return in the late afternoon to be with their 'family.' After the school hours, there are lots of things to keep children busy, such as co-curricular activities in the form of games and sports, inter-house presentations or other activities, household chores such as cleaning and cooking to be done, etc. As all the homes have kitchens and vegetable gardens, children learn cooking and gardening skills from an early age. For the smaller children, evening is the best time of all, as they get a lot of time to play and get into 'mischief,' while the home mother is busy preparing the dinner. In the meantime, the older children return home from their co-curricular activities and help complete the remaining work of 'their large family.' After dinner and the evening studies, it's time to call it a day. Children say their prayers and go to bed. It is time to say "Sem-ja-nango" (good night). Calmness returns to the village at the end of another busy and rewarding day. In TCV, no effort is spared in making education a joyful process of learning. The emphasis is on the all-around development of a child, through exposure to both academic and co-curricular activities. This has proven effective to help unfold their potential and awaken their natural fondness for learning.
Love lights more fires than hate extinguishes. Ella Wheeler Wilcox
The thoughtless are rarely wordless. Howard W. Newton
If you treat people as they are, they will stay as they are. But if we treat them for what they might be, and might become, they will become their better selves. G.T. Smith
No change brings happiness unless the way it is effected involves ascent. The happy man is therefore the man who, without any direct search for happiness, inevitably finds joy as an added bonus in the act of forging ahead and
attaining the fullness and finality of his own self. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
Oh, the miraculous energy that flows between two people who care enough to get beyond surfaces and games,
who are willing to take the risks of being totally open, of listening, or responding with the whole heart.
How much we can do for each other. Alex Noble
I believe the first great test of a truly great man is humility. John Ruskin
Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty. Mother Teresa
A great deal of good can be done in the world if one is not too careful who gets the credit. Anon
The only time we fail at love is when we blame our failure on others. Anon
When a man blames others for his failures, it is a good idea to credit others with his successes. Howard Newton
The real challenge of love is to maintain our personal dignity without intruding on that of others. Anon
To behave with dignity is nothing more than to allow others freely to be themselves. Sol Chaneles
It is only when we have experienced love that we truly realize what would be lost by missing it. Anon
There is the same difference in a person before and after he is in love, as there is in an unlighted lamp and one
that is burning. The lamp was there and was a good lamp, but now it is shedding light too
(and this is its real function). Vincent van Gogh
When we give of what we have, we are ready to receive what we really need. Douglas M. Lawson
The most useless day is that in which we have not laughed. Charles Field
Love what you love with a passion. Anon
Love creates an "us" without destroying a "me." Anon
The bird of paradise alights only upon the hand that does not grasp. John Berry
When you look for the good in others, you discover the best in yourself. Martin Walsh
Love is constant, it is we who are fickle. Love does guarantee, people betray. Love can always be trusted, people cannot.
You can love others only as much as you love yourself. Anon
Believing enough to forgive. Anon
But since human beings are inherently compassionate, compassion in them can be awakened and generated; whatever their age and however horrendous their past experiences have been. Theodore Isaac Rubin
"One important type of charity is the giving of material things, such as food, clothing, and shelter to others, but it is limited, for it does not bring complete satisfaction. Just as our own experience confirms that through gradual purification of our minds, more and more happiness develops, so it is the same for others; thus, it is crucial that they understand what they should adopt in practice in order to achieve happiness. To facilitate their learning these topics, we need to be fully capable of teaching them.
"Such practices as Bodhicitta (the will to supreme Enlightenment) automatically bring calmness at the time of death. The mind at the time of death is at a very critical period, and if you are able to leave a strong, positive impact at that time, then it will become a very powerful force in continuing a positive experience in the next life.
Emptiness should be understood in the context of dependent arising and it should evoke a sense of fullness, of things created by causes and conditions. We shouldn't think that the self is something that is originally there and then eliminated in meditation: in fact, it is something that never existed in the first place.
"It we are forbearing, then something we would normally consider very painful will not appear so bad after all. But without patient endurance, even the smallest thing becomes unbearable. A lot depends on our attitude.
"One of the things that meditation teaches us, when we slowly descend into ourselves, is that the sense of peace already exists in us. We all have a deep desire for it even if it's often hidden, masked, thwarted. If we examine human nature carefully, it is good, well disposed, helpful. And it seems to me that nowadays, the spirit of harmony is increasing, that our desire to live together calmly is growing stronger and stronger; it is more and more widespread.
"It may surprise you, perhaps, but I am not strictly opposed to the spectacle of violence and crime. It all depends on the lessons you draw from it.
"A good heart is both important and effective in daily life. If in a small family, even without children, the members have a warm heart for each other, a peaceful atmosphere will be created. However, if one of the persons feels angry, immediately the atmosphere in the house becomes tense. Despite good food or a nice television set, you will lose peace and calm. Thus, things depend more on the mind than on matter. Matter is important, we must have it and we must use it properly, but in this century we must combine a good brain with a good heart.
"We find that between the past and the future there is an extremely thin line - something that cannot really withstand analysis. Past and future exist in relation to the present. But if the present cannot be posited, how can past and future be posited? This is a demonstration of dependent origination.
"At the moment when strong feelings of anger arise, no matter how hard one tries to adopt a dignified pose, one's face looks rather ugly. The vibration that person sends is very hostile. People can sense it, and it is almost as if one can feel steam coming out of that person's body. Indeed, not only are human beings capable of sensing it, but pets and other animals also try to avoid that person at that instant.
"If the evolution of the human species is entirely a matter of the environment and the modification of genes, chromosomes, and so forth, then there really isn't a place for karma at all. It simply wouldn't fit because all the effects would presumably be entirely accounted for by their physical constituents.
"The human level of mental development is not complete. Even in the ordinary sense, within our inner state there are still many things to explore. This has nothing to do with religious ideology; this is spiritual. Some part of the brain's capability may be fully utilized only through deep meditation. But in the meantime, things can be explored in the ordinary way. So from that view point, the human being is unfinished.
"I tell my generation that we were born during the darkest period in our long history. There is a big challenge and it is very unfortunate. But if there is a challenge, then there is an opportunity to face it, an opportunity to demonstrate our will and our determination. So from that viewpoint, I think that our generation is fortunate. The Dalai Lama
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