New Era, New Thinking, New Attitude   By Brother-initiate Chen, Taipei, Formosa (Originally in Chinese)

 

From waging war to coexistence and shared prosperity, humankind has undertaken a long, arduous journey that reflects its ongoing quest for happiness. Today, although most people are well-fed and adequately clothed and no longer have to fight for survival, they still have a long way to go before they can find true contentment. Emotional turmoil continues to follow on the heels of political and economic turbulence as humans suffer physical and mental anguish under the stress of daily responsibilities and cannot find time to truly enjoy life. Moreover, ideological conflicts among religions are like a volcano on the verge of erupting, and once they do, the repercussions can be tremendous. In light of these developments, some of Supreme Master Ching Hai’s fundamental solutions to humanity’s problems are presented below.

Politics

Generally speaking, the citizens of various nations have no alternative but to “accept without satisfaction” the political regime in power. As Master points out, “The problems in this world are not to be blamed on politicians, on the economic system of any country or any ‘ism’ of any nation, but on ignorance of our Self-nature, that we do not know how great we are, that we do not know that we are contentment incarnate, that we do not know we are love personified. Therefore, enlightenment is a cure for all illnesses, for all worldly problems, for all wars!” (From The News #37, “Master Says—Appreciate Life, Start with Enlightenment”).

And regarding practical action, Master suggests, “People should search for genius and not rely only on the government and politicians. The actual voting, the elections should be recommended by the people. The people should really select who the ones are running and make a list, and then all the people can approve or not approve it. In that case, the talented, virtuous people do not have to have money to serve their country.” (From The News #51, “Master’s Words—Select Virtuous and Talented People”).

Master further states, “I think the presidential election system in our world needs to be changed. For instance, if a president is good, he should be allowed to remain in office. Why should we waste so much time and money and create so much trouble just to hold another election? What if the president is a good one, but does not know how to advertise himself, how to promote his image or how to market himself, or perhaps does not have a good promotional strategy? Then he will lose the election and another person will take office. That person might have sharp business acumen, know how to make use of advertising, have a lot of money and resort to bribery. Just suppose this happens, then we will lose a capable person! The new guy might not do well. What can he do in two or three years during his short term as president?” On this point She also says, “Besides, it will create an atmosphere of competition for fame and profit in the country. This is not very good. I believe that the law should be amended to establish a standard of appraisal. A president should be able to begin a consecutive term in office if he gains enough points in his performance in regard to the economy, culture, diplomacy and social stability. This can save a lot of trouble. Otherwise, a lot of time will be wasted, and much will be at stake. Rarely do we elect a good president, so we should just let him stay on. I think this would be better; it would be both democratic and less time-consuming because then everyone would have the chance to be elected as president. Things would be very clear.” (From Supreme Master Ching Hai’s discourse “How to Practice in the Complicated Society”, Hsihu, Formosa, November 5, 1995, DVD #512).

Economy

Moreover, humanity must free itself from the prevailing polarization between rich and poor, people’s livelihood should be protected and they should be eager to work, Master indicates, “I can imagine that the people in the future after 2000 years won’t have to work so hard. We will have a different system, a wiser system, people will probably work only for a hobby and we probably won’t need money. Everyone will produce what he needs and then share with others. It will be better because actually if a man has more time he can contribute more. In his relaxed time he can produce, he can learn, he can train himself in another way of work and he can use his intelligence to develop his hobby. And sometimes people put more energy into their hobby and then it produces better results. I think everyone should work only half a day. That should be enough, and the other half day should be used for a hobby, whatever they like to develop or their own invention, their own research.” (From Master’s discourse “Wrong Concepts Will Lead Mankind to Disaster”, Bangkok, Thailand, September 14, 1994, videotape #446).

Education

In addition to researching such essential practical knowledge, educating oneself spiritually is even more important. Recent protests by Muslims in the Middle East have underscored the urgency of this fact as these difficulties arose from lack of understanding of fundamental religious beliefs, sparking unrest far and wide. All religions and political bodies, despite their differences, have one thing in common; that is the desire to pursue the Truth. Thus, we should work to discard the superstitious elements of religions rather than their essence.

Based on this idea, Master has conceived a solution: “Each university should have a library containing a vast collection of religious scriptures so that all can come together to study the philosophies of past Masters freely and peacefully. Then we will have a good understanding of the religious faith of our neighbors and friends and won’t have so many wars, so many religious conflicts or civil wars.” (From Master’s lecture “Why There is Conflict and Slander among Religions”, Taichung, Formosa, November 16, 1988, Videotape #18). In the above-mentioned case, a comic strip of the Prophet Muhammad caused worldwide unrest. By contrast, if humans want to enjoy long-lasting peace, it’s time we understand and learn from each other.

National defense

Master also advocates peaceful defense: “Governments should know how to make their countrymen happier, how to protect their land without having to use arms and spend much money on guns, how to be in harmony with neighboring countries and all the countries of the world, not having to get into conflicts with them by giving them freedom to come and go, but still at the same time protecting their own country’s interests and keeping order in the land.” (From Master’s lecture “What Makes a Country Great”, Singapore, March 8, 1993, Videotape #327)

And when asked how cross-border conflicts can be resolved, Master replied, “People make war with each other because they identify too much with their bodies, with the immediate needs of their bodies, with all the demands of their bodies so they kill each other. The only solution to this problem is to find a way to realize that we are not our bodies, and then no one will oppose us and we will no longer be in danger economically or politically. Enlightenment is the true, lasting answer; otherwise, we will continue to identify with our bodies and thus try to fulfill their needs out of worry that other people will come and steal our crops, take our wives or invade our nations. Some nations make war with each other because they want to expand their economic power. In order to feed their overpopulated countries, they fight to gain more land, to gain more of the economic market, etc. It all has to do with the body. Even though we say it is differences in ideals, it all amounts to bodily demands. So if we become enlightened, these wars will stop by themselves. We will truly realize the brotherhood of humankind.” (From The News #102 “Master’s Words—Inner Peace”).

Social life

Moreover, Master supports treasuring the wisdom of elderly people, saying that it’s better to entrust children’s education to their grandparents rather than leaving it completely in the hands of their immature parents. Besides, we have to create an environment in which no one suffers from hunger or thirst, and set up more public kitchens to meet individual needs. On this subject, Master adds, “In some other more advanced societies in the universe you don’t have to work for a living. Everywhere they have like a common kitchen, a common store, where everyone can exchange their labor, their work, their crafts for the goods that they need and even if they don’t have any, they can also have something. But if they want extra, they have to strive in different ways and each one just contributes his talents or abilities to society, not for the money but for the pleasure of it, for the honor of contributing.” (From The News #93, “Master Says—The Different Working Systems in the Universe”).

We should also improve our political, economic, educational and social systems to create an ideal environment, replacing power with service, competition with sharing and criticism with understanding. We must identify with the fact that we have only one Earth and we are all mutually reliant. We must transcend ethnic, national, religious and all other differences created by humans. On this issue, Master has the following to say to Quan Yin practitioners: “We have to be the forerunners, the leaders of the world, not in political movements, not in revolutionary reactions, but as shining examples of sacrifice and love. That’s how we can rescue the world. That’s how we can lead the world into the new age, into a new spirit of serving and loving each other. As long as we live, we must dedicate our whole lives to the goodness, to the progress of humankind, of the whole world, of the whole universe. Our vision must be so large, larger than life, must be so noble that we have nothing else to lose. We fear nothing in such greatness of a vision. Every obstacle becomes small and every personal inconvenience becomes meaningless in such a vision. I do not feel that we’re talking like a dream or just making a vision, but I feel that it will come true someday” (From The News #21 “Master Says—Leading The World Into A New Era”).