(Clearwisdom.net) Over the past few years, quite a few Minghui Schools have been founded throughout the world. Many teachers in these schools are Falun Gong practitioners. They incorporate the principles of "Truth, Compassion, Forbearance" and their own cultivation experiences when teaching the kids. The following is an interview with Ms. Wang from Toronto. Ms. Wang is a teacher at the Minghui School there.
Reporter: Ms. Wang, Hello. I heard that in Toronto, Falun Gong practitioners read the book Zhuan Falun and share their understandings together every week while their children play together, study poems, draw, and listen to music. Could you give us some details about it?
Ms. Wang: When Toronto practitioners are doing their Fa study, their kids divide into two groups. One is an older group and the other one is a younger group. The older group consists of ten year-olds and up, and the younger group has children from two to ten years old. I had my son join when he was two and a half. It has been two and a half years now. My feeling is that when my son is cultivating, I am also cultivating with him. When he first joined the group, he was overly active. It was very difficult to get him under control.
Reporter: Are you saying all the kids were that way or only your child?
Ms. Wang: All of them were like that. Because I had never been a teacher before, when I first started working with the kids, seeing them so rambunctious - sometimes I almost felt like throwing them out the window. (Laughing)
Reporter: How many kids and teachers are there now?
Ms. Wang: Now, we have about 30 two to six or seven years old, with three teachers for them. We have about 20 kids over seven, with two to three teachers.
Reporter: You just said that kids sometimes are very naughty, then how do the three teachers manage nearly 30 of them?
Ms. Wang: At the beginning, we didn’t know how to control the kids. We were quite anxious. Seeing that kids were very noisy, we were quite upset. We always said to them loudly; "You shouldn’t do this. You shouldn’t do that." However, I found that we didn’t achieve a very good effect. Then, I came to realize that the childrens’ cultivation is part of our own cultivation, so we started sharing with the kids more and more. After long-term persistent interaction with them, we began to understand their situations in life, their home situations, and what they wanted to do when they came to Minghui School. Gradually, the kids started treating us as teachers, and they listened to what we said. Our patience and kindness was gradually cultivated during this process.
Now, even when the kids do become rambunctious, they don’t get too extreme. When you tell them that their behavior is not good, and how it affects others, the child starts behaving himself. It wasn't like this when I first joined the school. I could feel that when I was anxious, the kids were anxious as well. I feel that it is a cultivation process, because when I am with the kids they really temper my "xinxing."
Reporter: Can you give me a detailed example?
Ms. Wang: Let me give two examples. One is my son, another one is another practitioner’s son. My son started practicing with us after he was born, but the other kid followed his mother, who didn’t start practicing until he was three and a half years old. At that time, when he first came to the Minghui School, he was very active and headstrong. Whatever you said to him, he opposed it. He didn’t listen to you, and instead, he stuck to his own way.
His mom is a new practitioner, and my son is one year older than him. I always talked with his mom in terms of how to cultivate with a child, which is to incorporate the inner meaning of Dafa into every aspect of one's life. I gave her an example; when my son was very little, we paid attention to talking to him from the perspective of thinking of others. Such as when he started crying, I told him that it was not good to cry, because he would affect our neighbor, then that neighbor would ask: "Which little boy is being so noisy?" So, we tried to incorporate thinking of others when we talked about the principles of Falun Gong. Also Falun Gong’s theory requires us to think about others at all times.
For example, some kids are quick to shout. Some new practitioners’ kids are like that. They laugh and shout loudly. The boy's mom then asked me; "How come your son seldom shouts?" I said, "When he was very little, when he started shouting, I told him; ‘Don’t shout, son. If you have something on your mind, you just go ahead and speak it out. Shouting means nothing.’" I stopped him first, and then I told him why he shouldn’t shout. But, if you only tell him that shouting is no good and about how it affects others, he wouldn’t be able to understand, because he has nothing to compare it to. He doesn’t understand why it would negatively affect others. In public, sometimes, other kids shout loudly. Then I would say to him; "Son, look at that kid. He is shouting so loudly. That voice is so irritating, and it doesn’t sound nice. Doesn’t it affect other people nearby him?" Then he would learn this comparison. He learned the habit of not shouting, except when he is extremely happy, which gives him some room. Kids always need some room. When others are shouting loudly, he would cover his ears and say, "Mom, that person is so noisy. His voice is hard to listen to."
As another example, when taking a walk or going out to a park, normally in Canada, the sidewalk can hold two people side by side. So in holding his hand, we would occupy the whole sidewalk. When someone was walking towards us, I would tell him: "Son, there are people coming towards us. We’ll have to make room for them so that they can pass." I tell him that we have to think of others at all times. He then got into a good habit, and when he walks, he thinks of others. When we go to a mall, he holds the door open for others.
Reporter: You just said that your son started practicing Falun Gong with you when he was little. Why do you want your child to practice Falun Gong?
Ms. Wang: After I started practicing Falun Gong, I felt that I became relaxed both mentally and physically. The first time I read Zhuan Falun, I understood that Teacher asks us to be good people. Then, if there are more good people in the world, society would be better. I used to be in the tourism and hotel business, and I could see that morality is declining in society. Everybody is going after money. When everybody is going after money, they commit many crimes. After I read Zhuan Falun, I truly felt the beauty of Truth, Compassion, Forbearance. But at that time, I felt that I couldn’t practice successfully because I would have to get up early to do the exercises, which was a big trial for me when I first started cultivating. Secondly, the "Truth, Compassion, Forbearance" required by Teacher, I felt that this was hard to do as well. Later, after I truly made up my mind to cultivate, I didn’t feel that it was that difficult to do. Gradually, I came to understand that cultivation is so wonderful. I feel that cultivation is the best thing that I can give to my son.
Reporter: What do the young Falun Gong practitioners do when they have conflicts among themselves? As a Falun Gong practitioner’s mother, how do you deal with them?
Ms. Wang: At first, I have to listen to them to find out why they have a conflict. Usually, they say for sure something like, "He is like this and that another person is like that." Then you can ask him. "During the conflict, how did you do?" He would say, "I pushed him," which suddenly turns the situation around from focusing on how another person did to looking inside, how he himself did. "I pushed Rongrong," for example. I then tell him that it is not good to push people around. If others were pushing you, wouldn’t you be very sad? And then I told them to apologize to each other. For those kids who were pushed, they should also forgive others. So then they shake hands and became friends again. Then, after a few times of going through this experience, gradually the kids get rid of this kind of behavior.
They need an environment where they can learn how to interact with others their own age. Many of the kids do not have sisters and brothers, so no matter what they do, they do it from their own perspective. Because their parents normally don’t have any conflicts with them, they give way to their kids. Young practitioners are the same, they need a group environment. This group environment is very important to them to learn how to give way to others and think of others.
Reporter: When other practitioners are reading Falun Gong books and sharing experiences, the teachers have to stay at the Minghui School to look after the kids. Then you have missed many opportunities to improve through sharing experiences. Do you feel any imbalance in your heart because of this?
Ms. Wang: It is a difficult cultivation process for me. At the very beginning, because my son was very little, I stayed at Minghui School almost the whole time. Gradually, through interacting with the kids, my cultivation state has grown better, and I have become more patient. During this process, I did feel that I lost the environment of sharing with other adult practitioners in a large group. I did feel imbalanced in my heart for a long time. Then, I started thinking, "How come other parents don’t participate?"
This is also a process of cultivating my heart. If you take care of the kids, you can’t join in the group study. This cultivation process is to get rid of selfishness, and it took me a while to do that. Now, I feel fairly settled. I can’t study the Fa with them on Friday, but we have an email group. Whenever there is an activity, it gets posted to the group. Then I can select what to participate in. We also have small Fa study groups on other days and I participate in those.
When I still have some selfishness, some parents’ words touch me. For example, one time I said to a parent: "At today’s large group sharing, I have one thing that I want to inform everyone about. Could you please take a little bit of your time to look after these kids?" Then that parent said to me right away; "If I look after those kids, I won’t be able to hear anything. I also couldn’t share with others and study the Fa with them." I felt so uneasy right away. I said to myself; "What a parent. For so many years, it has been only a few of us teachers looking after her kids. We never pressured the parents to look after the kids. How can she say that? She isn’t thinking about others even a little bit." The feeling of unfairness popped up. Later I thought; "Is there anything that I haven’t done well? Do I still have some selfishness?"
Gradually, when your selfishness becomes less and less, when you always think about the kids having a good cultivation environment so that their parents can study the Fa in the large group with ease, and when you think of others more and more, naturally others begin to think more about you; parents will participate more and more, and everyone's environment becomes better and better. This is a cultivation process.
I feel that everything is a reflection of our cultivation. No matter what it is, it is cultivation from within.
Reporter: Good. Thanks for your time.
