Building Courage
and Rising Above Obstacles

Spoken by Supreme Master Ching Hai
Tainan, Formosa, January 12, 1989
(Originally in Chinese)

Q: Every time after I have meditated for a while, I want to stand up. I cannot continue to meditate, because I feel a power pulling me up.

M: What power? [Laughter] You don't blame your own laziness, but you blame an outside power. You always blame ghosts, Maya, foxes, rats or cats. You do not think whether it is your own problem. If we practice diligently, we will eventually have inner experiences, but we must truly be diligent and not blame negative powers for disturbing or pulling us away. Actually, there is no power pulling us away except our weakness. Even if Maya bothers us, it is all because we are afraid of it.

There is an Au Lac saying, "When Maya wants to trouble you, it will look at your face first." This means that it will see whether you are fierce and courageous or not. If not, Maya will bother you. If it sees that you are fiercer than it is, it will not dare to bother you.

In "The Journey To The West," when the king of hell wanted to take the Monkey King to hell, he arrogantly said to the Monkey King, "Ha! Ha! I am the king of hell!" However, when he was defeated, he kowtowed to the Monkey King, saying, "Oh! Your Greatness! Please spare my life! Please spare my life!" [Laughter] We should be like the Monkey King. If we are too weak, we will be intimidated by Maya. If we are always afraid of Maya's power, it will come to us, because we are actually expecting it to come. Otherwise, what power in the world comes to you only but not to others?

Therefore, when we encounter obstacles, we should not be bothered. Even when we feel a negative power, we should continue with our meditation. If we cannot meditate, get up and walk around for a while and then try again to meditate. While reciting the Holy Names and praying to the inner Master for help, we continue to meditate and see what the negative power can do to us. [Applause]

We should be positive, optimistic and courageous and then this will become our habit, because everything is created by the mind. If we lack self-confidence and courage, we will feel scared even when a rat moves; we will imagine that it is a horrible thing or that Maya or some power has come. But it may actually be just a rat. So don't be afraid of anything.