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Doing Well at School without Being Attached to Fame and Gain (Photo)

August 20, 2010 |   By Chen Jinxuan

(Clearwisdom.net) Greetings. I graduated from Neili High School in Taoyuan County, Taiwan, and am now a freshman in the Management School at the National Defense University. Through cultivating in Falun Dafa, I have resolved many issues in my life.

I Thank Teacher for Helping Me Get Rid of My Karma

Once in my sophomore year in high school, I had the flu, so I had a fever and was throwing up. I was too tired to walk, could not eat things, and missed my classes. I thought of Teacher's words in "Sickness Karma" in Essentials for Further Advancement:

"Once ill, the person takes medicine or seeks various kinds of treatments, which in effect press the sickness back into the body again. This way, instead of paying for the sickness-karma from his wrongdoing in the previous life, he does some additional bad things in this life and hurts others; this brings about new sickness-karma and leads to different kinds of sicknesses."

So I maintained my righteous thoughts and continued to study the Fa during my lunch break.

Practicing Falun Gong has brought great benefits to Mr. Chen

That day, I began studying the book Zhuan Falun beginning from "Lunyu". As I studied, I began weeping uncontrollably. My fever came and went, but the next day, I had completely recovered.

Gain and Loss in My Schoolwork

In the high school in Taiwan, the primary emphasis is on academics. Students put all their efforts into getting good grades. They study hard in order to get good grades and to do well on college admission examinations.

This creates a problem. Most people are concerned about grades and ranking, and they lose interest in the study itself when their grades are not good. Some students become so stressed that they become mentally unstable.

I was one of those students. I developed a strong sense of jealousy in school, resenting the fact that some classmates' grades were better than mine. I often compared my grades with theirs and looked upon some of them as my target competitors. I felt proud when I "won" and upset if I "lost."

By studying Falun Dafa, however, I have come to realize the mistake of my jealousy. It harmed me both physically and mentally, distorting my view and attitude toward other people.

In Zhuan Falun, there is a paragraph which states:

"Maybe you think you're good at everything, but it's not in your destiny, while that person isn't good at anything but it is in his destiny, so that guy gets the managerial position. We don't worry about what ordinary people think, because those are just ordinary thoughts. In the eyes of higher beings, society just develops according to the specified patterns of development. So what a person does in his life isn't arranged based on his talents. Buddhism talks about karmic retribution, and that things are arranged according to your karma, so no matter how capable you are, if you don't have virtue you might not have anything in this life."

Among all the universities in Taiwan, Taiwan University is by far every high school graduate's first choice, particularly the departments of medicine, electrical engineering, and law. But if everyone got to go to Taiwan University and become a doctor, engineer, or lawyer, then society would lack the people with all other forms of training and could not operate. So everyone has his position in society, just as the expression "everyone is born useful" expresses. Therefore, I was able to let go of my attachment to rankings.

I worked very hard for the three years in high school, but my grades were not so good. I was confused. Later, I insisted in studying the Fa and doing the Falun Gong exercises every day at noon and again whenever I had time at home. I was surprised to find that Dafa inspired my wisdom and allowed me to get good scores on the college entrance exams and easily qualify for my school of choice. I was the first student from my high school class to get into a national university. In the ensuing interview, and I was able to answer questions fluently despite that fact that I normally stutter, and was admitted to the school. I think these are all benefits that Dafa has given to me.

I enlightened to the fact that whatever one does, one needs to do it well. One should not get engrossed when things go well or upset because of one's own encounters. Seek nothing and one will gain naturally. The situation may not look as optimal at first, but it is all good.

Conclusion

One needs to be steadfast and down-to-the-earth while practicing Falun Dafa. Sometimes we encounter tests of our ability to enlighten to things. I firmly believe in Master's statement "It's hard to endure, but you can endure it. It's hard to do, but you can do it." Often, when we let go of all our attachments and do our best to accomplish something, we will see that the result is beyond our expectations. I wish everyone could be as lucky as me and be able to learn Falun Dafa.