The Love Of An Enlightened Master Is Infinitely Captivating

A Trip To Monaco

By Resident Disciple Kuo, Hsihu Center, Formosa

In the break between the fashion show in Paris and the additional show in Milan, Italy, several members of Supreme Master Ching Hai's entourage went with Her to a small country called Monaco near southeastern France. It is a very beautiful place on a mountain near the sea. The entire mountain is rocky, however there are trees in abundance. Also there are plenty of beautiful flowers, buildings and so on. A special feature of the buildings is that they are built of rock. At present, there are no fellow practitioners in this country.

It was nearly night time when we arrived. As the car racing season in Monaco was approaching, all the hotels in the city were fully booked, so we had to stay temporarily in a hotel up the hill within French territory.

Before going to the hotel, Master rented a cab to tour the city of Monaco. That day, She was wearing a dress of Her own design - a yellow Indian costume. She looked so graceful and beautiful that She really resembled a princess. Our cab driver thinking She is a princess became very fond of Her. Wherever we went, he would tell people: "This is the Princess."

Truly, Master's appearance and deportment are even more noble and superior than those of any princess, so naturally everyone believed the cab driver without any suspicion. Even when Master denied the claim, none would listen. Besides, anywhere we went, with any kind of car or driver, with or without saying, people would come close and ask: "This is the Princess from which country?" "Where does She comes from?" "She is very beautiful!," and so on. Master was the center of the public's attention wherever She went.

On one occasion, the cab driver parked the car illegally right in front of a policeman. Despite the law of Monaco being extremely strict, when the driver told the policeman: "This is the Princess", the policeman overlooked his duty of giving a fine.

The next day, Supreme Master Ching Hai wore a gorgeous traditional Au Lac dress. She rented another cab (not the same driver) and went with us to the Monaco Palace. There were thousand of tourists in the square facing the Palace admiring the buildings and scenery. Just as She stepped from the car, in less than a second, almost all the tourists turned their heads toward Her simultaneously, like a well disciplined army. Soon the whole crowd had flocked around Master, just like a fortress wall. All the photographic and video cameras were focused on Her. Those with cameras busily began taking pictures, while others, who were gazing constantly at Her, forgot to turn their heads.

The driver had parked his car some distance away and there was only one other person accompanying Supreme Master Ching Hai at the time. The unexpected attention made even our noble Master shy, so She quickly opened Her umbrella as a shield, not knowing how to escape from the crowd.

The policemen at the front of the palace must have become very jealous when they saw that all the tourists were more interested in Her than the famous magnificent six hundred year old castle. Even the famous palace museum was neglected as people were busy looking at Her. Having followed Supreme Master Ching Hai to many countries before, I had never seen Her feeling so shy and embarrassed in public, although She is usually accustomed to being the focus of public attention.

Later Supreme Master Ching Hai said that She knew there would be people staring at Her, but not to that extent. It seemed that they knew beforehand that She would be there, and had been waiting as if it had been rehearsed. It was more lively there than at a press conference, so She was quite impressed. I think the tourists were also very impressed.

Later we accompanied Supreme Master Ching Hai to visit the ocean museum. Again many people were waiting when we stepped out of the museum. Upon seeing Her, they jostled to have their photographs taken with Her. The atmosphere was very warm and harmonious. I could feel that these total strangers really liked Her very much.

When She was leaving, She waved farewell to everyone as usual, from the open car window, while the car slowly moved forward. At that moment, people also naturally gathered in a circle and waved to Her. Some of them even held their palms together - a very familiar scene to all of us! I felt that the tourists were just as cordial and natural as our fellow practitioners, as if they were also Her disciples.

Supreme Master Ching Hai said afterwards: "It's strange! Why do they like to look at me so much? I feel I have nothing special!"

I believe that She is just like a flower - a flower with an irresistible fragrance. People who see Her want to get near Her, and anyone who smells the flower's fragrance will definitely become intoxicated!