So He (the Buddha) probably had Brahmin disciples, and/or Muslim disciples or any other old traditional religion, but they became Buddha’s disciples. But as the Buddha was not like a dictator, He let any of His disciples continue to follow their religion. Just like in our initiation condition, I say that you continue to follow your religion and do whatever you do with the ritual of your religion. You don’t have to change anything.
And just like in our group: we have Muslim initiates; we have Buddhist initiates; we have Jain initiates; all are your brothers and sisters or are so-called my disciples. And maybe we have Bahá’í faith initiates. We have also even Cao Đài disciples who come into our fold; we have also maybe Hòa Hảo Buddhist followers, who came to us for initiation, to have the transmission of the spiritual bloodline/lineage. But they still continue to go to their church, to their temples, meeting maybe their elders, their monks, their nuns – whomever they want to meet. And they still go to the temple, help the abbots, the monks or the priests. Or, some Christians continue to be Christians. And they still continue to go to their church and do whatever they like to do in the church.
But they should meditate the designated hours, the two and a half hours. We should give one-tenth of our time daily for our enlightenment purpose. We want to continue to walk upward. We just take baby steps and get enlightenment, immediate enlightenment maybe, where you can see the inner Light of Heaven, or the aura around the Buddha in your vision. You can hear the melodious Word from God, the Teaching of Heaven directly. So that is your enlightenment. But it’s not a complete enlightenment. It takes some more time. It depends on how much you have practiced in your former life already. Then you go further, you go faster or you go slower. It depends also on your diligence, your sincerity, your longing to go back Home again, to be Home with God again, or to be in the Buddha’s Land again. But for that, you need a Teacher. Because that real Master, real Teacher, doesn’t just teach you by mouth only. As I told you, some people went and paid homage to the Buddha and just listened to the Buddha’s sermon once and then they have attained some of the high saintly positions – some a little lower, some a little higher. It’s not because the Buddha was talking only, but because the Buddha transmitted to them His bloodline, spiritual bloodline, from His lineage that He has learned, and has mastered Himself.
If Shakyamuni Buddha had many different religious backgrounds of disciples, and if one of the different religious background disciples had become completely enlightened or the successor of Shakyamuni Buddha – maybe this person was not living with the Buddha and was not a monk of the Buddha, but He was somewhere else on the other side of the country, or even in another country – then, according to His Master’s, the Buddha’s order, He would either give initiation in His hometown or anywhere else, and keep the appearance of His own religious background. So people come there to get enlightenment, but don’t have to see a person from a different religious order like the Buddha’s. So the new so-called disciples of this successor will not see a Buddhist monk, but may see a Brahmin missioner or a Christian priest, for example. That doesn’t mean that priest or that missioner does not have enlightenment lineage from the Buddha; it’s just He looks different. Because the enlightenment lineage is from inside, just like the blood in your veins; this is an invisible spiritual blood vein, so you will not see.
So it doesn’t matter if a Master has the same religion as the founder or not. Like that disciple of the Buddha from a different religious background – He will not look like a Buddhist monk. He doesn’t look like one of the Buddha’s monks, He might wear the Christian clothes of a priest, or He might just wear a Brahmin kind of traditional dress, or He might just wear ordinary clothes. But He’s enlightened and He’s a successor. So this here is the problem with many people who want enlightenment so much, want to have a Master, but they’re always looking in their own religious system. Like a Buddhist would go look for a monk. A Christian would go look for a priest. And same with many other religions. It’s like a river – it doesn’t have to flow in the same direction all the time. Sometimes it goes underground and then comes up again in another location. And you might think that is a different river, but it is the continuation of the original river high above from some mountain somewhere.
So if people have an open mind and are really sincere in their heart, then they will meet their Master. Do not look at the appearance of the Master. Look into His soul. Look to His experience of the spiritual way. Look to see if He can bless you. Look to see if He can lead you Home, give you enlightenment.
“Enlightenment” means Light. En-LIGHT - Light. So if He could give you immediate enlightenment, just like the way we do with the Quan Yin Method, then you will see the Buddha’s Light, God’s Light, or whatever name you call it. And then you will know that that Master is capable, or He can help you to hear the inner Heavenly Melody, the inner Sound, the Sound of no sound. That is how you know that Master is truly completely enlightened, or at least an official successor of the enlightened Master.
In the Holy Bible, the Disciples hear the Sound of thunder, where there was no thunder; the sound of a trumpet, there was no trumpet; the sound of many waters, where there was no water of river or ocean. They see Light as bright as fire where there was just a fresh, living bush! In the Buddhist Diamond Sutra, Buddha said, “Do not look for appearance or sound from the outer world, because one cannot see the Buddha there.” The Quan Yin Method gives you immediate inner experiences of the inner world, of inner Light without light, of inner Sound without sound. It’s all from God’s direct inner Teaching, from Buddha’s direct inner Teaching. That’s what you must know, to be liberated in one lifetime, in this lifetime!!! Even in the Dharma-ending time – in such a desperate, troublesome, and dangerous time as our time!
When Milarepa went to seek enlightenment with Marpa, He couldn’t wait much longer, because Marpa, the Master, kept testing Him, making Him do all kinds of work – labor work, hard work, building one shed after another, one house after another, that’s it – didn’t teach Him anything, and then beat Him up also. And He had scars and was wounded and bleeding.
And the wife of Marpa, the Master, felt very sorry for Milarepa. So she faked a letter, as if the Master Marpa, her husband, had written it, and gave it to Milarepa to go to find His appointed, designated disciple in some other place nearby, another village or another city. And gave him (the appointed disciple) that letter saying that the Master wanted him to give initiation to this person, Milarepa.
So that disciple did that, but Milarepa had no experience at all of the inner Heavenly Light and of the Word of the Buddhas or God inside Him. So that designated disciple who could give initiation had doubt; he suspected that maybe Marpa, the original Master, did not give permission. So later that’s how they found out that it was true like that. It was just His (Marpa’s) wife who felt sorry for Milarepa and was touched by His sincere and humble longing for initiation, so she faked the letter.
At the end, finally, Milarepa had the initiation, and at that time He had inner experiences, just like the way you, the initiated people, do.
Sometimes there are fake masters possessed by a demon, some high demon, and that demon can make you feel like this master is real. They just use some magic power to temporarily lure you into thinking, “Oh, I feel something, so this must be a master.” It’s not like that. So, the real Master truly is also hard to find. And I hope He or She won’t beat you up like Marpa did to Milarepa, and They just give you enlightenment immediately, the way I give it to my own disciples. So it depends on your luck. But the criteria is that you have to see the Light of Heaven and hear the Voice of Heaven, the Word of God, the teaching of the Buddha directly. That’s the criteria.
Photo Caption: Not Only Human Can Write!
