I have two questions from two persons on how we can help a wounded child who is suffering a great deal. And this one says, “I am a child psychologist. I work with children whose negative seeds have been watered for years, rejected by their families, humiliated in schools, isolated and discriminated against in society. Our society only waters seeds of academic achievement. I feel very helpless with the pain and suffering of these children.”

And another person asked, “What is the best way to respond to violence in a child's art or writing?”

I think the best way is to create an opportunity for the child to have a taste of love, a taste of peace.

And that can be offered by you.

In the beginning, the child may not be able to notice, to recognize that you do have compassion and peace to offer.

But with patience, he or she will have a chance.

Many of us are hungry of understanding and love.

And we are so suspicious that love and understanding do not exist in this world.

So even with those who really have understanding and compassion to offer, they still suspect that is not true.

So you have to be very patient.

There will be a time, a moment, when the other person recognizes that love and understanding is something that does exist.

We do have some understanding and compassion to offer, but the other person does not have the capacity to receive.

And the only way is to wait, because patience is a integral part of compassion. If you are really compassionate, you are also patient. You can wait.

And there are young people who wander around like hungry ghosts. Hungry ghosts are not… are still alive.

Thousands of them, hundreds of thousands of them. They are all around us.

Very hungry of understanding, of love.

They have not found it because in their family, they did not find it. In school, they did not find it. In society, they did not find it.

So now they come and you have a chance to offer them.

But they don't have the capacity to receive.

You know right away that this is a hungry ghost.

A young man, a young woman, the way she walks around proves that she is a hungry ghost.

Seeking for love and understanding.

The way that young man walks and sits proves that he is a hungry ghost.

And our society produces many hungry ghosts every day.

I have met quite a number of hungry ghosts.

And when they come to our center, we recognize them right away by the way they walk, they sit, they behave.

And I knew that for these people, you have to be very patient.

By the way of talking to them, reacting to them, you continue to express your tenderness, your gentleness, your compassion.

And if that person can stick to the environment for a week or so, there may be a chance for him or for her to acknowledge the fact that, ah, finally, compassion is something that does exist.

It's difficult, but it's still possible.

And for children, we know that we have to be patient.

They have not had their chance in family, in school.

And now they come to you, and you can play the role of a father, a mother, a big sister, a big brother, or a school teacher.

That can help touch the seed of joy, happiness, and love that are still in him or in her.

And I think those of us who are motivated by that desire to help should sit down together and discuss the strategy, the methods of how to help children who suffer, young people who suffer.

And help them to receive some for their nourishment.

In the Buddhist tradition, they depict hungry ghosts as someone who has a very big belly, empty stomach, and the throat is tiny like a needle.

Although the hunger is very big, but the power to absorb food, to receive food is very tiny.

And that is the Buddhist expression of a hungry ghost.

Thank you.

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