We
are all here very humbly doing this human job. We are doing such a good
human job that we happen to forget that we are not just human, we are
very, very great beings. We encompass the whole cosmos. We can do absolutely
anything we want at any time of the day. Regardless of who we are, what
color our skin is, what job we have, how old we are and where we are,
whether we are in prison, in a restricted country, or a free country
like America, we still can do absolutely anything, at any time, and
the FBI can never check it out, because we do it with the spirit. We
don't even have to leave this body in order to do this. If we are good
at our practice we can function at the same time in this world like
driving a car, going shopping, doing make-up, washing dishes, feeding
the dogs, the cat, driving a boat, and at the same time we still can
do plenty of thousands of millions of other jobs required of our power.
So if we know many friends who need our help, in time of trouble need
a helping hand, we can always fly there to help them in spirit. And
they can see us also, at the same time we are in California having a
good time with the ship, the boat, in Santa Monica, or something like
that. This is the power that we always have. We always do and we always
will. No one can ever take this from us. But we have to reclaim it.
We have to rediscover it.
We
have to know how, we have to not let the busy schedule of this transient
existence blind us, deafen us, or do our heart so that we don't see,
we don't hear, we don't know with the real Eyes, the real Ears, the
real knowledge. Every day we must reserve a little time out of 24 hours,
however much we can spare. We must reserve a little time for us so that
we can remember our glory; so that we can experience what the Bible
has taught us, like, " the Kingdom of God is within you."
"We are all children of God." And the Buddhist scripture also
has taught us: "The Buddha Nature is inside you. Every being is
a Buddha." If we are too busy, we won't remember this. We just
hear this saying but we don't know actually what it is. For a person
who has just heard of Sacramento or Fresno and another person who comes
here and visits the city, it is a completely different story. So most
of us hear that we are the children of God, and say, "Ah, I know
that. Ah, I'm also a Buddha; I know that." But we don't really
know and that's why every day we suffer so much because there's a part
inside of us crying, "Let me free; let me be the Great one; let
me be the one I really am." That is the Buddha inside us. That's
the God within us. That is the Supreme Master.
When
we already know our Real Selves, no problem is too big to solve, no
death can ever frighten us, no danger can scare us. We always feel good,
feel secure, feel God-like, feel holy, and feel ever happy, ever ready
to help anyone in need physically and spiritually. Spiritual help is
the best help because once you help someone spiritually they can help
themselves and then in turn they take care of their own physical needs
as well.
In
the beginning, perhaps the Master--Supreme Master Ching Hai--helps you
in times of need physically or spiritually, but later on, you help yourself,
and later on, you help everyone else. Your parents who are even deceased
parents, your grandparents, your great, great ancestors, your future
family members, all of them are taken care of by you. The day of your
initiation is the day they are liberated; if they are already in the
other world they will be escalated into a higher realm of freedom and
knowledge. If they are on this planet they are going to be helped in
every physical way that is possible for this planet. And you yourself
enter into Sainthood, into being a capable, a real person, a real being
that we really are because we are not his body. "Know you not that
you are the Holy Spirit? Know you not that you are just the temple;
this body is just the temple of God and the Holy Spirit lives within
you?"
We
all read this in the Bible; we all read this in the scripture but we
do not experience in reality what that means, that the Holy Spirit dwells
within us. And who is that Holy Spirit? It's our Self. It's our true
Self. It's a part of the God Self, part of the whole cosmos. And once
we know this Holy Spirit we are free, free forever. The Angel of Death
cannot lay claim to our soul anymore. Once we close our eyes, we are
finished with this job in this earthly existence, we're free to fly
anywhere, to our chosen Home in the whole, great universe. We choose
where to live, which Heaven, to be near Home, to be near our friends,
our relatives, in this existence or in a future or past existence; we
could choose to live with them or we could choose to live not with them,
but go visit them anytime. Just think of them and you are there already.
No need to pay for an airplane like I have to pay for to come here.
(Laughter)
In
this world it is different; in the spirit world we are free. We are
free and we are great! That's why sometimes after meditation we come
back to this very small, little prison cell which we call 'the body',
and we feel a little sad, sometimes a lot sad, but at least we can return
to that realm again anytime we have free time. It's better than every
day being restricted within this little body forever. Just like if we
are in prison and people can bail us out sometimes. It is still better
than sitting there forever. So this 'bail bond' is free of charge; you
can bail yourself out anytime and since I am here today, the Supreme
Master says you can get initiation right away, instead of having to
wait many months. We never know if we'll live until tomorrow.
