(Minghui.org) I was arrested and forced to attend a brainwashing session on December 24, 2000, and was suspended from my job after my work supervisor notified me over the phone. When I was released, I didn't have the money to feed my family, as my husband had been laid off.
Though the authorities told me that I had to ask permission before going anywhere, I refused to listen to them and went to work at many places in order to ease my family's financial burden. It was nearly five years before my family situation improved.
Master said many times in the Fa that it is important to save sentient beings. In order to save those who had persecuted me and caused me to lose my job, I thought that I should try to ask for my job back at my original workplace. I thus embarked on an eight-year-long journey to have my job restored.
Qualifying for Job Requirements
My workplace underwent a pilot education system reform in July 2004, where all of the staff had to re-apply for employment. Those who weren't re-hired would be sent to the countryside to teach. This gave me a chance to get my job back.
The local education officials also wanted to use this chance to force Dafa practitioners to renounce Dafa; those who refused to renounce their faith were advised to retire under the guise of illness.
I didn't agree, as I had experienced miraculous health benefits from practicing Falun Dafa. When the principal asked for my opinion, I said, “I’ll follow what the official policy says, not this.”
At this point, all of the school's teachers were waiting for my situation to be resolved before the school could proceed with the next step. So the principal gave me a piece of paper and tried to convince me to write a statement promising to no longer practice Falun Dafa. Many of my colleagues also tried persuading me as well.
I thanked them for their concern and asked in my heart for Master to help me. I gradually realized what I should write—changing my guarantee statement into an application for re-employment.
What I did was unexpected to everyone. When the principal reported my situation to the authorities, they approved my application. I was then required to prepare a summary report of my performance over the past five years as well as sit for a departmental exam, two things that all of my colleagues did to re-apply. But I only had a week to prepare everything, and the principal reiterated that my report had to first be checked by him before I could present it in the teachers' meeting.
My report consisted of two parts. One-and-a-half years of teaching and three-and-a-half years of self-improvement in society, with a focus on the latter part. The principal was quite pleased with my report.
At the meeting, I thanked every colleague for their concern and also told them how I survived by working odd jobs to feed my family and send my child to school. This was an opportunity to expose the evil Party's lies about Falun Dafa and let them see that despite the persecution, Dafa practitioners still follow the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance in treating everyone and everything.
A veteran teacher later told me, “I gave you full marks for your report.”
I was successfully re-employed and signed a three-year contract. However, I was still sent to the countryside to teach. Due to interference from the 610 Office, I was not allowed to teach in the new school, but I still tutored students in the meantime.
Negating the Evil and Saving Sentient Beings
I tried countless times between 2005 and 2007 to re-apply for my job and ask for my payroll card, but to no avail.
In April 2007, I decided not to continue tutoring but to focus instead on finding the relevant departments to have my job restored and also to save sentient beings. My decision caused the evil in another dimension to go crazy. I was arrested on April 20 after my family and I moved back to our home, and charged with “violently resisting the police.”
With help from other practitioners' righteous thoughts as well as my own, I was released a few days later.
When I decided to get my job back, some practitioners disagreed with me and kindly reminded me to hide away for a while. After some discussion however, I felt that the purpose of getting my job back was to save sentient beings, and that I should walk the path that Master arranged.
I can continue to tutor students to feed my family. But what would happen to those who had persecuted me and refused my employment? I am a Dafa disciple. If my job can be restored, these people would have a chance to redeem themselves for their sins against Dafa practitioners.
During the summer vacation of 2007 when everyone else had finished their three-year contract, I also went to get a stamp stating that I fulfilled my contract. At that time, many practitioners helped to send forth righteous thoughts to prevent me from being arrested, and my niece accompanied me to get my stamp. Though I successfully got the stamp, I was still not allowed to regain my employment.
Cooperating as One Body to Save Sentient Beings
My story was exposed on the Minghui website and printed on local flyers. Local practitioners also sent forth righteous thoughts while I visited the various government officials in charge of my employment, to clarify the truth.
After sending forth righteous thoughts for a period of time to eliminate the evil, I found that the secretary of the Political and Legal Committee was extremely afraid of me. He instructed the police to arrest me when I was about to bring my employment contract to him. I asked Master to help me and also sent righteous thoughts when I was at the police station. In about an hour's time, I was released.
I looked within after returning home and realized that I had been visiting the authorities for the sake of visiting them, and was not visiting them out of compassion. I also found that I had resentment and fear when the secretary called the police to arrest me, and had been depending on fellow practitioners to send forth righteous thoughts for me.
Master said,
“Compassion can harmonize Heaven and Earth, ushering in springRighteous thoughts can save the people in this world”(“The Fa Rectifies the Cosmos,” from Hong Yin Volume II, Translation Version A)
Practitioners should be kind towards sentient beings. Though the secretary sent me to the police, I did not resent him and instead greeted him when I saw him on the street, making him feel embarrassed.
When someone suggested that I report him to the authorities for corruption when he was holding a banquet for his son's enrollment in the army, I told the secretary that I had no intention of doing so. He changed gradually and became supportive of my decision to be re-employed. He later verbally agreed for me to be reinstated at my job. However, he was later transferred away during the summer of 2008.
When the new secretary came, he tried to prevent me from being employed, as he did not understand Dafa. I looked for him many times at his office and home but he would always tell me to write a guarantee statement to give up the practice.
I looked within and realized that I had a selfish mentality: I shouldn't write it, because I didn't do anything wrong. Everything was about me. I had placed sentient beings as the last priority.
So I changed my mindset. If I don't write the guarantee statement, I will not have done anything wrong, and neither will the sentient beings. I am saving sentient beings; I will not destroy them.
I looked for the first secretary of my town in the spring of 2009. After a brief introduction, the secretary said he was puzzled why Dafa practitioners had been hanging up “Falun Dafa is good” banners.
I said, “All the media refused to let us utter a word, so hanging banners became a way for us to express our views. Aren't family planning banners hanging everywhere on the streets too?”
He seemed to understand a little and I told him that I should fulfill my employment contract since the media had been saying that we are a law-abiding society. After he looked at my documents, he said, “You can work.”
However, the school principal said that a document or phone call was needed before I could start work. So I went to the secretary again. The secretary of the Political and Legal Committee saw me entering the office and quickly said that I was still not allowed to work.
Seeing this, the first secretary told me to fulfill three conditions: 1. No practicing of Falun Gong openly. 2. No talking about Falun Gong while teaching. 3. No distributing of Falun Gong materials openly.
Mayor Says, “You Really Shouldn't Write a Guarantee”
As there was no other way around this situation, I had to look for even higher-ranking officials. However, it was not easy for one to enter the doors of the city government. At that moment, Master arranged for my sister (a practitioner) to assist me, allowing me to enter the building freely.
When I looked for the mayor, he asked one of his staff about how I would go about being re-employed. The staff member said I needed to write a guarantee statement.
Hearing this, my sister said, “That is too heartless for a person. My sister's illnesses were cured through the practice and you want her to write a guarantee statement?”
“Both of you look alike. Are you sisters?” asked the mayor. “Have your secretary give me a call.”
However, the secretary still wanted me to fulfill the three conditions before he would call the mayor. I then wrote a letter to the secretary to thank him for his kindness, but also told him that I couldn't let someone commit a wrongful deed.
I went to the mayor's office again when he returned from a business trip. He recognized me and said that the secretary hadn't called him.
As I sat in front of the mayor, he asked, “Is it because you didn't write a guarantee statement?”
I smiled while telling him in my heart that he has to make a right decision. After looking through the materials I had brought over, he said, “You really shouldn't have to write a guarantee. You wouldn't be following Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance if you did.”
With that, he signed my papers.
After eight and a half years, I officially returned to school in September 2009, and most of my salary was returned to me within a few years. Many people changed their attitudes toward Falun Dafa practitioners after seeing that I was able to work again unconditionally.
Master said,
“When disciples have ample righteous thoughtsMaster has the power to turn back the tide”(“The Master-Disciple Bond,” Hong Yin Volume II, Translation Version A)
Master has already resolved all the grievances between disciples and sentient beings and also eliminated all the plots of the old forces. As the evil factors in another dimensions are being removed, people are showing their kind thoughts.
This whole process was a process of letting go of myself, rectifying each and every one of my thoughts, experiencing the power of righteous thoughts, and realizing that I cannot let up on my righteous thoughts regardless of the situation. During this process, many of my attachments, including stubbornness, fame, zealotry, the competitive mentality, and resentment were exposed, as well as the bad habit of procrastination.
When I have looked within and used the Fa to rectify all my human attachments, it was really like passing the shady willows trees and seeing bright flowers and another village ahead. I also realized that I have to be compassionate to sentient beings while being strict when eliminating the evil in other dimensions.
Thanks to Master's protection and the changes in the status of Fa-rectification I was able to persist. Practitioners' cooperation and sending of righteous thoughts were also key to making the unconditional restoration of my job a reality.
Thank you, Master! Thank you, fellow practitioners.
