Spoken By Supreme
Master Ching Hai Tien-Shan Center,
Hong Kong April 1, 1994 (Originally In Chinese)
Once
Jesus was speaking in public, and suddenly many so-called reputed,
intellectual and learned people came with some highly esteemed people
in the church, like priests, for example. They dragged behind them
a woman who had committed adultery. At that time, any woman who
committed adultery had to be stoned to death. There were about three
ways of executing sinners at that time: one was to stone them, another
was to throw them into the lion's cage, and the other was to crucify
them. Jesus was crucified, but this woman was supposed to be stoned
to death.
Those
honorable men challenged Jesus by asking, "According to Moses' laws,
this woman should be stoned to death. What do you think?" Jesus said
nothing, just wrote on the sand with His finger, "A group of liars."
Those people kept pushing Him, so He finally said, "Any of you who has
not sinned and who considers himself the purest and holiest may cast
the first stone." Upon hearing this, everyone slipped away silently
and quickly. (Master and the audience laugh.) At last, Jesus was left
alone with the woman who had sinned. He asked her, "Where are your accusers?
Has no man condemned you?"
She
replied, "No man."
And
Jesus said to her, "Neither do I want to condemn you. You may go home
now."
(Master
sighs.) This story reminds us of something. There is no one in this
world who has not sinned. Besides, whether one has sinned or not depends
on the situation, background and your level of enlightenment. The so-called
morality and ethics of this world are different from what real saints
perceive. Those who have attained the highest level of enlightenment
see no such things. They do not even imagine or think about these words.
I don't know how I can describe this level to you.
When
you first begin spiritual practice, you see the difference between good
and bad. But the distinction gradually fades away as you practice more.
This is very strange and hard to explain to other people, but you just
know it. And you won't think so much about what is good or bad, except
when you teach your disciples because they are at those levels that
you have to explain to them in those terms. Otherwise, you don't really
want to talk about such things, and nothing really matters to you, because
you have a different point of view.
You
look from the top down and become very tolerant, like seeing a movie.
You won't be scolding the bad guy angrily, because you know he is only
playing his role. And you won't be praising the good guy profusely,
because you know he is playing his role, too.
What
we call good or bad in a person is the habit or the behavior, not the
soul in that person. Our souls can realize a lot of things, but I can't
name them all; and they are hard to describe, although I know them very
well. Regarding the so-called very serious crimes in our society, I
have a different point of view, but I can't tell you every detail. Many
people would not understand, and I could not put it very clearly either.
That's
why I told you to meditate every day, and then you will realize it on
your own. I just gave you an overview to direct your spiritual realization.
As you go further, you will gradually understand why I said we would
not discriminate between good and bad when we have had more results
from spiritual practice.
When
we are free from this discrimination, we will forgive our enemies easily,
and then we will not be very angry about those who hurt us. We will
forget about the whole thing very quickly and will not feel so bad.
Even if we do feel bad, it will be for those people instead of for ourselves.