The ancients said:

I would rather be a dog in times of peace,
Than a person in times of chaos.

They felt it better to be a dog during times of great peace in the world, than to be a person when the world is all mixed up, confused, and disorderly. In times of great peace there are no thieves for the dog to guard against, so the dog is quite relaxed and at ease as he lies around. He doesn't have to pay a great deal of attention to watching the door. If a thief were to come, he would have to bite him, but when the times are peaceful there aren't any thieves, and he can take it easy and enjoy a leisurely life.

But in times of discord, each family has to install iron barricades and raise fierce dogs. The wealthy hire watchmen to guard the doors for them. Yet even though they hire someone to guard their doors, the people living inside are constantly anxious, as if they were walking on ice or hovering at the edge of a deep abyss.

Being a human being in a world such as this is not very appealing. That is why the ancients said, "I would rather be a dog in times of peace than a person in times of chaos."

Furthermore, let's consider the young generation of today. Most of them are upside down and confused about black and white. What's right they think is not right, and what's not right they think is right. Filial piety toward one's parents is a very proper virtue, a path that people should follow, but they don't want to do it. Some young people hit their fathers and scold their mothers, or they try to get rid of their fathers and struggle with their mothers. And they consider those who rebel against their parents to be the most talented people around. How degenerate the world has become, that people no longer know the quality of being human!

Looking further into this, we remember that the current President [President Reagan] was nearly assassinated several years ago. He was shot at several times, and the people who accompanied him at the time incurred injuries as well. However, the would-be assassin was judged innocent. So nowadays, if you try to kill a president, you are not even considered to be guilty! Does such a system of justice influence people to follow the laws or not Does it or does it not encourage people to respect the law? This is a very abnormal situation. Even though, due to insanity, the would-be assassin may not have had to undergo the death penalty, he still should not be let loose to wander outside the law. Now that he's been judged not guilty, they may just release him. Isn't that amazing?

Not only that, but recently in San Francisco more than 300,000 people held a parade in honor of homosexuality. There were old homosexuals and middle-aged homosexuals. Even little kids who don't yet know enough about what they're doing to feel ashamed were there, turning themselves into homosexuals. It' s a total, complete mess! What's it all about? It's just weird demon and strange ghosts appearing in the world, trying to get everyone to be confused, to take right for wrong, and wrong for right; to mistake black as white and white as black. So today I brought up this line:

Being confused about black and white, One creates demonic karma.

Those kinds of beings may appear to be people, but actually they are weird beings and demonic ghosts. They want to destroy the world. And because most people don't have any wisdom, they think that such behavior is acceptable. Isn't that pitiful? Some one said in response to this situation, "This is a case where the very roots have gone rotten." Even the roots are rotting. This period of time in history is truly pathetic. Ignorant people think there's nothing particularly wrong with this, but anyone who has a proper understanding of things knows that this is something to really weep over, to the point of being unable to eat for days.