Selected Questions & Answers


Why Do Masters Need Initiation

Spoken By Supreme Master Ching Hai, Los Angeles, CA, U.S.A.
December 14, 1997 (Originally In English)

Q: When the masters who are born as masters come to this planet, why do they need initiation or why do they need a master?

M: They don't need one, really. But do you remember what Jesus said? "Let the law be done." He was baptized by John the Baptist, and people also asked him the same question. He said, "Let it be done." Let the law be fulfilled -- the law of the physical universe. Suppose I come to the United States and I'm a British citizen, I have to obey the laws of this country even though they are a little different from England's. I have to drive on the right side, and not on the left side like England, or I will get into trouble, just to be like everyone.

And why not? It's no big deal to have a guru. Besides, if you have a guru, then everyone else also follows. If you have your master, they feel it's normal that way. If everything is too miraculous, it scares people also. Suppose I just drop down from heaven and say, "Here I am, the Supreme Master, blah, blah, blah..." I think people would not like it that much. They would think it was hypnotism; they'd think it was cheating, or the workings of the devil. You really can't. It's already bad enough that any master should take the physical form, any form of the physical body, because many people cling to that form. They think, "Oh, this is the form of the master, any other form is no good."

God cannot always appear right here in front of us in one form or another. Suppose Hes were in the form of Jesus; all the Buddhists would say, "No, no, not for me!" And suppose Hes appeared in the form of the Buddha, like many people would like to see, then the Catholics would say, "No, no, that's heretical," and things like that. It's very difficult. So we have to find the Truth inside; it doesn't matter whether the master has a guru or no guru. He comes here; he has to eat; he has to be born, and physically he has to grow up, has to study, and everything else is the same. So, it's the same with initiation.

Also it's good to be humble, to sit at the feet of someone, to learn to be a disciple first. It's no problem with the master. The master can be anything, so why not a disciple? Besides, another thing I want to tell you is that any master who comes to this world physically, all the memory, all the glory, and all the power, are wiped away from him after the age of maybe four or something. Then he doesn't remember anything. Like everyone else, he has to learn anew. He has to get the key again, the key from a living master, who hands over the key to him.

Q: Some masters, when they get initiated, they get self-realization very fast, in six months to one year, and some require years, all together twenty years, twenty-five years, and then they experience self-realization, even though they might be born masters. Why such a long time?

M: Oh, no problem. It's just their own wish to do that, just to show many different people that, okay, you don't have to be fast. Even me, I took twenty-five years, so don't worry about your own slow progress. It is just that the master is trying to show people, encourage people. For example, suppose I get enlightenment, realization, "great" realization in six months, and many people like it. The type of people who like that, quick, come to me and say, "Oh yeah, if She got it in six months, I can get it in six days!" (Laughter) Some people feel inferior if they take too long. If they look at some other master, either in the past or in the present, and say, "Oh, that master took twenty-five years to become a Buddha, so I'm okay. Even though I don't progress very fast now, look at that master. He was born as a master, and he still took so long." So it doesn't matter very much. That's one thing.

Another thing is that there are two kinds of masters. One master is made, and another master is born. The "born master" is quick. And the "made master" is like any of us here, who has been wandering so many centuries and thousands of lifetimes in this world. It's the first time he comes to realization and he endeavors to become a master. And it can be his destiny, his predestination. He's destined to be like that. And the other master is born by destiny, born with the glory of the master already, with all the power from the past, present, and future to bring to this world to do the work. So that's fast. There's no difference between being slow or fast, because we have all been masters in the past anyhow. It's just that some masters have realized it already long ago, and come back again as born masters. And some are just newly-made here.

Q: Some of the perfect masters, strong masters, sometimes never come out from the caves of the Himalayas. They continue to stay there, and only a small number of people can get the benefit from this.

M: Oh, that's the master's work. Who are we to tell the master what to do? Each master has his or her own destiny, or own mission to do. To sit in the Himalayas is just as good as to preach to the people. Some masters like to go out to share the joy with the people, and some masters just sit there and benefit others by radiation, by their presence in this world. It's fine. Some doctors become professors and teach in the university. Some doctors just work in the hospital. Some doctors retire and don't work. (Laughter and applause.) We benefit from the master not only in terms of the physical presence, but there is also good will and light from the master when he meditates in the Himalayas, or meditates anywhere. But of course it's more direct for those who have affinity with some certain masters, coming in contact with the physical master so they can realize it more quickly. And the other master sometimes sits in the Himalayas and mentally or spiritually supports the working masters. Everyone has his or her work; no problem with that.