Between Master and Disciples
  Inner Peace: the Grace of the Master

By sister initiate Laura Chen Rivera, Costa Rica (Originally in Spanish)

I grew up as a Catholic and all I wanted was to be happy. Once I had a dream of Jesus Christ. His body was glowing as He walked across the sky, looking at me with a warm and beautiful smile. In the dream, I felt so much joy and asked Him to stay with me. I often wondered why I had only moments of happiness but no inner peace. It wasn’t until I was guided to a lecture given by Supreme Master Ching Hai in Costa Rica that I realized I was cut off from the source of blessings that Jesus Christ left in my heart. I also came to the understanding that Master’s teachings were the same as the Biblical teachings of Christ. Since I received initiation from Master and started practicing the Quan Yin Method of meditation, I have felt tremendous inner peace, happiness and unconditional love, and know I have arrived at the right place.

About 10 years ago, my life was in chaos due to financial difficulties, legal problems and the loss of my home to fire, yet I still retained my inner peace and faith in Master. Her words “This will pass. Nothing is forever! The truth will make you free!” constantly resonated in my mind.

Just before an international retreat in Korea, my house was completely burned to the ground. Everything was reduced to ashes except Master’s photo and my passport that was behind it. It was a miracle that only these two things were saved, which was why I was able to attend the retreat to be with Master. Every time I go to a gathering like this, I always feel like I am in Heaven, and when I return home, I have the courage to continue to face the responsibilities of my life on Earth.

On that summer morning during the retreat, more than 2,000 fellow initiates greeted Master as She passed by in a mini-golf cart, looking like a loving mother who has come to see Her children. After a few moments, She turned, looked at me, and said: “Laura, come!” I followed Master to Her living quarters and as we conversed over fruit and tea, I realized that She knew about the fire and the suffering that I was going through. She was very sympathetic and loving, as usual. She asked Her attendant to take me to the Celestial Shop to choose something warm to wear; and when She gave me an envelope filled with money, I felt really embarrassed, because I knew that Her money came from Her own work and was to be used for humanitarian missions. At Master’s insistence, I accepted Her gift with much gratitude in my heart.

In the afternoon, after group meditation, Master told everyone about the fire accident and asked me in public: “How much money do you need to rebuild your house?” Again I was embarrassed; and because I did not know much about construction, shyly I gave an estimate of four million Colones (about US$14,000). Not long after I returned to Costa Rica, I received the money from Master. In addition to what She had already done for me, Master also allowed me to stay in Her home at the local Center. No words could express how thankful I was to Her for all these great blessings.
Native vegan tamales sold very well at Christmas.
 

Later, I sold the land where my house once stood and established a small business that makes vegan “tamales” to sell through a big supermarket chain in Costa Rica. Between Christmas 2008 and February 2009, we redesigned our package label to include “Be Veg, Go Green, Save the Planet” and “Food for Life,” doing what little we could to help spread Master’s message to people of this world. I remain eternally grateful to Master for helping me get through the tough times in my life, for Her loving guidance, and for giving me the opportunity to better myself each day and to be more noble in serving others through love in action for all of Earth’s co-inhabitants.