August 24 2002
(Clearwisdom.net)
Setting: New Year's day of 2000, when I planned to go to Beijing to appeal and was detained in a police station.
Dozens of policemen at the Jingniu Police Station interrogated me day and night. They said, "So many teachers and leaders from your school have come to bail you out and say your students write great compositions and miss you. You are so young but instead of going to work, you go to appeal. How can you be an extraordinary teacher?" I replied with a smile, "Making an appeal to the authorities is my right. What's more, utilizing vacation time to submit an appeal letter does not affect my work. The reason I am not at work is solely because of you. Because I am a teacher I want to be responsible to my students. If I see the TV and hear the radio defaming and slandering my Falun Gong and I don't tell the true facts, how can I be worthy of my title of "teacher?" They pounded on the desk and shouted, "Did you teach students Falun Gong?" I said calmly, "I have not taught them to practice Falun Gong yet. Nobody should force anyone else to believe anything. I practice Falun Gong because I want to be a good person following the requirements of Dafa [the great law]. If the children do not like me, they would not want to visit me in this situation. I only teach them to be good at home, to be good students at school and to be good people in the future. A person should follow Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance."
Leaders and fellow teachers came to visit me. They tried to persuade me privately, "You are being silly. They are collecting evidence against you. Your child is only four years old. Your husband is not here. You can tell a lie to them and go back home." I said: "If what I teach the students is one way and what I do is another way, how can I cultivate "truth"?" As a result, I was detained for 50 days.
In April of 2000, policemen tried to pressure me to defame Dafa on a TV program using my situation of being a young teacher to make the propaganda seem more credible. I sternly refused. For this reason I was put into a detention center again.
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Before I practiced Falun Gong, in the muddy stream of society I became more and more selfish, arbitrary and strongly competitive. I turned the lecture podium into a place of striving for fame and personal gain.
However on November 4, 1997 all this changed. I learned the Buddha Law and began to practice cultivation. Teacher said,
"On the contrary, we ask everyone to cultivate your mind and to be kind. We ask you to be considerate of others when you do something and to do your job well in any working environment. You should be a good person in the minds of others." "How could you be a good person without doing your job well?" (Lecture at the Fa-Conference in Canada).
I totally changed and started my teaching career over. From November 1997 to December 1999 I experienced three stages in cultivation.
I. Turning Point
One day in November 1997 I said to my students: "My temperament was bad before and made you have grievances. Now I have started to practice Falun Gong. Our Teacher taught us to act according to, "Truth --Compassion- Tolerance". In the future I will love every one in the class with all my heart and will let all of you study happily." After the students saw my changes they really believed what I told them. They said, "The teacher has really changed. Her temperament has also become better."
In December of 2000, I was forced to become homeless in order to avoid persecution. I came across the parent of a student. He asked me, "Why don't you teach our kids anymore? Many parents had inquired at the school. The school said you stopped working." I told the true story to him. He sighed, "Those things that are broadcast on TV make our brains confused. I am not unaware of your changes. It is really a pity. People becoming better are persecuted. What kind of world is this? It is great if a teacher of our kids also practices Falun Gong."
II. Love and compassion
I love my son but I also love my students. Teacher said,
"A mother loves her son dearly. The human world can't do without maternal love. But as a cultivator, we should have this love become more noble and broader, we should allow more people to feel the compassion, we should have all children feel the compassion of Dafa disciples, and make our hearts expand so that we are compassionate to all. That would be even better."(Lecture on the Fa at the U.S. Midwest Conference).
The words of Teacher often reminded me: I should be compassionate to my students and be responsible for them. In the education of the children, I displayed the compassion of a Dafa practitioner to them.
1. Morality Education
Teacher said,
"A person doesn't have any ordinary human thoughts when he's born from his mother's womb. He only knows milk and crying. Everything of everyday people that's instilled in him comes postnatally. In the old days, people paid great attention to family education. I think the parental discipline that children of Caucasian families received back in those days was excellent. Yet nowadays, the degree to which children are indulged--especially in the United States--is beyond description. Those children have absolutely no manners. Their entire education has failed. To be responsible to humankind, people have to educate their children. Tell them what is good and what is bad, and they'll take all of it into their heads. It's just like a handbag. If the bag is filled with gold, people will say that what you have is gold; if your handbag is filled with dirt, they will say this is dirt. So people are just like this. If you've taken good things into your head, you're a good person, and when you do things your thoughts are bound to be good ones. If you fill your head with bad thoughts, what you do and what you think are all bad, ill thoughts. This is the fundamental distinction between good people and bad people. " (Lecture at the Conference in Europe).
In order to make kids easily understand the moral standard, I utilized my vacation time to buy some low-priced but good quality books and magazines at the used books booth. Kids also borrowed some from their homes. We set up a book corner.
The parents told me, the kids told these stories to their parents , which educated them as well. In the later compositions and exams these stories also supplied inspiration to the students. I combined the forms of telling stories and reading seminars and explanation of the Dafa principles together. Everyday I told them stories combined with the words of the Teacher. I analyzed what was right and what was wrong about the things happening around them using Dafa principles, enlightening their pure nature using Dafa principles.
When someone did not tolerate another or when quarrels and fighting broke out, I told them to be modest and to be tolerant, and consider others first.
Children are pure. Their pure and compassionate hearts are connected with the nature of the universe, "Truth--Compassion-Tolerance". A student wrote a sentence in his composition, "Our teacher looks like an ordinary person, but she is a person with high morality." Another wrote, "Today we went outside to have dinner. My parents quarreled with others in order to obtain a table. They were going to fight with each other next. I remembered the words of our teacher and went to catch my father's hands. Saying, "You forgot the words of our teacher. Our teacher said a person should act in accordance to 'Truth-Compassion-Tolerance.' "If you fight you are not being compassionate or tolerant!" The parents later told me with deep feeling, "Whatever we teach him, he will not listen to us. He is spoiled. But your words educated him. My child became mature quickly. Thank you."
Once a student of a higher grade beat a student in a lower grade. I did not treat him roughly. Instead, I enlightened his compassionate nature using the Fa principles that Teacher teaches us. Later that student cried and said, "Teacher, I am sorry. I will never beat others again." I told them why cultivators should not fight back when beaten or abused. Beating others and abusing others is wrong and causes one to lose De [energy matter of Virtue]. After some time, the students of the higher grade continued to bully the students in my class; the kids in my class also randomly fought with each other.
Once, a boy in my class beat several kids continuously. I recited the words of the Teacher,
"...for a practitioner must be tolerant. Some people will lose their temper in disciplining children and yell at them, making quite a scene. You should not be that way in disciplining children, and neither should you, yourselves get really upset. You should educate children with reason so that you can really teach them well." (Zhuan Falun).
I removed the anger rising in my heart. I did not criticize him but called a class meeting to solve the problem. At the beginning they glared at each other angrily. A student said, "They are both wrong. The taller one beat the other first. He did not behave with compassion. But the other one who was beaten also fought back; he did not behave with tolerance." Some students said, "The teacher has said, we 56 classmates are like a family. We should love each other and be nice to everyone. We should not fight..."
I was deeply touched by their words. All students who joined the fighting cried. They admitted their own faults and became reconciled again. From then on, the atmosphere in the class became more and more harmonious. In less than one semester, the phenomenon of fighting and abuse almost disappeared.
Some students told me, for a long time after I was arrested, each day the cadres of my class asked the classmates who did not behave very well to stay late at the end of the day and talked with them, calling on them to look inwards to see what was not done well. They said this was my injunction. Many teachers also told me " in the three classes of the Sixth Grade, the students in my class are the most obedient. They are really pure. Whoever teaches a class for a long time, the students in that class become similar to the teacher in personality.
2. Cultural Education
The burden of the students is heavy. The principles of Dafa make me understand that the key to solving problems is in the heart. On one hand, I often tell them little Dafa disciples' experiences of cultivating diligently and studying hard. I told them, to study well is to suffer and a student has to study well. You will naturally go to the University if you study well. I often told the stories of ancient people and modern scientists who study hard to the students, telling them that the knowledge they learn today will be useful in the future. On the other hand, I explore and improve the quality of my teaching in order to diminish the burden of class work and protect their interest in studying.
My teachings on composition won the recognition of teachers and parents. The students became more and more proficient in writing. I explored many methods to strengthen their composition training. I was very tired. Whenever I felt I could not bear anymore I would remember the words of Teacher: "When it is difficult to endure, try to endure it. When it looks impossible and is said to be impossible, give it a try and see if it is possible." (Zhuan Falun) Then I kept working diligently. During the New Year Festival of 2000 when I was detained in the detention center, the students in my class poured out their hearts and let me know how much they missed me. This moved all the teachers, parents and even the policemen. The average scores in my class jumped from the bottom to the top for the whole grade. That is the result of the kids and me working hard together.
III. The last lesson
Because Jiang Zemin persecutes Falun Gong, I do not have the opportunity to teach my students anymore. On New Year's Day of 2000, I told my students, "Today is possibly the last day that I will I teach you." All of the kids were speechless and wanted to know why. When they heard that I wanted to go to Beijing to validate Dafa, all of them cried. They feared that I would be beaten to death by the evil and would not see me anymore. But all of them held back the tears. After going home, their eyes became red but they did not tell the reason to their parents in order to keep my plans secret for me so that I could reach Beijing safely.
When my son and I stepped outside the school gate. I found that all of them followed me out of the gate. They wanted to send me off.
When I was held in the detention center the police and the leaders of the education committee required the parents and the students to "draw a clear line with me" [a phrase that was used frequently during the Cultural Revolution to separate oneself from another person who had fallen out of favor with the authorities]. However, some students still came to the detention center to visit me. Although they were not allowed to see me they told the police, "We miss our teacher. Our teacher is a good person. Uncle, please release her." The parents also told me, "We adults did not dare to go there. But they should not dare to arrest the kids."
When I was detained at home and not allowed to go outside, dozens of the students came to visit me. They did not want to leave me. I said, "Remember, Falun Dafa is good. Dafa practitioners are all good people like me." The kids nodded and said they would remember it.
When I lost my home, I came across some parents and students. They invited me to live in their home and gave money to me. I refused and told them that our Teacher advised us not to take anything from them. As Teacher said, "I just want your heart to be good and want you to be able to move up." (Lecture in Sydney). A parent sighed, "My son cried many times and said he missed you. If there were more people like you in society, then the atmosphere would change."
When I was detained in the labor camp my family members came to visit me and cried, "Your students called from far away to greet you. The other students also wanted to visit you but the higher authorities would not allow it. They wrote a letter and asked me to bring it to you. They said, "Teacher, we miss you! We miss you!"
Gradually, people found out from various sources that I took orphans into my home to spend the weekend and bought eyeglasses for them, wishing to give them the feeling of having a home. I used all extra bonuses the school paid me to help the poor students pay their tuition fees or class fees. I even sent a student who had a brain injury to the hospital and won recognition for saving his life. I utilized my vacation time to continue to teach the students. I refused to accept any gifts or money from the parents of the students. When they heard that I still used my compassionate heart to endure all the unfairness without resentment, even when I was persecuted, they changed gradually.
If it were not for this persecution by the evil, I would not mention all of the good that I did in the past to worldly people or my family members because all I have done as a Dafa practitioner was not for fame and gain. I did all these things just because as good persons, we ought to do them.
One day I heard a piece of news, "A pupil in a primary school reported to police a Dafa practitioner who posted truth materials and it resulted in the practitioner's arrest." My heart was painful to the point of bursting. Who planted the evil thoughts of hating Dafa and hating good people into the young hearts of the children? Who brought the crime of persecuting good people upon these children? They are pure and innocent. Let us create a pure environment for the children and let them to choose the correct and beautiful way of life.
I appeal to all kindhearted people, tell the truth you experience with Dafa and Dafa practitioners to children. Let them be far away from the lies and remember Falun Dafa is good! Living beings need Truth-Compassion-Tolerance!
[Editors note: In China, because of the government sponsored propaganda and the trend of pursuing money, the teaching of virtue and morality in public education has ceased to exist. The only standard for measuring the effectiveness of a teacher is the exam scores of the students. The author of this article brought virtue back into the educational system, at least for her particular class.]