PureInsight | July 19, 2004
[PureInsight.org] Across from the Xiu Lung Elementary School in the Yong He, Taipei stands a bright and clean kindergarten: Minghui Dou Dou Kindergarten. [Dou Dou means "little sprouting beans" in Chinese, a common metaphor for small children.] From the outside, it does not look any different from other kindergartens or daycare centers. However, once you go inside, you will find that the Minghui Dou Dou Kindergarten was built on the principles of "Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance," which distinguishes it from all others.
[Note on children's nicknames: It is common for Taiwanese people to pick one character in a small child's first name and double it to make it a nickname. For example, a child named Muxuan may have a nickname of Xuanxuan. A child named Bozhi may have a nickname of Bobo. When you see a child's name comprised of two identical syllables, it is most likely it is a nickname and not his full first name.]
The children are very kind and affectionate
One day at noon, the kids were in the bedroom having a nap. I came downstairs to prepare the teaching material for that afternoon. A few moments later, Bobo came downstairs hastily to report, "Ms. Rui Zhi, something has happened upstairs." So I went upstairs to check it out. Once I got there, I saw something that would melt anyone's heart. Several children had each grabbed a chair, and sat around Xuanxuan's bed. Dingding held a toy bear in his hands, telling a story to calm and comfort Xuanxuan, who had tears in her eyes. Hunghung lightly patted her back, encouraging her not to be scared.
I was both surprised and gratified. I couldn't help but smile and said, "Oh...how sweet." The little children were treating their classmate with the utmost warmth and affection!
I picked Xuanxuan up and lightly rubbed her back to pacify and calm her. I also made sure at the same time that she did not have any external wounds. It was a good thing that it wasn't anything big. All she needed was some comfort. I asked her what had happened, and Bobo and Hunghung told me. A new student got up to play during naptime, but he accidentally knocked down some building blocks. The sound of falling blocks scared Xuanxuan, who was just about to fall asleep.
I asked the children, "Why did you all volunteer to comfort Xuanxuan?" They replied, "We were all glad to help her because she is very kind."
Small riders, big hearts
During playtime, the children happily rode their tricycles in the back yard with the fresco of blue sky and puffy white clouds painted on the wall. A Falun Gong practitioner named Ms. Yang Cuihua runs a children's art studio in the same neighborhood, and she painted the fresco of blue sky and white clouds for the kids for free. One of the tricycles was a birthday present for Yingying who had just turned three. She brought it to share with everyone.
Then a small traffic jam occurred just beside the wooden slides. Hunghung, Yingying, Dingding, and Rongrong's cycling team met the other cycling team led by Bobo coming from the opposite direction. They all came to a stop. Both groups of young riders came to a halt.
After a few seconds of standstill, they remembered Teacher Li Hongzhi's teachings they read every day at the Minghui Dou Dou Kindergarten, and they remembered they should always consider other people first and be altruistic. So Hunghung said, "Lets all back up and let them pass first." He got off his bike and directed his three little tricycle teammates to back up one by one to let Bobo's car team slowly pass through. Bobo's crew kept waving their little arms, saying thank you, as they passed by. Thus the children cleared up a small traffic jam in a friendly and affectionate manner.
Because we apply Falun Gong's cultivation principle of "Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance" as our school principle, the children in Minghui Dou Dou Kindergarten are really different from children in other kindergartens and daycare centers.
A year ago, a teacher was injured in a small car accident. Surprisingly, many parents immediately volunteered to substitute and help out with the administrative work for free. How could this be possible? It turns out that all the teaching and learning materials, except Falun Dafa books, as well as every inch of interior and exterior decoration of Minghui Dou Dou Kindergarten, a professional and registered kindergarten, was the result of the hard work of Falun Gong practitioners in the greater Taipei area. We share our enthusiasm about education, and together we have created a land for purer education.
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2004/2/24/25972.html
