Memorizing Master’s Teachings Bolsters My Determination to Cultivate

(Minghui.org) I started practicing Falun Dafa in 2011 but I didn’t truly start cultivating myself until 2016. That was the year I went through an illness tribulation. The hospital found a malignant brain tumor and the doctor said I only had six months to live. He told me I needed surgery but my wife (who is a practitioner) did not agree. She felt that the surgery would harm me so she had me discharged from the hospital.

After we returned home, my wife read the Fa with me. However, after a period of remission, my health started to deteriorate again and I went blind. I had gamma radiation therapy but the doctor said this treatment could only be guaranteed for a year and that many patients suffered a relapse after just a month or two. Some of those who’d been treated with me relapsed quickly. Some even passed away.

I understood that only Dafa could save me. I focused on reading the Fa and local practitioners also came to read with me and listen to the recordings of Master’s lectures and Dafa songs. I was immersed in Dafa. I kept reciting, “Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good.” They also sent forth righteous thoughts to help me eliminate the old forces’ persecution.

After a while I felt the symptoms were reduced. When I went to the hospital for a check-up, the brain tumor had disappeared, but I still could not see. Practitioners suggested that I continue listening to the recordings of Master’s lectures.

Just like when I first began practicing, I longed to hear Master’s voice every day. I held onto the speaker. My family joked, saying, “Nowadays, people walk around holding their phones but you are holding onto a speaker!” Apart from eating and sleeping, I spent all my time studying the Fa. The more I listened to the lectures, the more I wanted to hear; the more I listened to them, the more I was drawn to them. Every day was very fulfilling and happy.

From the beginning of 2016 until after the 2017 Chinese New Year, I listened to Master’s lectures nearly one hundred times. I felt good and full of energy. When relatives and friends came over to visit me, they were surprised. They asked me how I recovered.

I told them, “It’s because I practice Falun Dafa. Master saved my life.” I used every opportunity to clarify the truth to them and helped them quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its youth organizations. Hearing my personal experience, everyone agreed with what I said and accepted the truth.

After the 2017 Chinese New Year, a practitioner came to visit me and exchanged cultivation thoughts with me. I benefited a lot. It made me realize that I should not deviate from the main body of Dafa practitioners. I should join the small Fa study group so that I could study the Fa and exchange cultivation experiences with other practitioners every day.

Master said,

“...we can’t just do group practice. You can read and discuss together chapter by chapter, section by section. Fix the study time the way you do with group practice. I think this will be more beneficial; it can address specific issues, and this will allow us to follow the Fa when we run into actual problems later on.” (“Explaining the Fa for Falun Dafa Assistants in Changchun,” Explaining the Content of Falun Dafa)

After I joined the local Fa study group, my cultivation and Fa study entered a new phase. With the help of the other practitioners, my xinxing improved greatly.

Master said,

“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.” (“Suggestions Given at the Beijing Falun Dafa Assistants Meeting,” Explaining the Content of Falun Dafa)

“Since they began to memorize the book, instead of measuring themselves [against the Fa] after doing something, the students know beforehand whether they should do something. This is excellent.” (“Talk in Guangzhou to Some Assistance Center Heads From Around the Country,” Explaining the Content of Falun Dafa)

In 2018, when I was studying the Fa above, a thought flashed through my mind, “Why can’t I memorize the Fa?” This thought became stronger and stronger.

Reciting and Memorizing the Fa

One day I decided to memorize the Fa. My wife was surprised and said, “Since you cannot see, it will be very difficult to memorize the Fa.” I replied that I was determined to do it. My wife decided to memorize the Fa with me. She read a sentence and I repeated it back to her. Initially, our progress was very slow and we had trouble memorizing even half a page a day. We managed to memorize Lecture One in two months.

During the process of memorizing the Fa, I experienced deeply that memorizing the Fa really is a good way to study the Fa. There are many benefits: First, during our group Fa study, even though I was listening, my mind kept wandering. This is very common among practitioners. Memorizing the Fa is one way to resolve this issue of losing focus during Fa study. Because we cannot memorize the Fa if we lose concentration, studying the Fa by memorizing it is so effective that we can truly meet the objective of studying the Fa.

Second, while memorizing the Fa, we can discover many of our attachments. For example, when I was able to memorize well, I felt happy and when other practitioners complimented me, I felt happy. I also had the attachments of being pretentious and wanting to show off. When I was not able to memorize the Fa well, I felt impatient and worried about affecting my reputation. Especially when others pointed out when I skipped words, I had the mentality of not wanting to be criticized. When I discovered that I had these attachments, I got rid of them.

In nearly two years, on January 10, 2021, I finally memorized the whole of the precious book Zhuan Falun. When I finished memorizing the last paragraph, tears streamed down my face. I felt that I had finally fulfilled my wish.

I started to memorize the book for a second time. The motive this time was to be able to read the teachings just like other practitioners when I attended the group Fa study. I wanted to change my current state of being only able to listen while others read.

After five years of going through this tribulation, I have experienced an elevation in my mind and body. I no longer focus on my reputation or benefits. My mind is calm. My body is healthy. I never had a cold or fever during these five years.

At the same time, my xinxing improved tremendously. Some of my prominent attachments such as to fame, benefits, being competitive, ego, jealousy, not allowing others to criticize me, etc, were gradually eliminated. In the past I was impatient—I would flare up over small matters. But now I can laugh it off. My heart is full of happiness. I feel that I am getting better at identifying my attachments and eliminating them.

I kowtow to Master and thank Master for his benevolent salvation! Thank you, fellow practitioners, for your selfless help!

I’d like to end this sharing with a small prose poem. The above are my own understandings. If there is any room for improvement, kindly let me know.

Time passes by swiftly without any chance to turn back.Falun Dafa is what I have been seeking.I must treasure this rare affinity millions of years in the making.Despite being blind, I still cultivate in Dafa, memorize and study the Fa so that it stays in my heart.Tons of hardship I do not fear.Gladly I endure the hardship to reduce my karma.I will cultivate diligently and be strict with myself,Assimilate and follow Master to the end.