(Minghui.org) I'd like to share my experience of truth-clarification as a teacher in college classrooms as well as lessons learned during the process, to fulfill our mission of assisting Master in the Fa-rectification.
We Must Constantly Rectify Ourselves During Truth-clarification
Colleagues in my first job many years ago commented that I tended to go to extremes, and so did my wife. My personality caused a lot of troubles in my life.
After the persecution of Falun Gong started in 1999, I found a new job and started my current teaching career. In the beginning, I was able to do truth-clarification in the classroom step-by-step and with ease. I was indeed able to do quite a lot, but as time went by, I developed an attachment to zealotry, and didn't think it was a big deal to clarify the truth to a class. I started to become very straightforward when I talked about the persecution, and forgot about safety issues and the students' abilities to accept what I was telling them. I even thought that however I did it was right.
The course I taught in the first semester of 2009 covered nine classes. I realized it was a great opportunity to clarify the facts to the students. Because of the large number of students, I needed better methods and strategies. After careful consideration, I divided the contents of the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party , which included the evil party's persecution of Chinese people and Dafa, and its destruction of human nature and its harm to humanity, into ten sessions and named the series the “The Top Ten Lies in the Past 100 Years.” With years of experience in truth-clarification, it went very smoothly in the beginning. But I had developed an attachment to zealotry, in addition to my years of resentment toward the evil party, and I was interfered with.
That was the second time I experienced interference in my new workplace. When it occurred the first time, the tribulations were relatively big. At that time, the regime's head came to my city, and the police in my previous city introduced the persecution to my new workplace. It felt as though we were going backwards and suffering persecution as oppressively as in 1999. Therefore I developed a mentality of resentment toward the party, thinking it wouldn't leave me alone even from a thousand li (about 300 miles) away. Later on, failing to completely face my mentality, I extended my resentment toward the party to include contempt for the regime's officials. My thoughts were that this group of people lives on specifically fixing others' “thoughts,” and add fuel to the flames in every political campaign, as well as to the catastrophe that I suffered under the persecution. The more I thought about it, the more upset I became and the more contempt I held for those people.
Because of my contempt and “looking down on others” mentality, I made a statement in class in the first semester of the 2009 school year, “In my class, no matter who you are or who you think you will be, do not bring those Marxist, Maoist thoughts... those non-scientific things to my class. Because I am talking about science!”
Then, the new party secretary (who did not understand the truth) of the college attacked me. It was during the 60th anniversary of the party, and he had received prior instructions, so the old forces used my impact on his “self-esteem” and had him attack me, proposing to cancel my lecturing privileges. After discussing with my wife, we went to see him to clarify the facts. I sent forth righteous thoughts while she did the talking. She clarified the facts to him starting with the persecution we had suffered since 1999, to our survival crisis during homelessness and the pressures from my family and relatives, to the unfair treatment we received in the new workplace, and including the staged “Tiananmen Self-immolation” to the cases of Dafa practitioners being tortured to death. My wife sincerely told him that what I had said in class was not directed at him. She also told him that the wicked party was little more than a gang of hooligans. Confronted with the truth, the tribulation receded.
I came to understand that I needed to constantly rectify myself during truth-clarification, instead of simply doing it. I must eliminate the attachment to resenting the evil party and having contempt for others! Digging deeper into my attachment, I found corrupt elements behind it, such as the inability to take criticism or be bullied. In other dimensions, these were all alive.
While I was writing this article, I vaguely touched the remaining attachment. One night, I dreamed of pulling out a “yellowish green” very ferocious ten-feet-long snake from my dimensional field using my supernatural capabilities, which I wounded and it fled along the grove.
The Basis of Truth-clarification Needs to be Righteous. The Only Real Goal is to Save Sentient Beings
The interference at my workplace stopped after my wife and I clarified the truth. There was a “Three-combined-class” that I hadn't finished truth-clarification with because my wife and I had different opinions regarding whether I should finish it. She objected to my talking about the CCP persecution of the Chinese people and Dafa practitioners directly in class. Therefore I decided to stop, and promised her that I would not talk about this in the “Three-combined-class.”
However, strange things began happening. After I finished teaching all the classes, the two monitors of the “Three-combined-class” called me and asked me for after-school tutoring. This had never happened in my career.
I therefore added a question-and-answer class for them, on which not many questions were actually asked, but everybody showed up. Over one hundred students came as if they were waiting for something. As I walked along the long hallway with every step heavy, I pondered if I should clarify the facts to them. My knowing side knew that I was capable of “disintegrating all barriers,” and I should “spread the truth,” but wouldn't that be going to extremes?
I had a quick flashback of my path of Fa-rectification cultivation practice, and took a thorough look at my heart. I knew that even though I had many shortcomings, my foundation was righteous, and the only goal was saving sentient beings. At the very least, through truth-clarification, I should let the students know what benevolence-justice-propriety-wisdom-integrity was, how the real orthodox culture teaches people to behave, and what Dafa's principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance are, so that they would not be lost in lies and confused by the evil. Isn't this the basic requirement of a teacher? Therefore I finished teaching them the “The Top Ten Lies in the Past 100 Years.”
We Must be Righteous in truth-clarification with Genuine Belief in Master and the Fa, and Face “Fear” at Every Moment
I have another important understandings to share. During truth-clarification, we must face the “mentality of fear” even if it develops in a fraction of a second. By genuinely believing in Master and the Fa, “...one righteous mind can subdue one hundred evils.” (Zhuan Falun)
Master has taught,
“If you are a true practitioner, our Falun will safeguard you. I am rooted in the universe. If anyone can harm you, he or she would be able to harm me. Put simply, that person would be able to harm this universe.” (Zhuan Falun)
I've had experiences in this regard. When I'm righteous, I can feel an enormous universe being formed, which is rooted in Master. Who would possibly be able to harm Master?
In my understanding, we must face fear during every tribulation. When I was experiencing my first interference in the new workplace, the tribulation felt enormous. My wife took out a camera and invited me for a walk, trying to relieve the pressure I was feeling. My face looked dark and heavy in the photos, as if I was carrying a mountain. As I walked, I bit my lips and bore the pressure of fear. I asked myself, “What are you afraid of? Torture? Organs being harvested? Or death?” I thought it through and found none was actually fearsome. I told myself, “If the truth requires this from me, then I'm willing. What can harm someone who has totally emerged in the Truth though? We completely negate what the evildoing the party has done.” As I walked, my body gradually relaxed.
"Cultivation depends on one’s own efforts, while the transformation of gong is done by one’s master." (Zhuan Falun)
I knew that the evil's interference had receded.
In the process of truth-clarification during 2009, there was a student whose eyes looked ferocious, and he stared at me when I spoke. I looked at him calmly, and after several attempts of truth-clarification, his eyes gradually became gentle. At the end of the semester, he told me, “Teacher, that CCP is wicked! I was wrong before. What should I do next?” I told him, “Tell others what you know.”
Of course, sometimes I can be seriously interfered by the the mentality of fear, especially when I am not sure whether I am right or wrong in doing something. For example, after the truth-clarification in the “Three-combined-class,” I did not dare to tell my wife because she had strongly objected. I wasn't sure if I had gone to an extreme again and did something contrary to “being rational.”
I had a dream that night, where a big Buddha was sitting in front of a large, long hall. Many of us sat on the floor with our legs crossed. I was in the first row. The big Buddha said, “Please talk about yourselves.” Everybody sat quietly and nobody dared to move. I was nervous, feeling I had done poorly and didn't dare to raise my head. At this time, a Bodhisattva in white clothes drifted in from the door on the left and said, “Allow me to talk about Venerable A (my name)!” She then started talking about how I strove to complete the research project in advance during the summer, how I prepared my lectures carefully, and designed the methods and materials used for truth-clarification... I woke up, and my pillow was wet with tears.
I knew that was Master's encouragement. After that incident, two students from the “Three-combined-class” started practicing cultivation in Dafa one after another.
"Cultivation depends on one’s own efforts, while the transformation of gong is done by one’s master." (Zhuan Falun)
Even though we have a lot of shortcomings in doing things, as long as we recognize and face them, and learn from our lessons and experiences positively, everything will be harmonized in Dafa!
Truth-clarification Takes a Step-by-step Process and Careful Preparations. We Should Not Go to Extremes
I have used a variety of materials since that semester to clarify the facts in class, starting from the modern scientific knowledge related to the course I teach, and covering new fields of natural sciences, archeological discoveries, Eastern and Western philosophy, the history of mankind, and the orthodox religious beliefs and cultures of cultivation practice. I take disintegrating the evil party's “False Statement of Atheism” step-by-step as my main objective in truth-clarification, and promote orthodox culture and freedom of belief. My students can generally accept what I say and understand how the evil party has trampled freedom of belief and human rights. For those who wish to hear more, I take the opportunity to clarify the facts to them further.
It's important for me to share that truth-clarification is a step-by-step process. In other words, start with the knowledge that is related to the course materials, then bring out the talking points through cheerful conversations. One can even leave them in “suspense” until the next class. The truth-clarification materials that I use normally come from the Epoch Times , and the PureInsight website in terms of modern scientific knowledge, new discoveries in astronomy and archeology, as well as relevant examples of orthodox culture. One needs to have a clear idea about what to talk about for different audiences, so as not to act aimlessly in truth-clarification.
At the same time, different materials should be prepared for different classes. For example, I was assigned a programming course in an art institute one semester. Even though it was a new course and I only needed to teach it once, I still prepared for it carefully during the summer, and prepared the truth-clarification materials along with it. When the semester began, I gave the students a detailed introduction about Shen Yun as well as the music, fine art, dance, and other cultural and artistic classical culture that Shen Yun embodies, combined with my understandings from Master's lectures about writing music and fine arts. I inspired and opened up the students' thinking, which won their praise. The students were surprised that a science and engineering teacher could understand art so well. In fact, everything came from Dafa.
Besides conscientious preparation of the truth-clarification materials, careful preparation is needed for the course to be taught. In my regular courses, I usually create some case studies combined with math, engineering, and computer programs, so that the students feel that their teacher is not only good at talking, but also a dedicated and learned man. I also strive to do research and other work well, so that the management can see that Dafa practitioners are not only dedicated but also outstanding. During the conferment of academic titles, I easily won the title with my excellent achievement in teaching and research papers.
Of course, we should not go to extremes. In my understanding, we need to always take the Fa as teacher, and take Fa study and cultivation practice as our first priority. We should not completely submerge ourselves in everyday people's work. Only by doing this can we truly be good at truth-clarification and save sentient beings.
I will continue Fa study, believe in Master, treat all sentient beings with kindness, and walk well my final steps of Fa-rectification cultivation path.
