Listen to the expressions of a true poet’s innermost feelings – of tender affection, nostalgic longing, limitless compassion for all… Supreme Master Ching Hai’s newest poetry collection, “The Love of Centuries,” glorifies this richest of sentiments, while showing that love is our shared essence and the highest universal principle to follow for our planet’s elevation.

To celebrate “The Love of Centuries’” world premiere, on April 10, 2011 in California, USA, the Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association and Supreme Master Television presented a concert titled “The Love of Centuries – Love Is Eternal,” bringing together world-class composers and performers, dignitaries, and the public.

Enchanting songs by gifted and eminent composers, such as Oscar and 5-time Emmy winning Mr. Bill Conti, 2-time Oscar winner Mr. Al Kasha, Grammy winner Mr. Bill Cunliffe, and multi-platinum singer and songwriter Ms. Donna Lewis, were debuted at this artistic extravaganza. Acclaimed vocalists gracing the stage included Tony Award winner Ms. Karen Ziemba, Grammy nominee Ms. Denise Donatelli, sopranos Ms. Giorgia Fumanti, Ms. Kerry Walsh and Ms. Moira Greyland, Emmy nominee Mr. Doug Katsaros, Ms. Elisa Meri, Ms. Ngọc Hạ, and more.

A further source of delight was the vibrant Agape International Choir, led by Dr. Rickie Byars Beckwith, along with colorful dance groups of diverse styles. In addition, distinguished speakers, including Emmy Award winning filmmaker Mr. Lionel Friedberg and Indian Parliament Member Ms. Maneka Gandhi, offered their reflections on the evening’s theme and Supreme Master Ching Hai’s “The Love of Centuries.” As the highlight of the grand multicultural event, the poet and guest of honor Supreme Master Ching Hai graciously shared via live videoconference her spiritual insights on poetry and love.

Love is vital. And love poetry is vital, because it will bring us closer together as a planetary community, as siblings of the same family. Love, love, love, love, love. Love is really all that we need to have on this planet in order to have peace, to bring Heaven on to our Earth.

We now invite you to enjoy the first of the 7-part series rebroadcast of the live concert celebration of Supreme Master Ching Hai’s poetry collection, “The Love of Centuries – Love Is Eternal.”

“The Love of Centuries” is Supreme Master Ching Hai’s treasured gift to humanity and to all poetry lovers.

Supreme Master Ching Hai is a world-renowned advocate for global compassion, who has consistently offered compelling spiritual insight. She is a vegan and has devoted her life to alleviating suffering that exists in our world, exhibiting a deep love for all of Earth’s citizens, and indeed, for our animal co-inhabitants as well as Mother Earth herself. Later this evening, we will have the privilege and honor to meet poet Supreme Master Ching Hai via a live video link.

I’m really excited to speak with Supreme Master tonight.

Yes, me too. I just can’t wait!

Well, “Glorifying Love through Art, Music, Dance… and Life!” is the theme of our celebration. And as the show proceeds, you will witness the emergence of a compelling vision of our purpose here on planet Earth.

Well, that purpose, in just a word, is “love.”

With Supreme Master’s book, “The Love of Centuries,” we will travel back in time to the distant history of past lives and onward into a hopeful future through joyful songs and graceful dances from a variety of performers. Sprinkled throughout this artistic presentation will be inspiring commentaries from an assortment of prominent dignitaries.

Through this journey, we will uncover the grace that is our inner greatness, and our cosmic connection to the Divine universe. Through this journey, we will discover the “love of centuries” that we have always yearned for.

Today’s celebration will open with a prayer from the heart, a moving composition titled, “Make Me Stronger.” It’s composed by the Reverend Dr. Michael Bernard Beckwith, who is a vegan, and his charming companion, Dr. Rickie Byars Beckwith, the director of music for the Agape International Choir.

Formed in 1988, the Agape International Choir features 200 singers, and under the direction of Dr. Rickie Byars Beckwith, the choir has appeared in numerous television, film, and benefit performances.

Prestigious venues where the choir has performed include the Lincoln Center, the United Nations, the Hollywood Bowl, the John Anson Ford Theatre, the University of California – Los Angeles’ (UCLA) Royce Hall, among others. The Agape International choir is a part of the Agape International Spiritual Center, founded by the Rev. Dr. Michael Bernard Beckwith.

“Make Me Stronger” will be performed by the talented Dr. Rickie Byars Beckwith and the 50-member choir.

Ladies and gentlemen, let’s welcome Dr. Rickie Beckwith and the Agape International Choir with a warm round of applause!

This day I awoke with a passion in my heart
A feeling of longing, a thirst so strong I want to be better,
an opening for God to Make me stronger

This day I awoke with a passion in my heart
A feeling of longing, a thirst so strong I want to be better,
an opening for God to Make me stronger

My prayer today is for courage to be What the Holy Spirit intends for me
I want to be better, an opening for God to Make me stronger

Make me patient when I worry Make me calm where there is strife
Make me loving when my heart is hard Make me forgiving when I would be right Make me forgiving

My prayer today is for courage to be What the Holy Spirit intends for me
I want to be better, an opening for God to Make me stronger

Stronger to reveal more peace I must be patient to reveal more love
I must be humble to reveal more power Make me stronger to reveal

More peace more love More joy more joy
More peace more love More joy more joy

More peace more love More joy more joy
More peace more love More joy more joy

I want to be better, an opening for God To make me stronger
This is my prayer Today oh God.

Very powerful lyrics, and a wonderful way to begin each day.

Yes, indeed!

Now that the Agape International Choir has infused the house with a lively spirit, we would like to thank everyone for spending your valuable time with us today for the launch of Supreme Master Ching Hai’s “The Love of Centuries” poetry anthology.

Without further ado, we would like to introduce our first guest speaker, Mr. Lionel Friedberg. Mr. Friedberg is an Emmy-award winning documentary film director who has written and produced films for Animal Planet, CBS, PBS, the History Channel, the Discovery Channel and National Geographic. Mr. Friedberg has 18 credits as director of photography, and has worked all over the world on both dramatic and nonfiction productions.

Mr. Friedberg has earned awards, too numerous to list, as a director, writer, producer and cinematographer. Mr. Friedberg is also a vegan and has been active in animal welfare movements. Please join me in a warm welcome for Mr. Lionel Friedberg!

Thank you. Thank you very much for that welcome. Yes, I think the event taking place here today is really about something very special. It’s about creativity. The creative imperative drives us to bring into being something which wasn’t there before… to refine, to interpret, to elevate reality to new levels, to new dimensions. Creativity comes from a very special place within us. It’s not only an intellectual process, but one that takes its essence from the deepest realms of our being. The fuel that makes it happen is our passion and, surely, one of the primary components of passion is love.

Love – it’s only a very short four-letter word, yet it embodies the most noble and enduring capabilities of our species. Love compels us to create. Love cements relationships. It binds one person to another. It’s the fuel that sustains the care of a parent for a child. Love is the force that lifts your spirit when you perceive the subtle beauties of life around you.

Love is the joy you experience when you gather with family and friends to celebrate an important occasion. Love is what you see in the eyes of a grandparent gazing at the eyes of a grandchild. It’s in the sparkling laughter of a child – and love is even what you sense when a garden bursts into blossoms because of seeds that you have personally sown and nurtured with your own hands. Love is difficult to define, yet it’s one of the most profound of human emotions.

It’s in the sound of voices of people who are close to your heart. It’s in the gentle purr of a kitten on your lap, and it’s even in the warmth of a smile on a stranger whom you’ve never met before. Love is what defines our reaction when we clutch the hand of a partner, when we look up at the infinity of the stars, when we sense the wind, or yearn for that special somebody when they’re not around. Wherever and whenever emotions go to deep, mystical places, there you will find love.

Many have tried to explain it, to expound on it, to define it. Yet love is a mysterious, wondrous, elusive thing. We can’t really ever know it. I guess we can only feel it, experience it. Beethoven, Brahms, Bach expressed it in musical terms. So did The Beatles, The Beach Boys, The Bee Gees. Shakespeare, Shelley and Shaw put it into words. So did Mark Twain, Khalil Gibran, and the authors of the world’s holy books. Michelangelo, Monet, Matisse gave it form in art, on canvas and in marble.

Love is in the teachings of Gautama Buddha, of Christ, and of the saints and sages of many religious paths around the world. And it’s one of the fundamental truths taught by Supreme Master Ching Hai. Love is everywhere and yet, despite its potency and its power, I guess there can never really be enough of it. Perhaps at its deepest level love is composed of two core elements: care and compassion. Love isn’t only about affection and emotional affinity, but about concern for others; about empathy; in short, about compassion. Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas both defined love as “The desire to will the good of another being.”

Who better, then, to offer up a lesson for a modern audience, a modern world, than Master Ching Hai herself? Her love for others and for this planet is a guiding beacon for those in search of meaning in their lives, and indeed for all who care about society at large, as well as this precious blue planet of ours.

Her new book, “The Love of Centuries,” is filled with tenderness, with concern, with compassion. There’s great depth in what she writes. Her words carry messages of happiness, of the vastness of the universe, of glad tidings and of inner serenity. But there is pain and vulnerability in what she says too. She doesn’t place herself above and beyond the plane of mortals. She expresses human emotions with which we can all identify.

Many of the poems in her new book were written when she was still very young. They display the susceptibilities and the fragilities of youth. They tell us of a land devastated by war and violence. They speak of sadness and loss. They express the full range of emotions we all experience as we discover the world around us. The original language of most of the works in the book was Aulacese (Vietnamese), a tongue spoken in Âu Lạc (Vietnam), the land where Master Ching Hai was born. But the words make the transition to English most effectively. They carry a universal essence and they reveal common truths, all of them as relevant in our contemporary culture as they were when they were first written.

What struck me as I read the poems was the very strong theme of compassion that ran through all of them. From childhood to adulthood, Master Ching Hai clearly embraced profound ethical and moral concepts. In the poem entitled “Please Wake Up!” she invites us to share her love for this magnificent planet… a planet now in peril and in desperate need of healing and repair. In “When You Said You Love Me,” she puts into words what true love really means to two people who care for each other. In “Words of a Piglet,” written when she was in her late twenties, she expresses feelings that uphold the sanctity of life – all life, for all beings – and those words tell us what it’s like to be an animal in a heartless, carnivorous world.

In December last year, I had the privilege of spending a little time with Master Ching Hai personally. It was an amazing experience. We were in Cancún, Mexico, for the Greenest Heroes Gala celebration. That was an event organized to coincide with the United Nations Climate Change Conference, with the intention of addressing global warming and the critical environmental issues now facing our planet. As indeed in so many of those occasions, these important events, the Supreme Master Television network was there. I applaud them for their involvement in the issues that concern us all.

In Mexico, I had the opportunity to witness Master Ching Hai’s humility, her generosity and her wonderfully great sense of humor. She kept us all laughing right through her two-hour brunch. She exuded love. Love in all its forms… warmth, kindness, understanding, affection, and a deep connection to the very pulse beat of Mother Earth.

“The Love of Centuries” are the work that stands as a tribute to the elevated soul who wrote it. So, ladies and gentlemen let us celebrate the publication of this marvelous little anthology. It radiates what this world desperately needs more of… LOVE. I personally thank you, Master Ching Hai, for your wonderful words. Thank you all very much.

Thank you, Mr. Friedberg. That was a very stirring and profound speech. Thank you again.

“For better or worse… In sickness and in health… Forsaking all others… For as long as you both shall live…”

Consider how often these words of commitment and fidelity have been spoken in the bonds of matrimony. Then consider that these words are spoken from the consciousness of the soul. The soul within every being knows nothing but this type of love and devotion – the love that transcends space and time.

Supreme Master Ching Hai captures the bliss and the intense romance that flourishes in the spirit of love in “The Love of Centuries.”

Our next performance is an adaptation of Supreme Master Ching Hai’s poem, which is also the title of her new book, “The Love of Centuries.”

We’re pleased to introduce Bill Cunliffe, a prominent American composer, arranger and jazz pianist, a Grammy Award winner and 3-time nominee.

He has charted three albums for Warner/Discovery Records in nationwide jazz polls, and worked with many jazz legends as well as Frank Sinatra. Mr. Cunliffe was the 1989 winner of the Thelonious Monk Jazz Piano Award, and recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts, while his books have become standard references for jazz.

Acclaimed for his innovative recordings and compositions, Mr. Cunliffe received a Grammy Award for arranging his phenomenal “West Side Story Medley.”

Giorgia Fumanti is a renowned Italian soprano, who is also a vegetarian. She has shared the stage with José Carreras of the Three Tenors, pop icon Wei Wei, and Italian rock star Zucchero.

Ms. Fumanti has performed for the Beijing Olympics for CCTV, the Special Olympics, the US National Hockey League and numerous dignitaries including US governors and mayors.

A talented singer as well as a caring humanitarian, Ms. Fumanti has participated in many charity concerts.

And we’re in for a treat today. Bill Cunliffe and Giorgia Fumanti will combine their musical talents to present an original composition based on Supreme Master Ching Hai’s poem, “The Love of Centuries.” The song will be sung by Ms. Fumanti, accompanied by Mr. Cunliffe on the piano.

And this will be followed by another of Mr. Cunliffe’s original compositions, based on Supreme Master Ching Hai’s poem, “A Word with the Buddha Stone-Statue,” which Ms. Fumanti will perform for us as well.

Ladies and gentlemen, let’s welcome the talented Bill Cunliffe and Giorgia Fumanti with a warm round of applause.

Thank you. I’m really grateful to Supreme Master Ching Hai for the opportunity to set her beautiful poetry. And I’d like to present to you the lovely Giorgia Fumanti.

Tonight resting under the shining stars My thoughts are with the one from planets afar
Space and time divide not our sacred love My heart withers, waiting from centuries long.

Traveling with the clouds to distant realms You spread your love throughout the cosmos
While leaving my heart alone, adrift –

Oh, the memory of eyes like the azure ocean Like brilliant stars that light up my soul
Velvet hair like golden clouds at twilight Weaving dreams of our love of old!

You are here! My soul’s adorned by moon and stars The wilted heart now blossoms boundlessly.
Oh, universe is now here! My love of centuries Waves of joy reach even the farthest galaxy.

But in the corners of your eyes, thousands of stars stand silent
You and I, familiar yet estranged
Oh What to say – so distanced by life’s upheavals?

Infinite space Eternal time Wondrous affinity, Gone forever.

Oh my beloved, remember you not a trace of our past destiny?
Please send to the wind a whisper:
“Eternally not forget each other, each other, each other”!

Thank you so much. It’s a real pleasure and a real honor to be here and to sing from my heart this wonderful poem of the great Supreme Master Ching Hai, with this wonderful composer like Bill Cunliffe.(Thank you.) I feel really, really honored, and thank you to God to send me here. Thank you.

Thank you, Giorgia. For this next poem, “A Word with the Buddha Stone-Statue,” I immediately thought of Japan, and the terrible things that they are going through. And I’ll quote from the lyric: “…weep no more, O Buddha The world’s full of misery.”

And we really pray that things return to normal for the Japanese people, and that the Buddha can smile again. Here again is Giorgia Fumanti. “A Word with the Buddha Stone-Statue.”

Please weep no more, O Buddha So full of misery is this worldly samsara!

The heart is a tempestuous forest

And our tears a turbulent ocean!

Let us return Home, O Buddha Wherefore do we remain on this shore
A mundane realm wher vicissitudes overwhelm

Day by day, rain or shine All beings in hardship mired!
Joy and sorrow go hand in hand

Who is crying, who is caring!

Loving Buddha, please despair no more

Pleasures of this world are few in store The sun rises, then night descends
Beloved Buddha, please be no more despondent.

O Buddha, let us take our leave

Day by day, rain or shine All beings in hardship mired!
Joy and sorrow go hand in hand

Who is crying, who is caring!

Loving Buddha, please despair no more

Pleasures of this world are few in store The sun rises, then night descends
Beloved Buddha, please be no more despondent

O Buddha, let us take our leave

Wow! That was great!

Wow! Amazing performances! Thank you, Mr. Cunliffe and the lovely Ms. Fumanti. Thank you very much.

We are very fortunate to have so many talented musicians and singers who have come to share in the joy of launching Supreme Master Ching Hai’s new book.

Yes, I’m eagerly looking forward to the rest of the evening, especially the live videoconference with Poet Supreme Master Ching Hai.

It’s an honor to be here, and of course, it was difficult to cancel the other [performance], but I wanted to be here and to perform on this beautiful stage, this beautiful poem of Supreme Master Ching Hai. So it’s just an honor and I tried to do all my best to be here.

And today you sang “The Love of Centuries.” What touched you about that poem, when you first read it?

Yes, it’s just uplifting and so peaceful, and it’s beautiful to know that there are other people searching for peace and love. And this poem, it’s really uplifting and talking about other planets and dimensions, and you really realize that our soul can expand and feel the love despite the problems that sometimes we see in this world.

The song has a dramatic, cosmological, infinite feel to it, because it’s about beings from many miles away and how big space and time are. And so it has this spaciousness to it. And that conjured up for me a feeling of orchestral kind of large sound. Giorgia, I just fell in love with her sound. She’s just a lovely person and I’m real excited about her contribution to this.

He’s [Bill Cunliffe] such a talented and amazing composer and very positive and nice. And to meet here so many talented artists, all of us are working for the best and for the Light.

I congratulate Supreme Master Ching Hai on the publication of her new book, “The Love of Centuries.” It’s a wonderfully insightful window into the human soul. Most of it was written when she was very young, and you see the development of thoughts, of the empathy that she now displays so vividly towards the world. You can see the genesis of that when you read these words. They’re beautiful poems and I highly recommend it to anybody.

Supreme Master, congratulations on this new book. And I look forward to reading it, and keep up the great work. You reach out so many people and you do such a wonderful job. If you could reach me, you could reach almost anybody, because I'm not that easy to reach. So, I appreciate it and thank you very much for all you do. You're wonderful.

My name is Rickie Byars Beckwith, I’m the music and arts director at the Agape International Spiritual Center. That “International” was Michael Beckwith's idea. And he is a visionary. And when he called the choir “The Agape International Choir,” in my mind, I'm thinking like, “Well, that's a lot of words,” and you know, “We haven't gone anywhere, what is that vision?” And now we have so many different people from places all over the world that are in our choir. Supreme Master, congratulations on your new book. I know it’s a great book, and I know it’s full of wisdom, because you are full of wisdom. And you spread that wisdom to the world. So I can’t wait to read it. And thank you so very much!

Master Ching Hai, I appreciate this. I think the whole world should come together and come to this event.

I think Master Ching Hai is a shining example of what we are capable of being and doing as human beings. First of all, when I met her personally at the event in Mexico last year, to coincide with the [United Nations] global warming conference, I was amazed at her humility, and what a really sweet, lovely person she is; warm, and just wonderful, and very kind. In her presence, you are aware of someone who is profoundly enlightened. And it was just wonderful. And I admire her so much for what she does and what she stands for.

“A Word with the Buddha Stone-Statue,” what did you feel about that one?

Yes, like Bill Cunliffe, the music composer, said, it’s a perfect poem for the Japan problem that they just lived. So we just hope that this world that sometimes can seem full of misery can again start to shine. And I think the help of the Supreme Master Ching Hai and all the people that follow her, and all the people that are spiritual, I think we can help this world to be a better place, and together make it like Heaven here on this world. So it’s very uplifting for me to sing a peaceful poem full of love.

Thank you for your gracious presence today for Supreme Master Television’s rebroadcast of “The Love of Centuries – Love Is Eternal.” Please join us tomorrow, Saturday, June 4 for part 2 of 7 of this grand event. Stay tuned to Supreme Master Television for Words of Wisdom. May Heaven bless your life with kindness and love.

Supreme Master Ching Hai's poetry collection, “The Love of Centuries,” in English, Aulacese (Vietnamese), Chinese, French, German, Korean, Mongolian and Spanish editions, is available at www.SMCHBooks.com