International Reports

On the second day of the exhibition, a man stood in front of the television and watched three consecutive videotapes without moving (he must have entered samadhi). After the last tape was over, he took a sample booklet, noted the address and telephone number of our Center, then left happily with obvious joy to all.

Another woman, a practitioner of chi-kong, when she saw the videotape of Master lecturing, she felt a strong vibration and believed that Master is an enlightened being. She said that she would study Her teachings seriously, then purchased Master's pictures and the book of Aphorisms.

With Master's blessing, the exhibition came to a very excellent and satisfactory conclusion. During the event, fellow practitioners felt Master's love and an incomparable bliss.

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After reporting in a recent issue of the Supreme Master Ching Hai News magazine that 'the athyrium pectinum plant was a great antipollution plant' that particular item became the new pet of fellow practitioners. The demand far exceeded the supply. Resident practitioners had to buy more similar plants to serve the needs of fellow practitioners. Blending beautifully into the natural background of the Center, as well as the delicate design and placement, the potted plants assumed the appearance of a mini-forest. It also looked like a fresh garden center. Amidst the hot summer, seeing several hundred pots with a wide variety of plants, one could only feel the coolness of the greenery and be oblivious to the summer heat.

Many little fellow practitioners brought their parents to come to buy the plants. Picking up the plant in one hand, the parents said, "You have to take good care of it and sprinkle it with water everyday!"

The little fellow practitioners excitedly nodded their heads and said, "Yes!" They were so lovely and simple. As they were holding the plants they liked, their faces were full of a sense of achievement and confidence. Under the gradual influence of Master's loving heart, they already know how to act with love toward everything, even at such a young age.

One little fellow practitioner said sincerely, "Sister, I have many plants at home; but I do not like to look at them except this one from the Center."

A sister purchased a pot of newly planted balsam flowers in the Center. She said, "I want to learn to care, therefore I chose a small one." Then she enquired in detail about how to care for it, just like looking after a child.

Apart from making the environment green and practicing diligently, fellow practitioners also reminded themselves to be like a big tree that purifies and elevates the world, beautifying and harmonizing the atmosphere!

Hsihu Center is filled with a high spiritual atmosphere. In accordance with Master's teachings of love, residents have been taking meticulous care of the plants and trees. Consequently, the flowers and trees are blossoming in abundance. In recent days, bamboo shoots have been particularly plentiful. Residents have dug them out to be shared with fellow practitioners and also to treasure the merits bestowed by God.

A brother has excitedly told residents that he found it very easy to go into samadhi after eating the bamboo shoots from the Center. He then gathered the peels of the bamboo shoots and made tea out of them with the same good results.

As a result of the long term residence of a living Master and Her blessings, coupled with the diligent group meditation of fellow practitioners, Hsihu is now particularly plentiful in spiritual atmosphere. This also helps to raise the harmonious atmosphere of the whole country. However, this spiritual outcome does not come easy and still requires the diligence from fellow practitioners.

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After reporting to Master, fellow practitioners proceeded to make the various arrangements. First, consent was obtained from the refugee camp officials to help in delivering the carry-on bags to those families that were to be sent back. (The delivering of any gift has to be previously agreed upon and arranged by the camp officials.) Then there was the problem of ordering and manufacturing. Very smoothly, a company that had been manufacturing and exporting camping equipments knew of our plan and offered to help. After charging only for the material and transportation costs, the company manufactured for us two thousand beautiful and durable traveling bags. The manager of the company said that it was a very meaningful charitable work and he was very happy to be able to participate in it!

One thousand and eight hundred traveling bags have now been delivered to the Man Yee camp in two stacks. The remaining two hundred were delivered personally by visiting fellow practitioners. The camp officials told us that the bags were very welcomed and that the boat people were very happy. The fellow practitioners inside the camp told us that the families that had received the travelling bags were very grateful for Master's care after knowing that the gifts were from Her.

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At this exhibition, the Seoul Center displayed Master's books, News magazines, audio and videotapes, and Her pictures in all shapes and colors so that people could have an opportunity to encounter the teachings and loving power of a great Master.

Including the major Korean publishing companies and some foreign companies -- English, French, German, etc. -- the number of participants is over a thousand, with many hundred thousands of books on display. Therefore, there were plenty of local and foreign visitors. Because it was approved by the International Publishing Association, the book fair became bigger. Consequently, we were able to expand our exhibiting space and paid special attention to the interior decor and the items and how they were displayed, as expected of how a more successful exhibit will be. However, we worked hard with sincere faith, believing that Master was with us, taking care of us always; and finally the decorating was completed. It was as beautiful as any other exhibits, costing only a tenth of the fee charged for the booth, everything went better than planned with minimum cost. Thus, all fellow practitioners said everything was done according to God's will. Furthermore, the big photos of Master hung in the center of our booth radiated a holy light.

All the visitors received a copy of the sample booklet and Supreme Master Ching Hai News magazine free of charge. As time passed, more and more people crowded around so that we finally became short of sample booklets. The visitors especially loved to receive the News magazines displaying Master's beautiful photo. They were amazed that it was free of charge. Many also left their address, hoping they would get Her magazines on a regular basis.

To prepare for its opening, many fellow practitioners got together to fix and decorate the inside as well as the outside of the restaurant. Finally, amidst the applause of many fellow practitioners and the Quan Yin messenger, some fellow practitioners started the Opening Ceremony by cutting the ribbon. With Master's blessing, we all hope that it will benefit more and more people each day.

That evening, fellow practitioners and their relatives were invited to the celebration party. The kitchen staff was extremely busy because the number of guests far exceeded the number expected. Nevertheless, they cooked for the guests happily. Thus, the meals were very delicious and completely satisfied the guests. Afterward, we cut the cake and had non-alcoholic champagne. We also held a singing contest and fellow practitioners had a chance to show off their talent. The entire day was full of Master's blessing; we lingered around even after the party was over, reluctant to leave our paradise.

Now, the S.M. Vegetarian Restaurant has become the most beautiful place on the block. Everyone who passes by on the street keeps looking at it, thinking that they would like to visit it some day. We hope the S.M. Restaurant will bring convenience to more and more people to be a vegetarian each day. When they enjoy the health food, their soul can be nourished at the same time.

S.M. Vegetarian Restaurant is just like a bridge for Korean to get in touch with Master's teachings.

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The weather in Munich can be rather unpredictable. So they could only hope that it would be dry enough to hold the event on the spacious green lawn outside. Indeed, Master blessed us with an interruption of the weeks of rain which we had been having. So, on the first Sunday of July, the Munich disciples decorated the garden with canopies and streamers. Then a delicious vegetarian buffet was spread on the tables and ready to serve.

Not knowing how many guest would be attending after printing such a number of invitation, the disciples helped out by making plenty of dishes. We welcomed all those who had affinity with Master to have a feast filled with love. One of our sisters from Formosa had even prepared luscious cakes for the party; a big treat for us Europeans who love sweets, and do not eat eggs, will miss this kind of eggless sweets. But the sweets sold in the bakeries always contain eggs. Also, dishes such as vegetarian fish and barbecued shish kebabs, made of soy bean, were particularly interesting to those who previously had no knowledge of such vegetarian delicacies.

Surprisingly, several guests expressed their astonishment that this spiritual group would not take donations. Of course, the kind of generosity which Master has, is a new experience for most people.

Thank You, Master, for the chance to work together for such high ideals as those that You have taught us.

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After two weeks of preparation, filled with happiness and excitement, all fellows practitioners quickly set up the booth and finished in time for the opening of the expo. Thanks to Master's wonderful arrangements, our booth looked elegant and beautiful with many books, News magazines, videocassettes, compact disks, etcetera. At both ends of the booth Master's video lectures were on continuously, filling the atmosphere with love and blessings. Thousands of students, teachers and guests, one after another, came to visit this expo. Master's poster seemed to have tremendous attraction to everyone in this expo. Thousands of people enjoyed looking at it. They looked earnestly with respect and admiration, paying their sincere respect to Master in silence. Many of them sincerely asked for the sample booklet, "The Key of Immediate Enlightenment," which we had in many different languages. Our fellow practitioners including American, Au Lac, Chinese and Korean, continuously answered the most commonly asked questions. In answering these questions, Master's wonderful teachings were spread spontaneously.

Even though lots of Master's sample booklets and News magazines were distributed, after the closing of the expo, people still kept coming to our booth to ask for more. It was a very busy day. Fellow practitioners were happy that the event was a success. We all felt Master had skillfully arranged and blessed everything, visibly as well as invisibly.

Thank You, Master, for giving us such a chance to spread the Truth and create affinity with all those sentient beings who long to go back Home.

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The response has been very good. Most of the people that came to the seminars have felt such an affinity with Her that they applied for initiation.

A beautiful mother and daughter came to our last seminar. They said that their life is consumed with the spiritual search. They had picked up a sample booklet quite a while ago and were now very happy to come to this seminar. Afterwards, they applied for initiation. This made me understand that it may not be sufficient to simply leave sample booklets in vegetarian restaurants, etcetera. By holding seminars, people are given the opportunity to further acquaint themselves and have more formal contact with Master's spiritual teachings through watching a video and listening to Her teachings; seeing Her photographs, paintings and books; and meeting the fellow practitioners.

We are also discovering that through holding the seminars, we are gaining new contacts in various fields and many corners of the city. For example, in looking for good places to put our poster, we discovered that there is a Refugee Center in Vancouver; so we left a poster and some sample booklets there. When we returned about two weeks later, they were gone. We asked the woman working there (a volunteer) if we could leave a poster advertising our next seminar. She confessed that she had taken the last poster, as she had felt a strong attraction to Master. The last seminar had been far from her home, so she had been unable to attend. Since the next one happens to be close to her home, she said she will definitely be there.

In some areas, public libraries offer their meeting rooms for us to hold seminars. In other areas, we can use the community centers for video lecture. For the fellow practitioners, there is no greater joy than sharing Master's loving teaching with those souls who are ready for the most precious gift of the universe.

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After investigating, it was discovered that some villages already had wells, but the water pumps were broken and the people didn't have the money to repair them; other villages had to get their drinking water from several kilometers away, and the quality of the water was very poor. With Master's loving care, the wells have all been repaired and new wells have been dug. Having delightfully obtained fresh and clean water, the villagers are deeply grateful to Master for Her philanthropic act.

In one village that didn't have a well, according to the village head and the well-digging workers, many people had tried to dig wells in the past, but they were not successful. Therefore, the fellow practitioners asked the people to pray more to the Bodhisattvas and told them about Master's loving appeal, that is to plant more trees to reduce the threat of aridity. As a result, they dug for water successfully at the first location that they chose, and the whole village felt grateful to Master for Her blessings.