(Minghui.org) I am a new Falun Dafa practitioner who started cultivating Dafa in 2019. I am an elementary school teacher and have had the opportunity to spread the wonders of Falun Dafa to the students in my class. Some of them became Dafa practitioners and have benefitted from the practice. Those who became practitioners started to spread Dafa to students in other grade levels. I became more motivated and inspired to teach. Deep down inside, I know these things are beyond my abilities and that Master has done everything. I am fortunate to have witnessed the extraordinary power of Dafa.
Xiao Yu was transferred to my class in April 2021 during the last semester of third grade. He had many behavioral issues, such as refusing to study or learn, getting physical with his classmates, cursing, and not following teachers’ directions.
I was at my wits’ end in May and asked him one day, “I have a book that is of great importance to me. Would you like to read it together?” I held little hope for Xiao Yu and only wished for him to learn some morals, like how good will be rewarded and bad will be punished. Xiao Yu opened the book Zhuan Falun, the main text of Falun Dafa, and read it attentively. After reading Zhuan Falun for a couple of days, his bad temper gradually disappeared. He began asking me questions about reincarnation and cultivation. He changed into a completely different person and started reading Zhuan Falun after school and during morning recess.
Soon, the whole class started to study Zhuan Falun.
Xiao Yu started fourth grade after summer break. He asked me one day, “Teacher, what did you do over the summer break?” I told him that I practiced Falun Dafa’s five sets of exercises every day at a park and meditated for an hour in the double lotus position. He asked me excitedly, “Can you teach me how to do the double lotus position during our afternoon recess?” I agreed and he invited several other classmates to learn the double lotus position.
A dozen students came over to try the double lotus position out of curiosity. Some felt very comfortable, while others felt some pain while meditating. I only had the intention of showing them once, since I had many other matters to tend to. However, I found a note on my desk the next day that said, “A list of students who would like to meditate.” There was a total of 20 students, so I decided to teach them a second time.
On the second day, the corridor was filled with students. I was hoping to tend to some other matters on the third day, but on the third day, several other students asked, “Can we meditate again during our lunch recess?” Seeing how they had taken such an interest in meditation and thinking that they have all come for the Fa, I gave my class a choice of either taking an afternoon nap or meditating.
The students meditated quietly while listening to the Falun Dafa meditation music Meditating during their lunch recess became something that they looked forward to every day. I was very surprised at how many of the students were able to endure the pain in their legs while doing the double lotus position. Many of them can now do the double lotus position for more than 10 minutes.
After meditating for several days during afternoon recess, Xiao Yu asked me, “Can we read Zhuan Falun while we do the double lotus position?” I agreed and students started to read Zhuan Falun while doing the double lotus position. I placed several copies of Zhuan Falun on the book shelf and students were able to freely borrow it. After a period of time, I realized that few students treated the book with respect. They flipped through the pages vigorously or placed the book on the floor. I was very upset and started to look inward to find my own shortcomings. I found out that I had treated the precious book like any other book at the beginning of my cultivation. I would eat while reading the Zhuan Falun, place it anywhere I found suitable and sit in a disrespectful manner. After realizing my shortcomings, I solemnly told the class, “Zhuan Falun is a book that guides us to Heaven. This book is more precious than my life. I am very upset to see how many of us have been disrespectful to the book.” Though they began treating the book with respect, only a few persisted in reading Zhuan Falun. Among them was Xiao Yu.
Parent-teacher conferences were approaching not long after the students began meditating during afternoon recess. While pondering whether or not I should communicate the principles of Falun Dafa to their parents, Xian En came by with sullen look on her face. She said, “I really like to meditate but my mother won’t let me. She said that I can only take an afternoon nap. My mother will attend the parent-teacher conference, will you be able to persuade her?” Then Hao Hao said, “Yes, my mother will attend the parent-teacher conference as well. You have to tell my mother about the benefits of doing meditation. My mother is often in a bad mood. I hope my mother can learn about the benefits of meditation.” I became quite determined to talk to the parents about Falun Dafa after hearing my students’ requests. Therefore, the topic of the parent-teacher conference was “Educating Children Based on the Principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance: A Higher Moral Value.” Not only did Xiao En’s mother happily agree for her to meditate, many other parents agreed with the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance being the core values for educating children.
When Xiao Yu finished reading Zhuan Falun, he asked, “May I borrow Master’s other lectures?” Xiao Yu began reading Hong Yin and liked it a lot. He asked, “Would I be able to take Hong Yin home to hand copy the poems?” Despite Xiao Yu’s messy handwriting, he was able to neatly hand copy more than a dozen poems from Hong Yin. He’d even utilize his spare time at school to hand copy the poems. Though Xiao Yu had always been indifferent to reading aloud and reciting, he managed to recite four to five poems from Hong Yin per day.
Xiao Yu’s classmates developed an interest in reciting Hong Yin after seeing how Xiao Yu enjoyed reading it. I started to write the poems on the black board, since I only had one copy of Hong Yin. I gifted a notebook and pen to those who truly liked to hand copy the poems. Though there were only four students who persisted in hand copying Hong Yin, everyone in the class memorized one poem from Hong Yin. Among the four that persisted in hand copying Hong Yin, two of them were students who had always ranked lowest in class. Their grades improved significantly after hand copying Hong Yin. Everyone was amazed by their changes.
Xiao Yu memorized the poems in Hong Yin in a short period of time. Hao Hao volunteered to be the “Poems Class Monitor,” since many students were still unfamiliar with Hong Yin. He would lead the class to recite a poem aloud three times before the start of each period. Many students soon began to take a liking to reciting Hong Yin. The class had started to recite the poem “Tempering One’s Heart and Will” from Hong Yin when they came across a phrase in Zhuan Falun.
Master said,
“...suffer and endure physical as well as mental hardships.” (Lecture Four, Zhuan Falun)
Suddenly, Ah Dan, an autistic student, raised his hand and asked, “Can I tell you my understanding of this poem at my current level?” Ah Dan’s reaction surprised me. I had always thought Ah Dan was indifferent when in fact he was already immersed in Dafa.
So, as long as there was enough time, I would allow students to express their understandings of the poems in Hong Yin. Their xinxing was constantly elevating and many students were able to recite more than a dozen poems. To my surprise, Fei Fei, a student who hadn’t been doing well academically, was able to recite all of the poems in Hong Yin. I asked Fei Fei, “Why do you like to hand copy and recite the poems?” Fei Fei answered, “This is because the poems carry a lot of knowledge and I would like to learn them all.”
I had an idea to read the Fa to the whole class during meditation one afternoon. After reading a paragraph of Fa, the class applauded and many students asked me to continue reading.
I continued reading the Fa the next day and noticed that Ah Dan held Zhuan Falun in the palms of his hands. I asked Ah Dan if he wanted a turn to read Zhuan Falun. He nodded excitedly. Since then the students in my class started to take turns reading Master’s lectures. Some would read Zhuan Falun and Hong Yin, while others would read Minghui Publishing Center’s latest book, Miracles in Falun Dafa Cultivation (Stories of Little Dafa Disciples) and The Epoch Times newspaper. I was amazed to see how orderly the children behaved compared to a regular lunch break. Everyone was sitting quietly and calmly. I cherished the moments when the young Dafa disciples and I were meditating and studying the Fa together.
There would be 20 minutes of cleaning and tidying up the classroom every day. Xiao Yu asked me one day, “Can you teach me how to practice Falun Dafa’s five sets of exercises?” When I started to teach him how to do the exercises, Xiao Yu said, “I hope everyone else will practice the Falun Dafa exercises with us.” So I started to teach the students how to practice the exercises whenever there was some spare time. Students said that they felt comfortable after doing the exercises. If we did not have time to do the exercises that day, some students would be disappointed and say, “I really wish we could have practiced the exercises today!”
Xiao Yu would teach Xiao Li, a girl from another class, how to meditate when they were both at the same after school program. Xiao Yu asked me one day, “Would Xiao Li be able to come to our class during our lunch break?” I agreed and Xiao Li learned to do the double lotus position. More than 10 students came over to practice the exercises and study the Fa after seeing the positive changes in Xiao Li.
A colleague of mine brought up an issue about Ah Zhen. Ah Zhen is a boy who gets easily agitated and tends to be very physical. I invited Ah Zhen over to my class and we watched “Heavenly Kid”, “Shen Yun Creations” and “3 Musketeers.” Ah Zhen is now able to do the double lotus position for 30 minutes and always departed our classroom with reluctance.
Ms. Su, a sixth grade teacher, complained about Ah Ben, who is very difficult to discipline. I suggested that Ah Ben might benefit from a short chat with me every day. After initially refusing to come to have a chat with me, he now voluntarily visits me to study the Fa. Ah Ben has changed for the better and has opened his heart to me.
Ah Wei, an autistic sixth-grader, always came over to me when something made him angry. He would calm down as soon as he started reciting the nine special words “Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good. Falun Dafa is good.” Ah Wei could also read Zhuan Falun and Hong Yin by himself to manage his emotions.
I had always shied away from more responsibility in the past. It was Dafa that opened my heart and Master who brought predestined sentient beings to my side. By immersing the students in Dafa, aren’t I validating the Fa in my workplace? I am only a tiny particle of the limitless and boundless Dafa. From spreading the wonders of Dafa to my class, to letting the whole school and even the whole district know about Falun Dafa, I believe that the whole world will learn about the beauty and wonders of Dafa one day. Thinking about how tens of thousands of Dafa particles have come together to spread the magnificence of Dafa, I feel very touched knowing that everyone has a heart of compassion and abides by the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.
Master has arranged everything. Master guides me in cultivation through the words of the students. Students have reminded me to maintain righteous thoughts when I have encountered tribulations. It is this group of elementary school students who have taught me how to spread Dafa. Thank you, Master!