In this world, politicians cannot give their people a peaceful life by means of some kinds of intelligent political projects or a very good plan. Morality should come first. When people have morality, the world will be peaceful, safe and happy. There is no need at all for any politics, no need for any argument, no need for any weapons, no need to control people, or no need to have any police or army. There is no need for anything. It is a pity that leaders of many countries in this world do not quite comprehend this.
If you go and say to certain politicians, "I have a way to help your country to become a happy and peaceful one." They will definitely say to you, "What our country needs is food and money." They do not consider morality. They do not think of "seek you first the Kingdom of God, and then everything else shall be added onto you". I am not saying that there are none. It is just that there are only a few. Even if there is a good leader, it is also troublesome when the people below him are not good. Most of them merely bought their positions. Those who have money can get inside. (Master laughs.) Generally it is like that. Then, those who have talents cannot serve their country if they do not have much money; no one listens to them.
In ancient times, kings and governments looked for great enlightened masters, great spiritual practitioners who had morality and wisdom, to consult them about matters of ruling the nation. Some countries also do this nowadays! But there are very, very few. That is why the world is falling, and has many wars and disasters. It is because a leader can affect the whole nation. People listen to what he says. At least he has the chance to voice his thoughts. All the television or radio stations and newspapers broadcast his thinking. If his thinking is good and noble, of course the whole nation will be affected. It does not matter whether the people like it or not when they first hear it. Having listened to it, their mind must have recorded it. They record the good ones, and the bad ones also, so the influence is incredible!
If you go to take a look in hell, you will see that it is full of leaders of the world. It is horrible; just that they do not know this! It is because one person influences so many people, and in turn the whole world. If he leads people astray, of course he will incur an incredible amount of karma. So, if we are ordinary people, before we become very advanced in our spiritual practice, when we do not have wisdom or many talents, we still have a chance to be saved, a chance to attain eternal liberation. If we do not have any talents, morality, love and wisdom, and we climb up to a very high position and be one of those important persons, then we are finished! (Laughter) It is really very dangerous. Do you understand? Our karma will increase thousands of millions of times.
For us small people, how many people can we influence? The most we can influence is our children. We can only set a bad example for our children, or the wife or husband. Is that not so? And there are also friends and relatives, if they listen to what we say. Therefore, we do not have a big influence. If we were big people, of course our influence would be incredible. We would also attract the kind of negative and low level force that is similar to ours, making the whole world even more negative, more shaky, heading further toward that direction, and consequently increasing the negative force even more. The karma would become heavier. That is why hell is full of kings. It's terrible, very terrible!
It is the same with the so-called spiritual practitioners. If they have not truly attained the Tao, do not truly understand, do not have the right method, and do not possess truth, virtue and beauty within, and then they go up onto a stage and influence people, leading them astray, then the karma they will have is incredible. That is why hell is full of those kinds of religious and political leaders. Many of them are having their "training" there. (Laughter) In some cases they have to wait for a very long time. They have to wait till those people who had been brain washed by them become enlightened and liberated before they can be saved. Can you imagine how long they have to wait? That is why it is said in the Buddhist scriptures that there is a "timeless hell". Because too many people were hurt and misled, you have to wait till all of them become enlightened and liberated before your sins lessen. That takes a very long time!
It is just like, if at some time, you were poisoned a little bit, your mind became unclear. Then if someone hands you more poison, you will drink it also. You become more and more poisoned. So it is very difficult to wait for those people to be liberated. It takes a very, very long time. That is why people who mislead others have to wait even longer. It is best for us spiritual practitioners, not to be greedy, not to chase after positions! Do not hanker after the kind of position that has important responsibilities. If we do not have talents, abilities or wisdom, truly we will hurt ourselves. We will also cause damage to the world, and obstruct the evolution of the universe.
The best thing for us to do is to improve our virtues and wisdom. Then we can do whatever God wants us to do, because by that time we are ready. It is like when we are wealthy, we can put our money anywhere. We can be in any business. Is that not so? It is a concern only when we do not have any money. If we want to have our own business or to be a boss before we have any money, and sit there worrying that we will fail in business, that is creating trouble for ourselves. We cannot say that God does not save us. It is really unimaginable that when our own karma is already so heavy, we still want to shoulder the karma of a whole nation or a big group!
The so-called spiritual practitioners, because they do not realize this consequence, they dare to get up and talk nonsense, to accept people as their disciples and to teach people the wrong things. If they knew that there is hell awaiting them, they would not dare to make such a move, or would not dare to talk about anything. It is not good just to have many disciples. We should know what we are teaching them, and where we are leading them, because all does not end after we stay in this world for a hundred years. We still go on. Our lives continue, one after another. It is only a matter of where we will live, in heaven or in hell, in nirvana or in the world?
The Young Buddhas
At Home
Have you seen this movie for children called "Pinocchio", about a wooden puppet? A childless old man carves a wooden puppet to amuse himself. It turns out to be so pretty that he says to himself, "How nice if it would become a real child!" A fairy coincidentally appears and grants his wish. Gradually, the puppet is transformed into a child.
The fairy also tells the puppet that it should behave well, be obedient, be willing to learn, do good deeds, contribute himself unconditionally, and be moral, etc. Perhaps he even had to meditate. (Master laughs.) Only then could it become a real child. "Otherwise," she said, "a bad child is just like a wooden puppet." Do you understand? These tales are not simply tales. There are some implicit inner teachings about spiritual practice in them.
Take "Aladdin And His Magic Lamp" for instance. Have you watched that one? (Audience: Yes!) Aladdin was only a beggar in the first place. He became a prince because he pursued spiritual practice. The lamp within him was polished and shined. His closed mind accumulated through many lifetimes, and his bad memories were released. So, he had many magical powers, just like the Genie in the lamp. That means our mind has been opened at that time. After enlightenment, our brain becomes more efficient, so we can do many things. For instance, I can design clothing, lanterns and paint paintings. Those are the magical powers that I didn't have before. (Applause) But, these are nothing great! I am just giving you some examples. After enlightenment, we can comprehend many things.
Nevertheless, as I have explained before, it is possible only if you truly want it. You won't be enlightened simply by someone forcing you to come and get the initiation. This is not the way! Therefore, any teacher would say, "Rely on yourself!" Not that you don't need a teacher, but that you must be truly sincere. Otherwise, even if you stayed here clinging to the Master for several hundred years, you'd still be the same! You cannot become a prince as long as you are clinging to your preconceptions, your habits and your quality of a beggar. Just like the beggar, Aladdin, he could have become a prince, if it were not for his persistent fault of telling lies. He still wanted to cheat his lover, and subsequently was punished. Only then the demon was able to get hold of his weakness, understand? Eventually, he was exposed to everyone as being a dishonest beggar.
This resembles very much the situation of our spiritual practice. If we are enlightened but truly not realizing why we are enlightened and why it is like that, we will definitely run into trouble again. The demon will return. This is what the demon does, waits to test us. So, don't blame the demon. It is no use blaming the demon since it is our own fault. If we are good, no harm could come to us, doesn't matter how many demons come. Like in the story, even if the demon existed, but, at that time, Aladdin still had his shining lamp which he could polish every day. He could command the magical power of the lamp to protect him and do many things for him. Later, because he lied, he didn't keep the precepts well, exposing a flaw, a hole for the demon to penetrate, the demon grabbed his weak point, and was able to harm him and take his lamp away. That lamp represents our inner wisdom, our virtues and inner self.
The princess he married is our soul! Do you understand? Having found our soul, our own master, no other girl is more beautiful, nothing on earth is more precious. Only when we have found our own master then we are completely contented. Otherwise, all the things in the world mean nothing to us. For instance, the beggar had become a prince and owned everything. Yet, he still longed to marry the princess. He did not want any other girl on earth. He wanted only the princess. The princess symbolizes our soul, our inner self that cannot be replaced.
Sometimes, you can find some valuable teachings when watching the television. Therefore, before showing a cartoon to the children, watch it yourself beforehand and understand it well. Sometimes, you have to explain it to the children. Don't think that the children cannot understand. They can, if you explain it to them. I have played with many children and found that they are just like adults. I respect them very much. Sometimes, I am so shocked that I dare not treat them too casually. They are really smart, often surprising the adults. This reminds us that they also have a soul, a Buddha within. We should not recklessly remark that they are only kids. Of course, every child is different. However, should we know how to teach them, they would all behave well. If we don't know how to treat them, they observe our weakness and start being mischievous. Once their mischief becomes a habit, it is difficult to change them.
If you do not teach them well and put them on the virtuous path while they are small, it will be too late to correct them afterwards. However, to educate them, and show them a sacred and correct path, we ourselves must understand perfectly. Is that not so? Parents are the initial teachers, the most important teachers. They raise the children from when they are small; the initial stage is the most vital. Therefore, parents are the best teachers of children. If they are not guided to the right path then, how can we do it later? They will have already travelled a long way, too far away to be pulled back.
So we ourselves must be clear about the path we are walking on before we can guide our children. What you have taught them, the books you let them read, the friends you advised them to have, and the conditions and background that you provided for their growth, will eventually be reflected in the result. He is born carrying the genes of past lives. If you do not help him to improve from childhood, guiding him to a better direction, later he will act according to his previous genes. He will be exactly as he was before. Doesn't matter how many hundred times he was born, he remains the same type of person, or even worse. Because his genes are bad, he attracts bad things, and he becomes worse and worse.
We should start bending him when he is small, as if shaping a bonsai, a miniature Japanese potted tree, right? They start bending and shaping it just as it begins to grow. Bind it with ropes, let it grow the way they want it to grow. Now, for a tree like this one(Master pointing to a tall tree nearby), can you tie it up? Can you shape it to grow that way? Not anymore! It is too rigid now to be bound or bent. When it was very young and flexible, you could have shaped it like the bonsai. Otherwise, it naturally grows in its own way and at its own speed, unable to control any more. Do you understand? Therefore, it is very vital for parents to take good care of the children. At the same time, you should be serious in learning, in getting enlightenment, really understand the teachings and morals. Only when you are enlightened can you help the children, guide them to a correct and better direction. (Applause)
We can still change after growing up, but a special type of teacher is required. These teachers were not so badly needed when we were small. It was all right giving them second hand teachings when they were small. However, when they have grown up, first hand teachings are necessary, which is seeking an enlightened Master. Having found a good enlightened Master, having learned well and trained well, you can carry on teaching the children. Even after the death of the Master, the children can still grow up well under your enlightened teaching and correct concepts. Therefore, God gives us children also to remind us to behave like a teacher. We have to perfect ourselves, because a child is waiting for you to help and guide him. God entrusts a child - a new soul in your hands, demanding you to take care of him, polish him, and create a prototype. So, don't complain about having children! They are your lessons to learn how to be a teacher.
So, God gives us children to train our latent talent of being a teacher. You have to know everything if you have a child, understand? The more you know, the wiser your child will become, and more definite his direction. Most parents in the world do not know much. They themselves are not steady, are unclear about their direction, morally not stable, and not wise enough. This is why we grew up and became so wishy-washy, undecided about our direction, and find it so difficult to start spiritual practice now. If you had been immersed in an atmosphere of spiritual practice from childhood, learned meditation and moral teachings, you would learn very fast from Master here, right? You might not even need Master! Your parents teaching you would have been sufficient.
(Sigh!) This is why the whole world continues to be so wishy-washy, fighting only for wealth and fame, virtually without thinking. They do not realize only spiritual food can satisfy us the most. Everyone is still greedy and sinking, because they are not satisfied with anything. They are not satisfied with the highest position, the greatest wealth. All because they have not experienced the vital essence.
Now, if more of us, the adults, would practice spiritually, increasing in number, truly and accurately got in contact with our inner nature, understand morals and wisdom, our children would grow up in a splendid way. Should the whole nation pursue spiritual practice, all the children would become saints, saints from childhood. Subsequently, the whole world would be in peace, virtually no need for any weapons. Everything would develop prosperously and naturally. For instance, I have never learned painting, fashion design or jewelry design, yet I can do it now if I wish to. I can earn money to help the needy people. I have more than enough to spend! On the contrary, worldly people sometimes have to work very hard and yet cannot earn enough, right? They cannot even save themselves, let alone saving money to help others. You see, there is such a drastic difference!
So you see. Only our true wisdom is the most reliable, not the worldly
position or wealth, nor the earthly beauty or talents. However, it is easy
to talk. People have grown too old and mature to change easily. Even then,
hard to change doesn't mean impossible to change. It is still possible even
if we do it slowly.