Former Teacher Endures Hardship to Save Students

(Minghui.org) Jie was a teacher in a village middle school. Before he practiced Falun Dafa, he was a stern teacher. After he began practicing in 1997, he followed the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, and all his students respected him.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began to persecute Dafa in 1999, and he was twice taken to forced labor camps and tortured. When his wife visited him, a guard told her, “He is stubborn and does not care about his family. You should divorce him.” His wife replied, “I won’t. He did not do anything wrong.”

Jie’s life was difficult. His 80-year-old father needed a lot of care. His son was in college and his daughter was in elementary school. Jie’s wife was unemployed, and his father’s retirement pension was their only source of income.

Jie didn’t give up his belief after he was released, so the board of education did not let him return to teaching and suspended his salary. His accumulated salary over 10 years would have been over 200,000 yuan.

His wife went to see the board of education leaders to demand that they reinstate him in his former position so they could make ends meet. They refused her demand but reluctantly agreed to give Jie odd jobs at the school and to have him guard the student dormitory at night, for which he earned a mere 300 to 500 yuan a month.

By doing these menial jobs, Jie eliminated his attachments to fame and self-interest. He adjusted his mindset and began to tell students and teachers the truth about the persecution. Some teachers who had been indifferent or hostile toward Dafa became understanding and supportive.

The students came from several towns and nearby villages, and some lived on campus. So Jie helped them as much as he could when they had problems.
The reason that the principal did not let Jie teach was to keep him from having contact with students. But when the students had to go to the boiler room to get water, Jie told them the facts about Dafa and urged them to quit the CCP’s affiliated organizations. Those who learned the facts brought other students to listen to Jie.

There were three grades in the school, with three to four classes in each and 30 to 40 students in each class. Almost all the students had quit the CCP’s affiliated organizations. However, one student who was about to graduate had not quit even though Jie had spoken with him many times. He said, “All my classmates have quit the CCP’s organizations but not me!”

Jie looked within to see if this reaction was because he lacked sufficient kindness. He worried about the student’s future. He would not give up, however, and approached the student with kindness in his heart. The student said, “Let me think about it.”

A classmate then told the student triumphantly, “Jie gave each of us a ‘Dharma name’ (a pseudonym to quit the CCP’s organizations).” He seemed touched. Jie talked with him again and successfully convinced him to quit the Young Pioneers and Youth League.

The student graduated from a police academy and, many years later, worked at a police station. Jie went there on business one day and heard someone call his name as soon as he walked in. He turned and saw an officer smiling at him, “Don’t you remember me?” and told him his pseudonym.

A female student who had heard the facts about Dafa came to Jie one night and said, “Bad news. The whole county will be hosting a meeting in our classroom to slander Falun Dafa.” Jie then went to the head teacher’s house and told him, “You might suffer consequences if the meeting is held in your classroom. This will harm many people.” He talked with the teacher and his wife about it for a long time. The teacher said nothing.

The teacher went to talk to the principal the next morning and told him that they could not hold the meeting in his classroom and urged him not to hold the meeting at all. The meeting was canceled.

Working in the boiler room is difficult, and the pay is low. The board of education made it difficult for Jie intentionally. Some people advised him to quit, saying that he could make more money at some other job. Jie said, “There are new students every year. I am here to save them.”

Jie’s family was worried that the board of education would deny Jie his pension when he was ready to retire in 2015. Jie had made efforts all those years to tell the principal the facts about Dafa. The principal understood the true situation and went to the board of education and helped Jie through the retirement process, ensuring that he got his pension

Now, Jie is serious about talking to people outside the school. His wife often sends him on errands, and he tells people along the way the facts about Dafa.