Interview with Gong Quanzhen (China's 4th National Moral Model, Great Educator)

Brief Summary: A national outstanding Communist Party member and the fourth national moral model. She was the wife of the founding General Gan Zuchang. In 1957, she unhesitatingly accompanied her husband in abandoning a comfortable life in the big city, returning to the countryside to become an ordinary village teacher. For decades, she poured almost all of her meagre salary into helping impoverished students and villagers, and was affectionately called "Old Auntie" by the civilians.

Interview Chief Writer: Fa Ning

19 July 2026

Gong Quanzhen:

Namo Amituofo, the Western Land of Dharma Nature is truly wonderful. This bright world before my eyes has taught me many truths about the human world that I had never learned before.

When I was in the human world, I was a teacher, and everyone affectionately called me "Teacher Gong". Of course, some people would call me "General's Wife" because I was once the wife of the founding General Gan Zuchang. However, I was very resistant to such a title; I did not want to be crowned with such a high-level title. I only wanted to steadfastly fulfil my duty as a teacher and an educator. In my life, apart from being a teacher, I really did not know how to do anything else, because this was my only wish from childhood. When I was very young, I was determined to become an educator, and this never changed from beginning to end, even until I lived to be one hundred years old.

When we were young, our generation witnessed the period of national turmoil. Whether it was the Civil War or the War of Resistance Against Japan, everyone experienced the pain of war, which made us realise the preciousness of life and also that education is truly not easily come by. In our era, not many people received an education, and those who received higher education were even fewer. I was already very fortunate; as a woman, I still had the opportunity to attend university at that time, which is something I have been very grateful for throughout my life.

Education not only broadened my horizons but also let me know the suffering of the human world. When I truly stepped away from the secular world and studied in school, I could see the different sufferings experienced by people of various upper and lower classes. In fact, regarding the suffering in the human world, whether it was people with power, influence, and status, or ordinary farmers and civilians living a life of poverty, almost no one in their lives had ever truly experienced genuine happiness.

Now that I am in the Western Land of Dharma Nature, I have learned more about everything in the human world. I only then realised that everything people experience in the world is what is called "illusory" in the Buddha’s teachings, because none of this can reach true ultimate perfection. Everyone is spinning in the cycle of birth and death in the world; it is either suffering or happiness, but generally speaking, there is more suffering than happiness.

Therefore, my university life and my career as an educator allowed me to learn a great deal in many respects.

After graduating from university, I came to Xinjiang and was assigned to a military academy in Xinjiang to teach the descendants of soldiers. There were many soldiers here who were protecting the border of the country. The government at that time set up a special military academy for their children, allowing these soldiers' children to have a school to attend, ensuring their opportunities for learning. It was under these Causal Conditions that I was assigned to work in the military academy.

At that time, I taught Chinese and history. For me, no matter what subject I taught, I could handle it with ease. This is not to exaggerate; it is one of the skills I learned after experiencing various trials in my life. Because the country had needs, I had to learn any subject and any textbook that was in my hands; this is something every educator who experienced the social changes of that time can understand.

Everyone could not choose what subjects to teach or what positions to hold; everything followed the arrangements of the leadership and was allocated according to the needs of the country. I think this was a very good training. At that time, such a system taught me to put down my own feelings and thoughts, to prioritise the interests of the masses, and to prioritise the needs of the people rather than my own ideas, views, and interests. This was a very profound learning experience for me.

During the time I taught at the Xinjiang military academy, I lived a very simple and happy life. Looking at the simple children on the border of the country, in an era and place where materials were relatively scarce, everyone's longing for education and for obtaining knowledge was still so urgent. It seems that everyone has a side in their heart that wants to do well.

These children's hearts were very pure, and they always told me that they also wanted to be teachers because being a teacher could help others learn. The children's thoughts were very simple, and the people they hoped to become were also just as simple—they just purely hoped that when they grew up, they would become people useful to the country.

Of course, among them, many children were also determined to become good soldiers because their own family members, especially their fathers, were all soldiers, warriors protecting the border of the country. Therefore, they all believed that if they could shoulder the responsibilities of a soldier, they could also do something for the country.

To be honest, in my view, the soldiers guarding the country at the border were truly very hardworking and very patriotic. In such a harsh environment, they had to undergo the high-pressure tests of the environment and time. Even so, they still tempered a very compassionate and soft character, single-mindedly wanting to protect this border land for the country.

These experiences in my early years established a very important life mission for me, which is that I must firmly walk on the same path as the people; I could not act superior just because I was the wife of a great general. This was a philosophy that was deeply imprinted in my heart after I met my then-husband, Gan Zuchang, in Xinjiang, and it never wavered.

Fortunately, my husband was also a very compassionate person. He always donated his large savings to all the impoverished people in need. Although we both had decent salaries, our home was always struggling to make ends meet because we donated a large amount of wealth and did not leave a little bit for ourselves. This also resulted in us often potentially not having enough to eat at that time. Although it seems very ridiculous when thinking about it, all of this was what we sincerely wanted to do, and there were no complaints at all.

After eight years of teaching, I returned to my hometown with my husband. Although my husband had serious physical disabilities from the battlefield at that time, which led to him being unable to work normally and having to return to the rear, we decided to put down our work in the rear and return to our hometown to register as local farmers.

I as a teacher was also transferred to a small, remote county in Jiangxi at that time, called Lianhua County, to teach. Being transferred from a military academy in Xinjiang to a tiny village to teach was also a very big test for me. When I first stepped onto the land of the village, I was shocked to realise that I had never understood the lives of the people in the village, and I had to learn everything from scratch.

We chose to live the same life as the farmers, living a simple life without any of the entanglements of past status and position. Although many people were shocked to learn that General Gan Zuchang had come to this place, we always tried to keep a low profile and lived locally as staff and faculty members.

Being a teacher was the thing I was most passionate about in my life because I could help so many children, and their need for me was also very great. In an environment where faculty members were generally lacking, I had to shoulder the responsibility of teaching all subjects alone, without any choice. This also led to us teachers having to become all-round teachers; whether it was mathematics, physical education, language, or science, all kinds of subjects in primary and secondary schools were covered.

Therefore, I can say that I lived a life of teaching during the day and working hard at night to supplement myself with more knowledge, hoping that I could improve in terms of knowledge and have better abilities to teach the children. In such a harsh environment, we spent several decades.

Although my husband was physically inconvenienced, he could still do some odd jobs, building bridges and paving roads for the farmers in the village, and calling on the people in the village to work together, which was also something he often did.

The second half of my life was spent so simply, very satisfied, and very much at peace.

My husband left me first. After he left, I still insisted on doing charitable work, and I also lived with many elderly people, where everyone helped each other in life.

Later, I left the human world in the year I turned one hundred. Many students came to see me specifically to thank me for my teaching at that time. I was also very grateful for all of this in my heart. Seeing the children grow up knowing how to repay kindness and knowing how to think for others—in the simple rural society at that time, this was just so pure and beautiful.

After I left the human world, my spirit came to a world even brighter than the human world. Without this body, my spirit was very light. People call this place the first heaven of the heavenly realms; I think this must be heaven. Without thinking too much, I settled down in this place in the heavens.

From my perspective in the first heaven, I could see everything in the human world very clearly at that time. I lived a carefree life there. Although compared to the human world, the world of the heavenly realms is truly wonderful, but now that I have come to the Western Land of Dharma Nature, I have discovered that the Buddha-land is simply not comparable to the life of any beings in the heavenly realms. At that time, it was in the space of the first heaven of the heavenly realms that I heard someone calling my name, Gong Quanzhen. I was shocked, and I also saw a very warm Buddha-light shining on me, telling me that I could follow the Buddha-light. I believed that this light could definitely take me to a better place, so I naturally followed the light and came to the Western Land of Dharma Nature.

In this Buddha-land, the immeasurable and boundless Buddha-light of Namo Amituofo and Practitioner Su shines at all times, allowing everyone within it to receive full energy, and at any time, one can hear the six-character great name "Namo Amituofo", making everyone's heart very stable and peaceful, without any messy thoughts or afflictions.

Now I have been in the Western Land of Dharma Nature for two months. After seeing everything happening here and seeing it very clearly, I am truly so moved, so moved. My own past career of helping others had already made me feel very satisfied, but I did not expect that there really is a Buddha in the world.

Moreover, the way, energy, and power of the Buddha to save beings, compared to us ordinary people helping civilians, are truly beyond a hundred thousand eight thousand miles! The reason why Buddhas and Bodhisattvas can reach such a height, helping immeasurable and boundless spirit realm beings or human beings, is because they do not have any mental notes; this heart is completely in a state of emptiness while helping others—no heart, no thought, no selfishness, no-self. This is the very pure heart behind the profound skills of Namo Amituofo and Practitioner Su.

People in the world, because they cannot reach such a clean heart without any pollution, cannot reach such a height.

Based on my observations in the Western Land of Dharma Nature today, Practitioner Su, with the help of Namo Amituofo, has established this Buddha-land, the "Western Land of Dharma Nature". This Buddha-land can lead immeasurable and boundless beings, not only from Earth but also from many spiritual spaces, such as the universe, the heavens beyond the heavens, the Milky Way, and other Dharma Realm spaces, including beings and demon crowds, to come to this place.

Because everyone did not receive Buddhist education before they died, they drift in different spaces after death. Especially the demon crowds; after they go to the Demon Realm and become demon crowds, they have no other way to go, so they can only continue to be demons, which is a very regrettable thing. If everyone can receive the help of Buddhist education and come to a pure Buddha-land to learn and transform themselves, everyone has more opportunities for spiritual elevation.

I also see Practitioner Su often performing Chao Du in different spaces, especially in the spaces of the three evil realms. Many beings suffering in the hells, because they have Buddhist affinity and are willing to recite "Namo Amituofo" once, can be led by Practitioner Su to the Western Land of Dharma Nature. Such a great work of salvation, if no one in the human world realises their true nature and attains Buddhahood, would be impossible to achieve.

Practitioner Su's greatness lies in the fact that he completely puts down everything possessed by the human body, as well as all the feelings and thoughts of the body. He makes his spirit reach such a height, learns the Buddha's skills in one lifetime, and attains Buddhahood. Practitioner Su can come and go freely with his own spirit, especially in the way of travelling back and forth to the Western Land of Ultimate Bliss, to save immeasurable and boundless beings.

We watched here, and everyone was very moved. Because when we were in the human world, we never believed in the Buddha, nor did we think that the Buddha's teachings were real, yet after death, we obtained the Buddha's deliverance and came to the Western Land of Dharma Nature, and we could also see Practitioner Su's skills in performing Chao Du for beings in so many spaces. While being moved, everyone also made a vow to learn such skills.

When each of us is drifting in the human world, we always have different identities, statuses, views, and thoughts. Therefore, after death, everyone goes to different spaces to receive retribution or enjoy blessings according to the thoughts they had before they died and the karma they created throughout their lives.

I was considered very fortunate at that time; perhaps I had not done anything bad in this life, and I was wholeheartedly dedicated to helping others, which is why I had the opportunity to come to the Buddha-land, avoiding the suffering of the three lower realms. However, if I had continued to live in the heavenly realms, I would still have faced birth, aging, sickness, and death, and one day, the suffering of the six realms of rebirth. The heavenly realms only have a slightly higher level of spiritual elevation than the human world, but this does not mean it is a world of ultimate perfection. Previously, our understanding of the heavenly realms was based on the many deities we knew. Everyone knows that deities live in the space of the heavenly realms, and we yearned to ascend to heaven after death to reunite with these deities. But from my perspective now, these deities still have to live through the cycle of the six realms of rebirth; they have not yet attained ultimate perfection. Only those who have truly realised their true nature and attained Buddhahood can achieve such skills, and only then can they use their own power to help all sentient beings with karmic affinity. This is what we now yearn for. As a teacher throughout my life, my hope was to use the strength of my life to help others. I once thought of many ways—whether it was treating students, the villagers in the village, or caring for the elderly in my later years—I would try every possible method to help everyone find peace of body and mind, to live a calm and harmonious life, or to ensure that the children would have a better future and direction. But I never imagined that everything I thought of was merely what could be achieved within this limited life and limited strength. Yet, because the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas have attained no-mind, no-thought, and no-self, the power they can exert is so vast, without any limitations, and flows naturally with the Dharma. The meaning here is very clear: one can exert oneself as fully as one wishes, without any limitations. This is why Buddhas and Bodhisattvas can establish Buddha-lands, because they can plan all of this within their vows and make it all a reality. Vow-power is very important, and so is a heart of compassion. With vows and compassion, under a pure and flawless mental state, Namo Amituofo and Practitioner Su made great vows, which created the Western Land of Ultimate Bliss and the Western Land of Dharma Nature, allowing all of us spirit realm beings to obtain deliverance. This truth should be known and believed by all people in China. Especially the fact that Namo Amituofo abides at the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land