Spoken by Supreme Master Ching Hai
Hsihu, Formosa February 19, 1996
(Originally in Chinese)

 

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Once there was a spiritual practitioner who was sitting on the road, when a lot of people ran past him saying, "Hurry and run! A giant crazy elephant is chasing after us. It may kill someone. Hurry and run!" Then the so-called practitioner said, "I believe in God. God is inside the elephant; so I am not afraid." After a while, the elephant charged along and killed him.

Since he believed that God was inside the elephant, why didn't he believe that God was also inside those people bringing him the message? Why didn't he believe in this more normal God instead of believing in that crazy God? So this is the part that is illogical.

There is another story from India. Once a very dangerous plague was spreading around India. But there was one place that still had not been affected. The government decided to give vaccinations to the people there, but some Indians resisted. They did not know what vaccinations were, so they resisted strongly. Later, the government, a charity organization and some doctors decided to sneak into their houses in the middle of the night and vaccinate them by force. This was because even if one person got the disease, everyone in the city might be infected. You all know very clearly that if one single person were left unvaccinated, it would be very difficult to conduct the prevention work. Therefore they decided to do it this way.

One night, a group of doctors and nurses went to the house of a family. They forced the whole family outside for their vaccinations. Of course, the family members resisted very strongly. Despite this, the doctors still had to do their job and gave the vaccinations. They set the family free only after finishing with the vaccinations. Then the head of the family stood up and said to them, 'Because of our religious beliefs, we did not want the vaccinations. We tried our best to resist you, but since you used force to bring us to submission, we were not able to withstand you. However, this event has passed. Now you are my guests. I have nothing in my home to offer you, except a cucumber.'

This is because, according to their Indian custom, when you come to a person's home, you are God, and he should treat you in the way he would treat God, bringing out everything he has in order to offer you something to eat and drink. Therefore the man offered them water and a cucumber, since at that time those were the only things he had in his house. He told the doctors that, according to his religious beliefs, when God wants someone to be sick, that person will be sick, and we should not go against God's will. That was why he was steadfastly against the vaccinations. On hearing this, the doctors all felt ashamed and regarded that man as very religious.

However, I feel that this man's beliefs can be compared to a one-way street. He was not hearing what God was talking about, but decided on his own that God's view was such that anyone will get sick if God desires it to be so. However, God also sent these doctors along, thus showing that God meant them for them to be vaccinated. This is more obvious, isn't it? Why reject people without hearing what God is saying? If God had really talked to him and said, "You do not have to be vaccinated, because I do not want you to be sick. When I want someone to be sick, that person will be sick! "It is possible that it could have been this way. However, God produced some doctors, meaning that God had another idea. God wanted to help some people who did not want to be sick, and arranged for them to receive vaccinations, etc.

Therefore we so-called spiritual practitioners should not be too stubborn and strong-headed. Whatever the condition, we should manage according to the situation. If we are sick, apart from meditation and praying hard, we should take medicine if it is available. If there is no medicine, of course we have to depend entirely on prayer. And then we will see how God has arranged things, and go along with it. If God has arranged a doctor to come to your house, and you still say no, how do you know that he was not sent by God? Didn't you say that everything is God's arrangement? So, since the doctor has come, that means God has made Hiers arrangement. Why then take such trouble to reject him, and be that stubborn?

Besides this, there are many similar stories. This world is like that. Many people regard themselves as having very great faith. However, it is very simple just to talk. When encountering real situations one tends to cry out loud. Like that family, if they had not gotten the vaccinations and had gotten sick afterwards; they would have been in great agony while dying. At that time they would surely have cried out loud, and then would have complained about why God had not saved them, had not taken care of them, and had allowed them to get sick.

We spiritual practitioners should be quick and efficient. We should not say, "I believe in God, so then it's okay" just because we are lazy or stubborn. If this is the way, then why bother to eat food or to dress up! You believe in God, so then it's okay; people will not be able to see you naked; you believe in God, so then it's okay, you will not feel hungry. That is too illogical! It is just too convenient to use our mouths to talk. We like to talk in whatever way is convenient for us, because we do not want to act otherwise. So we say we believe in God, and then blame God for everything, using God as a shield for everything. Therefore spiritual practitioners should be careful!

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