The Big Brother Of The Tainan Underground

Narrated by Fellow Initiate Wu, Tainan, Taiwan
Recorded by a Resident Disciple, Hsihu, Taiwan

At the early stage of master Ching Hai’s preaching, She always found time to visit prison inmates. Besides comforting and encouraging them spiritually, She also shared with them biscuits and candies. Due to the longing of sentient beings around the world, Master has become increasingly busy, and constantly travels and preaches abroad. Although She no longer has time to visit prisons, Her concern for prisoners persists. She has instructed our fellow initiates to visit them on Her behalf when they have time. Initiates who used to be prisoners have been requested to go along to encourage the inmates with inspiring stories of their own conversions from evil to goodness.

For this reason, brother Wu was also asked to join such a trip. Unexpectedly, when the organizing brother explained the trip’s objective and asked him to present a speech in the prison, he refused abruptly on the spot. He continued to reject later requests as well. His fear was that, after speaking in the prison, he would be laughed at and would lose face in the event that he should decide to join the gangster circle again. He also found many excuses, like being too shy to speak in public , in order to turn down the requests. The organizing brother had no option but to report the situation to Master. In order to help him understand the holy meaning of this work, Master asked someone to relate the following message to him: “This is the last opportunity in your life to do this job. You must seize this chance, and remember your mission. When you go to fulfill your assignment, be humble at heart, and absolutely refrain from being arrogant.”

Upon receiving Master’s instructions, brother Wu dared not refuse anymore. To accomplish the job perfectly, and to avoid stage fright, he practiced frequently before his wife and son who acted as his audience. The response to his speeches was always “It is awful!” After several attempts, he was ashamed to torture his wife and son any longer. He could only wait until midnight when no one was around, and then stealthily go outdoors to practice his speech to the light pole. And whenever he had time, he would meditate at home, praying to Master to bless him and grant him inspiration.

One day, he felt thwarted and complained to his wife, “I don’t think I am going, because until now my practice is still far from satisfactory!” His wife rebuked him, saying, “This is an assignment from Master, how can you refuse to go? I see you are usually very talkative. Why can’t you speak now that you have the opportunity to express yourself?”

Since it was Master’s assignment, he dared not complain any more. Instead, he rushed to meditate and pray for Her help. On the next day, the organizing brother conveyed another message: “Master said that your wife may also give a speech to the female inmates.” Upon hearing this, his wife’s face turned green, and her nervousness was no less intense than brother Wu’s.

Early the next morning, brother Wu and the working members arrived punctually at the Taipei Prison. Cordially, the prison staff led them to the VIP Room for a brief rest; then they split up into two groups and went to the male and female wards respectively. This trip induced very deep emotions in brother Wu. Previously, whenever he went to a prison, he entered as a prisoner. However, this time he came as a VIP lecturer. Events in this world are truly ever changing and unpredictable. On the way, he recalled some fragmented memories of his life in prison, and without being aware of it soon reached the lecture venue.

When brother Wu went onto the stage and began to speak, the inmates stared at him with hostility and indifference. Even the applause sounded mechanical. An indescribably strange atmosphere pervaded the venue, as if invisible forces were oppressing him and making him speechless. Immediately, he prayed for Master’s blessing, and his mind was stabilized. He described his whole life in detail to the inmates: how he had sunk into gangster society, how he had been converted to goodness and pursued spiritual practice, and how he eventually met master Ching Hai.

As time went on, the atmosphere gradually began to change; the inmates started to listen with great interest and attention, and their expressions also became more cordial. When brother Wu concluded his speech, he received warm applause from the whole audience, which seemed to convey their encouragement and recognition. Some inmates took the initiative of helping the work team clear the venue. Several inmates who knew brother Wu even approached and greeted him. One of them rushed forward saying, “Hello, brother boss! I will surely visit you at Suma Ching Hai’s Center when I am released.” Brother Wu delightedly expressed his welcome.

After this first speech in the prison, brother Wu’s blissful feeling could not be described in words. He never imagined this meaningful mission could be accomplished so smoothly and successfully. For him, it was an incredible challenge . Without Master’s admonition, he could not possibly have gathered the courage and strength to rectify his undesirable quality of declining to do good deeds and benefit others. Furthermore, he had conquered his stage fright.

The most precious lesson that brother Wu learned from this was that he could always feel the bliss of being one with Master during such missions, and experience Her selfless and almighty love. For instance, when going to the Tainan Prison to give a speech, he kept shedding tears in the car until he felt embarrassed. He wondered: “I didn’t shed a single tear when being punished severely for many days in the prison before. Why am I behaving like this now? Perhaps it is like Master once said that our soul knows we are now on the right path, so it cries due to extreme bliss!

When brother Wu made a speech at the Jiayi Prison, another initiate observed a strong light bathing him as he was on stage. He looked much younger in the light, and Master’s manifestation body was standing behind him. No wonder brother Wu always feels that, the more work he does that benefits others, the happier and more relaxed he feels both physically and spiritually, and the more his guilt feelings are eliminated. So, it turns out that Master’s manifestation body is always blessing him and cleansing his karma. This story testifies to the truth of Master’s words: “When helping others, we are actually helping ourselves.”

The application for brother Wu to present a speech at the Hsinchu Youth Prison encountered difficulties. The local fellow practitioners had been applying for a long time, without being approved. Once, when brother Wu spoke at the Hualien Low Security Prison, several inmates advised him, “Brother boss, you should pay a visit to the ‘Hsinchu Youth Prison.’ The situation there is very serious. Tell them the story that you told us today; it will surely touch many of them, and lead them back from the wrong path.” This loving request intensified brother Wu’s wish to visit the Hsinchu Youth Prison.

Perhaps sincerity really worked, or perhaps it was Master’s fantastic arrangement operating invisibly in the background. Mr. Ma Ying Jiu, Minister of the Justice Department was inspecting the Swallow’s Nest (Yan Cao) Prison where he coincidentally met brother Wu, who was making a speech there. Minister Ma shook hands with him and encouraged him cordially. Shortly afterwards, the fellow initiates from Hsinchu received permission from the Youth Prison regarding the lecture application. It happened that Minister Ma had personally called the Hsinchu Youth Prison instructing them to invite brother Wu to give a speech. Fortunately, the Formosan Government is very wise and really cares for prisoners, allowing its youth who have gone astray to have the blessing of developing affinity with a living enlightened Master.

A chain of presentations by brother Wu has occurred in prisons throughout the province. As brother Wu is inclined to getting carsick, long distance travel is agonizing for him. The occasional recurrence of his chronic ailments also aggravates his exhaustion. Once when he was traveling to Yilan to make a speech, he was complaining within about being too tired. However, in the car, he heard a brother recalling when Master wandered and preached everywhere in earlier times. For the sake of saving sentient beings, Master camped anywhere necessary, and did not even have a Center in which to stay and preach. Overcome by remorse, tears rolled down his cheeks. Immediately, all the grumblings in his heart disappeared completely.

So far, brother Wu has presented speeches in prisons in Taipei, Taoyuan, Kaohsiung, Swallow’s Nest (Yan Cao), Jiayi, Tainan, Yilan, Hualien, and Green Island (Lu Dao), as well as the Hsinchu Youth Prison. He receives an overwhelming welcome everywhere he goes. After each talk, he always begins to wonder, “Where is the next opportunity for me to redeem my sins?” He truly feels that real happiness can only be found in doing work that serves and benefits others.

For Little Angels – Lesson 12

By Master Duy Tue

Lesson 12 – Don’t think you are a special person

You study very well or sing very well.  A lot of people tell you that and you think you are really special.  It is not right for you to think so. You should never think that you are a special person.  You have to understand that you are a normal person.

Even when other people admire you, you are still a normal person. If someone praises you, of course you have to thank them but you should  also know you are not a genius.

Don’t think you are better than anyone.

Love for All Beings Begins with Vegetarianism

Spoken by Master Ching Hai
December 4, 1993
Portland, Oregon

It is good not to eat fish or meat. Actually, if we can love a dog, why not love a cow or pig; because they are the same. [Applause] This is one of the reasons why we should be vegetarian – love for all beings, extending love. Enlarge our love, enlarge ourselves, to the whole universe. We shouldn’t even cut the flowers or eat vegetables, but still we have to do what’s minimum, what’s less suffering. The flowers when we cut them, they can sprout again and make more flowers. Vegetables when we cut a branch, they can sprout a few more branches. So, it’s not that bad.

Even though all beings have feelings, plants have the least feelings, because ninety percent of the constitution of vegetables is water. That’s why they have less consciousness than animals or human beings. We human beings are a combination of many things, and that gives a good environment for intelligence to activate. For example, even though you are very intelligent, you need a good computer in order to program some intelligent things – some distinguished program.

Similarly, God Power needs this body which is a composition of different elements, in order to manifest inside into the outer world. That’s why we have more feelings, more intelligence, because God Power can make use of many of the tiny instruments within ourselves in order to spread out the blessing, the message and the intelligence. In that plant, God Power cannot do that, because there are not enough instruments. That’s all.

Just like the bulb here. If the electric bulb is a 100-watt, then its electricity can be brighter than in a 20-watt. If we damage the 100-watt bulb, it is more expensive, more of a waste than a 20-watt bulb. This is why we try to economize. This is why we should eat the least conscious thing possible, like vegetables. Is that logical to you? [Audience: Yes]

I don’t try to push you into guilt or things like that, but we discuss the possibilities of why and how. That’s why to kill a human being is the most terrible crime, to kill animals is second to it, and a plant is not much. They can grow again, even from the root. But the animal, even if you cut only half of its head, it won’t grow again. Therefore, we have to believe things when they’re logical; not because it’s the guilt-inflicting theory or because we have to do that because some of the teachers say so or some of the religions say so.

I do not feel that we are unintelligent beings, that we could swallow anything, especially the Americans. They are no-nonsense folks. They don’t just “eat” anything. So, we have to tell them whatever is logical. Even if people do not accept it today, they can think about it later.

Sometimes I believe also, that during the course of my speaking, sometimes it’s too fast – you sometimes listen to one sentence and you miss the next, and also it’s difficult. So, if you want to listen again, you can get the tape. All the tapes we sell are without profit, because we don’t believe in selling God for profit. We make profit other ways, by mundane talents like dress designing, lamp producing, painting pictures. All these things we are allowed to make. It’s our mundane talents, so we get the mundane profit; but not to sell God for profit. We don’t even collect money, get a member’s fee, or anything to do with God’s teachings; because it’s all free for every of His children. It was free for me. It will be free for everyone, as long as I can afford it. If I cannot afford, then I stop.

Now, can you see why we are God? God Power is omnipresent, is all-pervading everywhere; and we are just one of the beholders. Just like my swimming pool – the water came from the nearby stream, led in by a pipe, and we have a hole underneath or on top so that it will flow out again into the river without stopping a portion of the water. the water in the pool, even though it’s surrounded by stones and cement, is still water from the river and is connected in some other way.

If our swimming pool is blocked from connecting with the spring for some reason, then we have to unblock it. Maybe the pipe is blocked, the pipe is damaged, or the hole is blocked; so we have to unblock it. Enlightenment is the unblocking of our obscurity to our own nature, to the God connections within ourselves, and to the whole Power of the universe.

Changing Ourselves Changes the World

Spoken by Master Ching Hai
December 4, 1993
Portland, Oregon

We are stepping into the Golden Age, so we have to change. We have to leave behind all these old useless conceptions of how a Saint should be; or we should leave behind the dark thinking, the negative expectation of the world and ourselves. Do something!

We start from ourselves – we clean our house. If our house looks filthy, we clean it first. If there’s anything we don’t like about ourselves, change it! Replace it with more positive, more virtuous qualities. For example, before, when we saw any homeless person we didn’t bother about him. He could stand there on the highway for hours under the sun, wanting to work for food. You’d say, “Oh! No! I cannot take a stranger into my house. That’s dangerous!”

Yes, but we could give him food. We don’t need to ask anything from him. Then sometimes we pass by a homeless person, we feel nothing. We don’t want to help because of our slow reaction, habits, so we don’t help him. When we get home, we feel something is wrong, “I should have helped.” But then we cover it up quickly, “No!” and watch television or do other things.

We don’t want to listen to our conscience, that’s why the world will never get better. If it is the case, whatever we think makes the world better, at least a more comfortable place for ourselves and neighbors, we can share. Begin with sharing, then we will feel a subtle change in ourselves, more love will pour into our consciousness. We will be aware of something that is the beginning.

That’s why the five precepts are just a suggestion that we should change some of the corners of our lives which we do not like. It’s not that we should feel so guilty or blame ourselves, should we fail some of it. But it is a goal so that we go forward. For example, we try to be more loving instead of violent or angry; be more giving instead of trying to take; we should be more faithful to our partner instead of having another mistress, or it could be mister. [everyone laugh]

You always blame the man, I don’t know why. There are women also, who want to play Madam Butterfly [Laughter], flying from one “flower” to the next. There are two kinds of “flowers” – male and female flowers. You know that! These brighten our world more and create a calmer atmosphere around us so that makes us better. That is all good, also a kind of meditation.

We meditate anytime anyhow in our lives. We just meditate mostly on the wrong things. So now, we just use that meditation Power, switch to the right thing, that’s all. When we think too much about how to make money at the expense of others, that is also meditation; we meditate on money. [everyone laugh] We use all our concentration power, or our mighty thinking power in order to get that piece of paper, and on that piece of paper is printed “In God we trust.” [Master and everyone laugh] Isn’t that paradoxical?

Our God is money sometimes! You see, “In God we trust” means we have to know God. If we don’t know God, how could we trust? It’s very easy to say, “In God we trust,” but how? Who is He? What does He look like? What did He do for me? What will He do for me that I have to trust Him? So, we must know that is what enlightenment offers. We have to be enlightened in order to know what God is, who He is, and what does He do to help us every day in all details of our activities. That is the thing we know after enlightenment. We know more and more.

If we did know God before, in some of the blessed incidents, then we’d know Him more and more everyday through a meditative attitude, through a very scientific way of maintaining our enlightened awareness. If we are enlightened once or twice, we still feel not yet there. If someone is hungry for a long time now, and you give him just a little bit of water and bread, will he be satisfied? Of course not.

If you want to learn free meditation method from Master Ching Hai. Please visit  http://www.Godsdirectcontact.org

The Best Way To Worship God

Spoken by Master Ching Hai

The Quan Yin Method (free mediation method from master Ching Hai) is for you to realize that God is you, the way you make Him.  God can be as low as a worm, if you are that.  If you don’t raise yourselves higher than the worm’s level then God will forever stay as a worm. If you raise yourselves higher, the higher your God is, the higher God is glorified. So glorify God by your own power of meditation and realization. That’s the best prayer. That’s the best glorification for God, the most significant prayer and the most significant job that you could ever do for God.   If we say we worship God, Buddha, Allah or whoever you say, and we remain in ignorance, then we truly despite God; we truly disgrace God and Buddha.

Therefore, Buddha said, “If you believe in Buddha, but do not understand Buddha, you disgraced Buddha.” That is the truth. How do you disgrace Buddha? By remaining in ignorance and letting others see that you are an ignorant God, that you have no belief in God anymore, because God is ignorant due to your own ignorant thinking and view point. You think God is like that: “I pray to Him, but He doesn’t hear. I am crawling here, but He doesn’t see.” It is not God who does not see. It is you who does not know that God sees, and who does not directly receive God’s blessing, because you build a lot of obstacles around yourself. You, yourself, deny the benefit and the blessing from God, because you think, from a conditioned mind, from many generations, that you’re not worthy; that you’re wrong; that you are ignorant; that you do all the wrong things against your God’s nature.

Therefore, even now, when you pray, this kind of thinking subconsciously prevents you from knowing you are God, knowing the benefit of God. Then you think God is only that. God is only for you to pray to, to complain to and to demand from, but it is not so. Every God is truly different. Depending on how you think and on your level, God is different. Not that there are so many Gods, but our point of view differ, so God differs. Do you understand now why we must understand and realize God in order to say that we truly worship God? (Applause) Therefore, what the Buddha said is not wrong.  If you don’t understand Buddha, don’t just blindly believe in Buddha or you’ll disgrace Buddha.

The Heavenly Grace of Noble and Selfless Motive

By Master Ching Hai

Every time you think nobly and you act nobly or selflessly, the results are always fantastic, visibly and invisibly. And it affects the whole world, not just that person that you did a favor for, or not just yourself or your family or your five generations. It affects the world and even the universe, depending on how big your action or how grand your noble thoughts are.

It always works because when you’re thinking nobly or acting selflessly, you are one with Heaven. And then you’re adding more power to Heaven to overcome the negative power in this world. So, that’s why you and Heaven are connected, and it’s like teamwork. It’s teamwork because Heaven is invisible and you are visible. The invisible and the visible connect together: It’s very strong. The negative power is also invisible, but it has equipment here which is visible through the people who work for negative power or think negatively. So, if the world is full of these negative instruments and connected with negative power, then of course, it’s bound for doom and trouble.

Use God’s Love and Power for the Best

Spoken by Master Ching Hai
December 4, 1993
Portland, Oregon, USA

 

There shouldn’t be any Master; there shouldn’t be teachers; there should be only spiritual friends, spiritual brothers and sisters; because we inherited the same portions of great wisdom from God. There is no difference between any Master and any of the audience who sits here, and no difference between him and any child or any older citizen; because we all have the same portion of Love and Power within ourselves. If we don’t use it, it’s the greatest waste on Earth. It doesn’t matter how much we recycle materials, we still waste. The greatest waste is that we don’t know we have wisdom, we don’t know we have God’s Power we forgot that we are the children of God.

It’s okay, you say you know it already, you read the Bible everyone knows they are the children of God. But, what makes the difference whether you know that or you don’t know that? Because you are just the same as yesterday, you don’t truly know. You only intellectually heard about it and that makes the difference.

If anything I said today makes sense to you, it is because I recognize this wisdom within myself and I know you have that within yourselves. It’s just you don’t want to use it. You reject it, you deny it, or you feel too inferior about yourself. We didn’t do anything that wrong. If you did or if we did, it was because we did not know. Now it’s time to know what is the righteous thing to do, so we can change very quickly.

How much time do we spend every day in order to take care of this body? We know it won’t last long, but still it’s necessary to take care of it. Now, if we don’t take care of our real body, then we are in even more trouble.

Most of the suffering in this world is due to ignorance of the greatness of our position. No other reason! Because we’re ignorant of it, we identify ourselves with the habits that we learned from maybe TV as a youngster, or maybe from neighbors, from books. We do many things that our conscience within us tells us that this is not correct, but we still do it because many people do it. Then we run into many problems.

Sometimes, we know we shouldn’t take drugs, for example; but we feel empty within ourselves, we feel frustrated. Sometimes we have talents we don’t know how to use them, or where to use them. Society sometimes rejects us for some prejudices, race problems or our appearances don’t please them. So, we fill this void with all kinds of cheap substitutes which, in the long run, ruin us mentally, physically and spiritually. It is because we do not know that we are great, or how to make use of our greatness.

I’m not here to collect your money, tell you what to do, or make you into any condition that is difficult for you. I just want to help you find your great wisdom, your greatest ability again, in order for you to better your life. Because when you better your life, I better my life, too; and my children my friends’ children, my sisters’ and brothers’ children. We have a better and better environment to live in because we are all connected with each other.

Suppose you don’t keep America clean and safe. Could I sit here and talk to you? So, we owe each other everything. I cannot say that I come to teach you anything. We came from the supreme Source before we descended into this physical body and we’ll go back to the supreme Source when our time comes. There is no denying our supreme status. If you don’t want to acknowledge it because you are humble, or because you feel you are not up to it, it’s up to you. But I don’t want to deny my status because I know. There’s nothing arrogant about it. It’s just admitting you are, without any pride, without any fuss, without false humility; because false humility is also false, it’s not true.

We should be true, beautiful and virtuous in spirit, speech and actions. That is a perfect human being. Even if we don’t want to follow this method of immediate enlightenment, we can try other things; at least to think, so that we can focus back again within ourselves, to remember who we are, and to truly understand the sentence that, We are the children of God, or for Buddhist, We all have Buddha Nature within ourselves. That means we are equal to the Buddha, instead of worshiping the Buddha.

We should worship in the right way – to recognize ourselves so that the Buddha (enlightened Master) has less work to do. If we truly want to worship a Buddha or any Saint, we should become one; so that they have less burdens, less worry and one more companion to uplift humankind. That’s why some people don’t like it when I say, “Don’t worship the Buddha. “Be one!” And I can show you how to be one. Not by sculpturing or carving, but by pointing into your own Buddha qualities; and you have to recognize them day by day until you’re fully convinced that you are Buddha. That is the time when you are equal to all the Buddhas (enlightened beings) in the ten directions and three periods of time – past, present and future.

Make Our World into Heaven

By Master Ching Hai
Dec 4, 1993
Portland, Oregon, USA

We must make our world into heaven, not run to heaven; because everywhere is heaven. God created only heaven, until we messed about with our computer-brains – kaput one; I mean damaged, or not very in order. Enlightenment is the way to put ourselves back in order. It’s not a kind of far-fetched heavenly mythology the way we think, but it is just daily experiences of our great resource of love and wisdom which God bestowed upon us before we arrived in this physical dimension. If we think that heaven is somewhere high above the clouds, then we are in trouble; because we have to wait at least sixty or a hundred years in order to go there. With suffering and all kinds of misery in this world, we don’t have to do that.

Life is meant to be joyful for the children of the Most High. If you are the children of the king or the president, now you go to school, how do you feel? You have guards, you have a special Rolls Royce, you have all kinds of privileges, even all the school looks upon you with reverence, love, admiration, envy and many things. You feel you know your status.

In the Bible, it is stated that, we are children of God, and He is king of all kings. Now, we live in this kind of life and we worry about pennies, everything frightens us into losing our sense of dignity and even begging for life. We’d do anything just to be alive, just to keep this physical body functioning. This is not a life of dignity. This is not the life of the children of God, if we truly understand what God means. God is the owner of the whole universe and we are the children. Can you believe it?

Just talking about it and never knowing it, is not the way of enlightenment. And we think we are okay! As long as there is one person suffering in this world, as long as there is still war and famine going on in our neighborhood, we are not okay; because we share the responsibilities of this “house” that we live in. It is a big family, extended, because we can’t live together in one room and we don’t have to. We need variety. We need different talents in order to make the world colorful and interesting. That’s what God wants us to do.

We have so much talent, each one should contribute something. Even with all our talents we can’t contribute as much as we’d want or we cannot be as useful as we’d like to be; because we are not yet okay. We lack something. We lack the true wisdom, the true love which lays sleeping within each of us.

For Little Angels – Lesson 1

By Master Duy Tue
Originally in Vietnamese

FOR ANGELS TO ASPIRE TO THE GREATEST HEIGHTS

The key to open the treasure created by your light of seeing

You are born with two unlimited abilities that will be with you your entire life: the ability to see and understand and the ability to love. You need to be aware that you have these two abilities. The way to get the most out of these abilities is to remember them and use them all your life.

In this lesson, I will show you how to use the ability to see and understand to get focused again when you are studying and thoughts pop up in your mind, making you distracted. Here are the steps to follow:

1. Notice that you are thinking. You have to know that you are losing attention because of some thoughts in your mind

Thoughts that come to your mind and you cannot control are the root of all troubles for everyone in the world. Uncontrolled thoughts cause you to pay less attention to what you are doing. When you are not attentive, you cannot see things as they truly are. If you don’t see clearly, you can’t act correctly. Understanding this harmful side of thinking is important to removing unwanted thoughts. Putting your thinking under control is impossible without this understanding.

2. Stop your work for a while

3. Recall and look at your thoughts

Try to remember what thoughts have made you unfocused. When you are able to see the thoughts, start to observe it. When you look at a thought in your mind, you will see it is like a video that records things that happened a few moments before. The video tells a story. Looking at it, you see the scenes, the people, the time and place of the events. This movie has been made out of your imagination and you are the main character of the movie.

4. Watch the movie but don’t judge it

When you watch the movie, try not to have any ideas about it. There are two reasons why you shouldn’t do that. First, if you think the movie is lame or interesting, the scenes in the movie will get you emotional. You may fear of something or hope for something. Either fears or hopes are not good for the health of your body and your mind. Second, if you judge the movie you are watching, it will take you to another movie. This way one movie will come after another and you just cannot stop it. That’s why you shouldn’t judge. Only watch it. Also, you shouldn’t believe what is happening in the movie in your mind is real.

If you believe it is real, you can’t improve the power of your brain. Your ability to see and understand will be limited. Your love will not grow. Your limited intelligence, visions, and love will make you feel unconfident. And it will be hard for you to avoid risks in your life.

4. Shift your focus of attention

Shift your attention from the movie in your head to something outside of your head. Instead of sitting and thinking, you can play with your little brother or sister, or play with your pet.

5. Go back to your work

After you have shifted your attention, you can get concentrated again. Now it’s time to go back to what you were doing. Full attention is perfect for studying. You can learn the most in the shortest period of time if you are concentrated. When you are paying attention, your ability to see and understand is at its best. When this happens, you can work for a long time without feeling tired.

The five steps above together are the key for you to increase your span of attention and cut off thoughts that “pop” into your mind. You have to remember and use this key as much as possible. The more you use it, the more clearly and precisely you can see and understand. If you can manage to follow the five steps all the time, you will raise your intelligence beyond what you can imagine.

The Perfect Beings from Heaven – part 4

We have to help also with social work. Whatever we can do to help lessen the suffering that is the noblest work which will not only be recognized in this world, but also praised by heaven. That’s why when you give someone who needs it, needs the love or needs some material comfort, at that time you are one with heaven. You’re doing heavenly work. You’re doing the correct work and you’re truly representing heaven in doing all this charitable work.
Maybe these people also are spiritual beings. They have sacrificed themselves, they were born poor so that you could learn the lesson of love. That’s why all the Masters from ancient times advise us that when we give something, we do good to someone, we should not be proud. We might feel good, okay; but we should be thankful that we have had the opportunity to do it.
There was a very famous book published recently in America, in which a person who died, went to heaven and she was shown many different functions of the human beings in this world. In one of the things she was shown was a man – dirty, drunken, old and lonely – who was kind of sleeping in the corner of the street. The heavenly being asked her if she knew who he was. From heaven, she looked down, she said, “Why, it’s a drunken, stupid man.” Because he really looked drunk, stupid, ugly, dirty, filthy, old and worthless.
The heavenly beings revealed to her his real identity after that. Then she knew that this person was a very great heavenly being, respected by all heaven. He was sacrificing his time on the Earth existence to help his friend. His friend was a lawyer, about a block away on the same street. The lawyer was always doing some good work for poor people and for the injustices in the country. But every time he saw this drunken man, he was determined to do more. Otherwise he would forget or slacken in his efforts.
But both of them had forgotten their promise with each other, to help each other, before they came to Earth. They were good friends in heaven and that’s how they helped each other. Of course the lawyer will get all the glory and credit, and the drunk gets all the cursing and all the despising from the people. Knowing and not knowing both of them are doing their jobs very well until the time comes, then they will go back to heaven. Being a drunk man just laying there, just always reminding his friend to try to fight for the poor, for the desperate people, the homeless and the like…

One Can Attain Enlightenment Anywhere – part 2

It is very comfortable to stay in the Himalayas or to stay in some remote, quiet place to enjoy the bliss of the meditational fruit. But it is a greater joy to share this bliss and practice, the fruit of our practice, with the multitude of the people, and practice. It took me a long time to realize this. It was also difficult to forsake Nirvana. It is difficult to realize, after you have attained peace and happiness inside, to remember that in the world there are many people still suffering. It is not very difficult, but it just happens to be not so easy to convince yourself to go out into the world again. Because, when we are in a blissful state of mind, we think differently. We feel differently. We feel everyone is a Buddha. We see the world is in perfect order. It is because of the different state of mind. That is why Lao Tzu in Tao Te Ching said; There is nothing to do under the Heaven.

But in fact, there is something to do, because when we remember our previous ignorance before enlightenment, we were also in a kind of spiritual suffering. Then somebody came and asked me to come out and teach them, to help them, and it is difficult to say no. But it is good for someone to come and ask for enlightenment or for help spiritually. Otherwise, I think no Master ever thinks of going out into the world to share the knowledge and the bliss, that person or Master has attained.

As I have stated earlier, it is not the selfishness of the Master. It is just that the realized person thinks differently and feels different. That is why someone had to force Lao Tzu to write the great book, Tao Te Ching. He was forced to write it. He was forced to reveal along with the book, the invisible written secret, which was revealed only to a few. It is not the book that is important. It is the mystery, the unwritten words that Lao Tzu has revealed to these chosen few, which was important.

Buddha, when He was enlightened, did not want to go out into the world to teach anyone, because he thought he should enjoy Nirvana. In case some of you do not understand “Nirvana,” it is a word in Sanskrit to indicate a very high state of consciousness, blissful, tranquil, desire less state of mind. But then the God Brahma appeared to him and appealed to him to go out to teach the eager people. Probably at that time, he was hiding somewhere and no one was near him to come to appeal to him for enlightenment. So the God Brahma had to do it.

Now we would wonder why Brahma had to make this request like this. It was because many people prayed to Brahma for blessings, enlightenment and deliverance. Brahma is the God of the Third Heaven. According to Hinduism, Brahma is the creator of our world, of this universe….

…..

So we answered the question why Brahma requested Buddha to spread enlightenment doctrine to the world at that time. It is because Brahma being one of the Gods, not of the highest rank in the hierarchy of the Universal Government, could see and hear the suffering of the world, whereby the Buddha at that time, in his highest realization could not. So someone like Brahma had to remind Him.

We often think that the Buddha, the Almighty God will listen to our prayers. But according to my knowledge, it is not so, because according to the highest power, the world is already in order, and all the sufferings in the world are lessons for us to go through in order to grow and mature.  God, the Almighty God, the highest Buddha, does not worry much. It is some other kind of God or lower Bodhisattva who understands and sympathizes with our suffering.

Just like the highest authority of the educational system gives orders for a team to think up the questions in the examination. He does not worry about whether the students can answer them or not and the sufferings of the students who cannot answer. So some of the teachers have to take care and help the students to overcome all these obstacles.

I think I am getting into trouble now – talking about something so abstract. Are you all right? Can you still follow? (Applause) All right. Then I shall continue.

When Buddha reached the highest realization, he reached back to his original Self again, and this original great Self is always in bliss and eternally peaceful. Therefore, he could not understand much of the suffering of the ignorant people, who have not reached the state of enlightenment like he did.

Brahma was the one who looked after the welfare of this world, seeing who is doing good, who is doing bad, so he knows better. Just like the president or the king of a nation has to rely on his ministers, his subordinates of lower ranks like congressman, the ministers, etc… to report to him the wishes of his people.

So now, when we the people suffer enough from the cloud, the prison of our ignorance, we will pray to the Almighty or the greatest Buddha to help to deliver us. And then when it is reported to the Almighty, someone will be sent here to lead these people out of their mind of suffering. The Buddha was one of those who was sent down; so was Jesus.

One Can Attain Enlightenment Anywhere – part 1

Spoken by Master Ching Hai
Korea, March 22, 1992

To the good and intelligent people of great Korea, I have long admired your country. One of the cars that was recommended to me is the Sien-tai (Hyundai). Correct? It is from Korea? And it is a very good car. (Applause) It is not the car that makes me admire your country. It is the spirit of your people that impresses me and impresses the world.

When I was in America and some other different countries, before I took over this “business,” I have often met many Korean monks and lay people and gone to their temples. And whenever I pass by Korea, I always remember to buy some ginseng and kim chi. Therefore I think I have a lot of affinity with Korean people even before we have official meeting like today.

I am very, very honored to have this occasion, this opportunity to address the great people of this country. (Applause) I have felt much affection, good spirit and good will from this place, the moment I stepped down from the airplane in Seoul airport. The overwhelming love of your people makes me feel somehow a little bit shy. But I guess it is because your people have so much love inside, that they have to express it to the world outside.

Since I arrived in this town, numerous people have been coming to welcome me, and to see me in my small room. The warm feeling is still kind of overwhelming in my heart. I wish I could serve your country in whatever way I can. But since I am originally a Buddhist renunciate, I can only serve you in the teaching of the Buddha; especially now that your country is well developed and there is not much need of material support.

Your country has risen up rapidly and the people have risen in consciousness, as well as in a responsible attitude; this creates much respect and admiration from the whole world. And since I have been in close contact with some of your people yesterday and today, I understand why it has happened so.

I understand that God or who you call “Buddha” has blessed your country abundantly. I have seen so many temples, so many monks around the city and in the capital also. I have seen so many Christian churches also growing together with other religious centers. Then I understand that your country, your people are very highly elevated spiritually.

It is only when people are highly elevated spiritually that their hearts can be so open and their mind so tolerant, so large. This enables us to understand that all good religions, all main basic religions are good and are meant for well-being of humankind. This is what I call civilization. Civilization is not measured in wealth or in mechanical development only, but it is measured in the way people are developed spiritually.

We have often heard people say that spiritual practice does not go with the worldly achievement. We have often heard that in order to reach Buddha hood or the Kingdom of God, we have to forsake the whole world, be in a secluded place, and just practice alone or with a group of people. There is some truth in that. But it would be better if we develop spiritually and also look after the material world, so that we can live our lives in this world productively, feeling well and comfortable, and at the same time develop our wisdom.

The great people of Korea somehow manage to do both. This is a balance rarely seen in this world. I humbly congratulate you. (Applause) And in this strength, your country will continue to develop spiritually and materially to bring peace, happiness and prosperity to your great nation.

I think we humans have frail bodies, and our minds are also sometimes weak. If we have a very uncomfortable life, lacking in material comfort, then this will affect our health and our mental equilibrium. Then it is difficult for us to concentrate, to be calmed internally. It does not matter whether we are in the Himalayas or in the market, we can’t achieve the highest meditation experiences that we wish to obtain. Most of us have family, have national affairs, have international trades and businesses to attend to, so we can’t run away into the mountains or hideaway in the caves and just take care of our spiritual practice. Therefore it is very practical to take care of our family, our national affairs and to find a way to practice wherever we are.