Treasuring My Path While Memorizing Zhuan Falun

(Minghui.org) Once I started memorizing Zhuan Falun every day, my cultivation state improved significantly. Whenever I encounter problems, I find my attachments and get rid of them using the Fa principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forebearance. Memorizing Zhuan Falun has enabled me to walk steadily on my path of cultivation.

I have been a Falun Dafa adherent for 25 years, yet I just started memorizing Zhuan Falun 10 years ago. When I tried to memorize the book in 2005, I felt a strong energy field, but still gave up. I thought it was too time-consuming because I could read three lectures in the same amount of time it took me to memorize one section. At that time, I didn’t put my heart into studying or understanding the deeper meaning of the Fa.

I felt powerful energy again when I first began memorizing the Fa. I cherished Master Li Hongzhi's blessings this time and persevered until I reached the end, no matter how difficult it was. In the beginning, I had to divide one paragraph into two or three parts. Gradually, I was able to recite one entire paragraph at a time. This year, I demanded more from myself by memorizing whole sections.

I made sure to understand every word and the surface meaning by heart. I didn’t memorize the Fa for the sake of it or pursue speed. I found it was easy to read quickly without understanding the deeper meaning because, after all, I had read the book a thousand times.

When I recited, the words sometimes came out smoothly and fluently without my thinking about them. I stayed alert when this happened and tried to feel in my heart that I was reciting the Fa for the first time. I said every single word and sentence carefully.

Reciting Zhuan Falun allows me to enlighten to the Fa's principles more deeply. Sometimes, I suddenly gain a deeper understanding when Master talks about an issue from a different perspective. I also began understanding the connotations behind the words, and each sentence was profound. I realized there are layers and layers of principles behind the words; sometimes I had to recite the same paragraph many times to understand it.

Reciting the Fa also helps me to stay calm and removes bad thoughts. I can identify my problems, pinpoint my various attachments, and eliminate them. At the same time, reciting the Fa is a process of cleaning up and disintegrating the bad substances in my dimensional field. For example, I used to add some words or miss certain words or sentences. Correcting these mistakes is essentially a process of removing the bad material in other dimensions. After I realized this, I spoke more slowly.

Assimilating Every Thought to Dafa

Memorizing and reciting the Fa is also a process of cultivating solidly. When I cultivate myself well, the true meaning of Dafa reveals itself to me. Reciting the Fa also brings me to a higher realm. My xinxing improves, and I improve in all aspects.

Once I immersed myself in the Fa, I was able to find the best solution to many problems that I hadn’t solved for a long time. I know that Dafa gave me the wisdom because I was enlightened by a sudden intuition, not something I got by thinking hard or using human intelligence.

For example, on the Minghui website, many practitioners talk about cultivating their thoughts. I also wanted to measure my every thought against the standards of the Fa, but it was hard to do so.

One day, it occurred to me to write down my negative thoughts and clear them up. I put a notebook and pen in a convenient place. When a distracting thought came up while reciting the Fa, I immediately wrote it down. Surprisingly, the distracting thoughts became fewer and fewer as soon as I wrote them down. It seemed that they were afraid to be exposed. I then looked within and found the root attachments behind these thoughts and eliminated them.

I used to think some fundamental attachments were related to my personality or a habit. Now I can quickly catch bad thoughts, identify the attachments behind them, and reject them. I found negative thinking has formed a granite-like substance in another dimension. Although I have not yet eliminated all of my negative thoughts, I know I can get rid of them by looking inward.

Gaining Wisdom and Courage 

After I started reciting Zhuan Falun, I let go of the attachment of fear. Master helped me broaden my truth-clarification skills and gave me wisdom.

I was arrested and detained twice. I did well and had no fear while in the detention centers because I had to let go of life and death in that situation. I clarified the truth with righteous thoughts and walked out of the detention center with dignity.

However, things were different when I returned home. In my daily life, most of my thoughts sprang from an ordinary person’s mindset. Due to my family background, I had suffered miserably under the communist regime since childhood, which made me timid and introverted. As a result, I didn’t take the initiative to talk about Falun Dafa with people who were in a position of power.

For years, the property management office monitored me around the clock. Whenever I went out, they reported my whereabouts to the police. This caused severe obstacles and pressure for me because I wanted to tell people about Falun Dafa and the persecution.

I always had scarves, hats, and outerwear in my bag so I could change my look and get rid of whoever was following me. I sent righteous thoughts about this for one hour every day. However, no matter how hard I tried, I could not change the situation. I felt bitter and helpless.

One day, I thought I would write a letter to the property management office to tell them the facts about Dafa. The idea scared me at first, as I had never taken the initiative to approach people in my immediate environment. I recognized my attachment of fear and decided to get rid of it.

In the letter, I told the management office why I practiced Dafa, and facts about the practice and the persecution. I also told them the harm their surveillance had caused my family. I explained that good and evil result in rewards and karmic retribution respectively, and that those who help practitioners will benefit.

I made copies of the letter and asked the community security guard to read it and pass it on to the property managers. The letter touched them deeply. The people involved in monitoring me looked sheepish when they next saw me.

My environment changed quickly after that. Soon, another property management company was assigned to look after our community. I made many copies of the letter and circulated them to the residents’ committee to seek their understanding and help. I asked them to pass my letter to the new property company.

After learning the facts, the residents’ committee supported me, and the staff of the new property management office stopped following me. I also gained the respect of everyone that knew me.

In dealing with the “Zero-Out” campaign, I realized I was there to save the police, not be persecuted by them. I talked with a heart of great kindness to everyone who came to harass me. I refused to sign the three statements renouncing Falun Dafa and defended my faith. 
The police and community members who came to harass me were initially aggressive. They all became very polite and stopped harassing me after I talked with them about Falun Dafa. My practice environment is now relatively relaxed.

Throughout this time, my xinxing improved. At first, I just wanted to free myself from the constant harassment; but I gradually realized that I should save everyone I meet. I constantly confronted my fears, disintegrated all kinds of negative thoughts, and faced up to the seemingly influential people that I most wanted to avoid in the past. I feel it is a miracle when I think about all that has happened. I know I couldn’t have made such changes if I hadn’t assimilated to the Fa.

The transcendent power of the Fa changed me on a subconscious level, and every step was tailored to enable me to improve my character. After I assimilated to the Fa, I was able to turn bad things into good things. Just as Master said,

“I believe that if you can do that, you will always find that there is light at the end of the tunnel.” (The Ninth Talk, Zhuan Falun)

Doing the Second Exercise for Two Hours

The improvement in my cultivation is also reflected in my body. I did the exercises every day and never missed a day before I started reciting the Fa. However, I still tired easily, and sometimes I coughed on cold days. Two years before the Minghui website published the new exercise music, I decided to do exercise two for two hours. Since then, I have become much stronger. I no longer cough in cold weather. And although I don’t sleep much, I'm very energetic and clear-headed.

My daily schedule is tight. I do the standing exercises at 9:20 p.m., meditate for two hours, send righteous thoughts, and do the second exercise for two hours. By then it is 3:00 a.m. So I go to bed and then get up at 5:30 a.m. 

I study and recite the Fa in the morning. To save time, I don’t cook a meal at noon, I just eat leftovers. In the afternoon, I go out to talk with people about Falun Dafa, or work on Dafa projects. After cooking dinner for my family and cleaning up the house in the evening, I read articles on the Minghui website until 9:20 p.m.

I didn’t choose to sleep so little. I just wanted to use the daytime to study the Fa and clarify the facts to more people, and the evenings to meditate and do the exercises. Consequently, I sleep less.

Some practitioners who know I only sleep for about two hours say I can endure a lot of hardship. I don't think of it as suffering. On the contrary, I think I am the happiest person in the world when I cultivate diligently. 

I am in my seventies, my body feels light, and I walk quickly. I forget my age. The word “elderly” does not describe me. The police and community members who came to my home said that I was in good spirits and looked like I was in my fifties at most. So they all think that Falun Gong is good.

Witnessing my improvements, other practitioners in my Fa study group have started memorizing the Fa and did the second exercise for two hours. They all said they benefited from doing these things.

Enlightening to the Profoundness of Dafa

With a deeper understanding of the Fa, I felt my cultivation realm has elevated. For example, to memorize the Fa by subsections in each chapter, I had to understand the inner logic of the paragraphs. One day, it suddenly dawned on me that the connection among paragraphs was also a manifestation of the Fa. It could not be seen from the surface text. It is like energy channels in the human body. People can’t see them, but they exist in a deeper dimension.

For example, in the section “The Attachment of Zealotry,” half of the section is about the state of meditation, which seemed to have no relation to the attachment of zealotry. I couldn’t understand why the section was structured that way, but I knew there must be a reason. I did not mean to analyze the structure of Zhuan Falun. I just felt that I had unintentionally touched something that could only be understood but not expressed.

I bought a whiteboard to write down some hard-to-remember paragraphs. I found that I left out most punctuation marks. In the process of copying the Fa, I discovered that punctuation was also a manifestation of the Fa.

Memorizing the Fa by heart is so subtle. Often, in the process of reciting, the vast Fa principles behind the words were revealed. I have learned that no matter how many times we study the Fa, we must turn our minds into a blank sheet of paper to understand the deeper meanings. 

It was like standing before the entrance of a treasure cave. You must understand the surface meaning before going deeper into the cave to obtain the riches therein. Only then will the Fa reveal what you should know at that level.

Before memorizing Zhuan Falun, I thought I must have read it a thousand times and was so familiar with the content. Only now do I realize how ignorant that thought was. The depth and breadth of Zhuan Falun, which is the foundation of the universe, is endless. Therefore, we should not assume that we can see the whole mountain while we stand at the foot of it.

The inner meaning of Zhuan Falun is very profound. I can understand some of the meaning only in my perception, as no words can describe what I have learned. I just wanted to share my experiences to encourage other practitioners to cherish the Fa, learn it by heart, and improve together.

Thank you, Master!