I am Bilal, I am 7 years old. My best teacher is teacher Miriam. She always makes me laugh a lot!

My 8th grade teacher Mr. Bennett influenced my life a lot. He made school a lot more fun and interactive, so I think it made me more interested in school.

And, would you like to say something about you teacher?

Yes, my teacher is very nice and she is very tall. She is one of the tallest in school.

Mine is nice, cool, and she lets us go to the yard.

My teacher often has taught us how to use different things, for example, more difficult functions in computers, because she knows it very well. She always talks to us. She listens to us.

Miss Valesca, because she teaches us to be caring, respectful and be able to overcome obstacles.

My favorite teacher is Mr. Lim. He always tells us interesting stories.

I used to be naughty in the past, but Mr. Lim changed me to become a better person. Thank you, Mr. Lim.

Happy Teacher’s Day. Mr. Lim!

Greetings, smart viewers! Today is World Teachers’ Day, established by the United Nations Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (UNESCO) to honor school teachers around the world. In our lives, we have had many teachers who have helped us to become who we are.

As we celebrate World Teachers’ Day 2010, let’s listen to the stories of some students and teachers from around the world. On this occasion, we are also honored to present a tribute from our Association members to a very special spiritual teacher, Supreme Master Ching Hai.

Sometimes we make mistakes. We do things we should not do. He calls us, he reprimands us. We do not refuse, we take it into account.

Everything I learned from my earliest childhood, the love I have for every tennis matter and my tennis teaching skills, enabled me to impart this knowledge to others, especially to children. Teaching requires a lot of patience.

There are academic teachers, art and music instructors, athletic coaches, vocational trainers, and mentors throughout our lives. What inspired these knowledgeable and skilled individuals to enter the teaching profession?

As soon as I finished my training, I wanted to convey all the knowledge I had to my junior brothers, the future generation. And as soon as we begin to teach, we feel the difficulty and the pleasure to convey to the younger generations what we already know.

What inspired you to be a teacher?

The need that I always felt of communicating with youth, and communicating the few experiences that we had accumulated in life.

Apart from transmitting knowledge or skills, teachers motivate their students, who in turn can feel the teacher’s genuine wish for them to succeed.

I feel that one of the teachers who make me a better person is my Chinese orchestra conductor, because he always has very motivational speeches. And he inspires me to work hard and persevere, not just in Chinese orchestra, but also in my studies.

Teachers here are very warm; they take students as their own children and they teach very well. They try their best so that the students succeed. Are you going to learn or do you prefer to play football again? I want to learn.

So, you are going to learn your lessons, and what mark do you intend to get at the end of the first trimester?

For the first trimester, I wish to have a mark 12.

12! Why not 14? 12 is not enough. 14 is good, no?

It is good.

As much as a teacher offers, however, they in turn feel rewarded.

They’re very well-mannered and usually they are very helpful.

Thank you Mrs. Teo. Happy Teacher’s Day!

When we left work at noon, a mother of a family was waiting for us at the door, and... she approached me and told me, “Thank you professor! I am very grateful!” And I said, “For what madam? Why? “Thanks to the teachings that you gave, it’s that my son started to change. And now he is a model child, has left many negative things in his life. And so I came to thank you personally.” This fact served us to make me feel rewarded, even one of the youngsters, from so many hundreds, has heard the message and has given a very significant change in his life.

We ask him for advice: “Professor, can you help us maybe in the science fair?” “Sure! How? I'm here to serve you,” says the teacher. And also he instills culture, we feel proud of being Peruvian. Perhaps because of the teacher, we are something.

Teachers care about their students’ physical and emotional well-being.

We try here at the school to work hard on the moral standards that we can teach the children. We also have a whole theme on healthy food and we have a fruit project in the school so we actually give the children a reward if they bring fruits instead of cookies.

I am vegetarian and I had come to convey this lifestyle to my students. There are some of my students who have become vegetarian today.

The moral code we live by today may have been formed through the role models we admiringly call teachers.

The first day at school of each new semester, I really stress respect and responsibility in the classroom, and in particular, honesty. The biggest thing that I stress is honesty.

A teacher that has helped me become a better person is the school disciplinary master, because he taught us a lot of moral values and to be a better person by being kind to others.

I think that the biggest difference we make in a child’s life are the values that we teach them. Not only mathematics and the reading and writing. But also that they need to respect each other. That making friends is much nicer than fighting.

I am Hailey and I am 8 years old and this is my most cherished teacher Wendy!

My favorite teacher is Ms. Warren and she helps me be a better person and she helps me with whatever I need help with, and she also is a very, very nice teacher.

It’s not only teaching them academics. It’s very important to train the children to be compassionate for one another.

When I am talking about a teacher, I am thinking always about Issa El Saieh. He was my mentor.

With him I learned what is important in life. And what is important in life, it’s what you are, not what you earn.

I thank all the teachers, for all they have done in our lives. Without them, we are nothing.

A good teacher may also offer spiritual support.

In recent years, we organized several courses, where some 2,000 students have learned to meditate, and of these, there are many who have benefited and are university students and their life has changed. It is a very powerful tool which allows them to get ahead and be holistic human beings.

We must never forget not only teachers who teach at the school but teachers who teach spirituality. For me, teachers who teach faith, this is the best teacher, I would say, because that's what holds the world together.

Throughout history, the respectful term “Master” has been reserved to address the special teachers of spiritual development. A living Master is Heaven’s messenger who awakens souls.

When we return, we are honored to present a grateful tribute to a world renowned teacher of great compassion in our modern times, Supreme Master Ching Hai. Please stay tuned to Supreme Master Television as we continue our program, “Thankful Hearts for Supreme Master Ching Hai on World Teachers’ Day.”

Supreme Master Ching Hai has given me the confidence that it is possible in this lifetime to realize God. I thank Supreme Master dearly for all these things that she has taught me, which I never knew before…

Welcome back to our special program, “Thankful Hearts for Supreme Master Ching Hai on World Teachers’ Day.” Today the Earth is graced with a living enlightened Master who imparts the ancient Quan Yin Method of meditation, always free of charge, so that individuals may reconnect with God. She is lovingly called Supreme Master Ching Hai.

On the occasion of World Teachers’ Day, our Association members from around the world share some of their experiences and express their gratitude for the grace of Supreme Master Ching Hai’s presence in their lives.

First, our Association members from Togo and Formosa (Taiwan), who have each been teachers for many years.

Thirty years ago, I had to arrange some papers for my retirement pension. I entered an office, I found the one in charge, who received me very well. Quickly he checked my papers, and then at last he asked me: “You do not recognize me? You were my teacher 25 years ago.” When we can train people who later became an important person, it is a good thing. The life of a teacher, it is a big responsibility for oneself. because we have the future of the student in our hands. So, we should do everything so that the student may succeed.

Now, I would like to thank Supreme Master Ching Hai because, as a professional teacher, I learned a lot of things. And most of her lectures inspired me to move to my teaching profession. I send my deep gratitude.

In 1986, I met Master. I was most impressed that when Master gave lectures, she chatted with us naturally like a mother. There was no distance between us. Master's selflessness and love helped me become more loving and inspirational in my teaching job. I used to carry out my job as an ordinary job.

After following Master, I started to teach students the right conduct, apart from imparting them knowledge. At the beginning of the class, I would chat with my students for them to be relaxed and happy. Under my guidance, students who used to play truant or sleep in the class stopped doing that. At the end of the day, I felt that my conscience was clear and I felt satisfied about my work. I am very grateful to Master. Master, I want to tell you one thing: It’s wonderful to have you as my Master!

Through Supreme Master Ching Hai’s spiritual teachings and inner guidance, not only careers but all areas of life have improved completely.

By the time I was 18, I was a very unhappy person. I did not think that my life had any meaning. I didn’t know why I was here. I didn’t know what I was doing. I didn’t know where I was headed. And when I got Crohn’s disease it was a big wake-up call for me. And I prayed to God and I said, “God, what do I do here? I need some help.”

And I was led to meditation and meditation actually began my transformation, that the negativity started to lift. And I found Master’s teachings a couple of years later, because even though I had learned to meditate in a different way, it seemed that it wasn’t satisfying my soul. And I just remember walking into the lecture and I saw Master’s picture and I thought, “This is it for me. This is what I need to do.”

I remember going a couple of weeks later to learn the Convenient Method, and what it felt like to me when I learned was that I had come in off the desert and somebody gave me a big, cool glass of water. I started to feel like the hand of God was on my shoulder all the time. And even in the most difficult situations, I felt safe somehow. I felt as though I was dead before in a way that was very more dead than when your body is lying on the ground. And she brought me back to life.

Not “she” the physical person, but the inner Master power, because once that’s awakened inside of you, there is nothing that you can really compare to that. It’s not like self-help or it’s not like some kind of philosophy. It’s the real you awake. I became more generous with people. I became more forgiving of the past. And now I really want to live the kind of life that she is living. And just the very few times that I have actually been in her presence, I was very clear that there is not anyone who loves me like that, absolutely unconditionally, absolutely with my best interest at heart and absolutely for my total freedom.

I think there’s a misconception in the world that spiritual Master is always trying to tell you what to do and like you’re a follower. I have never felt like a follower. I felt like I was being led to who I really am and who wouldn’t want to follow that path? She is the light on the path. She is the guide on the path.

Master, I absolutely love you. And I thank you for everything and the things that I don’t even know about that you have done for me. And I just pray that as many people as possible take what you have to offer the world and make it their own and awaken to themselves, because that’s the kind of world that we are meant to live in. So thank you so much.

Supreme Master Ching Hai not only offers the most deep-reaching meditation method on the Light and Sound, but avails herself whenever possible in response to her students’ needs by spending countless hours to answer any questions they may have. The following is an experience shared by our Aulacese (Vietnamese) Association member, who from the moment of seeking Supreme Master Ching Hai’s advice, changed her life forever.

When I was a student preparing for medical school, with competition, it was difficult. At that time, I started to meditate diligently. But in the beginning of meditating, I became more aware of not-good things in myself. During this time of struggling, I had the opportunity to ask Master a question. Her answer to me was such an encouragement.

Ever since the retreat in Korea, I started to realize how important meditation is to my soul But, I don't see any good thing in me at all ever since I started meditating. What should I do?

You are young. You enjoy your life. Responsibility will come. It's just good that you meditate and you can see some of the bad habits. But the habits are not you. The habits are just the things you learn from circumstances and people. All right? So, don't start hating yourself for that. Just hate the habits, and if you can change it, then change. If not, then you will change later by nature And you get older, you understand more.

And you have more opportunity to learn and to help people. You know? Right now you are just a student.

Enjoy that privilege and be the best student that you can be. That's all right .

Thank you, Master. I love you. Just try your best and live your life. Okay?

You are a good yogi. You're cool.

Master’s words and meditation are what kept me going in medical school. When I became a doctor, a wound care specialist, I had the opportunity to go on a relief mission for our Association to Peru after the large earthquake in 2007 and also to Haiti in January 2010. During this time, I could feel Master’s loving energy flow through me and go to everyone around me.

The disaster victims were struggling, but when they met us, I could see their happiness. I am who I am today, all because of Master. Master, I wish to thank Master for everything you have done for me. In fact, without you, my life is a meaningless void. I would like to thank Master very much. Master, I love you very much.

Through practicing the Quan Yin Method, our Association members often notice a new deepening understanding of world religions. The following is our American Association member who speaks about discovering the commonality of the Light and Sound among the religions, as Supreme Master Ching Hai has often mentioned.

From many years as a child, I searched for God. I became a Jehovah's Witness and remained a Jehovah's Witness for 35 years. Then I came in contact with some associates of Supreme Master Ching Hai, and this is how I got to meet her and got to get a difference in learning the truth about God. Supreme Master Ching Hai influenced me by letting me know that all the religions actually stem from great Masters.

What did they have in common? They all served God, or they found God within, with the Quan Yin Method of meditation. In many years of studying the Bible, and other sacred books and trying to get understanding, I never felt like I fully understood some of the things that were written. But in coming to know and understand Supreme Master Ching Hai, and practicing meditation, Quan Yin meditation, I’ve come to understand and I can get the sense of what the Bible is talking about.

There is a Surah (verse) in the Qur’an which talks about the Power of the Night. When I heard the Surah, it touched me and I just had to think about Master’s wisdom. Therefore, I would like to dedicate this beautiful Surah in Arabic to my most cherished Master Ching Hai. The verse is called “Valuable Night” or Surat Al-Qadr:

“I seek refuge with Allah from the evil of Satan the accursed. In The Name Of Allah, The Beneficent, The Merciful. We have indeed revealed this (Message) in the Night of Power: And what will explain to thee what the night of power is? The Night of Power is better than a thousand months. The angels and the Spirit descend therein, by the permission of their Lord, with all decrees. (The night is) Peace until the rising of the dawn. These are the words of Allah the Supreme.

My story started a few years ago. It started with deep spiritual talks with my auntie. She has practiced the Quan Yin Method for many years. We often went to the forest and sometimes walked for hours and talked about life, spirituality and wisdom. It made my soul always very happy. My life started to change in a positive way and for all problems a solution came.

I felt a very strong presence, an energy which gave me protection, I only could not explain it. On a beautiful autumn day, my auntie talked about Supreme Master Ching Hai and the teachings of the Quan Yin Method. When I heard about Supreme Master Ching Hai, I was so impressed that I cried out of happiness and always wanted to talk about Master Ching Hai. That’s what my soul always had been looking for. That was the protecting energy which I always felt. That was for me the step to enroll myself for the Convenient Method. I also started veganism immediately.

Since then, my life has been changing even more miraculously. I noticed that my fears diminished, I became more peaceful inside and more loving, my family started to change, I got a good job and financially it became better and better, and many more glorious, miraculous things happened in my life. My life looks like a fairy tale. The Quan Yin Method has changed my life. I call it “Heaven on Earth.” The inner strength which has been rediscovered thanks to the teachings of upreme Master Ching Hai shows me the path to Heaven again.

We have just heard our Moroccan Association member, who is also a Muslim, recount her introduction to the Quan Yin Method. The next remarks from our Indian Association member, a Sikh, show us that no matter what our religious background, “when a student is ready, the Master will come.”

In my childhood, my mother told me that when a real Master blessed someone that person’s fate changed and that person is able to see God. That person feels God in everything. Really, it did happen to me. I was very upset, full of anger. This world was just full of chaos. I wanted to change the world to the way I wanted it to be. But it was impossible. I was praying for a savior to come my way.

Then, all of a sudden one day, one disciple gave me a book, “I Have Come to Take You Home.” I felt like the book had similarities with the Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji. Just within few sessions of the Convenient Method, all my problems disappeared. It was like magic. I felt so peaceful, stable. I saw God in everything.

The only thing I would like to say to those who are seeking eternal peace and happiness is that they should try to find True Guru or Master. I have found a True Guru, who is Master Ching Hai. Master Ching Hai, thanks to you thousands of times.

Our Association member from Germany, who is an artist, illustrates how her life has changed after studying with Supreme Master Ching Hai.

I have been Master’s disciple for 12 years now. I cannot put into words how great Master is as our teacher. I can show it. I am a painter, you can see the paintings which I painted before I was initiated. You can see that I dealt a lot with the theme of death, with the theme of suffering. And then I had a big theme – “Inside and Outside” – what actually happened at that time was that the outside world affected my inner being more and more in a negative way.

And then after I received the initiation from Master, I consciously re- established the contact with my innermost Self, with my godly Self, with my Essence, with my Love, and I practice this every day. And since then, my life has become much more beautiful, and you can see this in the paintings which I did later. My theme is the rose, which is a symbol of love. I have the need to depict what I have experienced and you can see it in my paintings, for example in “Path of the Roses.”

And I am so grateful that I have experienced this through the Supreme Master; that she teaches this; that we have this chance, this opportunity; that she is there and says these things, and that one can change this in one’s life and has the opportunity to cleanse oneself through the Quan Yin Method of meditation, this is just wonderful.

For many of our Association members, Supreme Master Ching Hai’s love for all people has become a cherished example for developing their own personal relationships with others. Our Association member from Australia recollects her observations from a time spent working together with Supreme Master Ching Hai.

In 2006, I was lucky enough to join Master on her tour in the Philippines when she was awarded the Gusi Peace Prize. This was the most amazing chance to see Master work and I learnt so much from observing her huge love for all the people there. Spending time around her, there was so much I learnt about how to truly serve others. I learnt that it was important not to forget any person. I mean, to serve all people, absolutely equal.

And I got the feeling that Master respected all of the people she met to the very highest degree and that she loved them as if she was loving her closest family member. And that was really beautiful for me to witness and I never forgot this and I've always tried to follow this way of being, as I think it's a very beautiful way. Spending just a few days around her there was so many teachings I’ve absorbed. It was just, it was unbelievable. And I can never thank Supreme Master Ching Hai enough for the greatest spiritual education in the universe.

Indeed, Supreme Master Ching Hai has provided many people an alternative, more joyful way of seeing other beings, including our gentle animal co-inhabitants. Our Association members from Estonia and Armenia share how their treatment toward animals changed significantly after meeting Supreme Master Ching Hai.

Halo, I am a scientist and I am working on cancer biology. As a scientist, I can say that one important aspect of my professional life now is how I see and how I treat animals. By practicing the Quan Yin Method of meditation I have realized that all animals have souls. Animals have emotions and feelings exactly like us human beings. Therefore, I would never ever imagine doing animal experiments.

It’s really very light for me to go to work every day knowing that I don’t have to use any animals in my research, because there are so many alternative methods that I am using on my everyday work. And I thank my teacher Supreme Master Ching Hai for all her guidance and teaching and all her insights that she has given to me.

I remember we were little, and a group of friends and relatives had gathered. I didn’t know at that time what an animal sacrifice was, but they had gathered for an animal sacrifice. I remember there was this lamb tethered to a tree. We children were playing with the lamb. At that time we didn’t know what it was there for. We untethered it. And the lamb ran off.

Of course, one of the adults caught him again, and tied him to back to the tree. And they didn’t let us play with the lamb anymore. The lamb was crying. We tried to give him some grass, some water, some candy. All that we had, us kids, we were trying to give it to the lamb. Trying to give him something. But the lamb didn’t take anything. Every so often, it would bleat. He was crying. With his wet eyes, and head down, he would look at us.

They later took the lamb away. Later, when it was already dark, I asked my parents if I could go outside to play with the lamb. My parents replied that the lamb was gone. The lamb was killed, and that everyone was eating him. I didn’t understand what it meant to eat the lamb. I ran outside and searched for the lamb. The lamb was indeed gone. Only his tearful eyes remain in my childhood memory.

I was honored to meet Supreme Master Ching Hai and received the initiation and since then I became fully vegetarian. Being vegetarian, I never really thought about animals’ sentience until in one of her lectures, she mentioned, “Animals are just like us, just a different shape that’s all. Different shape… just to color the world. Just like different flowers.” I started thinking about that, and this was happening around the time that she had published her bestselling book, “The Noble Wilds.”

I read it over and over. Something changed in me. What was happening, was that I started talking to animals. Just like you would talk to a person, I started talking to animals. And a little while later, I started to feel what they were feeling.

That’s all because of Supreme Master Ching Hai’s teaching of grace and love for all beings, that I have come to understand the beauty, the nobility and the joy that the animal world holds for us all. Thank you Supreme Master Ching Hai for opening my eyes to the beautiful colors that animals provide in my life.

Next, our Iranian Association member, who is an active teenager and top student in his high school class, explains what spiritual practice and his Master’s teachings mean to him.

I feel a lot more peaceful and calmer. Meditation has helped me to better focus on my studies and I can comprehend my subject matters better and I learn a lot quicker at school. All of Master’s words are guiding us in all the situations. But the most influential words of the Master for me is her prayer that we have heard many times on Supreme Master Television: “I dream that all the nations shake hands with each other” and “that all the children will walk in peace.”

And I think how wonderful it would be if all the countries would unite, that there would no borders among countries, and they could have peaceful relations with each other, and that racial differences and different origins would not cause conflicts among us humans.

I’d like to wish a very happy Teachers’ Day to Supreme Master Ching Hai, and I am very grateful to her for teaching me this method, and providing the reason to become a vegan, thus helping me to be an effective instrument in preserving the planet Earth, and also for helping me to elevate my level of consciousness and my life.

Supreme Master Ching Hai is not only a spiritual Master, but also a great poet, composer, a #1 international bestselling author, designer, and artist. In fact, her many talents have been a source of inspiration as well as learning for countless people, including our Association member from Costa Rica.

Over here we walked with the Master in 1990, 1989 Everything she did always was a spiritual teaching, every, every detail that she had. And then she showed us, for example, the little things; everything astonished her, the tiny plants, the flowers so small and perfect that were on the road. And one day, when we came here, on that hill you see over there, two different types of vegetation that we have here were flowering.

Then the Master saw this beauty (landscape). She was especially impressed by the green of the hill so intense with the colors red and orange and violet from the flowers. They brought all the instruments in order for her to paint this painting called "Harmony." After a period of great suffering, even many tests for the practitioners, there will always be a period of harmony. When Master painted "Struggling" it was on Saturday.

She came with her easel and her paintings, walking, and brought us the painting "Struggling" for us to see it and tell her what we thought of the painting. Of course we were all impressed, to see the meditation hall. It was a bit unstable, and we worried a little bit; and we asked her, and there the Master told us the reason for this painting. And there are some clues that the Master gives to the practitioners in order to remain firm, because many trees are standing and others are unstable, others are strong.

Because in spiritual practice, we must have much fortitude, much courage. So, a Master does not paint just because, and the Master always does it all with a spiritual sense. And (when) the Master painted "Harmony," there was a lot of wind on the hill, much wind, and the easel moved. Then the Master with a hand held the canvas and painted with the other. She was very good at it and was enjoying everything a lot.

She taught us many, many things and many details that remain in the minds and memories of the practitioner, and they help and serve in the moment one go through situations and experiences.

Realize, after all, that you are the master. You have to decide what to do. You choose the way you go. You choose to walk in love, beauty and virtues. That is your freedom to choose to have responsibility of your noble way of living. I am just here whenever you need me. If you come, I tell you what I know. That’s all. Be strong, courageous. That’s what I want to teach you. To be master of yourself.

On this World Teacher’s Day, we offer our heartfelt gratitude to Supreme Master Ching Hai for being a beloved teacher of incredible wisdom and boundless compassion. Master, you have profoundly touched so many lives, instilling in our hearts immeasurable happiness and hope, gracing a vision of peace for the Earth, and leading us to an elevated and glorious future for all.

We respectfully wish you an abundance of joy and health, as your prayers for our planet become a reality: a heavenly Earth with love and friendship between all beings. To the noble teachers and dedicated others in the field of education, we join in appreciation for all you do to advance humanity toward an ever brighter future. May the Providence bless you as you continue your most honorable duties.

Beautiful viewers, it was a pleasure having your company today. Now, please stay with us here on Supreme Master Television for Words of Wisdom. Blessed be your courageous and selfless heart.