Taiwan's Falun Gong Learning Camps for Middle and Elementary School Teachers

By Taiwan Practitioner Zhong Gulan

The most successful and comprehensive Fa [Law and principles] promotion activity in Taiwan is probably the Falun Gong Learning Camp for Middle and Elementary School Teachers. From January 2001 to January 2002 we have held over 30 Study and Practice Camps in every single city and county in Taiwan. About 3,000 to 4,000 schoolteachers have benefited from the seminars.

During the Learning Camp, not only the practitioners who organised and participated improved themselves while clarifying the truth and promoting Dafa but also the teachers who had participated in the learning activities were extremely pleased to have benefited so much. There were many touching stories, and they made us realise that the seeds of "Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance" have rooted well in this wonderful land of Taiwan.

A Carefully Planned Activity

All the middle and elementary level teachers in Taiwan have to take classes recommended by the Board of Education throughout the year to accumulate credits. After learning Falun Gong, an elementary school teacher from Zhanghua County in central Taiwan thought nothing could be better than learning Falun Gong. So she recommended Zhuan Falun [The main text of Falun Gong] to the Learning Camp organizer at the Board of Education. The organizer was touched by the purity and peacefulness of the principles in Zhuan Falun and organized the first Falun Gong Learning Camp for teachers in January and February of 2001. It was sponsored by Zhanghua County government and co-sponsored by Shetou Elementary School.

About a hundred teachers came to the first Learning Camp. The main course material was the 9-day Falun Gong lectures. Every day practitioners volunteered to share their experiences to let the teachers learn more about Falun Gong and become interested in the practice. The sincere and peaceful demeanour of the practitioners, helped to make this first Falun Gong Learning Camp extremely successful. All the teachers felt that they had benefited a great deal from it.

Upon seeing the positive impact of the first Falun Gong Learning Camp, practitioners in other areas decided to follow Zhanghua County's example and organized the 2001 Summer Dafa Learning Camps for teachers. During these learning camps, in addition to showing the Teacher's video lectures and videos on the practice of Falun Dafa, each day a different scholar or educator would come to share his/her cultivation experiences. This proved to be very powerful in the various cities and counties.

In order to publicise the activities more efficiently, during Taizhong (Central Taiwan) group study of the principles of Falun Gong on September 30th 2001, practitioners from various cities and counties who had worked in the Falun Gong Learning Camps shared their experiences of organising the event. They hoped to increase the number of the learning camps. When the practitioners were sharing their experiences, they touched the other practitioners with their steel-like determination and selflessness. So during this winter break, in only two weeks, from Taiwan's northernmost city of Jilong to the southernmost county Pingdong, 14 cities organized 18 Falun Gong Learning Camps. The following are some of the real and touching stories.

Help from "Very Important People" (from Tainan County)

Tainan County organized its first summer Learning Camp and it went surprisingly well. From meeting the chairman of the Board of Education, finding the location, finalising the schedule and planning the lectures, it only took two days. It's worth mentioning that the one who organized the event was not a teacher but a housewife. Without any experience and not knowing what to do, she contacted the chairman of the Board of Education directly with a passionate and fearless heart. Her fearlessness must have shaken both heaven and earth. The Chairman of the Board of Education approved and even personally directed her how to apply. This surprised even the sponsors from the Board's office. […]

In order to set up the Learning Camp, the practitioners from various areas had done a lot to promote the Fa beforehand. For example, in order to work with the Board of Education we first had to promote the Fa to the staff working for the Board of Education, including the Chairman of the Board. Then would have to find the schools that were willing to lend the space and even go there to introduce Dafa. In some counties and cities, practitioners were able to invite the local chairman of the Board of Education and senators to give an opening speech. During the winter break, we had a record-breaking attendance, with more than 400 people at the Learning Camp in isolated Yunlin County. This triggered a lot of coverage in the newspapers. All these are the manifestation of the practitioner's cultivation process in assisting the Teacher's Fa-rectification in this extraordinary environment of Taiwan.

Practitioners Are Well "Trained" (Taoyuan County)

In order to make the teachers feel at home, be able to attend the Learning Camp undisturbed, and to allow them to feel respected and recognise the practitioner's sincerity, Taoyuan practitioners had made careful plans for the Camp beforehand. They had individuals who were responsible for directing traffic, parking, and reception, course scheduling, teaching the Falun Gong exercises and providing information. On the first day of the Learning Camp, the school's director saw that everything was well organized and the practitioners were always pleasant. The director thought that these practitioners were well trained to organise Learning Camps.

With these experiences, the practitioners were greatly organized and became proficient in all the areas of planning for the winter break Learning Camps in the various districts. Actually, these are the results of the practitioners' Xinxing [Mind nature or heart nature] improvement in their cultivation, which has manifested in their work. Their actions showed the public that Falun Gong practitioners are different from ordinary people.

[…]

I Want to Come Again Tomorrow! (Xinzhu County)

The practitioner who sponsored the Falun Dafa Schoolteacher Study Camp in Xinzhu County is an elementary schoolteacher. Because he felt the power of Falun Dafa and hoped to use the Falun Dafa principles in his own life and teaching, he began to tell the small children how to be good people, tell the truth, do things truthfully, have a kind heart, and always think of other people first. The results were positive beyond our expectations. The children in the first grade became very attentive, thoughtful and kind to others. When they passed to the second grade, they began to read "Lunyu" in Zhuan Falun and several articles in Essentials for Further Advances. What's more miraculous was that because the small children were enlightened with wisdom, they were able to memorise school assignments easily. The principal of the school suggested letting more children join this activity, studying Falun Dafa one day and practising the exercises on another day. The result was that the children really stopped calling people names and fighting, there was absolutely no stealing, and they would definitely finish their meals everyday!

As a result, the principal fully supported the activity of schoolteachers studying Falun Gong. When he learned that the Falun Gong Learning Camp had five professors, one lawyer and three doctors from different parts of Taiwan come to provide voluntary support without getting paid, he couldn't help gasping in admiration that it was the best schoolteacher learning camp with the strongest line-up of speakers!

One teacher said at the end of the study, "What if I want to come back tomorrow? When will there be another one?" Another teacher said, "When will you hold such an activity again? I would like to attend your class once more." There were also principals from other schools who promised that next time their schools would be the sponsors.

The Practitioners Are Really Good (Tainan City)

During this winter break, a school employee who attended the schoolteacher learning camp in Tainan City said that every morning, he could see the bus with Falun Dafa advertisements printed on both sides. He had always been very curious, so this time, when he learned that there was a Falun Gong Learning Camp during the winter break, he registered without hesitation. On the third day of the study, he felt the turning of the Falun [Law wheel] in his lower abdomen area and the purification of his body.

A teacher from another cultivation way said that he was deeply touched after spending two days here and immediately brought his mother here. Before, he had practised in other cultivation ways, but didn't feel any change in himself, and also didn't dare say he was cultivating. Now, he saw that all the Falun Dafa practitioners are so upright and can proudly say that they are cultivating and are cultivators. This touched him deeply. He hopes that now he can join the genuine cultivation path.

The Oblivious Stones Nod in Agreement (Hualian County)

The person sponsoring the schoolteacher Learning Camp in Hualian County was a middle school teacher who had obtained Falun Dafa six months earlier. Before that, his mother, wife and three children all practised Falun Dafa, but he refused to learn. In addition to having been blocked by the modern notions of science, he remained suspicious about Falun Dafa because of the fake religions that aim at collecting money. However, after observing the practice for three years, his heart was also melted by Falun Dafa. After obtaining Falun Dafa, he began to wear clothes printed with the words of Falun Dafa while he was teaching in order to use this opportunity to clarify the truth to people who might ask about Falun Dafa out of curiosity. In order to facilitate the schoolteacher learning camp in Hualian County, as the education director in the school, he specifically asked two students who were about to be expelled by the school to come over, and he taught them the fifth exercise. To his surprise, the students who used to be the most fierce could do the double-leg crossing for more than twenty minutes. He was very surprised. This allowed his confidence to grow greatly. He especially brought together all of the troubled students, and upon the approval of their parents, he held the "Clearwisdom Class" letting them study Falun Dafa, which completely changed them and led them to the right way.

[…]

I was very lucky to participate in the first Schoolteacher Falun Gong Learning Camp in Taiwan and became the first practitioner to share experiences with others. Since this winter break, I have witnessed the course of this. I have shared my experiences in various places. At the beginning I emphasised that Falun Gong benefits people both physically and mentally; now I directly say that Falun Dafa is cultivation practice, it is the righteous way of "returning to one's origin and true self." This is sufficient to testify to Dafa's incomparable power […].

(From the Salt Lake City Experience-sharing Conference)

Source: http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2002/3/3/19425.html
Chinese version available at: http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2002/2/21/25393.html