(Minghui.org) I am an elementary school teacher. Prior to cultivation, I was drifting about in the large dye vat of society and fought tooth and nail for fame and personal gain. I was often sleepless, worrying over every tiny thing that affected my personal interests, which led me to serious illnesses.
I developed arrhythmia, which almost caused me to die. I suffered from thrombus, an unbearable limb numbness due to cervical oppression, and tracheitis. Blood loss rendered me unable to teach. I felt pain in every part of my body. I even needed someone to help me stand up and sit down. My body felt so heavy that my bones even hurt while I lay in bed. I had trouble getting out of bed. I lived in depression every day.
Under such terrible circumstances, I was introduced to Falun Dafa. To be honest, at the beginning, I did not believe it when practitioners described the wonders of Dafa. However, since they mailed Zhuan Falun to me from afar, I decided to read it before choosing to do something else.
One week after I started reading the book, a miracle occurred, even though I had not yet started to do the exercises: Master purified my whole body. At first I experienced high fever, as well as chills. Then I started vomitting and had diarrhea. However, afterward, I felt very comfortable--I had never experienced such comfort before.
I was shocked and could not believe it. But it was so real that I had to believe. How magical! I no longer hesitated and started to learn the exercises right away. From then on, regardless of how busy I was every day, I never slacked off in studying the Fa and doing the exercises.
Elevating in Cultivation
Master said:
“So why is it that some people do qigong exercises for a long time but don’t get their health back? That’s because qigong is cultivation, and it’s a higher thing, it’s not like ordinary people’s exercises. So you have to take character seriously if you’re going to get well or increase your gong.” (Zhuan Falun)
“Every level has different standards, and if you want to raise your level, you have to put a stop to your bad thoughts and dump out your filth, and you have to assimilate to that level’s standard. That’s the only way you can go up.” (Zhuan Falun)
“When your character improves, your body really changes. When your character improves, the matter in your body definitely changes.” (Zhuan Falun)
“If you are always compassionate and friendly to others, if you always consider other people when you do things, and whenever you have issues with other people you first think about whether they can take it or whether it will cause them harm, then you won’t have any problem.” (Zhuan Falun)
Thus, I started to take cultivation more seriously. I stopped accepting gifts from my students' parents. Neither did I ask the parents to do things for me. I began to treat each of my students equally and did not punish or make fun of them as I previously had done.
I sincerely care about each of my students. If someone does not have breakfast, I would buy some bread for him or her and give them some hot water. If someone felt unwell, I would take him or her to see a doctor. If the parent could not make it to pick up his or her child on time, I would call a taxi for the child or take him or her to my home. Since I ride my bike to school, if I see some parents in a hurry to get to work, I would take their kids to school for them.
Nowadays, many teachers hold extra study sessions to make more money. I used to do that as well, since we can really make a lot of money doing so. After practicing cultivation in Dafa, however, I stopped doing that. I now spend my free time preparing my lectures so that I could give the best lesson in class and make sure that every student understands what I am talking about. If someone does not get something discussed in class, he or she is more than welcome to meet with me for a free review session after class. I also initiated a tutoring group in my class so that students could help each other out and master the material as quickly as possible.
Some people say that I am stupid for refusing the money offered as bribes. On the surface, I lose a lot of profit. However, I understand the principle of “no loss, no gain” from studying the Fa, so I feel satisfied. I do not lose virture, which cannot be bought no matter how much money you offer.
Our school is well-known in our city. However, there are still incidents where teachers punish students and make money off students illegally. Parents often report our school to the authorities, and the principal is often criticized by the upper-level officials.
One day our principal was again criticized for the teachers' illicit behavior. When she came back, she was very upset. At a conference with staff, she said: “I have been telling you over and over again, but you still do it! How about everyone go and learn Falun Gong from her tomorrow so that you won't do such things again?”
Resisting the Persecution
When the persecution was very severe, I did not take my students to watch movies that defamed Dafa. Neither did I allow my students to sign their names on the banner that slandered Dafa. In the class meeting scheduled to defame Dafa, I instead clarified the truth about Dafa. I used my personal experience to tell my students the truth and asked them not to be deceived by the regime's propaganda.
My righteous behavior caused the evil factors to take action and give me some trouble. First, authorities deprived me of being the class teacher. However, my students' parents took the initiative to ask each level of the local government to let me resume being the class teacher. One director said to a parent, “Don't worry. We promise to find the best class teacher for your kid.” The parent replied, “But where can you find such a nice teacher? Who can be like that in society nowadays? Only Falun Gong practitioners!”
The director threatened the parents, “Do you know how serious this issue is? It is political. Who will take responsibility for it? Do not give yourselves trouble.” One of the parents replied, “We came here for her since she is a Falun Gong practitioner. How big is this issue? How many years are you going to sentence her to? We can share the sentence for her and have her take care of our kids. We only trust her and no one else--no one!” Many parents asked for a leave of absence from work to deal with this issue.
After about 20 days of investigation, the personnel assigned to the case said, “How could there be such a nice person? Do not worry. We will report the facts to our supervisor.”
If I did not practice Falun Dafa, I would not be such a nice person. When parents said, “We are so lucky that our kids have such a nice teacher as you,” I replied, “You are lucky because I am lucky since I practice Falun Dafa. My mind and body have been purified, and my character has improved, so I can be a nice teacher.”
Applying Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance in the Classroom
I use the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance to guide my teaching. It is nice to see that incidents of fighting and cursing seldom happen in our large class of 90 students. When there is a conflict, other students remind the people involved to look inward, and the conflict is resolved very quickly. I do not even have to deal with it.
Whenever someone has a problem, others take the initiative to help. We often have cold weather in the winter in northern China, and many students get a cold. When someone vomits, others are willing to clean it up, which never happened in the past. Previously, others would cover their mouths and noses and turn their heads away.
With the blessings of Dafa, our class has become more friendly. Students are sincere and nice to each other and help each other out. They all know to look inward and do not fight or curse each other. They have done pretty well in numerous competitions, and our class has become a well-known “big family.”
I love every one of my students. That love comes from the heart of a practitioner.
I sincerely thank Master for purifying my body and teaching me how to be a nice person and a true practitioner, one that always thinks of others. Now I feel very light physically, and my life is very fulfilling and meaningful.
