(Minghui.org) I’ve been part of Minghui.org for more than 20 years, and I’d like to share my experiences and what I learned since the website was established 27 years ago.
I started to practice Falun Dafa soon after it was introduced, but I cultivated very slowly. I read Falun Dafa books and did the exercises. The cold and fever that hit me almost every month was gone; the cough I had every spring also disappeared.
In March 1997, I was fortunate to attend the Falun Dafa Experience-Sharing Conference in New York, and over two days, I listened to about nine hours of lectures given by Master Li (the founder of the practice). After the conference I no longer believed that modern science is the only avenue that pursues truth. Instead, as Master said, “Cultivation is the most important thing in the cosmos.” (“Fa Teaching Given in New York City,” Teachings at Conferences in the United States)
I also had a better understanding of how to balance my schooling and cultivation practice. I studied the Fa (teachings) and did the exercises, but because I had no group environment I often slacked off.
After practitioners peacefully appealed in Beijing on April 25, 1999, many classmates told me about the incident since they knew I practiced Falun Dafa. To find out what happened, I searched online and found Minghui.org and I learned the entire story. Impressed by the dedication of practitioners in China and their efforts to safeguard Dafa, I visited Minghui.org every day.
Over time, I began to realize cultivation practice is very serious, and I developed a sense of responsibility. When I heard one of my family members in China was arrested and detained, I wrote down the information and submitted it to Minghui.org. After she was released, I asked her to write about her experiences and submit it to Minghui using her real name. At that time, I did not have a clear understanding of opposing the persecution, but I felt it was important for people to know the facts.
I learned a lot from Minghui.org. At that time, my classmates and friends often asked me about Falun Dafa. By reading Minghui.org I was able to answer almost all their questions. I began wondering if there was anything I could do for the website.
After I moved to another city as a postdoc in 2001, my email address changed, so I notified a practitioner in my previous city. He sent me a very short article from Minghui.org on the persecution that happened to a practitioner in China and asked if I could translate it into English. Because some terms were not used in everyday life, I had to check a dictionary. I translated it in two hours.
That practitioner began sending me articles on a regular basis, and they became longer and more frequent. In the beginning, it was one article per week; later, it was one article per day or several articles per day. No matter how many I received, I always sent back the translation on the same day. My thought was simple: the international community needs to know this; the quicker these persecution cases are exposed, the better we can help practitioners in China.
The translated articles were polished by Western practitioners, who also sent the polished version back to us. After receiving the polished version, I always read them through. I learned a lot about how to write better English, and my translation skills improved. I also noticed the differences between the two cultures and the influence of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
I was eventually assigned to translate certain types of articles. Because of timing, I had to translate them in the morning so that they could be posted on the English Minghui website the same day. I often got up very early in the morning and translated the most urgent articles. After I came home from work, I worked on the articles that were less urgent. One time around World Falun Dafa Day, there were many greeting cards and event reports. I translated 11 articles—a total of 40 pages. My English was not that great and my being able to do this was a miracle.
As time passed, the coordinator asked me to improve the articles in Chinese before they were translated into English. This is because the articles were written in the Chinese style, and if they were translated directly, it would be difficult for Westerners to understand or accept. For example, one persecution article used the term er jing (vicious police officer) 17 times. Along with such emotionally charged adjectives, some articles were overly long and lacked paragraphs or logical structure. Improving them would make them easier to translate with better readability.
I often thought: What if the Chinese version could also be improved instead of only those prepared for English translation? This way, it would be easier for Chinese readers to understand. Even though I did not mention this to anyone, shortly after I had this thought, I received a phone call and was invited to edit articles for Chinese language Minghui.
At first, I thought editing articles in Chinese would be easier than translating them. When I received the Chinese language submissions, I was surprised. Many practitioners in China hadn’t gotten much higher education. Plus, with the persecution and internet blockade, even when they tried their best to describe details about the persecution, there were many misspellings and grammatical errors.
Moreover, I wasn’t familiar with some legal terms, and I wasn’t sure how to handle certain content. I usually started by smoothing out the wording. Based on articles already published, I learned how to manage some sensitive information. For example, when translating persecution articles, we need to expose how vicious the torture was without repeating the brainwashing propaganda. For cultivation articles, I also had to check to see if the understandings were consistent with Dafa’s teachings, if the author was validating him- or herself, if there was Party culture influence, and if the article might trigger conflicts among local practitioners. I often needed four or five hours to finish a file.
During this process, I learned to be a good editor. It not only involves several hours of dedication. We have to study the Fa well and maintain a good cultivation state. Only then can we reduce or avoid interference from human notions; only then can we gain wisdom from Dafa to make the articles purer and more effective in delivering the message.
After several months of editing, I was assigned to a different, important role to support Minghui.org. This task was tedious and it required a variety of skills. Because of the immense responsibility, I always took it seriously and with an attitude of humility.
My goal was to remove the impure parts of articles, but if I had many human notions and attachments, I had trouble identifying issues. If I just glossed over an article, I could not find the problems. Whenever I noticed misspelling, an oddly worded title, or issues with images in the published version, I knew there were areas where I slacked off.
For example, if I was absentminded when I read an article, I might miss some details and cause problems. If I didn’t think from the reader’s perspective, I may just accept some jargon without noticing it. My oversights might push readers away. Whenever that happened, I felt bad. I knew this happened because of my lack of skills and my poor cultivation state. I hadn’t studied the Fa well and I had too many human notions.
I’ve edited articles for more than 15 years, and I haven’t taken one day off. Sometimes I get tired, and the repetitive work, closed environment, and my slacking off erode my determination to cultivate. When this happens, I remind myself why I participate in Minghui—this could be a prehistoric vow I made. There are few conflicts at my work or in my family that offer me opportunities to improve, so working on Minghui on a daily basis could be an important part of my cultivation practice. When I feel tired and depressed, it could also be a reminder of my attachment to comfort.
There is a saying: “A long journey tests the strength of a horse; the passage of time reveals a person’s true character.” I am grateful to Master for his support along the way. I also want to thank other practitioners for their help and their feedback. Although we work on the same project, we seldom see each other in person. Still, I am glad to have those discussions on the project and cultivation, which have benefited me a lot.
Looking back over these 27 years, I have changed from a Minghui reader to a participant. I cherish this cultivation opportunity and the opportunity for us to improve together. We are not perfect, and we each have our own strengths and weaknesses. By working together selflessly, however, we constantly improve ourselves, do better, and fulfill our responsibilities.