Chapter 0ne: REVEALING THE PRINCIPLE AND EXPLAINING THE MEANING

弟子规，圣人训。首孝悌，次谨信。
泛爱众，而亲仁。有余力，则学文。

为什么要博爱众生？自己管好不就够了？俗语说：“上天有好生之德。”我们自己想要活得好，却不教别人或其他生类也能活得好，这就是自私！

Why should we cherish all living beings? Why not just look after ourselves? There is a saying: "Heaven has the virtue of cherishing life." If we think only of our own well-being, but fail to consider the well-being of other people and other living beings,: then we are being selfish.

“天道无私”，这不是大自然的道理；大自然的道理是天生万物，都有其生存的权利，就连一株小花草，也要在寒天过后，挣扎出一朵灿烂的小花，荣耀自己的生命，我们怎忍得轻易摧折了它？大家一起生存在天覆罩、地承运的同样空间里，便是百千劫修来的缘分；不能珍惜这际遇的缘分，却总要互相伤害侵凌，岂不是可惜又可叹？谁都是人生父母养的，难道就只许我们有父母的爱护，且得以孝敬父母，却剥夺其他生类的这份权利？

"The Way of Heaven is unselfish." Nature allows the myriad things to. grow naturally; each has its right to survive. Even a small plant will struggle through the winter so that it can produce a resplendent flower in the spring: how could we mercilessly destroy it? The affinities that have brought us together here on this earth were developed through hundreds of thousands of eons. Isn’t it a pity that rather than cherishing these affinities, we always want to hurt and humiliate each other instead? All beings were born from and raised by their parents. Are we the only ones who get to receive our parents’ loving care and to show respect to our parents? Can we take away the right of other beings to do the same for their parents?

所以“孝悌谨信”的私德具备了还不够，我们还得有公德心，慈爱施惠他人，并及于异类的众生，这便是“仁民爱物”。而为了避免自己不能“诸恶莫作，众善奉行”，我们还得时时亲近善知识，请他们教导我们行善，劝诫我们除恶。所以亲近仁者，是很必要的；而所谓“亲近”，是说：不怕羞，不畏难；不管百里千里也要求去，不是坐在家中，等着善知识上门教你来的。

Therefore, it is not enough to respect our own parents and elders and to be careful and trustworthy in our own conduct. We must also be kind and friendly to other people and other beings. That is true humaneness. If we wish to refrain from all evil and practice all good, we should constantly draw near to good teachers and ask them to teach us how to conduct ourselves well and to get rid of our bad habits. In drawing near such teachers, we should not feel shy or embarrassed, nor should we fear difficulty. No matter how far we have to travel, we should still draw near to them, not just sit at home and wait for a good teacher to show up and teach us.