Q. How do I know if reincarnation exists?
M. We can know it, if we get to a certain level in our wisdom. For example, when we pass the second grade of high school, we know many laws of physics. We could experiment with them ourselves in our laboratory. Okay! If you practice the Quan Yin Method, or sometimes another type of method, you can get to the second plane, I mean the second plane of consciousness. There are many levels, the second is not the best, it is one of the worst. There are the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth, eleventh, etc. The higher the wiser, then you'll reach the highest. Now if you get to the second plane you may know the past lives of yourself and of many people. Then you know reincarnation really exists. I can't prove it to you. Your eyes cannot see further than a hundred meters. But I can help you to develop your heavenly eye, then you can see further, many generations behind and ahead, and then you can prove it to yourself. Okay? But I tell you, this is not a good motive to meditate, because to know the past lives is not so good for you. Suppose you know that your wife was a tiger last life, then maybe you might have a nightmare. Yes? [Laughter] You would be thinking: "My God, what if she becomes a tiger again [Master and all laughed], or suddenly changes back to a tiger?" Yeah? It's no good. Out of God's mercy, He draws the curtain between our life and the past, because we have enough to deal with in this life. No?
Q. How can we know reincarnation really exists?
M. I've told you already. In the Bible Jesus also said He is the reincarnation of such and such great past Master. But anyhow we couldn't believe Him unless we ourselves go to the second world's sphere and see the library of the book of lives, and then we have no more doubt about that. Therefore there are many people, Buddhist monks or Catholic monks, and some of them know of past lives. But the trouble is, we have difficulty believing them, no?
Q. Do I have a soul? If not, how is reincarnation possible?
M. Well, the Bible says you have a soul, so you must have one. (Master laughs) In reincarnation, it is not the soul that reincarnates actually. The soul lives forever; doesn't die, doesn't live, doesn't reincarnate. It is the experience of life, the integrating process between the physical and the spiritual when we are experimenting in the so-called life here and which attaches to the knowledge of our existence, that reincarnates. And if we do not detach ourselves from this kind of experiment that we call ourselves, we reincarnate. Actually, we don't reincarnate, we don't die, ever. We are just sick; we are just diseased with these incidents, with these disasters that happen to be attached to us. If we don't cut ourselves asunder from that, then of course, we are forever connected with that. The cause and effect keep changing, keep moving, keep adding, keep diminishing; and that's how we say we reincarnate. If we are not enlightened enough, that's it.
Q. Master, why don't we remember our previous lives and death?
M. Because it is too much for us to cope with, too much burden. We have enough to do today, with taxes, wars, children, and with our immediate problems and karma. Should you know that you have been such and such, very bad or very good, or very noble in a last life, it would be more confusing and you couldn't conquer the tasks at hand in this life. So God, the natural law, drew a curtain. You will know it when it is necessary. You will know it in time. And in meditation, sometimes you know it too, if it should be necessary for your progress. If it should not, then you won't know. Jesus also said, "Do not worry about tomorrow. It is enough that we take care of today." ' So if we don't want to know about tomorrow which will affect us, which is important to us, how much less should we know about the past which is already gone. You understand?
Q. If people are reborn, why is the world population increasing?
M. Because people are reborn! (laughter) Because most people are not enlightened and not liberated, therefore the world population increases. Because there are people in hells that come up to be reincarnated as human beings. There are animal kingdom beings, and after paying their retribution as animals, they come back and become human. The more beef, ducks, chickens and pigs we eat, the more overpopulated the world will be. Also there are some angels, some people from paradise who, after some period of many thousands or hundreds of years, will reincarnate again as human beings. Therefore, the world is always overpopulated.
Q. Why do the Christian churches not accept the idea of reincarnation?
M. Because they misunderstand the Bible, and also because the Bible has been cut and censored many hundreds of times over. I'll tell you an example. When Jesus was asked, "Are you the reincarnation of such and such past saints?" He didn't say "no." Saint Paul also said "I live, but no, not 'I' but Christ lives in me." Okay! Now, if you don't believe in reincarnation, why are you waiting for the second coming of Christ? (laughter) Ask your church, then see how they answer you.
Q. Is reincarnation a choice of the soul or spirit, or is it something that will occur without choice by the control and devotion of the Higher Power?
M. We have choice and we do not have choice. For average people, there is no choice. For Buddha, Saints, Christ, they have a choice. They consciously chose their parents, date of birth, place of birth and date of death, of leaving the world. They were conscious before they came to the world. They came by choice. They came to save the world, to help some of their friends, to help those who prayed to them for their help. But other people are compelled to reincarnate by their own deeds, their actions throughout past lives. Our thinking and habits form themselves into an energy, and this forces us to come into an environment to fulfil and to eradicate, if necessary. This already-formed concrete energy has to be diluted.
Q. Is it the soul that carries karma from life to life?
M. It is the mind, the power of memory. It is a kind of energy force. When you do something, you create a form of energy that is invisible to your physical eyes. This energy creates a pattern that the soul experiences in this world, your ups and downs, etc. And after a long period of time, the soul identifies itself with this pattern instead of realizing that it is free from this pattern.
Q. We are a product of evolution and thus I do not accept the possibility of coming back at a lower level, as an animal for instance. So that would be involution and not evolution, right?
M. Yes. It is evolution, but sometimes it stops for a while and then goes back up again. It is always going up but sometimes we slip down. If you want to go to the top of the mountain and your foot slips, you might fall down a little. But you will climb up because you know that you have to go to the top of the mountain, and how hard it is. It is always evolution. So if a man behaves as an animal and not as a human being then in his next life he will have to learn the animal's lesson because he has not done well. Then, he will be scared of it, will have enough of it, and say "Okay, no more. I will go back to a human life, I will behave as a human. I will know what to do next time!
Q. I know of the law of cause and effect as a universal law. Could you tell me more about other universal laws? Are there more than one?
M. Yes, there is a higher law than the law of cause and effect. It is the law of grace, the law of forgiveness which comes directly from God. The law of cause and effect is appointed by God to regulate the universe, but there are higher laws above this, such as the laws of love, forgiveness and grace. This is what Jesus brought down to us when He was in the physical body. And this is what any great Master would bring to people, whomever comes to them for refuge and help. This is the law of love and grace.
Q. Master, how can I remember my past lives, so that I can retrieve the knowledge I learned then?
M. No, no, it's enough to learn in the present. Because in present life, we haven't even learned enough yet. The past life is gone, and God has drawn a curtain between the past and present. It's for our own benefit. Therefore, it's not always necessary to trace the past. If we know too many things about the past, without having enough power to handle it, or to improve it concerning the present, then we will be in trouble. That's why people sometimes come into a possessed kind of state of mind. Or knowing too much of the past, they will be miserable living in the present. Suppose you know that in the past life, you were the sultan of such and such country, and now you are driving a taxi. Would you like it? Or suppose that you know that last life, you and your wife had some kind of bloodshed with each other. Now every time you see her, would you be afraid that she killed you last life? Can you ever be loving again to her? It would affect very much your family harmony, your personal relationships, as well as your own happiness. Is that not so? Therefore, we don't need to know the past. We take care of the present, and the future will come beautifully. Meditate on your inner self, or choose whatever method you like. But I would only recommend the Quan Yin Method, because I know after all the studies, that it's the best; that it's the highest, the quickest, the safest. So we offer that to you, in case you want to gain more knowledge in the present, and for the future. And the past takes care of itself. The past is gone, the past we can just forget it.
Q. Master Ching Hai, I have two questions. One is, what world do past life memories come from, if you were to have the memory of the past life. And secondly, how do past lives relate to karma?
M. To your present, right? To your karma?
Q. To the present karma and to one's present understanding? Are they part of the excess baggage?
M. Yes, yes. They relate very much. First question, where does the past karma come from?
Q. Past life memories. Yes.
M. You can read the past life record, that's for sure. And the past life records, as I have told you, came from the akashic record. Yes. And this is a kind of library in the second world which is accessible to anyone who can reach there. Not everyone can go to the United Nations' library and have accessed to it. But I can, for example today, because I'm invited to talk in the United Nations. Right? Not everyone can come in, but you can,because you are a kind of residents here. So, similarly, when we get access to the second world, we can read the past life, yeah! Also when we access into the first world, some of it, we can have some glimpse of the past life of a person. But that's not very high and not very complete record. And how do these past life experiences relate to the present karma? We can say that these are the experiences we have learned in order to cope with this present lifetime. You understand? What you assimilated in the past, you will bring into practice at this present lifetime. And similarly, too many unpleasant experiences in the past would make you frightened, when you see some symbol that is very much similar to the past life... For example, if last life... just now, you drop off from the staircase, yeah, by accident and then hurt yourself badly and in the dark, and nobody helps you. And now when you walk down the staircase, you would feel a little frightened, especially when it is deep and dark underneath, you would feel a kind of struggle whether you go or not. Or if last life you have already studied and researched deep into some scientific field. This life you will find yourself still very interested... interested in... This is Chinese tongue-twister (laughs). I'm sorry. Is my English still clear enough? Yeah? (Audience: Yes) Okay. Thank you. So you still feel very... you have kind of a pull to any kind of scientific research, even though you are not a kind of scientist now. Any kind of thing like that. That's why Mozart, he was so..., a genius when he was four years old. He went straight to the piano and he became famous up till now, still. Yeah? He was a genius because he had practiced in many other lifetimes until mastership, but then he died after that. Understand? Before he reached the peak of his career, he died and he wasn't satisfied just to leave... to leave his career because he loved music. So he came back and all his learned experience from his past musical talent came back to him, because he had so strong desire to continue when he died. Understand? And some of these people learn many things from the astral world or the second world before they are reborn in this world again. Therefore they are fantastically gifted with science, or with music, or with literature, or with any kind of inventions, which other people don't know. You see, kind of very extraordinary inventions that other people cannot understand it and cannot even dream of inventing. Okay? Because they have seen them, they have learned them. Therefore, two kinds of learning in this world or in the world beyond. Those who are gifted and excellent, like genius, they are the experts from the world beyond, like in the astral world, the second world... sometimes from the third world, if he chooses to come back. Yeah? They are excellent. These are geniuses. Okay? Yes?
Q. Master Ching Hai, I want to know... that because we are in the body now... could it be that we could have a fallen from being liberated from this body before? Have we always been in this state or have we been in a better state before, or just in this state? What is the good attitude or a good disposition to quickly move ahead?
M. To quit the body and move ahead ah huh. Yes, we can if we know how. Yes. There are many different methods for leaving the body behind and go beyond this world. Some go not far, some go very far, and some go to the end. So according to the comparison that I have made with my different research since I was young. Even though I look still young now, but I was young then, you know. Our method here is the best, yeah! Goes to the farthest one, the farthest one, the far end. There are many other methods, if you choose to experience, you can choose. There are many in the market, some go to the astral world, some go to the furthers..., the third or the fourth, but not many can go to the fifth, yeah. So, our method, our practice is to take you to the fifth before we set you free. Understand? Let you go alone. And beyond that we can approach a different aspect of God, beyond the fifth plane, but it's not always pleasant, yes. We always imagine that the higher the better; it's not always true. For example, sometimes we go into a beautiful palace and we were invited into the living room of the master. We sat there and we were served with cool drinks and beautiful eating and everything. And then we thought we should go a little bit deeper into the house, have a look. And we would venture into the garbage place and you know many other things in the house. It's not always important. Yeah? And also into a power house you know, we went into the electricity house which is just behind the house, beyond the house, and we got shocked so then we die there. So it's not always necessary or recommendable to go into deeper, but we could do that for the sake of adventure. Yeah, Okay.