(Minghui.org) Before the persecution of Falun Dafa began in China on July 20, 1999, people could be seen everywhere practicing the Falun Gong exercises in the morning.
Managers in many companies saw that Falun Gong practitioners were not only healthy, but were also the most dedicated employees. They also realized that employees practicing Falun Gong took job titles, promotions, and bonuses lightly, and no longer fought for personal gain, which saved the managers a lot of trouble. Many managers provided space for employees to practice the Falun Gong exercises in their spare time, and spread the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.
Once, after a routine all-staff meeting, the school principal asked two teachers who practiced Falun Gong to introduce Falun Gong to everyone. I began to practice Falun Gong after that.
In the fall of 1998, the school started an interim class to prepare students for the national math competition. The principal appointed me to teach this class. I faced three challenges. First, the selected students were not as qualified as those in other schools. They had never been trained for math competitions, while students in other schools had been trained for three years. Second, I had only taught regular math classes and had never trained students for math competitions before. Third, neither the school nor I had any math competition material. We had to learn from other schools what to use and how to find the sample competition questions. I was afraid that I would fall short of expectations, so I shared my concern and difficulties with the principal and asked him to find another teacher for the class. However, he refused. I then thought that, as I was a Falun Gong practitioner, I should take the assignment.
Master Li tells us,
“When we work on a scientific research project, or, say, when our supervisor gives us an assignment, or when we’re completing our tasks, we do a great job with crystal-clear thinking. But when it comes to that petty personal gain, or when it’s about tensions and disagreements with other people, it’s just then that we take things lightly.” (Zhuan Falun)
As a teacher with the task of helping students to prepare for the math competition, I followed Master Li's teachings. I didn't worry about the outcome of the competition, and just focused on doing a good job. I carefully researched the topics, selected problems, and evaluated the answers. Though I was very busy, I felt calm and at ease. Most of the time, I was able to find solutions to solve problems without much difficulty, and I didn't experience what others claimed about the competition, that “math competition problems are frighteningly difficult.” In teaching, I learned the principles and techniques that I couldn't have learned from regular math classes, and I was able to teach them to the students in an easy-to-understand way. As I had no experience in tutoring for math competitions, I could only thank Master Li for giving me the wisdom.
In the last three months before the competition, the students had to undergo intensive training, and had ten classes every day from morning until evening. I was the only teacher for the class, and had to take care of the students' emotional and behavioral needs also. However, I was so busy selecting practice problems, working on the answer keys, creating and grading tests, that I hardly found time to talk to students one-on-one.
At that time, moral education in school was often just a formality. The empty words and clichés didn't resonate with the students. They often pretended to be obedient, but were not convinced. They went their own way and did their own thing when the teacher was not around. I decided to guide the students with Falun Dafa's principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.
During one evening class, I brought pictures of Falun Dafa being practiced around the world to class. The students learned how Falun Dafa had spread all over the world, and understood the meaning of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. They also learned stories of professionals in the scientific and technological fields who gained wisdom after practicing Falun Gong, and made outstanding achievements in their fields.
The students all endorsed the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, and wanted to learn Falun Gong. I told them that, since time was tight for the competition, we should follow the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance in our daily lives and learn the exercises in physical education class after the competition.
From then on, the students followed the standard of “compassion” to get along with each other. They helped each other and there was no more fighting. They felt comfortable with each other, although they were pulled out from different classes. They no longer looked down on students who did poorly, nor did they envy those with good scores. At recess, they helped me to organize the lecture notes, test papers, and teaching aids, as they knew I was very busy.
They were “truthful” in their studies. They were honest and asked questions when they didn't understand something. When they took tests, no one cheated, even though I was too busy to watch over the test.
The intensive training was tedious and strenuous. The students were “tolerant.” They were diligent in practicing in class and after class, they locked themselves in their dormitory to focus on studying and did not allow themselves to be disturbed by other students. Whenever test results were announced, those who did well did not show off, and those who fell short would seek improvement. On one occasion, a student looked for why he didn't do well on a test. He found his deficiency by reviewing the lessons. He also recalled his poor behavior earlier when he broke a bamboo stick in his neighbor's garden.
Some students felt nervous before the competition. I shared Master Li's teaching on focusing on the process rather than the result. I told them that, as students, their responsibility was to do their best to answer every question. If they worried about the score, their vanity would distract them and affect the score negatively. The students were then no longer nervous.
In the national competition, they answered the questions calmly. When they checked the answers after the competition, two students believed that they got full marks. Actually, they both won the national grand prize for a perfect score. In addition, ten students won national first prize, ten students won national second prize, and five students won national third prize from my class. This was considered a miracle at my school. It was a much better score than all the other schools that had done well in past competitions. I knew that it was Master Li who gave the students wisdom because they endorsed Falun Dafa and practiced the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.
In the workplace experience sharing conference, I shared my understanding. Every teacher hopes that his students are good. However, the students won't necessarily become truly good students if they don’t understand why they should behave well. When I told the students about Falun Dafa's principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, the students became truly good students as acknowledged by both teachers and parents, for they behaved well whether others were around or not.
After the competition, teachers who practiced Falun Gong in the school and the students from my class read Falun Gong books, practiced the exercises, and shared experiences together. It was really a fulfilling and enjoyable time when everyone benefited physically and mentally! Unfortunately, the group practices were stopped around April 25, 1999.
I wonder how the students are doing today. If the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) hadn’t banned Falun Gong, they would all be very good people!
