A Teacher in China Turns an Unruly Class Around with "Truthfulness, Benevolence, Forbearance"

A schoolteacher, who is also a Falun Dafa practitioner, became the director of the most notorious class in the whole school. ("Director of the class" or "class director" refers to the "primary teacher" of a particular class in the current Chinese school system.) Other faculty referred to this brave teacher as "the one that jumps off a cliff with her eyes open" as the students in this elementary school class had been infamous for fighting, stealing, and skipping classes on a regular basis. Three years have now past. So how are the teacher and her students doing? Find out by reading the following essay from one of the students:

"Dear Teacher,

"The three words you told me, Zhen, Shan, Ren (Truthfulness, Benevolence, Forbearance), are the most precious gift I’ve ever received.

"One time you were reviewing a dictation test with us. When my test paper was handed back to me, I noticed that I had made a mistake by writing the wrong character for a word with the same pronunciation. However, this mistake was overlooked and I had been given a perfect score, for which I also received recognition in front of the class. At that time, I remembered the three words, Zhen, Shan, Ren, so I walked to the front of the class and told you, 'Teacher, I wrote a wrong character.' You then circled the mistake with your red pen and commended me for my honesty—and still gave me a perfect score.

"Another time, I scored 95 percent on my midterm exam. But Xiaojuan scored 95.5 percent, and Xiaoyu scored 97 percent plus an extra 2 percent for a 99 percent total. I was wondering why Xiaoyu gained an extra 2 percent extra for her writing when I hadn’t been given any extra points. Jealousy rose like fire burning in my heart, and I felt very uncomfortable. But all the sudden, I remembered Zhen, Shan, Ren. The words were like rainfall after a long drought and extinguished that fire. Jealousy could harm others as well as myself, and therefore, benevolence eliminated the jealousy.

"Another time, when forming a queue to go home, Xiaoxin went in front of me I made a sour face and yelled at him, "Go back to your position!" Xiaoxin laughed at me and said, 'Do you know who you are? You are only a small leader!' My little hand began forming a fist, but instantly I remembered 'Forbearance,' so I did not say a word to Xiaoxin and led the rest of the queue home.

"Teacher, I truly thank you for giving me the three most beneficial words of my life: Zhen, Shan, Ren. If a person doesn’t believe in Zhen, Shan, Ren, then he will become a bad person and do many evil things. On the other hand, whenever I face conflicts, following Zhen, Shan, Ren always leads me to the right solution."

From the teacher:

The above essay was written by one of my students. I was deeply touched when I read it. I had seen for myself the changes in the child after she understood the Law of Zhen, Shan, Ren.

Before I became her teacher, she used to hit one boy on the head with a bottle. She also used to scratch the other children’s faces. The class I took over was truly a "poor class." Of the 70 students in this class, more than 60 of them had not been doing their homework at all. In addition, the most bothersome thing to me was that 10 students were stealing on a regular basis. Even the last class director’s wallet was stolen when it was left in the classroom; yet, these students were only in third grade! The students also repeatably skipped class. Even when the headmaster of the school was giving a lecture, some of the students would hide in the restrooms or stairwells. Parents were not happy and asked for their children to be transferred to other schools. None of the other teachers had any confidence in these pupils, nor did they want to teach them. In this situation, the school board hoped that I would take over the class. I remembered that in Zhuan Falun Master said,

"'Since studying Falun Dafa, these workers have been coming to work early and going home late. They work very diligently and will do any assignment the boss gives. They also no longer compete for personal gain..."

Because Master told us to always think of others, and also because I knew that the parents had high hopes for their children, I decided to accept the position of class director for this group of unruly students.

Other teachers all said that I was "jumping off a cliff with my eyes open" (meaning I knew what I was getting in to), but I was very confident because I had a secret power: Zhen, Shan, Ren from my Master. I remembered that Master told us in "Clearheadedness,"

"While working, your tone of voice, your kindheartedness, and your reasoning can change a person’s heart, whereas commands never could!" ( Essentials for Further Advancement)

I saw my work environment as a good cultivation environment and took Zhen, Shan, Ren as my guide to steadily improve myself. I used my own behaviour and traditional stories to demonstrate to my students the right way to be a good human being. Falun Dafa can overcome anything: as three years went by, the seeds of Zhen, Shan, Ren started to grow in these children’s hearts and changed them fundamentally. They learnt to take hardship as joy, and they studied hard. Their grades dramatically improved and eventually they were among the best of all the students in the school.

The young author of the essay scored in the top 25 out of 2000 students in the Advancement to Junior High Test and was awarded several scholarships. There was no more stealing, no more taking advantage of others, and no more fighting and cursing between the students. In addition, they no longer went to the video arcade. They also helped younger children and told them to respect their parents’ hard work and not to spend money wastefully. Only Falun Dafa has the power to change these children.

However, under pressure from the Communist regime, although we enjoyed the good fortune brought by Falun Dafa, we could not openly praise the practise or to even simply say, "Falun Dafa is good." Many times my students and I were threatened by the school officials, the education board, the 610 Office, and the local police. They tried to force us to fill out forms or write personal statements against Falun Dafa, but we didn’t do these things because none of us would repay kindness with enmity.

In writing this article for Clearwisdom, I also want to thank our Master for his teaching and his most precious gift: Zhen, Shan, Ren. I want to tell all people: Falun Dafa is good! With the Falun Gong teachings, human beings can rescue themselves from desperate situations, achieve a higher status of moral character and enjoy a bright future