(Clearwisdom.net) Many articles about memorizing the Fa have appeared on Clearwisdom.net recently. I feel this is one of the manifestations of the current stage of Teacher's Fa rectification. Examining myself, I feel embarrassed to say that I have not finished reciting Zhuan Falun even once.
I tried to memorize the Fa a few years ago, but stopped after I had finished a few pages. I thought at that time: "There are so many pages in Zhuan Falun. It would take me too long to finish it. The time would be better spent reading it through than memorizing it." So I returned to my past way of reading it repeatedly. When the interference from daily business became more severe, my thoughts would wander while I was reading Dafa. I felt that I was happiest and my body was the most comfortable when I read the part that I had memorized before. This caused me to want to memorize Dafa again. I began doing it again the year before last. This time I was more determined, and I memorized over one hundred pages. But then the same negative thoughts occurred and I stopped again.
Recently, after reading one article after another about memorizing Dafa by fellow practitioners, I realized that this is the time for me to start over again.
I have a rather bad memory. It will take me a long time to memorize one paragraph. Sometimes I cannot memorize the paragraph even after reading it many times, and I end up losing confidence and begin to doubt myself.
Now I have found a new method: I take it one step a time. For a shorter sentence, I try to recite it after I have read it a couple of times. This way I can memorize it right away. Then I go to the next sentence and memorize it by reciting it. Then I combine the two sentences and memorize them together. In the same way, I memorize the third sentence and then combine the three sentences. I keep on doing this until I can recite the whole paragraph with the book closed. Now I can memorize one page in half an hour. The whole book Zhuan Falun can be finished in half a year at this pace.
I encountered reactions similar to those that have happened to fellow practitioners while memorizing the Fa. A lot of disease karma that had not appeared for a long time re-appeared. Fellow practitioner pointed out that this was interference, and with our righteous thoughts and by our not paying attentions to them, they would disappear very quickly. Realizing this and acting accordingly, I got rid of all my disease karma very quickly. I felt that my concentration was especially good while memorizing Dafa. My thoughts almost never drifted away, which had not been achievable in the past.
I am the only practitioner in my home. I am not able to attend any group studies. Without such an environment, I always felt that I was missing something. My son is in Junior High and would not study Dafa on his own. I called him to my side in the evenings and asked him to memorize Dafa with me. I could feel that the energy field became stronger. My son has a good memory and can memorize Dafa faster. Sometimes he would correct me when I made a mistake. He went back to his homework after half an hour, and I continued with my memorizing Dafa by myself. By this time, my mind would have been cleared of all thoughts. I found that if I memorized Dafa by myself in the first half hour, the interference would be worse in the latter half of the hour. I have witnessed the importance of studying Dafa in groups.
Finally I want to discuss a few issues with fellow practitioners:
1. The question of reading Dafa aloud or silently. In the past I always read silently. Now I feel my memorizing Dafa is much slower that way so I usually read it aloud. I feel this way I am using more organs in the body to recite Dafa. It is likely that the energy is stronger this way too and my mind is concentrating better, and memorizes Dafa quicker.
2. The question of whether to review it or not. In the past, I always reviewed the material from the beginning every time I began memorizing Dafa so that I would not forget what I had memorized before. At first I was able to do it pretty well because there was not that much to review. But later as time progressed, I found myself spending more time reviewing old stuff than memorizing new stuff. Fellow practitioners suggested that I should keep on going without reviewing the old stuff until I finished the whole thing. I felt this is a better way and I am doing it.
I do my memorizing of Dafa in the evenings. Sometimes I review it if I find time the next day. This does not take much time. Usually I can finish reviewing everything I memorized the previous night within 10 to 20 minutes.
3. Regarding checking for mistakes. We need to check for our mistakes. If two people memorize Dafa together, then they can check and correct each other right after they memorize something. If one does it by oneself, one can check it after one finishes. Now what I do is to memorize and check it one sentence at a time. I take one step at a time in my memorizing Dafa.
The above is my own understanding. Please point it out if you see any inadequacies.
I hope more and more practitioners join us in Fa memorizing and we can march forward together.
