(Clearwisdom.net)
Greetings Master!
Greetings Fellow Practitioners!
It is my honor to share with fellow practitioners my experiences of talking about Falun Gong and clarifying the truth to teachers and parents at a local Chinese School, as well as my experience of cooperating with fellow practitioners. This effort strengthened our belief in Master and the Fa. We came to the understanding that Dafa disciples should clarify the truth among Chinese organizations in Western countries. In order to fulfill our mission to save sentient beings, we should not sidestep any issues we face.
Distributing the Epoch Times Newspaper at Chinese Schools
Practitioners have been distributing the Epoch Times newspaper at a Chinese school near my house for years. They also clarified the truth about Falun Gong to the principal and board members. As a result, it was quite easy to promote the Shen Yun performance and sell tickets at that school. However we neglected another Chinese school, which is quite far from my home. It had been on my mind to reach out to that school for several years.
My two children have read Zhuan Falun since they were very young. With a strong background in Chinese, there wasn't much that a Chinese school could offer them. But, after much hesitation, in order to be able to clarify the truth, I enrolled them last year.
On opening day, I brought the Epoch Times newspaper with me and greeted the parents on duty with a smile. They responded enthusiastically, but once they realized that I had brought the Epoch Times, some made a long face and told me that I was not welcome.
I told them, “Please read it. Once you understand it, you’ll welcome me.”
I put the newspapers on a chair in the lobby, and then left to deliver newspapers to other stores. When I returned, I found that only seven of the newspapers were gone. For several weeks, only a dozen newspapers were taken. How could it be that in a Chinese school with over three hundred students, so few papers were taken? After looking inward, I found that I was afraid. I felt awkward when talking about Falun Gong face to face to people, especially when their facial expression changed. I left the newspaper because I had hoped it would do the job of clarifying the truth. Two months had passed with no improvement at all.
One day, the principal told me that they had decided during a meeting that I could no longer bring the newspapers to the school. The reason was that the place they rented was a public school paid for with tax-payer funds. They suggested that I leave the paper outside the school building. I told him, “I am not going to argue with you. Let's have coffee and talk about it another day.”
After returning home, I felt upset. Why didn't I stand up to this with my righteous thoughts? Later, fellow practitioners in Connecticut discussed the issue with me and said, “Let's just distribute the newspapers outside. We support you. Just do it.”
Therefore, with an open mind, I stood at the school's entrance, passed out newspapers and greeted the students, parents and teachers. I was no longer afraid nor worried. I was feeling brightness in my heart and experienced Master's compassion.
A new practitioner lives near the school and saw Shen Yun for the first time this year. She helped me distribute the newspapers. She said, “The last piece, 'The Opening of Heaven's Gates' is really moving! Heaven's gates are open, I must hurry up to step forward to save people.”
We sent forth righteous thoughts to eliminate the evil factors that controlled people, and let those with the predestined relationship read and cherish the newspaper. We had many opportunities to talk with parents about Falun Gong. Now we pass out over fifty newspapers every weekend. Some parents are disappointed if they miss it.
Clarifying the Truth with Righteous Thoughts to Eliminate the Performance of CCP Songs
At the end of last semester, the Chinese school was going to hold a performance. My two children signed up to perform a duet of the piece "Be Saved" on cello and flute. The next day I saw it on the program. However, the program also included many songs that promoted the Communist Party culture, spreading its propaganda. The school also claimed that the performance would be counted as class hours so all the students were required to attend. How could I allow the musical piece "Be Saved" be performed on the same stage with those Communist Party songs? I was upset and had no idea how to handle this because the performance was in five days. Then, on Tuesday the principal notified me via email that the music "Be Saved" was religious and he wanted me to change my children's performance to a different piece.
After discussing with fellow practitioners, we realized that we needed to clarify the truth, perform "Be Saved" and remove those evil party's songs from the program. Everyone contributed in looking at the superficial reason given by the school and the real factors behind it. We wrote a letter to the principal from different angles without being combative.
We started our topic from the origin of music, pointing to the history of music. We said that in the earliest stages, music was all in praise of divine beings, through which people might know peace, joy and happiness. We shared that in traditional Chinese culture, people concentrate on self-cultivation. In the United States, Christmas songs can be heard everywhere and no one minds. The melody of "Be Saved" can bring peace and happiness to people's heart and is welcomed all over the world.
To make sure that there was no legal reason for taking the music off the program, we investigated the issue of whether religious music was allowed to be played in public schools. We found a case in New Jersey that stated that as long as there is no definite religious form, and they are not performed on specific religious celebration days, religious songs are permitted to be played in public schools. We were sure that the performance of "Be Saved" in the Chinese school belonged in that category.
Based on what we had learned, we told the principal that a song on the program that preached CCP culture should be stricken from the program. The song reminded us of our childhood, when out of ignorance, we were made to swear under the bloody flag to sacrifice ourselves for Communism. It is horrible to remember that. Only an evil cult would do this. We don't want children growing up in America, the land of freedom, to be exposed to such a nightmare.
Finally, out of respect for traditional Chinese culture and the public schools' rules and the laws of the USA, I requested that the school cancel those songs that contained CCP philosophy.
On Wednesday morning, I sent the email to the principal. At noon he called me and said, “The letter is very good. I learned a lot from it. Thank you. But I should have told you earlier. We removed your performance from the list because you didn't sign up on time. That's why you cannot perform this time.”
I knew he was lying. We reminded him of the contradiction in his statements via another email in the afternoon. The principal called me again in the evening and claimed the decision was final. He told me to talk to the school board if I wanted to appeal, but didn't give me the contact information. After I discussed this with other practitioners, we realized that we didn't concentrate on the truth clarification in the second letter. I let my kids go to practice for the performance, knowing deep in my heart that whether they performed or not would be decided by our Master, not by everyday people.
On Thursday afternoon, the principal issued a new program, in which he used a different name for the CCP song, but the content remained the same. Obviously, our truth clarification had had an impact, but the evil factors had ruined Chinese people so much, that they still tried to cover up the obvious.
We wrote another letter and explained that the evil Chinese Communist Party intentionally combines the concepts of the Party, the country, the people and the nation. We explained what traditional Chinese culture is, what Party culture is and its manifestation, why the evil CCP tried to destroy traditional culture, and what people's deviant behaviors and thoughts are after being brainwashed by the Party culture. We stated that the Chinese school's purpose should be to teach the traditional Chinese culture, rather than promoting the CCP's things.
Then, we told them that we were going to videotape the entire performance and give it to the media and the officials at the State Education Department, in order to let them understand what the Party culture is and what is happening in this Chinese school.
I sent the email to the principal early in the morning on Saturday. Within half an hour, the principal sent it to the board members. The performance was scheduled for Sunday. The only thing left for us was to send forth righteous thoughts to eliminate the evil factors in other dimensions that manipulated people’s minds.
In the afternoon a board member called me. She said that she just came back from a business trip and heard that a Falun Gong person wanted to take part in the performance. I told her the entire story and the truth about Falun Gong for an hour and a half. She replied: “You may bring your kids tomorrow and their performance will be the same as originally listed.” In addition, she said that she appreciated that I told her about how Western society viewed the Party culture and said that they would be careful in the future. But, she said it would be difficult to remove other kids' performance from the program. She would discuss the issue with the principal and call me back.
Later she called and asked about the videotaping. Since the performance was scheduled for the next day, it would be too late to have the other kids make a change. I told her that I understood their difficulty. Suddenly, I remembered that a student's parent told me he admired Falun Gong, especially in terms of the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party. When the first commentary had just become available, he couldn't help posting it on a popular website. He said he hated the Party culture so much that he would sue if the Chinese school brainwashed students with it. I mentioned this issue to the board member, and said I would not videotape this time but I could not stop others.
At 10:30 p.m., my husband, sitting at the computer, was surprised to see the principal cancel the next day's performance via e-mail. At 11 p.m., my kids' teacher notified us over the phone that the performance had been canceled and school was closed the next day.
The next day, on my way to distribute newspapers, my tears fell when I heard the music “Be Saved” playing on the car stereo. It was Master's grand compassion and Dafa disciples' cooperation as one body that eliminated the evil stamp arranged by the old forces. The children are so fortunate to have the chance to live under the vast and mighty compassion of Buddha. Thank you Master. Thank you to all the practitioners in Connecticut.
The performance was canceled, but we could not stop spreading the truth to the Chinese school. To further elaborate what the Party culture is and what the traditional culture is, we wrote another letter to the board members with specific examples to help them understand the shame on Chinese people if they spread the Party culture. We expressed our appreciation that the board made this difficult, but wise choice. We stressed that we cannot let our children become polluted by a culture full of violence and lies. The students lost the chance to perform after a long preparation, but they and their parents will be grateful after learning the truth. Hopefully, from now on, we may set examples to put an end to the Party culture and promote the traditional culture in overseas Chinese schools.
The above is a little of my cultivation experience in the course of the Fa-rectification. Please kindly point it out if there is anything inappropriate.