Master often reminds us not to be attached to Her physical form, because Her power is omnipresent and will teach us from within. I have had profound experiences in this regard. Let me illustrate this through my learning process of being an interpreter.

I attended the international seven-day retreat in Costa Rica a few years ago. Being young and innocent, I took on the job of the assistant interpreter because I could speak a little bit of English. But I ended up making some mistakes and Master had to correct them Herself. Master had made some "Divine Vegetarian Punch" for everyone. She was so loving that She poured some punch and gave it to me Herself. Master asked me, "What language are you interpreting?"

I tried to reply very 'humbly', "I am 'learning' to interpret English."

Master laughed, "Still 'learning'? And you dare to interpret my English!"

At that time, I couldn't understand what Master meant, and it was not until years later that I gradually realized that it is extremely difficult to do Master's work. This is because everything that Master does is to benefit all beings, and we only ruin things if our spiritual practice is not good enough. We cannot do Master's work if our attention span is too short or we are too egotistic. I have slowly realized that Master helps us to grow up by allowing us the opportunity to work and serve others.

Later, I had more chances to interpret for Master, and from Her lectures, I understood that She wanted me to "be ready". So I began to work diligently to improve my English and to scrutinize every aspect of my life and my spiritual practice. Master once said that most of Her interpreters did a good job during the first half of the session, but not later on. I knew that this had much to do with the ability to concentrate. Normally when I meditated, I could hardly concentrate for a few minutes; but in order to interpret well, I pushed to train myself to be able to concentrate for several hours at least. Also, to be a good interpreter for Master, it appeared that I had to change my entire being; every person, everything and every incident that I had come in contact with, all became mirrors reflecting the qualities in me which needed to be improved. And I had already begun to understand deeply, that if these imperfect qualities were not changed, I would not be able to perform well in Master's work.

At the same time, I could clearly see that Master had been silently arranging many opportunities for me to learn. They included my linguistic capacity, my ability to respond and even training me to relax and let go of tension. I had been a very nervous person since I was young; my whole body was often very tense and unable to relax. Once a person is unable to relax, he is unable to concentrate and wastes much energy which not only makes him tired but also lowers his ability to respond quickly.

By letting me edit both Chinese and English articles and produce the cassette tapes, Master cultivated my linguistic capabilities. From watching Master's video tapes I learned to interpret; through gradual training, She built up my confidence. It felt like a mother helping a small child learn to walk, She guided me step by step, and afterwards, She allowed me to come in contact with important events. Interestingly though, whenever I was "not ready" to do a certain job, I would suddenly lose the opportunity to do it. "Not ready" included my being too tense, my language capacity being inadequate, my lack of confidence, insufficient meditation, or being too egotistic, etc.

However, Master also let me observe the prices She had to pay for the consequences of my being "not ready". Sometimes, the sacrifice was the audiences' opportunity to absorb Master's teachings, and the invisible karma created was quite amazing. Because every word that Master says is the Truth, even if She is just chatting along, all are words of wisdom; to misinterpret a word would interrupt others' comprehension. For example, one day Master was happily displaying a corner of Her dress, and said that She had especially made it a round corner, representing fullness or perfection. In that instant, I couldn't think of a way to relate round and perfection in English, so I skipped it. Later, a sister initiate unwittingly mentioned that during Master's talk of that particular day, what she learned the most was the part about "perfection". I was startled to realize that the fundamental essence of translation is to abide by the original words, and not to use our ego to add or delete any words spoken by Master. However, this is very difficult.

It is because the job of interpreting is very difficult that I understood the path of spiritual practice is not easy. In the past, I often stopped trying to do a job better when I scored 70 to 80 percent, thinking that it was good enough to be proud of. It was just like my level of spiritual practice; I got stuck there. Recently, Master showed me through another instance, that to score 70 to 80 percent is just a minimum requirement, and to reach professional standards you must score 80 to 90 percent. This 10 percent would not be an easy breakthrough, and from 90 to 91 percent would be much more difficult, and it would get even more difficult from then on.

From a small incidence in translation, we can see that Master is omnipotent and omnipresent, and She is always guiding us along. I believe that Master will guide us through the toughest of all difficulties. This is why it's so wonderful to have a living, enlightened master! Thank You, Master!