Since ancient times, stories and storytelling have played an integral part in imparting moral and universal messages. In particular, spiritual parables have helped us understand more clearly what to do on the path toward self mastery.

In her worldwide lectures, Supreme Master Ching Hai has often selected and shared narratives from various cultures to shed further light on valuable lessons for our inner development. Her delightful, relaxing, and witty style of storytelling enhances the Divine wisdom she conveys. Some of these discussions have been gathered and published into books, one of which is an illustrated volume titled, “God Takes Care of Everything.”

Today, let us enjoy two of these memorable tales based on the renditions told by Supreme Master Ching Hai. The first story is titled “Loving Others is Loving Ourselves.” It was told by Supreme Master Ching Hai during a lecture given at Harvard University, USA, on October 28, 1989.

Once upon a time, there was a king. He was generally a good king, except he had never shared anything with those in need. He had a lot of treasures, but it just did not occur to him that he should give any of it without a price. So throughout his life, he only enjoyed his power and royal position. When the king passed away, as all mortals do, he rose up from his body and he went to a place up above.

In this other world, there was a beautiful golden palace waiting for him. It was magnificent, more so than the one he used to live in on Earth. He went in and looked around. He enjoyed sitting on the beautiful chairs. He liked the elegant tables. He was happy that the bed was comfortable and took a nap on it. When he woke up, he went to the huge garden. He ran around happily, and played until he felt tired.

But when he returned to the palace he felt thirsty and hungry. He looked for some water. There was no water. He looked for some food to eat, but there was no food. It was a very uncomfortable feeling to have such hunger and thirst. He was in a very bad mood. The king went to the angel to complain:

“What is the use of such a big palace. It is empty! No water and no food! Is this a game?”

“Really?”

The angel said.

“But it must not be the case! Are you sure?”

“Of course! I have checked everywhere! There is absolutely nothing.”

“Okay, I see. In that case, I have a question for you. Did you ever give anything to others while you were alive? For example, did you ever give any food or water to the homeless people and beggars?”

“No I didn’t. Why should I? If they were poor, that must be their own bad luck. They must not be worthy and Heaven must not like them. I would immediately tell them to leave before their dirty smelly clothes contaminated my palace.

“Oh, that is why, of course. Do you know? Since you didn’t give anything to the needy while you could, now it is your turn to not have anything to eat and drink; no one will give you any. ”

“What! But why?”

“The law of Heaven is the law of cause and effect. We didn’t make the law. It is yourself who made it this way. What you sow is what you reap.”

“Ah! What shall I do now?”

The king began to understand a little.

“The only thing you can do is to wait until you become human again. At that time, you can do your best to give to the needy and be compassionate. Whatever you give to people, food, water, or clothes, you will have it up here in Heaven when you die again.”

The king was silent. The thirst and hunger were very hard to bear. Even though he was in Heaven, he was still suffering every day. He gradually realized what he had done wrong. Finally, he made a request to the angel.

“Please, great angel, could you allow me to go back to the world for just two weeks? Two weeks only.”

“What for?”

The angel asked.

“I have left treasures in the world. Now I know my possessions have no real use here. But it will still be useful for those in need. I would like to give them to those needy and then return here again.” Considering this to be a good wish, and seeing that he had not done a lot of bad things in his past life, the angel decided to give the king a second chance.

“Okay, two weeks only.”

Wow, the king was back in the world again! During these two weeks, he was busying himself all day every day giving all his possessions away. He gave out whatever people wanted. He even donated his best assistants, his wife, his money, his jewelry, and the most delicious foods he ever liked.

Through this story, Supreme Master Ching Hai explained why giving can make us happy.

He gave people what his most favorite was. For example, what is our favorite food in Formosa (Taiwan)? What is our favorite veg food? They’re tofu and gluten. After going back, he shared a lot of this kind food with other people. And then he could enjoy these after going to Heaven.

This is just a kind of small bliss of the world only.

But if we are thinking about ourselves, we will not be happy if we don’t share that happiness with people. So all Masters would say, “Loving others is the same as loving ourselves. It will trouble us if we hate someone. It is just what punishing ourselves means.

We will soon return with another spiritual story which was also told by Supreme Master Ching Hai. Please stay tuned to Supreme Master Television.

Welcome back to Enlightening Entertainment and our program featuring spiritual stories as told by Supreme Master Ching Hai. Our second story is called “The Wisdom of an Old Beggar Woman” and comes from the anthology book, “Gods Takes Care of Everything.” It was originally told by Supreme Master Ching Hai during a gathering with our Association members on August 27, 1994, in Austin, Texas, USA.

A long time ago, there was a man named Tilopa who lived in India. He was a very knowledgeable person. He had traveled throughout his country talking to people about the books and knowledge of enlightenment. Wherever he went, he won respect. If he disagreed with people, he would always win in the end since no one knew better than him about God. One day, Tilopa was sitting at home reading a highly famous holy book. Everyone knew it was a very sacred book with deep meanings passing down from thousands of years ago, and only the smartest could understand it.

As Tilopa was reading, an old beggar woman passed by outside his window. The old woman was not only very poor, but also very ugly. Her clothes were dirty. As she saw Tilopa, she laughed. She said to Tilopa:

“How diligent and spiritual you are, reading such an important book! But in fact, you do not understand a word of it.” Tilopa was shocked at her. How dare the old beggar come to insult a knowledgeable, learned professor like him! But before Tilopa knew how to react, the old beggar woman spit on his sacred book, then left. Now Tilopa got furious, because his holy book which was respected for thousands of years in India, was now dirtied. He stood up to chase the old beggar. He wanted to teach her a good lesson.

But as he was running after the beggar woman, she looked back and murmured something to him. It was not clear at all what she said. Yet all of the sudden, Tilopa cooled down. His anger disappeared. And he stopped and stood there, could not feel angry anymore. When he went back home, Tilopa began to think. Maybe there was something wrong in his spiritual learning. Maybe it was true that he didn’t understand the book. He could not imagine how a poor, old, ugly beggar could dare to look down upon the holy book that had been respected by all for thousands of years. And moreover, why did a few unclear words from the old beggar woman have the power of cooling down his fury?

He thought over and over, and was in agony that he couldn’t find the answer. After some considerations, he decided to stop his usual lectures and discussions. Eager to learn what he didn’t understand, he traveled around to look for the old beggar woman. After a long search, finally he found the old beggar woman in a jungle. He began discuss things with her and hoped to persuade her that she was wrong. He argued long hours with her with his intelligence, but each time, it was the old beggar who won the last word. Finally, the old beggar woman said to Tilopa:

“Young man, the truth I know does not exist in books. You simply cannot find them in written words. That is why you can never win by arguing with me.”

Eventually, Tilopa admitted his ignorance in front of the beggar woman. He bowed to her and asked her if she could please be his master and teach him the true wisdom. The beggar accepted. She told Tilopa that what he wanted to know was not written in any books. In fact, what he wanted to know did not even exist in the world he lived in. She said, “You have to know how to find Heavenly beings and learn from them.”

What did the beggar woman mean? Supreme Master Ching Hai explained:

“So you have to go and find heavenly beings to learn with.” The way is initiation, right? And then we go up inside and we found this heavenly beings, that’s what it means. And then we learn with them. Is that not so?

So the same thing she has told him here. I understood it because we are in the same path. If it were not that we have been studying this inner wisdom, we wouldn’t have understood what she meant by going into the realm of the heavenly beings and study with them. And then afterward, Tilopa forsook everything and tried hard to go into the heavenly realms, to meet these heavenly beings and study with them.

Tilopa eventually succeeded in attaining Heavenly wisdom. Historically, Tilopa became a real enlightened master and founded the Kagyu Lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. However, as Supreme Master Ching Hai further revealed through the story, his greatness was marked by profound humility. This is Tilopa. Even the greatest, knowledgeable man had to go and bow to an old, ugly, hungry, old beggar woman for wisdom. So there is nothing too humble for us to go and bow to anyone who has wisdom, who can really give us the way, show us the way to liberation.

We thank Supreme Master Ching Hai for lovingly sharing these enlightening stories which enrich our spiritual journey. May their lessons continue to kindle the light in our hearts and souls for an ever-brighter world. The book “God Takes Care of Everything” is available at and “God Takes Care of Everything” is available at

Beautiful viewers, thank you for your company today. Coming up next is Words of Wisdom right after Noteworthy News. Wishing you and your loved ones heavenly peace and love.

Yes, but don't you see, I thought you were doing it for jewels and cars, all that kind of stuff.

Dr. Ali Danesh is a retired psychiatrist who due to a major brain injury sustained after a serious road accident in 1987 lost the ability to see, walk, and talk. Through sheer willpower and constructive thinking, Dr. Danesh has made a tremendous recovery and now informs others about the power of the human potential.

Every injured person, every family of (an) injured person, every society of that have injured person, they should know that (there is) a lot of potential for (the) injured one.

Find out more about this remarkable man on Part 1 of “Dr. Ali Danesh: The Power of Constructive Thinking To Transform,” Monday, March 15 on Science and Spirituality.