PureInsight | November 29, 2004
[PureInsight.org] I have known Y for years. She was a Russian major in college and then studied it for two years in graduate school. She also used Russian extensively for several years in her job after she started working. Therefore, Y is excellent in verbal and written Chinese-to-Russian and Russian-to-Chinese translation. She does not just get the translation done; she does it in an exceptional quality, even compared to the professional translators. She is also the mother of two toddlers.
Y is a volunteer translator for several websites established by Falun Gong practitioners to share cultivation experiences and to reveal the facts of persecution against Falun Gong. It strikes me as most odd that Y is able to produce high-quality work so quickly. After all, how does a mother of two small children find any time to do so much translation work? Today's typical Chinese mother would need her parents, parents-in-laws, or someone else's help to help care for one child. Besides, there is a Chinese saying, "The misery of a mother escalates with each addition of a child." Y has two children and their parents or in-laws do not live with them. Both kids are of preschool age. Kids at that age often cry and fuss constantly. They also require constant changes of diapers. They ask for water or milk frequently. There is also the daily chores of the laundry. Oh, my goodness! My dear Y, a young mother of two baby girls, how do you manage to find time to translate for multiple websites? However do you manage to focus and deliver fast, quality translation work between chores?
When I ran into Y in the past Falun Dafa (or Falun Gong) Cultivation Experience Sharing Conference, I presented my question: As a mother of two baby girls, how do you find time for translation work?
The following is Y's answer:
As you may know already, my husband is very busy. He has a daytime job to provide for the family, and he often attends to truth-clarification activities in his spare time. Because our parents and in-laws do not live with us, all the housework falls on my shoulders. I started to help with the translation work when my older baby was four months old. I did not have any free time during the day, so I gave up sleep at night for translation work. Besides, I had to adjust my volunteer work schedule according to my kids' schedules. There was a period of time when I went to bed between midnight and 1:00 AM, got up at 4:00 AM and did translation work for about four hours everyday. A lot of people tend to stay up at night and then have difficulty getting up early. In order to help with the translation work, I force myself to stay up all night or get up early in the morning. Otherwise, I would never have time for translation work. After that period of time, I successfully established a new daily schedule. Since then, I can get up early every morning and make sure I have enough time for translation work.
Besides squeezing time for translation work, I also need to find time to study the Fa (Law and principles in the Buddha School) because this is not ordinary translation work. The quantity and the quality of translation work for Falun Gong is directly related to the quality of our personal Fa study. When I do not study the Fa well, my cultivation practice is compromised. As a result, I feel muddleheaded and can not think of the right words to use when doing translating work I feel anxious to get the translation work done, but take a long time to finish and the quality is not as good. But when I study the Fa well, I am in a good cultivation state and have a pure and tranquil mind. As a result, I can deliver quality translation work quickly. I can even think of words, phrases and sentences that I have not used for years. Everything becomes so smooth and easy like a river follows its natural course. I know it's because Teacher inspires my wisdom and tells me how to translate. The majority of my translation work is to translate Chinese articles from Falun Gong practitioners' websites into Russian. I can sometimes translate 3,000 to 4,000 Chinese words into Russian in just two to three hours. Naturally, the length of such articles, translated into Russian, would be couple of times longer than those in Chinese.
I asked, "How do you find time for Fa study?"
Y: I study the Fa when my kids are playing in the park. They usually play in the sandbox, play in the grass to find insects and bugs, or play on the seesaws. I usually don't have to give them too much personal attention. I just need to watch them. The girls play in the park for hours each day, so I can usually read one lecture of Zhuan Falun during that time. Even if you don't have a lot of time to study the Fa, you will enhance your understanding if you study the Fa with a calm and tranquil mind.
I asked, "Since you don't get much sleep at night, do you have time to take a nap in the afternoon?"
Y replied, "Sometimes I can find time to take a 30-minute nap, but not often."
I asked, "How about the Falun Gong exercises? Do you have time to practice the exercises?"
Y replied, "It is impossible for me to find two hours each day to do all five exercises, but I manage to find one hour each day to alternate practicing the standing exercises and the sitting meditation."
Her elder girl named A is now three years of age. The younger girl named N is almost two. They both are healthy, active, smart and beautiful. Y repeatedly told me, "I have been a full-time housewife and mother for the past several years. There isn't much I can do to help clarify the truth for Falun Gong. I asked myself what I could do to help? I cannot attend most of the truth-clarification activities because of my schedule. The translation work is just a tiny bit help I can offer by squeezing time from my demanding schedule."
Does Y's contribution seem ordinary as she thought? Not at all!
Teacher said, "They might seem ordinary, but all the things Dafa disciples do are the most magnificent, and they're unprecedented." (From "Teaching and Explaining the Fa at the Metropolitan New York Fa Conference")
Indeed, Y's heartfelt contribution is most magnificent.
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2004/10/31/29661.html
