Appreciate Life, Start With Enlightenment
[Part 2/2]Spoken By The Supreme Master Ching Hai In Colorado, USA
April 10, 1993
(Originally in English)
Q: In the Bible Jesus Christ said: I and my father are one . (M: Yeah.) But, how can I reach this state? Question And Answer Session
M:Get enlightenment, yeah. Get initiation. That's what we are here for, to help you.
Q:Dear Master, I have never eaten vegetarian. However, after I listened to your videos and read your magazines, I started to eat vegetarian once or twice a month (M: Wa, big deal, big deal!) Can I meditate? If yes, is there any danger?
M:Fine, it's already a big improvement, yeah. From thirty days to twenty-eight days.
Q:Dear Master, how to live a happy life?
M:Didn't I tell you? (Master and everyone laugh.) To get enlightenment is a sure way of a happy life. Okay, I am very patient.
Q:Could you please explain your precepts against killing. Specifically against abortion. Is Abortion An Offense To The Precepts?
M:Wa! You get me into trouble. Ah, Thou shalt not kill is the precept of all religious scriptures, not only Christians. It's even in Jainism, Hinduism and other religions also. If they truly take this thou shalt not kill in a true sense of the precept, abortion, of course, should be avoided. And the doctor should be very precise in determining what is the special situation that people should undertake this. Because maybe sometimes it's dangerous for the mother, yeah, or dangerous for both. So, the doctor should be fair in determining that situation. Otherwise I think we should save life in any way we can. Whatever special circumstance with you, that you have to answer, your self- conscience, and the doctor has to determine that. Okay? I am not here to condemn anyone, because I know life is very hard, and very difficult to say which is right and which is wrong. Because we are also all under the sway of karma, of the law of cause and retribution, and sometimes it is very difficult for a person to go above that, to be saintly, and to be decisive about anything in life. But, bear in mind that if you have faith in God, and in all our wisdom and if we are enlightened, no circumstance is difficult, no situation is hard to handle. So, I just propose enlightenment, and no condemnation for anything. (Applause.)
Q: Is it okay to receive initiation from more than one master?
M:Yeah, it's okay. But why is it necessary? For example, if your master has already taught you the light and sound within you, and you are satisfied and you're making progress with that path, then you don't have to be initiated by another master who will teach the same method. But nevertheless, if you are not completely satisfied and you would like to have more, I mean you are more convinced in some other master, of course you may do so.
Q:Jesus ate fish, why do you not? Respect The Talent And Qualities Of Other People
M:You always put fish in Jesus' mouth. (Laughter.) Alright, suppose he ate fish, he is Christ, he can do many other things that you cannot do. Why you look at the piece of fish only and not at his qualities and his holiness? As soon as you become holy as he is, and powerful as he is, you can eat human beings, okay?! (Laughter & applause.) If you are that desperate for meat... Oh God! We always compare the things that other people do to suit our taste. But we do not respect their qualities and their talents, yeah. We have to know what we have and other people have, hm, and then we can say what we can do or not. The president he can stay in the white house, he has a lot of bodyguards, he has power over the whole nation. So, somethings he can do, we can not. Okay, right?!
Q: Are pain and illness always the result of present karma? If so, how do we clean them out?
M:We clean it out by enduring it. Alright? Because it's already too late now to reverse the wheel of karma. But we could minimize it, we could lubricate it by being enlightened, by meditation on the perfection of the Father every day through the guidance of a teacher, through initiation. Then, we minimize a lot of things. Yeah, um.
Q:Do you feel this initiation is important? Why can it not be done on our own?
M:The question answers itself, um. If you have done it yourself, then it's not necessary to get an initiation. But if you couldn't do it, if you haven't seen the light of God and the sound of heaven, then, initiation is necessary. Besides there are many steps to heaven that you must know, verbally, the instruction, and so many pitfalls that you should avoid. And if you do not know that, you'd waste a lot of time, and sometimes it's dangerous, um.
Q:Who was your Himalaya master and what lineage?
M:I think I talked about that already in some of the tapes. You go and have a look, okay? Now I'm here and you keep asking about my master all the time. I am jealous. (Laugher.) I am so beautiful, and you don't care about me. (Master and everyone laugh.) You care about an old man with wrinkled eyes and cranky mood and doesn't talk to any one, doesn't accept disciples. (Laughter.)
Q:Master, specifically what is the difference between enlightenment and the power to initiate, and which one does the patriarch of the Bible have?
M:The power to initiate came first. You will have the power of initiation also if you are pointed by the master, because a master will initiate through you. And also you have the power, the true power, the perfect power, not the borrowed one, when you become a master. When you reach the fifth plane of consciousness, then you become Christ or Buddha, yeah. At that time you can initiate. But enlightenment is a part of it, part of the power. And you will expand this, and get to know more of your greatness, more and more until you realize your complete self. And that is the time you'll know God. That's the time you'll be able to initiate people.
Q:Dear Master, is it right that we have to be at or beyond the second level of spiritual practice to have a samadhi experience? In The State Of Samadhi
M:No, no. It's not true. It's just that deeper or shallower samadhi. If you see the light or hear the sound, that means you're already in samadhi. It's just a little bit not very deep. And sometimes you're in very deep samadhi, and you sit there and only aware of the inside, and sometimes aware of both, inside and outside.
Q: If initiated, can one practice meditation an hour in the morning, half hour in the middle of the day and an hour at night? Does one have to meditate two and a half hours continuously a day?
M:No, no. You can separate it. You can do it on the bus, in the park, on airplane and the train, etc. to make up for the hours that you need.
Q:Please explain the reason for not eating or using eggs, and how do eggs represent life and death?
M:Because egg is a symbol of life and death. In it contains life, yeah. And many of the black magicians or white magicians they use eggs to withdraw some of the negative possessive spirit within some people, yeah. Therefore, if we eat eggs too much we tend to attract this negative force toward ourselves. Yeah, that's one of the reasons why we should not eat eggs, hm.
Q:Do you have homosexual disciples?
M:Yes. Do I have to report to you their private business?
You see, homosexuality is just a misconception about their awareness. They misunderstand their body's function. And when they become enlightened, this will be less and less, because they will identify themselves less with the body, but more with the spirit. Therefore there's nothing wrong with that.
Yeah, when the children are very young, they play with plastic models and they cling to their teddy bears, but when they grow up, they will leave them. So do not worry about your misidentification with your body or with your birth appearance. It's alright, just get enlightenment, and everything will fix itself in due course.
Q: Master, I often see that in meditation it is my mind watching my mind, I lose faith that I can't go beyond this technique. Any advice? Thank you!
M:Oh, of course, it's not the very suitable technique for you perhaps. Because if we use the mind to watch the mind, we are still inside the mind and inside the creation's destroying and nourishing process. We should go beyond the mind. Therefore in our meditation, we don't use the mind at all. Yeah, and that is the most advanced technique. So, maybe try ours, Okay?! Um.
Q:What happened to your husband?
M:Oh, thanks for your concern. We've lost contact for, I think, several years now. Well he waited for me six years, alright? And then, he remarried after six years. And during the time we wrote off and on, half a year a letter, or one year a letter. And after six years, he got married again, with a vegetarian doctor wife. And then he got a son and he reported that to me. That was the last I heard of him. If you are interested to know, maybe I'll go into the second level and have a look at his future. (Master and everyone laugh.)
Q:Master, how important is it to see the light eighteen inches in front of me. I only see it close to my forehead. Thank you.
M:It's fine, It's a good beginning. Don't worry. It will grow further.
Q: I don't know if it's my business to understand, but I would like to find out about Buddha's message when he came from India and sat facing the wall for nine years. Why Budhi Dharma Sat Facing The Wall For Nine Years
M: Oh! The patriarch, the Budhi Dharma? Facing the wall for nine years? Because He had nothing else to do. (Laughter.) If it weren't for you, I would probably sit and face the ceiling for nineteen years. (Laughter.)
You see. If they have things to do, they would do them whole-heartedly. If they have nothing to do, they just do what they want to do. Yeah, that's it. And if He loved the wall so much, why not? (Laughter & applause.)
You see actually, of course I make a joke about it. But you see, to elaborate it further, you should understand that an enlightened person is very contented within him or herself, and does not desire to do anything when it's not necessary.
For example, if I don't come to you or if I don't lecture or if nobody requires me to come out to see them or talk to them, I am always in my room. Yeah. Of course sometimes I like to take a walk in the garden or in the forest whenever it's there. If not, I stay in my room. I do nothing, I am just happy. Yeah, I may read books, or not read books. I might meditate, or not meditate. I may sleep, or I may feel awake. I may eat something or not eat something. I'm fine within the walls. You see!
That's the problem with the prisoners. Because they are not enlightened, therefore they feel walls separate them. If they were enlightened they would sit pretty well in there and they'd never probably want to leave prison at all. Yes, it is because we are very contented within ourselves. You see.
That's why the patriarch, He sat there and felt good. At that time, probably there was no lecture hall for Him, and not many people understood Him. So, He just sat there and enjoyed Himself. He could have done other things, but it wasn't necessary at that time.
There was a story about a Zen master and his disciple. I am afraid to lose your time. Is it okay to tell? (Audience: Yes.) Okay. One Zen disciple, yeah, very enlightened perhaps, came to see his master after some time, and then his master asked him, Ah, well, well, what did you do all these months? Yeah, you had a summer vacation, now what did you do? He said, Oh, in my backyard, there is a big piece of land. I cultivated it and planted some vegetables, and they tasted so good, they looked good. Yeah, and I feel very good about it. So, the master praised him and said, Oh, well, well, you did not waste your time, huh! You know how to use your time, it's very good, yes.
And so the disciple asked the master: Then what did you do during this time that I was not here? What did you do? And the master said, Oh, in the daytime I ate and read books, in the nighttime I slept, hm. So, the disciple also nodded his head and said, Oh, well, well, master, you also know how to use your time, you didn't waste your time, you are very useful!
You understand? Yes, it's very comfortable, huh! It takes an enlightened mind to understand an enlightened mind. So, that's what it is, with the enlightened people. If they have work to do, they do it. If they don't they don't miss anything.
So, whenever we are on tour, we are sometimes in a kind of very famous place. You know? Like when we were in Mexico, we were next to the pyramid, yeah and of course people would like to go there. It was about one hour from our place actually, and my room was in the middle of the city, with all the noises and all the narrowness, everything. But still I didn't long to go to the pyramid. So, we never did go.
Even though I stayed there six days, and lectured only one day. But I saw people every day of course. But I had no longing to go to see pyramid, or anything else. I stayed always every day, every minute of the day in my room.
And so, I told you again and again, enlightenment is the only way for the cure of everything in this world. Otherwise, if anyone else, you put them in the room like that, yeah, and don't let them go to see pyramid, something, they will be unhappy. But we are not. I and my disciples, the immediate crew, you know, nobody wanted to go to the pyramid. I asked them, If you want to go, you are free to go. Don't have to wait for me or ask my permission. But nobody wanted to go. They are just happy to serve.
They sleep when they have time. And when they wake up, they go and prepare for the lecture-equipment and all that. No one longs to go sightseeing, nothing. It's because we are very contented within ourselves.
Therefore, the first patriarch, Bodhi Dharma, the Budhist who came to China and faced the wall nine years, it was the same situation, um.
Q: During meditation do we need to keep ourselves awake so that we know that we are meditating? If I fall into a state of not fully being awake or I fall asleep, is there any good in my meditation at all? Why Ego Exists?
M:Yes, it's a good sleep. (Laughter.)
Q: I have been on a vegetarian diet for three months, but I can't cross my legs because there is a problem with my legs. So, am I qualified for initiation? And can you comment on posture in meditating?
M:Then don't cross your leg for God's sake. Do what you want with your legs. I don't want your legs. I just want your enlightenment, okay.
Q: After initiation and if Master is not with us, if I have any problems with my meditation, what should I do?
M: The Master is always with you, hm. Master is not the body. We are wisdom. We are connected with the whole universe. And the master who is worth his name is omnipresent. So, whenever you are in trouble, the Master knows. And the Master is always helping you to progress. Whether you see the Master or not, it depends on your power of samadhi. Otherwise, Master is twenty-four hours awake and taking care of you. So don't worry, okay?
Q: Master, You are very beautiful and have much to offer. I am glad to be here. My question has to do with the ego. What are we to do with it, if anything, and why does it exist?
M: I see. The ego doesn't exist actually. The ego comes from the information that we collect during our time, and during our inter-relationships with others or with all things around us, yes.
For example, when you were born, you had no ego. But when you grow up and then you know yourself to be beautiful or handsome, yes, then, the ego begins to grow yeah. And everybody praises you. Wa! you're beautiful! And then, You have a Ph.D.! You grow more in pride, and that is the ego, yeah.
But, don't worry about it. It's just a good accessory sometimes. And you can throw it away anytime you don't need. But, you have to have enlightenment first in order to know when to wear it, and when to put it down. Okay?
Q: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? Initiation Is The Only Way To Reach The Fifth World
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, um. The fifth level is meant for the initiated people only, not for other disciples. They couldn't even reach the first.
Q: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!
Q: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, um. 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, um. Forget about the physical aspect.
Q: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 can not 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? Experience Is Better Than Empty Talk
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.
Q:How to affect our beloved, such as husband or wife, to be a more moral person. Is there a special method to help them?
M:Yes, enlightenment. Enlightenment helps you to be sharper in all feelings, yeah. And you'll be a better wife, be better husband even. Many of our initiates claim that their married life became much better after both of them practiced God's presence, yeah, the light and sound. Before that they just had a kind of very lukewarm relationship, or cold to ice cube. And after enlightenment they know how to care for each other and then feel more toward each other, um.
Q:Dear Master, I had a lot of nightmares in childhood. Now the nightmares are gone, but, I still dream frequently every night. Please tell me are these dreams involved with my karma?
M: Maybe you had a very rough life before, um. You lived in truly nightmarish life . Therefore, the influence still lingers up till now. Well I sounds like advertising manager, but enlightenment is also for everything. If you want to live a fearless life, and dreamless life, then, of course enlightenment is the answer.
Q:Master, were Hermes, Zoroaster, the Essences, the Gnostics masters? And who were the first masters? And who is the great white brotherhood?
M:All masters, all true masters are one. They come from one source. And the highest master is Suma, the almighty which is in all of you. When we first came here we were masters before. And we came here, we blessed the world. And, we forgot all about our power and our glory. And our energies were also exhausted, because we paid attention to outer phenomenas. So, all the masters who came here are the ones who are awakened in this awareness and know their true glory, and they can travel the road home frequently. And they can lead us back home. So, no need to discriminate between any master. All the religions are founded after the master has gone. Therefore we have Christian after Christ, Buddhist after Buddha, etc., okay?!
Q:Enlightenment always seems so lofty. In what ways will I be different after enlightenment ? How will I know? Is it in black and white?
M:Oh, you'll know it, you'll know it definitely. You'll know it, just like you walk inside the door and when you walk outside the door. It's very definite and very beneficial to your daily life. You will know it, very definitely. Just like an educated person and an uneducated person, there is a great difference.
Q: Is it true that to become fully realized one must practice the highest yoga-tantra and the secret mantra? And if Buddha performed these before full realization?
M:I didn't see anything like that in the scriptures. I only saw that He sat under the Bodhi tree for forty days or more. And He saw the stars at the time of realization. So, if you want to have this same realization as Buddha, you can have it, right now, um.
And about tantra and tantrum, I do not know. I did not see anything in the Buddhist scripture referring to the Buddha's practice before He was enlightened. I only know that He saw the stars and He saw the light. So, if you want that kind, we have it. Okay?!
Q:There is a vow to refrain from intoxicants. What about chemicals on fruits and vegetables?
M:Oh, my God! You are fanatic. Wash them with the salty water, yeah, and eat them. Otherwise, you die, hmm? (Laughter & applause.)
Q: Since I started the vegetarian diet, my son who's seven years old asks, Is it another no-meat day? I realize my son was born with the great nature of not eating meat. But due to my ill-concept I started his meat eating habit. How can I restore his greatness and reduce my guilt?
M:Um, then take time. You have taken much time and efforts to force your son into meat, and now you have to take the same amount of effort and time to reverse.
Q:Dear Maser, please explain what kind of karma it is when there were dictators like Hitler, Lenin, Ho Chi Minh, who caused the wars that killed millions of people, and made millions of others suffer. How Dictators Emerge?
M:That is a collective karma of mankind which, as I told you, are by-products of the inter-relationships between humans and other beings in this world or other worlds. And those kinds of by-products became a kind of very forceful strong energy hanging around our earth's atmosphere. And when it is too condensed, then it has to manifest into some kind of visible, such as a very great dictator who kills millions, etc.
As you have asked, so therefore, these people are not to be blamed also, in a sense. But, ourselves are to be blamed. If each one of us leads a life of virtues, keeps the commandments, and refrain from killing of any kind - including the indirect killing, so keeping the vegetarian diet - and the world would never have bred these kinds of dictators in the first place.
These are there to remind us of the virtuous way, and if we are not awakened yet, then these things will continue to remind us until the whole mankind is awakened.
Q:What is anger? Why does it boil inside us? And how do we release this anger? How To Eradicate Anger?
M: Sometimes it helps to release it outwardly. Sometimes between husband and wife or men or parents and children there exists some kind of tension. And after you have cleared it together, you clear the air, it's also helpful.
Whatever comes naturally, just let it be. If you cannot control it or you cannot control it completely, just try not to bear hatred in it. Just express what you feel, express it in as best manner as you can okay?! Because sometimes anger, when swallowed too much of the time will breed disease within the body.
So the best is that, first we have the virtues of God, and then other passions like anger, greed, attachment, will subside by and by.
Q:You say only human beings can become a Buddha. I want to know if when a disciple passes away and he is on the 4th level, does he need to come back to this world to be a human being and after that to study until he becomes a Buddha?
M:Oh, no, he doesn't have to. He studies from there. The Master will continue to teach the disciple and never leave the disciple until the disciple completely realize himself, hm! (Applause.)
Q:You said You denounce immorality. What is meant by sexual misconduct? Is that wrong?
M: I do not denounce anything. I just propagate correct way of life. And you are free to follow it, okay?! I do not denounce anything. If you feel that is a denouncement, it's not true. Just that you go into the wrong direction. Now you should go back to the right one, if you want to arrive at your destination which is the Kingdom of God.
Too much sexual abuse and indulgence tires your body, exhausts your mental power which should be conserved for the greatest enlightenment, and to help yourself and to help mankind. It's more noble that way. That's all, yeah.
Sexual misconduct means you have too many girl friends, too many boy friends, too many husbands and wives. It exhausts your storehouse of energy, okay?!
Q: How do You suggest that a person go about attaining enlightenment when that person lives in extreme and almost constant pain.
M:There are many drugs that help you with pain these days. You do not have to endure that. Medicine, you can take in order to prevent the pain. And then when you are calm and peaceful, then you can meditate.
Q:Please let us know if God, the comforter that God sent, the spirit of truth, is only one comforter or a few comforters? If there are a few, please let us know how many?
M:You want to shop, uh, shopping for enlightenment! (Laughter.) One is enough for you, right now, okay?! (Applause.) Because even if there are a few, who knows if they will come to you and when, and whether you are still alive when the other comforters come, understand? Okay?
Q:Oh, Master, I have a hard time meditating because my head hurts when I start to meditate. Please tell me how to stop the headaches?
M:Maybe you try too much. You should not have any effort, yeah. But I don't know what kind of method you study, so it's difficult to tell you. But whatever you do, relax, yeah. Just do it just like you are mowing a lawn or eating the breakfast. No need to put strain on your brain for concentration. In our method we do it without effort. We just sit there and the light comes. Therefore, it is better.
Q:What does it mean when some people are absent-minded when someone talks to them, and they just don't react, or they instantly forget what you've just said. Is it because they're too mental or they use their mind too much?
M:How do I know? You ask them?!
Q:Dear Master, when You die where does your soul go and what happens to your energy and karma?
M:Me or anyone? (Q: It says when You die.) I'll tell you after I die, okay?! (Laughter & applause.) It's too early. I mean I am still very young.
Q: If after being initiated and I still make a mistake like eating meat or having an evil thought, does it mean that I'll be disconnected from God or suffer some bad punishment? Heavy Karma Incurred In Meat Eating
M:Evil thought, you might not be able to control it immediately after enlightenment, because it's just like the car brake, you see. When the car runs sixty miles an hour, and if you want to brake it, do it slowly, yeah. So, it'll probably take some time to be able to purify completely yourself.
But the meat you can avoid it, yeah, except when you don't know it and you eat it by mistake, then that's fine. But you have to meditate more on that day to clean that, because that is a very heavy karma. That's what makes people ill, what makes our body suffer, and what makes us go to hell afterward to repay for the suffering of other beings. (Applause.)
Q:Dear Master, I sincerely thank You for the lecture today. I wish that You take care of Your health, so that You can continue to give lectures for the rest of the world, and save people who have the sincerity to find the way back to God's home. Thank You again. Please take care of Yourself.
M:Thank you, thank you. God takes care of me. You take care of me. Because you have love for me, you have good thoughts for me, you have loving wishes for me, therefore you take care of me.
I can't take care of myself. I just flow with the water. Wherever there is demand, I just have to fulfill it. I have no time or actually no very fixed schedule to say that I can take care of myself. Never mind, I am okay. I work hard and I am alright.
Q:This question is about discipline. I find that I am very devoted to trying new techniques for a period of time. When I do not see results or when I get too busy or too tired, I just give up, I don't stay with the discipline. How can I push through my weakness and continue with daily routine and mastery?
M: Ah, of course if you have a method and it doesn't work very well, and also maybe you do not follow the practice regularly and diligently and sincerely, then, you lose your faith, yeah. So, try to do what is instructed, and then your faith will grow more with the results. Of course if you don't have results, you don't have faith, and the less faith you have, the less results. So, you'll be in the circle.
Q:Master, sometimes during meditation with the Convenient Method, I feel a chill from my spine going up to my head, and then there seems to be a feeling of energy encircling in my head. What does this mean? Is this a bad or good sign? Awaken The Primitive Force Of The Universe
M:It's okay. It's your kundalini at work. Afterward you'll be used to it. It's only a Convenient Method, and still it works all so much, because of the master power blessing you. Other people they practice many years to try to awaken the kundalini, and they can't do it.
Q:Did Jacob receive bad karma for tricking Isaac into giving him the blessing? Did Benjamin receive bad karma for tricking his brothers into bringing his father to Egypt?
M:Oh, he talks about Bible? (Q: Ah, the Old Testament.) Oh, what do we know about these people? Why do we care? They are all gone, yes. (Laughter & applause.) I think we have enough work to do with our own.
Okay. That's it? I am relieved? Ah, fine. Thank you for your attention. (Applause.)
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