Good evening! I'm very honored to be in this royal country again, because your country makes the guests, the visitors feel very comfortable and feel at home in the first instance. Today I have the feeling that I would like to stay in Thailand forever. I don't want to go home. (Applause) I feel so touched by the spirit of brotherhood and nobility of the people of Thailand. When you come to Thailand, you can not help but also feel yourself very noble, very graceful. You can not kind of bring yourself into saying something which is not polite, which is not noble, or bring yourself to do any kind of not noble or not gracious actions.

That is because Thai people are very much educated in a beautiful and noble tradition. They have a very age-old culture and very stable moral standard. It is maybe because of the teaching of the Buddha. I think it is. Of course, there are also influences from different religions in Thailand; but I think the Buddhist teachings are the basic root of the social order in this country. Also because the king, the queen, the royal family and the government of Thailand respect and believe in the teachings of the Buddha.

When I first went to another country, they keep the tradition of the Buddhist very strictly. I thought that was good. But when I came to Thailand, I see a little different tradition. Here, for example, anyone can become monk for one week, three months, one year or forever. It's up to him or her; and no one would blame him or degrade him, if he came out of the monk order. Now, I think this is even better.

That means the Thai people have truly understood the doctrine of equality from the Buddha, and of the liberal spirit that we should obtain for ourselves and also grant others the same privilege. We should not try to find the Buddha nature from the outer appearance or dress but we should look right through into the soul of mankind. That is why Thai people are so beautiful and open. That is when I see the benefit of temples, of monks, of nuns and of the teachings of the Buddha; because to be a Buddhist by name is not as important as to understand the essence of the teachings of the Buddhist doctrine. I'm very happy to find that such a people exist on this Earth.

On the way to this lecture hall, I was deep in prayer for your country. While I was sitting in the car, I said to the Buddhas (enlightened beings) of the ten directions, please bless your country, bless the people of Thailand; because they are so noble, they are so pure, and so sincere. This prayer came from my very heart. I wish your country more prosperity, more nobility and more enlightenment. If one day I decide to stay here for sometime, I hope you will welcome me as a Thai citizen. (Applause) I already tried very hard on the first day. Yesterday, I promised some of the Thai disciples to wear Thai dress, because they wished me to do. I hope I didn't make a very bad example of your tradition, because your tradition is very beautiful. I can only try my best to make an imitate of it.

In most of the countries of the world, the old ancient traditions were very glorious, very noble. That is because we came from a very glorious origin. In the old times we could communicate with the heaven easily. We could see all kinds of glory of the heavenly beings of the Buddha land's people. We could hear the teachings of heaven in the form of speechless communication. This kind of speechless communication very much resembles today our classical music. Except that when we hear this musical melodious teaching, we will soar into heaven; and our treasure of hidden wisdom and creative power will open. Much better than the physical music of our world.

When I say music that is because there are no better words to compare. Otherwise, this is a kind of very powerful energy which will kind of draw us upward into the higher dimensions of the universe. Our Quan Yin Method is named after this quality of the heavenly teaching; because Quan means the observation, Yin means this musical sound.

In the old times, when people still had very convenient connection with heaven, we always heard this music. Therefore, we tried to make many musical instruments which have lasted until today; and we have a lot of kinds of imitations of the heavenly teaching. So, we have the church bells, the harp, the flute, the piano, the zither, etc. Therefore, when we go to the church we see all kinds of musical instruments, when we go the temple we have also different kinds of musical instruments. When our relatives or friends die, the church services or temple services resound with musical accompaniment. That is the left-over from the age-old glorious heavenly tradition.

Long time ago, there was a king in China; he was very compassionate. He asked one of his wise advisors what would make people in hell feel more elevated, feel more happy. So the wise minister said to him, that if they could listen to the big bell sound, they would feel elevated, feel good. So, the king ordered to make big temple bells and then told the people to resound them everyday, because the hell people actually could not hear the inner bell, so at least they made the outside bell to remind them of the inner musical melodious teaching. So, such a similar tradition came from such a compassionate person. Therefore when people pass away, we try to accompany them with different kinds of music, hoping to comfort the souls of the departed.

Now, if the man-made physical music could comfort the people when they departed from this world and could comfort the hell beings, then we can imagine how much greater a comfort we would get while we are still living and if we get direct original music from heaven. Therefore, many enlightened beings from higher dimensions in the universe, sometimes come down to our world and try to give us this connection with the Buddha's land or the highest heaven. Once we are connected with this teaching directly from the Buddha's lands or from heaven, our life changes forever; because we begin to enter into the golden teaching, the golden dimension of the higher beings, like Buddhas or saints of different degree.

Therefore, when the Buddha came to our world, He said, I come to make you become a Buddha. Jesus came and He said, whatever I do, you can do also. The same with different founders of different religions. They brought the message of equality between all beings.

But what is it that makes us become a Buddha? If it is all the teachings from the Buddha that make us become a Buddha then we would have become a Buddha long time ago. Similarly, if all my teachings which are recorded by my disciples and printed in books could make you become enlightened, then I don't need to come. I would just send the books to your house; and we, the disciples, don't need to spend days, time, and a lot of energy and money to organize today's lecture.

So, we remember when the Buddha transmitted the dharma -- means the essence of the teaching -- to his fourth disciple Mahakasiba, He said, there are no words for it, no language for transmission. My doctrine, my teachings are non-verbal. The same with different patriarchs of the Buddhist system. For example, the Sixth Zen Patriarch Hue Nung of China. Similar with different religious systems, we have to get the essence of the Master -- not the letters, not the words, the essence we have to get.

The Quan Yin Method is the way to help us to get this essence without language. This method is very ancient, since the time that we appeared on this planet. We came from a glorious dimension and we have to go back there, because our work on this Earth does not last forever. So, for some people who feel that they are ready to go home, the Quan Yin Method will be exactly for them.

How do we know that your time has come? When we feel that this world has no more attraction for us, when we feel that everything here doesn't satisfy us, when we know, we see everything here doesn't offer us a kind of everlasting happiness, that is the time to go home. For others who do not feel the same -- they feel they still like to stay in this world, they feel like they still want to do many things and they feel satisfied with this world, for these, the time has not come; because each one of us has a different mission for this planet.

For some of us the work is finished and we feel we can not stay here any longer, nothing appeals to us anymore. We long to find something, but we do not know what it is. Even if we have great possession of property, of fame and of respect in this world, we still feel there is something missing.

That's the reason why Buddha left home. That is the reason why many monks, many nuns forsake the worldly attachments -- to lead a wondering, ascetic life in order to find this missing substance in their lives. Some will find it and some will not.

So, whoever has not found this essence yet, we offer to help them, be it a monk, a nun or a lay person; because our inner nature does not discriminate the robe, the place, the position of the human being. That's why when the Buddha was alive, he had different kinds of disciples. Some were monks, some were householders. But there was one of householder person, his name is Vimalakirti. He was wiser than many of the monks in the Buddha's disciples' circle. (Q. Was he a male or female?) Male. But don't worry. Females can also become Buddha.

In the sutra called the Lotus Sutra... "sutra means Bible, the Sanskrit scripture. The Buddha spoke many things and each time they recorded it into a book which is called a sutra or we can call it a scripture. Sutra is the Sanskrit name for scripture. Sometimes because we speak in English terminology and we forget to translate into modern English. I forgot. Just like "Buddha is the Sanskrit name of an enlightened master. If you do not translate, it sounds foreign, it sounds very farfetched. When we say 'enlightened master' it sounds closer, that we can obtain it maybe.