(Clearwisdom.net) Greetings Revered Great Teacher! Greetings Fellow Practitioners!
I am a teacher at a school with over 1,000 students and 80 teachers. I utilize the school as my cultivation environment, and fulfill the responsibilities of a Dafa practitioner.
When the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) started their persecution against Falun Dafa, the children were deceived by the CCP's lies. A student once asked me, "Teacher, I heard that you are a Falun Gong practitioner." I said proudly, "Yes, we cultivate Dafa and follow the principles of Truthfulness-Benevolence-Forbearance to be good people." The entire class laughed. I asked them why they were laughing. One student said, "How can the practitioners who immolated themselves at Tiananmen Square be good people?" At that moment, I realized that this was the right moment to clarify the truth to these lovely students, and eliminate the poison from the CCP's lies. The children can be saved and have a future only if they have the right understanding.
Whenever I have an opportunity, whether during or after class, I will rationally clarify the truth about Falun Dafa. I have told them about the spread of Dafa all over the world, the persecution by the CCP, the staged "Tiananmen Self-Immolation" and the wave of people quitting the CCP and its affiliated organizations. Students love to hear stories, and I used stories about retribution, past history, and cultivation to raise their awareness and benevolent thoughts to eliminate the CCP party culture's poison. Due to the unrestrained persecution by evil forces at the time, I used wisdom in clarifying the truth. For example, while talking about a practitioner subjected to persecution, I asked them if they knew why the government wanted to persecute practitioners. I told the students that practitioners were sentenced to prison, and taken to forced labor camps, psychiatric hospitals, and brainwashing centers. They endured persecution for everyone in the world, to help them understand the truth - that Falun Dafa is a righteous Fa and teaches people to be kind and good. Nowadays, it's difficult to be a good person. I told my students that I an a practitioner, and live by the principles of Truthfulness-Benevolence-Forbearance.
There was a student who would not listen, and I sent forth righteous thoughts to eliminate the evil forces that controlled him. Gradually, he began to listen. All along, I followed practitioner's strict requirements and standards, being nice to others and caring for the students, so that they could see the positive image of a practitioner, and the magnificence of Falun Dafa.
When clarifying the truth to students, one student relates to two parents, 1,000 students would connect with 2,000 parents. Including their grandparents, other relatives and friends, a large group of people could be affected. "Our teacher is a Falun Gong practitioner." My students told their parents this important news when they went home. Whenever I clarified the truth and told them to quit the CCP and its affiliated organizations, they also told their parents. Some parents who didn't understand the truth came to see my principal and complained that a practitioner teacher was talking about Falun Dafa in class. Since I have clarified the truth to the school administrators, they took the complaints lightly. A teacher once told me that his neighbor, a taxi driver, had a customer who was the parent of one of my students, who cursed me for talking about Falun Gong in class and claimed that he reported me to the police. My mind was undisturbed. I thought that this might be a test of my attachment to fear, or my firm belief in Dafa. I knew I must always look inward, and persist in explaining the truth. I knew that if I looked within, Teacher would resolve everything for me.
I also talked to the other teachers. I started with the teachers in my office. I didn't worry about or judge them, even if they didn't understand me. Practitioners all have energy, so if we say that someone could not be saved, we might lock that person there. Therefore, I don't have negative thoughts about them. Some teachers required quite a long time before I successfully persuaded them to quit the CCP.
I also needed to cultivate myself well, act as a true practitioner, not pursue reputation or self-interest, and think of others and being selfless. Thus, everyone will will see the wonderfulness of Dafa and gradually understand Dafa and practitioners. This should be done just like the rain in the spring, moistening everything silently and softly. I first let them borrow the Shen Yun Performing Arts DVDs. Although they were afraid to take them in the beginning, eventually they took them home to watch, then returned them to me immediately. Later, they took the DVDs and gave them to their relatives and friends to watch.
Our school holds many activities, and once organized a presentation to celebrate the CCP's anniversary, where every teacher was required to give a speech. At first, I wasn't going to speak at all. Then I thought that I should, since these teachers were brainwashed by the CCP, poisoned by its lies, and had misunderstandings about Dafa. Some had prejudices, and others were numb to the persecution endured by practitioners. Why not use this opportunity to clarify the truth to them? I was nonetheless afraid that speaking at the conference would get me in trouble.
Teacher said,
"Then, as a cultivator, you should make use of all feasible conditions to spread Dafa and validate Dafa as a correct and true science, rather than preaching or idealism--this is every cultivator's obligation." ("Validation," from Essentials for Further Advancement)
I am a practitioner, and validating the Fa is the most important thing I can do. I should eliminate my selfish attachments, and use this opportunity to validate the Fa. Then what should I talk about? Teacher said,
"The Chinese culture is one that gods have passed down among human beings. It is a semi-divine culture." ("Teaching the Fa in the City of Los Angeles")
I decided to begin with Chinese culture. The meeting started, and I noticed that as the speakers read from their papers, the teachers in the audience paid no attention to them. I hesitated to speak until almost the end. Then, I found courage and stepped up to the podium. Standing calmly, I looked around. At that moment, I tried to stay calm and fill my heart with compassion. All the teachers sat up straight, giving me their full attention, because they knew that I was a practitioner. They were interested in what I was going to say. Feeling extremely calm, I followed Teacher's example of not reading from a paper. I started talking about the advance of Chinese culture and the revitalization of the national spirit. About the central land of China and five thousand years of Chinese culture, I said that from the very beginning, people took faith as their foundation, and respected high morality. I talked about Confucius' five tenets of benevolence-justice-politeness-wisdom-fidelity, and Lao Zi's Tao Te Ching; from Buddhism and Taoism to Truthfulness-Benevolence-Forbearance. The principal then said, "Talk about Falun Dafa now. It's the time to finish the meeting." During my speech, the principal, chairman of the labor union, and all the teachers listened quietly. I knew that they were shocked in their hearts, and admired a practitioner's courage. Unfortunately, there were some parts that I didn't finish.
From this event, I looked within, and thought that I did what practitioners should do, but didn't do quite well enough. I still had a selfish thought of protecting myself. I didn't think that this meeting would poison more teachers with CCP culture, nor that each teacher's speech would energize the CCP. Actually, while listening to the presentations, I could have played a better practitioner's role by sending forth righteous thoughts to cancel the conference and completely eliminate the evil forces.
Teacher said,
"When the Dafa disciples' righteous thoughts are a bit stronger, everything will be changed by the Dafa disciples and the evil will be eliminated. Then what will the bad people amount to?" ("Teaching the Fa in San Francisco, 2005")
Next time, I will think about others under all circumstances, and be selfless along with the righteous understanding of the Fa. I will not miss any opportunity to eliminate the evil forces and save people.
School is my cultivation environment. I have a responsibility to validate Dafa and save sentient beings. I must not waste Teacher's hope. I must do the three things well, walk my cultivation path well, and fulfill my predestined vows.
Original Article: November 5, 2009