The boy continued, saying, "My teacher said, 'In this world, every being is equal. But most of the time, human beings use their intelligence, strength and craftiness to harm and take advantage of other weaker, softer, sweeter and more harmless sentient beings. That's all.' We cannot say that God creates any beings for us to eat or for us to use." So of course the VIP and all the other, smaller VIPs in the party shut up.

I think some of our boys one day will make the same statement somewhere, maybe in the White House. (Master and everyone laugh.) I'm just kidding. It may not be in the White House. It could be in the "Blue House," the "Pink House" or the "Yellow House." And now most of our children are so clever as well. Sometimes they say directly what they think or what they have learned from here without being fearful of offending anyone.

On the contrary; it's we adults, the more intelligent, stronger, grown-up wise persons who are sometimes afraid to speak. Even within the family, we are afraid to say to people that we follow Master Ching Hai, follow the five ethical precepts and follow a vegetarian, compassionate diet. Because we fear that people will ridicule us. We fear that people will fall away and won't be friends with us anymore. We fear that our position will be shaken. We fear that our boss will withdraw favors from us. We fear that our wife will not love us anymore. We fear that our children will think that we have gone nuts. And we fear that our friends will go away from us. We fear that everyone will look upon us or look down upon us as if we are crazy or from another planet.

We fear everything. We even fear that the butcher shop will look at us with different eyes every time we pass by now. We fear anything, because we have learned negatively that everything different makes people stay away. But it's not necessarily the case. If we make a shining, good difference, then maybe people will follow. Otherwise, why should we live our lives differently if we so fear? We might just as well bow our heads, kowtow to everyone and live the way they do. This way we'll have peace, forever, perhaps. Because we will be forever here. And then we'll always have peace with all these beings, but not with the animals, perhaps. And then everywhere we go, the dog will bark at us and the bull might even gorge us.

I have seen many pictures of the bulls in the bull ring. Sometimes when he can get at the matador, he really gorges him - into Heaven. Well, that's the way we say may be karma. So now if every one of us can be as courageous as this boy who was twelve years old (it's a true story), then I think the world will be a better place. And we will have more brothers and sisters, less blood, less violence, less war and less talk about peace. Because peace will be there naturally.

And we don't have to spend a lot on five-star hotels in Geneva, and all these private airplanes and body guards and "guard-bodies" and first-class champagne and caviar. We don't have to spend all that mouth water to talk about peace, when peace actually visits upon our planet. If everyone so follows the way of the Saints, follows the way of non-violence inside-out from childhood on, then all our children will be like the child in this story. Because there must be one day when the people in this world become fed up with war and fighting and violence. There must be one day when they will sit together and put a stop to all this nonsense.

That we human beings can't even speak with each other in our own language is a shame. We have degraded ourselves to an animal state. And then we always use it to curse someone else, like, "You're a dog, you animal," and things like that. But animals are not that bad; they are not even as bad as some of us human beings. Animals sometimes fight because they are hungry. They eat and kill because they are hungry. But after they're satisfied, they are tame; they don't go and do any harm.

Sometimes animals fight others, but they defend their own kind. But sometimes we humans, we fight with anyone: our neighbor, our children, our anything, because we can't settle our own differences through words or arrangements or a gentleman's way of peace. It's very difficult for us. So if we truly think about it, some of the animals have many, many good qualities, sometimes even better than we do. The dog is very faithful, the horse is very loyal, and the cow is very peaceful. The cow gives and takes nothing in return except some dry grass. And I don't know if we have the right, or the mighty dignity to look down on the animals, which we always think of as inferior to us in the human race.

So if we continue to behave the way the world's people behave today do, by making war and everything being settled with guns, blood, human life and things like that, I don't think we have enough dignity or the right to look into the animals' eyes, much less to look down on them. So let's hope that and let's teach our children by good example. Let them be courageous and outspoken and honest, like the boy in this story. That is your duty; you have to make a good example for them.

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