My name is Wei Zhisheng (pseudonym), I live in Sishili Town, Yishui County, Shandong Province, and I am 45 years old. Formerly, I was a teacher at a local middle school in Yishui County. Because of my obsession with Falun Gong, I lost both my direction in life and lost my qualification of being a teacher.
It was in 1998, when I was still studying at Liaocheng Normal University. At that time, I felt I had a lot of spare time, so I followed a senior student and started practicing Falun Gong. After a period of regular exercise, I felt my body was stronger than before, so I developed a good impression of Falun Gong. Later, I bought a book called "Zhuan Falun", but at first, I felt that the things discussed in it were so mysterious that I was reluctant to read it. Later, a classmate who practiced with me said that just practicing the movements was not enough, because Falun Gong was a way of cultivation, therefore one must "study the Law" to improve one's temperament. So, I started to calm down and read "Zhuan Falun", and gradually felt that Li Hongzhi's teachings on "letting go of fame and material interests" seemed to make some sense, especially when I saw Li Hongzhi's depiction of a "Falun world where you can have whatever you want", which was quite attractive to someone who grew up in the countryside like me. Gradually, I got used to reading "Zhuan Falun" every day, and gradually became indifferent to other things, including my own studies. Fortunately, because I had studied very hard previously, my grades were good, and I also insisted on attending classes normally, so I was able to graduate from the university.
In July 1999, just as I graduated from university and returned to my hometown to work at a middle school, the state legally banned Falun Gong. At that time, I was deceived by Li Hongzhi's fallacies and took the initiative to find the school leaders to “tell them the truth”, claiming that Falun Gong was merely a form of exercise for eliminating diseases and improving health, and that the state should not ban it. At that time, Principal Wang, who happened to be my homeroom teacher when I was in middle school, was very anxious after learning about my obsession with Falun Gong. He told me time and again that Falun Gong propagated fallacies such as “refusing medical treatment for illnesses”, “reaching Perfection”, and “cutting off family ties”, and that the state had conducted a thorough investigation and determined that Falun Gong was a cult organization which harmed lives, destroyed families, and endangered society. However, at that time, I simply couldn't listen to Principal Wang's advice. Instead, I said he was “an ordinary person” who couldn't understand us “cultivators”, and even accused him of quoting out of context and distorting the doctrines of Falun Gong.
Eventually, Principal Wang called my parents for help. To avoid making them sad, I promised verbally that I would stop practicing. However, I felt very uneasy inside, thinking I had spoken against my will, let down Master Li Hongzhi, and would be punished. Since then, I used my spare time to distribute leaflets, hoping to make up for my "mistake".
At that time, the school assigned me to teach mathematics to the first year of junior high. As a teacher, besides teaching seriously in class, I should also assign some homework to students, asking them to brush up on their knowledge learned in class. However, to make time for practicing, I hardly ever assigned homework to my students, and sometimes even thought about Falun Gong during class. As time went by, the math scores of my students got worse and worse, and some parents came to the school asking for a change of teacher.
The school leaders and colleagues all cared about me. At first, they thought I was a young teacher who didn't know how to teach. Later, when they heard me saying things like “All knowledge is based on wrong foundations, there's no need to teach it to children,” they realized that the reason I didn't assign homework or teach seriously was because I was still obsessed with Falun Gong.
Principal Wang and other school leaders tried to persuade me multiple times to no avail. In the end, the school had no choice but to change my job. They transferred me to the logistics department. Before I started working in logistics, Principal Wang had a talk with me, saying that as long as I gave up the cult, I could be transferred back to a teaching position. But my mind wasn't on work at all. Not being a teacher actually made me secretly happy because I thought the logistics position would give me more time to practice Falun Gong. At that time, I felt that my cultivation level was getting higher and higher, and I had a very good chance of “reaching Consummation”. As for what job I did in the human world, it didn't matter.`
However, whether in teaching positions or in logistics, the school leaders and colleagues never gave up on helping me. Looking back now, my leaders and colleagues were very responsible, all for my own good. But at that time, I thought they were interfering with my cultivation, I was very resentful, and eventually even did something stupid that I regret to this day.
At the end of 2001, I left the school without saying goodbye and went to another place to live under a pseudonym, working odd jobs in a restaurant. It wasn't until 2005, when I was reported by the public for distributing Falun Gong propaganda materials that I was sent back to my original place. After various patient help from anti-cult volunteers, I finally woke up, but because I had been absent from work for too long without reason, the school had already dismissed me. So eventually, I lost my qualification to be a teacher forever.
So far, I was still unwilling to recall those days when I was deeply obsessed with Falun Gong. However, recently my daughter convinced me that my experiences could warn others against making the same mistakes. So, I picked up my pen again to write down this experience, hoping it could help those who are still obsessed to wake up sooner.
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