(Minghui.org)

Greetings, Master! Greetings, fellow practitioners!

I am a non-Chinese practitioner living in Canada and have been practicing Falun Gong for about 20 years. Since I have a PhD university degree in education and psychology, I taught and researched at a university before immigrating to Canada. I had always admired the Minghui schools worldwide, so whenever I saw a picture of the children in Minghui schools, I wished to work there.

After immigrating to Canada, I studied early childhood education and worked in different schools and daycares for a few years. I was getting acquainted with the Canadian education system. But by working in ordinary daycares and schools, I maintained the concept that educators should only serve children’s desires and interests and let them play and do whatever they want, with less educational guidance. Nonetheless, I always wondered why public school children could have many behavioral problems, such as selfishness, a lack of respect, not caring enough about others, a lack of kindness and tolerance, and not enough desire or eagerness to learn or engage in learning activities.

After the pandemic and staying at home for a while, I was delighted when I was invited to work at a Minghui School. I was sure that my benevolent Master had arranged it. After joining the Minghui school, I was surprised to see the differences between these two educational systems, and I admired the interest the children in Minghui School had for learning activities. I could see that Minghui school children showed more respect for teachers and other classmates and righteously uplifted their character. Minghui school’s children learn to be patient, follow truthfulness, care for others and be compassionate with others. They do the five sets of Falun Gong exercises and study the Fa, something which is unavailable in other schools. I see that the educators and children respect each other, which is admirable. I realized that the type of education system the Minghui school employs is better than in ordinary schools, leading children to develop their personalities and character properly.

Children are also more interested in learning and engaging in group educational activities, such as academics and arts and crafts. I remember in the regular schools where I worked, we had to use various tricks to get the children interested in doing an educational program that they just got tired of and soon dropped out of. But in the Minghui school, children are interested in various academic topics, such as writing, reading, doing art activities, etc. They even ask for worksheets for writing practice or artistic and scientific affairs.

I discovered that in this age of technology, children develop selfishness and individualism in an ordinary community which is the reverse of Minghui School. In addition to educational activities, children also have enough time to play and engage in physical activities. Therefore, I observed balance in curriculum and consideration for the overall development of children in school.

For me, because I do not know the Chinese language, it was initially challenging to communicate with children, especially the toddlers. However, gradually this issue got corrected, as I realized that love and kindness go beyond words, so children look at me with enthusiasm and a happy face. They run to me and call my name when they see me come in. Whenever children are not satisfied or are displaying some issues, I look inward to see what is wrong in my mood or thoughts at that time, and surprisingly, after correcting my thoughts, many of the children’s conflicts get resolved.

Master told us that:

“...looking within is a magical tool.” (“Fa Teaching at the 2009 Washington DC International Fa Conference,”Collected Teachings Given Around the World Volume IX)

Children learn the Falun Dafa meditation and practice, which can keep them healthy physically, mentally and behaviorally, and give them positive and traditional personalities in today’s polluted society. Therefore, I see this school as a pure land not available outside. I am very happy when I turn on the pudu music for the children to sleep. Such good music enters the minds of these children and this will have a good effect on them.

I remember when a child fell and was crying, an educator, in addition to taking care of the boy’s health, told him to repeat this sentence: “Falun Dafa Hao, Zhen Shan Ren Hao [Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good].” The child did so and recovered quickly.

I remember one day we took the children out for a walk in nature and as we were passing a beautiful green landscape, all the children suddenly sang “Falun Dafa Hao.” I could not restrain my happiness for these children, seeing how these kids’ minds are filled with these magic words. Children learn to use Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance to conduct themselves and think of others first.

Even though I have experienced a few challenges with other staff at the school, it was not much, and soon after looking inward, we resolved the issues and everything was good.

For example, when I first started working at the school, I did art activities with the children and unknowingly used a lot of art material. Shortly after that, another teacher came up to me and asked me to put the extra art materials in storage if I was not using them. Even though I agreed, I got upset and thought it was not respectful behavior. For a few days, I could not keep kindness in my mind towards her, but when I looked inward, I understood that all of my resentment came from my selfishness and strong ego that had led me to think that I am a significant person and everybody should admire me. I also realized that I even wasted some food while cooking, which means I was not respectful of Dafa resources. When that teacher apologized, I said it was a xinxing test for me and I had learned a big lesson from that test.

In this school, staff cultivators look within themselves, and quickly return to a friendly relationship. I see that our compassionate hearts affect the children’s behavior, and they are starting to become more kind. I have tried my best to look at challenges as tests that Master arranges for me to upgrade, eliminate my attachments, and improve my cultivation state. I learned from these experiences that I need to treat my hardships with a different attitude.

As Master says in Hong Yin:

“Let joy be found in hardship.” (“Tempering the Will,” Hong Yin)

We all know that nothing happens by accident, and every hardship has a reason behind it.

I remember I had sickness karma once and thought that I had no one in this city who could care for me. But as soon as my co-workers, who are cultivators, found out, they set a time for me to send righteous thoughts, and the effect was very strong. At that moment, my eyes filled with tears, and I realized the difference between a clean cultivation environment and other environments. I’m happy to work in an environment where I am delighted to be with fellow practitioners, examine our shortcomings, and exchange our cultivation experiences. I am sure that the children and young practitioners need an environment to cultivate and progress together, which Minghui school provides.

Thank you, Master!

Thank you, fellow practitioners!

(Presented at the 2022 Canada Falun Dafa Cultivation Experience Sharing Conference)