Enlightenment and the Time Factor

Spoken by Supreme Master Ching Hai
Seattle, Washington, U.S.A., April 7,1993
(Originally in English)

Q: How long must one meditate to reach enlightenment?

M: Enlightenment comes immediately. As soon as you sit down with the Master and sincerely
want it, it comes immediately, sometimes even before initiation. Sometimes I have not finished the instructions and people have already gotten enlightenment. Some people are in a hurry and they have no time to wait.

But meditation takes place daily because we always want to be in the enlightened state, and we always want to renew our acknowledgment of enlightenment. We want to strengthen and expand it until infinity. Otherwise, even if you meditate for 100 years, you won't get enlightenment.

Meditation doesn't bring enlightenment; the Master Power does. During the so-called "meditation" in our Method, you do not meditate because meditation means effort, but in our way, it is effortless. You might sit there, sometimes even feeling sleepy, and enlightenment comes even then. Or you will be enlightened during sleep, because the Master Power will awaken your soul during sleep. While your mind is asleep and your body is at rest, your soul will be awakened into the world of Light and Wisdom.

Therefore, meditation is not a means to enlightenment. But for lack of vocabulary in this world, we have to call it meditation. Actually, you just sit there receiving the grace of God and acknowledging your own Supreme Power. Actually, there's no meditation that is involved, because anything that is earned or is a result of some kind of action is still a worldly production; it is still within the material framework. Therefore, our meditation is a non-meditational meditation, an effortless meditation.

Enlightenment and Fate

Spoken by Supreme Master Ching Hai
Seattle, Washington, U.S.A.
April 7, 1993 (Originally in English)

Q: Must a person be fated to achieve enlightenment?

M: Fate is in our hands. If we go around all our lives thinking, "I am fated to do that, this and all that," we'll never do anything. We always have to do our best, do what we want to do, and then see what fate has in store for us. Then we will know. Otherwise, how do we know?