Enlightenment is the tool for everything
Georgetown University, Washington D.C. U.S.A. Apr.14, 1993.

Q. What are the steps to enlightenment and what level of enlightenment does this technique take you to?

M. It will take you to the source of all beings, where you came from and where all beings will return. Between this earthly level and that absolute level, there are five levels of consciousness or different planes of existence, and if we, through the practice of the heavenly light and sound and the guidance of the experienced teacher, pass through these five levels, then we arrive there, at the house of the masters where all masters came from and return after the mission, and where we also will come from in order to help other beings should we desire to return to Earth or any other planet in the universe. So the first step is to get initiation and then everything else will come.

Q. Is the only way to go to God through initiation in the light and sound?

M. Yeah, that's the last part of the journey. You have many other ways also, but if you don't reach there, then you are not there. Just like the door of the house. Doesn't matter from which road you travel, if you do not pass through that gate, you do not enter the house, yeah? So, we start from there because we are more fortunate.

Q. Is there more than one initiation?

M. No, no. Only one physically but many inwardly, inside. See, it depends on the individual. For example, at the time of initiation the master or the representative of the master gives the same verbal instructions, but the initiation doesn't come from these instructions. The initiation comes from within, from the awakening of your own nature. And even then the levels are different. Therefore two persons sitting in the same place or next to each other will have entirely different levels. And therefore, also, the master will from inside teach individually different, and only he knows. Only he inside knows what the master teaches him, and his experience is different from his wife or his kids or his father or brothers, etc. So you can call that different initiations if you wish, but I would say that it is the continuation of learning from different individuals.

Q. Master Ching Hai, I have a time, a strong desire to become non-existent. Please share your thoughts, if there is any, on this desire.

M. Oh, I also like that. (Master laughs.) I also like to be non-existent so that I don't have to travel and I don't have to be such a great "Master" and all this and that and others. But since we are already in this existence, we stay. We stay and see what happens next. Meanwhile we get enlightenment so we can be in the existence level and the non-existence level at the same time. But that non-existence level is by no means empty, by no means nothingness, It is a life full of richness, full of splendor, full of glory, full of happiness, full of creative energy. We will enjoy that life more than the so-called existing life which we know as a human life here. But we can have both at the same time. It's very wonderful. Very wonderful.

Q. My children are very important to me. After initiation will I be able to continue to love them?... And not merely share an existence with them? What changes will occur in that regard?

M. Oh, my God. (Laughter) You have become like a child. Do all my disciples throw away their children or what do they do with them? What did you do with all your children after initiation? Can you love them? (Audience: "Love them more.") They said they love them more than before, so you are safe, okay? Keep your children. Don't worry. I don't want any. (Master laughs and audience applauds).

Q. Is there such a phenomenon as soul-mates in this world? If so, what is the spiritual significance of this for people involved?

M. Soul-mates are someone that when you meet him or her, you feel a very great attraction to each other and that you both will be able to complement each other in life and especially in spiritual process. That is what's called soul-mates. But in the world of non-duality, there's no soul, no mates. So, it's just the talk of this world. So whoever you feel that is very attractive to you and very helpful to your daily life activities as well as spiritual endeavor, then that is your soul-mate, ... while we are here, if we need a mate at all. Alright?

Q. How can we tell true masters from false masters?

M. Oh, that I don't know. I haven't met any false one. I've met only true masters. False or true, it's up to you. There are many ways to discern a true master. When the so-called master just clings to one part of the truth and forsakes the rest and then teaches the disciples only one part of that from the whole truth and then we call him a false master. But actually the name is not very correct. Maybe he is a kind of "partial master." "Part-time master" (Master and all laugh), but not false. And when a master teaches you the whole truth that is within yourself and awakens that which already exists within yourself, that is the true master because he awakens the true master within yourself. That is the true master. And what is your true nature? What is the true master within yourself? That is God! That is the holy spirit which dwells within your church, your temple. (body) And when that God manifests, we can hear the teaching through the heavenly music. We can see him through visions, through abundant illumination like thousands of suns sometimes. That is our true nature when it is awakened. So if any master can awaken these heavenly wisdom, vibration and heavenly light within you which is your self nature, which is your self mastership, then that is a true master. It takes one to know one.

Q. Regarding the five requirements you must follow in order to be initiated, what would happen if you don't follow them?

M. When you don't follow them, what happens is that you don't follow! What else can I do? Then try again. Okay? If you think that it's good for you and good for others and it's a kind of protective fence around our spiritual sublimity then we keep them, okay, and don't make damage to your just-grown sublimity. But otherwise no one is there to condemn you or do anything to you except your own conscience. So try to live up to that and whenever you fall, stand up; try again.

Q. What is the easiest and safest path to self-realization and god-realization?

M. This method. Did they say it? "Immediate Enlightenment" "Quan Yin Method". That's the best, the easiest and the quickest. You get enlightened immediately without any preparation, without any cost, without any condition today after the lecture. Okay? And if you don't get enlightenment immediately, money-back guarantee. (Laughter & applause) Oh, by the way... by the way, there's no money-back guarantee because we don't charge a penny. (Laughter and applause.)

Q. How should we protect ourselves from the violence of nature and the violence of men?

M. We don't need to protect ourselves. What do we have that we should protect? Before you were born, what do you have? After you die, what do you possess? What is it that's so valuable that we should protect? Throw everything away. Let it be. Whatever comes will come. If your body dies, your body decays, you have thousands, billions more. Don't worry about anything. If the possession should be yours, you can't even get rid of it. If that girl should be your fiance, no one can snatch her away. If that job is to be yours, ordained by heaven, no one can replace it. Don't worry about it, just relax. Get enlightenment. All these fears keep us from living a happy, present moment. Therefore all guilt, all conflict, all hypocritism arise out of this fear of the self, of the ego self. That I have this, I have that, I have fame, I can't lose face, I can't do that because I am in this position. I can't scold people because I am the master, I am supposed to be very graceful, very soft spoken, very gentle, etc. Just throw everything away and be at the moment. Whatever requires at that moment, do it wholeheartedly with faith in God and with faith in the whole plan of the universal project. Understand? (Audience: Yes.)

Q. Christianity teaches us we are all sinners; are we still sinners when enlightened? If so, does it ever end, our being sinners?

M. Yes, we are sinners, because we believe we are. Because we have no way to raise ourselves above the sinful level, above the mud. If you are in the mud, of course you look muddy, no? If you rise up, what the mud has to do with you, whether it's there or not, understand? So rise up; be enlightened.

Q. How can an enlightened human being who is living in the society which is in conflict help to remove the conflicts in their society?

M. Very difficult. We can only remove the conflict within ourselves. If everyone does that, there is no conflict to remove. Therefore even Jesus was so great, Buddha was so grand, but they couldn't remove the conflict within their own borders. And even sometimes the disasters will also affect their lives. It is because the majority of the people of the world were not at peace, were not enlightened; therefore enlightenment is the only requirement for any illness of this world, for any wars, for any conflict. Nothing else is necessary.

Q. I've heard of many people who said that when you are enlightened, you are supposed to shave your hair and wear no make-up. (Laughter) What do you think of this saying and comment.

M. What do you think, is that correct? (Audience: No!) No, they say " No! " (Laughter & applause) I'll give you one "A" for you. (Master and all laugh.) Beautiful, beautiful, I love that. It's very beautiful; you are very open, very enlightened; at least to some degree. If you still cling your attention to anything of this world, whether it's there or not there, you obstruct yourself, right? Your nature is without anything. No dust can cling to your nature, okay? No make-up can cover your Buddha nature; no lipstick can blur away the light of heaven. If you have Eye, you'll see I am radiating light now. Even if I put the whole charcoal boxes on my face, make myself black, I am still very white and bright. So if you shave your head, then you are enlightened? Is that right? So why don't you do it? It's so easy. (Laughter) All of you do it. Steve, your hair is too long for the enlightenment. (Laughter & applause) God doesn't care whether your hair is long or short. Stupid. (Laughter) Otherwise all the beautiful Miss Universes can not get enlightenment, or what? (Master laughs.) And if we say that, all the barber shops, all the beauty salons will close. We create unemployment even more. (Laughter) Is that the life of an enlightened person? Oh, oh, if I preach like that, Mr. Clinton will not be happy. (Laughter) He will not give me permission to preach in America.

Q. The ego is a strong force, how does one overcome the ego?

M. By being enlightened. Ego is the clinging attention to a small self, which is like, "Oh! I am a doctor. I am a scientist. I am a teacher. I am such and such intelligent and high position person." That is the ego. But when we know our greater self, that loses inside. Because we are not only the doctor, we are God, or at least God's children; we are Buddha, okay? That's the only way to melt the ego within the greater frame of the self.

Q. What is the source of the world?

M. Hum. (Master laughs.) It takes too long to research, yeah? Why don't you just live today, get enlightenment and then we'll see for ourselves? Because if I tell you, it takes a long time. You know our world, at least geographically speaking, has been in existence for trillions of years. And if you want to make a research about it, I'll never have time for lecture. Is that not so? But the truth about the world in existence lies within ourselves. We have a library inside, and when we get to the second level, we can look at it, and then we know everything. Not only about this world but about many worlds in the universe.

Q. If one is initiated by you, The Supreme Master Ching Hai, do you remain your disciples forever? What is the job of a disciple?

M. The job of our disciples is to become a master. (Laughter) Therefore you don't need to be my disciple forever. You don't even need to be my disciple. You are already a master, just you don't know it, so I tell you how to recognize yourself again. That's all, yeah? There is no disciple actually. It is just a name that we call ourselves in this physical world.

Q. Could you please explain to me what the mind is?

M. The mind is nothing but a bundle of attached thinking and ideas and information that we gather in our daily relationship with other beings. And that we call "me" or the "mind" and then we cling to all that, and say : " Oh, I am like that. I brush my teeth three times a day. That's me," "I never apologize even when I am wrong. It's me. I don't fear anything. It's me," etc., etc. But all these are what? That's just collective information. Before you were born, you didn't brush your teeth; you have no teeth. (Laughter) For example. You understand? Therefore mind is nothing, and we would be very unwise to listen to this kind of so-called mind. It's just a collected habit, information from others, from societies and from our own inter-relationships and then we think we are like that. "Oh, I have to eat this, I have to drink coffee, because it's me, my way of life, it's me." But who is that me? Who drinks the coffee before you were born? Coffee wasn't even there hundreds of years ago. Therefore these things are very unreliable and very nonsensical. They are not you, and that is what most of us call "me." That is the mind.

Q. Once you become enlightened, can you lose consciousness of your enlightenment?

M. Oh, yes, possible. Yes, when you sleep. Sometimes when you meditate, and then you sleep, the light comes, the enlightenment comes but you are not aware of it . And when you are not asleep, then you are aware of it, okay?

Q. How do we quickly give peace to our previously made enemies?

M. Hug him and kiss him; give him a candy. (Laughter & applause) That's what I did this morning because some people cannot be enlightened by words or by explanation or by initiation even. Some people need that just direct love. Physical as well as mental, as well as emotional.