同学们！人生最好的时候，就是二十岁以前的时期，即所谓的“黄金时代”。在这时期，本有的佛性还未失去，清净的自性仍然存在。此时，若能跟着好人在一起，就会做个好人；若是跟着坏人在一起，就会做个坏人，很容易受环境的影响。所谓“近朱者赤，近墨者黑”就是这个道理。

All of you students! The best days in one's life is the time before age twenty, referred to as “the golden age.” In this period, you have yet to lose your pure inherent nature, your Buddha nature. You are also easily influenced by your environment during this time. If you were around wholesome people, you will become wholesome, if you were to associate with unwholesome people, you will turn unwholesome. This is the principle of “Those who draw near to vermilion will turn red, those who associate with ink will turn black.” 　

若是遇到良师益友，就能学到真正的学问，端正品行；反之，遇到不守规矩的师友，就会受他们的影响，成为不守规矩的人。小者，成为害群之马；大者，则为社会的败类。切记！你们的自性好像纯洁的白布，染之于苍则苍，染之于黄则黄。你们在这样优越的环境读书，将来一定要做个有利益社会的人，改善社会的风气，要有牺牲小我、完成大我的精神。

If you meet good teachers and helpful friends, you will attain genuine knowledge and develop proper behavior. In contrast, if you get to know teachers and friends who disobey rules, you will be influenced by them and become someone who also disobeys rules. In the short run, you may be a nuisance; in the long run, you may become the dregs of society. Be sure to remember your inherent nature is like a piece of pure white cloth, which will “turn gray if stained with gray, turn yellow if stained with yellow.” You are studying in an excellent environment now, and in the future, you should be able to benefit and improve the society. All of you should have the spirit of willing to sacrifice yourselves for the greater good.

最要紧是：女学生不要找男学生，男学生不要找女学生，互相都要守住岗位的。这不是不准你们交男朋友，但女孩子要等到二十岁以后，才交男朋友；男孩子要等到二十五岁以后，才交女朋友；这样子，小孩子才不会受伤。小孩子生理还没成熟就找对象，这都会受伤，都会吃亏的。所以，就算要结婚，也要等到二十、二十五岁以后才找。所以我要男女分校，你们不要偷偷摸摸找男孩子，如果我知道后，一定会革出校门的，这一点你们要注意的，不要找男朋友啊！

The most important thing is that female students should not seek boyfriends, and male students should not look for girlfriends. Each one of you needs to maintain your position on this. It is not that you are not permitted to have a boyfriend or a girlfriend; rather, girls should wait until they are twenty years old and boys should wait until they are twenty-five years old before doing so. In this way, you won't get hurt. If children seek members of the opposite sex before they are physically mature, they will end up getting hurt and suffer losses. Therefore, even if you want to get married, you should wait until you are twenty or twenty-five years old. For this reason, the boy school and the girl school are separated at the City of the Ten Thousand Buddhas. You must not sneakily seek boyfriends or girlfriends. If I find out that you are doing so, you will be expelled. You should pay attention to this.

我不是不让你们交男女朋友，要是早交男女朋友，这都不是好学生，不是好人。你们大家都要做好人、好学生，好人将来才能做好事。你若太早有男女朋友，就受伤了。就像那小苗似的，还没成长，你就把它割下来，那它根本什么用也没有，都变成稗子了。将来人情欲早开的时候，就一代不如一代。要选优良的种子，就必须要它成熟的，稗子不能做种子。没有到年龄就男女交朋友，这都是不成熟啊！

I am not forbidding you from having a boyfriend or a girlfriend. The point is if you prematurely look for a boyfriend or a girlfriend, you won’t be a good student or a wholesome person. Every one of you should be a good student and a good person so you can do beneficial things in the future. If you have a boyfriend or a girlfriend when you are too young, you will end up getting hurt. It’s like cutting a little sprout before it is fully grown -- it will be useless and end up being a weed. If we let our sexual desires develop too early, our successive generations will worsen. To select an outstanding seed to cultivate, we have to wait until the plant matures; a weed would be useless. Similarly, if you date the opposite sex when you are too young, such actions would be premature!

你看这国家的小孩尽看电视，看得七、八岁就懂得男女交朋友，这真是害人太厉害了。这国家将来没有人才了，为什么不出人才呢？因为都糊涂了！

Children in this country watch TV all the time. They watch so much T.V. that they know how to find a boyfriend or a girlfriend when they are only seven or eight years old. This is extremely harmful. In the future, if this trend continues, there will be no talented individuals in this country. Why is that? Everyone would be totally mixed-up.