Lecturer: Master Cheng-Yan
Subject: Nurturing Good Character in Children (優質境教培德育)
Date: Dec. 12, 2012
Good morning!
Bow to Master.
Grandmaster, we love you.
Hello, everyone.
Hello, Grandmaster.
How orderly you are.
Hello, Grandmaster.
Hello!
(The student at Tainan Tzu Chi Junior and High School performance)
We thank Tzu Chi volunteers worldwide for giving us such a beautiful school to study in. We thank our teachers for guiding us. We thank our parents for their care and love. Thank you.
(Master Cheng-Yan)
See how grateful our students are for having such a beautiful school to study in. Children who are grateful will not only study hard, but also be filial to their parents. A child with a grateful heart will also have a loving heart. That’s why we often see our children going to homes for seniors, the mentally challenged, etc. to serve and constantly volunteering in their free time.
Indeed, I often see our junior and senior students from Tainan attend our Morning Volunteer Assembly at the Abode. They are there because they come to volunteer at our hospital Hualien during their winter and summer vacations or other long holidays. Moreover, I also often see news about our students and teachers helping to clean the streets around their schools. All this is education to nurture good character and moral values in children, which are rarely seen nowadays.
However, in our students, we’ve seen these wholesome values and the spirit of humanity.
I remember five years ago today, I was here for the Year-end Blessings Ceremony just like today. That day, I was also standing right here at the same spot. But what I see now is completely different. Back then, our children were as noisy as sparrows, but now they are as elegant as phoenixes. Every one of them is well-mannered and very quiet.
Indeed, education is very important. Every time the principal comes to Hualien, he tells me that he is truly very grateful as the locals in Tainan and the children’s parents are all very supportive and helpful to our school. And, our teachers’ assn., school volunteers as well as our Tzu Chi moms and dads all take very good care of the children.
Moreover, the children all work very hard in their studies, and they have also won many awards. Although winning awards is not that important, it is an honor to have received those awards as they are the fruit of our effort.
It’s because of everyone’s hard work that we are able to have such achievements. This shows that our education is successful as our teachers are very mindful, and our children are very diligent. That’s why we are able to receive the awards. For that, I’m truly very grateful.
Apart from their good academic performance and other accomplishments, we just saw our children perform onstage, which is very beautiful. They are truly mindful and hardworking. Not only do they perform well academically, but they also do well in many extracurricular activities. All this is made possible through their hard work over time.
See how orderly our students were as they presented the drum performance. They have truly displayed Tzu Chi’s spirit of humanity. Every movement they made was very graceful and orderly. From that, we know that their hearts are united as one. If not, it’s impossible for them to move in sync and unity.
So, I believe that their hearts are always joined together. When we go to school to learn, we should consider the school as our home and everyone in the school as our family. The teachers are like our parents and our classmates are like our siblings. So, the school is like one family.
See how the roofs of many of our school buildings resemble the Chinese character for “people.” It is to remind us of the importance of nurturing character in everyone. Here at our school in Tainan, I hope we can nurture well-rounded children so that they will not only be knowledgeable, but also be able to shoulder the responsibility of our world.
When they graduate from school and start working in society, I hope they can give of themselves to work for the greater good of our society, country, and the world. For that to be possible, all our children have to work hard now. This is a very good learning environment. With the guidance of parents and teachers and the blessings from Tzu Chi volunteers worldwide, the students at this school are the most blessed.
To all our children---You are not just students. In my heart, you are young bodhisattvas. From a young age, you’ve learned to have self-respect and care for others. Such is the way of bodhisattvas. From the disaster in the U.S. Northeast this time, you’ve also fundraised to help those affected. This shows that you care about people around the world.
Nowadays, we’ve often seen unwholesome behavior of people in society. So, I hope we can start with ourselves and set a good example for other schools. When teachers guide students mindfully, students learn diligently, and parents give their full support, we’ll be able to nurture children who can shoulder the responsibility of the world. I sincerely wish everyone my very best. May all of us work with mindfulness and love to create a future full of hope.
I’m very grateful to the principal, teachers, and all our volunteers for caring for our children with the heart of a mother. I’m also very grateful to our children for your hard work. Thank you all. My best wishes to you all.
(Source: Da Ai TV 人間菩提) </SPAN>
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