A living Master is useful. I have electricity. A dead wire doesn't work, only a living wire can conduct electricity and bring it to you. Any wires, no matter how powerful, if they have been destroyed, cannot carry any more electricity. Any bulb, no matter how beautiful, once it is broken, cannot give you light. But a bulb, even an ugly one, if it is intact, can give you light. That is why, when people pray to a dead Buddha, they will rarely get a response.

Through your thinking of the Master, you become one with the Master, and the Master is you. The Master is your own real Self, but since you do not realize it, you just have to think of the Master because that is yourself. Through the thinking, all the qualities of the Master gradually, by and by, will transmit to you, and you will find yourself through the Master. And later, you will realize, 'Oh Master is me. It was me all the time.' That is why, since ancient times, people worship sages and enlightened Masters, or themselves, not for the sake of the Master.

Love and respect we must have for any great person, for any great soul, any great practitioners like Jesus or Buddha, those great beings who sacrificed so much for mankind and who have reached their ultimate Wisdom. Love and respect we must always have, even if that person has passed away. But then, we don't need to devote all our time just to praise them, to worship them and to ask favors from them. Because any person would know that we are living beings, and we need a living Master in order to impart us the knowledge that the past teachers have given to their past disciples. So a living Master we must find.

Anyhow, past Masters, even if you love and worship them, can only help you to a certain extent because they have left our magnetic field. They have gone to another world, to another kind of dimension to work in their present work, and they are busy over there. So, a living Master is the one who is assigned to do their past work in the present time. It is just like when Mr. Carter was President some years ago, but now it is Mr. Bush. So it is no good to worship and call Mr. Carter to solve your national problems when he is no longer in office. It is not that we don't like him, or respect his work, or appreciate his job, but he is gone now. We have to leave him so he can do his job and we have to request the person who is presently occupying his position, to fulfil his job for us. That's all.

Once you leave this physical world, even if you are a very high Master, you cannot help the physical beings any more, but only through an inner communication, which is very difficult to reach for most human beings, save some exceptional persons who have the inborn nature of telepathy, or who are left with some psychic power, or the inner communication ability, through their own previous lives' practice. We might call this the sixth and seven sense, the highest dimension of understanding. Then, you may even be able to see Jesus without practicing or any prior meditation. It has happened, but not very often.

In your meditation, if you run into any difficulty or if you have any questions, you should pray to God, and try to quiet your mind, and the answer will come or the help will come. Or pray to Jesus or pray to Buddha, or whichever saint you believe in. Our teachings are universal, we have no discrimination between belief systems. Then, I have to add that, if after you have prayed to all the saints, and to God and it doesn't help, then you can call me to help you. It sounds very self-glorifying, but I tell you because I have to tell you everything, and I have to explain why it is so. It is because I am nearer. A nearer neighbor is better than a far relative. It is very simple and logical. I am nearer because we are in the same magnetic field of the earth. Our energy is intertwined and it is easier to oscillate our energies because we are nearer, we are in the same vibratory frequency.

When you have a living Master, you can pray in silence, and ask him for advice if you encounter problems with your meditation. If you feel far away from God, you will need an intermediary. You are still a little weak, just like a child needing the help of his parents to guide his first steps. But later on, you will walk all alone, and know that your goal is to walk alone, and no longer depend on your parents. You will be able to learn directly from the Masters of the past with the Quan Yin Method. That is how we learn about the Truth, not from hearsay, from sermons or doctrines. The Truth is revealed through our own intuition. When we reach higher dimensions, we discover other beings and a more 'civilized' universe that can only be perceived by concentrating our attention within ourselves, and by reaching a level of deep contemplation. The Quan Yin Method is a way to achieve this state.

Past Master cannot teach you. You have to look for a present Master, who can answer your questions, help you when you are in doubt, and take you by the hand back to the Kingdom of God. We need a person-to-person contact, not someone from the past. It doesn't matter how beautiful a woman was in the past, you cannot marry her! She cannot give you any children and produce the love feeling that you have with a living wife.

Q. So, what it sounds like to me, is that until you can find the Master within yourself, you'll need to have one outside for a while?

M. But the Master is also an inner guide, not only on the physical level. Otherwise, the Master wouldn't be able to help the disciple from a thousand miles away, and all over the world. The Master must be at a very elevated level in order to help all the people anytime, day and night, no matter where the person is.

Q. In the West, there is often a danger when a seeker falls down and adores the teacher. Do you think this is a problem?

M. Not if the teacher is genuine, because then you only worship yourself, you only worship the greatest spirit which is already one with the Master.

Q. So you are saying that if the Master is a genuine Master, he or she then holds a mirror up to the person to help them see themselves deeply?

M. Right, that's it.

Q. What about the disciples of previous Masters? If a true living Master leaves this world, do his disciples have to seek another Master, or is there no need for that?

M. No need. But if they want to inquire something about practical things, or physical things, then they could come to another living Master, or to the successor of that Master. Otherwise, inside, there is still the spiritual guidance of the deceased Master. He is still responsible and still has the power to carry on, because the connection is already made. You understand! Only when we don't have a so-called connection with a past Master do we need a new Master. Why we didn't go to a past Master from many hundreds of years ago was because we didn't make a connection with him while he was living, therefore the connection was not made. If you have made a connection with a Master a thousand years ago, it doesn't matter how long it has been, he still takes care of you. But if you didn't make a connection with him before he died, then how can he take care of you? Do you understand?

Q. So what would you like to say about yourself in relationship to what you can offer people?

M. I myself couldn't offer much except for my body, speech and mind whenever God wills to use it to offer it to people, to His children who love to be near Him, or to be next to Him. I can only be ready to be used. I cannot offer anything much.(laughter) I am only like you. What can a body offer?

Q. Could you perform some miracles so people can increase their faith in your teaching?

M. Miracles, what do you want? I give you some money, yes? And then what do you do with it? What good would that do to you eternally? I advise you to find your own power, your own miraculous power, instead of relying on mine, instead of coming to me only for magical powers, in order to get your own right back, the Kingdom of God, your own wisdom, your own birthright, your own heaven, your own Kingdom. That is the best and the highest ideal of a human life, not miracles. Miracles are very short-lived. If necessary I will show you miracles, but not for show, not to get your applause. Whenever necessary during your practice, you may encounter some obstacles, some bad influence, at that time you will know that I can make miracles. I can, but I do not use them at random just to let you know how great I am. I do not need that. I want you to have a very correct attitude, correct thinking, a correct idea in practice and that is to go back to the most high, to gain back our highest wisdom, not to hang on to these children's games, to these plastic toys. You will have everything, 'Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and all other things will be added unto you.' Do not ask for small things, ask for great things. It befits you more because we human beings are the greatest in the universe. So ask for the greatest only, that is most befitting to your position, to your dignity and to your birthright.

Q. Master, you travel all around the world and cannot stay here to teach everyone, so in your absence who will we have to follow?

M. It is like this. We do not follow a teacher, we only follow the teaching. So we can never go wrong, in case the teacher goes wrong. When the teaching is okay, then we follow the teaching. We have to see if the teaching is correct, you see if my ethics are correct or not, if whatever I teach you I follow or not. For example, I teach you not to eat meat and I also eat vegetarian. I teach you not to steal and I also do not steal. I teach you to give away in charity and I myself give away in charity. I teach you to love people and I do love people and help people. I take no money for the teaching I give, I earn my own money, so you have nothing to lose at all. You can only gain.

Now also, every moral standard described in the Buddhist scriptures, and in the Christian Bible, I convey to you again. So, I teach nothing new, nothing immoral, nothing unethical. Do you understand? So you may be safe to know that your teacher won't teach you anything amoral or unethical, anything outside of the scriptures. I teach you everything from the scriptures. From ancient times, the ethical conduct hasn't changed, the commandments from God and from Buddha have not changed. I teach you the same, and I do the same, so you know at least that I am not a bad type! So now the teaching is correct, right? And the meditation will provide you with wisdom and peace of mind. It doesn't matter which technique, it will help you somewhat. So there is no exception about our technique. I only tell you that it is the fastest, that is all. You don't have to believe me. I only inform you and now you have your own choice. I only tell the truth. If it is fast, I say it is very fast. I am also a nun. I am not allowed to say lies. Even average people don't tell lies, so what would a nun tell lies for! And I have no reason to do this, because I don't need your money. I don't need anything, and I do not even live here. I profit nothing from you. I may even leave tomorrow and you may never see me again. Good-bye! So I have profited nothing. So from this standpoint you are safe. Yes? So, you follow the teaching, don't follow me. The teaching will always be with you, and you do not need to follow me in person. In case you want some personal advice about your meditation progress, you may write to me or you may telephone to ask me. Nowadays no need to stick with the Master, you can go to Taiwan or wherever I stay. My body is only an appearance, a house, an office so that you may see me. If I were to only use my spiritual body, you couldn't see me at all, you couldn't hear me. So how could I convey the message to you? So I have to use my body, right? So, no need to fear that when I go away, you will have no one. You always have someone. You might even see me appear in your house, just like this, if you are sincere and high level enough. You will see the Master come to you, and you will see the Master all the time when you need. No need to cling to the physical body.

Q. Master, as your disciple, if I have a friend or someone I know that is very sick, and if I ask you to help this person, could you help this person, or can you only help someone who follows your teaching?

M. The Master helps anyone that is dear to you, but according to his karma and what is good for him also. Ask anyhow, but offer the result to the Master's power.