With diverse flora and fauna, magnificent natural landscapes, and an ecological biosphere that supports life, this wondrous planet is our earthly home. From our animal co-inhabitants to the lush rainforests and life-giving soil, we cherish all these as gifts from the Creator. It is a common theme in the world’s major faiths that during our temporary stay here, we should be good stewards of Mother Earth.

Throughout the years, Supreme Master Ching Hai has shared the message of leading a balanced life while following a spiritual path. Not only must we nourish our spirits, but we share the responsibility to care for nature and our fellow beings. In light of recent scientific evidence which pinpoint the raising of livestock as the number one contributor to climate change, Supreme Master Ching Hai affirms the important message she has noted for over the past two decades:

we must be vegan and practice sustainable living. We invite you to listen to a compilation of excerpts entitled “First Be Veg, Then We Can Develop Sustainable Technology” in which Supreme Master Ching Hai discussed the importance of the plant-based diet in relation to the development of new technology to address climate change.

It’s a pleasure to have your eco-conscious presence for today’s episode of Between Master and Disciples. Part 2 of “First Be Veg, Then We Can Develop Sustainable Technology” will continue next Friday. Up next is Animal World: Our Co-Inhabitants right after Noteworthy News here on Supreme Master Television. Please stay tuned. May your days be filled with brilliant Lights and the Music of Heaven.

We appreciate your happy company for today’s episode of Between Master and Disciples. Join us again tomorrow for part 3 of “First Be Veg, Then We Can Develop Sustainable Technology.” Up next is Animal World: Our Co-Inhabitants right after Noteworthy News here on Supreme Master Television. Please stay tuned. May you be guided by wisdom and kindness in your everyday life.

Thank you, valiant viewers, for your company for today’s episode of Between Master and Disciples. Join us again next Friday for part 4 of “First Be Veg, Then We Can Develop Sustainable Technology.” Up next is Animal World: Our Co-Inhabitants right after Noteworthy News here on Supreme Master Television. Wishing you many happy moments every day.

Gracious viewers, thank you for your heartfelt presence for today’s episode of Between Master and Disciples. Join us again tomorrow for part 5 of “First Be Veg, Then We Can Develop Sustainable Technology.” Animal World: Our Co-Inhabitants is coming up next, right after Noteworthy News. Please stay tuned to Supreme Master Television. May we open our hearts to God’s infinite blessings.

Thank you, Earth-loving viewers, for your company for today’s episode of Between Master and Disciples. And now, Animal World: Our Co-Inhabitants is coming up next, right after Noteworthy News. Please stay tuned. We wish you a peaceful and blessed weekend.

Master, as a result of many subsidizing programs supporting the environment and the ecology, Germany is one of the leading countries in using sustainable energy. So in 2007, sustainable energy made up 14.2% of the gross national power consumption. Wonderful. (Yes.)

I just would like to know if this development has something to do with an evolved state of consciousness or just the greed of financial gain from these programs. You are terribly critical, my God. They should do it, of course, even if they are greedy. It’s good to have sustainable energy. Goodness.

If they don’t do it, you would be lamenting that they don’t do it and they are harming the planet; if they do it, you worry they are greedy. No, I think it’s good, very good. It’s good that you ask. It has something to do with evolved consciousness, that people understand the urgency of our planetary problem right now. So, people are trying their best to develop, to invent new technology, to bring greater comfort and sustainability to the planet, which is very good. Even if it’s greed, only God can judge it. As long as it’s good for the planet, bravo them! Don’t worry about greed. They must earn some money anyway, and they will earn a lot if they are doing this, because right now it is in. It is a true necessity and it is a blessing to do such a noble endeavor. So if they earn a lot, I congratulate them, greed or not.

If they earn some more money, they will develop more. That’s all right. Material gain is not a sin. If you were born and raised in violence and street gangs, then you’d continue like that; but maybe one day you’ll wake up. But at first, it’s difficult, you see? Then you decide to wake up and get out of it, then you do it. Same with our planet right now... we still have a little chance to do it. So, if everybody changes – no more killing animals, no more raising animals, just leave them as they are right now…

Because even physically speaking, they use up a lot of water, not to talk about the gas or pollution; they use up a lot more than humans use. Clean water, beautiful meadow… because when we raise cattle, 50 years later we cannot even cultivate that land because it has been so hard and pressured and barren. Fifty years after raising cattle on one piece of land, that’s useless, the land is still useless. Fifty years after that. That’s a lot. That’s our lifetime, Madam. You see, you have to wait 50 years after in order to cultivate that land. So, a little bit more awareness, right? Yes, awareness. We just decide to be good. That’s it. You have to be noble to be good.

When we think about how the animals suffer in such a situation, cramped factory, get kicked about, and electric prodded so that they stand up again so that they can be qualified for slaughter. And some veal just stand, weak, deprived of light and everything just so that their meat is tender and white - all their life like that - and they get slaughtered all the time. How do we have the heart to continue to support this kind of cruelty? Everything is a vibration, as you said at the beginning, it’s just a vibration that we are also feeling a way that we are not aware of - I mean, this vibration of these suffering animals. Yes. So we just have to change; just new habit, that’s it.

Maybe you don’t like orange juice, then just drink apple juice. Just change. Just like some people change: they don’t smoke, they adopt a different habit. So we change, we have a meatless diet. So simple. Just change habit. People think they cannot do it – they can! They’re so strong. It’s all habit only. It’s all habit. We just change the habit. And everything’s changing anyway. And everything will change, yes; and if you don’t change, the planet will change and we all go anyway. So no need to be picky about meat or not meat, we all go. You see what I mean? Compassion, we must have, and just from compassion alone we should stop eating meat because it causes untold suffering to the helpless, innocent animals. They do us no harm! They do us no harm. And we’re not starving without them. We have all kinds of food to eat.

Millions of people around the planet are vegetarian, and they’re happy and they’re okay. So just change the habit; that’s all there is. Change the habit into vegetarian, change the habit to using sustainable energy. I’d like to ask you something about your activities on this environmental problem. In which direction the solution lies about this environmental problem, that we are becoming more and more aware and people getting more and more nervous about this?

Well, there’s not much for me really to say anymore, your question answered it, most of it, already - as you are well aware of it. Because I think many people already know from the United Nations report, from weather report, from scientist’s report that our planet is really in peril, and also the solution lies in our hands.

Number one, that we, of course, we have to lessen the so-called bad karmic retribution and you know that so well. Karma is the Sanskrit word for, like, “as you sow, so shall you reap” in the Bible. We have to sow some different seeds now in order to reap different fruits. We have to be less invasive to nature. We have to live and let live. So I just propose a very simple solution – like baby steps, I say all the time – like first we just try to refrain from all animal products. I’ll go into more detail later.

Second, we have to produce and use sustainable energy, new energy, like sun energy, sustainable forever. And the third, we have to plant trees. Each of us plants a couple of trees, then we will have billions of trees already. Suppose we should plant… Of course it’s just theoretically speaking, but we should plant where there are no trees, in the desert and things like that. And the fourth, we pray to Heaven’s blessing and grace to save us, to help us, to be able to be strong to do it. Why do you think humankind came to this point of being so destructive to nature?

I’m asking myself this because, how come we didn’t see it earlier? Because there are some nations, aboriginal people in Australia or Native Americans, they knew it all along. Yes. Not a hundred years ago Native American elders said that “If you will go this way, this is going to be the consequence,” and they knew. Why we, why the western civilization, didn’t know these things? Why were we so blind?

You see, because the so-called civilization developed too fast, and they feel superior. They don’t listen to the so-called elders, like what you’ve mentioned. The ones that look very simple, live simple and the so-called civilized, developed people thinking that we’re powerful and the Native elders don’t know anything because they live so simple. We don’t listen. And not only we don’t listen now, we don’t listen to Jesus, Buddha. They always tell us, the whole Bible, everywhere you can find: don’t eat meat, don’t kill animals, don’t destroy nature, respect all creatures of God, because they’re all from God. Same Buddhism, same Christian, same Islam, same Jainism, same Sikhism. All say “protect nature,” protect animals, for example like that. Even if the Native Americans, for example,

if they have to take something from nature, they do appreciate and respect and try to replace it somehow; not completely destroying at mass scale, like mostly what we do right now. How do you see it? Do you think there is still time that people can change?

Yes, yes, we have to change quick. We don’t have time. But I’m just talking to you. I don’t know how about the mass outside and, of course, my people, they have television and we broadcast in the whole world. Whoever wants to listen can listen everywhere, in every corner of the world, because we have satellite and also internet TV.

But that’s all we can do. And we also print leaflets, flyers to tell people that “It’s really happening. Please take care, please do something,” and that’s all in our power that we can do now. You see, it’s up to humans to choose, to decide; and we should decide to live. We should decide that we can do anything at all in our power to preserve our lives on the planet. Because it’s not just one life or two lives, just not my life or your life, it’s the life of the children and the next generation. Just to have this beautiful planet and we destroy it, it is very, very pitiful.

We have to decide a different way, we have to walk a different way, that’s it. We have to decide that, “Okay, we’re going to be courageous. We’ll do whatever it takes.” But it doesn’t take much. just to be vegetarian, Just to plant a couple of trees each person and just to use the sustainable free energy. That’s all there is, three simple steps. Refrain from animals.

Of course, I mean also killing by war, but the number we kill in war is not as many as the mass killing in animal slaughtering. You know that yourself. So it’s only very simple. Refrain from killing each other and animals for any reason – for food, for profit, for gain, for anything at all. Refrain from killing. Produce and use sustainable energy, plant trees. We can have everything, we just do that. Yes. Not like we have to do big deal stuff. No, very simple. The sun is there for us to use forever, the wind is there forever, the waves in the ocean we can use forever. It will never be finished.

Compared to other energy that maybe you’ll have today, you don’t have tomorrow – and maybe you’ll even have to make war to take it. The sun, you don’t have to. Nobody can possess the sun. Nobody can stop you from using it. So, very simple: vegetarian, sustainable energy, plant trees and, of course, we pray so that we’ll be strong and Heaven will help us to choose the right way. That’s all – four solutions. Very easy, everybody can do it, don’t you think? Sure. Yes. Yes.