无论做什么事，要有忍耐心，慢慢去做，不可着急，要知道罗马不是一天建成的。同理，教育一个学生，不是一天、两天就能教他明白，须有长远的心，教他怎样做好人，怎样把人格的基础立好；而不是教育学生怎样得到好的工作，多赚一些钱，自己来享受，这种教育法，是功利主义。

To do any job successfully takes patience. You must proceed slowly and not rush things. Rome was not built in a day. By the same token, in educating students, you cannot expect them to understand in just a couple of days. It takes perseverance to teach them how to be good people and how to develop a good character. We’re not interested in teaching students how to get a good job and make more money so that they can enjoy themselves; that kind of education is based on utilitarianism.

万佛圣城的教育方针，是教育学生，怎样学习仁义道德。将来到社会服务，无论在哪个岗位上，均能本着仁义道德去做事，绝不同流合污，无损人利己的行为。

The City of Ten Thousand Buddhas aims to educate students to be humane, just, and ethical, so that in the future when they enter the society, regardless of their posts, they will base their work on humaneness, justice, and ethical virtue. They certainly won’t follow unwholesome trends or benefit themselves at the expense of others.

切记，不要沽名钓誉，不要学那些伪君子、假慈善家，做一点事，就到处卖广告，自我宣传。我们要学习真正的德行，躬行实践。我们的教育方法与一般教育方法迥异，不是打倒他人的教育，树立自己的教育；也不是和人斗争或和人比赛，而是站在教育的立场上来教育第二代。不管他人做得对不对，只要我们所行所做，行得正，不违背自己的良心，那就够了。

Remember, we should never seek for fame and reputation. We don’t want to imitate those hypocrites and phony philanthropists who go around promoting themselves and advertising every little bit of work they do. We should study genuine virtue and put it into practice. Our way of education is totally different from the ordinary way. It’s not that we’re knocking over other educational systems to establish our own; nor are we contending or competing with anyone. We’re just interested in educating the next generation for the sake of education. We’re not concerned about whether others are doing it right or not. All we want is to make sure that we do things properly and not in a way that goes against our conscience.

一九八四年四月廿五日开示