(Clearwisdom.net) To encourage my students' interest in learning English, I turned The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish into a drama and divided the children into two groups to perform it as a contest.
After one busy week of preparation, we reached the dress rehearsal, but there was a serious problem. There were too many things to handle in between scenes. For example, when the fisherman's wife became the wife of the Tsar, she needed to change into a different outfit; at the same time we needed to move large props on and off the stage. We also needed another group of performers to be ministers and guards on the two sides. This required close cooperation between the two groups. But during the dress rehearsal, the children were only concerned about their own group, and they didn't think about helping out the others. Behind the curtain were all kinds of noises of people running, doors slamming, tables moving, and people arguing. Sometimes it took so long for the children to get ready before the curtain opened that the curtain operator kept urging, “Hurry up! Are you ready?” It was really a mess. The young audience burst into laughter a few times.
After the dress rehearsal was over, the performers couldn't calm down. They felt that, although they knew their lines and their acting was good, they didn't succeed overall and messed up. Some of them began to complain to each other.
I neither criticized them or rushed to find a solution. I know that the wisdom and the capabilities of cultivators come from the Fa. As long as our hearts meet the Fa's standard, everything will naturally work out for the best.
The next day in class, a student mentioned something about cultivation, so we talked about the current spread of Falun Dafa to over 100 countries around the world. When we spoke about the wonders of Dafa in class, a boy said, “Cultivation is so great! I want to practice Dafa, too.” Another student said, “I really want to become a divine being. How can I become a divine being?” Amazingly, some children immediately conjoined their hands, and some closed their eyes and held one palm erect, exactly like a Dafa disciple sending forth righteous thoughts. I was moved in my heart and knew what I should do next.
In the afternoon, I brought several copies of Falun Dafa books. I gathered the students who knew the truth about Dafa fairly well together and asked some of my past students to come over. I put the books in front of them and said, “This book Zhuan Falun is not an ordinary book. It is a ladder to heaven. It can help us become divine beings.” The children were very quiet. I added, “Let's look at Master's photo.” Someone said, “Teacher, I feel that Master is really kind and benevolent. He is smiling and looking at us.”
Afterwards, each of us took turns to read Lunyu, and we read it several times. The children were very focused on reading and read very fluently, without any mistakes. It was like they had studied the book for years. At that moment, I had a strong sense that they had come here for the Fa, waiting for thousands of reincarnations in order to obtain the Fa in this life.
The final performance was the following afternoon. All the young children came to watch, and two of my former students also came. There were no empty seats. I got together all the performers backstage. I felt that we were surrounded by peace and compassion. I smiled and said, “I just want to share one thing with you. Can we switch on our divine thinking? Divine beings are selfless and altruistic. Try it. I have faith in you!”
We had a perfect performance in the end. In between scenes, there was no noise. Even the children's steps were light, like they were stepping on clouds. It took no more than a few moments for them to change costumes, put on headpieces, or move props. The audience was drawn in by the smooth performance.
At the curtain call, the performers stood in a row hand in hand, smiled, and bowed to recognize the applause. The children in the audience were very excited, especially the two former students. One of them was in tears. She said, “Teacher, I had tears while watching the performance. I don't know why. I just wanted to cry.” This girl is a young Dafa practitioner. She used to study the Fa with me, but later she spent her time playing computer games and didn't come to study the Fa. After watching the performance, she said, “Teacher, I want to return here for school so that I can study the Fa with you. Is that OK?” I held her hand and said, “That would be great, I'd be really happy about that.” The other former student said, “Teacher, I'm astounded to see this. Even for students in the last grade of middle school, like us, it's not easy to speak the lines in English so fluently. These performers are two years younger than me, right? What is the most unbelievable to me is that their cooperation is so seamless. How could they do that? I want to talk to them.” Then he talked to the performers one by one. Here are some of the comments he heard:
“I was the golden fish for both groups and I did my best in that role. Then I helped the boys organize their costumes. I didn't think of myself.”
“We are one body. There was no need to discuss at all. We can cooperate well automatically.”
“While others were still performing on the stage, we prepared everything for them for their next scene. I didn't think about trying to win the contest.”
“We forgot ourselves and only thought of others. We were really quick.”
It's true that forgetting about ourselves and thinking of others can enable us to accomplish amazing things. These children are such an example. It makes me think of Shen Yun. Their global tours have moved the hearts of so many audience members, including some of the world's top artists and professionals. I remember that near the end of the piece “Dragon Springs Drummers,” the choreography reached its peak. The dancers seamlessly switched from various formations in only six seconds. It is hard to imagine how pure and selfless their hearts must have been in order to achieve that. I think that through Shen Yun's performances, Master has shown us how to cooperate as one body.
If we can let go of selfishness and the attachment to ourselves, and complement and be tolerant of each other, we will definitely save more sentient beings more quickly.