How To Go To The
Buddha-Lands？

　Spoken by Supreme Master Ching Hai at Columbia University, New York, U.S.A.
November 4, 1989. (Originally in English)
This article was published in China Times, Formosa October 25, 1995

☆Where Are The Buddha-Lands ☆The Road To Wisdom Is Endless
☆Different Beings In Other Galaxies And On Other Planets
☆Great Enlightened Saints Appear In Every Cycle Of Our Existence
☆What Is The Correct Method? ☆The Invisible Aspects
☆The Real Baptism ☆The Difference Between Pure Land And Our World

Good afternoon. Happy that you have come. It's Saturday afternoon, and your time is very valuable. I am glad that you have saved some of your busy time and come here. It's sometimes difficult to speak. It's difficult to go back to the normal thinking of the human level and to communicate through language, but I'll try. After half an hour, it will go on automatically. (Master laughs.) Now, please help and join me in prayer so that our seminar, our meeting, will be fruitful, will be of some benefit to all of you and those that you love. Just take a few minutes. Let's pray that the Almighty God will speak through me, and that the Almighty God within you will be awakened and listen. Thank you.

Where Are The Buddha-Lands

Shakyamuni Buddha, when He was alive, what I mean is that when He was still on the physical plane, in the physical body, He introduced to us so many wonderful lands that we call Buddha-lands. And Jesus Christ, when He was on earth, He also told us and introduced to us many so-called heavens, different levels of consciousness. Also He had told us: In the house of my Father, there are many mansions. Do you remember? What does it mean by many Buddha-lands? What does it mean by In the house of my Father, there are many mansions?

I would like to introduce to you one of the Buddha-lands, and you could also say that it's one of the mansions of God. According to Buddhism, there is one Buddha-land which is very beautiful. Well, there are many different Buddha-lands, but today we'll speak about one of them. This Buddha-land is called the Land of the King of Medicine Buddha.

When this Buddha was in a physical body and roamed around the world liberating sentient beings, he had twelve kinds of vows for the benefit of the people. What does it mean making vows? When you are practicing for Bodhisattvahood, meaning when you are practicing to become a saint, you'd like to help people in such and such a way, and so you wish inside your heart that people would benefit from you in certain ways. These are so-called "vows". And through the power of your practice, your virtues, your will power and good will, these vows will become true.

So one of the vows of the King of Medicine Buddha, which we call "Yiao Shi Pho" in Chinese, was that if anyone came to him afflicted with any kind of disease, body and mind, he would first give them relief -- give them food to eat, medicine to take care of their health, and then slowly he would make them realize the highest potential power within themselves, what we call the Buddha nature, or the Kingdom of God.

When the disciples of the Buddha went to this Buddha of the Medicine Land, they saw that the land was endowed with so many precious stones, and the earth was made with crystal. Most of the Buddha-lands are similar in character. The Land of the Medicine Buddha and the Land of Amitabha Buddha are similar in character. The earth is made of a kind of crystal or of luxurious stones. Houses are made from seven precious jewels -- rubies, diamonds, gold, etc.... The people who live in this kind of land are ever, ever joyful, never have any difficulties, never heard of any miseries. Even the word misery doesn't exist in that land, how much less they have to experience this kind of suffering.

Whereby in our world, which we call the Earth, there is a kind of mixture between suffering and happiness. Sometimes we suffer, sometimes we enjoy. Some people are sorrowful, some people are happy. It's different in the Land of the Buddha. Only happiness, only joy, only bliss, only love. No suffering, no misunderstanding, no violence, no blaming, no quarreling, no war.

What is the purpose of the Buddha telling people about all these beautiful lands? So that they realize that there are other universes, there are other beautiful planets to which we can go, live, and stay permanently. No need to cling to this miserable world. If we think this world is too miserable for us, then we must not stay here. We have a choice. That was the purpose of the Buddha coming into this world, that was the purpose of Jesus when He came into the world, to introduce to the people of our world many other different planets where life is more enjoyable, more suitable to our mentality, or our desire.

The Road To Wisdom Is Endless

Now, we think Buddha died and we think Jesus has left the world, has died. But it is not true. Jesus as well as Buddha are still living. They are just living in a different place, and they have also evolved with time, with their job, and with their ever-learning. We can never learn enough. Do not think that after we become Buddha or Christ-like, we stop learning. No, then it becomes like a dead end. The road to wisdom is endless.

So you remember in the Bible, Jesus said something very strange. He said: Whatever miracles, whatever great things I do today, you can do them even better tomorrow. Now isn't that strange? How can we do better than Jesus? Who knows? Please raise your hand. Anyone have any idea why Jesus said such a strange thing? Why did He say we can do greater things than He did? Why did He humble Himself in this way? Why greater than Jesus? Isn't He the only son of God? (Audience: We are the same as He.) Then why should we be greater than Him? He should say that you can do the same. Why would He say: You can do better than I even?

What you have said is all correct, everyone is correct in part. Now, I may add something. Just for example, at the time you met your teacher, or what we call the initiation process, you just had a little taste of a heaven, of the power within yourself. So you may praise Jesus or your teacher very much. You say: "Oh! That was a wonderful experience. What did you do to me? That was incredible!" So Jesus would humbly say: "No! No! That is nothing. You will do even greater." What he meant maybe was as you develop more, you will know even more than just what you know today. That's one of the possibilities at that time. I think there is another possibility, another meaning in what He said. It's that He, at that time, was not that much developed, not as much as He could have been developed. Maybe if Jesus came back now, He would be greater than He was then. That was also one of the suggestions.

Also maybe, His power, even though still very great, was difficult to give, difficult to offer to the people, because at that time, our human minds were also underdeveloped as well. We were not as civilized, not as intelligent, as we are now. Even the great Jesus couldn't do much. It's just like when you are a very excellent M.D. or engineer, and you go to Africa with all your Ph.D. and knowledge, what can you do in a jungle? You can only apply some herbal medicine, wash patients with soap, (Master and all laugh) and that's all you can do. If the patients get relief, they praise you. And you, say, "No! No! That was nothing." It's true that it was nothing for what the doctor can do in normal conditions, in a good hospital, where he is surrounded by all kinds of equipment and colleagues who help him in his job.

Also when Jesus came to us, it was 2,000 years ago, and as 2,000 years have gone by, He must have learned much more. So now, if those who are in the future, those who came after Jesus are in a better environment, in a more modernized civilization, of course, they could do greater wonders.

So if we look in the Bible, Jesus didn't have the chance to say much at all. What He said, I am sorry, even though was so great, but He wasn't that great. I don't mean Jesus was not great. It was that He did not have the chance to say much. Also the people at that time, their understanding, was not that great, not great enough to match Jesus' wisdom. So He had to tell them in parables, kind of stories, had to use some kind of healing power, all these kinds of things, to awaken people. He also told them in very simple straightforward terms -- to keep the commandments, believe in God, pray to God, etc. Only some of His chosen few disciples were selected to be the messengers of His message; the rest He just cured them of their sicknesses, uplifted them a little bit in a mental way, invisible way, comforted them, and reminded them of the commandments or of God.

Therefore, those who came after Jesus having the same capacity as He, reaching the same level of enlightenment, could do much more than He did, could speak more in a more logical way, more intelligent way, more scientific way in order to suit the modern society. So it's not very advantageous for us to cling to the image of our old-time Jesus or Buddha. We have to advance, and what we learn today, it must not always be what the people learned in the past.

Now why did the Buddha take so much time and talk about so many Buddha-lands? It wasn't "He" who talked even. It was His disciples who were taken to the Land of the Buddha, came back, and wrote the so-called diaries. Of course, the Buddha was in that Buddha-land, and the Buddha was the one who took these disciples around and introduced them. But it was not necessary that he spoke to the earthly people in the human language. Some of my so-called followers, disciples, students or fellow practitioners, whatever you call them, they also have had similar kinds of experiences. They were taken to those beautiful lands of love, peace and glory, those with crystal-paved grounds and golden palaces. When they came back to earth consciousness, they also wrote down their experiences, and their joy in the heavenly kingdom or in these Buddha-lands. So these Buddha-lands do exist, and they are much more beautiful, much more gracious than our earth.

Different Beings In Other Galaxies
And On Other Planets

In the universe, we can see with our physical eyes that there are many kinds of planets. Our scientists are now trying hard to discover what kinds of planets these are, and if they are peopled or not peopled? Are the people over there similar to ours or not similar? Some of the scientific discoveries have proved that some planets are peopled with beings similar to ours, sometimes they are not similar. Those planets in the universal system are indeed peopled with many different beings. Some are so different vibration, that our physical eyes could not detect them. Even if we send a spaceship to that planet, and the astronauts with all their equipment, we could not see them. Therefore, when our astronauts went to the moon, they saw nothing, and they took some rocks home; they are very expensive rocks. I think we should buy them and wear them around our neck (Master and all laugh) -- moon stone, because they are more expensive than diamond comparing the cost of the spaceship.

Why is it that our eyes fail to see the invisible beings in other galaxies, other planets? It is because we are made of different densities of matter. Actually, matter is not matter at all. I think science has proved that -- that matter is actually empty of nature, it's only different in density. I think that it's very logical. That's why Buddhism has the theory of emptiness. Emptiness means all things are empty in their own nature, it's only a difference in density.

Now I'll try to make it more concrete. You see, air, we cannot see it, we can use it only. We can breathe and we feel the air is there when the wind blows, otherwise we cannot detect the air. The air is composed of oxygen and hydrogen. Everyone knows that. Water also is composed of hydrogen and oxygen, the same kind of composition -- H2O. But when water vaporizes and becomes air, air is entirely different from water. If we are thirsty, we cannot drink air, (Master and all laugh) we have to drink water, even though they are both composed of the same thing, and have the same percentage of composition. Ice is even more different. Ice is different in density. Water condenses and makes itself become solid, so we have ice. So that helps us to explain the different beings in the universe -- why some are solid, are visible, and others are very intangible, invisible. I think it is the same theory.

We have heard people say: "All beings in the universe are one, are of the same essence." Today I am enlightened in this matter, (Master laughs) thanks to you. If I hadn't spoken about this, I would have forgotten this wisdom, I wouldn't have remembered. Because today you needed to know this, I had the opportunity to dig this information out, and give it to you. If it hadn't been for you, I probably wouldn't have needed this information. It was put safely in the store, and maybe just forgotten.

To become enlightened is also like that. We have to unlock our memory. We have to use it each day, in our daily practice, our daily living. We'll unlock more mysteries, more capacities in our dormant storage of the brain. That's what we call "enlightenment", that's what we call "getting more wisdom"; nothing mysterious about that. Everything we already have in our brain, in our store. It's just that when we don't use it, we forget it. It's just like it's non-existent.

As much as I have told you about the story about the water, the air, and the ice, which are made from the same elements, we are also made of the same essence, the same elements -- that is the light, the vibration, which we call the Word in the Bible. The Word means the vibration. In ancient times, they didn't call it the vibration, they called it the Word. Something with sound, something that makes sound -- that is the Word. Whether it is invisible or visible sound, they had no expression for this; so they call it the Word. Lao Tzu had no expression for this. He called it: If you press me too much, I will say it is the Tao, I have no word for it. In Buddhist terminology, they call it the sound-stream, the inner sound. They all amount to the same thing. We hear in the Bible: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, the Word was God.

This vibration or this light will become more dense, as it descends to different levels of the universal hierarchy. It becomes the most dense here, so we have this kind of visible body to move around in. But when some practice at a very high level, and develop themselves to the highest wisdom and the highest power, they merge themselves back to the original source. Then sometimes you see their body disappear. It's not that they disappear, they just melt into their original form. Just like when ice is put in contact with sun light or fire, it melts into water and then disappears into the air again.

When we meditate, practice, and we become Buddha, a great master, we will not just disappear so quickly. We also have a control over our body, over our destiny, and we want to stay for the benefit of others. But our body is not always real any more. Therefore, sometimes if such a master gives discourses in some way -- in samadhi, or in some way teaching others, some people just don't see the body of the master at all. Just see an ocean of light, and that light will even swallow all the audience in the lecture. That you may experience sometimes. Maybe even to the extent of half an hour, one, two, three hours, you are just lost in the sea of light and blissfulness. It's because the master has merged into the ocean of light. Sometimes the master chooses to manifest this to some of the disciples, maybe just to convince him or her, or maybe just because that disciple had great affinity with that master in the past. But not everyone can see this phenomenon, and not every master is so high to manifest such kind.

Great Enlightened Saints Appear
In Every Cycle Of Our Existence

Now, it is difficult to find these masters, because they are too ordinary. They might not even have any robe at all. They just wear ordinary clothes. The more ordinary, maybe the more great. Sometimes we happen to walk on the street, and we might see many Bodhisattvas, saints, but we might not recognize them. They work in silence. In a Buddhist sutra, we call the Lotus Sutra, Shakyamuni Buddha said: In every cycle of our existence, the Bodhisattvas -- meaning the great enlightened saints -- will always appear on this Earth to protect the great teaching, protect the dharma.

It's not possible for us to always recognize this, because they are so great in number, and they work in different fields and different ways. You may see an engineer, maybe a doctor, or maybe a taxi driver, but they are great saints. So take care (Master laughs) to respect other people when you happen to bump into them. The best attitude is to look at all beings as Buddhas, as saints, then you may experience great wonders, great changes will be taking place in your life.

I have mentioned already that it is not necessary to go into the Himalayas or to shave your head to become enlightened. I did so because it was my path, my destiny. Also I wasn't enlightened. Now suppose I am already enlightened and I am already a monk, what would happen if I let my hair grow very long, I wear jeans, and run around? Do you think I'd lose my enlightenment then? (Audience answer: No.) Exactly!

Doesn't matter what you do in the world, doesn't matter how many duties you have to discharge, once you are enlightened, you are enlightened forever. It's just that you need the key to enlightenment, and the faster the better. Of course, we have no time. We are in the modern world. We can't just sit there for years and wait for the sudden awakening. If we do not have any taste beforehand, it is difficult for our scientific age peoples' minds to believe in anything that we cannot prove. Therefore, the so-called masters nowadays openly give people some evidence of the greater level of consciousness, of the Kingdom of God, or of the Buddha's light, in order for people to believe, to get some proof to hang on to, and to develop.

There are only the different levels of enlightenment. Once you are enlightened, you are enlightened. It's just that you choose to go further to be greater, or you choose to stay there. Once you are initiated, you are different beings, you are a different level. Just like once you have graduated from high school and once you have registered at college, you become a college student. There's no going back any more. You cannot be called a kindergarten student any more, or high school student. You choose to learn more, to become a Ph.D., or you choose to stay in that and then you drop out. Nevertheless, you were a college student. You are not a high school graduate.

So once you are enlightened through the grace of a master, through your own effort, you are forever enlightened. You are no longer like you were before. But it's a matter of diligent practice afterward that counts. It's not just one-moment of enlightenment that makes you become a Buddha. It's not that you register once in a college, never learn anything, and then you become an M.D. No, it's not so simple.

As with every other science, we need constant effort and diligent practice. But also we need assurance from a teacher, and a helping hand. Sometimes we slip, sometimes we are ignorant of our progress, and sometimes we do not know the pitfalls in the practicing road, which is a very long and difficult one. So we need a friend, a faithful, unselfish, and wise friend to guide us, to help us on the road. Walking, we must do alone, but helping, the friend may do -- making the journey more pleasurable, faster, more enlightened. So the teacher is a good friend who walks beside you, helps you when you fall down, cooks for you when you are sick, (Master and all laugh) helps you when you are tired, and encourages you when you lose your enthusiasm. But the teacher cannot enlighten for you. The teacher can put you on the path only, then we can walk.

◆ Question & Answer Session

What Is The Correct Method?

Q: How can we tell whether a method is the correct method? How do you know the method is the highest, is the right one for you to learn?

M: Any method that brings you close to Buddha, your Buddha-nature, brings you back to God, shows you that you have God's power, shows you that you have God's light, Buddha's light, that is a correct method.

Q: I have been a Buddhist for three years, but have had no progress at all. What's the problem?

M: The problem is that you have only read other peoples' experiences and hasn't had experience yourself. For example, in Buddhism, we have a scripture that describes the Land of Amitabha Buddha with all sorts of beauty. The ground is paved with gold, even the birds can sing the great teachings, there are beautiful palaces, and the people there use lotuses to fly in the air, etc. They have a beautiful pool with nectar. When you drink it, you have so much strength, power, and intelligence, etc. But a person who has never been there before, heard about it.

Then, everyday he just recites this kind of Buddha-land, and he doesn't even have any appetite for it. He might have the appetite, but he has not had the food. My method is to offer you a little bit of the taste of the Buddha-land, so that you know you are on the right path and encouraged to walk further. Then you know you have success. Otherwise, of course, you study for thirty years and you have no success, never mind three years. Three years is too short already. Some people have waited thirty years, have never seen any Buddha-land, have never had a glimpse of the Buddha's light, have never had a little bit of sound of the Buddha's musical voice. It's very difficult if you don't have a correct teacher, you don't have a correct path. It's never a success at all.

Just like someone takes you to the restaurant. You're so hungry and you want to find a restaurant. At least the person takes you to the right road. If you haven't reached the restaurant yet, you know you are on the right road, and carry on walking further, because you can smell a little bit of the food from its kitchen from far away, and you know that's it, you are on the right path. Otherwise, you walk for many days and many roads, you can never have anything.

Q: I don't believe in any religion at all, and I don't belong to any particular religious group. I only meditate myself. Can I get enlightenment?

M: That shows that you haven't got enlightenment. If you had, you would have known. At least you would feel more secure. Now, we don't need to belong to any religious order or group in order to get enlightenment. We do not even need to believe before we see, but seeing, we must. When we are face to face with God or Buddha, or we have been to the Buddha-land, then we will know. Yes! There is Buddha, now I believe.

It's all right to be an atheist, (Master laughs) but it's not all right to remain like that all our life. We must get some proof as long as we can, as far as we can. If no one else offers us the proof, then no one can blame us for being atheists forever. But if someone stands out and offers us the proof, then we should at least give ourselves a chance to prove the world beyond our existence. Then we can believe there's a Buddha, there's God or there are other saints.

Q: Please explain more about mass suffering, Are they all guilty from before, that's why they are suffering?

M: No one is innocent, I have told you yesterday. I am not condemning anyone at all. It's all learning lessons. Learning is very painful. Once you are awakened, you see things in a different light, and you know it's all lessons.

Look at the mass killing that we do everyday in order to keep this body for one hundred years. How many lives have to be sacrificed -- all the fish, all the shrimps, all the chickens, all the pigs, all the buffaloes? Do you think all this energy will be dissolved without war, without suffering, without physical ailments?

Everything we do is recorded in the air. Nothing will be lost, it will be diluted only with a different energy. It will be equalized only by different actions, not lost. For example, vapor air already became ice through water, and now if you want it to disappear, we have to put sun rays, a lamp, light, or heat on it, in order to get it back into the air again.

So if we have been killing, mass massacres, all the time, all these animals suffering, and they also have consciousness, thinking, and hatred energy, all this hatred, fear condenses itself into a powerful energy, and hangs around the air. Too much of that will result in mass suffering.

We have to pay for everything we use in this physical universe. Therefore, all the masters emphasize a vegetarian diet. The least cost to the existence. Animals have life, plants also have life, but they are the least cost. Just like you earn only a hundred dollars and you want to spend two hundred, then of course you are in debt, you are in trouble. If you try to buy cheap things and satisfy yourself with the minimum cost to live, then you have no worry about debt. That's why we choose the vegetarian diet -- fruit, nuts, milk, or cheese. All these things have less crime, less consciousness within themselves.

Now if you take the milk from the cow, will the cow die? If you take a few nuts from the trees, the trees still have plenty of nuts to grow thousands of nut trees more. They will not be lost. If you cut a flower, or a branch of a vegetable, that will grow even more from that cut stem, even more vegetables will come out of it. So in this way, we know that the vegetarian diet is less harmful, less cost.

The Invisible Aspects

Q: Did you mean spirit, God is the substance of our body?

M: Yes, yes, the holy spirit is the substance of our body. We come from that. And when you go very high in wisdom, you will realize that this body is also spirit, from the higher vibration. It has condensed into this kind of form only.

Therefore, if you practice very high or there is a high practicing Master, you don't see the Master. But you have to also develop higher or through the grace of the Master. You don't see the Master at all, only see light here. And the light is so great that it envelopes the whole audience, the whole hall. You see no one. You see that there is no matter at all. It's really empty.

That's what we call emptiness. But in the emptiness, you are fulfilled, you are satisfied. It's not the emptiness that leaves you empty and lonely like the ordinary emptiness of this world. The more you empty in the spiritual sense, the more you are fulfilled, the wiser you become. It's all different.

The worldly language is terrible, that's why everyone mistakens Buddhism for nihilism, nothingness, emptiness. (Master laughs.) It's not so. If everything goes back into nihilism, goes back into nothing, then the Buddha would never have emphasized that you keep the precepts, be a good person, be virtuous. What would be the use? You'd become nothing anyhow. You'd become empty. (Master laughs.) No, it's not so.

Q: How can you prove that after the end, another life exists?

M: Well, if you have not been enlightened about this matter already, then you should be enlightened, then you can see. Some people can see these things without having officially been enlightened, due to their sensitive clairvoyant ability. And some people have to have a master in order to be clairvoyant. After enlightenment to some degree, you will come to know all these things.

It's easy to prove, but we must practice. These things are intangible things -- belonging to the inner, invisible knowledge. There is knowledge of material nature. There is knowledge of immaterial nature. Now, if you want to prove the invisible knowledge, you have to go to the invisible school, and practice the invisible method. We cannot use the material to prove the immaterial things. But we can prove it in a different way.

Q: What was your method of obtaining enlightenment, and was there a specific moment that you felt it occurred?

M: No. My method is no method. At the time of transmission, you just sit there, and I also sit there. We don't do anything. We don't speak any words. We don't move one inch. But we get the light, and we get enlightenment. We can leave the body, we can visit heaven, or we can at least see the heavenly light or hear the heavenly Word, listen to the instructions of God and become wiser each day.

The method I impart is no method. Thus, I cannot write it down for you. I can only personally, invisibly, and inactively open it for you. I do without doing. If anything involves any doing, any excitement, any movement, it still belongs to the world of form and matter. So our method is a non-substance method, non-form method. But it can be transmitted, it can be had, it can be possessed.

Why is it so? It is because the enlightenment is within yourself, the light is within you, the Buddha-nature is within you, the Kingdom of God is within you. I only point it to you: "Here, look this way and you will see." Sometimes you have eyeglasses in your hand, and you keep looking all over for them. So I say: " It's here, (Master laughs) this way."

So it's no method. You already have it, believe me. No method can lead you to enlightenment, except you have to know your own nature and get in contact with it. That is the only method. Any method that lets you see the Buddha-nature at once, see the Heavenly Kingdom at once, that is the Quan Yin Method. That is the right method. That's the correct method. You call it any name you want, but there's no method.

It's only the power of God which descends into any chosen pure body, and opens your own God-power. It's God who saves God. It's the Buddha who saves the Buddha. It's the Buddha who enlightens the Buddha. It's the Buddha inside you who chooses to be awakened. The Buddha inside me and the Buddha inside you are one.

Because you do not know it yet, the Buddha inside you has to manifest into an outside body, and waken it up. But it is you who wakes up yourself. It's the Buddha-nature inside you who chooses the time. The alarm clock went off, so wake up. It's difficult.

I will not teach you anything. It's you who teaches yourself. It's the Buddha within you who wakes up and realizes who you are, and starts to work with your own capacity, with your own wisdom. Therefore afterward, you will realize that no one is the master. Everyone is equal. Everyone has the same potential. Just you forgot how to use it. The one who remembers, the one who knows will remind you. That's all there is.

If you already have money in your pocket, and I tell you the money is here, I don't give you anything. I only remind you what you have forgotten. Therefore, there's no need for me to use any method. The money is yours. (Master laughs.)

MC: But the Master does open the door, does open the wisdom-mind for us.

Q: Are heaven, Buddha-land, Buddha, only imaginary things in our mind? Everyone sees a different form of Buddha-land. No such physical existence in reality?

M: Oh, it isn't an imaginary product. Some lands are illusion due to hallucinations. When you are short of oxygen, when you are tired, when you are on drugs or alcohol, or undergoing suffering, you do have hallucinations. These are unreal and you cannot go back to those lands again.

But those Buddhas-lands and real heaven have real invisible substance, and you can go back anytime afterward. Not everyone sees a different land. Many of my disciples see the same land. But because there are so many lands, so of course someone goes there, someone goes here. Just like we have so many countries in this world, some go to America, some go to England. That's of course no doubt. But England does exist and two or more can go there at the same time.

Q: Are there spirits in this world or just psychological phenomenon unrelated to the level of spirits, made in our mind?

M: There are spirits, yes. What are spirits? They are the encased souls who are not liberated. We are souls who are encased in these bodies at the moment. After we leave our world, we leave these bodies, but it doesn't mean we are completely liberated. There are other bodies encasing our souls still. Just like a house has many doors.

When I visited the prison (for lecture), there were about thirteen doors, small doors, iron doors. They had to be opened and locked immediately behind me. I went through thirteen doors to visit the prisoners, and I went through thirteen doors to go out again. Now, if the prison officer just opened one or two doors, I'd still be in prison. I would not be liberated. Have to open the last door and then the greater gate outside before I could go back to the free world again.

Similarly, when we leave these physical bodies, it doesn't mean that we are completely free of other bodies. We have other bodies. So the spirits which we see sometimes with different eyes, or other people see with the psychic eyes, these are those encased souls in astral bodies. Sometimes they fly around, sometimes they make trouble, sometimes they don't.

The Real Baptism

Q: How does initiation which cancels one's past karma differ from Christian baptism, which removes the guilt of original sin?

M: Is that right? Does it remove? Then how come you keep coming for confession every Sunday? You don't feel removed with baptism. The real baptism came from a Christ-like person, like John the Baptist, like Jesus Christ. The power of removal, not the action. Just like I sign a check, but I have no money in the bank. (Master laughs.) It's different from my signing a check with the money in my bank account.

Baptism is a beautiful tradition in Christianity, as well as in Buddhism. We call it taking refuge in the Buddha. And when you take refuge, they read out loud: After you take refuge in the Buddha, your karma is all cleansed, you will never be born in hell and as an animal, etc. I have seen many baptized people go to hell. You cannot just do it verbally or by ceremony. There must be invisible God-power behind it to cleanse you, because sins are invisible.

Does that makes sense to you? Yes, we have to be logical in practice. We can not just be blind, and follow anything people say. We are cheated, we are made fun of, made a fool of. But no doubt after you confess your sins to someone, maybe you'll feel a little relief. But then, you sin again. And also you have not felt any upliftment.

When Jesus baptized people, He really cleansed people's sins. When John baptized people, He really cleansed people's sins. Therefore, they can see light from heaven. When Jesus was baptized by John, He saw the light come from heaven like a dove.

At the initiation, you will also see such kind of light, at least such kind. So you know that you have been cleansed and you know you have been in contact with heaven. Otherwise, how do you know? And you'll feel a sudden relief, like a mountain has fallen from your shoulders, like a stone has been removed from your heart. That is the real sign of cleansing and purifying. Otherwise, only talk, and formality. Doesn't remove the original sins just by baptism. If the priest is very high, enlightened, powerful, yes; if not, no.

Q: Why are breathing exercises contrary to Master's method?

M: Because in our body, there are two kinds of currents. One is called the motor current which generates the heat in the body, takes care of the blood circulation and the digestive system. That is supported by the breathing. Now if we control the breath, we make a mess of our orderly system. God has already made our body in a perfect condition. Whatever has to be done is already taken care of. No need to mess around. All we want to do is to free our soul, not to mess around with the systems of our body. Sometimes it creates danger.

Also, the breath is ephemeral. When you sleep, you are unconscious of breathing. When you faint, when you have an accident, you collapse, you do not know about the breathing. How do you practice then? How do you elevate your soul then?

Our method is the one which makes your soul ever conscious. During sleep, during accident, during collapse time, during disaster, always conscious to take care of your problems, take care of your business, take care of your decisions. We waken our own soul up. We waken the master of the house up and let him do the job. Then twenty-four hours he does things, without us having to think, and to even to pray for, because the Master has woken up, the Buddha, the holy spirit within us has woken up. The real self, understand? Without having to listen to the brain -- the stupid computer. Therefore, we will do everything in the right spirit. Knowing or not knowing this, we'll always be right, because the master has taken control, not the servant.

If we mess about with our breathing or any so-called body chakra, we interfere with the physical system only and it might bring about some illusion or hallucination, but nothing real. And we will never become any wiser. I have tried, and I have seen many people who are on the top of the so-called breath control. They still have to come to me for wisdom. Someone who practiced breath control with a very famous Chinese master, I won't mention the name, reached the breathless state already. He could survive without breathing. That person was no wiser by any means. He had to come and get initiation. Now, he's different.

Like Hatha yoga, they put all the breath into the stomach, make it become very big and save it there for some time, maybe 2-3 minutes. Breathe it out again. Or they do pranayama. But it's no harm if you take a few deep breaths and do exercises. It's different.

The Difference Between Pure Land
And Our World

Q: Master, you began your talk today with a discussion on Buddha-lands and the rooms in the mansion of the Father. Please elaborate on this. Why is there a need for a pure Buddha-land in existence? Is this not the pure land we live in this world, even though it does not manifest itself as pure in your eyes?

M: Yes, our land is very pure indeed. For me, (Master laughs), but not for some. So you have to find your own pure land. What it means in the Vimalakirti Sutra, about this land is a pure land, is that you can sit here and see the land is pure. You can sit here and see the Buddha-land right here, right in front of your eyes. That's what it means. That's what it means by "this land is a pure land."

It's true, but not true to all people. It's true to me, it's true to my disciples, true to some higher level, enlightened people, but not to everyone. Everyone still sees garbage, and sees the mountain and the river.

So what I say about pure land is that, it all exists here and now, but I have to make a distinction. I cannot always tell people: "You look, you live in the pure land now. You no need to move, you no need to exercise, you no need to do any virtues, you no need to meditate. Your land is a pure land." I cannot say that. It's not correct either.

Also, how do the pure lands of Amitabha, Avalokitesvara, etc. differ from this world, from ours? They differ a lot, too much difference. The lands over there, we know no sorrow, we know no hatred, we know no war. We only know love and mutual respect. This land is full of trouble, full of sorrow, misery. You are happy one minute, and then you are suffering ten minutes. So much difference.

Here you have to labor very long to build a house, and it might collapse with an earthquake, leaving you homeless, no electricity, no water for many days, a lot of inconvenience. We built the bridge in San Francisco. Took many years and a lot of money, billions of dollars and a lot of labor; and in just 50 seconds, it was gone.

In those lands, such thing never happen. We are always secure and live in love, light and grace. There are a lot of differences. You do not need to earn money. Everything we want comes immediately, in front of our eyes, without even having to move, go to the supermarket or change money. We go from one Buddha-land to another without any passport trouble, without any bureaucratic problem. Now you want to go to America, it's not easy, you want to get out, it's also not easy, because you need money, need passport, need relations in the other land in order to move. In Buddha-land, it's not so. You go anywhere you want. You're free.

Q: When I meditated one day I saw the light, but it nearly electrocuted me and I thought l would die. I don't understand this.

M: You saw the light was of a very high electronic nature. We might use our worldly terminology. Therefore when it touched the body, it became very powerful. That's why we have to be vegetarian and lead a virtuous life, so we don't have this kind of shock. If a very high frequency touches very gross matter, of course it will be in conflict. But if the matter is not that gross, not that coarse, then the two are blended, and you don't feel the shock.

It's dangerous to practice without the guidance of a real master and ethical discipline. All the meat and intoxicants we take will intensify the grossness of our body, the coarseness of our physical being. And the more we are condensed, the less we can blend with the higher frequency. Therefore it gives a shock. We have to develop the body, mind, and speech in order to match it.

You see the astronauts when they go into space, they have to eat different food, wear different clothes in order to suit the air pressure in higher space. They cannot wear like we wear here. Or when we go into the sea, we have to take an oxygen mask. We cannot be casual like in this land. Different atmosphere, we have to be equipped with different instruments. It's good that you have withstood this experience, and have become more enlightened. Congratulations!

Q: It is true that instant enlightenment can be attained, not only through Buddhas of enlightenment, but also through a city marshal, who knocks unexpectedly at your door.

M: It's true if that marshal is a Buddha, he can open the light for you. Then he is also an enlightened Buddha in the form of a marshal. Buddhas have many forms. If you are a marshal and you become completely enlightened, then you are a Buddha. There's no need to change the outer appearance. But any ordinary being cannot just give you instant enlightenment, be it the president or a marshal. It's not the form, the position, or the job that counts. It's the power within that person.