Pearls Of Wisdom

If we understand the Kingdom of God is within us, and if we have already tasted the nectar of this Kingdom, then probably we do not want to resist anything. If we can live here longer to serve God and fellow beings, let it be so. If we have to go because our time has come, or because someone else wants to terminate our life, let it be, because we have other kingdoms to continue to live in.

We are so great, so pervasive, and then we use that great wisdom just to understand a little bit of the worldly knowledge, for example, medical or legal knowledge or anything; and then we cling to that. That whole wisdom we use just to pay attention to this corner of knowledge. Therefore we forgot the whole. That's it. And we think that we are very great already, we are this doctor and that Ph.D..

The body of the Master exits for two reasons. First, for the disciples of the physical world to be able to see, as they couldn't see the light body of the Master. Second, the body for the Master is for sacrifice.

When we think that we are very good, or excellent, we might be cheated by the mind. The mind loves glory, praise, 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. It goes two ways.

When we study with someone, we should use his teachings or method to benefit ourselves, and mind not whether the teacher carries out his teachings or not. If we required a teacher to do as he teaches, then it would be very rare to come across one in this world.

Furthermore, why should we want him to do the same as we do? He leads a different life than ours. He only knows a method. We like this method, so we follow what he teaches. It is fine as long as we benefit from it! Why should we mind whether he practices the method or not.

It is just like those who build airplanes. They are not necessarily able to fly them. The workers who manufacture taxis are not necessarily licensed to drive. We can simply buy a car. Why bother to mind whether the people who made the car can drive or not. Is that right? (The audience replied, "Yes!") Pharmaceuticals invents many medicines for people to take, yet they did not necessarily have cancer! He should not have cancer, and he should not take the same kind of medicine.

We all have the same problem. After we have learned from a teacher, we keep watching how the teacher leads his life, and forget our purpose. We should know our purpose clearly. We came to learn how from him. It is fine when we have learned it. It does not matter what that person does. It is the same with anything.

An English teacher of course knows English. However, he does not have to, as we do, find an English speaking person to hold a conversation with everyday. He need not practice. If he does, he does. Whether he uses English or not is his business. It doesn't matter if he speaks Chinese everyday. It has nothing to do with us. As long as we can learn good English from him, then we learn from him. After we have learned it, we too can speak, write, and read English. That is his purpose, which is also ours. We should not mind whether the teacher has written a few books in English, whether he reads English books daily or not, whether he is in contact with English people everyday, or watches English television, etc. If we wanted to, we could do that ourselves. We shouldn't mind him. He can also marry a Chinese woman, talk in Chinese, or eat Chinese meals everyday. That has nothing to do with us at all.

If we know the root of all the problems by shining the torch of enlightenment on all corners of life, we tackle problems better; not in a positive way, but in a right way -- be it positive or negative. If we are only positive, we neglect another part of life which is very important. It's just like you only choose men, and you don't care about women. Can we do that? No! We can't. So, an enlightened person knows how to handle positive and negative; not to reject anything, but to make all things fully useful for life and the life after.