(Minghui.org) Bribery is a well-known evil throughout China. People bring gifts and money not only to government officials, but also to teachers and doctors, hoping for better treatment of their family members.
I told the teachers in my kindergarten about Falun Dafa’s principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, and explained what it means to accept gifts or bribes. This helped make our kindergarten a gift-free environment.
Practicing Dafa
I fell from a bus in early 1996 and could not move. An x-ray at the hospital did not show any problem, but I felt pain whenever my head and body touched anything.
A friend visited me and suggested that I try practicing Falun Dafa, and brought me Zhuan Falun, the main book of Dafa. I began to read it. When reading Lecture Two, I was amazed because my Celestial Eye opened.
When I continued reading the next day, I felt as if I was sitting on a cloud. I could not feel my body, and I read for three-and-a-half hours without feeling any pain.
I fell asleep when reading the book on the third day. I heard something rotating in my chest and wondered if it was a Falun. I then felt many small Falun rotating throughout my body. After I finished reading Zhuan Falun I no longer felt any pain, no longer had headaches, and my rheumatism symptoms disappeared.
Resisting Temptation
I work at a kindergarten. The children's parents all want to give my colleagues and me gifts on major holidays. After I stepped on the cultivation path, I realized that I should no longer accept these gifts.
Once when I was shopping for fruit with my son, the vendor said, “The plum is very sweet. Try it!” My son picked one and ate it.
This wasn’t right, so I bought a pound of plums and then picked one out and gave it back to the vendor. The vendor was very surprised.
However, there were other times when it was difficult to reject a gift, especially when parents gave me something that I really liked.
One time a parent gave me a golden bracelet. I had never seen a bracelet so beautiful. I could not help looking at it, but deep in my heart I knew it was wrong to accept it. So I wrote a letter to explain that Falun Dafa practitioners do not accept gifts. I sent the letter and the bracelet with the child when they went home after class.
The parent then brought chocolates. Not wanting to make her sad again, I accepted the chocolates and shared them with the other teachers. She said, “I can fully trust you!” She even thought about establishing a kindergarten and having me run it.
Another time the office director of the Provincial Education Bureau, whose grandchild was in our kindergarten, gave me a watch. I did not want to accept it, but I was not able to resist it. I then had a dream that night – the watch became a cicada and grabbed my wrist. It took me a lot of time to remove it.
The next day I wrote a letter to the director saying that I was a Dafa practitioner and do not accept gifts. I assured her that I treat all children equally. I returned the watch.
Over time my desire for material things lessened and I thought more and more about the needs of others. When parents brought a gift, I did not accept it and said that it was already not easy to raise a child without having to give gifts to teachers.
Establishing a Gift-free Environment
I was promoted to the head of the kindergarten in 2010. I explained my views on gifts to all the teachers and they agreed with me. We then told the parents that we were a gift-free kindergarten. We had all the teachers and parents sign a promise not to bring or accept gifts.
One parent brought three baskets of cherries from his trip to another city. The teachers brought the cherries to me.
The parent said, “I just want to show my appreciation – my kid was very naughty and his teacher was really nice to him. Also, with this many cherries, if you don't eat them, what do I do with them?
I decided to accept them. I calculated what they cost and deducted that amount from the child's tuition. We gave the cherries to all the children as an afternoon snack.
Another parent brought three boxes of moon cakes to his child’s teacher. The teacher did not accept them. The parent said, “I have never seen someone who does not take gifts. Teachers at this kindergarten are of superior quality!”
Some parents added money to the teachers' mobile phone plan. We gave the cash back to them. Some parents started to give teachers red envelopes (with cash inside), which we used as a portion of the child's tuition payment.
Parents and teachers understood that Falun Dafa brought positive changes to me and my colleagues. They were astounded and highly appreciative.
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