High School Teacher: To Be a Clear Spring That Flows Against the Current

(Minghui.org) Prior to becoming a Falun Dafa cultivator, I was considered headstrong. As a teacher, I took fame and self-interest very seriously, especially in the first three years of my career. During that time, the school brought in a new principal every year. To further my self-interests, I had conflicts with each one. Whenever I thought about the conflicts, I felt upset, thinking, “Whatever other people couldn’t do, I managed to do it. So why don’t I get the top teacher award?”

Letting Go of Self-Interest and Obtaining Without Pursuit

After I began practicing Falun Dafa, I came to understand that fame and self-interest cannot be gained by fighting for them; one’s prosperity and wealth are determined by how much virtue one has. They are predestined. Because I wasn’t aware of this principle, I used to compete with others at work, putting my colleagues and the administration under a lot of stress and causing them a great deal of harm. I deeply regretted that. I also made up my mind to use Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance as my moral standard in order to qualify as a practitioner.

I was then transferred to a high school. In this new environment, I became very humble. When the school evaluated who the year-end awards would be given to, I took it very lightly. I thought there were outstanding teachers in every subject, and whoever got the awards were meant to receive them.

So I became calmer and was under less stress. In dealing with my colleagues and students’ parents, I often put myself in their shoes and put their needs first. Gradually, more and more people sensed I was different, a practitioner. My colleagues and managers also acknowledged my character, which gave them some understanding of the truth about Dafa to varying degrees.

The administration once wanted to issue me an award. I thought, “I’ve received many awards. I should let the teachers who need one for a promotion get it.” Right then, a teacher who shared the office with me said, “I’ve worked for nearly 10 years but have never gotten a single award!”

I was very surprised. He was the head teacher of a key class. He not only worked diligently, but the entire school recognized his teaching and classroom management abilities. As his team lead, I didn’t think about his needs and had failed to refer him sooner, so he’d never had a chance to be given an award. I felt so derelict in my duties!

I went straight to the principal’s office and said, “I don’t want that award. Please give it to the class teacher.” He replied, “Don’t push it away. It’s the school board’s decision.” I then told him why I didn’t want it and preferred that it go to the class teacher. After he heard my explanation, he was very surprised. He said, “Is that right? He’s never received any award? Sure, let’s give it to him this time!”

When it came to selections for “Leadership Team Teacher Training” and “Subject Leader,” I declined to attend if the training conflicted with my teaching schedule. I just referred other teachers to participate. Actually, as a practitioner, it didn’t matter whether I was given an award or not, I’d do my job as conscientiously as ever.

It’s probably because I let go of pursuing fame and self-interest that all kinds of awards came my way.

One time, during an award evaluation, the grade department director said to me, “There won’t be any award for you later on.” I replied, “That’s totally fine. I’ve received whatever promotion I was supposed to get.”

Then, when this director sent the shortlist of people’s names to the administration, the deputy principal in charge of this selection specifically told him to put my name on the list, saying the evaluation was based on merit, not one’s need. It turned out that I was given the prestigious “second class” award, which was issued by the municipal government. From this, I enlightened that a practitioner should follow the course of nature. For awards where I was passed over, that meant they were not mine. If an award still turned out to be mine, it was meant to be.

Resolving Conflicts by Enduring Resentment

When I was first transferred to the district’s key high school, the school recruited teachers for four tutorial classes at the junior high school. I taught two of them, while another senior teacher took care of the other two. In order to encourage the teachers, students, and their parents, the school stipulated there were going to be four mock exams in one year, and the students whose overall total score ranked in the top 100 could be exempted from the admission test to the senior high and be admitted directly.

After the first mock exam, the average scores of the subject I taught were over 10 points higher than the other classes, which the teacher and parents of the other two classes couldn’t accept. Because they didn’t see a large gap in the other subjects I didn’t teach, they began to suspect that I’d leaked the answers to the exam to my two classes. After the school received this feedback, they paid a lot of attention to it. In the end, the solution the principal put forward was to have the four classes take another exam on that subject in two weeks.

I was very clear that I didn’t do what they suspected, that I’d only put in extra effort for the sake of completing the special recruitment arrangement. However, the majority of the staff didn’t believe me. As to the over 200 students and their parents of the other two classes, it involved their interest in getting guaranteed admittance to senior high school. They made irresponsible remarks to me and made a big fuss inside and outside the school. The principal’s purpose in making this decision was to balance the appeals from all parties. The only thing he overlooked was my feelings. It felt like I was being put on a barbecue rack.

During the two weeks before the next exam, I felt so unfairly treated that I cried a few times. But I understood that nothing is accidental. I knew I should face it with a practitioner’s demeanor. To ensure fairness at the next exam, I was not involved in monitoring, grading, or tallying the scores. When the final results came out, although the gap was less, the average score of the two classes I taught was still seven or eight points higher than the average of the other two classes. And the class in which I was the classroom teacher turned out to have the highest average score.

My first thought was I saw this was to thank Master. As a practitioner, what I need to do is to maintain an altruistic heart. Master will then make the best arrangement for me. Through this incident, I not only became well-known but also gained everyone’s respect.

I was promoted that year. My team leader told the principal at the review meeting, “If you don’t use a teacher like that, who else are you going to use?”

Holding onto Our Principles and Validating Dafa

My wife and I, both schoolteachers, never hid the fact that we practiced Falun Dafa. After the former Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Jiang Zemin started the persecution of Dafa on July 20, 1999, it affected our work, as well as our environment for validating Dafa. The persecution has lasted for over 20 years. However, under Master’s benevolent protection, a lot of pressure was virtually resolved.

For nearly 20 years, we validated Dafa by being good people at work. A practitioner who was forced to leave home and move repeatedly to avoid being persecuted saw our cultivation state and said in awe, “Wow! You can actually cultivate like this!”

I recall at a school party, a deputy principal insisted that I have an alcoholic drink. I thought he was hinting to not be too “obsessed” about my practice. The other teachers quietly observed to see if I could stick to my principles in front of the boss. I thought I must not be afraid and must firmly adhere to the requirements for a practitioner!

I stood my ground and that upset him. I knew that people wouldn’t care about whether I refused a drink by the next day, but if I were to drink, I would not only lose my integrity as a practitioner but also make people wonder if I was worthy of being trusted.

A colleague later said to me in admiration, “Just looking at your willpower, you are truly something!” After that, whenever there was a party and others tried to persuade me to drink, without my saying anything, my colleagues would chime in and say that I never drank alcohol.

I often heard people say, “It’s great to be a teacher—you can make good money.” The implication was that teachers make a lot of under-the-table income. In today’s society, which has been poisoned by Party culture, many people are already used to it.

As a practitioner, I’m clear that my responsibility is to validate Dafa, assist Master in the Fa-rectification, and play the role of “... Stopping society’s downward slide.” (“Universal Illumination,” Hong Yin II) Accepting gifts would discredit Dafa and make me feel that I wasn’t worthy of telling them the truth about the persecution. People would lose this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, which would be a crime. So whenever someone came to deliver gifts, I’d think to myself: “I’ve got to clarify the truth to this person and not accept the gift. Master only used this as an opportunity to bring people with predestined relationships to me.”

One student had poor grades. When he was preparing for the exam, he came to see me for help. I said without hesitation, “If the school agrees, I’ll take you.” His aunt was the accountant at the school. As soon as she mentioned it, she said tearfully, “The other teachers only pay attention to grades. When he wanted to get into their classes, they all turned him down. Seeing that he was under great pressure, I felt hurt. I didn’t dare to ask you, but when I asked you, I didn’t expect you to agree!” When she saw my pens scattered all over the table, she went to find a stationary box for me. I declined her offer but took the opportunity to talk about my principles as a practitioner and the truth about Dafa.

Afterward, this student’s father delivered a brand-name cashmere sweater to me. The next day, I went to his father’s company and explained why I wasn’t able to keep the sweater. I also took the opportunity to give him some truth-clarification materials. He was understanding and acknowledged my reasons for returning the sweater.

The principal’s daughter was my student in the past. She was later successfully admitted to Beijing Normal University. The principal asked her to show her appreciation by giving me an article of clothing on his behalf. I immediately declined, but to avoid causing any embarrassment, I joked, “You passed the exam successfully. I should have congratulated you. We’re even!”

My impression has been that this principal was never against Dafa in any public setting. Even during the time when the persecution was the most rampant, our school didn’t hold any activities to defame Dafa. I heard from his wife that he was under great pressure back then. People from the 610 Office even threatened to remove our school status as a “prestigious school” to force him to punish me. Yet the principal took no action. It was just as the saying goes: “When one has kind thoughts, it benefits the whole area.” In the two years before his retirement, quite a few of our students were admitted to top universities in China. He retired amid glorious praise, which was also a blessing he received for supporting Dafa.

Helping People with Predestined Relationships to Pursue Kindness

When the persecution of Dafa first started, one of my students was a nephew of the secretary of the local Political and Legal Affairs Committee. To help a practitioner who was being persecuted, I had this student deliver a truth-clarification letter to him. I also told him to explain the purpose of the letter. When this secretary’s son was preparing to go to senior high school, he choose my class.

Another student’s father was a cadre employed by the CCP. I helped his wife learn about Dafa by reading Dafa books. After his son was admitted to the university, he kept in touch with me.

The child of a district-level Domestic Security Division team leader couldn’t get used to his class, so the principal transferred him to my class. I knew that this child’s grandmother was a teacher and his father, the team leader, had earned the “Excellent University Graduate Student” award back when he attended college. However, the son wasn’t doing well in school. With compassion, I made an appointment with his father.

As soon as we met, I introduced myself to him by saying that I was a practitioner, giving him an opportunity to learn the truth about Dafa. I then told him that his son not doing well at school. I also told him that Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance are universal values and that only when one assimilates to them can one have a bright future. In our conversation, he seemed surprised and even shocked by what I said. However, knowing that I was his child’s teacher, he managed to calm down and gain some understanding of the universal law of “good and evil are rewarded accordingly.”

I later heard that, during his interactions with other practitioners, he gradually came to understand the truth and position himself properly. His son also got satisfactory marks on the college entrance exam. All these things attest to the fact that Dafa safeguards every good heart that pursues kindness!

Our Kind Thoughts Are Changing People

After the persecution started, the lies fabricated by the CCP were overwhelming. Teachers who shared the same office with me discussed this. But every time I heard these discussions, I always conducted myself in an upright manner and relentlessly safeguarded Dafa. In the end, a very prestigious and righteous teacher told the others that, as long as I was present, nobody was allowed to talk about Falun Dafa. After that, people never talked about it.

In 2017, I was impacted by the evil “Zero-Out” campaign that targeted practitioners. I was forced to stop teaching and was transferred to teaching assistant. I once went to a colleague’s office, and he happened to see that I was enjoying one of his paintings. He said, “Let me give you this painting. Look! You have accomplished every word that’s written on it!” As he spoke, he read the words on the painting: sincerity, faith, righteousness, virtue, propriety, civility, and humility.

Beginning in 2016 when my wife and I refused to sign the so-called guarantee statement when we were pressured by the 610 Office and higher authorities, the school had to deprive us of all legitimate entitlements, such as promotions, salary increases, appraisals, and performance pay. In order to falsely accuse us, the Domestic Security Division team leader went everywhere to look at files on us and carried out secret investigations. After he spent a lot of time on this, he uttered only two sentences when he met with us, “I didn’t expect you to have received so many awards at different levels.” and “Nobody said anything bad about you—I didn’t expect you to have such great relationships with everyone!”

When we were fired, both my wife’s and my files were transferred out and no longer attached to the educational bureau. When I learned of this, I suddenly had a feeling of being totally relaxed: I felt that this chapter of my life had turned to the last page, and a brand new chapter was about to begin. In the future, no matter what my role in society, I’d continue to finish my mission as a practitioner. The significance of our existence in the human world is to validate Dafa.

Cultivating Falun Dafa changed me from someone who had a competitive mentality to someone who took self-interest lightly and became altruistic. This also directly and indirectly affected the people around me. When they conducted a background investigation, they not only failed to catch me doing anything wrong, but they also saw the image of a teacher who was commended by leaders, praised by colleagues, and sought out by students. This only goes to show that Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance are universal values that will someday be widely admired and recognized.

I recall that a practitioner once said, “Society can’t tolerate good people and tries to ‘Zero’ them out. Who has this authority? Isn’t it a manifestation of the ‘end of the world?’”

Thank you, Master, for your benevolent protection and immense saving grace!