Humane ones love people, they are people who are humane and loving. Humaneness in terms of people means that they behave humanely and kindly. They think of others as if they were themselves. As it is said, "Do not do onto others what I wouldn't want done onto me." What I am unwilling to face, I do not place it on others. If we place onto others whatever we do not want, then that is being inhumane. Being human, we can suffer a loss and be patient with humiliation. As it is said, "What may be forced at the beginning becomes natural after a while." At first it feels awkward and uncomfortable, but after some time goes by, it feels natural and not at all forced.

Humaneness in terms of things is that we must be patient and do things just right. As it said, "Anything that needs be done well requires hard work; when hard work has been put in, everything comes together." No matter what it is that we do, we must do it so that we refine it and make it most perfect. How do we do that? We must put in some hard work. What is hard work? It is just this patience. The Chinese character patience is a heart radical stabbed by a knife radical. Endure pain and suffering. Be patient with everything. Endure hunger and thirst, endure wind and rain, endure cold and heart. Endure! Endure! Endure! Endure everything that cannot be endured. Do the best we can in everything you do. Work hard and we will naturally realize the results. At that time, we will understand ten things when we just hear one. Having opened the door to wisdom, we will connect with everything and see everything freely and clearly at once.

This humaneness can also be explained as seeds. For example, like planting the five kinds of grains, we ought to select the large ?? pieces so that the sprouts will be strong and there will be a rich harvest in the fall. Most farmers have this kind of knowledge. But if we do not be selective with the seeds and do not farm, irrigate, or fertilize, then there would be no harvest in the fall. As it is said, "One percent toil reaps one percent reward." Students studying at school are the same. Those who work hard at their studies in school understand the principles of those books clearly so that they will inevitably become capable. If they do not try to understand what they are studying more deeply, but just try to get by with whatever it is that they're doing and let time slip through their fingers???, they won't have any skill at all after they graduate. They won't have the ability to make a living; instead they become a burden for their family, a parasite for the society that treat them prejudicially.

Seeds can be separated into seeds with sentience and seeds with no sentience. Seeds with sentience can give rise to the four kinds of creatures: those from the womb, from eggs, from moisture, and from transformation. Insentient seeds can produce the likes of grass, trees, plants and the likes of gold, rocks, and minerals. Sentient beings have emotions and nature. Insentient beings have no sentience or nature. As it is said, "Sentient or not, together we perfect the wisdom of modes." The nature of the sentient and non-sentient are connected. They are originally one. Insentient ones are temporarily insentient, but they can still return to their origin, becoming sentient beings too. But that is not easy and it takes a long time for them to return to their origin. This chance is as small as a mote of dust in three thousand great thousand worlds. Although they may turn into sentient beings, they would still be inferior animals, such as the likes of worms and insects.

Although we are sentient, we are only temporary and not forever. If we do not try our best at being people, our nature will change and our soul will deteriorate. We may become insentient plants. Actually, even in large trees there are ghosts and spirits dwelling there. Why? It is because giant trees and ghosts and spirits are intimately connected. People and ghosts are intimately connected too, without any separation. Cultivators ought to understand this principle and avoid falling and becoming plants. Although plants have their inherent nature, it is not easy for them to become sentient beings.

Fellow students! Although people may return to their origin and realize Buddhahood if they just make their resolve for Bodhi early and work hard at their cultivation. If they fall and become insentient things such as plants, then it will be extremely difficult for them to cultivate. It will be too late for regrets then!