/Spoken By Supreme Master Ching Hai, Hsihu, Formosa June 10, 1990
                                                                                                       (Originally In Chinese)

There are three kinds of spiritual practitioners. The first one believes in God and obeys Hirm. The second one works for God. The third one, or the highest one, becomes one with God. He who is one with God or becomes God comes spontaneously and without expectations. He comes out of sincerity, not out of greed. Sincerity is different from expecting something. I don't know how to differentiate them for you. It comes naturally and is difficult to explain. Sometimes we may confuse expectation with sincerity, but actually they are different.

The first kind of person likes to worship God and obeys God. He is very satisfied and happy with the idea of having a God that he can worship and pray to, who is higher than him and takes care of him. He does not ask for anything else but this.

The second kind of person recognizes God and likes to work for Hirm. Whatever he does, he does for God. After a while, however, he becomes more fond of the work than of God. He begins to find himself more and more work to do, but he forgets his ultimate goal is God. This kind of person has a lot of merit. He does a lot of good things, like delivering sentient beings, giving lectures, building temples, and becoming a monk, et cetera. But after he does these things for a long time, people begin to worship and adore him. They believe he is a virtuous person and keep praising him. The more they praise him, the more he indulges in the work. Gradually, he becomes attached to doing good deeds, never able to become one with God. These two kinds of disciples cannot attain the highest level, one attached to worshipping God and the other attached to working in order to please God.

The third kind of person may also worship God and do good things to please God, but he knows these things are only secondary. He would like to realize, "Who is God?" He doesn't just want to worship God or please God by working. Instead, he wants to know who God is. He wants to "catch" Hirm. This kind of person will ultimately become one with God. Very few people can attain this level.