Supreme Master Panorama

Our fellow practitioners in Japan held a vegetarian feast at the Ono Kita Citizen Hall in Kanagawa Prefecture. The main theme of this feast was "health", and the objective was to let more people realize the benefits of a vegetarian diet. The families and friends of fellow practitioners were invited, as were students of the Chi-Kung classes held by fellow practitioners. The Chi-Kung students are mostly middle-aged people who practice Chi-Kung forphysical fitness. Unlike many young people, they are very much concerned about sugar, protein and cholesterol in their diet.

The friend of a fellow practitioner believed that a vegetarian dietwas not sufficiently nutritious. However, after savoring several dishes at the feast he said to the fellow practitioner: "I often tried to convince you not to follow a strict vegetarian diet, but I never realized that the food you eat is so pure, and it's much better than my daily food."

A fellow practitioner who is a Chinese herbalist decided to preparea hot and fragrant herbal soup. Everyone enjoyed it, and inquired about its healing effects. Many were convinced about combining healing and eating. This fellow initiate took the opportunity to explain the nutritional difference between animal protein andvegetarian protein, and expounded the benefits of vegetarianism to one's health.

Visitors were greatly interested in how each dish was prepared, so we provided them with the recipes and ingredients for dishes like Northern Chinese noodles, Western vegetarian delicacies, pumpkin salad, and vegetarian cakes. In fact, many recipes were exchanged between the families of fellow practitioners. Even a newspaperreporter wanted recipes to publish in the paper's "Family" page.

During the event there were still some people who refused to accept the nutritional value of a vegetarian diet for people of all ages.They were sufficiently convinced when a fellow practitioner introduced her healthy three-year-old daughter saying: "She has been a vegetarian since she was a baby, and she is even more energetic than ordinary children. "Fellow practitioners asked everyone to take home the vegetarian food that they've packed into meal-boxes to share it with their families. Even better, many purchased vegetarian food stuffs to cook for themselves at home.

At the first Chi-Kung lesson after the vegetarian feast, all the students were still raving about the event. They said the great variety of dishes enabled them to understand and appreciate vegetarianism, and they hoped the feast would be held regularly.

In fact a similar event is planned for mid January at the Hichyoji Citizen Hall since some Chinese students of another fellow practitioner expressed great interest.

Through this activity, fellow practitioners have acquired more experience in introducing vegetarianism to everyone. They will continue to strive to reach this goal.¡¹

[Seoul] Recently there's been increasing interest in the S.M Vegetarian Restaurant, operated by the Seoul Center, as a result of widespread media interest. A Cable TV channel, a highly respected magazine and two of the country's most popular newspapers have all done extensive reports on the restaurant.

In August "News World magazine introduced the restaurant with photos, and the article attributed the "pure and beautiful appearance of staff to the pure vegetarian food that the restaurant offers. The article's author was also surprised to learn that staff had no formal training in preparing the delicious and healthy food.

Chosun Daily, the biggest selling daily paper in Korea, also published an article about the S.M. Vegetarian Buffet Restaurant on September 21st, and even included a detailed map of its location, which made it easy for people to find it. Another popular daily paper, Dong-ah Daily, also featured the restaurant in an article about vegetarian buffets. The article advised anyone looking to start a business to consider opening a vegetarian restaurant because of the great success of the S.M. Vegetarian Buffet Restaurant in only the first five months of its operation.

To top off all this wonderful media interest, a producer from the KTV Cable TV channel, which is mainly geared towards women, spent an entire day taking pictures in the S.M. Vegetarian Restaurant. He was so impressed with what he saw and tasted that he returned later with other staff members and even one of the channel's actors! Apart from being amazed with the variety of healthy, tasty foods like pizzas, cakes, and the vegetarian "meat products that include shrimp, chicken, ham, etc., everyone was astonished to learn that the restaurant was not operating solely to make money, but rather to spread the benefits of a vegetarian diet. As a result, from December 23rd, the TV Station broadcast an advertisement about the restaurant for five consecutive days!¡¹

The Whole Life Expo is a natural health, personal growth and spiritual conference that was held in Georgia for the first time. The Expo consisted of display booths, workshops and free lectures. The Georgia Center leased a booth at the three-day Expo to promote the teachings of Supreme Master Ching Hai.

The response from the public towards Master's message was delightfully warm and positive, and the love of God seemed to envelop people as they chatted with fellow practitioners. Thousands of people went to this Expo so hopefully this conference will return to Atlanta, Georgia in 1997.¡¹

Many fellow initiates in the USA were excited about attending the Long Beach International 5-Day Retreat during the Christmas holidays. They were happy and busy preparing for the retreat. While other people crowded airports trying to go home to see their families for the biggest celebration of the year, fellow initiates from all over the States went to the airports to go to see their Supreme Mother.

The local Ohio meditation Center temporarily turned into a creche so that parents could attend the retreat. One sister initiate, who could not attend the retreat because she has an infant, volunteered to stay at the Center to take care of the other children. This enabled the children initiates to live and meditate together, and learn from each other.

When the sister initiate asked the children if they wanted to do something meaningful for the Christmas holiday, the children decided immediately to help homeless children. They truly understood how other children would feel if they did not have any gifts at this time of year. So they decided to donate their own Christmas gift money to help homeless children.

With the help of the sister initiate, the children put the money into traditional Oriental New Year style envelopes and sealed them with gold labels that read "Supreme Master Ching Hai This ensured the homeless children would read these words before they opened the envelopes. The young initiates also filled a big basket with candy and healthy snacks, as well as some new blankets.

As soon as the gifts were ready the children went to a homeless shelter. The person in charge of the shelter was very surprised. He told the sister initiate that he was touched to see that the children were so thoughtful. He said that it was very good for children to learn how to share while still young.

On the way home the sister initiate was afraid that the children might become proud about what they had done, so she told them, "Master has reminded us that helping other people is helping ourselves. She was greatly surprised when she heard the children say that what they did was not much and that they wished they could do more to help homeless children, such as buying them a big new home with lots of toys!¡¹

[Jiayi] In winter, the climate of southern Formosa is dry, so it is most suitable for outdoor activities. Therefore, to further improve the relationships around fellow practitioners in Jiayi and to enhance their family harmony, they took the opportunity of a recent public holiday to have a barbecue at a nearby river and valley.

To make sure both their spiritual and physical bodies were satisfied, they scheduled a meditation session from seven in the morning 'til noon, then after lunch they would go to the Lay Tan and Ren Yi Tan reservoirs for a year end clean-up.

A large number of fellow practitioners eagerly participated. Each one selected a suitable spot, and sat on the big rocks in the valley. It was a unique experience to meditate in the countryside. Those who brought children had to supervise them and act as guards. They had to carefully set up fires for the children to barbecue food.

The valley was very large, and there was a flowing stream that enhanced the serene forest. Intoxicated in the bliss of meditation, fellow practitioners were not aware that it was time for their "stomachs to meditate Everyone built rock stoves and in no time hot soup and fragrant barbecue shiskabobs were ready. There was also roasted sweet corn, sweet potatoes, sugar cane and many other delicious foods, flooding the whole valley with a tempting aroma. The laughter of contentment, the noise of children playing, the murmuring stream and the heartwarming scene of happy families all contributed to creating a paradise on Earth.

In less than an hour, everyone was completely full and in high spirits. After a brief rest, they cleaned up the place and then set off to pick up the garbage in the reservoirs. The Lan Tan Reservoir is one of the eight most scenic spots of Jiayi City. The beautiful location attracts numerous tourists, who unfortunately, also account for the profusion of litter. To restore the place to its original state, in the last few years fellow practitioners had come often to clean it up. Everyone put on their gloves, got the tongs, and began. Like magnets, in a short while, they collected all the garbage and restored the whole environment to its original beauty. Then they proceeded to Ren Yi Tan Reservoir -- the second stop on their cleaning schedule. Many little fellow practitioners participated in this activity imitating the adults using tongs to pick up garbage left by tourists. Seeing what was going on, a tourist took the opportunity to teach his children a lesson: "They are working so hard to pick up the garbage; we must not litter anymore. We also heard another tourist saying, "Not long ago, another group also came to clean the place. We are happy to find that we have inspired more people to care about environmental protection. We hope that more people will become environmentally conscious, so that the planet will always stay fresh and lovely.

Some fellow practitioners participated for the first time but they had deep revelations. They observed that the main dam appeared to be clean, but in the gaps between the rocks, there was plenty of garbage. Similarly, in our spiritual practice, if we are not careful in our introspection, it is difficult to discover our underlying faults and to erase them. Some practitioners felt that picking up the garbage was just like cleaning up their own faults, so they really enjoyed doing it. On the way home, everyone was so happy for having participated in a meaningful "year end clean-up of themselves, both spiritually and physically, during their holiday.¡¹