Clean and beautiful

We often say that inner morality is what matters, and outward form is unnecessary. We pay no attention to appearance, with no need for cleanliness or beauty. We do not realize that truth is everything, all-embracing. Inside or outside, small or large, everything shows something of the law of heaven and earth.

A moral person is a wise person. Morality is knowing right from wrong. Right and wrong are very hard to recognize. Someone who recognizes many deep, subtle and abstract things must be wise. A person with little wisdom has little morality, and one with much wisdom has much.

For example, a person with a very high degree who betrays their country shows that their wisdom only goes so far, not enough to see that they are wrong.

With that morality and wisdom, such a person will refuse two things: dirt and ugliness. No argument is needed. Whoever has wisdom and morality also cannot accept filth and ugliness.

Why we refuse dirt is easy to understand. Dirt harms the quality of human life, so we avoid it. Ugliness damages people's spirits, so we avoid that too. If we watch, we see that a child raised in an ugly setting grows up with an ugly spirit. The exception is a child who lives in an ugly setting and refuses to accept it. That child grows up to rise above mediocrity.

The beauty of a home's interior, of its surroundings, of the streets and villages, of the mountains and rivers of the country quietly and unconsciously educates people's spirits. It is easy to see that people living in a clean, beautiful country have more civilized character.

Parents should create a clean, beautiful setting, from inside the home to the whole neighborhood, so that their children's spirits are quietly educated and grow more beautiful day by day. Do not let a dirty, ugly house and neighborhood spoil your children's spirits. When you see a child cursing their parents, beware: they may have grown up in some dirty, ugly setting and their spirit is already spoiled.

Wisdom lets us create beauty, and morality lets us create simplicity. Beauty with simplicity is truth.

When we see a work so beautiful that it is overly complicated, we understand the author is very clever but not yet balanced by morality. When we see a work so simple that it is rudimentary, we understand the creator is very gentle but not yet balanced by wisdom. Beauty with simplicity is truth.

The beauty of an image is one kind. The beauty of sound, of scent, of philosophy, of martial arts, of nature are all worth cherishing. Only people with wisdom and morality can sense and enjoy such beauty. Likewise, only very wise and very moral people can create such beauty to offer to the world.

We can cultivate morality and train wisdom by keeping our surroundings clean and beautiful. We can educate our children's spirits by guiding them to keep their surroundings clean and beautiful.

Clean and beautiful. Who would have thought it so wondrous?