Excerpted from conversations between Supreme Master Ching Hai and Her disciples during the Lunar New Year Celebration at the Florida Center, U.S.A. Feburary 15, 1999
(Originally in English)

 

 

Q (Initiate A): I was with an Indian master for fourteen years.
M: Fourteen years! That's a long time.
Q: And they had a lot of personal growth groups going on in their ashram. You know, they just taught therapy and massage.
M: All kinds of things, yes, I know.
Q: The bio-energetic diet and so on and so forth.
M: That's good.
Q: So, after they are released, they look fresh and happy.
M: For how long?
Q: That's the problem. I think they get stuck at a certain level.
M: Do they teach the Quan Yin Method?
Q: No.
M: No, that's different, you see. (Yes.) That's the last step you have to take. If we don't practice the Quan Yin Method, don't talk about the outer activities or the organization or whatever therapy they offer, these are all on the physical or mental level. Even psychological help is also mental.

 So without the real root healing from the vibration of the universe, everything is temporary and there is no progress. So, we don't do any healing here. People just get healed. We don't have any therapy. People just get well. Provided that they are doing what is instructed, they progress. And that's the real thing because it's yours, it's permanent, and you keep it. Whether the Master is still there or not there with you, you have it; you keep it.

 The Quan Yin Method is the best method you can have. It cures everything for you. If you just do what the Master says to do, everything is perfect and you progress. It's not that you have to rely on me to get cured for a certain time, and then you have to come back again. That's the difference. So we have a lot of freedom here, too.

 People can experiment with whatever they like. It's not that I forbid them from doing anything. I just lay down for them the pros and cons; and then they choose. It's just that they have chosen to stay or to continue with the instruction because most of them are intelligent enough to know that it works. And once it's working, they know that it continues to work. It works and they feel good. That's why they didn't want to change; it's not that I forbid them to change or to experiment. And I don't encourage them to do anything, either. They just don't do it. Not because I forbid it, but because they already know. Maybe they are mature enough to understand, or they have already tried enough.

 Of course, I also don't encourage people to feel uptight or anything like that. So, for example, if a brother has a problem, I say, "Okay, get another girl friend." Or if a sister has a problem, and I say, "You can go get married, it's okay." Love is okay. Marriage is okay, as long as it doesn't hinder your practice. And sex is okay, too, as long as it doesn't bother you and obstruct your progress. But most of the time, it does, because our minds cannot get over it. The sexual experience is very strong for people to handle. That's why most masters tell their disciples to stay away from it.

 It's just like alcohol. It's really a poison, but if you drink a little, it doesn't kill you, and it doesn't take you to hell. It's just that if you drink a little, tomorrow you will drink more and more, and then you will damage your body, your mind, and your spirit. So the master says, "Stay away from it." It's not that the master is dictatorial or controlling with people, He just knows what is good and what is not good. But we make the choice.

 So, I don't encourage people to experiment with any other things very freely because they have already experienced enough in life. Need I even teach them about sex or alcohol or free choice, or wild living? Or need I even encourage you to do that? For some individuals, it's all right if they really need that,but to some extent they already know. For example, our disciples already know the five precepts; they already know the framework, so they can kind of know where they should stop. Then if they want to experience a little, it's okay, but they know that that is wrong. Because practicing the Quan Yin Method gives you this sharp awareness that you just automatically know what is not good. Even though you try it, you know already that it won't work.

Q (Initiate B): Over the years, I've been to many, many ashrams. At one point, I was doing some research on that. So I've probably been to 50 or 70 ashrams.

M: Wow! That's a record.

Q: And some of them, various ones, I stayed at for a month or a few months if I was practicing there. And I always wondered, when I looked at these different groups and traditions, why each group had its own personality that would form. And you could recognize people from groups, and they would develop a personality, and I always wondered where there was a group where each person had his or her own individual personality. So, many of the people would be very uptight, because of the practice they were doing, or too loose.

M: Too extreme, huh? Either way.

Q: But what I have experienced here is that there seems to be kind of a nice, loose energy among people. So it's very nice; it's open.

M: We are temperate. We're not one extreme or another. I say try your best to do two and a half hours of meditation each day, but that's it. Here we're free to develop individually, and we just do our homework, like everybody else, but then we develop on our own. That's why I don't encourage people to come here and work for me, even, to stay here, with their own money. I would be sitting prettier if I allowed all the people here to come and work here for free, for three months or six months or two weeks, or whatever. Because they'd be happy to do that, too. But I wonder if that would have any good affect on them. That's why I told you before that I have to think about what is good for you, after I have experienced, like you, different styles of schools.

Q (Initiate C): I think Master is the best because our group is the best and we have the best of everything. We have the chance to have group meditation and retreats and we can see Master very often. I really appreciate that. I have a colleague who is an American and he has a master in India. He saw Master's picture on my desk, and he asked, "Who is this lady?" I said, "It's my Master." So he said that he had gone to Your vegetarian restaurant in San Jose and he told me that he also practiced the Quan Yin Method.

M: Yes, it's true. Several other teachers teach the Quan Yin Method, not only me. I've told you that many times.

Q: So I asked him whether he had seen his master after he got initiated, and he said that he had never seen him. He had only seen him once.

M: That's enough. He never saw him.

Q: I asked him whether he had group meditation with others and he said, "No." He only meditated by himself. So, although I know he has enough already, I feel very appreciative because we can do so much. (Applause)

M: But can he go to India to see his master?

Q: I don't know. Maybe he's not interested. But he hasn't gone and I think he has a few brothers and sisters form his group in the same area and they don't think of doing group meditation. And I think this arrangement for our group, where Master lets us meditate in a group together, is really great from my own experience. If I had not met those brothers and sisters who helped me in the very beginning, I would not have been able to overcome my problems. It was very tough for me at the very beginning. So I really, really appreciate, Master, all the brothers and sisters who helped me. (Almost crying) Compared to others, I think that I'm the luckiest person. Thank you, Master. I really appreciate that. (Applause)

M: I think our group has produced the highest frequency practitioners, according to my experience, of any group around the world. I sampled some ashrams before I met you, and I think we are pretty okay, very balanced.