“The Living Messiah of Our Time” Lecture by Supreme Master Ching Hai Hawaii, USA - September 3, 1994


You are too many and I'm only one, so I can't win. Always, when you are “yelling” too loud and too long, then probably I have to come. Actually, I was tricked into coming. I didn't like to go. I do not know where I want to go, just that I don't want to go anywhere, and sometimes God has to trick me. Hes sometimes makes like a big, important event and tells somebody to invite me, for example. So, here I am, already in Hawaii, so since I came, I just stay for a few days.



I always am tricked into something. If I stay somewhere too long… for example, I like it, I like somewhere very long - the sun and the wind or something, and then suddenly I'll be ill. Something has to push me somewhere, and doesn't let me stay somewhere. Now I understand. I keep telling some of the attendants, I say, “Now I know why Jesus said, `Even the birds have their nests but the Son of God has nowhere to lay his head.'” I was wondering why, because everybody loved Jesus, and now they built a big temple for him and how come he didn't have any pillow to lay his head? Probably he meditated all night long, I don't know.
 
 
But, since I cannot stay anywhere too long, I begin to understand something. Maybe I think I understand, I'm not sure, maybe not. We're always very proud of our thinking and our enlightenment until we suddenly realize that we know nothing. Now, any questions? You need to ask me something?


*Master, when we meditate on the Sound and the birds see us meditating...



The who? (*The birds.) The birds! The birds! The poor birds! What can they do with your meditation? It's all right. (*Okay.) Dogs are okay. Dogs, cats, birds - everything - except human beings. It's not a secret. It's not a secret that we should meditate in a closed room or with a cloth when we are in the public. It's not a secret. It's just that they may shock you, because they see you sit in a not-very-ordinary position. Mostly people are acquainted with the sitting, lotus-like position, or just sit like this and close the eyes and they will think you're asleep. It's all right. But if you're doing something else, a different mudra, then people get scared You don't want to shock them and they don't want to shock you. We're all right.
 
 
After we meditate for many years, you don't see me growing horns on my head. Nothing wrong with us and no side effects, But the people who are not used to it, they will feel uneasy, and then sometimes they make you uneasy as well.


They may want to take you somewhere and maybe you'd have a headache, “Oh, you have a headache?” and even though you try to convince them, it's sometimes difficult. That's all. All right? But birds, they don't complain. The birds are all right. Sometimes they land on your head.


Yes, and I keep feeding them and so the birds come a lot. And now they are coming to another one, another house. They come to eat. They don't care whether I do Quan Yin or “Quan Yang,” or whatever. They don't care. Anything else? It's cute. The question is cute. You have to use your wisdom a little. Always, when I stay somewhere too long, something will happen.


God never wants me to stay somewhere. Hes pushes me around. It's not God, it's you actually. I must be honest. It's you. Anywhere you go, you just keep sitting there on your bottom and you have nothing else to do except, “Master, why don't you come?” Something like that. And then you are too many and I am only one so I can't win. Always when you are “yelling” too loud and too long, then probably I have to come. But please don't yell too often. I don't like traveling, I don't know why, probably too much of a good thing. Yes, any more questions, please? Now, you're satisfied?



*Yes, thank you very much, Master.

You are welcome. I thank you.

*We will meditate to pray for you.



Yes, all you can do is praying for the whole world, because it looks like we are going to have trouble, as predicted by many of the clairvoyant people in the world, including yours, Americans', famous Cayce. So we'd better pray and meditate. We don't have too much time. We never have too much time. I hope you believe in what I say. I wish you do. And whatever we can save, we save. Whatever is damaged, well, that would be God's will. Our world has been through a lot of upheavals, you know, changing. It is inevitable. There is no need to say we are superstitious and thinking that the world will end or something like that. We don't have to believe it.


We don't have to. It will happen one day or another, right? Or it doesn't have to end. It's sometimes destroyed in some parts and it will inconvenience a lot of people and destroy a lot of people's lives and property. This is not something that's superstitious. The world always changes according to the mental expectation and the life attitude of the people on this planet. It will change sometimes, so the best thing is we look up to God. And now we already have the connection with God, it's all right for us, whether we come or we go.
 
 
Whether we stay or we go back to Hirm, it's all right. Yes, at least we don't fear. We have no fear, but we have to also sometimes pray for God's grace for our brothers and sisters, in case they still can be saved in some way, and “Please God, hasten the means for them.” And you also try to work in your community, spreading the gospel, telling them that only God can save them. “God saves us” doesn't mean that God always will protect our house or protect our body, but Hes will save us afterward.
 
 
After all the ephemeral things have gone, Hes will save us eternally. We will be there eternally. After you die, you don't think you have died; you will laugh at life right now as a joke. We will wonder why we don't die earlier; would be easier, would be nicer. We'll live in a freer atmosphere. We will not feel like we're dying. You will not feel that you lose this body - no. In fact, many people, after they die, they have the illusion that they have not died.
 
 
They still go about in their business until all their employees don't recognize them and bowing to another boss, and their wives don't even bother about his presence, and embracing another one in bed. Then he begins to get a shock, and says, “What's wrong?” And when he talks to people, people don't reply, and then he will begin to wonder what happened.
 
 
You don't feel like you've died. So death is an illusion, it's a myth. There's nothing to death and life because we don't die. We are not really born, just we get caught in some of the instruments here and then we think we are Mrs. Smith and Mr. John and things like that. We are all over the place. We are the whole universe.
 
 
We are not in this body. We're hooked up, a little part in this body, that's all, just like electricity is trapped in one wire or another. Actually, they are not the bulb. This is the electricity, you know what I mean? It's just a shell that we happen to get trapped into it and we use it sometimes just for some purpose. And it's all right, we have fun; but the fun is not always that funny. So, after all, we realize it and then we want to find God for the permanent fun.
 
 
And then after you die, truly you will realize that we were mistaken all along. Why should we stay in this lousy place when we could have a freer life, a more glorious way of expressing ourselves which we call “in Heaven,” yes?


*Aloha, Master. (Aloha.) I'm very honored to be here tonight. It was a nice surprise to be able to come and I appreciate it. I'm just worried that my coughing might affect your initiation. Is that a worry for me to keep coughing? Is that disruptive?


Why?

*I thought it might…


You try to take a suppressant during the initiation, if there is initiation, so you don't disturb yourself and others, that's all. But no, no bother; otherwise you can sit alone Ask them during initiation, maybe you'd like to sit alone or behind, something like that. It's all right. Well, we cough sometimes, don't we?


*My concern is the request of two-and-a-half hours of meditation. I feel that after initiation, I will have the strength, but I'm doubting that I will have the…



It's all right. It's all right. You meditate slowly. One day you meditate maybe 20 minutes and then you rest if you don't want to, then another half an hour later and another half an hour later, okay? And then maybe if you want to keep yourself disciplined, then you can add about ten minutes or five minutes a day.



*Thank you so much.


It's all right. You know the meditation is not that hard as you think. You see? You don't have to be cross- legged like those yogis. They frighten you with all these positions. Sometimes they sit like this... They're just trying to frighten you. You sit like this, like a queen. Is that simple? Just sit like this, or anything you want, or sit fancily if you want. As long as you concentrate on God's kingdom, there's no bodily disturbance, all right? Or you can lie down even, but not when you're too tired; you will snore.



*I was just thinking, there are times when it's difficult to keep a commitment, for instance, if you're at your parents' place and they're not vegetarian. There may be situations where you would insult someone if you didn't eat their food.



Oh really?

*Yes. Is it totally 100% you're asking for? Is that what you're asking for?

All or nothing at all. (*Okay. Thank you.)


“Half of the love will never appeal to me, If your heart is never 100 percent for me.” You know what? If you love God, then love Hirm totally or don't. Hes doesn't care. Take it easy. If you don't want to love Hirm now, love Hirm later - okay? - any time, but 100%. I tell you what, even if we can eat eggs and meat and all that kind of things and still can become Buddha - you know what I mean? - even if we can do all that, and still can come, we should still quit. The test is so small compared to what you have offered.



In the old days, the master tested disciples harder than this. Only vegetarian diet. When you cook potatoes, mashed potatoes and some vegetables in some gravy, instead of meat gravy, you put vegetarian gravy, and instead of a piece of steak, you put a piece of tofu on it. What's the difference, that much?



And nowadays, we have so much variety. Vegetarian ham tastes just like real, and vegetarian steak - vegetarian everything - and so nutritious. We depleted the Earth because we raised cattle and animals. Actually, this is another way to contribute to our Earth planet. You know all this. You read more books than I can ever imagine, about vegetarian, about how to save our world, about environmental love and all kinds of things - and vegetarian diet is the answer to all these questions. Our Earth is collapsing because we eat too much meat, actually; or we have to put it that way, roughly. Roughly it's like that You read newspapers more than I do, no?
 
 
You look at television more than I ever do. I don't look at television. But every year, we cut down forests as big as England just to raise animals. So how many rainforests have been destroyed? And this will change the atmosphere - you know what I mean? - change the atmosphere, change the rain. That's why our planet's heating up. And then many places are having problems with floods and also drought, long periods. You remember? Even America.
 
 
So if we want to save the planet, if we want to preach environmental care, we should be vegetarian. There's no other thing to do, right? And that is just a small thing compared to all the vaccination and all the water, pure water, used for meat, and things like that. You know better than I do.


Yes, you do know. I don't want to preach to you the things that you've already read in the newspapers and magazines and television every day. I just remind you, just a small portion of it. But the harmful effect of the meat diet is larger than life. Not only that, so many things, and harmful to ourselves. So why don't you ask people not to offend you by not eating meat, instead of worrying that you offend them by having such a virtuous and beautiful way of life? No blood on the table, all right?
 
 
They should be worried to offend you with killing. You are doing the right thing. Why are you offending people? It's an upside-down question. All right. See, we're mostly very weak. We are too humble and too nice to people and sometimes this nicety, this weakness or this humbleness is in the wrong place. We should be the one who advocates the right way of life, leading people back to the virtuous way of God instead of worrying how people think about us in the wrong way.
 
 
If you do something wrong, by all means, confess, repent and kneel all day long in front of Jesus or whatever, if you want. But you do the right thing, you know what I mean? Face your conscience, “I am not doing anything wrong. I am doing the right thing so I have to stick to the right thing,” yes? Otherwise, I tell you, if you don't practice now, suppose you are born again next life, you will meet again friends and relatives who will be too glad to give you beefsteak and then when will you stop? When? Always feel offended for doing the right thing. This is terrible! If you do the right thing, you should never be afraid, even in front of God.
 

You should not be worried when you do the right thing, and you should be a solid example for other people to follow, because the whole world follows the wrong direction already. And you are the only one, just turn around and go the right direction and then any minute you come back again, and people don't know how to follow you.


The more people turn in the right direction, the better. Narrow is the path that leads to light, but not many people tread in that path. Wide and easy is the road to destruction, but many will follow. So choose your direction and let other people do what they want, but not to influence your direction. All right? Be courageous. We are a few, but a few doesn't mean defeat. If you look at any classroom, the brilliant, the intelligent, only a few. All right? You don't have to degrade your intelligence or try to make mistakes on purpose just to please the neighbor?


*Master, I have your picture that says “Master from the Himalayas spoke at the United Nations.”
But I always get stuck on “Master from the Himalayas.”



What's the big deal. I didn't know I have such a picture. Who wrote all this?


I get these questions in my head. I wonder when my Master was there, was it all men with her? How did they regard her because she is one of the smart ones amongst them? So, I think what really is in my head… The question was: Were you the only woman that was up there in the Himalayas trying to reach enlightenment as you have reached it now? Or were there others? And question two: How were you regarded by those men who were up there also trying to reach enlightenment?


We don't communicate with each other that much. You imagine. You think that the Himalayas is just like in this room, and males and females sit together and regarding each other as the…what. It's a vast, huge region. You don't often see other people who try to reach enlightenment. You only see once in a while. But whenever we gathered together, they seemed to respect me a lot.


*Were there any other women, Master? (Well, a lot of women.) A lot of women?


The world is combined with half men and half women. How can you not find any women in the Himalayas? But we don't think that much at that time. I don't think I have to regard people as “who is who,” and they don't do like that. We are all probably very engaged in each own effort to try to find the way. Just like now, even if I am in a crowd, I am not with the crowd. I am always engaged in my own inside business, and I am often alone in the crowd, and I feel alone with God most of the time.
 
 
Except when people busy me and trying to take me out of it, then I wake up to reality for a while, and then I hide inside again. I don't know how other women feel, but I'm often engaged inside. I don't feel like engaging in any other things. Not at all. Even if I do it I eat or I play, or something like that - but it's just a matter of “by the way”; my mind's inside, always.
 


*So, in essence, Master, you're saying to us that the effort is just the same as that of a man and a woman in being able to get as high as… you work for it.


Yes, yes. By the way, women are supposed to be more clever than men. Excuse me! Excuse me, gentlemen! If you read the Reader's Digest lately… I don't often read it, but when I came to this house, there's an old, battered, I mean, last year's edition of Reader's Digest, I read it. And according to research, scientific research, women are more sensitive than men, have better leadership ability than men, more intelligent than men, have more common sense than men - anything, better!
 
 
So, good news! Good news. And even women live longer than men, women can concentrate better than men, women can see better than men, according to the Reader's Digest. Please don't leave the room, gentlemen. I'll show it to you. This is Americans' research, not my own concoction. Now they explained why the husband always stares in the fridge, the refrigerator, staring at the milk bottle and says, “Honey, where is the milk?”
 
 
 Women see things more particularly and just at a glance, at the corner of their eye; they see everything, but men don't. Well, that's what they say. So, in case if you meditate, maybe you see better with a corner of your eye than a man. I don't know. This is a male society, so we cannot talk too loud like that, but since you asked me, I have no other alternative. Put all the blame on me. The people talk nonsense like, “Women cannot become Buddha,” and things like that. Why not? All the Buddhas came from women. Where else do they come from?


*That's true.


True. So we have the honor to even bear the Buddhas. For that matter even, to be a mother of Buddha is not bad, no? Now, all the intelligent men are having behind them an intelligent woman. Well, you know that. For example, many of our presidents have intelligent wives. All of you all know? Is it not true? (Yes.) True. Even now, they're still debating on Hillary's intelligence.
 
 
Without “her” there is no “him,” for example like that. So now you know. Truly we have to give in to that. I have just realized that's why men are afraid of women - I mean, husbands are afraid of wives - probably because they are too intelligent. But please play it low so your husband will love you more. Be intelligent, but discreetly. Don't show him. Don't show him. It hurts his ego and it frightens him. It frightens him.
 
 
We have to encourage him also to be more particular. I don't know why women are more intelligent than men. Ironically, all the cooks, all the chefs in the best hotels, or the most accomplished chefs are men. Maybe this work is not for women Maybe women should rule the nations and let the men cook! No, no, no, no. I don't have this ambition. No. Just joking. Okay, please, all the fathers, the brothers, forgive me. Anyhow, probably that's why God punishes me. I don't have any brothers. I have a lot of cousins.


*Hallo, my name is Marie. Nice to meet you, Master. I come from Sydney, Australia, and…



Holiday? Vacation?



*Not really. We've just come from Maui; we're doing a seminar.



Okay, welcome.



*Thank you.



You and her also, right?


*Yes, we're together. (And another…) Yes, there's a whole group of us here all together that's flown over today. Very nice to meet you. I just have this question about… You talk about God being “He.”



What, “He”? Then it's “She,” all right?

*Yes, to me, God is male and female.


A She-God, okay. Well, if I say “She,” then men will complain. If I say “He,” women complain. Now, I say “no She-, no He-God,” it will take too long! Troublesome, you know. You know it. You know it. It's all right. We don't need to debate over vocabulary.


*That's okay. I mean, I know that, but do a lot of other people know that? Are they really aware of the fact that God is both man and woman? So when you do actually pray, it's like “Mother-Father-God.”


Troublesome. If I say God is “no male, no female,” they'll probably say Hes is homosexual. So what do you do? You just pray to God, “Dear God, you know, whoever you are…” Hes knows, all right? Even if we don't know, Hes knows. Hes is supposed to be God, Hes knows. Or She knows, or He-She knows. Don't worry, honey, it's all right.
 
 
Actually, there is no need to describe. I cannot describe God, but because many people talk to us since ancient times as a “He” mostly, so I just go with the fashion so as not to confuse people. Also as a matter of habit speaking, you know what I mean? Otherwise, it's a language problem only, not our problem really, because we make so many verbs and nouns, and a lot of trouble, a lot of trouble. So just say, “God, I know You are there and You know I am here and so, whoever You are, just help.” All right? (*Thank you.) You're welcome.