We can bow to the Buddha, to the Buddha’s statue, because we want to remember Him. We respect His Teachings, we respect a great enlightened Master of the past, which is correct. But if we insist that the statue itself is also the Buddha, then we’re wrong. The Buddha is within us, within all sentient beings, not in the wooden statues. Even if He is present in the wooden statues, it’s only a part. We cannot dig open the wood and find the Buddha Nature inside. Can you find it? (We can’t.) We can’t find it! Makes logical sense. But if we practice spiritually every day, we can discover our Buddha Nature, which is within us. Yes or no? (Yes.) So, which makes more logical sense? Spiritual practice. We humans should practice spiritually to find our own Buddha Nature. If a Buddha statue is placed there, even after ten million years, it still can’t become a Buddha. It can’t open its mouth to say a word of wisdom; it can’t take us to the Western Paradise. Right? (Yes.) It will itself rot away in time. It cannot protect us for eternity. Eternity is within us. But if you don’t understand, you still won’t understand. If you understand, you will.
That’s how it is. Therefore, you see, Lao (Tzu) and Chuang (Tzu) spoke of the same thing. It’s not something we’re only saying now, or something that only Buddhism is saying; Lao (Tzu) and Chuang (Tzu) spoke of the same thing. That’s why I said all religions point to the same thing. Just that the essence can only be transmitted by a living Enlightened Master. Doctors can write a lot of books, books on medicine and treatments. Maybe what they write is similar. But if we really want to do what doctors do, like perform surgeries and such, then we should learn from a living doctor. We cannot learn blindly and haphazardly. If you don’t learn from an experienced doctor, it’d be very difficult. Understand? Even if we finally become doctors, we would still make a lot of mistakes. Performing surgery recklessly would harm many people, because we used them as test subjects. So, it’s best to learn from a living doctor. Likewise, any scriptures that I’ve read, be they Taoist, Buddhist, Catholic, or Islamic, all speak of the same thing. But if we don’t understand the essence and grasp the wisdom in them, it’s difficult for us to understand. We don’t even understand our own religion, not to mention other religions.
Today, some people interviewed me, saying, “Master, according to what You said, then, when we meditate, what experience can we attain? Please tell me.” I told him that we can see the (inner Heavenly) Light within and hear the (inner Heavenly) Sound within, and then I said that the (inner Heavenly) Light and Sound is GOD. Because in the Bible it’s written, for example – because some are Catholics or Muslims – I told him, in the Bible it’s mentioned that when you see GOD, GOD appears like a great bonfire, meaning the Light, the Light; and when you hear the Sound of GOD, HIERS Sound is like thunder, like the roaring of ocean waves. I told him, “That is GOD.” Although GOD is formless, we can still communicate with HIRM through the (inner Heavenly) Light and Sound which represent HIRM.
Then he said that he understood, and then asked, “Which religion says this?” I said, “It’s in the Bible, in your religion.” He didn’t even know that there’s such a passage in his own Bible; how could he understand other religions? Then, the so-called Buddhists, how many of them know the “Lotus Sutra”? If they do, how many of them know what it talks about? Shakyamuni Buddha said if we practice this method, we can hear Sounds from within, hear Music from within, the sound of cymbals, the sound of thunder, and the sound of the drums, etc. It’s all stated very clearly in the chapter “The Merits of the Dharma Preacher.” But if you ask many Buddhists, do they understand? They don’t understand very well even their own religion, let alone others’.
Then, Amitābha Buddha is very famous. The most famous sutra about Him is the one everyone recites, believing that by reciting it they’ll reach the Western Paradise. Inside the sutra it’s said clearly that there are golden Light and yellow Light, and lotus flowers and such. Have they seen them? No. It’s not enough to merely recite. If you recite “cookies,” will your stomach be full? No. Likewise. Likewise. Though we don’t recite the “Amitābha Sutra” every day, we can see lotus flowers every day, golden Light and yellow Light, white Light, etc., and hear the Music of Amitābha Land, birds singing, etc. We have seen them. And some disciples have visions of Amitābha Land, floors paved with gold, etc., pavilions in the air. Only this is the real “Amitābha Sutra,” the real way to recite the sutra. You can recite the sutra outwardly, but you must know the inner sutra. Right? Our disciples don’t recite the “Amitābha Sutra,” but when they pass on, they all have auspicious signs, departing with rosy, smiling, peaceful faces; departing in peace regardless of what illness they had. Many people recite Buddhist sutras, but they still die in great pain, with very dark faces. Many people come to recite the sutras, but their faces only grow darker. That proves who’s correct. We are willing to… willing to do what? We are willing to bet any amount on that. Because we have the True Essence, and we are not afraid.
That’s why I don’t worry about any disciples being led away. If he is led away, it’s his affinity, his level is still not high enough. If he prefers the other side, then let him go. A small child belongs in kindergarten. Why force him to go into high school? It only gives the teacher a headache. Yes or no? (Yes.) Since he has made a mistake going to high school, now that he wants to leave, you immediately open the door and gladly let him go. It’ll prevent you from having more headaches in the future. But before he knows where his parents are or where he belongs, keep him for a while, because he might cause trouble out there. But since he already knows where his kindergarten is, and his parents have come to pick him up. OK. Welcome. Welcome to go. Welcome to go.
Therefore, there’s nothing to fear in this world. If we truly practice spiritually, we’ll have confidence within and be stable. We go everywhere with composure and serenity, without the slightest fear. Therefore, what we practice is the truly “fearless” method. Therefore, when Quan Yin Bodhisattva was alive, Her contemporaries praised Her as “Bodhisattva of Bestowing Fearlessness,” because She taught people the Quan Yin Method, and they became fearless through practicing, because they had the fearless spirit. Maybe sometimes, under special circumstances, we may still appear to be afraid of something, but in fact, when cornered, we can jump over the wall, and walk on hills of knives. We are not afraid, truly not afraid. We are not afraid from within. Sometimes, outwardly it may seem that we’re afraid. Our mind is conditioned to it; it fools us into thinking that we’re afraid, but in fact, we are not. When you are truly cornered or tested, you’ll know that you’re not afraid.
Do you have any questions? Any questions? Since you have so many questions, go ahead and ask now. (Then may I ask, Master?) Yes? (Regarding the chance of being possessed during meditation, could it be that if we are not meditating in the deep mountains, for instance, inside a house, we could get possessed during meditation, is that right?) If you meditate without a Master, without the instruction of an Enlightened Master, then it’s more likely that you’ll be possessed, but it’s not that everyone will be possessed. If we have a method of practice and a Teacher, then we definitely will not be possessed. (Because once during my meditation, I saw Shakyamuni Buddha… some image.) The image of Shakyamuni Buddha. (A golden image.) (A golden Buddha image.) Golden? (A golden Buddha image.) (A golden Buddha.) A golden image. (Golden.) And then? (In front of me. There were also three Gods…) A disciple? (No.) (The Three Saints of the West?) (Three Gods…) Three Saints. (One of the [Three Star Gods of] Blessings, Prosperity, and Longevity, the short one.) Oh. (He looked at me like this, which I saw only one time.) (Blessings, Prosperity, and Longevity?) (One of them.) (What she saw was the three Gods of Fortune, Prosperity, and Longevity looking at her.) (One of them.) And then? (He looked at me with His head like this. Was that real? Or was it a little bit of…) You are the one who saw it; why ask me?
(It was my first time meditating. I didn’t have any experience.) What kind of meditation were you doing? Ask her what kind of meditation she was doing. (What kind of meditation did you do? Meditation.) (I meditated next to my bed.) (What kind of method did you use? How did you meditate?) (That time, it was with GOD. I meditated.) (With GOD?) (No. I called to GOD, saying I’d like to meditate.) (So how did you meditate exactly?) (I sat down. Just like that.) (And then?) (By the side of my bed. I saw the…) (Is that all?) Ask her, who taught her? (Who taught you?) (No one.) (No one taught her. She wanted to tell GOD that she wanted to meditate.) (Maybe it was the one from before. I used to be with that master, over on Semarang Street. With Taishang Laojun, one year… ten months. I was there for ten months.) (With Taishang Laojun for ten months. You did learn Taoism, right?) You were in Taoism, and the Taoist taught you. (But I didn’t meditate during that time. I only read the scripture of Taishang Laojun.) Understand, understand, understand.
Then what’s your question? Is it that you were possessed, is it? (Some religions teach that meditation can cause people to become possessed and so they didn’t let me.) It’s not that you cannot; it’s just sometimes it’s more dangerous. (Yes.) Because we have a lot of power inside and if we open it without knowing how to control it, it would hurt our nerves and body, and things would become chaotic, understand? (Yes.) Therefore, it’s best for you to have a Teacher who can teach you a method on how to open that power – whether to open it slowly, or open it quickly. The Teacher will also help you control it, how to take your time. Just like if we eat too much in one go, we’d die of overeating. (Yes.) Therefore, you have to know how to control it. If you meditate alone, sometimes you may not understand, and that can be more dangerous. It’s not that you cannot do it. Many people meditate on their own, and get possessed as a result. But I’ve told you not everyone will get possessed. The best, safest way is to find a Teacher. We can’t be extreme and say everyone who meditates will be possessed. It’s not like that. It’s just that that kind of situation is more dangerous. Understand? (Yes.) It’s risky.
Like your experience – after you saw that, if your body felt very comfortable, and you felt high-spirited, then it’s real. If you felt groggy, and then felt very uncomfortable, then it’s possession. (My body was very comfortable.) Then it’s real. It means GOD is blessing you. (This palm, this side of my palm is white, and this other side is rather brownish. It seems there’s some sort of light that cannot shine through. My palm is transparent. Like this. It seems like this.) OK. OK. Then maybe you’ve become a Buddha? (I’m not. No. This… I’ve also been sponsoring sutra printing.) Then, congratulations. (Master.) You’re like Shakyamuni Buddha. (Oh no. Master, I’d like to ask one more question.) OK. Ask.
(About my right hand, people say that sometimes this hand can heal the sick.) It’s nothing! It’s a very small matter. Don’t talk about it. So embarrassing. That’s a power of the Asura realm. (Like, for us… Can we heal others?) Whoever wants to do healing, let him do it. He’ll know when he runs into trouble. Why bother yourself about that? (We cannot heal others?) Huh? (We can’t perform healing.) Why heal others? In this day and age, medicine is very advanced. Why do you still boast about your talent? Save it and use it in better places in the future. (Oh.) Healing one person’s illness wastes a lot of energy. (Yes.) If you want to continue practicing the method of Taishang Laojun, you can continue with it. (No.) If you want to be safer, then go find a Master. (Yes.) If you cannot find one, then try our Master here. If you don’t want to try it, then goodbye. (Thank You, Master.) You’re welcome.
In some cases, because we practiced spiritually in previous lives, that impression still remains in our minds. If we continue to practice in this life, we’ll progress very quickly. If not, we’d stay the way we were, remaining at that level in the previous life, then of course after practicing for a while, we will get magical powers. Many of our disciples have various magical powers, but I forbid them from using them, except when it is absolutely necessary. Because we have higher magical powers. When we have magical power but don’t realize we have it, that is the real magical power. If we know it and can heal sickness, then it’s still not the real magical power, it’s just a magical power… meaning it’s not the essence. The real essence of magical powers has no form, it’s without “us knowing it.” With that kind of selfless magical power, we would not get involved with karma, and would not interfere in other people’s relationships. If we still know that we can heal sickness, we would bring upon ourselves a lot of complicated karma, and then we should accept that kind of retribution.
Photo Caption: “Thanking GOD MAPA the Nourishing Supplier!”
