The following talk was given at the Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, California.

Please visit our website at audiodharma.org.

So I want to start this morning with two quotes from the Buddha.

The first is go forth for the welfare and happiness of the world.

So this call to benefit the world that we live in.

However, this instructions from the Buddha is meant for people who can go into the world.

With enough self-personal liberation, enough self-knowing that they can go into the world without causing any harm.

And they know and can recognize what harm is and the impact of harm.

And they freed themselves from any tendency to act in ways that are harmful to themselves or others.

They can go into the world peacefully as promoters of peace.

So this is a tall order, but I think that the direction the Buddha is pointing us to is to become people.

You can go forth for the welfare and happiness of the world.

And in doing so, there's a second quote.

Among types of beneficent conduct, beneficial conduct, among the best is promoting

settling and establishing an unethical person in ethical behavior.

So that's quite a statement that the best conduct is not just being ethical yourself,

and maybe not even going forth for the welfare of others in a kind of way of just helping them out in a sense.

But for the Buddha, the best conduct, the best thing you can do is establish an unethical person in ethical behavior.

So I don't fully understand the statement and implications of it and how universal we shouldn't understand it.

But I'm inspired by this statement.

And I'm inspired that it's one thing to help another person.

And another thing to have someone learn to be unethical, so they don't go around then harming many people.

...