(Minghui.org) I am a teacher who started practicing Falun Dafa in 1997. I had been plagued with all sorts of ailments, but I fully recovered after that. I feel refreshed and invigorated all day long. When I teach, I use the principles that I learned from Dafa to guide me. For many years, I have quietly helped my students with a sincere and kind heart.
All My Ailments Vanish Once I Start Practicing Falun Dafa
Before practicing, I was diagnosed with many ailments, such as superficial gastritis, a duodenal bulb ulcer, an inflamed gallbladder, and rheumatism. Take my stomach troubles as an example. My stomach hurt or I was bloated every day. I took a mix of traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine and had injections and IV drips. I even completed two courses of imported medication, yet saw no improvement. I tried every folk remedy and home cure imaginable, but nothing helped.
I could not eat anything cold or greasy. I could not eat fruit or dumplings without having pain and bloating. This stomach condition left me gaunt and frail, wasting away until I was skin and bones. With absolutely no energy, I looked so emaciated that I seemed ready to topple over at the slightest gust of wind.
I developed rheumatism when I was recovering from the birth of my child. The onset was intense. Within a day or two, the condition spread rapidly from my heel to engulf the entire left side of my body. The left side of my body became swollen, and every joint ached with excruciating pain; even my temples throbbed as if they were splitting open. The pain was so intense that I felt like banging my head against the wall. It was truly a living hell. A well-known doctor told me, “You could take every drug in the pharmacy and still not cure this condition.”
In the summer of 1997, I was introduced to Falun Dafa and gained a new lease on life. Master Li cleansed my body, and before long, all my ailments disappeared. It has almost been 30 years since then, and I have not taken any medication during that time, yet I am in joyful spirits every day. I feel that every cell in my body is electrified. After my body recovered, my spirits lifted, and my teaching improved. The language class that I taught that year ranked first in the final exams among all the classes at the same grade level across the entire town.
Awakening the Students’ Kindness Through Benevolence
After cultivating, my thoughts changed fundamentally. Instead of being selfish and self-centered, I put myself in other people’s shoes. To teach the students well, I prepared carefully for my classes and was down-to-earth. The school leaders spoke highly of the discipline, hygiene, and academic content in the classes that I taught, especially the ones relating to the students’ moral character.
The way I think when I teach the students totally changed. I no longer punished them physically all the time or even scolded them. Instead, I educated them with kindness and benevolence. For example, there was a girl in my class whose digital watch went missing from her desk. In the past, I would have been angry and told the class monitors to check every student’s schoolbag, desk, and pockets. But I did not do that, nor did I get angry.
That is because Master said,
“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.” (Lecture Nine, Zhuan Falun)
I believe that, deep inside every child, they are sincere, kind, innocent, and guileless. I told them that, as a human being, we need to be honest and kind and consider others in everything we do. I said, “I do not think that there is a thief in our class. I guess someone must have borrowed it to look at it and has forgotten to return it.
“If that is the case, would this student please return the watch? If you do, I will not look into this any further.” The next day, the girl who lost her watch came to me and said, “Teacher, my watch was returned to my desk!” I was reassured that I had taken the right approach.
Treating a Disabled Student with Benevolence
During my time as a teacher, I had a student with a disability. He was around 10 years old, a chubby boy with widely-spaced eyes and a low nasal bridge. He had Down syndrome and was challenged with both speech and intellectual development. After being held back year after year, he eventually ended up in my class.
The first reaction I had when I saw this child was that it must not have been easy for the adults who brought him up. I was determined to treat him with compassion and educate him. First, I told the other children that we must be inclusive, care for this boy, and not bully him, that we must treat him with kindness and love, because we wanted him to grow up healthy and happy in our class, just like everyone else.
I knew that he often did not attend his other classes and would just wander off. He often lay on the floor and rolled around until he was filthy. His other classmates often bullied, hit, or verbally abused him, and his face was always covered in either tears or dirt.
In my class, the students all cared for him, loved him, and helped him. I let him read new words and draw alongside his classmates, while also frequently offering him encouragement and praise. He gradually became tidier and learned to recognize some characters and to draw. He would even hum songs at times. Seeing these changes, his classmates were delighted and the teachers were amazed.
When his mother saw me, she said, “Thank you for all you have done.” After harvesting her peanuts, his mother brought me a basket, saying, “You have taken such good care of my boy. This is just a small token of my appreciation.” I insisted on declining her offer and said, “I cannot take your peanuts. Educating the children is my duty. If you think I did well, that is because I cultivate Falun Dafa. It is Master Li who taught me to be altruistic and have high moral standards.” His mother expressed agreement.
Parents Insist on Having Their Children in My Classes
The school generally assigns teaching duties by having teachers move up with their classes. On two or three occasions, however, after teaching a fourth-grade class, I was reassigned by the administration to teach the first grade. This was because no one wanted to teach the first grade.
The teachers felt that the children were so young and immature, and they found the work mentally exhausting and disliked the requirement of handling the entire class curriculum themselves. Some teachers would even go so far as to treat others to meals or offer gifts just to avoid being assigned to the first grade. But as a Dafa practitioner, I should not evade tough issues or cherry-pick what to deal with, so I followed whatever the school arranged for me.
However, when the students’ parents heard that I would no longer be teaching their children, they sought out the principal and insisted on having me teach their children. One student’s mother said, “She is not only a good teacher, she truly cares for the students.”
Another parent said, “There was a girl who had an accident in her pants and this teacher personally cleaned her up and brought a pair of her own daughter’s pants from home for her to change into.”
I know that I did things by following Master’s teachings. Falun Dafa cleansed my mind and body, helping me become a selfless person who is considerate. Thank you, Master!
Category: Cultivation Insights
