enlightenmentAWAKENS THE POSITIVEPOWER Passing ThroughThe Gate Of Illusion Many people expect that the enlightened persons or tobe enlightened, that being must be something extraordinary, mustbe perhaps seven feet tall or have feet like this or hand likethat. Because we read the sutras, the Buddhist Bible, it describedthat the Buddha had such and such marks, like his feet link togetherlike the duck (Laughter) or his leg look like the deer's leg andhis eyes look like a cow's eyes, things like that. (Laughter)And they try to make the Buddha beautiful. But if you put allthese together, it makes a funny Buddha, you know? (Master laughs.)
They don't realize that perhapsin the old time, these kings of animals are the best symbols ofbeauty and a noble character. That's why the one who love theBuddha try to convey to others that he's so beautiful, like theway he walks like the king of goose and his chest like the lionand such and such things. But when you put all these animal partstogether you don't know what kind of Buddha that is.
Now this is the outside only,and the inside of us, each one is the same. I think all of youknow that. But how same, and how can we know that? This is a difficultquestion. Even though it's very easy but it is difficult, becausewe have forgotten it. That's all. We have forgotten completelywhat we really are. And we are busy with chasing our dream everydayand trying to fulfill our immediate desires and we forget, weforget what we really are and where we come from. Just to tell... you know forgetfulwe can be, I'll tell you a true story of myself.
I went to Australia, I thinktwo or three years ago, also due to invitation first time andwe supposed to have three lectures in different cities. The firstlecture went on all right, no problem. The second lecture also all right.I was on time. The third lecture I was late! The only reason isnot traffic. It's not that I slept. It's not that I have no caror nothing. The only reason is that I forgot. I forgot that Ihave the lecture that evening.
I keep doing my things, likethe room is a little bit untidy so I keep tidying it up and thenI try to move things here and there like it's my house. Perhapsit balances my busy schedule, give me something to do. Perhapsso or perhaps I'm a perfectionist. Whenever I see something it'snot in order, I try to put in order. But that was to the extentthat I forget that I had the lecture that evening.
I forget until half an hourafter the beginning time. And then some nervous disciples runin, broke in, kind of crashing in and said, "Master, whereare you?" And then I said why, I'm here. Really cool. Theysaid, "Master You suppose to be in the lecture hall."I said, "What! What lecture hall?" I've
really completely forgotten. Iguess no one as terrible as me, but perhaps we do forget sometimes.You do, or not?Sometimes you are engrossedin some other business and you forget the main purpose of yourgoal that day. Did that happen to you sometimes? It does, huh,okay. And of course I have to rush and apologize to the people.I feel really terrible and I promise to God that if He made melecture again, He mustput alarm clock for me. So from then on I always put alarm clockeverywhere, and whenever the lecture I set it on everywhere sothat I will remember in case I forget. How can you forget a lecture?Oh! I even don't understand that. But that's what I did.
So now if we are here too long,one life, two lives, hundred lives, then of course we forget evenmore what the purpose of our coming here. Some of the people sometimesthey die temporarily, for like a few minutes or twenty minuteseven. Clinically dead, declared dead by the doctor, stop breathing,no pulse, etc.. But then afterthey came back, they told many stories of the other life beyondand then they also remember why they came here for, what for theycame to the earth. But many of them, most of them forget immediatelywhat they have seen in heaven or what they suppose to do in thislife. They know that they have seen, the purpose of their life,but when they came back here, they came back to this life again,they forgot. They just know that they know, but they don't knowwhat.
The Chinese have a saying thatbefore we are born into this world again, the king of nether worldwould give us some soup, kind of hot drink, maybe chocolate orsomething. (Laughter) That is supposed to make us forget completelyour past life and start anew. Many of us promise that we comehere, if we are given the chanceagain to be human being, we would do this, do that, and others.And we will go and practice the meditation and so on, and thenwe get enlightenment and we dedicate all our life and energy toserve mankind, etc., etc..
And we really meant it well.But because of this soup, this "forget me soup", everyoneforgets. So the only thing for us to remember again is that wemust open the gate of secret knowledge. Without that gate open,we can never, ever peep beyond this world and the only thing weknow is this material existence and all is suffering, joy andtemporarily other things, and we would forever identify ourselveswith this physical appearance and suffering with it.
The Suffering OfThis World Comes From Ignorance But why? Why must we rememberthe purpose of our coming here? Not because we have promised todo so, but because if we don't remember, we must come back againand again and again until we remember... until we fulfilled ourmission in this planet and then we can go to higher existenceor remember our original great position in heaven or in nirvana.The suffering of this world is not due to only the war. The waris not the catastrophe. It's not the lack of food and all these,but the suffering of this world comes from ignorance. Becausewe don't know our mission, our purpose, we mistaken theplayground for home and overstayour due and sometimes suffer the cold, danger outside the house.
But even then the Buddhas,God Almighty always try to look for us, for the lost children,for the ones who love to play and forget to go home. Thereforethe Buddha sometimes come down and endure the suffering of thehuman existence, endure the humiliation of the petty physicallife in order to find the lost children, to bring them back tosafety before it's too late. Because any house, doesn't matterhow solid it built, one day it must be demolished by itself orby some other elements or some causes or have to rebuild a newone because it's too old. This world is a big house, very beautiful,very solid house, but it's not a permanent house.
That's why the Buddhas, theSaints, like Jesus, Mohammed, etc., they came down to us, extendtheir blessing to us. We walk one step, they walk hundred thousandsteps to receive us and forgive our mistakes, cleanse our pastunwholesome actions, and teach us the new kind of life, new beginning,or better speaking, andlead us back to the original way of life, the way we must live,the way we should carry out our life.
The DestructivePower Of Negative Information Because up to now, all thecells in our body, all the nerves in our system listened onlyto almost negative orders from our information center. That'swhy we have war. That's why we have assassination. That's whywe have competition at the cost of other people's jobs or business,or wife or husband, because we do not have a positive informationin our brain center to order our body to do good things. And thepeople who are good in this world are also sometimes, or oftenoverwhelmed also by the negative, by the negative influence inthe society, also become shaky in their faith, became weaker in their goodness, and sometimeseventually also give in to the negative power.
So when we have only negativeinformation in our brain, then of course we can only give outnegative information or negative orders, and the cells in thebody, the nerves in the system also can follow only the negativeorders and then do negative things. That's why we have no peacein the world. That's why even up to now brothers are still killingeach other. Even parents are killing their children for pleasure,for privacy, for individual freedom, "pro-choice", etc..Not because they are bad, not because all these war makers, allthese parents bad. Or the husband who killed the wife or the wifekilled the husband or the brother killing each other, not becausethey are bad, just because their brain are fed only with negativeinformation, only with negative ideas and that's what they carryout. Whatever the brain order, the cells complied, the cells haveto do it, the body must function. And that's why we sink deeperand deeper into depression and that's why our world is almostany time in danger of disappearing, from our own making.
So the only thing to help usnow is very logical, is that to feed us with positive informationto change our information stream. Everyday we must receive good information,positive information, constructive information, enlightened, wiseinformation, and then from the brain they will direct the cells,the nervous system and everything will do only good, only peaceful,only wise, only constructive positive things, and that's how wesave the world. Otherwise, it doesn't matter how much peace talks,how much money we spend on the arms, on the army, still we don'thave secure feeling. Look, one day this country just finish thewar, shake hands with each other. Okay. We start anew. And thenext morning, we heard that the other country broke out in war.And then the United Nations run over there and that's not yetfinished, the other one, the other country makes war with theother country over there and then over here, over everywhere.
Enlightenment BringsWonders To The World And it's already nearly twenty-firstcentury and we suppose to be civilized, peaceful, loving, helpingeach other. And for all the technical inventions, for all thewealth that we have discovered from the mother earth and fromthe universe, we could live a kingly life, all of us. Instead,we still have poverty,war, suffering, just because we don't have enough positive informationto feed our brain and our whole system with. That's all thereis about enlightenment. Enlightenment is a way of positive life.It's a way of tapping into positive power, which is already existingwithin us. Because in the universe there are two kinds of power,we call yin and yang. Everyone knows. Now we are living almostin yin, no positive, no yang, because we did not open that resource.
This world is a negative world.So it is obvious that we have plenty of yin everywhere. And thenegative or the yin is easily accessed. It is more accessibleto everyone, except when we are wise enough to turn also intothe positive department and draw there from, something for usfor everyday supply. Thenwe are balanced. Then we can do wonders to the world. And of coursethere will be no more war, no more suffering. That's why we saidearlier that the suffering in this world is not due to any individualor nations. It's due to the ignorance of us, the earth people.
Enlightenment is nothing newand nothing that we have to beg for, nothing mysterious. It'sjust a positive power that we have within ourselves, laying, sleeping,unused up to now. So if someone to remind you where to look intoor how to use it, and that is called enlightenment, and that'swhy it can be immediate. Because if you have something in yourpocket or here, you can take it out right away. It's no need togo to supermarket to buy it. That's why it's immediate. As longas you want to accept it, it will be right there and I will showit to you, that it is immediate and you can use it right awayand you can see your life improved right away in the first days.
Some people feel like theyare born again, right at the time of initiation. They are so joyful.They could just go on the street and kiss everyone. Of courseI advise them not to do that, especially in Singapore. It's justa way of expressing their joy. And from then on, their lives becomeas light as feather. They work without burden. They take carethe family with love and not with so much struggling. Most offamily members are often struggling with each other, also dueto ignorance. So many people after enlightenment they find theirfamily become heaven. And if everyone's like that, every familylike that, then we don't need to go to heaven. Our planet willbe preserved and then because due to our positive power, we canalso elevate the vibration of the earth and make it become heaven-like.
The Difference Between Heaven And Earth The only difference betweenheaven and this earth is the vibration, the frequency. The frequencyof heaven is fast but smooth. The frequency of the physical worldsuch as our earth is gross, is rough, uneven. That's why sometimeswe have disasters earthquake and all kind of eventful weather.Of course, we can say itfrom weather forecast: "Oh, the wind in northeast, it winds",something like that, and causes all these and that. But it isall together also due to the vibration of the whole planet, andatmosphere around it. In heaven, they don't have it, they don'thave typhoon, they don't have earthquake, they don't even haveearth, they don't even have wind. Everything is different. Andthe heavenly beings, their vibration is also different, becausethey are different. They have their vibration different, thereforeheaven is different. So if our vibration is different, our lifebecome different, even if we stay here. Of course we cannot changethe whole planet into heaven, if the people of the earth are practicingonly in a small number. But if the whole planet or maybe evenhalf of us practice in such a way, then the vibration of the earthwill also change, then other half also will be benefitted withouthaving to do anything. Just like in one family, the father andmother goes to work, and the whole family can also benefit fromhis or their parents' salary. No need for the children also goto work. They can, later, when they want to, when they grow up,as a duty to society, not because of necessities. And of course,the more money they earn, the better for the family.
Similarly, the more peoplepractice into heavenly kind of life, and the more elevated ourearth will become. At that time then, our house here is safe.Otherwise, it's not safe. As long as the frequency is so gross,rough, then it's bound to happen that one day it will break apartor explode. We learn that the finer the thing, the more invisiblethe thing, the more enduring. Similarly, our earth is too gross,too heavy, so it's bound to happen sometimes that it will destroyitself, if we do not destroy it before that with our atom bombs,with our environmental abuse, with our ignorance of the protectionof the atmosphere around the earth.
We sometime poison ourselveswith too much chemical, poison our earth, poison the water, andso it's bound to happen that it cannot last. Has no need to bea clairvoyant person or predicting well like Nostradamus or somethingto say that, the world is not everlasting. We can predict it ourselves.If we look around our neighborhood and see how we treated ourplanet and how wars have damaged each and every corner of theworld, now and again.
The Story Of TheRed Goblin And The Green Goblin There is a story about twodevils who live in a mountain. Actually they are not devils, theyare kind of demi-ghost, demigod or ghost perhaps, perhaps halfangel and half goblin-like. And they live together, two. One isgreen and the other is red. Just like the green light and redlight outside. Green is for peaceful, smooth going. Red is forwar, stop, obstruction. But both of them live together happilyever after, (Master laughs) before, ever before, together in themountain and with no problem, no anxiety, no desire, nothing.
They live for long... manymany hundred of years already. And often when they have nothingto do, they sat on top of the mountain and look down into theworld below them, the world of humankind. And they saw all thebusiness and the people, walking up and down and all that. Andthen they saw the worldis always changing. So the green said to the red, "You see,we live here many hundreds of years already and our life neverchanges, everyday the same thing. But the world below, the worldof human being, everyday change. How come?" And the red said,"Oh, yes, you're right, very interesting, their life is more interesting." Butthe green said, "How come, how come their life is so changingall the time?" And then the red thought for a while and say,"Oh, it must be because they always fight with each other.Because they build a building, beautiful and big and next daythey fight and demolished it.And then they build another one and then have war and destroyagain and that's why the world always have something to do. That'swhy the world is always changing. So now if our world here, thetwo of us, too peaceful, too boring, I think we have to startfighting with each other." That's what the red thinks.
And the green said, "No!No fighting. We are good friends, we've been friends for manyhundred of years. How can we fight each other?" But the redsaid, "If we don't fight, then we can't have any change.Our life will always going on like this and it's boring and wedon't make any progress, so let's fight!" So the green said,"No, no, no, no! I can not do it. No, we are friends."But the red insist and said, "From today you are my enemy.That's it.", Declared war right there and then. So then heleft. He didn't live with the green anymore. He moved to the otherside of the mountain and sat there alone, prepare for war. Andthe green also stay there in that corner of the mountain, feltso lonely and miserable. He missed the other goblin. So he wasfeeling very miserable.
And you know the goblin, thekind of demi-angel, they have magical power. Apart from beingable to fly, making things appear by themselves, seeing very far,hearing very far, they also have long nose which can stretch tono limit. So the green goblin sat there one day and feeling verybored and suddenly he notice in the world of humans below thatsomething shining, flashing, shining all the time. So he was curiousand he used his nose. (Laughter) He makes his nose long. He said,"Grow longer, grow longer, grow longer and then the nosekept growing long, long, long and then pierce into the world belowwhere the shining and flashing is happening.
The shining and flashing camefrom the clothes of the princess of that city and it happenedthat the servants were hanging her clothes outside to air themand her clothes have gold flakes and also some jewelry studdedwith diamond, rubies, and etc., etc.. So it's glittering in thesun. That's why it were shining and flashing. So now the servantssay to each other, "Oh, her clothes is so beautiful, butso many. Now we don't have enough bamboo pole to hang. What todo?"
At that moment the nose ofthe goblin just arrived on time. (Laughter) Did you hear thisstory before? (Audience: No) No! Oh! I'm glad. (Everyone laughs.)So, and then the servants thought, "Oh, we have a long bambooenough to hang the rest of the clothes on it." So they putthe rest of the clothes of the princess on this green pole andthen happily went inside. Ah, to eat some chapati.
So now, the green goblin suddenlyfelt so heavy on his nose. So he was scared. He immediately pullhis nose back to the normal size and there come all a bundle ofglittering clothes at his feet. And he was thinking, "Ah,oh, it must be a lucky day." So he try it on and beautifullyit looks. So he was proud marching around himself alone.
And it happened that the redcame over. He wanted to start a fight, to progress. But then thegreen said, "Look here! I have some new clothes, beautiful,and I save some for you, half of them for you." And the redwas looking with contempt and said, "Look, I don't wear thesekind of ridiculous things, only crazy people do, like you."He want to start a fight, so he talk every nonsense. But the greenis always green, so he's very cool; so he don't pick on it. Sohe say, "Okay, okay, fine. If you don't wear them, it doesno harm.Leave them there. It's all right." So the red don't knowwhat else to do, so he went home.
But actually he was very veryjealous of the green and so he tried to get some clothes for himself.So now he also put his nose very long down into the palace andwaiting for some clothes to be hung on. But it happen that thesamurai, at that time there practicing sword together and whenthey saw such a long thing coming, they said to each other, "What'sthat? And the other said, "Ah, it must be the new inventionof the enemy trying to attack us. Let's kill it first." "Oh,okay." Then "Pa" (Master imitates the sound ofcutting) with the sword. And so suddenly the red feel such sharppain and immediately he pull back his nose to the normal size.And then here it bleed and then he cry and cry so much.
And then the green heard hiscrying and came over and say, "What happen, what happen?"And the red was so embarrassed and angry and can not say whatthe true was and so he said, "Leave me alone" "Andyou don't bother me." And so the green said, "No, Idon't bother you, I try to help you. It's bleeding. Look here. I know the medicine. I put iton. It will stop right away and your nose will become beautifullike before. Otherwise, you will have a big scar, a big hole thereand then it will be very ugly. I just want to take care of you."
And so the red after all feeltouched and said, "All right, all right." And then hecried his heart out, "Ah, it's really hurt. Please quickly,quickly help me. Make it better, quickly." And then fromthen on of course they make peace together because he had enoughwith fighting. He thought, fighting is no good. He learned thelesson of peace. From then on they wear nice clothes and drinktea together everyday, and no more war.
Only EnlightenmentCan Awaken The True Self But our world has not learnedthis lesson of love and it is a sad affair. So now, instead ofalways writing on the newspaper, criticizing the government ofthis and that country, scolding this and that dictator, or tellingthe army what to do, because it has not been any use up to now...so instead of doing all these, or apart from doing all these,still, we have to find the way out for ourselves before it's toolate. And the only way out is the so-called enlightenment. Andan enlightenment is only getting back the positive informationthat we badly lack. And it's right there. Because it's alreadythere, it's just that we didn't use it. When we are born intothis world, everyone must take care of the immediate needs, suchas cold, hunger, environmental infection, etc., etc.. Thereforethe immediate reaction from birth or since childhood is all thesematerial comfort, all these physical need. That is why we don'thave the chance to remember the positive information that we musthave in order to survive, in order to be wise and to fulfill ourduty better in this world.
You see why we forget? Yousee why we don't have it? You see why we have it but we don'tuse it? Just because immediately this world overwhelms us withphysical threat. So the immediate reaction from us is that toprotect ourself, the body, feeding, drinking, clothing it, buildinghouse, buying more blankets, and getting a big car so that wecan move around, building a big road so that we can drive thecar on, etc., etc.. All these physical necessities immediatelyfrom birth overwhelmed us and take all our time up and that'swhy it became a habit to us to preoccupy ourselves with physicalneeds alone, and that's why we forget further and further, moreand more about our other positive side of nature. And that's theonly secret. Does it make sense to you? (Audience: Yes)
So now I have in brief andin logic explained to you or reminded you what is truly enlightenment.And there's no mystery about it, just the positive side of ournature. And we have both inside. Up to now we only use the negative,because the necessities of this negative world force us to alwayshave to lean on the negativeside to survive. And then, the more we do it, the more we forgetthe other side. That's all. But that is the thing that we shouldnot do. Because without the positive we can't even take care ofthe negative well. Without the driver, you know what I mean, thecar doesn't matter how goodyou take care, it will not move and it will move all wrong wayaround, killing people if it does. So now the driver must wakeup. Wake him up and tell him to drive the car, drive properly.And that is all there is for enlightenment.
QUESTION & ANSWER SESSION The Quan Yin MethodBenefits All Beings Q. Master, Iunderstand there is a method called the "Convenient Method".Is it the same as the Quan Yin Method?
M. Not exactly, but it offers you alsoa taste of enlightenment. And you can continue to practice thatevery day without such a strict regulation as a pure vegetariandiet or two and a half hours a day, things like that. You canmeditate half an hour everyday or one hour apart, or twenty minutes,whatever you like, and eat the vegetarian diet as convenientlyas your position or your situation allows. So that's why we callit "Convenient Method".
And you also have enlightenment.But, it's a small kind of vehicle, you can only liberate yourselfalone. And the Quan Yin Method will liberate many of your relativesand friends, up to seven or even nine generations, the peopleyou don't even know, your ancestors, etc., and your next generation,your grand, grandchildrennot yet born, etc.. Because of the blood link, they will alsobe free.
Q. Master, whenI am the host and I have to take some friends out for lunch ordinner and they are not vegetarians, should I order all vegetariandishes to eat as I am the only vegetarian?
M. No, no, you order what the guestswant to eat. We don't impose our life style on other people andimpede their freedom. It's their choice. Okay? If you ask them if they wantto try vegetarian, also fine, if they agree, if they are happywith it. Just tell them once in a while you try it to see if youlike it. If they don't, then you don't do it.
Q. Master, pleaseadvise me how to access the first level of the Kingdom of God,or what I must do to start.
M. The first level only? Your aim isso low. (Laughter) Why don't you go to the fifth at least, withme? There, it's almost empty because no one goes there, plentyof room there. Singapore is tight. We go there for a change. Alot of palaces, and no traffic lights, no jam. (Master laughs.)
The first level is nothingto aim for, brothers. There are only astral beings who live there.Only small heaven and hell. There is only magical power, smallhealing ability, small clairvoyant talent. That's all there is.And you may live there hundreds or thousands of years, but youcome back here again. And who knows where you will be, and whatyou'll become. So why go to the first level. First level is asunsafe as this world. Yeah. Don't aim to go there. That's onlythe A. The A B C of everything. We started from there, but wedon't stop there.
Q. Master, thefirst precept is no killing. If a snake enters my house, shouldI kill it in order to protect my family?
M. You don't have snakes in Singapore,don't give me trouble. (Laughter and applause.) You don't evenhave enough land for people to live. Where can this poor snakereside? But anyhow you don't have to kill, you can give him abag... a cloth bag and he will happily crawl into it. And youset him outside somewhere else, in the bush or something, andhe will be happy. But if you must, of course, you can do it. Butthen, you pay. You can do anything you want in this world, justyou must pay. Not in monetary way, it is in karma. See?
You kill him and later you'llprobably be wounded somewhere or have severe headaches or yourarm suddenly gone paralysis, anything like that. You pay, maybetemporarily or maybe in a long term. It depends on how great the thingsthat you have done, how much you took from the physical treasureof the Lord of this creation. The more you take, the more youpay. The less you take, the less you pay. That's why I advicethe vegetarian diet, because it's the less expensive.
You know even though vegetablesalso have life, but it doesn't cost so much karma, doesn't burdenyou too much. You see? Not that vegetables you don't pay. I don'tmean the market price, I mean to the Lord of Creation. The Lordof Creation is below the Almighty God. But if you can not, ifyou didn't pay it to the Lord of Creation, you can not go to theAlmighty. That's the problem.
An Enlightened MasterHas The Key Of Enlightenment Q. Master, canYou explain the initiation of the Quan Yin Method?
M. Initiation is a kind of invisibleopening wisdom ceremony. No flowers, no incense, no prostration,no Buddha statues, no church, nothing. Only you and your own positiveoriginal power. Now when you sit there all alone, then I willpoint to your soul where to go, in order to get back the positiveand negative together,understand? Now you are separated because you are always leaningonto the negative side for survival. Now when you sit alone thereand ready, willing to go back, I just pull you back. But no actioninvolved.
These things are abstract,are the wonderful things of the invisible power. There is no doingof anything. Do without doing. I don't have to be there even.I don't have to even know your name, your address, your age, yourprofession. I don't have to know you; I mean physically. InsideI know. Therefore the initiation is just like you sit there andget back your positive side. You know, like out of balance, thatyou always lean on the negative. Now, come back and then you'rebalanced. That's it. And then you know that you are enlightenedbecause you saw the light, you received the teaching from heaventhrough melody.
It's not by "Singlish",it's not by Chinese. It's wordless words, silent sounds. Thiswill make you wiser, and more and more realize that you are great,and you are the master of the house. Yeah! That's the initiation.But no words can describe that, because I would not talk to youat that time. I might not even be present, because you will bealong with the whole universe then. You know? That's how you knowyourself. It's difficult to try to understand now. If you don't,just go for initiation then you'll understand.
Q. Master, afterenlightenment, can we still get sick?
M. Sure. Look here I have a flu, thanksto some of the friends who gave it to me. And I was weak becauseI overwork a lot of the time, because of the many disciples anddemands from the world. So of course my body is like yours, oryour body is like his, yeah? If you are weak in resistance, overwork,overwork your car, then it will stop. It gets sick. That's thesame. The car will get sick whether it is BENZ or it's a Cadillac.It sometimes gets sick, but that's the normal thing.
Why should we avoid sickness?It's no big deal. If I wasn't sick in these days, I could nothave enjoyed two days in bed. So that's a bonus. It's not bad.And all the people love me so much, "Wow" while I amsick. They feel... a concern, you know? That's enjoyment also.Okay? No problem to be sick. The Buddha was sick, was he not? Sure, sickness is no bigdeal.
Q. Master, whyare there so many religions in this world?
M. There is only one really. Differentnames, yeah! If you don't believe me, you take time, study allthe religions together, compare them all, and then you'll knowwhat I mean. Just because people don't study other religions,which is also good, fine.
Be concentrated on your religionif you know one religion; it's enough. Because it's similar inother religions: Tell people to do good, don't kill, don't steal,worship God or Buddha. No religion teaches people to do bad things.Or stay here forever, and eat and drink and die here. All religionstell you "be a good person here and find heaven while youcan", right? And everything else is just bla, bla, bla, youknow, bureaucracy and detail.
Q. Master, Youtalked about knowing the way home. Where is this home? Where isheaven and hell?
M. Here. Everything is here. But if youdon't know, everything is everywhere. Everywhere is hell, everywhereis heaven. If you know, then it's heaven, if you don't know, it'shell. That's it, simple.
Q. Master, willI be able to find my dead relatives and communicate with themif I practice the Quan Yin meditation?
M. Dead relatives? Oh, sure, sure. ButI am afraid maybe you don't like to go there. Some of your peopleare difficult to get in touch with. If you want to go such place,you need a Master. Otherwise you will be in danger. So it's notalways good to see dead relatives. Now you practice the Quan YinMethod, and some of your relatives, dead relatives will be immediatelyreleased from whatever suffering they have. If they are alreadyin heaven, they will go to a higher level of heaven. If they sufferlight punishment, they can go immediately, quick. If it's tooheavy, then we have to negotiate. Then the Master must negotiateor has to suffer for that person. But it won't be too long. Forexample, if those people have to suffer for thousands of years,the Master wouldn't have to suffer for thousands of years. Justmaybe a few hours, or sometimes a few seconds, sometimes a fewminutes, sometimes prolonged but not a big deal sickness, thingslike that.
So it's not always ideal tosee your dead relatives. It's better to see live relatives. Lovethem, serve them, and encourage them before they are dead. Butyou can see them, you can see them. Many of our practitioners see theirdead relatives and friends coming to thank them that due to them,they are liberated. That is nobig deal, no big deal.
Q. Master, oneof the five precepts is refrain from sexual misconduct. How doesthis apply to singles?
M. Oh! What we mean is that you shouldbe faithful to each other. But in the case of some of the otherreligious orders, they may, due to their tradition, have manywives. If they already had them before initiation, then that doesn'tmean they have to separate and take only one. But in the generalcase we tell people to refrain from having too many ties, becauseif you have one wife, I think you suffer enough. Oh, sorry. (Laughter)I mean... I am sorry. Don't kill me please. What I mean is thesuffering in affairs of the heart are very heavy for the wifeor the husband to bear. And that you don't want to cause to otherpeople, let alone your beloved friends, or the mother or fatherof your children.
So that's why we say refrainfrom having another affair if you are already married. But ifyou already have before initiation, just keep it like that. Andbetter don't let the other to know each other. Minimize the suffering.The less suffering the better, because it will affect you also.You will have a bad conscience and guilty feelings. How can youmeditate in peace? When you meditate you want to think about God.All you think about is the second or the third wife. Yeah! Howshe wanted to beat you last night because you came late, etc.,etc. Or you bought better clothes for the other one etc., etc.Aiya! so many troubles. It hurts. That's why. That is called sexualmisconduct.
But in the case of people whoare not yet married, of course in the modern time, I can not tellpeople don't, don't, don't do that, you know. Yeah! Then try tobe faithful to each other, yeah? It's good for the heart, goodfor your moral and good for the mutual trust between each otherand especially good for your health, you know nowadays. You readnewspapers more than I do. The letters spelled very big. ShouldI say more? More and more people die from AIDS each day, so takecare of yourself.
Q. Master, isit necessary to have a quiet environment to pursue spiritual practice?
M. Yes. In the beginning yes, but laterno. Later sometimes we need. That's why sometimes we organizea retreat for one week or two weeks or four days, three days.Every year at a different time, so people have a chance to havea peaceful, quiet, only practicing meditation environment. Butotherwise, you must goout into the society. Bringing the light and blessing into ourbrothers and sisters. You can not always hide yourself in themountain and become a selfish Buddha. (Laughter)
Q. Master, willdreams of future events come true? Can we change the future?
M. Yes, sometimes we can. If we are strongenough, and if you want to be strong enough, meditate, get yourBuddha power out, then you can change anything. Otherwise thefuture will change you.
The Way To MinimizeOne's Sexual Desire Q. Master, canYou please advise me as to how I should control my monstrous sexualappetite? I need God grace.
M. This...? I don't have experience.You know what? There are many remedies. But most people when theyate too much meat and drink the wine and all that, it will excitemore of their passion. We already have enough so-called animalpassion within us, so we do many things like the animals do. Thiswe can not control.
Because we inherit the animalquality while we live in this kingdom, part of it, because ofthis body. So now, if we want to control that, we must minimizethe intake of intoxicants and exciting food, things like that.There are foods for sexual empowerment. The people look for that.Some people like that. So the old kings, they always eat specialkinds of foods, because they have so many wives.
There are many foods to controlthe sexual drive. The first stage is vegetarian diet, pure vegetariandiet - no eggs, no fish, etc., and no liquor, alcohol, no intoxicatingthings. Many things we, the ordinary people, pay high prices for,mostly are poison. And I am always wondering why people spenda lot of their money to poison themselves. But anyhow that's theirprivate choice and free will.
So if you ask me how to minimizeyour sexual energy, there are many things to do. You switch tovegetarian diet, eat a kind of simple, not too much oily and excitementspice and things like that. And then drink plenty of cool water.No champagne, champagne is the worse thing, reserved only forwedding days. You know uh! I don't know. I heard about that. Idon't know. They said like that.
But the most simple is to bebusy, doing something meaningful, helping other people; and thenyou forget your own problem. I don't know how you have time tothink about this drive even. You know, if you stay up all nightlong, reading like me, I think your sex drive will drive itselfaway (laughter and applause),because sex drives are scared, scared of the work.
Do something. There is so muchsuffering in this world, do some volunteer work in your sparetime. Feel the suffering of your fellow beings. Merge yourselfin the sacrifice and the joy, the pure joy of serving all of them. Bring happiness,bring noble happiness to other people. That will bring noble happinessto you, too.
You have read so much bad,maybe porno information. Now don't read it any more. Switch toholy books. Read the Bible, read the Buddhist sutras, read theKoran, read whatever information you have on holy life, okay?Hinduism books, anything you want, yoga exercise, holy saints'teachings, so much to read.
Q. Master, ifthe Quan Yin Method can help me avoid reincarnation, how aboutmy karma in my past lives?
M. Oh, I burn it. I throw it in the dust-binand set fire to it and finish. Okay? You know where karma comesfrom? Comes from your reactions. Actions and reactions, of course.But where does it come from? It is stored in your subconscious.There is a button. I just push it and it's gone. It's likeyour computer or your record player.You can play it, you can record it, or you can erase it. Justknow how.
Q. Master, usuallyhow long does it take to get enlightenment? May I know what doesit depends on?
M. Oh, depends on many things. First,it depends on the proper meditation method. And it depends onyour teacher, whether that person is capable to lead you to enlightenment.Never mind talking about long or short. If you get a good teacher,you get immediate enlightenment. If you don't get a good teacher,I don't know how long, very, very long, many lifetimes. And alsoenlightenment depends on your sincerity, if you want it or not.If you do want it, you get it immediately. If you don't want it,it doesn't matter how much you pretend, how long you sit there,until your bottom falls off, (laughter) you don't have anything.
Initiation Is TheInner Transmission Of Dharma Q. Master, willthere be someone to guide us in the Quan Yin meditation in Singaporein the initial stages?
M. Yes. I will leave a few monks or nunshere for you. Actually Quan Yin messengers. They don't look likemonks. They look like me. They are ordinary like you. I will leavesome of the people who have practice for a long time, who knowthe initial stages of practice, for you. Besides, you can alwayswrite to me. Nowadays, we havea fax machine. Don't worry. And the inner connection is alwaysthere, one hundred percent, never broken. So that is the bestguidance.
And then later on, you don'thave to rely on anyone, because you will get the answers fromthe inside, quickly and you know it. And the teacher will knowwhere you are, what you are doing, and what kind of danger youare in, or what practice you need. From inside, teach from inside,not from the verbal.
Verbal is just ordinary thing,like we talk to each other, you know, have fun. Talk about someold stories to encourage you to practice, things like that. Butverbal instruction is never a perfect teaching. The perfect teachingyou can only find from inside, and that is between Master anddisciple individually, for each one different inside. Even ifyou sit next to each other, you don't know what level he is orwhat the Master transmitted to him inside. All different, okay?Depends on each level.
Q. Master, whenwe are praying to God or Jesus, could we also worship Quan YinBodhisattva in the temple?
M. Why not? The more, the better, I think.(Master laughs.) That's what we think. You do what you want aslong as you are happy. If that accords you enlightenment, so muchthe better. If not, you must go for the Quan Yin Method. The realworship comes when you see God, Jesus, Quan Yin, face to faceand worship at their feet right there. And you feel so much differentthan when you bow to the Buddha, the wooden statue.
When you bow to the woodenstatue, he says nothing to you, he can not answer your question.But when you bow to the real Buddha inside while you meditateor while you're sleeping and go to heaven, that is the time ofyour real worship and you will feel entirely different. You willfeel you're not of thisworld. You will feel you are the Buddha then. That's the realworship. Worship anyone you like, but make sure you see them.
Q. Master, willmeditation lead us to getting possessed by the devil?
M. It depends, depends. If you meditateat random without a teacher, or you choose a wrong way to do it,or you deliberately meditate but break the precepts, eating wrongfood or harming other people, then the counter effect will fallupon you, and that's when you allow the so-called devil to comein to destroy you and troubleyou. That is only the negative side of all the nature.
When we don't want to lean,we don't stand stably, and we keep like this, then it will pullyou back to the negative side again. And at that time, it's stronger,it's harder because it lost you last time, like tightening thegrip more; and it's difficult for you to struggle out.
So that's why I don't wantto just take a lot of so-called disciples, so that I am famousand have a big group of followers. You must keep the precepts.You must eat a vegetarian diet. Understand? Purify yourself whilemeditating, so you don't have side effects, you don't have trouble.
And I am responsible for whateverhappens to you, if you keep the precepts and follow the instruction.So nothing can happen to you. But if you don't, even God can nothelp you. Okay.
Q. Master, Iam a sinner. Can I be enlightened?
M. Oh, who is not the sinner, pleaseraise your hands. (Laughter and applause.) The sinner, pleaseraise your hands. Me, also included. Don't worry, don't worry.No one is a sinner. We're just ignorant. We have not been taughtthe way of the saint. We have been only taught to survive in thisworld, how to eat, how to clothe, how to look after this physicalvehicle. That's all we have been taught up to now. All the educationalso leads to that end, so you can have a good job, right?We have not been taught the wise way, the holy way. So now it'sthe time. No problem. We did things we don't know. How can we be sinners?If the child is not taught and he makes mistakes, how can he beblamed? Blame God. Uh! Hes didn't send you a teacher soon enough,Hiers fault. (Laughter and applause.)
Q. Master, Iwant to donate my life to others. What do You suggest?
M. Yes, sure. If people want to acceptyou, (laughter) we can donate our service, while we are living.Well, everyone is donating their lives anyhow. They work for thesociety. They work for their family. This is a kind of donation.Some people donate more. They work for more groups, serving morepeople voluntarily, or without much payment. And that's perhapswhat you mean. Do what you feel like and what you are capableof. There is a lot of work to do in this world. Never enough peopleto do it.
Restore Our HeavenlyQuality Q. Master, ifwe enjoy living so much on this earth, why do we have to try sohard to go to heaven?
M. Oh, then please don't try. Who toldyou to try hard? (Master laughs.) Only the people who want togo, should go. If you enjoy this world so much, it's good foryou, good luck; and I hope you enjoy it long (laughter) , becauseone never knows, one never knows what tomorrow brings. That'sthe problem.
If we can always enjoy in thisworld, if I can put a stamp to guarantee that you'll never suffer,ever in this world, and you'll continue to enjoy all your life,and next life, next life, then please don't consider heaven. Butno one can guarantee you that. You see it for yourself. All thekings, all the glorious hierarchy, the kings and queens, whereare they now? They have enjoyed more than you did, more than you'llever dream of. Where are they now? What do they do now? Whereare their enjoyments? You know the answers.
Q. Master, Yousay we are all God's children and there is only one God. So whydo we have different colors and different races? Every one isnot equal, just like You and me.
M. Look at the flowers, you want themonly one color? Pink, finish. Is that what you call beauty? Pink,one color, one and only. We have many colors, that's why it'sfun, Okay? You like it. That's why you choose to be born in thatcolor. But now you don't understand. Get enlightenment, and thenyou'll understand why. But you are also right. The question isalso correct because the higher dimensions don't have difference,no difference between male and female, no different colors. Thereis only pure awareness, pure wisdom, not even such a visible form.
Q. Master, howcan we get immediate enlightenment and eternal liberation if weare anxious and have to work to make money?
M. (Master speaks to the M.C.) You knowit. You tell him.
MC. Meditate twoand a half hours a day.
MC. He doesn't know yet. Don't scare him. Enlightenmentis the most incredible thing that ever happen to your existence.It will lighten every burden that you have to carry every day.It will get rid of all the obstacles in your way. It will carryyou when you are down and sick. It will bless you whenever youare in trouble and danger. And you will feel like, you are alwaysin the love of mother, so you don't worry. The worry and anxietyyou have now, is just because you don't have enlightenment, it'snot the opposite, Okay? So if you want to get rid of this suffering,get enlightenment.
Q. Master, whydo good people suffer so much in this world?
M. How do you know if they are good?Do you know them personally? Sometimes you don't. Good and badis only in our level of understanding. The record of their lives,of their existence is so long. Sometimes they are good, sometimesthey are bad. You can never check-up enough. Anything that happenshas a reason. And don't worry.
Q. Master, isthere any explanation why some people are born less fortunatethan others?
M. Because of karma. Some people theydo good deeds, they give a lot of charity to other people, andthen when they are reborn again, they are rich and fortunate.And if the other people never give to anyone else when they arein suffering and in need, then when they are born again, theyprobably don't have much fortune.
Q. Are You ahuman being or a fairy? (Laughter)
M. What do you think? Who am I? Who amI? Who am I? What do you think? You think I am a human, raiseyour hands. You think I am a fairy, raise your hands. No one.Yeah, both are correct. An 'A' for both! Okay! We are both. Weare both human beings and God. It's just that most of the timefor most of the people they only recognize their human side ofexistence. They only identify with the physical function and forgettheir Godly side of nature. That's all. You and I are equal. Weare both fairy and human beings. That's it. Are you satisfied?But the only difference between you and I is that I know and youperhaps don't know, or are not sure of your fairy nature. That'sthe only difference.
Q. Master, canthose who have mental depression practice meditation?
M. If they understand what I have mentionedtoday, if they understand the teaching, they're capable of understanding,then they can; because sometimes mental disturbance comes onlyfrom depression, too much pressure from society. A form of tryingto avoid problems, trying to escape the burden of society. It's not exactly a sickness.So it's temporary and they can stand up again, of course, andfaster through meditation.
MC. Thank You,Master. Shall we take this opportunity to put our hands togetherto thank Master.
M. Oh, no need. I thank you all for yourloving attention, and for your trust and your love and your friendship.And I wish you all the best things. I wish your country all thebest things, and develop more and more, stronger and stronger,and more and more respect by the whole world and the universe. And I wish you most of all enlightenment,if not sooner, then later. Okay.
