Eliminating Jealousy and Interference at Falun Dafa’s Little Lotus Academy

(Minghui.org)

Eliminating Jealousy

When I was growing up, most American families watched TV shows together every evening and on Saturday mornings, but I was always very busy studying dance and other arts. I was jealous of my friends and cousins who had the luxury of lots of leisure time to play and watch TV. 

However, whenever I was sick I was allowed to stay in bed and watch TV. I was rarely sick and was always too busy to enjoy TV, so this always felt like a rare treat. 

When I got older, since I didn’t have any Fa to guide me, I did not know that this jealousy was wrong, nor did I know that in many ways I was luckier than my cousins and friends, since my time was occupied with studying dance and music. I therefore continually resented having a busy schedule and always looked forward to having time to watch TV. 

Of course, being raised with a busy schedule, I never actually knew how to set up an “easy” life, so most of my adult life has left little time to relax. 

So when I came down with symptoms of the CCP virus (COVID-19), an ordinary part of me embraced it. I ended up watching a lot of TV. Every time I finished studying the Fa and sending forth righteous thoughts, I’d fall asleep. When I woke up, I would feel uncomfortable, but rather than turning to the Fa and embracing the tribulation, I would turn on a TV show to distract myself from feeling ill. My level started descending and I felt very small. I am normally clear-minded when eliminating karma and I know that it is just karma getting pushed out, or that it is evil interference, and I am able to eliminate it. However, in this case, I just felt like an ordinary person who was sick. It didn’t feel as though it would ever pass and I even felt as though I was dying at one point. 

Had I realized that I had this fundamental attachment to jealousy and relaxing, I think I could have eliminated it, but instead, I followed my human thinking, so this karma elimination ended up lasting for most of December and even led me to consider taking medicine for a moment. 

However, once I got through it (three weeks later) I felt like I did when I first attained the Fa. I was very light and had no aches or pains. I felt as though I had truly been cleansed and immediately became very diligent. I was so grateful to Master and did not want to let myself fall again.

Eliminating the Crows at Falun Dafa’s Little Lotus Academy

Right after getting through that tribulation, the Little Lotus Academy reached out to me to see if I could contribute to the school more. I had already been studying classical education so I was thrilled to have that opportunity. I agreed to teach English and math to the second graders every morning. 

Since I am there during the time for sending righteous thoughts, part of my job has been to send forth righteous thoughts with the students. There are many crows in the area, and our classroom is on the third floor, which is closer to the tree-tops where the crows like to nest or rest. They often got very loud when we were sending righteous thoughts. 

One day an older student created a big commotion in the hallway as he was returning from the bathroom. Since he was late coming back from the bathroom, we were already cleansing our minds for righteous thoughts. His running and shouting through the hallway was very loud. Many of the teachers stepped into the hallway to reprimand him. That made even more noise in the hallway since it sounded like the teachers were moved by his behavior. 

The second graders and I opened our eyes (as we too were disturbed). 

At this point, the crows started chiming in. They got so loud that it sounded like they were attacking our building. Once the commotion died down, the crowing died down as well. I realized that if we do not do a good job of eliminating the evil around our school, the evil will attack us. 

I shared this with the kids and we all worked harder at doing a better job focusing while sending righteous thoughts. Each day we heard the call of the crows start and then fade into the distance as we sent righteous thoughts. We were encouraged by that. During righteous thoughts, I saw with my third eye that the school’s field was getting stronger and purer, which was scaring the crows away. 

Because it was harder for some of the children to stay focused, I found myself correcting them repeatedly. I try not to repeat myself when I speak to the children because I want them to learn to pay attention when their teacher is talking. Continually giving them the same corrections didn’t seem appropriate, but I didn’t know what else to do. 

As I was thinking about what to do, I remembered that when my older daughters were little, they never kept their eyes closed during the meditation. Eventually my husband decided to restart the meditation music every time they opened their eyes. Of course, this meant a much longer meditation time, so they quickly learned to keep their eyes closed. Once they had that experience of consistently keeping their eyes closed, they could appreciate meditation. 

I decided to give the students a choice. They could practice keeping their eyes closed and their hands in the proper position while sending forth righteous thoughts, or they could practice it during recess time. I gave them one day to think about the choice I had just given them. The next day I reminded them about it. 

Four boys (the same four boys who typically had a hard time staying focused during righteous thoughts) forgot and opened their eyes during righteous thoughts, so they were told to meet me in the office after lunch. 

In a way, I thought they’d see this as harsh punishment and never want to mess around with me again. But all four boys actually seemed anxious to meet with me during their recess time. They seemed excited about it. 

We went into a quiet room, and I told them to get into full lotus. They all protested, telling me that their pants were too stiff to get into full lotus. Normally I am moved when my own children tell me that, but in this situation, I was not moved. 

I taught them how to adjust their clothing so that they could get into full lotus with less restriction. I told them that we were going to sit for five minutes in full lotus, and if any one of them opened their eyes during that five minutes, I would reset the timer. 

I turned on the meditation music and set a timer. At the four-minute mark, one of the boys opened his eyes so I restarted the timer. The boy who typically had the most trouble sending forth righteous thoughts kept his eyes squeezed shut for the whole nine minutes of sitting. Two of the boys looked like they had entered a state of tranquility after a few minutes. 

When we were done, the boys all seemed very happy, and the next day, they all kept their eyes closed during righteous thoughts. The boy who normally had trouble holding his palm erect, his fingers open, and his eyes closed worked very hard to stay focused the entire time. I was very proud of him and told the kids that he and another girl were, from my point of view, the best at sending forth righteous thoughts that day. 

Another child came up to me after I said that, and said to me, “But Mrs. D., did you notice that this was the first time we had no crows outside?” 

She was right, and I realized that it was not correct of me to name who did the best. We as a class (and as a school) had become one body, and together we were able to eliminate the evil. We have not heard the crows since. 

I am so grateful to Master for saving me, and I am so grateful to have my fellow practitioners on the righteous path with me. If anything I have shared is inconsistent with the Fa, please kindly point it out.