Start With Nirvana And End Up On Earth

A lecture by The Supreme Master Ching Hai
Group meditation in Malaysia. Feb. 23, 1992 (Originally in English)

It's terrible. Even the excess fruit could be decomposed and made into fertilizer again. Why throw it into the sea? For example, let it become an organic plant or an organic plantation with the natural fertilizer. Why should they throw it away?! Anyhow, it's all disorganized; every nation is self-interested. I wouldn't say all the nations, but many are like that. Each one jealously guards each other's so-called secret, which the whole world already knows, which all the Buddhas known. They think it's a secret. They guard all their secrets, but don't help each other that much. And the one who does help, the others try to exploit them, make fun of them, and try to give them pressure so that they cannot give any more; so they cannot help any more, or they may cause a lot of troubles. Our world is rich in everything. We could feed the whole, entire planet and export to the next thirty three more planets, to those who don't have earth to cultivate, or to those planets on which minerals have been destroyed, or to those whose atmosphere has been poisoned by "Star Wars", (Master laughs) something like that. We could export to them, give them fresh fruits and vegetables, and then import their UFOs instead. Yes. We could exchange. Import their excellent equipment, machines, and we could export to them our tofu, (laughter) red beans, rice, wheat, etc., and even cats, dogs and birds for them to look at. They don't have that many, on some of their planets. The atmosphere was destroyed, so they can hardly keep people there. They keep down the population, because they have to recycle their own atmosphere, oxygen and all kinds of things. So they cannot afford to keep pets. So we can even export our atmosphere; give each one of them one packet of oxygen from the earth with love. Yeah! We can do that.

If the world leaders only realized how harmful it is to be self-interested; how short-live that kind of attitude is towards themselves; and how harmful it is in the long run, to their own and even later generations, to their children; if they realized that there are other planets, other civilizations in the whole universe, which we should interrelate and try to communicate with, try to learn from and try to benefit from each other, then they would stop arguing and warring with each other. They should try hard at least to seek the way and put all the financial resources or energy into finding the way to make peace instead of war.

But how can I talk to anybody now? Should we begin to search for Presidents, one by one? Shoot them down with our light beam energy and loving, T.L.C. (laughter), tender loving care. We'll shoot them with T.L.C., tender loving care. We give them each three packets of love. But if they swallow them.... If I approached the world leaders, they might think that I want something from them, because everybody wants something from each other. So they might think in this way. It's very seldom that somebody does something and doesn't want anything in return. Well, I do want something in return. I want them to take care of the people, to truly devote their lives for the benefit of their nations and also for the whole planet, to make good for what we have done wrong, to beautify our planet and to try to make contact with other worlds beyond our world, in order to improve our techniques, our machines, our way of understanding, our way of life, and to elevate the suffering of our world and also the other worlds, if possible.

World Leaders Should Think On A Vast Scale

If we truly are the world leaders or national leaders, we must think broadly and do things on such a vast scale; think in such a large pattern of thought, instead of just taking care of a small group of people, politicians, a group of nations, a group of interested people, or our aids, our group, or our supporters or even our nation alone. We degrade ourselves if we think in such small terms instead of broadening our mind and enlarging our heart. It's very difficult, but we might make it. If the world goes bad, up to a point of time, then people will awaken and will be together. We'll stick together. That's why sometimes we are not awakened, and God has to use disaster as a consequence, also as a remedy, to shake us out of our slumber. But this is too tragic, and the effect will last a long time. It's better if we awaken ourselves before the disaster comes.

For a while we become shaken, and then we fall back into our bad habits again: Unable to learn from the past, previous beneficial experiences, in order to improve. I hope that we have gone down enough for the world leaders to realize that they must change our way of life. They must think larger than life. They must think beyond the borders of their nations. They must think beyond the atmosphere of our planet. Otherwise, it is a waste of our greatness, to think, to work and to live just like animals or ants to feed our stomach; only taking care of our surroundings, relatives and friends, or nation. Don't ants do that? Don't bees do that? They are even more organized than some of us. They are even more supportive to each other than some of us. They are even more loving toward each other than some of us. They share equally among each of themselves the portions of their earning. They work together; they put things together and they share with each other. We have enough. We have too much. Our world is still very rich, very rich in everything, in minerals and in all kinds of resources. Even if we don't have oil, we'll find something else to run our cars. The UFO's don't have oil. They don't need oil. Can you carry enough oil from Mars to here? Seventy-eight million kilometers away, is that right? The nearest planet is Mars, right? Anyhow, it is as near as our fuel can go and come back. It's not that near, actually. It's not like going from here to Hong Kong; we all know!

There are different kinds of fuel that we can use for different purposes. In the higher worlds they don't need oil like we do. It's too troublesome and too heavy. They use different kinds of energy, not necessarily the sun's energy. We have other kinds of energy which are in the atmosphere. I think some scientists have begun to find out, but have not put it to use. Because sometimes when the scientists find something out, somebody else will try to brake him down, and not let the public know about it or support him. Maybe he ran out of financial support; he could not experiment further, or someone else is after him and steal the patent and destroy it, or use it for a very bad purpose, or try to sell it. It's a lot of money and nobody wants to buy it. It will get stuck there, somewhere in the hands of no one, doing nothing. Understand?

Our planet, as long as we still have people who have this kind of mentality, we'll go nowhere into the future, into the worlds of civilization, into the worlds of a worthwhile human life: the true, dignified and respectable human life. Very difficult. Therefore, I think our job is not very bad, yeah? We can try to educate people: at least to be honest, to work hard, to rely on themselves and to find their wisdom. So even whatever small work they do, they do it with their heart, with devotion. And even if they can't do their work, at least they are honest to the society. They don't cheat people. They don't make trouble. They are patient, and they serve. Or at least, they do not cause trouble. Then they will not have jealousy or provoke people to break down other people's successes in science or in whichever field they happen to work in.

The Practicing Group With Confidence And Love

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're 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. Is that right? (Yes.) Therefore, if the whole world is like that, what do you think? (*I bet you:) I dare challenge any other so-called religious organizations to produce such brotherhood. Is that not so? You name them, and you'll find none. Yeah? None of the other so-called brotherhoods can trust each other the way we do. Right or not? (The audience replied, "Right!" and applauded)

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 the world like this we don't need to go to heaven; no need to discuss Nirvana. We'll stay right here. (Applause) Therefore, we started with Nirvana and ended up in the Earth. That's fine. Our motive is actually not to run away from our duties or from our Earth. It's just that if we could not stay here and if we could not change it, then we have to go. (Master laughs) Is that right?

So, if you love our world; if you are a down to earth person; if you think the earthly people are still worthwhile and trust-worthy, then save them; save them with your wisdom, with what you know about the practice, about compassion, about love and about the Quan Yin Method. That is our duty. And even after all, if everyone changes to Quan Yin and a vegetarian diet, and you still don't like this planet, well, other planets are ready. Other places are waiting for you. We have plenty. In my Father's house, there are many mansions; that is for sure. The one who can come up can always go down, but the one who is down cannot always come up.

Stable Practicing With Firm Belief

In case, you have any doubts at all about our method, or about our motive or about my teachings, because you are a new comer, or because you have not had such a shaking experience like your neighbor, who related his beautiful experiences, or because you have been on another path or another practice, or because you have eaten the wrong food intentionally, may I remind you to start again, to have a firm belief. You have my word of honor that I am never for self-interest.

Never for one second do I think anything to benefit my own body or my relatives. I always say that, and everyone can bear witness to it. For example, my family in Au Lac, for the first time have a television since I left just two months ago. Understand? Just because I sent them a few thousands dollars. And why do they have a television? Because they want to watch my videos. (Applause) So from this example, you might as well know I am not for self-interest, not even the interest of my family.

Of course, I help them when they call for help. If they don't call, I ignore them. I think they can live. I don't worry much about their physical well being. As long as they live, it's okay. I let God take care of them. But of course I will not let them starve or die or anything like that. If I can help others, I help my family, but not by giving them richness and fame. Who am I? I'm just as helpless as you, not to give them richness and fame. I don't even let the disciples come and bow to my parents, or look at my house. Even then, if it's for my glory and for my parents' glory, I forbid them to come. The ones who come, I forbid them to come back to see me.

There is no use making glory out of material existence, out of two or three bodies. The best glory you'll find in meditation, in bettering yourself, in making yourself become a very beautiful citizen of this world. That's how you glorify me. There is no other way. Therefore, have your faith again in your own choice of a good path, a good master and good teaching. You can call me Master, it's okay. I am no more glorified if you call me a beggar. But you call me Master because you realized that this is the one who knows what we want to know; this is the one who has realized what we want to realize. This is our goal to reach. Understand? She is a representative for what we want to become. She has mastered herself, so we called her "Master".

Sooner or later when we master ourselves, we can call ourselves "Master". The one who masters himself or herself is the true Master. And that's the only purpose for calling me "Master". Otherwise, I am no more glorified than before I took over this business. It is the same! Yes, and there's no self-interest. And our path is truly the correct one, the one that benefits people most, the fastest. Our disciples progress faster than any other disciples from any other organizations worldwide that I have ever come to know of.

Put In All Your Energy To Get The Most Benefits

I can tell you in all honesty, and you can try to find out. You may take your time to learn to know other paths. I am not jealous. I have no fear. I have no fear that you'll run away from me. I only fear you'll lose your time and feel sorry when you come back again, saying, "What a waste!" (Applause) Do you understand? So, find out what you want to know and then be firm on your feet. Understand? If you truly must find out about me, do find out, by all means. If you truly want to find out if there's better path than ours, please do it and fast. Don't sit there hesitating, wasting both of our time. Do you understand? If you find another, better one, I am only too happy to let you out, because the less disciples, the less tiring it is for me. And I might come and join you. We can both become fellow practitioners. I could sit there like you now, enjoying the disciple-ship: all nice and taken care of, and loved, with no responsibility. And I could run from one place to another like you do, following one guru. It's very romantic and healthy.

As you know I have not forced you into believing this, and I have never used any magical power or any ways apart from logical speaking to coerce you into this group of crazy people. (Laughter) You have chosen to come! Yes? If you have chosen something, make sure it is good, because if you have chosen a bad thing it is also a choice. It's also a waste of energy and time to follow something which is unproductive. And once you follow something you must make sure that it is okay; it's good; it's correct. And once you make sure it's correct and beneficial, stick to it, to get the most benefit out of it. Put your whole energy into it, otherwise you'll gain only half, and it's a waste of time, and you might just as well leave. Is that right? (Yes.)

It just like a marriage, once you have chosen a partner, try to work with each other to protect the marriage, because, if you are miserable in a marriage you can not work outside also; you have no energy, no interest. Both have to work for the marriage. But after you work hard and you think you have chosen a good partner, but it doesn't work somehow and you both don't want to mend it, then it's better not to. Yeah? Don't torture each other, wasting each other's time and energy. If you think it is good for you or you cannot live without it, then you must work for it. Everything we must work hard to maintain.

Take Care Of The World With Our Hearts

Our world can become as beautiful as Nirvana. It is that the world's people don't work towards it; otherwise, it can be as beautiful as any Nirvana can be. All the money that is wasted in arms, in wars, in killing each other, in capturing each other and in chasing each other around the world, we can use to pave all the streets in the whole planet and plant all the beautiful trees, all the exotic flowers, and the most nutritious fruits and food, even just to look at. Yeah, I don't need to eat! If we have too much, we can look at them, and let them fall down and decompose and become fertilizer again on their own. We can smell their fragrance and we can look at our planet and we make it become a beautiful paradise.

Our roads don't need to be paved in crystal and gold, like the worlds of Amitaba Buddha. We will be content with cement or with black tar. It's clean and it's good enough for us. We can walk, with no mud, but even mud is beautiful too, if it is clean; if there's no garbage lying around; if there's no radio active batteries running all over the place; if there's no plastic and rubbers infiltrating the whole area; if there's no gasoline car pollution pumping in our nose. We can use the money, resources and energy to invest in science to find the way to run our cars better than we do now; to find the way to give people more security and to share it equally, not like insome or systems so-called communism in which they pull everybody down to a poor standard, rather to raise the poor to a rich level. That should be the way, not the other way around. I am not a politician, but I'm just talking logic. I don't like politics, but sometimes you cannot separate politics from the so-called religious or moral teachings, because in the old times only the wise ruled the nations.

Ideal Leaders Are Good Instruments Of God

Therefore we had the period of Yau, Shwen, the Golden Egypt, Golden Greece. Do you understand? There's no need to say that the practitioners should not mix into politics. We don't mix; we don't even want to. If we mix in, we cannot do anything. But we can talk logically and make you understand why politics fail. It's because it is not true politics. True politics will stand, will benefit the nations and the world. Right now we have a few very good leaders. I, myself, also like them. If I could I would support them. Not that I would go and shake their hands and tell them that I support them, but I will, in my way, so that they can stay longer in power. In an invisible way I might help them, so that at least the world has some light, has some good instruments for God to work through, so that at least our world won't become hell. (Applause)

If we cannot help the world in a different way, then we should meditate. We better ourselves; we moralize our standard. That is also a great help. In a world that is full of weakness and injustice, if we have so many groups of beautiful people who don't take the lives or animals, who even eat sparingly of a vegetarian diet, who aren't so greedy of anything and who help us when they can, in their own ability, initiates or non-initiates, then we've already done great services to this world. By and by, slowly, others will take our examples. We teach by example, not by words.

Of course, I teach you also by words, because from words you know why I am doing this and why you should do that. Also it is beneficial, but if we only talk and don't do anything, then it's no use. It can even be harmful, because we waste our energy and other people's time listening to our garbage. Is that not so? When a fruit looks like fruit but it's not nutritious, then it is garbage. No?! Right. When the theories are empty words, without support from self-exercising power, and support from the action power, then it is also garbage, empty words, wasting energy and time.

People could have spent all that time listening to something more worthwhile; or could have found someone else better to listen to; or they could have spent all that time sleeping -- it's even more productive; or maybe, by chance, they come across some good books and read some good things; or a master or a fellow practitioner or something that might benefit them more, than listening to empty nonsense. Therefore, if we talk, we must speak what we know and what we truly are convinced with, then it has force; then it has energy, and it benefits people.

Why Most People's Prayers Won't Come True

That's why most people's prayers won't come true, because they put no energy into it. They just talk with their mouths or they think very fleetingly with their weak, feeble energy. Therefore, their thoughts won't come true; their prayers won't come true. They don't even have enough energy and supportive spirit to pray. That's not a true prayer. The true prayer always comes true. Because if there's energy in it, it will attract the object of their desire. If there are no attracting energies, nothing comes. If you put two pieces of thing together, one a magnet and the other a piece of wood which you painted to look like a magnet, the attracting power of both pieces are not the same. Only the true magnet attracts iron or metal. The other one would never attract anything. It doesn't matter how long you put it there, and it doesn't matter how much it looks like a piece of magnet. Understand?

Therefore, when you, the practitioners of the Quan Yin Method, pray, it happens, because you have power. Now you even have the power to pray for what you want. You didn't have it before. You didn't know what prayer truly meant. You just said, "Oh! God, give me this. Oh, God, give me that." Do you think God is so cheap? (Laughter) Even a piece of pin will not be attracted to a piece of wood or ordinary iron. How would God be attracted to you, to your "blah, blah" nonsense?! Understand? And you don't even mean what you say, and don't even believe in what you pray. So prayers begin after you know a master, because the master awakens in you, the prayer power, the power to pray, the power to think, the power to use your own energy to make things come true. (Applause)

So after initiation, mostly what you pray, if it's good for you, comes true, and what is no good for you the master will not give. (Laughter and applause) If it is no good for you the Master will not give, not grant it. Yes. Just like children when they want too much candy, the parents say "No". Right? If they want one or two pieces it's still okay, but if it's too much, exceeding their dinner and lunch, then "no!" Sometimes they want to play with fire, then the parents also say, no! You have not grown up enough to handle fire, to be able to play with fire, to experience that fire is no good. To wait until you know is too late. When you grow up enough, you can handle it; you can have experience with fire. Understand? Even, now you're too small; you know fire is no good, but you don't know how to handle what's no good. When you grow up you'll still know fire is dangerous, but you'll know how to handle it. Therefore you can play with it. Understand? Fire is still the same but you are different.

We Cannot Imitate An Enlightened Master

Therefore, some things can be done by one person, while other people cannot do it. Or what the Master can do you cannot do. The Master can give initiation and take people's karma, but you shouldn't imitate. (Laughter and applause) The Master can do many things that you cannot do. But, you will! You will do it in future. When you grow up in your strength, in your power and in your self-realization, then you can do exactly what the Master does, and you might do even more! If God wants to give you more responsibilities, you can do everything. It's not the outside actions of the Master; it is the inner wisdom, the way the Master knows why she or he does that. We cannot know! Sometimes we know. Sometimes we don't know. We just think, "Oh, Master just talks, invites people to eat dinner, drinks tea and touches people on the forehead. I can do all this, and more!" (Laughter and applause) Yeah. "Recite the Five Names, I can do that also. And all Her books, I might be able to write also." But, it's different. It is not the appearance of things that counts; it's the invisible power behind it.

Therefore, even today, when we were talking outside with the journalist, you happened to hear somebody say, for example, that in Costa Rica we have a disciple who is a very devoted to our path now, and he loves me very much. He always cries like a baby when I leave or when I come. And he practices very well, and he has very good experiences. I don't mean the best, but fairly good and he moves fast, but he was initiated before by another so-called master, before he knew me, and that was long ago. It was probably the same technique and path, but he could not bear it. He had a terrible reaction, so he stopped. Understand? And after that he progressed. After our initiation, meeting me, he progressed very fast.

There is another one from America. He was also initiated by one of the famous gurus in India, who also teaches the sound and light like I do. But he didn't progress, for ten or twelve years. And then he fell into another path and got tricked, all kinds of things happened, and he ended up worse than before. So he lost all confidence and stopped practicing all together. And probably did some sad, you know regretful things even. But after he met me, he was confident again, started practicing again and moved so fast. And he asked me, "Why? It was practically the same teaching, why was there a different effect?" (Applause)

Even though they teach the same so-called sound and light, it's different! This I also know myself. Some teach this light and sound for money also. How much per lesson! For lessons you must first pay money, every month so much, until a couple of years pass and then they give you initiation, with no guarantee of light and sound. Maybe one or two get it, but a low sound. I don't mean to criticize anyone; also I won't tell the names of this person. But, what I mean is, it's not the outside actions that we can judge and imitate, but it is the inner power, which we must achieve in order to accomplish anything, especially in spiritual aspects. Do you understand? It's not by imitating the Master, by walking like this or by wearing like that. We touch here; we touch there, and we wave here, wave there and give candies. (laughter) This is not all that the Master does. There's so much more and behind that, there is love; there is power; there is blessing; there is extreme care and attention from the Most High, from the ocean of love and mercy. (Applause) It is difficult if you don't practice. If you're not high enough, you cannot know these things.

But, when you receive things, you might feel there is a difference when you get something from the Master. You might not even feel it at all. But by and by, it will also help. For example, one of our practitioners said that his wife got blessed three times by the Master before she saw the light. First time, no. Second time, no. Third time, "Wow!" she said, "got it! Got it!" Yes, some people are slow. I know one practitioner; he said that he had heard nothing at the time of initiation. He was one of those small leaders of another faith. When he came to us, he took initiation. But because of the previous, maybe, preconceived ideas, he got stuck somewhere. It took one week before he got his first sound. But he worked hard, and has meditated a lot. He finally climbed up, "up there". I appreciate his effort. He's one of the best supporters and most faithful practitioners at the moment. But he worked very hard after his initiation. Yes. Very hard.

But, that's rare; to get it one week after initiation is rare. He heard nothing. He was so angry because he was a kind of leader, and every one else got it, and he was on the top and he got nothing. He was frustrated and angry with himself. But it was because of his position that he had obstacles. He thought that he was some kind of fantastic intelligence of the world, you know?! And he can talk well. He knows all the scriptures, and when he talks, it's non-stop. He knows many stories and he can talk non-stop. He thinks he's okay, being vegetarian and all that for long time, except egg maybe. So he thought that he was ready, prepared a hundred percent, a hundred and eight percent. And then he was so disappointed. Yes, it's true.

Don't Be Cheated By Your Mind

When we think that we are very good, or excellent, we might be cheated by the mind. The mind loves glory, loves praise, love fantasy, and thinking that we are good. On the other side, the mind also degrades us. It might sink into depression and an inferiority complex, and cheat us of our glory also. It goes two ways. Yes. The most cheated system in this world is to make people worship where they should not: to worship wood, to worship stone, to worship all kinds of lifeless objects, thinking that Buddha will know about it. The Buddha might know but we might not know, because we haven't found the connection inside. So even if the Buddha wants to talk to us, we cannot listen. If our telephone is disconnected, how can we hear the other side?! It doesn't matter how much we bow to the telephone over here. (Applause)

This is the trap of Maya, that nobody knows! People love to hang on to something, and to glorify themselves: that they are religious; that they know philosophy; that they are practicing something. Therefore, Maya, the king of illusion, sets up these kinds of traps, to let them satisfy themselves and stick there forever: That I am worshipping. I am religious. I am Buddhist. I am that. I am this. I am all things. I am busy. I am practicing.

You Make God The Way you Want Him To Be

There are all kinds of material attachments to religious orders, just to satisfy their mind. But it cheats them out of their precious time, by not letting them think of anything better, or try to find anything better. So they keep telling you to worship the wooden statue and one day you'll realize he is a Buddha; yes, maybe, but a wooden one, a wooden Buddha. (Laughter) The Buddha always said, "Buddha is inside you." And then Jesus said, "God dwells within you. You are the temple of God." What did they mean by this? You make God the way you want Him to be. You make Buddha the way you want Him to be. Understand? According to your realization, your level, your power, the Buddha is that. (Applause)

For example, I teach you the Quan Yin Method, without a method, but we have to call it a method. Otherwise, If I said to people come here and I'll give you nothing, no method, nobody would come. But, after a while you realize that there is truly no method. It's only the Master's power that helps you. Right? Otherwise, people would sell methods outside for one hundred dollars and you would get nothing. Or if other schools, so-called gurus, also gave you the same method, you might get nothing. Right? They also tell you sit here and concentrate there. They also touch you. They can touch for two thousand years. Your head is still your head. (Laughter) It will not become the Buddha's head, because what's yours is yours.

Now, after I give you the Quan Yin Method, for example, then you meditate. You try to search within yourselves to find what kind of power that you have, what kind of capability that you have forgotten, how much intelligence that you have not used, who you are and what kind of position you have in this universe. You search and search, and you'll find it. And then, you find up to the first level, then you'll find that you are very loving now. You are less stressful than before, and so you think, "Oh God is that. God helps me. God can help me to heal stress and to heal my sickness." You get cured from some disease, at the first level. Sometimes, when you touch somebody, that person gets cure too, and you have healing power! You'll say, "Oh! God has healing power. God is that. God has love. God gives me love. I feel loved now, and I feel I love someone else."

But, that love is still on a weak level. Never mind, you feel better than before. And by eating vegetarian you feel your body is better. You can think better than before, and you love your neighbor better now. So, you begin to declare that your Buddha is love; your Buddha is healing power; your God is healing power and magical power. Understand? He can make a lot of magic and things like that. You know God is there. You know there is a God, and that He has such and such qualities. And for a little while longer, you practice and you get up to the second level. Now, suddenly, whenever somebody asks you a question, you can talk with eloquence. You can reply to them in a way that they never have heard before, in a way you never dreamed you could reply before. You understand all the sutras and all the Bibles in the world. You understand that all the five religions say the same thing. Yes, in one word, you have eloquence.

Smooth Enmity With The Love From spiritual Practice

You can also sometimes see into the past, into other people's past and future. You know why you are connected with each other like this. You can regulate, invisibly or visibly, some of your karmic ties with other people, so suddenly your relationships smooth out. Suddenly, two enemies may come back loving each other, because, invisibly, in your practice your master power has smoothed the past enmity out of your life and your relationship. So you begin to declare, "God has intellectual power! God is Buddha! God is enlightenment! God is eloquence! God is that!" So your God has grown a little bit taller. (Laughter) That's how you make God and how you make Buddha. You say, "Oh! God has a kind record so that we can see everything inside."

Then you begin to listen, and you can hear the sound of thunder or the sound of many waters. So it declares in the Bible that God speaks in the voice of thunder, and like the sound of many waters. That's how they declared their God. When they saw the big flame of light, they said, "God comes in a big flame. God is like a big flame." So their God differs. Your God now differs from the God before, or differs from another initiate who has only reached the first level, or differs from another initiate who has reached the third level. His God is different from yours, but it is the same God, whom, pitifully, is being seen by different eyes and different angles. Just like when the Buddha was alive, he told the story of the four blind people who touched an elephant; who described the elephant. The one who touched his ears said, "Wow! The elephant is like a fan, a big fan." And the other one who touched his trunk said, "Oh! The elephant is like a big pilar." And the other one who touched his nose said, "Oh! The elephant looks like a water hose." And the one who touched his tail said, "Wow! The elephant is like a broom stick." This is how ordinary people see God. And this is how practitioners and people at different levels see God and make their own God.

Therefore, it is said that God is within you; that Buddha is in your mind. That is the meaning of it. (Applause) Now, you know that you can make Buddhas and you can make God. So I would advise you to make the best God out of it. Our God must be the supreme, the Most High, to be worthy of our time, energy and attention. Time is money! We might just as well buy the best God. (Laughter) Now you understand why God is not there for you to worship, but demands us to make use of His power it. If we don't make use of this God by our own power, then when we pray and nothing is done, we cannot blame anyone else. From the top of the hierarchy to the lowest level of hell, you have only yourselves to blame. You've gone the wrong way. You walk the wrong path. You approach things in the wrong direction, with the wrong method.

The Best Way To Worship God

The Quan Yin Method is for you to realize that God is you, the way you make Him. God can be as low as a worm, if you are that. If you don't raise yourselves higher than the worm's level then God will forever stay as a worm. If you raise yourselves higher, the higher your God is, the higher God is glorified. So glorify God by your own power of meditation and realization. That's the best prayer. That's the best glorification for God, the most significant prayer and the most significant job that you could ever do for God. (Applause) If we say we worship God, Buddha, Allah or whoever you say, and we remain in ignorance, then we truly despite God; we truly disgrace God and Buddha.

Therefore, Buddha said, "If you believe in Buddha, but do not understand Buddha, you disgraced Buddha." That is the truth. How do you disgrace Buddha? By remaining in ignorance and letting others see that you are an ignorant God, that you have no belief in God anymore, because God is ignorant due to your own ignorant thinking and view point. You think God is like that. "I pray to Him, but He doesn't hear. I am crawling here, but He doesn't see." It is not God who does not see. It is you who does not know that God sees, and who does not directly receive God's blessing, because you build a lot of obstacles around yourself. You, yourself, deny the benefit and the blessing from God, because you think, from a conditioned mind, from many generations, that you're not worthy; that you're wrong; that you are ignorant; that you do all the wrong things against your God's nature.

Therefore, even now, when you pray, this kind of thinking subconsciously prevents you from knowing you are God, knowing the benefit of God. Then you think God is only that. God is only for you to pray to, to complain to and to demand from, but it is not so. Every God is truly different. Depending on how you think and on your level, God is different. Not that there are so many Gods, but our view points differ, so God differs. Do you understand now why we must understand and realize God in order to say that we truly worship God? (Applause) Therefore, what the Buddha said is not wrong. If you don't understand Buddha, don't just blindly believe in Buddha or you'll disgrace Buddha.

Anyhow, you are on the right path. I think you may have realized it by now, otherwise you wouldn't have come to see me. Even those who failed also came to see me, or wanted to come to see me, at least. They might not have the face to come, but never mind! If they want to practice slowly outside, without control, without somebody to keep reminding them, nagging them, then they can stay home and slowly crawl. Those who want to follow me faster, must work hard and be fast. I like you to be fast. You can never be too fast for me (applause), because the world is in need of such fast working people. The world is so desperately short of these fast thinking, intelligent, conscientious, moral and honest people. Therefore, the more the better.

Work Fast In spiritual Practice To Serve The World

The faster you know how great your God is, the better. You can spread your love. You can impose your God for other people to see. When they see you, it's like they see God. They might tremble with fear. They might feel exalted with love, or they might just feel different. That is how God blesses people, through you, because you have slowly risen up to God's level. Understand? That's how we bless the world. That's how we worship God. That's how we truly pray.

At that time we don't even pray, but God blesses you and everything and anyone who sees you. Understand? At that time, you are already a master. Or you have not reached mastership, but you've already possessed, more or less, to some degree, this kind of power, this kind of love, this kind of benediction. So this is how we serve the world. And then we can say God truly is love. (Applause) And people will praise you. Okay, enough with theories (laughter), but my theory is not only a theory. You feel the power. You feel the force. Why? Because I have realized what I say. I did not read it from books. Understand? I realized it within myself. Therefore, whatever I say benefits you, and you believe it because it has a convincing power. Anyone else who repeats my words, might just be empty words. Yes. So we have to practice and realize ourselves, and then even if we repeat the words of the Master, it has the same power, because it becomes our own. Understand? (Applause)

I thank you for inviting me here. Also thank you for your exciting love at the airport, and today and in three to four days to come. I thank you for working hard to achieve the goals of my trip. Because my trip is also your trip, my work is your work. Whoever benefits or gets benefitted from me and from you also, from all of you who cooperated, who helped, who mentally or even physically supported this work. Everyone is a benefactor of mankind. This is the way of Bodhisattva. This is the way of sainthood. There's no other way, no need for shaving your head, no sticking in the Himalayas, no need for anything, no sleeping on a nail bed. Yes, just be ordinary and have wisdom.

Beautiful you are! I am glad that you have improved, and I am glad your faith is firm. I know you have been through some tests, but that's how we know our level. That's how we know whether our discrimination is sharp or not; whether we know the difference between a true master and a false master; whether we know how to recognize goodness in a master or not, or if we just listen to rumors and all kinds of gossip that is polluting to our mind. If we repeat that, polluting other's minds, it will be like a disease that keeps spreading. So when we speak, it's better to speak of goodness. If we absolutely cannot avoid it then we have to say something, but only in order to teach people or to tell them to improve. Otherwise, there is no good in talking about negative things, whether is it true or not. The one who spreads it, is the one who is affected most, the first. And the one who hears it is also affected, if he listens to it or if he believes it. Understand? Okay, good night!