3. Sending Forth Righteous Thoughts and Clarifying the Truth
We talked to the children about the importance of sending forth righteous thoughts and how to do so. When they are requested to send forth righteous thoughts, we told them they should put down anything they are doing, sit down and concentrate to send the most purified righteous thoughts, and do it together three or four times a day. We repeatedly studied the notice on minghui.net about sending forth righteous thoughts. We asked everyone to take the task of sending forth righteous thoughts very seriously each time. According to the characteristics of the children, we asked them to clarify the karma of thoughts such as cursing others, saying bad words and thinking bad things in the first 5 minutes. We started with a 2 or 3 minutes duration, and gradually increased to 10 minutes, and then 15 minutes. It's really amazing to see all the young practitioners, including those who are only 4 or 5 years old, seriously sending forth righteous thoughts. It's the manifestation of the power of Dafa.
We also let the children know how important it is to clarify the truth that Master taught us. We started from Falun Dafa being good, from the experience sharing of the children, the Dafa spreading widely in the world, to the arts on minghui.net such as the lotuses, bookmarks, and other art items that practitioners made. Therefore the children could perceive directly the wonderful truth of Dafa. Then we encouraged them to draw their own pictures. We collected some of them and shared them with everyone. We taught the children to say, "Falun Dafa is Good" in five different languages, and sang together the song "Falun Dafa is Good." We showed the animations made by practitioners to tell the children about the brutal persecution of the practitioners in China. Most of the children from New York knew the event of "June 23" that happened in New York and were familiar with the practitioners involved. Therefore, starting from Master's teaching, "As a practitioner, the first thing you should be able to do is to not fight back when you are beaten or sworn at--you must be tolerant." (Zhuan Falun), we took the example of the event in New York to explain why the New York practitioners didn't fight back. Furthermore, we talked about how the practitioners in China demonstrated great tolerance and compassion when they were brutally beaten by the police, and how their actions touched many police and made them stop torturing the practitioners. We asked the children to remember what Master taught us: The power of compassion is tremendous. When encountering any conflict with other children, they should try to follow the principle of not fighting back when being punched or insulted. We organized them to do some truth-clarifying work such as mailing truth materials and folding fliers. We also clarified the truth through the Internet, letting a few children clarify the truth on the Internet while others stood aside sending forth righteous thoughts. Later, some parents told us that the children took the initiative to bring some materials to their schoolteachers and their classmates once school started.
Every day, we had an hour to do group exercises. To those who already knew the five sets of exercises, we required them to perform the movements accurately and asked them to close their eyes, listening to the music and doing the exercises seriously without interruptions. For the beginners, we taught them individually and asked them to master the basic movements. Therefore, by the end of the summer camp, all the children could follow the exercise music and Master's instructions to do the five sets of exercises in good order.
4. Cooperating and improving as a group
Having the two successful summer camps is a manifestation of good cooperation as a group. Among the teachers, we made sure that practitioners from the two schools communicated and supported each other. The practitioners staying at the camp put all their caring toward the children, consulted each other to solve any issues that arose, and cooperated just like Master said: "The next person's things are your things, and your things are his things." ("Teaching the Fa at the Washington, D.C. Fa Conference, July 22, 2002"). Our goal was the same: to make the summer camp a success and at the same time help the children to form a whole body. In studying the Fa at the beginning, we read the Fa by ourselves. Gradually, we asked the children who could read better to take over. We divided into small groups and let the children who could recite the poems teach those who couldn't. During group study, the elder children read and the younger ones listened. In preparing the truth CDs for mailing, we asked the elder children to write cover letters and the younger ones to fold the letters and paste the stamps. In daily life, we asked the elder children to help the younger ones in those tasks such as folding the sleeping bags and keeping the clothing in order. We intended to raise their consciousness of independence and helpfulness. Naturally, an environment of a whole body was formed. In the end, the children voluntarily formed different small groups to study the Fa, practice the exercises, and share experiences. We also kept in touch with the parents. It's very important to get the cooperation of parents. We emphasized communication with the parents and told them about their children in order to reach the same understandings. Here we express our gratefulness to the parents who trusted and supported us.
Master said, "I like to watch children very much because their thoughts, minds, and bodies are so pure." ("Lecture at the First Conference in North America") So it's our honor to have the opportunity to study the Fa and practice with the innocent children. Our personal behavior and speech directly affects theirs. Therefore our responsibility is very critical. We realized the summer camps were a test of Fa study for our adults. Dafa encompasses everything. Master's Fa can solve every problem. As long as we studied the Fa diligently, held more of the Fa in our minds and had deeper understanding, when something happened each day, we could explain the Fa principles through it, according to the characteristics of the children, in the form of the stories and reasoning, and in the children's words. The children are just like a blank paper without those notions and complicated thoughts that the adults have. Once they understand the principles, just like Master said, "If they practice cultivation they can proceed really fast. They don't have any of the attachments developed later on in life." ("Lecture at the First Conference in North America")
The summer camps have ended. One parent told us of the changes in her child. In the past, her child often spoke loudly in class and couldn't concentrate on the teacher, having an effect on the child's ability to study. After going through the two summer camps, he calmed down a lot. He doesn't talk out much in the class and can concentrate, and has become aware of the quality of his effort. At the beginning of the semester, the teacher assigned homework, to write a paper on the topic of, "What is it that has changed your life?" He wrote down "Falun Gong." He also started to introduce Falun Gong to the teachers and classmates. Another parent related a story that after the summer camp, the child became more willing to practice the exercises under their own initiative, and would go out to distribute truth-clarifying materials in the morning and in the evening without complaints of being tired. Hearing and seeing the changes of the children through the short period, we deeply felt the power of Dafa, and further strengthened our own cultivation and belief in Minghui Schools. There is Master and there is the Fa. As long as we pay with our caring and patience, and cooperate together to bring the united power of the practitioners into full play, we believe we will make Minghui Schools successful.
September 21, 2003
