You just practice spiritually, then you will know what the Kingdom is like, and you will see Lord Jesus appear in your meditation to teach you the Truth Himself, and no need for me to teach you. If you want Lord Jesus to teach you, want to worship Lord Jesus, then you follow my Quan Yin Method, then I will lead you to the place where Lord Jesus is staying right now. Then, you can study the teachings with Him, exactly as they are. There are a lot of my disciples who see Lord Jesus and Buddha like eating meals.
(Dear Master, if we eliminate the six desires, suppress the three poisons [greed, hadred, and delusion], and practice diligently, can we be liberated?) You are practicing that well (outside), then how can you be liberated? Practicing so hard like that, how can you be liberated? No! That is like cooking sand and wanting it to become rice! The path of a Bodhisattva is the inner path, not outside. It’s not that you keep the precepts, be tolerant and all that, and you become a Buddha. No, that’s not it. If by keeping the precepts, eating vegan, and being tolerant, you can become a Buddha, then the cow-person will be a Buddha long before you.
Do you see how much more selfless the cow-person is? The cow-person eats only grass, sleeps outside under the sky. The cow-person only drinks a little water, but gives us her bones, her flesh, her skin, her hair, her head. The cow-person gives us her milk. And her calf, humans kill it to eat. The cow-person practices the way of Bodhisattva that much, but she is not a Buddha. Talking nonsense! To become a Buddha, you have to hear the (inner Heavenly) Sound of Buddha, to see the (inner Heavenly) Light of Buddha, to find the Buddha Nature. If you only look for the outside rituals and customs, the impermanent morals, you can’t become a Buddha. How can you? You look for the wrong way.
Just a moment, one moment. Then you can all clap. But to practice becoming a Buddha, you have to have morality, so that you can practice easily and smoothly. Without morality, it is easy for you to fall into the maya’s way. Because if you heart is evil, you do evil things, then even though you have magical powers, but your heart is not kind, then you don’t have a Buddha’s heart, you are not close to Buddha’s heart, but rather close to maya’s heart. So, spiritual practice has to include morality. That’s all. OK?
(Dear Master, in our Catholic belief, it says that after we die, we either go to Heaven or to hell, but there is no reincarnation for many lifetimes as in Buddhism. Please tell us which one is right, and which one is wrong. Thank You, Master.) Yeah, OK. If you don’t believe in reincarnation, then why do you sit there and wait for Lord Jesus to come again? Lord Jesus also talked about reincarnation. So, He said He was the incarnation, the successor of such and such Master, before Him. You go back home and read the Bible again. That’s number one. Number two: when Lord Jesus was about to ascend to Heaven, He said, “You should not cry for me. I will send down another [comforter].” “Another comforter to come down and comfort you.” You should know that the one who could comfort Lord Jesus’s followers, had to be equal to Lord Jesus to be able to do it. Or that person has to bring down the spirit of Lord Jesus, the power of Lord Jesus, the authority of Lord Jesus, in order to comfort the people who were the children of Lord Jesus. So, it is a form of reincarnation.
But I think in the Bible, they censored many paragraphs. Nowadays, the Bible we read is not complete or is often wrong. The people after Lord Jesus were gone… Because He taught only three and a half years, He didn’t have enough time to teach the people at that time. The people at that time were very barbaric and uncivilized, compared to the people of this century. He preached only three and a half years and imparted the initiation secretly and with difficulty. How could He teach them thoroughly and completely? How could He bring out the essence of what He understood to spread far and wide to the people? So, after He was gone, the people in later generations changed His words and used His teachings to their benefit, to form groups, parties, build temples, and the church, for fame and gain. So, the Bible that we read nowadays, oftentimes has many errors. And now, there are some scientists who research the Bible and suddenly say that they’ve discovered that 80% of what is in the Bible is not what Lord Jesus said. You go home and read the (Los Angeles) Times. Then what? Well, just believe what I say for now.
You just practice spiritually, then you will know what the Kingdom is like, and you will see Lord Jesus appear in your meditation to teach you the Truth Himself, and no need for me to teach you. If you want Lord Jesus to teach you, want to worship Lord Jesus, then you follow my Quan Yin Method, then I will lead you to the place where Lord Jesus is staying right now. Then, you can study the teachings with Him, exactly as they are. If we just sit here and discuss about the events of two, three thousand years ago, and argue back and forth from a censored Bible, it will not do us any good.
If you want to see Lord Jesus, then practice the Quan Yin Method, it is very easy. There are a lot of my disciples who see Lord Jesus and Buddha like eating meals. Not all of them see these Masters, but if one sincerely prays, and practices to the level where Lord Jesus resides, then they can see Him right away. Then you can learn directly from Him, more fun. Jesus is not dead, so you don’t have to sit there and cry. His human body was crucified, but He didn’t die, OK? He just left His garment behind. For example, if I take this robe off, and hang it on that hook, it is not I being hooked there. I am already out of the robe.
(This is a question from an American. What is the difference between Quan Yin Method and TM [Transcendental Meditation] meditation?) Big difference. I teach people to fly to Heaven. OK? Not using the body, using the essence of our intelligence to fly. The eternal essence of our being, the God-like quality, to go back Home. I don’t emphasize on the worldly show and the bodily phenomenon. These are ephemeral. Once we finish breathing, no, no more. Whether you can fly up to the ceiling or not, it's a body thing. It doesn't help you. Well, I'm sorry but... Does it sound critical? Well, if you ask, I have to tell the truth as I know.
(Dear Master, everything is one. No one is our parents, our wife, our children, our siblings. So why is it that “when one attains the Tao, his or her nine generations are liberated” but not “everyone is liberated”?) Yeah, because this world we live in, is a physical world. We only have a certain number of relatives, siblings, extended family, and bloodline, in our short lifetime. And the relatives, families, siblings in our other lifetimes are already faded somewhat, erased from the record, burned it. For example, our records in a certain company, they would be burned after five years. They don’t keep them forever. So, the people, the sins we committed a long time ago, we already paid them off. Only the attachments, the sins, the merits, of the five, seven, eight generations are still connected to us. But if you are forced to pay for the sins forever, life after life, from tens of thousands of years, how could you bear it? So, when you sin, you have to pay for it right away, to be punished right away. You go to hell or up to Heaven, to erase your record. What is record in Aulacese (Vietnamese)? (Hồ sơ.) So, you erase your record and make a new one. That’s why your record is at most, five, six, seven generations back.
And the people who were related to us in other lifetimes, who had karma with us, we paid squarely already. They went to be fathers, and mothers of other people, so they have nothing to do with us anymore. So when we practice spiritually, our karma or merit will not affect them anymore. We can only affect the people who are presently our loved ones, our relatives. Even the Buddha only saved the ones who had affinity with Him, do you understand that? Otherwise, the Buddha would have saved the whole world already, no need for you to “become a Buddha to save your nine generations.” Only one Buddha can save the whole world; no need for you to save or not to save anyone. We do need to practice spiritually. That is the problem. Because this is a physical world. OK? That is the law. We have to obey the law.
(Dear Master, I really want to practice spiritually, but I still have many worldly things to complete in my life. For example, in the near future, I will be getting married. Is this a big obstacle or can I still get initiated?) No, no. Whoever wants to get married, get married. Spiritual practice is our own hobby, our own entertainment. And whatever our worldly duty, we have to take care of it, no problem. Not that anyone who follows me would then abandon his or her spouse to be a renunciate. No, not true. You can see there are not many renunciates. Only five, six, seven renunciates. Yes, there are more, but not as many as the number of you sitting down there. There are two ways to practice, one is as a renunciate, and the other is at home. You can practice spiritually, and I do not forbid you to get married. It is fun that you’re married and also practice spiritually. Getting married, anyone can do it, even the animal-people can do it. We are different, because we do all these things but also attain the wisdom, then it is fun and perfect. Not that I forbid you to get married.
(Dear Master, in the family, if the husband practices the Quan Yin Method, but the wife does not, can the husband be liberated and the whole family also, including the son-in-law and daughter-in-law? Thank You, Master.) Yes, they can. But whoever believes in me, then it is quicker for that person. And the people who don’t believe in me, and even slander me, then sometimes they need extra special blessings from me, to be liberated. Or if other initiates pray for them, then they can be elevated. When we say five or nine generations will be liberated, we mean everyone within those nine generations are liberated, but not all of them have ascended. Sometimes, one or two sank below for a long time.
Do you remember the story of Maudgalyayana? He studied with the Buddha and was one of His foremost disciples. One of the outstanding disciples, but his mother was in the uninterrupted hell (or Avici hell). No one could save her. Later, he had to beg the entire sangha to help. The sangha, including the renunciates and the laymen, men and women, all gathered to pray for his mother. Only then was she saved. Do you know that if one followed the Buddha, his or her five, nine generations would be liberated? Yes, they did. Otherwise, when Maudgalyayana went down there, he would have seen his uncle, his aunt, his siblings, his sister-in-law, his brother-in-law. But why did he only see his mother? Because all the others had already ascended, except his mother whose karma was too heavy. When she was alive, she slandered the Buddha, she harmed the monks, cooking dog-people meat to feed the monks, but she did not believe in the greatness of Buddha Nature, so she denied her own Buddha Nature.
So, her own Buddha Nature could not save her, because she denied and thought she didn’t have Buddha Nature. That’s why it was so difficult to save her, you see? His five, six generations were already liberated, otherwise Maudgalyayana would also have seen his father. Why did he only see his mother? So, it’s obvious that when one followed the Buddha, his or her five, six, seven, eight, nine generations would be liberated. You see that? So, whoever believes in me, or doesn’t slander me, are liberated at once. Just do not slander me, otherwise, they will have to wait for quite a while. Understand? OK.