For the real Method of reaching enlightenment and liberation in one lifetime, you have to see the (inner Heavenly) Light, you have to hear the (inner Heavenly) Buddha’s teaching. They call it the Currents from the Higher Dimension, which is in your body also, but you have to reconnect it with the Universal High-Dimension Power. If not, then you can sit forever, like the student of that Zen Master who kept sitting there, and the Teacher went and showed him that polishing the bricks cannot make them into a mirror. So whatever you want to practice, just continue with the Quan Yin meditation, which is the direct connection with the Universal Power, with Buddha’s Land in all directions, with God’s Heavenly Abode.
And do not feel proud of that either. If you improve yourself each day, become more and more enlightened, then be happy, be grateful. Thank God, thank all the Masters and the Buddhas that bless you and help you to have that meditation shortcut in your life, Their Blessing to protect you, and that you can also practice and bless yourself and bless the world to some degree at the same time. Just always be grateful, be humble. That’s the way.
You must have a teacher to teach you the right method, and you must correctly, diligently practice. That’s all. Anything else, it’s just secondary. Whatever you wear, it’s OK. You don’t wear, OK. Just don’t show it in some countries in the public. India is different. They will recognize the practitioners; not like anybody just can strip off and then go walking “bloom, bloom” on the street. The police will come and respectfully bring you somewhere. You know where. The same, like in many Western countries, they won’t allow that. India is different. Please. So whatever you wear or not wear has nothing to do with your enlightenment. How many times you eat, has nothing to do with your enlightenment. Continue to practice this enlightening method. That’s important. And don’t boast about it.
That’s why mostly I tell people not to tell their experiences to outsiders or family members even. Just sometimes, now and then, you write them in a Heartline, or you can’t bear to keep it once in a while – OK. But not every day or often go out boasting to people, “Oh, I reached that enlightenment spiritual realm. I saw that, I saw this.” That’s why I tell you not to. Keep them to yourselves. I also keep them to myself, many of them. Many. Just if sometimes really necessary, then I mention some. Otherwise, it’s better to keep it quiet so that your ego won’t be puffed up by others and they mistakenly think that you have reached Buddhahood or you’re the highest Master in the world, and then they praise you, they make your ego puffed up, and then you’re doomed, you’re finished. That is one thing. Another thing is that other people might think you are lying, or they might be jealous of you, and they will try to harm you in many ways. That’s why the fate of the Masters, the real Masters, is really very, very thin.
If Lord Jesus didn’t come out and teach people in the public, then He wouldn’t have had to die on the cross. If the Buddha had not made Himself be a Master in the public out of compassion, He wouldn’t have been harmed so many times, lost His toe, or been hungry for three months at one time, like that. And many other Masters, you name Them, you read Their history, They suffered no end: been poisoned, fried alive, hanged, or chopped-head, all kinds of things that happened to any Master before, just because of compassion They came out and taught the public. That’s why They have to bear all these consequences, suffering so much.
That’s why keep it to yourself. If you have wisdom like the Buddha, then you are a Buddha. If you have Power like the Buddha and can liberate other beings, then you are a Buddha. Otherwise, no matter what you do, you are not a Buddha. Remember that, in case I won’t be around anymore to remind you. Please remember. Be humble, be quiet, practice diligently.
And some of you want to be monks in our group again. I have told you for a long time already that we don’t accept any more monks or nuns. There’s no need. You just have that noble ideal and aspiration in your head and continue to live in the world and try to spread the Truth; try to encourage people to live a virtuous, compassionate life. That would be monkhood already. Even if you stay in the monk community and you don’t do anything helpful to the world to uplift people’s spirit and help them to find liberation, then you are no monk at all. The robe doesn’t make you a monk.
And just in case you don’t know, we had more than 500 monks before in my ashram. And then slowly, slowly, the numbers decreased because maybe not suitable to some. And the most unsuitable is they had some gender issue. It’s not because you are gay or you are a lesbian, you can’t practice spiritually – it’s not like that. It’s just that in the monk community, we live very close together. In my case, we had one mountain for the monks and the other mountain for me and the nuns. It was like that. But still, within the nuns’ community, there was trouble. It happened. Some issues arose. So then later we had to separate: the real monks and nuns, they stayed; and the rest continued to practice at home.
Because if they’re lesbian and nuns – at that time we even had to sleep like two people in one tent sometimes – then it’s not very convenient. That’s why if you want to know, one of the precepts, the rules, in the Buddhist monkhood is that they ask you whether or not you are, for example, a homosexual. Because if you are, then you can’t join this monk order under the Buddha’s time and guidance. And nowadays, in modern times, it’s still the same. They still have that precept. Not because the Buddha was discriminating, but the situation is not convenient. If a man, like a homosexual, sleeps together with other monks who are normal men, then it might be trouble. That’s all there is.
So, in case you think of becoming monks and nuns in my group, we don’t need any more. Number two, if you want to be a monk outside in another community of Buddhism, please think twice and check yourself. It’s because sometimes it’s not like the monks or the nuns lied about their gender or anything. It’s just sometimes they don’t know in advance until they came in, and then things happened. So you have to check well. Check yourself well. And don’t point fingers at anybody else. First, point the finger at yourself to check everything about you, not to check anybody else.
