being A DISCIPLE


Being spiritual practitioners you can help a lot of people. Any people related to you are also related to me. Anyone related to me is related to the grand spiritual order. I am not working alone; I have many colleagues in heaven and on earth. We are connected like a network. Therefore, the relationship with one of us extends to the whole group. For example, some people might die in a traffic accident or by assassination, or by committing suicide. Yet, just because they have seen you once, have an acquaintance or relationship with you, or have heard the Master's name, they will be saved and taken to another sphere when they run into trouble.

.....

The love for the Master never changes, it just develops. First, you love the physical presence of the Master and later you love everyone, even without their presence. You will feel more tolerant, more loving, unconditionally. You will love without knowing you love. It will be very natural, very comfortable. What you love, is the love for me. You feel free, more developed, more loved in the presence of a Master. You feel more self-confident and self-worth. You know that this person will never harm you, will only help you to develop your self-worth, and never ask anything in return. This is the only love that can move every heart. It never fades, even from one life to the next. Once you are initiated, it is forever. Everywhere you go, you feel that love with you. So, you are happy to be around, it just like the moths, they like to be near the light.

Everybody likes the invisible great light of a Master, because this light has everything we need for our thirsty soul, everything that the world cannot satisfy. So to get satisfaction, you sit next to the Master. You don't love the appearance of the Master, but the inner beauty.

When you think of me you smile, no? You feel happy, a kind of bliss. But the worldly love will always bind you to this world. If you are bound to me, you go where I go, but if you are bound to someone else, you go where they go (laughter). Sometimes it leads you to misery, hatred, jealousy and to all kinds of bondage. But the love for the Master is different. The more you love the Master, the more freedom you get, all kinds of freedom in aspects you never knew before, because you were bound by society, conceptions, customs, family ties. Now, nothing can bind you, no desires, no habits, no kind of lower desires. That is the difference between noble love, and the lower desire which we call love, and which is karma binding. You love me, but you can leave me anytime. That's the difference, you don't need to fear.

.....

If you think I am worthy of being your Master, then learn from my example. I am not proud to tell you this. I just tell you the truth at the sacrifice of my image that you might think I am arrogant. But I have to tell you everything, so that you learn fast. I have long ago forsaken my reputation, because many people still misunderstand sometimes. Despite all my sacrifice and selfless service, still people misunderstand. Sometimes the new disciples also. I've long ago become used to no reputation, because I don't need it. Reputation is also excess garbage, because our soul is God, is one with God. God is the most glorious being. So, who can damage God's reputation?! Not with all these empty newspaper words or empty television screen. It's nothing.

So, have no fear because we have nothing to lose. We have never had anything because we have everything. We never lose anything because we have the whole universe. When you stay in a house, that is your house. So, when we stay in this universe, it's our universe. Even from an intellectual stand point, we are the Master of the universe. So do not look down upon yourselves, and remember who you are. You need nothing. You beg nothing. You only give. You give from your energy, from your good quality, from your Godly quality. So don't worry about every little thing that bothers you. Nothing bothers you if you don't let it.

.....

A disciple must remember God at all times, and God will be everywhere. We take some karma from people around us, by looking at them, by thinking about them, when sharing a book or a meal, etc. This is how we bless people and reduce their karma. This is why we practice, to spread the light and dispel the darkness. Blessed are those who give us some of their karma and we are happy to help them. We do not practice only for ourselves but for anyone crossing our path. This is why our progress is slow. Otherwise, we would go immediately to heaven, and who would bless the world after our departure! So we must stay here to pay our debt and bless the world. We are, after all, connected to each other. The people making roads, planes or our house, everyone receives some blessing from us. Just like the amount automatically deducted from your pay check for insurance, social security, etc. No way to escape! You can think of it another way. If you want to have a comfortable lifestyle, you will have to spend a lot of money to buy the new inventions and services society offers. So when we practice, people are automatically entitled to take a part of the result, of the merit. That is how five or six generations can be liberated, how your friends and your family members will be blessed when they die. These people are connected to you because they helped you, because you love them and they love you.

Most of our disciples, whenever they meet other disciples on the street or anywhere else, if they run into one another in a strange land, they just feel they are brothers, and they know they can trust that person. They know that person will help them, will love them, or at least will not harm them. Therefore, if the whole world is like this, what do you think? Of course, we still have our failures and our personalities, but we know we can trust each other, and we know we have love. We know we can give love. We know we give whatever we have. On this, we have confidence with each other. If we create a world like this, we don't need to go to heaven, we will stay right here. Therefore, we started with Nirvana and ended up on Earth. That is fine.

.....

We have seen our true nature, the brightness inside, the greatness within, and when we talk to others, we have wisdom flowing out, and we feel that we know better now, and that we are truly near sainthood. But still, in some other moments, if we are not careful, we forget our greatness, we don't use our wisdom, and so it appears that we have fallen in the same habits of yesterday. Therefore, the precepts are there and the spiritual diary is there to remind us that we are the teachers of ourselves, anytime, always checking, always controlling, and always knowing when we stray.

You are as great as you make yourself to be. You are as great as you are, when you use your own greatness for the benefit of others as well as for self-enhancement. Otherwise, do not blame me if you don't see God, if you do not know your Buddha nature, if you don't know your Kingdom of God. It is you, yourself to be blamed. You are the one you should rely on to know your own greatness. I only point the way. It doesn't matter how great I am. You benefit nothing if you do not try to discover your own greatness and make use of it. Okay!

.....

After leaving this world, a practitioner of the Quan Yin Method will not have to be reborn again in this world, unless this person wants to come back as a Buddha to help relieve the suffering of mankind. It is because there are many more beautiful, extraordinary worlds for the practitioner of the Quan Yin Method to go. He has no need for this suffering world. His wisdom, his vibration, after practicing the Quan Yin Method has risen to a level of sainthood and it enables him to be fit to live in the glory of the Kingdom of God.

.....

Do not always run around to take care of me. Take care of our guests, take care of our brothers and sisters or whoever needs to be taken care of. It is okay. Everyone likes to run around and take care of me, but you don't realize that I am in all of you. For you to take care of each other is like taking care of me. I only need a little amount of attention. I don't need all of you taking care of me, you will run over me! (laughter). You will overwhelm me with love and attention, and other brothers stand around and nobody takes care of them and it is me too, it is me who you left behind or didn't take care of. I feel the feelings of the person. You don't feel it, but I do. So if you don't take care of them, it means that you bother me, because I will know it, and I will be bothered.

.....

We must always react quickly so that we can protect ourselves and get accustomed to the faster vibrations. Sometimes, Master will suddenly tell you to do something. It is good to do it immediately because karma also comes suddenly. We must be trained to always be ready! Then, when karma or disasters come unexpectedly, we won't be frightened and stuck there not knowing how to react.

.....

Q. It was said today that our uncommon experiences should not be related, otherwise they'll disappear. But what about our friends and other people? Can our experiences be useful to them?

M. Yes, it will be useful to the people who listen, but it's not useful for the one who tells. You see, our friend just reported about her son's experience. The Master's blessing is only for you alone, so you should not share it with anyone. If you talk about it, the Master will close it up. Therefore it is difficult to be a Master in this world, because of that. It would be easy for me to do some magical tricks here and attract everybody, but I'm not allowed to do that. If I want to do that I'd be a different kind of Master, who cannot take people home. Understand? A real spiritual practitioner could never boast about his experiences and his power. The disciple knows how powerful his Master is at the initiation, after the initiation. And the more he practices, the more he knows how great the Master is, because he receives blessings every day. Miracles happen every day, only the Master is not allowed to do it in the public. Also, because the Master is a very humble person, and never boasts about these things, never uses miracles to attract the followers. This is self-praising and, how you say, publicizing and is not suitable for a Master's manner. And since you learn with this Master, you learn to become a Master yourself. To be a Master the first quality is humility, so you're trained to be humble at the time of discipleship. You must begin to keep quiet about your own attainments, otherwise God will take them back. All right?

.....

Q. Master Ching Hai, please explain our relationship spiritually to You. After You die, and one has been initiated, is our flight back Home still guaranteed by Your soul spirit?

M. Guaranteed. As has been said earlier, we are not the body; we are the spirit. So when this body goes or comes, there is no difference, no distance between us. And I have told you already, at the time of initiation, the Method is explained to you so that you can use it for life. There is nothing that can come between anymore, unless you don't want it and you leave. But the seed is still there for next life.

.....

Q. If one is initiated by you, do we remain your disciple forever! What is the job of a disciple?

M. The job of a disciple is to become a Master, so you don't need to be my disciple forever. You don't even need to be my disciple because you already are a Master, it's just that you do not know it. So I tell you how to recognize yourself again, that's all.

.....

Q. I love my original master very deeply and usually recite his name. If I continue to do this, will I lose Your love and blessing? I love both of you. There's no difference because without my original Master I would not be alive to sit here and listen to Your lecture.

M. I'm not in competition with anyone. You can love ten more masters if you wish. No problem. Just be enlightened. That is the best way to show gratitude to your previous master. You don't even need to be grateful to me, or anything. Whatever you do, I love you all the same. It's you who probably do not love yourself because you think, "I do that very badly; I do this very badly." And it's you yourself, who stop feeling loved.

.....

Q. Religion is the belief of the followers. A great Master is a living idol to his disciples. When You arrived at the New Tokyo International Airport, You were formally and warmly welcomed by Your disciples. This impression reminds me of the young folks' wholehearted support towards a movie star, sports star or a pop star. This is also a kind of worship and admiration towards an idol. As a religious leader, do You ever feel like a star?

M. I like peace and quiet, But I cannot stop the emotions of my disciples. They are grateful to me because I teach them good lessons which bring more understanding, brightness, and happiness into their lives. This is similar to being grateful to your English teacher if you have learned English from him. When my disciples become more and more enlightened, they will turn to my teachings rather than myself, this physical body. I personally, however, have never felt like a star; I don't even have time to feel that way. To save sentient beings is an exhausting job. Running from one place to another, smiling continuously, I answering questions endlessly, and getting very tired. I am glad that people like me, but I don't work just to please them.