Spoken by Supreme Master Ching Hai
at the Quan Yin Restaurant, Houston, Texas, U.S.A.
November 14, 1993 (Originally in English)
Q: There is so much crime in
the world now, so much one-on-one violence within humankind. What can
we do to begin to have greater respect for ourselves and human lives
so that we are not killing one another, so that we are not so violent
and so cruel to one another?
M: Spread the love message all the time.
Always progress positively. It's better to tell the children, "Honey,
you . . ." Just say it in a positive way instead of the negative
way that we most often do. For example, we say, "Don't be so dirty,"
but we could say, "Honey, keep yourself clean." And the word
"clean" will go inside the mind instead of the word "dirty."
It doesn't matter about the "don't" or the "do".
It's the essence of the sentence that's important. Most people say,
"Don't be so dirty," "Don't be so cruel," or "Don't
be so nasty," this, that and the other. Instead, just say, "Be
kind, be gentle, be gracious, be graceful," and then the essence
of the words will boil down to "kind, gentle, graceful." And
when everything else is gone, only the essence remains. We always keep
telling children, "You are dirty," "Don't stay up late."
Just say, "Go to bed early." I make that mistake too, so I'm
still learning also.