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. Today we present to you a compilation of excerpts from Supreme Master Ching Hai’s lectures titled “Bees and Their Contribution to the Ecosphere.”

We appreciate your company for today’s episode of Between Master and Disciples here on Supreme Master Television. Join us again tomorrow for part 2 of “Bees and Their Contribution to the Ecosphere.” And now, Animal World: Our Co-Inhabitants is coming up next, right after Noteworthy News. Please stay tuned.

We wish you a safe and blessed weekend. Thank you, enlightened viewers, for your company for today’s episode of Between Master and Disciples.

Up next is Animal World: Our Co-Inhabitants right after Noteworthy News here on Supreme Master Television. Please stay tuned. With God’s blessings, may our planet flourish with peace and loving kindness.

I am reading some report. Oh my God, poor people. So much disasters nowadays. Is it much more frequently now, right? Yes. More and more. It’s more frequent and more hard. More severe. Terrible. Poor people. Jesus! I don’t like all this. It is very bad. Poor people. I wish I could give them more than that, but this is just for temporary, for emergency, and then they survive, until bigger help comes from your country.

My God! Now the continued decline of bees has affected the food now. This is nothing new, but they keep reporting it’s getting worse all the time. Because if there are no bees there is no pollination, and then some food, some fruits and some vegetable depend on the pollination to bear fruit. And now a lot of bees have died; the whole colony sometimes collapsed. They call it “the collapsing of the colony.” So now, maybe we don’t have food soon, not to talk about climate change or anything yet. We might have no food because of no pollination.

So you guys maybe just start planting something at home, something that doesn’t need the bees. Well, anything we can survive, but this is terrible, this is such a disaster, and they are not quick enough. All the bees die because of the poisonous gas. They cannot bear it. We are big so maybe we don’t feel much the effect, and the big animals, some don’t feel much the effect, but some small insects and bees, they die because they cannot bear it. It’s too much for them! And so many whales and dolphins, they wash up ashore and die.

There are so many dead zones in the ocean. The same with them, they cannot bear it. It’s suffocating them, so they have to swim out of it – you understand me? – swim out of the water where it’s full of poison in there, poisonous gas that has been released. So they cannot bear it, they cannot breathe, so they have to get out of it. Just like if the house is engulfed with gas, you cannot breathe and you open the door and you come out, no? The same with them. For them, life is in the water, but if the water is full of poison, of course they come out, but when they come out, they die, too, because they have no water. They stay in the ocean, they die, they come out, they die. There is no choice for them. This is the worst of all cruelty, that the people don’t take care of the environment and let all beings keep dying like this.

Just to be vegetarian, how difficult can it be? Is it difficult? Even if it is, this is the only choice we have to survive. Then why not? Even the dolphins have to swim out of the ocean, because they think like that they can survive, even risking their lives, so why not we can just change to vegetarian diet?

The animals come to this planet with a special role. Many of them are able to bring down divine power from Heaven, or love, just through their presence, because they are very connected with the Divine at all times. Some, like horses and rabbits, can protect their human caregivers from negative influences, or boost them with good health, good luck, even material fortune, joy, or spiritual upliftment. They watch out for us quietly and humbly send blessings our way. Some of them are from higher levels of consciousness; they only came down in animal form to help humankind or other beings on Earth.

Of course, animals also have very noble, vital roles in the physical realm. In the oceans, fish play an important role in quickly recycling nutrients in the ecosystem, which helps to sustain all the marine life. Some animals, like zebras, monkeys, and wild parrots, help to disperse the seeds, while bees and other insects help to pollinate crops and other plants, and others maintain the health of the forests and oceans. Animals directly help humans as well. We notice that dogs are extremely altruistic and courageous.

They are the heroic rescuers who dive into rubble to free the victims, keep an injured person warm and alive in the snow until help arrives, or patiently serve the blind. They also provide comfort to prison inmates even, as well as happiness and therapeutic effects for the elderly and hospital patients. These are all well-known facts. Similarly, in the wild, we can gauge the Noble Qualities of other animals, such as geese, the squirrels, the ducks, etc., even, also by observing how they treat their own kind and others with dignity and respect for life. Actually, some experienced animal telepathic communicators have given us messages from the animals. For example, the seals have conveyed that it is important for them to be allowed to stay on Earth – not for themselves, but so that they can continue doing their job, which is to keep the Earth in balance with love.

You see, the seals and the whales emanate an incredible, great power of divine love, an unconditional love that could be likened to that between a mother and her child. They anchor and distribute this wave of love across our planet. Because of humankind’s lack of love and kindness, animals like seals and whales have been born to help fill in this missing void, and it is this love that is sustaining our planet and keeping it from destruction up to now. So we should never ever hunt and kill these noble, gracious helpers of humankind and the planet. We also were informed about the message from the livestock animals who are so miserably trapped in the factory farms. Well, there was no clear message, but more of a feeling of constant terror and panic and oppression, because such dreadful conditions are enough to make them forget their original mission in coming to Earth.

It would be enough to make us forget anything as well, if we were in their place. It’s very sad how humans deny not only their life and every natural instinct, but also their beneficial purpose of existence. It is we who lose terribly by seeing these great creatures as mere objects, and flesh to be eaten. Through meditation I have discovered that the Noble Quality (or NQ) of different species can be measured as a percentage to show how they embody the qualities of compassion and selflessness. Dogs and pigs, for example, each have an impressive NQ of 30%. Cows have an NQ of 40%. In contrast, animals with more violent or flesh-eating tendencies have lower NQs.

Lions, for example, have an NQ of 3% and tigers, 4%. And as for humans, while some of us have – you know, general break down – some of us have NQs of 10%, many of us have just a 3% Noble Quality. Humans can learn from these examples of Noble Quality in our co-inhabitants. We can develop our own NQ at any time, basically by never harming any living beings, always doing good to others in any situation, and by keeping the loving veg diet. With these simple steps, we can even help elevate the people and animals we come in contact with, just as the noble animals assist in uplifting us and our world. That is the privilege of being human. See, we can change. We can be greater. Animals, although they have great NQ, Noble Quality, they often stay that way. For example, if they have 30% NQ they often stay that way. But we, even if we have like 3%, 4% NQ, we have a chance and opportunities to develop way past that of animals even.

My greetings to you, Master. Respected Supreme Master Ching Hai, what is the role of our co-inhabitant friends in regards to the environment as well as human life? Hallo, Ms. Nguyễn.

It is almost too much to try to convey the importance of each and every inhabitant friend to the environment as a whole. Scientists find out new things every day about the intrinsic role of different animals and their contributions to the ecosphere. And just because we don’t know the purpose of a particular co-inhabitant, we cannot assume that they have no function. Every single being in creation has a purpose that aids another being or assists in some way. Their help may even be invisible to us humans, but it is still very real. However, of just the few things we do know, we can be amazed at the versatility and uniqueness of all forms of life on our planet.

The earthworm, even so tiny as that, for example, helps enrich the soil we depend on for our food. Fish that we don’t even see help offset climate change and stabilize the habitat of their fellow marine inhabitants by maintaining the pH balance of the ocean water, and the tiny bees contribute to pollination that we could not replace, not only for flowers but vital food crops. We cannot replace their work even, as a human. In the Bible, God gave the animals to be humans’ helpers, but this does not mean they are subservient for us to exploit. If we humans live in wonder of the animals’ existence, we also would stop thinking about eating them. Because if we cherish their irreplaceable talents and manifold gifts, we also cherish their lives. So, I thank you for your good reminder, Mr. Nguyễn. Let's all help the animals, so they can help us, so they can continue to help us and the whole planet. God bless you. Thank you, Master. God bless our animal friends.

Supreme Master, in order for us to have fruits and vegetables, the plants, crops and flowers must be pollinated. Without bees, 80% of fruits and vegetables will disappear. Recently, the bee population has been reduced dramatically across the US and Europe. What do you think is the cause of this and what can we do to keep our bee population alive and healthy? By using organic farming and eating organic food, we will help the bee population.

It’s reported that there are several causes for the bee’s decline, like genetically modified crops, chemical pesticides, and other spray substances for plants. Climate changes also affects the environmentally sensitive and fragile bees. References can be found from the recent German journal Der Spiegel. Also, there’s a report by Dr. Ricarda Steinbrecher, the scientist of Pesticide Action Network Asia and the Pacific and the director of EcoNexus UK, or from the Soil Association, UK. The pesticide neonicotinoids are banned by some EU countries and may be banned throughout the EU in the near future by vote to protect public safety and wildlife from these dangerous chemicals, as Peter Melchett, director of the Soil Association stated.

Hi, Master. Hi. Last year, bee colonies around the world collapsed, and the news is saying that now over 60% have disappeared just since last year. They say if it happens again this year, we could end up with no more fruits and vegetables within two years. Is eating organic enough for us to reverse this? or what else can we do to help pollinating insects?

It’s not just one thing. Of course, organic farming is the best. It’s the ideal for health and the planet. When I say “planet,” I mean for all the inhabitants, the bees and insects and animals alike. Because if we’re using chemicals, then of course they’re going to die out, sooner or later, big and small. That’s why the bees are disappearing. I don’t know what else to pollinate the fruits and vegetables except what nature has already provided to us, and we have been destroying this ecosystem. It’s a very sad affair.

Now, again, the government has to employ another kind of farming technique. Farming policy has to change, from inside out, from up to down, and every farmer must know about it. Otherwise, not just bee colonies’ collapse, many other insects, many other useful insects and helpful animals, they will be dying out. They’re dying out every day now, a lot of them, and I am just as sad as you are and as frustrated. We’ve got to pray for Heaven’s help. And if you can, tell the farmers, tell the government to change it. We use only beneficial products for agriculture; otherwise we will have nothing left, as you said.