Understanding Toward Reciting the Fa

(Minghui.org) I have recently come to realize that to improve the overall cultivation state of our local practitioners, there is an urgent need to improve Fa study, so that practitioners can truly reach a state of studying the Fa well and elevating through the Fa. It is important to not just go through the motions when it comes to Fa-study. Only this way can our overall one body display more power.

It is probably because Teacher had seen our overall cultivation state, in terms of our need to improve Fa study, that Teacher arranged for relevant practitioners to come and share with us on the topics of studying the Fa and reciting the Fa. This has helped us greatly.

At the same time, we recalled some unhealthy phenomena from Fa study in the past. For example, since we've read Zhuan Falun for more than ten years, we've become very familiar with it. In group Fa study, when we were reading one sentence, we already knew what would come next. Nevertheless, sometimes when our minds wandered, we still could not read properly. Also, in terms of the fundamental Fa principles discussed in Zhuan Falun, many practitioners were still not clear on them.

Teacher pointed out in “Dafa Disciples Must Study the Fa - Fa Teaching Given at the 2011 Washington DC Metro Area Fa Conference”:

"Do you know what has become of Fa-study in many places? In some areas it has lapsed into a formality. When some people read Zhuan Falun they are not concentrating, but rather, thinking about other things, and not able to focus their attention on cultivation. It thus amounts to wasting time. And not just wasting time—instead of it being the time when they are to be elevating, they are using their minds to think over issues and things that they shouldn’t concern themselves with, and thus, not only aren’t they elevating, but on the contrary, they are often dropping in level."

Some of us have studied the Fa for over ten years but still couldn't manage to recite Lunyu, and some couldn't remember the table of contents in Zhuan Falun. For some, if you asked them what xinxing meant or what the highest characteristic of the universe was, they didn't know.

Especially for those whose thoughts tended to wander around during Fa study over a long period of time, what they originally hadn't understood, they still didn't understand. If the quality of their Fa study didn't change over a long period of time, they couldn't be clear about the Fa principles, and hence, they could not cultivate themselves well and do well the three things that Teacher has asked us to do.

If we could recite Zhuan Falun, then many of the above-mentioned problems would not exist.

When fellow practitioners first talked about reciting Zhuan Falun, some practitioners were probably a bit scared. They said things like, "We have to not only participate in group Fa study, but also send forth righteous thoughts and go out to save people. Where could we possibly find the time to memorize the Fa?" Zhuan Falun is a pretty thick book, so for one to be able to recite the entire book would take time.

There were also practitioners who said: "It would take us about seven months to be able to recite Zhuan Falun once. However, if we simply read the book, we could go through one or two chapters a day. Thus, over the course of seven months, we would be able to finish reading the entire book more than 20 times. Wouldn't that be more efficient?"

Some practitioners' thought karma also made them not want to recite the Fa. They would think: "Some practitioners have managed to memorize Zhuan Falun, yet I haven't seen that they've done any better than others? If one doesn't improve one's xinxing according to the requirements of the Fa, surely there is no point in reciting the Fa." Or, they might think, "So-and-so has managed to recite the Fa, but doesn't she behave the same as the rest of us?" And so on.

Actually, there is an attachment to leisure behind such thoughts. Therefore, fellow practitioners, please do not be misled by these thoughts.

Through sharing on reciting the Fa for a few days, fellow practitioners came to realize that Teacher has asked us to,

"let each and every thing
be measured against the Fa"
(“Solid Cultivation” from Hong Yin)

We are all Teacher's disciples, and the Fa requirements for us are the same. So, how come some practitioners can make it while the rest of us can't? It all comes down to the strong will of those practitioners and their firm belief in Teacher and the Fa. Without that, we wouldn't be able to let go of leisure in this human world.

Some practitioners mentioned that memorizing the Fa requires a considerable amount of time, but it doesn't necessarily mean a good chunk of time. For example, one could learn one paragraph a day, and one could use bits of time to recite the Fa.

A practitioner who works at a shopping mall suggested that one could write a passage of the Fa on a small piece of paper and then use spare time during the day to memorize this Fa, which works very well.

At the same time, reciting the Fa can help us make good use of time. Reciting the Fa can make us appreciate the urgency and preciousness of time, help us realize the preciousness and grandness of Dafa, and change our state from not being absorbed in the Fa to being completely immersed in the Fa.

Memorizing the Fa is also a process of improving one's xinxing. For example, if one gets easily agitated, he likely wouldn't feel agitated if he began to recite the Fa. Or, if one complained that her memory was very poor and the process of memorizing the Fa went too slow, or that she forgot the previous part as soon as she started memorizing the next, it would be an opportunity to get rid of agitation and pursuit of quick success. Thus, one can eliminate the hindering thoughts that prevent one from memorizing and reciting the Fa while elevating xinxing.

It is not realistic to expect to be able to recite all of Zhuan Falun right away; one needs to go paragraph by paragraph. When one finishes one paragraph, he moves on to the next. After a while, it is likely that he will forget what he recited before, but he should still keep going until he finishes reciting the entire book.

After that, one should start the process again, memorizing one paragraph after another as before. This time, however, one should go a bit faster. As one keeps reciting, the miraculous effects of Dafa will manifest. In the end, one will have elevated his or her xinxing and level.

We could join to recite the Fa and read the Fa together. Reciting the Fa is for each individual, whereas group Fa study should focus on reading the Fa. Reciting the Fa is for achieving a better Fa-study state, so that one can better assimilate to the Fa. In terms of reading the Fa, if one could read it wholeheartedly, then it wouldn't matter what approach one took.

Teacher said in “Suggestions Given at the Beijing Falun Dafa Assistants Meeting” from Explaining the Content of Falun Dafa:

"In Changchun there are now more than ten thousand people memorizing the book. What’s the situation of their Fa-study now? They sit down and start to study, and they don’t need the book—one person recites the book by memory from the beginning, then he stops and another person continues to recite, without making a mistake, and not one single word is recited wrong as they continue to recite. Then it continues, you recite a paragraph, he recites a paragraph, and people go on reciting like this. Later on they started to copy the book by hand. When they make a mistake they start all over again—they hand-copy the book from the very beginning again. What’s the purpose? It’s to deepen their understanding of the Fa, which really helps the students improve."

This is my personal understanding. Please point out anything inappropriate.