Selected Questions and Answers 

How to

Diminish

the Ego

Spoken by Supreme Master Ching Hai, International Four-day Retreat, Washington D.C., U S A, December 25, 1997 (originally in English) Videotape No. 610

Q: What kind of practice can I do to reduce my ego?

M:Just continue meditating. Also, the more you meditate, the more you can tell yourself, “This isn’t right: Control it!” Don’t give in to what your ego demands all the time. Because it’s easy to blame someone else for our failures, easy to get mad at everything, easy to give in to our own desires and lusts. It’s easy. So just try to modify it and moderate it.

Q:But sometimes you’re in that situation, and you’ve already done it before you finally discover that you did it wrong.

M: I understand. Then the next time, in a similar situation, you’ll know. That’s how you learn; learn by your mistakes. Forgive yourself, and learn from these lessons. Because if you keep continuing to do the same thing again and again, and you know it’s wrong but you continue to do it, later you won’t be able to change anymore! It becomes a pattern, and you automatically react. If you allow yourself to be spoiled or bad, it will be big trouble later.



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