Master Says
Spoken by Supreme Master Ching Hai
(to an audience of young people), Hsihu, Formosa, June 16, 1991
(Originally in Chinese) Videotape No. 176
Human beings are the most precious and wisest beings in the world. Therefore, you can go to school at such a young age, understand what the teachers teach, and become increasingly intelligent and better. If you were to put a bird in school, would it learn anything? (Children: No.) However, we humans should be worthy of our behavior, otherwise, we're no better than animals.
We humans also have the qualities of animals; for example, when we enjoy bullfighting or cockfighting. What do we look like when we sleep too much? (Children: Pigs.) And what do we look like when we eat too much? (Children: Pigs.) Still pigs? (Laughter) Are pigs so bad? They have both of these qualities. (Laughter) I mean we human beings also have animals' qualities, but that doesn't mean we are lousy. Why do we have these animals' qualities? It's because we have bodies like theirs. Animals also have eyes, noses, ears, and mouths. Some animals also have hands, and some don't have hands, but they have wings. So, we just cann't get away from animals' qualities.
However, human beings have an advantage: We can control these qualities, increase or decrease them, depending on how strong our willpower is. For example, sometimes when we eat too much, we can retrospect and tell ourselves, "Oh, you don't have to eat so much. Eat just enough! Otherwise, you will soon get sleepy, or you may lose concentration in school. When the teacher teaches, you will begin to snore." We can warn ourselves like this, and then we'll eat less. Or when it's time to go to school, but we have not had breakfast, we can tell ourselves, "It's time to go to school. That's more important. I can eat when I have time."
But a pig can't do that. If a pig goes to school, it has to eat until it's full before it's willing to go. Even if you put the food aside, it will rush to get it. Therefore, although we humans have animals' qualities, we still have wisdom and willpower, with which we can control ourselves and develop other good qualities in ourselves. But animals can't do that, not even the intelligent ones. They can't learn as much as we humans can.
People are different in terms of intelligence and talents. Some are smart; others are awkward. The difference comes from their knowledge or inborn talents. Some are born clever; some have to study long to catch up; others are still awkward even if they go to school. Although they can become a little more intelligent than before, the difference is barely perceptible because they don't study hard.
However, since we practice spiritually, we understand everything very quickly. That's why some schools also teach their students meditation. But the meditation has to be very short, because they are mostly not vegetarians. Of course, they practice ordinary methods only. But they still benefit a lot, even if they practice like that. Their intelligence grows and they become smarter.
Originally, we humans came from very high dimensions, where we already knew everything. Our minds are full of all kinds of materials and they'll be of use if we know how to operate with them. Our brain is just like a computer that's full of all kinds of materials from the universe. It's just that most of these materials we can't utilize because we don't know how to operate it.
We practitioners have to find the right "keys" and then we can understand everything, we can do anything, and we can do everything much better than ordinary people. It's because after we practice, our inner wisdom adjusts itself automatically and the inner Master presses the right keys for us whenever we need anything. It provides us with the necessary materials. This is nothing mysterious! If anything we request comes true, it's because we have it originally. It comes out when we press the right keys. There's nothing mystical about it!
Sometimes we don't know how to choose the right keys because we haven't learned how. Thus, we pray to God for help because the we will know how to choose the right keys, and miracles will happen. Every request is answered because we've found the right keys. After we practice well, we don't have to pray to God for anything. We have everything we want because we know how to find the right keys.
We meditate, keep a vegetarian diet, carry out charitable acts, and observe the precepts. All of these things are part of spiritual practice. The more we practice, the more we know how to handle our own things, the more we know how to use our abundant inner materials, and the more we know what to use in various situations. You have heard many miraculous stories about great practitioners performing magical feats or performing miracles in the Himalayas. They can do these things because they practice, not because they have magical power. Each one of us can have this power. Whatever Jesus can do, we can do also, provided we know how.
The same goes for school. Before you started going to school, you couldn't even read the ABC's, but now you can. Why? There's nothing miraculous about it: It's because you have learned them. Those who have not learned them can't read the ABC's however simple they're.
Spiritual practitioners go to a different school, one that's higher than universities. Our worldly knowledge ends at the universities. Secondary schools are higher than primary schools, and universities are higher than high schools, but that's the end of worldly knowledge. If we want to know greater things, we want to know about the universe or other mysterious things, we have to practice spiritually.
After we graduate from the university, we should go to Buddha's or God's school if we want to enhance our wisdom. It's just another kind of school. But this kind of school is different from ordinary schools because it doesn't involve organizational work. There are no written tests, and there are no tuition fees, and students don't have to go to school every day. That's why people don't think it's a kind of school. Of course, we can do as ordinary schools do, but I think people who can go to this kind of school are already mature. They are good enough and don't need the kinds of disciplinary methods that are used to control children. So, this kind of school is freer.
Although this kind of school is freer, students have to study very hard. They have to meditate at least two and a half hours a day and strictly observe the precepts. It's stricter than ordinary schools in this respect. And there are still tests although they are not in written form. Ask your parents. They have a lot of tests. Sometimes, if they can't pass the tests, their levels drop. But that doesn't matter since they can take the tests again! We have no deadlines for the tests. It doesn't matter when or how many times you take the tests! You can continue to take the tests as long as you have patience and sincerity. In this school, you also learn a superior kind of knowledge.
Therefore, it's also a kind of school here. I teach different knowledge, which is superior to that of the university. Worldly knowledge cannot compare with this knowledge because there are many mystical things that cannot be explained through worldly knowledge. Universities have their good points; many different subjects are taught there. However, we teach everything here, and it's taught inwardly without the use of language. Our school is thus a superior school.
Now you're still in primary and secondary school, so you should study hard and do your homework carefully. But you shouldn't do it for fame or fortune. You shouldn't do it because you want to become a boss, run a big factory or become a president. You should do it as part of your responsibility, to please your parents and teachers, to fulfill your duty as a member of society. After we complete our education, we go wherever God arranges for us to go, and do whatever God arranges for us to do because we know God will take care of everything.
