Those who cultivate the Buddhadharma should take up the responsibility of saving the entire world. Every thought, word and deed should be dedicated to the good of the entire world. Why are there wars in the world? It's because the fighting in minds of living beings is extraordinary heavy. People's minds continually engage in battling and false thoughts. The false thoughts set up a struggle between reason and desire. "Reason" is heavenly principle, which is the Truth of Nature. "Desire" refers to sensuous desire and greed without satisfaction. Thoughts of desire obstruct great wisdom. They do battle with great wisdom. That is why, day by day, the world becomes worse.

If everyone can purify his mind so it becomes clear and still, and one can destroy false thoughts, then one's true wisdom will manifest. If one person has true wisdom, then there's one person who is peaceful. If ten people have true wisdom, then ten people are peaceful. If all the people in an entire country have true wisdom, then the entire country will be peaceful. This can be extended all the way up to the point where the entire world could become peaceful.

Why isn't the world peaceful? It is because the minds of living beings are constantly filled with sexual desire, and there's little wisdom. So, the world is becoming worse day by day. That is why each person should take up his or her responsibility to make the world a good place to live. So everyone should get rid of his or her thoughts of selfishness, self-benefit, greed, hatred, and stupidity.' Once you purify them, the world will become a good place. The Buddhadharma is also like this. Everyone should purify his or her mind and get rid of his or her desires, habits, and faults.

One should not listen ghostly words. Listen to the Buddhadharma, don't listen to what the ghost says. What's meant by listening ghostly talk? This refers to your ghost of selfishness who whispers to you, and tell you that what you're doing doesn't carry any benefit for you, that you should change your thinking, and so on and so on.

To make Buddhism right, Buddhist disciples should purify themselves and not have impure thoughts. If you have even a tiny little defiled thought, you won't attain any wisdom. For so many years we have been cultivating, so why is it we're still so stupid and don't understand anything? It's because our defiled thoughts are too heavy, so that pure wisdom isn't able to manifest.

When the heart is pure,
The moon can reflect in its waters.
When the mind is in Samadhi,
There are no clouds in the sky.

If we have no selfish desire and random thoughts, then true wisdom can manifest. We have to cultivate the Dharma of Endurance, so that we shall not be unhappy when we hear people talk about our faults. If someone says we are incorrect, we shouldn't be unhappy. The ancient scholar said, "Whoever is able to bring up our faults is our teacher." We should be pleased with whoever speaks about our faults. This person is our Good Knowing Advisor.

When Tzu Lu heard others speak of his faults, he was happy. When Emperor Yu heard wholesome words, he bowed.

When Tzu Lu heard from others about his own faults, it made him incredibly happy. He would think, "You are truly my Good Knowing Advisor! If you hadn't told me, I never would have been able to recognize this in myself."

Great King Yu was an Emperor, and yet whenever he heard someone say a sentence of good words, he would make obeisance to that person. These are both people who were willing to correct their faults.

Your mistakes must be corrected by yourself; they can't be corrected by other people. Other people can only bring them up, but you have to correct these problems yourself. A Good Knowing Advisor can bring them to your attention, tell you about them, but whether you listen or not, it is up to you. Those who cultivate the Way can't obstruct other people's cultivation of the Way. It's already bad enough that you don't cultivate the Way yourself, but if in addition you proceed to confuse other people, cause them not to cultivate, cause their minds to be disturbed, and cause them to have a lot of false thinking, then you are creating an extremely dangerous situation.

It's not the world that's not good, it's I who am not good. If I want to make the world right, then I first have to be right. If you don't want your family to fight, then you yourself shouldn't fight. It all stems from you yourself. It's not that my disciples are bad, but that I'm bad. I want to correct myself, then my disciples will be good.