When we are with Master, everything we do is related to spiritual practice. When appropriate, Master utilizes all the eighty-four thousand methods of educating and enlightening Her disciples. How fortunate we are to have an enlightened Master to impart the true method to us, and teach us with her words and actions. Through our spiritual practice, we learn more about our own greatness, and how to serve the world with a selfless, sacrificing spirit.
During the three-day retreat, Master told us many touching stories about spiritual practice. Enhanced by Master's loving blessing, these tales have warmed and encouraged our striving souls in the cold of winter.
Spoken By The Supreme Master Ching Hai,
Hsihu Center, Formosa. Dec. 29, 1994
(Originally in Chinese)
A long time ago, two friends took a trip together to visit and tour around. As they passed by an Indian temple, they heard someone reciting the Bhagavadgita inside. The Bhagavadgita is a very famous sutra in India. One of the friends said to the other, "Come on! Let's go inside to listen to the sutra." So both of them went inside; however, only one stayed to listen, and the other took one glimpse and went out to look for girls in a brothel.
The one that went to a brothel soon felt bored. He regretted what he had done and felt quite ashamed. He thought, 'Gosh! This is really nonsense! I am so ashamed. Why did I come to such a place instead of listening to the holy teaching? My friend is listening to the sutra now and receiving boundless merits while I degraded myself at a place for prostitutes. How demoralizing!" He felt repulsive and ashamed, so he went back to the temple to listen to the sutra. But when he arrived there, it was already over. He was truly sorry and repented for several days afterwards.
While he was feeling ashamed at the brothel, his friend in the temple was unable to calm his mind to listen to the sutra. (Master laughs.) His mind kept wondering to the brothel and thought, "Gosh! This is really boring! Why do I stay here listening to the sutra? My friend is now eating and drinking and having a good time, while I sit here listening to some sutra. How boring!" (Master laughs.) As he thought about it, he got into a bad mood.
After a long time, both of the friends died. The angel of death pulled the friend who listened to the sutra to hell, and dragged the friend who went to the brothel to heaven. (Master laughs.) Do you know why? You don't know! It is because everything is created by the mind! God does not look at our conduct alone. He looks into our hearts! Sometimes, we see a person's behavior but we don't really know if he is that way. Unless we can measure from within, it is very difficult to judge the inner person. He may appear very kind, but his heart is not kind; or he may have a very loving heart, but it doesn't seem like that from his outer appearance.
The same with some of our fellow initiates. You know that they were not so virtuous in the past; some were big gangsters and some were lady gangsters. (Master and everyone laugh.) Some have killed others or have committed some deeds that were not acceptable to society. But after they repent, they try to purify themselves and practice self-cultivation sincerely. Eventually their sins will be eliminated. While there are some others who may not have committed any crime during their life time, but they roam around, refuse to learn meditation, and take only half a glimpse at the Master and feel nothing. They leave to look for other masters. They are always 'shopping" around; we might say that they are "shopping around the mountains" because most of the enlightened masters lived in the mountains. (Master laughs.) They jump from one mountain to another because the other seems greener and prettier. Due to their lack of sincerity in spiritual practice, they are not successful in the things they do.
Therefore, we cannot fool God by our seemingly kind outer appearance. We cannot fool God because to fool God means to fool ourselves. We are fully aware of what we want; and whatever we do, whether we are sincere or not, we know it clearly.
You have also read some stories of the ancient masters. Some of them were pretty weird, like Jigong (a Chinese master). We heard that he ate meat and drank wine, and was always drunk and falling down without dignity. Then there was the Chin-Shan living Buddha. He was also a weird monk (Master laughs.) He was always very sloppy and undignified. But they practiced and knew their own level of spiritual attainment; and the Buddhas knew as well. Therefore, even though it is not easy to judge from the outside, but as spiritual practitioners, we know from the inside whether we are sincere or not. Even if we don't know, God knows. It is not due to our outer performance that other people will believe in us, not necessarily so! God makes the judgement.
Being truly sincere is the most important in spiritual practice. At group meditation, some people may sit there quietly, but their mind is not focused. That's why Master often tells you that when you go to group meditation, you must keep your body, speech and mind clean. (Master laughs.) Otherwise, you receive no merit from sitting there; it is worse than those who meditate sincerely at home. They are very sincere and humble when they meditated every day; thus they receive more merit. (Master laughs.) But of course we will receive a lot of merit when we attend group meditation anyway, because the sincerity of the others will affect us. For example, when we come here and see hundreds and
When we are with Master, everything we do is related to spiritual practice. When appropriate, Master utilizes all the eighty-four thousand methods of educating and enlightening Her disciples. How fortunate we are to have an enlightened Master to impart the true method to us, and teach us with her words and actions. Through our spiritual practice, we learn more about our own greatness, and how to serve the world with a selfless, sacrificing spirit.
During the three-day retreat, Master told us many touching stories about spiritual practice. Enhanced by Master's loving blessing, these tales have warmed and encouraged our striving souls in the cold of winter.
Spoken By The Supreme Master Ching Hai,
Hsihu Center, Formosa. Dec. 29, 1994
(Originally in Chinese)
A long time ago, two friends took a trip together to visit and tour around. As they passed by an Indian temple, they heard someone reciting the Bhagavadgita inside. The Bhagavadgita is a very famous sutra in India. One of the friends said to the other, "Come on! Let's go inside to listen to the sutra." So both of them went inside; however, only one stayed to listen, and the other took one glimpse and went out to look for girls in a brothel.
The one that went to a brothel soon felt bored. He regretted what he had done and felt quite ashamed. He thought, 'Gosh! This is really nonsense! I am so ashamed. Why did I come to such a place instead of listening to the holy teaching? My friend is listening to the sutra now and receiving boundless merits while I degraded myself at a place for prostitutes. How demoralizing!" He felt repulsive and ashamed, so he went back to the temple to listen to the sutra. But when he arrived there, it was already over. He was truly sorry and repented for several days afterwards.
While he was feeling ashamed at the brothel, his friend in the temple was unable to calm his mind to listen to the sutra. (Master laughs.) His mind kept wondering to the brothel and thought, "Gosh! This is really boring! Why do I stay here listening to the sutra? My friend is now eating and drinking and having a good time, while I sit here listening to some sutra. How boring!" (Master laughs.) As he thought about it, he got into a bad mood.
After a long time, both of the friends died. The angel of death pulled the friend who listened to the sutra to hell, and dragged the friend who went to the brothel to heaven. (Master laughs.) Do you know why? You don't know! It is because everything is created by the mind! God does not look at our conduct alone. He looks into our hearts! Sometimes, we see a person's behavior but we don't really know if he is that way. Unless we can measure from within, it is very difficult to judge the inner person. He may appear very kind, but his heart is not kind; or he may have a very loving heart, but it doesn't seem like that from his outer appearance.
The same with some of our fellow initiates. You know that they were not so virtuous in the past; some were big gangsters and some were lady gangsters. (Master and everyone laugh.) Some have killed others or have committed some deeds that were not acceptable to society. But after they repent, they try to purify themselves and practice self-cultivation sincerely. Eventually their sins will be eliminated. While there are some others who may not have committed any crime during their life time, but they roam around, refuse to learn meditation, and take only half a glimpse at the Master and feel nothing. They leave to look for other masters. They are always 'shopping" around; we might say that they are "shopping around the mountains" because most of the enlightened masters lived in the mountains. (Master laughs.) They jump from one mountain to another because the other seems greener and prettier. Due to their lack of sincerity in spiritual practice, they are not successful in the things they do.
Therefore, we cannot fool God by our seemingly kind outer appearance. We cannot fool God because to fool God means to fool ourselves. We are fully aware of what we want; and whatever we do, whether we are sincere or not, we know it clearly.
You have also read some stories of the ancient masters. Some of them were pretty weird, like Jigong (a Chinese master). We heard that he ate meat and drank wine, and was always drunk and falling down without dignity. Then there was the Chin-Shan living Buddha. He was also a weird monk (Master laughs.) He was always very sloppy and undignified. But they practiced and knew their own level of spiritual attainment; and the Buddhas knew as well. Therefore, even though it is not easy to judge from the outside, but as spiritual practitioners, we know from the inside whether we are sincere or not. Even if we don't know, God knows. It is not due to our outer performance that other people will believe in us, not necessarily so! God makes the judgement.
Being truly sincere is the most important in spiritual practice. At group meditation, some people may sit there quietly, but their mind is not focused. That's why Master often tells you that when you go to group meditation, you must keep your body, speech and mind clean. (Master laughs.) Otherwise, you receive no merit from sitting there; it is worse than those who meditate sincerely at home. They are very sincere and humble when they meditated every day; thus they receive more merit. (Master laughs.) But of course we will receive a lot of merit when we attend group meditation anyway, because the sincerity of the others will affect us. For example, when we come here and see hundreds and thousands of people meditating intently and sitting so seriously, we might feel ashamed and try to sit quietly for a while (Master laughs); thus very naturally we will receive a lot of merit through concentration and purification of the mind.
Spoken by the Supreme Master Ching Hai, Hsihu Center, Formosa December 29, 1994. (Originally in Chinese)
There was an enlightened master who belonged to the Brahmin caste. In India there are many castes and the Brahmin caste is one of the higher ones. This master was very poor. He had a wealthy disciple who was a cloth merchant, but he was a miser, and very narrow-minded.
One day, this Brahmin master needed a good quality, beautiful cloth to wrap up his religious items in, such as his small bell, "wooden Fish" and scriptures. Indian Brahmin practitioners had great respect for these religious items, so he went to ask the wealthy, cloth merchant disciple if he had such a cloth that he could give him.
The disciple said to him, "No, master! I am sorry! If only you had come a little earlier, I would definitely have had such a cloth, but you have come too late. I have just sold it. I don't have such a good quality cloth now. I am very sorry." He continued, "But I shall remember that you want a cloth like that. I will not forget. I will remember. Please always remind me and I will give it to you when I have it." Still, he always never had such a cloth. (Master laughs.)
Another day, the master came again. This time the wife of the wealthy disciple eavesdropped on their conversation. She immediately sent a servant to get the master. She asked the master, "What was it that you requested and my husband did not give you?" The master then told her the story about his need for a piece of precious cloth to wrap his religious items, etc. "But your husband doesn't have such a cloth," the master said. The wealthy disciple's wife said, "Don't worry! You will definitely have it tomorrow morning, and not only one piece of cloth, but two pieces. I promise you.'
Later, when the husband came home after selling his cloth, the wife asked, "Have you closed the shop?" The husband replied,"Yes, I have." She said, "Hurry back to your shop now and fetch me two pieces of such and such cloth." Her husband was surprised, "Oh! What is the rush? Can I give them to you tomorrow night? I definitely have some, but I will give them to you tomorrow. Is that alright?" The wife said, "No! I want the two pieces right now! At once! You are not willing to give them to me, are you? Ah?" Of course the husband said, "No, no. Immediately, I will go and fetch them right away. Okay!" The poor wealthy husband, he was not talking to the kind and simple master; he was talking to this great wife.
That is why the Chinese call their wives "tai tai" (meaning great). Is that not so? No just "ta ta" (meaning big), but "tai tai"! Not just one 'tai". "Tai yang" (the Chinese characters for "sun") only has one "tai", but your wives are called "tai tai", with two "tai". This means that nothing is greater than them. Even the kings are only called "ta wong" (great king), while the wives are 'tai tai". From this one can see how much the Chinese respect women, how much they respect their wives. Therefore, when the wife said something, he immediately ran back to the shop. Even though it was very late at night, he had to reopen the shop and bring back the two most beautiful pieces of cloth that his wife wanted.
Early in the next morning his wife sent a servant with the two pieces of cloth to the master. She also wrote a note to the master, which said, "Master, from now on please tell me if there is anything that you need. I promise you that you will have it immediately. You don't have to talk to my husband about it." (Master and everyone laugh.) This means that this wife is even greater than the master. It is like that in this world, I am sorry to say! These facts are difficult to accept, but (Master laughs.) such situation happens! Sometimes certain situations are like this.
There are similar cases with many of our fellow practitioners. After receiving initiation, they say, "I am sorry, Master! My wife does not allow me to be a vegetarian." (Master laughs.) I don't dare ask further, "Whom do you really want to listen to?" It is obvious! (Master laughs.) Then life after life they listen to their wives. Under such circumstances, what is the use of an enlightened Master's appearance on earth? Many people ask me, "Since Buddhas and Bodhisattvas are so compassionate, why don't they initiate everyone when they descend?" Even initiation is of no use to some people, is that not so? They won't listen to you! Therefore, everyone goes his own way, and chooses different ways of life.
Spoken By the Supreme Master Ching Hai, Hsihu Center, Formosa December 30, 1994 (Originally in Chinese)
This is an Indian story. There was a man whose name was Ayah. He was originally a slave, but for some reason, he was later appointed the Prime Minister, and the King liked him very much. Because of this, other officials were jealous of him. They tried many ways to make the King get angry with him, so that he would not be in such an important position any more. But, no matter how hard they tried, it was in vain. The King liked him all the same, even more.
One day, those officials asked the King, "Your Majesty, please tell us why you like this slave so much." The King replied, "Sure, I have a reason. You will know in time." About two or three months later, the King summoned all his officials and told them, "My dear officials, I will hide myself in the royal garden tomorrow. You should start searching for me early in the morning and find me before sunset. The one who finds me will be rewarded with a wonderful present."
Hearing that, the officials were all very happy, and wondered "Ah! What present will the King give us?' After they went home, they kept on thinking about the present and imagining what kind of present they might get the next day, so they did not sleep a wink. The same night, the King gave orders that the next morning, all of the most beautiful girls, who were experts in singing and dancing, should perform on each of the roads leading to the palace.
The next morning, the officials set off early to search for the King. But, on seeing those beautiful girls singing and dancing on the way to the palace, they could not help being attracted, and were gradually lured away to enjoy the performance. All the officials was thinking, "The road from here to palace's royal garden is quite near, and it is small. It will just take a few minutes to find the King. No need to be in such a hurry (Master laughs.) I can enjoy the singing and dancing first."
Being convinced of what they thought, they further indulged themselves in the performance until it was very late, about sunset. After realizing the time, the officials hurried to search for the King, but the sun had dipped below the horizon when they arrived at the royal garden. At that moment, they felt very ashamed and disappointed, since they saw Ayah, that slave, had already been with the King for some time. "Oh, why did you come here so early?" the officials asked, "Didn't you see people singing and dancing on the road? So beautiful! You didn't see?" The slave said, "Who was dancing? Who was singing? I didn't see anyone. In the morning, I came here right from home, and I never saw anyone singing and dancing. The only thing I kept thinking in my heart was how I could quickly find the King. I had been thinking about him since last night, and I could not afford to wait even one minute to search for him."
Then the King said to the officials, "Now you know why I like Ayah so much. It is because the only one he loves is me. In his eyes, the whole world does not exist. No matter how beautiful a girl might be, no matter how glorious a banquet might be, no one can win his heart. It is just like those who have kindred spirits, they attract each other. He loves me so much that I can not treat him other than myself. I just cannot help loving him."
This story is to remind us that we should devote ourselves completely to God, to Buddha without swaying one way or the other. Don't be tempted and let the worldly attractions lead us astray, away from our destination. Only in this way can we receive the grace of God. If we only think of God and our hearts house only God, then we are one with God. There would be no need to pray to God or to request anything from God, since everything is created by our mind. If we only think of God in our hearts, we become God. Do you understand?(Everyone applauds.)
Spoken by the Supreme Master Ching Hai, Hsihu Center, Formosa Dec. 31, 1994 (Originally in Chinese)
There was once one very conscientious Indian yoga practitioner. One day his very old and sick mother died. He became very happy and immediately ran to the big hall, kneeling there he thanked God Almighty, perhaps the inner Master! He was there prostrating and saying, "Thank you God! I had not asked and had not prayed to You, but You had already given me a great blessing. Now that my mother had been taken away by You, I am very free and I'm able to think about You wholeheartedly everyday without any encumbrance. Thank You!"
He was there joyously dancing and singing. The neighbors felt it very strange: How come? His mother has died, and he did not shed a tear, and he has even dancing and singing. Meaning he was dancing a type of dance as to make an offering to God, not that he was going to a karaoke, it's not the same! Perhaps it was about the same, moving and shaking, they looked the same. But his mother would not be sad because his mother was also very pious spiritual practitioner, just like himself. They both knew that the world is ephemeral. Thus his mother was very happy when she passed away, and he was also very happy after she passed away. They were both strange people!
After burying his mother, he went to the bank of the Ganges everyday reciting the five names, meditating, and communicating with God Almighty. It had been three days and this person did not eat or drink anything. He totally forgot about it. He was sitting on one very secluded bank of the Ganges where no pilgrims pass by, thus he did not get anything to eat. Everyday he very happily recited the five names and meditated, so he forgot about hunger.
God Almighty spoke to the people beside Him, "Alas! What a pity! My disciple down there is dying of hunger and it seems like I am not being any responsible; not giving him anything to eat. He is there, remembering me every moment of the day, yet I am here forgetting to protect him." Then God told the angel beside Him to bring some good food to the riverside for him. A lot of blessed food was put on a gold plate: chapati, milk, apple etc. and brought to that person. That angel had never seen a human being before, not mention a boy. She was a girl and a bit shy to see a boy, so she silently put the plate beside him and flew away.
That person saw the food but did not see anyone come. He thanked God thinking it must have been sent by Him. He finished the food and continued to recite God's name, meditate, and enter samadhi. Suddenly a lot of people surrounded him and woke him up. They were carrying sticks and broad swords wanting to arrest him. Very puzzled he said, "Why? What is the matter?" They said, "You thief. You dare to steal this gold plate from God's temple. We want to take you to the King to punish you." No matter how he tried to explain, the soldiers would not believe him. Because they saw this poor boy in tattered clothes sitting by the river, they could not imagine that he could possess such a precious gold plate, thus they assumed that he must have stolen it. The plate looked like the ones used in the church to make offerings to God, so they were to take him back to be punished.
After taking him back, the King was very angry. He told his subordinates to beat him. He was beaten for a long time, very hard and very seriously, but that yogi did not feel anything at all, and continued to laugh (Master laughs). Not laughing like I am, but about the same. He was not only laughing, he was also very happy like being tickled. They got tired of beating him; their hands were sore. (Master laughs.) Then they stopped beating him and let him go. The King also felt strange, feeling as if God was protecting him, thus he dared not continue with the beating. But he was very curious and ran to the temple to see if such a plate that had been stolen.
When he went to the temple, he saw blood flowing from God's statue. He was very surprised, "How could it be so? How could an idol bleed?" Not only that, the places that were bleeding were exactly the places as on that person which had been beaten. Therefore, he knelt there repenting not knowing what sins he had committed. Later he realized that perhaps that person was innocent, beating him was like beating God, thus God's statue was bleeding. At that point, the King and his ministers were all very frightened. They all hurried to the riverside, knelt, and repented to that small, penniless yogi; they also offered him food everyday. When they went back to the temple, they saw that God's statue was no longer bleeding, hence they knew the reason.
Because this person was very earnest in his meditation, he thought only about God everyday, so God felt guilty because he did not have anything to eat. If it was because of the food that he was beaten, then of course it was God's fault. Thus He bore the punishment himself. Understand? It is not that after being God or Buddha you care about nothing. If we truly practice sincerely then God will take care of everything. This is the meaning.
Spoken by the Supreme Master Ching Hai, Hsihu Center, Formosa December 31, 1994 (Originally in English & Chinese)
Long ago there was an old man. He lived at the foot of the mountain and was very poor. He had no possessions. His straw hut was his only possession. In fact, this person was very lazy so he deserved it! One day he heard that in a certain place there lived a very powerful yogi who had the supernatural power to create anything he desired. After hearing this, the very lazy person, who did not want to work, wished to go there to ask the yogi to use his supernatural power to create things for him so that he did not have to work any more. After thinking in this way, he left.
He walked a very long way to the mountain cave where the yogi lived. When he saw the yogi he prostrated. The yogi was quite nice, he politely entertained him and asked him about his purpose. The lazy man said, "Respected and beloved master, I am a very poor person. Besides a small straw house, I have nothing else. Now I am very old and not able to work, so please, compassionate master, please help me. Grant me some possessions to live on. I know you have a lot of supernatural power. You can immediately create anything you desire. I believe you are able to help me."
That yogi closed his eyes and sat there quietly without a word. Perhaps he was too tired listening to all of this. This old man than continued to ask him. After requesting for a long time, this yogi reluctantly gave him a chair and said, "After you go home, anytime you think of something you want, you can sit on this chair. But you have to wash you hands, face and take a bath before sitting on the chair. Then think about anything you desire. This way you will surely get it."
After thanking the yogi, the old man took the chair and immediately rushed home! After reaching home, he did not waste a bit time. He immediately washed his hands, face, took a bath, then he sat on the chair right away. At that time he was very hungry, so he immediately thought about food. Then food immediately appeared. Oh! Very beautiful, very nice and a very bountiful meal. So he enjoyed all the good food until he was very full. After eating he felt tired and desired a bed to rest. Immediately a bed with a thick mattress appeared. He lied down to sleep, but he could not really rest, because in his heart, he was always thinking of wanting things and money. He jumped up from the bed and sat on the chair. Now he started to think about transforming his straw hut into a palace. As he was thinking this, the straw hut immediately disappeared!
This old man's palace was very, very beautiful with jewels all over. The doors were made of gold. The floors and the ceilings were made with gold, even the pillars were of gold inlaid with jewels, very precious. Thus he was very happy and felt very comfortable. He continued to think, "Ah! Such a big palace should not be without any servants." He just thought and many servants appeared waiting for his commands. Later he thought, "The servants, the palace can not be without money!" He thought of a lot of gold, silver and money. Suddenly all these appeared together. It made this old man very happy in deed. But he suddenly became worried. He thought, "Ah! My palace is so beautiful, with so many possessions, if it happened that an earthquake should come, what to do?" (Master and all laugh.) He just finished the thought and the earthquake came. (Master laughs.) His possessions and the palace were squashed into the earth.
What does this story tell us? Our mind has to be clean and pure first. It is not good enough having supernatural power or power of practice. Therefore we have to clean our body, speech and thought before having the power. If we have the power but our body, speech and mind are not clean, precepts are not kept properly, then we could do bad things. Our own power could hurt ourselves. Sometimes this power could hurt others. Thus since ancient times, those masters, before taking in any disciple, would test the disciple for a long time until his body, speech and mind were completely clean before giving him the power.
Master often tells you not to practice supernatural power. The ordinary people outside can practice the supernatural power easily. They do not have to keep any precepts and do not have to be vegetarian. When we still cannot control our mind, if we think about bad things they appear at once, because at that time we get whatever we think. The power in the universe is immense, but we should know how to use it. Otherwise, it can cause a lot of harm, harming ourselves and damaging the world. Some disasters we see in the world are sometimes not necessarily the karma of the people, but due to some people who practice supernatural power. They practice towards the bad direction or because of their messed-up thinking, they then mess up the world. We can say that these people created trouble or were possessed by the negative power. Really there are such people.
Thus when we practice we have to think about God everyday, think about those fully charged names of the Buddhas to protect ourselves. Sometimes it is not entirely our own karma that causes our obstructions, but sometimes it is the negative, maya power around us that affect us. Therefore, we have to always remember our goal, remember the power of the most high, and recite the five Buddhas' names to protect ourselves. Thinking a lot about God Almighty, our mind becomes clean and then we do not desire anything. To us, at that time supernatural power would be of no use, because we would be one with God and there would be nothing we could not have.
At that time, we would be very satisfied inside and we would know that after we have left this illusive world, we would go back to our homeland where we would have everything. Compared to that place, this world is junk. Nothing could be offered to us. After our soul has returned many times to the homeland to take a look, our mind would understand and would be very stable. Then we would not want anything. Even if we want we would only want those things that are good for others. Our heart would be very kind, always thinking of positive things. Once thinking about positive things then the positive things would come.
Spoken by the Supreme Master Ching Hai, Hsihu Center, Formosa January 3, 1995 (Originally in English & Chinese)
Shankaracharia was a great master of India and a great philosopher at that time, and he had four disciples. He was an enlightened master. He had four disciples and one was very stupid. His name was Togata. This disciple was a very stupid one, Togata, but he was very, very devoted and sincere to his master.
One day they gathered in the temple to study the sutra, called Brahma sutra, and the class was about to begin. But the devoted disciple, Togata, took a little more time to clean the clothes of the master in the river, that's why he was a little bit late coming. All the disciples pressed the master to begin the class without waiting for Togata. They said, "Ah, Togata is a stupid student anyhow, there is no use to teach him. Whether he comes or not comes, it makes no different. It's a waste of your time, so we begin the class".
So Sri Shankaracharia wanted to teach a lesson to these arrogant disciples. He at once showered his grace on the devoted, da da ga, da da ga, cha ga ra ya. You know the stupid one yeah, and here he has more name. Da da ga da cha ri ya had immediate illumination and knowledge dawned in him; he came to the class brilliant and enlightened. And he was, of course, very... ah in ecstacy and he came exclaiming, "Oh, master the ocean of nectar of the love, of the compassionate mercy, limitless power, almighty Supreme Master Ching Hai, bla bla... (laughter) of the whole universe, I prostrate unto you, I prostrate in front of you. You have blessed me with limitless wisdom. I understand everything in the universe. I understand everything, oh you absolute, merciful, almighty, compassionate, loving, beautiful, adorable, respectful, noble, virtuous... I have no more words for your absolute highness." (Laughter) Okay. Just anything you want. I exaggerated. Any praise that you can tell that's fine. Actually it's not all in the book; I made it up. So all the disciples were struck with amazement and their pride was quelled at once, of course. They became humble, yes, they became very humble.
They mean in India or in this book, actually they say, also in Indian custom they believe and they know that the service to the Master, the Guru is the supreme blessing and the supreme honor, not only honor but the blessing, yes. And devotion to the Master is a great purifier of the heart. Now, Master's grace alone can help the aspirant, the disciple, you know the beginner, to cross this formidable ocean of worldliness, the attachment of the world. The Master's grace can help them overcome any attachment, any obstacles of this world. The guru is Brahma, the guru is Vishnu, means the guru is everything - is God, is angel, is Bodhisattva, is everything in everywhere. So they say glory to the guru, glory to the master, may the blessing of the master be upon you all. (Applause)
Spoken by the Supreme Master Ching Hai,
Hsihu Center, Formosa Jan. 5, 1995
(Originally in English)
At the foot of a mountain in India, there lived an old women. This woman, she loved "seclusion." Most of people when they love seclusion, it means they want to be one with God, they want to be alone so that they can think of God, they can meditate on God, they can remember God, they can love God, they can see God, they can hear God, they can talk to God, etc.... That is a true seclusion.
But this woman is not this case, she was the worst of all the misers in the country, means she is very stingy. She lived alone in seclusion, just because she don't like to share her possession, her food with other people. Charity was unknown to her. She knows nothing about charity. She did not part with even one grain of rice for the Cambodian people. (Laughter) During her lifetime, never ever she give anything at all, not even her cleaning mop. When it's worn out, she would repair it, keep it somewhere in case and never give it to anybody.
Now there is a God, called Lord Vishnu, you know Vishnu, second world God and he watched with interest the life and action of this famous old lady. He found that she was to die soon, after New Year (laughter). After she eats the first rice cake, she's probably going to be choked to death. Actually, there are many Japanese old people choked on rice cakes during New Year festival. Make sure you don't eat too much rice cakes, you know, the sticky rice cake? I don't know how they can choke on it, but actually someone did. Maybe this lady will choke on sticky rice cakes on New Year and she'll die soon.
And the Lord saw that she has only three more days of her life on earth. (How good! So that people can share some of her possession after she's gone.) The Lord, therefore, called Busandi to his side and say to him, "My very dear beloved Busandi, snatch something from her at least today, because tomorrow she has to die. When she dies, she will have some merit to her credit in that case if you stole something from her, at least some chocolate or something (laughter), or maybe popcorns." (Laughter) Busandi nodded okay, in the modern language, okay.
And he took the form of a crow and sat on the tree near the house of Kachani; Kachani is an old woman's name. It was the time when she was washing a handful of black gram, soak in water for cooking her food. Now, Busandi decided to snatch away a beakful of it, and suddenly, at one leap, he flew near the vessel and took a beakful, a mouthful of grain with lightning speed, "Chi!" (Laughter) But, the alert old woman grab him with the greater speed still, grab him in the neck like this. She wrung his neck, yuck! (Laughter) And kept it twisted, so that the grain would not slip down in his stomach. (Audience, in sympathy say, "Oh!") My goodness. Meanwhile, with her other hand, she parted the beak of the bird, and squeezed out, took out the grains to the last grain from the throat of the struggling crow. Oh!
This really... she deserves the award from us (laughter), "the most miserly woman in history". I don't know if there is such a story, there must be. I don't know, could be huh? Some people are so stingy and stupid, cruel, cold blooded. Busandi struggled for his life, gulp, gulp, gulp... (Laughter) At last, he was let free after she thought all the grain have been poked out by her.
He flew to Lord Vishnu and fell at his feet, half dead. Lord Vishnu questioned him as to what had happened after he left him. Busandi grasp out the whole story, pantingly and said, "Oh Lord, I was almost strangled to death. I could not succeed in my mission, I'm very sorry. But I could not get even a grain of food from that wretched old woman." Then the Lord said, "Oh, Busandi, do not say so. Come, let me examine in your mouth. (Laughter). Open your mouth, let me have a look.
So, Busandi opened his beak, and the Lord Vishnu used his wisdom eye with the magnifying glass look into his throat, and find, "Ah, there is something there. (Laughter) What is it, let me see what is it, let's see what is it, must be something." He saw a little bit of husk, the outer skin, shell of the grain, sticking to his palette. (Laughter) Thanks God at least he has not wasted his time and struggled for nothing. And say, "Look, Busandi, there's a small bit of husk sticking to your palate. I am satisfied," the Lord says. (Oh! the Lord is easy to satisfy.)
So now, the old lady has earned some merit. Oh, bless be the Lord, so compassionate and loving and merciful! Now he said, "Busandi, when she goes back to the world after her death, let her be fed on the husk of the particular grain which is found sticking to your palate. So the old woman will be eating that all her life long." And then, the Lord so saying, disappeared. Great and marvelous are the benefits of charity and righteousness, even involuntarily. Infinite and overwhelming is a love and compassion of the Lord, such is the mysterious potency of even the least act of kindness and charity. Probably she didn't want to take it out because she knows it is useless. Ah, it's not much there as you know (laughter).
The Lord Himself in His great love creates opportunities for the redemption and deification of the sinning human. When the old woman who did no meritorious act was ordained to get bread made of husk, and if we give people a lot of things more, how much would we have? That is the conclusion, huh, that's the meaning of it.
Spoken by the Supreme Master Ching Hai,
Hsihu Center, Formosa Jan. 5, 1995
(Originally in English)
This is a story of the mental worship. Mental worship means a devotee, a follower don't use any external object such as flowers, incense, drums, gongs or statues, etc. to worship, or food offering.
You remember Ajuna? The devotee of Lord Krishna recounted in the Bhagavadgita. Ajuna was very fond of doing long and ostentatious external worship of God. He had a spacious worship room lit up with countless lights. He used gold and silver vessels. He spent several hours in ceremony and worship Lord Shiva. He would sit for many hours and throw cart loads of flowers at the image of Lord Shiva. You know Lord Shiva, one of the God in Hindu - Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. Shiva supposed to be the Lord of destruction. Actually He destroy evil, He doesn't destroy good person.
There is a brother of Ajuna called Bhima. He never sat to do any worship, he never went to the temple, he always goes to Miaoli. (Laughter, applause.) He used to close his eyes for a few minutes just before dinner, just a few minutes before dinner, and do mental worship of the Lord. Perhaps he makes offering or recite the five names or something like. Ajuna thought that he was a great devotee of the Lord and that he was highly pious and devoted. He thought that his brother Bhima had no devotion. Therefore, he looked down upon him with contempt. (Laughter)
Lord Krishna found out the attitude of Ajuna and wanted to teach him a good lesson and bring him to his senses. He proposed to Ajuna to take a trip to Mount Kailash, the abode of Lord Shiva.
When they are on their way, they met a man dragging a cart loaded with flower of diverse kinds. Ajuna asked the man where he was taking the flowers to. But the man kept silent as he was very much absorbed in his work, very concentrate. So Lord Krishna said to Ajuna, "Let us follow the man and find out the things for ourselves." Ajuna agreed and they both followed the man, they saw him empty the cart by the side of a huge heap of flowers which was as big as a hill of Hsihu Center. They further saw several hundreds of carts, all loaded with flowers, approaching the same spot and empty their contents there. There's a huge mountain of flowers, fresh flowers there.
Ajuna became more and more curious. He could not control his curiosity anymore, so he asked the man, 'Please tell me where these carts of flowers came from." None of them bothered to reply. But one man said after repeated questioning from Ajuna, "Venerable sir, kindly do not disturb us. We are too busy with our work. We have no time to talk to anybody. We have brought only seven hundred and fifty carts of flowers and more than seven hundred and fifty more are still in the temple. They are all the flowers with which one Bhima, a son of Pandu, worshipped our Lord yesterday." Understand?
That means these mountain of flowers only half of what they have to carry out, it still half laid somewhere in the temple, and all these flowers came from Bhima, the brother of Ajuna, the lazy one, the one who never went to the temple, never worship the Lord, apparently, and never do anything, never get a flower or incense to the Lord, the one that Ajuna always look down upon as useless, as atheist, as not devoted to God.
"Now, it's hardly four more hours before his worship today and we must remove all the flowers within that time. Everyday he worships, the mountain of flowers come." So they have to remove everyday there are so much flowers from him, from his worship.
Ajuna was struck with wonder. He asked, "Is it Bhima or Ajuna that you speak of? Are you sure you don't make mistake, you mean Ajuna, right, Ajuna, not Bhima!? My friends, think, think about it. You're mistaken. The name is Ajuna, Ajuna, A-J-U-N-A. Must be." So the man replied, "Poo! Don't talk about Ajuna. No, no, no, no, no! Not at all, not that one. It is Bhima, who does such glorious worship with intense devotion, and not his brother Ajuna, who merely makes an outward show of his worship."
Just then another man came with a basket of flowers, Lord Krishna asked that man, on purpose, on purpose, not that he doesn't know, "Ah, my friend, who's offering are these flowers?" Of course you know the answer. The man said, "They were offered yesterday by an ostentatious man who lives on the earth, his name is Ajuna, (laughter) and he makes a display of his worship without any real love and devotion." Therefore one basket of flowers and talks so much about it.
Ajuna lowered his head in shame and said to the Lord, "Oh, Krishna, Ching Hai Wu Shang Shih, (laughter) why did You have to bring me here? Let us leave this place at once. You could point it out, my defects, my self conceit, hypocrite and ostentation at home, and save all this trouble and exertion. I do admit that I thought very highly of my worship and devotion. I treated Bhima with contempt. Just now I realized that Bhima's short meditation with sincere devotion is more valuable than all my showy worship all day long." Lord Krishna smiled (laughter) and kept silent.
So you know in our place, in our none-temple temple, we don't bother with flowers and incense, or drums and gongs or anything. We just bother with sincerity and inner devotion. That's why I tell you concentrate and meditate, no need for outer performance so much, no need to even bow to me or bow to any Buddha. If you saw him inside, saw the Buddha inside, you may bow to the Buddhas if you want to. But the Buddhas do not expect these things. They expect that you are devoted to yourself, so that you can find your Buddha nature and became Buddha or became one with God. Found your own glorious nature and be of help to yourself and many other beings, and that is what the Buddha expects from us.