人人皆有貪心；貪財、貪色、貪名、貪食、貪睡，貪而無厭沒有停止的時候。看見美麗的顏色，美麗的形相，悅耳的音聲，香甜的美食等等，就著迷了，必定要設法得到手才肯罷休。為一時的享受，就用不正當的手段來爭取，結果造成終生的遺憾，這是多麼可惜啊！所以古人說：「知足常樂，能忍自安。」誠哉斯言也！

Everyone is greedy—greedy for wealth, sex, fame, food and sleep. We are insatiable and there's no end to our greed. When we see pretty colors and forms, hear pleasant music, smell the aroma of good food, and so forth, we become obsessed by a mad pursuit of these things. For the sake of momentary pleasures, we do things that we may regret for the rest of our lives. How pitiful! The ancients said, "By being content, one is always happy. By being patient, one is naturally at ease." How true this is!

小朋友！讀書的時候，要努力讀書；遊戲的時候，要儘量遊戲，不可偏在一邊，要平均發展，對身心才有益處。佛家說：「不偏空有二邊，是為中道。」你們要保守中庸之道，不要太過，不要不及，要恰到好處。

Young friends! When it's time to study, study diligently; when it's time to play, put down everything else and play. Your mental and physical development should be balanced; don't stress one and neglect the other. A Buddhist principle says, “What does not go to the two extremes of emptiness and existence is known as the Middle Way.” You should follow the Middle Way. Do everything just right; don't go too far, and don't come up short.

讀書時，不要想我為什麼要讀書？哦！為賺錢。為什麼要賺錢？哦！為享受，為滿足物質的享受。這就是捨本逐末，捨近求遠，把做人的根本都忘了。怎麼樣孝順父母？怎麼樣恭敬師長？怎麼樣敦品立德？怎麼樣做個好人？統統都忘了。

When you are studying, don't think, “I'm studying because I want to make money and enjoy myself.” If you think that way, you are renouncing the fundamental to pursue the trivial, and forsaking what is near to seek far away. You are forgetting the foundation of being a person. You are forgetting how to be filial to your parents, how to respect your teachers and elders, how to develop integrity, and how to be a good person.

所以世界壞的病源，就是從欲望無止境而來的。人人能不爭、不貪、不求、不自私、不自利、不妄語，那世界就沒有苦惱了。各位同學們！我們要把萬佛聖城的六大宗旨做為處世的目標，深深去體驗，深深去瞭解，就能和一般世俗人不同，也不爭名，也不奪利，能這樣就沒有一切的煩惱和痛苦了。你們將來要擔當起移風易俗的責任，把壞的世界改變成好的世界。怎麼樣改變呢？用仁義禮智信這五常來改變世界，成為新天地，這叫做「安天立地」。

Our ceaseless desires have caused the world to go bad. If everyone can refrain from fighting, being greedy, seeking, being selfish, pursuing personal gain, and telling lies, then the world's suffering and afflictions will disappear.

Fellow students! If you can take the Six Great Principles of the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas as your goals for living in this world, and you can deeply understand and absorb them, you will be different from ordinary worldly people. If you neither contend for fame nor try to usurp profit, you won't experience any affliction or suffering.

In the future, you must take on the responsibility of reforming society's tendencies, and transform this evil world into a good one. You must use the five virtues of humaneness, righteous-ness, propriety, wisdom, and faith to build a new world. This is called “establishing heaven and earth.”

一九八三年十月十六日開示