All the lectures, and all the seminars, and all the retreats, and all the questions and answers, just to drive home one point: that you’re OK. Doesn’t matter what you are, you are very special. Because nobody else is like you. That’s why you are OK. Take you away, then the world is different. Because there is something missing that is not you. No one else can replace it, so you must be OK. […] And so you’re practicing just to accept yourself. Just so that you know you’re god in the end. Or slowly realize that you’re perfect in every way. In every way. Just like a grain of sand is perfect in every way. You are even more perfect. […]
Alright, next one. (Master, thank You for Your Love, blessing Power You graced us with at our national retreat. Master, I have been suffering physically and mentally since then, and have suffered greatly with my meditation practice. Master, I feel as though I’m an unworthy practitioner, also because of my destructive mind. Master, please help me to understand what I’m experiencing so that I can continue to grow. Master, would You please help me to help myself to overcome my destructive mind so that I may improve my practice?) Who is it? You again? Why do you always speak like that? You’re fishing for compliments again? You talk nonsense. Why do you have to be so hard on yourself? How do you know everybody else is better than you? Or I am even better than you? I just accept myself. I just feel I’m good. Because if God doesn’t feel good about me, Hes wouldn’t have created me this way. Whatever Hes does, I’m fine. Whatever I am, I’m OK. So feel like that about yourself, about anybody else.
Of course we have some things that we don’t like about ourselves. But then again, who are we to judge us even? God said, “Don’t judge.” “Don’t judge” doesn't [just] mean don’t judge other people. Don’t judge yourself, also. Try your best. Try your best. Do whatever makes you feel good. And whatever you can change, if it makes you feel good, then change. If it doesn’t make you feel good to change, doesn’t matter how many people say it, you don’t change. And if you can’t change, even though you know it’s good, then don’t change. Forgive yourself and enjoy. Enjoy whatever other good things you have. And try to ignore, as much as possible, the negative things that you feel, you don’t like about yourself. After all, God made us here with all colors, all personalities, so we can live a colorful life. Accept ourselves. Accept imperfection. There’s no need to be perfect. No need.
I know you don’t like my high heels, but I still wear them. It’s alright. In the beginning, I didn’t feel like wearing this and makeup and all that. And then afterward, I said, “Oh! Why not?” Why not? No problem. Sometimes I feel comfortable, sometimes I don’t feel comfortable. Sometimes I wear like this, but when I’m not with you, I wear all kinds of things like you, I feel also comfortable. And today, I didn’t really feel like wearing this, but it’s OK, too. It’s OK. It serves some purpose. Alright, no problem. We should not be too hard on ourselves. Because that means we’re hard on God. We blame Hirm for creating us like this! We blame Hirm for putting us through some situation where we have to learn some bad habit. We blame Hirm for not helping us to change it. We blame Hirm for the imperfections that Hes created. So, don’t worry about it. If Hes’ happy with you, you should be happy with yourself. We’re OK really, actually.
You know why you come here? Because you don’t feel you’re OK. And all I’m trying to tell you is that you’re OK. All this way, all this while. All the lectures, and all the seminars, and all the retreats, and all the questions and answers, just to drive home one point: that you’re OK. Doesn’t matter what you are, you are very special. Because nobody else is like you. That’s why you are OK. Take you away, then the world is different. Because there is something missing that is not you. No one else can replace it, so you must be OK. Right? All the big bricks in that house, some smaller, some bigger, some have a hole in the middle, some have a stain or some defect somewhere, but they all hold the house together. Take one away, and the house is not the house anymore. So you are OK. Right?
And so you’re practicing just to accept yourself. Just so that you know you’re god in the end. Or slowly realize that you’re perfect in every way. In every way. Just like a grain of sand is perfect in every way. You are even more perfect. Don’t worry about everything, about what you do. Because now you know what’s wrong, what’s right already, anyhow. And you’re trying your best to do it. Everybody knows; the whole Universe knows you’re trying your best. Or else you wouldn’t be here. Or else you wouldn’t be suffering for your own so-called defect. Everybody knows it. So it’s alright, it’s alright. Just accept yourself, because you’re perfect anyhow. Who is there to judge you? “Let the one who’s not guilty cast the first stone.” I am not the one who casts that stone.
OK. Next one. (Master, I’m also suffering with my meditation now…) Again? (…here at this retreat, too.) The same one (questioner)? (Please help me…) She wrote a letter. Or a “book”? I don’t know what’s wrong with you. You expect too much. You must be born a Virgo or something. Are you the sign of Virgo? You are a Virgo. And look at how cool she is. Because, actually if you are a Virgo, you only judge other people, never yourself. That’s what the Virgo people do. (Yes, yes.) What sign is your birth sign? (A Libra.) A Libra! That’s why you’re having problems. You tip here and there (being indecisive). That’s what they say. I don’t know. I have no idea about horoscopes, because it’s a horror to read them. Yeah, it’s a horror to read what will happen to you tomorrow. And then you feel bad all day long until tomorrow. And it’s worse than the things that will happen. Right? If tomorrow you’re dead, then at that time, you are just dead quickly. But if you know it two, three weeks in advance, you are dying every day. “My God! How am I going to die? How can I avoid it? My God! Terrible that I’m going to die. Oh! I don’t want to die!” Yeah. Right? OK.
(While meditating, very intense energy shoots up from my feet to my abdomen. This makes it impossible to concentrate. Is there a way to stop this?) No, don’t stop it. Just let it go. OK? Sometimes the energy in the body balances each other. It tries to find the right direction. Don’t worry about it. Don’t worry about your feet, your abdomen. In the spiritual book, I said, “Don’t worry about your bodily sensations.” Did I? (Yes.) You don’t read anything! That little book is enough. There’s no need for any more questions. Yeah. Read the book! Don’t worry about your breathing. Don’t pay attention to your bodily sensations, your feelings – nothing! Just concentrate here and recite the Five (Holy) Names. That’s all you have to do. So simple, and you have to make it complicated, blame yourself, and analyze your situation and your personality and your spiritual outcome and everything like that. Don’t worry about it. OK? Throw them all in the dustbin. Just recite the Five (Holy) Names, look here. That’s it! That’s all you have to do. Simple enough? (Yes.)
Forget her “book”! Is it finished, the “book”? (Not yet.) Do you feel that we should still continue to read your “book”? Or not? Whoever that is, they dare not raise their hand. OK. What else? Are there important things? (Want me to read it, Master?) The same one? (No, this is a different question.) Different, then it’s alright. (I have trouble saying the Five [Holy] Names due to the blockage in my breathing. Even though I say the [Five Holy] Names silently, I breathe out while saying them. Because of the blockage, I feel pressure in my chest and have to stop…) Why? (…saying the [Five Holy] Names, to take a big breath.) It’s OK. Then breathe first, and say it later. Why do you have to connect the (Five Holy) Names with the breath? You don’t have to repeat so fast, you can do it every three to five minutes. It’s alright. So meanwhile, you can breathe as much as you want. Please don’t stop breathing just for the (Five Holy) Names. I shall die. Jesus Christ!
Yeah, yeah. (I have learned that Master collects and erases karma from the disciples. I was initiated January this year. I would like to know, if the karma erased in my soul covers up to this year, 1997?) I will have to check it. I have to check the insurance to see how long it lasts. I don’t know, maybe it covers up to ‘97, but only half a year. The other half, you have to reapply. Next one. I cannot cover all the time to tell you, because then you’ll say, “It’s all covered.” And then you’ll go out and do a lot of terrible, crazy things. It’s up to you if you want the insurance to be covered or not. You continue to do good things. And avoid the bad things. Then you don’t create new karma. And then no need to cover or not cover it. And just erase the bad, the past karma only, but every day you have to take care of yourself and what you’re doing so that you don’t collect new karma.
(In the [inner Heavenly] Sound meditation, is the intention to focus one half on the wisdom eye, and one half on the [inner Heavenly] Sound?) No. No. You make the whole here, and the whole there. Not one half. You just listen with the wisdom, with the consciousness. Not that you pay attention to the wisdom eye. But there is your consciousness seat, so when you pay attention to the so-called wisdom eye, it means you begin to be conscious. You rest in your conscious state. And in that conscious state, you look with the eye of the consciousness. Hear with the ears of the consciousness. You understand? It’s not that half here and half there. There’s no half in the soul. It’s only the whole; complete.
So, the conscious seat of our soul is there. I don’t see it here or there. It’s just that the way of seeing with the physical means, with the physical expression, is that you have to close your eyes and remember the point. Just look, like you are looking through in your brain, through this eye out right in front of you, in the middle. That’s just the way of explaining how you do it. But we don’t have an eye here, or an eye there, or an eye anywhere. It is a way to locate our consciousness. OK? It’s just a technique to get back to the Kingdom of God. It’s the way to do it – that’s the only way to do it. And put in a physical way, it is like that. OK?
But you don’t attach on the wisdom eye half and on the ear half. Just because we have physical language, so I have to explain to you how to do it. But we are nowhere. That’s just how to get back to yourself. That’s the technique. Because you always forget, you always think of your nose, your ears, your eyes, your hands, your foot, your high heels, my high heels, and you don’t remember where you should concentrate, where you should focus, and that’s where we are. See what I mean? I just point out to you where you can come back to yourself, and then you can know everything. You get back your power, your blessing, your grace, your wisdom. That’s how to get back there. That’s there. There is nowhere. It’s in the middle of nowhere. But that’s where we are. That’s how we can remember ourselves. Understand? (Yes.) OK.
(I have learned in the past Master’s teaching that our kind of Method, Quan Yin, is an effortless method of meditation.) Yes, yes, yeah. (But I would still like to know for sure that if we closed our eyes and concentrated on God and the Holy Names, does our spiritual journey move on smoothly without any disturbances?) Well, it does. Doesn’t it? Does it not? What’s the problem? Who is it? Who? What kind of disturbance do you feel? What? (The Five Holy Names...) Yeah? (…concentrate on the Five Holy Names?) No, we don’t concentrate on there. You don’t have to concentrate. They’re just to purify yourself, to remind yourself “that’s where to go.” It’s like a map. OK? When you look at a map, it’s not an effort, is it? Only when you walk, it’s an effort, but look at the map! You know? Or when you drink and when you eat, it’s no effort, is it? It’s a pleasure. It’s joy.
Effortless doesn’t mean sit there like an idiot, and do nothing. Even when you’re in love, when somebody loves you, it’s effortless. But still, you have to do something. It’s effortless because we do it voluntarily. We love to do it. We feel good. We feel good to be in love. But don’t tell me that it is effortless. Oh geez! It’s a lot of work. Isn’t it? (Yes.) To maintain a loving relationship, to be in love is effortless. Somebody loves you, it’s effortless. But if you want to keep it, it’s a lot of work! (Yes.) Yeah! Don’t tell me. Effortless is not the way you think. But actually, it is effortless. I don’t know what you do when you sit there, close your eyes, and just remember the Five (Holy) Names inside.
You know why you have to remember the Five (Holy) Names? Because you haven’t gotten to the effortless state. Once you get there, you don’t even remember anything. You don’t need to. Once you see the Lord, you see the (inner Heavenly) Light, there’s no need. But because you still want to do something with your mind, you have to recite the (Five Holy) Names. While you are still in the mind, in this physical domain, you still have to do something so that you know you’re doing it. Because if you don’t recite the Five (Holy) Names, then you’ll recite some other names - dog-, cat(-people), whatever. Yes! That’s for sure. Money! Or your boyfriend. It won’t help you. Noodles, even. Right? So the Five (Holy) Names are just a replacement for all those chaotic turbulences and memories in your mind to keep yourself concentrated and focused. OK? It’s not work. It’s a substitute for what you are working hard [on] anyhow, every day.
