(Clearwisdom.net) Students in Mainland China have very heavy workloads. There is usually very limited time that teachers can share small talk. This requires us to seize every opportunity that comes along, anywhere or anytime, to clarify the truth to the students.
When I am having class, I usually leave some free time for students to do what they want. One day I saw a student with a jade Buddha image on her necklace. It looked very nice. I sat beside her and asked, "Can I have a look?" She felt uneasy because in China students are not allowed to wear any trinkets at school. They could be confiscated.
I smiled at her and said, "People should have the freedom of belief." She was puzzled and asked me, "Teacher, you believe in Buddha as well?" "Yes, Buddha is a high level being. If you believe in him, the high level being will protect you. Then you will be safe and have good fortune!" The girl then suddenly became talkative. She said, "Teacher, many people in our village believe in Jesus. Mum and I believe in Buddha." "Yes, Jesus is a great god. He told people to be kind. People who believe in either Buddha or Jesus are all very kind!" "Yes, that's right." Her eyes were glittering with excitement. Then I told her about how the evil party persecutes the Christians and how they made up the story of self immolation to sabotage Falun Gong. She listened to me very attentively. I said to her at the end, " When you are in danger, you recite 'Falun Dafa is good' in your heart and everything will be ok. Please remember this."
I put the jade Buddha image in my hand and thought to myself: Thank you Esteemed Master for saving sentient beings. Master, please do consecration on this Buddha image.
I had the child recite "Falun Dafa is good" in her heart. I said to her, "Now you have Buddha in your heart. You should do good and accumulate virtue. When hit by others, don't hit back. When cursed by others, don't curse back. Are you able to achieve that?" She replied with great determination, "Yes, I can."
'Tell your relatives and friends to recite 'Falun Dafa is good' in their hearts. They will have a good future. Please do remember!" "I will tell my mum."
In our busy, everyday lives, seize every opportunity to save sentient beings—every opportunity is precious beyond measure. This is the duty of every Dafa student. By doing this, we are fulfilling our vows made in a pre-historic period. Let us become more diligent under the guidance of our great benevolent Master. I will forever remember Master's words in "Be Rational, Awaken" in Hongyin II:
"Rest momentarily for self-reflection,
add righteous thoughts
Analyze shortcomings explicitly,
advance again whole-heartedly."
(Provisional translation subject to improvement)
