(Minghui.org) I am a 66-year-old former school principal who has been practicing Falun Gong for 19 years.
My neighbors and friends often comment on my youthful appearance, saying, “How come it looks like you're getting younger?”
For 47 years I suffered from bronchial asthma, a chronic inflammatory disease of the airway passages that causes coughing, wheezing, and shortness of breath.
My mom told me that I almost died when I was young, due to a severe lung inflammation. The more my condition worsened, the more she worried about me.
Out of desperation, she asked a doctor to perform an experimental procedure on me, despite the inherent risks involved. “Injecting her with this drug,” the doctor warned, “is the last chance to save her.”
Fortunately, I managed to pull through the ordeal. However, I developed a severe case of bronchial asthma because my requisite follow-up treatment had been delayed.
I don't recall having a single good day in 47 years. I appeared old and frail and took all sorts of medicine. I received so many injections that hard, red bumps had developed all around my injection sites. I was later hooked up to an intravenous drip unit.
Since qigong was popular in the 80s, I decided to enroll in a few qigong schools. When I failed to see any improvement in my condition, I stopped practicing them.
On April 8, 1998, someone introduced me to Falun Gong. Within a few days of practice, I noticed that I felt better.
I then started reading Zhuan Falun, the main book of Falun Gong. I finally understood how humans came into being, where they go when they die, the purpose of human existence, why people get ill, and how to be a good person.
My 47-year-long bout with bronchitis asthma had finally ended, after reading the book and practicing the exercises for a few days!
I thought it would be great if everyone knew the principles of Falun Gong. So I played Master Li's video lecture series in my office and asked the teachers to watch it during their lunch break. Shortly after, three teachers decided to take up the practice.
I always followed Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance at work. Although there were large age differences among the teachers, as well as experience, character, and family environment, I always focused on their strengths.
Whenever they ran into issues at work or at home, I dealt with them in a sincere, kind, and supportive way.
For example, a young teacher was very depressed after finding out that her class had the lowest academic score in our district. Since it had a negative impact on the school and my personal reputation, some teachers worried that I would penalize her.
I thought, “I am a practitioner and need to look within whenever there is a problem. I am partially responsible for her poor class performance. Perhaps I didn't give her enough personal direction.”
In the next teachers' meeting, I refrained from pointing fingers at her, and instead praised her strengths and encouraged her. Everyone present trusted my judgment and felt assured that things would improve in the near future.
When two young teachers from my school went to help grade the final term papers of all the student's in our district, they noticed that some teachers from other schools had altered the test scores of their students, giving them a better grade.
When these two teachers spoke to me about the incident, they were indignant. They suggested that our school adopt a similar approach so that our academic ranking in the district would not fall behind, thus hurting our reputation.
While listening to them talk, I remained calm in my heart. Master asks us to follow Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and not use ordinary people's standards to judge things.
In the next teachers' meeting, I said, “Local residents, parents, and the society at large expect us to genuinely guide and educate our children. It's our responsibility to help bring out the latent talents in each of them.
“If we artificially raise the students' test scores, where is our conscience? No matter what others do, we must be forthright and sincere in what we do.
“Rest assured that dishonesty will never prevail over the truth. As long as we work hard, we will be rewarded!”
Not long after, our student's final exam scores were always rated first or second in our district. As a result, many parents wanted to enroll their children in my school.
Guided by the right principles, the teachers worked very hard. Some of them received numerous teaching awards and were even asked to lecture on their successful teaching methods.
Among the 15 teachers at my school, five were promoted to be principals in other schools, and one became the head of the Department of Organization in my city.