By sister initiate Thi Huyen Nga Huynh, Duisburg, Germany

On September 28, Golden Year 3 (2006), we learned that Master had allowed us to attend a retreat from September 30 to October 3 in Malaga, Spain, and to see Her. We were all elated with indescribable joy, and our hearts felt so excited! Fellow initiates from Duisburg Center quickly rented a small bus with many seats for traveling on a trip together. From Germany to Malaga, which is located in the southernmost region of Spain, we had to travel across Belgium, France, and almost the entire country of Spain. Our trip took approximately 28 hours. But despite the long drive, we did not feel tired. We only felt happiness inside, and the complete enjoyment of the exciting trip.

On Saturday morning of September 30, Master arrived in an ocean blue outfit, walking in amidst our shouts of joy. She happily asked after us and sent someone to bring chocolate candies from Her car to distribute to us, one for each. Like a beloved mother who’s been away for a long time and came back to visit Her children, She pampered us in every detail. Master also had to travel to Malaga by car Herself, and because the driver had lost his way it also took Her 36 hours to get there. She told us of Her trip; not only did She speak without a single complaint, but She also said that thanks to the experience She understood how long our trip had been, which touched Her every time She thought about it.

And perhaps due to the cleansing of sentient beings’ karma, or the cleansing of our karma, She told us that before we came to see Her, that Her right arm had been in pain for months regardless of how much medicine She had taken. She said that She loved Her right arm very dearly, but if it were no longer interested in working by Her side and chose to leave instead, then there would be nothing She could do about it. Upon hearing this, we felt like bursting into tears, and silently prayed inside for Her arm to heal and stay with Her.

Master also told us many things about humility, and how She is always humble in life situations. She does not need to show us Her humility with us, because She came here to teach us. But, She is always humble when dealing with people outside.

Master blessed us abundantly. She had lunch with us and also personally distributed food to us. She chatted with us and asked after each one that She had met before. Not only did She find time to have a private talk with the Westerners, the Aulacese, and the Chinese, She also allowed separate meetings with initiates from each country. Since there are so many different countries and languages in Europe, She had to talk to each group continuously, one after another, from the afternoon to the evening without having any rest. After we had meditated, had a break and dinner, She was not yet finished. Still, She continued meeting with us in separate groups until late at night, patiently answering each question of spiritual practice, family affairs, married life and job-related matters.

Some Aulacese initiates who had known Her since their time in the Hong Kong refugee camp had not met Her until now. They were all very touched. It was perhaps because of this that She also retold the story of Her visit to the Hong Kong refugee camp.

Master advised us to study English and let our children study English at a young age so that someday we will have a common language. Especially if the children study English from a young age, they will understand and use this language more meaningfully and naturally, as English is more common and easy to learn. Since there are so many languages, it is difficult for us to understand each other and to share with others the beauty of our homeland and our culture. Language is very important, for through it we are connected, communicating with each other to avoid misunderstanding.

She said that of course the inner connection, which requires no spoken language, is the best. Nevertheless, She has waited for us for too long; for example, because we have practiced for a long time, yet we are still unable to connect often with Her inwardly.

Those days by Her side were gone quickly. On the morning of October 4, Master walked into the meditation hall in a light blue shirt with a beautiful milky coffee-tone overcoat to say goodbye to us. Unable to sit still in our meditation, some of us ran after Her to the gate to wave goodbye to Her. Looking at the departing car carrying our beloved Mother who had thousands of things to take care of in Her hands, we felt deeply in our hearts our endless love for Her.  

As I wrote to this point, I also remembered that Master told us that if we love Her, we should spend more time in our meditation, because the more meditation we have, the higher we will elevate and the more understanding we will have about Her. There are two important things that help our spiritual practice, the first being more meditation and the second being the work we do to serve others.

I also recalled the evening in which our German initiates met with Her, I was fortunate to have a seat before Her. Being occupied by looking at Her eyes, my mind drifted somewhere without my awareness. When I was asked to translate from Aulacese into German so that everyone could understand, I did it in an awkwardly stupid way, which made Her laugh so hard She had tears of laughter. So did we, with our uncontrollable laughter. At that time, we were really having fun with the joy of children. That laughter helped us become closer to each other, because there was a separation between us before, which was due mainly to the language problem. I thanked Master a thousand times for giving us the precious moments of being in Her presence. The closer we are to Her, the simpler it is for us to become innocent. With children’s hearts, we are prone to be more loving, closer and more tolerant of each other.

We are grateful to You, our beloved Master! And we vow to practice more diligently, to meditate more, and to do our best to serve everyone as taught by You.

Tips from Master for Tents

To minimize rain leaking, seal the sewed edges of outer tent cover with (duct) tape!

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