master again bore this substantial pain for me. I said, “Master, thank you for taking care of me. I will not let Master down. I will definitely be able to pass this tribulation.”
I went to work and did the housework as usual that day. At the same time, I tried my best not to think about my legs. I used every minute to constantly send righteous thoughts or recite poems from Hong Yin. I also looked inward to discover my loopholes and eliminated my attachments when I found them.
I had difficulty moving or sitting that night because my legs were still very swollen. Just as I was hesitating if I should tell my team leader about this and take a few days break, I was assigned an urgent report to translate.
I knew I should not excuse myself from anything that needed to be done because it was my mission. So I did not hesitate and worked late that night to finish the article.
I didn’t expect that when I submitted that assignment, I would be assigned another urgent translation. Day after day, for several months, our team leader kept assigning me time-sensitive reports and various other urgent translations, almost every day. Even though I was undergoing a tribulation, I actually did much more than usual.
After I passed the tribulation and looked back, I realized that the Minghui translations kept me from lying down and feeling sorry for myself. My daily translation assignment reminded me of my responsibility and mission as a Dafa disciple and strengthened my righteous thoughts.
When I really wanted to give up, my translation commitment reminded me that I was a Dafa disciple in the Fa-rectification period, and I was cultivating not only for myself. When the situation seemed hopeless, I thought, “If I die today, my team leader won’t even know! She will be waiting for me to turn in my assignments. Won’t she be worried and anxious! If she has to wait for several days before she assigns this to another team member, this news will become useless. Then wouldn’t the report be done for nothing?”
My commitment to translation soon helped me recognize the sickness karma I was experiencing was indeed an illusion and thus helped me break through it completely.
My swollen legs were as heavy as if they were filled with lead. The feeling of weakness and exhaustion was real, even though I kept telling myself that they were an illusion.
I ran to the bus station after work one day to catch my bus. After I boarded, I suddenly realized that I was running to the bus station every day after work because I wanted to get home earlier to start translating. At that moment, I suddenly broke through my human mindset. According to the human notion, shouldn’t my legs become worse after a long day of work? But when my heart was filled with my translation work, the feeling of so-called sickness was gone.
No surprise, I recovered soon after I changed my mindset. Just after I passed the tribulation, the busy translation season ended. My team leader stopped assigning me time-sensitive translations. I don’t know how to express my appreciation for Master’s arrangement and boundless compassion.
I am very grateful for the Minghui translation project and the endless patience of our team leaders and polishers. I often think that we must have all made a vow before coming to earth that we would use all means to support each other through this crucial final moment.
Conclusion
The Minghui translation project helped me become cooperative and humble. I keep identifying my mistakes and trying to do better the next time. Participating in the Minghui translations made me understand what solid cultivation is.
Dear fellow practitioners, let’s cherish this opportunity that Master has given us to be part of the Minghui team. Let’s not slack off, even though sometimes our work may seem repetitive. Let’s remind each other to cultivate diligently at this critical moment in history. Let’s all truly cultivate ourselves, do our best, and fulfill our missions.
Thank you, Master! Thank you, fellow practitioners.
(Presented at the 2022 Minghui Teams Experience Sharing Conference)
Views expressed in this article represent the author's own opinions or understandings. All content published on this website are copyrighted by Minghui.org. Minghui will produce compilations of its online content regularly and on special occasions.
