Q: Dear Master, how can we help children in junior and senior high school to become gentle and understand the love of their parents without any doubts?

M: It depends on the karma of the parents and children. Originally, children are good at heart, but become exposed to social influences outside. Today, the social environment is not favorable for children because violent movies and pornographic posters are everywhere, and they do affect our children. At present, courses in morality are not included in the school curriculum. This may change in the future; perhaps the governments will include these courses in the educational system. Have the children read a moral story or meditate for thirty minutes each day. Then the children will become better. (Applause)

India has already included this in its educational system. Now it seems that some universities in the west have added this subject as well. Their students meditate a half hour every day. They have found that these students become more intelligent, more stable at heart, and have better attitudes toward their teachers. So, if we want to change our children, we need to fix them from inside, not outside. All the people in society should cooperate and everybody should take good care of his own personality. The parents also have a responsibility. They cannot only ask their children to change; they themselves have to change too.

A deceased Master, who also practiced the Quan Yin Method, had a son. This son told his master some stories about himself. He said that since he was very little, about only three or four years old, he saw his parents get up very early for meditation every day. Though he didn't know how to meditate at the time, he still sat with them. So he had been learning how to meditate when he was very little and got up early to meditate with his parents every day. He also saw many moral people visit his parents and many practitioners come to meditate with them. His parents lovingly took care of these people who came to have group meditation with them. Every evening or on Sunday, his parents would read some scriptures, something about morality, or good stories to the family. Sometimes they listened to audiotapes before meditating together. He was brought up in such an environment. No wonder he became a famous master in India when he grew up. He is still very famous internationally.

Therefore, don't blame the children, for we adults sometimes make mistakes, too. For example, the clothes we wear may not be dignified enough, our personality may not be noble enough, or our morality may not be profound enough. We begin to educate our children from the family, not the school, for the parents are the greatest, the most basic, and the most important teachers. What do you think? (Applause)