(Minghui.org) I am a young practitioner and joined the Minghui translation team at the end of 2019. Over the past 2 years and 8 months, I have translated about 480 articles.
When the notice about the Minghui Fahui was sent out, I shied away from writing an article, though it was strongly encouraged. My cultivation process was not like that of practitioners in China where they persist under the great pressure of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), nor was it like that of overseas practitioners where they clarify the truth every day at tourist sites while helping ordinary people withdraw from the CCP. So I always had the mentality that there was nothing significant about my cultivation that was worth sharing. I did not feel the need to write an experience-sharing article. On top of that, I wasn’t particularly eloquent and did not really know how to express myself. I became very passive during this process and thought that I would be better off listening to other practitioners’ experience sharing.
At a sharing about two weeks prior to the Fahui, a practitioner inquired about whether I was going to write an experience article. She again relayed the message and encouraged everyone to write an article. It dawned on me that this was not a coincidence as I was reminded about the experience sharing twice. Regardless of how long or how short my experience sharing article was, or how dull or exciting it might be, I thought of the need to summarize and report my cultivation process to Master Li as a Minghui translator over the past two years and eight months.
My initial goal in joining the Minghui translation team was to put my bilingual skills of being fluent in English and Chinese to good use. I also wanted to contribute to the Minghui team since a section of Master’s lectures was always in the back of my mind. I had always thought it pertained to me.
Master said,
“Also, the people doing Minghui work need to be very trustworthy and reliable practitioners, since they have to establish lines of communication with practitioners in China directly; they have to be very reliable and dedicated to the work, and really able to apply themselves to it in full. Younger Dafa disciples are most needed, but it’s hardest for them to stick with things, and so this poses challenges, too.” (“2018 Fa Teaching Given in Washington, D.C.,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. XV, Team Yellow Translation)
When I received the opportunity to be a Minghui translator in 2019, I was determined to do this project well and thought it should be an easy task. I grew up in Chinese and Western environments, so translating from Chinese to English didn’t seem like a hard task at all. I became so full of myself and even thought, “I definitely won’t be like the other young Dafa disciples who cannot stick with things. I can definitely do it and stick with it until the end.”
Initial Phase of Translation
Translating articles required many different formats and at times I needed to research certain topics. I was still quite eager to do translations. Around March of 2020, the COVID virus hit us and my company required everyone to work from home. I was delighted as this was an opportunity for me to translate more articles while still being financially stable. So I would usually translate an article in a day or two, sometimes three days if an article was longer. I became quite proud of myself and thought this was a great accomplishment. As time passed, I started to focus more on the quantity rather than the quality of the articles. I was attached to how many articles I could translate instead of truly putting my heart into the translations. I started to make minor errors and these became recurring events. My team lead would compassionately and repeatedly point out my errors. I started to become ashamed of myself and thought, “How can I still make this mistake like this? My team lead had already reminded me numerous times!”
I enlightened to the fact that I was quite attached to the results as opposed to the process. I stressed the importance of quantity when I should have actually been paying attention to the quality of my work. At times, I wouldn’t even remember what I’d translated after uploading it online. I compared myself to a Shen Yun dancer. For example, over the thousands of shows a Shen Yun dancer may perform in his or her lifetime, he or she would always strive to give his or her best during each show. A dancer always reveals the best in them to the audience. If the dancer relied on the quantity of the shows instead of the quality, how could he or she save sentient beings?
Master said,
“Instead, the enlightenment quality of a smart person is not good, because a person who is overly smart will only do superficial work in order to be appreciated by his boss or supervisor. In that case, won’t the actual work be done by somebody else?” (Lecture Nine, Zhuan Falun, Third Translation Edition (Updated in March, 2000. USA) )
I felt as if I was merely doing the translation on a superficial level. The real workload was being done by someone else. This resulted in far less productivity. I corrected my mentality and began to pay attention to minor details.
After a period of time, I reached another breakthrough in my cultivation. I began to worry about how long or short each article was whenever the team lead assigned me articles. I would be happy and content when an article was short because it meant less work and less time for translation. I would start to worry and think about an unfinished article if I happened to receive a longer article that required a couple of days of work. I started to treat it as a task instead of viewing it as a way to improve in cultivation. It then occurred to me that I was unable to stick to a task just like what Master had mentioned. It proved a challenge to me and things did not go as I had originally planned. I rectified these thoughts and knew I needed to treat everything with a calm heart. I also learned the importance of conveying the author’s idea instead of just translating word for word. It was also my responsibility for readers to understand the article well.
Until recently, I had started slacking off in translating articles and my turnover rate was not as fast as before. I realized the reason I translated an article fast was that I was able to gain more mighty virtue. I was meticulously calculating the amount of loss or gains I have in cultivation. I also wanted to make up for many of my cultivation loopholes in the past by translating more articles. After writing this here, I enlightened to the fact that I have been quite selfish and my mind is completely occupied with my personal gains with no room to think of others. Cultivation is about letting go rather than pursuit. I’d accomplish a task enthusiastically if it was to my liking, and on the contrary, if it was something I disliked, I would shy away from it.
Master had mentioned,
“That is not to say that simply wishing to do some good counts as compassion. When someone is seized by a whim and acts on it, that doesn’t count as compassion. Rather, in that case it stems from the person’s likings. Or put more bluntly, it’s out of attachment. True compassion doesn’t have any selfishness mixed in, and one will, when dealing with anyone, or sentient beings in general, look at things with righteous thoughts and loving kindness. (“What is a Dafa Disciple,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. XI)
The desire to validate myself has been embedded so deep that I was unable to detect it. Going forward no matter what things I encounter, I need to “...try to always be thoughtful towards others.” (The Ninth Talk, Zhuan Falun) I will make the best use of the little remaining time to do well in my translation work.
Thank you Master!Thank you fellow practitioners!
(Presented at the 2022 Minghui Teams Experience Sharing Conference)
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