Selected Questions and Answers

Meditation—Our Invisible Source of Strength

Spoken by Supreme Master Ching Hai, Videoconference with Korean initiates August 24, 2002 (Originally in English) Videotape #748

Q: I often feel that my emotions rise in certain situations. For example, with family and so on, I feel love, hatred, jealousy, frustration, pressure, etc. Sometimes I feel that I’m growing through these experiences, but sometimes I think I can’t endure them anymore. I don’t know what kind of viewpoint I should have to deal with these situations.

M: I understand. It’s because you practice more and your energy is more purified that you feel the pressure a little more than before. You’re more sensitive to the different chaotic energies of the world outside. So, the more you feel frustrated, the more you should meditate in order to be able to bear all this pressure and frustration. That’s the only solution.

Q: So more meditation is the only solution for me?

M: Yes, meditate more and then you’ll become stronger than the pressure. I’m very sympathetic with you. I know how you feel. That’s why I teach you this method, to counteract all these troubles and all this bad energy around you. And you’re going to overcome it. You’re stronger than the pressure. It’s just that at the moment it doesn’t seem so. But the greater the pressure, the more you’ll become stronger and stronger every day. You should face it. Don’t worry about it; just face it. Take care of your problems one by one.

Q: Yes. I understand. Thank You, Master. Thank You so much.

 

Initiates’ Karma is Like Instant Coffee—Quick and Strong!

Q: If Quan Yin Method practitioners break the Five Precepts, how does the karma come to us?

M: You’ll see when it comes. It will come to you like it does to everyone else. But it might be even heavier because we already know and we deliberately broke them, number one. Number two, if an ordinary person commits a transgression against universal law they’ll have time to repay it. But we don’t have time. We wanted to be liberated in one lifetime. So we have to pay it off quickly with all the interest, in one go. So we’ll feel a heavy penalty.

 

Fixed Karma or New Karma?

Q: When something happens to me, how can I know whether it’s fixed karma or new karma?

M: If you haven’t done anything wrong in the past before the event happens, it’s fixed karma. But suppose you do something wrong and break the Precepts, and the event happens. Then you’ll see that it’s connected with your action of having broken the Precepts, and you’ll know it’s new karma. It’s mostly fixed karma because I’ve already taught you how to avoid new retribution, by not doing anything against universal law and by not sowing any more new seeds of bad karma. So if you largely abide by the Five Precepts, respect the teachings of the Master and meditate, it’s almost always fixed karma.

The Essence of Spiritual Trials

Q: Sometimes I have difficult tests from Maya. Both inner and outer obstacles come to me, and some of the tests come through the people I like. Sometimes, I can’t get through the tests and feel I’m stumbling in fear and frustration. Master, how can I overcome these tests? Can I only overcome them by following Your teachings, relying on Your power and practicing sincerely?

M: Yes, sure. That’s the only way. If you fail a test, then next time try again. It’s not about winning or losing; it’s about trying again and again. It’s about sincerity of practice and your honest desire to become free, to become connected with your great Self and be free from all this judgment, whether bad or good, free from all the tests, free from all failure and success. Just be free.

 

Q: Dear Master, what are the secrets of progressing faster and going back Home early?

M: There’s no other secret except the Quan Yin Method that I’ve taught you. Then you live in the world but don’t feel attached to the world. You do everything like you did before; it’s just that your heart is completely detached. That’s the secret to early Homecoming.

The secret is in your attitude. It’s in your conception of this world and the spiritual world. There’s no method: It’s a change in your attitude, a change in your philosophy, a change in your thinking inside, and you change because you practice. The more you meditate, the more you realize that this world is just a dream; it’s not real, and then the more you become detached from it. And the more you become detached, the more quickly you progress. And then you can see Heaven while living.