The Horror of Drugs
Spoken by Supreme Master Ching Hai
Hsihu, Formosa, June 27, 1995
(Originally in English)
Q: I have a problem with the meditation. Before,
for a few years, I was taking quite a few hallucinatory drugs.
M: So what happens now? If you don't take,
it's good for you. Of course, you damaged the brain cells a little;
but it's all right, we'll repair it. So you have problems when you meditate.
What kind of problems?
Q: Concentration.
M: Concentration
- that's why you have to practice, of course, but I think you're okay;
you are repaired. Don't worry about that. Concentration is just a common
"disease" of this world's people, so don't worry; take it
easy and when you meditate you always have to remember here (Master
points to the wisdom eye) with all sweetness and loving kindness. Then
it massages your inner brain. Use your love, contact inside, that's
all you need. Because you didn't take drugs for too long, it's okay.
It's repairable. You do the Quan Yin Method and it will repair more.
It will mend all the tissues and recharge them with new life and energy.
Don't worry about that. You have to do it more diligently. Even if you
can't concentrate, you do it. When you do the Quan Quang, the Light,
of course, it's not easy to concentrate. But the Quan Yin Method, even
if you don't concentrate, it's also there so it will help you. The Quan
Yin Method means the "Sound"; it's the most beneficial for
this kind of problem.
I'm
very happy that you have quit the nasty habit and come back to your
beautiful Self, fragrant with the elixir of love. It's more suitable
for you, for such a handsome guy. So he is very clever and strong. It
is very difficult to get out of that habit. If you are in, I think you're
finished. Many people are finished. Sometimes they end their lives because
they can't do anything about it. You know drugs are very nasty. When
a drug addict has no food, drugging "food," then he feels
like millions of needles are pinching him from inside and his whole
body is like it's on fire and things like that when he can't get it
on time. Terrible, and they're in agony all the time; or it's like thousands
of snakes are biting them at the same time everywhere, from inside the
brain. That's how drugs damage the nerves of people and make them die
a horrible and slow death.
That's
why all of the drug-selling people are the most horrible beings in this
world. They trade such a poison, killing people's brains, energy, youth
and their precious intelligence. The drug-selling people are terrible.
If they realized what harm they do to the world, I think they would
stop. I don't think they realize it because, as the drug dealer they
probably don't take it themselves. They know it very well and don't
take them. If they do take them, they always have enough supply, so
they might die eventually from the poison but not in such agony; they
would die from the drugs, that's all. Overdose and die quickly, but
not in such agony, so they don't realize what harm they are doing to
the youth of this world.
It's
terrible. See how terrible it is? Very rarely can people get out of
that habit. This is really terrible. All the time the world is in trouble.
Actually drugs are one of those things we can avoid; therefore, we must
avoid them. We must avoid spreading suffering to humankind by trading
drugs, encouraging the use of drugs, having anything to do with drugs,
or covering for the people who buy, sell or accidentally stumble onto
drugs and become the victim of them.
We
must avoid them - drugs, cigarettes, alcohol and things like that. It's
a disaster that we can avoid, so we must avoid it. We can die anytime
of anything, of course; but if we inflict suffering upon ourselves and
upon other people, then we take the karma.
Of
course, in war too, the people who order war take the heaviest karma.
If we go to hell, we see all kinds of people there. If one day you're
bored and you want to go "shopping" in hell, you have a look.
Almost all the famous murderers are there and they are suffering all
the time. They are suffering the feelings that they caused to millions
or billions of victims when they were alive. That's what is called "hell".
There is no need of a devil to pinch you, to fork you, to chop you,
to grind you - no need; your eternal turmoil is enough to kill you every
day. The more people you kill, the more people you abuse or agonize,
the more suffering and the longer you will have to experience that.