Deepening My Understanding of the Fa

(Clearwisdom.net) I have been a polisher for the Clearwisdom website for a little over a year, so I am fairly new to the work. I have always admired the practitioners who were involved with Clearwisdom. I was very happy when my polishing skills were needed. I did not take lightly my responsibility to work on articles. I realized that my assignments should always be a priority, and when I received an article to work on I would always get to it as soon as possible. With such important work, I wanted to do my best and get the article back to our coordinator as quickly as possible, especially if it was time sensitive. I did not get feedback on my articles for quite a while, so I would go to Clearwisdom, find the article, print it out, and see how I could improve. I would make the changes on my polished article that the editors had made, so I would have a record of it. This was time consuming and it did help, but I felt that I did not improve enough. When I did start to receive feedback on the articles I had worked on, it was easier. When I received long articles, I was too hasty and didn't take enough time with them. I think I was overzealous in trying to get the article back as quickly as possible. I definitely need to improve there and take more time, going over the article at least three or more times. It helps to leave it for a bit and go back and reread it, making more changes. Sometimes I get so focused on editing that I don't put myself in the writer's position to capture the essence of what he or she is trying to say. So I need to take more time to really capture what the writer is trying to tell us, so as to enhance their thoughts to make sure it is easily understandable without changing the original content of the article.

The lessons I have learned from being a polisher and how well I do are a reflection of my personal cultivation. I felt I needed to deepen my understanding of the Fa, as having a better understanding will help in my polishing. I have always, throughout my life, had a very hard time memorizing things. I did memorize Lunyu and some short articles of Master's, but it took me forever. I felt very frustrated, and after many attempts to memorize Zhuan Falun, I gave up. After reading a couple of articles on Clearwisdom about writing out the Fa, that is what I decided to do. With my writing out Zhuan Falun every day, it has helped deepen my understanding of the Fa. I started this last April and I still have over 100 pages to go. It seems it really has deepened my understanding of the Fa on a cellular level. Writing it out helps me to concentrate more than reading. There are times when my mind still wanders when I'm writing, so I go back over it to make sure it penetrates. It is a very slow process, but a worthwhile one. It just seems to have deepened my understandings.

If I am balanced and focused, things flow much better. If I am stressed, nervous or upset, it is much harder to concentrate and do my best, allowing for interference to take place. Maintaining that balance means making sure every day that I do the three things well. Every morning I make Fa study a priority to start my day, along with my meditation. I also think that sending forth righteous thoughts before starting an article helps to eliminate interference. There are times when I receive an article, I am already stressed from not having enough time in my life to accomplish what I need to. By taking a few minutes to sit quietly and send forth righteous thoughts, I tell myself that I will save time by eliminating any interference, and things will go smoother.

I also had the feeling that I was not improving fast enough, so I decided to do something about it. I have saved all my old polished articles, and I am going through them one by one and listing things that I can improve on. I write down corrections that were made by the Clearwisdom editors. That way it sinks in more by writing it down, and I am hoping to stop making the same mistakes. Otherwise it is hard to remember from one article to another what needed improvement. Now I have a reference when I polish and can refer to my notes if I can't remember how it should be. This is taking some time, but I feel it is really going to be worthwhile.

I think we all have a responsibility to Dafa to keep improving and making things better and better. After all, we are shaping the future and we need to be as accurate as possible. Carelessness does not set a good example of Dafa, and we have an obligation to make sure our articles are as understandable as possible, always keeping the essence of the writer. I also know how busy our editors are, and I want to make their lives as easy as possible and not have to keep changing the same things over and over.

Sometimes when I receive an article about how the CCP is treating our practitioners, it is hard to accept. I know they will eventually receive retribution for what they have done, and I think it is important not to waste our thoughts on wondering how they could do such a thing or develop hatred and anger towards them. I just keep reminding myself that they will receive due retribution in time and of course always hope that they will have a change of heart and realize before it is too late what they are creating for their future.

I feel that we have a responsibility to the writers who are trying to spread the truth about the persecution. Sometimes the persecution facts are hard to comprehend, as the suffering is so inconceivable. I feel we must treat these articles with the utmost respect, being careful to protect the dignity of those practitioners. There are times when I feel guilty for having my life so good here in the United States, so I want to do my little part to help clarify the truth about their situation to the world I am very honored to be a part the Clearwisdom team, and I will continue to do better and take more time with my articles to be a good representation of Dafa and the Clearwisdom website.

Thank you, Master, for this honor.