Living Up to the Precepts Is
Living Up to OurselvesSpoken by Supreme Master Ching Hai, Aukland, New Zealand,
April 27, 2000 (Originally in English) Videotape No. 686Q: What happens if I break the Precepts after my initiation?
M: That’s just like asking me what happens if I have an “extra” affair after I’ve married my wife. How shall I answer you? Make up your mind. No one is here to force you. It’s only you, yourself, and God; you make a covenant with God. You say, “I make You my priority. I’ll do anything to know You. I don’t need all these stupid things in order to survive; I can live without them. I can live without killing my neighbors. I can live without telling lies. I can live without drugs and alcohol. I’m strong; I don’t need these substitute intoxicants. I can have Divine intoxication. I can live without having to have sex with every man or girl who walks by.”
Make up your mind. Present yourself as the being you want to present. If you’re one who likes to present yourself to everyone else as “I’m one who tells lies; I’m one who’s always drunk, takes drugs and all that; I’m one who covets my neighbor’s wife; I’m one who likes to kill and murder people,” if that’s how you want to present yourself, then go ahead. It’s your choice. But if you want to present yourself as an enlightened being, as a wise person, as a happy being, as a helpful, compassionate, loving, truthful person, then there’s also that choice. You see, there are two choices, but it’s your choice. They’re not my Precepts; they’re a way of life. It’s a choice you make, to present yourself to the world, to God and to your own Self when you look in the mirror at the kind of person you want to see. No Precepts; we don’t need Precepts. You know what you want to be.
Spoken by Supreme Master Ching Hai, Aukland, New Zealand,
April 27, 2000 (Originally in English) Videotape No. 686Q: When we feel intense fear, what’s the reason for it? What’s life trying to tell us?
M: It depends. If you’re in a fearful situation, it’s all right to feel fear. But we don’t have to let the fear overcome us so that we’ll be paralyzed and don’t know how to react in a better way. Fear is a natural emotion. Fear and love are natural emotions. You don’t have to suppress it; you just have to understand it and handle it.
For example, do you think I don’t have fear? I do. I feared coming here and not knowing what to talk to you about. I feared that I wouldn’t know how to make you understand what I understand. I really did fear. Today, I arrived earlier and went to have tea in a shop because I didn’t have anything to eat since yesterday. I couldn’t eat on the airplane; I was very tired physically because I had to rush with a lot of things in order to pack and then go. I hadn’t slept for a long time, so when I got on the airplane, I didn’t eat anything. I just tried to sleep or quiet down. Then this morning, I worried that I might sleep in the lecture hall! So I went and had some tea. And then I saw a lot of people sitting there; they were having tea and talking about all kinds of things. And I was wondering: How am I going to tell all these people about God! Do they really care about God? They’re so happy with their physical life: Who am I going to talk to and about what?
So I was also scared. Not truly scared but really not very encouraged or enthusiastic and not so confident. But then I still did it. You see? I had fear, but I went through with it. It’s not that I don’t have it. We have fear, but we have to go through it. If it’s a fearful situation, we have to think about what we can do to make it better. If it’s a fearful person, we have to try to use love to overcome our own fear. The person who’s sometimes bad to us makes us fearful, because he or she is an insecure person. So it depends on the situation.
Anyway, even if we have fear, we must calm down and think, “OK, I have fear, but now what must I do in this kind of situation to get myself out of this fear?” You have to take control of yourself to get rid of the fear. Taking control of ourselves means dealing with the situation so that we become more secure, and then the fear will disappear. We can’t suppress the fear. We have to deal with it and make it better.
Spoken by Supreme Master Ching Hai, Aukland, New Zealand,
April 27, 2000 (Originally in English) Videotape No. 686Q: Why is it that although we’re all equal in God’s creation, some of us suffer so much misery while certain others, though they live a life of evil misdeeds, prosper materially ?
M: That’s because of the different paths that we’ve chosen. When we gain material wealth or comfort, it doesn’t mean that we’re blessed or we’re anything good because as soon as we die, we leave everything behind. If we gain spiritual knowledge and wealth, that’s everlasting .
So don’t envy those who only acquire material possessions, but have nothing for their soul; because soon they’ll be empty. But you, even though you don’t have many material acquisitions, are rich in your heart. You have great love, great compassion, great knowledge and wisdom. Like the Buddha or Jesus, they were walking in bare feet. They didn’t have any money; they didn’t have cars. They didn’t have anything, and yet people fell at their feet to worship them. People still listen to everything they said and worship them, two or three thousand years later. So who’s richer, the millionaires out there or Jesus and Buddha? You already know the answer. There’s no need to compare ourselves with others. We have to know what we’re worth inside. That’s what’s important.
Spoken by Supreme Master Ching Hai, Aukland, New Zealand,
April 27, 2000 (Originally in English) Videotape No. 686Q: Should we love our enemies?
M: Well, what else can you do with him? (Laughter) That’s a practical question. If you kill him, his wife might kill you, or his daughter or son. It will continue forever. So we’d better love our enemy. It’s the best way to kill him! (Laughter) If you love your enemy, he or she becomes your friend. Then the enemy’s gone for good. And you have more friends: from his family: his wife, his kids, his relatives and his friends as well. Make one friend and you have many friends. Make one enemy and you make many enemies. So we ‘lose business’ if we hate the enemy.
