enlightenment IS THE TOOL FOR EVERYTHING
GeorgetownUniversity, Washington D.C. U.S.A. Apr.14, 1993.I'm so overwhelmed by your love and the welcome program. I was verytired after my journey and also many days of sleeplessness. ButI feel very, very blessed and joyful to join your congregationtonight. I am sure we will know each other as we have known eachother. And there is nothing new to all of us tonight, but let'sjust remind each other of what we might have forgotten or whatwe have placed in some very remote corner of our soul and didn'thave the opportunity to reopen it. That is the enlightenment,enlightening nature of our great selves. I'm overwhelmed not onlybecause of your love, but because of the realization that I amsitting before the Buddhas and God's manifestation, and that broughttears of joy into my heart.
It's not always that I am blessedwith such realization while sitting with a multitude of people.It's just tonight it happened, and it is beautiful, especiallywhen sometimes I was also kind of discouraged. In the last fewdays, I was thinking whether what I am doing is truly worthwhile.But tonight, because of your love and your very highly developedspiritual wisdom, I feel I will continue. I know I will continue.And if in the near future during my tour, if I have any successin bringing people happiness and God realization, I will rememberWashington D.C.'s people. Thank you so much. I really need ittonight. It's very good.
Enlightenment IsAlready There Waiting For A Master To Open It You see, enlightenment is alreadywithin us, therefore whatever our fellow initiate credited tome, I should not accept because it's all yours. Whatever greatness,whatever blessing you receive during the course of developmentin your spiritual training or rediscovery, it is all yours. Butbecause humility is the nature of a highly developed spiritualbrotherhood, they always credited all the miraculous power, allthe blessings to the master, whoever that master may be that happenedto be experienced in the path and show them to rediscover it themselves.If you were not already enlightened, if your nature were not Buddha,I would never be able to make you a Buddha. If God is not alreadywithin yourselves, I would never be able to show you God insideyou. I cannot make a stone into a diamond however long I polishit, you understand!
So with all my humbleness,I just would like to tell you that you are very great. You arethe Supreme Masters, and we are all one. There is nothing I shouldteach you except to point to you your precious jewel that youhave placed in your pocket and you have forgotten. Because youare too busy looking elsewhere for it. Many a time you do that.You put things in your pocket, your eye glasses or money or whateverimportant things, and you forgot. It's so near to you. (Masterlaughs.) You keep looking and search the whole house, every corner;you never find it; and so you thought seeking for your own treasureis so difficult. Actually it is not true. Because we just don'tknow where to look for it, and that is all. And some friends standaround and just say, " Hey, it's in your pocket." Thatis the job of the Master, so-called Master. Therefore the Masterssince ancient time, if they are called by the name, by the title"Master," by the disciples, actually they are just likeone of us. They should be very humble and they have all the humanqualities that we have and they do not know that they are theMasters. But because of the experiences of the disciples, peoplecredited that is a Master. Just like we say, " By your fruitshall you be known." So anyhow, "Master" or "notMaster," it is not important. The important thing is thatexperienced friend which we call Master can show us where ourgreatness is. Then we make use of it.
The Difference BetweenThe Enlightened And Non-enlightened There is so much vast differencebetween an enlightened person and a non-enlightened person, eventhough both of them are exactly the same in quality, have exactlythe same wisdom, and possess the same greatness. I just couldnot tell you how different. I just know it is different; and manyof our disciples know that after initiation. Right? (Audience:"Yes.") Some of you would know. And then after that,you talk to other people who are not yet initiated, have not yetrediscovered their, the partial quality of their wisdom, theywill see a vast difference between them. Even though in the outlook, there'sno distinction. Enlightenment can be lightened onto someone whoalready step inside the house; doesn't matter how near he is tothe door, and how far he has already advanced into the depth ofthe house in order to discover how much treasure there is inside.Once he steps inside the house, he is out of the cold, out ofthe danger of the wolves, the tigers and all other natural disastersshould they come by.
There is a very big difference.Once we are in the house, we know what is inside. If we are nearthe door, we know at least the inner interior design. And if westep further into different rooms of our house, we will discoverthe treasures, and all the furniture, all the precious thingsthat are within the house. And we may go back outside and tellthe people what's inside, And the people outside of the housemay listen to the story and may repeat it again to someone elsethat something's there, such and such are in the house. But thereis a difference between repeating and seeing and enjoying; andalso, deriving the benefit from the safety of being inside thehouse.
Some people ask me, "It'sokay! I don't need enlightenment, what for?" "Is thatokay not to be enlightened?" I said," Yes, yes, okay."(Master laughs.) There is no choice anyhow. But when we are outsidethe house, sometimes it is safe, sometimes it is sunny, but sometimesit is raining, sometimes it is typhoon, a lot of things happen.And once we know we have a house, we can even step out sometimes.But whenever we want or it is necessary, we step inside. Thereare such things, wonderful things inside the chamber of our soulthat no worldly treasures could equal, And nothing of this worldcan bring such happiness to us as when we discover our true greatness.
Everyone Has A ShareOf This Wisdom The more we discover how greatwe are, the more humble we become. (Master laughs.) And that isa very paradoxical thing, but it is like that. Because we willbecome like a child, we will become like a very innocent person.The great sage is like a very innocent person. And it seems likeyou can tell him anything you want about your talent, about yourambition, about your intelligence, about your degrees, and hewill never object you. It's not that he will always try to forcehis wisdom upon you. It only comes naturally by circumstancesor by request. And after speaking, most probably the so-calledMaster will forget everything that has been spoken completely;maybe just remember one or two sentences or maybe none becausethe wisdom comes from the universal storehouse is the common useof all beings. It doesn't belong to one person or a group of anypersons. It belongs to the ignorant as well as the enlightened.It belongs to the child as well as to an aged senior citizen.Everyone has a share of this wisdom only if we truly want to knowit.
By knowing this wisdom, wedo not forsake the world. We will not lack of the enjoyment ofthe world. But actually we enjoy the world more when the opportunityis there, and even when the opportunity is not there, we willbe happy all the same. And that's the difference. That is theonly difference because if we do not know our enlightened nature,we always crave for some things that will bring us happiness,or we think that will bring us happiness. Therefore we becomesometimes ambitious, seeking fame and name, seeking properties,seeking beauty, seeking ephemeral love, etc., thinking these willbring us happiness, until we realize that these only breed sorrowmost of the time.
Only when we are truly enlightened,then we can enjoy anything. Whatever comes, we enjoy. The goodthings come, then we take it as a gift from God and we enjoy whole-heartedlywithout any guilt, without any reservation, without any obstacleswhatsoever in our heart or in our thinking. Because the natureof the enlightened person is very free, very carefree, very easy,just like a child. If you give him something good, he acceptsit. He will not think that you want to trick him, or whether hedeserves it or not. He just accepts. And when the circumstancedoes not allow that we have comfort or richness in life then weare also happy carry on that way. We have no desire for materialgreatness, but that doesn't mean that we do not strive to workfor the society, and that we do not try our best to fulfill ourobligations as a citizen of the world. We do, we do all the same.We do more effectively and with all willingness to contributeour part to the whole world. The difference is that we do withoutdesire for reward, without desire for praise. And should we fail,or should even people misunderstand us of our goodwill, we stillcan bear it. We will not have any suffering in our heart. Manyof my disciples have told me, I mean our fellow practitioners,that after enlightenment they are much different than before.They know, they know more than before. They understand many thingsthat they never understood before. And they are so different fromwhat they were before. Because I have forgotten what it's liketo be before or to be after enlightenment, so sometimes it's difficultfor me to know what they were talking about. (Master laughs.)But then sometimes I happen to meet and talk, or stay and integratewith some of the non-initiate people, then I realize what theywere talking about; then I know what's the difference betweenan enlightened person and a not enlightened person. That is nodiscrimination, no, no. It's just a statement of what it is ofthe reality. Therefore it's not a proud statement, it's just arealization of the difference between a person who steps insidethe house and the person outside.
The Greatest WayOf A Gentleman Is Enlightenment If I have not the opportunityto truly have a very deep understanding with the non-initiatedpeople sometimes, I would have forgotten, because most often Isee people as myself, I forgot whether I am enlightened or theyare not enlightened. I have never remembered these things whenI meet people. And that's why sometimes apart from feeling somekind of discouraged during my mission, I also felt in my heartthat there is no need to teach anyone. There's no need to runaround the world, no need to answer the invitation of my disciplesworld wide and tire myself out on the airplane, smoking air plane,and crowded airport and all that, and hectic schedule. BecauseI thought there's no need to do it, because I don't see any necessity.But then just when I think like that, sometimes the almighty powerwould remind me that it is necessary. Because there is a big differencebetween knowing you have a treasure and making use of it and justknowing you have a treasure but do not know where and how to useit. There is a big difference. Therefore, if I continue to travelaround the world according to the sincere request of the disciples,it is because of these instances that I know some people do notknow that they are great, and they long to know.
Not because we want to be proudof our greatness, but it is a duty to know our heritage. We cannotjust be born into this world, live a few decades of hectic schooling,working, sweating, earning money, struggling with children andfamily problems, and then "kaput," finished, (laughter)and nothing more to that, nothing more to life, nothing more tothe great meaning of human life. And worse still, at the timeof leaving this world, we suffer. We suffer because of the attachmentwith our family members, we suffer because we do not know wherewe are going, we suffer because of the fear of the unknown. Andthe whole family members or the beloved ones just standing aroundhelpless, seeing us suffering.
Therefore the great way ofa gentleman is enlightenment. We must know where we come fromand where we are going, very clearly, very decisively, becausewe are great human beings. We live a life of a hero. We walk thelife of God on earth. We should not live like slaves to our money,to our possessions, to our whatever desires that the world haslabored, found a way to stick it onto our mind. We were not bornwith desires, we were not born with hatred, we were not born withrace discrimination. We were born from innocence and beauty sowe should remain like that. And we should even be wiser, apartfrom being innocent. That's the way of a gentleman, that's theway of the great beings.
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