Special Reports

Since fellow initiates from various countries have not been able to gather together to celebrate our dear Mother Master's birthday for several years, they kept praying in their hearts to celebrate it with Her. It happened to be Shakyamuni Buddha's birthday and Mother's Day. Master understood the desire of Her disciples, so this year She mercifully approved to hold a 7-day retreat in Cambodia, so that fellow initiates from all over the world could come to this Buddhist country to meditate diligently and celebrate the Buddha's birthday and Mother's Day together with Her.

Immediately upon their arrival at Phnom Penh's airport, the fellow initiates who had been to Cambodia before noticed an obvious change: that the landscape had turned into a new appearance, with green color radiating everywhere. Coming out of the airport, they felt a light atmosphere. While waiting outside for transportation, even though the sun was shining and it was hot, we all could feel a cool breeze that seemed to welcome us to this land.

On the first night of the 7-Day Retreat, Master mentioned that Buddha had consecutively hinted to Ananda three times that He had the method to be immortal and always stay in this world. But Ananda heard without listening and did not realize the Buddha's meaning at all. After the third time, the Maya King came and forced Buddha to leave, since no one wanted him.

Why didn't Ananda ask the Buddha to stay at that time? Master said that if Ananda had been thinking about the sufferings of sentient beings all the time, he would have asked the Buddha to stay in the world forever, in order to bless the world and lead sentient beings to liberation. But Ananda did not. Because he was with the Buddha everyday, and never lacked anything, he did not realize the importance of the Buddha's staying in the world. Master said thoughtfully that, if Ananda had put himself into the position of these people who had never heard of the Buddha's name or seen the Buddha personally, his response would have been different and the outcome would have been different, too.

On the second day, Master gave a lecture about the importance of being considerate, because of the careless attitude of some working staff. If we are not considerate of others, when the opportunity is gone, God will give us a more painful lesson to make a deeper impression that will last several lifetimes. For instance, we may encounter the pains of being hungry if we let other people go hungry.

Master then recounted an instance that occurred just the night before, where one of the staff membersdid not do as She had asked and made the situation worse. During the recounting of the story, Master felt the longing of disciples to be near Her so She allowed us to come closer to the stage to see Her afterward (She joked that this would make up for the price of our tickets). As She walked to a dark corner on stage, She told the brother who was video-taping to turn on the camera lights. Despite mentioning this several times, the brother did not turn on the lights and argued that he did not need them. Later, Master explained that because She saw the longing eyes of the initiates to have one more glance of Her, She asked him to turn on the camera lights to let the disciples have a better view of Her; but he was so attached to his technical skills that he insisted that he did not need anymore light to film Her.

Master said that when we first come to work for Her, we want to serve other people. However, sometimes we become attached to the work and think the work is very important. Therefore, due to our ego and inconsideration of others, we cannot comprehend Master's intentions; so we fail to understand others' longing hearts.

This 7-Day Retreat was held in honor of Shakyamuni Buddha's birthday. Therefore, during the retreat, Master told several stories of the Buddha's previous incarnations, like the Golden Goose King, the Golden Monkey King, etc. Also, Master laughed and said that the Buddha had a very good sense of humor; He might intentionally have made an analogy of Himself as an animal. In fact, He implied that it was very difficult to teach the disciples at that time. When He was with His disciples, He felt like He was with a crowd of animals, in the sense that they were underdeveloped. On the other hand, Master compared Herself with a Golden Snail King because Her disciples' reactions are so slow. So, sometimes after Master finished the joke, the disciples still stared blankly at Her, having no reaction at all (for example).

The loneliness of being a Master was conveyed in every single story that Master told about the Buddha. She said that all these stories were to teach us that to become a fully enlightened being, a sentient being has to go through a lot of training, a lot of discipline, a lot of compassionate lessons before he arrives at the stage of complete virtue and beauty inside of himself.

To have complete wisdom, complete knowledge of all things and complete compassion, mercy and love, we have to go through a lot of tests and trials and voluntary sacrifice in order to be a noble being, such as Buddha. "So I wish you all will become like that," Master concluded.

Since all these stories occurred in India, Master told the disciples anecdotes about when She was seeking the Truth in India. Every time Master mentioned the events that happened, the fellow initiates always perked up their ears to listen attentively to Master's words. Obviously, all are more interested in the present Buddha than the past Buddhas.

Master has gone through innumerable trials and tribulations to seek the Truth. After She obtained the Tao, She cannot bear to let the disciples endure all untold hardships that She experienced Herself. Thus, She is always meticulously considerate to us, trying Her best to give us blessings. Our dear Mother's love for us is as deep as the boundless ocean; it is immeasurable beyond our understanding because, as disciples, we enjoy all of Her blessings without any effort. Even so, Her snail-disciples' faith in the Truth was uplifted very much by Her words. Bearing the deepest gratitude in their hearts, they meditated with great concentration, wishing to increase their "crawling speed.

Master always pays attention to the hygiene of the cooking staff to make sure it is up to par. In the kitchen, staff members must wear gloves, masks and hats; and whenever the gloves tear they must be replaced immediately. The kitchen staff must also always recite the Holy Names silently and not to talk unnecessarily during their work. She also inspected the kitchen for cleanliness and reminded them to be more aware in order to contribute to the overall hygiene of the kitchen. We are such fortunate children to be under Her benevolent care.

Furthermore, She taught us the advantages of using our natural resources such as rain for making tea and vegetarian cakes because of its purity and natural flavor. She also encouraged us to take this opportunity to enjoy the taste of the tropical fruits. Master's supreme wisdom washes away all obstacles and can transform any place into a holy place for practice. When one steps into this meditation center, one can see both the primitive and sophisticated facets of creativity. In creating the basic facilities for the Center, the natural beauty of the surroundings is maintained and nurtured so it is in keeping with Master's teachings. The facilities that were designed were of simple, classic and practical architecture, using stones, wood and dried plant leaves. For example, the meditation hall was floored with small pebbles and the surrounding is consisted of lush green trees and small bushes.

When you sit in the meditation hall, you can look out and see the beautifully transformed panorama throughout the day. In the morning, the sky sparkles a brilliant blue with billowy white clouds that flow in between the branches of the trees. At dusk, the sky is filled with the glorious rose-colored sunset that blends with the dark outlines of mountains and trees as if they have come together for the purpose of composing a magnificent painting. When night falls the meditation hall is filled with all kinds of insects and together, human beings and the insects, dwelt in harmony. This is a rare scene on our Earth, especially when you wake up from samadhi and look around -- you think you are in Shangri-la!

During the morning break between meditation sessions, we worked together on the incomplete projects at the Center, such as paving the roads or making ditches to control the water flow. Fellow initiates from different countries took responsibility for different work areas. These activities were, indeed, good exercise for the practitioners who meditate for the greater part of the day. Because of the perfect cooperation between everyone, we were united like brothers and sisters during our work. After working hard, both in body and spirit, we had better experiences.

In the afternoon, while we were meditating, Master came. She asked us whether our tents were okay after yesterday's heavy rain. Master jokingly said that this was our karma, because it was too hot and some people were praying for the rain. Master also said that like the rain that leaks through the roof we should check our own practice for leaks. As Master was lecturing, heavy clouds gathered above the meditation hall, and the whole sky turned dark, warning us that a heavy rain was coming. However, Master appeared as if She hardly noticed it at all and continued teaching us the supreme wisdom in a peaceful manner, at times looking up serenely to praise the beautiful scenery around the meditation hall. The disciples were so intoxicated in Her sweet nectar and light that they paid no attention to the thunder and lightning outside either. Seeing that no one could be scared, the God of rain went elsewhere and left us alone. Suddenly, the darkness disappeared with the sky becoming once more clear.

Only a few drops of rain fell, enough to wet the flowers, and the grass and cool down the afternoon heat.

Inhaling the fragrance emanating from the unknown wild flowers and listening to Mother Master's sweet voice, we were truly in heaven!

This time these heavy rains provided the meditation hall with little rivers and streams. As Master directed the disciples to move to dryer areas, She suggested jokingly that we should bring boats next time, when we come to Cambodia. Later, Master was inspired to award those disciples who had enough common sense to bring inflatable air mattresses. She said that these items do not occupy much space in suitcases, and when the water comes you just float and stay dry. Furthermore, She likes practical people who have high IQs and common sense, and who can take care of themselves and not worry Her so much all the time.

Master asked these disciples to come up on stage and get their rewards. The rewards were surprisingly special -- Master gave them Her autograph. Seeing the rewards were so great, it made one felt sorry that one had missed the chance. Several disciples with various types of cushions came up to receive the rewards and to have their chair or cushion personally checked by Master. Some of the disciples even highlighted the features of their cushions -- such as its multiple functions as a chair, a back rest or a luggage carrier, and finally they received their reward. One of the disciples was resourceful enough to find his materials here to make a special chair and Master rewarded and tested him by saying, "You stole my wood to make it. The disciples with the small chairs also received rewards, and the ones with the light, portable chairs got the highest praise. The rewards were a result of spontaneous inspiration, just like a Mother rewarding Her well-behaved children who know how to take care of themselves and not worry the Mother. Finally, Master revealed a Truth, that God only helps those who help themselves. God gave us brains to make full use of them rather than depending on Hirm for even the smallest things.

The lucky disciples who were able to attend this 7-Day Retreat fully enjoyed camping in the wilderness. They ate and slept well under our Master's love and care. Thank You, Master, for giving us a chance to see Your magnificent work, leading the world into a new era.