(Minghui.org) I am a schoolteacher. Recently, the administrators at my school asked me to work on my résumé, and make a poster highlighting the awards I have received and my accomplishments since becoming a teacher.
As I worked on my résumé covering the past 20 years, I discovered with surprise that of the awards I received, most were conferred while I was teaching at this school, and the majority were conferred after I began my practice of Falun Gong and was persecuted. The awards included Best Teacher from the city, and winning a provincial competition that I participated in on behalf of my city. They also included some awards on a national level. My students, too, earned awards, also after 2006.
Detained--Not Allowed to Teach
Thinking back, after I began to practice Falun Gong I was illegally detained in a detention center and then a forced labor camp for three months. I believe this was due to loopholes in my cultivation.
After leaving the labor camp, I was not allowed to teach in the classroom. I nonetheless conducted myself according to Master's requirements, sent forth righteous thoughts, opposed the persecution, and firmly believed in everything Master arranged for me.
Reinstated
I was subsequently permitted to teach classes again, and also participated in the teaching research activities in my district. I also gave guest lectures in the county- and township-level schools, conducted instruction in the prefecture, and engaged in teaching experience sharing and exchange with other schools.
I represented my city in a provincial contest and won a prize. This also took place after I was persecuted. The provincial competition had an age limit, and I was actually over-age. However, I was given special permission to participate in the contest despite my age.
So, when I looked back at my résumé, I almost cried. It was the power of Dafa and the greatness of Master that made these things happen. The evil Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was bent on persecuting Falun Dafa disciples and turning them into despised outcasts. Before the great Buddha Fa, however, the CCP is doomed to fail.
After I began cultivating, I became well-respected in my profession. No matter what the subject, I strive to understand it from the perspective of the Fa, and am able to supervise the teaching and research of any subject area.
Appointed to Special Positions
When I was being persecuted, the 610 Office ordered the principal of my school to monitor me (but actually the principal did not). The principal still wanted me to be the director of the Office of Teaching and Instruction. After I declined this position, the principal appointed me to be director of the Moral Education Department and a psychological counsellor.
I was asked to supervise the teaching of Chinese language, Chinese culture, history and arts, plan the art and culture activities throughout the school, and arrange for the cultural decoration of the campus. The school had already printed a name card for me with my new title, so I had to accept the appointment.
The school later needed to conduct curricular teaching and research, so the principal asked me to be the director of Teaching Research and accompanied me to visit other schools to learn from their successes. The principal had such confidence in me that I was asked to delegate the experiments for teaching reform, which was a project that the principal regarded as having utmost importance.
Focusing on School Spirit and Moral Character
The wisdom bestowed upon me by Falun Dafa has enabled me to grasp the most essential parts of tasks, so I have been quite proficient in my work. After I became the director of moral education, I closely monitored school spirit and the students' moral character. Cultivation of Falun Dafa enabled me to understand what kind of education our children should have, and my colleagues agreed.
As a result, school spirit and our students' character have been quite good compared with other schools in Chinese society. There is almost no fighting or verbal abuse among the students. Very few students are rebellious with their parents or teachers. Therefore, our school has a very good reputation among parents.
Art and Culture are Not Neglected
The art and culture performances that I delegated were mainly based on traditional Chinese culture. For example, poems from the Tang and Song dynasties that are suitable for children were sung, and they did folk dances. Sometimes, the performances were based on Chinese children's dances and songs (but not the ones the CCP promotes). Other times, the performances were purely English dances and songs. The overall effect of the performances has been very good, and they have been quite valuable for the students.
I learned how to do Chinese painting during my childhood, but my skill was only average. However, after I watched the Shen Yun DVD, it seemed that I suddenly became enlightened in my ability to paint. During the school-wide painting exhibition that I helped organize, I submitted a few fine-brush-style paintings for the exhibition. I asked the students to do as refined a job as possible in their paintings. After visiting the exhibition, the principal praised it highly, saying that had I not participated in organizing this event, the art teachers alone would not have been able to produce such a great exhibition.
Good Relationships with Parents and Faculty
Falun Dafa also enabled me to understand the deeper connotations of education, so in the PTA meetings, whether at the class or the school level, what I talked about was well-received by the parents. The director of the Office of Teaching and Instruction said, "I noticed that you emitted a kind of field with positive energy when you were talking, so the parents were always attentive, all looking at you, as soon as you began to talk."
My colleagues admire me very much and think that I know almost everything. Conversely, I have always looked at their merits and often expressed my heartfelt admiration for their personal character and professionalism. I often give them affirmation and encouragement.
They know I practice Falun Dafa, and almost all of them have quit the CCP and its affiliated organizations. I've also noticed that I might have unknowingly influenced their thoughts and behaviors. For example, they all think that if a teacher easily gets irritated or beats people, it indicates that he or she is not capable, and lacks good manners and refinement.
All of my colleagues would like to be kind and amiable teachers. When conflicts occurred between students, I said to the students, “Do not accuse the other person--look at yourself first to see if there is anything wrong with you.” My colleagues have educated students the same way.
Influencing My Colleagues
The parents often give me tips (money). Sometimes I returned the money to them in full. At other times, fearing I would hurt their feelings, I told them that the money would be used to buy books for the children, and I indeed bought books for their children. I then noticed that my colleagues sometimes followed suit.
In fact, in today's Chinese society, which has been sabotaged by the CCP, teachers accepting tips and other benefits from parents has become a hidden rule. The teachers in charge of a class in some elementary, middle, or high schools even hint to parents to give them tips and gifts.
Countering the CCP's Influence on School Children
In order to persecute Falun Gong, the CCP has used schools to indoctrinate students with their lies, and turned the teachers into criminal accomplices. This has adversely affected morality in the teaching profession. Teachers dare not even talk about traditional moral values or compassion.
Nevertheless, if we conduct ourselves according to Master's requirements, things can turn around. The morality of the teachers in my school has earned public praise. I am reminded of what Master said in “Illuminating All,”
“Dafa, the solution for a troubled world, Puts a stop to its downward slide.” (Hong Yin , Vol. II)
Since I am a teacher who is willing to speak the truth, the students want to attend my classes. Some students have said I am an honest teacher. In fact, the CCP has never ceased distorting the image of Chinese teachers. It is only that different periods distort the image of a teacher in different ways.
During the Cultural Revolution, the CCP labeled teachers “stinking intellectuals,” so that students would look down on them. Later, the CCP filled textbooks with false information and then had teachers teach the fabricated history and distorted traditional Chinese culture.
After the students grow up and figure out things for themselves, they realize that what they were taught was wrong and therefore hold teachers in contempt.
During the persecution of Falun Gong, the CCP has spread rumors and turned teachers into its accomplices. Once the students understand the facts, they will think the teachers lack a sense of justice and independent thought, and therefore have no respect for them.
Since I cultivate Falun Dafa and understand what should be taught to children, and the standards of personal conduct the students need to follow, the atmosphere in my classes is the best in the school. The children in my classes are quite sensible in their personal conduct, diligent in their studies, and independent in their thinking. The colleagues who collaborate with me usually have less trouble in teaching the students, and are more often than not recognized as "best teachers" in the school and key contributors. The principal once said to me, "You are a cultivator and what you said carries energy, which can change them."
Changed by Dafa
I wrote this sharing because I have truly been truly changed by Falun Dafa into a being that has regained more and more of my true self. My soul has been saved by Master.
When I was young, before I practiced cultivation, I was discontent with my life, in despair, and dissatisfied with my personal desires. I smoked, took sleeping pills, listened to gloomy, unhealthy music, engaged in suggestive dancing, read bad literature, and participated in extramarital affairs. I was often quarrelsome and gloomy. It seemed that my life was filled with hatred.
All of this pushed me into a bottomless pit of despair. I even prepared to commit suicide by purchasing several bottles of sleeping pills. Just at this time, a former colleague gave me the book Zhuan Falun.
I read the entire book overnight. and it changed me fundamentally. I quit smoking, discarded my sleeping pills, and cut off my extramarital affairs. I got married, and have had a happily married life ever since. I gave up dancing and gloomy music completely. I write about my understandings after Fa study. I have become active in truth-clarification. I began caring about others. My relationships with others have greatly improved.
During Fa study, when the inner meaning of the Fa's principles gradually unfolds in front of me, its grandeur and greatness has enabled me to feel indescribably lucky to be able to obtain Falun Dafa. My respect for Master and Falun Dafa is beyond words.
Every time I think of Master, I always feel how wonderful and what a treasure life is. It is because of Master that I felt deep in my soul that life is so meaningful. I am willing to comply with what Master has asked of us, and do better and better.
