Questions & Answers After Lectures (32-35)

Q32 :What kind of light and sound can I hear when I reach the fifth level? I mean what symbol will let me know if I come to the fifth level of meditation?

M: That I tell you at the time of initiation. Because I cannot just tell you like that at random. I don’t know what kind of meditation you do. If you want to elaborate further, maybe it’s better. The fifth level is meant for the initiated people only, not for other disciples. They couldn’t even reach the first.

Q33: Dear  Master, I’m married, but I sometimes have dreams of being with other beautiful girls. How do I prevent these dreams? Am I creating heavy karma? Please tell me.

M:It’s alright! Just enjoy your dreams okay?! (Laughter.) Just don’t do it in the reality. Otherwise, your wife will not let you enjoy it. And keep it a secret. What can we do with dreams? Right? Forgive yourself. It’s okay!

Q34 :When does the soul enter the body? Is it before our birth or after our birth? How can it happen if we are born as a twin?

M: No, because you like to stick together, I guess, huh! You have affinity with each other. And you want to go out at the same time to have companion. No problem about twins, yeah. We are twins ourselves. We have both feminine and masculine aspects inside. And we, if we reunite that, we’re happy. Forget about the physical aspect.

Q 35:Dear Master, please let us know more about energy, the relationship between energy, peace and love. The only thing we know from science is that energy cannot be destroyed or created. Energy can be transformed from one kind to another kind. Some say God is energy, God is love. What do you think?

M:I think these are only sayings. Before you experience that, all sayings are empty. I do not like to be a living dictionary but an example of the true knowledge. When you are enlightened, you understand this energy and all the metaphysical questions.

Energy is many kinds, negative and positive. When we are enlightened, we balance both and make use of them for the purposes in life and in the right time, the right situation.

I told you already. If we are enlightened, the world will be at peace. No need to change anything. Of course, that is peaceful energy that we radiate after enlightenment.

A Pair of Socks Each Day

Master Tells Jokes

One morning, a boy named Tony was getting dressed in his bedroom preparing to go to school. His mother called out from the living room, “Remember to put on a pair of new socks!” Tony answered, “Yes, mom, I will put on a pair of new socks.” His mother emphasized, “I mean that you should wear a new pair of socks every day!” Tony again answered, “Yes, mom, I will put on a new pair of socks every day.”

A week later, he came out of the bedroom and said to his mother, “Mom, I cannot get my feet into my shoes anymore.”

A Guiding Light: Acclaimed Actor & Animal Advocate Grant Aleksander – part 2

Aside from being known as a dedicated actor, Mr. Grant Aleksander is thoroughly respected for his compassion for animals. The long-time vegetarian is an active supporter and campaigner for several worldwide animal welfare organizations, including People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and the Humane Society of the United States. Along with his wife Sherry Ramsey, an attorney and vegetarian, they work tirelessly for the welfare of ill-treated and abandoned animals. As humble as he is talented, Grant credits the work they do together to his wonderful wife.

My wife does all the heavy lifting in terms of the real animal working in the family. She’s an attorney with Humane Society and she’s in charge of cruelty prosecutions, which is a horrible job, with the subject matter that she deals with all the time. She has to watch videos of people doing horrible things to animals. People call her from all over the United States when they come across a case of animal cruelty, so they’re never good calls.

She’s got this enormous heart, but she has found a way of compartmentalizing the aspects of what happens in these cases so that she can figure out what law is in place to prosecute people for these crimes. She finds the way to use laws that are on the books to make people pay for doing horrible things to animals. And not only that, she goes around the country and she trains prosecutors and she trains judges about laws because they vary state to state. She’s an expert in state law and in federal law and how to apply it. I’ve loved animals my whole life.

I always had dogs when I was a kid. My dog would just give me unconditional love and it’s the only real source of unconditional love that you get on the planet because they’re so pure. We have a lot of rescue animals and taking care of them takes a lot of time and lot of love and a lot of effort.

And the worst part of it is when you have a lot of animals, losing them frequently, that’s the most difficult part. But they give so much love and so much joy. We rescue animals when they come, when we find them in a road. If I have a second to think about my life before I die, it’ll be one of few things I know I’ll be really proud of.

Incidentally, Sherry was also the person who helped Grant realize that he needed become a vegetarian again.

And I saw these little pigs in this pen, and the little baby piglets looked like little puppies. And I said, “Oh God, you’re so..,” I was bending down and I put my hand up to the thing and one came over and snuffled me. And my wife leaned down right next to me and very softly said, “He still eats you.” And I swear this little pig turned and looked at me, like… And for me, I realized I can’t do this anymore. And…

And you’ve been a vegetarian for how long?

A vegetarian for, let me see, probably getting close to 30 years now, maybe 26, 27 years something like that. I know it makes me healthier. There’s no question in my mind. It’s kind of always a voice that’s inside of you.

I remember when I was a kid, my mom took me to, she was just trying to save money. We went out to a meat packer’s to get our cuts of beef. And it’s the first time, I think I was five or six years old that I made the connection between the steak that I’m eating and this animal that it’s coming from. And it just horrified me and I don’t remember how long I refused to eat meat. . And then, my mom ground it up, put it in spaghetti and before long it was sort of not something I thought about for another 10 years.

And then, Sherry and I get together. And she started saying, “I just don’t think I can eat this anymore. I want to stop doing this.” And I was reluctant at first. But my wife is extremely good putting things in just fundamental, that’s why she’s a great attorney, in fundamental arguments of logical fairness.

And for me, it always came down to, if I had the choice to kill an animal for food or eat something else instead, I would always eat something else instead. So to be eating food that someone else has killed for me, just makes me a hypocrite.

Most of us in our society become further and further removed from our food source. It’s not good for our health, and it’s not good for us ethically or morally either, because it allows us a level of distance and cover.

We don’t want to think about the unpleasantness, children starving or kids that have cancer or old people that are shoved in a wheelchair into a corner, or veal calves that have their necks strapped into a crate and are not allowed to move so that their flesh can be pale and tender for a veal piccata. We don’t want to think about those things. That’s why we very often call meat something else. We call it a hamburger. We call it a veal. We don’t call it what it is because we’re trying to disguise it even further so that we don’t have to really deal with the consequences of those actions.

You’re destroying the environment that your children are going to inherit. For every pound of beef that is produced, what you do the groundwater, the methane production, the pesticides that are used on the feed, the antibiotics that are used to prevent disease – all of these, all of those arguments can be very potent because they affect a human being’s living circumstances.

Right. Exactly. Yeah. And what is your wish for the animals in this world?

My wish isn’t so much for the four-legged animals, it is more for the two-legged animals – that we find a way to look at ourselves as human beings, as a part of something, and not as masters of something. A lot of it goes back to eating meat. This is where it gets touchy talking to people because as long as you’re killing animals for food, it’s very difficult to treat them humanely. Because you’re essentially saying that their life does not have a value that is worth preserving.

Matt Scully wrote a great book, and he is a great example. Matt was a speech writer for George Bush Matt’s a big animal guy. And he wrote this book called “Dominion.” It’s a faith-based belief and in his case, that God has given us dominion over these creatures. And because we have dominion, it’s incumbent upon us to treat them humanely.

Thank you Grant Aleksander for being a shining example for humanity and our co-inhabitants. We are grateful to you and your wife Sherry Ramsey for your outstanding efforts to make the world a kinder place for humans and animals. We wish you both continuous success and countless blessings in your endeavors.

A Guiding Light: Acclaimed Actor & Animal Advocate Grant Aleksander – part 1

Today we are featuring Grant Aleksander, a US actor whose brimming talent has led to nominations for three Daytime Emmy Awards and seven Soap Opera Digest Awards, one of which he won in 1999.

Grant has garnered critical acclaim, especially for his leading role as Phillip Spaulding for three decades in the daytime television drama “Guiding Light.” The well-known series is credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest running soap opera in television history.

In addition to being among the finest actors, Grant is also a spiritual person who cherishes the lives of all beings.

Grant Aleksander was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1959. Throughout his illustrious career spanning three decades, he has acted in such diverse productions as “The Crucible” and “The Glass Menagerie,” as well as in title roles for both “Manson” and “Hamlet.” He has been seen on stage in Baltimore for “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie” and “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.” While in Los Angeles, Grant has had guest roles on several primetime television series, including “Hardcastle and McCormick,” “Who’s the Boss?” and “The Fall Guy.”

“For me, it always came down to if I had the choice to kill an animal for food or eat something else instead, I would always eat something else instead. My wish isn’t so much for the four-legged animals, it is more for the two-legged animals – that we find a way to look at ourselves as human beings, as a part of something. Animals have that ability to just love freely and openly, asking nothing in return.”

 

 

 

I’ve spent most of my time as a professional actor working in soap operas or daytime dramas, the longest period on one show, called “Guiding Light” which has recently gone off the air, but was on for spanning six decades. And I worked on another show, “All My Children,” for about three years. If you have a really good story that you tell over a long period of time, that’s usually what hooks people.

And “Guiding Light” always had very good actors. They told stories that connected with basic people at very fundamental levels. They told stories that engaged people. We told these stories in real time with very, very well developed characters. And I think that’s why people liked them.

The versatile actor has also been in a number of films such as the comedy “The Big Bad Swim,” and “Tough Guys” with legendary Hollywood icons Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas.

Making movies is vastly different from doing most television work. Doing nighttime television is similar to, is shot in the style as film and there’s more time. When you work sort of in the trenches of TV, particularly if you’re doing three-camera video, there’s no time. You get a script in your hand and you learn it overnight and you generally only get one or maybe two takes to get it out. So you have to really make your choices quickly, you have to have a good memory.

When you work in TV, you are geared to do your best work right away. Making movies is wonderful from the standpoint that you’ve got this script that someone took a lot of time to craft. So a lot of problems that you’ll find in working in TV at all its levels, you don’t find working on a film.

Despite his successful and busy career, Grant decided to return to school to complete his Masters of Fine Arts. This was motivated by his desire to fulfill a promise to his parents and to be able to teach young actors in the future.

I was at NYU (New York University) and I dropped out because I got an agent and I was starting to get work. I was very, very lucky that whenever I was looking for work, I found work. But my parents were very unhappy that I dropped out in my junior year. I promised them that I would eventually do it, and after our show went off the air, I had the time to be able to get back to it.

Some of my most favorite times working on the soap [operas] were when you would have the newest group of young kids that would come on and you’d stand back and watch them start trying to figure out what was happening. And then you’d blink and all of a sudden they were incredible. And you know, somewhere along that line, you would see them making these little discoveries. And there was just nothing that was more satisfying to me then to be able to pass on something that somebody gave to me when I was a young actor.

To Love God Is To Keep His Commandments – part 5

In this modern world of ours, we are very fortunate. Whatever faith we choose, whatever name of God we worship, and whatever doctrines we follow are respected and supported by the laws of many nations. It’s not like at the time of Jesus. He was alone and helpless against the multitude of ignorant people, the very cunning, very cruel priesthood, and no law was there to protect Him.

So if we choose to become Godly or Christ-like now, it is very appropriate. I think we should not lose our opportunity. Who knows what the world will be like next year, or next century, and what kind of fate awaits our children then? So we should build up a good foundation for our later generations, for our children, grand children, and grand grand children. I think all good parents desire a good future for their children. Therefore they work very hard and sacrifice all their strength, youth and wisdom in order to provide a comfortable life for their children. But apart from leaving them education and money, I think we should also leave them a peaceful and harmonious world to live in.

Therefore, do not think that I preach the Buddhist doctrine or Christianity, or I try to convert you into my order of religion. No, I just try to contribute a peaceful atmosphere for the future generations and the present generation alike. I never preach the exclusiveness of Buddhism, of Christianity, of Hinduism or any “ism,” as I see the goodness in all of them. Since I also see that most people do not follow their religious faith in detail, and as one of the citizens of this world I have the duty to remind people of the adherence to their doctrines and of being good to their neighbors and loving their enemies. I must remind people of the Law of God and the eternal principle to lessen the suffering of the present generation and bring a harmonious atmosphere to the future.

The eternal principle is that we are from God, the only One Loving and Almighty God, and that we are all brothers and sisters. It doesn’t matter what faith we believe in, we should love each other, respect each other, and help each other in whatever capacity we can, and do not forget to remember God every day because the more we remember Him, the more our lives will become peaceful and smooth. To remember Him also means to keep the commandments: If you love me, keep my commandments.

That’s why I also emphasize that people should follow a vegan diet; it’s the most peaceful, the most loving way of sustaining our lives without sacrificing the lives of others. I know it sounds very new to you, but it isn’t new, because it is said in the Bible. The Old Testament states that God made all the herbs and the fruit trees in the fields and those shall be our food. It says, God makes the animals to be human’s helpers and friends. That means we should rule over them, but should not kill them because the first commandment is: Thou shalt not kill. Everything has life, and when we take it away, it means killing. If we subsist on the meat diet, then other people will continue to kill for our appetite. It means that indirectly we support killing.

I know it may be difficult for you to accept this, and you might oppose my opinion, but it is not my opinion, it is not my law. It is the Law of God and He has stated it very clearly in the Bible as well as in the Buddhist doctrine, in the Hindu doctrine and even in the Muslim doctrine. But most Buddhist people do not care about this Law, and neither do most Christian people or Muslim people. We read the Bible every day, but we do not notice where we should read. The people in authority, like the priests or the monks, do not make a lot of effort to enlighten us in this manner.

Sometimes it’s difficult for me to say such things. I am aware of arousing some displeasure from people. But someone has to say the truth, someone has to be courageous and not always bowing to authority and ignorance. Didn’t God command us to be perfect, as He in Heaven is perfect? God in Heaven is perfect in the sense that He is wise, compassionate, ever-loving and ever-creative. So, if we want to be nearly as perfect as He is, we should seek wisdom and forsake ignorance; we should seek it from the wise, from the holy, and we should be loving, compassionate and creative, not destructive.

That’s why God gives us the right to create things and the right to create children. We create children and so many beautiful things on this planet. God gives us the right to the creative plan in His design. We are the co-workers of God. But we have not yet achieved the wisdom of God, so we should respect His plan and His design because He is the Supreme Boss. He knows what to retain, what to take away, what to repair, and what to destroy. Even if He destroys something, He makes it again; but when we destroy anything, we cannot make it again. That is the problem, because we are not wise enough and not powerful enough. Should we one day reach God-realization, then maybe we can talk about destroying and creating at our own hands.

Therefore, we respect all lives in the creative plan of God. We can see by ourselves that all lives resist suffering and resist death. Therefore, when we kill or see animals being killed, they are suffering and they try to run away. That means God empowered them with the instinct of wanting to live. If we interfere and force their lives away, we interfere with God’s will. We should treat every being in the same way, as we ourselves like to be treated, then our lives will be blessed with grace, with longevity and with wisdom. As you sow, so shall you reap. Then we will never blame God for any misfortune, because we have less misfortune. The more we cultivate, the better we become, in speech, in body and in mind.

This I know from my self-experiences and from the experiences of my so-called students or fellow practitioners, because we are in contact with God daily. After the process of initiation, we have connection with God again and we remember God every day. Every day we are aware that God remembers us. God and we have the same instinct, the same goal and the same direction. That’s how we solve our problems, that’s how we contribute to peace on Earth, and that’s how we abide by the Law of God.

Thank you for your attention.

To Love God Is To Keep His Commandments – part 4

God needs nothing from us. It’s we who need to survive, it’s we who need a very orderly society in order to feel peaceful and happy. So, it’s for our sake we should respect the Law and try to learn what’s proper in order to protect our lives and to improve our well-being physically and mentally.

For example, if we are ill and we go to the doctor, the doctor will prescribe some medicine and tell us, “You should smoke less; you can’t drink too much coffee; you should sleep more; and you should take more walks and fresh air.” That’s not for the doctor’s sake. It is for our sake.

Similarly, the Law of God is for the order of the universe, for the harmony of the universe, and to ensure peace and happiness for every living being within this order. If we are ignorant of these Laws, or if we break them, whether intentionally or not, we will suffer consequences. This is what the Buddhists call karma, the Law of Cause and Retribution. This is what the Bible means when it says: As you sow, so shall you reap. They are the same thing.

So the Laws of God are to protect us. For our sake we should remember them. Should we have committed many mistakes against any Law of God, there is still a remedy. We should repent, and try again. That’s all there is. Then we are welcomed again into the Kingdom of God.

Everything I have spoken to you is the truth. If you want to test the truth of my speech, whether it is true or not that real repentance is effective, I can offer you the proof. That is, at the time of initiation, or we may call it baptism, the true baptism, if we truly repent our past ignorance and truly want to return to God, we will be in the presence of God, and that’s very fast. That’s why we call it “immediate enlightenment” or the immediate contact with God. We will see God’s Light and we will hear God’s melodious Voice. This is the proof of what I have said to you about the power of repentance and the power of sincerity longing for virtues and for God, which will cleanse all misery, all sins from the past.

It’s similar to when we are willing to stand under a waterfall, knowing that we are dust-laden and full of all kinds of filth. The water will cleanse us of everything no matter how many days, how many months or how many years it took to accumulate all this dirt and filth. Just a short moment under the waterfall and we will be completely cleansed, because we are willing to let it happen, because we are willing to give up dirt and filth.

So, doubt not the grace and mercy of God Almighty. We should sincerely repent and we should sincerely seek wisdom and the Kingdom of God. Then truly everything will come to you. I do not say so because I read it in the Bible or in the Buddhist Scripture, or because I am a Buddhist monk and always preach what everyone else preaches. No, I say these things because I have experienced them, because they are the Truth and because I have tested and verified them. So I joyously declare them to you. I bring this hope and this glorious idea and experience to your notice. In case you are tired of this world and want to open yourself to the grace of God, then you may do so, without any doubt, without any reservation.

What made Jesus’ speech more impressive than other priests of His time was the inner conviction and the inner vision He had. He said to the people, Pray to God in my name, people did, and they got the result. It wasn’t that Jesus was so conceited, so proud or so arrogant; it was that He Himself understood profoundly that His name would remind people of His conviction, His inner strength and His highest wisdom. When people were reminded of this highest and noblest ideal, their own highest ideal, conviction and wisdom would also be evoked and awakened, then they would have success. It’s not that Jesus thought that His name was the greatest on Earth. No, no. It’s not that Jesus wanted people to respect and worship His name and His person. We have seen, through and through, that Jesus was so humble, so selfless. He always declared: It’s all my Father that does through me. It’s always God, always the Father. But people must pray in His name. It’s not paradoxical. It’s just that He understood that the personal effect of a human is very great and that the inner strength of a person is very influential.

Therefore, we see through our history that any wise persons have led people to glorious vocations and wisdom, while many wicked and ignorant persons have led others into the pit of destruction and darkness. It is because of the personal character and influences. Do you know that?

So, our duty is to be humans of noble character; then we can influence other people and lead them in the path of righteousness. That’s why it’s said: Seek you first the Kingdom of God, and all other things shall be added unto you; that’s why the Buddha said, First you become Buddha, then sentient beings shall be saved by themselves; and that’s why Confucius said, “First cultivate yourself” which means we have to purify ourselves and discipline ourselves so that we are worthy of being called a human, a human of dignity and noble wisdom. That’s why we call it Self-cultivation. So Confucius said: First cultivate yourself, then we can take care of our household management, then we can take care of our household management, then we can govern the nation, and we can pacify the world.

Along with many kinds of activities which are noble and praise-worthy, such as enlightening others, preaching good morality to people, building temples for people to worship God or the Saints, giving charity to the poor and sick, and calling for peace from all nations, we should cultivate ourselves. Then everything we do will definitely have an effect and influence upon the minds of other people, and everything will become successful.

To Love God Is To Keep His Commandments – part 3

So God, the Father, the Supreme, the most compassionate, the most loving, the Almighty, could not possibly have such a defying nature and would never make war against His children or sometimes kill His children in thousands just for some small mistakes. That cannot be the true God. These are only the imagination, the characteristics of human. We should go back to the true God. The true God is all loving, all wise and all forgiving. This is the God that Jesus wanted to present to His people, and this is the God that I also want to remind you of. The true God resides within us and there is no other God besides Him.

How to find this God? By reverting to the principles – that is, all loving, all forgiving, all compassion, and all wisdom – by repenting our previous misdeeds committed through ignorance, and by resolving not to commit them again. With such a true repentance the Light of God will sprout forth again, and all our past sins will be forgiven. That is the true baptism; not by water but by the Holy Spirit, by the Light of wisdom and logic. That’s why nowadays when we are baptized by water, we don’t see any Light from God and we do not feel free of our sins and suffering; because the principle is not imposed upon us, wisdom is not opened for us, and deep repentance is not evoked within our souls.

At the time of the true baptism, or what we call initiation, you will see the Light of God, you will hear the Word which was God, which is mentioned in the Bible: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. So the true baptism should bring us in contact with this Word or with God. That’s the difference between the true baptism and ordinary baptism. We may use water or we may not use water; it makes no difference. What is important is the impression that the baptism evokes within ourselves.

Therefore when John the Baptist baptized people and when Jesus preached, people derived more benefit than when all other priests did the same. It is because John the Baptist had inspiration, sincerity and devotion to God. And when Jesus preached His doctrine, it was inspired by His own deep conviction, His own enlightenment and His own love for God – a very pure love and pure wisdom, which was different from the ordinary priests of His time.

Jesus’ love and wisdom will not be contaminated by any worldly gain or any desire for worldly fame and power. His life was simple and true, true to every word that He preached. He did not preach because He wanted to be famous or He wanted people to respect Him, but He preached because of His love for God, His true love for humankind and the true desire that He wanted to bring the true Light to people in order to eliminate their suffering.

Once we understand why we suffer, we can change it. It is only when we do not understand, then we continue. Similarly when the doctor diagnoses the condition and knows where the sickness is, he can cure it; but the most important thing is that the patient himself should know how to live his life in order to stay healthy for a long time. In order to stay healthy in body, we should know some hygienic rules, we should know what food to eat and what exercises to do so that we can prevent most diseases. In order to stay healthy in spirit, we should know what the Law of God, the Low of Nature is, so that we can stay healthy in wisdom and become “God-like,” because God made human in His own image. The Bible tells us: Be you perfect as your Father in Heaven is perfect.

If most people had followed this advice from the Bible, the world would have become Heaven long ago. But most people do not follow and do not respect the Law of God. Therefore we incur much suffering for ourselves within any nations. The most important and the first law of God is: Thou shalt not kill, and that we even misunderstand. We couldn’t even keep the first commandant. In the Bible it is written that the priests at Thanksgiving killed many lambs, sheep, goats and good ducks to make an offering to God, and that this was even done at the site of the holy temple, making God’s abode become a slaughterhouse! So God protested. He said: Who told you to dill all the sheep and goats to make an offering to me? You should wash yourself of this innocent blood, and don’t commit this sin again. You should repent of your sin!

Can you imagine a beautiful temple with great and magnificent pillars, with shining roof, with large rooms, spaces, coral yards and splendid structure? It should be a place for gathering for wisdom, and for worshiping the most High; but at that time, the temple became a slaughterhouse and all the priests smelt blood and smoke from roasted meat. I don’t think intelligent people would say that it’s very holy. Moses laid down the law, Thou shalt not kill that which is from God. But even then they broke it.

So we cannot blame God for the miseries that the world has to suffer from time to time. If God, who is worthy of our reverence and love, has to depend on roast beef, roast lamb and roast sheep for survival, if He has to live from our sweat labor and earnings, from some people who are too poor to even afford meat themselves, then we can imagine what kind of grace, what kind of blessing that He, as such a dependent God, could give us? Even ordinary people wouldn’t do that, so how would a God do that?

Many good-hearted people often help others from very pure, unconditional love and don’t expect anything in return. How can we imagine a God who always demands gold, silver and roast beef, and doesn’t even give anything in return? If He demanded beef before He  gave any favor, this must be the trickery which came from the priesthood, not from God.  Even if God truly wanted it so, after we gave Him all the beef, chickens and whatever,  He should have, but still didn’t return the favor. He could have said, “OK, it’s fair enough.” But He didn’t. He didn’t even return anything at all. Oh, that God! The proof that He didn’t return anything is that, those people who made offerings are still suffering from sickness, from misery, from sorrow and from everything else, like any other mortals. Even the priests in the temple also have to suffer like anyone else.

Therefore, some people made a fool of God. That’s unfair to Him. The question lays in our own misunderstanding; not that God has an unmerciful and greedy nature. God has laid down the Law that we have to obey, not for God’s sake, but for our own sake. In English we always say, “For God’s sake you have to do this, for God’s sake you have to do that.” But now I say, “For our sake we should do that, for your sake you should do this.” We should correct that saying. I don’t know if in your country you also say “For God’s sake,” You do this, too?! Oh, I am sorry, but I have to speak the truth.

To Love God Is To Keep His Commandments – part 2

The Bible states that the Kingdom of God is within you, that we are the temple of God, and that nothing else but “God” lives within us. The Buddhist doctrine states the same thing: Buddha resides in your heart, which means within you. If we forget this Buddha or this God within us, then of course we will encounter many miseries and sorrows due to our ignorance of the Law of Nature, due to the lack of wisdom which was bestowed upon us from God.

Why does the God within us allow our ignorance to take over, or why does the Buddha inside us sleep and let us do so many so-called misdeeds? It is because we forget our original glory and we forget God. We are too impressed by any worldly situation and lose ourselves in all these plays. So if we regain this wisdom, this glory, this Self-nature, we will be able to govern our lives again. Anything we gain by wisdom will affect us forever, as it comes from our own Self, our own Nature, our own understanding.

The Kingdom of God means this wisdom, means that we will know everything, we can control everything and express it in the noblest idea and sentiment; express itself. When we know the Kingdom of God, we also know the Law. Without knowing the Law, we will commit some wrong actions and make trouble for ourselves. It’s the same as when we live in a nation, we should know the law of that nation. If we break this law, then we are in trouble. Our lives will be obstructed, will be put into difficulty.

When we examine the Law of God, for example, those laid down by Moses or by Jesus in the Bible, we find that they are according to our expectations and understanding. It is also the same with the Law of Buddhism or the other laws of other great religions. Any law that strives to protect people, to enlighten people, and to preserve the purity of humankind is God’s Law, and God’s Law would not be against human.

When God established the order within the universe, there was a certain regularity that had to be observed. Just as when we build highways or roads to make our traffic or transportation more convenient, there must be certain traffic laws enforced in society in order to protect people, to protect the drivers, the walkers and regulate the traffic flow. If we drive according to this law, then we have no accidents; if we don’t, we have problems. Our lives might be injured or lost, and then we incur suffering upon ourselves, our relatives, and friends.

So all the suffering in this world is not caused by God. God doesn’t test us. Misery and suffering are not sent by God to test our faith and devotion. No. It is our own making. So we say, “As you sow, so shall you reap.” Everywhere I hear people blame God for all kinds of things, but it’s just as if you blamed the traffic law maker for your accident when you drank too much and drove into the left lane instead of the right. It is not the fault of the government; it is your own fault. The law says you should not drive when you drink, and the law says you should drive on the right instead of the left.

So if we do not abide by the Law of God, then we have trouble. The Law says: Thou shall not kill. But look at what our ancestors have been doing for many centuries and some of our brothers are still doing it now. Even in the name of God, even in the name of Jesus, they dare make war against each other, which is extremely regrettable, for it is not God’s will and neither was it the intention of Jesus Christ. One kills the other, and the other kills the one, then the children kill the other’s children, and the other’s children take revenge, and so we never stop!

War brings many disasters along with itself. It weakens the economic structure of a nation, it weakens the strength of the people, and it also weakens their morality and their faith; hence many people will blame God again. They will say, “If there is a God, why would He let war go on? Why would He let people kill each other, and such and such?

Now there are some current happenings such as the change of the weather, famines and all kinds of diseases, which inflict suffering on our world. So some people with little faith blame God again. Wherever I gave lectures, people would ask me, “If there is a God, why has such and such disaster happened?” But these people should remember that it’s not God who does all these things; it’s we who make all these troubles.

For example, a few nations always test atom bombs and hydrogen bombs, which disturbs the construction of the atmosphere and then shake the stability of the Earth. They think that just shooting the bombs into the air or into the ocean won’t make any problems. But this still creates problems because the universe is constructed with many kinds of materials; some with solid substances and some with invisible substances they also disturb the stability of the universe and interfere with the revolution of nature.

For example, you build a house with windows, doors and some empty rooms. If one of the corners is broken, then the temperature in the room will change. Even though it is the summer, at night, it will be very cold if the broken hole is not mended, because sometimes in the night, cold wind and rain will come.

God didn’t tell us to make atom bombs. I haven’t found in any Scripture that God tells human to do these kinds of things or that God tells human to make any weapons to slash each other. You might tell me that in some part of the Scriptures there were wars which were made by the Lord with the intention of destroying the enemies of His children. But God is not of such a nature, as the enemies of His children are also His children. We are all the children of God. If God introduced Himself to us as a jealous, angry God, this is not the true God. Even ordinary humans are more compassionate then this “god;”Even some humans never get angry and some people never know what jealousy is. So if anyone pictures God as even worse than human, how can we worship this God? Even we, the ordinary mortals, understand that anger and jealousy are no good, and sometimes, when we make a mistake and become angry or jealous, we feel ashamed and repent.

To Love God Is To Keep His Commandments – part 1

Spoken by Master Ching Hai
Panama, November 29, 1989

 Good evening, my brothers and sisters. Buenas noches! I thank God for the honor of meeting my brothers and sisters tonight, and I thank all of you for your valuable time and loving attention.

Before coming to this holy congregation, I was reading the book about the true life of Jesus of Nazareth. Even though I hadn’t finished the book, His life, His wisdom and His sacrifice had filled my heart with the noblest sentiment. As I came to this noble congregation, my eyes were still moist with tears, the tears which came from the most overwhelming love and reverence for Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

In the history of humankind it is very seldom we can encounter such a noble and precious being as Jesus. What makes Jesus immortal in the hearts of millions of people, from generation to generation, isn’t the miracles that He performed; it was His wisdom and His doctrine of compassion, benevolence and righteousness. The miracles He performed were short-lived, and even though they were great, they couldn’t make much of an impression on our intelligence. So, what make Him beloved and revered by people was His logic, wisdom and compassion.

There are many people who can cure people of their sickness. Some people are endowed with such healing power, just as some people are endowed with more talent for music, for painting or for writing, etc. Even some of the ordinary doctors are more talented than the other doctors. When Jesus cured the sick or healed the blind, people were greatly astonished. But if we consider everything, these things are not impossible. Even Jesus Himself declared that whatever miracle He did, some people before Him also had done, and other people in the future, after Him, would also do.

Now, let us examine the doctrine of Jesus, and let us aspire to follow His principles in order to free ourselves from all kinds of suffering and misunderstanding, and to become nearer to God.

Jesus said to us that there is one great God and this God is ever merciful, ever wise and ever loving, whom He called “my Father” or “our Father.” Well, that God is also my Father and also yours. On this principle that we have the same Father, we are brothers and sisters; it doesn’t matter what your faith, your belief, your understanding or your social status is. People have different faiths and different understanding because of their sometimes limited wisdom or the influence of their surroundings. So by elevating our wisdom and understanding, we will be free; free from our own prejudices, from our own preconceived ideas and from our own ignorance. It is not miracles that can liberate us: it is the principle, which we should understand and follow.

We should try to remember the story of the Samaritan women and Jesus, in order to examine a part of the doctrine that Jesus taught people. When Jesus wanted some water from this woman, she said to Him, “But You are a Jew. I am not allowed to give You any water or to mingle with You.” Jesus told her that even though there were differences in appearances, they were of the same Father, God, and it was the duty of brothers and sisters to look after each other’s need and help each other, and God would be very displeased if He saw a sister refuse to give water to a brother who was thirsty.

Well, His philosophy looks very simple, but it is very deep because it exterminated all the differentiation among the races, the castes, the people of different nations and different faiths. If we always act according to this principle, then we will never go wrong in our lives.

What does this principle offer? The principle of brotherhood of humankind. If we treat everyone as brothers and sisters, then soon every differentiation, every hatred, every misunderstanding will be erased. Then whenever we take any action, we will reflect on how God will think of our action. If what we are doing pleases God, then it is righteous.

What actions will please God? Any action that helps our brothers and sisters to eliminate their suffering, to enlighten their body, speech and mind, and every action that doesn’t harm our brothers and sisters will please God. Well, all of you know this, but sometimes, for the majority of people, it’s difficult to bring their knowledge into practical actions. Therefore we have wars, we have hatred, and we have lots of bloodshed, or many adverse happenings in this world.

I was so inspired when reading the life of Jesus, inspired by His vision of the purity of humankind. Then, of course, I was so sad that His noble idea was terminated so soon. Nevertheless, He has left us some immortal principles which we can follow. The highest and the foremost of these principles is: Seek you first the Kingdom of God, and then all other things shall be added unto you.

I think this is the best morality and the best of the principles. Just as in Buddhism the Buddha also said: Be enlightened first, become Buddha, and then you can serve other people. One of the Chinese philosophers, Confucius, also said, First we should know ourselves, cultivate ourselves, then we can take care of our household management, then we can govern the nation and we can pacify the world. These are similar ideas expressed in different countries and in different languages. So we can see that in the majority of religions the highest principle is: First know ourselves or seek the Kingdom of God within us.

Master Duy Tue: For Those Who Wish to Achieve Peace, Success and Happiness in Life – part 7

Some supplementary methods to widen and deepen into wisdom space

It is difficult to define exactly what wisdom space is, but in my terms, it is mainly for you to obtain true happiness. All definitions or concepts that I have used are just to help you approach the truly happy world with abundant love energy and enjoy; a satisfactory human life on this planet.

Just imagine that your brain is composed of various “drawers” to store everything you have seen, heard, studied and researched. For example, one drawer contains knowledge, experience and images of the past; while others keep in stock all desire, selfishness, altruism, conditional love energy, imagination, clear and practical visions, assessment, innocence, prejudice, arrogance, modesty, jealousy, anger, suffering, mistakes, regret and fear. And another drawer stores patience, true love, etc. Those drawers can be easily recognized and you can open them to make use of the accumulated contents in everyday activities but it is rather difficult. There is, however, a very special, perfect and miraculous drawer whose function is to solve any impasse of a human being. If we have a belief in an Omnipotent Almighty God or in Buddha with the ability to comprehend all matters and possess a mysterious and invisible power to create everything, then this “drawer” will be exactly the typical one.  This drawer is empty but overwhelmed with miraculous power to supply you with whatever you want. I call it in my own terms the  Wisdom .  And implementing the Wisdom Meditation is to practice methods aiming at activating this miraculously invaluable drawer.

To bring you enthusiasm in practicing and gaining this habit for your spiritual cultivation, I offer herewith an extra addendum of humorous suggestions as follows:

When you look at someone, you often see the surface outlook and the surface appearance usually manifests uncomfortable or non-attractive things according to your prejudice. Beneath those unpleasant things, there may be valuable aspects that are hard to see. If you want them to show their valuable and lovable personal features, you should look at the best things that they are often proud of. Only act upon those aspects with your most sincere attitude and honesty; then both you and the other partner will enjoy peace, joy and happiness

Do not trust your mind

I  have repeatedly told practitioners not to continue piling up knowledge but use factual stories to question ourselves or doubt our mind. Only by this method we can gain control of our thinking mind .This method will actually change us so that our souls can flourish and our minds remain peaceful.

 Do not stick any label on ourselves

One early Autumn evening when strolling along Huntington Beach in California with two successful businessmen, I told them that “In order to open up the Wisdom Space you should not stick any label on yourselves. Do not consider yourselves to be successful at the moment, and then later on you will not face failure. Do not judge yourself better than other people, then later on you will not feel the underdog or disgraced. Do not think you are first class citizens, since this is only a false vision from the tricky mind. Consequently, you will live a much simpler and comfortable life and the real value of yourselves will emerge. Do not think yourselves rich, and you will never feel poor. If any of you encounters a misfortune, do not view it as a failure. Patiently wait for something better and a certain miracle is likely to come to resolve the difficulty encountered.”

At present, those two businessmen are laborious practitioners of Wisdom Meditation. They have achieved encouraging results: they have found their mind more at ease and their working efficiency has been much improved. They can do things that they never could before; they are ready to save part of their precious time to look after their own moral life and their family.

Do not think yourself to be moral

I have also told some practitioners that “Moral concepts are not truly virtues; they are merely conventions imposed by humans. Do not pretend yourself to be a moral person or a representative of any moral lifestyle, much less thinking you are in a process of cultivating a religious life, because it will mislead your mind to cheat yourself and you will cheat others. Not pretending to be a moral person, then the Wisdom Space in your mind will adequately adjust your lifestyle to suit different moral norms on this planet. Refusing to pretend to be a moral will surely open up the Wisdom Space and the light of your heart will shine everywhere.

The purpose of meditation is not to prove a noble aim. The important truth in practicing meditation is to achieve the only practical aim: Gaining the habit that is totally beneficial both in our physical and spiritual lives. Thus, it is essential to do the meditation exercise frequently in order that the habit becomes refined, and with this purely holy habit, the practitioner will enjoy a stable and endless happiness inside. This habit will develop a perfect life of wisdom. It will also bring you luck and peace of mind.

In brief, the meditation method outlined here has no aim to attain enlightenment but merely to formulate a habit to promote and master the awareness in the brain/mind whose mechanism is to freely conduct the thinking process, without causing disturbance and mental suffering. From this habit, the practitioner shall have all joy, true happiness and a more stable morale.

For those who could understand Vietnamese, please visit http://www.duytue.org for more information

Master Duy Tue: For Those Who Wish to Achieve Peace, Success and Happiness in Life – part 6

3. Meditation while doing physical exercises, leisurely walking

Meditating while leisurely walking is to be aware of the way we are walking. While strolling around, we bring our attention to the steps (clearly aware that we are observing the steps), then switch the attention from the steps to the attention to the breath, noticing the breath being long or short, light or heavy. Then we switch again our attention to the surrounding area.

In so practicing we will gain the habit to monitor actively the observation in the state of awareness that is to know what is going on.

4. Meditation while speaking in public

This meditation technique is also based on  observation, listening and clearly knowing what we and the other partner are speaking.  Carefully  listen with no judgment to our partner’s statements; do not judge ourselves or our partner, either. We should be constantly  aware and watching if any thought arises to bring the attention back to the conversation; that is, during speech, we must know if any thought arises, then shift 100% of the attention back to the subject being discussed or to the reality of the speech. If we do not do so, the thought will lead us out of the subject, out of the reality.   If we can keep our  awareness, our speech will automatically be fluent and eloquent.  Remember that contentedly satisfied eloquence comes from awareness, not from thinking.  The awareness will supply us with adequate eloquence which can conquer the audience who will gain interest while listening to our speech.

Master Duy Tue: For Those Who Wish to Achieve Peace, Success and Happiness in Life – part 5

2. Meditation while observing the thought:

At the basic level, we can make use of the thinking process as the observation target that is to  observe  the inner world making it a habit to bring the  vision or the  attention to the inside of the brain.

Again, this technique of meditation can be implemented by various postures: sitting, lying, standing, walking, strolling or even while working. This can be performed in any circumstance while we are calm.  This is an extremely marvelous habit  which many practitioners have successfully achieved, and it has become an essential habit. As many youngsters have stated “while  watching and observing the thinking process in any instant of the day we are enjoying a true life and working in a happy atmosphere, full of peace and contentment and if ever we happen to omit it for one day, we will feel uneasy and uncomfortable”.

This is in fact an enjoyable result of this technique of  meditation through observing the thoughts.

Up to the present, most of those who have practiced this technique, ranging from as young as 13 years of age to as old as 77 years of age  have achieved great success. This is actually joyful news to everybody.

The technique of meditation by observing the thoughts consists of the following:

Only observe and clearly “know” whether or not any thought comes up in the mind.  If meditating in a sitting posture, we loosely close our eyes and concentrate toward the midpoint between brows, then observe  as if we are searching for a certain image in a “black hole”. We should be  aware that we are  observing  something or those we have already lost the  observation action. If we have lost our  observation,  we must come back to it. For a start, we will  observe the thoughts at the midpoint between brows. If we notice the presence of any thought or any image, then we should be  aware  of their presence or their disappearance.  A simple but essential keynote is that we must know whether there exists any thought or not: If it is present in the mind, we know its presence, and if it is not present we know its non existence.  Should there be a presence of any thought, then we just pay attention to that thought or that image only, we will not do anything else. If there is not any thought present, then we just keep on observing this point, waiting for a thought or an image to appear, as if we were watching a dark screen : If any picture appears we will watch the picture but if nothing appears, then just watch the black screen!

Constantly identify the appearance of any thought and keep our attention on the present moment.

In other meditation postures such as meditation while working, studying, reading, talking… we also pay attention to watch if there appears any thought or image. If so, then we  know clearly its presence and draw our attention back to the work we are doing, to the current reality.

Before going to sleep, we close our eyes and check if there exists a thought or any image in our mind.

If so, then just watch it as if we were watching a  movie of thoughts, since any thought is just a shadow of the past that persists in the mind due to our silent acceptance ; it is like we are, or another person is doing an important and sustained activity in reality .  In other words we cannot tell the difference between life and awareness.  Awareness is an invisible, ever existing entity, while life is a continuous stream, with no beginning or end, of all forms including thoughts, notions, writings, meanings, philosophy value…. We should not therefore count on that streamline since we truly own  the invisible, everlasting and omnipresent existence of awareness.

Master Duy Tue: For Those Who Wish to Achieve Peace, Success and Happiness in Life – part 4

The ultimate aim of Wisdom Meditation is to open the boundless space in the brain.

It can be divided into two levels – basic and advanced. Meditating at the basic level is to relieve stress, the brain being calm due to the absence of thinking activity. This level is the borderline between the aforementioned phases two and three. It is transforming an individual’s suffering to the stage of non- suffering in order to become a more creative, happy and lovable person.

The advanced level of meditation has the goal to enter into the identification of the nature of the thinking process, aiming at minimizing its destructive impact on our spiritual and physical lives. At this level, the practitioner will enjoy the miracle of awareness and can almost split 99% of the thinking from awareness. At phase two, the practitioner will practice to enter phase three of life, the sublimation phase of the mind.

This is  the basic level will be discussed due to its practical aspect towards everyday life. The basic level includes meditation techniques while walking, standing, lying down, even while working or performing some activity like talking, by observing the thoughts coming to mind. Hundreds and even thousands of techniques of meditation, observation and listening could be envisaged to achieve awareness and to master the mind, but here I wish to present only some of the most popular ones. When you get used to them, you can devise a technique that most suits your situation.

Whatever method you use, it would be of the utmost importance to share with me in the first implementation stage as “an egg needs heat to develop when being hatched”.

Basic meditation techniques:

The purpose of this meditation technique is to set up a perfect habit for the brain. Instead of leaving the brain free to think, we now bring the brain to a state of constant awareness through the habit of observation and listening. That habit is actually the only aim of the meditation technique. Happiness and joy, as well as other miraculous findings to be enjoyed by the practitioner, rest with this noble nature and perfect habit from which there are almost unlimited benefits.

The first beneficial gain of the technique is the efficient relief of stress and worry, the peaceful mind being able to control emotions generated by the thinking process and develop the habit of enjoying happiness when the brain rests in calmness.

1- Meditation in sitting posture

Various meditation techniques, the sitting meditation is basic and essential but we should not spend too much time during the day for meditation practice. We will consider the sitting meditation only as a special case which cannot be replaced by other techniques. In the sitting meditation, it is mandatory to note related facts, such as the time of the day for meditation, the duration of time for each session, the kind of clothing, the place and particularly the preparation of the mind’s state before the session.

As to the spirit of meditation:  It is preferential to make a vow “I pledge to keep on training myself to gain a habit to live in the state of an aware mind, not allowing free thinking to destroy my spiritual life or to shadow my clairvoyant world of awareness. This habit is the great joy for me and for mankind.”

As to clothing: Wear comfortable clothing that does not cause any discomfort while meditating.

As to place : Any place but if possible it is recommended to practice in a quiet atmosphere in nature since the calmness of the nature will help the practitioner achieve 50% of the result! In fact, the basic characteristic of natural calmness and the awareness state are really the one thing indispensable for meditation.

As to the time of day for meditation:  It is not necessary to fix a time because in so doing it would be contrary to the spirit of meditation which is natural and comfortable. Thus, if we set up a fixed time for meditation we could easily come up with formalism, which, in reality, is not to enjoy meditation. It should be kept in mind that, in practicing meditation, a pure and noble habit is being trained to enjoy the happiness inside when thinking does not freely flow in the mind. In brief, whenever we feel a need or an enthusiasm we can start meditating in a sitting posture. We can even enjoy a short meditation session in a sitting posture while working in the office!

As to duration of meditation:  Up to your choice with a minimum 5 minutes or longer, but not too long since we can drop ourselves into a state of neither thoughtlessness nor awareness.

As to sitting posture:  Any posture, lotus or semi-lotus or sitting in a chair; when sitting in a chair, both feet must rest on the floor. The back and head must be straight up to ease blood circulation and respiration; the lips should be closed with the tongue touching the upper part of the mouth to prevent saliva from getting dry. For a good start, it is preferential to give a gentle massage to the face, ears and eyes with both hands to release tension and promote comfort. In case we sit on a flat floor it is suggested to use a cushion.

The observation target while meditating in sitting posture:  Using the respiration is the easiest and most efficient method.   After preparation as above, slightly close the eyes  direct the eyes toward the nose and bring the attention to the in-out movements of the respiration. When breathing in, we follow the in-movement and when breathing out, we follow the out-movement. If this awareness is lacking, we cannot consider the respiration as a meditation practice,  we normally breathe round the clock without paying attention to the respiration, and that is not meditation!

To render this awareness  constantly permanent, the practitioner can follow the respiration by counting its cycles. A cycle of respiration in and out shall be counted as one. Count from 1 to 20 cycles and back to one again. This counting technique should last for at least 5 minutes for each meditation session.

How to breathe:  Breathe gently, the breath being a little longer than normal to allow more oxygen to get in, seeking better health after “working long hours without true respiration”. Many respiration alternatives can be envisaged but we ought not to forget to keep an eye on the respiration process in its in-out movements. For example, we can  notice the respiration being short or long, its noise big or low; we can adjust the respiration so as to gradually diminish it for a better observation and attentive  listening.  An alarm clock can be used for timing the wanted meditation duration; but when we are used to it, the alarm clock will serve no purpose!

Master Duy Tue: For Those Who Wish to Achieve Peace, Success and Happiness in Life – part 3

The second phase is extremely important and essential.  It is a sine-qua-non condition for the third phase, a must condition for love and wisdom to flourish. In the second phase, due to the pay-off in life that most people wish to stay away from life’s pressures and try to envisage a world from which they can runaway.

When it comes to the third phase, which is similar to the first one, there seems to be no need of going anywhere after death: should you talk about Paradise to a baby? The baby is currently in the paradise of his/her own brain and of the surroundings. He/she does not need any notion of paradise.

The nature of the first phase is the transparent naivety of the brain where needs do not come from the thinking mind and it is also the characteristic of a truly grown-up person in terms of spirituality but he/she must reach the third phase to recognize it.

Speaking of happiness or maturity is speaking about the mind’s sublimation but not about knowledge, about political or economic power, much less world power or theological power.  World power does not exist in the domain of happiness or maturity.

In more than 10 years, despite severe misery and all tricks of jealousy from mankind’s selfishness, I kept maintaining my great pledge, enduring my goodwill to help people discover, build up and pave the path to peace of mind. From young fellows to senior people, when implementing the observation technique of respiration outlined in the method of wisdom meditation, the mind as well as emotions are improved greatly. Those people who achieve amazing changes are those who stay close to me listening and practicing what I have shared with them.

In order to reach the third phase of life, practice is essential, not the accumulation of knowledge.  I strongly recommend that the development of knowledge be avoided, since any knowledge will surely keep you drowned deeply in the pay-off phase of life.   Knowledge will not bring about the opposite-direction change to obtain happiness in the third phase.

The only prompt efficiency and most hopeful way is to doubt what you consider as gained knowledge and you should try to find all opportunity to contact and discuss with me.  I will try to create some methods to help you make an approach to the old path.

The following are some implementation methods to help you stay away from the stream of thoughts and emotions.

Let’s look into the details of Wisdom Meditation

What is Wisdom meditation?

It is a simple method to activate the boundless stillness of the brain for the purpose of observing any indication of phenomena in the mind’s operational mechanism such as thoughts, ideas, judgment, reasoning, deduction, greed, past memories, imagined events to come… While doing so, we can rejoin many comfortable peace spaces and wisely react in a natural and successful manner to suit any situation with the mind always being in its unaffected nature.

This meditation technique aims at identifying negative emotions such as anxiety, discomfort, suffering, anger, despair, hopelessness, currently residing in the mind and along with the impact of the meditation, those emotions will disappear and the brain will regain calmness, ease, awareness and transparency in all life situations.

This is a method of training to put an end to the belief or sticker-in-the-thoughts of the brain. A boundless awareness space will then emerge, bringing along required intelligence to come to existence with joy of peace and true happiness. The result of this way of life is that the brain always remains peaceful and a kind of love unaffected by any life condition will come true.  This permanent and everlasting love is the utmost beauty of mankind.   It will bring about unlimited happiness through experiencing a true love, not the kind of love generated from thoughts, judgment or reasoning.  This is the key to open and truly enjoy the happiness inside our mind.

Master Duy Tue: For Those Who Wish to Achieve Peace, Success and Happiness in Life – part 2

The first truth is that a sort of energy of unconditional happiness permanently exists within us.

This is the most fanciful, perfect, magic, enduring, stable, widest, and deepest happiness while a regular life directed by the thinking mind can never help obtain this achievement. This state of invaluable and miraculous happiness only emerges when the thinking machine stops functioning; it is not by any means related to the activities of the thinking mind and obviously does not depend on the life with tangible manifestations. This kind of happiness is common to all lives on this planet as well as to all lives from other planets.

The second truth is that, while carefully observing what happens from inside the mind to the outside, we will find the true meaning of life and the living essence of human beings.

The more accurately you observe things, the happier your life will be. Observing action helps your mind become fresher and more at ease. This experience clearly points out to me that, with the thinking machine being locked, there emerges a more meaningful life. It is the life with cautious observation, not the life monitored by the thinking mind. This is a truly real and more stable life with its concrete meaning; the thinking mind is not by any means the true life. While this experience happened with the thinking machine locked, an individual with alert observation would be aware that the brain could not function and there was complete absence of the notion of his own name and/or of surrounding objects.

In this state of mind, everything seen through our eyes is merely unconnected images appearing before them. Our body weight becomes much lighter; all substantial things we normally see will appear as if they were completely new or without previous existence or bearing no names. In short, everything stops at the observing stage. And at that very moment, anything I touched or saw automatically responded an answer that could not be found from the mind.

The third truth is that, when all material for the thinking machine had gone, I clearly understood the causal sources of my own suffering – they were the mind’s thoughts! In addition to this finding, I also realized that the energy required for a person’s happy life and endless love was covered, controlled or even destroyed by thoughts.

This experience also indicated very clearly to me that the mind could only work properly in the state when there were not any stored materials inside it, namely: memories, knowledge gained in life, philosophy, religious beliefs, or political theories set up to build up a typical life for an individual or a family. There are no more model concepts for an individual, a family, a country’s community or a world.

Later on, I temporarily decided to live, work and love with an empty mind, not to follow any discipline. Through experience I soon realized that all ideologies, notions, knowledge, scripts, life concepts and acquired philosophy theories or doctrines could be voided for ever so as to provide an empty room in the brain for a better perception and that wisdom would illuminate and help identify the origin of suffering (eventually including physical suffering) which mankind has encountered in myriad incarnations:  the culprit being obviously the mind.  Along with prejudice, human beings do not see this truth but on the contrary they trust and stick to the resistance to disown it!

After going through three periods of this experience, I spent another two years enjoying the kind of happiness that I had never had before. It was like I found an ancient road, the road the Creator had laid for mankind at the very beginning of life , and that this road was still there, dustless and without the vestige of time; no silhouette of man existed on it, except myself! Though I felt really lonely, I was also filled with great joy when escaping from the notion of age, origin, form, skin color, language, knowledge, earnings as well as culture and civilization. I self-realized that this wonderful road for mankind was still hidden somewhere behind the mind. There seemed to be no entrance to this road but still, for a period of over 10 years, I had made a great effort to guide my noble disciples in joining me and to transfer the miracle of the road to them and to other people.

In other words, the three periods of the experience took my mind to a world that creates an unlimited path not only to stop suffering completely, but also to open an extensive and endless ability to create, love, work and fully enjoy a life that is always tough and constantly changing.

After encountering the aforementioned experience three times, I began gaining a habit of practicing some methods to hold fast to the WISDOM SPACE in my mind and I was truly happy! Up to the present moment, I often observe and keep track of all changes inside my mind. I observe my life’s cause; consider it a true life, a breath for the Wisdom’s mind: the disbelief in the thinking mind being my life’s target! And I have been truly happy.

To illustrate the three periods, I temporarily divide my life into 3 phases, of which the last phase I term as a truly happy phase. I have elaborated on these three phases of my life on Skype for a broader discussion, namely:

– The phase of childhood’s naive tear.

– The phase of pay-off tear in life when the secret of the brain has not been discovered.

– The tear-reappearing phase of the return of naivety in an old brain.

Master Duy Tue: For Those Who Wish to Achieve Peace, Success and Happiness in Life -part 1

Originally in Vietnamese

Every day, we have to perform many tasks, tackle unusual situations and face various problems  for which we cannot find a solution.

For example, your husband or wife says or does something to make you angry; children disobey their parents; your parents-in-law make you confused or upset; or your son or daughter-in-law breaks your heart. Even your sisters and brothers upset you. Eventually your friends or your sweetheart betrays you.

Economic and financial difficulties might cause hardship to you or your business and make you feel like an underdog. All of these circumstances can cause worry, fear, despair, anxiety, and stress, leading to all kinds of diseases such as tuberculosis, liver or kidney dysfunctions, high blood pressure, coronary thrombosis, cerebral vascular accidents, etc.

In other words, life-related circumstances adversely impact your mind, causing its inability to find a sound solution. As a result, negative emotions affect decision making and cause uneasiness, anxiety and suffering. In addition to these environmental events, your mind is constantly disturbed by your thoughts that automatically come up and make you feel uneasy and unable to concentrate on your daily work, resulting low efficiency and even mistakes.  Or there may be other reasons that keep your complexion from being naturally fresh and unaffected. Eventually you have to rely on cosmetics or get help from beauty parlors. In the end, it becomes rather difficult for you to promote sympathy and love from the people around you.

These problems will lead you to a narrow and unfortunate life. Life itself often raises so many questions that are not readily resolvable: you are like a student who is trying to deal with a mathematical exercise but fails to solve the problem because your brain jumps from formula to formula. When you are about to find an answer to a question, your mind suddenly switches to another question!

As a matter of fact, the main issue to deal with is your mind.  In order to tackle life’s constantly changing problems, you must concentrate first on solving problems in your brain, and then the problems themselves may find no grounds to exist.

For more than ten years, in the course of studying and understanding the mind’s mechanism, I have shared different methods with people from various classes in society and most of them have achieved marvelous results both in their physical and spiritual lives. They have found true peace of mind; their physical life has improved and their behavior towards human relationships has been more successful.

I use the term “Wisdom Meditation” to refer to the method used to stabilize the mind and monitor the brain.

However, before introducing some techniques of Wisdom Meditation, I wish to share with you some background information about how I have come up with those techniques. I am not an exceptional case compared with others who have experienced and talked about meditation methods. It just happened that I accidentally fell into the state where enlightenment emerged and I started to clearly understand the mind’s mechanism.

From that big event on, I found myself totally changed. It looks as if I was a newly born person in the present era, but in the meantime I found myself out of history. And due to that miraculous change, I have encountered a boundless happy life, with a brain deprived of combustible supplies for the thinking mind to function.

From that point forward, I have clearly recognized people’s disappointment, despair, anger, puzzlement and even panic without any escape, regardless of whatever role a person occupies in life. Although many people have tried to find different ways to resolve these deadlocks, there has not been a practical and efficient way to enable human beings to achieve peace of mind.

At the same time, I have found a path for everyone to live a happy life, provided that he/she listens without prejudice to what I share! How my enlightenment took place?

The following are some points I would like to share with you. After spending years plunging into the secrets of life, its meaning and the origin of suffering, I accidentally found myself in a state of total happiness when my brain was somehow locked up.

This experience happened over three years. During the first part of this experience, I enjoyed twice the state of wonderful happiness. The second stage occurred many times over subsequent years when I saw the tangible world with my entirely locked thinking ability. And at the third stage, my thinking mind was not locked but all the supplies needed for its operation somehow vanished completely. Each stage revealed to me a clue which I decided to adopt to stabilize my spiritual life.

Enlightenment Brings Happy Lives

Excerpt from Master’s lecture

The enlightened persons never know uncontentment, never know want, never know unhappiness; at least not for long, just probably in the beginning of the practice when we are not yet stable in our habits, and the mind still has the upper hand. So sometimes we might think we want this and that, but then immediately we realize our mistake. Not like before enlightenment, we don’t even realize that we have desire, let alone stopping it. Therefore the difference is very obvious.

All these I tell you from my experiences. It doesn’t mean after enlightenment you sit pretty, cross legged somewhere in the sofa and all things become heaven. No. We still have to undergo a little bit of give and take of the karma, the law of cause and retribution, while we are on earth. But we have great power behind backing us up, that doesn’t matter what kind of rain or typhoon, we are very stable, safe, secure, contented. Because we know nothing can happen to life eternal. Something may happen to our body but not the real self. If we want another body, we create one. And that is a very, very definite feeling of the enlightened person. The enlightened person does many things, but never feels he is doing anything. Even physically, gives away many things but he never feels that he is a giver, endures many things but he never feels that he has patience. He might show his temperament now and again, but he never feels guilty because it is fit for the occasion. Therefore the way of the enlightened person is free, is happy, and is wise. That is the life that all of us should remember because that is our self.

It’s not the life that we think we are now, full of worry about every little thing, about electric bill and about telephone check, and every little thing makes us trouble. After enlightenment we still have all these bills coming, (Master and all laugh) no doubt. God will not take them away because it’s yours!  But the attitude and the means to overcome these are entirely different. We’ll find life more relaxed, more easy to meet with all demands from all sides. If we truly, truly, truly sincerely seek for our wisdom, that’s what I can promise because I have learned to know this myself. It’s not from books. It is not from any teacher. It is from my own experience.

Therefore, whatever I share with you is absolutely true, private, and no cost, because it’s from me. I don’t borrow it from the bank, no need for interest.  And then you will come to realize all these and more for yourselves according to the capacity of your demand, and of your work, and of the way the universal brotherhood sees fit to give you because of your mission in life, your position in this world. You see sometimes when the masters reach mastership, they are equal. Even that, but you see slight differences between masters and masters. You can see that through their discourses or through the progress of their disciples or through the way he expresses his understanding about the inner realization. Therefore there is a slight difference between masters even. Why? Not because they are different in the quality, it’s just because of the different back-ground or positions. Such a master could make use of so much, so he has that much or he draws that much from within himself to give out. And the other masters in different circumstances, in different generations, different nations, will need more or less of different kinds of quality, of speech, of explanation. Therefore we have many of the so-called religious doctrines. And many different names or different religions which point to the same truth.

After enlightenment we will know that very definitely. We will know the underlying principle of all religions is the same. We will know what they taught when they were alive, the founders of these religions. We will know Buddha and Jesus taught just Quan Yin Method. We will know what Lao-tzu talked in the Tao Te Ching is about Quan Yin Method, about the light and the sound of heaven which lift us up above mundane ideals, above all the pettiness of our computer mind in order that we meet with the higher level of consciousness, and then we know ourselves. Then we know God. I am just so happy today, I don’t know what I’m saying is suitable for you or not. I just blab, blab on.  I think I just stop by now and then you might ask me questions and I have the opportunity to explain further.

Duchovny admits his love for vegan food

 

Actor David Duchovny may not be vegan, but that doesn’t stop him from feasting regularly on vegan foods at Candle Café on the east side and on the west side.

The actor was asked by The Gothamist if he has any “favorite” places in New York City, his home town. Duchovny responded, “Well I grew up there so I got a million “only in New York” stories, but … right now I’m a big Candle Cafe guy. My daughter’s gone vegan recently and we like Candle Cafe, on the East and West side. So maybe I’ll get a free piece of tofu out of that plug.”

As someone who dines at Candle Cafe regularly, I can stand behind Duchovny on this one. Whether it’s their Cajun Seitan Sandwich or their Paradise Casserole, you can’t go wrong.

The Candle restaurants (there are three of them) in NYC seem to be a favorite for many celebs. Alicia Silverstone adores Candle 79. So does Kristen Bell.  And I’ve seen “Law and Order” star Sam Waterston indulging in their vegan delicacies.

 

Q & A after Lecture (29-31)

Excerpt from Master’s Lecture

Q29- Why is there so much pain in this world?

M- Because we have no supports.  We have no enduring power behind us.  This power, we neglect.  We only use our minds, our brains, we don’t use God’s limitless supply.  Therefore, we cannot endure the pressure and pain in this world, and we feel pain and suffering.  If we have that great treasure, great support, great strength, then we don’t feel that much pain.  The pain still exists, it’s just that we can bear it.  Just like when we were young, when we were children, if we lifted a five pound sack of rice, it felt very heavy.  We couldn’t even walk.  But, when we grow up twenty years later, even fifty pounds means nothing.  That’s the meaning of God power.  That’s why we have to practice the Quan Yin Method to get in touch with this inner limitless supply.  Then we don’t feel so much pain, so much pressure, and we will feel joy ever after.   I don’t mean the pain disappears, but you can bear it.  You feel nothing much of importance, that’s all.

Q30-  If you see that your father only believes in the physical things such as science and traditional western medicine, what do you do?  Do you do nothing when you see that he thinks that all yogis are ignorant?  He thinks that if a yogi is great, he must prove it by doing a miracle such as flying or disappearing.  What do I do about this?

M-  Keep silent and practice.  There is nothing we can do about it.  But we can, by our own practicing power and vibration, influence our family members.  They will become automatically receptive to the higher power in time.  In Taiwan, there are many people who become initiated even though their family members objected fiercely.  But after they patiently and lovingly practiced for a period of time, their families felt the change, and felt the benefit.  Later, the whole family came and got initiated.   I don’t need to fly or disappear in order to convert them.  I use the love power which is invisible, which is natural.  I don’t use it even.  It is there.  It flows twenty four hours a day.  And then they got it, and then they appreciated it, and they became devotees in a natural way, in time.  So that’s what we have to do.   We have to prove to ourselves that we are worthy.  We don’t need to debate so much.  The more we talk, the more we lose.  Just wait until the moment comes, and then just say one or two words, it may be enough.  But we must become a light bearer.  We must become an example of love, patience, and wisdom.  Then others will sense it, and they will come naturally.  Like a flower.  It doesn’t speak, it attracts bees by its own fragrance and honey.  Now, as for thinking of flying and disappearing, you may even see me doing it.  As a matter of fact, you may see it often.  But I will not do it just to convert your father.  After he is converted by his own wisdom and free will, he might see it.  I’m not doing that to convert him.  It’s contradictory to my policy and to God’s order.   A master may not show any miraculous power to prove how great he is.  The more he proves this, the smaller he is.  The sun doesn’t need to prove anything, it just shines.  Those who have eyes will see.  With the blind one, you don’t need to argue.  But he also feel the sun shine on his face, and be benefited by it.  Flying, doesn’t need this physical body.  The master can be anywhere any time.  Flying in the sky, flying on the lotus, flying in heaven, flying to hell , flying around the world, any time anywhere,  he/she can do this.  This is a childish trick, and the most elementary instrument that the master may use, in order to be anywhere to rescue and help his disciples in need, or those who have affinity with him or her.  There is nothing to demonstrate and to talk about.  This is all small action.  And disappearing, you may even see it now, but because your eyes are so obstructed, you only see my physical body, and you see nothing else.  If you really have the wisdom eye, you might not even see me talking.  You’d only see light here.  The whole room is light, nothing else, no person.  Even all of the audience will disappear in this light.  So this is the real disappearing.  And if you see some of my photos, you don’t see me, you only see light there.   People photograph me, but they don’t see the master, only a big light.  The person disappears, and many of my photos are like that.  It is a kind of disappearing, no need to prove any more.  the cameras can prove it.  And sometimes on the stage there is no master, that is the disappearing.  Because in reality there is no master, no one, no sentient beings, no existence, only light and vibration, love and togetherness.

Everybody loves to fly and not practice.  If you practice with me, after a while I promise you can see me flying and disappearing with no difficulty.  If you don’t practice, I won’t do it.  Not for you to look at.  We are not in a circus.

Q31- Please, may I receive your every blessing so that I may avoid all forms that would cause me to be less than me, or what I am.

M-  The way to get blessing is to bless yourself with your own inner power.  And I know how to do it, and I can tell you how to do it.  No one can bless you except yourself.  He can only help.  He can lend you some of his radiation, some of his love and power to lift you up to a higher consciousness, but not completely.  He can do this, if you are not willing to bless yourself with your own blessing power.  Otherwise Jesus would have blessed the whole world, and we would not have to crawl around here until now.  Otherwise the Buddha would have blessed the whole India, and would have taken them to Nirvana.  As you can see for yourself, Buddha has become a fully enlightened being, and many Indian people are still ignorant.  So no one can bless any one.  No doubt when a master comes to earth, she or he will bring with them great blessings from God, and the place where she or he lives or wherever she goes is marked by her blessing power and becomes different, in outlook and in consciousness.  But that is only a small part.  Each person has to bless himself.

Dr. Shiv Chopra: Concerned Scientist and Activist for Food Safty

Today, we feature an interview with renowned Indo-Canadian scientist, author and activist Dr. Shiv Chopra, who has worked for decades to promote food safety, public health and human rights around the world.

Dr. Chopra and his colleagues challenged a series of efforts to approve harmful chemicals intended for use in the meat and dairy industries. For example, in the 1990s he testified at Canadian Senate hearings and won court cases against the use of Bovine Growth Hormone (BGH) and other harmful drugs. Through his efforts BGH was banned in Canada in 1999 and subsequently in the European Union.

Dr. Chopra has also opposed the use of antibiotics in intensive animal agriculture, and revealed the true causes of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) or “mad cow disease.” A native of India, Dr. Chopra has lived in Canada since 1960 and is the author of numerous publications on science, society and religion, including his international bestselling book “Corrupt to the Core” on public food safety.

His academic background includes a bachelor’s degree in veterinary medicine from Punjab Veterinary College in India and a Ph.D. in microbiology from McGill University in Montreal. Dr. Chopra has also received numerous academic honors, including a World Health Organization Fellowship.

Now let’s learn about how Dr. Chopra’s interest in effecting change evolved.

I was born in India, I grew up there, I studied there. I became a veterinarian in India. Then I took a postgraduate diploma in vaccine production. I worked there for two, three years, and then I came to Canada to do a Masters and PhD in microbiology. It was on industrial farming of pigs. I worked another year as a post-doctoral fellow. After that I was director of biological research at Miles Laboratories. And that’s where I started to become quite disillusioned with the profession that I had joined.

Dr. Chopra’s disillusionment with traditional ways of doing science grew while he worked in the pharmaceutical field and after he became a government official.

Originally, it was thought going into science was going to do good to society, you’ll have a respectable profession. And that’s how I got into science, but once I joined the pharmaceutical company, I saw the pressures, that they were not really doing research, and I was head of research. So I felt this way I’ll always be a student, I will never be productive, I mean that was my job to be productive, being head of research. So I gave up there and a job came along to work at Health Canada.

While working for Canada’s national health service, he began to realize that many commonly used vaccines were actually harmful to human health.

During your employment at Health Canada, you were asked to study the toxicity of different molecules used in the meat and dairy industry. Can you give us a few examples of the ones you studied and what they are?

Actually there is a period of 20 years before that, at Health Canada. Originally I started as a vaccine expert. A number of vaccines like mumps and rubella I was opposed to, but there was nothing I could do at that time, because I didn’t have any proof that they would do harm or they would be ineffective. Now I’ve been proven to be right.

And it was still in that area I became a fellow of the World Health Organization, traveling, which took me all over the world. I studied the regulatory system of vaccines. And only after coming back from there, some years later I moved over to my original profession, the veterinary side.

Dr. Chopra’s veterinary background then came into play as he began to see the links between the chemicals administered to industrially farmed animals and human diseases.

That’s when I got to be working on the human safety of drugs or products which are given to food-producing animals, in the Bureau of Veterinary Drugs, that’s where those drugs came, and they had to be looked at from the point of view of human safety. In other words, if a drug is given to the animals, then we have to make sure that nothing goes wrong.

First of all, are there any residues left of the product given to food-producing animals, could it be in their milk, could it be in their meat, could it be in the eggs. Alternatively there were other issues; if you are giving products which residue may not be a problem, is there another way that may harm not just individual, but public health, like through antibiotics resistance.

And then later other products will come up which were not even drugs. It became fashionable in Europe and Canada to feed slaughterhouse waste back to producing animals, to chickens and pigs and cows and back to each other and that caused a serious problem. It was also from that same period, the idea of genetic modification of seeds and animals to stimulate extra food production, other drugs like hormones were given to animals for similar purposes.

And whatever issues there are, they have to be studied by the companies wanting to sell those products. And if there were any problems, the companies will be told that we’re not satisfied, because the law says that the company that sells any product in Canada that directly or indirectly gets into the human food chain, or directly into the human body through water, environment, whichever, has to be proven to be safe under the Food and Drugs Act.

However, despite the apparent safety provided by this legislation, hormones and other harmful substances that directly affect human health were approved for use in the meat and dairy industries.

Then as time went they start to take sex hormones, both male and female, make a concoction of them synthetic and natural, and they started to inject them into cows. Actually not just inject, they used to implant them behind the ears, large pellets and they would remain for the rest of the life of the cattle.

And that’s the beef that people eat to this day, so that hormone remains behind there and when the animal is slaughtered, the ear is cut off and that ear is then boiled to make gelatin and that gelatin with concentrated hormones sitting there now goes into making capsules. It goes into gel, into yogurt, into ice cream, candy, and this children are eating on a regular basis.

What hormones do is they cause cancer and endocrine disruption. So puberty is affected and you cannot determine the lowest level or the maximum level of something that causes cancer. One molecule attached to a cell can induce cancer so you cannot determine the maximum residue limit.

The second product that we’re looking at in a very big way is antibiotics. Antibiotics you can determine the residue but the concern there is only allergic reaction in patients who may be allergic, that is not a very big concern. But there’s a bigger concern when you give antibiotics to every animal for life.

Those antibiotics, once it’s passed through the intestinal tract of the animal, which is full of trillions of bacteria of various kinds, and as the antibiotic will kill off the good bacteria it may leave some pathogenic bacteria. Seventy-five percent of the antibiotic use is in farm animals.

Dr. Chopra sees a number of other threats to public health that are a result of a dysfunctional industrialized global food system. Pesticides are one of them.

And they are now beginning to ban many pesticides. Sweden has just banned 80 pesticides, 80. There are hundreds of pesticides. And usually the Scandinavian countries take the lead on this and so they’re doing very well. When you slaughter an animal only half the animal is meat; the rest is discarded. Now what do you do with this? Because there’re such huge slaughterhouses they don’t want to waste anything.

They take the fat and so on, they process that and that goes into soap or cream and then all kind of things. But the rest of the protein they boil it up, they dry it, and then they feed it back to the animals. And that sets up what’s called bovine spongiform disease or mad cow disease, which then is transmitted to people and called CJD (Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease) and kills people.

That was another item and we have pesticides, we have hormones, we have antibiotics, we have slaughterhouse waste and of course the genetically modified organisms, GMOs. There was a huge uproar in Spain, 15,000 people demonstrating because Spain is allowing the use of GMOs. So there is now this issue within the countries, in India the GMOs have become a huge issue.

Dr. Chopra believes that informing the younger generation that growing organic foods, free of pesticides and other unnatural substances, is essential to creating a healthy future for our planet.

Agriculture must be introduced in every school as a compulsory subject with all children growing food in the schoolyards, in their villages, and PTAs (Parent Teacher Associations) should be involved. If everybody wants to go green, the municipalities are collecting green garbage. Well, they can make compost, they can deliver it to schools, one or two football fields can be converted to gardens. And parents and children and grandchildren and everybody should be working together.

You have a happier society. You have a healthier society. We’d be spending much less on treating disease because the disease will not occur. I gave up eating meat for various reasons. First of all, it’s healthier to be vegetarian. Secondly, it’s healthier for the environment. It’s good for the climate. Much of the climate change is due to industrial agriculture. All that can be taken care of if you only grow food in our schoolyard and community gardens.

Dr. Shiv Chopra, we thank you for your enlightening comments on food safety and human health. May you have continued success in informing the public and governments around the world about the vital need to end industrial agriculture and the benefits of community grown organic crops.

For more details on Dr. Chopra, please visit http://www.ShivChopra.com
His book “Corrupt to the Core” is available at http://www.KosPublishing.com
DVDs by Dr. Chopra are available at http://www.MediaReel.net/Chopra