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Brothers and sisters, let us join in a few minutes of prayer to your own God, or your own good Self, or your own Buddha Nature. Pray that our seminar will be a helpful time for you. Thank you.

Well, brothers and sisters, you are the children of the Great Intelligence, the Great Wisdom. I suppose you do know something about yourself. Do you feel it sometimes — the greatness within your own heart, the Father or the Mother, which is the Creator or what we call the Buddha Nature from which we came and to which we will return, if we so desire.

There is free will, absolutely free, for each individual to choose between this world and the higher kingdom. Most of the people prefer to stay here and some people prefer to go home; go back to the Kingdom of God or to the Buddha's Land. It's just that — let us not be deluded about what we want. If we truly prefer to stay on this Earth, to be useful to humanity and the earthly citizens, then we must also consider some conditions, without which, our life, our sojourn in this world will not be very pleasant. And if we wish to go back to the Kingdom of God or to become a Buddha, to go back to the Buddha's Land, then we should also consider some factors which will enable us to go there.

Now let us first speak of the conditions which enable us to stay in this world and lead a comfortable, pleasant life, in case some people prefer to stay. Our planet is a very beautiful, 'spaceship'. We can say 'spaceship,' which carries a lot of sentient beings in mid air and circles around. Our planet gives us a lot of comfort and joy, gives us a lot of treasures, and sustains our lives through many ways and means. But then we also have a little duty towards our Mother Earth, to help her to remain in such a powerful position so that she may be able to help us.

Now, in order to do so, all the religions have taught us what to do. But if I may take the opportunity, with your permission, to remind you a little bit; also for the sake of those who will listen to the tapes of this seminar in the future.

Please do not have the opinion that I'll be your lecturer, teacher, master or whatever. Forget all about this. Just take me as your brother, sister, daughter; just a well-wisher, a sincere person, who would like to offer whatever she has in her best ability. It is just like if you are an engineer, then you try to help the society with your knowledge of techniques. If you are a doctor, then you try to help the society elevate by eliminating the suffering of humanity, treating their sickness, etcetera.

So, I was born with the tendency to have spiritual knowledge; and as much as I've attained some of this spiritual knowledge, I am obliged to feed it back. Just like what we have learned in college about machinery or medical treatment, we have to offer back again to the society later on. So I'm only doing my duty and I'm grateful to you that you have given me the permission and the welcoming atmosphere to do my job.

We Only Use Five Percent Of Our Intelligence

In order to put our society back in a pleasurable condition, we should also observe certain precepts and mutual respect and understanding. The way most of the people live their lives is harmful to themselves and harmful to other beings — visible and invisible. If we do not believe in the invisible existence of other beings, at least we believe in the existence of our own race, humanity, and all the animals who are the citizens of the Earth.

Lately, there is kind of fashion, that people are becoming vegetarian; and that is a good tendency, because as we know, everything carries energy. Every action is registered. Nothing is lost, as far as we can prove by science. So if we have caused some violent condition, then the violent atmosphere will hang around us or our planet and that causes some disasters. That's why we always wonder, "How come there are so many wars?", "How come so many earthquakes, so many disasters are befalling our planet?".

Now there is nothing from nothing. The Bible states very clearly: As you sow, so shall you reap. Now we do not see what we have sown, we only see what we reap sometimes. It is because our intelligence is so limited. According to science we only use five percent of our intelligence. Now fancy we only use five percent, then how can we know so many things? There must be many things that we have not discovered, that we do not understand. So this we have to accept. There is no escape from this.

Two thousand, six, seven hundred years ago, the Buddha said to His disciples, Be careful about the water you drink. You have to filter your water before you drink and repeat some sacred words in order to avoid killing beings in the glass of water. He said there are 84,000 beings in a glass of clear water. Now 84,000 is not exactly 84,000. It is a way of saying plenty in Indian custom. So the Buddha said to the disciples that they had to filter their water.

In India, at that time, to filter water was not something very popular like we do nowadays. Now the Buddha had seen this already — ahead of His time, that there are bacteria in the water. Of course the people in His time found it so difficult to believe Him, as they could not prove there are any sentient beings, or what we call bacteria, in a glass of clear water. But nowadays, due to scientific advancement, we can prove it so easily.

Great Practitioners Create A More Civilized World

It is good that our society today has became so advanced, so intelligent; the scientific research and hard, diligent efforts have brought a lot of comfort into our lives. Now we could wonder to ourselves: Why didn't we have these a few thousand years ago, all these electronic apparatus? We were not that intelligent. We were not advanced in science. So suppose there is a God, then why didn't He make people intelligent before? What happened to those God's children a few thousand years ago? Did God treat them like adopted children? Not the real children?

So you see, the advancement of our world has been brought about by the diligent effort of those so-called practitioners, the bearers of Light in this world -- the yogis, the realized ones, the mahatmas, the masters. Those greatest ones are more beneficial, are working in a greater dimension. But even the so-called less high level yogis, practitioners, bearers of Light, are also making their contribution to the whole atmospheric change in order to bring about our worldly condition today. If these practitioners of Light, bearers of Light, did not exist and had not been existing throughout the centuries, then our world would not have come to this condition as it is now.

So we are grateful to science and the discovery of scientists for all our comforts and all the advanced apparatus. They have brought comfort into our lives. But we truly forget what is the 'behind' benefactor, the invisible one, which brought about this condition. If these so-called practitioners or bearers of Light were absent from our world environment, then the world would become like hell. There would be no symbol of virtue, no examples of higher living, no light. It would be like a countryside without any electricity — all dark, like in the olden days.

Therefore, what makes our world different from hell is that we still have Light-bearers; and what makes our world different from heaven is that the Light-bearers, the virtuous people are fewer in number. If there were none at all, it would become hell. Hell is the absence of Light, of virtues. If we have more Light-bearers, then our world would become heaven. That's what makes all the difference.

Everyone would like to live in comfort and in a heavenly world, but not all people make an effort to build a heaven for themselves and those surrounding them. So we should refer back to our religious scriptures like in Christianity, in Buddhism, in order to know how to build up a heavenly environment for our world. This I would not like to emphasize too much. Maybe it will bore you because you'll say, "I know all this already." You would tell me, "I know the Bible from the first page to the last. I am a Christian. No need to tell me."

And the Buddhists would also tell me, "I know the five precepts of the Buddha. I am a lay person, I took refuge in the Buddha, maybe 40 years ago. I have a dharma name, a Buddhist name — special."

A Buddhist's name is like a Christian name, when you are baptized, I think you have a saintly name. Maria something, or Joseph something. According to Christian tradition, apart from your own name, you have a Christian name.

Now in Buddhist tradition it is a similar thing. When you take refuge in the Buddha, the sanga, and the dharma, you are also given a name. Some beautiful name like Perfect Light, Buddha's Light, Wisdom Light, Perfect Wisdom, Perfect Virtues, Liberation, Great Soul or whatever.

It is good to have these names, whether Christian or Buddhist. But, it's better if we live up to our names. If we are given Saint Francis, then we should try to read the biography of this saint. See what he did to become a saint, how he lived his life so that now he is revered throughout the centuries and throughout the world. If we happen to have the name Ananda — Ananda means bliss, ecstasy, happiness, boundless joy in Sanskrit, according to Hindu tradition; then we should see to it that we also attain this bliss through virtues, through diligent practice in inner contemplation of our inner bliss.

Our real Self is that bliss, is that virtue and connection with God. If we forget our real Self, then we are very lonely and we suffer much arduousness in this world. Once we are connected with this real Self, things begin to take a turn for the better, and we will be more clear about which direction we take and what things we do to offer to ourselves, the society at large and also to the whole universe.

Everything we do affects everyone in this world and the next. Every religion mentions to us that all things, all beings are one in essence. Just like our body has many parts. If our hands hurt, it affects our whole body also. Just because the universal body is so great, and we the many beings in this great body cannot understand, cannot see the whole universal body, so we may not believe that our actions concern any other beings. Should we develop the kind of Celestial Eye, Wisdom Eye, we would see this for ourselves that we are indeed connected with all beings; and then we would be very careful about what we do. Jesus Christ, Buddha had developed this kind of Eye of Wisdom. Therefore they knew what are the laws of the universe; what to do in order to beautify our world, also to make our lives more pleasant, more comfortable and more suitable to our taste. Therefore they laid down the rules from the heavenly abode, about our behavior and the direction we should take in our daily living.

These rules are very valuable, what we call precepts or the commandments of God. Should we follow these, our lives would be much more smooth. But that is as far as the worldly connection is concerned — the worldly contribution is concerned.

The Quickest Way To The Kingdom Of God

If we keep the precepts, we'd be nice to our neighbor, we'd love our enemies, etcetera, then the world would be in peace, be a nice place to live in, and would endure much more longevity. So if our world is peaceful, it would also affect our lives and we would also feel very peaceful. If we live in a house and the house is damaged or in not good condition, then our health and our comfort would be affected. Similarly, if we live in the world full of chaos and trouble, we'd have no peace. So to help the world is to help ourselves.

Now, that is only if we want to stay in this world. But if we want to go back to the Kingdom of God or to the Buddha's Land or to become Buddha, there are more subtle conditions and rules which we should know. Apart from keeping these precepts following a virtuous life, being tolerant and helping others, we should also be connected with the Kingdom of God.

What is the Kingdom of God? It is very easy to see, provided you are willing to give your effort and time and sincerely wish to be there. You can find the Kingdom of God through your own purity, sincerity and one-pointed devotion. But the best way, the quickest way, is to find someone who has already the access into the Kingdom of God and then you just follow. They just hold your hand and take you up.

Therefore Jesus Christ had to be born in this world in order to lead some of His contemporaries — sincerest ones, God's lovers, back to the heavenly mansion. Therefore Buddha had to descend to this world in order to take up some of His devotees back to the Buddha's Land.

In every nation, in every period of worldly existence there will be always such personalities like Jesus or Buddha. And this is very good news. We worship Jesus and Buddha, and that is very good. But rarely do we know we could become as great as Jesus, as great as Buddha. That is actually the sole purpose of their coming into our world. That's why Jesus emphasized in the Bible, Whatever miracle I do today, you can do even greater tomorrow. He promised us. We can become as great as He was, even greater.

Buddha also said, You can all become Buddha, I have already become Buddha, you will become Buddha. No one has claimed the monopoly, the sole possession of Buddhahood. No one can do that. If anyone ever does, he doesn't know anything about Buddhahood and Christianity.

A true Christ is a power which can be handed down from one person to another. Just like you earn a lot of money, you can give away as much as you want. As true as we have material possessions, we can also have spiritual power — the invisible possession which we can hand down also. It's not 'handed out' because we all have this inside ourselves. It only needs opening by an expert.

It is just like when we go into this room; we are not acquainted with the electricity board, with all the switches in this room. So we have to learn it by trying to discover ourselves, or we have to go the quickest way -- to the manager. The one who is in charge of this room, he knows everything. He has been here everyday. He knows where the switchboard is, which light is connected with which switch. It's the best way. So he can open it in seconds, put on the light and help you to connect with all the things that you need for today's seminar.

Awakening All Our Power Of Wisdom

Similarly, Christ or Buddha, they have known the Kingdom of Heaven. They have come and gone many times, if not many million of times already. So they can help us to also go there and make us comfortable with all the things we need. Once we come into this room and find the manager of this room, we can find all the things we need.

Similarly, Jesus has told us that, we should seek first the Kingdom of God and all the things shall be added unto you. The Kingdom of God is the inborn intelligence which most of us do not use. Just like I've mentioned many times already — five percent of our brain power. Now if we have access to the whole brain power — 100 percent, we can do great wonders. Using five percent we can make airplanes, we can make rockets to go to the moon, to go to the galaxies, do many wonders, cure many sicknesses, and discover many great things, invent so many computers and machinery, and make fast cars and jumbo jets.

Now, 95 percent is still there unused. If we wake this power of intelligence up, then we will know so many more things, we can do so many more things, we can invent so many more things, we can create numerous things.

That is what it means by the Kingdom of God or the Wisdom of the Buddha or the Buddha Nature. But apart from that we still have much more. The subtle power behind this brain power is what we call Soul Power. That is our real 'face,' our real person. We have no doubt about the existence of a real person within our body; that we are not this physical body. The physical body is only a house to live in while we are in this world — a hotel room. Otherwise, why when we die the body is still there and we cannot move anymore. So, it must be something else behind the body, behind the brain, that moves the whole machinery, thinks, walks, eats, and sleeps. That is our real Self.

Now the real Self is hidden behind the veil of what we call illusion or maya, in Sanskrit. Illusion is something of a play which makes us forget our real Self. It is just like when we watch television, films or theater performances so intensely that we forget ourselves. Then we cry, laugh, and feel sorrow and fear with the personages on the stage. We forgot that we are, maybe, the senators of the state, or the wife of a very important person. We glue ourselves to the screen, laugh and cry with those people, and get angry and excited. And after the theater or the movie is over, we wake up to the reality, to who we are, and we go home. We do not stay in the theater anymore and we do not glue ourselves to the television screen anymore.

Now the theater, the movies and the television are only temporary things and they can even attract people so much. You know the television addicts' problem. Sometimes you switch on and you can not switch off. It does not matter what it is, you just have to look. It's very fascinating, always changing, always making excitement and always new. And we sometimes forget our duties, our jobs, our work and we watch the television.

Our life is a greater stage and it's a longer performance. No wonder we forgot our real Self. Our life stage is more interesting even, more intense, more colorful, more dramatic and more enchanting than the theater performance. Therefore we keep glued to this screen of life and forget who we are. That's all there is to the illusion play. Once the illusion stops, the play stops. That's when we are awakened.

When we are awakened, we are enlightened. And if we are completely awakened and shake off all these impressions from the theater performance so that it doesn't make us feel sorrow, cry, weep, laugh anymore, then we say we have become like Christ or become a Buddha. We know it's all a dream at that time we are completely awakened; then we are mighty. We can control everything we need to control, but then we let everyone free as far as they don't want to be controlled. We let everything go but we can do everything we want — not harmful things to people, just all good things.

Once we are completely awakened or enlightened, we have all the wisdom that is inborn within ourselves. With a little intelligence of our five percent brain power, we can create so many great things like the Empire State Building, so many advanced and wonderful apparatuses. With this inborn, new found wisdom, we can create heaven; We can create comfortable environments, life and all the things we wish.

Everyone Has The Power Of Creation

Some of you would have heard of the miracle performers in India, China or maybe America even. These are nothing of wonders. It's just that they use that creative power. They know more than the average person about how to use their own intelligence. Just as we can make use of our five percent brain power to create airplanes, boats, rockets, scientific apparatus, etcetera; we can use more of this creative power in order to create much more advanced, more wonderful and more unimaginable, excellent things. That's all there is to heaven, all the comforts and all the miracles. It's all creative power, and we have all this within ourselves.

Now, to use this creative power just to make some flowers, some oranges, candies is nothing at all. It's just a very little thing in the creative play of our brain power. The more we know, the greater things we can create. Scientists have created many wonderful machines and apparatus to serve human life; but if the scientists have more access into the Kingdom of Wisdom, they will create heaven out of nothing. Just as much as we use materials of this Earth to create spacecraft and all kinds of vehicles and apparatus, we can use invisible materials to create all kinds of things which we need for this life and the next.

Therefore Jesus said, Seek you first the Kingdom of God and all the things shall be added onto you. That's why Buddha forsook all -- the earthly kingdom, possessions and pleasures; because then He possessed much more property. He knew He was richer than any king on this Earth. Otherwise how could one just live a life of a beggar for 49 years when the Kingdom of His nation was at hand? He could at any time go back to His throne, become a great king, rule over His nation, and enjoy all the comforts. But He didn't return, because He was richer than when He left.

He had anything He wanted. He could go to any heaven, any land, any planet, any galaxy; and had all kinds of treasures, all kind of things that He wanted. But He didn't even want these. After we know all the secrets of the universe, after we possess all the treasures of the heavens, we desire nothing anymore. We become happy within ourselves; whatever comes, comes. We become like a child. We do not desire and the desires of this world will not burn our hearts any longer — will not have anymore control over us. That is the advantage of becoming enlightened.

Only By enlightenment Can One Truly Love Others

Many people also have the wrong idea, that if we want to become enlightened, or we want to practice, we must become a monk or a nun or go to the Himalayas. I did have that idea. I thought I must do it. But that was my stupidity. I wasn't enlightened then. You do not need to do that. We can live within our family life, carry on our worldly duties, and become enlightened at the same time. It is just like we can do so many jobs with our hands and our brain power. We can also do our worldly jobs and become enlightened.

With such a limited intelligence as we have now — five percent of the brain power, we still can accomplish so many tasks. Just like if you are a physician, you still can grow your vegetables in the garden when you go back home, you help your wife clean the carpets even, or you can do all kinds of hobbies. Now fancy you have more wisdom, then you can just do more — cannot do less. Don't need to forsake the world in order to do the will of heaven. You can only do more and offer more; you do not have to decrease your responsibility.

So that is the logic of enlightenment. But since I have become a nun like this, I'm used to it, so I stay like this. It doesn't hurt me at all. But we do not need to do this. We can do many things with our wisdom. It encompasses many things. We can love God and love our family members at the same time. The love of God will not interfere with our love for family life and family members; because if God is love, if Buddha is compassion, then our family members have to be included, not excluded. So, we can include more people even. Instead of only loving our family — husband and wife, we can love also our neighbors, our enemies. That's how we become, after enlightenment.

So Jesus said, Love your enemy. He didn't only preach from the lips. He really experienced that. After complete enlightenment you bear no hatred to anyone and you see things in a better light. You see why people do this thing to you, why people do that thing to that person. You will not have any guilty feelings for what you do and you will not have any hatred towards anyone who harms you, because you see the cause and consequences of all things in the universe. That's how we can leave hatred. That's how we can love our neighbor, our enemy. It's not easy to tell people to love their enemy and then they will love them. They understand the message, but to carry out the message is another thing. It's easy to quote from the Buddha and say, All beings are pure from nature. You have no sin. There is no bad, no good. But it is hard to convince someone not to feel guilty, because they do not see the cause and consequence. They cannot do things without the ego, and then they get blamed for it.

Once we are enlightened, we see things from a higher point, from a higher intelligence, and we see nothing happens by accident, or nothing is by our own doing. But it is hard to explain this to you. It's easier to get enlightenment than to explain enlightenment.

God Has Many Names

If we hear the name of Buddha or the name of the teaching in any scripture, we will have some merit, some virtuous merit, in order to be born in heaven again. Otherwise we go to hell. So people tell us, yeah? Now I don't believe so much in hell, but there is hell nevertheless. Just that I would not go there, so I don't believe in it.

There is the law of hell and the law of heaven. The law of hell is very low class law set up to catch people in their transmigration of this illusion. The law of heaven is that of gracious blessing and love, unconditional forgiveness, which will draw people back to the Kingdom of God or to the Buddha's Land to enjoy their deserved happiness and everlasting joy. The law of hell, or of this world, is governed by the king of maya, which is what we call the 'director of illusion,' the director behind the stage of the illusionary game. The law of heaven and Buddha's Land is governed by those gracious, loving, compassionate, merciful beings who are the co-workers with Almighty God or the Highest Buddha.

When we call God by different names it is all right. You may call your wife "my darling," "my apple pie," "my sugar candy" or "honey pie," whatever you want. Similarly, we have to allow people of different mentalities and different preferences to call God by different names. It is so logical. I'm so surprised that most people don't understand this and fight over the names. It's okay if you call your wife "cookie" and if the neighbor calls his wife "apple pie". It's the same thing. If we call God by the name of Allah, Jehovah, the highest Buddha Nature, the Anuttara-Samyak-Sambodha, the Almighty, the Beloved, the Father, the Mother, the Creator, God or anything else. What does it matter?

Therefore many people think that I preach many religions at once. No, no. I only preach one-- the religion of Truth, the religion of wisdom, the religion of love. What we call God Almighty or the Highest Buddha, is our own wisdom, our own survival power, intelligence, which we could use at anytime, if we wish to do so.

You Become Very Normal After You Become A Buddha

In case we do not know where to open the gate of wisdom, we may search for some expert. That's all there is to it, so simple, and so matter of fact. We don't need to make anything become so mystical, so difficult and so hard to believe and unreachable.

If I can reach this wisdom, you can. I have not proclaimed that I have reached the whole wisdom in order that you praise me or give me a lot of presents or something. I just say so in such a way as you would say you are a M.D., because you have graduated from a medical school and in order that people know so that they trust you and that you may help them. I say this in order to set an example for you, to give you hope, to give you inspiration, that you too can do it.

So, sometimes people criticize me for saying that my disciples always praise me, saying that I'm a Buddha, I'm a what and what, and what. For a long, long time I never said I'm what and what. But people always heard from my disciples, then they came and attacked me for what I did not say. "What? You are a Buddha? How can you be? How dare you be?" And so many questions like that arose many times.

So I'm fed up. I'm tired of being humble. I say, "I'm a Buddha. So what? What's the matter with it?" so openly. But after you've become a Buddha, you become very normal, very lovable, very cute. Nothing great, nothing very special happens, just that you discover your own treasure and your own power, and you use it. What is the big deal about discovering your bank account that you have forgotten about? There's no virtue, no great thing about spending your own money. Everyone knows that. Similarly, there's no great thing about discovering your own power and your own wisdom and using them for the benefit of yourself and for anyone who needs it. Apart from this discovery of your own wisdom and power, you are ordinary. You just add more power, that's all. Whatever other people do, you do. They walk, you walk. If they sleep, you sleep; they eat, you eat; they work, you work. It's alright. You're like before. You are now just extra-charged by extra power.

It is similar to the case of a medical student. After he has graduated from medical school, he becomes a M.D. Now, he didn't change anything, did he? The look, the outlook are the same, the friends are the same, his activities are the same, and his behavior won't change. What has changed is that he has extra knowledge, extra talent, extra abilities to help others, including himself and his family, with his medical expertise.

People make Buddha become a very mythological figure, a very great being, a very mystical figure, that no one can understand, no one knows, no one can touch, no one can see. And make Christ become the world owner, and no one else can attain His level. This is wrong. This is incorrect information.

Just because you have discovered your lost treasure, it doesn't mean you will change anything in your habits and behavior. You will not become a wooden statue or a stone Buddha. You will have similar feelings, you have the same power of reasoning, you still have the same capability to work in your job, if not better. You can serve the society with more power, more vigor, more clear-sightedness and more concentration. And apart from your physical ability to contribute your talents to society and the world at large, you have the invisible wisdom which can be manifested and used as the power to supply blessing, encouragement and joy to the people around you.

So, for these reasons we can see that no one should deny enlightenment, no one should deny the right to their own wisdom and power.

Now wisdom is something very intangible — invisible, but it can be felt once you want to use it. We cannot see it but we can feel it when we turn on the light. We can use it when we turn on the fan, television or all the apparatus. So that's how we know electricity exists.

Now how do we know God, wisdom or the Buddha Nature exists? We know by the manifestation of this power. We discover this power and then we put this power into use. We use this wisdom for useful purposes, useful things. Just like electricity is invisible, but you can turn it into light, into the power for a record-player and use it in a refrigerator, fan and all kinds of useful things. Now if we have this inborn wisdom, we can use it and make it into anything we want, including to build our own heaven; then no need for God even.

Therefore, sometimes, people who are very enlightened or completely enlightened, for example, like the case of the Zen masters, after they get enlightened, they speak in such aloof terms like, "There is no God. There's no one." Or they say, "I'm just drinking tea," or something like that. They never express much emotion about God or the divine being. It is difficult to understand them and we may, sometimes mistakenly address them as a atheists; but it is not so.

Similarly in the case of the Buddha, after He was completely enlightened, He even denied that there's any God. But He used another name, Anuttara-Samyak-Sambodha. It means the highest Buddha.

Now the highest Buddha or the highest God are similar things. But the highest Buddha or the highest God live within us. That is the wonder of all wonders. That means what? Do you know? That means that we are God, we are Buddha. If the Buddha doesn't live in here, who else then? The owner is a Buddha, so we are the Buddha, we are God. But it's easy to speak, to tell, to repeat; it's not easy to realize that.

Therefore we humbly or arrogantly live everyday without realizing our true person. So we suffer, we feel burdened, we feel lonely, we feel desperate, we feel helpless. It is because we do not know our great status -- that is the real Self, the God or the Holy Spirit that dwells within ourselves. Know you not that you are the temple of God and the Holy Spirit dwells within you. Also, Lo and behold, the Kingdom of God is within you.

And Buddha said, Buddha is in your heart. It means Buddha is within yourselves. Now if the Buddha is within yourselves, then we are the Buddha. What else? There's no one else in here, only Buddha lives in here. Then we are the Buddha, is that not so? If no one else lives inside, only the Spirit of God, the Kingdom of God, then we are the Kingdom of God, we are God. It's very logical, even without enlightenment. We can not argue about this.

So the next step is to find this Kingdom of God, to find this power of the Almighty which is hidden within ourselves. Now that I have found it, I might inform you. So if you want to find it, then I will offer you my service, free of any condition.

Questions And Answers

Q: When you attain enlightenment what happens to the personality?

M: Do you mean if you are a very angry person, will you become more calm? It happens. Yes, it affects our personality to become more perfect. Q: Buddha emphasized meditation, now Catholics struggle to learn meditation in a Buddhist way. In Catholic meditation we use some Bible, use the words to learn -- read, use word meditation. In the Buddha's way, meditation is emptying the mind. How we can use this way of meditation to reach God?

M: Now once we are enlightened, we know things differently, from the ordinary understanding. Before I also did not understand what was meant by 'emptying your mind'? What's the Kingdom of God? What's Buddha Nature and all these terms? It was so big for me. After enlightenment, everything is like a child's game.

Now in the Catholic tradition, some have meditation. You know that Christianity has many retreat centers, many hideaways, what we call secret orders. No one can enter even. What do they do? They contemplate, they pray, they meditate.

What's meditation? I'll tell you. After prayer or maybe worshipping God for long hours, our arms ache from tearing the beads apart and our knees are sometimes tire. So then we might just drop down and sit there or kneel there in silence, to have a rest; and at that time, God's instruction will come. That's meditation. We have to be quiet in order to listen. We always talk and God has no chance to tell us. So the prayer is the talking, the demand; and meditation is the listening. But most people just keep praying all the time or always make noise or always talk, and God has no chance to tell them what to do. No wonder their prayers are unanswered. God has no opportunity.

So the meditation is a must from a logical standpoint. Whether you are Buddhist, Christian, Muslim or whatever, I don't care. If you cannot make time to listen to God, then God can never be communicated with.

Even if you talk to a friend, you telephone, you talk and then you must listen. Even if you ask me, you must first ask, and then now you must be quiet so I have a chance to tell you.

So how can we treat God even worse than a friend. We keep talking all the time, and give Him no chance. So meditation is the time of quiet listening. That's all there is, and God will come.

Q: You say a genuine master should not perform miracles, yet Jesus performed miracles and healed people.

M: Remember what Jesus said to His mother: Why do you tell people that I can perform miracles? He was very reluctant to do this. Because His mother already told people to prepare water and leave it there, this forced Him to do it.

Many other's times He cured the lepers, He cured the sick people; but He waited until no one was there and went and told the person to get up and get healed. When He saw people come after Him then He immediately disappeared. Do you remember? He hid Himself. He didn't want to let people see. He also told the patient not to tell other people. But that person came out and told everything.

So even if masters have miracle powers, they seldom openly use it to attract the attention of the masses. They only want to attract the sincere seekers for the Kingdom of God. Because if you are after miracles only, then miracles are all you will have - not the Kingdom of God. But if you are after the Kingdom of God, you seek the Kingdom of God, then all things shall be added onto you. You'll have miracles and all things. Understand? Therefore most masters avoid attracting people by miracles, for fear that they will pay their attention only to that part of the God power and forget the whole.

Q: My life is in danger. Do you feel it?

M: I understand; but whether yours or mine, everyone is the same. Whether you know it or not, our lives are always in danger in any moment. So if you want to protect yourself, then get enlightenment. Use your wisdom to protect your own life. No one else can do it!

Q: To be a lifelong vegetarian, without meat-eating is prevent from killing. But can we eat eggs?

M: Eggs contain half of the life, and then they unite together and become a chicken. This is the first reason why we should not eat eggs. Now some eggs are unfertilized, but still they contain half of the life in them.

The second reason is that chickens they eat all kinds of worms with bacteria and disease. So when we eat them, the eggs are not that pure — not good for our delicate system. The more we practice, the more we become very sensitive. It's dirty.

The third reason is that all the black magicians, witches, they use eggs to attract so-called dead souls, controlled souls. If we eat them, we also attract these souls to ourselves. So we add more negative nature to our own beings. It's not very helpful for spiritual progress, so we don't eat eggs.

Q: As the Buddha asked His disciples to filter the water, do we have to filter our environment and our actions so we may attain enlightenment easier?

M: Yes, we do! Therefore the emphasis is on keeping the precepts, the commandments.

Q: What do You think of astrology?

M: Doesn't change much. Doesn't help much. We have to change from a higher plane of consciousness. Not just by knowing what happens tomorrow. We have to change our life, our way of living in order to better our life and smooth our path — not by consulting an astrologer; because he might tell you to avoid one disaster, but the next will follow.

You cannot always have an astrologer in your pocket. Whereby you have your wisdom all the time with you and this is the best 'astrologer,' the best guide to tell you everything. In the course of time, even he doesn't tell you.

It takes care of you even if you are not yet at a very spiritually perceptive stage. The Master inside will take care that you do not run into so much trouble, and smooth your path for you. That's the best thing to do; not to consult an astrologer.

Besides, once we are very highly developed in wisdom, we are above astrology. No one can read your palm any longer. No one knows under which star you are influenced anymore. Finished, you are above the stars, the sun and the moon. Nothing affects you.

Q: Why is there so much suffering in this world? Is there innocence involved in suffering?

M: No one is innocent. Except you are born again, you are not innocent. Born again means repenting our past misdeeds and promising God to lead a better life, a virtuous life. Then God's grace will descend on us, will help us, clean us, purify us, and make us become a child. Then you can say: "I am born again, I am innocent." After the initiation you can say you are innocent.

If you follow the virtuous path, then you will always be innocent; but not before that. We are burdened with the so-called original sin, or the past karma. We cannot say we are innocent. We, everyone of us, are responsible for the condition of our world today. Whether knowingly or unknowingly, we have done some damage to the world. We must repent. We must change our way of life. We must live in wisdom, in virtue.

Q: If there is only one God, Buddha, why are we God ourselves?

M: Because we are one; we are all one. It is an illusion that we are many. After enlightenment, you see we are all one. It's only one spirit, one unity, one great being in all of us.

Now for example, the sunshine, is it the whole? Sun rays are from the sun. It's a part of the whole. But because the sun has to shine in different directions to benefit in different aspects, therefore we have many sun rays. But we cannot say that a sun ray is a separate sun ray. It's an illusion to say a sun ray is a separate sun ray. It is not at all. Or it's an illusion, ignorant, to say that the waves are different from the ocean. Is it not true?

Q: What's wrong with occasionally having a beer or a glass of wine with friends?

M: It looks like nothing is wrong, but people start from there. People start from a glass of harmless wine and a beer with a friend, and become alcoholics. They couldn't suddenly become a alcoholic, no? It develops from a glass of beer, a glass of wine, and becomes more habitual — take more and more and become possessed with it. So don't start. Don't play with fire. Also any drop of wine, anything that's alcoholic dulls your wisdom, kills your memory, takes you further from the truth, makes you forget who you are and disconnects you from the glorious path and your highest wisdom. Therefore we better avoid it.

Many people were born mentally damaged. It's due to them having killed their own wisdom with too many intoxicants in the past, like alcohol, drugs or such things. So, do not play with fire! We do not know how much we can control ourselves. No one knows until it is too late. All mistakes come from the overestimation of our control of will power. It's easy to say, but hard to practice. So better not to try.

Now you see the world is already very mysterious and foggy. Why do you want to add more confusion to your mind? Our vision is already blurred, already not clear. Why should we add more to our, unclear mind with alcohol or drugs.

Q: Why can't people control themselves sometimes?

M: I told you already. It's easy to control people, but not easy to control ourselves. It's because we do not learn controlling. Also it's because of the karmic setup which we do not understand. Some people we see for the first time, we fall in love with. We call this love at first sight. And someone we just met for one second, we want to start a fight with him. It's not that we do not want to control our emotion or anger, we just could not because of the karmic background. Maybe that person was in love with you before or made some nice, good impression in your mind. So when you met that person for the first time you feel overwhelming love and sometimes mistake it for love at first sight. It's affection from the past. The one whom you want to get into a fight with, it was maybe because in a past life he was angry with you all the time and troubled you a lot.

Q: Can an ordinary person, a worldly person, also get enlightenment? Can they attain the supraworldly state? Please explain, Master!

M: Of course! No one is an ordinary worldly person! You are only cheating yourself. The Most High is in your heart, so how could you be an ordinary worldly person? No one is an ordinary worldly person, but you deliberately make yourself one! We do not wish to know that we are the Almighty. Everyday, we just earn money, sleep, eat and raise children, and never seek anything else. It is all right to work, eat, sleep and to have children, but we should also be enlightened, we know why we are doing this, and know that we are the Most High. If you are not enlightened, and engaged only in worldly work, of course we will stay forever in the world, and forever an ordinary worldly person.

Nov.3,1989

Jesus, Buddha, Confucius, Krishna and other great enlightened Masters of history seem impervious to the passing of time, their books remain as testimonials of their teachings.

Although these Masters have thousands of followers, in the past few years there has appeared in China a woman who is considered by Her disciples as an "enlightened Master". Without professing any particular religion, She now has countless disciples around the world. Her name is Supreme Master Ching Hai.

Born to a well-off Au Lac family, Supreme Master Ching Hai enjoyed reading philosophical books at the age of seven, while other children were playing with their friends. According to reports, She was able to understand the philosophical concepts espoused by Buddha, Lao-Tzu and Confucius. If she didn't understand these books, she wouldn't have continued to read them, was Her answer to Her father, a naturopathic physician.

Her intense search for enlightenment brought Her to the Himalayas and Red Cross relief missions for refugees. She married a German scientist; but after a few years, Her desire for enlightenment overcame Her and She left home.

She practiced esoteric methods, Zen Buddhism and other doctrines; but Her search continued without bearing fruit. Finally, She met a Himalayan Master who initiated Her into the Quan Yin Method. This method is supposed to be the most ancient method on Earth, connecting practitioners with the spiritual light and sound which brings them close to God.

Supreme Master Ching Hai appears in public dressed in a robe in the style of a Buddhist monk. In a video of a conference given in Costa Rica six years ago, She showed that the image of an "enlightened being" does not preclude a lighthearted sense of humor, open to jokes and humorous examples.

"I do not speak against any religion, My mission in this world is simply to help people return to the Kingdom of God, to take them back to where they came from," She states while seated comfortable.

And to fulfill this commitment, She offers the Quan Yin Method, which in a few words consists of deep meditation in order to hear the inner sound and see the inner light. "But we do not perceive these with our normal human senses. When we are meditating, we can access the heavenly light and sound, and we can gauge our own inner level by the intensity of this light and sound," says a Chinese coordinator from Costa Rica.

The Master's disciples believe that She has reached the highest level of enlightenment, equal to that of Jesus and Buddha, and Her mission is to preach the universal teachings to the world.

It is a rare occurrence for a female master to appear, because history has only presented us with male masters. But times change. "Perhaps it is more practical for Her to come in the form of a woman. It gives Her the advantage of expressing beauty and virtues in a different manner than a man," states another coordinator from Costa Rica.

Although Quan Yin practitioners claim that it is not a religious doctrine, they do agree that it is part of the whole. "Without a method to meet God personally, any spiritual organizations can not function perfectly," says the Chinese coordinator in Costa Rica. They assure us that this method is nothing new and more than that, they have the belief that it has heavenly origins and even that Jesus traveled to India in order to practice it.

Supreme Master Ching Hai has such a charisma that Her disciples say, "There is no difference between Her and God because all of us as humans have God inside." They consider Her to be a divine messenger and the reincarnation of other great masters from the past. "In all periods of time there have been great enlightened masters so that all humans would be given the same opportunities. For this time period, She is God's messenger," added an initiate.

Her disciples assert that She is omnipresent so Her light bodies not only work on the Earth, but also on other planets.

This philosophy, which preaches vegetarianism and abstinence from other vices, extends throughout many countries. Each day Master has more initiates. El Salvador has just been included, and now there is another alternative for those who are seeking a "quick and safe path to know God". Her followers present the Quan Yin Method as the best path, because they say, in essence it allows you a quick way to know the God power that dwells within us all. It is simply a matter of discovering and developing it.

Osthammar, Sweden - Two-hundred thirty seven children and twelve adults owe their lives to a gusty pup who swam five grueling miles to alert authorities that their boat was sinking!

The school group was taking a ferry from Osthammar to visit a museum on the island of Aland when the boat struck the wreckage of an old fishing scow and sprung a leak.

"I thought we were doomed to a watery grave," said Liv Bergman, principal of Falun Elementary.

"In desperation, we decided to try a million-to-one possibility‘G We wrote a note telling where we were. We trusted in a little boy's pet dog to make a swim and carry it back to Osthammar, five long miles away."

Amazingly, the courageous retriever, named Ole, braved the turbulent, freezing waters and struggled to shore. Within minutes a rescue boat was dispatched. All the crew members and passengers escaped save and sound.

The harrowing adventure began when little Hans Klippans sneaked his dog on board despite stern warnings from his teachers.

"The children were all told not to bring pets," says Mrs. Bergman.

"But I should have known that mischievous little Hans would try to get around the rules."

"Hans and Ole are inseparable."

"Ole was always following him to school and Hans often sneaked him into the classroom."

"No matter how many times we warned him, he was always finding new ways to smuggle him in."

"I'm known as a strict principal but I must admit this is one time that I am very glad a child break one of the rules."

"The ferry struck the half-sunken hull of a fishing boat. The collision tore a huge hole in our boat and I knew we were in big trouble."

Worse yet, the collision damaged the boat's radio, making it impossible to send an S.O.S.