"Wow! All the children are here today, including myself!" One Sunday, Master delightfully appeared at the Rainbow Garden, briskly driving Her "car for kids," which had been painted with colorful cartoon characters and had lovely dollies hanging all around it. That day was not Children's Day, yet it was the greatest day for children. It turned out that Master would personally commend young fellow initiates of excellent character and scholarship. The winners had to: meditate on a daily basis, have good grades in school, possess many talents, be friendly to classmates, filial to parents and help with housework.
The process of selection was both objective and strict. Parents nominated their children before local centers and teachers made their recommendations. Then only after practitioners at Hsihu screened all the outstanding young fellow practitioners, were the selections made.
Rainbow Garden, the huge children's play area was tightly packed. A joyous atmosphere was also created by the display of many brightly colored large bags of awards. They not only included material prizes such as chocolates, baseballs, building blocks, toy cars and teddy bears to play with, but also spiritual gifts like Master's audio tapes, book of aphorisms and so on. The children awaiting to receive the awards were seated at the very front of the audience. Receiving awards is a common thing for these well-behaved, scholarly children, but none of the other awards could compare to a word of praise from Master Mommy, which is the highest honor.
The children were all dressed beautifully. Some boys even wore suits with bow ties. The scene was filled with a happy atmosphere similar to that of a Chinese New Year celebration.
When Master appeared with a little round hat, the joyful atmosphere became jubilant. Accompanied by cheerful music, the ceremony began with awards for the young fellow initiates who ranked in the top three at school in their studies, and had excelled in painting, dancing, abacus calculating, mental arithmetic, compositing, reciting or athletics. The first winner did not appear long after his name was announced; because as it transpired, he was too short to be seen. Master said, "You are excellent for your age. Very good. You look like me when I was a kid."
Upon hearing the honorable deeds of the children announced by the MC, Master commented, "Good both scholastically and in martial arts, they are really our children! I was like them when I was a child - very good at martial arts too, like Shaolin Kongfu, Plum flower boxing and Tiger boxing (fist). They are still useful now." Immediately She roared loudly, which made everyone laugh. "No one was able to bully me; because as soon as they tried to attack, I ran away instantly. I ran very fast." Master talked about Her childhood humorously.
While presenting the awards to the children She said, "I used to receive awards frequently in my childhood, but they were not as abundant as these." She read out the different kinds of prizes like baseballs and building blocks, and joked with the children, "You should take them away quickly before I change my mind and take them back for myself to play with." Master was very happy to see so many good children.
During the presentations, the children were quiet and well-behaved; and many interesting incidents occurred. Some kids were of kindergarten age, yet even taller than Master. They were the best advertisement for vegetarianism. Seeing one of them, Master said, "He was very little when I first saw him. Now he is this big, yet I remain the same." After laughing heartily, we began to realize how much sacrifice Master has actually made over the years just to teach us.
Because all the children who took part in the selection had progressed in a balanced manner both spiritually and in developing their talents, Master praised them, "We here have very strict criteria. One needs to be excellent in both character and scholarship - multi-talented, well behaved, meditate, and keep a vegetarian diet. Perhaps even I cannot qualify for the award." (Master and everyone laughed.)
Some children did not rank in the top three at school; however they had special talents, so they received awards as well. One could speak English at the age of six. Master immediately greeted her with, "How are you?"
For the one who could do mental arithmetic, the MC tested him on the spot. "How much will there be if you add five dollars and five dollars?"
"Ten dollars."
"The answer is correct!"
There were children who play the Chinese zither, paint with watercolors, skate, and speak French. Some boys dance and also help with the work at the meditation center. Others gave their teachers, "The Key of Immediate Enlightenment" on Teacher's Day. Some even signed up and recommended themselves, stating their own strong points and demonstrating their deep sense of democracy. One child arrived after the selections crying his eyes out because he was delayed. Fortunately, he came at the end and received a prize. No matter how many special talents they possessed, most important was that they practiced diligently and meditated everyday on their own initiative even when they were very busy preparing for tests, or their parents were away from home.
In Her discourse after the awards, Master urged the winners to make further progress, and also encouraged those who did not win awards to make persistent efforts. She said, "I feel happy for you. It is not easy to be a good child. I used to rank number one, number two, number three, yet my father was still not happy. He did that deliberately. He was in fact extremely and silently happy inside. He smiled to himself at night. They were deliberately being picky, so that we would make further progress. My father was very strict and did not praise me even once. I studied harder and harder. That's why I became a teacher." (Everyone applauded.)
"If my parents spoiled me all the time, did not scold me, did not push me really hard, I don't know where I'd be today. So for those little friends who did not receive awards, or those whose parents don't think they are good enough, don't worry and don't feel sad. You still need to try hard. It is important that we know that we are good -- not that others praise us. The winners just now deserve it. You should follow their examples, so maybe your life will become more comfortable, you will make more progress in your studies, and it will be easier for you to communicate with your parents."
Master also highlighted the qualities of a good child, "I think a good and excellent child is not only good-looking or high ranking in school, but he/she must also have a beautiful heart -- a loving heart, be patient with other people, endure humiliation, and have the spirit of humbleness and the attitude of sacrifice and dedication. A child like this is really good. He should remain smiling and obedient no matter how badly his parents get angry at him, how teachers treat him. He would not strike back and start a fight no matter how other students treat him. Instead, he would use his love to move them. This is indeed a good child.
"If you are like this -- that's enough. It doesn't matter if you receive an award or not. You can buy chocolates outside. (Everyone laughed.) When you go home, meditate more. Everything will become okay if you meditate more. The knowledge in the world sometimes is very impermanent. Maybe we don't have such talents but that doesn't mean that we don't have wisdom inside. Wisdom and knowledge are different."
Master's prophetic words also gave the old 'children' much to think about.
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