Memorizing Zhuan Falun Has Helped Me Become More Selfless

(Minghui.org) I have read many sharing articles on the Minghui website regarding memorizing the book Zhuan Falun. Some practitioners memorize sentence by sentence, some by paragraphs, and others do it by sections. No matter how it is done, the key is to truly absorb every single word of the Fa into one's heart.

When I memorize Zhuan Falun, I focus on ensuring that every word is clearly absorbed into my heart. I close my eyes and see the words being engraved. Only by doing this can I memorize the Fa correctly and align myself with it.

Shortly after I started memorizing Zhuan Falun, I noticed that I was kinder. In the past, I often argued with family members and colleagues over minor issues. These days, I recite Master's words to myself when conflicts occur, which never fails to calm me.

“If this qing is not relinquished, you will be unable to cultivate. If you break free from this qing, nobody can affect you. An everyday person’s mind will be unable to sway you. What comes and replaces it is benevolence, which is a nobler thing.” (Lecture Four, Zhuan Falun)

Letting Go of Self

I once spent three months writing a special edition for our media. A practitioner criticized my work, saying that it wasn't structured well, that the main point wasn't clear, and that the words weren't powerful enough. I made corrections accordingly. Her response was that the second version was better than the first, but she then pointed out some grammatical errors.

Her comments hurt my ego. I had been writing for more than seven years, and I thought I had done just fine. Wasn’t she being too picky?

Later, I read what Master said:

“That really is the case. There has been a great deal of groundwork done in advance. All that’s missing is your carrying things out with righteous thoughts. Yet you haven’t had the righteous thoughts that it takes.” (“Dafa Disciples Must Study the Fa,” Teaching the Fa at the Conference XI)

I came to understand that I had not had adequate righteous thoughts. When my righteous thoughts surfaced, my attitude changed for the better. I realized I was lucky there was a practitioner who was kind enough to give me so many good suggestions to improve my writing.

Ultimately, the special edition I wrote proved successful. Ordinary people may think the lead writer of a special edition is the one who is most important. However, while I was memorizing the Fa, I know that I only did the actual act of writing and that everything else was given by Dafa. I cannot take the credit for myself.

Becoming More Magnanimous

When I was memorizing “The Issue of the Celestial Eye” in Lecture Two in Zhuan Falun:

“If xinxing is improved, everything else will follow up. If xinxing is not improved, that bit of essence of qi will not be recovered, either.”

I realized that sometimes I had arguments with other practitioners about different projects. As the lead writer, I often have to make changes—sometimes major ones—to articles in accordance with suggestions from the main coordinator. The proposed major changes would sometimes result in misunderstandings and conflicts with the original author of the article.

Master's words reminded me of a story about Milerepa (the founder of the White Sect of Tibetan Buddhism). Milerepa was told to build a house. When he built it incorrectly, his master told him to tear it down and do it again. When he built it correctly, his master again told him to tear it down and re-build it.

In a Buddha's eyes, right or wrong itself is not important. Even when Milerepa did the work right, in order to further eliminate his karma, he had to tear it down and do it over. When he finally made it for the seventh time, he was told to abandon it and build an inn instead.

Although Milerepa spent a lot of time making the buildings—each of which was destroyed—his efforts were not meaningless, for it was part of his cultivation. From this perspective, Milerepa suffered, and so his karma was eliminated and his xinxing improved.

One morning, a practitioner and I were collaborating on designing a graphic. The graphic my associate made was not clear, so I suggested that he make the image sharper. He said that it was a modern trend to make images indistinct. I was unhappy. I thought, “Why would you do that when Master has said in his lectures that modern art is degenerating?”

He was also unhappy, but because I felt I was clearly right, I did not want to compromise. Then I remembered that an enlightened being is magnanimous. He is so magnanimous that he will support any person as long as he or she wishes to cultivate, forgiving whatever mistakes the person has made. With this thought, I immediately realized that I was wrong and changed my attitude. A few moments later, I saw my colleague working on the image to sharpen it.

Memorizing the Fa opened my mind and allowed me to see through what might be superficially perceived as a “right” or “wrong” course of action. That is why I can say that I have become more magnanimous.

Understanding Compassion

While working on a project about divine culture, I became bored. I looked inward to see why I found it boring. I discovered that there were hidden elements inside me that instinctively rejected the divine. Once I realized this, my feeling of boredom disappeared.

The project moved very slowly, so I wondered how to make the work go faster. Suddenly, there was a very loud noise that shook the entire building. Normally, I would have felt quite distressed. However, I suddenly thought, “What is compassion? When something or someone bothers me, if I can still think of others first, then I am demonstrating compassion.” As soon as I had that thought, the noise stopped. I felt wonderful, and I finished the project soon after.

When I was memorizing the section "What Has Teacher Given to Practitioners?" in Zhuan Falun, Master said:

“At a very microscopic level, the gong you develop, or every microscopic particle from that gong, looks exactly the same as you. After reaching Beyond-Triple-World-Fa, you will practice cultivation of a Buddha-body. That gong will assume the appearance of a Buddha. It is very beautiful, sitting on a lotus flower; every microscopic particle will be like that.”

I told myself, “I shall let go of the concept of 'self' at all levels. I shall eliminate any thought of validating myself. Only by doing so can my cultivated gong be pure.”

I have seen my past wrongdoings. Upon starting a project I often thought, “I want this or that.” I put my desires as my first priority. As a result, many times I seemed to have arranged everything very well but actually failed to carry out what I designed. I thus wasted a lot of time.

While professional knowledge and techniques are needed for our projects, good results don't come from how smart and capable we are. When we, as one body, cultivate well and when our xinxing is high, the result will automatically be positive.

After memorizing Zhuan Falun multiple times, I came to understand multiple layers of meaning regarding “thinking of others.” Only when I cultivate well can I truly think of others first. When I look inward unconditionally and examine my attachments, I think of the needs of others more. Letting go of one’s “self” and becoming magnanimous are another layer of meaning in “thinking of others.”