(Clearwisdom.net) Greetings, Teacher! Greetings, Fellow Practitioners!
Teacher said in "Fa Teaching at the 2007 New York Fa Conference,"
"I just said, and I have discussed before, that there are Dafa disciples in all professions and in all social strata, and that they are saving sentient beings, validating the Fa, and playing the role of Dafa disciples in all the various professions. And actually, when you manage to, while in the various professions, do well all the things that you ought to do, you are then in fact cultivating."
After reading these words of Master's, I have gained many new understandings. I am a political science teacher, but in China, the content of political science is full of evil Marxist-Leninist theories, which is widely divergent from our cultivation practice. However, in reviewing my cultivation path, I have never felt that my job interfered with my cultivation. It has provided me with a great opportunity to save the students in my classroom. Below, I would like to share some of my experiences.
1. Studying the Fa, Looking Inward and Cultivating Well So as to Save More People
I studied the Fa whenever I had time. In the beginning, because the philosophy textbook I used was totally contaminated with the evil Chinese Communist Party (CCP) spirit, which I was not aware of, I had difficulty comprehending the book, Zhuan Falun. Later, I decided to transcribe Zhuan Falun word for word. During this process, I felt chills coming out of both sides of my head. After that incident, I was able to concentrate on Fa study. I have copied Zhuan Falun twice and memorized the book once, which took me a long time, but I was persistent.
After reading and memorizing Zhuan Falun, I started reading Master's lectures and memorized them as well, and assimilated into the Fa. When I stand in front of my class, I always have a happy face and make my students feel comfortable and peaceful. As for the troubled kids, as a Dafa practitioner, I treat them kindly and guide them with compassion. I always look inward when I interact with students.
Master said:
"The Buddha School emphasizes cultivating Shan of Zhen-Shan-Ren. Because the cultivation of Shan can generate great, benevolent compassion, and when compassion develops one will find all beings suffering, the Buddha School thus develops an aspiration to offer salvation to all beings." ("Lecture One" from Zhuan Falun)
I strive to manifest a Dafa practitioner's compassion. I have taught political science since 2002, and each year there are about three hundred students in my class. When I get to know them, I have a great desire to tell them about the goodness of Falun Gong and also let them know that Falun Gong practitioners are being cruelly persecuted. I use the power of compassion, so that students will feel very comfortable around me.
When I notice that my students begin understanding the truth, I am filled with joy from the bottom of my heart. Whenever students refuse to accept the facts because they are heavily influenced by the CCP, I look inward to find what the problems are, and I correct myself immediately. For some who do not understand the truth at all and continue to argue with me, I ask them the following questions: "Why are you against Falun Gong? Is it really you that is against Falun Gong?" Most of the time they answer, "No, it is the media." When that is the case, then I have a one-on-one talk with those students after class.
2. Teaching During the Fa-rectification and Eliminating the Contamination by the CCP
When I receive Dafa materials from our local truth-clarification materials production site, I treasure them and put them into plastic bags and distribute them. I also keep a copy for myself and read it carefully. I have accumulated quite a bit of knowledge about Falun Gong and whenever there is a need to explain something, it is easy for me to do so.
One time I was wondering how I could clarify the facts to the class while teaching. The subject needed to be brought up naturally, along with pertinent information to make the students think. At the same time, even though I taught political science, I would not allow my class to endorse the CCP's evil spirit and poison the minds of these young people. My classroom should be a place where people could be saved. Over time, I have developed the following approach to clarifying the facts of Falun Dafa while covering the regular curriculum:
On the first day of a new semester, I introduce the "Communist Manifesto" with a focus on the origin of the Marxist-Leninist theory and its adaptation in China. I base my lectures on articles from the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party.
I point out the violent theories of Marxism, which have brought socialist countries so many tragedies. In discussing Chinese society, I talk about events such as the "Great Leap Forward" of 1958, and the "Great Famine" and "anti-rightists" movements of 1957, based on the Nine Commentaries, Section 4 (On How the Chinese Communist Party Destroyed Traditional Culture), to expose the CCP's evil actions.
When discussing the ideology of atheism versus theism, I mention the famous discussion between a simple Russian country woman and a scholar who advocated atheism (reference http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2005/4/25/60043.html) and I advise my students to treat atheism as just a theory and not to take it too seriously.
After each lecture, if there is still time, I tell the students stories such as, "The Story of the Red-eyed Stone Lion" and "The Stone with Hidden Characters" -- about a stone found in Guizhou Province, where a mysterious rock formation split revealing hidden characters that read, "Chinese Communist Party Perishes." I tell the students other allegorical stories as well.
After the students develop the fundamental ability to distinguish between good and evil actions, I then talk about the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners, the inhuman tortures they have been subjected to, and the CCP's crime of live organ harvesting. I also talk about the persecution of my family, myself and of other local practitioners. I mention that one of my students was illegally detained and died within ten days, simply because he gave a card to an older man with the words, "Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance." After listening to everything I have to say, the students often become very emotional, and some who have righteous thoughts have asked, "Teacher, is there anything we can do to help?" This shows that my students' innate kindness has been awakened. I then tell them, "Because the CCP has done so many evil things, it has caused great anger among the gods. Gods will destroy the CCP. You can have a great future if you withdraw from the CCP and its associated organizations. This is the right choice for you." As a result, last year, about one hundred of my students quit the CCP and its affiliated organizations.
3. Eliminating Disruption with Righteous Thoughts and Doing Everything According to the Fa
Master said in "Teaching the Fa at the 2004 Chicago Conference,"
"Of course, we don't acknowledge any of the things that the old forces arranged--I as your master don't acknowledge them, and Dafa disciples of course don't acknowledge them either. (Applause) But after all, they did do what they wanted to do, so there's all the more reason for Dafa disciples to do even better and cultivate themselves well in the course of saving all beings. When you encounter ordeals during your cultivation, you have got to cultivate yourself and look at yourself--that doesn't mean acknowledging the ordeals arranged by the old forces and trying to do well amidst the ordeals they've arranged, that's not the case. We negate even the very emergence of the old forces and everything that they've arranged; we don't even acknowledge their existence. We're fundamentally negating all of their things, and all of, and only, the things you do while negating and getting rid of them is mighty-virtue. It's not that you're cultivating amidst the ordeals they created. Rather, you are to walk your own path well while not acknowledging them, not even acknowledging the elimination of their ordeals' manifestations. (Applause) So looking at it from this angle, what we need to do is completely negate the old forces. Dafa disciples and I don't even acknowledge the manifestations of their last-ditch efforts."
For years, my clarifying the truth did not proceed smoothly and the evil caused some interference, which restrained me in my efforts to save people. Once, in 2003 when I gave a lecture and talked about Falun Gong, my mind was not very pure. Several days after that, the school principal came to our teaching group and asked teachers about who had talked about Falun Gong in a class. As soon as I heard of this incident, I looked inward for problems.
Master said in "Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Boston,"
"Of course, the things in this environment are different from the situation in an environment like Mainland China. To talk about things related to the Fa-rectification or saving sentient beings under that kind of evil pressure and in that kind of situation, where the dimensions are filled with evil, is different from talking about them here. But even so, it's actually because the old forces insist on testing Dafa disciples' xinxing that they've done this. That's definitely the case. If it weren't, this definitely wouldn't have happened. The best way to deal with this situation is for Dafa disciples to walk their paths righteously, to try their best not to let the evil or the old forces take advantage of their gaps, and to solidify their righteous thoughts. The old forces don't dare to oppose our clarifying the truth or saving sentient beings. What's key is to not let them take advantage of the gaps in your state of mind when you do things."
When I looked carefully at myself, I realized that I had an attachment to fear, especially of the school principal. Therefore, when I gave the lecture, the evil had taken advantage of me. I then sent forth righteous thoughts, thinking, "I am doing the most righteous thing in the universe. If there is a problem, I will not allow the evil to control people who do not know the truth to persecute me." I then sent forth righteous thoughts in order to eliminate the evil behind the principal and students. As a result, the investigation was stopped. My determination to clarify the truth in the classroom was firm and I was confident that I could save more people.
Learning from this incident, whenever I have new students in my class I first eliminate any evil interference and the CCP's evil spirit before I talk about Falun Gong. After class, I then send forth righteous thoughts, such as, "Don't allow students, who are not aware of the truth, to persecute me." The process of clarifying the facts has become much smoother since I started sending forth righteous thoughts.
In April of this year, a practitioner in my school was suspended from teaching because she talked about the CCP's evil history in her class and was reported by a student who did not understand the truth. In the process of helping her, I was too focused on her problem and did not have enough compassion. Therefore, I developed a conflict with her. Later, during the summer break, I often had quarrels with my husband. As a result, I did not go out to clarify the facts during the entire summer break, which had never happened before.
Because I did not cultivate diligently, the school principal once spotted me reading Zhuan Falun at work. He said to me, "Go home to read if you wish. Don't read that book at work!" I replied with a calm voice, "Reading the book does not interfere with others. It is better to read instead of gossiping." He got very angry and we ended up in a big argument. Finally, he threatened to suspend me from teaching, to report me to the 610 Office, and he even asked the two deputy principals to find a new teacher to replace me.
My colleagues tried to persuade me to apologize to him, or face being in serious trouble. This might also interfere with the relationship between my husband and me, with my husband's career, and it could affect my child attending this school. I panicked and was not able to sort through these things at home. Why had I encountered this problem? The main reasons were because I had not been diligent recently and I didn't have compassion toward my fellow practitioner at work who was persecuted. I complained about her, which resulted in our not being able to do things as one body. Once I recognized my problems, the conflict with her dissolved.
Later, when I returned to work, the deputy principal kept asking me to apologize to the principal, in order to not interfere with my husband's promotion. At that time, I thought that I should let go of all my attachments. I should not seek fame and gain for myself, but rather leave the fame and gain for my husband. After I discovered my attachment, I let it go by sending forth righteous thoughts, including the thought, "I did not do anything wrong. Although I was not very kind when the incident occurred, that situation was forced upon me by the evil. I don't acknowledge the evil, who used the principal to persecute my family and me, and who interfered with my saving people."
Two weeks passed after that incident, but it did not interfere with my husband's job. After I finish writing this experience sharing paper, I will continue to correct myself and follow the right path, continue to do well in the Fa-rectification and fulfill my prehistoric pledge.
The above are some of my experiences. If there is anything improper, I hope that fellow practitioners will kindly point it out.
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