Chapter One The Shortcut to the Spiritual Abode
Sometimes we feel we are in the progress of the lesson; sometimes we feel this has nothing to do with the lesson. Sometimes we feel we are cultivating ourselves; sometimes we feel lost. Thus, we act according to our whims.
What Hong-xia was talking about is the state of consciousness. She knows she must control her mind. She constantly observes her mind and emotions. That is in the state of consciousness. It is so beautiful. We should keep ourselves in this state at all times. At the time, we will enter into the state of self-realization. But it doesn’t mean that we can do everything perfectly or we are able to do everything. Even if you have made a mistake on something, it is meant for the purpose of helping you realize the mistake. You have made a mistake but you have no fault. The Creator is willing to take up the cost of your mistake to help you attain realization, elevate your quality, and shorten the distance between you and Him. This is the greatest success of life. This is called spiritual cultivation. Do you know?
We need to do such things with all our time. We need to stay in this state of mind with all our time. We should not do them only upon remembering, but it doesn’t matter when we forget all about them. The phrase, "lose consciousness", which is often mentioned by me, indicates the other state of mind. In those situations, you are in the conception of physical body, in the state of false-ego of the body, and under the control of the three material modes of nature (namely goodness, passion and ignorance). At the time, the self no longer exists. The soul is attached to material, thinking of this body to be you. Then, the things that are in contact with senses are the only true things and are fundamental. That is the origin of emotions, good and bad, selection, and discrimination. That is how things go.
If you are in the state of realization, observing your mind and emotions from other perspectives, you are then a spiritual cultivator. You stand on the viewpoint of the soul. That is a liberated state. At the time, your hands did not change. Your feet did not change. Your body did not change. But your feelings—the position of your consciousness—have changed. Your consciousness does not remain at the level of material consciousness but it is at the level of realization. Do you understand?
Hong-xia found this kind of feeling yesterday. After finding this feeling, the angles she takes to look at issues and the ways she deals with issues are no longer the same. Then, her feelings changed quickly. The first symptom of the change is that her faith in her spiritual master increased. The strength of her determination also increased. Her desire of seeking refuge is becoming obvious. She has no attempts to exhibit herself. Instead, she feels she is like a helpless child. For the first time she truly feels powerless and there is a need to take refuge in the Creator. She needs a refuge. And the only person that can represent the Creator to protect her is a spiritual master. At the time, she has established a kind of eternal relationship with the Creator. She has signed a contract. Is that great? Although she will forget it at times, she will also be reminded constantly and remember it. It means that her previous state of sleeping with eyes open is gone. This is the state of cultivating oneself after being enlightened, which is also called "sporadic confusions after enlightenment". In fact this is a level of enlightenment, in which a solid step has been made in the lesson of knowing the soul and accomplishing self-realization of the soul. Proceed step by step in this state. Like what I said yesterday, one step, one footprint, in a down-to-earth way. Never let superficiality enter your feelings.
Our major problem is the propensity of self-doubt and self-deceitfulness that has been developed over a long period of time. Thus, we are skilled in cheating others. We don’t speak honestly anytime. Even though we know the truth, we don’t want to tell the truth or take responsibility. This habit has been developed over a long period. Therefore, superficiality and quarrels are the common qualities of the people of the day. There is almost no exception. Moreover, people influence one another and drift farther and farther away. It would be very difficult for people to wake up. If we want to transcend this pattern, we have to spend several times of energy to give up those habits. Therefore, it is impossible for us to obtain this knowledge at the beginning of spiritual cultivation. We must hear it from a spiritual master and accept it. Then it will gradually turn into our own action by our own will. We then overcome the mind. At last we can have the mind submitted unto us. That moment will be the time of liberation. As soon as we can have the mind submitted unto us, we are liberated. Our fate has changed. Our sentiments have changed. Our qualities have changed. We no longer stand on previous views and attitudes to deal with people around us, nor do we look at all issues and treat all relationships with "me" on the first priority. Instead, we treat the feelings of others as our first priority. Therefore we will consider the needs and feelings of others. Our handling of things and people will then have quality.
It seems that those things are all triviality in life. That is truly the "Way" (or called Tao), which is the manifestation of realization. If we provide convenience for others, they will have convenience and easiness. There will be less distress in life. People will increase communication and gain more mutual understanding. If all the people around the world are on this level, there won’t be wars, selfishness, greed, anger and evilness. If everyone can deal with issues selflessly, everyone will bathe in the ocean of love. But the world today is totally the opposite. Everyone protects their own interests and asks others to sacrifice but no one is willing to sacrifice. Then everyone is complaining but still can’t get anything. Therefore we are so depressed, passive and rebellious. We feel there is no sunlight in life. We feel tired from living. Everyone complains about being tired from living, which can be heard in all walks of life. This is the concept of realization, and the relationship between realization and liberation.
But if you want to be able to comprehend my words, the most important thing is your cause and condition (causality) with me that has been accumulated in your previous lives. That will be the foundation. Regardless of whichever kind of relationship we appear to have in this life, you will understand me. But it is impossible for us to recover our memories immediately. As Sister Liu just said, all of a sudden she felt a kind of mental state. That does not mean that she has projected that memory into her mind. However, that kind of memory has been fetched from the treasure-house of her deep and distant "consciousness". Do you understand? But it is not in the brain. The deep and distant "consciousness" is the past memory that has been recorded in "videotapes and cassettes". After this invisible tape is played, however, you will have a kind of consciousness that is manifested in your feelings. It is not based on anything. It is naturally shown in your true realization. We call it "feeling". A Buddha saves people by these kinds of causes and conditions. Therefore when a Buddha comes down, it is impossible for him to save all the people because he does not have such a cause and condition with everyone. Do you understand?
Therefore, in the process of pursuing spiritual cultivation in this life, we must be engaged in devotional activities, either voluntarily or involuntarily, to do what we should do. Although we may be willing, reluctant, ambiguous, or even very unwilling to do some thing, we still do it. Through action, our bodies and minds undergo penance. In this light, we will gradually furnish our merits. It is clearly stated in the Bhagavad-gita that one must possess the merit of penance to become qualified to hear the knowledge about the Creator and the secret of liberation. Otherwise, although we may get a chance to sit there with the rest of the class listening to it, we are the disqualified and illegitimate souls. We may be allowed to sit there but we won’t understand a single word. The lecture is going on and we are listening to it. But we can’t accept it. It doesn’t affect us. We must undergo that kind of penance.
When we undergo that kind of penance, the mysterious inner yoga system will record our merit. All this is under the control of the Creator. He knows. When it is the time for us to hear it, He uses those long and invisible hands to turn on the switches within us, letting us recover previous memories. Then our sentiments will change. We will start to recover our memories. At that time, we start reception. Similar to cassettes, it starts to work and receive only after the play key is pushed on. At this time my energy will then start to work on you. Two bodies but one thought. Two bodies but one feeling. At one end is the origin of knowledge while at the other end is the reception of knowledge. Like the relationship between TVs and a broadcasting station, they are not one piece. They are separate. But they are one integrated system, right? It functions in this way.
True change of feelings and true elevation of beliefs, which are called the viewing ground, start at this moment. It is not true that anyone can understand anything as long as they have the chance to hear it. Hearing is not equal to understanding. We may not understand something for many years.
At the time of Chan (Zen) Master Lin-gi, why couldn’t so many followers who had accompanied him for many years understand anything? But after he passed away, they got enlightened by his great disciples all of a sudden and could understand his words. Was that the energy of his great disciples? No, although the cause and condition was manifested in that way, it was actually the energy of Lin-gi. After Buddha Sakyamuni passed away, whose Dharma did the people who revered the Buddha as their progenitor transmit? It still belongs to Sakyamuni, which is his system. The energy manifested by his system did not only exist only when he was manifested in this world, but it must gradually decrease after he passed away.
One of the rules of the material world is that time can annihilate everything, including memories, sentiments and determination, and can also make people become confused. Then the doctrines of Dharma will be lost. The lineage of Buddha will be disrupted. That’s how things go. In order to adjust this state of mind, therefore, the most important and only lesson for a Buddhist practitioner is to solve the issue of associating with his spiritual master. This is foremost important. When this issue is solved, one can hand over other issues to his spiritual master to handle because the master has this ability. If this issue has not been solved, the practitioner will just repeat eating, sleeping, working, having emotional outbursts and complaining. Then one day he may feel bored, and suddenly feel that other followers seem to be adored by his spiritual master. It seems to him that the master likes them. It seems they can understand the master very well. Then he will find that they do have unique views regarding some issues and their viewpoints are transcendental. It is such a great change! We envy and admire them at the same time. But we don’t know what to do. All of a sudden we sit with them together at the same table drinking tea, eating and listening to the spiritual master’s lectures. Then we may understand the master’s words. That is "the arising of cause and condition in the nature of void."
You don’t need to be anxious. Although you are impatient, the spiritual master definitely has patience. He is waiting for you to grow up, mature, and become fully furnished. Then he will give you this chance. He knows when these causes and conditions shall occur. When the cause and condition is not furnished, he will try his best to adjust it. When the cause and condition comes up but you don’t pay attention to it, he will remind you and scold you to show other people. Then you will concentrate with your mind and energy to receive it carefully. You will be enlightened by those words as soon as you hear them, feeling that a certain unprecedented feeling has occurred. That is the joy of enlightenment. That is absolutely a state of enlightenment. When you always remain in this kind of state, your feelings will soon change thoroughly.
Therefore, an enlightened person has feelings. A true enlightened person is one who has found love and truly understands love. In this world, however, everyone is talking about the word but none understands it or has found it. It is not such a simple thing. Love is the quality of the Creator, but not the highest quality of the Creator. However, love is the highest quality of people in this world. After attaining the level of this quality, one can then love God. Afterwards, it is likely for him to return to God. Otherwise, he is merely a human. He will live in this world as a human, or an animal. As he doesn’t deal with all the contents of life with love, he can’t always bring to others the convenience of love, consolation of love and joy of love. That’s why everyone feels that life is unbearable. They can’t stand the suffering and so look for liberation. Isn’t that right? This is how things go.
This principle is very simple, but I can’t ask all of you to have the same cause and condition, and establish the association with a spiritual master in the same way. It is not necessary to go this way. We can be classmates, friends, brothers, cousins, or in any relationship with him. You must have trust in a spiritual maser. It doesn’t impede him from devoting to you in fullest regardless of in whichever kind of relationship you are with him. He is ready to do it at any moment. If he is a true spiritual master, he must possess this kind of quality. If he does not, I don’t know about it. I don’t know how other people are. I just know I am.
I am never picky about disciples. I don’t set any prerequisites on them. I don’t require them to be furnished with some conditions before they can come to see me or listen to me. Just give it a try! If I feel that they don’t like me upon seeing me, why do I dislike them? I will like them very much. I will always attract them to like me. As soon as they like me completely, then as a matter of fact they have come aboard my ship. At that time they will listen to me and change unconsciously, keeping aloof from the bitterness of life and obtaining happiness. It is so simple. That is my natural quality, which will influence you and become your naturalness. This quality comes from the Creator. In fact we are not short of this quality but it is covered up, like that a TV set being turned off. It is shrouded by the fact that we don’t want to listen at the moment. So when we want to listen again, we need to act to negate the switch-off that we’ve just done, to negate our unwillingness to listen at that time and turn it back on. If you insist on not turning it on, you won’t see it then. (Master laughed.)
Therefore we should not discriminate any relationship on the assumption that certain relationships can help us get closer to the spiritual master. No, no, any relationship can all be adjusted to the optimum condition. Have we felt that we can get along with friends better sometimes, and they are more trustworthy than your spouse, or closer than your parents, and more amicable than your children? Two close friends can talk to each other about everything, while spouses or siblings can’t. There are lots of things you can’t talk about with your spouse or siblings. Your relatives will visit you when you are sick and bring you some flowers or fruits. When you have a problem or a hard time, they can demonstrate their sense of responsibility. But you guys won’t go beyond the boundaries to reach each other’s deep heart or touch the subtle feelings. You keep your ego rigidly and don’t allow them to go beyond the line. Only friends are allowed. Your friends are not related with you by blood. They did not come with you at birth. They are picked up by you on the path of life. Isn’t that right? If we can make friend with San Zhang, why can’t we make friend with Si Li? If we can make friend with someone, we should be able to make friend with all people. If everyone becomes a friend to each other, we will feel like we have more security, alternative, and convenience in the sea of friendship love. Life will be more pleasant and with more understanding. That can then be a life with compassion, right? Right, right, it is like that. Any relationship can be adjusted to a genuine state. When we adjust this relationship (with the master) based on any specific cause and condition to the optimum condition, O.K. we will understand whatever the spiritual master discusses. We will believe it in full and remember it firmly. This is the moment of enlightenment. The world did not change a bit. There’s nothing added to or removed from our lives. However, we have changed. Enlightenment is neither increasing nor decreasing of some thing. It doesn’t need any additive. It is absolutely not like that.
The energy of consciousness of the Creator is omnipresent. He is there obviously, but covered by your ignorance. You don’t feel it. It is similar to turning off a television. The signals of programs are omnipresent, although you don’t receive them. You will find out that they are transmitted incessantly as long as you turn the switch on. This station or that station is all in there, right? This is how things go! You should nurture your own ability of full reception. Don’t select things or insist on your own way. You should follow the arrangement made by a spiritual master because he represents the Creator. Then, everything will come up naturally and manifest naturally. Life will be changing this way.
Therefore spiritual cultivation is not an earthshaking undertaking, but a change of a very ordinary life. It also depends on fate, on an individual’s fate. Isn’t it stated in the Bhagavad-gita that one is fortunate when he meets such a spiritual master? In addition, it depends on whether one believes in the spiritual master and accepts him. Therefore you must often observe the change of your feelings, and pay attention to your emotions. This work shouldn’t be interrupted. You can’t remember it sometimes and forget about it other times, like a cat going fishing. That is not right.
Don’t always think of doing something big. We have no big things to do. We eject neither ballistic missiles nor satellites. We have nothing. It is a simple matter. You just need to heed your own emotion any time, as well as your mental state, trying to control the mind. Do not stand on the viewpoint of things themselves but instead, from the perspective of observing things. You will feel that it is another subject. You will feel that you are different from it. This is "the existence of marvelous-ness in the middle". (Master laughed.) "The existence of marvelous-ness in the middle" is marvelous enlightenment. Being constantly situated in this state of realization, you won’t be deluded by it and material attraction won’t work on you. Therefore, our profit-driven mentalities will gradually fade away and our feelings will gradually become genuine. The levels of our lives will then be elevated.
If we remain on this path firmly, at the time of death we can naturally obtain the "certificate of graduation". Even in this world, we are already liberated and are not under the control of material phenomena. We still eat, drink, sleep, work, suffer and enjoy. However, our minds have no discrimination of these things. It is similar to that when we are in a good mood, we are not bothered by exhaustion, right? Isn’t traveling very tiring? However, people spend so much money on traveling because it is wonderful. They get very tired and then come back to work hard. Having saved some money, they go to travel again, right? It proves that traveling is fun. They are willing to be engaged with it! That is a kind of pleasure and joy, right? But it is tiring and suffering. And there is not only one kind of suffering but there are two. To work hard for saving money on this purpose is a kind of suffering, while to get tired by traveling is another suffering. In other words, wouldn’t it satisfy both aspects if we neither make ourselves so tired nor spend so much money?
Therefore spiciness doesn’t definitely mean it is not wonderful. Tart flavor doesn’t definitely mean it is not wonderful. Bitter flavor is wonderful, too. If a cup of almond tea is not bitter, we will say it is not authentic, because of a lack of bitterness. The Southerners like to eat bitter-melon because it is deliciously bitter. Any quality is not extra. It does not have anything to do with good or bad, or kind or evil. We just need to treat it appropriately and use it at the right place, which is wisdom. Life is then variegated.
Don’t hope to go to this Buddha’s land or that Buddha’s land. It is true ease when you feel at ease here so that you will be at ease after you leave this world. Is that possible that you are not at ease here but expect to be at ease after leaving the world? From whom did you hear that? Why is it so easy for you to believe it? Let me tell you, "no way"! Don’t believe it if you are told that a rabbit will run into the tree by which you are waiting or food will fall into your mouth if you look up with your mouth open. Although it is necessary to plow the field in the springtime so we can harvest in fall, we would rather plow the field because it is guaranteed by working on our own to feed ourselves! After we have put effort into plowing and weeding, the joy of harvest must belong to us. That is just round the corner, which is true and tangible, right? O.K. This is a little Dharma that I took advantage of this teatime to discuss with you. (Master laughed. Everyone applauded.)