宣公上人說：
現在我要用「孝、悌、忠、信、禮、義、廉、恥」這八德，來周遊列國，用這帖靈丹，來救全世界、全人類青年人的靈魂、生命和本性。
曾有許多次，上人諄諄地教誡弟子，要學吃虧，不要怕上當，要忍辱，凡事不要與人爭，多讓人，要對別人比對自己好，不要有脾氣，不要剛強，要慈悲喜捨，……這些苦口婆心，可說是點滴在心頭。誠如上人常言的，
我的性情是很古怪，和別人不一樣的。別人歡喜的，我不要；別人不要的，我要。
因為這樣，所以見到上人倡導「孝、悌、忠、信、禮、義、廉、恥」；這八德早已被淹沒在現代的科技競賽當中，也已被拋棄在五欲的橫流，歷史的塵埃裡，而上人卻以無比的先知睿智，道德勇氣，正義凜然地，一心恢復聖人言教。在這存亡絕續的教育危機當中，上人真知卓見，正是這種不隨世流污的大無畏精神的展現，也是「人棄我取，人取我與」的性格神髓的流露。
不論語、默、動、靜，皆是上人悲心切切，不著痕跡的言教，所以，若問上人教育的方法、原則是什麼？你可以秉燭夜談，幾天幾夜，也無法說個所以然，你也可以豁然開朗，天真無邪的雙手頂戴上人這一句真言、無窮的妙理––「無我」！因為「無我」，才能「至正不偏」，「大公無私」，亦方足以體會：
眾人是我師，我是眾人師；
常常師自己，我是自己師。
的博大精深，而這不就是教育最終極的理想嗎？這也就是為什麼上人總可以走在一切人的最後面；可以推功攬過，埋頭苦幹而行所無事；可以流血汗不休息；可以「將此身心奉塵剎，是則名為報佛恩」；可以向小螞蟻、小蚊蟲叩頭，可以隨眾生所願意成就的方法而成就他，可以令傲慢的弟子，也油然生慚恥，因為他說：
都怪我沒把你教好！
所謂「大海之水一滴可知其味。」我們何妨循此脈絡，以為「百年活計，必當置身於聖賢之列」之資糧？
教育是無始無終的，沒有開學，沒有假期，也沒有結業。
走到哪裡，哪裡就是學校，沒有一個地方不是學習的地方，沒有一個時候，不是學習的時候。
這幾句平鋪直述的話，如此淺白，令人人皆可明白，而人人也都應是這活生生的教育的一份子，也都應該身心投入其中。上人曾經以小草和大樹作比喻，說明以修行為基礎，才能培養出人材。上人認為，小草在春天長出，冬天死亡，雖然明年又可長出，然而依舊是小草，總難擔當大任。就好像不修行的人，在六道輪迴中，頭出頭沒，很難為性靈奠下清明的基礎。努力修行的人，幻軀雖也不免死亡，但他的生死不像小草，而是生機仍在，每年春天發新芽，都是再一次的茁壯，最後終能長成有用的大材。宣公上人對弟子的教化，對學生的期勉，都在幫助大家清淨自心，努力做有用的大材，為全人類為眾生邁向光明的未來。
最後，讓我們再一起仔細回顧上人在一九九○年巴黎聯合國教科文組織，所公開發表的談話：
教育的基本，應該是教育兒童不爭、不貪、不求、不自私、不自利、也不打妄語。不飲酒、不吸毒、不男女濫交，能夠如此，那麼教育還有起死回生的希望。……其實，最徹底、最根本的國防，就是教育！教育沒做好，什麼國防也沒有用。我們這個團體，是到各處去弘揚佛法教育的團體。這種佛法教育，是救人本性的教育，是救人靈魂的教育，也是救人生命的教育。我們到各處大聲疾呼，無非是想喚醒世人，要重新整頓教育，由死亡邊緣，再把下一代給拉回來，使世界各國不致於有亡國滅種的危險。
如同孔子當年周遊列國，以「仁義道德，禮義廉恥」為靈丹，而救中國數千年來不滅亡，上人說：
現在我要用「孝悌忠信禮義廉恥」這八德，來周遊列國，用這帖靈丹，來救全世界、全人類青年人的靈魂、生命和本性。 |
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The Venerable Master said, “Now I want to travel among all the nations with these eight virtues of filiality, fraternity, loyalty, trustworthiness, propriety, righteousness, incorruptibility, and a sense of shame, using this elixir to save the souls, lives, and inherent natures of all young people throughout the world.”
any times, the Master has taught his disciples to learn to take losses and to not be afraid of being cheated, to be patient, to yield instead of fighting, to treat others better than we treat ourselves, not to lose our tempers, not to be stubborn, and to practice kindness, compassion, joy and giving. These kind and faithful exhortations have been instilled in our minds. As the Master often says,
My character is rather peculiar. I’m not like other people. I don’t want what others like, but I want what others don’t like.
The eight virtues of filiality, fraternity, loyalty, trustworthiness, propriety, righteousness, incorruptibility, and a sense of shame, which the Master has been promoting, have long been buried under the competition of modern science and technology, discarded in the flood of the five desires and the dust of history. However, the Master, with unsurpassed wisdom and virtuous courage, has been righteously and single-mindedly reviving the teachings of the sages amidst the life-and-death crisis of education. He demonstrates the spirit of great courage that never flows along with the defiled current of the world. It’s also the manifestation of his spirit of “picking up what others discard and giving others what they desire.”
Words, silence, movement, and stillness are all the Master’s compassionate and traceless teaching. Therefore, if asked what the methods and principles of the Master’s teaching are, one can either spend a few days and nights and still not give a clear explanation; or one can openly and innocently present the Master’s true words, which contain endless wonderful principles: “Be selfless!” Only by being selfless can one be proper and unbiased, public-spirited and unselfish, and understand the profound spirit of the Master’s words,
All people are my teachers, and I am the teacher of all people.
I always teach myself; I am my own teacher.
Isn’t this the ultimate ideal of education? Only under this great principle of selflessness can one be truly replete with and perfect the spirit of respecting teachers and the Way, being respectful and humbly yielding, honest and frugal, and kind-hearted and modest. That’s also why the Master is able to walk behind all people, to credit other people with merit and take their faults upon himself, to work hard and appear as if he has done nothing, to spare neither blood nor sweat and never pause to rest, to “offer up his body and mind to the myriad Buddhalands and thus endeavor to repay the Buddha’s boundless grace,” to bow to tiny ants and mosquitoes, to help living beings realize the Way by whatever method they prefer, and to cause arrogant disciples to feel ashamed when he says,
It’s my fault. I didn’t teach them well.
It’s said that the flavor of the great ocean can be tasted in a single drop of its water. Why don’t we follow this pulse and make it the provisions for following the motto: “In one’s plan for a hundred-year lifetime, one must aspire to join the ranks of the sages.”
Education is without beginning or end. There are no beginnings of semesters, no holidays, and no graduations.
Wherever you are, that place is a school. There’s not a single location that is not a place of learning; and there is not a single moment that is not the time for learning.
These plain, direct words are so simple that everyone can understand them. And everyone should throw himself, body and mind, into this kind of live education and become a part of it. The Master used an analogy of grasses and big trees to illustrate the fact that only with a foundation of cultivation can we nurture capable people. The Master said that grasses sprout in the spring and die in the winter. Though they sprout again the following spring, they are still grass and cannot undertake major tasks. In the same way, people who don’t cultivate, who are transmigrating around and around in the six paths, cannot build a pure, clean foundation for their souls. On the other hand, for people who work hard in cultivation, although their illusory bodies die, unlike the grasses their growth potential still exists. Each spring, new shoots indicate further growth, and they will eventually become useful material. When the Master teaches disciples and exhorts students, he is helping them to purify their minds and to apply effort so that they can become useful material and advance toward the bright future for the sake of mankind and all living beings.
◆走到哪裡，哪裡就是學校，沒有一個地方不是學習的地方，沒有一個時候，不是學習的時候。
Wherever you are, that place is a school. There is not a single location that is not a place of learning; and there is not a single moment that is not the time for learning.
Let us recall the lecture that the Master delivered at the United Nations Education, Science, and Culture Organization (UNESCO) in Paris in 1990.
The basis of education should be teaching children not to fight, not to be greedy, not to seek, not to be selfish, not to want personal advantage, and not to lie; they should also be taught not to drink, take drugs, or be promiscuous. If this can actually be done, then there is hope for reviving education...In fact, the most thorough and fundamental national defense is education. If education is not done well, then whatever national defense you have is useless...This group of ours is a group that goes everywhere to propagate the education of the Buddhadharma. The education of the Buddhadharma is an education that saves people’s inherent natures, rescues their souls, and also saves their lives. We go around giving clarion calls to wake people up and urge them to reform education, to pull our next generation back from the brink of death, and to avert the danger of the extinction of humanity and of the nations of the world.
Just as Confucius traveled among the feudal states of ancient China employing the elixir of humaneness, justice, virtue, propriety, righteousness, incorruptibility, and a sense of shame and thus saving China from extinction for thousands of years, the Master says:
Now I want to travel among all nations with these eight virtues of filiality, fraternity, loyalty, trustworthiness, propriety, righteousness, incorruptibility, and a sense of shame, using this elixir to save the souls, lives, and inherent natures of all young people throughout the world.
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