Our greed, our ignorance, our hatred all arise from our selfishness, from our sub-conscious desire to control other people, animals, even inanimate objects. By letting go of this attachment, we can be liberated.
Awakened beings live lives of great contentment. They fulfill their responsibility of educating sentient beings by explaining to them the true reality of life and the universe, and that every cause—every thought, word, and action—has a result.
They teach us that we have a wondrous and rare chance that is about to slip by us. To be born as human beings who are able to hear the teachings is an unbelievably rare opportunity, not encountered for millions of years. It is as rare as a bubble rising to the surface of a vast sea and breaking the surface of that sea within the one wreath of flowers that is floating upon it.
Allowing this to happen will be a tragic mistake that is entirely of our own making. To prevent this from happening, we need to reflect and feel remorse for our mistakes. This will enable us to overcome our afflictions and bad habits, and thus to remove our negative karma. Feel deep regret for our mistakes, vow to not commit them again, and nurture the heart of sincerity, purity, impartiality, compassion, and awakening. Only with this heart will we be able to solve all problems. They cannot be solved by killing, by war. They are solved with gentleness and loving-kindness toward all other beings.
Our every thought needs to be of benefiting all sentient-beings. We should never even have a single hostile thought or say anything that can cause distress to others. If we can truly follow this teaching then in our daily lives no matter what we do, there will be great goodness, great gentleness. This is the way to truly influence people, with love and compassion.