They became demons or ghosts because they don’t have enough sin to go to hell. And they don’t have enough karma, good karma, to become a human. Or they don’t have enough karma in the animal category that they could be reincarnated as animals.
Any questions about the ghosts? (Yes, Master.) Yes? Oh, you have questions! Wonderful!
(For the ghosts, Master, some people die and become ghosts. Then why is that so and how long will they remain a ghost before they can reincarnate or go somewhere?)
It depends on their karma. Depends on how much bad karma they did and what kind. They don’t always stay ghosts forever. They will reincarnate, but sometimes take longer. Or some take shorter. They die and then became ghosts. They call it actually “evil spirit.” OK, ghost is fine, more or less it’s the same, or demons. They became demons or ghosts because they don’t have enough sin to go to hell. And they don’t have enough karma, good karma, to become a human. Or they don’t have enough karma in the animal category that they could be reincarnated as animals.
So, every race of beings on this planet, for example, has a category where their soul will belong if they don’t change their way of life while they have a chance. Like we are having a human body now. We can do many things. We can do charity, we can help each other, we can seek the enlightened Master to enlighten us, and then we’ll be liberated forever. But once you lose a human body, it’s difficult.
Like for example, if you are a pig, you cannot come and look for an enlightened Master. It would be very lucky if you are not tortured somewhere in some slaughterhouse already. You see what I'm saying? (Yes.) But animals, they know all this. They know more than humans. I don’t mean all animals know or care about enlightenment, but many of them do. They understand. It’s just they don’t have a choice. They cannot go anywhere and talk to humans, to find a center of Supreme Master Ching Hai to get initiation.
One time in Costa Rica, I lived there for a while, and the disciple went out and bought a car full of vegetables and fruit to bring back to cook. (Yes.) The pickup truck, behind is empty, and there are vegetables and food and fruit and all that on it. And they just parked inside the driveway. And the cow… At that time, we never had any fence around any of our centers. And the cow from the neighbor somewhere went running, running, running to the truck. And this is a true story. Some people who know it are still alive in Costa Rica. Some sisters, brothers are still alive. I was there too. And he went to the truck, full of vegetables and fruit and beautiful, fresh, and nice – he did not take any. He took an initiation paper form in his mouth (Oh, wow!) and stayed there for a while. And then later, he just left. Nobody looked at him. Nobody said anything. I think Tong, he still remembers this story, if you ask him. He was in Costa Rica with me.
There is another time. One time, one dog, a wild dog, a stray dog somewhere, came in front of Tong and knelt there in front of him and kept crying with tears and everything for a while, and then left, of course. And all the spiders that I have encountered, they said they listen to my teaching. They don’t eat live insects anymore. (Wow!) I told you last time, no? (Yes.) Like that. And the skunk also, like that. He doesn’t want to eat any more of the live things, like live insects or live animals like snails and frogs and all that in the garden. He didn’t want to. That’s why he asked my dog how to find other food. Is that answer OK for you? (Yes, Master.) (Thank You, Master.) Any other questions?
There are many kinds of ghosts. Some are OK. Some have tremendous power; some don’t have. That’s why some ghosts can manifest themselves, can transform themselves into humans, looking like, or any other animals they like, just to do something. Doesn’t have to be a ghost to have that power. Many of the other animals, they can do that too, if they have enough power. Not every of them has the same power. So, this ghost wife of the jeweler, she must have had some very good merit also, apart from having the karma to be a ghost. A ghost is the one who cannot go to hell, who doesn’t go to hell, who cannot go to Heaven, who cannot be reborn as human, and who cannot be reborn as any other except to be a ghost. But they feel like they are human. They live in the house and they are attached to it, just like you are living in your house. You know you are a ghost after a while, but before that, maybe you did not know, thinking that you are not a ghost. And you live just like everyone else and then you can also transform yourself into a human and marry with a human man or woman. These are not just folklore stories. These are true stories. (Wow.) And some animals, they also can transform themselves, like the snake story. (Yes, Master.) Not a lot of these stories, but it happened. There are some like that. So, make sure you meditate well so you don’t have to become a snake or ghost, and so none of the snakes will transform themselves and come to you and take you out of your comfort zone. (Yes, Master.) Any other questions, love?
(Usually, Master, the stories are of snakes that transform into humans. Is there a reason they’re snakes instead of other animals?)
Also, there are like foxes. But often they talk about foxes and snakes more than other animals. Maybe if they are born into these types of beings, that means they have some special power. Others, who are also ghosts, don’t have this kind of power. But those who are born in there, that is maybe their special category with that kind of power. And they also practice. Some can live many thousands of years. And they can transform anytime into anything they want, but they are not like enlightened. They will have magical power. They have mind power to control their body and the environment. They can manifest not just their own body but many other things. Like a beautiful house or something, or some fruit or some trees. It depends on what purpose they want at that time. But they cannot stay like a human forever. They can have power to manifest for a while only, because anything takes energy. (Yes.) So, if they are with the husband or something, then they manifest or they transform into humans. But whenever they can, like they sneak into the bathroom or go out somewhere to be a snake for a while because it takes sustaining energy to continue to be a human. We humans, we have that already. We don’t have to sustain it. Except maybe we have food, and drink, and all that. But that power to be a human is already inherent before you were born. That’s why you can be a human. For them, it’s different. They are destined to be a snake or whatever that is because they did not have enough human quality.
Remember I told you how many points in order to be a human? (Yes, Master.) Therefore, humans are also different. Some humans have more human quality, they become more noble. Noble and beautiful, inside out. And some are ugly, some are less noble. Some are not kind, some are savage, some are stupid, some are more intelligent. That is because of the power, human power, more or less. Thus, human quality is different. Human intelligence is also different. It depends on what merits you earned in the past life in order to have a human’s quality as you have in this life. (Yes, Master.)
Ghosts, they are also like that. They have different kinds of merits Maybe they have studied magical powers before. So, after they left the human body, they still have it because they practiced very hard, and it’s ingrained in them already. They might not have enough merit to be a human, but they have enough merit to retain their power. And then they continue practicing in that direction to continue, to sustain their physical existence on the planet. (Yes, Master.) And then they have power to manifest sometimes into humans.
In the story of “The Monkey Goes to the West.” (Yes, Master.) If you read it or if you saw the film, I mean the good film from China, not the one that they showed before. That was just an abbreviation. And there was one disciple of Xuanzang, he’s a pig. (Yes.) He’s a human, but his face looked like a pig. And he mostly liked to eat a lot, and was lazy and complaining. But he’s a good-hearted boy. And then, if he falls in love with a woman, – it’s not allowed, but he did sometimes – then he’d transform himself into a beautiful, young, handsome man. And then after a while, he was tired. He said, “Oh, I look like this. Keep changing is very tiring, so, I am like this.” He was tired of using his power to change into a gentleman and handsome looking, so one day he just told, “I am like this. It’s too tiring to keep changing.” Like that.
Many ghosts they also don’t have as much power as the ghosts in this story. That could even speak loudly and clearly in human language like that. But in order to do that, it takes them a lot of power or energy. After that, they go home, they may be exhausted, have to replenish their energy again in some form of magical practice. You see what I’m saying? (Yes.)
And mostly, ghosts are not allowed to stay with humans because their energy is darker, lower, heavy. If they stay around humans, they will affect humans in a bad away. That’s why I’m trying to room up all these zealous ghosts around the planet. (Yes, Master.) (Thank You.) Some of them are very stubborn and strong. They are powerful. They are not as powerful as some big gods, but they are powerful in some level. So therefore, in the Astral world, they often go up to the higher Astral Level and fight with the Heaven there to get more property, more space, or just fight for something.
