Experience The Divine - 2000 Ocean of Love Lecture Tour

An enlightened Master from the Himalayas Three-time invited lecturer for the United Nations Recipient of the World
Peace Award and the World Spiritual Leadership Award
Supreme Master Ching Hai
Experience the Divine 2000 Ocean of Love Lecture Tour

A collection of spiritual teachings by
Supreme Master Ching Hai
Spoken by Supreme Master Ching Hai at the video and teleconference with Supreme Master Television staff, nd th Los Angeles, California, USA, December 22 , 2012 and April 14 , 2013 (Originally in English) Contents and original words in this book are permeated with grace and blessings of Supreme Master Ching Hai The Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association Offices in all major cities and countries around the world Headquarters: PO Box 730247, San Jose, CA 95173-0247, USA PO Box 9 Hsihu Hsiang, Miaoli Hsien, Formosa (Taiwan 36899) Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association (SMCHIA) does not request or accept any donations. If you have seen a donation request or have been approached for a donation please be assured that these persons do not represent SMCHIA. Edition @ 2013
'I have given up zillions of zillions of zillions of zillions of spiritual merit points for the world to become better, and the people to change from inside and for World Vegan, World Peace. Still more I need to offer for this vision to come true. But it will, it might come true. I have been intensifying my meditation effort. Still continue. The latest time I checked was January 28th, 2013. The planet would be extended to stay longer 62,352,043 years. Rest assured that the planet will stay much longer, hundreds of millions of years. And I have made an arrangement with heaven that the planet Earth stays as long as she wants and as long as forever if she likes. That was today's covenant.'
Contents
Preface Introduction The heavenly cardinal Supreme Master Ching Hai A biography of Supreme Master Ching Hai Experience the Divine 2000 Ocean of Love lecture tour 1. The reunion of souls 2. The Light keeper 3. Love is the true essence of life 4. Enlightenment and ignorance 5. True happiness is recognizing our True Nature 6. Illusion is a reflection of reality 7. Listen inwardly to our Self-Nature 8. The Supreme Master Ching Hai, the Quan Yin method and the Chinese in Southeast Asia 9. Wisdom and concentration 10. Life continues forever Initiation into the Quan Yin method of meditation The Supreme Master Ching Hais teachings online How to contact us Introduction to our publications Beautiful gifts for yourselves and your loved ones Veganism in religions Benefits of a vegan diet and harms of meat consumption Alternative living Supreme Master Television Supreme Master Ching Hai Days A life of honors and ongoing selfless service A little message: In speaking of God, or the supreme spirit, Master instructs us to use original non-sexist The Quan Yin Method The Key of Immediate Enlightenment and Eternal Liberation
Page 4 6 7 9 12 12 28 37 44 52 73 85 100 127 136 144 146 147 148 151 154 155 157 158 159
Experience the Divine 2000 Ocean of Love Lecture Tour terms to avoid the argument about whether God is a She or a He. She + He = Hes (as in Bless). Her + Him = Hirm (as in Firm). Hers + His = Hiers (as in Dear). Example: When God wants, Hes makes things happen according to Hiers will to suit Hirmself. -------As a creator of artistic designs as well as a spiritual Teacher, Supreme Master Ching Hai loves all expressions of inner beauty. It is for this reason that She refers to Vietnam as Au Lac and Taiwan as Formosa. Au Lac is the ancient name of Vietnam and means happiness. And the name Formosa reflects more completely the beauty of the island and its people. Master feels that using these names brings spiritual elevation and luck to the land and its inhabitants. -------The logos characters, SM, stand for Supreme Master, signifying the Supreme Master power within everyone. The logo is an interweaving of red and gold colors. Red symbolizes the physical body, while gold represents the radiant Buddha nature or kingdom of God within. -------Abbreviations Q: Question; M: Supreme Master Ching Hai; 'D': Disciple; 'MC': Master of Ceremony.
The Quan Yin Method The Key of Immediate Enlightenment and Eternal Liberation
Preface
This book is the original public lectures given by Supreme Master Ching Hai during Her 'Experience the Divine Ocean of Love' lecture tour in Asia and Oceania in 2000. With the help of many fellow disciples who transcribed and translated dozens of lectures, a book began to take form. Through dedicated patience, devotional love, help from fellow disciples and the grace of the Master, this work is now presented to you. The entire contents of this book are the original words of the Master, recorded verbatim. Editing has been done only on the order of quotes, and on the grammar and punctuation of the transcriptions themselves. Through the spoken words, a living Master can bring ancient wisdom to life. To experience these discourses in person, the seeker is affected on all levels of understanding, beyond space and time, far beyond any mental concept. These types of Masters, having become fully conscious of their supreme nature within, offer a perfect mirror of the most noble and divine qualities within each of us, a reflection of our own potential for self-mastery. As one comes into contact with this perfect image, ones life begins to turn away from fear and self-doubt and to move toward more tolerance and compassion, more hope and joy. Such is the experience that countless hundreds, thousands, millions of people have had in the presence of Supreme Master Ching Hai. She speaks above and beyond general philosophy and theology, echoing the Truth, which lies directly in the hearts of all seekers. This kind of experience is beyond the words alone, but rather an invisible connection all of us share with the infinite. Through Her words, Her eyes and Her voice, one can obtain limitless blessing and inspiration. With Her help and the practice of the Quan Yin method of meditation, one can quickly progress along the path to full enlightenment. Supreme Master Ching Hai is world-renowned for Her great wisdom, sense of humor, humility and deep compassion. She has traveled to all parts of the world dedicating Herself and Her time in order to teach others that the Truth we all seek is not far away. Her multi-cultural background The Quan Yin Method The Key of Immediate Enlightenment and Eternal Liberation
(She is fluent in five languages English, German, Chinese, French and Aulacese) allows Her to express one ageless Truth in a multitude of ways, so that each individual receives his or her own answer, according to his or her own needs. Through daily practice of a non-denominational meditation technique call the Quan Yin method (contemplation of the inner Sound stream); we can all attain understanding of the great joy, compassion and heavenly bliss described within religious and spiritual scriptures around the world. More than just a simple meditation technique, this living teaching brings to anyone who sincerely desires it the ability to carry the meditative state into all parts of their lives. It offers each of us a way to have true love and understanding for our fellow beings, to play our part in society while still keeping our mind clear of worry and attachment, and a way to find freedom here and beyond this world. All of this, Master Ching Hai offers free of charge and conditions to anyone seeking the Truth. She does not personally accept any donations, all of Her public lectures are offered free of charge, and initiation into the Quan Yin method of meditation is given to anyone who is truly dedicated to their own spiritual development. Master says that a spiritual Teacher should never charge the student for what they already own. She simply opens the door to our own inner wisdom and then guides and protects us until we have fully realized our own treasure inside. May the Truth guide you along the path to your own great awakening.
Introduction
Every human being has, at one time or another, wondered about the deeper meaning of his or her life. We witness on a daily basis the suffering caused by our ignorance, often feeling helpless to change it. But, we are also blessed with brief glimpses of deep insight and joy, which bring temporary comfort and hope to our lost souls. Regardless of the tides and turns of our lives, the recurring questions still remain, Where do I come from? What is the purpose of my life? What am I here for? And where am I going after I die? Should we search for answers to these questions, we would open the door to a multitude of philosophies and practices, some safer than others, some quicker than others, yet not an easy choice for anyone to make. Searching alone may seem like wandering in a maze, not knowing what turn to take next. Countless road signs may seem to point in different directions, leaving us confused and constantly searching outside of ourselves. We seek relief from an undefined longing, a void which lays buried behind the distractions of our lives. But, the day we find ourselves in the presence of a true spiritual Master, we know that the search has come to an end, for this living Teacher proves to us that complete liberation and self-mastery is possible in this lifetime and we only need to claim it, for it is ours. When we take away all that divides us from the world around us, we find that only love remains, and this is our true essence. Once a living Master introduces us to our own divinity, all of our previous illusions of self-identity begin to fall away and instead of having to learn more, we begin to unlearn, to let go of useless, negative habits and ways of thinking. Our path is now set before us on our journey back Home. When a traveler is lost, he must find a higher vantage point in order to obtain a better view. The higher he goes, the wider and clearer his vision becomes. Soon, the ominous dark shadows that once petrified him are discovered to be only mere shrubs in the wilderness! Likewise, the higher we go on our inward journey, the more our fears and false limitations are revealed to us. We learn to see them for what they are and let go of them just as we would discard an old wornout garment. As we shed the outer appearance of ourselves, we no longer see separation and we feel united with everyone. The color of our skin and the language we speak may vary, but our innermost fears and aspirations are identical. So as we get to know our true selves, we gain comfort and understanding both within and far beyond ourselves. If you feel that you are ready to embark upon such a journey, this book should provide you with priceless guidance and blessings, much needed in our present times. Supreme Master Ching Hai addresses in a very specific way some of the most frequently asked questions posed by seekers around the world. She clarifies often-misunderstood concepts without oversimplifying them. This collection of Her teachings is very much like a practical guide to your own treasure hunt. It will provide you with an overall map, warning you of obstacles ahead, teaching you how to prepare yourself. With Master Ching Hai by your side, you will surely find your way Home.
The heavenly cardinal Supreme Master Ching Hai
Throughout the ages, mankind has been visited by rare individuals whose sole purpose is the spiritual upliftment of humanity. Jesus Christ was one of these visitors, as were Shakyamuni Buddha and Muhammad. These three are well known, but there are many others whose names we do not know; some taught publicly, and were known by a few, and others remained anonymous. These individuals were called by different names, at different times, in different countries. They have been referred to as Master, avatar, enlightened one, savior, messiah, divine mother, messenger, guru, living saint, and the like. They came to offer what has been called enlightenment, salvation, realization, liberation, or awakening. The words used may be different, but in essence they all mean the same thing. Visitors from the same divine source, with the same spiritual greatness, moral purity, and power to uplift humanity as the holy ones from the past are here with us today, yet few know of their presence. One of them is Supreme Master Ching Hai. Master Ching Hai is an unlikely candidate to be widely recognized as a living saint. She is a woman, and many Buddhists and others believe the myth that a woman can not become a Buddha. She is of Asian descent, and many western people expect that the savior will come from their own culture. However, those of us, from all over the world, and from many different religious backgrounds, who have gotten to know Her, and who follow Her teachings, know who and what She is. For you to come to know this will take a measure of openness of mind and sincerity of heart. It will also take your time and attention, but nothing else. People spend most of their time earning a living and taking care of material needs. We work in order to make our lives, and those of our loved ones, as comfortable as possible. When time permits, we give away our attention to such things as politics, sports, television, or the latest scandals. Those of us who have experienced the loving power of direct inner contact with the The Quan Yin Method The Key of Immediate Enlightenment and Eternal Liberation
Divine know there is more to life than this. We feel it is a pity that the good news is not more widely known. The solution to all of the struggles of life is sitting quietly inside, waiting. We know that heaven is just a breath away. Forgive us when we err on the side of over enthusiasm and say things that may offend your rational mind. It is difficult for us to remain quiet, seeing what we have seen, and knowing what we know. We who consider ourselves disciples of the Supreme Master Ching Hai, and fellow practitioners of Her method (the Quan Yin method of meditation), offer this book to you with the hope that it will help bring you closer to your own personal experience of divine fulfillment, whether it be through our Master or any other. Master Ching Hai teaches the importance of the practice of meditation, inner contemplation, and prayer. She explains that we must discover our own inner divine presence, if we want to be truly happy in this life. She teaches that enlightenment is not esoteric and out of reach, attainable only by those who retreat from society. Her job is to awaken the divine presence within, while we lead normal lives. She states, It is like this. We all know the Truth. Its just that we forgot it. So sometimes, someone has to come and remind us of the purpose of our life, why we must find the Truth, why we must practice meditation, and why we must believe in God. She asks no one to follow Her. She simply offers Her own enlightenment as an example, so that others may gain their own ultimate liberation. This book is the original verbal teachings of Supreme Master Ching Hai. Please note that the lectures, comments, and quotes by Master Ching Hai contained herein were spoken by Her, recorded, transcribed, sometimes translated from other languages, and then edited for publication. We recommend that you listen to or watch the original audio or video tapes. You will get a much richer experience of Her presence from these sources than from the written words. Of course, the most complete experience is to see Her in person. For some, Master Ching Hai is their mother, for some She is their father, and for others She is their beloved. At the least, She is the very best friend you could ever have in this world. She is here to give to you, not to take. She takes no payment of any kind for Her teachings, help or initiation. The only thing She will take from you is your suffering, your sorrow and pain, but only if you want this!
A biography of Supreme Master Ching Hai

Master Ching Hai was born in Au Lac. Her father was a highly reputed naturopath. He loved to study world literature and was especially interested in philosophy. Among his favorites were the writings of Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu, and these were available to Master Ching Hai as a young child. She read these and other Buddhist texts before She entered primary school. Although Her parents are Catholic, they were open to Buddhist thoughts. Her grandmother was a Buddhist. Master loved to spend time with Her grandmother, and she taught Her the scriptures and Buddhist worship. Master Ching Hai developed a very open attitude toward religions due to this background. She would attend a Catholic church in the mornings, a Buddhist temple in the afternoons, and in the evenings would listen to lectures on the holy teachings. This left Her with many spiritual questions, such as Where did we come from? What is life after death? Why are people so different? At one time, there was a shortage of doctors and nurses in Her town, so Master helped in the hospital after classes. She washed patients, emptied bedpans and did errands in Her efforts to ease peoples suffering. Master has always had a soft spot for animals, and would often take a wounded animal home, care for it and release it. When She saw an animal slaughtered, She would cry, wishing that She could prevent such unnecessary suffering. She has been a vegetarian, and has always been repulsed by the sight of killing or of meat, all Her life. She worked for a time in Germany as a translator for the Red Cross. She translated between the Aulacese language, German and English, and also volunteered to work long hours in the service of Aulacese refugees. She did so at the expense of Her own health and comfort. Her work with the Red Cross put Master Ching Hai in contact with refugees from many countries. She was continuously faced with the suffering and turmoil brought on by wars and natural disasters. Master suffered a great deal trying to alleviate the pain She saw, and She realized how impossible it was for any one person to stop the suffering of humanity. This drove Her more strongly toward finding enlightenment, as She realized that only this could help alleviate mankinds pain. With this as Her goal, She practiced meditation even more seriously. She sought out new teachers, read everything She could find, and tested many different methods. She felt, however, that these efforts were not working, and that She was not experiencing the spiritual phenomena She read about in the scriptures, nor was She reaching the enlightened state. This was extremely frustrating for Her at the time. While in Germany, Master Ching Hai was happily married to a German scientist, with doctorates in two fields. He was a kind, attentive and supportive husband. He became a vegetarian, traveled with his Wife on pilgrimages and was very supportive of Her charitable works. Eventually, Master felt that She needed to leave Her marriage in order to pursue Her spiritual goals. She discussed this at great length with Her husband, and their separation was with his agreement. This was an extremely difficult decision for both of them, but Master felt very strongly that this was the right decision. She needed to devote Her undivided attention to the pursuit of enlightenment. The Quan Yin Method The Key of Immediate Enlightenment and Eternal Liberation
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After leaving Her marriage, Master sought to find the perfect method, which could lead one to attain liberation in one lifetime. In the Surangama sutra, Shakyamuni Buddha said that the Quan Yin method is the highest of all methods. None of Masters teachers knew it, so She traveled and searched everywhere for the right Master. Finally, after many years, She found a Himalayan Master who initiated Her into the Quan Yin method, and gave Her the divine transmission that She had sought for so many years. After a brief period of Quan Yin practice, She became fully enlightened. She continued practicing and improving Her understanding, and remained in retreat in the Himalayas for some time. Eventually, Master Ching Hai traveled to Formosa. One evening, during a typhoon with heavy rain, as She meditated in a room behind a small temple, a group of people knocked at Her door. Master asked them why they had come, and they answered, Quan Yin Bodhisattva (The Goddess of Mercy) replied to our prayers and told us about You, saying that You are the great Master and we should pray to You for the method to reach liberation. Master tried to send them away but they would not go. Finally, Master, touched by their sincerity and devotion, agreed to initiate them, but only after several months of purification and their agreement to adhere to a vegetarian diet. Shy by nature, Master Ching Hai did not seek out students to teach. In fact, She ran away from people who sought Her initiation. This happened in India, and in the United States where She was living the unassuming life of a Buddhist Nun. When She was discovered for the third time in Formosa, She realized that She must not run away from the inevitable tasks that lie ahead. She began sharing with all who wished to hear Her message of Truth, and She began initiating sincere students into the Quan Yin method. Master Ching Hais work has spread by word of mouth from this first small group in Formosa to many millions of people around the world. She has traveled and taught throughout Africa, Latin America, the United States, Asia, Europe and Oceania. Many people from all walks of life, and from many different religious backgrounds, have made great spiritual progress with Her help. Grateful friends and disciples are to be found all over the world, ready and willing to help others learn from their beloved Supreme Master. In addition to helping countless numbers of people through Her spiritual teachings and initiations, Master Ching Hai has used Her boundless love and energy to assist those who are suffering or in need. In recent years, Her humanitarian efforts have touched the hearts and lives of millions of people all over the world. Master does not discriminate between suffering caused by spiritual ignorance, material privation, or circumstantial events. Wherever there is suffering, She will help. Some of Master Ching Hais humanitarian activities in the past few years include aid to: The homeless throughout the United States; victims of fire in southern California; victims of many floods in the Midwest United States, central and eastern Mainland China, India, Malaysia, Au Lac, Holland, Belgium and France; disadvantaged elderly in Brazil; those displaced by the eruption of Mt Pinatubo in the Philippines; disaster victims in northern Thailand; destitute families in Formosa and Singapore; lepers in Molokai, Hawaii; spiritual communities in India, Germany and Uganda; families of mentally retarded children in Hawaii; victims of the 9-11 tragedy in New York and victims of the Los Angeles, Turkey and Formosa earthquake; veterans of the United States; orphanages in Au Lac; institutions of medical research on AIDS and cancer in the United States; and many, many others. Of course, we must also mention Master Ching Hais never-ending and tireless efforts to help the Aulacese refugees, those both inside and out of refugee camps.
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Although She does not seek acknowledgement of any kind, in recognition of Her selfless assistance, Supreme Master Ching Hai has been given awards worldwide by government officials and private organizations on numerous occasions. They include the World Peace Award, the World Spiritual Leadership Award, Award for Promotion of Human Rights, World Citizen Humanitarian Award, Award for Outstanding Public Service to Mankind, 2006 Gusi Peace Prize, Los Angeles Music Week Certificate of Commendation, 2006 First Place Silver for the 27th Annual Telly Awards, Presidential Active Lifestyle Award from the 43rd President of the United States, George W. Bush, and Presidential Volunteer Service Award from the 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama. In addition, October 25th and February 22nd have been proclaimed as the Supreme Master Ching Hai Day in the United States. Congratulatory messages were sent to the Chicago ceremony by many government officials worldwide, including Presidents Clinton, Bush and Reagan. To commend virtuous actions and encourage others to be inspired by their examples, Supreme Master Ching Hai has created a series of Shining World Awards. Through these prestigious awards, She has recognized deserving humans and animals for their exceptional heroism, compassion, leadership, bravery, or intelligence. Supreme Master Ching Hai is also the source of inspiration to Supreme Master Television, a global station which airs constructive programs with subtitles in over 40 languages. The station encourages harmony, greater understanding and compassion for all beings. It also promotes an organic vegan lifestyle as the most effective and fastest solution to climate change. Through Her tireless dedication to improve the lives of all beings on Earth, Supreme Master Ching Hai has set a true example of love in action. Supreme Master Ching Hai is one of the truly dedicated people of this era helping others find and create a beautiful vision of our future. Many great people in history have had a dream, and in Her own words, so does Supreme Master Ching Hai, I dream that all the world will become peaceful. I dream that all the killing will stop. I dream that all the children will walk in peace and harmony. I dream that all the nations shake hands with each other, protect each other and help each other. I dream that our beautiful planet will not be destroyed. It takes billions, billions, trillions of years to produce this planet and its so beautiful, so wonderful. I dream that it will continue, but in peace, beauty and love. In recent years, Master Ching Hai has also devoted Herself to creative expression of the beauty She enjoys within. Her creative works include paintings, decorated fans, lamps, dress and jewelry designs, and songs. Many of these items are made available for purposes of fundraising. Master Ching Hai has told us that She is not always enlightened. She lives a normal worldly life, and knows from experience about our problems, our heartaches, passions, desires and doubts. She also knows the heavenly realms of kingdom of God, and how to get there from here. Her sole function at this point in Her life is to help us with our journey from the suffering and confusion of the un-awakened state to the bliss and absolute clarity of total divine realization. If you are ready, She is here to take you Home. Master Ching Hai takes an unusually broad view of all religions. She has studied and taught the words of Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed, Lao Tzu and many others. She always emphasizes the similarities among the great teachings, and lets us see through Her eyes how all the great Masters are preaching the same Truth. She often explains how different religious opinions have arisen, due only to the difference in opinions of different people in different countries at different times. Master Ching Hai gives initiation and a variety of lectures to interested students and people, according to their backgrounds and cultures, including Christians, Moslems, Buddhists, Jews, Hindus, Taoists, or atheists, et cetera. She speaks fluently in English, German, Chinese, French and Aulacese languages. Those who wish to learn and practice the Quan Yin method with Master Ching Hai are welcomed to receive Her initiation. The Quan Yin Method The Key of Immediate Enlightenment and Eternal Liberation
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Experience the Divine 2000 Ocean of Love lecture tour

THE REUNION OF SOULS 1
[As the youngest country on Earth, New Zealand has a rich and fascinating history that reflects her Maori and European heritage. Her cities are very culturally diverse with amazing Maori historic sites and taonga, or treasures, right alongside many beautiful colonial buildings. New Zealand possesses extraordinary flora and fauna due to its relative isolation from the rest of the world and its island setting. This separation from the rest of the world about 100 million years ago enabled many ancient plants and animals to evolve and thrive. New Zealand is also home to unique birds such as the flightless nocturnal kiwi, New Zealands unofficial national bird, the weka, and the kakapo, the worlds largest parrot. One particular unique bird, capable of flight, is the inquisitive kea which is well known for its fearlessness of humans. It is from New Zealand that the kiwifruit become know all over the world. The kiwifruit was originally from China and was known as 'Chinese gooseberries' in New Zealand. Its later export as a kiwifruit has given this fruit its international fame. During Her 'Experience the Divine Ocean of Love' lecture tour in Asia and Oceania in 2000, Supreme Master Ching Hai accepted the invitation of sincere Truth aspirants to visit this beautiful country and share Her wisdom and knowledge of the universe. We invite you to enjoy the wisdom-filled lecture entitled, 'The Reunion of Souls,' delivered by Supreme Master Ching Hai in Auckland, New Zealand on April 27th , 2000.]
Hallo. Thank you so much! God bless you! I am very, very touched and honored. Thank God for giving me this chance to visit your beautiful land and getting to know your beautiful races of people, and thank you for coming. Yes, I guess everybodys very touched, so I also thank the New Zealand brothers and sisters who have been working very hard to make this beautiful evening a special memory. Thank you, and God bless your land, your people, and bless all the wishes that you have in your dream. I think you know why you are here. Everyone wants to know what God is and everyone wants to know where we come from, and thats the reason why we came here actually. Thats the reason why we came to this planet, the so-called planet, physical planet, even though at the same time we are connected with heaven, and spiritual planets, if we call that. But because we have forgotten the connection, so, many of us, or most of us, have just recognized this physical presence and this physical life we call human life. In fact, we are not just human, we are also spiritual beings we are highly developed beings. At the same time we are living here, we are
1.
Public lecture, Auckland, New Zealand, April 27th, 2000 (Originally in English).
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also living in different levels of consciousness we are also doing so many great things but it is difficult for most of us to realize that. Our ancestors, for example, the ancestors of the Maori people that you have just seen, that they have sung so beautiful songs so spiritually developed, so highly elevated, so souly songs, because our ancestors have known a different level of spirituality than some of us do today. But we still can develop this quality again... Not really develop we still can remember it again. Because what we once had we will not lose it; its just sometimes we forget. So, in order for us to remember, we should... I will give you some practical experience after I explain a little, if you would like to, because if we experience it ourselves, its better than thousands of theoretical words. But I feel I should introduce it a little bit, even though God is not to be explained in language. But just like the Maori ancestors, they have known God, they have known spiritual levels that exceed our language, that go beyond our ordinary understanding, therefore, they could express themselves in poetry, in music, in songs, which are so beautiful, so out of the ordinary, and so touching to the soul when you hear it. It is because they express their own inner level of enlightenment. For lack of this inner enlightenment, or because of forgetting this inner enlightenment and our true Selves, we often cannot express ourselves in beautiful ways, in the way that we would like ourselves to express and we sometimes could not behave or react in such a way that we would like ourselves to do. It is because we have forgotten the inner connection. We have forgotten that our lives, our so-called being, is greater, greater, longer and higher and more, more, more, more, more multiple faces, multiple qualities, multiple expressions than just this physical being that we know ourselves to be; we have forgotten that. For example, the whole being here is me, like, from head to toe, yes, the whole being. I am not just the toe, I am not just the finger, I am not just the forehead the whole being is me, but if I just remember my toes or my fingers, then I am not complete. Then its not me, its not complete. Similarly, if we just remember that we are a physical human being, then we are not complete. I am here today with the honor of Gods permission and endowment to remind us, our fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, and little brothers and little sisters, that we should remember our whole being, and Ill show you how. It is very simple to remember, more simple than breathing, more simple than eating. Breathing, sometimes we have difficulty. If we have a blocked nose, we cant breathe. Eating, if we have indigestion, we cant eat, or if we dont have enough money to buy food, were also in trouble. But spiritual wealth is always there. We always have it. Its just were too busy looking at the outside, remembering our physical body, taking care of too much mundane duties. The world makes us very, very concentrated in the physical and material aspects that we have hardly time to remember our 99% of our being, which is higher, greater, more powerful, more miraculous, more wondrous, more everything... more holy, more divine, more beautiful, more happy, more blessed, more blissful everything that is godly, that is us. All the teachers have come here, they told us like that: That we are the temple of God and God lives here, God lives there. So all we see here are God, or at least Gods manifestation, individually, differently. But we have forgotten that God quality, that God Nature of ourselves. We just remember this small part of our being which is the human side of ourselves, just like because I like this ring so much, I keep looking at the ring and I just remember this finger all the time and I forgot everything else about myself. And this is not how we should do it. So that is why we dont know God, because we have forgotten to look where we should look. That is all. That is why we often tell people 'enlightenment is immediate' because you are already there. Suppose I am sitting here and Im looking at the finger now. How long does it The Quan Yin Method The Key of Immediate Enlightenment and Eternal Liberation
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take me to know myself, if I dont look here? How long does it take me? One second, right? Not even. As long as I dont look here, I remember again, 'Ah! Here I am! All of this is me!' Yes! Its very simple; therefore, no one is your teacher. Im not coming here to be your teacher, because you are already divine. I had also forgotten. At the age of three or four, we begin to forget. If we do not try to remember the great being that we truly are, then we will forget, and thats why it is very easy to forget; and also, it is easy to remember. I am coming here to remind you of the good news that I have remembered, that I have remembered myself. So we can all remember anytime we want, and should we choose to stay in forgetfulness, this is also fine. It is also fine because you are divine, you are God. Im sorry if I might shock you in any way, but thats what you are. If you dont believe me, look back in the bible. And the Buddhist scriptures say 'you are a Buddha,' 'Buddha Nature is inside you.' The bible says God lives within this temple, so who is in there? Who else, except God? If we are only the temple and God is the only one who lives in there, who are we then, except we are God? Okay, we dont remember, fine, but we still are God. So, whatever we choose to do, the God of all Gods that we are, respects that. The Father of all of these beings, which we are, respects our wish and our choice to live, to express our divine Selves in whichever way we want. That is why Jesus told us we do not judge people, because we do not know what is the path that being has chosen to walk. He does his things so that he may come to know God in a different way: He might choose to be a seemingly bad person; he might choose to be a seemingly very lowly person; he might choose to be, seemingly, a very socalled immoral person, but that is his way of knowing the divine. By choosing to be ungodly, he will one day know that this is not him; he has to go back and learn the whole being again. Because if we always stay in heaven and we are God all the time, we will not recognize ourselves as God. So we need to lower ourselves, for example, come down to this physical level so that we can once again recognize the greatness of ourselves. That is our choice, and thats why we came here. So the answer to our question, 'why we are here?' is because we want to know God. So when we feel that the time is up, its the time that we choose to remember ourselves again, that is the time when we come to seek out spiritual friends, spiritual group or maybe spiritual teacher as we call them, so that we can remember quickly. Because we have forgotten how to remember and where to look for, so some friends who had already remembered himself or herself may be able to help us, and then we recognize that we are nothing else but the Supreme Being, but God. We recognize the Supreme Being that lives, that is housed within this body. But actually, Hes is not housed within the body; Hes houses our body. But then again, because spiritual terminology is never a very exact science, so no matter how much a teacher tells us about God, how eloquently a spiritual friend might express about the divine being within ourselves, we cannot just understand by listening. So the spiritual friend or teacher or the guide or a friend has to show us practically, not just theoretically. For example, when Jesus came to our planet, He had taught His disciples both ways theoretical way and practical way and thats why later His immediate disciples could also do wonders, could also see heaven, could also hear the voice of God the Word of the Creator could also see the Light of heaven, could ascend to heaven and even see the angels or see the Father. The Father spoke to them like the Father spoke to Moses; and the angels also spoke to them. Likewise, we could do that, because as great as Jesus disciples, we are also great. We and Jesus disciples are the same, equally, because Jesus said to us that we are all children of God. But because we have forgotten, so sometimes one friend, two friends have to come to remind us; but only when we are ready, because if we are not ready, no one can do much for us. The Quan Yin Method The Key of Immediate Enlightenment and Eternal Liberation
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In the last days, many false Christs will appear, [M: Again?] showing great signs and wonders so as to lead, if possible, even the elite astray. How, without being initiated, can one tell whether You are true or false? You cant. You cant tell whether I am true or false. So its up to you. [Q: Thank You.] You are welcome. Okay, just one moment... Of course... but there are some little things that you can tell. For example not because of me if you meet a Master, you immediately feel something. All right? Or you dont. Either you feel something good about that person or you dont. We do have this intuition. Even sometimes we see a stranger in the street, we feel like, 'Yes, she gives me good vibes. Shes lovely, she must be a good person,' and some person we just see for the first time, we feel kind of... we dont want to talk to that person; were a little scared. Yes, we have this intuition. Or else, we come home and pray to God, 'Please, God let me know who is the good one!' Yes? And then you follow your heart. No one else can tell you. You can only tell me from the outside, but inside you cannot. Unless you go into a higher spiritual level, then you can see me, like a mirror; but from human to human standard, you cannot see anything. I am not here to prove to you that I am good or bad. I am here to tell you that you are great, you are good, and if you follow my instruction, you will feel, you will see, you will know that you are great, you are good. You feel that you are great, that you know God. And suppose you dont feel like that, you can always leave. I dont charge any money, I dont follow you to your house, I dont call you at all. Ill be gone tomorrow, and youll be lucky to ever catch me again, so dont worry that I am bad or good. Follow your instinct; learn to know, to remember your greatness. Thats what I am here for; not here so that you think Im great, okay? Thats a different question. I am here to show you that you are great, yes? And if you want to know your greatness, then just follow my instructions; not follow me, follow my instructions, okay?
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Should our children be vegetarians, too, Master? Thanks! If they wish to be, yes. Because children also have souls and they are also God, so if they wish to be, that means theyre okay. If they dont wish, we cannot force children, or adults or anyone. We can only talk logically and reasonably, and if they want to, they can be. They should be, because children who are vegetarians are very healthy. Look at her! Shes so beautiful. She looks like a movie star and shes a vegetarian, no? Is she not beautiful? Our fellow initiates, when they are pregnant, the babies are vegetarians from the mothers wombs already. And when they are born, theyre the most beautiful babies, if you compare to other babies nearby. They are born pinky, healthy, and other children, sometimes they are born blue, and purple. Yes! Really! No, you go and take a look at the newborn babies; sometimes theyre so blue, so dark. But our children are always born pinky, healthy and cry the loudest. What can I do to keep up meditation daily, when theres not enough waking hours in a day? Cannot wake up? [Q: Yes.] Yes, me too! Nobody likes to wake up when were snug in bed, but we have to try, yes? Suppose if you have to get up to work, then you must. You must! For like, $2,000 per month, you wake up every morning... Five oclock, yes? For God, you dont wake up! So what am I to do? So make your own priority choice. We can wake up a little earlier than usual, and then get used to it. For example, its too early to wake up at three oclock, dont wake up at three oclock. Normally you wake up to work at five oclock, okay, then wake up like twenty to five the first day, or ten to five even, or even
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five to five. And the next day or next week, ten to five, yes? Get yourself used to the idea and reward yourself abundantly. Tell yourself, 'Okay, if you wake up early today, Im going to give you a double bagels,' for example, or 'one more cup of caf.' Whatever your mind loves to have, reward him. Reward yourself. You must love yourself also, because, lets face it, we have only one, this physical body, and we are so tired sometimes. We work so hard, eight hours, ten hours a day just to keep this 'machine' running, and then we have to attend to, sometimes, other work like family, wife, children, and parents, friends, neighbors, relatives, et cetera. We really are very hard-demanded on this physical body. So, of course, if you cannot wake up in the morning for meditation, forgive yourself. Dont be too hard on yourself, but train yourself slowly. Watch television less, sleep a little earlier so you can get up better, or whatever the activities you used to do too much before in order to pass time when you are bored, use that time for knowing God. It is a matter of organization. I am also pretty busy you dont believe it and its hard for me also to get up early sometimes. But you have to put alarm clock, yes? Sometimes like that. In the old Indian tradition, there was one saint, he wakes up all right, but he sleeps sitting instead of lying, so its just the same. So, never mind, you try your best. Thats what counts. So that person, the saint in India, you know what he did? He had long hair like me and he tied his hair onto the ceiling or something. Yes, yes, yes! Yes, I am not kidding! And then he became a Master because he tried so hard. He tied his hair to the ceiling, so whenever he nodded, 'Oh! Okay...' Yes! Yes! I am not saying that you should grow your hair long or do that, but you find your way, yes? Like, we wake up early and... In the beginning, I had to put, like, ice water next to me, a flask of ice, and then when the alarm rings, I reach for the ice and throw it on my face, and 'Ohh! Blaaah!' the ice comes through your clothes and everything and you just have to jump out of bed. But dont do it... just dont do it, I mean, you have your own ways. But when you want to do something, you can. Believe me, you can, because you are God. Theres nothing impossible with God. Just remember that you have God inside you and that no one else is there. Dont listen to the mind and the brain. Its just a computer. The mind tells us, 'Oh...sleep...sleep... sleep is good for you.' But thats not Gods voice! God is behind that. Q. M. Do You ever meet with Quan Yin? Oh, yes. Yes. Why not? You can see all the saints in the past if you want to, but you have to work hard, tie your hair to the ceiling! Now you know why many yogis in India have long hair. As we are spiritual beings having a human experience, we are perfect in our expression of life; we are already divine. If God is everything without duality, then everything we are, everything we do is an expression of God. So do we need then to do nothing just to be without reward? Thats fine. Thats fine. Thats fine, too. As I said earlier, you chose to be what you want to be. But there are many aspects of God; God is a total sum of our being, yes? So if we want to say that we are God, of course we are already God, that is for sure, but then go back to the finger, see? Suppose we say, 'Okay, I am God now. I dont need to do anything.' its fine! But then we go out and steal, or we do things that are not proper or we harm other beings, because we say every expression is God anyway, so we dont try to be better, we dont try to represent ourselves in other aspects of divine quality and just concentrate on one point and do the physical things. And in that case, even though we are God, we have not the whole complete quality, we have not expressed ourselves in the
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whole, complete way. So that is the only difference. Once we know the whole thing, the total sum of God, we act differently. We dont just look at the finger; we know the whole being, and that is different. If I just sit here and look at the finger, I look different, 'My God! Nice finger!' But when I know my whole being, then I stand up, I walk, you see? I sing, I embrace people, I greet people with love, I write poetry, I play music, I go swimming I do all kinds of things which a whole being would do, you see? But if I keep looking at one finger only, I still have the whole being here, but its useless. See what I mean? Thats the difference. Thats the difference between knowing the whole being of God and just saying, 'Okay, whatever I do is God anyway.' But, of course, you are divine already, so you choose what you are doing. I am just answering your question. Q. M. How many times do we need to come to this planet before we become enlightened? And where do we go when we are not in a physical body? We come as many times as we choose to come. For example, some people who are supposed to die already, but then some relatives are crying and loving and needing them so much, they come back to physical life immediately. Thats 'reborn', thats resurrection. And sometimes we go to heaven already, but we like to have the human beings experience again for our own pleasure or our own development, and sometimes we come back because our loved ones are still there, calling us and wanting us to be with them, and we choose to come back. And if we have not realized God in the physical body, sometimes we choose to come back so that we can realize God in a higher level. If we are not in a physical body, we can go in many different places; we are more free. Free, free, free, like birds; we can fly anywhere in an instant! For example, if I die and I want to go to Germany, we dont need an airplane; just one thought, Ill be there right away. One second, one instant! And that is the freedom of not having a body. But nevertheless, if we have not trained ourselves during our lifetime to think highly, to remember our higher Self, then when we die, we leave the physical body and we just linger in a lower level of ourselves without realizing the higher aspects of the divine Self. So we might linger there and then we get bored and then we come back to the physical body again, or we might be lucky, meeting some spiritual friend and then we inch our way up, or we go back to the physical body and get a teacher and learn properly and then go 'bzzt!!' So it depends on what we chose to do in this physical life, we will be at that level when we die. Q. M. How do the real spiritual experiences in meditation differ from my own fantasies and visions created by my imagination? It could be that you think that youre imagining, but imagining is a daydream; its different. If you just daydream about something, or you dream a night dream about something, and that is different. But the spiritual experience is real, just like we are real right now. For example, during spiritual experience, suppose I sit here, and then I can ascend to heaven, I can see Jesus, I can see the past saints, or some present saints, I can converse with them and go to different high level of hierarchy of heavens and universe in order to do things and learn things, just like I take an airplane and go to your country as real as that. And then our being will be better every day, and we can use this spiritual knowledge to better our life and the lives of our loved ones, as well as assisting in blessing and elevating the consciousness of the whole planet. And that is spiritual experience because we become different. We know ourselves as divine beings; we know the whole Self, or maybe at least partial of the higher Self, and we become powerful, we become happy. The Quan Yin Method The Key of Immediate Enlightenment and Eternal Liberation
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After taking the initiation into the Quan Yin method, if the person cant continue with the 2.5 hours meditation daily, what will happen? What will happen if you dont work eight hours, and you work only two hours? You have less money. You can find a part-time job or a full-time job. Part-time job, you get less money, thats all. What we mean by 2.5 hours is thats the suggested requirement. If you can make it, its good for you. If you cannot, try your best to do as much as you can. The more you do it, the better for you. No one stands there like police and says that you should do this and that no, no! Were just helping you, telling you which is good. But you follow as much as you can, because the more you do it the more you feel better, and the more you feel better, the more you are encouraged to do more, and you stay stable on the spiritual path. If we do too little, sometimes the reward is so much less and we feel kind of discouraged and frustrated, thats all. If the person decides to follow the Quan Yin method and the family and others cant accept the person anymore, how does the person overcome this problem? Its not possible like that! You just become better; your family accepts you better... more loving. Most of our people, after initiation, their families become better, because they themselves become also better. Maybe some of them in the beginning... Because the family members love them and worry that they might follow some bad people or do some bad things, but later, as you improve yourself, as you show yourself as such a loving, tolerant, and compassionate person, your family members will welcome you more. If we are God, who is this person that is so-called God, that is coming down to Earth that everybody talks about? There is no person as God; everything is God. We are a part of the whole, and yet the part that makes the whole. So God is the Creator, you see? Hes can make Hirmself into many, many things. You see, if the flower smells nice, youve got to smell it. See, you cant keep asking me questions like what the rose smells like when you dont smell it. I just showed you how to smell the rose before; you try it at home, okay? All right? Then youll know God. Or if you want to know more and deeper, you can stay for initiation. God is for you, yourself, to experience, not for me to describe, because its impossible. Its impossible to describe love between two persons. You love your boyfriend, your husband, your wife you cant describe what it is, but it is there. So even love is so difficult, just the physical love between human beings, is so difficult to describe, how can we describe God? Because human language is not up to Gods standard, but you can experience Hirm, feel the love, feel yourself, feel the wisdom, feel the security, feel yourself at home anywhere you go if you know God. Thats all I can tell you. When we focus on the center between the eyebrows, do the eyes also focus on the center? No, no, no! Forget the whole body. Forget the whole body! Just your thinking is concentrated in here only. Dont pay attention to the eyes or anything in the body. Sometimes your body shakes a little, sometimes your body feels hot, cold, sometimes feels beautiful that depends on what you eat that day and how angry you were with your wife, for example.
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MC. The reason they ask You is that they said that the eyes follow the center when they were concentrating. The Quan Yin Method The Key of Immediate Enlightenment and Eternal Liberation
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No, no. They dont follow. Did you ever see somebody who died? Okay, his eyes go up so you see only the white part of the eyes. Thats when he died. We can die like that during spiritual practice. Thats why the saints say, 'I die daily,' 'Forsake the flesh so that you can begin to know the spirit,' 'Learn to die so that you can begin to live.' When were in samadhi, our eyes also turn upwards, but we dont even know it were gone. I mean, gone to a higher dimension, enjoying but the physical body is just 'dead,' and thats why it reacted like a dead person. So when you come back, you pick up the 'car' again and drive around. I mean this 'car.' Master, why is it important to meditate in the morning? You can meditate anytime. Its just in the morning most of the people have a nights rest, and in the morning it is still quiet. Like from three to six, most people are still sleeping no traffic, no noise, no children, no telephone ringing, and your mind, after a nights rest, is calm, and your body also still not fully active and so you can sit better and you can attain heaven, quicker, quicker than just what you did now for two seconds. When you do it at home, its even better because youre more calm there, you feel more secure and quiet. And morning is the best hour, but doesnt mean you have to do it in the morning. I do it anytime, anytime on the bus, in the car... Our people, they do it anywhere except when driving, please! I sometimes sense the guidance and presence of the ascended Masters. Can they really help humanity from afar? Oh, sure! We all are one, so if you are enlightened, they are affected. Can you imagine before, a long time ago, I mean after the Golden Age, our planet was all destroyed, and not too many people survived. Can you imagine the state of human beings at that time? Everyone was kind of groveling in darkness, and they all affected each other. We all affect each other, and thats why we have been the way we were. And now, weve been practicing and practicing for years after years, now our planets become better. You dont feel it? You dont feel we have progressed? You do or not? Yes? Yes! I mean... not saying that you come and practice the Quan Yin method or have experienced heaven; even if you have not, you can feel that our planet now has different energy, different. Its more happy, its more opened, and very relaxed, in French, 'lgre,' very relaxed. Yes, yes. And human beings are very different from before before, kind of a few decades ago. And our technology, science everything is just blooming up so fast. Its very amazing what we have discovered lately. Can you imagine the email and all that internet and... wow! Its incredible! So many other things that you dont know, theyve already developed. Should we love our enemies? What else to do with him? Practical question! If you kill him, his wife might kill you, or his daughter and son they will continue forever. So wed better love our enemy; its the best way to 'kill' him. Yes! If you love your enemy, he becomes your friend, and the enemys gone for good! And you have more friends from his family, his wife, his kids and his relatives, his friends as well. Make one friend, you have many friends. Make one enemy, you make many enemies. So we lose business if we hate the enemy. What happens if I break the precepts after my initiation? Just like asking me 'what happens if I have an extramarital affair after I married my wife?' How shall I answer you? Make up your mind, okay? Nobody is there to force you; its only
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you, yourself, and you, and God. You make a covenant with God. You say, 'Okay, I make You my priority. Ill do anything to know You. I dont need all these stupid things in order to survive. I can live without them. I can live without killing my neighbors; I can live without telling lies; I can live without drugs and alcohol. I am strong, I dont need these substitutes of intoxication; I can have divine intoxication. I can live without having to have sex with every man or girl that walks by.' Yes, make up your mind. Present yourself as a being you want to present. If you are the one who likes to present yourself to everyone else, 'Oh yes! I am the one who tells lies,' 'I am the one whos always drunk and taken drugs and all that,' 'I am the one who covets the neighbors wife,' 'I am the one who likes to kill, who murders people.' If that is the way we want to represent ourselves, then go ahead, its your choice. But if you want to present yourself as an enlightened being, as a wise person, as a happy being, as a helpful, compassionate, loving, truthful person, then there is that choice, you see? There are two choices; its all your choice. It is not my precept; it is the way of life. Its a choice you make to present yourself to the world, to God, and to your own self when you look into the mirror, what kind of person you want to see. Okay? No precepts. Dont need precepts; you know what you want to be, right? Q. M. If everyone is Buddha, why does everyone feel miserable and not happy? Because they are miserable Buddhas. They only know that miserable part; they dont know the other happy part, thats why. Thats why I ask you to be enlightened, and then you become happy Buddha. Although I understand the reasons why some people want to be vegans or vegetarians, and the health benefits, et cetera, I believe that meditation and enlightenment is for all regardless of diet customs, and can take whatever form necessary for each individual. What is Your answer to this? Cool! Cool! We all go eating pork and cow, and become like zoo-Buddha or something. We house all these animals in here and make a zoo out of us. Thats cool! Why not? You could also be enlightened and make a zoo out of yourselves; but animal energy is not very suitable for a spiritual being if he wants to go higher. The higher you go, the less luggage you must carry. And animal energy is very heavy because they love life and they also fear death. Of course, animals are also spiritual beings; they understand. If you are truly, really, in a very desperate place and you need food, and you talk to them; theyll lay down their life for you, every one of them! Its just that most of us, we kill without mercy; we kill without reason, and we eat just for the sake of getting fat, I guess not even getting healthy, excuse me! Yes, and then spend a lot of money going to clubs and diet, and jumping up and down; spend a lot of money and time to get all of this poison out of the system later; and then go to the hospital get needles, get knives, get electric shock and all that, just because we eat too much of what we should not do. Besides, all lives are one, so if we kill someone, its like we cut our finger. Its just that were blind right now. We dont see, we dont feel it, just like the finger is numb, we dont feel the nerves. But we do hurt ourselves whenever we hurt anyone, even plants and all that. It is the minimum that we could do to survive, and thats why we eat vegetables. But vegetables, they have less fear. They have 90% water, and if you cut one stem, they spring three, four, five more. So sometimes, you even need to cut the head in order for the plant to grow bigger. So this is more logical that we could rely on them to survive so that we can develop ourselves spiritually, but not without permission from all these plants: If we cut the plant or tree, we talk to them first. That is what we do. Say that 'Im sorry, we need you. With your
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permission, and we are grateful.' Thats how we should eat even vegetables. We should be grateful for everything that we take physically from this life, because were not making any of them we just take them. But we must meditate in order to bless it, to bless the planet so that it will grow back in abundance again. Q. M. Does meditation work for those who steal and take drugs? Steal? If you are hungry... if you are hungry, its okay. And drugs, you dont need to take drugs in order to feel not hungry, so its not a necessity, yes? Jesus said that the one who steals for bread is not guilty. I say the same. But drug is not a necessity, and it damages your body, your brain, and it damages the happiness of your relationship with your family and other friends. It is better to be away from it. Today, its easy to cure yourself of drugs addiction. Just enlist yourself to drugs or alcohol anonymous; theyll help you. Clean yourself so that you will be whole again. Thank You for coming to New Zealand. When we feel intense fear, what is the reason for this? What is life trying to tell us? It depends, it depends. If you are in a fearful situation, that is all right to feel fear, but just we have to not let the fear overcome us so that we are paralyzed and do not know how to react a better way. Fear is a natural emotion. Fear, love are natural emotions, you dont have to suppress it; you just have to understand it and handle it. For example, you think I dont have fear? I do! I fear to come here and I dont know what to talk to you I fear that I dont know how to make you understand what I understand. I really did fear. Today I arrived early and then I went to have tea in a shop because I didnt have anything since yesterday, and then I saw a lot of people, they sit there and have tea and they talk about all kinds of things, and I was wondering, 'How am I going to tell all these people about God? Do they really care about God? They are so happy with their physical life, whom am I going to talk to, and what?' But then I still do it, you see? I have fear, but I go through it; not that I dont have it. We have fear but we have to go through it. If it is a fearful situation, we have to think, 'Okay, what can we do to make it better?' If its a fearful person, we try to use love to overcome his own fear. The person who is sometimes bad to us, makes us fearful, because he himself is an insecure person. So it depends on the situation. Anyway, even if we have fear, we must calm down and think, 'Okay, okay, I have fear, but now, what must I do in this kind of situation to get myself out of this fear?' You have to take control of yourself to get rid of the fear. Take control of yourself means, okay, deal with the situation so that we become secure, better, and then the fear will disappear. We cannot suppress the fear, we have to deal with it, make it better. If God is inside of me, then I am God. So when I want to do something dangerous, stupid things, does it mean God controls me or wants me to do these bad things? And should I do it? Nope! There is God inside us, but because we work through the brain sometimes the brain is bad, the computer is damaged and thats why we do bad things. So if we think it is the bad thing, that means the God-voice inside us told us not to do it. If you already know its bad, that means its bad, its no good, dont do it. Okay? Sometimes, you drive your car, you have the first class drivers license, and you drive perfectly, but sometimes your cars damaged, the engines dead or the tire blows out. You cannot blame yourself for all these. Its not the driver; its the car, you see? So if its good driving, everything, then the driver is good, the car is good. If the car blows out or everything, then the engine is bad, the car is bad, the driver is still good! So you make the distinction between the driver
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and the car, between God and the brain, then there will be no problem. If its bad, dont do it. If its good, do it right away. Very simple. Q. M. Q. M. What do divine love and human love have in common? Human love is a part of divine love. Yes, a small part, a small part. And if two persons, when they love each other unconditionally, that is the divine love in action also. Do we go through many lifetimes and collect karmic deeds along the way? Does reincarnation exist? Yes, it does. It does. We dont collect, really, karmic deeds; we just experience different things. We have chosen to do this, to do that, just to experience, yes? And once we finish, and we dont want it any more, we return to God, we remember ourselves thats when we become enlightened. Why is it that though we are all equal in Gods creation, some of us suffer so much misery while certain others, though they have a life of evil misdeeds, materially prosper? Well, its because of different paths that we have chosen. When we gain material wealth or comfort, that doesnt mean we are blessed or we are anything good, because soon well die, well leave everything behind. If we gain spiritual knowledge and wealth, that is the everlasting one. So do not envy those who only acquire material possession but have nothing for their soul, because soon they will be empty. But you, even though you dont have much of material acquisition but are rich in your heart, have great love, great compassion, great knowledge and wisdom. Like the Buddha, like Jesus, they were walking on bare feet; they didnt have any money, they didnt have cars, they didnt have anything and people fell at their feet to worship them. People listened to everything they said and are still worshipping them 2-3,000 years later. Who is the richer? The millionaires out there? Or Jesus, or Buddha? You know already the answer, yes? Theres no need to compare ourselves with others; we have to know what we are worth inside. That is important. What is Your definition or understanding of 'hell'? I dont want to understand. No, hell is when we suffer or when we cause suffering to someone else. Hell is not just a place, though some people do go there to suffer because they want to clear themselves of some misconception while they were alive. You know we are our own selves, God, so we judge ourselves if we did some terrible things in life. Sometimes we choose to go to some purification places just like the hospital, cut off all the bad cells, and then you become healthy again. So hell is a place of suffering, and it could be on this physical planet as well. When you go through intense pain, mentally or physically, or when you cause intense pain to someone else, even animals, that is hell for that person. From my understanding, the way to practice Quan Yin method is by meditation. I am wondering how meditation can help to change the world to be peaceful and in harmony an ideal world. Yes, thats the right question. Meditation doesnt change the world; it changes you. And then, if everyone changes themselves, the world becomes peaceful. We only make war because we are not peaceful ourselves, because we could not know the person next to us
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is God. We could not realize that we are God and we could not realize that the one we kill, we shoot, we torture, is also God, and thats why the world is not peaceful. Once we meditate it doesnt mean you have to meditate you have to enter yourself, and I have to show you that. I have to reconnect you with your True Self, then that is true meditation, not just sit there like a statue. You have to really reconnect with God first and then that is a true meditation. Once that has taken place, your being is changed forever. You become a peaceful example of a walking God on this planet, and even if you dont do anything, people see you, they feel peace, and they want to learn what did you do that makes you feel what you are. They want to be around you; they want to take advice from you; they want to learn your example, and thats how the world will become peaceful. All right? Its very logical, nothing mysterious. Q. M. Is praying meditation? Yes, yes! It is a kind of meditation. But praying is only a 'one-way' meditation, like we talk, talk, talk to God, 'Oh, God! God, please do this, do that...' But we dont hear what Hes says, thats why 'one-way'. Meditation is a 'two-way' communication. We offer our pain, our sorrow, our happiness, our gratitude to God, and Hes in turn lets us know what we should do next; or we have communication, we have connection with God. And praying is just talk, talk, talk, one person, we dont hear what God says at all. But in meditation we hear, we know. Hes guides us; Hes brightens our lives with a thousand suns inside; Hes makes us shining, loving, wise, humorous, beautiful, inside out. Thats the difference. Is our destiny fixed? Yes and no. Yes and no. There are two kinds of destiny: One is still in store, waiting; the other one is already written for this lifetime. Thats why you are born in a certain family and have to walk the way you do and experience pain and pleasure the way you do. But even then, you can correct that. Once we go into a higher level, we can look down and see whats wrong in our life and then we can fix the different departments and make our lives better. Thats why meditating people, they become happier and their lives smoother; theyre clearer and everythings better for them automatically. 'Seek you first the kingdom of God and all the things shall be added unto you,' thats what it means. Can You please teach me how to love? I cant, but you can teach yourself by going in the Ocean of Love, which you are, by remembering it, by going back into it, swimming in it every day, saturating yourself with blessings from heaven beloved by God, feel loved by our Father then you will be loving automatically. I cant teach you, not even in a thousand years, because you are love incarnated you are already love. No one can teach you. You just awaken, remember, walk the way you should be as a loving being, as a representative of God, then you will know love. If a person who, in a previous life, has done some bad things, what should he do to liberate in this life, and where can he liberate to, and for how long? The only thing you should do is just know yourself, okay? Doesnt matter how bad you have been in the past, it doesnt matter. Doesnt matter how long this hall has been dark, tonight they just lit the light and everything is brilliant again, even if it has been dark here for 300 years. It doesnt matter at all. Get enlightened and everything else is clear.
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Experience the Divine 2000 Ocean of Love Lecture Tour Q. M. Why is God so hidden, so hard to realize or hard to find?
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Hes is not! My God! Hes is dying to come out to shake hands with you! Its just you dont look for Hirm. Quiet yourself, like ten minutes, twenty minutes, half an hour, one hour, two hours, a day, and then Hes appears, immediately. Just look into where God is and dont look into the world. Meditation means we retire from the world for a while; doesnt mean go into Himalayas, but retire inside, forget the world, forget every trouble for a while and then remember God, then God will come. Yes, honey? Finished? Cool!
MC. All finish. M. Yes! Good! Thank you so much for your love and your patience! [MC: Thank You!] You are a wonderful audience! You can take some fruit if you like to. Youve been sitting so long, maybe you feel tired and dry. Theyre all yours! Thank you and God bless you! God already does!
[Master speaks with initiates after the lecture.]

You guys! You want to sit here with me? Come here. Yes. Sit anywhere. You look like a monk! Baby, come here! Here, you want some cake for your mother? Okay, then sit there if you want. So cute! So nice of kids to do this, so nice! Later we share, yes? [Audience: Yes!] We share all this, yes? Make it dry and hang it there, yes? Some people put them in tea; I dont recommend, because some flowers I dont know if theyre safe. Thank you, darling! Hey, baby! Thank you! You can help yourselves to the candies here if you want. Thank you! Beautiful... Oh my God! Thank you so much! Thank you! I am sorry, guys, if you didnt come to the stage, but here is fine, too! Yes! How come you are so good? You know why you are so good? Because you are me! Yes! We get on fabulously well because we are one! Thanks! You know the nature of the soul is not that 'I am here and I have one soul in here' its not like that! My soul is bigger than just in here. It might be all over here; it might be all me, you understand? But it looks different. I know, I know... Its not like, okay, God is one and everybody is one with God its not in that sense. Its in the sense that one individual can have a great soul that encompasses many so-called bodies. Understand? So we can happen to identify, just like each other. Just like sometimes we have two persons, but they think exactly the same thing at the same moment. That is because that is one soul, not because they are one with God or they are one with each other, but they are one soul, just like twins, you see. Theyre like soul mates, something like that. But soul mates dont necessarily mean only one; means a lot, a lot of them... can be a lot. Because some great souls, they encompass a lot, a lot of other beings for their own purposes. Therefore, we feel like brothers and sisters; we feel like one. Sometimes you feel very good with your sister or your brother, your mother, your father, because thats you. You make it become family, but its only one, one soul as many individuals. Understand? No? No. Thats all right. But thats why, sometimes we say, 'I have affinity with that person,' or 'she is my soul mate,' 'he is my soul mate,' because its you, it is really you! I mean, thats your individual soul group in one soul, see what I mean? Apart from that, we are one with God and one with everybody else. We have also individual soul which can house many... big group of people as just one soul, but it looks different. No? You dont understand? Never mind! Its okay! You do understand? Yes! So thats why sometimes we feel so good with a group of people. The more were with them, the more we feel strengthened, because were at home with ourselves; we are together, were pieced together, you see? No wonder we work so well. Can you imagine, you are me? I love you so much! [Audience: We love You too!] Sometimes I do miss you a lot. Some people, The Quan Yin Method The Key of Immediate Enlightenment and Eternal Liberation
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especially some people if I know a long time, or even like one of the residents die or something, I know I can see her anytime, but its different. You see what I mean? Its different, like I cannot keep calling her, 'Come on down here and visit me!' Its not fair. But when were physically together, we can. See what I mean? And sometimes... so nice, so nice people that I also want to stay there with them forever. Just like, for example now, I invite some representatives, some contact persons to my room and we share some food, eat together they eat together, I share the food and they eat together and its just so nice; feels like family and feels like they are so good. I also love to be around good people, it makes you feel good, too. It makes you feel life is worth living and everything you do is really worthwhile. Its really, really nice. So I also did not want them to leave and I also did not want to leave New Zealand; I just get sentimental like that. And perhaps you do feel like that when we are not together, and in some moments like that, I understand how you feel, but otherwise, most of the time I dont feel the separateness between us at all. And I do not feel that the world needs me even. Ive told you that many times, but its difficult for you to understand. Some people keep telling me, 'Its difficult to know if Youre a true Master or not.' I said, 'Hey, its good! Its good that you dont know, so I dont have to work so hard!' No problem! I only do it just because you ask me to, or people ask me to. How can you tell? You look like me your nose in the middle and two eyes and two ears you cant tell. And I dont make miracles. I dont make anything to attract you at all. I just sit in a coffee shop, sometimes drinking... and if you want, I come here sometimes, to talk to you. Today I sat in a coffee shop, just like everyone else, and I felt really like everyone else. I felt like, 'How am I going to talk to these people that I have never met and might never meet again?' And they don't even know anything about spirituality, and no vegetarian experience, nothing. I was thinking how I am going to do that. You rather sit here. [Audience: Yes.] At least you sit together and encourage each other to nod off, better than you sit there and 'nod' alone; its lonely, right? So then, you have maybe more kids, work harder than before, have more money, some of you, better jobs, or even if you have the same money, you know how to manage it better; and you have more than before. You travel more than you ever did before and with the same money, because you just know how to do things better and therefore, youre just happier. You have more than before, even though it may be the same. You see, I have read an article in a magazine, 'How to become a millionaire.' Do you want to hear? It is very logical. We give a lot of money away not a lot for us its a lot. Well, actually it is also a lot, millions of dollars is not little money in this world. Even though we cant compare to Bill Gates, we are different 'gates'. We are also 'gates' 'Quan Yin Fa-men'! 'Quan Yin Fa-men' means 'the gate to heaven,' 'the gate to the world of God.' So, anyhow, were also 'gates'. We also donate a lot of money from our capacity. Other people think also a lot, I mean not a lot compared to a lot of others, a lot of people or the World Bank, but a lot for what we earn, for the ordinary action of people. Most people dont give like that. So I do give, and a lot of people think that I am very rich and I am also, but I am not as rich as they think I am, which is good. But if they have come to us... Suppose, if they were me and have that kind of money, they wont look that rich and they wont be able to give that much. Not because they dont want to, its just they dont know how to manage you see? dont know how to manage so that it will stretch out like that. So when I read that article, I think its cool! I did it all already. How to become a millionaire, I knew it all already. Because its just natural; some people have it naturally. But it is because we are also enlightened, we also practice the enlightened way and the way of love, and we have very few wants in this world. You see, just like the way you are now. Before, you have a lot, but you think you dont have enough. And now, however much you have, you can manage; you still can come to New Zealand or Thailand, or wherever the retreat, provided you have holidays. You can always manage, and thats the wonder. And you feel always enough and you feel always loved. I am only one, but all of you feel that I love you alone, love enough, or have enough love for everyone. It is because we practice the way of love and we The Quan Yin Method The Key of Immediate Enlightenment and Eternal Liberation
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just know how to have enough. Its just like how to save money to become richer not because you earn more money, not necessarily, but you save more. You want less of the unnecessary things and then you save more money. So when you save one dollar, its just like you earn one more dollar. Do you understand this? And its even better than earning one dollar more, because when you save one dollar, you dont need to go to work for that. You just cut out some unnecessary things. Before, you go out and buy everything, now you have to think carefully. Before, you go out and buy everything, now you go just straight to the tofu save money, save time, save making it. Before, we cooked all kinds of things, now just tofu, chap choy, and then tomorrow, chap choy, tofu. Yes? Simple. Simple life. And before, you go everywhere, maybe you need to book a hotel for yourself and your husband, and its also a lot of money. Now, you just pack a tent, camp out there cool, fresh air, natural. Oxygen a lot around you when you camp under the tree, camp on the grass; feel good, light and economic also. We live together, were happy; we dont need to stay in a big hotel to be happy. In fact, were happier than when we stay in a big hotel because we have common ideas, interests. We love each other and we just feel so good; and the natural air and the food, healthy, make us feel so good, you see? The money, you didnt earn more. You dont have to earn more money just know how to live your life because you only have one life, this life. Whether I say the truth or not, you have heaven or not, or you have reincarnation or not, this life is all you know, right? And if you dont manage well, you cannot live freely and you cannot feel happy about it. You have to do what you really want and what is good for you. Of course, you would tell me that you can do anything you want its not true. Whats good for you is what you should do. Vegetarian is healthy, right? Meditation calms your nerves, makes you more bright and clever and loving thats good for you. Its not that you do anything you want. Of course, we can do anything we want, but whats good for us, thats what the clever people would do. Saving money is better than earning money. Anything you save is like you earn, except that you dont have to go out and work for it and pay tax on it even. See? Anything you earn is yours, and then you can do everything you want: You can give yourself something you like or give to the needy people. Thats what we do. We do all the time. I do also. What I told you, I do. I dont always do it so that it is written in the magazines. Most of the things I do are not written in the magazines. It is written because some people happened to be there and knew it and then reported it, or it is official, like concert, and everybody has to know. Thats how it is. Otherwise, I do it every day, every time, every chance, so that one of the attendants laughed at me. He said, 'Master, how come this meal is so expensive? Its the most expensive restaurant I have ever seen.' You know why? Because when we went in there, we saw some homeless people they were looking for garbage and I gave like $500 and thats what he said, 'My God! Just eating some French fries and two colas, thats it! $500!' So he made jokes about it all the time. He said, 'Okay! Next time when You say You want to take me out, I know which is the most expensive restaurant!' Most of the time we see homeless people, they hang around there or they look in the garbage I cannot bear it so I give them some, I give what I have. So he made jokes. He said, 'What? We eat only two French fries and two medium colas, and then we even have to serve ourselves and even stand in line and so expensive!' So these things we do because we love other people, because they are us anyway. So theres nothing to talk about. But sometimes, of course, we write it in magazines because also other disciples need to learn from the example. Also, most of the things that I do are open, so people can know. Just so we know the things that we do, just like you tell me what you do and so the news reports what I do to you, so that we get in touch, we know each others way of life and things like that. Like, knowing each other not because to boast for everybody else to know. If to boast for everybody else to know, we should put it in Reuters or like big news company, not just write it in our small magazine. The Quan Yin Method The Key of Immediate Enlightenment and Eternal Liberation
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But this is a way of life that we do that all the time. It should be the way of life and everyone should do that, and I am very proud of you that you do that all the time. I know that. I know you do that individually, and still you have enough money to spare to come here or to go to retreat or come see me whenever possible. You see? Your life becomes richer or not? [Audience: Yes!] Yes! I give all the time and I still have a lot; I mean, for me, its a lot. What do I need? When I come to see you, of course I wear this. Its my own design, so its for fun. When I am not with you, I just throw it quickly because its heavy, I dont really like it. And I eat maybe once or twice a day, whatever leftover or whatever new. If its new, I eat; if its leftover, I eat. What can I need? Thats why I still have a lot of money because I dont spend much, not because I earn more. See? Its just like you, you earn just like before, you might even have more kids now than before, but you still have more money, you still feel life is more rich for you than before, right? Feel more satisfied, more enough, right? Yes! That is the trick. A lot of people who are millionaires, nobody knows, and everybody thinks to be a millionaire is difficult its not! And especially, people who are already millionaires, they keep themselves that way because they are very natural. They are frugal, they dont even drive expensive new cars. They just buy secondhand cars so they dont have to pay luxury tax, for example, and they just drive normal cars. Most millionaires, they dont drive expensive cars. They drive Ford or reasonable, safe cars, cheap even, or anything thats safer. They dont really live the way we think millionaires should do, because otherwise their money goes fast even if theyre millionaires. So they save a lot; theyre looking for ways to save, like, they go with what kind of car that uses less petrol, or they stay in some neighborhood or some house that they can afford you see what I mean? so that they dont drain out their savings. A lot of ways, they just save here and there, and their money is always stable, yes. And some people who dont earn a lot but spend a lot, drive fast cars and all that they really have a lot, a lot: But a lot of credit, a lot of mortgage and debt. And the millionaire people who drive normal cars, they know how to organize their lives so they wont be in debt. A lot of millionaires live next door to you, you dont know, because they dont flash around. Yes, they know what theyre doing. They know the value of money and they dont just always spend it. Its just theyre naturally that way, and thats why they become rich. Theyre naturally rich, they naturally know how to handle money. They know how to organize their money they dont spend all their earnings so they can leave some for investment, and then just in no time you become rich. For example, you put $10,000 today, ten years later, it becomes $50,000 invested in some banks; that is slow, for example. But otherwise, they go and risk, and do their own business and thats how they become rich faster, but its more risky. But thats life, either you take risk or you just live an ordinary life, very slow, and day to day just earn that much money. But still, if you can manage well, youre okay. Its just life is more simple now. Yes, tofu is cheaper than beefsteak, no? Just a little bit different, just a piece of tofu instead of a piece of meat in there. You eat healthy; youre okay. Look at me. You all look at the lady, the MC, shes so beautiful and shes a vegetarian. I told her many times to stand by for photograph. But all of you look good, too, and I am proud of you. You are proud of yourselves. Come out and say, 'I am a vegetarian. Look at me!' Right? Thats good! Youre very beautiful. Once youre beautiful inside, people see you beautiful outside that is normally the case, yes! But continue with your practice. Your life is better and better, I need not tell you. Im just saying that in case somebody doesnt know yet, they can verify with you. Your life is an example of love and of spiritual blessing; theres no need to even preach to anybody. They just look at your life, the way you walk your life, the way you present yourself to the world that is better than a thousand books talking about spiritual issues. You are the book, you are the best example, best doctrine, best religious theory ever presented to anybody.
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There was a story. In Mexico, there was a Master, long time ago Hes very famous. Quetzalcoatl, right? Hes Mexican. He told a story to his disciples, like, there were two men in the same group and one was very, very diligent and looked like very religious. He went to the church every Sunday, and he was the first one in line in any holy activities and the last one to leave. He never missed any opportunity to go to the church, but he never did anything else. And one guy, he never went to the church, but he went to work every day and he did whatever was his duty, and then whatever he earned, he took care of his family, also gave away to the poor people, and he even gave to the church too, to repair the church. So Quetzalcoatl said that the man who never went to the church, that guy is holy, that guy is already a church himself. But the guy who went to the church every day, he just went there. Because everybody respected the guy who went to the church very much, thinking he was very holy, and spoke lowly of the guy who never went to the church. But, actually, he was going out to take care of all of the churches in his area, whatever he could do, and he sometimes worked extra so that he could earn a little extra money so then he could give to whoever again. That was what he did every day. So the Master said, 'The first one goes to church all right, but the second one, he is the church himself.' Yes! So we can be churchgoers or a church ourselves, its up to us. I think all of you are the churches, I dont need to build any churches. People ask me, 'Why You dont have any churches or any temples?' I said, 'I dont need! I have millions of them running around!' I said, 'Nowadays, its the modern times, fast technology, everything is mobile: Mobile phone, mobile home, mobile car, mobile temple...' You are my mobile temples. We can communicate any time, go anywhere very flexible. Bricks are only fixed at one place; we run around. We are the runaround temples! That is very cool! I was thinking about something else... I forgot. Well, just the same, I guess. What I forgot; its gone. Sometimes it comes so fast... the inspiration from the Master, from God, comes so fast, my mouth, I cant talk quick enough. I already talk faster and faster every day already. You meet me like ten years or fifteen years ago, I didnt talk like this. I talked like you, like, 'Hallo, Master! How are You? So nice to see You.' See? Now I talk like, 'Hallo! How are you?' 'Okay? Okay!' 'Fine! Fine!' I talk quick; I dont have time. I talk on the phone like that, too, because so many things to do. And when I talk with you, sometimes I talk so fast, thats why we need tapes so that you can review it and listen, 'What did She say before?' Talking, everybody can, but living... Living what you talk is harder. And you can do all that: You can talk as well and you can do as well, and thats whats great about you. I told you! I told you I came to make you great! Whether I am great or not is of no consequence, because I am only one! A great Master, a great teacher, is not the one who makes himself great but who makes everybody else great. Yes, right! If your students are good, that means youre good; otherwise, its no good no use! So whether I am great or not doesnt matter, as long as youre great, thats fine. And if by your grace, by your greatness, I become also great, then thank you very much! I like that, too. But to tell you honestly, if all the world is enlightened I would be happy just to be a private citizen.
THE LIGHT KEEPER 2

[From five centuries before Christ, Sri Lanka has been a land throbbing with vitality and a well-ordered civilization. Arians from North India who first settled on this island developed a unique hydraulic civilization and enormous pyramid-like Stupa architecture. An island south of India, its cities, palaces, temples, monasteries, monuments and works of art bare testament to the character, imagination, culture, philosophy, and faith of the people of Sri Lanka, the Resplendent Land. According to historical chronicles inscribed on stone leaflets, and the Dipavamsa, Mahavamsa, and the Chulavamsa, Sri Lankas history is quite exceptional and legendary. Even the legendary vegetarian King Asoka the Great of India made his mark in Sri Lankan history.
2. Public lecture, Colombo, Sri Lanka, April 29th, 2000 (Originally in English).
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During Her 'Experience the Divine Ocean of Love' lecture tour in Asia and Oceania in 2000, Supreme Master Ching Hai accepted the invitation of sincere Truth aspirants to visit this beautiful country and share Her wisdom and knowledge of the universe. We invite you to enjoy the wisdom-filled lecture entitled, 'The Light Keeper,' delivered by Supreme Master Ching Hai in Colombo, Sri Lanka on April 29th , 2000.]
MC. Please welcome Supreme Master Ching Hai. M. Before we begin, let's close our eyes, and pray for the peace, happiness of the people of Sri Lanka. Thank you. The people of Sri Lanka have peace and happiness also already within their hearts. We just pray for some of the people who have not found this happiness within themselves. Therefore, they cause some suffering to other people. But they also will find peace and happiness, because we have no choice except to find peace and happiness. There is no other choice better than finding peace and happiness inside, which is our Buddha Nature. We can try many ways to live our life. We can try to use violence, we can try to use force, we can try to use unreasonable measures to think that we can get what we want. But finally we all have to make the great choice, that is, to come back to our own Self, to our Buddha Nature. The way of the Buddha is always the way of peace and love. The way of the saints since time immemorial is always peace and love. That's our True Self. Some people attain peace and love through samadhi, through meditating deeply. Some people attain it through deep prayers. When the Buddha came to this world, He came to show us that we are also the Buddha. In the Buddhist sutras, it is mentioned that enlightenment is like a candle, as a light, which passes from one to another. Hence, we still have the light-lighting ceremony. That is why some of the people, although they have heard of the name of the Buddha, they have studied the scriptures of the Enlightened One, they have still not found peace and happiness because maybe their light has not been lit. Enlightenment is likened to lighting another candle with another already alighted candle. By remembering our own Buddha Nature, we can remind everyone else of their own Buddha Nature, because we are all born from Buddhahood. That's why Buddha had told us that 'I am already the Buddha. You are the future ones.' The Buddha said that the Buddha Nature in himself and the Buddha Nature in us are exactly the same. And that is why we could also become Buddha, as the Enlightened One has spoken. The reason why we have not seen our own Buddha Nature is because we have not tried. If we sincerely want to try, we will be shown the way. In the Diamond Sutra, it is mentioned that no matter how long the room has been dark it takes just one second, when the light is there the whole darkness is gone. If we have neglected our Light within us then, of course, we have not seen that. In the Surangama Sutra, the Buddha said that we should turn inward to hear our own Nature. That is exactly what the Buddha said, 'Turn inward and hear your own Nature.' The Light that has been passed on from the Buddha has never died. It is just like from one candle it goes to the next and the next, and the next, it keeps going on forever. And we have to find where it was last lit, then we can be lightened just the same. The Light is the essence of our being; it's our own Buddha Nature. Everything that is noble, holy, powerful, that is the Buddha Nature. That is the Light of the whole universe.
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That is why we say 'enlightenment.' And the one who is enlightened, we call them the Enlightened Ones, the Buddha. Different religions point to this Buddha Nature by different names. It is because due to the different languages, different expressions, of the different countries where the Light has been lighted. So sometimes we misunderstand each other about religious terminologies, but they are only just empty words. For example, in India we call the Enlightened One the Buddha. In Sri Lanka, same. So the Buddha means 'Enlightened One' in English. And in Hebrew, they call it 'Christ.' The Buddha Nature becomes Christ power in English, in Hebrew. And in Sri Lanka, we call the teacher 'guru' and in English they call 'teacher.' In many different languages, it is different terminology. It's the same person. Therefore, sometimes because of this very limited human language, we misunderstand each other and have sometimes so-called religious dispute. But all the teachers, all the gurus, doesn't matter where he was born, he was the light keeper for the next to come. Everyone will come to that person to light himself, like many candles become lit with one already lit candle, because the Buddha's Light, the universal Light, never dies out. The Light keeps being upheld in different places one day India, the next generation maybe Sri Lanka, and the next decade maybe in Germany, and the next will be in Jerusalem, et cetera, et cetera. It has to circulate so that the whole world will know the Light, the whole world will be awakened. It cannot be kept in one country or in one temple all the time because the whole world has to know the Light. It's like water, it's like rain, it has to be in different places at different times to bless the whole beings of this planet. So, it doesn't matter where the Light is kept at present; if we want our Light to be lit, we should go there. Everyone wants to know what the Buddha Nature is, everyone wants to know what God is. The scripture of all good religions has mentioned where to find Buddha Nature, where to find God; that is, within ourselves. The Buddha resides in this temple, God resides in this church. That's why we have nothing inside but Buddha Nature, nothing but God. So we are truly Buddhas, we are truly God's children. But there is one thing that separates us from ourselves, from our own Buddha Nature, from our own Godliness that is the ego, that is the mind. Because the mind is just like a machine, it's like a computer. It records all kinds of things, and it broadcasts the same thing out again. But the mind can only understand written language, can only record the worldly information and cannot understand about Buddha Nature. Therefore, in order to find our own True Nature, we have to bypass the mind, or go through the mind, but not dwell in the mind. We have to go through. If we use the mind, we will be only running around in worldly language, worldly knowledge, worldly habit, and worldly customs. And even if we read the Buddhas scriptures or the Holy Bible, we will not always understand everything that is written in there, or we misunderstand a lot. Not all of us, many of us. Because whatever is written by the Buddha can only be understood by another Buddha. Truly understanding, not theoretically or guessing. Therefore, in order to understand the Buddha's teachings, we must also try to become a Buddha. If all the people who are following any religion become like the teacher, become like Christ, become like Buddha, then we'll never have any war between religions even. So, in order to become a Buddha, we have to understand that everything that has to do with written words, everything that has to do with the mind, the brain, is not truly the Buddha Nature. We have to go right through to see our own Self with our own Self wisdom, with our own wisdom, not with the mind. I like to show you how to find your Buddha Nature, and it's very simple because you already are the Buddha! You already have Buddha Nature, therefore, it's very easy for me to show you where. The problem with us is because we keep listening to the mind, all the information of the world and all the habits we collect, that we forget where to look for own true Buddha Nature, our own wisdom, our godly quality. So, the moment that we forget the The Quan Yin Method The Key of Immediate Enlightenment and Eternal Liberation
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mind, forget all the worldly burdens and language and problems, and preconceived ideas, we will find the Buddha Nature. I will show you how. And when I show you how, it is not by talking to you that you'll know; it's showing in silence from the Buddha to the Buddha, from the Buddha Nature to the Buddha Nature. And at that instant, if you really concentrate well, you will see the Buddha Nature right away, which is the Light, which is the heavenly teaching, the Buddha's teaching without language. And you will be enlightened immediately. Not only do we see the Light, which is our own Nature, we also hear the teachings, our own Nature which the Buddha mentioned in the Surangama Sutra that all the Buddhas rely on this sound stream, this inside knowledge, inside teaching to come down to teach the sentient beings. And all the sentient beings have to rely on this holy sound, holy vibration, holy teaching, the inside teaching to go back to the Buddha's land. We will all become Quan Yin Bodhisattvas because we will all listen to the Sound that the Quan Yin Bodhisattva has listened to. It is difficult to translate this into human language. We call that 'Shabd' in Hindu, in Buddhist scripture. That's not really a sound, because it is not like spoken sound. It is not like guitar sound, it's not like trumpet sound. We hear it inside, without the ears, seeing without the eyes. That is the true knowledge. I am glad that you have studied the teaching of the Buddhas, and you can understand very well what is very difficult for me to explain. Besides, everything I say, it's not very useful. The only useful thing is when I don't say anything, and then just show you, and let you know your Self-Nature in a special way. To do that we have to quiet down for a while. But we can do that right after this. And whatever I told you, you will see, you will. This is just introduction, like you will see the Light, you will hear the heavenly teaching, the heavenly inside vibration, music, melody, whatever I cannot explain. And you can even see Buddha's land, you can even see the Buddhas coming back not coming back here, but we ascend into a higher dimension, where the Buddhas still are, and then we can learn with the Buddhas, we can learn with Jesus Christ, we can learn with all the past Masters who have left our physical planet. We see the Buddha on the lotus, we see Jesus with Light, we see heaven, we can listen to the direct teaching from them. We will see some Light that is equal to thousands of the sun of this planet, but it will never blind our eyes and will never burn our being. These are the Lights that are mentioned in the Buddhist sutras when it tells us that when we die, we should follow this bright Light and don't be afraid, and don't follow the dim light because dim light leads us to astral, 'asura' world, and the brighter Light leads us to Buddha's land, to heaven. But, of course, everyone sees differently because the concentration power is different. The sincerity of each person is different, the karma of each person is different; therefore, we might see different things while we are trying to concentrate and go inside. But everyone will experience a glimpse of Buddha Nature, a glimpse of heaven. Just to begin with, and then we do more every day. So I hope I have explained a little bit of the unexplainable thing. And the only thing left is that you have to experience this thing yourself. You have to experience your own greatness, your own Buddha Nature because these things cannot be talked about, cannot be explained in any language at all. It is just like I am drinking water and I talk about water it is cool, it's refreshing, it quenches your thirst, but you must also drink it in order to understand. You drink more, you drink less, it depends on your thirst, but you have to drink. And if you are not thirsty, of course, you don' drink. Then you don't know what I am talking about. But anyway, I think you do. You remember, because everything I said today is nothing new. Our souls understand, our Buddha Nature understands. Even if we don't drink, we remember the taste of water, because all of us have drunk water at one time or another. It's just that we have forgotten, for a long time we did not drink.
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Just like Buddha Nature, we have ignored it, we have neglected it for so long, that we did not even dream of becoming Buddha. We think we are just very lowly human beings. In fact the one who lives in this temple is Buddha. There is only Buddha who lives in here, no one else. That's why the Buddha says you have to love everyone and respect everyone, because everyone is truly Buddha, whether he knows it or not. But only the Buddha can see that. In order to truly love everyone, we must also become Buddha or partially Buddha first. Actually, not become Buddha, remembering that we are the Buddha. Only when we see truly inside that we have Buddha Nature, then we can know, we can remember that we are Buddha. It doesn't matter how long I sit here and tell you and talk to you, tell you, 'You are Buddha, you are Buddha, you are Buddha,' you still don't see Buddha nowhere. I'm going to show you. But we don't have a lot of time here, so maybe just a few minutes. That's even enough for you to see something. And if you want to know more, if you study more deeply about how to remember yourself as a Buddha again, how to open your love to all mankind again, we have to go through a process called initiation so that we can explain all in detail, and you have to do more meditation every day, to contemplate on your own Buddha Nature. It took the Buddha six years, maybe it takes us ten years! No, the Buddha took six years, because people taught Him the wrong way until the last method that He found, then He got enlightened immediately. Only the direct recognition of Buddha Nature can make us enlightened. Every other method is just like cooking sand; it will never become rice. Thank you so much for being so attentive. I see that the people of Sri Lanka are really, really very eager for Buddha's knowledge. So I don't want to talk a lot any more because it's useless to talk, just introduction. If you have any question, I'm very pleased to answer. And if you want to see your own Buddha Nature, I'd be pleased, very pleased to show you, either short, a few minutes or long, two, three hours for the whole thing. It's up to you. Q. I am fully satisfied of the introduction of the Truth as Light and Sound. My interest is not for worldly fame or gain, nor for rebirth. I am of the conviction that the vibration should begin in the physical body of the meditating student, prior to the universal force comes on the influence of the universal power. Can You use Your influence on me to expedite this process? Yes, sure, that's what I'm here for, to light another candle. Yes, sure, of course. Maybe we do it later, when everyone else is already satisfied. Or, if you're eager to know right now, you can go out. Any of our people can show you. If you want to get initiation, you may begin already. Even if I am here, it doesn't matter because the Buddha Nature doesn't need the physical person to be there. But the Buddha Nature is pervading everywhere. And if you don't want initiation, you just want a short experience and you cannot wait, you can also go out and ask one of my people. They can show you, and you'll experience the same. When I meditate deeply, I am aware of my mindfulness. My question is, how do we continuously maintain that state of mindfulness? Practice, practice. Practice makes the master. Let me know how God and Jesus Christ have helped Your life. Jesus and God have always helped me, still continue to help. And if you want to know how Hes helps me, you have to know how Hes helps you. By being enlightened, you'll know how God loves us, how Jesus guides us every day. If we are not enlightened, even
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Jesus stands next to us, we don't see nothing. He talks to us, we don't hear nothing. We keep praying every day, but we don't listen to what He answers. And so that is not very useful to us. Q. M. Q. M. Q. Do You believe then? Of course! Of course I believe. What is Your religion? Whatever is your religion is exactly my religion. One Japanese prophet has told me that the fifth strength in my life had been blocked, right, energy block. So he cannot go beyond that. So how am I to remove this block, to get rid of this block? What is the method to go upward? Become a Buddha and no more blocks at all. Yes, get enlightened. It takes one or two hours to explain everything so that you can do it every day by yourselves. You will get enlightened immediately. It's just that you have to do more repeating every day because we have forgotten the Buddha for a long time. Now, it takes a longer time to remember. We all have Buddha Nature, but to become a Buddha we have to practice for so many lives. So how can You say that we all are Buddha? That's what the Buddha said, not what I said. The Buddha said that you have Buddha Nature inside, and He and you are equal. And the Buddha said if you practice the Quan Yin method, you can see your Buddha Nature. But also maybe you have practiced many lifetimes already and you don't know. That's why you came here today. This should be your last time, last life. And once you are enlightened, you can see also how many lifetimes you have been practicing. Only you alone can know that when you are enlightened. When there are problems among children and husband and the family members, and when we have those problems, we get furious, we get angry. How can we really get rid of this anger? Become enlightened. All these things come because we don't know that we are the Buddha. We think that we are ordinary humans, very bad, and we think the husband is bad, the children, humans bad, so we just react as human beings. Once we remember that we are the Buddha by knowing inside, by having actual experience, then we will be more calm, more secure, more peaceful, more loving, more tolerant, more compassionate. Then we will see also that the husband, the children are also Buddhas, even though they don't know, then we'll love them, we'll respect them like a Buddha. Master, I am really thrilled to know about God, Allah. I think You are the real person to say this. Please don't miss it. Thank you very much. Too good to be true. From a Muslim, it is very nice. Thank you, brother. May Allah bless you. Yes, Muhammad was a great Master also. Many Masters have come and gone and we are still here. We should hurry up and catch up with them and go up there. I already catch up, how about you? Let's go together, more friends. If I go alone, very lonely.
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Buddha is born all the time! Look at you, look at your neighbors they are all Buddhas. The Buddha was one day wondering, He said to His disciples, 'My Buddha Nature and all the sentient beings' Buddha Nature are all the same. Why don't they see it?' I wonder the same thing. It's so easy, so easy to know that you are the Buddha! We forsake the biggest treasure, and just being busy earning a little dollar here and there. The Buddha even said that once you become enlightened, even your worldly life becomes better, too. Christ said the same, Muhammad said the same. But we just worry that if we follow the Buddha, we will become poor. It's not true. It's not important to be rich or famous. It's just that, by the way, if you're enlightened, you're so intelligent, your life will become better, you're more loving, and everyone will love you more. It just becomes better. Then we can use the money and the possessions we have to give to poor people, help everyone. I am a Christian. I believe in the Holy Spirit, but how will I know the Holy Light in myself? Please explain. Yes, yes, I will! But you have time or not? I tell you when I really explain about your own godly nature, I cannot talk. I have more time to sit with you and then you will know it in silence. Right now, I just explain in worldly language to satisfy the mind's curiosity. It's not the real thing. The real thing, you will be taught in silence later. We know that God and Buddha is within us. But, to achieve that level, we really have a fear. How are we to get rid of this fear? That is just the mind that fears. The mind is always having all kinds of nonsense. We should be the master of the mind, not let the mind tell us what to do because there is nothing to fear. Suppose you become Buddha, you lose nothing, you only gain! You don't have to become a monk if you don't want to. You can, but you don't have to. When the Buddha was alive, He had many disciples, monks, and householders; they all were equally enlightened. So what are you afraid of? I'm so small and I'm a woman, and I'm not afraid. You're bigger and you're afraid. Why? I don't lose anything. I gain more. I become better, I become more intelligent and become more talented. I become richer, so I can have money and help a lot of people, and buy my ticket to travel to come here to see you. All because I have known my Buddha Nature. I did not have all this before! So nothing to lose. These are not important at all. They are not important. They are just a means to help other people. But I just say it as an example so you know that you don't lose any worldly possession. You don't lose anything, you just gain more. Inside and outside, you gain. Good business. Can a woman become a Buddha? Can a woman not become Buddha? Why not? Tell me, why not? Can You finish this ongoing war by Your blessing? No, I cannot. The war is caused by many sentient beings' thoughts together, and they have to finish it themselves. Maybe I can, but I don't want to. Even you don't force your knowledge on your children; you have to teach them to learn by themselves. But we could minimize, we could make it shortened by our enlightened atmosphere. If more people in Sri Lanka practice remembering the Buddha Nature, Sri Lanka will get peace quicker. Of course, that happens. It is better to let things resolve naturally. If I finish this war now by
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force, by supernatural power, a few years later or a few months later, another war will break out, maybe worse. The people who make war, they are also Buddhas. Why should I interfere with their Buddha Nature? They have to realize that war is really unnecessary, and they have to awaken and come to peace with each other, and that's more lasting. Just like inside the family, you have two kids, they fight each other because of misunderstanding. All you can do is tell them that this is a misunderstanding. But if you force them, beat them or use parent's power, say, 'Don't! Don't fight any more!' And they still don't understand each other, they will fight next day. And they will keep the hatred inside, and it's brewing, brewing all the time. It's no good. Q. M. You said that Light could be attained only by two religions, that is, Buddhism and Christianity. What about Muslims and Hindus, can they achieve that Light? Of course, of course! Every one of them are Buddhas, every one of them have God and Christ inside. I just mentioned two for example, otherwise I have to make a list for you. There are hundreds of religions well never finish! You want me to sit here and recite all the religions and we finish in five hours? There are Jainism, there are Sikhism, et cetera. Even inside the Buddhism, there are so many sects. There are Lotus Sutra sect, there are the Western Buddha Land sect, there are the Zen sect, there are the Hinayana sect, the Mahayana sect, et cetera, et cetera. We don't want to make a dictionary here. But I want you to know, mentioned or not mentioned, I am all religions. I have respect for all the past, present and future Masters. Whomever you name, whomever you respect and follow, that is my Master, too. That's my religion also. Because they all taught the same thing. It's just that you have forgotten to look where the sameness is. To follow all these religious activities, does a person need to be a vegetarian? Yes, he does. He can stay in his religion, go to the church, go to the mosque, go to the temple, but he should show compassion for beings. Hence, the vegetarian diet. To be near God, to be near Buddha, we should become compassionate, like the Buddha, like Christ, like God. In Buddhism, those who attain Nirvana (Eternal Bliss) are known as Buddhas. But, as we know, as we have come to know, people who have attained Nirvana are known as Arhats, enlightened ones. What is the difference between these two? It's just different names to call an enlightened person. That's why the Buddha has ten names even. They call Him the Enlightened One, the Buddha, the Arhat, et cetera. Just the respectful term to call a teacher. Is there a way to cure the sicknesses we have in our body? Yes, there is. Become a healer, become a Buddha. They call the Buddha the doctor of all doctors, so you become one and youll have no more sickness. At that time, even if you are still sick, you don't worry. The physical body sickness is not as important as the mind sickness. Master, how do you prevent from becoming an animal, since human beings sometimes become an animal, how do you prevent it?
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Yes, to prevent from being an animal again we have to live like a human being, then we'll never regress. At least, the Buddha has taught us the five precepts to keep yourself in a human standard. Yes, okay. Follow the five precepts, and you don't come back as animals. And follow Buddha Nature, youll never go back to human again. Is this a meditation method in Buddhism that you breathe in, breathe out, and Vipassana? No, it's not about breathing. It's about the inner sound stream. Vipassana is just about the breath and feeling the sensation of the body. We don't worry about the body. When we go in our meditation, we leave the body behind and go there and come back later. Yes, it's not Vipassana. There are three levels of Buddhahood in Buddhism. There is the Gautama Buddha, that Buddhahood. Then there is another Buddhahood who can't explain, but who knows everything, who has attained enlightenment. Then there is another Buddhahood, when they have attained Arhat level only. So there are three Buddhahoods in Buddhism. No, it's not like that. What the Buddha meant is that when you become a Buddha, you attain all three levels the physical level, the spiritual level, and then you can teach also, the theoretical level, you are enlightened enough to teach people. You see, the Buddha has two levels within Himself. Actually, it's not two levels, it's just two manifestations. The Buddha Gautama is the physical manifestation of Buddhahood. And the real Buddha is not visible in this planet, so that is what they call the manifestation body and the physical body. The Buddha has two. And then He teaches by oral teaching, that becomes the Dharma (true teaching). With the oral teaching, the Buddha attracts people to come to listen to Him, so that He can teach the real teaching, which is invisible, which is not speakable. With the physical body, the Buddha imparts His energy to the people who come to Him. With the manifestation body, the Buddha appears everywhere as an omnipresent being to bless every disciple, everyone who prays to Him. That's why the Buddha is also called the 'omnipresent one.' Anybody who is in this physical body and has attained this omnipresent state is called a Buddha. And the people can see these two manifestations of the Buddha. Disciples can see the Buddha in the physical body and in meditation at home they can also see the manifestation of the Buddha come there and teach them not the physical body; the manifestation body, but it looks like the physical body. And because of that, because of this omnipresent power of the Buddha, people recognize who is a Buddha. You meditate, and you see the teacher comes to your house. The Light, normally we believe that Buddha and even Jesus Christ have this Light. So, that Light and the meditation, is there a difference? So can You explain the difference between the Light and the meditation? Yes, yes, I can explain. The Light around the Buddha and Jesus is called the halo, the magnetic field of the Enlightened One. And the more enlightened a person is, the brighter this Light around him or her. And only when you have opened the wisdom eye can you see a person has Light or not. And the person who sees the Light inside has the Light outside also. The person who does not see the Light inside has outside very dim or very dark, or very low light, very dim. We call it the aura. And the person who is completely enlightened, his aura is very, very bright. And the disciples see the Light because they are enlightened. The disciples have the wisdom eye opened, so they see the Buddha has Light, so they paint the picture just like they saw it, or Jesus. Any disciples who follow the Buddha or the enlightened person, because they have this kind of experience, they believe more in that Buddha all the time. Because they have actual experience; they see
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the Buddha with Light and with miracles, and with a lot of things, and that's how they believe. You can only know who is a Buddha by practicing meditation and see with your wisdom, not with your physical eyes. Some people also have some psychic powers, they don't even practice Quan Yin method but they have the wisdom eye opened a little, they can also see who has great Light, who has golden Light, and who has dark coffee-color light. But the best knowledge is yourself. You are the teacher, you are the Buddha. And I want to show you your great wisdom. I want to show you, let you practice and know yourself, better than asking me because we have 1001 questions we never can finish. But once you are enlightened, you answer all the questions yourself, and you can answer everyone else's questions. That would be better.
LOVE IS THE TRUE ESSENCE OF LIFE 3

[Malaysia is a truly scenic country blessed with a vast array of densely forested hills and mountains, endless stretches of palm fringed beaches with emerald seas and golden sunlight and fresh water lagoons. Malaysias key attraction is its vast array of contraststowering skyscrapers overlooks the wooden houses built on stilts. Eclectic cultures, natural wonders, vast cities and many exquisite islands are all part of this beautiful country. Malaysias population exists mainly of Malays, with substantial Chinese and Indian minorities. It is this multiculturalism that has vastly influenced the countrys architecture as well as culture, reflected through its colorful people and heritage. Where courageous beings are concerned Malaysia is the home of many noble people. In November 2006, Dato Mohamad bin Ismail was awarded a Gusi Peace Prize for Religious Affairs and Humanitarianism, and former premier Tun Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad has been nominated for the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. During Her 'Experience the Divine Ocean of Love' lecture tour in Asia and Oceania in 2000, Supreme Master Ching Hai accepted the invitation of sincere Truth aspirants to visit this beautiful country and share Her wisdom and knowledge of the universe. We invite you to enjoy the wisdom-filled lecture entitled 'Love is the True Essence of Life,' delivered by Supreme Master Ching Hai in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on April 30th , 2000.]
MC. Ladies and gentlemen, many of us have long searched and have come here today full of hope. For those who have earnestly sought for the Truth, it will be music to your ears to know that this search is over. Before us stands the Supreme Master Ching Hai who has traveled a very long distance to be here. She seeks nothing from us, not fame nor fortune. The only thing She asks is that we be faithful to our meditation and that we do no harm to others nor to ourselves. Please listen in a way that you have never listened before, for the Supreme Master brings us a message of love. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the Supreme Master Ching Hai. M. Thank you so much. May God bless you and your country! It's a very beautiful country. Very beautiful, very clean, and very prosperous. Today I have traveled along from the airport to the city it's been a long time since I came to Malaysia, and your country has improved more buildings, more prosperity, and everything is better. I'm very happy. I told the taxi driver, 'I'm so happy for your people.' Even though it's not my physical country, but when I see people here happy and living such an abundant, free life, I was feeling very, very happy, as if I am a Malaysian myself. It was truly like that. We have to be grateful to God, to Buddha, to Allah they have blessed our country so much, and blessed the
Public lecture, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, April 30th, 2000 (Originally in English).
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people here so much. People here are very disciplined and very highly elevated. So I was thinking, what am I doing here? You are all Buddhas already! I'm very honored to be back in Malaysia again. And thank you thanks, God, first and thanks to all our brothers and sisters in Malaysia who have been so gracious, so generous, to have invited us here, and to have worked very hard to make this evening a realization of love and dedication to God and mankind. Please thank them for me also. Of course, it's not only the brothers and sisters in Malaysia. They are from Formosa, from America, from Australia, from Singapore, Thailand, from Japan so many nationalities have come here to help to prepare this evening. We also thank them equally because we are brothers and sisters. We are, in fact, one. So, no matter what we do for each other, it is the same as we do for ourselves, because we love each other. That is the essence of life. The essence of life is love. The essence of God, of Buddha, of Allah, is love. There's nothing else but love. When we make the choice of love, that's the highest choice, the noblest choice, which is our True Self, we will feel that we are very near to God, very near to Buddha. There are many choices we can make in life, and depending on what choice we make, we will become that being that represents the choice. Over time, again and again, we keep making different choices to be human beings, to be angels, to be devas, to be one with God, or yet again come back to human life in order to remember again, or relearn again, the whole process. And when we remember, when we relearn again that we are from God, that we have Buddha Nature, that we have the Holy Spirit that lives within ourselves, at that time we say that we are enlightened. There are many scriptures, many holy teachings from the past Masters that have told us that we are children of God, that we are one with God, that we are the Buddha, et cetera, et cetera, and every one of us knows that. But to remember is a different thing. To remember our holy quality, our godly nature, is not by talking, is not by listening, it is not by just believing it is by knowing, it is by seeing, it is by truly experiencing. Then we really know. Because just to talk about love, we would not know love. Just to talk about water, we would not taste the water. Just to talk about sugar, sweetness, we would not know what it is, unless we truly drink the water, eat the sugar, taste the flavor ourselves. At that time, that is the true knowing. You see, I am so happy, I am so excited, and I am so amazed that you are all God, that you are all Buddha! And yet, some of us don't know. To know God, to know yourself, is as if you just turn the palm. That's it. It's just like looking in the front or looking to the back. Looking to the front, we see God, we see ourselves. Looking backwards, we just see a mundane, human, mortal being. I don't know how to explain this. I love you so much, because you give me this realization that you are really God. It's so simple, it's so simple. You cant erase this knowledge. And yet, you have chosen to ignore it, you have chosen to forget that you are God, that you are Buddha. Do I make myself clear? Do you understand what I say? [Audience: Yes!] At least you accept that you are God. Thank God. But now, if you just turn around, then you know immediately that you are God. I know, even though I say that, I know it is difficult, but it's not impossible. If I can know this, you can. If our brother and sister initiates can, you can, because there is nothing else but God within ourselves. All the scriptures say that. Now, it's just up to us to try to remember or not, and I am here to help you to remember. God is the Light that is brighter than thousands of suns put together. God is the melody that fills our souls with all happiness and contentment, no matter where we are, and what race or nationality, and what kind of background, what kind of religions we have. And if we want to touch God, as one of us, Hes even manifests as one of us. For example, Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed, the Sikh Guru, the Krishna Master. These are all the personal, individual, manifestations of God, for The Quan Yin Method The Key of Immediate Enlightenment and Eternal Liberation
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us to love, to see, to look, to touch, to believe. And we still can contact these Masters when we raise our consciousness to their dimension, which is higher than this physical consciousness of this planet. If I can, you can. If our brother and sister initiates can, you can. It is happening now, it's not a thousand years before. Because the good news is that we are one of this system, we are one with this godliness, we are one with everything that we see and we dream of, we can imagine. We are that. Just like we are one of the members of the audience in this hall, but yet we are also the whole, with the whole gathering. We are individual; at the same time, we are whole, with the whole gathering of people here. So, to see God, to know God, to talk to God even, is a very normal thing for us. Okay, so now, because some of us have made many choices already, like sometimes we choose to be an ignorant person; sometimes we have chosen to forget that we are one with God, that God dwells within us; sometimes we have chosen to do things that are even ungodly, so-called ungodly or the opposite of love; that we have chosen to do so many things, but maybe this is the time we have chosen to make a higher realization, higher remembrance of ourselves, because we have done all the lower part already. So, if you, the gracious brothers and sisters, choose to remember your great Selves again, I would be very honored to be of service, and this is the purpose of my coming here. Q. M. Q. M. Where is the conscious? Where is the unconscious? Where is the conscious, where is the unconscious? It's all in here. It's all in ourselves. I wonder if You could satisfy my desire. I am from China. I would like to see You. See me in China? That's a very good request. You see, it's not a question of going there. It's a question of 'what can I do there?' If I can see you there in all openness and friendliness like this, or in your home, it's fine. It's not always possible in some places on this planet, so we shall be patient. That's what I was saying today when I passed through the streets of your country. I told the taxi driver, 'Oh, such a free country! Such a developed country! You have to really be grateful to be a Malaysian.' I told him, 'You have to be proud to be a Malaysian. It's such a nice and free country. Everyone believes what they want, freedom of everything, and you know, you are really taken care of here. And the country is so clean and nice. It's not that you always can be born in such a country,' I told him. And he was so happy. He said, 'Yes, yes. I take it for granted, but it is so, it is so.' 'Malaysia is good, good,' he said, too. When I travel alongside the highway here, it looks like in Europe or America the highway is so wide and so well looked after. Every country should be like this. Thank God, thank God for your country. Dear Master, what does Master think of open-eye meditation? Well, I think it is an open-eyes kind of meditation. That's what I think. You see, open eyes or closed eyes, it is better you have a meditation way that you can see your own Nature or see God. It's not about the question of open or closed eyes. But I'll tell you why we close the eyes: It is better, because it's better for concentration. Because we don't see well with the physical eyes, we have to see with the eye of the soul, with the wisdom eye. That is the real seeing. And suppose both eyes are functioning at the same time, it's also okay. But when we reach that level, then we can even see God with open eyes too, without even sitting crossed-legged on a cushion or anything. We can see Hirm while driving, while washing dishes, washing clothes, or fetching the kids from the school, et cetera, et cetera. But in the beginning, it is better for us, for our concentration, if we shut down all the
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physical organs, like ears and eyes, to minimize the distractions of the world. Suppose I sit here, I say, 'Okay, I'm going to meditate.' But my eyes are open like this and the brothers coming up and the sisters coming down, and everything else is running around, it would be very difficult for me to concentrate in the beginning. Q. M. Dear Master, if God is all power, all everything, and so perfect, why doesn't Hes create a perfect world so that all human beings can live in heaven? Why doesn't Hes create a better world, right? So all beings can live in peace together? Yes, yes, yes. Then there will be no fun, brothers. That's the purpose of creation. Suppose we all look alike. Have you seen the film called, 'What Planet Do You Come From?' Have you seen that film yet? It's not yet in Malaysia? Okay, it will come later. It's a film depicting it's kind of science fiction but it could be true. It's a planet where all men look alike, and no women even. You'd like to be in such a place like that? Just men, everything looks the same, everybody looks the same, every car looks the same, every house looks the same, every clothes look the same. Is it okay? Yes, possible. Yes. There are choices, you see? If you like that kind of place, it's possible. Do the kind of meditation that we offer here and you can make more choices. You see, right now we don't have many choices because you forgot that you are God, you forgot that you are the Creator you can create anything you want you forgot this power. So, go back to yourself, be enlightened, be your God-Self, then you can create many things. So when you want a peaceful world, you can do that. You can ascend to a peaceful level of consciousness where everything is peaceful and not even one word of suffering is heard. There is no such thing as suffering in their dictionary, you see? But if we just stay here on this physical planet, then the only choice we have is whatever's here, you see. In the creation there are many, many levels. Like in the bible, Jesus said that 'In the house of my Father, there are many mansions.' The mansions are the depictions of the consciousness level. Here we are in the physical consciousness, so we think of ourselves as human beings and that there is no other choice, no other access to us either to heaven or so-called hell. But if we use the other road, the 'soul road,' we can ascend to heaven, see different levels of living beings, and we can even descend to hell to help some people who suffer there and bring them up. These are choices that we have when we attain enlightenment. Q. M. Master, is it true that when we die, we take our subconsciousness with us? Yes, we always have the subconsciousness with us, even while we are living, and, of course, when we die, that's the only thing that remains. The consciousness of the brain is dead, after we so-called 'die.' And that's why we cannot cheat ourselves at the time of death. Whatever we did during our lifetime, our subconsciousness records everything. Even if no one in the world knows, our subconsciousness knows. So when we die, we shed the cover of the body, everything is transparent and we know absolutely everything, and everybody knows, the whole universe knows absolutely everything about what we did. Therefore, we must take care that our deeds, our thoughts, our actions are pure and noble, even if no one else knows. Is it true that the third eye needs to be open to develop the ability to see the Light of God? Yes, yes, it is true, it is true. Actually, it's just a matter of literally speaking. Our wisdom eye is always open; it is just we don't look with it. We usually use the physical eyes,
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physical ears, physical body, and we forgot our heavenly faculties, and that's why we don't know ourselves. Q. M. Q. M. According to what You know, where do we come from and where do we go? Yes, you know already. We come from heaven and we go back there. Dear Master, is it possible to be fully conscious of God 24 hours a day? Yes, yes. Possible. If we reach a level of total oneness with God, we could be conscious of Hirm all the time because we don't use the brain, we don't use the mind: we use the soul, we use the essence of our Real Self, which is one with God anyway. So who is remembering whom 24 hours a day? It's one already. And meanwhile, we can divide, socalled, our brainy attention to do our mundane work, like driving, taking care of the house, working, et cetera. Supreme Master Ching Hai, how to find out a real guru or Master? That's for you to find out. Would You guide in this life and the afterlife? Yes, if you give me the permission. Yes. I will not leave you until you become completely independent. Whenever you call for help that means you still need help, then I have to be there for you. But when you are free, completely free yourself, then, okay, you are free. Master, Edgar Cayce says we came back to this world to correct our mistakes, to seek perfection, and to be closer to God. Is it true? Each human has a destiny; why are some destinies so tough and why are some so easy? Yes, Edgar Cayce was right. And concerning the destiny some tough, some easy because we have chosen so. Each one, before we descend into this world, we have chosen a different role to play to make the creation colorful and active, and make varieties. But when we have chosen the role to play, we have to completely forget that we are divine, we have to forget every power that we had in order to play the part that we have chosen. Therefore, it looks tough to some person, it looks easy to another person it is because of the choices we made. Master, does one have to keep to only one definite posture while meditating? Yes, it would be better so that you can concentrate well. Because if you keep moving, shifting, then in the beginning you might dissipate your concentration and it's difficult to reach one-pointedness and difficult to rise above the physical body. If you keep still, then it's easier. But later on, it will be natural. It will be natural, like you sit and youre just gone, yes. No need to try to keep still; you will be still because your body is the only thing that is left behind. You sit there like a dead corpse and your soul has gone; gone to heaven to enjoy. Dear Master, what is the Sound You want to talk about?
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That is the creative power. For lack of words, I have to say it's a sound because it resembles the music, except that it plays without instruments and we hear it without the ears. Jesus healed and made the blind see, the lame walk, and other miracles. Why then is it wrong for us to heal others? It is not wrong, but it is because you are not Jesus. When you reach the level of Jesus, maybe you can do that. Right now, it's better to save all your energies so that you can reach His level. Then you can do better things than just healing. What happens to aborted babies? Will they benefit from our prayers? When you abort a baby, they are not babies anymore, that's what happens. And when you pray for them, of course they get benefit. Can those retarded be enlightened? Yes, if they understand the explanation that we give to them. Whenever we terminate a life, we cause more suffering and harm to ourselves. It is not the one who is killed that is being harmed; we are more harmed because we do not know that all lives are one.
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Dear Master, You are indeed a great enlightened Master for me, in my own humble opinion. I wish sincerely to ask this question: In our world, where yin and yang must be in balance, can the gay people, too, be able to be enlightened in spiritual development? Please enlighten. Oh yes, no problem. You are only physically gay, you are not spiritually gay, I hope. Gay people are also people, okay? They are just different. There are people who have decided to become a man, there are people who have decided to become a woman, there are people who are in transit in between and these we call 'gay.' They are just like everyone else. So, enlightenment has nothing to do with the physical body. Enlightenment is your Real Self, awakened, all right? And please, don't make any distinction between gay or not gay; they are just different species, different beings different choices before we came to this world for different purposes. Do not think of yourself as a gay. Think of yourself as a Buddha. Maybe a gay Buddha, but a Buddha. Master, do You believe in wandering souls entering in our dreams and communicating to us for help? I am facing this problem, please help me. Yes, sometimes they do, if we have affinity with them. You have to pray, okay? Pray to God and tell the souls that they should also seek enlightenment in their state of being and go to a higher level of consciousness, instead of hanging around on this level of physical dimension and troubling other people. There is no one who can help them except themselves. Tell them that and they will understand. Or refer them to any Master that you believe, and they will come to them. Dear Master, I agree with You that God is in ourselves, but why do You always compare Buddha or Muhammad with God when they are actually the messengers of God?
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They are messengers of God, that's right, but they are one with God anyway. God, Buddha, Buddha, God, I don't know who is who anymore. So please, you ask them who is who. They came from God, they are one with God, just like we are one with God. So either I say Buddha is God, or Muhammad is God, or you are God, or God is you, I think it is not too wrong, is it? Dear Master, my concentration during meditation is always going wild. Although I've tried many times, this is what happens most times. Would You tell us kindly what is the best way to be in full concentration. Can we look into Your eyes through Your photos? Thank You, Master, for Your very helpful answer. Can. Can for a while, and then, you can put some music of your choice very soft one in the background or you put some teachings of the Master that you like in the background and that might soothe your nerves and then make you concentrate better. Or drink a glass of water if you feel too hot, or change your seat if it is too hot for you. Sometimes the physical discomfort can also distract you too much. Make sure your room is comfortable, not too bright, something like that. Take care that, whatever, your body feels comfortable first, and then you can concentrate better. Master, can we use the third eye to see possible future events and our past lives to solve some of our daily life's problems? How do we go about doing this? We could do that, we could do that. But it is a natural process. If you meditate on the Quan Yin method, for example, and your wisdom eye is clear, you will naturally solve the problems without having to make effort, without having to use the wisdom eye for that reason. You will be wiser and the actions you do in everyday life will naturally bring a better result and you will lead a better way of life, you will feel better about everything. If God exists, why are there so many wars and cruelty to mankind? Why is God not stopping all of this? The war because we do not recognize God, we do not recognize that we are part of God, and we do not recognize that the brother who we killed is also part of God and also Buddha. And that is why everyone should be enlightened, and wed see that we are all one, we are all brothers and sisters, and there would be no more war. We must stop the war ourselves, because we are also part of God; but only when we know that. Dear Master, what is the difference in blessing and effectiveness between convenient and full initiation? It is like this: Full initiation is like a full-time job, convenient method is like a part-time job. All right? For the people who cannot go full-time, you want to try to see God every day in a small way, convenient way, we also offer you that, until you decide whether you want to know God fully, whether you want to put God as a priority above everything else. That's the difference. The difference is just like you sample some food or you eat the full menu. And the people who are initiated, their five, seven, eight, nine generations of relatives, and friends also, become liberated, and the people of the convenient method only liberate themselves. Master, can we achieve enlightenment by taking meat, as many great gurus, teachers, take meat? What is the exact reason for not taking meat?
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We don't take meat because we want to develop or to remember our compassionate nature, because Buddha and God are merciful. So if we want to become God again, become one with God again or near, then we have to exercise our godly quality, which is all compassion, all love. That is the only reason. Can we perform miracles with the third eye? Yes, we can. But miracles are not the reason for learning to be enlightened because miracles are too small a reason, too small. When we are enlightened, we remember that we are the Creator; we will reclaim our creative power. Then, of course, we will have the power to make miracles as well. But this is just a small part in the whole thing. Concentrating only on miracles will divert our attention to the whole greater aspect of divinity, and that is why I said it is too small a reason to be enlightened. Dear Master, I am a very cynical person with regards to spiritual things. What proof can I get from this path? [Master is asking the MC.] Do we have any proof for him, honey? Do we have any proof for him? [MC: I also used to be very cynical.] You have a friend here, okay? He also used to be very cynical. Why don't you find him and ask him what to do to get some proof? I am not here to prove anything. I am here to tell you that you are great, and if you want to remember your greatness again, I can help you. And that's the only proof only for you to prove it to yourself. If you follow me to the south, then you see the south. If you stay going to the north, and ask me to prove everything in the south to you... that's a little bit too demanding. Okay, all right, I'll see you around. Thank you for your love.
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ENLIGHTENMENT AND IGNORANCE 4

[Nepal, a Himalayan country in South Asia, is blessed with many treasures. For a small territory, its landscape is very diverse, ranging from the very humid Terai in the south to the majestic Himalayas in the north. Speaking of the Himalayas, Nepal is home to the most famous and highest point on the world, Mount Everest. In fact, Nepal is home to eight of the worlds highest mountains. Nepal is also blessed spiritually. It possesses the largest following of Hinduism in the world. Nepal is also the birthplace of Shakyamuni Buddha, who was born in Lumbini 2500 years ago. Lumbini has become a holy ground for Buddhists from all over the world. This country is also home to many great temples, such as Swayambhunath stupa, or the Monkey Temple. When the pilgrims and priests have left for the day, hundreds of monkeys make this temple their home. Lastly, Nepal is famous for its many festivals. In fact, there are more festivals here than there are days in a year! Nepal is a truly enchanting place. During Her 'Experience the Divine Ocean of Love' lecture tour in Asia and Oceania in 2000, Supreme Master Ching Hai accepted the invitation of sincere Truth aspirants to visit this beautiful country and share Her wisdom and knowledge of the universe. We invite you to enjoy the wisdom-filled lecture entitled, 'Enlightenment and Ignorance,' delivered by Supreme Master Ching Hai in Kathmandu, Nepal on May 1st , 2000.]
MC. Ladies and gentlemen, the Supreme Master Ching Hai. The Supreme Master Ching Hai is now going to give us a lecture on Her spiritual thoughts. Thank you.
4. Public lecture, Kathmandu, Nepal, May 1st, 2000 (Originally in English).
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Thank you so much. Good evening, brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers. How are you? [Audience: Fine.] Are you comfortable? [Audience: Yes.] Thank you for your presence. Thank you for your blessing and love, first of all. I felt so much love in this country the moment I came, the moment the airplane landed. I feel the purity of the people of this land. God blesses us so much here. Buddha blesses us so much here. I am very happy. It is my honor to be, the first time, visiting this beautiful, beautiful country. I was surprised that it's so hot. Because I went to the Himalayas in India and I thought it's a similar climate, but it is so warm here. It's warm like the heart of the people of Nepal. Actually, we are already the love, we are already the warmth, we are already the wisdom; it's just we forget, some of us forget. The people who remember their own Self, God Nature, Buddha Nature, we call them 'enlightened beings,' and the ones who do not remember their own Original Nature, we call them 'not-yet enlightened Buddhas.' They both are Buddhas. According to religious scriptures, we are love, we are God, we are part of God, we are one with God, we are the Buddha. For lack of this knowledge, we will feel our life is not fulfilled, is not happy, is not contented. All the misery, all the conflict, all the unhappiness on this planet comes not from war, not from poverty, not from the conditions that we live in; it comes from the lack of wisdom, comes from the lack of knowing that we are more than just a human body. We can see that very well. So many kings, many leaders, so many rich, famous people, they are not happy and they keep wanting more and more more power, more money, more possessions, more of everything and they still are not happy. But the Buddha who was the future king of the country, He forsook everything, and He had nothing with Him at that time and He was happy. It is because the Buddha remembered who He truly was and the other people did not remember. The Buddha also said that 'I have already remembered I am a Buddha, and you will be the future Buddhas.' How is it possible that we don't know this? We are already in the future generation, we still have not remembered that we are the Buddhas. How come? In the Zen Buddhist tradition, we also say that the difference between enlightenment and ignorance is just one hairs breadth. That's it. So, so little difference. How can we traverse this difference even though it is so, so subtle? How can we? And can we? The answer is 'yes.' Because the Light that is within us has never died out. The Light that the Buddha has imparted to His circles of disciples, the Light that Krishna has, the Light that Shiva has, has never died, has been continuously transmitted from one being to another, from one country to the next, and it's always, always flaming. And if we have found that, we can put it together with our unlit candle it will be done right away. The difference between enlightened and not enlightened is really no difference at all. The only difference is the attention: Pay attention to this body, pay attention to this physical surrounding, pay attention to everything that is in this material world, then we are the material being, we are in the material world. Pay attention to the inward nature of ourselves, pay attention to the Buddha Nature which is always within us inborn, never dies then we become Buddha. This is the only difference, and it's very simple to traverse this difference. I am going to show you later how simple it is to remember your Buddha Nature. When we turn our attention inward to our Original Self, we will see the Light, we will see Buddha's land, we will see heaven. We will see whatever that is that makes us elevated, happy and wise. When we turn inward to hear our own Nature, we will hear that teaching directly from the Buddhas, from heaven, from the past, the future and the present Masters which is non-verbal, which is direct, which is uncontaminated, which is forever lasting. This teaching will make us remember that we are a Buddha, that we are from God, and this can happen immediately. It is because we already have it inside us, so theres no need time to really realize that we are Buddha. We just have to turn our attention inward,
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just like we turn the hand upside down or downside up. Only actual divine experience, only actual enlightenment, actual realization of our own True Self, will make us a contented person, a happier being, a wiser human. That's why after Buddha had attained enlightenment, He still continued to wander in His usual lifestyle as a monk. He had no need to go back to the kingdom, become a king or the ruler of any kind even though He had this opportunity to do so. Of course, the Lord Buddha could also become a king again and He is still enlightened. Even if He is a king or not a king, that makes no difference. After enlightenment, whatever you do, you are enlightened. Sri Rama, he was so enlightened. That's why it didnt matter to him whether he inherited the kingdom, became a king, or was exiled thousand miles from home he was happy. And even then, afterwards, people demanded that hed become a king again. Then he said, 'Also fine, it's okay.' That is an enlightened person: There is no attachment of any kind, either to poverty, to renunciation, or to the kingdom. The enlightened being would do whatever the situation requires, whatever is beneficial to sentient beings, because within themselves, they are happiness, they are peace, they are love. They have no need of any material or non-material assistance in order to be contented. To an enlightened being, everything they do is just for the benefit of others. They do it or not do it, they take some things or they don't take some things, even they eat the food everything is for the sake of other beings. So, in order to be contented, to be peaceful and happy and loving, truly happy inside, all of us should remember who we truly are, just like the Lord Buddha or like other great Masters so many I cannot mention all. One of the great Masters of India, Kabir I think you know him, yes? Yes, okay. You know what he did? What did he do for a living? [Audience: Weaving.] Weaving. All right, okay. And was he a very rich person? No. Okay. And Mirabai gave him a diamond, a gem or something, and it was worth a fortune but he never bothered. That Master, he was poor, and then Mirabai, the princess, gave him a present, very expensive, and she stuck it somewhere in the roof. And when she came back many years later, he was still poor, doing whatever he did to earn a living, and she said, 'What happened? Why didn't you sell the diamond and take care of yourself and you don't have to work so hard? Where is the diamond I gave you?' He said, 'Wherever you hid it, it's still there.' To an enlightened being, to be poor is nothing to him. He could also have become rich if he wanted to, he didnt have to stay in poverty. Yet for him, rich or poor was equal. Kabir was also so poor that one day he even wanted to trade his wife for some flour to make chapattis. To some of us, wife and husband are number one possession, we cannot give it to anybody else. But to Kabir, it's okay, also, it's okay. It is not because he doesn't love his wife but because he's so enlightened, so enlightened. These Masters, these great beings, they have no more attachment to whatever they have or not have, because they already know everything in this world is not True Nature, and they already know the kingdom of God. So, if we want to feel such a contentment, such a peacefulness, we also should search inside and find our true greatness. For the people of Nepal, I think no problem. No problem. If you have remembered already, I am not surprised. And if you have chosen not to remember yet, I am also not surprised, because inside you already know we have Buddha Nature. Or, some of you take your time, take it easy and be Buddha later. But should you want to, should you choose to remember, tonight, together with us, just for the sake of having fun together, I'm willing to serve you. For the more serious practitioners whod like to practice more and to know themselves quickly and more completely, we offer The Quan Yin Method The Key of Immediate Enlightenment and Eternal Liberation
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a full-time 'job.' And to others whod still like to play around a little and just work a little, we give them a part-time 'job.' Full-time Buddha means full-time vegetarian every day; parttime Buddha, part-time vegetarian. In some countries, we have some very funny situations. Some people come to me and say, 'I'm already vegetarian, many years. I must be fully initiated.' I say, 'Okay. Okay, fine.' And then later, someone else tells me, 'No, she's not vegetarian. She's only vegetarian in the morning.' I say, 'My God! In the morning I don't even eat!' So, she thinks in the morning she can become Buddha, and at noon time she just has a holiday. Anyway, we are here to serve you in whichever way that would please you, because you are the Buddhas, and it's my honor to be appointed this kind of honorable job. It is very easy to remember our Selves more easy than breathing, more easy than eating, more easy than talking. The only thing that surprises me is why hadnt I known that before, and why so many people have not known it. Now, I know the difference between enlightenment and forgetfulness it's just one hair apart. Really like that. So, in order to remember our Selves, all we have to do is just forget the outside world and go back to the real world. I will show you how. We will show you, according to your 'parttime' or 'full-time' desire. Because talking about the cake is not the cake; I am going to give you the cake to eat. Just like before we distribute some cake, we don't just talk about it. Because advertisement doesn't fulfill our need, doesn't quench our desire; we need the real thing. Because enlightenment is the real thing it's not talking about it, it's not introducing about it, it's not advertising about it. Have you seen a lot of advertisements on the road? Advertisements for cola, advertisements for apple, advertisements for cake and you look at the advertisements, do they give you satisfaction? Yes or no? No! Yes, they will say, 'Cola is great!' 'Apple, sweet!' But we never feel anything looking at it or listening to it because it's not the real thing. So, talking about God, advertisement about God, introducing the Light inside everybody can. It's just talk, it's just the advertisement. I am going to give you the real thing. Actually, it's not that I am going to give you it's just because of human language, sometimes we talk so fast, we can't express rightly. It's not I am going to give you anything, I'm just going to show you the things that you have forgotten. Just like you have forgotten something in your pocket and you look everywhere and you listen to everybody else's talk, and when I know already it's in your pocket because I see it, I say, 'It's here, in your pocket.' And how long does it take you to take it out? Just one second, right? That's the same with your Buddha Nature. It's already there, I am going to show you where and how to find it, and you will be forever enlightened. You will remember. You are the Supreme Master, just you forget. I'm coming here to show you that you are the Supreme Being, that you are great, that we are all part of the Supreme Being, that we are also the Supreme Being, and part of it, and individual. I think it is clear. Q. Master Ching Hai, Namaste from Nepal. [M: Namaste.] I have heard the Master finds Her disciple, not the disciple finds the Master. It is happening in my case. Please answer. Thank You, and my highest regards. Yes, yes. In both cases, either the Master finds you or you find the Master. It's the same. There is no Master, there are no disciples to begin with anyway. We are all Masters, we just forgot. But some already remember, so just tell you, 'You have your things in your pocket, you forget, you are too busy.' So, somebody points it out to you that's not a Master, it's just a friend. Just in our tradition, people are very humble and call the person
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who shows you something a teacher. That is also fine. It's also fine. But originally, we have no teacher and no disciples, so both can find each other in time. Q. M. What do You say about Vipassana meditation that Buddha taught, the path of full liberation and total enlightenment? Vipassana is one of the meditation methods the Buddha taught many methods. If you want Vipassana, there's no need to come here. There are many teachers who can teach you. I specialize in seeing direct Buddha Nature. Okay? Everyone specializes in something. The Buddha has said that there are many ways to enlighten you, but the Quan Yin the listening to your own Buddha Nature is the quickest way. All right? That's the way we present to you seeing your own Nature directly. No need to rely on anything ephemeral, like breath or body or sensation nothing! Just go direct, see your Self. How can we develop the spiritual thought very quickly? Yes, yes, yes. Just go outside and let me know who you are. I'll come back, see you later I'll show you immediately. What is spirit and what is God? And what is heaven? I can show you that, but not by language. I am going to sit with you in silence and then you will know the answer. Because these things are not to be explained cannot be explained fully in human language can be experienced only by your own Self, your own wisdom, your own Buddha Nature. Respected Master, though I don't have any difficulties and problems, but I have no satisfaction and peace. Why is it so? Yes, yes. We all do if we don't know our Selves. Yes? That's why we need enlightenment. We need to know our true, great Self to be happy, to be contented. Namaste, Master Ching Hai. [M: Namaste.] Why are so many people sad or depressed in life? Because they don't know their own Buddha Nature. We already mentioned that. I want to be an enlightened person. What should I do? What should he do? Get initiation. Right. Does one need to suffer for his misdeeds before full enlightenment? No, no, no. Nobody needs to suffer. We only suffer because we are not enlightened. When we are enlightened, even though it seems that we still have difficulty or suffering, for us it means not much anymore. And also, we find a way to overcome all this suffering. You see, to many of us, poverty is a great suffering, but to the Buddha, He forsook everything! He had nothing and He was always the Buddha, He was always happy and He gave His happiness and love to people.
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Please tell me: What is this world? Who am I? What must I have to do on this planet? What is death? Where will I jump or vanish after death? I am quite interested to know all this. The answers are within yourselves. All these abstract questions can only be answered with abstract means. That means when you are enlightened, you have your third eye open. You can see all this very clearly, just like I see my palm. Whereas if I give you just theoretical answers, you will never truly be satisfied. If the poor people want to beg something from You, what would You like to say to them? What kind of information would You like to give to these poor people who want to beg something from You? It depends on what they want. If they want a spiritual thing, then I am happy to serve them spiritually. And to some people who are in need of material help, then I help them whatever I can, and we always do that. Yes. Somebody described about God in different languages, such as in English, Hindi, Nepalese, Aulacese (Vietnamese), et cetera. God speaks which language? May I get Your logical answer? Yes, God does speak, God does speak. God does speak to us in a God language, which is not like a verbal language, which sounds like melody. And if you are willing, I can show you how to listen to God's language, and the more you listen to this non-verbal, melodious voice, the more enlightened, the nearer you are to Buddhahood. That is what I am here for. But when we go inside, sometimes God appears to us and speaks to us in our own language as well, physically. That's also possible. I am a vegetarian of three years. How can I concentrate my mind to take the meditation? Yes, yes. Let me show you. Let me show you afterwards. Okay? Would You kindly explain to us, Master, the interrelationship between yoga and Your method of meditation, Quan Yin? Yoga is just the name for any kind of reunion. 'Yoga' means 'reunion.' So, anything that brings you to be reunited with your Self, with God, that is yoga. So, in a way, you can call that our method is also a form of yoga. But yoga means truly, 're-union.' So, the method must reunite you in order to be called yoga doesn't matter what kind. Is there any similarity between Your method of Quan Yin and the Reiki method? No. No. The Quan Yin encompasses Reiki. Reiki is a part of the miraculous power that we have within ourselves already, and Quan Yin reawakens everything within us, including miracle power. How to recognize a teacher? There are many teachers, thousands of teachers, but the Supreme Teacher who is the Supreme Teacher? How to recognize the Supreme Teacher? It's not easy. But if a teacher says that he can show you the Light, and he can, then at least he's reliable. So if you come and study with a teacher and he can show you the Light
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right away, then he is an enlightened person. If he doesn't have Light, how can he give you Light? So, 'enlightened' means you en-light with Light. And at least, if you study with somebody and that teacher doesnt demand anything from you, doesnt take money, doesnt follow you to your house, doesnt call you every 24 hours, doesnt ever trouble you, just leaves you free if you want to come, you come, if you want to leave, you leave then you don't lose anything. At least, you don't lose any business you can try. Otherwise, you have to be enlightened somehow in order to recognize an enlightened person it takes one to know one. So, you can try and then you know. Besides, every teacher is worth our respect and reverence and gratitude. It just depends on what you want to learn. See? If you want to learn English, you come to an English teacher, and if he says he is an English teacher, at least he must speak English and the first day, he must be able to teach you ABC then he is an English teacher, no? And if you want to be enlightened and a teacher says, 'Okay, I can help you to be enlightened; I remember my enlightenment, I can make you remember,' and she can show you that, then she is also enlightened. It is very easy, no? Q. M. Q. M. Q. M. Q. M. Supreme Master, can a hungry person get Buddha's enlightenment? Can! But you must fill your stomach a little bit first, okay? Otherwise, you'll become a hungry Buddha. Do You believe in the existence of heaven and hell? I do, I do. I have seen them all. Master, how can we define God? How can we see God? Yes, we can see God, fine, but we cannot define God. You can see God. I will show you how to see God. To be enlightened, is it necessary for us to go and seek a peaceful place and meditate there, like You did in the Himalayas, and also like Buddha, like He left home? Yes and no, yes and no. Before the Buddha was enlightened, of course He had to leave home because He was in a difficult situation. He had 500 wives and He had 5,000 servants. And we have the parents always taking care of Him; didnt let Him go anywhere, didnt let Him do anything spiritual, because they were worried that He'd leave them. So, He had to escape. Because if He stayed in the palace, He could never find a Master who could make Him remember that He's a Buddha. He had to go out and search for them. But we don't have to leave our home in order to be enlightened. You can still stay with your husbands, your wives, your parents, do what you do work your job, earn your honest living and just meditate in your own home and be a 'homey' Buddha. If your Master is in the Himalayas and he doesn't come down, then you have to go there and look for him. But if he comes down, he teaches you in your home and in your city, you don't have to go anywhere. It's dangerous to go to the Himalayas. I went there, also, to bring it home so you don't have to go there. Q. Why are people born and why do they die? And somebody said that in this year of 2000 the whole world will be finished. Yes. What do You say about it?
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I already said in London, before the year 2000, that nothing will happen and I will still be around and I am still around! That's what I said. It was in May or something. People ask the same question about year 2000. I say, 'No problem! Don't panic! No problem.' And it's no problem we're still here, no? Thank God! Just because of some predictions a few hundred years ago and people read these predictions and worry about the end of the world. Of course, it might have ended, but because so many people practice spiritually so many groups, so many prayers, and us and we spread also our spiritual message to every corner of the world and this spiritual energy helps to neutralize the negative atmosphere of the world to some degree. And so we are okay. And so we invite you to join and to make the world even become a better heaven in the future. Thank you. Supreme Master, what will be the exact time for meditation? There is no exact time. Any time you can do, but the best time is in the morning, after your quiet rest, the night rest, and it's more peaceful in the morning. But otherwise, after you get used to it, you meditate anytime, anywhere on the bus, on the airplane, in the field, in the park no problem. Anytime. Master, if I say the Quan Yin meditation method is not new and has been practiced by Nepalese Hindus from time immemorial... Yes, yes. That's right. That's right. That's correct. I don't teach anything new. Life is nothing. It is just an ocean of sorrow and pain, so it would be better to end our life rather than to continue it. What do You say? It is better to get enlightenment than to die physically and run away from problems. If we are enlightened, at least when we die, we become an enlightened ghost. Yes, sir. Namaste. [M: Namaste.] Is Your love the same as the love of Christ? Well, if there is only one love... Yes? It's only one love that is from God. And whoever represents God represents the same love. We all have this love within us; it's just we want to exercise it more or we want to show it less. You see? What is the difference between knowledge and wisdom? And what is the difference between ocean and wave? The difference between knowledge and wisdom is knowledge is what we gain by learning, wisdom is original we don't ever have to learn. We never lose it; we just forget it. We can remember it again. Nobody has to teach us. That is the silent transmission when we meditate together at the time of initiation. That is the wisdom you gain when you meditate at home and remember you are the Buddha. That's the wisdom. And the knowledge is, for example, I am talking to you now, you ask me questions, I answer, and you gain some understanding about the path this is the knowledge. But this is not the ultimate, this is not the true thing. The true thing, you have it within yourself. Please tell me, which God should we follow? Some are following Buddha, some are following Shiva, some are following Sai Baba; but the one said that the God is only one. What is that?
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God is only one. These are the messengers of God and they are also God because they were one with God. If Buddha was one with God, then He is also God, but part of God. But He has already done his job, you see? So, if you want to kind of remember your Self and learn from someone who has already remembered, then you choose which Master you feel more affinity with, you feel more trust, you feel that 'okay, this one is for me.' Yes? One, enough. But find a living one, find the present one. Yes, thank you. Find the present living Master, then you can also have a past Master as well. So, brothers and sisters, father and mother, Buddhas good night.
TRUE HAPPINESS IS RECOGNIZING OUR TRUE NATURE 5

[Hong Kong is a collection of 260 beautiful islands. The name was derived from Aberdeen in Hong Kong, which translates to 'fragrant harbor', and was inspired by the fragrant wood products and incense that were once traded in Aberdeen. Hong Kong is also very famous for its entertainment industry, particularly in the martial arts genre. Several top-notch Hollywood performers originate from Hong Kong cinema Bruce Lee, Chow Yun-Fat, Jackie Chan, Michelle Yeoh, Jet Li and Leslie Cheung. Another notable fact: Four of the worlds tallest skyscrapers can be found in Hong Kong. And recently, in November 2006, Dr. Leung Ping Chung from Hong Kong received a Gusi Peace Prize award for his outstanding service and efforts in Medicine and Academics. During Her 'Experience the Divine Ocean of Love' lecture tour in Asia and Oceania in 2000, Supreme Master Ching Hai accepted the invitation of sincere Truth aspirants to visit this beautiful country and share Her wisdom and knowledge of the universe. We invite you to enjoy the wisdom-filled lecture entitled, 'True Happiness is Recognizing Our True Nature,' delivered by Supreme Master Ching Hai in Hong Kong on May 2nd , 2000.]
MC. Dear friends, now we have a friend who practices the Quan Yin method and wants to share with everyone his experience in spiritual practice. D. Hallo, everyone. Today I would like to share my spiritual experiences and insights with you. Actually, it was my greed that led me to Master. At that time, a good friend of mine had emigrated to Canada. He left behind a copy of Master's sample booklet. In the sample book, Master mentioned everyone can be immediately enlightened and get benefit from Quan Yin method. I thought it wouldnt harm to try it because the requirement of practicing Quan Yin method is very easy. According to the sample booklet, after the initiation, I could immediately be enlightened and experience the Light and Sound from beyond this world. I was in my office and I called my wife at home, 'Hey! This should be worthwhile. Lets try it together!' During our first meditation, both my wife and I had incredible but different experiences. I knew from within that what we had found was correct. Since I only needed to give so little and yet got so much in return, what was I waiting for? My greatest worry then was how to forsake some bad habits in life and use the remaining years of my life to adopt and learn a good and positive lifestyle. Before initiation, like many others, I seldom cared about other people. 'Let them handle their own business! Why should we care?' This is the so-called 'mind your own business' attitude. However, ever since I've followed Master, I have gradually noticed some incredible changes in my life. I started to care about the people around me. I no longer consider gains and losses so much when helping friends. Caring about others with love will slowly help us to understand and appreciate
Public lecture, Hong Kong, May 2nd, 2000 (Originally in Chinese).
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other people. In general, I do not have so much attachment and ego like before. Spiritual practice has made me reflect deeply, 'Do we live for several decades just for work and worldly pleasures? Are we just waiting to die?' If that was the case, even animals can do it! Human beings are the highest form of sentient being because we are capable of thinking and making choices. We should know clearly that we are born here to realize our great True Nature. We learn things in this world from the teachers of this world. For things beyond that, we need guidance from an enlightened Master. In the bible, Jesus said, 'You can only know the Father through me.' Actually, the Master is the representative of God, Christ is the power of God, therefore, the enlightened Master is also the power of God. Only by believing in the Master can we find true happiness. Dear friends, the Master is right before our eyes, so please do not miss this extremely rare opportunity again. Let us travel to the mystic world beyond with a living enlightened Master. Thank You very much, Master! MC. Our long-awaited moment has finally arrived. Let us warmly welcome Supreme Master Ching Hai. M. Hallo, everyone! [Audience: Hallo, Master!] Thank you very much for coming to see me. Some come from very far away, some fellow initiates have come a long way from Mainland China. Thank you, Hong Kong fellow practitioners for your wonderful preparations. All the happiest moments and situations in this world cannot match the pure and tranquil moments when we have found our own inner Self, and find our own power that is one with the whole creation. Therefore, since ancient times, spiritual practitioners have always been happy under any circumstances. Because worldly things, no matter how pretty or precious, cannot satisfy our inner yearning forever. This inner yearning of ours is not only from our Self-Nature but also from our mind. For instance, our mind loves one thing today, but if it finds something better tomorrow, it will love it too. When it fails to obtain it, it will also become very frustrated. Don't just say that our soul is frustrated, our mind is also very frustrated. No matter how much you give to it, it is never satisfied. Since it is not content, it gives us lots of trouble. Otherwise, if we crave worldly and material things all the time, we can never be satisfied, no matter how much we have. We are happy wearing this beautiful outfit today. When we see prettier clothes tomorrow, we love them too. We will be very frustrated if we fail to get them. We will crave for them day and night, never to be satisfied. But then, why are spiritual practitioners satisfied even when they have nothing? It is also okay if they have something. They won't insist on being poor in order to look like spiritual practitioners. They will not cling to poverty, nor will they cling to wealth. Any situation is okay with them because they are free and easy. But if we have not found our own inner Self, no matter how wealthy we are, even if we are the king, the president, or the most powerful person, we would not have true happiness every day. Because we are not happy, we constantly crave for other things. We find something better, but very soon it is not good enough, and we will look for something else. So, sometimes we struggle, fight, battle, compete and feel jealous, and do many things that make our conscience uneasy. It's all because we think we will be happy by doing or possessing certain things. Later we realize that this happiness won't last long. Sometimes, we say that someone is a bad guy, 'He is so arbitrary. He is already so powerful, yet he yearns for more power. He is already so wealthy, yet he is doing everything to cheat people for more money. He has already got numerous wives, and yet he is looking for more.' Let us not reproach them for it is the deep emptiness at heart that increases their outside craving. If they were satisfied within, like our Shakyamuni Buddha or Jesus Christ, or like all the great enlightened Masters who The Quan Yin Method The Key of Immediate Enlightenment and Eternal Liberation
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descended our Earth before, now, or in the future, they would not be so agitated or suffer such agony. You ought to pity those people who crave for power, money and profit. They are truly pitiful because they truly possess nothing. It seems that they possess a lot of things but they are really very empty people. Look at Shakyamuni Buddha. He owned the whole country He was the king. He had everything, yet He renounced it all! Because He was very happy. He didn't need it because He was in true happiness. Living in this world, we sometimes cannot stand being poor and find it very painful. In that sense, Shakyamuni Buddha should have suffered the most because He was the poorest, He had nothing at all. However, He was the happiest one. Just because He was the happiest, He could bring happiness to all. People like the Buddha and Jesus are the truly wealthy ones. It is also not very difficult for us to become as wealthy as they were. I have done it, and found it very easy. If it is so easy for such a small person like me, it should be even easier for you. You can make it even faster because you are greater, larger, bigger, taller, and faster. To recognize our True Nature, we don't need any money or power, or to be a special person. Just be yourself, because the Buddha is in your heart. But why can't we find the Buddha in our heart? Isn't that strange? It is strange! It is because we all think that we are humans! From dawn till dusk, we work and think in the way of a human. We spend lots of time on this human body and forget that we are the Buddha. If someone reminds us where the Buddha is with someone reminding us that we have the Buddha Nature and the heavenly kingdom within, then it becomes very easy. It's not complicated or mysterious. It is originally within us. Flip to this side, we are humans. Flip the other way, we are Buddhas! Focus on the Buddha Nature inside and we will recall we are Buddhas. When we divert our attention to worldly things around us, we will again become worldly humans. It is that simple. Therefore, many of our fellow practitioners realize this after they pursue spiritual practice and get benefit. They realize that this world is also a small part created by our power of creation. We are all the same; all of us are swimming in this Buddha Nature, this loving power of God. We are all equal. So, it is proper for us to yearn to find our great Self. Otherwise, even if someone gives us plenty of money, even if we have a beautiful wife or handsome husband, we are still not content at heart. It is because our heart is the Buddha, our heart is part of God and one with God. All the trivial and ephemeral things could never satisfy our great heart. All the wars, competition, misunderstanding, hatred and sufferings of the world are not brought upon us by others. It is all because we do not realize our True Nature. Once we realize our True Nature, we don't care how others treat us because we love them, and we love everyone. Despite what they do to us, we won't hate them. Because it is fine if we can live in this world, and if we cannot live, we can go to Nirvana (the highest paradise), which is even better. Therefore, people cannot do any harm to us because we don't care about this ephemeral life in the first place. Because of this, our animosity vanishes. We don't need to repeat all day long that we want to love our neighbors; we love them naturally. We don't need to repeat all day long that we will forgive our enemies; we have no enemies in the first place. We are free and easy, forgiving, and magnanimous at heart. We can tolerate any situation good or bad, anything is okay with us. If we have not found our Buddha Nature, our own greatness, if we still keep thinking that we are human, we are this physical body, it will be very difficult for us to love our neighbors or to forgive our enemies and people who harm us. Because, we still think that 'he is he and I am I,' and 'he is hurting me.' However, after we have realized that all of creation is one, 'he is me and I am him,' originally there is no difference. Then we have no idea what animosity is, and we don't even know what hatred is. Love permeates our body The Quan Yin Method The Key of Immediate Enlightenment and Eternal Liberation
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and mind, and we treat everyone as ourselves. We realize that originally I am him, and there is no he or I. Therefore, the Buddha could be so compassionate, and Jesus Christ could forgive without any problem. People treated Him so badly and painfully tortured Him, yet He prayed that God, our Father, would forgive and bless them. Only the saints could do that, only the Buddha and Jesus Christ could do that because they had found their own greatness, they had realized that they are one with all of creation. People harmed them only because they were ignorant. For instance, our body is beautiful all over, but sometimes we carelessly hurt a finger or some other part. The injured spot distresses us all day and gives us great pain. We cannot sleep or eat. Yet we could not sever it from us with a knife just because it gives us pain. It was carelessly injured but it is also part of our body. We ought to find a way to cure it because it is part of us. Similarly, once we have realized our True Nature, when anyone treats us badly, we will only pity him more. We will try to comfort him, edify him, make him feel comfortable, healthy and happy. We take care of him just like we would treat our injured finger. When it is healed, we also feel good because it belongs to us! Therefore, it is very easy to love our enemies. Having found our Buddha Nature, everything becomes easy. We are happy living in the palace or in a tent. We feel fine either rich or poor. We are comfortable wearing beautiful clothes or otherwise. Nothing can shake our inner heart. Oh, thank you! That was why Shakyamuni Buddha told us that all is illusion. We should find our Original Self so we can reach eternity and Nirvana. Jesus Christ taught us that our treasures are not in this world but in heaven, the eternal heaven. You all know that you are here today to find your own greatness. Look for your own greatness. I come here to inform you that you are very great. It is really strange that you don't know because it is so easy. Day and night we put our attention outside, and forget about our Self. Look inwardly, and you will know that you are the Buddha. Therefore, the Buddhist scriptures say that you will become a Buddha as soon as you put down your butcher knife. You can become a Buddha by putting down anything. Simply forsake the world, and we are in Nirvana. Nirvana is right before our eyes and remains forever there. Heaven is here, available at once, just that we forget to notice it. If we keep looking outward, of course, we wouldn't know what we have inside. I know your yearning is intense because no possessions in this world could possibly satisfy your noblest quest. Because we all know that we come from Nirvana, from God. Otherwise, where could we have come from? If God does not enlighten us, if we do not possess the Buddha Nature, what could we possibly possess? Ghost nature? Could we be born with ghost nature, or be born from a ghost? Is it possible? Do we look like ghosts? [Audience: No!] Well then, what do we look like? Look at Shakyamuni Buddha. Does He look like us? He does! Look at the ghost. Does it look like us? No! Good! Look at Jesus Christ. Does He look like us? He does! Perhaps His eyes were bigger and His hair blond. His skin was darker because He was exposed to sunshine. Yet, doesn't He look exactly like us? Isn't it true that all the enlightened Masters since the ancient times look exactly like us? That means we belong to the same species. Since we belong to the same species, isn't it easy to find ourselves among our own kind? If we look like a ghost, naturally we should try to find our ghost father and see where he is; but we don't look like him at all. Since we resemble the Buddha, Christ, and the enlightened Masters of all times, we should explore where we come from. If we look so much like them, we definitely have some blood lineage and kinship. It's that easy. Whats more, these Masters claim that they The Quan Yin Method The Key of Immediate Enlightenment and Eternal Liberation
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are children of God. If they are children of God, and we look so much like them, then we too are definitely related to God! It is so simple and logical that we can tell we originally come from a very noble tradition and origin. It is all right that we have forgotten, but we cannot say that we come from the ghosts or from hell, or that we come from the very lowly reptiles or such. We come from the noble and saintly origin of the Buddha, of heaven and God. That's for sure, right? So now we know that we come from a certain grand dimension, and we also know that we do not belong to this world, we did not originate from this world. After nine months, we suddenly cry out loudly and are born as a human. What happened before that? Where were we before that moment when we cried out loud? We do not come from here, do we? Our origin is not here, neither will we stay here afterwards. Then where do we come from? We ought to ask this question and know the answer. We are already half the answer. We look very much like the Buddha, like Jesus Christ, the so-called great Masters Muhammad, Hari Krishna all looked very much like us. This shows that we are related to them. We already know that we have most probably come from a very noble place. Now we also know that this world is not our home. Our origin is not here, and we are not staying here afterwards. Then surely we are not ordinary humans, right? All right, now you know that you are Buddhas. Though it is yet to be proven, the logical explanation is there. Now there is only one choice left. We really have to find out. Instead of hearsay, reading, or repeating to others just to let them know or guess that we could have come from heaven, we now decide to look for it. We decide to find and confirm the proof. I have found the proof. I know I am not from here. I am not a terrestrial. I am an extraterrestrial, an alien. Therefore, I come here to tell you that I have found it. If you want to find it, let us find it together. It is very easy. For instance, when you go somewhere, and you discover a very good restaurant or a place of interest, wouldn't you come back and tell your relatives or friends? Or if you have found a supermarket that offers good bargains, wouldn't you come back and tell everyone, 'That is not a good place this one is better! Come to this one. I will show you the way.' Because we are the same we are all human. We all know that it is hard to find places that sell things cheap and we really need luck to find a good restaurant. Since someone has already found one, confirmed that it is good and told us about it, then we should rush to eat there. Similarly, we are companions because we share the same ideal. Therefore, we let everyone know. We all love to be blissful and happy, love to find our Original Self, to find out what Nirvana is, and to return Home. Therefore, we are companions. Being companions, the one who knows is obliged to tell everyone. That is why I am here today. Whoever wants to learn this secret method of finding our Home, I will reveal it to you unconditionally and free of charge. If you want to spend a lot of time finding out the whole Truth about your Self, helping yourself and your 5, 6, 7 generations to be elevated, then you have to take the so-called 'initiation.' The initiation is the heart-to-heart transmission. One lamp kindles another lamp. One 'heart' talks to another 'heart.' Therefore, during the transmission, I won't be speaking, and neither will you. Our hearts will understand from within, because our nature is Buddha. We don't need anyone to teach us. If we do, it is the Buddha Nature teaching the Buddha Nature. The languages of this world are not good enough. With our heart we transmit it in silence. And we remind everyone. This Buddha Nature will remind another Buddha Nature, 'You are it! You already know it. Why are you still asking?' We use no words. Hence, it is called 'heart-to-heart transmission.' For companions who have little time or find it inconvenient to observe a vegetarian diet, we offer them the convenient method. That means they can eat vegetarian meals when The Quan Yin Method The Key of Immediate Enlightenment and Eternal Liberation
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convenient. Why do we have to be vegetarian? I have told you already. All sentient beings are a part of us. When we hurt them, we are hurting a part of us. We feel the pain. Even if our body does not feel the pain, our soul feels it. We sink low and feel the pain. We will have nightmares, and we will transmigrate again and again in this world, which means more suffering. Even then, sometimes our body would feel uncomfortable; it's not only the soul. For instance, we may have a sudden headache. Or, in nightmares, animals come to harass us, and we don't know why. Of course we know why! We dump them in this 'tomb.' Of course they will come out to annoy us. Sometimes, their spirits will make a big fuss, making it hard for us to sleep at night, and our body also suffers. We feel sore or hurt, or seem to be half alive with no apparent illness. These are distresses to our body, not only to the soul. If you really have no time and do not want to commit to anything, then while you are here and while I am answering questions now, you may close your eyes and silently look inside and then recite the name of the Buddha, Jesus Christ, or Muhammad. Recite the name of the Master of any faith in whom you believe, ask for His blessing, and it works too. You may also perceive a little bit of your True Nature. Should you wish to see more, you have to take the initiation. Q. Dear Master, my mother is an initiated disciple, but my father is not. Unfortunately, my father passed away on February 26th, 2000, at about two in the morning. When we were grieving, mother told us that Master's transcendental body had taken father to heaven. Master, as a daughter, I want very much to know whether my father has truly gone to heaven, and is no longer suffering in this world. Thank You, Master. Yes, it is true. He is not suffering here anymore. He is happy, happier than you are. When relatives and friends of our initiates leave this world, they are the happiest and most free. They are freer than we who stay in the world to practice. Their time has come and the Buddha within will take them up. We still have some karma to deal with here. He is very happy, don't worry. We Quan Yin practitioners need not worry about our dead kin. They are the happiest ones, all of them. Can practice and greater wisdom help sixth-graders solve junior high math formula? Of course, of course! Our wisdom can solve anything. Once we find this wisdom, we won't need an enlightened Master. We can handle everything ourselves, we can think and see clearly. Master, before our wisdom eye is opened we cannot really understand the holy scriptures left by ancient Masters. Master, should we read them? Read them if you can. It is better than not doing so. When you read them, the moral of the stories will serve as reminders, or the descriptions about the heavenly realms will give us an 'appetite,' then we will want desperately to find our own inner experience. What did God teach You about love? Hes did not teach me anything. Hes is just love. If you are one with God, you are just love, and the love of God will permeate your body, your mind and your soul. Because God is within you already. There is no need for any God to teach any God any more. If we just surrender our ego and let God take care of everything every thought of our mind, every word that we speak, every deed that we do, everything, we let God do through us then there is nothing but love and God, through the body.
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During the transmigration, we sometimes live on Earth, Mars or Mercury. It is also easy if you wish to know from which planet you come. If you are hot-tempered, you must have come from Mars. If you are cool-tempered and amiable, you must have come from Mercury. Which planet do you think I come from? Observe me and you'll get it. Master, why are You so wealthy? How can I become rich? What is the way? You have everything! Life after life, we have learned and acquired many abilities within. Now we are too busy making money, fighting, wanting this and that every day. We forget the many abilities, the love, and the energy we have within. Reach inside yourself and you will find everything. I was able to do this and that only after enlightenment, too. Previously, I could not think of any solutions, but after enlightenment I have been able to do everything. This is really true, and also true for our fellow practitioners. After enlightenment, we can do plenty of things. We can make more money, save money, help people, love our relatives and friends more, love our family more, and become more responsible. And then our talents are unearthed. Not just for me alone. Isn't it true, everyone? Yes, yes! I have told you, you are very great, you are very great! Don't be tricked by the world into becoming immersed in material things and forgetting how capable and great you really are. My parents have been dead for many years. Could I see them after I die? Yes, you could. If that's what you want, I'll help you. But it's better that you mediate on the Quan Yin method. It's better that you know your Self, your great power, the God within you, then you can take them anywhere with you. And if you go to a higher level of happiness, you can take them up. Isn't that better than just going to where they are? Maybe they are in hell or something, and then both of you will suffer. You'd better help your parents, not just go to see them. It depends on where you want to see them. It's better if you see them where their happiness and everlasting blissfulness is. It's better for them. So, take care where you go and then you can take your parents. Thank you. Master, does the convenient method help business flourish? If we contribute the gains from the business to the society, will it benefit the business more? Yes, yes! Right, right! I also do business and contribute the money to the poor. Hallo, Master, realizing the Real Self or enlightenment is only the first step on the spiritual path. There is still a long way to Buddhahood and we must practice diligently and persistently. Master, is my understanding correct? Yes, correct. We take one step at a time. But there are some who walk very fast. The more sincere you are, the faster you become a Buddha. You are originally the Buddha, so what is there to attain? You have forgotten and are not focused on your Original Nature. Your attention is on the outside, that is why you are not Buddha. It means you have forgotten that you are the Buddha, it doesn't mean that you are not the Buddha.
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Yes and no. Yes, if you still have something to do in this world and you vow to come back. But no, if you don't want to come back any more. The people who practice the Quan Yin method don't ever have to come back to reincarnate again unless they wish to for some reason, for some noble purpose. Master, I often feel totally confused and cannot control myself. Please advise me, why is it so? Maybe it is stress, lack of energy or rest, or physically not well. If it is stress, then try to get some rest, or take some medicine or tea to help you relax. Get someone to give you a massage, or take a bath. Take a stroll in the park to have some fresh air. If your body is not well or your mind cannot concentrate, then go see a doctor, take vitamins and nutritious food. Reduce your workload, and don't exhaust yourself. Master, is it true that the success, fame, wealth, and status of this life are an outcome of charitable deeds in previous lives? Yes, correct! So, now that you are in power as an official, remember to do charitable deeds so you will be promoted further. Yes, it is not easy to be an official. One needs to have a great deal of merit to become a parent of the people. You must be nobler and better, and continue to do good deeds. Love your people like your children. This kind of official will rise higher up the ranks and become more wealthy and comfortable. He will die with peace of mind, because he is loved by many. This power of love will reach him as a blessing, and he lives in this love. People send you this love every day, and you live within this love. It is just like medicine, a blessing from God. It is very, very comfortable. An official who helps and loves the people is actually loving himself. It is very logical. What is life after death? Well, you wait a few years or a few days. After death, we will know. No, no. It's like this: After we leave this physical body, we continue to live. We continue to live in a different way of life, a different kind of vibration, a different kind of body. And sometimes if we do not practice spiritual knowledge, at the time of death we might be mistaken that we are still physically alive, and we go around kissing the wife and husband and kids, and they don't respond to us. Or maybe they bring a new one home already, and then we feel very bad. See? So life continues forever, with or without this material body. If we practice the Quan Yin method, we can already see death, even while living. We can die daily, so that we can leave the physical body behind temporarily and go to a different dimension to learn some different things or to oversee our whole life in order to see which part is not good, and we can correct it. And that's how our practitioners' lives are better and better every day, clearer and clearer, happier and happier, because we can oversee ourselves from outside of the body, we can see better. Thank you. Dear Master, a friend of mine has read Your books and watched Your videos, and he wants to practice the Quan Yin method. However, his doctor insists that he needs more nutrition because he has hemolytic anemia. If he does not eat fish, his condition worsens, and he suffers all kinds of irritations due to anemia. He wants Master's advice. It depends on how brave he is. If we feel that this physical body is more important than Nirvana, then continue to take care of it. If we feel that it doesn't matter how we care for it,
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then it is only a matter of whether we enter Nirvana or not. The choice is yours. I don't come here to force or demand you to do anything. I just want you to remember your True Nature. Come if you are ready. If you are not ready, then take it slowly, no hurry. Q. M. Q. M. I read in the scriptures about something that gives the power of realization. Is that the Buddha Nature? Is it correct? Yes, of course. We can also call it the Buddha Nature. We realize our nobler and greater capacity. That is the Buddha Nature. Master, could our ancestors affect the later generations? Would the feng-shui of their graves affect their family? Have they gone into transmigration? There is a little influence. If our ancestors were still there, as I just explained in English, they would think that they were still alive and would come back, wanting us to do this and that. But we cannot understand what they want, because we live in a different dimension. They would get mad and occasionally cause trouble. They want to get our attention, but we do not understand. Or, when they are in pain, because of our blood relation, we would also feel uncomfortable. Or, when we are in pain, they also feel it distinctly. It is best that we practice spiritually to liberate ourselves and help our ancestors more. This is the greatest filial piety. If we do not belong here, why are we here? If it is to find love, why did we lose it? We are here because we want to find love, that's correct! We did not lose love. We just forget. Because every day we're just too busy earning money, working eight hours, ten hours a day, and then catch the tram and catch the bus, and then go home, and husband and wife and children and everything is waiting. We hardly have time to breathe sometimes. And that's why we forgot the other part of us, the greater part of us, the real part of us, because we don't have time. So don't be tricked by all in this life. You can still work in the world and take care of your families, but meditate. Make sure you remember the other half, the better half of yourself, then you will know you are love, that you are God, you are one with God, at least you are God's children, and you are Buddha. Just like this: If I put something in my pocket and then I forget, I look everywhere for it. Will I ever find it? Can I find them? No, because it's not there! It's not where I look. It's here. So, I never lose it. It's just I forgot where it is, no? Same with our love. Same with our God Nature. Just go inside, you'll see your Real Self. Master, I am pregnant. Can I take the initiation? After I have been initiated, can my baby be initiated too? When I am physically unwell, can I meditate while lying down? Yes, yes, yes to all your questions. But the baby doesn't have to be initiated. He can decide later. Master, if I fail to convince my family to eat vegetarian food, will I break the precept by eating vegetables cooked with meat? I cannot say no, but you will not ask this question anymore later. After you are initiated and have practiced for some time, you would rather die than eat it. Your body will be purified naturally. You cannot accommodate anything that doesn't belong to the superior level of Buddha Nature. So, there is no need to ask this question. Just come and practice, okay?
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Master, can we cure illness by learning this method, including biological and psychological illness? Don't learn it for healing illness. It is most important to become a Buddha and attain liberation. If people who have affinity with us see us, our blessing will be transferred to them automatically and they will be cured. It is not necessary to use our ego or body to do any miraculous thing. The Buddha didn't do anything, yet everyone felt very comfortable. After we are enlightened, whoever sees us will feel very comfortable and will get well naturally. Can we eliminate bad karma by practicing the Quan Yin method? Can we reach the state of not eating or drinking? Of course! Otherwise, why do we bother to practice? Master, though asceticism cannot lead to Buddhahood, can it eliminate or erase some bad karma? No. Asceticism involves hardship, and you get nothing but pain. Ascetic practice is useless. Why should you torture your Buddha? The Buddha is within you. Torturing yourself is torturing and offending the Buddha. We do not want to practice asceticism. Even Shakyamuni Buddha gave up ascetic practice. He did finally. He practiced the true, right method. He didn't eliminate bad karma through ascetic practice. After you have begun practicing the right method, you can practice it the hard way, or you can practice it the easy way. You are on the right path anyway. You may ride in a taxi, a Mercedes or a Rolls Royce, but you must travel on the right path. The vehicle doesn't mean anything. Just now I took a taxi, and I arrived here. You came by bus, and you also arrived here. You got here, whether in a Rolls Royce or your own car. Because we all took the right way. It is the right path that matters, not whether asceticism is good or bad. Practicing the Quan Yin method will lead you to liberation, and eliminate your bad karma. What benefits are there to oneself and society from the endeavor of striving to become enlightened? Everything you do, you ask for the benefit! Everything you must have benefits! Of course, you will have benefits. When you are enlightened, all the benefits will become automatically, 'Seek you first the kingdom of God, and all the things shall be added unto you.' After enlightenment, I am also not going to the Himalayas and hiding there. I am still in your world. I work just like you do, and I earn money to keep myself so as not to burden society. And I buy a ticket to come here to see you. And whatever's left, I give to whoever needs it. That is already a benefit. And of course, the best benefit is your peaceful, loving atmosphere that radiates to people. Whoever sees you, they are happy. There is no need to feel benefits. The benefit is that you are practicing, The benefit is that you are peaceful. No need to always have to look for something. We just practice so that we know our Self, our great Self, and then we will know what to do to benefit ourselves and other people. That definitely will come. Once you are enlightened, youll know what to do, and then the benefits will come. Whatever benefit you want, it will come. Where do sutras, doctrines, fulfillment, contentment and happiness stand in relation to enlightenment? Every sutra. You just have to pay attention to what you read.
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Master, I once dreamed I was bitten by a wolfhound. Someone said that it was of no significance. But my ankle hurt for a long time after the dream. May I know why? Sometimes the bad karma of our present life manifests in our dreams so we feel bodily discomfort. Just now someone mentioned that the bad karma of meat eating affects our body. If a person has been initiated, will his dead relatives and friends be elevated and liberated? Could You prove it to me? You prove it to yourself. You can see it yourself. They are your relatives, so how can I prove it? You can see it in meditation. Definitely we can help our deceased relatives and friends. All of our fellow practitioners know it and can prove it. Many can see their relatives and friends elevated; however, it takes spiritual practice to know it. I practice, so I can see it, but how can I show it to you? How can I show you what is in my heart? You have it yourself. In our inner experiences, how do we distinguish between the realms within and beyond the third level? Please advise, Master. We have a way to distinguish between them. Each realm has its own special symbols. I will tell you at the initiation, now we have no time to do that. That is why the initiation takes a couple of hours to give you a full explanation. After that, you can meditate silently at home without the teacher to guide you. You will be your own teacher. The explanation takes one to two hours, and you will know all about it. After I leave, you'll do it all by yourself. You dont need me to be there physically. We are related within, but not on the outside. Being related within means that when you encounter difficulty, being new to spiritual practice and not being strong enough, you can say an inner prayer to seek Master's help. Then the Master will give you some help. How come some people die in great pain, and some don't? How can we avoid the pain? It depends on the karma. Spiritual practitioners do not die in pain. They just depart silently, and their bodies are rosy. Even then, they look prettier than when they were alive, and without any makeup. Why is there joy and suffering in the human world? That is why it is called the human world. Otherwise, this place would be called Pure Land or Heaven. For instance, you go to school. Its a place where students have to study hard. If you go to a big market, you can see many people buy and sell merchandise there. You call that a market. The place for diligent study is called a school. Each place is different. Cockroaches bring germs that are detrimental to family health. Can we kill cockroaches for our family? Human life is more precious than that of animals and insects. Human beings have the right of priority over other sentient beings, because we humans are superior sentient beings. Therefore, we can take measures to protect ourselves and our relatives. However, we still have to pay for the bad karma when we kill cockroaches. It is not without bad karma. Therefore, we ought to take good care of our environment to avoid breeding
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cockroaches. Or you can use an apparatus that generates electric waves to keep cockroaches away from your house. Q. M. Dear Master, what is initiation? What do You mean by dying while living? Initiation is like this: At the time of transmission, the Buddha or the God within you will be awakened in complete silence, and you will experience the Light of your Self, of heaven, of God, and continue like this every day while you are meditating, or sometimes even not meditating, and then you will know your Self. The initiation process is just a quietness, a quiet understanding between the two souls, between the God and God-selves, between your Self and God, or between your God-self: You and God are one. And because you are ready to go Home, so the God within you will be awakened. I'm just there to remind you how to keep this awareness every day within yourself. But the transmission is very quiet, in silence, completely, no talking. And then, some instructions are verbal before the transmission, but not during the transmission and not after. Then you'll know what to do every day with your Self, and how to find your God again every day, until you are completely one with your Self or with God again. That's the initiation. Dying while living is exactly dying while living. For example, when we die, that means we have to leave this life forever. But dying while living means you just die temporarily, like ten minutes, half an hour, one hour, two hours, three hours, four hours, maybe even a week, it depends on your time limit. And then you come back again to this physical body and continue your daily activities, without having to die for good, until your time comes. Because your silver cord, which connects your awareness with the body, is not broken. And at the time of your dying, truly dying, the silver cord is broken and you don't come back again. But during meditation, you can 'die.' You truly 'die' sometimes! And your eyes turn upwards like the dead people, only white things left, and you don't feel anything of the body anymore. You go up to heaven or some different higher dimension to learn knowledge of heaven, learn about your Self, learn about your ability, come back, help yourself, help your family, solve the problem, see things clearly, work better, better health, better thinking, and then you can 'die' again tomorrow or any time. But this takes a little practice. All the saints die daily. It says so in the bible. So that means dying while living. You are dead, just for a while so that you can go to a higher place and learn better things. Because in this world, you can only learn worldly things. With the body, you can only do worldly activities. So you have to leave the body if you want to learn something higher, and come back and use the body to act out the knowledge that you learn from the higher world. Q. You say Jesus and Buddha are Masters guiding people to the Truth. Then, is there any difference between believing in Christianity, Buddhism, or the Quan Yin method? Obviously, the Christian doctrines say it differently. They say that only the Holy Trinity and Jehovah can save us. Other than that, there is no salvation. Man cannot resolve his own sins. What is Your view on this point? Christianity originally taught the Quan Yin method. Now the lineage is lost. Buddhism also taught this Quan Yin method originally. All the great and true religions teach this Quan Yin method. The Quan Yin method is not really a 'method.' It is we who really awaken to realize our own Self, our great True Self. There is no so-called 'method.' It is all right to believe in any religion. But what is the use if you believe in God but do not see God, or if you believe in Jesus but cannot talk to or see Him? I feel it is of very little use to believe in the Buddha but not know where He is, and not see the Buddha's land. Therefore, I am here to tell you how to see Jesus, how to come face to face with God, and how to see the
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Buddha. It is true. Once you are enlightened, everything changes completely, you understand everything. You understand any scripture that you don't understand now. Q. M. Is the God of the Quan Yin method the same as the God of Christianity in definition? Is the God of the Quan Yin method the same as the Catholic God? They are the same. There is only one God, not two. This method is for you to see your own God, not to see my God, if you want my advice. You will see your God. You have to be enlightened, otherwise, all my words are futile. Words only advertise the cookies; they are not the real cookies. Is it possible for You to explain how enlightenment feels? It feels great! You ask our people how they feel. I only see them once, maybe a year, or sometimes once every three, four years if they even have money to come to see me or if I even come to see them in their city. We don't do anything with each other. I don't force them to do anything. How they live their life, how they are happy, how they become better beings and take care of themselves and their families better, you ask them. You go ask any of them how they feel, okay? Great! It feels great! Is evil just another form of goodness? Does that mean there is no evil after all? No, no, no. You cannot say there is no evil. But yet, evil is also born from us. Originally, there was no evil. It's just because when we think of something bad or negative, when we do something bad or negative, and when we speak something bad or negative, these things also affect us and affect all the people around, because they are not of the good nature. Anything we do good, and say good, think good, is a good nature. And that has a good effect on us and on everybody else. Everything we do bad, think bad, or talk bad, it has a bad effect. Everything has an effect. Energy! Like the rose, it's beautiful, it smells nice, because it's a rose. Everything has its own quality and effect. You put a rose in a small room, you feel the whole room is filled with rose fragrance. You put some bad things or some excrement from an animal in the room, the whole room will smell bad. You see? Everything has an effect. Everything has energy, because we are God, we are the Creator, we have one power with the whole Creator, we are one with that creation, and whatever we create will affect ourselves and everybody else. That's why the devil was born, evil was born, because of our bad energy. And sometimes so big, big, big and vast, massive lumps of energy, they attract each other and they stay in one place, and that country will have disaster, have trouble. The whole nation will be affected, the people will be maybe in a bad shape, have epidemics, have sickness, have disease, have war, have disaster, whatever. That's when the bad energy, the devil, is at work. It's all man-made. So take care that our thoughts are always pure, noble, and good, then we don't have to experience this. Okay? That's why we have to practice, be good for ourselves and benefit everyone. Q. Master, I have a bad character. Very often I handle things with a wishy-washy attitude. I find this very bad for my spiritual practice. Because I have become very coarse and not refined enough. Master, should I change this bad character in order to progress faster in spiritual practice? Or will it change naturally as I practice longer?
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It will change naturally with more spiritual practice. In this world, many things can irritate us. When we were first born and as we grew up, we had many lofty ideals. We wanted to do well, do things with perfection, and be loving to everyone. But none of these are realized and we get heartbroken. Later, we become frustrated and say, 'I don't care anymore! I don't care if I am doing good or bad.' It is because we are battered by the world. So, don't blame yourself. It is only due to the situation. Now that we have begun practicing spiritually, we have a better understanding of the cause, and we can change accordingly. This question concerns marriage. I am pessimistic about marriage, so I strive to suppress my feelings and avoid intimate contact with the opposite sex. As a result, I've become very aloof. I feel that this concept is wrong. Practitioners shouldn't become wooden. But I fear that if I open up, I may not be able to control my feelings. What should I do, Master? Then do it both ways. Half of you get married, and half practice spiritually. What does it matter? Marriage is not such a bad thing. That is, marriage shouldn't be so difficult or pessimistic. The most difficult thing is finding a bosom friend. If you are too anxious and throw yourself at any good looking person, later you might suffer and, of course, feel very frustrated. Maybe you want to find a bosom friend because you are lonely, so the two of you can find comfort in walking together and helping each other, and it is very nice to meditate together at home. So you think about it first and list out what you want in a good partner. For example, if you want to find a husband, then list out all the qualities that you want in him: 1, 2, 3. Never mind how he looks. Very often, we fall in love immediately with anyone who looks nice, then we forget to check his qualities. That is why we suffer so much. You ought to do it the other way around. Write down all the qualities or whatever you would want in him. Only give your heart when you meet such a person. It doesn't matter how he looks, how much he earns, or what kind of job he has. This is the right way, knowing what you want. Only then will you have a successful marriage later. I didn't know so much before. It was my good luck that I had a good husband. Should you want a lasting and successful marriage, write down clearly what you want. It is okay if you want a handsome man. Imagine what he looks like, and then draw a picture or find a photograph that resembles him. Put the qualities and photo together, and all that you can imagine of the marriage, compile them into a book of marriage. Read it frequently. When you meet your ideal partner, then you can give him all your heart. Otherwise, you will suffer, do you know that? However, it will only work if he loves you too. But he definitely will. After you have decided what kind of man you want, God will send you one, exactly the same one. I tell you, I promise you, it is for sure. Sometimes, people's mind and heart think differently. Master, what's in one's heart, is it also the will of the Almighty? Is the Almighty's will the same as God's will? Yes, yes! The Almighty is God. It is just that people speak in different languages. For instance, you call her 'Mama,' they call her 'Mommy,' while others say 'Abu.' They are the same. Master, I feel I cannot go higher spiritually. What is the reason? Because you are not up there yet. For instance, you are halfway up the staircase, you will reach the last step finally. Take it easy. Master, how soon does practicing the Quan Yin method bring enlightenment?
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Immediately. Whether big or small is up to you. You'll be enlightened at once. The more you concentrate, the more you are enlightened, and vice versa. Total enlightenment will come sooner or later. How can we make money? Is fate predestined? How is money-making related to samadhi? Does he mean that he will make a lot of money if he enters samadhi? You can, it's true. After I entered samadhi, I earned a lot of money. I tell you this, but don't tell others. It is our secret. No matter where you want to be successful, in this world or in heaven, you have to concentrate. Therefore, we meditate in order to concentrate. When we are focused, we bring all our energy together. We can use it better when it is concentrated, because energy is difficult to handle when dispersed. It is the same with anything. If you want to take something, you must put your strength there. So, once our attention is focused, we can use it anywhere conveniently, even in earning money. But we may find making money meaningless after we have practiced. It is okay when we earn for the sake of other people. Whether we are a monk, whether we are walking, or wearing one set of clothes or not, we virtually do not care about earning money. But we can earn naturally if we want. Master, why can't we get along with our spouses after getting married and instead we end up divorcing? As I said earlier, you did not write the book of marriage. Choose your ideal partner before looking for him. Don't start considering after meeting someone randomly. It will be too late then. Marriage is very important. It's for a lifetime, so be careful. Like a business deal, you must be prepared. You must know what you have to do, and how your products should be. Getting married is even more important than doing business! Many people just rush into it. Who can you blame for the suffering? You didn't prepare well! Getting married is similar to doing business. You must prepare well. You must know what you want in order to be happily together ever after. Why must we become human? Why must we transmigrate? Why not? What else do you want to be if not human? As humans, we definitely have to transmigrate. If we have not learned or have not remembered our True Self, we will have to come back again. We keep trying until we remember we are the Buddha. It is also fun to be a human. Or we may choose to be an animal. Is that all right? No! Let me tell you: It's useless even if I spend 1000 years answering all these questions. After we are enlightened, everything is very clear. If we eat the meat of an animal that dies naturally, is it killing? No, that is not considered killing. However, the hatred of an animal faced with the terror of death will influence our thinking. It will influence our body and the extent of our enlightenment. Therefore, it is better to avoid eating animals. Vegetarian food is the most that we should eat. Look at the vegetables: We cut them and new sprouts grow. If we cut the head of an animal, it will not grow three more. Therefore, it is all right for us to eat vegetables. Without practicing the Mao Shan method, how do we come back to ourselves? It is a kind of magical power that allows us to go through walls.
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That is great. So, do you want to go through walls or go to heaven? Please tell me. Continue to learn that skill if you wish to go through walls. Learn with us if you want to go to heaven. Each has its own purpose. Why do I dream of my deceased relatives when I am very tired? It is not because you are very tired that you dream of them. It is that they make you tired when they come. It is because we are yang and they are yin. Sometimes because they are not liberated, their yin energy is very intense. Sometimes they bear hatred because they have unsettled matters. They want to affect us and let us know, so they come near us and then we feel tired. We are pulled down to their level so that we can see them. Practicing the Quan Yin method helps these relatives get liberated. Later we will not see them anymore. Even if we see them, they will be in happiness. They will thank us. The relatives of many initiates come to thank them, because of the Quan Yin method that makes them liberated. They even say, 'Say thank you to your Master for us.' Some people become less intimate with their spouse after initiation, fearing it may affect their spiritual level. Is it right to do so? It is not right! Just be normal, okay? If you have a husband, then you have a husband. If he still wants you to be his wife, you continue to be so. We practice spiritually, not physically with the body. Master, is there any proof of where sentient beings go after they die? Where did the Quan Yin Bodhisattva come from? The Quan Yin Bodhisattva came from the Quan Yin realm, the Buddha's land. You can only see the proof yourself; no one can prove it to others. What you see is not the same as what he sees. If you want proof, you have to open your wisdom eye and you will see for yourself. It is definitely like this. How are precepts, samadhi and wisdom related to attaining Buddhahood? Actually, precepts are nothing austere. They are a kind of measurement. Precepts help measure our level, for instance, what the animals should do, what human beings should do, and what saints should do. Just like in primary or secondary school, or university. If you reach this level, you know you are in primary school. While at that level, you can pass tests to get into secondary school. Similarly, the precepts are there for us to introspect about ourselves, to check our level, or whether we can rise to the saints' level. Therefore, if we cannot keep the precepts, and still wish to kill or tell lies, it shows that our level is still not high enough. I do not force you to keep the precepts, but it is related to your level. Of course, 'samadhi' means that you meditate to enter samadhi in order to know your True Self. And wisdom comes naturally from samadhi when you are in tranquil meditation. So the precepts let us know whether we can become saints. They check our level. It is in samadhi during meditation that we recognize our Buddha Nature. Wisdom comes naturally. These three are prerequisites; otherwise what kind of Buddha would we be? What is the fastest way to get rid of turbulent thoughts and enter a high dimension when we meditate? It is different for every person. If we truly thirst for liberation, samadhi comes quickly.
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Practicing one would be enough. We don't have enough time. We have to work and take care of the family. We have to learn other things. We have to eat and sleep, too. And still you want to practice so many methods. See which one is good for you, and choose one. You cannot learn anything if you choose two. Can I practice the Quan Yin method if I believe in Yi Guan Dao, Tian Tao, pray to Ji Gong Buddha and Confucius, and concentrate on the head chakra? Will Ji Gong be angry in heaven? What kind of deity would get angry? Why worship him if he is just like us humans? Whatever your path, you can practice the Quan Yin method; just one method is good enough. The deity will not get angry. He is not an ordinary human. How could he be angry? You practice to purify your acts, speech and thoughts, to become a better person, a saint. How could the deity be angry? He should be overjoyed. Each time before seeing Master, I seem to have a lot of questions. But when I see Master, I cannot think of any question. Master, why is this so? Does it mean the questions do not exist anymore because I have forgotten them? You do not need to ask any question in the first place. You are tricked by the mind. What questions do you have? Just practice to know our Buddha Nature and the questions will resolve themselves slowly. It happens to most people; they have no more questions after seeing me. Firstly, the questions have been solved by themselves. Secondly, you forget them, you forget them, which means they are not important. If they are really important, surely you will remember them. That means they are trivial issues that can be solved, which is good. Master, can I believe that God gives me the best? Is it true that our suffering is just symbolic? Does God give me nothing but the best? Do I have a choice? How can I truly renounce everything? Of course God gives us the best, but it also depends on what we ask. God always gives us anything we want, whether good or not, because Hes will not interfere with our free will. Therefore, you must be very sure about what you really want, then God will give it to us. Be very pure and clean in act, speech and thought. Whatever we want, sooner or later we will have it. Therefore, every situation that arises in our life is what we have originally asked for in silence, perhaps at one time or in previous lives, and it comes now. We cannot blame Heaven or Earth, or anyone else. As we practice spiritually for longer, these bad things will become fewer. Since we only think of good things, we will be more positive. Our life will become better and better, as our thinking improves constantly. Usually, the good begets good and the bad begets bad. However, very often it is the other way round. Why? It is because their bad retribution has not yet arrived, but the good retribution is ripe. He did good deeds in the past, so he now has good retribution. He does bad deeds now, and the bad retribution has yet to come. Sometimes it comes immediately, but sometimes it comes very late so we cannot see it. We wonder why he is fine even when he does bad deeds every day. Very soon, his 'good' will vanish, and when the time is up, his good retribution will be gone too. You can say he has spent it all.
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Perhaps because you saw your kin. I have told you, we are companions. You don't know me, but I know you. We remember each other. As I have said, we are not humans. We are closely connected within, we are one. Naturally you are emotional when you see your own Self, your True Nature. For instance, when we see someone shining, our heart will shine too, and our bad karma will also change a little. Therefore, we sometimes cry for no reason, just like that. As our body becomes purified, the unclean things will be washed away with the tears. This is why we feel very comfortable when we go home. Is it against the Buddha's teachings to speculate on stocks and use the profits on charity? No, no. You didn't do anything bad. It is all right. If you want money, earn it through good ways. As long as you do not kill, steal or rob. Is it greedy to study hard, work hard for money and seek better lives, but use most of the money for charitable deeds? No, no. This is a good kind of greed. Master, previously when I looked at Your photo, You often transformed into different appearances. May I know why it doesn't happen anymore? I cannot transform every day, it is too tiring. Give me a break, okay? Seeing it once is enough. Is it not enough after so many times? Why should I continue to transform? It is you who needs to transform. I transformed a little to show you an example, an analogy. You have to be enlightened and enjoy your own many transformations. How should we perceive the 'sexual misconduct' in the Five Precepts? That means it is good enough to have one husband or wife. We take care of and love each other, and be a comfortable couple, trust, care for, and help each other in spiritual practice. Do not flirt from flower to flower. That is like a butterfly, a bee, not a human being. You are more comfortable and at peace, and your family is more harmonious. Trust each other, and your spiritual cultivation will also be better. Don't think of other people; don't fantasize about other people's wives. It is better to be loyal to one mate in a lifetime. In both work and study, I have consistency but lack perseverance. I often work for three days and then I am idle for two days. Master, how can I do things with perseverance and will power? His mind is not stable, so is this world, which is ephemeral and ever-changing. Youd better find an ideal way of life and then carry on with it. Now you don't know how to live as a human and don't know what to do. You will know after you are initiated and enlightened. Your life will be more stable. You waver back and forth only because you do not realize your True Nature. After death, where will one's consciousness go? Why do people do charity anonymously? This is a better way. We help others like we help ourselves. Why should we leave our names? I do the same very often, every day, any time. Some are recorded because the disciples notice it and then write a report later. Most of the time, it is not recorded. No one
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knows who the donor is. Sometimes, I give things away without anyone knowing, anonymously, or I just give to people on the streets. When we help people, we are helping ourselves, so why should we bother to leave our names? If it is necessary, of course we will leave our names. It is all right whether we leave our names or not; it does not matter. Anyway, people benefit. Leaving names or not is unimportant, it depends on the situation. Helping others is just like washing our hands. Would you write something to praise yourself for washing your hands? This is what it is. Q. M. I often feel that I am sick. Is it because I am not serious in spiritual practice? Or is it because I often cook meat for my family? If this is the case, then what should I do? They have their own choice and you have yours. Since you are tied in affinity, you have to tolerate each other, or you may reach an agreement with your family, and let them cook meat for themselves. Otherwise, they could eat vegetarian food with you. If you don't feel well, go see a doctor. Why do I always have nightmares? From now on, you just start dreaming about good things. Perhaps you have eaten the wrong food. Sometimes you are too tired, or it could be bad karma from past lives. Sometimes it is the magnetic field in our living environment. Other people's magnetic fields can also affect us. Check what your problem is. If you eat meat unknowingly, you might also have nightmares. Do we get ill because of our bad karma? Then should we take medicine when we are ill? Can we get well without taking medicine? Sometimes we can get well without taking medicine, sometimes we need the medication. In meditation, I often see all kinds of images. Sometimes they are so terrifying that I wake up in fear. Why is it so? It is because of bad karma. Pray to the Buddha to help you, and you will get well soon. This is only temporary. Everything is temporary. This person is not practicing the Quan Yin method. You have asked so many questions, and people thought that you are practicing the Quan Yin method. Please write down the method you are practicing, okay? They might be practicing Zen, the Lotus Method, Pure Land Method, or lots of others. They just put down 'meditation,' which actually is 'wrong meditation'. I have told you that we must learn the good method. It is not good enough to just meditate. You cannot cook rice out of sand. If we are not vegetarian but are ready to do charity and help others, will it be of any help to us? Yes, it will. Doing charity will bring good retribution. However, this is not liberation, only good retribution. You will be wealthy and healthy in the future. May I know the difference between Buddha and God? No difference. They have tea and chat together every day. What a pity! You are a Buddha yourself, yet you ask such a question. Just turn around and you will know who you are. Just turn around, turn your attention the other way.
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My mother has suffered a lot. She is now eighty years old, in poor health and unable to move about. She cannot see, and sometimes even scolds people. She is not a vegetarian. Is it due to her heavy karma? It does not matter if she is not a vegetarian. She is old and has not very long to live. Do not criticize old people. Cook delicious food for her. Occasionally give her some good vegetarian food; she will eat it. Since she has lost her eyesight, she cannot tell which is which. If you feel that her bad karma is heavy from eating meat, then give her good vegetarian food. Do not criticize her; she lives the life of her choice.
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MC. It is the same question. After his mother dies, can she go up? M. If you practice the Quan Yin method, she definitely can go up. If no relatives practice the Quan Yin method, she might or might not go up. It depends on what she has done in her life, and whether she is enlightened. Master, I want to scatter the ashes of my dead parents into the ocean. Do You think this is a good way? Yes, good, this is the best. This can save a lot of land. Master, after the initiation, do our souls belong to You? What happens to the soul after death? Will it belong to You? How can it be? It is your soul. How can it belong to me? I don't want it! Please keep your own soul.
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MC. He has excessive illusions and he thinks too much. He would like to ask You what to do. M. You have to take it slowly. Meditate more, practice the Quan Yin method, then you will concentrate naturally. Later you will have fewer illusions and have only good thoughts. Your soul does not belong to me after death. If you practice the Quan Yin method, you know you are one with God within. It is one with everything and does not belong to anyone. Why can't I feel the so-called compassion in me? Though I help others, I cannot feel the great love, the selfless love. In what way can I be diligent to reach real enlightenment and feel that I no longer have so many shortcomings? I am especially inclined to being greedy. Take it easy. As you practice the Quan Yin method diligently, and become more enlightened, everything will be all right. You don't think you have love, but it is good that you help others. It is very good. How can you help people if you have no compassion? You do have it! A teacher taught me to chant scriptures and pray to Quan Yin Bodhisattva for help. Do I have to chant the scriptures every day? You need to understand them, not chant them every day. What is the use of chanting without understanding? What good is chanting the menu? You have to eat the food. Reading the menu is okay, but you must eat the food too. Is it good to read the menu in the restaurant daily, then leave? Chanting the scriptures is good. It reminds us of how the
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ancient people pursued spiritual practice, then we follow the path that they walked, and not just chant their path. Chanting is good, but it is even better to follow and walk the path. Q. M. Q. Must we practice the Quan Yin method to get enlightenment? Yes, absolutely yes! I guarantee it. I have practiced many methods, but I was enlightened by practicing this method because this is the right method, the correct path! My granddaughter used to be healthy eating vegetarian food with me. Now she is in kindergarten, she eats there and often has a fever. Her parents do not believe that vegetarian food is better for her. They do not listen to me. [M: What a pity!] The child is ill and miserable. What should I do? It is difficult. Take it slowly. Talk to them and explain to them. Tell them the child used to be very healthy, but is now very sick. It would not hurt to give her vegetarian food again for a change. Ask them to give it a try and give the child a chance. If you talk logically, kindly and sincerely, they will try it. When the child switches back to a vegetarian diet and gets better, they will believe you. It is very difficult. Habits die hard in this world. They do love the child, but they think they are right. They just do not want to try another method. Most of us are very stubborn. We think this is good enough, so there is no need to try. I would try anything and change when it is not good. Some say that when we are running, we should not mind if others stumble. Do not help them because that would affect our progress. Sometimes I am really confused. It is hard to tell if one is helping or intervening in their bad karma. Help people if you want. Giving help out of love is right. Don't think too much. I am a barber by profession. After the initiation, if I cut hair for people who eat meat, will that affect my spiritual practice? You have to do it. Continue with your job. Do not criticize others for eating meat. It is enough to change yourself. Other people have the free will to choose their way of life. Continue to do your work and earn good money just like before. Just practice spiritually in silence. Will Master help non-initiates become liberated if they are sincere to Her? Will You help initiates become liberated if they have heavy karma? Is it necessary to transcend the Three Realms to be liberated? I can help you all, no problem. Of course, you have to go beyond the Three Realms for eternal liberation. Within the Three Realms, you will have to come back. Since the wisdom of each person is different, even though they meditate and practice together, will each see a different inner Buddha? How can we elevate ourselves as fast as possible? We are all the same. The only difference is our level of concentration, so we see different dimensions. For instance, you have classmates who study together with you, but because you pay more attention, you get higher grades. Those who pay less attention get lower grades. You are in the same class under the same teacher, and your wisdom is the same, but your level of concentration is different.
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Master, I am very talkative. What should I do? I want to change very much, but it is very difficult. Could Master please help me find a way to stop talking so much? Then just stop talking. Okay, there is a way. It is all right if you talk about good things. Just find someone who likes to listen. There are some quiet people who do not talk but like to listen to others talk. You can try to find some job where you need to talk a lot, there you can utilize your talent. When you really do not want to talk, you may remind yourself by some means, or things like chanting beads. Each time you want to talk, you start chanting. People will think you practice well spiritually. That is convenient. Can hostilities be dissolved? Can we do it with love? Anything can be dissolved with love, but sometimes it takes time. Love can solve anything. Love is the best; enmity is not. Quarreling is never good. Since ancient times, people have fought wars and quarrelled incessantly. Kings and rebels have all died, hurting themselves a lot. Only love, only forgiveness, and only coming together as one can bring eternal peace. Thank you. I have long been aware of my many shortcomings. For example, I am short-tempered and pessimistic. When I fail to change myself, I tend to blame myself. I love my family in my heart, but I cannot control myself. I vent my anger on them, and hurt them. What can I do to change myself? Become enlightened, meditate, and your mind will calm down. Is it good to seek perfection in life and at work? Is it good? [Audience: Good!] You exhaust Yourself when eliminating our bad karma. If You leave us one day, will someone replace You and help us unenlightened people get liberation? Yes, yes. There are people doing my job life after life. However, now that I am here, seize the opportunity. You cannot be sure whether the other people will come to you or not. I exhaust myself for you because you are me. We are one. We are the same. We are companions. If I were hungry, would I not find something to feed myself? Of course I would! Similarly, when you are in pain, I also suffer, because we are originally one, separated only by the body. But once we practice spiritually, the body can no longer separate us. Therefore, I feel your pain as if I am being cut by the knife myself. So, I must heal it. It is nothing special. When you love someone, you will look out for him and try to help him. Having embarked on spiritual practice, we love everyone. That is the way it is. I am not really exhausted, okay? I wish all of you all the best, the greatest happiness and peace. Hope you find your great True Nature as soon as possible. See you!
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ILLUSION IS A REFLECTION OF REALITY 6

[The Philippines is a beautiful country comprised of 7107 islands. Its warm waters with the dramatic display of coral gardens, white sand beaches, unspoiled tropical scenery and spectacular marine life, draw multitude of tourists to travel to the islands every year.
6. Public lecture, Manila, The Philippines, May 3rd, 2000 (Originally in English).
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The people of the Philippines are basically of Malay heritage with some Chinese, American, Spanish, and Arab blood. They are known for their hospitality and friendliness. Although Tagalog is the national language, the Philippines has about 80 dialects in total, and English remains the language of commerce and politics. What kind of great affinity would bring an enlightened Master together with this extraordinary land? Perhaps it is the love, purity and sincerity in the peoples hearts that could move the gods. It is an affinity for almost two decades, when Supreme Master Ching Hais first visits were to provide assistance to the Palawan Vietnamese Refugee Camp mission between 1989 and 1996. When the Pinatubo Volcano erupted in 1991, She returned with our Association members to assist with the relief efforts. Her immediate and unconditional assistance during this natural disaster is never forgotten by the Philippine people. In 1992, She provided flood relief assistance following the Pinatubo landslides. Her loving efforts to assist the Philippine people have continued to this day. With all victims of calamities, the poorest of the poor, the underprivileged, which the Supreme Master helped, especially during the eruption of the Mount Pinatubo, the 1991 earthquake, and the latest landslide. What is important is that the compassionate heart of the Supreme Master has touched so many lives. She touches so many lives in so many ways. On November 22nd , 2006, Supreme Master Ching Hai was awarded the prestigious Gusi Peace Prize for philanthropy and humanitarianism. Similar to the Nobel Peace Prize, the Gusi Peace Prize honors distinguished individuals and organizations that have made extraordinary contributions to world peace. The award ceremony took place in Manila, the Philippines, where Supreme Master Ching Hai, along with 14 other laureates, was formally recognized. 'Land of the Sun Returning, Land of Love, that is the Philippines, and a race of people whose compassion is boundless because they have God within themselves, within their hearts. Theres never enough eloquence to praise the peace-loving people of this country for their exalted nature. But the whole world will always bear witness to their monumental kind deeds. And heavens are forever moved by their exceptional charity.' In Her acceptance speech at the Gusi Peace Prize ceremony in Manila, Philippines on November 22nd , 2006, Supreme Master Ching Hai aptly describes the magnificence of these islands and her people. During Her 'Experience the Divine Ocean of Love' lecture tour in Asia and Oceania in 2000, Supreme Master Ching Hai accepted the invitation of sincere Truth aspirants to visit this beautiful country and share Her wisdom and knowledge of the universe. We invite you to enjoy the wisdom-filled lecture entitled, 'Illusion is A Reflection of Reality,' delivered by Supreme Master Ching Hai in Manila, Philippines on May 3rd , 2000.]
D. Distinguished guests, members of the press and different organizations, ladies and gentlemen, when I was young, I was very much amazed in reading bible stories. Due to my interest in those stories, I made plans to commit my life and interest to religion and the bible. In high school, I planned to become a priest. That was my plan. So, due to all my questions that needed to be fulfilled, I personally researched religions and the bible. But in fact, I had more questions. Instead of learning the answers through my questions, more questions arose in me. What Id seen and had learned through my teachers in high school and the priests who managed the school was that they had no answers that could satisfy me. From that time on, when I graduated from high school and entered college, I didnt bother going back to the convent, not even to continue in the seminary. When I was in college my inquisitive mind wouldnt stop. I continued doing research on different religions,
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like Hinduism and Buddhism. I researched those, as well as Islam. Then I took Yoga Philosophy. When I graduated from college I worked in Palawan. I also had my family, including kids, and became a full-fledged Palawanian. I was still searching, but I had a void, an emptiness in my heart. I was looking for concrete answers and a limitless satisfaction to what I could feel. I was in this frame of mind when I was able to find out about the Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association. I was basically a vegetarian at that time. While working, I had a chance to go on business to Puerto Princesa. There, I dined at the vegetarian restaurant of the Supreme Master Ching Hai. I learned about the Quan Yin method of meditation. And then I talked to my wife about it and she also agreed to be initiated into the Quan Yin method. After some time, our four kids wanted to meditate too, so they got initiated also. So what has happened is that, through my experience, I now know that what Master Ching Hai teaches through the Quan Yin method, about immediate enlightenment, is the Truth. You'll see the spiritual Light that's referred to in the bible and other holy books. The Light, or you can call it enlightenment, is real, and you will see the Light. There are certain stages of what you will feel. And youll also hear what is called the 'Word.' I researched different religions and all religions have what is called the 'Word' you can hear the Sound. You can try to practice through the process of the meditation. It has been proven and I have experienced it, so Im sure you will also get satisfied. Thank you. MC. The next speaker tonight is a very, very special person. He's been spiritually guiding each and every Filipino, and I guess it's our privilege also to hear and listen to some words of thanks from Father Reuter (FR). FR. The remarkable thing about Supreme Master Ching Hai is that She reaches out to those who are in need all over the world. And here in the Philippines, She has extended a very substantial help to our Aetas who were dislocated by the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo. She was very touched by the fact that so many of them were killed and so many of them were driven from their homes, were homeless and without any support, and She contributed very strongly to our efforts to help those people. We now have a real community of Aetas in Zambales, and it is doing very, very well. We have education going on, and livelihood. They are growing mangoes and they are going to school! So, we are helping those Aetas very, very strongly through the assistance of Supreme Master Ching Hai, so we are deeply grateful to Her for that. Thank you very much. MC. We Filipinos are known to be hospitable and welcoming to guests. So, may I ask the dancers to please give a traditional gift, a traditional dance to Supreme Master Ching Hai. Supreme Master Ching Hai, this dance is for You! M. Thank you so much. Thank you. Before everything begins, let us close our eyes for a while and pray for this country and her people. We pray that the land will be happier and happier every day, and her people will quickly experience the bliss of heaven according to Hiers will. Amen. Thank you, my Lord. Thank you for your love. I feel so much love from the Philippine people; it's very difficult to explain. So much love, so much love from these people. May the Lord bless you more and more every day. It's been a long time since I visited your beautiful country. I have almost forgotten how beautiful the people are. How are you? [Audience: Fine.] Because of all the kindness that you have showered upon the weak and needy people, although this country has not always been fortunate as the way we would have wished to have, the way we would have wished to be, but then, that is the mark of generosity and kindness. Because if we give and if we are kind only when we are in The Quan Yin Method The Key of Immediate Enlightenment and Eternal Liberation
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fortunate situations or only when we are rich and wealthy and comfortable, then it is not so much of a surprise. Only when we give in our very humble situation, and even in the trial situation, then the Lord really knows that we truly are Hiers beloved children and we bring the love of God to this planet. Blessed be you. You're so great, so loving, so kind, so warm, and so generous. And all the trials and tribulations just magnify all these great qualities of the Philippine people. I have met many of you in this land and it gives me always the best impression that I can remember. I take this opportunity today to thank you again, again and again for being so good, for being yourself. Thank you. And we have the Father here to thank, the Mother, and Mr., great, Morato. Thank you. And the loving beautiful couple here, I think you know who they are. Please stand up also. Yes. And many, many more... Please. The ones who sit in the front here are all the great people. You will come and learn to know them later. I guess you know them better than I do. I'm very honored and very, very happy to come back to this wonderful land, especially to the wonderful people that are very difficult for me to forget. Some people you meet and you forget, some people you met, you never forget the Philippine people make people never forget. Not only myself, the Philippine people abroad also give a very, very good name to this nation. I just want you to have this feedback, because I travel a lot and I saw many Philippine people abroad, and they always give a very, very good representation of their country. Now, if we, as human beings, give also such a good representation about our Father in heaven, then it would be very good for our planet. It's not always that every person can represent God in such a heavenly way. It's not because they don't want to, it's just because they have forgotten the kingdom of God which is within ourselves. The bible has mentioned very, very clearly, Jesus said again and again, 'Know you not that you are the temple of God, and the Holy Spirit dwells within you?' We read the bible every day and we heard Jesus says that we are the children of God, it's just that it is very difficult for us to remember this. In order to remember where we came from, we have to go back there. We have to return step by step, tracing back to the kingdom, where we have, really, the origin of our being, because we are not really... we are not human. We are not this physical body which is called human. We are from heaven, all of us, even the worst sinners that we think that they are the worst sinners they are also from heaven. The reason they sin is just because they are frustrated here. In their deepest memory of the subconscious, they remember what heaven is like, they remember the freedom, the abundance, the richness, the mighty power that they had when they were with the Father. When we came here to this planet, and encased in this physical body, we feel very, very restricted. That's why children cry, the babies cry the first moment they came here. If it should be a happy place, they would smile when they were born. It is because when the baby was first born, they were still very much in contact with God power, very much in contact with the Father in heaven. So when they contact with this very coarse and suffering world, they feel immediate pain. They cannot bear it, so they cry, and slowly this memory of heaven fades. The older we grow, the memories of our origin will be faded from us. It has the reason, so that we can continue in this physical life without feeling too much homesick. We have to do whatever we do here, so God has arranged that we forget our origin; but only for a while. Up to the age of four or five, the children still remember where they came from, still contact with heaven. That's why they are so pure, so happy. Doesn't matter in which circumstances, their eyes spark with love and with the heavenly bliss that we adults have lost. The older we became, the spark in our eyes faded more and more because we have contacted with this physical world, which is very coarse, which is not refined, which is not blissful compared to where we came from. The Quan Yin Method The Key of Immediate Enlightenment and Eternal Liberation
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We came here for different reasons. We came here so that we can know God. Even if our purpose in life is different, our reason to come here is different, the way of living is different, but the only one goal for coming here is so that we can recognize God. It sounds paradoxical, but it is like that. It has been explained to me. I have seen in the inside vision why it is like that. It is because we have been in heaven with the Father all this eternity; we were one with the Creator. We are with Him, with Her, all the time so we cannot know what it is. So, we need a reflection of all this glory, the one that is not the real one, so that we can know the real one. Just like we need the mirror to see our true self, our face. The mirror is only an image, just a reflection; it's not real. But because of the mirror we can know ourselves. Similarly, this world is just an illusion, just a mirage, just a reflection of the true world of Godhood. But we need it so that we do know what God is like. Therefore, the bible says to us that, 'Judge not, because you will be judged.' Why should we not judge our brothers and sisters? Because they are God's children also, they are the same essence as God. We are all children of God, so no matter what he does, he is God inside, he has God inside him and he came here to do this and that and others, in order for him to know God. The way we have chosen so that we can know God is different. Some choose a very moral way, so he gets to know God quicker. Some choose a longer and harder way by being less moral, by being less noble, less good, so that he can learn to know God in a more intense way. But of course, in our human standard, we have value good and bad, moral and immoral. So, therefore, we have judgment, we have come to make like a definition, about good and bad, evil and so forth. But in the eyes of our Father we are all equal because everything here is an illusion anyway. Bad or good, its not real. It's just a reflection so that we know God in the totality of it. Because we have been in heaven for so long, everything is so good, so pure, so perfect, so we cannot know the perfection unless we see the imperfection. We cannot realize a man unless we have a woman to compare. We cannot know goodness unless we have something bad in contrast to it. And that's why we came here into this world of the physical dimension so that we can know the worst of the suffering, of the pain, of the sorrow, so then we can know goodness, we can know glory, we can know bliss, we can know the blessing of heaven. That's why we have to know God in this lifetime. We must see Hirm. We must not just talk about Hirm, must not just hear about Hirm, we must not just understand about Hirm. We must see Him or Her, if it's a Her or a Him, Whoever. We don't argue about that. God is not like... has to have a gender. God is an almighty power; all loving, all kindness, all forgiving. So, if any of us here, like the Philippine people, have more of this quality, you are very near to God. From inside, you must have very, very deep faith, very deep desire to know the Father, and that's why you people are so pure, so kind and so warm. But we could go a step further, we can see the Father for ourselves. We can see the true God that dwells within this temple. And that is the only way that makes us completely happy in this world and the world beyond. Because that's what we came here for; to see the reflection, to see the illusion, so that we know the reality. To see all the bad, all the ephemeral nature, all the pain and suffering so that we can know God which is in heaven, which is all good, all glory, all blissful, all happiness, and all eternal. To know God, we cannot just talk like this. Talking about candies is not a candy, so in order to know a candy we have to eat it. In order to know God we have to go within, where Jesus mentioned that the kingdom of God is within you within you! So, I'm going to show you the 'within kingdom' so that you can see for yourself that we are not a human being, we are not this mortal body. God lives within us. And when God lives within us, we are just a part of God, we are one with God. The Quan Yin Method The Key of Immediate Enlightenment and Eternal Liberation
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We are not a normal, mortal, sentient being. If we see this for ourselves, then we truly understand the bible when Jesus mentioned the kingdom of God is within you. Then we can see it for ourselves. What is it like, this kingdom of God within us, when we see it? We see some of the experiences that the past saints had while they were in communion with God. For example, like Saint John, he heard the trumpet of heaven; like Moses, he saw God appear like a flame, big flame of light, and he heard God speaking to him with the sound like thunder, the sound of many waters, et cetera, et cetera. These experiences which are recorded in the bible are the real thing. It's not a mysterious thing that only happened to the saints in the past. It is real, it still can happen to us today, to any of us here, because we are all children of God. We are all part of this. We are not this body. Therefore, anytime we want to go within to see the kingdom, we can see it. It's just we don't. We normally see candy, see flowers, see people, and see work, see money, see cars, see traffic, see the sun, the moon outside, but we don't ever try to go inside, which is a completely different world, which is the true world. That is what it means in the bible, like the kingdom of God within you. The kingdom of God within is full of glory, full of Light which is brighter than 10,000 suns of this planet, but it doesn't burn your eyes. It doesn't make you feel uncomfortable. It makes you feel more elated, more light, more wise, more loving, more kind, nearer and nearer to our original abode, which is God, which we call heaven. The reason why we are unhappy no matter how much money we have, no matter how high a position we have in the society, is because we have forgotten this true kingdom of God. The bible told us, Jesus told us, don't lay our treasure in this world, but our true treasure is in heaven. That's what He meant. We must see the treasure inside, then our lives become better and better all the time. Even outside, the treasure from inside will manifest also and make us a different person. Even the outlook different, the thinking different, the health different, the work efficiency different, the intelligence becomes different. The whole outlook inside out becomes different. I look different today than maybe fifteen years ago, before enlightenment. That is for sure. I know this from personal experience. Everything I have today is because the kingdom of God gives me. As a human being, I can never accomplish anything. I was nobody until God has graced my soul with Hiers own love and knowledge, until God has awakened Hirmself within myself and shown me that Hes is there, that I can always love Hirm, rely on Hirm, call on Hirm. Hes told me that Hes is the Supreme Master. And Ching Hai means the 'Ocean of Love.' It's not my physical name, it is the name of our Father. We can call Hirm also many other different names. It doesn't matter. Just like we call our mother 'Mother,' 'Mom,' 'Mommy.' Anything we call her, but she knows and we know. If we don't see God truly, if we don't recognize our True Self, we can never truly be happy. And at the time of death, because this undying longing to know ourselves is unfulfilled, we might be in some miserable state for a while. I mean, we might call that 'hell.' But if we know God, we are already happy when we are in the physical body, so when we so-called die, we continue that happiness, and only angels and saints will come to greet us. So we never feel lonely or fearful at the time of death even. The saints in the bible say that, 'I die daily.' So, when we are enlightened we are not afraid of death. We could really die daily and come back to life. How do we do that? We just step back into the kingdom of God inside, leave the body outside like it's dead it could be like dead the eyes would turn upward, the body is immobile and then, we just go within, the universe inside, which is the real world, and enjoy. And whenever we are ready, we come back, pick up this body again, and then do whatever we have to do, leftover, while we are living on this planet. So, this is what it means by 'dying daily.' And we could do that, we could do that. Because we The Quan Yin Method The Key of Immediate Enlightenment and Eternal Liberation
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are originally from heaven. This body we just borrow for a while, just like we live in a hotel, just like we drive a car, so that it is convenient for some different purposes. But our Real Self is the driver, it's not the car. So, anytime the driver can step in, step out of the car, enjoy different things. Similarly, our True Self is within us. We can come back in, come back out, come back in, come back out. That is true liberation; it's the true freedom while living. While we still take care of our brothers and sisters, and family and job, and earning money, discharging our duty on this planet, we still can enjoy heaven whenever we have free time. And when we are so adept at it, we could even do both at the same time. Can clean your teeth and talk to God at the same time. Can wash your dishes and see heaven at the same time. But this needs practice. Enlightenment comes immediately. If you know how to walk back in the kingdom, walk back to where we came from, it'll come immediately. I can show you that, it's very quick. But the long-term practice will make you more adept in leaving come in and out quickly. Just like the beginning, we don't know how to drive the car very well. We need a teacher and we still drive clumsily. But later on we can drive while even talking to friends and listening to the radio and do all kinds of other thinking. In the beginning, when we first learn to drive the car, we have to be very careful, still we bump into things. But later on, we drive very fast, and we can even do tricks sometimes. Similarly, a long time we inhabit this body, we have forgotten that we could be free of it anytime. There is a story about a pilot. It's a true story. He flew an airplane, and as a pilot, he often had to be overnight on the airplane, on duty, and hed sleep in the kind of chair that can recline it's not the normal bed, but the chair that you recline half like this while he's at work. So he slept like that a lot, a lot of times in his life. So, whenever hed come home he couldn't sleep in a normal bed because he was so used to sleeping in this kind of awkward chair which we couldn't sleep in for a long time. But he could, because he got so used to it that the ordinary flat and comfortable bed became uncomfortable to him. So, at home he has to buy a chair exactly like the pilot chair and then sleep in it. Can you imagine? Habit can be so binding, can be so powerful that makes us forget everything else. Similarly, we have been stuck inside this body for so long that we forgot to leave it until the time of death comes and then we are even reluctant to leave it. We cry, we struggle, we don't want to leave the body which causes us so much pain and suffering and work. For this body alone, we work ten hours a day. We have to do so many things in order to keep this body alive, and when we die we don't want to leave it even! But heaven is supremely beautiful. If we know it now, wed want to leave the body immediately, wed want to leave this world immediately. We don't want to stay here one more second! That's why the saints of the past and present, they never care about dying or not dying. They never care much about the material comfort, because they know a better life inside. So, I'm just going to show you how to remember to step out of the body again. That's it. And then you'll see heaven immediately. There are only two worlds: The one with the body and the one without the body. The one with the body is the one in this world, the one in the material dimension, the one in the physical atmosphere. The one without the body is the one above this world. It's connection with heaven, it's omnipresent, it's one with the whole universal power, one with heaven. That is what Jesus said, 'the kingdom of God within.' We can learn to step back in there anytime and step out of the body anytime. Immediately, you can learn this tonight, and you practice. The more you practice the more easy it becomes. Everything has a solution; everything has a way. There are the ways to do things in this world; we learn it with a The Quan Yin Method The Key of Immediate Enlightenment and Eternal Liberation
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teacher, with friends. There are the ways to do things in heaven; we learn it also with a teacher, with friends. Just because we have not learned doesn't mean we cannot do it. Everything we learn, we can do. Especially the things about heaven we already know, so it's even easier than any of the physical things that we learn in this world. To learn driving is difficult. To learn even to eat as a kid is difficult. But to learn to go back to heaven is not because we are from there. We already knew everything about heaven before we came here. Otherwise, where do you think we came from? If we didn't come from heaven, where do you think we came from? Before we had this physical body, where have we been? Where were we? And who is the 'we'? Who is the 'we' that came into this physical body and who is the 'we' that left the physical body? That is the Real Self. That is the oneness with God. That is the essence of our being. And that essence of our being can always leave this body and come back again anytime. And this is the art, the real living art, the true thing that we have forgotten. And that's why we suffer. We have so much pain, frustration, and sorrow. And sometimes we do some things that are against our good judgment because we forget our great Self. We're just thinking about food, about job, about problems. We forget that we are great. We are so great, so great that all these problems, all this poverty, all this struggling is nothing at all to us. Once we regain our glory, regain our power again, nothing matters to us anymore in this physical planet. Even though we still continue to work, it's just child's play to us because we know we are great. If the king remembers that he is the king, does anything else matter to him anymore? No, right? If the king has forgotten he is the king or he has been in exile too long, he has been used to hardship, but once he remembers, once he regains his throne again, would anything else matter to him? Not at all! Not at all! This is the secret of a happy life, now and after, and I'm going to impart it to you, because God has told me that I have to do this job. There are so many jobs you already do, and this job nobody does. Hes said there is a vacancy. Every other job is already occupied, and this job is vacant. Hes said, okay, I can do that. And you, too, also can do this job because we're all the same. Just you have forgotten to step in and step out of the kingdom within yourself. I'm going to show you tonight. It's very easy. If you want to, you have time, we'll stay behind and do this job together. And as you learn to know more and more of the kingdom of God, you'll be more and more happy, wiser and wiser, more loving than the Philippine people already are. You cannot imagine anyone could be more loving than the Philippine people, can you? But can! Can! After you become one with God again, you'll remember yourself again. You'll be love without loving, you'll give without knowing, you'll be compassionate without thinking that you are even compassionate because God will do everything. We remember God and God will do everything. And the ego will go, the mind will die. Only God takes charge of everything in our daily life. Every activity, every thought, every word that we've spoken will be just from heaven. And that's how we become one with heaven again, and that's the purpose for us to come here. Okay, I have advertised so much about heaven, I think it's enough. And if you have any doubt or question, please let me know. Then we can get over to the real thing, which is stepping in, stepping back, to the kingdom of God, which is as easy as I take this candy from this basket. Because you have it already! It's you inside. I'm not going to give you anything, I'm just going to remind you where to find your forgotten good. That's it. No need to call me 'Master this-and-that.' These are very kind people whoever call me whatever, but we are just brothers and sisters. We are all the same. That's what I know and that's what you will know. Thank you very much for your patience.
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MC. How can I conquer all the trials in my life now that I'm a Muslim? This is a question from Reynaldo Quilantang Bulos. [M: Because he's a Muslim?] Yes. He wants to know how he can conquer all the trials now that he chose to be a Muslim. M. Yes, the only way to conquer anything in this world or the next is to be yourself, to be your Original Self, to know that God within yourself again. That's the only answer. Once God takes charge, once God awakens within you, everything else will be taken care of, 'Seek you first the kingdom of God, and all the things shall be added unto you.' That's what it really means. We have only one God, brothers and sisters, only one God. You name Hirm Christian God, Muslim God, Buddhist God, I don't care. We have only one Father.
MC. They wanted to know what is meditation, and how can we meditate and to whom do we meditate? M. To your God-self inside. Meditation is the form of the deepest prayer, the prayer that is done in the closet that nobody even knows that you are praying. It's just like you are praying but very deeply, very quietly, and then we contact God within ourselves and every question will be answered.
MC. Someone wanted for You to expound on what is the difference between coming in and coming out from the physical to the spiritual body. M. They are two different worlds. Coming out, we see this world, we see everything that is in this physical world. Coming in, we see heaven and whatever that is in heaven. How much of heaven depends on how much concentration. So, because some people have more difficulty to concentrate than another, some people are very pure in the heart and very simple like a child, so when he closes his eyes he sees great Light, he sees heaven right away, he sees Jesus, he might see Buddha, Muhammad, the past Masters. But some people have more difficulty to contact higher dimensions, higher beings. But after a while, you all can, just some people take longer, some people take shorter. When you do it today, you can see it right away because I will help you.
MC. Another one from Vanya. She wanted to practice and try the method of meditation, but first she wanted to know if it is necessary that she be initiated first by a Master before she can benefit from the method of meditation. M. Actually, God initiates you. I'm just giving you some advice or some help at the beginning when you have some questions how to sit, how to quieten the mind, 'how long should I sit,' 'what time should I sit and where,' for example, those small trivial things. The initiation comes from God in silence, absolute silence, just between you and Hirm. But then we need a little time and a quiet place. I will show you after this. Costs nothing now, costs nothing between, costs nothing ever because it's from God, just a gift from God, from yourself to yourself. You don't ever need to oblige anything to me or to anyone. Are You familiar with Rosicrucian philosophy? Yes, yes, yes. It's just one of the philosophy schools of the old time. I know. We have so many Masters in the past and they left a lot of teachings. In order to understand these teachings deeply, we must go inside, and get our own wisdom. How do we cope with the pain that we feel, or when we feel so down and hopeless?
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Yes, awaken the God within us and youll have no more fear of pain or sorrow of any kind. Because God is the all-healer, God is the all-comforter. We have to return to God in order to feel good. Why are You a vegetarian? Do You consider it in a health perspective or in a spiritual way? Vegetarianism is the compassionate way of life, that we respect and love all beings equally. Vegetables, if we cut one branch, it'll grow three more branches. But if we cut one head of the pig, he'll never grow another three heads. So, all beings, they are afraid of dying, and we don't want to cause them suffering, hence the vegetarian diet. In relation to being a vegetarian, is it necessary to be a vegetarian in order to have pure meditation? Being vegetarian does help us to facilitate quicker, peaceful and calm while you meditate. Because animal's energies, they interfere. When they're dying, they have very fearful feelings and they struggle, and these energies are still contained in the meat. And if we meditate, these struggling energies will make it difficult for us to concentrate. So, it is better, also for the quick spiritual progress, that we are vegetarian. I am a born-again Christian. I know only one God, Jesus Christ, through the intercession of the Holy Spirit. What would You say about venerating saints? I'm not here to judge anyone. I am here to show you the God within yourselves. Do You believe in reincarnation? Yes and no. 'Yes' is because we could also re-experience the same life again if we chose to, because we are with God, we can choose to do anything we want. But mostly, we don't have to; we just progress upwards. What is the greatest happiness in this world? To know God. To know God, that is the greatest happiness in this world and any world at all. Is there any relationship between Your teaching and that of Indian Radha Soami group, headed by the Singhs and the American Ekankar group founded by Paul Twitchell? Is this one and the same teaching? Again, I'm here to show you that you are great. I'm here to show you your great Self. Be in a hurry to know your Self. There is no need to know anything else, except God. If these group of people, they teach the same thing and they can show you God, then it is the same. If it's not, then it is not. What is in Your group's definition of being born again? Like born-again Christian? [Q: Yes, like that.] Anytime we feel that we have some great experience happen to us, and that we feel like our life has been renewed, perhaps we feel that we are born again. It could happen, yes. It could happen. To the real Christian people,
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when Jesus was alive, when he gave them initiation, when he baptized them, that was when they were really born again. MC. And Your view of divorce? Someone wanting to know Your view on divorce. M. Q. M. If it is necessary, absolutely necessary, then we divorce; otherwise, we should stick to one partner, and try to work it out and make the family a happy place of refuge. I want to know where God came from. That you have to ask Hirm! I can't answer for the Lord; it's Hiers personal thing. I can only bring you to God, and then whatever you ask God, that is your own question.
MC. Not a question, but she is highly appreciative of You coming to our country and she is interested in being one of Your disciples. Because mostly Filipinos are very hungry for the words of God. The word of God is difficult for them to emphasize and understand. That's why crime happens in the country. And she just wanted to thank You. She sends her greatest thanks and God bless. M. Q. M. Thank you. God bless you more! The Philippine people are very near to God, very near to God. They just look inside and they see God right away, no problem. If God really loves humanity, why is there a lot of suffering? Suffering because we don't know God. Once we know God, Hes takes care of everything. The connection has been a little bit disturbed. At the time of initiation, I try to fix it. Just like the car, sometimes the engine runs bad. God always takes care of us. The problem is that we don't hear what God says because we have not contacted Hirm. Once we go inside, we'll see God again and we will know better. Why does God not choose to manifest Hiers power now, not like in the olden days of Moses where he parted the Dead Sea and Jesus walked on water and brought the dead back to life? Yes, yes, Hes still does it. God still does whenever necessary. But we must know, we must know, we must contact God, then we can see this. We cannot see many things with the physical eyes. We have to see the way of God with the heavenly eye. That's what I'm going to show you so that you know God is really merciful and loving. We cannot see God's doing if we don't go within and contact Hirm. God is doing miracles every day; we don't see it because we only look with the physical eyes. How can we open our third eye? That's my job. I'm going to show you. After this.
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Yes, I do. He comes every day, you don't see Him. What a pity! Our initiated people, they see Him, talk to Him, and He teaches us so many great things. You missed them all because you don't come inside. Jesus never died, you must know. Jesus never died, He just changed the body. He changed and He lives in a different dimension now. He doesn't live in the physical dimension anymore, so if we want to see Him we have to leave the physical dimension, and go to where He resides. Just like if I want to see you, I have to come to the Philippines, I have to take the airplane. Similarly, if you want to see Jesus or the great past Masters again, we have to leave this physical body, ascend into the higher places where all the Masters stay and we can learn from them great things. You cannot learn much from me because I stay here with you. I'll show you how to go to a greater school and learn with a greater Teacher. How can a person who has weak faith, and when he is always given challenges by God, overcome all of these? He has to know God again. Every question you ask here comes to one answer only. Because we don't know God, we have all these questions. Because we don't know God, we have all these problems. How can I search for love and mercy? Know God. Get enlightened, get initiation. Could You please define Lord of Karma in life? The Lord of Karma is just one that is appointed by God who takes care of the deeds of the people, like trials and tribulations, what we call 'as you sow so shall you reap.' He takes care of that. So, if we do some bad things we get the bad rewards. If we do some good things, he gives us the good rewards. That is the job of the Lord of Karma. Karma means the retribution. Do you have to transfer from one religion to another to be saved? No, no, no. Never, never. Don't. Stay where you are. Be an enlightened Christian, be an enlightened Muslim, be an enlightened Buddhist. Just stay where you are. All religion is good. We have only one God, I told you. Just misunderstanding, called different names. In English, we call 'mother,' and in Chinese, they call mother, like 'mu-chin,' 'abu.' In French, they call them 'la mre.' You see? The same. For all those who died who never had a chance to confess their sins, will their souls be saved in heaven? It depends on what they do in life. If they do good things, heaven will open. If they do bad things, they have to learn to do some better first. How does one show that he is sorry for having sinned? By Jesus tells you sin no more. Just repent and sin no more, and do something on the contrary to it. For example, if someone thinks that he has sinned by stealing some property from somebody else, later, he doesn't steal anymore but he gives away his things, whatever he has, to the poor people. That's how he shows his repentance.
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MC. Someone wanted to know: How does one become a member of Your international organization? M. You just let me serve you, if you would like to know God, and that's how. You can join us just to pray for the world. You are not a member of anybody, you are only a member of God's kingdom. So, I just want to show you how to meditate, how to know God. That's all. You are not a member of any kind. We normally don't have anything like a membership or anything. But we give you a little card, so whenever you come to see me in my private residences, if you want to, you have priority to come in, to ask questions or meditate, whatever. That's it. There's no membership fee, no obligation. If you want to come, you come. You don't want to come, you don't come. Nobody will call you, bother you, or force you, or remind you any kind. If you want to come, our house is open; if you don't come, sayonara. How many enlightened Masters are on Earth and are You all working towards the same goal? Yes, yes. How many? There are many, many, and they all work toward the same goal, to assist mankind to know God again.
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LISTEN INWARDLY TO OUR SELF-NATURE 7

[Formosa (Taiwan), meaning 'beautiful island' in Portuguese, lies on the western edge of the Pacific 'rim of fire,' and continuous tectonic movements have created majestic peaks, rolling hills and plains, basins, coastlines, and other wonders. It has very clear differentiation between the seasons, with climates ranging from tropical to sub-tropical, and temperate. About 18400 species of wildlife inhabit the island, with more than 20% belonging to rare or endangered species; among these are the land-locked salmon, Formosan mountain goat, Formosan rock monkey, Formosan black bear, blue magpie, Mikado pheasant, Hsuehshan grass lizard, and many more. Formosa is a small island yet blessed with an array of natural wonder and splendor. From the north, ancient towns and aboriginal villages lie alongside towering mountains, beautiful waterfalls and elaborate temples. It is a land blessed by Gods grace. In the 1980s, Supreme Master Ching Hai arrived in Formosa. While She was residing in a small temple, a group of Formosans, guided by inner visions, came one stormy night and asked to be taught the Quan Yin method of meditation. Since then, Supreme Master Ching Hai has transmitted the Quan Yin method of meditation to tens of thousands of sincere Truth seekers in Formosa. The Quan Yin method of meditation, a method of meditation that contemplates on the inner Light and Sound, is Supreme Master Ching Hais compassionate gift to the world and for those who are ready to rediscover the kingdom of God within them. Aside from sharing Her insightful knowledge and wisdom on the spiritual planes, Supreme Master Ching Hai also offers relief aid and humanitarian assistance throughout Formosa, especially in times of natural disasters. Through Her loving examples and noble action, our Association members in Formosa also enthusiastically take part in caring for their fellow countrymen and others around the world. Touched by their sincerity and earnest longing for the knowledge of the inner heaven and enlightenment, Supreme Master Ching Hai has accepted the numerous invitations of the Formosan Truth seekers to share Her wisdom and insights. In early 2007, Supreme
7. Public lecture, Taoyuan, Formosa, May 5th, 2000 (Originally in Chinese).
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Master Ching Hai answered the sincere longing of our Association members when She joined the festivities with honored guests and around 10,000 of our Association members from around the world to celebrate the Lunar New Year of the Pig on February 18th , 2007 in Formosa. During Her 'Experience the Divine Ocean of Love' lecture tour in Asia and Oceania in 2000, Supreme Master Ching Hai accepted the invitation of sincere Truth aspirants to visit this beautiful country and share Her wisdom and knowledge of the universe. We invite you to enjoy the wisdom-filled lecture entitled, 'Listen Inwardly to Our SelfNature,' delivered by Supreme Master Ching Hai in Taoyuan, Formosa on May 5th , 2000.]
MC. Now, we would like to invite a sister from Pingtung, one of the disciples of Supreme Master Ching Hai, to share with you her experience of practicing the Quan Yin method. Welcome, sister. D1. Dear Master, ladies and gentlemen, fellow initiates, good evening. Today is a big day for the Quan Yin family in Formosa. Every fellow initiate here is delighted to welcome Master back to Formosa. For over ten years, we've been enjoying the glory and happiness of every second, every minute of being Her disciples. I appreciate Your mercy and greatness from my heart. Since initiation, every time I meditate, I feel extremely happy and contented. Master's invisible power takes care of me, my family and my close friends. two years ago, on April 5th, 1998, I visited my parents. I saw my father groaning and suffering from his illness in bed. Tears filled my eyes. I knew the time had come. Eight months earlier, Master's transcendental body had told me that She would bring him home after eight months. I played Buddha's chanting, the one Master sang. My husband, also a disciple, and I sat beside the bed to meditate and prayed for Master's blessing. My father groaned less and less, then fell asleep. The next day, we took him to the hospital but the doctors refused to treat him. I silently prayed to Master and about two minutes later, my father passed away. I knew Master had always taken care of him. Soon after he passed away, I saw many Buddhas standing above his body, and Master manifested as a Bodhisattva and in current fashion attire. We also saw the Quan Yin Bodhisattva, Shakyamuni Buddha, Amithaba Buddha, and Bhaisaya Buddha. Our whole family, nearly 20 of us, from an 8-year-old child to a 70-year-old uncle, saw Master's incredible manifestations. No one mourned. Instead, we felt thankful because Master's and other Buddhas' manifestation forms appeared on the wall and the three curtains around my father's bed. Master has enabled me to be a good daughter, allowing me to repay my parents for all that they have done for me. Practicing the Quan Yin method not only benefits us but also uplifts our family members. Thank you. Thank You, Master, for Your blessing. MC. Now, we welcome a brother from Chiayi to share his experience. D2. Dear Master, ladies and gentlemen, good evening. I am delighted to have this opportunity to share my understanding and experience of the Quan Yin method. I used to be very stubborn and loved to eat meat. I never believed anything I didn't see. One day my brother gave me the booklet 'The Key to Immediate Enlightenment' and recommended that I read it. I read it and was shocked because I used to be lazy about reading, but I felt very good and comfortable as soon as I started to read it. Everything it mentioned was logical and I found the questions and answers especially interesting. It was just right for my obstinate character. It said the soul exists and dwells in our wisdom eye. I spent two nights trying to interpret this sentence. Suddenly my wisdom eye opened on the second night. It surprised The Quan Yin Method The Key of Immediate Enlightenment and Eternal Liberation
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me because I saw something dazzling. My happiness was beyond description. At the same time, I felt very strange because I was sleeping next to my wife, but why did I hear her breath beneath me? As I began to doubt and wonder, I saw something like a curtain closed up and covered the dazzling light. Suddenly I woke up. My wife was still sleeping beside me. Then I realized the soul exists and heaven exists too. After two sleepless nights, I had this wonderful experience. The next morning, I told my wife, 'I want to tell you something you will be very happy to hear.' She asked me, 'What are you so serious and excited about?' I told her, 'I have decided to stop smoking from today.' She applauded. And I said, 'I stop drinking from today too.' She was so happy. 'And I stop gambling.' Then she began to doubt. I said, 'No lying, no kidding, and I also want to keep a vegetarian diet.' She was astounded. She said, 'I don't know how to cook vegetarian food.' But I replied, 'No problem, I will cook for you.' She witnessed my changes due to Masters book. I became kind and considerate, and she also felt the greatness of Master. She began to cook vegetarian food for me and received initiation too. Now, we are both initiates. I have so many experiences that I cannot tell you all in the little time I have here. In conclusion, I wish you all peace, happiness and quick enlightenment. Thank you very much. MC. And now, a sister would like to share her experience. Welcome. D3. Dear Master, ladies and gentlemen, good evening. I would like to share with you a few stories of the past few years. I was initiated in January 1993. I studied at a Catholic high school. The nuns taught us meditation and I went to the garden of heaven at that time. I expected to meet my beloved Jesus during initiation, but I didn't see Him. I saw the reverent image of Shakyamuni Buddha instead. Actually, God and Shakyamuni Buddha are one. All my doubts were cleared at the moment of initiation. How humorous God is. I asked myself then, 'Why did I see Shakyamuni Buddha?' And I thought, 'How amusing!' In April 1996, one day after school, I was riding my pink bicycle, which had Master's stickers all over it. As I was crossing the street, I was hit by a car. The sound of the collision was so loud that the people in the stores all came out to see what had happened. I stood up and inspected my bicycle. Nothing had happened to me or the bicycle. Thank You, Master. Believe in Master. Believe in the Quan Yin method. Master's almighty power takes care of us 24 hours a day. You will know this clearly once you are in danger. Other than looking after our soul, Master takes care of every detail in our life, big or small. I believe Jesus who lived 2000 years ago has manifested before me and is taking care of me, this lost sheep. How lucky I am! I revere Jesus. I revere Master. I revere God. Thank You, God. Thank You, Master. MC. Dear guests, Supreme Master Ching Hai has arrived. Lets welcome Her with a warm applause. Let's invite Supreme Master Ching Hai to begin Her lecture. M. Thank you. First, let's close our eyes and sincerely pray for peace in Mainland China, Formosa and the world. Let us pray a while. Thank you. May Buddha bless our country. Thank you. Is everybody comfortable? [Audience: Yes.] How are you? [Audience: Fine!] I thank all the Buddhas for coming here to see me. Even though you don't realize that you are Buddha, I see all of you as Buddhas, because we are all one. We are all one. We are like a drop in the ocean. Every drop is special. Every drop is distinctive. But the drop is the ocean as well. So we are not strangers. Also I hear everybody says, 'Master is coming back home to Formosa. She's been away for a long time and has now returned home.' I feel like I am Formosan. Yesterday I watched the news for a little while. It said, 'Supreme Master Ching Hai is returning home to Formosa.' I heard it and was touched. It seems like everyone treats me like family. Thank you. Thank you very much.
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If we want to know that we are one, we want to truly know it and not just hear it from someone or feel it, we have to really know it. If you want to really know it, it's not difficult. Buddha once said, 'Put down the butcher's knife and become Buddha in an instant.' It doesn't mean that we should wait until we put down the knife to become Buddha. We don't have to wait for that. We only have to turn inward and 'listen inwardly to our inner Nature,' then we will find our own Buddha Nature in an instant. We read many scriptures and know we should 'listen inwardly to our inner Nature, but we don't know how and why. Why don't we say 'look' inwardly or 'touch' or 'feel' inwardly? Why do we say 'listen' inwardly? Because we can really listen, not with our ears, but with our inner heart. We can listen inwardly to our inner Nature. But why do we say that? Because there is music. There is Buddha's scripture and Buddha's teaching. There is inner heavenly music. So beautiful. We don't need physical musical instruments to play this music. Just now you all enjoyed the performance of our disciples and the musicians who sang and played together. This external music needs physical musical instruments. But if we want to listen to the inner music, there is no need for these physical musical instruments. The Sound is more beautiful and wonderful. It elevates our soul. Then we can happily go back to Buddha's land or heaven. That's why Buddha said we have to listen to our inner Nature. Our Nature is not this heart, it's not a kind of quality. It's a free Nature, very wise, very noble, very great, and it can accommodates the whole universe. This is our own inner Nature. We sit like this, and look like ordinary people, but once we close our eyes and know how to listen to our Buddha Nature, then we can listen to this Buddha Nature immediately. So Shakyamuni Buddha said, 'Everyone has Buddha Nature.' Jesus also said, 'The kingdom of God is within you.' God dwells in this temple. Even though we all hear that, without real experiences our life is just ordinary, with no changes. We don't develop our wisdom, we don't better our ability, and we can't find a better way to solve our family, social and various problems. The bible says, 'Seek you first the kingdom of God and all other things shall be added unto you.' And Shakyamuni Buddha said, 'Find your Buddha Nature first. Even if we are householder people, our life will become happier and more successful and our material lives will be more prosperous.' The purpose of finding our Buddha Nature is not to seek a more comfortable life. After finding our Buddha Nature, we will feel comfortable and happy. Everything will be bright. All our forgotten latent talents, our sleeping wisdom, forgotten ability, everything will develop together with our Buddha Nature. Then we change into another person. From that time we are not ordinary people anymore because originally we are not ordinary people. When we enter this body, we call ourselves human. But before we entered this body, what were we? And after we leave this flesh body, what will we be? As we ask this question we know we are not ordinary people. It is just because after entering this fleshly body, we forget all our wisdom, all our happiness and our supreme power. We are too busy looking at the changes in this material world. We are bound by our daily obligations, so our body and spirit feel exhausted. We are preoccupied with our material needs such as food and clothing. This is not the purpose of our coming to this world. This world is but an illusion which is very powerful. It exhausts all our energy and grabs our attention so that we completely forget we are originally Buddha. We read Buddha's scriptures every day and they say 'we all have Buddha Nature'. And Shakyamuni Buddha said he and we are equal. He's already become Buddha, and so will we. He said all beings have the Buddha Nature like Himself. He also asked Himself why sentient beings didn't realize this. Because the illusion of this maya world is really great. It makes us completely forget who we are. We forget heaven, our homeland, the Buddha's land. But it's simple to recall it. Very simple. I often say it is as simple as turning your hand over, or as looking from the front to the back. The Quan Yin Method The Key of Immediate Enlightenment and Eternal Liberation
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It's that simple. But again, it's not simple. Because we often look outside into the material world and get used to it so it's difficult for us to believe we are Buddha. We hear something about heaven, Buddha's land, about Buddha in our heart, and God within us. This we hear only. Tomorrow we carry on with the hustle-bustle of our ordinary life. It's also okay. But when we die, there is no one to guide us and we don't know where to go; then our soul will feel tortured. While living we are too busy spending too much time and energy on our physical body. We have no spiritual ideal or rechargeable energy, so our body and mind suffer. I'm not saying it's no good to have a simple and ordinary life. It's good! It's good! But it's not enough to lead a simple life, because we are too tormented. If we can't find our True Self, no matter what we do or have, we will never feel completely happy or contented. This is because we mistake the false for the real. We take this illusionary world as the only world that we cannot live without. And then we rely on it, follow it and fulfill its demands. Our mind and body are exhausted, so we can't recharge ourselves with much energy. Sometimes it's even not enough for our body. We do things upside down because we have forgotten our own Nature. If we want to drive, we should know where to put the key to get it started, where the gas pedal and where the brake is. If we don't know, then we have to push the car ourselves or find someone to help push all the way, but even if the car moves a little, everyone gets tired. If we know, we turn the key, push on the gas, then the car will accelerate to dozens of kilometers per hour. Originally we have great power within us. Today I come to tell you how great you are. We are Buddha. We are God's children. We are one with God. We shouldn't lead a tortured, insufficient and unsatisfied life. We stay in this world and fulfill our duties to our family and country, but we have to redevelop the supreme power within us to serve the world. It's also very good to redevelop this power to serve the world, rather than just become a Buddha and go to heaven and enjoy being in Nirvana alone every day. And this supreme power our Buddha Nature, God's power within us will help us, help the world, help our country, our family, et cetera. It's difficult to solve our problems because we don't use this power. We use the mind instead of our inner Supreme Master. If we had found our own heaven, our world would have become Nirvana long ago. There wouldn't be any wars, any sickness or pain. I have already rediscovered my hidden inner power, the Buddha Nature. I feel great benefit and joy. Thats why despite the long journey, I still came back to share it with you. Thats my only purpose. Tonight you can find your own Buddha Nature. You need only spend a little time. If you like, I can tell you all the secrets. And you don't need to do anything for us, only for yourself. Spend some time on going to heaven and Nirvana every day, get some energy, and bring some wisdom back to this physical body to serve our friends, relatives, country and the world. Help this world. Help yourself. And five, seven and nine generations of our ancestors will be elevated because of our inner power. It is definitely so. Before I received initiation, when I heard something about five, six, seven generations can be elevated, I would head straight for it. I would say, 'That's what I want. I don't care whether I will become Buddha. As long as my ancestors can be elevated, I will meditate for them.' If we don't practice such a method of filial piety, we should be ashamed to face our ancestors. But because it sounds too good to be true, sometimes we will doubt whether there really is such a method. Sure there is. We come from there, so of course we can go back there. How can it be impossible? If you have a house and you leave home and go to Taipei or come here to this stadium for the lecture, later can you go home? Can you? [Audience: Yes.] You can! If you know the way home, right? Even if you forget the way home, it doesn't matter. Someone will guide you. The taxi driver or someone else who knows the way may bring us home. Like me, I don't know the way here, so I take a taxi. They drive around and know the road very well. With only a few hundred Taiwan dollars we reach our The Quan Yin Method The Key of Immediate Enlightenment and Eternal Liberation
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destination. We don't need to spend any money to go back to Buddha's land because it is right here. It is said in Zen, 'Heaven and Earth are only a hair apart.' That's the difference. Because it's true. It's truly like this. If we pay our attention outside, we will be in this material world working, playing, thinking, feeling happy, feeling sad. If we pay our attention inside, we will be in heaven, in Nirvana. That's it. It's that simple. Its just that everybody has forgotten. We haven't practiced it for a long time. We came down from heaven. When we grow up, we are bound to this material world. We are too busy, so we can't remember heaven. If we recall it again, we may realize it immediately. Heaven, Earth, Heaven, Earth. Like this. It's very quick. We need only turn our attention inward. 'Listen inwardly to your inner Nature, then you will find your own Buddha Nature.' Buddha Nature is not something we can touch or grasp, but a kind of omnipresent, omnipotent quality within ourselves. We are like this originally. We came to this world to use what we have to help this world and add variety to the universe; otherwise we would be in Nirvana all day with not much to do. That is why we come here to play and have fun. But it's not good to play too much and forget to go home. When the time is up, we should get ready to go home. To go home we need a car. Once the car is found, you have to get in and be on your way. Today, if you are free and want to remember you are Buddha, I can explain it to you very quickly. There are two methods. For those who want to completely understand their own Nature and just not care so much about this material world, those who want to go Home quickly need to learn how to meditate longer hours every day and need to learn more thoroughly, so they need to stay after for one or two hours to learn the details. After we tell you the details you can practice at home by yourselves and there is no need for me to be present physically. In the beginning, if you have any questions or problem, you may contact me inwardly. I will help you inwardly as well in the beginning. If you feel this is not strong enough, you may write me a letter and ask your questions. This is in the beginning. Later on you may walk by yourself. You won't need a teacher because we are all Buddha. No one can teach us anything. Once the Buddha Nature is developed, the inner power awakens and he will know that nobody is his teacher. He is the Real Self. He is Buddha. He is God. Another method is available for those who don't want to be vegetarians, or those who may find it inconvenient to keep a daily vegetarian diet. We call it the convenient method. It doesnt require you to be vegetarian every day nor to meditate 2.5 hours. And you meditate only half an hour daily to save yourself. For the initiated people, five, six, seven generations of their ancestors will be elevated. For the convenient method only one person can be elevated. But it is also great. Meditate a little every day and you will feel you are different after a few days. You will become more clever, smarter, more loving, more compassionate and more thoughtful. We will be more sharp and quick thinking. All problems will be solved, and we will be more energetic, quicker and happier. If neither is okay with you, or you don't have time or patience, while I am here right now you may close your eyes and focus your attention here. There is an eye here. We call it Buddha eye, wisdom eye, or the third eye. Look at the center front. Just look at what you have before you. Sometimes it will be very bright inside, like thousands of suns. Sometimes we can see Buddha, Buddha's land, sometimes we see Jesus or other saints. You may try to look inwardly and see your Buddha Nature. Buddha Nature is not something we can talk about. It is very bright. Very bright. Sometimes we can hear Buddha giving lectures. Buddha doesn't give lectures in human language. It is just like beautiful music which calms and elevates the soul. When we listen to this wordless teaching, we will become wiser, happier, freer. You may try it now. If there is any problem, The Quan Yin Method The Key of Immediate Enlightenment and Eternal Liberation
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you may ask Ching Hai for help, seek help from 'A-Hai.' There's no need to find this physical body. Seek Her inwardly and She will come immediately. That 'A-Hai' is not this physical body. It's not my body. Its the Buddha Nature within. It is your own Master. Q. M. Dear Supreme Master Ching Hai, is Your God the same as Jesus' or someone else? We have only one God, one Creator. We call Hirm Buddha Nature, God or Father. They're all the same. It's impossible for me to have a different God than Jesus because we are all one. We come from the same place. What is God's will? If we get enlightened, we will understand God's will. But we are not, and that's why when we run into any difficulty we complain that God doesn't understand us. We continue to pray to Hirm but we don't listen to Hiers answer and we think God doesn't care about us. Actually, Hes always guides us. This is because we haven't opened our wisdom eye. We don't listen to what Hes says. That's why we have to get enlightenment. 'Seek you first the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto you.' What is paradise? You will know that once you get enlightened. Now close your eyes. If you concentrate enough, you will feel heavenly bliss. The more you concentrate the happier you will be, and the more of heaven you will see. It depends on your power of concentration. Dear Master, I have been a pessimistic and negative person since I was a child. I don't feel secure in life. I can't change my pessimistic attitude. Dear Master, after practicing the Quan Yin method, will everything change? Sure, I promise you. Dear Master, how can we find our inner Nature and eliminate our ego? Go out and register for initiation. Dear Master, I feel my wife and I have very different personalities. How can we live a happy and comfortable life? Because the feelings and the things we want are totally different. It's very troublesome. Let me explain. Our Original Nature is the same. Most of our fellow practitioners didnt quite understand or agree with each other before initiation. After initiation, they get enlightened, both become wiser and regain their wisdom. So, when one person says something, the other will quickly understand. There's no need for a lot of human communication and explanation. They can get along well naturally. So the bible says, 'Seek you first the kingdom of God then all other things shall be added unto you.' Dear Master, good evening. I am very happy You've come to Formosa again. This is Formosa's honor and blessing. Here I want to thank You. [M: Thank you.] I am eager for initiation, but the problem is that it requires me to meditate 2.5 hours and I've never meditated before. I wonder if I can meditate that long. If I don't, will there be any side effects?
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No. This is not like taking medicine for the sickness. There are no side effects. Just try your best. 2.5 hours is best. If you can't, do it gradually. For example, today you start with 20 minutes, tomorrow 21, the next day 22, the day after that 25 and sit longer each day. But let me tell you a secret. After initiation, sometimes we don't want to stand up. We like to sit there and not go anywhere. When we meditate deeply and go into samadhi, we don't want to get up. Don't worry about that. Dear Master, will liberation bring us more happiness than reincarnation, and why? I heard that people who have been to heaven don't want to come back to this world. Why? This is because in heaven there is more freedom and happiness. If we want to visit someone, to visit the Buddha's land, we will be there right away. Here we have to spend two or three hours to reach the place we want to go, by bus or by taxi or by car with lots of traffic jams and air pollution. Even though we have beautiful flowers here, they'll wither tomorrow. We are pretty and young today, but next year we become old and ugly. And our teeth fall out. That's the difference. In heaven we are eternally happy, young and beautiful. We get whatever we want instantly. We can reach any place we want to go instantly. Who wouldn't want to stay in heaven? Nobody wants to come to this place to work eight or ten hours only to earn a few thousand dollars. Sometimes it's not enough to support our family. Who would want to come to this place? For example, we fellow practitioners meditate one or two hours every day. During meditation we go to heaven to enjoy the happiness and leave this physical body here. We enjoy the happiness there and don't want to come back. But because we have relatives, friends and family here, we come back to fulfill our responsibilities. Only one or two hours a day and we don't want to come back, not to mention if we have already left this world and we don't need to come back here forever. Who would want to come back here?
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Dear Supreme Master Ching Hai, is Your method the same as Osho's? If any method can help you find the Buddha Nature, then it is the same method. If not, then it is different. There are many methods. I can't mention all of them. Dear Supreme Master Ching Hai, I think You deserve the Nobel Peace Prize. [M: Why?] I heard people say that there were supposed to be some wars during these years but they were dissolved by Your great love. And there was supposed to be a great disaster around the year 2000 but it was also dissolved by Your great love. The serious one became minor, and the minor one disappeared, and we passed the year 2000 safely. Thank you. There's no need. I have my own Nobel Peace Prize in heaven. There is no need for one here. Dear Supreme Master Ching Hai, I heard that many Christian and Catholic priests, I-kuan Tao instructors, and many local and international famous masters have received initiation from You. Is that true? Can all religions become one and stop arguing with one another? Yes, it's true, but not everybody. Dear Master, can I-kuan Tao disciples come for initiation? Will my soul rise to a higher level after initiation? Chi Kung Buddha is also my great teacher. Will he agree that I come to receive initiation from You? Will he bless me? Or will he be angry with me and punish me?
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What kind of Buddha would be so angry? He is a Buddha, not an ordinary person. He is already gone and now he's asked me to carry out this duty. So, of course, you come here to learn from me. Later, during meditation, you will see him, then you can ask him. My beloved Master, we haven't received initiation, but since our friend gave us Your photos, every time any of our family members has difficulty, Master's transcendental body always comes to save us. If Master comes to save us without our having received initiation, do we still need to receive initiation? Will You still love us if we don't receive initiation and don't become vegetarian? Yes. But it would be better to be vegetarian, to meditate and be your own teacher so that you can also lead other people to liberation. Dear Supreme Master Ching Hai, can love dissolve people's hatred and wars? Yes. Yes. Will there be peace in this world? Yes. Is there war in heaven? It's already heaven. How can there be war? What level must we reach so that we will no longer want to attack others? Spiritual people don't attack others after they start practicing. Not many people meditate in the world, so there still is war. Spiritual practitioners don't fight back. Dear Supreme Master, why do Buddha and Jesus Christ have the almighty power to save people? Where does the power come from? Why don't ordinary people have it? Yes, we have it. I already told you. If we listen inwardly every day, we will be able to save people from suffering as the Buddha. Dear Supreme Master, what is the ocean of love? How great is it? Where is it? Which level do we need to reach to experience the ocean of love? Does it exist in the world? The ocean of love is within you. Even if you meditate only a little bit, you will feel it right away, and whomever you meet will like you because you are connected with the ocean of love. Dear Supreme Master Ching Hai, why do most religions teach people not to commit suicide? Where will the soul go after committing suicide? Is there any way to prevent someone who is suffering from committing suicide? I know. I understand. When we are tormented, we want to escape from the suffering and leave this world. I understand. But there is a better way to leave this world without hurting your physical body. That is to get initiation and find your own inner power. Then you will be happy every day. You will not only be happy but also bring happiness to others; then you will no longer want to commit suicide.
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Dear Master, if a middle-aged practitioner loses his or her spouse and finds another partner to live with because of physical need, does this violate the sexual misconduct precept? It's okay. It doesn't matter. Marriage is in the heart; it's not just a piece of paper. If you treat your partner faithfully, that is the same as getting married. To break the sexual misconduct precept means to take advantage of others or take another's husband or wife without his or her agreement. Or we don't respect the other person, we just satisfy lustful desires without love and respect for each other, then we call it sexual misconduct. Even if you get married but you don't respect your husband or wife, then you also break the sexual misconduct precept. Dear Supreme Master, how do we treat people who have hurt us very badly? I also want to forget this painful memory but the pain haunts me. How can I forget this and forgive them? Forgive him. Forgive him. Even if you can't forget it, you have to forgive him. We will forget as time passes by. We need to meditate more and change our heart by ourselves, then it will influence others. Don't return violence with violence. Dear Master, I listened to Your cassette eight years ago. You said we must develop our love and be a vegetarian; then animals will be happy. I don't want to eat meat or have animals killed. But I read in the newspaper that Chinese and Western doctors advise us not to be vegetarian for fear of malnutrition and poor health as well as becoming ugly. It is hard for me to decide whether I should choose to be more loving or more healthy and beautiful. We are pretty! See the ladies there they are very pretty! Are you fellow initiates? [Disciples: Yes.] Yes. Look how beautiful they are. Not ugly! They're like fairies. The more you practice, the prettier and younger you become. I promise. Just look at our disciples and you will know it. Some disciples got initiated 15 or 20 years ago. When I see them after many years, they look exactly the same. They haven't aged a bit. I am surprised too. I ask her, 'Is that you? Why haven't you aged?' And she says, 'Because I have been meditating every day.' Dear Supreme Master Ching Hai, with my great respect and honor, please guide me. I have had some bad habits for over 20 years. I firmly believed in Buddha, but was set up by my friends. I put up with it for over one year and moved twice, but they followed me like shadows. Finally, there was no place to turn. At the end of last year, my hatred reached its peak and I swore to Buddha, 'I will never believe in Buddha again or become a Buddhist. I vowed to take my revenge against these people who hurt me very much. If my vow is not fulfilled, then I would rather go to hell.' If I do it, and then turn to Jesus, and devote my life to God, will He like me and forgive me? What do you think? Yes or no? [Audience: Yes.] Yes. That's correct. Since you plan to devote yourself to God and be a good disciple, why not do it from today? Why devote to God after hurting people? He is ignorant, so he hurts you. Only the ignorant, without any sense of responsibility, will hurt people. If you do the same to him as he did to you, then what is the difference between you two? Why are you angry with him? When we forgive others, God will forgive us even more. We will forgive ourselves, we will feel we are a great man, a real gentleman, open-hearted and forgiving; otherwise we will have a guilty conscience. Even if God forgives us, we will feel guilty. So its better to let go. Best to
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forget it. Continue meditating and you will be happy and able to forgive anyone. Like Jesus Christ, people treated Him so violently yet He asked God to forgive them. In comparison, we suffer just a little. Be patient. We only have one life. We will leave this physical body sooner or later, so no matter how they treat us, it is temporary. Our soul will never get hurt. Meditation and forgiveness are the best revenge. Q. Dear Master Ching Hai, I am happy to attend today's lecture, The Ocean of Love. For the past 43 years, I have been afraid and sad without any reason. This seriously interferes with my spiritual practice. What should I do? Can You make me feel safe and secure like the Bodhidharma could? Thank You very much. It depends on you. If you want to feel secure, then get initiation. Dear Master, greetings to You! Since Buddha is in the state of tranquility and serenity, how was the universe created? He is in stillness, but the universe will be created naturally. These two co-exist. One is stillness, the other is creativity. They are all one. Take a big ocean for example. The water there is just water. It is all quiet and still, right? But the wind, the rotation of the Earth and gravity of the sun cause waves, and the waves are the ocean too. It is just that the waves make the ocean different. Similarly, God, Buddha is stillness. The Buddha Nature is stillness, tranquility; but there is movement within the stillness because the universe is like this. For example, after enlightenment, we see everything is moving. Take this table for example. The legs of the table are made of wood. It looks still, but inside all the elements are moving. We see a stone; it looks still but many changes are taking place inside. Once you open your wisdom eye, you will see this and understand the meaning of 'the motion within stillness.' This kind of experience cannot be properly explained in language. Q. M. Dear Master, what form of Buddha do You see? Is it male or female? Thank You for Your answer. If you want him as a male, he's male; if you want her as a female, she's female. He doesn't have a fixed gender like we do. He will transform into the form you wish to see him in. If you want to see the formless form, then that is what you will get. It depends on our level. For example, we reach the first level and we see the Buddha Nature just like the midday sun. If we reach the higher level, we see the Buddha Nature brighter than a thousand suns. For example, when we reach the third level, Buddha will manifest Himself in human form or in the form of Jesus or Shakyamuni Buddha to teach us and use our own language to communicate with us. Not only can He talk to us with the inner Sound, He can even communicate in the Formosan dialect. Buddha will manifest into the form corresponding to our level. Dear Master, what is Masters transcendental body? Can I see You in my dreams? Or will You appear before me in a disciple's form to help me in an emergency? Both. In the Revelation of the Christian Bible, John mentioned that he heard the sound of water and saw Jesus radiating like the sun. Does the Sound and Light mean that John was practicing the Quan Yin method?
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Dear Supreme Master Ching Hai, will Mainland China and Formosa treat each other like brother and sister one day? Will they hold hands to visit heaven and experience the ocean of love? Will China and Formosa love each other with the complete and great love that they have for themselves? Yes. But everyone must work harder, and both sides need to be truly sincere. Dear Master, what is wisdom? What's the difference between wisdom and knowledge? In which part of our body does our wisdom lie? Wisdom is our Original Nature. Knowledge is what we learn from this world. Wisdom is what we originally possessed. It knows everything. It does not need to learn anything. It can accomplish anything. That is wisdom. Knowledge is something we learn from outside. For example, we learn English from an English teacher, learn Chinese from a Chinese teacher, learn driving from yet another teacher. This is knowledge. But our wisdom knows everything. Once wisdom develops, we learn everything quicker. Dear Master, You just mentioned we originally are not human, then what is the definition of a human being? If we originally are not human, then what are we? We are Buddha. Dear Master Ching Hai, long time no see. Welcome back to Formosa. You just talked about energy. How can we elevate the positive energy inside our body and minimize the negative energy? Once we find our true Master, we can awaken the dormant energy and then conquer the negativity. We can beat the negativity. Do You think money is important in this material world? How can we ask money from God, and how do we thank God? Money is very important in this world. Without money you are finished. But money is not that important. It depends on how we use it. If we use it to help ourselves and others in spiritual practice, then the money has served a real meaningful purpose. Money does not do much other than taking care of ourselves and our family. In the past, in the Golden Age, we didn't use money; we bartered goods. For example, I planted potatoes and you planted guava. We exchanged. We could share together. Everyone took whatever they needed. There was no money like we have today. Since the use of money, things have become more difficult. Some people are more lazy, so they want to steal money to buy things. They dont want to work hard for it. But money is also very helpful when we use it for a good cause, like doing charity. Its not because money is so important, but because we have this monetary system in this world; we have to follow it. Dear Master, more developed countries have abolished the death sentence. Does this have anything to do with their emphasis on love in their education system? Will a criminal go to heaven if he truly repents? Will God accept him? [M: Yes. Yes.] Will everybody still love him?
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Yes. Yes. Some countries abolished it because they learned from their mistakes. For instance, the United Kingdom doesn't have capital punishment. The reason is that they made some wrong judgments and got the evidence a few years later that some were really innocent. But they had already been executed. So from that time, the United Kingdom government abolished the death sentence. It's also very good. Now, even the United Kingdom police don't kill people. The United Kingdom police don't carry guns. Therefore, there are few homicide cases. This is a very good example. Dear Master, fixed karma cannot be changed, but meditation can change it. Please share with us Your experience. Thank You very much. This is what it means. We have two kinds of karma. Karma is, 'As we sow so shall we reap.' 'Good heart, good reward,' for example. This is karma. Good karma or bad karma. There are two kinds of karma for all humans. One is stored in our so-called warehouse, which we keep for our next life. The karma in this life, we call it fixed karma. One is fixed karma, the other is stored karma. There's also another kind called collective karma. It is different from our personal karma. The stored karma is stored in a warehouse. The fixed karma is the one which records what we have to do, or what retribution we get in this life. This is difficult to change, because before we came into this life, everything had been arranged, written down and sealed. So fixed karma cannot be changed. But the Quan Yin method practitioners may change it. For example, your hand is supposed to be cut by someone in this life and this we cannot change but we may have our hand cut off in a dream. When we wake up, we feel pain for a while, but our physical hand won't be cut off in real life. So we can change it a little like this. It doesn't mean that we can change it completely. We can minimize or maximize a little bit, that's all. Another kind is collective karma or our common karma. For example, we live near others, or with someone else in Formosa. In addition to our personal karma, we have to share the good or bad karma of this country. We call this collective karma. The bigger collective karma is related to this whole world. If more people meditate in the world and fill it with Light, then we will share the blessing too. If people in this world think negatively and behave immorally, we will be influenced by the darkness as well. Dear Master, Jesus said, 'I am the only path to eternity. Only through me will you attain eternal life.' Is that the same as the eternal liberation of the Quan Yin method? If it is, then wouldn't there be two ways to eternity? I am a Christian. May I receive initiation? There is only one path. Since everyone points to that path, you should walk on it. It doesn't matter whether it is Jesus or Shakyamuni Buddha or anyone else pointing to this path, as long as it is the correct path. Dear Master, if I hear or see illusions during my meditation, how should I deal with it? Thank You. Illusion? I will tell you very clearly during initiation. If you aren't initiated and you meditate at home by yourself, please remember to recite Buddha's or Jesus' name; then they will come to help. If they are too busy, then look for me. I will try my best to help you. It is quicker to find me because I am the local person, so I can offer immediate help. Dear Master, what is Your opinion of the rapidly developing technology in such fields as biotechnology, genetic engineering, and the cloning of animals? What will happen to the Earth and the human race? Is it good or bad? Will it ever be possible to copy DNA and clone humans?
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It depends on whether the various national governments will legalize it or not. Yes, it will be possible. But there are two kinds of copies. One is like a robot. The other is a real soul. But the real soul is our Self. It cannot be duplicated. Dear Master, what is Buddha Nature? Why isn't it mentioned in the bible? The bible says, 'Heaven is within you.' It's the same. Dear Supreme Master Ching Hai, You are different from before. You are more beautiful. Why? I practice the Quan Yin method! Thank you. I am very happy to see You coming back to Formosa after so many years. I am happy too. I thought everybody had forgotten me, but you haven't. I won't forget Formosa. I like Formosa the most. Good evening, Master. Can I get liberation and happiness from actively serving people and through hard work, thus getting the most peace of mind? Thank You, Master. It means 'to devote oneself to serving people and working hard.' Sure, very good, very loving. And we will receive praise from others. But we have to find our own heaven so as to help others more efficiently, and then we will become more capable of helping more people. Dear Master, I feel like I have a serious dual personality. One is bright. The other is dark and corrupt. But I feel that is what I am. I want to change the bad side. Why am I like this? How can I change it? We all have two sides. That is yin and yang. We have willpower, which can control our negativity. Very simple. If you see something good to do, then do it immediately. If you notice something bad, then try to avoid it. Once we know it's bad, we avoid it at all cost. It's that simple, then we'll be able to master ourselves. Dear Master, if we relax the mind for a while every day, how is it different from the meditation You teach? Relaxation makes us fresh with energy, while meditation helps us find the Buddha Nature. They're different. Knowing our True Self is the greatest method. Dear Master, why is it that sometimes I feel happy and other times I feel sad in my dreams? The real life is also like this. The outside world is also like this. Dreams are nothing. Our life is also like this. Sometimes happy, sometimes sad. I really want to get initiation. May I get initiation today? [M: Yes.] Master, best wishes to You. I love You. Thank you.
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Wisdom is more important, but we should do charity as much as we can because sometimes our brothers and sisters need our help. We can't say that after we become Buddha, we don't care for others. Even Shakyamuni Buddha gave offerings every day, every moment offering His spirit, His body, His time and the happiness of being together with His family. He offered the supreme method. So did Jesus. So we have to learn from them. Dear Master, technology is so developed today. We can use animal cells, without killing, to clone animals like sheep and cows. Is eating the meat of cloned animals considered a kind of killing? You'd better ask the sheep. The answer would be clearer. Dear Master, may homosexuals practice the Quan Yin method? [M: Yes, yes.] Will God discriminate against homosexuals? Everything is created by God. A homosexual is a person between a man and a woman. Like in transit. For instance, if we have certain qualities and abilities, we can be girls. If we have such and such qualities and abilities, we can be boys. Some people have a little of this and a little of that quality, not completely here nor there, somewhere in the middle. At that time he has not decided to be male or female yet or he doesn't have enough to be a man or a woman. He's just in the middle. But he is also a human being. Any being in human form has Buddha Nature, so everyone can practice and become Buddha. Dear Supreme Master Ching Hai, the first time I met You, I felt that You had great charm beyond description. Please save me. I have been haunted by the devil for over ten years. No problem. You meditate and save yourself. Dear Master, this is the first time Ive attended Your lecture. Thank You for giving me the opportunity to be here. After becoming a vegetarian and meditating half an hour daily I feel much better. Sometimes I see Your manifestation and sometimes, something weird. This scares me. What does it mean? Is it good or bad? It's good to see Master's manifestation. If you see something weird, it's weird. Its because you are not pure enough. Meditate more. Meditate more. Dear Master, ignorance has cheated us for 5000 years. How can we leave this ignorant world? Please advise. Just get initiation. That simple. Dear Supreme Master Ching Hai, is there any evidence to prove reincarnation? If there is, then if everyone becomes Buddha and no longer reincarnates, will the population increase? Reincarnation exists but we don't need it. We've already reached a high level as a human being. We should continue to go up. We rarely come down. Even if it is so, if sometimes we don't concentrate well, if we don't continue meditating, we will stay in the human level, or go to the Astral World and stay there for a very long time. Even if we go to the first level,
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we will keep staying there and wont advance to the next level, so its not very good. So we need to practice, get enlightened and move on quickly. Not so many people become Buddha, so don't worry about the population increase. Q. M. Dear Master, the bible says we were born with original sin. Please comment. Original sin is the stored bad karma that I've mentioned already. It records the wrong things one has done in previous lives and brings it to this life. This is the so-called original sin. Dear Master, there is a book called 'World War III,' which mentions that those who practice and reach a certain level may see the changes of the universe in the future. From May 10th of this year to the year 2002 is the period of Final Judgment. He mentioned that the time from 2000 to 2002 is the Final Judgment of the world and that the island of Formosa will sink during this period. Is it true? No. Its not true. He is looking at the wrong time. What could happen to the nice Formosan people? The most kind-hearted. The future blessing or bad karma is in our hands. If you have any doubts or fears, please listen inwardly and pray to God and Buddha. Think about God and Buddha every day. Do something positive every day. Think about others, do something good for others. If we do this, our blessing will cover the bad karma. In case he is correct, we may break through. Try to keep a vegetarian diet as much as it is convenient for you. Love animals, love others. Help your neighbors. Help those in difficulty. Be one with everybody. If everyone unites and has the same ideal every day, nothing will happen.
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MC. We thank You our beloved Supreme Master for coming back to Formosa today to give us such a wonderful lecture. Let us give Her a warm round of applause. M. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Good night. Our fellow initiates will pray for Formosa. Please be at ease. Nothing bad will happen.
THE SUPREME MASTER CHING HAI, THE QUAN YIN METHOD AND THE CHINESE IN SOUTHEAST ASIA 8
[On May 6th , 2000 at the fourth seminar in a series of eight panel discussions, Religions and the Chinese People Worldwide, Supreme Master Ching Hai was invited to speak about the Quan Yin method and its development in Southeast Asia. The seminar was held at the Academia Sinica, a prestigious national academic research institute in Formosa. The conveners of the seminar were the Southeast Asia Research Project from the Academia Sinica, the Taiwan Religious Institute, the Central Broadcasting Corporation, the Overseas Chinese Research Group of the Contemporary History Research Faculty from the Academia Sinica, and the Chinese Interdisciplinary Association. Numerous professors, research fellows, media professionals, and elite personnel from many fields participated in the discussion. This seminar on the Quan Yin method (presented below) was also broadcast locally to the public on May 20th , 2000 by the Central Broadcasting Corporation. In addition, the discussion was available worldwide simultaneously on the Central Broadcasting Corporation's web site at www.cbs.org.tw.
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Public seminar, Taipei, Formosa, May 6th, 2000 (Originally in Chinese).
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During Her 'Experience the Divine Ocean of Love' lecture tour in Asia and Oceania in 2000, Supreme Master Ching Hai accepted the invitation of sincere Truth aspirants to visit this beautiful country and share Her wisdom and knowledge of the universe. We invite you to enjoy the wisdom-filled lecture entitled, 'The Supreme Master Ching Hai, the Quan Yin Method and the Chinese in Southeast Asia,' delivered by Supreme Master Ching Hai in Taipei, Formosa on May 6th , 2000.]
[Chairman (C) (Mr. Chu Hong-yuan from the Department of Modern History, the Academia Sinica)] C. Good day to you, Supreme Master Ching Hai, Professor Ruaan Jy-sheng of National Taiwan University, and friends from the academic and public sectors. It is not often that the Academia Sinica has an opportunity, as it does today, to comprehensively explore a topic from both the religious and academic perspectives. I am the convener of the Overseas Chinese Research Group of the Institute of Modern History of the Academia Sinica. Our group has been sponsoring a series of lectures over the past few years. Beginning this year, we have, at the recommendation and with the support of Director Lin Mei-rong of the Taiwan Religious Institute, incorporated religious perspectives into our research on the Chinese in Southeast Asia. Thus, we have invited an important religious leader to this seminar at the Academia Sinica today. This is the fourth in a series of eight lectures. The first three lectures were on Islam, Christianity, and I-kuan Tao. The topic today is a very special one, namely, the Quan Yin method, a new path led and taught by Supreme Master Ching Hai. Let us learn more about this new spiritual dimension and its tremendous impact on Chinese people around the world. We are coordinating the Chinese project with the Southeast Asian research project, also conducted by the Academia Sinica. This combined effort is proceeding under the guidance of Professor Hsiao Hsing-huang. Professor Hsiao has demonstrated his support for this activity by contributing an honorarium for each lecture. It is not much; nonetheless, it indicates his moral support for this academic study. We will be presenting this honorarium to Supreme Master Ching Hai for Her lecture. [Master immediately contributed the honorarium back to the convener.] In addition, our overseas Chinese research group, which is now conducting studies on the Chinese in Southeast Asia, has prepared a token fee for Professor Ruaan, who will be serving as commentator today. But this is not important. More important is the cooperation evidenced in this event between the different institutes of the Academia Sinica working together on comprehensive research topics. We are especially delighted to have representatives from two organizations with us today. We have the Central Broadcasting Corporation, represented by Mr. Wen. Mr. Wen is the producer of the radio program The Overseas Chinese Community on the Air, which is broadcast to listeners worldwide. Today's lecture will be simulcast on his program to overseas audiences, and so he will record the entire lecture today. We would also like to thank the Chinese Interdisciplinary Association for being with us today. Since its establishment nineteen years ago, the Association has launched a series of interdisciplinary activities with the support of university professors around Formosa. Nearly 200 individuals with doctoral degrees are currently working with the Association to promote various interdisciplinary events. Research on religions, as well as Southeast Asian Chinese activities, is a highly interdisciplinary subject. Thus, we are delighted that the Chinese Interdisciplinary Association is participating in this seminar. We also have The Quan Yin Method The Key of Immediate Enlightenment and Eternal Liberation
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several other important leaders in our audience today. Of course, our greatest appreciation goes to the Academia Sinica for its attention to the lecture series, especially this fourth seminar featuring Supreme Master Ching Hai. Certain newspaper reports have raised concerns, and perhaps some tiny misunderstandings. Professor Yang Kuo-shu, Vice President of the Academia Sinica, as well as several other important administrative officials of the Sinica, have called me several times to discuss this matter. I would like to express my immense gratitude to them for surmounting all obstacles and accepting an activity of this nature. Since this is basically an academic activity, we must first request that we remain in academic discourse. Supreme Master Ching Hai has traveled to many places, and I have asked that She begins Her lecture by discussing the Chinese communities in Southeast Asia. Then, She can elaborate on the development of Her organization, as well as related developments of both past and present. Of course, it is inevitable that Her spiritual teachings will be mentioned, but we hope that the Master will focus Her talks on the Chinese in Southeast Asia. In other words, we hope that She will refrain from discussing any doctrines or activities involved in sharing the Truth, related difficulties, and future prospects in regions outside Southeast Asia, and save these topics for a future time. Today's seminar will be conducted in two sessions, each lasting approximately one hour. I think that this is a precious opportunity, one that none of you has ever had anywhere in the world, even at the Taoyuan County Stadium (Master's lecture venue the previous day). So, please, try to be concise and keep Your discussion within the scope of Southeast Asian Chinese academic research. We hope to gather relevant information on this topic with You serving as our witnesses. Time is precious. Now that I have completed my basic introduction, let us respectfully invite Supreme Master Ching Hai to speak on the Quan Yin method and the Chinese people in Southeast Asia. M. Thank you! Thank you very much! Since I am here at your invitation, let me proceed immediately without being too courteous, so we won't waste any time. Thank you for your trust and for giving me this honor. I have always felt that Formosa is my home, so my return this time does not seem like anything special. I haven't visited Formosa for a long time because I've been very busy abroad. I delivered a lecture yesterday and you probably were there, and so have some reference. However, since I have promised to deliver this special talk today, I will abide by the guidelines set by our chairman and confine my talk to today's topic. Should I make a slip, please help me make amends. Perhaps most of you are aware of our presence here, because we have created quite a sensation in Formosa. I mean that the government and the media have helped us become very famous. Although there are misunderstandings, these are nonetheless part of God's arrangement. Hes does things in Hiers own way. Sometimes, Hes lets people praise you a lot to make you famous; at other times, Hes lets people misunderstand you, and that too makes you famous. The second way is not so enjoyable and we don't like it that much. However, Jesus Christ, for example, was misunderstood by many people and subjected to immense suffering, yet He is worshipped throughout the world today. Shakyamuni Buddha was framed and misunderstood by many people during His lifetime; however, the whole world worships Him today. If these two great Masters had to endure suffering and wrongful accusations, this little bit of suffering should not matter to ordinary people like us. It The Quan Yin Method The Key of Immediate Enlightenment and Eternal Liberation
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cleanses our karma. In our group, we are grateful to those who insult or rebuke us, because they cleanse our karma for us. It is inevitable that we will, at some time in our lives, do something that does not appeal to everyone, and that causes misunderstanding among people. When people speak ill of us, it means that our karma is cleansed; we become more prosperous, and will be rewarded after our death. The beginning Now I will talk about our development activities. Although we have contact Centers in many countries and places, we have more brothers and sisters in Southeast Asia than anywhere else in the world. By brothers and sisters, I am referring to our fellow practitioners. That's what we call each other because we practice a common method. Initially, I didn't know anyone in Formosa, but now everyone treats me like a Formosan. I am really honored. Yesterday, I felt as if I had come home. When I'm overseas, people introduce me as someone from Formosa. When we render relief aid to other places, they refer to us as a Formosan group. Therefore, I am just going to stay on here as a Formosan. Even when I am not here physically, my heart and soul will be here. This is something that we cannot change; perhaps I was born here in a previous life. Some people have, during meditation, seen me eating sweet potato leaves in Formosa in a previous life. We share a deep affinity with each other. Although I didn't know a single soul when I first arrived here many years ago, I was greatly impressed by the warm hospitality that the Formosan people immediately extended toward me. I was ordained here, so I followed the traditional customs. I abided by the rules and disciplined myself. It was just like taking driving lessons and following the words of the instructor. There is a supervisor by our side while we drive strictly and very rigidly according to his instructions. Once we know how to drive, we don't need an instructor anymore; we have become so familiar with the rules that we can drive smoothly and naturally. The people here took very good care of me when I first came. The temples welcomed me and treated me well. They gave me money when I was in need. I was penniless at the time, but now I am earning some money. Once, I was on a retreat in a temple when, at midnight, about a dozen people came knocking at my door. I was bewildered to see them at that hour. They came in and revealed that the Quan Yin Bodhisattva had asked them to seek me out and learn something from me. I knew few people then, and was on a retreat. I was surprised that those people knew about me, but they said it was the Quan Yin Bodhisattva who had tipped them off. I wasn't ready to teach people, but started to do so because of their intense sincerity. I am not a Formosan citizen, so I then went to the United States, where I stayed for more than a year. There again, people came to me, claiming that God had told them to come to me at a particular temple. As a result, I established bonds of affinity with the Americans as well. Initially, I shared ties of affinity with the Chinese only, but had to leave Formosa when my visa expired, whereupon I went to the United States. I couldn't, and still can't, stay permanently in Formosa. After I had developed bonds of affinity with the Americans, the Formosan people asked me to return because they really loved me. I agreed and stayed here for quite some time, which was why our group was able to grow and expand in Formosa. This is a natural
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affinity. I began to shuttle between Formosa and the United States, and also traveled to other countries later. I have affinity with the Chinese people. In Southeast Asia, where there are Chinese populations, the news spread by word of mouth. We had not issued any printed or audiovisual publications back then. I was invited to Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, et cetera. Before we extended our reach overseas to America, our group was concentrated mainly in Southeast Asia, especially in areas sharing relations with Formosa and the Chinese people. In Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand, which we have just mentioned, our group members were mainly confined to the Chinese people living there. The people there are mostly of Chinese descent and can speak Mandarin or Chinese dialects like Fukienese or Hakka. Also, one dialect in Thailand is identical to a Chinese dialect. People have discovered that the northern Thai language is exactly the same as a dialect spoken in one area in China's Yunan province. These two peoples can communicate with each other. This proves that we Chinese once lived in Thailand. Singaporeans also speak Chinese. When I first came to Formosa, the only Chinese words I could speak were Is your mother well? (This is a mistake that foreigners often make when they say the Chinese characters for How are you? in an incorrect sequence.). I didn't really understand the language. When senior practitioners in temples chanted the name Amitabha, it sounded like Amitofu to me. I was astounded to hear them repeat the word tofu all day long. However, I quickly mastered the language because I like the Chinese people very much. They treated me very well, just like a sister. Perhaps it was due to affinities made in previous lives. We could communicate perfectly despite the language barrier. But I was forced to learn some Chinese as I stayed on in Formosa, and I still remember some of it. I haven't forgotten it completely during my stay overseas. However, sometimes my tongue is tied because I have not spoken Chinese for a long time. I am most fluent in English; I even have difficulty speaking my own mother tongue, the Aulacese language. It's been so long since I last spoke in Aulacese that I have almost forgotten it. Development in Southeast Asia As our group continued to grow, later on Centers were established throughout Formosa, and people volunteered to be contact persons. In this way, we set up many bases, and expanded to other countries, especially in Southeast Asia. Since the chairman has asked me to talk only about Southeast Asia, I will do just that and ignore the other areas. We have numerous liaison points in Southeast Asian and other Asian countries. As more and more people learned about us, and as our contact Centers grew in number, an increasingly large number of people asked to see me in person. Since I could not be physically present everywhere, we began to produce video and audio tapes so we could reach more people. Then, we printed sample booklets for people who could not come to us. Later, we also issued news magazines. That was how our group developed in a natural way. Master used to live in a tent Our contact Centers are not fancy or grand by any means. They are mostly located in ordinary buildings; some are makeshift structures built with thin metal sheets. They do not look in the least bit majestic. We haven't built, and give little thought to building big, grand The Quan Yin Method The Key of Immediate Enlightenment and Eternal Liberation
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temples. However, when our fellow practitioners find the contact Centers too shabby, they try to do what they can to make them look better. We used to live in tents; I still have a tent up on Yangming Mountain. When I am back in Formosa and if I can afford the time, I go and stay there for a while. We have no plans to build anything for ourselves. Sometimes, however, it is set up naturally. C. Supreme Master, let me ask You a question. All of us have a complete set of information prepared by the Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association. As we listen to Master, let us turn to page 20 on Activities in Malaysia. Please tell us something about Malaysia, where most of the people are Islamic. How did You succeed in promoting Your activities, in sharing Your method there, when so many other people couldn't? Can You please elaborate on that? Most of the Chinese are rather traditional by nature. The Quan Yin method makes no distinction between religions, nor does it mandate that people should remove their veils or worship at temples. We have already explained that the Quan Yin method is a path that will lead us to our God Nature and heavenly kingdom within. It does not matter what religion you follow. Our fellow practitioners from different religions meditate together while dressed in different attire. The Muslims wear their Islamic clothes; the Buddhist monks sometimes wear their monastic robes. Even monks from different countries are dressed differently. Some of them are from the Hinayana school, while some are from the Mahayana school; some are from China and some are from Korea. They dress differently and are accustomed to a wide variety of fashions. They gather together and meditate without discussing any religious issues. When they attain self-realization, they become better Muslims, Buddhists, or Christians. They are so full of love and joy that their traditional appearance does not affect us. Of course, as the chairman knows, Malaysia and certain other Muslim countries, being stricter than Formosa, impose some restrictions on the people, but their governments do not interfere with us. They are quite liberal. It is all right if the Muslims join us on their own initiative. We have never gone knocking on their doors or taken other actions. They come by themselves. At that time, we had a note on our lecture flyers, Muslims are not encouraged to come. C. M. C. We all know that there were anti-Chinese sentiments in Indonesia. That was in the past. Right! Yet You were allowed to deliver a lecture there in 1992. This is on page 21 of the information sheets provided by the Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association. In March 1992, the Indonesian government permitted Supreme Master Ching Hai to give a lecture, conducted in a question and answer format, in its country. Can You tell us about it? In 1992, since anti-Chinese sentiments were running high, Chinese literature was not allowed. That is true. I visited Indonesia around that time, too, but Chinese books were banned then. How did You manage to deliver a discourse there?
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I spoke in English. However, thank you for reminding me. I had completely forgotten about the things that you just mentioned. It seems like a remote story to me. Right! But we research associates of the Institute of Modern History love to listen to stories. Could You please elaborate for us? All right, but it was too long ago. When I finish a lecture, I forget about it. Ask me what I talked about yesterday, and I can't remember a thing. Let me take a look. Maybe it will bring back some memories. Let us listen to Supreme Master. The Chinese expatriates in Indonesia were miserable at the time. I cried when I heard their tragic stories. However, good will be rewarded with good. As time goes by, the arrangements will be revealed. You can see that the Chinese people there are much better off today. God has Hiers arrangements. When people misunderstand or abuse us, we should learn from the example of endurance and toleration of humiliation set by the Chinese, and we will realize that God does take good care of us. Sooner or later, Hes will fix it for us. Back then, the Chinese people could not study Chinese. They could not even speak their own mother tongue in public; they had to speak in English or Indonesian. However, they could speak Chinese at home. When one of our well-to-do fellow practitioners invited me to his home, all of us just squeezed into his house. It was huge and had many rooms; we were in a room that was as big as this one. There, we could speak in Chinese. I gave my public lectures in English, though. I could not violate the law. Since I was allowed into Indonesia, I had to cooperate, and everything proceeded smoothly.
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Let me ask You about Your trip to Thailand. Please refer to page 21 again. In 1994, You met Princess Sirindhorn at the Thai Imperial Palace. Can You tell us about that? That was after our lecture. The royal family knew and apparently had approached our fellow practitioners about it. I don't know too much about the background story. I was there on their invitation. In most cases, our fellow practitioners make the arrangements for me. When they inform me about the invitations they have received on my behalf, I accept them when time permits. It seemed that Thailand had just suffered some kind of disaster at the time, and we had contributed some relief aid and provisions. Quilts and woolen coats. That is right. We did that on a number of occasions, not only that one time. Perhaps the royal family had learned about our contributions and wanted to meet us. It was quite an honor. We presented some gifts to the Princess. But when they arranged for a second visit, I said sorry to them because I did not have time. I was busy with other matters. Members of the Thai royal family are very humble and cordial. The Princess is very pure; you will surely like her when you see her. She does not act pretentiously. She does whatever has to be done, and wears no makeup. The people love her dearly, and so do I. But I didn't have time later. Please turn to page 22, about the activities in Thailand in 1999. That was in Thailand. We have many activities there.
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You have many activities in Thailand. The information here covers a World Vegetarian Congress held in Chiang Mai. Can You tell us about Your Centers in Thailand? Well, we have many. Do You have Centers in Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Bangkok, and other places? Yes, we have Centers in Hatyai, Khon Kaen, and Bangkok, but I can't remember the names very well. Our fellow practitioners know better than I do. I only travel around; I don't remember much. Sometimes I work so fast that I forget the time. I have to call my fellow practitioners to ask them the date, what time to do what, and if we are leaving for Japan or staying in Formosa today. Sometimes, I am very busy, having to pack my own luggage. It can be exhausting traveling alone, but I would draw too much attention if I were to travel with a crowd. I prefer to travel silently, but I have so many matters to attend to, that I sometimes become forgetful. However, I know that we have Centers in Khon Kaen, Hatyai, Chiang Mai and Bangkok; I don't remember the others. We have a large number of fellow practitioners in Thailand. Some of them speak Thai and some speak Chinese. Their translation is not bad. When I first went to Thailand, some of the Chinese people could not speak their own language, but they soon learned after listening to my audio tapes. I joked about charging them a tuition fee! The people there are very nice and benevolent; they have great respect for spiritual practitioners. Once they notice that you are a spiritual practitioner, they kneel before you and offer you flowers. They are a very humble people. Now, let us go on to Singapore. You were there as early as 1991. It seems that there were some Aulacese refugees in Singapore at the time. Several hundreds of them. What was the situation back in April 1991? I visited the refugees and bought something for them while I was there, but the main purpose of my visit was to deliver a lecture. There were lots of people and the lecture venue was packed until there was no space to walk. Many people sat in the passageways or on the staircase. It was the same yesterday. We had even more people and it was really crowded. [Master is referring to Her lecture at Formosa's Taoyuan County Stadium on May 5th, 2000.] Things in Singapore went pretty smoothly. The Singaporean government is very open-minded and the local people, being spiritually advanced, accepted us immediately. Their country is very clean and the people are law-abiding. If you spit chewing gum on the street, you will be fined 500 US dollars. The people are able to maintain a steady spiritual practice; once they start, they continue. You just tell them and they understand immediately. The people of Singapore develop their wisdom really well. And I am very delighted about that! What is the most important method that they understand? What is the vital point? I just talk to them casually. But it doesn't work when I talk casually! They are rather intelligent!
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All right, let us talk about the Philippines. In April 1991, You were in the Philippines to help the Aulacese asylum-seekers. Why do You use the word Au Lac instead of Vietnam? This is the first question. The second question is, why did Manila present You with the City Key and confer upon You honorary citizenship? I have no idea. They did it as soon as I arrived because someone had told them who I was and why I was there. The mayor of Manila invited us and gave us the key. I thought that the key was beautiful, so I kept it as a souvenir, but it cannot open any doors. I felt great receiving a key for the first time in my life. I didn't have a home then; I was living in a tent, yet I had a key. I wrapped it nicely in a pouch. Later, I lost the thrill as I received many more keys. I put them side-by-side, just for looks. I received several keys in the United States. I can give you one if you want. It is only good if the local government gives it to me. From You, maybe it's also okay! We can share it. Now, let's go on to that part about the Aulacese refugees. Please talk more about it, since You are from Au Lac. We will discuss Au Lac in greater detail later. At that time, I was negotiating for the Aulacese refugees with the Philippine government to help and offer asylum to them. The country eventually offered asylum to the 5,000 refugees who were still in the Philippines. The local people are very kindhearted and generous, even though their country is poor. Therefore, I paid them a visit a couple of days ago to express our gratitude. Au Lac is the ancient name of Vietnam. It means happiness. I use this name because I feel that it brings good luck to the people. I love names that sound good. Being a designer, I love beautiful things, including beautiful names. That is why I prefer to use the name Formosa instead of Taiwan. You can see that we have used this name in the information sheets in your hands. We call this island Formosa, not Taiwan, though we sometimes forget.
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Au Lac was hit by floods, and two million people were affected. How much did You contribute to their aid? Where did this money come from? This issue of basic necessities is very important, so I have to be blunt. I don't quite remember because it was so long ago. It isn't that I don't want to talk about it, but I have lost count of how many countries we have provided aid to, and the amount of relief provisions we have given. Does anyone remember the amount? I don't. What I mean is, did You raise funds for the contribution? You are asking where the money came from? Exactly! Well, we got it from the bank. We had to; it would be very dangerous to keep such a large sum of money at home. We work to earn most of our money. I design clothes and other things. I designed a variety of clothes then. Now I design more expensive clothes. I also designed some minor things at that time, or we wove hats and other things for sale. Being spiritual practitioners, we ate only one or two vegetarian meals a day. Life was simple. We
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lived in tents and didn't have many clothes, just two or three sets. Therefore, we saved most of the money we earned and then used it to help the refugees. We also had fellow practitioners who volunteered to deliver the funds. We do not directly accept contributions from fellow practitioners. If they want to contribute, they send it directly to the affected countries. Our Formosan fellow practitioners have provided financial contributions to the Philippines, and many other countries and places. And Formosa is now well-known for its disaster relief. We are regarded as a Formosan group worldwide. C. Perhaps the Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association can tell us more about how the funds were raised and how they were used. This is a very important question. However, we can raise this matter when we open the floor to discussion, since some important leaders of the Association might be present. Let us continue, as time is precious. We still have Cambodia to cover. Can You tell us about Cambodia? The whole country knows about it. Contributions came from the whole country, not just our group. Everyone contributed a little, and we sent whatever we collected to Cambodia. How much we sent, I have forgotten. Really, I forget very quickly; however, I think it was a lot, about 6,000 tons of rice. You can find that information in the newspapers. We sent the relief provisions to Cambodia because it had been in bad shape for a long time. People were starving, and crops were not growing. Now they have no problem. They saved some of the rice that we contributed to plant. Later, their Prime Minister reported to me, Master, we planted many rice paddies from the rice that You contributed, and the yield is increasing all the time. The assistance we provided serves not only at that moment, but future generations as well. The children and the elderly are now sufficiently clothed and fed. They are very grateful to the Formosans fellow practitioners and otherwise, for their aid. The last two questions are about Cambodia. Under item six is the 1996 retreat. Could You please explain this retreat and give us a brief introduction? Each year, we reserve some time to sit down quietly to introspect on ourselves, since God dwells within us, and to strengthen our inner realization. This is the purpose of a retreat. We put down everything for a few days three, five, or seven days, depending on the situation. During that time, we concentrate entirely on our God Nature, or the God within us. This is called a retreat. We have retreats every year in different countries. The last one was in Thailand; next week, we will have another one in Korea. We do this for ourselves and for world peace. When we get together, the power is stronger and it is more convenient to pray. This is what a retreat is for. I think approximately 35 minutes have passed. In this first session, I asked Supreme Master Ching Hai some simple questions regarding the activities of the Chinese people in Southeast Asia. Professor Ruaan Jy-sheng of National Taiwan University will now give us his comments.
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Comments from a Scholar [R. (Professor Ruaan)] R. I am as excited as every one of you to have Supreme Master Ching Hai with us. I don't think many people, including the conveners, expected Supreme Master Ching Hai to grace us with Her presence today. I, myself, feel especially honored. The comments that I am about to make will be directly related to the theme of our seminar The Supreme
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Master Ching Hai, the Quan Yin method, and the Chinese in Southeast Asia. The theme has two parts, one being about Southeast Asia. We have a number of experts and scholars sitting among us. Our chairman, Professor Chu, is an expert in the study of the overseas Chinese, especially the Chinese communities and religions in Indonesia. He has published several articles in this area. We also have with us scholars from the Taiwan Religion Institute and the Southeast Asia Research Project, who are more competent speakers than I am on the subject of the Chinese in Southeast Asia. Therefore, I will comment mainly on Supreme Master Ching Hai and the Quan Yin method. I read the material provided by the Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association before the seminar and have just listened to a speech by Supreme Master. I get the impression that the Quan Yin method and its leader are very special; maybe we could say that they are of a different variety. They are really unique. My general observations tell me that the actions and speech of this leader often shatter boundaries and rules, as they do not conform to the social codes we are familiar with. She is very uncommon and above normal etiquette. For this reason, it is very difficult for people to understand and categorize Her according to existing concepts and habitual rules. In the eyes of worldly people, Supreme Master Ching Hai is very different than other religious leaders. Supreme Master Ching Hai is an Asian lady of Aulacese origin. She has given lectures in Chinese, English, Aulacese, and even German and French on the Earth's five continents. She is well-versed in all the major religious scriptures and can easily expound profound doctrines in simple words of common usage. The Supreme Master gives initiation to Truth-aspirants of any ethnic group or religious background, without demanding that they give up their original faith. She imparts a supraworldly method of liberation, but is also very concerned about worldly suffering, conducting disaster relief and charitable activities when the need arises. She teaches the Quan Yin method, a simple and apparently novel method, which She claims is the most ancient and a magnificent one. Her disciples are required to strictly observe the five precepts and a lifelong vegetarian diet, and to meditate for 2.5 hours each day. They are also encouraged to practice the middle way, to refrain from going to extremes, and to pursue a life of Truth, virtue, and beauty. However, while She gives lectures on the Truth, She also writes poems, composes songs, plays musical instruments, recites poems, sings songs, paints, cooks vegetarian cuisine, and has compiled vegetarian cookbooks. M. R. This is very important to the Chinese! She is also a fashion and jewelry designer. She has held art exhibitions, fashion shows, and musical events in several of the world's major cities. People have difficulty detecting Her spiritual traits, and are even skeptical about Her being a spiritual practitioner. She offers financial assistance and dedicates Her endeavors to helping the world's most needy people, in both material and spiritual aspects. She does not build temples or churches, nor does She accept offerings. Disciples everywhere would love Her to stay with them as long as possible, but She prefers to wander around the globe without a fixed abode, not willing to settle down in any one place. With Her intense compassion for humankind, She helps people with all Her heart and effort, but occasionally reprimands them out of Her profound love for them. She has been called the Master who reprimands people. At a time when people are pessimistic about the last stage of the dharma, or trembling with fear about a coming doomsday, She speaks with high spirits of stepping into a new Golden Age. Although it is said that She attained ultimate enlightenment deep in the Himalayas, She convinces people that it is not necessary to practice asceticism in the mountains after receiving initiation, because it is possible to attain enlightenment by practicing at home.
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She has the power to attract thousands of disciples and have them fly around the globe to attend international retreats. M. R. M. R. It sounds like we have supernatural power! This is even more impressive than those who travel island-wide on Formosa. Professor, we do practice supernatural powers! Their gatherings are attended by thousands of people. Very often She has to meet political leaders in different countries while conducting charitable or relief work. However, She claims that She is naturally shy, and loves to live a free, easy, and simple life. Depending on the occasion and the country She is in, She wears imaginative selfdesigned clothes or the traditional attire of the different countries She visits. She appears in different styles and forms, like a woman with a thousand looks. It is for this very reason that She often causes misunderstanding among people and is a target of criticism. Nevertheless, She continues to act in Her own way, enduring it all in silence and playing Her role. She claims that the method She teaches is the most ancient one, while She gives people a very modern impression. She even expects Her disciples to become modern spiritual practitioners. All these unique, transcendental and uncommon things that She does broaden the views of the people and puzzle them as well. We can understand the puzzlement and doubts of worldly people, but we cannot deny that She teaches people to perform good deeds and elevate themselves in both material and spiritual aspects. We cannot find a negative trait in Her. We might say that for the general public, religious researchers, and spiritual practitioners, Supreme Master Ching Hai and the Quan Yin method offer a new message and a new choice. This is a profitable matter, no matter what. Thank you. An open and pluralistic society welcomes all kinds of harmless new things. I think Supreme Master Ching Hai has brought to us a brand new sensation! And Her many unique contributions have provided more free choices for society, making our social culture richer and more colorful. Finally, I would like to thank Supreme Master Ching Hai. May God be with You! Let us ask Supreme Master to say a few good words to God for Formosa, for the people on Formosa and the Chinese mainland, and for humankind. To continue, I would like to ask a few questions. The first one relates to the religious nature and definition. This question has three parts. Part one: Both the general public and religious researchers regard the Quan Yin method as a new religion. The convener also referred to Your group as the Ching Hai religious group. Is the Quan Yin method a religion? This is the first part of the question.
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All religions originated from the Quan Yin method M. The Quan Yin method is not a religion. However, all religions originated from the Quan Yin method. There are already too many religions in the world; I don't want to add another one to the list. I had no such intention in the first place; otherwise I would have done it long ago. It would be nice to hear people call you the founder of a religion, but by practicing the Quan Yin method, we are restoring our Original Self. Religions usually discuss the experiences of ancient people. Take Jesus Christ, for instance. The focus is on the abilities or supernatural powers He attained through spiritual practice, how He reunified Himself with God, what His disciples achieved through spiritual practice, and how they
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finally reunified themselves with God. In the case of Shakyamuni Buddha, the focus is on what He achieved through spiritual practice, how He became a Buddha (enlightened Master), and how His disciples practiced and became Buddhas in the same way. Today, our Quan Yin method teaches us to walk the same path. Therefore, all religions originated from the Quan Yin method. People call it Christianity because Jesus Christ came; people call it Buddhism because the Buddha came. This is how so many religions came into existence. I beg you not to call us the Ching Hai religion after I die! R. M. The general public and religious scholars refer to Your group as the Quan Yin method or the Ching Hai religious group. Would You accept the name Ching Hai religious group? Of course, you have the right to call us any name you like. However, since we feel that we are simply a group devoted only to knowing our Real Self, we don't want to create another religion. We worry that it might have an impact or create more religious controversies. We only want to know our God Nature, our best quality within, so we don't think there is any need to give ourselves a label. However, it is all right for you to call us the Ching Hai religion. We won't print it on our name cards, though! The second part of my question is related to the fact that You have said You don't belong to any religion. That's right. Then what is the relationship between the Quan Yin method and other religions? I am not sure whether You have already answered this in the first part of the question, or would You like to elaborate further? Let me elaborate. I have explained that there was no religion to begin with. Before the Buddha came, there was no Buddhism; before Jesus Christ came, there was no Christianity; before Mohammed came, there was no Islam. All enlightened persons are here to act through God's will and impart this method of liberation to those people who are ready to go Home. After the Masters and their disciples died, people in later generations knew very little of the Masters' teachings, and so the lineages were broken. People worshipped statues and oral teachings without the power of heart-to-heart transmission. Then, slowly, religions were formed. However, the Quan Yin method is the most ancient and the only path back Home. You have only one path that leads you Home. That is how it is. Now comes the third part of the question. We have heard of the transmission of the Quan Yin method in Formosa and abroad. Is there a difference between these other Quan Yin methods and the Quan Yin method imparted by You? I raise this point because the theme of the seminar is The Supreme Master Ching Hai, the Quan Yin method...
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The Quan Yin method is a path that will lead us to our God Nature and heavenly kingdom within M. It was other people who named it that way. When we practice the Quan Yin method, we listen inwardly to our Self-Nature; that is, we contemplate the inner Sound current, our Original Nature and our God Nature. If another group is teaching the same thing, then they are also teaching the Quan Yin method, except that they may call it by another name, like the sound stream, the inner voice of God, or the Word. If they can let us hear our
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God Nature within, our heavenly kingdom within, and see the inner Light, then their methods are the same as ours. R. The next question is related to Your organization. According to our knowledge, whether it is ancient Catholicism or the newly established I-kuan Tao, each religion has a huge church and organization, a tight hierarchy, and titles for each rank. For instance, in Catholicism, we have cardinals, archbishops, bishops and pastors between the pope and the priests. In I-kuan Tao, we have the patriarch, matriarch, chief priests, initiate masters, altar masters, and introduction masters. With their massive organization and wellorganized hierarchy, these religions can mobilize their members quickly and efficiently. However, this can also easily give rise to a bureaucracy. That is what usually happens. The Quan Yin method is presently practiced by disciples on the world's five continents. I am not sure of the exact figure, but there must be at least several hundred thousands of them, and I believe the number will continue to grow in the future. From our observations and the information I have gathered from the written material, there is only one formal title the Quan Yin messenger between You, the Master, and the disciples in Your group. The Quan Yin method group does not seem to be highly organized. However, is it possible for an organization like Yours that is not tightly organized to mobilize its members when engaging in Truth-sharing on a large scale? And can this last long? At present, the answer seems to be positive, because You hold huge congregations. I think this is due to the personal charisma of the leader, but can this continue for a long time? Can You share with us Your views and thoughts? Thank you very much. Your question is very clear. You have missed nothing. Perhaps you are very enlightened. The point is that we don't believe in hierarchical organization and bureaucratic positions. Quan Yin messenger is a casual title to let people understand that this person is authorized to give them verbal instructions regarding the Quan Yin method. However, the real transmission within is conducted in total silence, from God, from within, from heart to heart. It is not conducted by the Quan Yin messenger, who is there only to relate the verbal instructions. That is why he or she is called a messenger. We don't like pompous titles very much. I alone have already endured the title of Supreme Master too much. I don't want others to be targets of criticism as well. We emphasize humility and self-practice, without any desire for positions. Although we have many members working in our group, you seldom see them publicly given credit. The working groups, such as the video team, have done much work, but specific names are never mentioned. Many people are engaged in printing sample booklets and scriptures, but no acknowledgement is given to them. Sometimes the names are listed, but only when required by the law of a particular country. It is better to keep a low profile. However, the names have to be disclosed if it is really necessary for others to know. They are disclosed when we have no other choice, but the people involved are not interested in gaining a titled position. They are aware of their own greatness within without having to announce it. R. M. R. C. So if there is any pressure, Supreme Master will shoulder it alone. It is better that way, so that everyone else can be free and easy. My questions end here. Professor Chu. That was excellent. Let us thank Professor Ruaan for his brilliant commentary and questions, and also Supreme Master for Her incisive answers. Let us perhaps change the agenda a little bit. I am sure that all those present are very interested in expressing their
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views, asking Supreme Master some questions, or consulting our commentator. Shall we now open the floor to questions? All right, this lady! Q. This is a follow-up to the question that our chairman asked earlier. Supreme Master Ching Hai has emphasized that She does not accept offerings. However, She has performed many charitable deeds around the world, which could not have been accomplished with a small amount of money. She just mentioned that She wove hats and designed clothes. Are these items sold only to disciples or to the public? Are the proceeds from these sales enough to help so many asylum-seekers, or victims of floods in America, and natural calamities in Southeast Asia? Can You further explain Your financial source? I don't accept any offerings. However, if a disaster occurs and our disciples want to send contributions or relief provisions to the victims, they can pool theirs with ours in a package or in bulk quantities. That way, all of us, including the disciples, contribute together.
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Relief work for the September 21st, 1999 earthquake in Formosa [R (Reporter)] R. Excuse me, but I would like to follow up on this question. We are aware that in the past, You have provided aid to many places and demonstrated compassion to many people. However, we didn't see You in areas hit by the September 21st, 1999 earthquake. Could You please tell us whether You participated in the disaster relief work or provided assistance in any way? As soon as I saw the news on television in the United States, I tried to call but couldn't contact the liaison practitioners, as their lines were busy. It was very difficult to get through on the phone at that time. Finally, I managed to get through to a brother Lin, who is not a liaison practitioner. I asked him to quickly mobilize everyone and provide all the financial and material assistance they could afford. Our group was in every place that needed help and was already in the disaster-stricken areas on the very first day. Brother Lin, would you like to tell us about that? Will you please introduce yourself before going into the details?
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[L (Brother Lin)] L. My name is Lin Shu-lin and I live in Tainan. On the morning of the September 21st earthquake, I received a call from Supreme Master Ching Hai from abroad. She said that She had been trying to call for nearly two hours but couldn't get through, so She finally called me, and said, Please help me set up a disaster relief team immediately, and promptly render aid to every area that needs help. Pool together all your strength and offer as much help, as quickly as possible. This is the first point I'd like to make clear that Supreme Master was very concerned about the disaster in Formosa. Then, as I transmitted Her message of concern to fellow practitioners around Formosa, I needed to let them know that She was very worried about the post-quake situation. Even though She could not give Her regards and consolation to everyone in person, She wanted to convey Her deep concern about the situation. Therefore, I asked the local Centers to contact their members and set up a mobile car team. On the evening of the earthquake, we reached Chungliao. There, we left a message on the bulletin board of the local police station, saying, If your area needs help or support, The Quan Yin Method The Key of Immediate Enlightenment and Eternal Liberation
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please call us at such-and-such number. We left the telephone number of our Nantou and Taichung contact Centers, which were closest to the earthquake's epicenter. We also delivered relief provisions contributed by our Formosan members to the sports field in front of the Nantou County Government office. I personally visited the affected areas and found that these provisions alone would not resolve the situation. It was clear that we had to coordinate with the government and let the authorities handle it. Therefore, our fellow practitioners, who share the same ideals and will, together raised a fund for the quake-stricken areas. We raised precisely ten million NTs and contributed it all at that time. C. Now let us ask the Director of the Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association to elaborate on this, and then we will take comments from the gentleman in the back.
[K (Brother Ke)] K. Let me introduce myself. I am the former Director of the Association. My last name is Ke. I personally participated in the relief work in the quake-stricken areas. Upon receiving a call from Mr. Lin, we went to the affected areas, and were the first group to arrive. At the time, the Nantou command center did not have any phone, so we provided ours for them. We also organized a team of excavators, as we didn't see any excavators when we first arrived. In general, we took care of the most urgent and top-priority matters. We immediately asked our members to purchase all of the tents available from nearby wholesale stores and factories. You might have seen on television that all the tents in Formosa were sold out. That was because we had bought them all, at a cost of between 900 NTs and 6,000 NTs each. We purchased a total of 4-5,000 tents. Since we have attended many retreats held by Master over the years, we knew about the need for tents. We also bought canvas sheets. If you went to the disaster-stricken areas, you might have noticed some canvas sheets there in addition to the tents; they were contributed by us. When tents became unavailable in Formosa, we learned that many charity groups had ordered tents from places overseas, such as Hong Kong and the United States, and were flying in more tents by air. For disaster-stricken areas inaccessible by car, we mobilized fellow practitioners to climb mountains and get there on foot. We organized a medical team to provide service in the affected areas before any television news teams or other groups arrived. We were the first group to reach those places, before other charitable groups. The ten million NTs mentioned earlier refers only to the first cash contribution by our group. If we were to include all the relief supplies we provided, the amount would be closer to 20 million NTs. Since we are a spiritual group, we do this kind of thing naturally, without feeling that we are going out of our way to do it. People may find this very strange, because it seems to be a huge amount and we seem to be a very tight organization. Let me share with you some more information. Master always teaches us to act like Jesus Christ when we give with our left hand, we should not even let our right hand know. Therefore, we do not regard such acts as very serious matters. This is the first point I'd like to stress. The second point relates to how we mobilize our group in relief operations. Most organizations have an individual leader or a group of leaders, so how was it possible for The Quan Yin Method The Key of Immediate Enlightenment and Eternal Liberation
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Master's disciples, when participating in this disaster relief operation, to arrive in the affected areas before other large organizations? In my personal opinion, it is because we are all connected to God, so our only organization is Hiers organization. That is to say, Hes is connected with every one of us, with each of Master's disciples. Master's loving concern for and anxiety about the quake-stricken areas led us to act on our own initiative. Just one telephone call from Her, and everyone was there. It was incredible, though, that we went without knowing who else would be there, whether doctors would be present, or if transportation would be available. Before any other automobiles arrived, we had already formed a team of jeeps. Later, we saw several jeep teams in about a dozen affected townships. I would like to inform you that our jeep team supported the Relief Center. We also set up a HAM radio communication system. The communication systems used by some of the relief associations were actually ours. Why do we have these systems? It is because we often have retreats in the mountains with Master, so we have to handle communication problems in remote locations. Many people attend these retreats, where we need food, supplies, accommodation facilities, and communication with the outside, so we have had to develop communications systems to equip ourselves. Many of our members have received training at Formosa's Directorate General of Telecommunications, so we knew how to set up the radio equipment. We sent all our electric generators and radio equipment to the disaster areas after the earthquake. Our members were already there when everything was still in chaos, before any other charitable groups had showed up, tables or chairs had been set up, or relief provisions had arrived at the Nantou Relief Command Center. Later, when we saw other charitable groups moving in, our members quickly dispersed to help in places that the other groups could not reach. I must emphasize again that we perform these acts without feeling we are going out of our way to do so. It was more important for us to reach the places in most urgent need instead of appearing where the media were. C. Now let us continue. The speech by former Director Mr. Ke was very interesting. Of course, we are more concerned about Formosa than Southeast Asia, but since our topic today is the Chinese in Southeast Asia, let us first get on with that. Some of you here may still have questions related to the Master's activities in Formosa. We can discuss them later. Perhaps this lady still has something to say about Formosa, but please raise your questions later. Now, let us get on to our topic of Southeast Asia. I am a reporter for the United Daily News. Supreme Master Ching Hai, You mentioned earlier that Your group is a not tightly organized, but I am curious about its operational structure. For instance, there are so many countries in Southeast Asia. How do You get Your fellow practitioners to voluntarily contribute so much money in such a group not tightly organized? The Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Association, for example, has a fixed operational fund. If You were to ask Your members to contribute only when the need arises, and then send the money over and buy the things there, the process would be very complicated. Therefore, I am very curious about how You manage to accomplish this in Southeast Asia. It is just the same. We really have no organization. If you wish, you may come and investigate. We just contribute what we can afford. I give what I have, and you give what you can. We collect it all and send it over. We do it voluntarily. This is the work of God. Once the God within us awakens, Hes will know how to save our relatives and friends.
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There is no need to organize anything. The Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association was established at the government's instructions. The authorities said that we had to form an organization so they could have a membership list, and so we had a few hundred people sign up as members. Otherwise, we really have no members in the true sense of the word. We have an identity card to prove that we are really fellow practitioners when we go to retreats. It shows that we go there to meditate, and not to create trouble. We have no organization; all are volunteers. Spiritual practitioners should be easy and carefree. We cannot ask them to do anything permanently or pay annual fees. The idea has never occurred to us. We only want to remind them of their God Nature, and then it is up to them to do what they want. They are free to contribute or not to contribute. When they come to our Centers, they don't have to pay for their food, drinks, or accommodations. It is completely up to them to decide if they should do anything or contribute any money. When there is a disaster, everyone has the obligation to contribute and do his share. It is not the responsibility of any single person. Is this clear enough to the United Daily News reporter? C. Let us continue with this discussion. I think we should devote more time to discussion because the Supreme Master tells us more in this kind of an exchange. You should be able to understand Her intent and the hidden meaning behind Her words. It is absolutely impossible to carry out activities so efficiently without an organization, so this is actually an organizing method of the supreme level. Perhaps you have other questions for the Supreme Master.
[W (Wen Chin-ko, producer of the Central Broadcasting Corporation)] W. Supreme Master Ching Hai, it is my great honor to be able to meet with You! I have heard about You and admired You for a long time. Since I am studying Buddhism, I'd like to ask You a minor question concerning Buddhism. We know that You had already accomplished some spiritual attainments before You came to Formosa. But we also know that You first appeared in Formosa in the form of a bhiksuni (Buddhist nun). From the standpoint of the Buddhist community, we wonder why You decided to approach the Formosan society as a Buddhist. It was my destiny that I should be a monk for some time. You may ask God if you want. For instance, some of us serve in the army for a couple of years, but some make it their lifelong career. Everyone has a different destiny. I have no say over my destiny. Everything is arranged by fate. Are You saying that it was not Your decision? Of course, it was, but we just do what God tells us to do. If it was Your own decision, then what factors did You consider at the time? I didn't consider anything. I just do what God tells me to do, which is simpler. My question is why You didn't come in Your original status or why You didn't choose to come, for example, as a Christian, Catholic, or Muslim. Why did You choose to come as a Buddhist? I think that there must have been a reason for Your decision. Can You tell us about it?
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I just did. If God wants us to do something, then we just do it; this is the simplest way. It is more complicated to resist Hiers will. Once we are enlightened, our lives become simpler because God makes all the arrangements for us. If Hes tells us to do something, we just obey Hirm. We don't use our minds to argue with Hirm like we used to, or pray to Hirm for something that we think is more beneficial or suitable for worldly people. Take myself for instance; if I really had a choice, I wouldn't be wearing these clothes and heavy ornaments. When I get home, I take them off as fast as I can. Usually, if I am not going to a lecture or to see people, I don't wear these ceremonious outfits that make me feel uncomfortable. I prefer to be dressed casually and move around like a nobody. Therefore, I just do what God tells me to do. Perhaps you will run into such a situation one day and then you will understand. I have protested to Hirm many times, but to no avail. So I just gave in. Hes has taught me to surrender. Are you satisfied with my answer? If you still have doubts, please ask. Sorry, I still have something to say. I have a reason for asking this question. Personally, I respect You very much, but I don't think that Formosa's Buddhist community is very friendly toward You and there is some misunderstanding between You and this community. This is perhaps partly because You once appeared as a member of this community but the Buddhists feel that Your teachings are different. Therefore, from the secular standpoint, I think that Your strategy is, I don't know, maybe You might say that this is God's will. But I feel that it's a pity. I think that You are sharing a method that is so free and full of life, and yet solemn in nature within. This is an excellent or very good way of teaching. If for some reason, there were a misunderstanding or an unhappy experience between You and an existing religious group, I'd say that it must be a great pity. Therefore, I'd like very much to know the reason.
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I live in order to remind people of their own greatness M. I was a monk in my past life, but my career was not accomplished, so I had to come back to finish the last part. Once I have finished my job, I don't have to do it anymore; that is all. You are right about what you said. However, even if I had never been a monk who changed later, people would still have misunderstood me. Jesus Christ had never been a monk, but He was crucified. Shakyamuni Buddha was a monk His whole life, yet someone deliberately injured His leg. He suffered lifelong humiliation by others and remains a target of criticism till this day. He didn't die in peace; there are still people who speak offensively about Him. Today, there are still people who misunderstand Jesus Christ, so what would you expect for an insignificant woman like myself who says things that people don't understand? Of course, if the whole world could understand what I say, we would not be living in this dimension. We wouldn't call it Earth, but Heaven instead. I came to this world and I live here not to please tradition, nor to win people's praise or approval. I live in order to remind people of their own greatness. I try my best to do as much as I can and remind as many people as possible. When the time comes, we must leave, whether we are good or bad, whether we wear beautiful or ugly clothes. I don't have much time. I am getting on in years. W. M. C. Thank You Supreme Master. I like Your answer very much. Thank You. Thank you! It is great that you like it. I love to hear that. Ladies and gentlemen, we have allowed more time for this first session so we could touch on more solid issues. According to our agenda, the second session should focus first on
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the Supreme Master's success in teaching the Quan Yin method in Southeast Asia; second, on the main difficulties She has encountered; and third, on the prospects She holds for the future. Could You please discuss Your major achievements in teaching the Chinese in Southeast Asia, the major obstacles You have encountered, how You managed to solve these difficulties, and what plans and expectations You have for future development? M. We pursue spiritual practice in silence in order to help ourselves. We become more cheerful, and our old habits and bad concepts gradually fade away. That was why Shakyamuni Buddha had to practice for a long time before He attained Buddhahood; He didn't achieve it in one day. Things would be worse if people did not practice. According to my decade-long observations, our fellow practitioners have made much progress after practicing spiritually, and this is splendid! As you might have observed, we do not just benefit ourselves; we also serve society. Of course, we cannot prove our inner spiritual achievements. Perhaps after long observation, we can say that someone who used to scold, quarrel with, or even hurt others, has become more benevolent, and that he has improved through spiritual practice. But we cannot say that easily. However, we are of help to society, too. Take your last question, for instance, about how we manage to mobilize so many people so quickly to help others. This is because our God Nature has awakened; we have become more loving and know exactly what to do. We see the suffering of others as our own, so we do not hesitate to help society. We do what is beneficial to society. Sometimes, when our fellow practitioners encounter difficulties or experience much suffering during their work overseas, they meditate together; then, they cheer up and become happy. Sometimes, when they are not very advanced in their spiritual practice, they may have difficulties; then it helps to talk to others and offer mutual help. Of course, you will encounter difficulties in any work you do. They are not the monopoly of religious groups, or groups like ours that share the Truth. For instance, those of you who are professors sometimes run into students who are difficult to teach. Sometimes your busy work may impair your health; you may have to sacrifice your sleep at night, and still have to take care of your family. Besides facing the difficulties in education, you also have to take care of your family and perhaps fulfill other obligations. Parenting also has its difficult side. Being a professor is not an easy career free of difficulties. Of course, we spiritual practitioners ought to help others. And in our pursuit of spiritual practice, we will encounter obstacles and misunderstandings. However, we have accepted the fact that this is what society is like. We do our work without expecting praise or approval from others, so we are not disappointed. How we will develop in the future depends on God's will. I will live if Hes wants me to live, and if Hes doesn't, I will say Bye-bye it's very simple. Some of you asked how we have organized and developed so well. It all happens naturally. I don't really take any action. I just say, Yes, no, okay, I will come, or I cannot come. That's all. I don't do anything, nor do I tell them anything or dominate anyone. I seldom call them on the phone; I do only occasionally when there is a disaster. Take this brother Lin, for example. I don't call him or the liaison practitioners every day. Ask our fellows and liaison practitioners and see how many of them ever receive a call from me. None except when there is a disaster or when there is work to do. Then I ask them to promptly get help from fellow practitioners. If they don't have enough money, we contribute whatever we can afford from our headquarters. Only then do I make The Quan Yin Method The Key of Immediate Enlightenment and Eternal Liberation
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a call; otherwise, I don't. They didn't even know when I arrived here (in Formosa). Only when I appeared on the lecture stage did they realize, Oh! Master is here. Before that moment, they had no idea where I was or what I was doing. I don't trouble or dominate people, nor do I exercise remote control over them. I don't do it! They do things automatically. Since they have had a taste of happiness, they want to share it with others, out of love. Things happen like that naturally. I don't have any plans. The difference between perceptions of religion's significance C. I think that the members of the Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association have a deeper understanding of the Supreme Master than we ordinary people do. Let us quickly scan pages 29 and 30 of the notes, which mention Her major accomplishments. They mention, Awakening humankind and elevating the human's level in body, mind, and spirit. The first achievement is that the disciples, after leading a spiritual life of over a decade, have begun to coagulate into a mighty force that is advancing toward the new era. The second achievement is their efforts in international humanitarianism and disaster relief. We have just heard the testimony of their former Director, Mr. Ke. The third achievement is the promotion of vegetarianism, and the fourth, of course, is the furtherance of a concept of life built on Truth, virtue, and beauty. Let us go on to discuss the difficulties that Her Association has encountered in two areas perceptions of religion's significance and the aspects of life. Perceptions of religion's significance means, Understanding the true essence of religions. The notes here mention some differences, on which we hope Supreme Master Ching Hai will elaborate. Here is mentioned the experience of being one with God. How can this be achieved? This is one question. Suppose you are eating out in a restaurant, and you know very well whether it serves delicious food or not. If you tell someone who is reading the menu outside just how delicious the soup is, how tasty the mixed vegetables are, and that you will definitely come back to the restaurant again, will he understand what you are saying? Most likely, he won't. This is the trouble. Everyone talks about God and praises Hirm, but very few can actually communicate and chat with Hirm, or ask Hirm questions. We are able to do that because we now remember our Original Self. We are not this ordinary human body. We existed before this physical body came into being and we will continue to exist after we leave this body. That is our Original Self. We have established contact and a relationship with this Original Self, which we call the God within or the Buddha nature within. Therefore, we are aware of how God loves and protects us, teaches us every day, helps us to solve problems, and develops our compassion. We can consult Hirm when we have a problem. The person reading the menu outside praises God all the time, but he has never spoken to Hirm, so, of course, it is difficult for him to understand our explanation. Before he has tasted the food, it is hard for us to prove to him how delicious the dishes are. I might not be as knowledgeable as the professor; I am only capable of speaking simple words. The true definition of the transmission beyond teachings As for how we become one with God, that cannot be explained in words. During the time of the transmission, the two of us just sit in silence, while the transmission is done from heart to heart. God talks to the God within us, and there is no place for words. We do speak before that, but only to tell you how you should sit, that it doesn't matter if you sit cross-legged or not while in meditation, and how to relax and where to put your concentration, so you can see God and communicate with Hirm. These are merely verbal The Quan Yin Method The Key of Immediate Enlightenment and Eternal Liberation
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instructions. Later, when the true initiation takes place, no one says a word. Such is the initiation, the heart-to-heart transmission, and the transmission beyond teachings. It is socalled because it cannot be found in the teachings. We have had God and the Buddha within us from the very beginning, so who is entitled to teach a Buddha or God what to do? It is possible only after our Original Self wakes up. This is like taking two candles, one of them already lit. When we touch the other candle with this one, it too lights up. The quality of light is originally latent in the candles; they just need someone to light them. This process needs no words or teachings; all it needs is a lamp to light it. Without a lamp, no matter how you talk about it or beg it for hundreds of years, it still won't light up. C. Thank You! Another difficulty mentioned here concerns daily life, because Supreme Master Ching Hai demands a full vegetarian diet. [M: Yes.] If You ask people to follow a strict vegetarian diet, they may hesitate to come to You because they may have difficulty putting it into practice. This is a difficulty. Suppose You say, Never mind, just do your best to be a vegetarian, and then lots of people will join Your group. How will You overcome this difficulty in Your future development? We don't really want to overcome it! He is a Buddha and he is God. If he wants to wake up, then we give him a hand. He is a candle that is supposed to shine. If he wants to shine, then he should come closer so we can light him. If he doesn't, he can stay there in the darkness for a few thousand years; we won't disturb him. It is the obligation of a Buddha to be a vegetarian. To be a Buddha, one should act like Shakyamuni Buddha: Be compassionate, love all beings, and eat only vegetarian food. We eat some vegetables only because we have no other option. Therefore, we don't eat much, just enough, about 80% full, not filled to the neck. I take only one, or at the most, two meals, a day. I eat more only when I am really exhausted. Therefore, it is the people's own decision whether they become vegetarian or not; I just said that we don't want to exercise control over anyone. We stand by the side ready to help. If they want to come, we tell them what they should do; if they don't, it is all right for them to come next time, and to spend more time thinking over it. They are God; they are the ones who decide when they want to wake up. This part is shorter, as our main objective is to further clarify some points from the academic and religious viewpoints. We are grateful to the Supreme Master for Her answers. We will proceed to the second session, and let us again ask Professor Ruaan to give us his comments or responses to Supreme Master's earlier discussions. From this question and answer session, I seem to find a gap here, between one who is talking about Her personal experience as a spiritual practitioner and another who is trying to obtain an objective understanding and knowledge of an issue. The problem seems to be that there is a gap between the insiders and the outsiders. In this second session, I am personally more interested in this part on Looking back and looking ahead. Here, we have some literature about ideas and concepts. Being a scholar of history, I think that there have been wars among humans down the ages in recorded history. Despite the fact that war brings massive disasters and suffering to humankind, we still have not been able to eliminate it, even today. Superficially, war is a military conflict; from a more profound angle, the conflict concerns economic benefits and political power. At an even deeper level, we find that it is a conflict of civilizations. And religious factors, differences and antagonism, have, at least at times, been the cause of such conflicts among civilizations.
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We notice that Supreme Master Ching Hai has, for many years, been promoting religious reconciliation and the concept of universal harmony. Some of you here today may have been long-time observers of the Supreme Master, but some may have just read about this in the information sheet. I have noticed that She has been promoting religious reconciliation and the concept of universal harmony. She has raised the concept that there is only one religion for humankind. A few days ago, in the China Times, we read a transcript of Her interview with a South African radio station. She mentioned that humankind has only one religion and the various religions are actually worshipping the same God, except that Hes is known by different names in different cultures, and the names are different because of the different languages. I think that this is a superb and excellent concept. If all religions could accept this concept, they would respect each other, and slowly learn to love and become united with one another. That will be a blessing for humankind. Supreme Master has advocated and expressed Her support for the convening of a world religious congress that will bring together the leaders of the world's major religions, as well as other spiritual leaders, to pray for world peace and raise suggestions for the welfare of the international community. This would be very helpful to advancing religious reconciliation and world peace. I have read from recent world news reports that Pope John Paul II, during a mass at the Vatican Basilica on the Day of Pardon (March 12th) this year, openly confessed to the world the sins committed by the Roman Catholic Church over the past two millennia and asked for God's forgiveness. Such an open confession and plea for pardon by the leader of the world's largest religion on behalf of his church was unprecedented in 2,000 years. It required great sincerity, courage, and wisdom! When we heard this news, we did not feel the slightest condemnation or contempt in our hearts. Instead, we felt touched and encouraged. This good news in the first spring of the first year of the 21st century gives us a reason to embrace an optimistic view toward the future of humankind and the world. Our Supreme Master often talks about the coming of a new era and the Golden Age. Perhaps it is not just a dream, after all. I'd like to raise another point after reading the chronology of the Supreme Master's major lecture events in Southeast Asia. Even though this is only a summary, it covered several pages. After reading it, I find it difficult to believe that an apparently fragile and petite lady could, within such a short time, lead, initiate, and bring together such a massive driving force; and this covers Her activities in Southeast Asia only. It does not include similar activities conducted in other parts of the world. If this is true, then it requires immense love and perseverance to accomplish. I have mentioned in the first session that there are many scholars, experts, and religious people here who specialize in the study of Chinese and religious beliefs in Southeast Asia. We also have scholars of comparative religion who can ask better questions than I. Here, on behalf of the many people who may share similar thoughts, I'd like to ask Supreme Master two questions that are related more to the Quan Yin method. The door of enlightenment is open to all sentient beings Q. We notice that in Your address to the World Religion Congress in Cape Town, South Africa in December 1999, You did not emphasize the teachings. Instead, You stressed the method of experiencing oneness with God every day. Recorded history shows that very few enlightened Masters have been able to impart this method of immediate enlightenment. My question is, if You have this method, would You, as they did, transmit it
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only to a handful of disciples? Apparently, before the sixth patriarch, Hui Neng, the Master would transmit the method to only one disciple. Even the sixth patriarch imparted it to only about ten disciples I am not quite sure about the exact figure. Masters of the past transmitted the method to very few disciples, and their disciples had to go through tremendous hardships before they could learn this precious method. However, the Quan Yin method today, if it is such a method as You have described, is available to all Truth aspirants. As long as they are sincere, You will teach them generously free of charge. You let them get it very easily. We'd like to know why You are doing this. Why is there such a big difference? M. In ancient times, they also taught many disciples. Shakyamuni Buddha, for example, had tens of thousands of disciples. However, several principal ones, like Ananda and Rahula, were responsible for passing down the lineage. These principal disciples, just like the Quan Yin messengers, were specially trained and had memorized the verbal instructions that they could impart to people outside. However, most of the other disciples were laypersons, and they too had no problem. For instance, there was a lay practitioner named Vimalakirti; he didn't go out preaching, but everyone was afraid of him. He didn't have to go out preaching, because it was powerful enough for him to do it at home. Actually, Jesus Christ also had a lot of disciples, but twelve of them always followed Him and received training that enabled them to help Him accomplish His preaching mission later. In fact, if what you said is true, we are now in a less favorable time. We ought to share the Truth quickly; otherwise, it will be too late. I am not a stingy person; I contribute money and everything that I know. Perhaps it is my character. R. M. Perhaps we should broaden our view further. We cannot just be concerned about the situation in China ; we should hold the whole world in perspective. When there is good news, we ought to spread it; but this is a laborious task, of course. I'd rather behave as you suggested, hiding in a corner and waiting for people to seek me out. It would make me feel more valuable. When you share the Truth in society in this way, people rebuke and misunderstand you. You lose face. However, it doesn't matter; this is not our original face. We lose this face, but we will have a better face inside. I have a second question, which is also my last question. From this information sheet, I learned that apart from working as a spiritual leader guiding sentient beings to find God and become one with Hirm, You have a dream for this world; You aspire for world peace. This is a common aspiration of all human beings. However, although ordinary people love peace, wars are often initiated and provoked by the politicians in power. Therefore, logically speaking, if politicians in power can become enlightened sooner, it should be a faster and more effective way to achieve world peace. Supreme Master, do You think this is a reasonable idea? [M: Very reasonable.] Do You have a special way to achieve this goal? It is only too reasonable; the problem is that they won't cooperate. Look at me: A petite woman. Would it be easy for me to see them? You bring them here and I will enlighten them. The two of us can work in cooperation. This world has greater respect for men than for women. A person elected to power would not care to see us. We should be grateful already that he doesn't kill us! Some governments are afraid of people who are wellknown and have popular support, and whom they regard as competitors. Politicians think that we are also in the political business, trying to gain fame and profit. Therefore, spiritual
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practitioners like us, who are more open and famous, face the danger of losing our lives. If any government can tolerate and understand us, and let us teach freely, we are already extremely grateful. We never dream that they will come to us. So this dream of yours is a very beautiful one. R. M. This dream has to rely on the Supreme Master to realize it. It is not easy to deal with this world. As you know, it is difficult to establish contact with those in power. They are so well protected that it is difficult for them to contact us even if they want to. The people around a person in power shield him from contacting whom they think he should not; they give him inappropriate information and different views. He, himself, cannot break through this barrier to contact people; therefore, he, too, is confined. It is rather difficult, but we will try to think of a way, although I am not inclined to. We should just let things develop naturally. Thank You very much for Your exchange. I think we should come back to this agenda. Does anyone want to ask any impromptu questions? Actually, we have a distinguished guest here. He is very humble, and declined our invitation to sit up here. He is Mr. Ko Wen-fu, former magistrate of Pingtung County and former vice minister of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission. He is sitting in the last row behind you. He is now chairman of a telecommunication company. Shall we invite Director Ko to say a few words? A great person ought to be so humble. He is very humble; that's why he is a great person.
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[K (Director Ko)] K. Mr. Chairman, Supreme Master, and Mr. Professor, ladies and gentlemen. I am so honored to be here. The Supreme Master may have been to my hometown in Pingtung, where She has a Center in Chaochou. I was born and raised in Chaochou township. [M: I like Pingtung; it is very warm in winter.] I have been to Your Center, which is located at a site contributed by former Chaochou mayor Hung. When I was magistrate of Pingtung County, he was mayor of Chaochou, so he was like a brother to me. Regretfully, he has passed away. When I went to his grave to pay my respects, I saw the Center. It is still there and it's well maintained. In my opinion, it was a pity to see Supreme Master leave Formosa, because it is such a nice Center. When You were around, the Center was like a sacred spiritual place, a sacred place of Buddhism. This method purifies people's minds and guides them toward goodness. It is a force that our society needs most today. My question is, since You began Your mission in Formosa, is there a chance that You will come back and resume this most meaningful activity? Will You come back to Formosa again? It depends on God's arrangement. People in every country ask me to stay, and that makes it difficult for me to decide. I have to be on the move all the time so I can share my time with everyone. Perhaps I will leave the matter until I am older; when I have nowhere to go, then I will come back, begging you for a place to live. Thank you very much for your loving concern and suggestion. I miss my homeland very much, but sometimes our destiny is not the same. We have to do what we can. I do miss Formosa very much. Here, I feel I am a native, and everyone loves me very much. Therefore, if there is a chance in the future, of course, I will come back.
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Let me add a few words. I like the way You look now. You didn't give me as good an impression before as You do today. Perhaps, I will follow You, too. Welcome! Of course, I look more amicable this way. I didn't used to dress this way, nor did I wear makeup. I used to feel much more comfortable. When I dress up, I feel as though I have something on my face, but I have gotten used to it. It's good that everyone likes it; it is easier to communicate with you then. Thank you! I can feel your loving kindness. If there is a chance in the future, we will come again. I've been here for three days already; about 30,000 people saw me yesterday. The whole of Formosa saw me, thanks to the live television broadcast. In this sense, I have been back to Formosa. I have been spending a little time in each country. Anyway, thank you very much. I will find a way. I like Formosa the most; I lived here for more than ten years, and it's just like my home. I've never stayed in a place for that long, except in Au Lac. In this world, I've stayed the longest period in Formosa. Thank You very much, Supreme Master Ching Hai. Ladies and gentlemen, there is no gathering that will last forever. We are delighted to have had Supreme Master here with us today. In this seminar that has lasted almost two hours, you have witnessed a dialogue between religion and academics, belief and knowledge. Of course, there is a gap between them, but we are researchers of the Academia Sinica, so we are seeking answers in the academic and intellectual domains through this seminar. In the exchange, the Supreme Master provided us with some words of great wisdom, which will be very valuable for our future research. Through today's interchange, you will have realized that the Quan Yin method, as Professor Ruaan noted, is heading toward educating modern spiritual practitioners. Supreme Master emphasized, in one concise sentence, the return to our original God Nature, which is the goal of spiritual practice. Regarding Her organization, we have found that it is very unique and extraordinary. What power makes people in different places reach out simultaneously and spontaneously to help each other? Apart from studying the issue from the religious and academic viewpoints, there is still much for us to reflect deeply upon. Their method of spreading the message is also very special. The leaders of the Association present have already explained that they accomplish their work mainly by doing things in silence, and this really deserves our admiration! We had hoped to conduct a more in-depth study of the Chinese in Southeast Asia, but we have discovered that religion knows no boundaries. We cannot restrict Supreme Master to discussions on Southeast Asia only. Perhaps this is a special feature rather than a flaw. In the future, the Chinese world will become one connected by all the seas of the earth. The concept of the Overseas Chinese is an important one that our Chinese research group will address in the future. From this perspective and that of religious activities, we can further prove that the Chinese people transcend national boundaries. When they do, especially when they go beyond Chinese and western cultures, we find that we can rise above politics. From the deeds and words of the Supreme Master, we can see that the cultural power is guiding the economic power, and is beyond political restrictions. This is a beautiful phenomenon in a pluralistic society. Therefore, politics no longer control everything. In this pluralistic society, different community groups have opened up their own worlds. Today, we are very happy to have received the assistance of our colleagues from the Academia Sinica, who have helped make this seminar a great success. Of course, we are also grateful to our research groups and our special thanks go to our assistant secretary.
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Her efficient arrangements and the enthusiastic participation and organized cooperation of the Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association have made the seminar a great success. We would like to thank all our guests from the academic field, the press, and the social sector for their earnest participation. We would also like to thank the commentator for his very profound and wise narration, observations, and questions. Finally, our greatest thanks go to Supreme Master Ching Hai for coming to the Academia Sinica despite Her extremely busy schedule. Her profound and inspirational speech today has left much room for contemplation. Thank you all very much! M. Q. C. Q. M. Q. M. Thank you very much! Thank you, everyone! May I ask one final question? Oh! Still another question? Are the majority of Your Southeast Asian disciples of Chinese descent? Are there any local people, for example, Indonesians or Malaysians? Both Chinese and local people. But, are they mainly Chinese? No, no! We will continue to introduce our method to everyone who comes. There are a lot of local people, and many of us need to listen to the translation through earphones. Wherever we go, we often need many people to translate our discourses into different languages. My question is regarding the celestial clothes. You have mentioned that the celestial clothes designed by You are becoming more expensive. We are curious as to where all these celestial clothes have gone after the fashion shows. [M: Sold.] All sold? Or are they kept for exhibition or other purposes? We sell them! To whom? To anyone who wants to buy. This is freedom. We also have a boutique in Taipei. Anyone can go in and buy what they want. Then what about the measurements? We have to take the measurements and then you will have to wait for some time. Since we emphasize quality instead of quantity, we must take the precise measurements of each individual customer. Besides, we have at the most two or three sets of clothes for each design. We cannot produce too many. Good. [M: Thank you.] We now declare that the seminar has officially concluded. Thanks everyone who is present here today. Thank you. Thank you! Thank you all! I really appreciate the wisdom of everyone here, your brilliant questions, and especially the good-humored wisdom of our professors. Very witty. We are all very happy! Very enlightened! Bye-bye!
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WISDOM AND CONCENTRATION 9

[As 'The Land of the Rising Sun,' Japan is steeped in legends of imperial cities and royal emperors. A country of islands, Japan extends along the Pacific coast of Asia. The main island is Honshu, and the country has three other large islands Hokkaido to the north and Shikoku and Kyushu to the south. More than 4000 smaller islands surround the four largest. A modern transportation system connects the main islands, including the Seikan Tunnel linking Honshu to Hokkaido the world's longest railroad tunnel at 54 kilometers (33 miles). Japan's high-speed trains (known as shinkansen, or bullet trains) connect major urban areas. Tokyo, the capital, is the planets largest urbanized area with 35 million people. The ancient name of Tokyo is Edo. Since ancient time, Edo has been the true center of power, government, economy and social life. For most people in Japan, Edo is more than just a historical city. It represents nearly everything that the Japanese consider a part of their 'traditional' culture. For the Japanese, Edo has a romantic image that one could compare to the Italian's image of Renaissance Venice, the British image of Victorian London and the American image of the Wild West, all rolled into one. Although modern Tokyo may look very 'Western' on the surface, in its heart the spirit of Edo still lives on! Japan enjoys the splendid beauty of nature through the majestic Mount Fuji, pink cherry blossoms, delicate bonsai trees, and Japanese gardens. Deeply rooted in the Shinto religion, the Japanese have created a magnificent blend of ancient traditions with modern life as seen through their sacred shrines nestling alongside towering skyscrapers. Now greatly advanced in technology, and a highly intellectual race, the Japanese are turning towards spirituality to satisfy their souls' deepest longings. In their yearning for spiritual truth, sincere Truth seekers invited Supreme Master Ching Hai on many occasions to share Her knowledge about God and the purpose of life. During Her 'Experience the Divine Ocean of Love' lecture tour in Asia and Oceania in 2000, Supreme Master Ching Hai accepted the invitation of sincere Truth aspirants to visit this beautiful country and share Her wisdom and knowledge of the universe. We invite you to enjoy the wisdom-filled lecture entitled, 'Wisdom and Concentration,' delivered by Supreme Master Ching Hai in Tokyo, Japan on May 7th , 2000.]
MC. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for attending Master Ching Hai's lecture despite your busy schedule. The establishment of The Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association is based on Master Ching Hai's teachings, and it is a non-profit organization with three main activities. The first one is meditation. Our method of meditation is to meditate upon one's own inner Light and Sound. This practice leads to the harmony of spirit and emotion, as well as the development of one's latent potential. Next is the vegetarian diet. We promote the vegetarian diet. The practice of being vegetarian aims at not taking away lives. In other words, through the action of not killing living things, we strive to awaken the sense of respect for life and hope to maintain the ecology of Earth. We wish to nurture the feeling of love and peace, and to end the wars and fighting between fellow human beings. Further, international humanitarian activities, charitable works and relief programs are carried out. Relief activities have been organized to assist the poor, the aged, physically or mentally challenged people, refugees, and victims of earthquakes and floods.
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Currently, people from all walks of life all over the world and millions of people with different religious backgrounds find Master Ching Hai's teachings meaningful. At present, there are over 1,000 meditation centers throughout the world participating in these activities. Today, all the guests here are blessed with the rare chance of listening to the teachings of an enlightened Master present in the world, a living Master, like those who directly listened to the teachings of Jesus Christ 2000 years ago and those who listened to the teachings of Buddha 2500 years ago. Now, I will ask two of our fellow sisters to talk about their experiences. D1. Hallo, I hope everyone in this lecture hall is fine. I am truly delighted that we can listen to Master's lecture together in Japan. I was initiated in the autumn of 1995. Before my initiation, I lived a very ordinary life without any problems with regards to jobs, friends, money, et cetera. Though I behaved with vibrancy in front of people, I was not happy at heart. I complained a lot and could not get along with my family. I thought nobody understood me and I did not like myself. I felt something was lacking in me. One day, my friend introduced me to Supreme Master Ching Hai. After returning home, I quickly read over the booklet. I soon realized that a vegetarian diet was good for health. Yet, to be frank, I was doubtful about the invisible world. Something had touched my heart deeply, though I could not express it clearly in words. I intuitively felt that this was something I should do. After following a vegetarian diet for three months, I received initiation. Initiation is the moment that the inner cosmic power and spirit are directly linked to Master's compassion and power. It is the moment of true birth. After that day, there were changes in me daily. I understood all the things that had happened to me, and was aware that there was a chance for me to improve myself. Although sometimes I wanted to close my eyes to real situations, I still faced them squarely without running away; I did not have this strength before initiation. Master Ching Hai is a living example, who lives with love and does not seek any rewards. She also teaches to give help to less-blessed people, and to take others pains and suffering as our own while practicing the Quan Yin method. About a year ago, I was involved in a serious car accident. A car in the opposite lane driving at high speed took a sharp turn and ran directly into the car that I was traveling in. Both cars were damaged and completely crushed. I had just a very slight injury. Seeing the situation, I could not say anything except that it was a miracle. Ten days after, I was able to attend a three-day retreat in Los Angeles, having not suffered any serious injury. I met Master, and then realized why I was saved from the accident. My eyes were filled with tears when I saw the compassionate Master. I was again taught that all problems were within. Now I know that every day I am guided to live a life towards the bright Light. Though this is something that cannot be seen with eyes, it is my most precious treasure that cannot be replaced by anything. I wish that the treasure that all of you are looking for can be found here today. Thank you very much. D2. Thank you very much all of you for attending Supreme Master Ching Hai's lecture today. I have been practicing the Quan Yin method for over five years and would humbly like to share my experiences with you. By profession, I am a researcher in theoretical physics. After having practiced spiritually for three years, I attained remarkable results in my research. The difficult points faced at that time were easily solved. I was finally able to complete the paper that I had been working on for years. I still had many failures because of my usual carelessness, yet gradually, I was able to overcome this, which is something incredible for me. In order to celebrate the millennium, around 10,000 practitioners joined Master Ching Hai at an international retreat, from the end of last year to the beginning of this year. I started learning to play Japanese harp after the age of 40. Although my skill was far from perfect, I had a fine solo performance before a huge audience and received appreciation from foreign practitioners. Various worldly benefits like this can be attained. The Quan Yin Method The Key of Immediate Enlightenment and Eternal Liberation
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Yet, after following the way of spiritual practice, I realized the most beneficial thing I have acquired is that, as a person devoted to science, I can walk on a correct path leading to the understanding of cosmic truth through learning Master Ching Hai's teachings and practicing meditation. What is the meaning of the universe, life and human existence? I had thought that the answers to these fundamental questions about the universe could be sought with ultimate research on science, and thus dedicated myself to the world of science. Yet, I found it was not true. Recently, in the hope of understanding the limits of the universe, a very advanced telescope was installed on the island of Maui in Hawaii. Also, it was once thought that the structure of protein was made clear, the phenomenon of life could be explained, and to this end a huge research facility costing a great amount of money was built in Yokohama. The approach of modern advanced science in dealing with these questions seems to be in the wrong direction. During Master's lecture held in Italy last year, She answered a question raised by someone, that the phenomenon of life was not something that could be represented by protein; it was a matter of energy. I was very surprised and happy that the answers for these kinds of fundamental questions about the universe could be found in the ancient holy scriptures, or from a practitioner's own experience through meditation. I feel grateful to Master. Nowadays, Japan is one of the most advanced countries in the world in economics as well as scientific technology. It has been fulfilling the role of promoting a solely material civilization so far. In the 21st century, it should develop a spiritual civilization. It is time to turn from the development of a material civilization to that of a spiritual civilization, and thereby enhance the evolution of the Earth. I wish that more people could walk the path of spiritual practice through the Quan Yin method. Thank you. Thank you for your kind attention. M. How are you? Comfortable there? [Audience: Yes.] Yes, okay. Before we start our evening, please, well have a few minutes silence to pray for Japan's peace and prosperity, and pray for the world's peace and prosperity. Close your eyes and pray sincerely. We pray also that the world's people will be enlightened and enjoy happiness forever. And if you concentrate in the middle of your forehead, you will see the Light of God. Thank you. There are some things within the human bodies, within the human beings, that will make you know that you are great. There is something inside us that when we find it, we know that we are from God, that we are Buddha. Some of us have found a portion of this something; some of us have found the complete portion of it. The Buddha has found it completely; Jesus has found it completely, and so with many other Masters, like Muhammad, Krishna, et cetera. And when they have found this completely, they have become Buddha, they have become completely enlightened, they have become one with God, and they know where they came from and they know where they are going after leaving this physical body. And then they told us that we have the Buddha Nature within ourselves. They told us that we have God which dwells within this physical temple. If we find even a portion of this magnificent quality, magnificent origin, within us, we will become wiser, more intelligent, happier, more peaceful and more loving. Some people of this world, they have found a part of this greatness and, therefore, they have become greater than other ordinary beings who have not found it. But every one of us has this greatness within ourselves, and anytime we choose to know this greatness or to want to make use of this greatness, we always can do. In order to find this greatness, this Original Self-Nature of all beings, we just need concentration in the right place, in the right way. Everything, even in this physical world, if The Quan Yin Method The Key of Immediate Enlightenment and Eternal Liberation
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we want to be successful in anything, we need concentration, and I think the Japanese people know that best. Most of the companies in Japan, they send their employees to the Buddhist temples to learn the Zen method of concentration so that the company will have more efficient workers. Japan is one of the very, very few nations I wouldn't say the first and only nation who is aware of the power of the inner concentration. Maybe that's why Japan is very successful in many aspects. But in order to be happy, to be more peaceful and have forever lasting happiness, we need to use also our concentration for going to a higher dimension, to learn a more noble purpose of life, more noble wisdom of the universe. Then we can become a complete being, not only just successful executives in this world, but also we will become a saint, a Buddha, in order to bless the world and the universe. Just for a little concentration, people can be very successful in this life already. So, if we give more concentration, deeper concentration, and in the right way, we will be successful even in heaven. We can leave this physical life anytime we want, visit heaven, visit the kingdom of Buddha, and go back again and discharge our duty on this planet, and vice versa. We always envy people who are more intelligent, more successful. Perhaps these people, they know how to make use of their inner wisdom more than some of us, so they became very intelligent, very sharp, and they know how to solve problems quicker than many of us who do not make use of the inner wisdom. That's why the Buddha encouraged every one of us to find our own Buddha Nature, our own wisdom inside. That's why the bible told us that 'Seek you first the kingdom of God and all things shall be added unto you.' We can, anytime, find this kingdom of God or this Buddha Nature which makes all the Masters great and which makes every one of us great, because we are originally great. I'm here to show you how great you are, how great you can become, or actually, how great you can remember you originally are. Even though Japan is already very successful scientifically, technically but we could also become greater by being wiser, even more loving, more compassionate, more capable, of Earth and Heaven. If we have a treasure and we don't use it, it is a pity. If we have a lot of money in the bank and we just forget all about it, it is very wasteful. I'm just showing you what you have within yourselves. I'm not giving you anything, therefore, I don't charge you anything. And because you already have it within yourselves, it is very easy for you to recognize it once somebody reminds you where to find your own treasure. Just now I have shown you a little bit of how to find the kingdom inside. It's as simple as that. Just, you close your eyes, you concentrate in the middle of your forehead, and from there you look right into the center of whatever comes in front of you within, not outside. You can enjoy the kingdom of God right here and right now, even. The Light you see inside, the heaven you see inside, the voice of God you hear inside, that's your Self-Nature, that's the Buddha Nature, and you can enjoy this every day if you wish to, if you want to make a better use of the time on this planet. Of course, if you feel sometimes uncertain or fearful within because you are not used to the inside world, you could call on me for help. Call in your heart, that's enough. Call quietly in your heart, that's enough. Then you will feel better and better every day, more relaxed, more happy. You can call on Buddha and Jesus to assist you; but in case they are too far, I am a little nearer. But this is just a sample. If you wish to know deeper and more detailed, you should let us know by registering your name outside and we will teach you in more detail. And you can do it yourself every day; you will not need us. Q. If there is a meditation method by which you can remove pain, please let us know what kind of meditation that is. That is to say, could You please let us know about any meditation that will make us more healthy?
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This method is good for everything, because if you know yourself, if you know your own power, it will heal everything. But, of course, that depends on the power of your concentration, the sincerity of your practice. It's not just good for going to heaven, it's good for everything, and the vegetarian diet will also help you to be healthier. If You say that we are the children of God, that people are the children of God, then what is the mission with which we are born into this world and this life, and when this life ends, where do we go back to? We came here so that we can know God. Just like we need the mirror in order to see ourselves, we need this fake, illusionary world to reflect ourselves, to know the True Self. We came from heaven, we came from God, and to that we will return. Master Ching Hai, is Your third eye open so that You can see both the future and past? Yes. Many of our initiates also have their eye open. If you want to, you can join us and your eyes will open immediately. To see the future and the past is just a very, very tiny part of the ability that you have within yourself. By the way, there is no future, there is no past. There is only the present time. Everything happens at one time, and because of our ability to see different happenings, we will perceive whatever we see as the present, or as the past, or as the future. So there is a choice. If we are enlightened, we can pick the pleasant one or the unpleasant one. We can pick out of the whole picture what we want to see. There is no past, no future. When we are in this physical world, we have a thing called 'time,' which is a mechanism. It's set up so that we can see only one thing, one dimension. This is why this world has deluded us. The illusion is so great, it makes us forget the real thing; and that is the purpose, so that we can try with effort to find the real world again. I understand that originally human beings had the third eye but that the third eye has regressed. But is it possible, by our own power, to open this third eye? Yes, yes! Yes, we can, we must know how only. And along with the third eye opening, there are pros and cons; there are side effects. So, if we want to open the third eye, we need also a little information to avoid some of the unpleasant side effects, and we have to know where to look and how to protect ourselves, how to pick what to see, and what's the real thing, and therefore we are here to help you do that. The third eye, you can open yourself; we just show you. Now, in order to receive initiation, does one have to follow a vegetarian diet? And after one becomes initiated, what happens if one stops the vegetarian diet? And, is initiation a necessity to attain enlightenment? When you stop the vegetarian diet, what happens is that you eat meat again. That's what happens. It is not necessary to have initiation if you know how to do it yourself and to protect yourself and to go to all the different dimensions yourself. But if you do not know how, then it is necessary. Initiation, it just means we assist you, we stand by and we show you everything you need to know about Heaven and Earth so that you can do it alone. What would be the difference between what You teach and what other religions teach? Could You tell us specifically?
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If anyone who can teach you to see heaven and to see the Buddha Nature within you, then it is the same. If they cannot show you God, if they cannot show you Buddha, then it is not the same. I guess the same is that we both talk about God. The difference is that we can show you God. Just like two companies in Japan all advertise about Toyota cars, we can give you the car, not just advertising. So, you prefer to have the car or you prefer to just talk about the car? That's the difference. After you try the convenient method, and after you become an initiate, are we still allowed to practice other methods, such as the method that is approved by Sai Baba or transcendental meditation and others like vibration methods? As I have mentioned already, if any person that you know can show you God inside, and once you see God, you are very happy already, so you don't need to see anyone else or practice any other way. So in case you are not happy with any of the methods or any of the groups that means you have not seen God then you should practice this method, and one only, to have to concentrate on one thing. Is there a possibility for the third eye to open, even if we practice only ten days out of one month, the convenient method? Yes. It's possible, just maybe not complete like initiation. Ten days is just like a suggestion; it should be the more the better for you, for your spirit and for your health also. It's just like part-time job and full-time job. When you work full-time job, you have full-time money. When you work part-time, you get a half of the salary. Now in the pamphlet, it is explained that one can get salvation through the inner Sound. What does this mean? It means you'll find your own kingdom of God. And, of course, once you've found your Self-Nature as one with God, you are liberated. Because when you know your True Self, that means you are liberated from this false self. Because up to now, we only think that we are the body, we are of this physical planet. Once we know that we are not, then of course we know the Truth, then we feel free. We are free, just like out of prison. I feel very strong energy. I am wondering if an ordinary person can wear this kind of energy or can possess this kind of energy. You feel strong energy? You feel energy from me or from here? From me, or from here to you? Okay, okay! Yes, he feels energy. Everyone is not ordinary. Everyone can develop this kind of power that makes you feel elated, and then everyone around you will feel elated just the same. Not only me, you can have the same energy that radiates all over your surroundings and on the whole planet, that everyone who's near you, who's sensitive and a little spiritually elevated, they can feel it. That energy that you feel is the Buddha Nature. That's the God within us. Once we unleash this power, once we reawaken this power, we are powerful like that. At that time, we can bless a lot of people, we can bless the whole world by our own energy. If you are sick, can you get better by meditating? And if you are in trouble or if you are worried about something, and if I call unto You and if I call Your name, would all the troubles go away?
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It depends. Sometimes the troubles also go away. But the trouble will go away more if you concentrate on your own power within yourselves, and that power, that energy, will clear all the ways and heal all your sorrows and solve all your problems. Now, Jesus, as the child of God, was He able, as the son of God to fulfill His mission here on this Earth? And Jesus said that He will, after resurrection, return to this Earth, but is He with us now? Yes, He is. Just you don't see Him. If you meditate with our method, you can see Jesus and talk to Him. You can see whomever you like who has already left this physical planet and learn with them in a higher wisdom, from the higher dimension. I'm just showing you how to get in touch with the higher dimension. Because Jesus' vibration is different from our vibration, so if we want to see Him, we have to adjust our vibration, and this method will help you. Could You please let us know the future of Japan and the mission that Japan must fulfill? I think you Japanese people know better than I do. The mission of every nation, not just the Japanese, is to know your True Self, which is God's nature. Everything else we do just by the way. By the way, earn money to feed this 'car'; by the way, earn money to protect this 'car'. But then sometimes the 'car' runs well, sometimes the 'car' doesnt run well. So, you see, everything is just temporary. Only God, Buddha, is permanent. We must take care of the driver also, not just the car, because the driver is important. God is the driver. We neglect that; we just take care of this body, which is only the car. That's why our life is not so happy as we want it to be because we just take care of the physical aspect and forget the real, spiritual aspect. Can we experience initiation and the bliss of heaven today? Can! Just go out right now and let us know your name and well call you later. Shakyamuni, what has He learned? What did He become enlightened about? That, you have to become like Him in order to understand, and I can help you. Is heaven open to just about everybody? And is it like a commonly held property, or is it an individual thing, like each person has a different heaven? Heaven is a common property. It's just that some would like to go there, some would like not to go there, and some people like to go just halfway, some people go like just twothirds or one quarter; therefore, they see a different degree of heaven. The more you concentrate and follow our instruction, the more you can see heaven. Just like Tokyo is big, but I only know this part if I don't go anywhere else. Tell me or teach me about the third eye. It is not really an eye; it is the center of all wisdom and all knowing, all love and all compassion. Once you access to this center, you will know everything, you will have everything within yourselves that you feel very contented, and you'll never feel that you are unhappy or lack anything in this world. Just like if I know where's the supermarket in Tokyo, and I need juice, I need rice, I need food, I just go there and I have everything I need.
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Are supernatural phenomena possible, like levitation and instantaneous movement from one place to another? If these are possible, would You tell us the method? There are other people who will teach you that. I am only interested to teach you to levitate to heaven and to move you don't even have to move from one place to another, you can just sit in one place and you will be everywhere at the same time. One person I know is sick. If I practice meditation and if I train myself well enough, through my effort, can I make the person healthy? You can, but it depends on that person's karma and the will to live. But I would not suggest that we come to learn this method just to heal one person. Our purpose must be greater and more noble, to heal our soul for the everlasting life, to heal the whole world from inside, because this body is transient; even if you heal him today, tomorrow he'll get sick again. So we will not concentrate on the body so much, apart from giving him enough food, clothes and medicine to stay alive. We should concentrate more on our Real Self, which is the one behind this body. If after initiation, one tries very hard but then cannot continue with the efforts and becomes frustrated in the middle of After being initiated, is it possible to become initiated once again and repeat this process many times? You don't have to be initiated twice. You just have to continue. But of course, anytime if there is a new initiation, if youd like to sit and refresh your memory about the instruction, you can, anytime. Now, inside of me, there is the True Self that really wants to continue with spiritual practice and meditation. But on the other hand, there is another self which wants to pursue the illusionary world, that wants to build up the experiences of, for example, the job in this world and to be able to continue in this worldly state. Is it possible without leaving this worldly stage to reconcile the economic aspects as well as the spiritual aspects? Yes, yes. It's possible. I'm doing that. You don't have to leave your home, don't have to leave your property, just go inside whenever you have time and enjoy heaven and go back out, work again. Because we are living in this world and we have duties to ourselves, to our families and our society, so it is all right to continue to work and live in the same way that you do. Just spare some time to forget the whole world and then just enjoy your heaven inside. Just very little time every day, and that even recharges you so that when you go back to work in the world, you work better, you feel healthier and you feel happier. What do You think about reincarnation? I think we should not have reincarnation. We should just finish with this life and go back to where we came from. I am a Christian, but I would like to know higher wisdom. May I be initiated? Sure, sure. You don't have to change your religion. Just go inside and see God. Is the Quan Yin method the only one and the highest method?
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There is only one way to go back to God and I show you this way. You don't have to call it 'Quan Yin,' you can call it any other name. Just 'Quan Yin' means we contemplate the Word of God within ourselves. And there's only one God, so we contemplate only one God; there's only one way. People call it Buddha Nature, it's the same thing. Are there any dangers to the Quan Yin method? No, no. I'm still alive after 20 years! Is it an illusion to think that peace is brought about by a peace movement? Well, it's not completely. It helps. It helps when people voice their opinion. It depends on what movement; if it is a peaceful movement, it helps. How can we love people? By developing our True Love which is before we are born and after we die. This True Love will love people, not the brain that thinks who loves people. You force the brain to think that we want to love this person, that person; it's impossible. But if we remember that there is unlimited love within ourselves, and that love will make us love people, well be naturally love. That means get enlightenment, awaken the love of God within you, the compassionate Buddha Nature within you. In Judaism, you have the belief of the Messiah coming to this world, and in the Hindu religion you have Lord Krishna, in Islam you have Imam Nabi, and in Christianity, you have the second coming of Christ, and in Buddhism you have Maitreya. It is often said that these people are of the same nature but with different names. Supreme Master Ching Hai, how do You position such Maitreyas who will be coming from the future, or do You consider yourself one of these Maitreyas? I don't consider myself the Buddha. I know I am the Buddha and I know you are also the Buddha. The question is not whether I am a Buddha or not. You want to know that you are the Buddha or not, and that I can help you. It is very amazing that you sit there asking all these questions when you have all the greatest wisdom inside you. Just turn around, put your attention back inward, then you know that you are the Buddha. Put your attention back outward, then you are a human being. If the Buddha said that the Buddha Nature is inside you, if Jesus Christ said God is inside you, then all you have to do is just look inside. It's that simple. There's no need to ask when the Buddha comes, when Jesus comes. When they come, we don't know even if they come. If we are not awakened, if we don't have the wisdom eye, we cannot recognize who is enlightened, who is the Buddha, and who is not. So, be enlightened first, and then if the Buddha comes you will know; and if the Buddha does not come, you already know that you are the Buddha. Ask yourself, suppose Jesus came again, how do you know He is Jesus? How can you tell? And suppose the Buddha came, and He says He is the Buddha, how can you know? If the people can believe the one who says he's a Buddha, or the one who says he's Christ, then they would not have crucified Jesus, they would not have tried to assassinate the Buddha. They were the same like us; they were also ignorant. Therefore, to recognize the Buddha, you must be a Buddha, you must be enlightened. The Quan Yin way will show you how to recognize the Buddha should He come; or maybe He already came. Thank you for your loving attention.
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MC. Thank You very much, Master, for being with us over a long period of time, with Your wonderful speech, and answering all the questions. M. Help yourselves to all the fruits and whatever you like. God bless Japan!
LIFE CONTINUES FOREVER 10

[Korea has existed for thousands of years. The name Korea comes from the country's Koryo dynasty. Koryo means 'high and beautiful,' an appropriate description of the mountains and clear springs that characterize Korea's landscape. The backbone of the peninsula is the Taebaek mountain range, whose great mountain, Mount Baekdu, is sacred to the spiritually inclined Korean people. The mysterious beauty and pristine environment of these mountains attract countless pilgrims and tourists alike. South Korea is known as the Land of the Morning Calm. With its proud cultural traditions, the country is a fascinating blend of old and new. Ancient royal palaces and holy temples still exist alongside tall skyscrapers and ultra-modern facilities. The people of Korea, sincere and earnest in their spiritual development, opened their arms to an enlightened Master, first in 1992 and have been blessed numerous times thereafter. During Her 'Experience the Divine Ocean of Love' lecture tour in Asia and Oceania in 2000, Supreme Master Ching Hai accepted the invitation of sincere Truth aspirants to visit this beautiful country and share Her wisdom and knowledge of the universe. We invite you to enjoy the wisdom-filled lecture entitled, 'Life Continues Forever,' delivered by Supreme Master Ching Hai in Seoul, South Korea on May 8th , 2000.]
MC. Now the Supreme Master Ching Hai has entered the convention hall. Please, let's give Her a warm welcoming applause. Now we will have a welcoming performance for the Supreme Master Ching Hai. The performance will be Korean traditional dancing prepared by the Loving Dancing Team. The title of this performance is 'Peace and Prosperity.' This performance is to welcome the Supreme Master Ching Hai with a sincere heart to celebrate Her lecture today, and also to welcome all of you, the audience. M. Thank you. Before we start our evening, I would like to invite you to join a little simple prayer. We pray for Korea, North and South, and we pray for the world peace... just a few seconds. Just close your eyes and sincerely state your wish. Thank you. Every one of us wishes to have peace inside our heart and peace for the world, but not every one of us can attain this peaceful state of mind. Therefore, we have so many problems, so much suffering, and so much misunderstanding in this world. The only solution to this never-ending problem is that we recognize that we are all one. In order to recognize that we are all one, we must recognize who we truly are. Everyone's heard that we are the Buddha, we have the Buddha within us, we have God within us, but not everyone truly can see that. For not seeing our True Selves as God or as God's children or as Buddha, we will separate ourselves from the very source of all creation, and we separate ourselves from each other. That's why we could not understand each other, we will pursue our own interests at all times, and many times at the cost of our brothers and sisters. Also, we learn from self-interest, we learn even to distrust each other, distrust our brothers and sisters, and sometimes even distrust God, distrust Buddha, whether God exists or Buddha Nature is really within ourselves or not.
10. Public lecture, Seoul, South Korea, May 8th, 2000 (Originally in English).
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To know ourselves is so simple and so easy that everyone should know it even at the moment that we start to understand our own language. But because we have been taught that we are sinners, that we are mere mortals, that we have no way to know God, that we are absolutely just a very lowly human being and the Buddha is only one, and no one else or very rarely anyone else could ever attain Buddhahood, so we never venture to try. But some of us have tried, many of us have tried, and we are successful to some degree to know our own Nature. We know that every day. We continue to know our own Selves, our God Self, our Buddha Self, and then, until we completely know, until we're completely convinced. These people, we call them enlightened Masters, we call them Buddhas, we call them Christ, et cetera. These people may be among us in daily activities, in daily interaction, but we might not even recognize them. The reason we do not recognize these people is because we do not yet recognize ourselves. Also, the reason we do not recognize them is because they look very ordinary; they look just like us. But that's the way they should look, because they're one of us, they're just exactly like us inside, outside. They are one with God and we are also one with God, it's just that we have forgotten. Once we remember where to look for our True Selves and how to look for our True Selves again, we will become the Buddha, we will at least recognize part of the Buddhahood that we possess within ourselves, part of the kingdom of God that we know exists within ourselves, or at least we have been told exists. The ones who truly, sincerely seek to know the Buddha Nature, to know the secret of the creation, will find the answer immediately. Immediately, because we have it all the time within us. We just look in the wrong direction, therefore, we don't find it. The moment we look into the right direction, here it is. If the Buddha has found it, we can find it. If Jesus Christ has found it, we can find it. When we look back at the Buddha's picture or Jesus' picture or whomever Master of the past's picture, we see they look exactly like us. And that's the way they should do. It is rightly so. Because they have told us that we are equal to them, that we can find what they have found, that we can perform anything, any miracles, that they have performed. And it is rightly so. It's just we have forgotten our greatest power within ourselves. We have forgotten that we are God, that we are Buddha, because were too concentrated on this material existence, too much concentrated on this physical body and forget who lives within it. So, in order to find our True Selves, the Buddha Nature or kingdom of God within, we must spare a little time every day to quiet our mind, to search for our True Nature. And at that time, we will shut down, shut out the world temporarily the physical existence, we should shut down temporarily so that we can find the true existence. I'm going to show you what to do to find your own Nature in a moment, later. We can enjoy everything there is in this world because we are already on this planet and these things are made for us to enjoy. But then, we should know at least where do these enjoyments come from? Who made these things, and why they are here? And for what purpose are we here? Who made all these things for us? And who made us as well? Because if we do not know these answers, our lives will continue in a very... sometimes uninteresting way and sometimes boring, and sometimes even a very suffering way. In order to know ourselves, we do not need to forsake anything that is enjoyable, pleasurable, to us. We do not need to forsake our family. We do not need to forsake our job or even our religions. Because all religions are theories that point to the same thing, just like many companies advertise for the same product. To know the Buddha Nature is as easy as to know our neighbors, as easy as to see our face in the mirror. And that's why I could show you, because you already have this Buddha Nature, already have this godly The Quan Yin Method The Key of Immediate Enlightenment and Eternal Liberation
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quality within yourselves. To say 'within,' but actually also 'without.' Everywhere, we are just within this Buddha Nature, within the kingdom of God at all times, but we do not realize it. If you remember very well, the Buddha wasn't born enlightened, Jesus had to study long years to remember Himself again. So, we all have to forget heaven and then we can find it again whenever we want it. So, if we have forgotten our own kingdom of God, the Buddha Nature inside, that's nothing surprising. Even the Buddha was supposed to be a Buddha when He was born, supposed to be the Buddha already before He came here, but He has forgotten. He has to practice so many wrong methods until He had the right method. It took Him six years. And Jesus also had to wait until the ripe age, until 30something. And then He had to even sit in a desert for 40 days finally until He became completely enlightened. So, it is not that we are not the Buddhas, it's just we forget. I am going to show you how to remember your Self again, even if partially. And if you continue daily, you will remember your whole being. And then after that, every day you will be like a walking Buddha on this planet. You will remember everything. You will do things in wisdom. You will act in more loving kindness. You will act like a Buddha, or at least half a Buddha, until you completely remember who you truly are that is, 100% Buddha. The reason we forget is because we are too attracted to all these beautiful things around us in this world. Even though they are illusionary, they are so beautiful, so enchanting. Can you imagine how more beautiful, how more enchanting the real world could be? These are just a copy. This world is just a copy, just a reflection of the real world. It's just like the mirror, the image of yourself in the mirror it's just a reflection of your true self, and even so, it looks so beautiful. We all know that the universe has two sides positive and negative. We all know that there are two worlds within the universe. One is the real world and the other one is the illusionary world. We all heard about this. We all heard from Buddha that the Buddha's land is right here, you can find it within yourself. We all heard in the bible it says that 'The kingdom of God is at hand.' 'Lo and behold! The kingdom of God is at hand.' 'The kingdom of God is within you.' But we just hear it. We do not even have time to think, 'How do we find it?' If it exists, we must be able to find it. Yes, we can! There are only two worlds: One outside and one inside, one real and one reflection of the real. We already know the reflection of the real, which is this physical world in which we are living. So, there's only one more world to find out; that is the real one, or the one inside, the opposite of this world. They exist simultaneously together. If we look in this side, we will see the reflection. Look in that side, we will see the real world. That's very simple. You just have to know where to look. Just like I have a mirror here. When I look in this mirror, I see the reflection of myself. Suppose I am beautiful, and when I look in the mirror, I think I am beautiful. But even then, this beautiful image is just a reflection of myself. If I continue looking in the mirror all the time and feeling, 'My God! Who is that in the mirror? So beautiful, beautiful!' I will never remember this real one. That's what it is. I can also enjoy the image in the mirror, but I should also know I am myself, outside, real, even more beautiful, more real, and everything is more useful than in the mirror. Similarly, there are two worlds: The one outside that we see in here, and the one inside. Once we close our eyes and know where to look for it we'll see the other world, which is the same, simultaneously, and which is the real one, which is more beautiful, more splendid, more happy, more everlasting. And it will make us so satisfied, so contented that it doesn't matter what the influence of the outside world afterwards, we will not feel the effect. We will feel always happy because we know the real thing. Suppose this mirror is okay now. Yes, it's fine now, but sometimes something happens. It's broken. And when I look in this broken mirror, I see my face all broken. Am I supposed to cry? I think, 'My The Quan Yin Method The Key of Immediate Enlightenment and Eternal Liberation
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God! Do I look so ugly?' Because I concentrate on the mirror. But once I forget the mirror and I look at myself, 'Oh, I'm still okay! My face is not broken, I'm not wounded anywhere, I look beautiful.' That is the way we should do with this world, with ourselves: Look back into the reality, find everything in perfection as always since time immemorial, and will continue, continue forever in perfection. Then it doesn't matter how broken this world outside is, it's just like the mirror; we will not worry. That's how the enlightened saints are ever-happy. And they are contented within any situation, within any circumstances. Whether they have a lot of possessions or not have any possession, they're always happy because they know their True Selves. They know the True Worlds, which are all glorious, all splendor, all blessing, all happiness. The brightness of the inside world is 10,000 times compared to our sun, in some of the worlds. And the diamonds and the stones and the precious gems in the inside world, when compared to this diamond here, these look like dirt, look like sand. It's useless, it has no power, has no vibration, no loving response. The things in the real worlds, they have soul, they can correspond with you. Even the table could talk to you, the trees will sing for you, the birds understand your language, and you understand them. And all the things, the gems and everything, the cloud even, understand you. The cloud transports you everywhere without you even saying anything. Here in Korea, I took a taxi. He didnt understand what I'm talking about. He took me around, around. Takes such a long time. So that is why when we have found our True World within ourselves, which we call the kingdom of God or the Buddha's land, the Buddha Nature, whatever, we are contented, we are consoled. We feel no more loneliness; we feel no more insecurity; we feel no more fear of death or any disaster of any kind because we know we will never die. We know there is a world which is a billion times more magnificent than this world of ours, so we're not afraid to lose anything. We cannot be afraid even to lose the whole world or any possession or anything that is so-called very dear to us before enlightenment. But we don't have to. We dont have to forsake anything in this world. We don't have to throw away everything in this world. We don't have to become a careless person or a very sloppy person in order to show our enlightenment, nor that an enlightened person would like to make himself anything different from the world people just to show that he doesn't care. He continues living his very ordinary way of life. He continues to integrate with all his brothers and sisters. He does even more so, because now he knows that he is one with every being. The word 'enlightenment' or 'Buddhahood' or 'the kingdom of God' is very familiar to us. Even though they are familiar, we never dream many of us never dream that we could really actually realize the kingdom of God within, or the Buddha Nature. If we know, if we heard somebody says that we have a bank account in a Korean bank, such and such number, would we go and look for our money? Or we just think, 'Oh! It's just the bank. It's just somebody that told me. I don't even know.' Even if we don't know, we should try to find out. If somebody says that our ancestor has left a possession for us, we have inherited some great property, would we try to find out or not? Of course we would. So, similarly, if we heard that we have God within us, if we have Buddha Nature within us, shouldn't we try to find out? Yes or no? Yes! Thank you. So, I am going to show you your own treasure. I'm going to show you your greatness. And then you will know everything stated in the bible is the truth. And then you know everything in the Buddhist scripture, what the Buddha said that we have Buddha Nature, that we could become Buddha is the truth. To know this, you are not obliged to do anything except to take some time for yourself to realize that every day. Just like take a little bit of money from the bank every The Quan Yin Method The Key of Immediate Enlightenment and Eternal Liberation
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day to spend it, it will help your life to be more comfortable. Knowing the wisdom within ourselves, we can make use of it even in this physical illusionary world to solve problems, to help with the neighbors, to bless the nations, to bless the whole world so that our world will become better, better and better always. I have gone to many different countries, and some countries are very, very developed in technology and science but not too much developed in wisdom and inherited wisdom within us, in the spiritual understanding. And those countries seem very, very dry, so dry that even if you bring the Buddha and place Him in front of their face, they would not want to know. Our world has developed very speedily in the last century in technology and science and many aspects. It behooves us to also have to develop spiritual wisdom alongside of scientific discovery; otherwise, we will be in danger of imbalance. Our way of life will be too one-sided. We will be too attracted, too relying on technologies and machinery instead of relying on our True Self and the True World, which is more everlasting. And we are in danger of destroying ourselves if we do not have enough spiritual wisdom to handle our technological advancement. I'm so happy the Korean people show a very great interest in spiritual issues and have come in such a great number to this lecture today. Thank you. They told me it's around like seven, eight, or nine thousand people, and that's a lot, because you don't even know me. But I think your soul knows, because your purity tells you. Therefore, you came because you are very near to God, very near to Buddha Nature. You sensed that you are something more than just this human physical body, so you came. I'm very happy. I came from a very long way, from the United States, and I think it is very worthwhile because Korean people are so great. I'm very honored. I was feeling a little tired, but when I see you so... your purity, your love, your sincerity, wash all the tiredness from my being, and I feel renewed again. Thank you for your trust, your love. Now, if you would like to know very deeply about your Self-Nature and how to find it, to recognize, to remember every day, we have two ways to serve you. For the ones who sincerely and eagerly want to know everything about themselves, they should have the initiation. And for the ones who just want to try, they should have convenient method. And for the ones who don't want to try both, I'll show you quickly before I leave how to meditate at home. Q. M. Q. M. How can we keep our sincerity and longing of seeking the Truth? After we know the Truth, we will continue to be sincere. We taste something good, we like to continue to taste it. Do we have to stop eating meats and the non-veggie items which we have to lead our meditation? Yes, we must return to our compassionate Buddha Nature Self. The initiation means we'll show you just how to meditate and how to know where to look for your own Nature. And later, you can do it at home all by yourselves, all the time. We explain to you one or two hours, and then later you can do it all the time. It's very easy! As easy as this... as clapping your hands. It's easy, easy. And costs nothing now, costs nothing between, costs nothing after. No cost ever. No obligation, no membership, nothing. Because it is your own Nature. I don't give you anything.
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I would like to know the secret of the birth of the universe and creation, and I would like to know about the posthumous life... is it there? It takes so long! You know how long it takes to create this universe? That's how long it takes for me to explain. Can we achieve enlightenment of being one with the universe through meditation? I wonder if it's difficult to practice meditation. Can everyone be enlightened easily? Yes, yes. Everyone can. Our children from six years old can, so you can. Can I get enlightened in this life? Sure, that's what I'm here for. I told you, you can get enlightenment immediately because you are already enlightened within yourselves. You are the Light. You are the Buddha. There's no one else in this body except the Buddhas. The Buddhas look like you, Jesus looks like you, all the saints in the past look like you, so you can be the Buddha. You can recognize, remember the Buddha within you again. Could You prove the existence of posthumous life? I could, but you have to do what I tell you. You have to see it for yourselves, and you have to see inside. And I will show you how and then you can see it for yourself. Because what I see, you cannot see. So, if you want to see, you have to follow the instruction, then you can know it yourself. I cannot concentrate well. How can I concentrate well? You have to try harder. It depends on what kind of method you are practicing. Some methods help you to concentrate quicker and some do not. Ours is easier than many others. Does marriage help to be enlightened? Yes, yes. No problem. The Buddha had many disciples who were householders, and one of them was very, very brilliant. Even the monks were afraid of him Vimalakirti. How does our True Self exist? It always does! It just exists. It's like the air, it just exists. It's there all the time. We are made from it. I understand the Buddhist world and Jesus' world are different, but how could You say that they are one? Could You please explain? Because I see that they are one. Christ means Buddha in Hebrew, and Buddha means Christ in Hindi language. Just a different name, different language, and we don't translate. That's why we misunderstand a lot. Both titles mean enlightened Master. Also, when you go inside, you can see both Buddha and Jesus, they drink tea together. They don't argue like us outside, who is better, who is not. You get initiation and you meditate, then you can see. Thank you. Wow, that's a surprise. Yes, actually some of our initiated brothers and sisters, some Buddhist believers, when they meditate, they see Jesus talks to them. And
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some of the Christians, when they meditate, they see Buddha talks to them. They make fun! Sometimes we see both; but they are not the only ones. We have many past, present and future Masters. We could contact them if we meditate and go inside to the real world. Q. M. Q. M. How to get rid of our own bad karma? Be enlightened. When you turn on the light, even if the room has been dark for a thousand years, it will be brightened immediately. Bad karma will have left you. When we meditate, sometimes we concentrate on our chakra, lower part, and sometimes now, we heard we have to concentrate on the forehead. Yes. Every chakra. The chakras means energy centers in the Hindu language. 'Chakra' means center. So every center of energy of the body has different powers. We have many. Like the center in the sole of the feet, the center of the knees, the center on the male and female sexual organs, the center in the stomach we call solar plexus, the center in the heart, the center on the throat, the center on the forehead, et cetera. So, the higher we concentrate, the quicker we go into a higher dimension. If we concentrate one by one, we also go up eventually. But it takes years, years longer, and we might die before. I heard the bible says that there is eternal life. I would like to hear about it. Yes, yes, there is eternal life because life always continues. Even after we leave this physical body, our life continues. Life has nothing to do with this physical body. This is just one temporary instrument, and our life continues forever. We use one instrument, and this instrument, and that instrument, just like we use a different car every day. We can know eternal life right now in this life if we set aside a little bit of time every day to walk out of this physical 'car' for a moment and step into eternal life. And we could always come back to this temporary life again, and step out of the body to eternal life again, every day. Like this, we know that life always exists and even death will not terminate anything it's just changing the clothes. That's why the bible also mentions that the saints mention that 'I die daily.' Also saying that, 'Learn to die so that you will begin to live.' If you practice just a little instruction I have shown you before, you concentrate well, you will experience that you leave the body and you can visit heaven if you concentrate well. If you want to know deeper, you have to have initiation. It takes some time for us to explain things to you. And then you can step out of the body every day and come back. That means dying daily. Die and come back, die and come back. Very easy! You will never be afraid of death again. What kind of life will it be after the enlightenment? Just like this life, like the life you are having now, except better in many ways. More intelligent, more happiness, more relaxed, more loving kindness, more understanding of everything you want to understand. I have been doing the meditation, but I am not able to continue for a long time. I would like to know whether I am impatient? Could You give the best way how can I continue to concentrate on my meditation? Just continue. How to pray?
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Just pray. Whatever you want to tell God, you just tell in your heart. Or, you speak loud or you speak in silence, God understands. But only when you are enlightened, you'll be able to hear God's answers. Praying is easy, hearing the answer is difficult. Unless you are enlightened, you will not hear the answer from God. Could You please tell us what is the state of enlightenment? And the second is, if one is enlightened, how we can sustain, how we can continue to be enlightened? I have already explained what life is after enlightenment. You know more, you're wiser, you're happy. You know that you are the Buddha. And if you want to continue like that, then continue looking, continue to remember that you are the Buddha by reinforcing this realization every day with deep contemplation. Meditate until you completely understand yourself and remember yourself. Because every day we work in this life and everything tries to make us forget. So, we have to set aside a little time every day to remember. Otherwise, we will be overwhelmed by the world, and we forget again. But the state of enlightenment cannot truly be explained in human language. It has to be experienced by individuals. That's why I come here to show you. Otherwise, I just tell you you are the Buddha, that should be enough! I don't have to come here. Thank you very much, and Buddha bless you. God bless you. God bless Korea! Very good people, Korean. I love you. Thank you.
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Initiation into the Quan Yin method of meditation

Supreme Master Ching Hai initiates sincere people longing to know the Truth into the Quan Yin method of meditation. The Chinese characters Quan Yin mean contemplation of the Sound vibration. The method includes meditation on both the inner Light and the inner Sound. These inner experiences have been repeatedly described in the spiritual literature of all the worlds religions since ancient times. For example, the Christian bible says, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. This Word is the inner Sound. It has also been called the Logos, Shabd, Tao, Sound stream, Naam, or the celestial music. Master Ching Hai says, It vibrates within all life and sustains the whole universe. This inner melody can heal all wounds, fulfill all desires, and quench all worldly thirst. It is all powerful and all love. It is because we are made of this Sound, that contact with it brings peace and contentment to our hearts. After listening to this Sound, our whole being changes, and our entire outlook on life is greatly altered for the better. The inner Light, the Light of God, is the same Light referred to in the word enlightenment. Its intensity can range from a subtle glow to the brilliance of many millions of suns. It is through the inner Light and Sound that we come to know God. The initiation into the Quan Yin method is not an esoteric ritual or a ceremony for entering a new religion. During the initiation, specific instruction in meditation on the inner Light and inner Sound is given, and Master Ching Hai provides the spiritual transmission. This first taste of divine presence is given in silence. Master Ching Hai need not be physically present in order to open this door for us. The transmission is an essential part of the method. The techniques themselves will bring little benefit without the grace of the Master. Because we may hear the inner Sound and see the inner Light immediately upon initiation, this event is sometimes referred to as sudden or immediate enlightenment. Master Ching Hai accepts people from all backgrounds and religious affiliations for initiation. We do not have to change our present religion or system of beliefs. We will not be asked to join any organization, or participate in any way that does not suit our current life style. However, we will be asked to become a vegetarian. A lifetime commitment to the vegetarian diet is a necessary prerequisite for receiving initiation. The initiation is offered free of charge. Daily practice of the Quan Yin method of meditation, and the keeping of the five precepts are our only requirements after initiation. The precepts are guidelines that help us to neither harm ourselves nor any other living being. These practices will deepen and strengthen our initial enlightenment experience, and allow us to eventually attain the highest levels of awakening or Godhood for ourselves. Without daily practice, we will almost certainly forget our enlightenment and return to a normal level of consciousness.
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Master Ching Hais goal is to teach us to be self-sufficient. Therefore, She teaches a method that can be practiced by everyone, by themselves, without props or paraphernalia of any kind. She is not looking for followers, worshippers, or disciples, or to establishing an organization with a dues paying membership. She will not accept money, prostrations, or gifts from us, so we do not need to offer these to Her. She will accept our sincerity in daily life and meditational practice to progress ourselves to sainthood. The five precepts 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. * ** Refrain from taking the life of sentient beings. * Refrain from speaking what is not true. Refrain from taking what is not ours. Refrain from sexual misconduct. Refrain from using intoxicants. ** This precept requires strict adherence to a vegan or lacto-vegetarian diet. No meat, fish, poultry, or eggs (fertilized or non-fertilized). This includes avoiding all poisons of any kind, such as alcohol, drugs, tobacco, gambling, pornography, and excessively violent films or literature.
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The Supreme Master Ching Hais teachings online

Quan Yin (Light and Sound) method of meditation worldwide websites English www.SupremeMasterChingHai.org 74 languages are available www.GodsDirectContact.us 74 languages are available www.GodsDirectContact.com www.GodsDirectContact.org.tw English, , English www.GodsDirectContact.net English www.GodsImmediateContact.com English www.GodsDirectContact.co.uk English www.GodsDirectContact.org English www.RememberGod.org Espaol www.ContactoInmediatoCondios.org u Lc www.GodsImmediateContact.net/aulac www.GodsDirectContact.or.kr www.SupremeMasterChingHai.tv www.GodsImmediateContact.org Bahasa Indonesia www.GodsDirectContact.or.id www.GodsDirectContact-thai.org Nepali www.Nepali.GodsDirectContact.net Franais www.ContactDirectAvecdieu.org Polish www.QuanYin.pl Portugus www.ContaoDiretoComdeus.com.br Deutsch www.GodsDirectContact.de Deutsch www.Direkter-Kontakt-Mit-Gott.org www.QuanYin.narod.ru esky www.GodsDirectContact.cz Magyar www.Kozvetlenkapcsolatistennel.hu Svenska www.GodsDirectContact.com/swedish Romnete www.GodsDirectContact.eu/rom/index Italiano www.ContattoDirettoCondio.it Supreme Master Ching Hais book store www.SMCHBooks.com SM celestial shop www.TheCelestialShop.com www.SMCelestial.org www.LoveOceanCreative.org www.LoveOcean.org www.EdenRules.com International vegan chain of restaurants www.LovingHut.com
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How to contact us
If you wish to practice the convenient method of meditation with Supreme Master Ching Hai, you can watch and learn how to meditate from www.SupremeMasterTV.com/WorldVegan for immediate enlightenment and eternal liberation. You have to be vegan and keep the five precepts for practicing this convenient method. For the latest information on our liaison practitioners worldwide, please visit the following URL: www.GodsDirectContact.org.tw/eng/cp/index.htm. Headquarters PO Box 730247, San Jose, CA 95173-0247, USA PO Box 9 Hsihu Hsiang, Miaoli Hsien, Formosa (Taiwan 36899) Supreme Master Television Email: Peace@SupremeMasterTV.com/www.SupremeMasterTV.com Tel: (1) 626 444 4385/Fax: (1) 626 444 4386 TV Program Videotapes A Journey through Aesthetic Realms Email: TV@godsdirectcontact.org Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association Publishing Company Limited, Taipei, Formosa (Taiwan) E-mail: smchbooks@godsdirectcontact.org/www.SMCHBooks.com Tel: (886) 2 8787 3935/Fax: (886) 2 8787 0873 Love Ocean Creative International Company Limited Email: info@loveoceancreative.com Tel: (886) 2 2706 5528 Fax: (886) 2 2707 7727 Address: B1, No. 5, Alley 30, Lane 78, Sec. 2, Fusing S. Road, Da-an District, Taipei 10664, Formosa (Taiwan) S.M. Book Department Email: divine@godsdirectcontact.org/Fax: (1) 240 352 5613 or (886) 9 4988 3778 (You are welcome to join us in translating Masters books into other languages.) News Group Email: lovenews@godsdirectcontact.org/Fax: (1) 801 740 9196 or (886) 9 4672 8475 S.M. Celestial Company Limited/The Celestial Shop Email: mcj@mail.sm-cj.com/www.SM-CJ.com www.TheCelestialShop.com Tel: (886) 2 8791 0860/Fax: (886) 2 8791 1216 Spiritual Information Desk Email: lovewish@godsdirectcontact.org/Fax: (886) 9 4673 0699 Loving Food Company Email: lfhealth@ms32.hinet.net/www.EdenRules.com (on line shopping) Tel: (886) 37 723 886 Fax: (886) 37 724 065 Address: 1499 Chung-Hwa Road, Ho-Long Chen, Miaoli Hsien, Formosa (Taiwan) Loving Hut International Company Limited www.LovingHut.com.tw
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Introduction to our publications

The Key of Immediate Enlightenment * A collection of Supreme Master Ching Hais lectures. * Available in Aulacese (Vols. 1-16), Bulgarian (Vol. 1), Chinese (Vols. 1-10), English (Vols. 15), French (Vol. 1), German (Vols. 1-2), Hungarian (Vol. 1), Indonesian (Vols. 1-5), Japanese (Vol. 1-4), Korean (Vols. 1-11), Mongolian (Vols. 4 & 6), Polish (Vols. 1-2), Portuguese (Vols. 1-2), Spanish (Vols. 1-3), Swedish (Vol. 1), Thai (Vols. 1-6), and Tibetan (Vol. 1). The Key of Immediate Enlightenment Questions and Answers * Question-and-answer sessions between Master and spiritual practitioners. * Available in Aulacese (Vols. 1-4), Bulgarian (Vol. 1), Chinese (Vols. 1-3), Czech (Vol. 1), English (Vols. 1-2), French (Vol. 1), German (Vol. 1), Hungarian (Vol. 1), Indonesian (Vols. 13), Japanese (Vol. 1), Korean (Vols. 1-2), Polish (Vol. 1), and Portuguese (Vol. 1). The Key of Immediate Enlightenment Special Edition * A collection of Masters lectures during the 1993 world lecture tour. * Available in Chinese and English (Vols. 1-6). The Key of Immediate Enlightenment My Wondrous Experiences with Master * Available in Aulacese and Chinese (Vols. 1-2). The Key of Immediate Enlightenment Special Edition/7-day Retreat * A collection of Masters lectures during a 7-day retreat in Formosa, 1992. * Available in Aulacese and English. The Destiny of Planets: Revelations on Mars, Venus and Earth * Available in English. From Crisis to Peace The Organic Vegan Way is the Answer (www.crisis2peace.org) * Available in multi-languages. Letters between Master and Spiritual Practitioners * Available in Aulacese (Vols. 1-2), Chinese (Vols. 1-3), English (Vol. 1), and Spanish (Vol. 1). Master Tells Stories * Available in Aulacese, Chinese, English, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, and Thai. Aphorisms * Gems of eternal wisdom from Supreme Master Ching Hai. * Available in combined language editions of Chinese/English, English/Japanese, English/Korean, French/German, and Portuguese/Spanish. I Have Come to Take You Home * A collection of quotes and spiritual teachings by Supreme Master Ching Hai. * Available in Arabic, Aulacese, Bulgarian, Chinese, Czech, English, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Korean, Romanian, Russian, Polish, Spanish, and Turkish. Gods Direct Contact The Way to Reach Peace * A collection of quotes and spiritual teachings by Supreme Master Ching Hai. * Available in Chinese and English. Coloring Our Lives * A collection of quotes and spiritual teachings by Supreme Master Ching Hai. * Available in Aulacese, Chinese and English. Of God and Humans Insights from Bible Stories * A collection of quotes and spiritual teachings by Supreme Master Ching Hai. * Available in Aulacese, Chinese and English. The Quan Yin Method The Key of Immediate Enlightenment and Eternal Liberation
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God Takes Care of Everything * Illustrated tales of wisdom by Supreme Master Ching Hai. * Available in Aulacese, Chinese, English, French, Japanese, and Korean. The Supreme Master Ching Hais Enlightenment Humor Your Halo is Too Tight! * Available in Chinese and English. Secrets to Effortless Spiritual Practice * Available in Aulacese, Chinese and English. Living in the Golden Age Series The Realization of Health Returning to the Natural and Righteous Way of Living * Collected excerpts from the lectures of Supreme Master Ching Hai. * Available in multi-languages The Dogs in My Life (Vols. 1-2) * Stories by Supreme Master Ching Hai. * Available in multi-languages The Birds in My Life * Stories by Supreme Master Ching Hai. * Available in multi-languages The Noble Wilds * Stories by Supreme Master Ching Hai. * Available in multi-languages Supreme Kitchen International Vegetarian Cuisine * A collection of culinary delicacies recommended by Master and fellow practitioners from all parts of the world. * Available in Aulacese, Chinese/English, and Japanese. Supreme Kitchen Home Taste Selections * Available in Chinese/English. DVD, VCD, Video, Audio & MP3 * Almost all of Supreme Master Ching Hais lectures, interviews and talks with groups of practitioners during the past decades have been recorded and are available on audio or videotapes, as well as VCD and DVD, subtitled in multiple languages. Detailed catalogs of Masters videotapes, audiotapes and books are available from www.smchbook.com. All publications are offered at near-cost prices. Direct inquires are welcome; please contact your local Center or the Formosa headquarters smchbooks@GodsDirectContact.org with any questions or requests. Supreme Master Ching Hais Art World: Poetry * Wu Tzu poems (in Aulacese, Chinese, and English). * Silent tears (in Aulacese/Chinese/English, Filipino, French/German, Korean, Portuguese, and Spanish). * Traces of previous lives (in Aulacese, Chinese, and English). * Pebbles and gold (in Aulacese, Chinese, and English). * The lost memories (in Aulacese, Chinese, and English). * The dream of a butterfly (in Aulacese, Chinese, and English). * The old times (in Aulacese and English). * The love of centuries (in Aulacese, Chinese, English, French, German, Korean, Mongolian, and Spanish). The Collection of the Art Creations * Series of paintings by Supreme Master Ching Hai. Celestial Art * A collection of Supreme Master Ching Hais creative works. * Available in Chinese and English.
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Musical Creations * Collections of music and songs composed by Master. * Poetry recited by Master Herself. * Available on CD, audiotape, videotape & DVD. Benefit Concerts * Long Beach, CA (1996), Washington, D.C. (1997), and Hollywood, CA (1998). These benefit concerts held in honor of Supreme Master Ching Hai, feature Her poetry set to music by world-famous composers and performed by renowned singers and musicians. Specially Recommended: One World of Peace through Music * Benefit concert held at the Shrine Auditorium in 1998. * Available on video, CD and one exquisite book (in Aulacese, Chinese, and English). Specially Recommended: The Real Love Musical * Benefit concert held at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in 2011. * Available on DVD in multi-languages. Specially Recommended: Loving the Silent Tears Musical * Benefit concert held at the Shrine Auditorium in 2012. * Available on DVD in multi-languages. An Evening with the Stars With Hollywood Celebrities * Available on DVD. Paintings, Lamps, Clothing and Jewelry Design SM Celestial Fashion Album * Appreciate Masters art work online www.GodsDirectContact.org.tw
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Beautiful gifts for yourselves and your loved ones

Animals are celestial beings, just like humans. We can talk to each other from deep within. Love is our common language, the celestial language. The books entitled The Dogs in My Life, The Birds in My Life and The Noble Wilds share the loving feeling between any pet and their Master. The deeply personal relationship between a human and an animal companion is intimate, touching and full of unconditional love. Reading these books helps us to build an interactive intimacy with our own loving pets. We invite the readers to experience the beautiful and blissful love between a humanitarian and spiritual Teacher and Her noble, loving pets. Supreme Master Ching Hai has millions of adoring fans around the world, but none so close as Her own loving pets. Book descriptions The Dogs in My Life In the newly released The Dogs in My Life (Volume 1 & 2), the first publication lovingly written and personally designed by Supreme Master Ching Hai, readers will rediscover the simplicity of the love and rejoice in the sincerity of friendship, as exhibited by the ten canine friends, with names like Benny, Lucky, Happy, Goody, and Hermit. Learn about the Scholar, Fruity, Princissa, Chip Ahoy, the Shadow Hunter, and others; listen to their engaging tales. They all have diverse life stories and distinctive personalities, yet their devotion for their human pet is unequivocal, and their humor, intelligence and many other noble qualities are truly from the same source. The Birds in My Life Following The Dogs in My Life, Supreme Master Ching Hai wrote another book entitled, The Birds in My Life, for the 23 beloved winged members of Her household. In this beautifully illustrated book, each feathered creature is described in a biography lovingly composed by Master, together with pictures from the birds daily life and captions with bird talk. Each of these beautiful birds comes from a different background and has an interesting and unique personality. Some of their stories will move us into tears, while others may make us smile. Their cute mannerisms have brought much joy and laughter to Master. Hidden inside these tiny creatures are highly developed and loving souls. Master said that She has often been touched by the expressions and actions of the birds, and even inspired by them. She hopes that all of us will understand other living beings such as birds, and love and respect them as equals.
Experience the Divine 2000 Ocean of Love Lecture Tour The Noble Wilds
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With a rhythmic, meditative tone, the words of The Noble Wilds flow gracefully along the pages, complemented by the luminous photos of Gods creations in nature. Turning the pages, one is transported to Amoura, the place where the lady lives and is visited by cherished beings of the wild. The lady is none other than Supreme Master Ching Hai, and The Noble Wilds is yet another of Her simple but deeply touching gifts. Written, photographed and compiled personally by Master, this precious gem opens the door to a world of unique beauty. Here, the reader can witness firsthand the noble spirit and dedication of our co-inhabitants whose homes are under the open sky the swan, the goose, the squirrel, the beaver and even a tiny garden snail. Although generally shy of humans, these animals allow themselves to be photographed, and indeed can even be seen eagerly approaching the ladys gentle offering of favorite foods. The love conveyed is unlike any other full of dignity and grace, yet as deep and enduring as the eternal. All books are printed by soy ink for environmental protection. Such ink is not only nontoxic but also very helpful for environment of the Mother Earth, which is a good example of time to act. Through these books, we will understand how deeply our animal friends can feel and how intelligent they can be. They are absolutely loyal to partners, friends and human caretakers. They can be very sensitive and tender in expressing their love, and when they lose a loved one, they suffer the same sadness as humans do. Thats why Master Ching Hai says, If humans could love each other that much, peace and happiness would be ours forever. These 300 pages of wonderful pictures and stories will lead us to a world populated by beautiful birds and help us understand their lives, their deep emotions and thoughts. Read The Dogs in My Life, The Birds in My Life and The Noble Wilds, and fall in love with some of the most special beings on Earth. The Dogs in My Life, The Birds in My Life and The Noble www.amazon.com/dp/9866895084/ ; Wilds are also available online at: www.amazon.com/dp/9866895149/ and www.amazon.com/Noble-Wilds-Supreme-MasterChing/dp/9868415233. These books are beautiful gifts for yourselves and your loved ones. Have them delivered as soon as possible to our doors and begin experiencing Gods love and blessing flowing on every page! Celestial Art Celestial Art is a distinguished volume in which the author interprets artistic creation from a spiritual perspective to reflect Truth, virtue, and the beauty of heaven. As readers are invited into the boundless world of Supreme Master Ching Hais celestial art and uplifted through its resonance with the Divine, they will be profoundly touched by the deep emotions of a poet, the subtle touches of a painter, the unique ideas of a designer, and the romantic heart of a musician. Above all, one is blessedly introduced to the wisdom and compassion of a great spiritual Teacher. Supreme Master Ching Hai personally named this book Celestial Art, to bring the beauty of heaven to this world. The works of art collected in this book symbolize a noble way of living in real practice. As a collection of Supreme Master Ching Hais creative works of art throughout the years, this book is presented in exquisite color photographs and simple yet profound comments by the author Herself. She speaks of the natural process behind Her creativity and Her source of The Quan Yin Method The Key of Immediate Enlightenment and Eternal Liberation
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inspiration, revealing for readers an appreciation of the true meaning of Her works. She also shares ways to help us develop our own creative talents. Although Supreme Master Ching Hai never received formal training in the arts, She is gifted with refined creative ability. Many of Her works, inspired by spontaneous intuition, are natural, expressive, and tenderly graced with divine love, If we can find our Truth, virtue, and beauty again, then the material world will become more meaningful to us and the world will be more beautiful. We can find the Truth in this illusionary world because we can always track down the real thing by following its shadow. says Supreme Master Ching Hai. About the author Supreme Master Ching Hai Supreme Master Ching Hai is a world-renowned spiritual Teacher, artist, and humanitarian, whose loving assistance extends beyond all cultural boundaries. Born in central Au Lac (Vietnam), Supreme Master Ching Hai studied in Europe and worked there for the Red Cross. She soon realized that suffering exists in all corners of the globe, and Her yearning to find a remedy became the foremost goal in Her life. She was happily married at the time to a German physician, and although it was a difficult decision for both of them, Her husband agreed to a separation. She then embarked on a journey in search of spiritual enlightenment. Eventually, in the Himalayas in India, She received from a true Master the divine transmission of the inner Light and Sound, which She later called the Quan Yin method. After a period of diligent practice, She attained the great enlightenment. Soon after Her return from the Himalayas, at the earnest request of those around Her, Supreme Master Ching Hai shared the Quan Yin method with others, encouraging them to look within to find their own divine greatness. Before long, invitations arrived from the Americas, Europe, Asia, Australia, and Africa for Supreme Master Ching Hai to give lectures. Supreme Master Ching Hais compassionate heart has also been reflected in Her meticulous care for the less fortunate in different circumstances. The funding generated from Her artistic creations has enabled the support of Her mission of comforting Gods children in times of need. More recently, Supreme Master Ching Hai has authored books that have become number one international best-sellers, namely The Dogs in My Life, The Birds in My Life, and The Noble Wilds. These volumes reveal many insights into the deep emotions and thoughts of our treasured animal co-inhabitants, highlighting their gracious spirit and unconditional love. Wishing to acknowledge others for their actions and influence toward developments of goodness in the world, Supreme Master Ching Hai founded the Shining World Leadership Award in March 2006. Since then, She has also established other prestigious awards, such as Shining World Compassion Award, Shining World Hero and Heroine Awards, Shining World Honesty Award, Shining World Protection Award, Shining World Intelligence Award, and Shining World Invention Award. This honor is bestowed on individuals, nations, and organizations such as the second President of the Republic of Slovenia, Dr. Janez Drnovek, Dr. Jane Goodall, and Save the Children whose exemplary works have significantly contributed to the harmony, beauty, and sustainability of our earth. Supreme Master Ching Hai is among notable pioneers in our society today who wisely and courageously express concern about climate change. In fact, for more than 20 years, She has talked about preserving the environment. She catapulted the Alternative Living and SOS Global Warming campaigns to promote a benevolent lifestyle without animal products. Be Veg, Go Green, Save the Planet is now a well-known motto that originated from Supreme Master Ching Hai. In our era, Supreme Master Ching Hai is truly a selflessly dedicated individual, tirelessly helping world citizens create a bright future for our beloved planet.
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Veganism in religions
THE BAHAI FAITH Regarding the eating of animal flesh and abstinence therefrom, know thou of a certainty that, in the beginning of creation, God determined the food of every living being, and to eat contrary to that determination is not approved. (Selections from the Bahais writings on some aspects of health) CAO I ... The most important thing is to stop killing... because animals also have souls and understand like humans... If we kill and eat them, then we owe them a blood debt. (Teachings of the saints about keeping the ten precepts Abstaining from killing, Section 2) BUDDHISM All meats eaten by living beings are of their own relatives. (Lankavatara Sutra (Tripitaka No. 671))
CHRISTIANITY Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: But God shall destroy both it and them. (1st Corinthians 6:13, Holy Bible) And while the flesh was yet between their teeth, ere it was chewed, the wrath of the Lord was kindled against the people, and the Lord smote the people with a very great plague. (Numbers 11:33, Holy Bible) ESSENES I am come to end the sacrifices and feasts of blood, and if ye cease not offering and eating of flesh and blood, the wrath of God shall not cease from you. (Gospel of the Holy Twelve) ISLAM Allah will not give mercy to anyone, except those who give mercy to other creatures. Do not allow your stomachs to become graveyards of animals! (Prophet Muhammad, Hadith)
CONFUCIANISM All men have a mind which cannot bear to see the sufferings of others. The superior man, having seen the animals alive, cannot bear to see them die; having heard their dying cries, he cannot bear to eat their flesh. (Mencius, King Hui of Liang, Chapter 4) HINDUISM Since you... cannot bring killed animals back to life, you are responsible for killing them. Therefore you are going to hell; there is no way for your deliverance. (Adi-lila, Chapter 17, Verses 159-165) He who desires to augment his own flesh by eating the flesh of other creatures lives in misery in whatever species he may take his birth. (Mahabharata, Anu. 115.47. FS, page 90) JUDAISM And whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, that eateth any manner of blood (flesh); I will even set my face against that soul that eateth blood, and will cut him off from among his people. (Leviticus 17:10, Holy Bible) TAOISM Do not go into the mountain to catch birds in nets, nor to the water to poison fishes and minnows. Do not butcher the ox that plows your field. (Tract of the Quiet Way) ZOROASTRIANISM Those plants, I, Ahura Mazda (God), rain down upon the earth, to bring food to the faithful, and fodder to the beneficent cow. (Avesta, Venidad Fargard 5-20)
JAINISM A true monk should not accept such food and drink as has been especially prepared for him involving the slaughter of living beings. (Sutrakritanga)
SIKHISM Those mortals who consume marijuana, flesh and wine no matter what pilgrimages, fasts and rituals they follow, they will all go to hell. (Guru Granth Sahib, page 1377) TIBETAN BUDDHISM The offering to the deities of meat obtained by killing animate beings is like offering a mother the flesh of her own child; and this is a grievous failure. (The Supreme Path of Discipleship: The Precepts of the Gurus, the Thirteen Grievous Failures, Great Guru Gampopa)
Everybody knows that vegetarian diet is good for health and to save the planet. They will be awakening their own great, compassionate, loving, self-nature. And then their level of consciousness will rise up automatically. And they will understand more than they ever did. And they will be closer to heaven than what they are right now. (Supreme Master Ching Hai, Videoconference with Sydney Center, Australia, August 17th, 2008)
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Benefits of a vegan diet and harms of meat consumption

Benefits of a vegan diet Lower blood pressure. Lower cholesterol levels. Reduce Type 2 diabetes. Prevent stroke conditions. Reverse atherosclerosis. Reduce heart disease risk by 50%. Reduce heart surgery risk by 80%. Prevent many forms of cancer. Stronger immune system. Increase life expectancy up to 15 years. Higher IQ. Conserves up to 70% clean water. Saves 80% of the cleared Amazonian rainforest from animal grazing. Free up 3,433 billion hectares of land. Free up 760 million tons of grain every year (half the worlds grain supply). Consumes 1/3 less fossil fuels of those used for meat production. Reduces pollution from untreated animal waste. Maintains cleaner air. Saves 4.5 tons of emissions per United States household per year. Stop 80% of global warming. Harms of meat consumption Some diseases related to meat consumption production Fatal prion diseases transmissible through air and milk. Rabies. Anthrax. Sleeping sickness. Q fever. Norovirus. Swine flu. Ebola-reston virus. Cured meat and fish increase leukemia risk in children. Antibiotic-resistant superbug infections from a strain of staphylococcus aureus. Blue tongue disease. E coli. Salmonella. Bird flu. Mad cow disease (Creutfeldt-Jakob disease, 90% of the population at risk). Pig's disease (PMWS). Listeriosis. Shellfish poisoning. Pre-eclampsia. Campylobacter. Clostridium difficile. Diseases hidden in healthy-appearing livestock. Some of the costs of meat eating Infertility Eating just one serving of meat per day increases the risk of womens infertility by 32%, with additional meat consumption increasing the risk. Heart disease Over 17 million lives lost globally each year. Cost of cardiovascular disease is at least USD1 trillion a year. Cancer Increased childhood cancers and adult reproductive cancers from hormones in meat. Colorectal cancer. Over 1 million new colon cancer patients diagnosed each year.
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More than 600,000 colon cancer-related mortalities annually. In the United States alone, colon cancer treatment costs about USD6.5 billions. Millions of people are newly diagnosed with other meat-related cancers every year. Diabetes 246 million people are affected worldwide. An estimated USD174 billions spent each year on treatment in just the United States. Obesity Worldwide 1.6 billion adults are overweight with 400 millions more who are obese. Costs USD93 billions each year for medical expenses in the United States alone. At least 2.6 million people die annually from problems related to being overweight or obese. Environmental Uses up to 70% of clean water. Pollutes most of the water bodies. Deforests the lungs of the Earth. Uses up to 43% of the world's cereal. Uses up to 85% of the world's soy. Causes world hunger and wars. 80% cause of global warming. Plus more Some of the costs of milk consumption Cowpox from milking cows. Bacterial microbes, pesticides, and enzymes found in cheese, derived from the inner stomach linings of other animals. Up to 80% of the calories in cheese are from pure fat. Breast, prostate and testicular cancer from hormones present in milk. Listeria and Crohns disease. Hormones and saturated fat leads to osteoporosis, obesity, diabetes and heart disease. Linked to higher incidences of multiple sclerosis. Classified as a major allergen. Lactose intolerance. Plus more For help quitting, please visit: www.SupremeMasterTV.com/Be-Veg www.Peta.org www.GoVeg.com www.Viva.org.uk www.QuitMeat.org.nz For urgent information, please visit: www.SupremeMasterTV.com/Killers
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Alternative living
Change our life Change our heart Change our diet
No more killing Be healthy and loving

Examples of nutritious, life saving food: Foods Tofu (from soya). Gluten (from flour). Corn. Rice. Soy beans, kidney beans, chick peas, lentils, et cetera. Almonds, walnuts, cashews, hazel nuts, pine nuts, et cetera. Pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, et cetera. Protein concentration (% by weight) 16% 70% 13% 8.6% 10 35% 14 30% 18 24%
Concentrated multi-vitamin tables/capsules are also a good source of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. Fruits and vegetables are full of vitamins, minerals and anti-oxidants and contain high-quality fiber for maintaining good health and a long life. The recommended daily allowance: 50 grams of protein (average adult). Calcium from vegetables is more absorbable than from cows milk. To diminish the real threat of a worldwide pandemic from bird flu; To avoid the danger of mad cow disease (BSE) and pig disease (PMWS), et cetera; and To stop the continuing gruesome sacrifice of billions of our sweet domestic animals, marine life and feathered friends daily. Its wise to change to a vegetarian diet for good: Its health; Its economy; Its ecology; Its compassion; Its peace; and Its noble. For more information, visit our websites: www.GodsDirectContact.org/www.SupremeMasterTV.com.
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Whats new and exciting on the Internet? Enjoy heavenly teachings by Supreme Master Ching Hai as well as constructive, inspirational and entertaining programs! Watch live online TV at:
www.SupremeMasterTV.com
Globally free-to-air satellite TV channels 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. (From Asia to North & South America, from Australia to Africa, from United Kingdom to Ireland, and from Middle East to Europe). With over 60 languages and 42 subtitles!
Continents Asia Africa Australia & New Zealand Europe Middle East & North Africa North America South America United Kingdom and Ireland Satellites ABS (75 E); AsiaSat 2 (100.5oE); AsiaSat 3S (105.5oE) & Intelsat 10 (68.5 oE) C Band Intelsat 10 (68.5oE) KU Band & Intelsat 10 (68.5 oE) C Band Optus D2 (152oE) Eurobird (28.5oE); Hotbird (13oE) & Astra 1 (19.2oE) Eurobird 2 (25.5oE) & Hotbird 6 (13oE) Galaxy 19 (97oW) Hispasat (30oW) & Intelsat 805 (55.5oW) Sky Channel 835
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* Note: Supreme Master Television is an international, non-profit channel airing constructive news and programs that foster peace and promote healthy, green living. Supreme Master Television was launched on September th nd 7 , 2006 and bid farewell to global viewers on January 2 , 2012. Archived programs are free to download at www.SupremeMasterTV.com.
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Supreme Master Ching Hai Days A life of honors and ongoing selfless service (February 22nd and October 25th)
As a humanitarian, Supreme Master Ching Hai provides unconditional assistance wherever it is needed, regardless of race, nationality, or religion. Although She does not seek any acknowledgment, government representatives and private organizations worldwide have presented Supreme Master Ching Hai with prestigious awards on numerous occasions to recognize Her outstanding contributions to humanity. One of these special honors was the establishment of Supreme Master Ching Hai Days. In 1993, the Honorable Frank F. Fasi, esteemed Mayor of Honolulu, proclaimed October 25th 'The Supreme Master Ching Hai Day' in honor of the philanthropic works and peace advocacy of an inspirational spiritual teacher, renowned humanitarian, and dedicated citizen of the world. In his speech, Mayor Fasi stated, 'Supreme Master Ching Hai means so much to so many people and so many countries on this globe. She brings love around the world where there is hate. She brings hope where there is despair. And She brings understanding where there is misunderstanding. She is the light of a great person, an angel of mercy for all of us.' On October 25th, 1993, the inauguration of the Supreme Master Ching Hai Day was celebrated at the Sheraton Waikiki Hotel of Honolulu, Hawaii, United States of America in the presence of distinguished guests of honors and around 2,000 jubilant audience members. At the grand award ceremony, Supreme Master Ching Hai was also recognized with the International Peace Commendation Award, Honorary Citizenship, and Certificate of Merit for Her extraordinary charitable efforts and leadership for peace through spirituality. Over 150 congratulatory messages arrived that day from dignitaries across the United States and overseas. In a speech that evening, Supreme Master Ching Hai, donning an elegant gold Aulacese (Vietnamese) o di the traditional dress of Her homeland, said, 'I have been loved and treated well all over the world. And today, to be awarded 4 honors all at once, Im really overwhelmed. I can only pray that God will honor you everywhere you go in the world, in this world as well as in heaven, and the power of God Almighty will make all our wishes come true. Amen.' In 1994, the United States governors of Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri and Wisconsin each awarded Supreme Master Ching Hai with the highest honor of the state gold medal for Her aid to flood-affected Americans. During a ceremony, the governors proclaimed February 22nd Supreme Master Ching Hai Day, as congratulatory messages arrived from United States Presidents Jimmy Carter, George Bush and Bill Clinton.
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In addition, a set of bronze statues of Supreme Master Ching Hai were presented that evening, one of which was later brought by Honolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris to its permanent home in Hawaiis Hoomaluhia Botanical Garden. A tireless humanitarian and caring vegan, Supreme Master Ching Hai donates the proceeds from Her fashion designs and art works to assisting humans and animals in need, as well as protecting the environment. She is also the guiding inspiration for an international humanitarian organization and the constructive global channel Supreme Master Television (www.SupremeMasterTV.com). Over the years, Supreme Master Ching Hai has contributed more than USD20 million in timely assistance to many causes, not including donations that were made anonymously. From Darfur to Haiti to Sri Lanka and Japan, those affected by natural disasters, refugees, war veterans, the elderly, the homeless, those with serious illnesses, and others have been some of the recipients of Her loving concern. Furthermore, benefit concerts were held in Washington D.C. and Los Angeles in Supreme Master Ching Hais honor. During these events, Supreme Master Ching Hai presented hundreds of thousands of dollars to US Veterans Affairs, Starlight Childrens Foundation and other American organizations. At the recent world premieres of the 2 musicals, 'The Real Love' (www.TheRealLoveMusic.com) and 'Loving the Silent Tears' (www.SilentTearsMusical.com) in Los Angeles, United States of America, Supreme Master Ching Hai also gave USD510,000 donations to charitable groups in the United States. To date, Supreme Master Ching Hais compassion has touched the lives of millions around the globe, and more each day: 'She is the light of a great person, an angel of mercy for all of us.' Mayor Frank F. Fasi of Honolulu, Hawaii, United States of America. 'Supreme Master Ching Hai is an extraordinary lady who gives and gives with compassion and grace.' Eric Roberts, Oscar nominated actor, United States of America; vegan. 'The work that Master Ching Hai has done in helping people who are suffering from war, from famine, from natural disasters around the world weve got to take the opportunity to thank and congratulate Her for that.' Adrian Ramsay, Deputy Leader of Green Party, United Kingdom; vegan. 'I honestly thank Supreme Master Ching Hai, who is a spiritual leader of the world and a world-renowned humanitarian, for Your compassion. Your love and compassion will spiritually support us to restore the city.' Tsuneaki Iguchi, Mayor of Iwanuwa City, Miyagi Prefecture; in aftermath of the March 2011 earthquake. 'I would like to personally thank the Supreme Master Ching Hai for bringing awareness to people about ways that we can have a lighter footprint on the Earth. Happy Supreme Master Ching Hai Day.' Dr. Stephen Schneider, Lead author of Nobel Prize winning United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Climatologist, Stanford University, United States of America. 'The word inspiration is overused, but Supreme Master Ching Hai, You really are an inspiration' Lisa Bloom, CNN and CBS legal analyst; vegan.
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'When we recognize a spiritual Master, we bring blessing upon ourselves. When the world makes that recognition through the declaration of the Supreme Master Ching Hai Day, it brings the blessings onto the world and this world desperately needs those blessings. The Supreme Master is a representative of our higher nature and the goodness of our heart. By recognizing Supreme Master Ching Hai, were actually doing a tribute not only to Her, but to all of creation. So, on this special occasion, I say congratulations and have a wonderful Supreme Master Ching Hai Day.' Dr. Walter Dorn, Professor of Defence Studies, Royal Military College of Canada; Chair of Canadian Pugwash Group. 'Supreme Master Ching Hai is obviously a Supreme Master in terms of really being focused and dedicated to studying what is the essence of life and how it should be shared, how it should be empowering of other people and how it really is the epitome of humanity, well, humanitarianism. Supreme Master Ching Hai expresses that in Her success. Wherever She goes is love one another and love humanity, love the creatures and take care of it.' Melba Moore, Tony Award-winning singer, 4-time Grammy nominee. 'I heard about Supreme Master Ching Hai Day and all that She has done around the world. As a humble political servant who has children from Darfur, if it wasnt for You and what You do, kids like mine would not be alive. Weve never met, but we have this same kind of heart and I just thank You so much.' His Excellency Glen Pearson, Member of Canadian Parliament; vegetarian.

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An enlightened Master from the Himalayas Three-time invited lecturer for the United Nations Recipient of the World

Peace Award and the World Spiritual Leadership Award

Supreme Master Ching Hai

Experience the Divine 2000 Ocean of Love Lecture Tour

Supreme Master Ching Hai

Experience the Divine 2000 Ocean of Love Lecture Tour

Experience the Divine 2000 Ocean of Love Lecture Tour

Experience the Divine 2000 Ocean of Love Lecture Tour

Experience the Divine 2000 Ocean of Love Lecture Tour

Experience the Divine 2000 Ocean of Love Lecture Tour

The heavenly cardinal Supreme Master Ching Hai

Experience the Divine 2000 Ocean of Love Lecture Tour

Experience the Divine 2000 Ocean of Love Lecture Tour

A biography of Supreme Master Ching Hai

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Experience the Divine 2000 Ocean of Love Lecture Tour

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[Master speaks with initiates after the lecture.]

Experience the Divine 2000 Ocean of Love Lecture Tour

Experience the Divine 2000 Ocean of Love Lecture Tour

Experience the Divine 2000 Ocean of Love Lecture Tour

Experience the Divine 2000 Ocean of Love Lecture Tour

THE LIGHT KEEPER 2

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LOVE IS THE TRUE ESSENCE OF LIFE 3

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ENLIGHTENMENT AND IGNORANCE 4

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TRUE HAPPINESS IS RECOGNIZING OUR TRUE NATURE 5

Experience the Divine 2000 Ocean of Love Lecture Tour

Experience the Divine 2000 Ocean of Love Lecture Tour