Realize Your Treasure of Intelligent Wisdom

Let's hope for and teach our children by setting a good example. Let them be courageous and outspoken and honest. That is your duty; you have to set a good example for them.

Children learn very fast, and they learn a lot of bad things in school. Because there are teachers who don't always teach the right thing ethically, and there are classmates who don't always set a good example for our children to follow. Some of our children here I sent to school. But before they went to school, they were much sweeter, better, calmer and more obedient. After they went to school for some years, they became different. They didn't listen to their parents like they did before. Sometimes they even fought back with words, or sometimes with gestures, very violently. This is very shocking to know.

Growing Juvenile Issues

But I cannot stop them from going to school. If I do, then people will say that I don't let the children go to school, and we'll all be in more trouble. But if I let them go to school, we are only one person, and they are in the school all day long. And when they come home, they're busy doing homework, and then they go to sleep. So the time spent with their parents is less than the time spent with their classmates. That is the problem with the kids today. And when one kid learns something wrong, all the other kids follow. It's very difficult for them not to follow, unless they truly have courage and intelligence. Because if they don't follow all the other kids, the bullies in the school will bully them into following. Or sometimes they shame them into following the wrong thing. Because they say, "You are not boy enough. Look at you, 'Goodie.' You don't know anything! You don't know about girls, you don't know about drugs, and you don't know about cigarettes. You know nothing! And we know everything. Come on, you don't have any courage. You are a..." They will call the kid 'a rabbit,' or 'a chicken,' and things like that. And so the small boy's pride gets hurt, and then sooner or later he joins in.

So originally our children are not bad, but when we send them to school they become terrible; they become gangsters. And they can get away with anything, because they are minors. They can't be put in jail, and they can't be electrocuted, so they can't be punished too harshly. Some of the children know this. If you read the newspaper, you know. They even announce it. They say, "We can do anything, because we are minors. We know we won't go to jail for very long. We know that no one can punish us too harshly. We can get away with anything. Even with murder!" Nowadays, children with guns or knives go to school and threaten the teacher. And even then not many people do anything about it. They get together and become strong, but they are minors. There are always excuses like this.

So this is a terrible world we are giving our children today. It has a lot of freedom. Children today have a lot of money and time, and a lot of equipment to help them learn. So they learn quickly, and then they have a lot of free time and freedom. And if you touch them, people say, "Oh, child abuse!" And you'll be in more trouble. Actually, some parents are scared of their children, because the children come home and beat them, and bully the parents into giving them money and all kinds of things. So there is even an "Abused Parents Anonymous," or something like that. In many countries they have this.

Balancing the World's Negativity through Spiritual Practice

Sometimes the parents are scared of the children because the parents work hard, earn money and wear themselves out in time. They get older, and they get sick from the worry and anxiety of bringing the children up. The children, on the contrary, have nothing to do. Besides eating a lot, they have a motorbike, CDs, cassettes and TV. And they learn all kinds of bad things, reading Playboy and things like that. And then they become strong and bad, and negative. So they scare the parents, because the parents didn't have such experiences when they were young. They don't have the mental preparation to deal with such children in today's society. Many of the parents are very helpless, and they feel very frustrated and threatened. So sometimes they have to get together and protect themselves from their own blood line, from their own children. The children are supposed to be more obedient, weaker, and protected by the parents. But sometimes the parents need protection. Children nowadays even sue their parents for money! All kinds of things can happen.

So if the parents do not think more in advance, like taking the children to Miaoli to learn the Quan Yin Method, learn the Five Precepts and learn how to behave, then later they will regret it very badly. Most of the parents will. So if some of the people go against me, wondering why I teach this and that and the other, I teach nothing bad here, I teach only what is good for them and for their children. If they all knew how good it is here for their children, they would come quickly and let the children become good persons. Because they will bear the consequences. The parents are the first ones to bear the consequences of bad children and bad education. Of course, I would not dare say that all the children who come here will become like angels. But at least 80 percent will, which minimizes the risk of their becoming irreparable children. At least we have a kind of balance or control for the 100 percent negativity in this outside world. That's already something! It's better than 100 percent bad and nothing good inside, nothing to counteract or balance the negativity.

As adults, we are what we were as children. If we learn well in childhood, when we grow up to be adults, we will definitely become good. There is no doubt about that. So I don't understand why some of the outside people go against me. They should come to me, get the teaching quickly and get their children in, if they want to avoid this trouble in the future. And all the leaders of the countries should bow to this kind of teaching-not bow to me, but to this kind of teaching. That's what I mean. Then it can spread to all the governments, into every country, to all corners of the nations, and make the countries strong, and create world peace without having to talk, without having to resort to guns and violence, H-bombs and G-bombs, and all those kinds of things. I don't know why people don't do that.

Reinforcing Education through Group Meditation

On the one hand, they say they are moral and ethical, and they know what they are doing; they respect spiritual standards, and they respect inside, like "In God we trust." But on the other hand, they do not recognize where true goodness lies. To talk about goodness is not enough. We have to have an enforced kind of togetherness, like in a group. And then we have to reinforce it every week or every day, until it becomes second nature. Because we have learned bad things all through our childhood until now. So if we don't keep cleaning it every day, or at least every week, we have no hope of ever becoming improved at all.

So the best thing is to teach from childhood. I think the best thing is for every country, government and leader to take our teachings, make them become national, and teach the children from childhood on, and then reinforce the teachings together every week in group meditation and learning by videos. Together we're strong, right?

That's why, when you are in group meditation, you improve. Because when everyone else sits quietly, you cannot not sit. Similarly, children can be reinforced by the group energy. If the entire school meditated at a certain fixed date or hour, and at a certain time repeated the Precepts and explained the goodness of keeping a pure life, of course the children would learn.

Learning from childhood

If they learn it in childhood, they will know it forever. They will take it to heart. Whatever we learned in childhood, we remember now; we cannot forget. All the incidents from childhood affect us our whole life. That's how many psychiatrists earn their money, because of all the people affected by their childhood circumstances who become disadvantaged, abnormal or very sick, frightened, discouraged or depressed. Most mental illness comes from these childhood impressions. If a child comes from a very happy family, he grows up a different person. If a child comes from a very hard-trained background, he grows up more able than a spoiled child. That's a fact, and everyone has known that for a long time now.

So you see, if our children are trained from childhood with this kind of pure discipline and logical, ethical conduct, then they know. Because their souls at that time are still very pure. Maybe we don't get 100 percent who become good. Maybe out of 100 children, we get only about 50 who become good. But that's already very good! Or 60 percent, 70 percent of them become good. Thirty percent of them may be bad, but they cannot be 100 percent bad. Maybe they are not as good as the other 60 percent or 70 percent, but they minimize their violent tempers. They minimize the inner urge to do bad things in society. They will be affected. So it is very, very useful, this kind of teaching. Because most of our children in different centers have become good. So that's what they told me. That's the feedback that I heard.

So I am very happy to do this job. Not only for you, but for your children and for their children as well, for future generations. Our teachings are very strong, and the power will still be carried on for the next several hundred years, after I die. (Applause) And after that, it's up to God's will and your children's children's children, whether they are strong enough to carry on our lineage. Otherwise, someone else will stand up, and then another lineage will continue. It's the same lineage, but it will spring up in a different place, that's all. So I do truly hope that all the nations will come and take our teachings to their countries. All the governments, all the leaders and all the parents will then accept this kind of pure teaching into their families, into their nations and into their organizations, and make this world become Heaven.