A Westerner's Experience in Memorising the Falun Gong Teachings

Recently a fellow Falun Dafa practitioner asked me about memorising the Fa*, and my experience with it. I passed on my experience, and realised that my experience might benefit others also. My limited successes will probably not inspire others, but my failures might be helpful. *Law or Principles, the teachings in Falun Dafa

I am a western practitioner who discovered the practise of Falun Dafa in the autumn of 1999. An online version of a major European newspaper published an article about the persecution, and I was intrigued by this group of people who would risk going to jail, torture or even death for their spiritual belief. They reminded me of early Christians. Following a link for more information, I found a website containing some contact details for a Falun Gong exercise class at a nearby university, and downloaded the book Falun Gong. I read it in a couple of days, and in the next couple of months made up my mind to try Falun Dafa, learnt the exercises from the practitioners at the university, and began reading the wide variety of Falun Dafa materials.

From then on I have cultivated Falun Dafa, sometimes nobly (as Teacher says) but more often I fumble through and only my heart is consistent. As yet, doing the three things well consistently, day after day, has eluded me. Every day I can do some of them, sometimes very little or very poorly; other times I can actually do all of them. The lack of consistency and focus has resulted in my getting sidetracked and distracted easily. This is reflected in my experiences in memorising the Fa.

In the early years of my cultivation, there were attempts by some practitioners in my region to do some memorising, but I did not see the value in it, and after a short stab at memorising the introductory test to the Falun Dafa books, Lunyu, I quit and did not even think about memorising until early last year.

A fellow practitioner on a project I am involved with mentioned that she had memorised some short phrases from the Fa and some short articles, and that she found that very helpful. I thought about it and realised that I too had committed a few phrases to memory, just by reading Zhuan Falun and Essentials for Further Advancement many times. "The Buddha-light illuminates everywhere and rectifies all abnormalities", "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" and "...one righteous mind can subdue one hundred evils" for example. I thought then that it would be a good idea to make the effort to memorise the Fa.

There were some articles on a Falun Dafa website that I remembered about memorising the Fa, so I collected all the articles I could find and read them to learn other practitioners' experiences. Sometimes when I read an article, I would feel that I was in the presence of the most awe-inspiring cultivator, realms and realms above me in level. Their articles gave me so much encouragement, I would never have even tried if it weren't for these fellow practitioners in China. I read those articles over and over again, and gained enough strength to continue my efforts. My debt to them is so great.

The first things I memorised were "Realms" and "What is Forbearance (Ren)" from Zhuan Falun and from Hong Yin "Nothing Kept"(Translation version A). They were not difficult to memorise as they were very short, but they were very helpful to me when I was encountering difficulties in my cultivation, as now I had something from the Fa to help me out. I printed out "Lunyu" and some of the shorter articles from Essentials and put them in my car so I could study and memorise when I was waiting in traffic. When I tackled "Lunyu", it was very difficult for me. The words and phrases seemed to drain through my mind like water through a sieve. The sieve might get wet, but it seemed that it would never contain the water!

As I look back on this, I see that the interference increased as I became more serious about memorising.

When I could finally stumble through "Lunyu", I began memorising Zhuan Falun. Now, I realise that my impatience to get to the "real" memorising caused troubles down the line, as I should have perfected my memorisation of "Lunyu", and not skipped over the phrases that caused me difficulty.

Now that the memorisation effort was getting more dedicated, the interference grew greater. I would read the same sentence aloud many times - 5, 10, or 15 times- and it would not stay in my memory. Progress was excruciatingly slow at times. Occasionally a sentence would be relatively easy, but not often. When I read the articles on the Falun Dafa related websites, I would sometimes get so discouraged at the speed which the article writers seemed to learn compared to my slow pace. I encountered many negative attitudes and thoughts about my slow memorisation:

I thought that the Chinese are encouraged to memorise in school, where the western schools discouraged it for many decades, so we have a block in our minds.

I thought that the Chinese language has fewer syllables to memorise, so it is easier for the Chinese because they do not have so much to memorise.

I thought that it had been too long since I had memorised anything.

I thought that it would take years to memorise Zhuan Falun at this pace, so I should just give up on the idea.

I thought I was wasting time, that I could be reading lectures or Zhuan Falun and improve that way.

I thought that there were other more pressing things to do, both in my home and for Falun Dafa.

I was frustrated and bewildered at the inability to memorise a few simple sentences. I was easily sidetracked and diverted to other activities. I experienced indecision about which translation to use. I found it difficult to keep clear headed and focused.

"You're always thinking about Fa-rectification things and aren't able to quiet your mind when you study the Fa. Then you're actually studying in vain. If you can't study the Fa rationally and clearheadedly, you're studying in vain, and you're wasting your time." - Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Boston

Certainly this was all interference, made possible by my own attachments and bad habits.

Still, I kept trying and made slow progress. Sometimes I would not work at it for days but sometimes I would work consistently. Often it took a week or more to memorise a paragraph. But throughout the work days I would repeat to myself the words I had successfully memorised, so as to commit them firmly to memory.

Then a family situation arose that sapped all my time and energy for almost two months. This was a big test, and I did not do well. I did not memorise at all, only studied the Fa a little and did a couple of exercises each day. Vaguely I knew that these were the things that would give me the energy I needed for this 24 hour a day effort, but I could not remain clearheaded or summon the resolve to find a way. I would drop into bed for a little sleep after reading just "Lunyu" or a couple of paragraphs of Zhuan Falun some nights. When this situation was resolved, I did not begin memorising again.

All totalled, I had memorised only about 3 pages of Zhuan Falun before giving up.

When I decided to go back to memorising again, I thought maybe that if I could memorise some articles, that I would get better at memorising and have greater success at memorising Zhuan Falun in the future. I began memorising articles from Essential for Further Advancement and again met resistance and slow progress. However, this time it required less time to memorise than it did before. I was able to keep a quiet mind, slow down and stay focused. The process is becoming easier I believe, and I can memorise with less effort and time now.

What follows is the benefit I have experienced from memorising. I have some of the medium length articles memorised now, and I can see how the memorisation has undoubtedly improved and stabilised my cultivation.

"Those students improved really quickly after studying the Fa this way, and their levels have been rising really quickly as well-that's bound to be the case. " - Explaining the Content of Falun Dafa

It is as if the content and lesson of each article I have memorised has become a part of me.

For example: "What is Forbearance (Ren)" has indeed instilled greater tolerance in me. Very subtly a new compassion has taken a place in my life, growing in me unnoticed as I memorised "A Brief Explanation of Compassion (Shan)". The article "Genuine Cultivation" has brought me sharper focus on cultivation, and cut out a lot of slack I was giving myself. "Non-existence" from Hong Yin has indeed quieted my mind many times when there was inner chatter or disturbance, and I now know why it is so widely quoted in practitioners articles. From the small portion of Zhuan Falun I memorised, I now see and experience the rest of Zhuan Falun from a new level, a new perspective. This is very difficult to explain.

"All students have this feeling of being able to comprehend the Fa but not being able to express it clearly. That is, It isn't something that can be explained clearly with ordinary people's thinking or language. " - Lecture at the Western United States Fa Conference, 1999, provisional translation.

The memorised words and float into my thoughts unbidden in situations where they will be helpful. It is like they are almost reflexes, there to help me in my life.

"With such a deep impression [of the Fa] in their minds, whenever they
do something they'll be able to hold themselves to a practitioner's standard. It really makes a difference." - Explaining the Content of Falun Dafa

I don't need to make an effort to remember the articles. They are just there, like my feet or hands.

Sometimes I do consciously decide to recite, and when I do, especially out loud, I experience a special, very solid and grand pleasure that I have never experienced from any other activity. This must be a tiny portion of the enormous boundless power of the Fa.

"Those of us who have the ability, who are in their prime, excepting people who are older or who have poor memory, should try to memorise the book. " - Explaining the Content of Falun Dafa