Surrounded by mountains and an ethereal landscape, Pokhara, the second largest city of Nepal, is home to many descendants of Brahman families whose beautiful tradition of observing a vegetarian diet and the precept of ahimsa have been preserved until today. An profound atmosphere of spiritual practice pervades the city of Pokhara, where vegetarianism and spiritual cultivation form part of its traditional heritage.

The exhibition coincided with the local New Year holiday, which is Nepal's most important annual festival. Since all offices and shops including newspapers were closed for the holiday, fellow initiates decided to intensify their work by distributing pamphlets and hanging banners, as well as through mobile broadcast vehicles and radio broadcasts. The owner of the fabric shop, where we purchased cloth for our banners, acquainted us with a newspaper reporter who, in turn, introduced to us a printer who could print our pamphlets and a technician working at a radio station. Earnest and pure at heart, this technician had been a vegetarian since childhood and already greatly impressed by Supreme Master Ching Hai's teachings at the Katmandu event. The following day, he came with a radio reporter and a broadcaster to interview us at the hotel. The three of them were so fascinated with Master's teachings that they requested to learn the Convenient Method of meditation.

The reporter promised to include news reports on this activity in his station's daily news broadcasts. Every day from the preparatory stage right through to the end of the exhibition, radio station staff eagerly helped us set up audio equipment as well translation and other facilities. They even produced and presented us with a cassette tape to be used on the vehicle broadcasting Master's teachings on Pokhara's streets and lanes. The broadcaster volunteered to help spread Master's teachings on the streets; and in order to learn more about Her teachings and to introduce them on his radio program, he came every evening to watch Master's videos.

An artist who was deaf and mute helped us paint the banners. As it was a time-consuming job, he invited his artist friends to help. Subsequently, these friends of his also requested to learn the Convenient Method, obviously having received blessings through their work. Words were not necessary as we shared in the joys and bliss together.

When we were putting up Master's posters, many passers-by approached us and asked if they could take a poster home for veneration. Many of the posters that we had posted at public sites disappeared. Early each morning, we would see people taking them down intact and walking away with them. Even the remaining posters at the exhibition venue were hotly sought after. Many pointed straight at Master's poster and proclaimed with certainty that this is God! It seemed to be their tradition or habit to love and positively support an enlightened Master so zealously. Their intense affinity with our Master was attributable perhaps to many lifetimes of spiritual practice or perhaps to their living near the birthplace of Shakyamuni Buddha.

Frequent blackouts as a result of a damaged dam made it necessary for us to rent a power generator for the event. Having negotiated the price and completed the installation, we noted with surprise that the rental owner had already joined the working team at the venue. The fellow brother responsible for the utilities was amazed by his superb technique - he could cut and strip a wire just by using his teeth, and he worked faster than if he had used a pair of pliers!

During a break, he took out a pack of cigarettes, only to see a fellow initiate signal to him that smoking was "not good for him"! He responded quickly by throwing away the cigarettes. At the information counter, a fellow initiate showed him a meditation posture and said "good"! His interest immediately aroused, he stepped forward to read the conditions for initiation written in Nepalese. He later requested to learn the Convenient Method of meditation and began a vegetarian diet. Such is the pure and lovely quality of the Nepalese people!

One evening, when the carpenters were busy working on the mannequins and cabinets for the exhibition, several familiar Nepalese faces appeared. Carrying helmets in their hands, these fellow initiates from Katmandu traveled more than ten hours on motorbikes to come and help with the work. In the next few days, many people came long-distance by buses to help; even a fellow brother from the Calcutta Center traveled a thousand miles to join us. United in our commitment to doing Master's work, we were a team as happy and harmonious as siblings in a family.

One day, we went to distribute sample booklets by the lakeside, and we rowed a boat to various parts of the shore to find people with affinity. There we saw a Tibetan resting with his eyes closed. Assuming that Tibetans might not be able to read English, we decided not to disturb him, so we didn't give him a booklet. However, just as we boarded the boat and were about to row away, he rushed to the edge of the water and asked for a sample booklet. After a thorough search which confirmed that not a single copy was left, we regrettably waved our hands to him.

Soon after we got back to our hotel, he too arrived. He told us that the previous night he had dreamt of the Buddha instructing him to go to the lakeside. And so he did to take a rest. But by the time he opened his eyes, everyone around him was reading a sample booklet. He borrowed one, browsed through it, and found it was a fantastic book. Though he begged people to give him a copy, no one was willing to part with this treasure. He had no option but to approach us at the hotel. Only then did he realize why the Buddha told him in his dream to go to the lakeside. Believing that Supreme Master Ching Hai is a living enlightened Master and a living Buddha, he insisted that such a good book should be distributed to every person in Pokhara.

Immediate Enlightenment Of
Our True Nature

Finally the second Feast of Beauty was formally opened. Early on the opening day, a huge crowd of visitors rushed in to appreciate Master's works of art and to ask for sample booklets. Master's lecture videos were shown in the main hall while doctors of western and Chinese medicine offered free consultations in an office adjacent to the exhibition site.

As the Mayor of Pokhara was on a trip overseas, the Deputy Mayor was invited to cut the ribbon. By the time the opening ceremony was over, a long queue had formed at the free medical consultation office. The Mayor visited the exhibition upon his return the next day and expressed his appreciation for the much-needed medical service provided to the citizens of Pokhara. He also conveyed his hope that the free service could be extended, by these doctors from Hong Kong and Formosa who so impressed the visitors that they received a thunderous applause when many patients showed obvious signs of recovery right after the initial treatment.

All the patients in the long queue read the Napalese sample booklet avidly. After all, medications, whether herbal or western, can only heal the physical body temporarily; it takes a spiritual prescription to cure the soul forever!

Since English was not as popular in Pokhara as in Katmandu, each replica print of Master's paintings carried Nepalese titles and brief introductions. Visitors read each introduction attentively and appreciated each painting in earnest; they were mesmerized and reluctant to leave. A visitor awe-stricken by the works of art proclaimed with conviction that Master is a great philosopher. (He really knew something!)

Lord Shiva is commonly worshipped in Nepal. While watching one of Master's videos entitled "The 112 Spiritual Guidelines By Lord Shiva," fellow initiates from Katmandu exclaimed in delight: "This is our Lord Shiva!" The Nepalese people were not the only ones who were enthralled by Master's videos; many western tourists also stopped by the exhibition venue to watch Her explicit discourses. As in Katmandu, the Books Counter was always crowded. Infected by the enthusiasm of the local people, fellow initiates serving at the counter went about their work happily even though their voices had turned hoarse.

The language barrier could not hinder the spiritual longing. People waiting anxiously at the Initiation Counter read on their own initiative the requirements for initiation into the Quan Yin Method and the Convenient Method. Intense longing and anxiety were written on their faces, as if they feared that they might be late and miss this chance of a lifetime! On the first day of the exhibition alone, several hundred Pokhara citizens, including some Tibetan lamas requested initiation into the Quan Yin Method and to learn the Convenient Method of meditation. Many of them heard heavenly sounds just by practicing the Convenient Method, and the working staff rejoiced on their behalf. Undeniably, the city is a holy place of Buddhism!

The Feast of Beauty events have given birth to a new group of children for the Quan Yin family, this time in Nepal. Meditation Centers were promptly established in Katmandu and Pokhara to provide venues for group meditation for the newborn infants. Also established were libraries where people could borrow Master's books, videos and audiotapes which would give them a deeper insight into Her teachings.

Fellow initiates who were blessed with the opportunity to participate in these activities, bore witness to Master's almighty love and were deeply touched by the Nepalese people's great aspiration for liberation. Let us offer our heartfelt wishes that these new members of the Quan Yin family will receive the greatest blessing, and that the benevolent brothers and sisters in Nepal will soon return to God's embrace.