* Did Jesus Christ  become a Buddha?  Which Buddha was he the manifestation of?



I think that he became a Buddha. He was the Buddha Jesus Christ. “Ji Du” means “Christ.” “Christ” is Hebrew. It means an enlightened master，or “one who has attained the Truth.” This is “Buddha” in Sanskrit.


In Chinese translation， it means “one who has become a Buddha.” “Christ” in Hebrew means “a person who has become a Buddha.” What we call “Master” in Chinese is “Guru” in India. They're the same.


“Christ” means “Buddha.” It's just a difference of language. Just like "shui" in Chinese is "water" in English. Both refer to the same thing. Understand?


* Master，how can we tell a real spiritual master from a false one?


This is difficult. It depends on your luck. Go home and ask your own wisdom. Calm your mind and ask yourself if you are sincerely looking for a master and why you want one.


Do you want to be liberated from birth and death? Do you want to serve suffering beings? Do you want to seek your most noble ideal? Then you'll know who your master is. If you're sincere， you'll definitely meet a real master. If your purpose isn't pure and you meet a false one， don't blame anyone.


Understand? Everything is created by your mind. Pray to the Buddhas and God within you that they help you find your master. Then you'll feel it and you'll know it. Even if you don't have enough merit to see the Light or the transcendental body， you must seek help from the Buddhas，saints and God，and you'll understand.


* Master，is your method the same as what Indian yoga masters practice?


Which yoga? There are many of them. There are many kinds of yoga， like Kundalini Yoga， Hatha Yoga…many kinds. They're different. Some are incredible and strange.


Which one are you asking about? Some sit or sleep on beds of needles; I do not do that. Some sit under the summer sun with 12 fires around them; I do not do that. Some do not wear clothes， some color their bodies with ashes; I don't do that either. There are just too many to enumerate.


If any yoga teaches you to see the inner Light， communicate with Buddhas or listen to the inner Sound，then it's the same as ours. If not，it's not the same. Okay?


* If one meditates and recites the scriptures daily， can one get rid of worries and find peace of heart?


Yes，yes，yes. It's true. I promise you. Our fellow practitioners can promise you，right? Yes.


* What scripture should we recite?


Recite whatever you like. It's as simple as that. Recite any scripture that you think is great and can help you. Reciting scriptures is not necessarily good. If you don't understand the scripture that you recite， it won't do you any good. If you understand it， you'll be fine without having to recite it.


* What's the difference between your religion and other religions like Christianity and Islam?


I don't have any religion. Even those so-called religions are not religions. They're only teachings left by the masters. All masters teach the same thing.


If you don't believe me， go home and read the Qur'an and the Bible together. Find out what difference there is. Perhaps one or two sentences or examples are different. I can't bring out all the scriptures and compare them for you right here. I've read all the scriptures， but I haven't seen anything different.


Of course，some levels are different. For example，in the Bible， when John went to the second Heaven， he heard God's voice and it was like the sound of trumpets. To Moses，God's voice was like the sound of thunder，right? Another said it was like ocean waves，the sound of many waters.


In the Universal Door chapter on Quan Yin Bodhisattva， it is said that some people heard the Sounds of ocean waves. They heard the Sound of Brahma， the Sounds of God. There are too many to mention here.


You can read my books， which explain this in greater detail. Many comparisons have been made in the books. I can't compare the scriptures of all five religions right here. I'm afraid that it will take up too much time. Besides，I don't remember all of them.


You can study them yourselves. Some of them are written in ancient languages， so they're more profound and harder to understand. Let me give you an example.


Confucius wrote in his book， "The Great Learning," a paragraph on stability and tranquility. "When you have stability， you can be tranquil. When you are tranquil， you can be at ease. When you are at ease， you can deliberate. When you can deliberate， you can attain your aims." That was what he said.


But we don't know what stability or tranquility mean and why one can be at ease. My Chinese isn't very good. Especially those profound words， I don't know them. I can't quote the words， but I understand what they mean. When I read them， I understand them. When I read them，even before I had finished，I knew what he was trying to say.


I can say all of that，too. You'll find that what we say is similar. What Confucius meant was that we should know where the focus of attention， the point of rest，was. That is，we should concentrate all of our attention at one point and let it rest.


We know where to rest and where to concentrate our attention. After we concentrate， we'll have stability， be in samadhi，just as Shakyamuni Buddha said. Once in samadhi， we'll be tranquil. Once we are tranquil， we'll be at ease and happy.
Then we'll find our thought， that is，our wisdom. After we find it， we can attain our aims.


It's very simple. I may not explain well， but it's simple for those who understand. When we practice the Quan Yin Method， we understand Confucius right away. He was only telling his disciples how to practice.


I teach my disciples in the same way， but not only with words. I also teach them where to be stable，to rest， and to be tranquil. Once tranquil， they are at ease and can attain their aims. They'll attain inner peace and happiness，they'll attain inner wisdom， but only they themselves will know about it.


You do not become stable or tranquil because I say so. No，no. There is an invisible power，that is， my wisdom which helps you open up your own wisdom. You'll know what it is to be stable，tranquil， at ease, and to deliberate，and you'll attain your aims.


But you can't tell others what you've attained. “The Tao that can be described is not the eternal Tao.” But we can't be without it.


Lao Tzu said， "The Tao can be seen， but not with the eyes. It can be heard， but not by the ears. I can't describe it， so I call it 'Tao.'" So it was like that. Even he couldn't describe it，so who am I? How could I? However，we do get it.


What we get cannot be described in worldly language. It's not that we don't get anything. But what we get isn't "gain" in the worldly sense. This is difficult to explain.


* If I believe in another religion，can I believe in your method at the same time?


Of course，you don't need to change your faith.  because they are all the same. You can love Jesus，go to church and read the Bible. You can worship the Buddha， because he is great.


After practicing the Quan Yin Method， you'll understand and admire him more. You'll love Jesus more and understand what he said.  Now you simply read it and ignore it. He talked about very profound things that we don't understand. We don't understand what Confucius or Lao Tzu talked about.


But after we practice the Quan Yin Method， we'll understand all masters: Jesus，Lao Tzu， Muhammad， Shakyamuni Buddha. I promise you, you'll understand any master，any past and future master, and you can talk like them. You don't need to read their scriptures，but you can talk like them. When you're at that level， you'll talk like them.


Maybe you've never read Lao Tzu or Confucius， but you'll attain the same level. When you do spiritual practice， you'll talk like them. Later，when you read “Tao Te Ching” or “The Middle Path and The Great Learning,” you'll be surprised， "Why did they say the same thing as what I think?"


At that time，you'll know what true religion is. So you don't need to change your religion. We love all masters. We love all great people who came here and taught us in the past. Okay? You don't need to change your religion.


*Why can some sects eat meat and still be enlightened?


As far as I know， some of them do eat meat， but I don't know if they're enlightened. Enlightenment and misunderstanding aren't the same. I believe what Shakyamuni Buddha said， I believe what Jesus Christ said， so I'm a vegetarian.


Shakyamuni Buddha emphasized that we can't kill and should be vegetarian. This is a Buddhist precept. Jesus also said， "Thou shall not kill." The Bible says things like not killing，not eating meat，and not drinking. It's all in the Bible. Because I follow the two greatest masters， I don't dare eat meat. I don't know whom you follow.


* Do you believe that this world is created by God? Why does it say that besides God，no other method is dependable?


No，that's not what the Bible means. God is one and only. But in the Bible， it also says， "In the beginning， there was the Word. The Word was with God. The Word was God. Everything was created by the Word." So if we want to know God，we should know this inner Sound. This is the Quan Yin Method.


The Quan Yin Method is God's method. This is it. They aren't different.


* What's the difference between the Quan Yin Method and other methods? What's the difference between this method and the Compassion Mantra?



You should ask our fellow practitioners about this. By the way，I can tell you a true story. Was it you who told me the story?


Before I came here， I had four householder disciples. They were just in charge of something there. I asked them to come in and have a chat with me. When I have time and if I'm not tired，of course I'll chat with my disciples， drink tea and eat together.


A disciple said， "Master，you're great. What you teach is really great." I asked her why. She said that one day when she went to a spiritual world，some astral beings attacked her; that is， she was possessed and the maya attacked her.


When we go to another spiritual world， other kinds of beings will sometimes bother us. She recited “Amitabha Buddha,” but it was of no use. She was still attacked. When she tried the method that was taught by me， they ran away.


Where is that fellow sister? Is she here? She's outside. Another person with her looks like you. The other three people were with her. Are they here? Right. Didn't she say that? Right? All right. We have a witness.


I'm not slandering Amitabha Buddha; I grew up reciting the Buddha's name.


It's her. She's a doctor's wife. Are you a doctor too?
Nurse，she's a nurse.
Her husband is a doctor. Her husband also follows me， but he's not here today. He's gone to Mainland China to study， but he's here very often. Both of them have very good experiences.


She fought with maya， but she always lost. Then she recited Amitabha Buddha， Amitabha Buddha didn't dare to come， or might have been too busy. So she recited what I had taught her，then the maya ran away. There was no need to fight.


This is proof. I'll let you be the judge. I didn't have this kind of experience，she did. Since you asked， I told you about it. Right?


As for the Great Compassion Mantra，yesterday I had an experience. One of my disciples is working on a project at the airport. He's an architect. He came to pick me up. He worked at the airport and picked me up, it was convenient for him.


Later we talked. I asked him, "Why do you work at the airport now?" He said， "I haven't finished yet. It still needs a couple more months." I said， "Are you still going to work here afterwards" He said，"No，I want to work for myself."


I asked him why. He seems to have built many big buildings， not only at the airport. I asked，"Why do you want to work for yourself? It's not as secure. You'll be more comfortable and have fewer responsibilities. You'll be busy as the boss."


He said，"I'm very bored." I said, "Why are you bored? Aren't you an architect?" He said，"I'm bored. There isn't enough room for me to develop my talent. I have too many opinions and too many things to do. Each day I have to do the same work. It's not enough."


In the past he did the same thing every day， but he didn't feel bored， and now he feels bored. He asked me，"Master， do you have any method for me to come down to a lower level so that I don't get this bored?"


I said，"You can go back and recite the Great Compassion Mantra one hundred and eight times a day. You can knock on the wooden fish and the ching bell. Then your time will pass by fast." If you don't want to feel bored with this world， practice the Great Compassion Mantra.


But if you want to know what's boring about this world， you should practice the Quan Yin Method.


* Master， is your Quan Yin Method part of Buddhism? Please explain. As for its relation to Buddhism，is it one of the sects in Buddhism?


Shakyamuni Buddha taught the Quan Yin Method. When you read the Surangama Sutra， you'll know. Buddha said，"I became a Buddha after practicing the Quan Yin Method."


Quan Yin Bodhisattva and Manjusri Bodhisattva also practiced the Quan Yin Method to attain their levels. All the past，present， and future Buddhas had to practice the Quan Yin Method, so don't ask me which group or sect I belong to. I don't belong to any group or any religion. I've practiced the Quan Yin Method to get liberated and become a Buddha. This is it. Okay?


* Master，how do the beings in a more advanced spiritual planet survive with no food? They don't have any food to eat and they cannot grow crops there. How do they live on such a planet?


How do people survive on this kind of planet，right? They have other ways. Their land is poisonous because of a previous war with other planets. The war destroyed their rich land and made it poisonous; people can live underground， not above ground. So we've sent rockets to some planets and saw no one living there. It is because they're hidden.


They use a scientific method to plant things. They also recycle. With a recycling method， they use the same thing again and again. Water can be used again and again. Air can be used and purified again and again. Their machinery is more advanced than ours， but their conditions aren't as fortunate as ours.


Some planets are drier and their climates aren't good，so their lives are harsher， but their machinery is more advanced. In some aspects, they're much more advanced than us.


* Master，I would like to get initiated but I'm afraid I might not have the determination to follow the precepts. In such a case，is it advisable to be initiated?


It's just that your honesty and your humility make you think this way. I also appreciated. But we humans are weak sometimes. We said, "The will is strong but the flesh is weak."
God is not a very stern person who sits there and always accuse you for every now and again fallback.


But it is sometimes God also who lets us have the free will to make mistakes and then to learn from the mistakes， to be stronger from the mistake. Therefore，do not fear.


Everything we do we can never be sure of how we will do it in the future anyhow. We can never be sure whether we die tomorrow or not. So，I cannot assure you whether you will keep the precepts or not.


Because I don't know if you'll die before you keep the whole precepts or after that. So just try your best and have confidence in God's blessing. Because if we truly try our best then God has to also try Hiers best to help us. We're only human， understand?


Have faith in God and everything will be ok. Do your best and have faith in God.  That's all I can say to you. Anything else we can never be sure. Sometimes the temptation of the world， sometimes our weakness， sometimes our strong influence from past karma (retribution) and everything else.


In this world， it's very difficult to keep the precepts， to be pure vegetarian. I know it. But if I can do it， you can. I have made an example for you. I didn't tell you to do the things I cannot do. So if I can， I believe you can， and you are bigger than me and you are stronger than me and you can even do better.


* Master， now we have erased our past karma (retribution) and get enlightenment. Which button do we press?


Which button? I'll show you. I'll show you at the time of initiation. It is somewhere here. But it's not using the fingers or force. We have to know but know without knowing， know in the knowledge of God.


Do without doing. “I do but not I，but the Father who dwells in me that does it.” That is the time we press the button. It is God who presses it. Therefore， it's not the technique， you understand? It is God's blessing， and we get that through initiation.


We contact God and let God take care of us from now on. But God is who? It's our own great Self. We find that again at the time of initiation， and we continue to discover who we are. And then we know how to press the button.


* Can I come up to you and get blessings from you?


Sure，sure. If that's your wish. yes, come. You're Indian? By birth? Or by nationality? Come up. Why do you need my blessing? What for? Do you believe I can bless you? It is the Father in you that blesses you. Maybe through me，but... Okay，the button is somewhere here. I have a flower for you. This can be dried and kept，all right? I'll see you later.


* What does the Quan Yin Method consist of?


Okay， the Quan Yin Method consists of several parts， maybe four parts. First，you have to find a competent person who can transmit the non-transmittable, the power to you. And second， after that you can rely on the already transmitted invisible power， but visible to your invisible Self.


You can hear some kind of God's Word as spoken in the Bible， like “In the beginning was the Word.The Word was with God and the Word was God,” etc.， and then that Word is similar to our music but is sweeter and is incredibly beneficial.


Because the more you hear that， you become wiser. You know who you are. You know your wisdom， and you can know many other things that I cannot name here. Whatever you name， you will know it.


But it takes practice. That is called “listening to the inner heavenly God's Word” or “the Sound.” In the Bible， it's also recorded that God spoke like the sound of thunder. Hiers voice is like the sound of thunder，like the sound of many waters. That，you can also hear with the Quan Yin Method. Maybe you have heard about it already， but since you ask， I tell you.


And then another part is you will see the Light of God. The Light is when God appears to Moses like a big flame. And it's bigger than the flame. It's just in the ancient time， people don't have enough words to describe it. It's greater than thousands of suns put together. This is God's Light.


God's Voice is sweeter than any music that you can find in any world. So that is approximately what Quan Yin Method is. And apart from that，you have invisible blessings from all the masters in the ten directions. In other words， from God directly. From your own God Self， from your great Soul. Then from then on， you proceed. Is that okay? Is that enough? Yes? Okay.



* Those who kill animals that have feelings， for example dogs，to eat, what happens to such cruel people who kill the animals and the innocent animals?



Well，the ones who kill are the one who lose，and the ones who are killed are the ones who gained. So we should pity the killer，not the killed. Actually，the killed will be lessened in bad karma (retribution) and will progress higher in the evolution.


And the one who kills actually kills himself or kills a part of himself， retards some of his evolutionary progress. So sometimes we see the victim and the killer and we always pity the victim，but actually the killer is the one who should be pitied. He doesn't know what he has gotten into. He doesn't know he harms himself.


And those animals who are killed， of course，receive the same treatment， the same justice， from the law of karma， the law of cause and retribution. Means，whatever you sow so shall you reap.


Whatever we do， we get the consequence of our action. That is the law of karma. “Karma” is an Indian Sanskrit word for “cause and retribution.”


A US medical study finds that quitting smoking has nearly immediate benefits， including lowered blood pressure and reduced heart attack risk within 24 hours.


In December 2010， the first ever Middle East Vegetarian Congress was held at the Dubai International Exhibition Center，with the public invited to engage in an interactive exploration of the plant-based lifestyle.


Speakers include expert researchers，health and business professionals， and farmers. Supreme Master Ching Hai was specially invited to speak via live video-link on “Being a Vegan - An Environmentally Sustainable Food Choice.”


Dr. Hegde(m): Human beings are built to last as long as you live， but today we have changed the atmosphere completely. We have started eating all kinds of animals. We've polluted the whole area，we have chemicals in everything that you eat，water you drink， the milk you take - everything has chemicals - so you get diseases. Otherwise you should not get disease.


Dr. Rashidi(m): Vegetables and fruits…. they are protective to most cancers. Red meat and its processed products are key dietary suspects for cancer etiology.


The main message would be: try to cut meat consumption and especially try to cut processed meat in different products that you can find in the market.


Nils El Accad(m): So what happens if you cross this fish and this tomato，and take a gene of this fish and put it in the tomato? You get a “fishato.” Does it have any nutrient in it? Probably not. Does it have any allergens in it? It probably has a whole bunch of allergens， because it's got proteins that are not originally in the tomato.


Now if this fish gene is in the tomato，is that tomato still vegetarian? You say no，why? It's a tomato. If I put a pork gene in the tomato，is it Halal?
I'm not God， I'm not going to start playing God. I don't think we should be doing this.


Shankar Narayan(m): Veganism is promoted for these three reasons: one is for prevention of cruelty to animals; second one is for human health; third one is for protection or promotion of better environmental conditions.


Less suffering for humans， less suffering for fellow animals， less suffering for Earth， less suffering for everyone around. When you practice this kind of veganism， a better kind of veganism， we have a total painless living.


When we stop being cruel to others，when we do stop being part of cruelty others are doing， we do a justice for ourselves.


Thomas Cierpka(m): Organic agriculture is a production system that sustains the health of soils，ecosystem and people. People before commodities， that's important. We talk about people. It relies on ecological processes，biodiversity and nutrition，energy and water cycles adapted to the local conditions.


Organic agriculture combines three things: tradition，innovation and science to benefit the shared environment and promote fair relationships and the good quality of life for all involved.


Supreme Master Ching Hai: I want to congratulate you， Middle East Veg Group， for your effort, for your exciting， historic first Congress. And a big congratulations especially to all of you veg heroes of the world and the Middle East.


VOICE: Tune in to Supreme Master Television on Wednesday，February 2， for part 1 of the rebroadcast of the live conference with Supreme Master Ching Hai， “The 1st Middle East Vegetarian (MEVEG) Congress,” on Words of Wisdom.


TODAY (Wed EP 1602) Tune in to Supreme Master Television today for the rebroadcast of the live conference with Supreme Master Ching Hai， “The 1st Middle East Vegetarian (MEVEG) Congress,” on Words of Wisdom.