尊敬的諸位大使、諸位嘉賓，女士們、先生們：大家好！今天，我們很歡喜能在聯合國教科文組織討論倫理、道德、因果、聖賢智慧的教育對世界的貢獻，這是一個無比殊勝的機緣！
記得法羅主教及其他大使閣下都曾經說過：今天全世界所面臨的種種動亂、衝突，真正的原因只有一個——無知。因為無知，不知道神愛世人的真諦，不了解宇宙萬法原本就是一體，這就產生了對立與衝突；對立衝突升級，就演變成鬥爭與戰爭。所以，東西方的古聖先賢都是一生從事社會教育，幫助人們啟發真實的智慧。我們認真學習就會發現，他們無一不是將自己心裡的神聖的愛展現出來，再傳給世人，教人愛人如己。
很多人問我，什麼是宗教？我們的答覆就是一個「愛」字。神愛世人，宗教教育就是愛的教育，這種愛是每個人自心當中本有的，是神的傑作。如果能愛人，就不會害人，社會環境就會慢慢好轉。人人學會像上帝一樣的愛世人，一切的動亂都化解了，世界就和平了。所以我們看到，現在世界迫切需要宗教教育。
宗教教育包括倫理、道德、因果和聖賢智慧的教育，這四種普世教育是所有宗教所共有的。對於落實宗教教育，有信、解、行、證四個過程：對宗教教育要產生信心，在信心的基礎上再進一步深入的研究、了解，然後要在日常生活當中實踐；充分實踐之後，達到了正己化人的效果。身心安康、家庭美滿、事業順利、社會安定，就證明宗教教育確實能夠帶來和平。
真正展露愛心的人，才能將愛的教育帶給世人。如何做一個真正有愛心的人？必須通過教育。真正的愛心是自他一體的，純淨純善，沒有任何條件，正如佛法講的「無緣大慈，同體大悲」。這種一體的愛，每個人心中都有，只是受到了蒙蔽而無法展現。通過學習經典，讓我們了解這種神聖的愛的偉大，也願意讓神聖的愛來指導我們修行。修行成就的聖賢不僅愛心遍法界、善意滿人間，而且還能啟發別人破迷開悟，回歸光明，這就是聖賢智慧的教育。
體會一體的愛，要從倫理教育的「父子有親」開始，然後通過道德教育與因果教育加以擴大。父母與子女之間的親愛不是哪個人發明的，而是自性裡頭本來具足的。從這個親愛擴展出去，就是仁愛；能夠推己及人，自然而然「凡是人，皆須愛」。這是我們真心的顯露，儒家稱之為「孝」，佛家稱之為「大慈大悲」，《聖經》稱之為「上帝之愛」（God’s love （Romans 5:5）)。而且，《聖經》很明確的說：「神就是愛」（God is love（John 4:8））。佛經也說：「一切眾生本來是佛」，這個語氣多麼肯定！
能夠愛人，就懂得自愛；懂得自愛，必然也能夠愛人。儒家說這個境界是「天人合一」，佛家說「一切萬法，不離自性」，《聖經》教我們「一切與基督同歸於一」（bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ（Ephesians 1:10））。所以，真正覺悟的人懂得自愛、懂得愛人。能夠自愛是自利，能夠愛人是利他，自利利他達到究竟就是宗教教育的圓滿。
中國古人說：「身修而後家齊，家齊而後國治，國治而後天下平」，這是從自愛而逐漸擴大愛人範圍的過程。所以一切都從每個人自身的修養做起，必須依照信、解、行、證的次第，逐步落實倫理、道德、因果、聖賢智慧的教育。
所以第一步是信心。如何才能讓人產生信心？必須有人做出榜樣、做出示範點，大家看到了才會生起信心。為了這樁事情，我們二ＯＯ五年起，在我的家鄉做了一個為期三年的實驗。那個小鎮有四萬八千人，我們在那裡建了一個教育中心，推廣倫理、道德、因果與聖賢智慧的教育。首先要培訓老師，我們從報名的三百多位老師當中，篩選了和我們信念一致的三十七位老師，我們要求這些老師自身必須先落實四種普世教育，因為身教比言教更重要。經過了兩個月的學習與落實，他們真正做到了，然後讓他們到鎮民家裡去拜訪，把這些教育的成果展示出來，並鼓勵鎮民到教育中心來上課。經過了幾個月的教學之後，小鎮風氣產生大幅度的變化：居民們內心的愛被喚醒了，犯罪率和離婚率都大幅下降，幾近於零；街道整潔了、家庭和睦了、鄰裡和諧了，商店裡不再發生竊盜事件，出租車司機都能拾金不昧等等。這讓我們看到了「和諧社會、禮義家邦」的雛形，彷彿回到了中國古代淳樸的社會一般。二ＯＯ六年十月，我們在教科文組織總部做了八小時的報告以及三天的展覽，公佈這個示範點的成果，獲得了與會者的肯定。
在上述這個實驗當中，老師們和鎮民們都是先對這個愛的普世教育產生信心，然後學習、了解，接著實踐、落實，最後證明這個教育確實能夠帶來和諧的社會。就像這個範例，我呼籲各宗教都建立宗教聖城，將各自宗教的愛的教育落實在生活當中，讓全世界想要見證的人都能夠看到愛的教育的成果，這將對社會和諧產生極大的貢獻。如果世界上這樣的示範點愈來愈多，人們就會愈來愈覺醒，唯有回歸宗教愛的教育，世界才能夠恢復安定和平，那麼，世界永續和平的夢想就為期不遠了。希望我們共同努力，為人類美好的未來奉獻自己的一份心力。
最後，祝福大家幸福美滿、一切吉祥！祝福世界安定和平、永續大同！謝謝大家！
How the Education of Love Fosters Everlasting Peace
Speaker: Venerable Master Chin Kung AM
Venue: UNESCO Headquarters, Paris
Date: 18 September, 2018
Honorable Ambassadors, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen:
My warmest greetings to you all! It gives me great pleasure to have an opportunity to speak about how education in morality, ethics, causality and sacred wisdom can contribute to humankind at UNESCO headquarters. Today is indeed an extraordinary occasion.
I remember Msgr. Francesco Follo (Holy See Observer) and other UNESCO ambassadors have attributed the root cause of turmoil and conflict facing the world today to one factor – ignorance. Due to ignorance, people do not understand the true meaning of God’s universal love for all people, and do not understand that everything in the universe is originally one living entity. Such ignorance has given rise to confrontation and conflict among people. The escalation of confrontation and conflict has led to belligerence and war. Thus, all sages in the East and West had devoted their entire lives to social education, in order to guide people to attain true wisdom. If we study their teachings closely, we will discover that, without exception, all sages extend their innate divine love to all people, and teach everyone to love others as oneself.
Many people have asked me: What is religion? My answer is simply one word – 「Love」. God loves all beings. At the core of all religious education is love. This divine love is innate in everyone. This is God’s will. If everyone loves one another, they will not harm others. Consequently, society will gradually become better. If everyone can learn to love all people like God does, then, all turmoil and conflict will be resolved. The world will become peaceful. Therefore, it is evident that the world is in urgent need of religious education.
Religious education consists of teachings in morality, ethics, causality and sacred wisdom. These four types of universal education are common to all religions. There are four stages in implementing religious education, namely, Faith, Understanding, Practice and Attainment. We must first have faith in religious education as a foundation for further studies and deeper understanding of the sacred teachings. Then, we must put what we learn into practice in our daily lives. Only by conscientiously following what we are taught, will we be able to correct ourselves and act as a role model to transform others. The realisation of a healthy body, peaceful mind, family happiness, career success, society stability will serve as proof that religious education can indeed bring about peace.
Only those who wholeheartedly express their love to all can educate others about love. How do we become a truly loving person? It must be through education. A person with a genuine loving heart that is pure and virtuous, will treat oneself and others as one. This universal love is unconditional, and is similar to the Buddhist saying 「Unconditional love and compassion for all; Empathy for other people’s sufferings as one living entity.」 This 「oneness in love」 is innate to all beings but people fail to express it as they are misguided. Only by learning sacred scriptures will we be able to understand the greatness of this divine love. And we also hope it will serve as guidance for our cultivation. Truly enlightened sages will not only have their love pervading the whole universe and kindness filling the whole world but they will also inspire others to break away from delusion and attain awakening. This is the education of sacred wisdom.
To understand 「loving all as one」, one needs to begin with the first of the Five Moralities: 「There is love between parents and child」. Then, this concept is further developed and reinforced through education in ethics and causality. The love between parents and children is not something invented by people. It is innate to our self-nature. To extend the love between parent-and-child to love others is to manifest 「benevolence」. If we consider what we wish for ourselves, and extending from oneself to other people, we would understand what others wish for too. Take this understanding further, naturally, you will love all people indiscriminately. This love flows from our true heart. It is referred to as 「filial piety」 in Confucianism; as 「great compassion」 in Buddhism; and as 「God’s love」 in the Bible (Romans 5:5). Furthermore, the Bible says clearly, 「God is love.」 (John 4:8). The Buddhist sutras also state unequivocally, 「Every being was originally a Buddha.」
Those who love others will know how to love themselves and vice versa. In Confucianism, such state of attainment is described as 「Heaven and humans are unified as one.」 In Buddhism, it is referred to as 「Every existence and phenomenon (all Dharma) does not depart from self-nature.」 The Bible teaches us: 「Bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.」 (Ephesians 1:10). Hence, a truly awakened person knows how to love oneself as well as others. Benefitting oneself and others to utter perfection is the utter perfection of religious education.
Chinese ancients have said, 「When the self is cultivated, then the family can be properly managed. When all families are properly managed, the country is then well governed. When all countries are well governed, then peace will be enjoyed throughout the world.」 This is a progressive process starting from loving oneself to extending universal love to all. Hence, everything begins with self-cultivation. We need to follow the four stages of Faith, Understanding, Practice and Attainment to gradually implement the education in morality, ethics, and causality and sacred wisdom.
Hence, the first step is to instil confidence in people. How do we do that? We need to create a role model for everyone to see and believe. For this purpose, we conducted a three-year pilot program in my hometown (Tangchi) of 48,000 people in 2005. We built an education center there to promote education in morality, ethics, causality and sacred wisdom. First, we needed to train teachers. Out of over three hundred applicants, we selected thirty-seven qualified teachers who shared the same values as us. We requested the teachers to act as role models to practice the teachings of the four types of universal education before they taught others, as we believe leading by example is more important than teaching by words. After two months of learning, these teachers were able to truly practice the sages』 teachings in daily lives. Then, we let them pay home visits to the town residents to demonstrate the positive impact of such education and encourage them to attend classes at the education center. After several months of educating the residents, it brought about significant changes in the social ethos of this small town. People’s innate love was awakened: crime rates and divorce rates decreased sharply; the town went from being messy to become clean and tidy; the relationships of families and neighbors changed from being tense to harmonious; people became more honest with much less occurrence of theft in shops and taxi drivers would return valuables left behind by passengers. We witnessed that 「a harmonious and courteous society」 was in the making as if goodness and simplicity of an ancient Chinese society had been restored. In October 2006, an eight-hour presentation and a three-day exhibition were presented at the main hall of UNESCO headquarters in Paris to illustrate the success of the pilot program in Tangchi, which had earned wide support and endorsement from the participants.
In the abovementioned experiment, the teachers and residents had to first develop their confidence in universal education. The next step was to study and understand the underlying teachings. Then, they put what they had learnt into practice. Lastly, the change in the town’s social ethos served as testament that such education could indeed bring about stability to society. Based on the success of the experiment in Tangchi, I would urge every religion to establish 「a model city of faith」 in which to demonstrate their teaching, studying and practicing of their faith as part of daily life, and provide evidence to people across the globe to see the positive effects of education of love for themselves. This will be a great contribution to social harmony. With more models in place, more and more people will become awakened. Only by restoring religion as an education, can world peace and stability be restored. The ideal of everlasting world peace would then be realizable in the not-too-distant future. We hope we all can do our part and work closely together to create a bright future for humankind.
Finally, I wish everyone happiness and auspiciousness! May the world be blessed with sustaining peace, stability, and universal harmony! Thank you.
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