(Clearwisdom.net) A teacher is supposed to be a role model who imparts the Dao, teaches career skills, and resolves any questions. A teacher should fulfill the duty of educating students via virtue and eloquence. Since childhood I was raised with these traditional values at home, which helped me to take fame and fortune lightly and to be willing to endure losses or unfairness rather than letting others be taken advantage of. After I obtained the Fa and started practicing cultivation, Master preserved what was good in me and removed what was bad, inside and out through layers upon layers of my body. This has turned me into a better person. I am confident that I have turned into someone better than an average person, and I am able to leverage the advantage of my career that Master has arranged for me to have time to clarify the facts and save people.
– From the author
Greetings, Revered Master!
Greetings, fellow practitioners!
I am a female elementary school teacher in my 40s and live in a village in the mountains. In 1996, I obtained the Fa. I was quite young at that time and healthy. I had an enjoyable job and a happy family. Although I was satisfied with life, I still felt that something was missing. I was not clear what I was living for, where I came from, and where I was headed. A fellow teacher at school practiced exercises everyday, and several colleagues and I asked her which practice she was engaged in. She said, “Falun Gong.” I followed her and started practicing, and have been practicing ever since. I then started reading Zhuan Falun. Master immediately opened up my memory that had been sealed for ages. I felt the magnificence of the Falun Gong exercises and teachings. My life entered a new chapter.
I. Laying a Solid Foundation for Validating the Fa by Studying and Memorizing It
After I obtained the Fa, I could feel each of Master's Fa lectures and each word in the lectures carry strong energy, with the penetrating power that shocks people's hearts. I studied with eagerness. My workload as an elementary schoolteacher was pretty heavy. There was not much free time left. I had to squeeze in time for Fa study. When students were in morning study, I would study and memorize the Fa. When I was in a good state, I was able to focus and study as if I were all by myself. On such a day, I was able to memorize a dozen pages. On holidays, I would go to the city with fellow practitioners for group Fa study, which further increased my understanding of the Fa. It went on like this for several years. Prior to July 1999, I had memorized Zhuan Falun and Essentials for Further Advancement three times. After July 20, 1999, I would recite each new article as soon as I was able to get it. I later memorized Hong Yin and Hong Yin Volume II. After extensive Fa study, my mind and soul were purified, and my righteous thoughts in Dafa was strengthened. Dafa had molded me anew, which laid the foundation for carrying out the three things later on.
II. Opening Up Opportunities for Saving People by Setting Up a Family Material Production Site
My child was born in the second half of 1999. It was not until the first half of 2003 that I stepped forward to distribute truth clarification materials. Materials were hard to come by back then. From time to time we went to the city, which was 30 or so miles away, to get new materials. After returning we would make more copies so we would have enough to distribute. I had a rather strong attachment to fear and dared not go out alone at night. I asked my husband to accompany me. After doing this for some time, I then extended the area and increased my frequency of distribution. There was often a shortage of materials, and instead of waiting for more materials, I decided to set up a site of my own.
Early in 2007 I took my old computer to the city for a fellow practitioner to install the operating system from scratch. After carrying it in a farm vehicle, the machine would not boot up after I took it back to school. Someone who knew about computers took a look and found that some parts were broken as a result of the jarring it took on the journey. I burst into tears. I discussed it with other practitioners, and we figured that establishing a materials site would very much enhance our truth clarification and shock the old forces, which would try to do everything to sabotage it. If we failed to start with righteous thoughts and didn't purify ourselves, we would leave gaps. By searching within I found my attachments to anxiousness, a human sense of accomplishment, hatred, and lack of thoroughness. I reminded myself to keep up righteous thoughts at all times. When I had improved myself, things took a turn as Master had well arranged everything. A practitioner in the city bought me a new computer with a laser printer. I quickly learned how to use the new system, connecting to the Internet, downloading content, and printing and burning DVDs.
During the first half of 2007, several materials sites in the city were sabotaged by the police, and fellow practitioners were arrested. I voluntarily took on the responsibility for supplying materials to the city. Despite the heavy load, I have kept up righteous thoughts and righteous deeds with Master's compassionate caring, and things have been running rather smoothly.
III. Clarifying the Truth and Saving People Through the Advantages of My Career
A teacher is supposed to be a role model who imparts the Dao, teaches career skills, and resolves any questions. A teacher should fulfill the duty of educating students via virtue and eloquence. Since childhood I was raised with these traditional values at home, which helped me to take fame and fortune lightly and be willing to endure losses or unfairness rather than letting others be taken advantage of. After I obtained the Fa and started cultivation practice, Master preserved what was good in me and removed what was bad, inside and out through layers upon layers of my body. This has turned me into a better person. I am confident that I have turned into someone better than an average person, and I am able to use the influential advantages of my career, which Master has arranged for me, to seize the time to clarify the facts and save people.
At first when faced with the overwhelming lies and slander of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) propaganda, I started with colleagues, family, and friends and clarified the truth to them. Later when the movement to withdraw from the CCP organizations started, I was able to persuade most of them to quit the CCP and and its affiliated organizations.
At the same time, I also clarified the truth in class. The CCP has written into textbooks sections that spread the lie of the staged Tiananmen Square self-immolation. Some practitioners who were teachers chose to skip these sections and leave them to be read by the students themselves. I thought this avoidance approach did not help the students acquire the facts, and the lies would hurt young minds. I had to present the facts clearly and thoroughly. At the beginning of the lesson, I would say, “We are going to start with an experiment today.” I would then set fire to a newspaper and ignite a plastic 7-Up bottle, which immediately caught fire and melted. I would then ask, “Wasn't it easy for that bottle to catch fire?” The students would answer in unison, “It is!” They would then be ready to accept the truth. I explained to them how the immolation was staged, how a newspaper could burn the bottle, why the show could only be staged since the 7-Up bottle in the lap of the person who called himself Wang Jindong remained intact after he set himself on fire after being doused in gasoline. Even a bottle made of gold would have been blackened with smoke. I would then write down “Truthfulness-Benevolence-Forbearance” on one side of the blackboard and “falsehood-evilness-violence” on the other side. I would ask the students which side they wanted to be on, and they would all side with Truthfulness-Benevolence-Forbearance. I would tell them that Truthfulness-Benevolence-Forbearance is exactly what Falun Dafa teaches us, while decades of political CCP campaigns have victimized and killed innocent Chinese, and only by quitting the Young Pioneers could we separate ourselves from the falsehood-evilness-violence. When I asked who wanted to quit, all the students would raise their hands. In the past several years, all the students in the classes that I taught quit the Young Pioneers. In 2009, I was invited to teach on behalf of a teacher who had righteous thoughts. Students in that class also quit the Young Pioneers. Of the six classes in the elementary school, students in five of them quit the CCP affiliated organization. I also stayed in touch with some students who graduated. Some of them told me that they were forced to join the Communist Youth League, and I advised them they should not join no matter what. Once they understood, they refused to give in to the pressure.
I have also stepped outside the school to spread the facts. We are required to stay at school all the time. During holidays and vacations, I take the opportunity of shopping or going to the farmers' market to clarify the truth and persuade others to quit the CCP organizations. One day when I was taking a bus, I first calmed my mind and sent righteous thoughts. I then talked about the facts of Falun Gong with the passenger next to me. That passenger promptly agreed to quit the Youth League and Young Pioneers. After doing this over and over, I have accumulated some experience. As long as I let go of human attachments, most people agree to quit the CCP organizations. In the first half of this year, a fellow practitioner bought me a cell phone to send voice messages. This phone is quite efficient. All it takes is just to key in 20 or so telephone numbers. It will simply dial each number sequentially. If someone hangs up before he or she is done listening to the voice message, the phone will dial the next number. I know it is tirelessly fulfilling its duty.
IV. Cultivating Myself Better to Ease the Environment of Saving People
Master said in the poem "Solid Cultivation" in Hong Yin:
“Study the Fa and gain the Fa,
Focus on how you study and cultivate,
Let each and every thing
be measured against the Fa.
Only then, with that,
is it actually cultivation.”
After nearly 16 years of cultivation, I now strictly follow Master's requirement to be a good person at work, home, and among neighbors. Even when I run into strangers, I try to leave behind compassion and a smile. I respect my parents and parents-in-law, assist my husband and take care of our two children, and follow the traditional values in acting as a kindhearted wife and mother. Although my husband and our children do not practice Falun Dafa, they do support my validating the Fa. When going out to distribute brochures, my husband does not mind how far or how remote it is. He and the children help me fold and package the materials. My father-in-law is over 70 years old. He was hospitalized in 2009 with a stroke. My husband and I took turns accompanying him to the hospital. He was a CCP member and deeply indoctrinated by CCP propaganda. I tried to persuade him every year to quit the CCP, over 20 times with no success. He was grateful that I took good care of him and eventually agreed to voluntarily quit all the CCP organizations. After freeing himself of the evil's control, his kind nature has completely manifested. He is glad to recite "Falun Dafa is great! Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is great!" all the time. Later, medical exams indicated his thrombosis has disappeared completely. Last year, my mother-in-law fell. She was hospitalized for over three weeks. I took care of her meals, bathed her every day, and emptied her bedpan. The doctors, nurses, and other patients envied her and thought I was her daughter. When they learned I was her daughter-in-law, they were even more surprised. After my mother-in-law returned home, she remained bedridden, but none of my husband's five sisters were willing to take care of her. I had to take her to live in my school. She stayed there for about a month and a half until she was able to get out of bed and walk with crutches.
Each year at harvest time, I always go back home to help my parents-in-law with their farm work. Some villagers commented, "Look! That daughter-in-law is educated yet is good at farming. When looking for a daughter-in-law, one needs to look for one who practices Falun Gong." At school, I teach over 20 lessons a week. The classes I teach rank among the highest in the township. I've earned the respect of the principal, who also respects my beliefs. It is not uncommon for him to praise my work. His words have been passed around in the village: "She is not only a good teacher, but also a good daughter-in-law. She has been married over 20 years, and has not had a single argument with her husband or in-laws. Only Falun Gong can achieve this. I have not seen anyone else like that in my life."
As long as I cultivate myself well and walk straight down the path according to Dafa's requirements, the Buddha Fa's mighty power is boundless, and Master can do anything for me in resolving tribulations. In 2009, I went with two fellow female practitioners in a pickup to distribute materials in a neighboring county. It was dark and we did not know the roads. The pickup fell into a ditch. One practitioner was thrown out, and my leg was stuck in a crack between the vehicle and a cargo box, with half of my body hanging outside the pickup. All three of us were unconscious. The practitioner thrown out on the ground eventually came to. She tried to pull me out, but I said my leg was stuck. She told me that the outcome was the result of a single thought, and we had Master's blessings. She pulled my leg our from under the cargo box and I fell out on the ground. By then, the driver practitioner regained consciousness as well. We called acquaintances in a nearby county seat to pull our vehicle out of the ditch and they gave us a ride home. In the morning I was thinking about going back to school to teach classes. The practitioners were surprised to see a lot of blood on me. They saw that I had a deep cut on the back of my head. Blood soaked my clothes on my back and my pants. I tried to convince them I was fine. They argued that at least the bleeding needed to be stopped. They took me to the township clinic. The doctors fussed at us for not taking it seriously after losing so much blood. The doctor insisted on stitching up the cut. I went home to rest for just two days before teaching classes again. On the third day, I felt a little pain on the skin of my head. My husband took a look at the cut and saw 13 stitches. He got worried, but I told him everything was fine, which turned out to be exactly the case. My family again witnessed the miracle of Dafa.
One night, the three of us went out to distribute materials again. We drove into a village. It was a vast place with bumpy roads. We had never gone there before, and we regretted that we carried only 800 or so brochures. I worried we would end up with not enough to hand out. One fellow practitioner told us that she had asked Master to strengthen us and increase the number of brochures. We went ahead and gave them out to all the families. When we left, we had a dozen or so left, and we gave them out in a different village. We were filled with joy as we gave out over 1,000 copies. I have encountered miracles like this frequently. They are too numerous to list.
This is the first time that I have written a sharing paper for the Internet experience sharing conference. Fellow practitioners say that a good article is cultivated not written. It is a review of one's cultivation. I know I am far from cultivating well, but I am determined to listen to Master's words to use the limited time that is remaining to cultivate away my attachments to fear, showing off, comfort, and leisure, and to fulfill my duty to honor my prehistoric vow and leave no regret in my cultivation and meet Master's requirements. Please point out anything inappropriate.
Thank you, Master! Thank you, fellow practitioners! Heshi.