(Minghui.org) Greeting, respected Master and fellow practitioners.
I would like to share with you my experience of how I was able to read Zhuan Falun in Chinese. Perhaps my account will serve as an encouragement to other practitioners who also have a desire to read Zhuan Falun in its original language.
Starting to Practice Falun Dafa
Before I began practicing Falun Dafa, I had been searching for a way to improve myself. I read various books on the subject and even tried out a few forms of qigong. However, I never stuck with any one path for long; I always looked for something better.
While I was in Lucerne in 2006, I passed by an information booth where practitioners were raising awareness about Falun Dafa and the persecution taking place in China. I hurried by, thinking, “They’re probably just looking for donations. I already support an aid organization, and I don’t want to spend more money.”
I happened to pass by the booth a second time and saw a picture of a mother and her daughter in prison. That prompted me to find out what this was all about.
A practitioner told me about the persecution, explained the Falun Dafa exercises, and described how to incorporate the Fa principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance into one’s daily life. At the end of our conversation, she gave me a copy of the publication Falun Gong in Focus. I still remember how the two words Falun Gong triggered something within me; I felt a strong connection. I later realize that at that very moment, my predestined relationship with Master and Dafa was coming to fruition.
Initial Tests
I recall two incidents that served to test my resolve to practice or, perhaps, to deter me from the path of cultivation.
In 2006, I was living with my father and his partner. When I returned home with a copy of the newspaper Falun Gong in Focus, I told them about the severe persecution in China and about this path of cultivation, which resonated with me very deeply.
My father’s partner, who had explored many different spiritual paths throughout her life, suggested that Falun Dafa was a very high-level form of qigong, and that I would need to practice an ordinary qigong before I could begin practicing Falun Dafa. However, I had a strong desire to immediately practice Falun Dafa so fortunately, I did not heed her advice. Had I listened, I would have missed out on an extraordinary predestined connection with Dafa!
After I practiced Falun Dafa for some time and read Master’s writings, I felt absolutely wonderful. I was bathed in the compassionate light of Dafa. I could not have been happier!
Part of my route when I drove home from work ran alongside a railway track that paralleled the road. While I drove home one day, I adjusted something on the radio and briefly took my eyes off the road. Suddenly, I heard a thumping sound and felt the car shudder. Looking up, I realized that my vehicle had veered off the road, crossed over a low wall, and I was now driving along the railway ballast. I remained completely calm; I simply steered the car back onto the road. Nothing happened, and the vehicle was not damaged.
It was truly just as Master said:
“If a debt is owed, it must be paid. Therefore, some dangerous things may occur in the course of cultivation. When these things take place, however, you will not be scared, and neither will real danger be allowed to happen to you.” (Lecture Three, Zhuan Falun)
Clarifying the Truth in Hong Kong
A practitioner who frequently traveled to Hong Kong to assist local practitioners in clarifying the truth about the persecution asked if I would like to join them. I agreed immediately, as I saw it as a valuable opportunity—as a Western practitioner—to come into direct contact with people from mainland China.
In Hong Kong, we spent every evening clarifying the truth at The Peak—a vantage point overlooking the city that many tourists visited, especially those from mainland China. The local practitioners put a tremendous amount of effort into explaining the facts. Each day, they would load all their materials, including battery-powered television sets, banners, and various display boards, into a taxi, head to The Peak, and set everything up at this popular landmark.
The first few days were quite challenging for me. I was still a relatively new practitioner. As I helped set up the informational materials at The Peak, the first buses would arrive, each disgorging a wave of Chinese tourists. At times, I felt almost dazed and had to make a conscious effort to maintain righteous thoughts.
After a few days, thanks to regular Fa study and sending forth righteous thoughts, things began to improve. I would walk back and forth between the buses and the tourists, carrying a display board. Sometimes I could sense myself being guided to a specific location where tourists—whether still inside their buses or standing just outside—would look at the display boards with interest. I coordinated with a local practitioner, who would approach the tourists as they read the boards and explain the true situation to them.
After spending a few hours presenting the facts, when we packed up our informational materials and headed home, I would feel a bit tired, yet filled with a wonderful sense of lightness.
Reading Zhuan Falun with Chinese-Speaking Practitioners
Local practitioners in Hong Kong rented an apartment to accommodate those who traveled from other countries to provide support. Each day, several Hong Kong practitioners would gather at the apartment for group Fa study. As they read Zhuan Falun in Chinese, I would follow along by reading the German version silently to myself.
I used the pauses between paragraphs as a guide to ensure I was reading the same passage as the Hong Kong practitioners. Over time, I began to recognize recurring Chinese words and could link them to their German equivalents; though, in truth, this represented only a tiny fraction of the total vocabulary, and there was still so much I did not understand.
No Gain Without Loss
Back in Switzerland, my desire to be able to read Zhuan Falun in Chinese grew ever stronger. I had read about how some practitioners, particularly older ones from mainland China who were illiterate, had been able to read Zhuan Falun miraculously. I wanted to see if such a miracle might be granted to me as well, so I ordered the Chinese version of Zhuan Falun.
When I opened it, I found, to my surprise, that I couldn’t understand a single thing. Clearly, that was not my path; I would have to put in some hard work. At the time, a practitioner from Germany lived nearby and worked as an assistant physician at a hospital in a neighboring town. We met regularly to do the exercises and study the Fa together.
It turned out that he was able to read Zhuan Falun in Chinese! Naturally, I wanted to know how he did this. He showed me an app called Pleco. With this app, you can read Chinese text by tapping on individual characters; it then displays the pronunciation in Pinyin, a translation, and even provides an audio clip of the word being pronounced correctly.
So, I loaded the Chinese version of Zhuan Falun into Pleco and began reading, character by character. It was difficult initially, as I was faced with so many unfamiliar characters. But I encouraged myself with the thought that others before me had managed to do it.
I could feel that Master was helping me in my study, provided that I approached it with a pure heart and without any ulterior motives. My initial desire—to be able to read the Fa in Chinese immediately, as if by a miracle—had not been righteous. It was rooted in a heart full of attachment and a craving for recognition.
And so, I began reading Zhuan Falun in Chinese, character by character. As I did, I used the app Pleco to look up the meanings and listen to the pronunciations. Although my progress was initially very slow, I told myself, “The speed doesn’t really matter; after all, I am still learning the Fa.”
To ensure that I wouldn't forget the characters I had already learned, I saved them as flashcards in Pleco. This allowed me to study and review them whenever I had a spare moment, whether I was traveling by train, eating, or simply during a break. Once I internalized the pronunciation and meaning of a character, I would remove it from my flashcard deck to make room for new ones. Additionally, I used various language-learning apps to study the basic structures of the grammar, which further aided my comprehension of Chinese.
Learning Chinese in Taiwan and Validating the Fa
To pursue a more structured study of the Chinese language, I enrolled in a Chinese course at the University of Zurich. After a year, it was suggested that we undertake a language immersion program in either China or Taiwan; I decided to go to Taiwan for a year. A Chinese practitioner living in Switzerland helped me arrange an apartment in Taiwan and provided me with local practitioners’ contact information.
Once I arrived in Taipei, a local practitioner showed me various locations where the truth about the persecution was being shared with people from mainland China. I was deeply impressed by the large number of practitioners actively working against the persecution on a daily basis, and by how well-organized their efforts were. The practitioner also took me to Taipei 101—a skyscraper over 500 meters tall—which is visited by many mainland Chinese tourists every day. There, local practitioners would demonstrate the exercises, distribute flyers, and display informational materials regarding the persecution and the true facts about Falun Dafa.
Unfortunately, there was also a group present that loudly promoted the CCP, played jarring music, and waved the communist flag. I was truly moved by the practitioners who, despite this disruption, remained steadfast—continuing to demonstrate the exercises, hand out flyers, and speak with tourists about the persecution. Inspired by their sincerity, I decided to join them at Taipei 101 to help clarify the facts.
My daily routine consisted of attending a Chinese language class in the morning, having lunch, completing my homework, and then cycling to Taipei 101 to distribute flyers and display information boards about the persecution. The CCP agents there were very upset that a Westerner was helping to expose their crimes.
They would repeatedly approach me and hurl verbal abuse. Fortunately, I only understood a fraction of what they were saying. They even brought in the police and claimed that as a foreigner, I had no business “engaging in politics.” The local practitioners then explained to the officers that this was purely a matter of upholding one’s faith and had nothing to do with politics. The situation was resolved, and I was able to continue explaining the facts there.
A few times a week, I participated in group Fa study. At first, it was very difficult for me to keep up with the pace at which the other practitioners were reading, even when I was only reading along quietly. Over time, however, it became easier, and I eventually felt confident enough to sometimes read aloud. When reading in Chinese, I had to remain extremely focused; otherwise, I would lose my place.
When reading the German version of Zhuan Falun, I would sometimes find my thoughts wandering, which meant I wasn’t fully absorbing the Fa.
Master said,
“Some people just cannot improve their enlightenment quality. They casually make marks in my book. Those of our cultivators with the celestial eye open can each see that this book looks very colorful, golden, and shiny.” (Lecture Nine, Zhuan Falun)
I realized that, while reading, I was essentially making “marks and highlights” in the book with my own thoughts—for instance, by labeling parts as “a long lesson” or “a short lesson,” or thinking, “Ah, now comes the section where Master talks about this or that,” or “This is a long [or short] section,” and so on. By imposing these definitions on a lesson or specific sections, I was actually preventing myself from gaining new insights.
Master said,
“As a matter of fact, this is because the same Fa has different transformations and forms of manifestation at different levels, and it can play different guiding roles for cultivators at different levels.” (Lecture One, Zhuan Falun)
Doesn’t this mean that, as long as one is elevating one’s xinxing, one is always learning a new Fa?
Reading the Chinese version of Zhuan Falun has been a great help to me in working on this aspect of myself. Because I initially had to learn the characters one by one, I had no mental capacity left for other thoughts, which allowed me to focus entirely on studying the Fa.
Thirteen years have flown by since I first began studying the Chinese version of Zhuan Falun. Throughout these years, I have encountered various hurdles, including certain characters that simply refused to stick in my mind. All along the way, I have truly felt Master quietly accompanying me and encouraging me to keep going.
Looking back, I can now see the path that Master arranged for me—a path that fulfilled my wish to be able to read the Chinese version of Zhuan Falun.Now, when I help out at an information booth in Lucerne, the very place where I first encountered the Fa over 20 years ago, I am able to speak a bit of Chinese with tourists from China.
Thank you very much, revered Master! Thank you, fellow practitioners!
(Presented at the 2026 German-speaking Swiss Fa Conference)
