My Experience of Memorizing Zhuan Falun

By a Falun Dafa practitioner from Beijing

(Clearwisdom.net) I have overheard that many practitioners would like to memorize Zhuan Falun, but often stop because they lack confidence in their ability to commit this book to memory. I want to share how I memorized the book and hope that we can improve together.

I began to memorize Zhuan Falun in the summer of 1997. The first lecture was easy. I memorized it quickly. After the leisurely summer holidays I returned to work and just could not get myself to continue with the memorization. The notion of "having not enough time" stopped me. It took seven years before I was ready to try again! In the summer of 2004, the feeling that the time for cultivation was very limited became stronger daily until the day when I set my goal to "memorize one lecture every day while keeping the regular schedule of sending forth righteous thoughts and doing the five sets of exercises. No matter the interference, I will not be sidetracked or give up on my decision." I held strong thoughts and eliminated all interference and human notions. Within nine days I was then able to memorize the entire book Zhuan Falun.

The memorization of Zhuan Falun is a cultivation process. If one truly believes that Dafa is precious, if one is determined and remains firm, and if one follows teacher's words, one can memorize Zhuan Falun.

The first step, before beginning to memorize the Book, is to let go of all the human notions and interference. This includes the notions, "I am too old. My memory is not good. I am too busy with my work. I have too many household chores. Memorizing the Fa takes so much more time than reading the Fa. I have too many friends visiting me. My children are demanding and noisy, etc." Any thought or notion that makes you hesitate is interference. These thoughts are not yours. It is not the true you who has such thoughts. You should send forth righteous thoughts to eliminate this interference and strengthen your determination to memorize the book. When I memorized the second lecture, a notion appeared, "It takes too long to memorize Zhuan Falun. It would be much faster to read it. At least I can finish reading the whole book in just two or three days. Don't memorize the book any longer." Whatever the thoughts, I looked at them with a clear mind, understanding that they were not mine. I eliminated them and continued to memorize Zhuan Falun.

Secondly, while memorizing Zhuan Falun, do not check how many pages are left to memorize. This thought will create the belief that it is difficult to memorize the book, and consequently one stops with the memorization. Also, do not go back to check the sections that you have already memorized. This is very important. As long as you memorized the content at one moment, do not go back to repeat that section. Otherwise you might feel that you did not memorize the contents accurately, and so lose confidence to continue with the effort.

Just memorize a sentence at a time, a paragraph at a time, going on until you have memorized the last sentence in Zhuan Falun. "Tempering the will" is difficult, but as long as you persist, you can finish memorizing the entire book. When I was at "People with Great Inborn Quality" in Lecture Nine of Zhuan Falun, I was close to giving up with the memorization. The thought of giving up got progressively stronger. I knew that this thought was not mine and I kept eliminating it. I memorized one word after another. Just then I promised Teacher that I would follow him and cultivate till the end. I must keep the promise to memorize the book. I used my righteous thoughts to determine what I should do, overcame obstacles, broke through difficulties, and finally memorized the entire book. I knew that Teacher would acknowledge my hard work, but I did not feel proud. Instead I was embarrassed that it took me seven years. I am so slow in my cultivation. How could I be satisfied with myself?

From the day I finished memorizing the book, I have studied the Fa by reciting Zhuan Falun. Because our cultivation progresses from the microscopic to the surface of our bodies, the part of us that is assimilated to the Fa will be separated from the part of us that has not been cultivated well. The human side of us still cannot memorize the Fa. Memorizing Zhuan Falun is a long-term commitment. We should keep memorizing the book until consummation. Therefore, I suggest that once we memorize the Fa, we should study the Fa by reciting Zhuan Falun. One will find that the more one recites, the more accurately one will have memorized and the quicker one can recite. Now the speed of my reciting Zhuan Falun is almost the same as reading Zhuan Falun.

Lastly, I want to share with fellow practitioners that we MUST follow teacher's words, eliminate all interference, pay attention to studying the Fa, and study the Fa every possible moment, especially practitioners who are very busy with validating the Fa. They should sit down with a pure heart to study the Fa. Otherwise, the evil forces will take advantage of the loophole and interfere. One reason why I was able to memorize the Fa within nine days was because I have not slowed down studying the Fa since 1997. Before the persecution started on July 20, 1999, besides doing my job well, I did the exercises from 4:30 a.m. to 6:30 a.m. daily and joined group activities on weekends to spread the Fa. The rest of my time was mostly spent studying the Fa. In addition to studying Zhuan Falun and Teacher's other lectures, I set a requirement for myself to recite Teacher's Essentials for Further Advancement and Hong Yin on the days when I studied them. After the persecution started, the interference from the other dimension was tremendous. My thought to recite Essentials for Further Advancement was affected. My progress to recite Hong Yin was slowed down. Fortunately, my main consciousness is strong. When I thought I did not want to finish reciting the Fa and when I was interfered with, I could immediately eliminate such thoughts. I could study the Fa with a calm heart and mind. I did not waste time during the past several years.

I can keep a calm heart and clear mind, despite the persecution by the old forces and all accompanying confusion, because I study the Fa relatively diligently. As Teacher said,

"The Fa can break all attachments, the Fa can destroy all evil, the Fa can shatter all lies, and the Fa can strengthen righteous thoughts." ("Drive out Interference" from Essentials for further Advancement II)

Fellow practitioners, let's keep Teacher's words in mind and study the Fa thoroughly and carefully.

Also, we should be diligent in sending forth righteous thoughts and clarifying the truth to save sentient beings. To do the three things well, I think we need to sleep less. One practitioner in our area can do sending forth righteous thought at every hour (in other words, 24 times a day), recite Zhuan Falun, and regularly provide fellow practitioners with truth clarification materials. The practitioner only sleeps two to three hours daily. In fact, when our human notions and attachments are less, the feeling of sleepiness will have less effect on us. In the future, I will be more diligent. I will not disappoint Teacher and sentient beings. I will fulfill the promise I made before in history.

December 4, 2005

Chinese version available at http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2005/12/5/115838.html

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