(Minghui.org) Greetings esteemed Master! Greetings fellow practitioners!
When I was asked to write an article for the Multilingual Minghui Experience Sharing Conference, although I encouraged my team members to write, I didn’t know what to write at first.
The solitary nature of my work, along with my rather lonely cultivation process, made me feel that I was so boring and had remained in the same place after a long time. I thought about it, but I really didn’t find anything worth sharing: What tribulations did I experience? What did I think? How did I elevate? … I almost forgot the details of anything that happened, so I didn’t know where to start. Thus, I read articles from previous Minghui Conferences to get some ideas. I also made a list of bullet points, but I only wrote a few lines.
Before writing this, I asked Master to help me write an article insightful enough to share with other practitioners so that we could learn from each other and elevate together. Then I thought, just pick a point and start writing while recalling what happened along the way. Let the words flow naturally. I would like to share my reflections with you.
I joined the Minghui team nearly ten years ago. Sometimes I work without a day off. I even work on national holidays and during family vacations. When I first began practicing Falun Dafa, I read Minghui in my native language and felt that if the translations were polished more carefully in terms of spelling and were expressed in a more natural way, they would help readers, especially ordinary people, to better sense the beauty of Dafa which might pave a way for them to obtain the Fa.
Master said,
“I think it will, being a media outlet, probably be passed on to future generations. Even if you do not pass it on to them, posterity will dearly cherish the term “Minghui.” But, it could even be a major media entity that operates in regular society. I think that may well be the case.” (“Fa Teaching Given at the Fa Conference Marking the Tenth Anniversary of Minghui’s Founding,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. X)
I feel that future generations will continue to read Minghui as a source which documents history. I then had a wish to join Minghui to help improve the quality of the translation. I was soon invited to work for Minghui. The person in charge asked me which section I wanted to work on. I replied that wherever there was a shortage of staff, I would take it. I was assigned to work on the News and Truth Clarification sections.
As a translator, I often put myself in the readers’ position to determine how to present the translation in a way that is comprehensible and sounds natural. When I come across strange terms or concepts, I do some research to come up with appropriate and comprehensible equivalents. I tried to complete my translation as quickly as I can, paying attention to every aspect, from spelling, choice of words, and ways of expression to punctuation. The feedback from the person in charge was that my translation took her almost no effort to revise.
After a period of time working as a translator, I realized that we lacked revisers, so only a few articles were posted each day. I offered to undertake the revising job. After that, I was assigned to take charge of a team to deliver translation in the News and Truth Clarification sections.
As a reviser, my job is to correct mistakes in the translation. I often share common mistakes with my team members and prepare sets of guidelines for spelling and formatting for everyone to use so that we can have consistency and common standards for our translation.
When a new translator joins our team, I offer him/her coaching by correcting their translation and suggesting areas for improvement. There are repeated mistakes, even after many years, and I do not mind correcting them again and again. Step by step, my team members have become more proficient, the quality of our translation has also improved. After a period of time, one translator was able to share the revising responsibility with me, and another is now improving his skills by cross-revising simple articles for other translators.
My team is now mainly in charge of News and Comments sections, which require the translations be ready for publishing as soon as possible. Around Falun Dafa’s milestone dates such as May 13, or July 20, and important public holidays such as the Mid-Autumn Festival, Christmas, New Year, Chinese New Year... we have to deal with many more News articles. During peak times there can be over 20 articles per day, and we have to work intensively for 2-3 consecutive weeks.
I know fellow practitioners who work for Multilingual Minghui often participate in other Dafa validation projects, plus having to deal with their ordinary jobs and family affairs. So I designed a log sheet and asked them to set their own weekly targets that are feasible for them, and also monitor their own progress. In addition, I asked the members to assign roles suitable to each persons’ capacity so that we have at least two persons for each phase of translation, revising, and checking. This system allows us to proactively coordinate to ensure the quality of translations, and complete all the articles in the News and Comments sections as soon as possible. They also take on some cultivation sharing articles.
Working for Minghui gives me access to a great deal of information and experiences. When I face a problem in my cultivation, I come across an article that mirrors my problems, and this helps me to reflect on myself. When I work on Truth Clarification articles, I have a clearer understanding and feel the pain of fellow practitioners in China, as if the persecution was just in front of me. Once when I read Zhuan Falun, I felt that Master had warned us about the persecution in advance, even detailing each form of torture, why it happened, and how to get through it. Master foresaw everything! When I work on News articles, I feel like I’m seeing gradual steps in Master’s Fa-rectification process. I sometimes burst into tears or laughter as I read about people understanding the truth, and supporting and protecting practitioners. Maybe that’s why I hardly feel lonely. If my cultivation state is considered solitary, I think it is a state that actually helps me realize more clearly Master’s arrangements and hints for me.
Minghui is a voluntary project and requires a high level of confidentiality. Everyone works quietly. Our team does not meet face-to-face. All communication is online. Even I, as the team leader, have met few members. Our work is repetitive in both nature and content. Year after year, and we have no way to measure its effectiveness. This could be boring in the long run, leading to some practitioners losing their motivation and feeling down. Some even chose to leave. For a time I felt exhausted and did not have enough time to study the Fa or do the exercises. I felt miserable.
I was invited to participate in another Dafa project because of its urgency and potential in saving sentient beings, I agreed. But this meant I had less time for Minghui. So I asked a practitioner to cover my job in Minghui, thinking that I would have more time for the other project. However, she was unable to arrange time to assume my responsibilities. At that time another reviser in my group was too busy, and our group work had many mistakes. I realized that my personal cultivation state also went off-track. I later realized that my wish to participate in the other project was an attachment to fame and to be able to see results and get some recognition.
Master said,
“If one of the other media outlets were to cease to exist, there would be others to do its job. But if Minghui were not around, no other media outlet could replace it. That’s why I say that not only does Minghui have to continue, but it has to be run well.” (“Fa Teaching Given at the Fa Conference Marking the Tenth Anniversary of Minghui’s Founding,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. X)
From my understanding, a Dafa project may be a system of beings in another dimension. As a member of Minghui, perhaps my being belongs to this system. I think when I neglected my responsibilities for Minghui, I was being irresponsible to my own beings.
During that time, I kept having a feeling of discomfort, like I was missing something, and my personal cultivation was also affected. After all, Minghui is the first Dafa project that I wished to join. Deep in my heart, I always believe Minghui is my mission to assist Master in rectifying the Fa. This probably is my vow, so I need to fulfill it.
I rearranged my work with the other project to make time for Minghui. Soon after that, I regained my diligent cultivation state. I also realized that Master takes care of us all the time. For example, if we stay unmoved and do our best in the face of manpower shortages, Master will arrange newcomers to help us. Perhaps this was also a test to see if I was persistent and had a sense of responsibility for Minghui.
In August 2020, when my daughter and I sent righteous thoughts, she saw four Chinese characters which we didn’t understand. I was just starting to learn Chinese and couldn’t figure out these characters. I asked my daughter to draw them and had another practitioner explain them to me. These four Chinese words turned out to be “zūn móu yǒu dào” which I would interpret to be “Master always has a way for his disciples.”
Before this happened for some reason, I had no motivation to read Zhuan Falun in my local language. I sometimes came across a word or sentence that made me feel there could be something more for me to enlighten to. I checked it out against the Chinese version with the help of a translation tool. Then I wished I could read Zhuan Falun in Chinese, thinking that after waiting and suffering for so many eons while reincarnating, the Fa Rectification process will soon end. It would be a big regret if I had no chance to study the Fa in its original language. Plus I have to bring Master’s Dafa back home for sentient beings waiting for me in other dimensions.
Additionally, while working on Minghui sharing articles, I realized that in many cases, the Chinese version has more details and it should be easier to produce a closer and more vivid translation as compared to the English version, because so many words in my language are rooted in Chinese. I wanted to be able to translate from the Chinese version to give readers the closest translation for their better understanding of the sharing so that they could learn from the author and make progress in their own cultivation as well.
However, I didn’t know Chinese, and I had no time to take classes to learn it. I wished I could combine my learning Chinese and Fa study by learning to read Zhuan Falun in Chinese. Then a series of miraculous arrangements led me to step on this path. It was like climbing a mountain – every time I took one step up, there was a situation that forced me to take another step forward and so on until I reached my destination.
Then I practiced translating Chinese Minghui articles using a translation tool. At first, I was not familiar with the Chinese grammar and word processing, so my translation had many mistakes. I only dared to use a few points in the Chinese version to add to the translation from the English version. I was gradually able to translate longer paragraphs. By persisting in studying and memorizing the Fa in Chinese every day, I am now able to translate from Chinese, with some reference to the English version. It took me a long time to translate a paragraph in Chinese. Over time, especially when I am in a good cultivation state, I can understand it as I read and feel connected with the authors, and can produce more correct translations.
The whole process of my improvement is rather quiet and I did not make any special effort, but I could always feel Master’s compassionate guidance and encouragement, pushing me along the way. Looking back, I found I have made another step forward in Fa study and translation work.
Besides these achievements, there are still many other aspects that I haven’t done well in. But I believe that as long as I walk on the path arranged by Master, everything will be fine.
Thank you, compassionate Master! Thank you, fellow practitioners!
(Presented at the 2022 Multilingual Minghui Teams Experience Sharing Conference)