Meditation Master on Meditation Bless Yourself with an Enjoyable Treasure - Meditation  
 

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Bless Yourself with an Enjoyable Treasure — Meditation

Spoken by Supreme Master Ching Hai
International Five-day Retreat, Florida, USA • December 25, 2002
(originally in Aulacese)

Disciple: I’ve found that if I’m too serious, for example, when I just started practicing and it was time to meditate, I used to say, “Oh, oh! It’s time to meditate!” my mind felt kind of stressful. But if I think, “Ah! It’s time to see God!” and recite the Holy Names and concentrate, then it goes smoothly.

Master: That’s right! Yes. Make it like a pleasure. It is a pleasure!

D: I even apply this to my work. For example, when I feel exhausted because of my work, I feel too tired, and have no more energy, but then I ask myself where the energy comes from, and remind myself that it comes from the universal source, not from my body, then I suddenly feel myself filled with an inexhaustible strength. I don’t feel tired, and even if I do, I still recover quickly. Therefore, I think we have two choices; either we choose this humble “I” and are very limited, or simply think, “I’m nothing. I’m nobody. It’s the universal power that does things.” This way I feel very good. I see no problem.

M: Yes. That’s right. When we sit, we should relax. That’s right. We should thank God for giving us time to rest. The other yoga schools usually refer to meditation as “a time to relax.” Nowadays, if you read newspapers or magazines, the regular ones, you’ll find them mentioning meditation, or when they talk about how to live longer and healthier, they’ll somehow mention that we must find time to “relax,” rest or meditate. They do mention meditation.

Meditation is very popular now. They don’t say “meditate to find God,” but “meditate to relax, to become healthier, feel better, live longer and be successful.” That is, to be successful in every aspect, we must choose a time during the day to rest, not to sleep, but to meditate, or breathe in, breathe out, or whatever. Everyone knows about it now because science has proven it. If we choose a time during the day to rest or meditate, our bodies become healthier. One of the best methods is meditation; that is, choosing a time to meditate every day. Now all the magazines, even the lousy ones, mention this. Meditation has been accepted by science and people worldwide. So don’t make it sound so painful, like “Oh God! I have to meditate now; otherwise, I can’t attend group meditation, or the contact person will say this and that.” It’s not like that. It’s good for you.

It’s a time for you to treasure. We’ve worked all day, busily taking care of the world and others. So whenever we meditate, that’s a time for us. We must love ourselves first — love others but also love ourselves. Whenever we meditate, at that time we concentrate all the treasure onto ourselves alone in order to nourish our body and mind. It’s not because I say this and that that you have to mediate enough otherwise this and that will happen. No. It’s very good for you. The most precious time for you since the moment you were born and until you die is meditation time. It’s the best thing you do for yourselves. No one can give it to you; only you can give it to yourselves. It’s the best thing that you can do for yourselves — meditation. While you do it for yourselves, others will naturally benefit as well. Your family, relatives, dogs and cats will also benefit. Trees and flowers will benefit too. I’ve already told you this.

So when we meditate, the people and all the things around us benefit but we’re the ones who benefit the most. It’s the best thing that you can do for yourselves, the best medicine to nourish your bodies, the strongest energy to nurture your brain, the best book to develop your wisdom. No matter how beautiful a car you have, how big a pearl you get, and no matter how expensive they are, they’re not as precious as the time you spend meditating for yourselves. That’s the most precious gem in the whole universe that you can offer to yourselves. Like one initiate said, meditation is resting, nourishing ourselves, bringing in all the precious jewelry to beautify you. Who wouldn’t want that? When our mind hears “precious gem” it says, “OK!” or “rest,” it says, “OK. I like it. I don’t like work. Relax, man! OK, I’m ready.” It’s just the brain.

Our brain only knows how to discriminate between “good” and “bad,” “black” and “white.” Work is a problem, or “job,” “Oh, no!” It’s been working all day already. “No. No. No.” But if you say, “OK, let’s take a break,” then it’s OK. Our mind knows what “good” or “bad,” “resting” or “working hard” means. So whatever we say, it understands that way. We must teach it. Also, the cells in our body all listen to us. If you say it’s good, then it’s OK and if you say it’s bad, it thinks so as well. Therefore, Buddha said, “All things are created by the mind.” Our mind we must create; we must speak good things, think good things, and then we’ll change the negative to the positive. We teach the cells in our own bodies to think positively. Whatever good you think or speak, your mind, your body, and the millions and billions of cells in your body all listen to it immediately. That’s why I say you’re your own master. You don’t need me, but you’ve forgotten how to teach yourselves.

All day long you’ve been dragged down by the negative power, listening to bad stuff, and then repeating this trash in your head. Whatever your mind hears, you let it think that way. Therefore, I’ve told you, “Don’t listen to bad things, don’t think bad things and don’t speak bad things.” That’s purifying your actions, speech and thoughts. If you hear anything bad, stop and toss it out. If you’ve already heard it, then tell your mind, “That’s not true. She’s wrong. Don’t listen to her.” We tell ourselves so our mind understands “Ah! These things are false information. Toss them out. Trash them.” Because if we accept it, our mind will think this information is OK so it’ll record it, and later it will spit it out. All the good and bad things in our lives are created by us. We say good things and our mind takes them and thinks, “OK! It’s good.” We speak bad things, and our mind hears them and thinks, “OK! It’s bad.” So, who else is our master but we ourselves?

For example, when you want to drink, is it you who tells your hands to get the water, or do you ask your neighbor to tell your hands to get it for you? And when you’re hungry, is it your mind that tells you to look for food? Isn’t it you who gives the order? And when you want to go to work, you must either look for a bus or drive a car yourselves to the office. We’re our own boss in everything. Thus, we should direct ourselves with a positive perspective, in virtue and goodness, so that our lives will become better each day. The bad things that happen in our lives are all created by ourselves — if they weren’t now then they were in the past. We put them in here, but we forget to cleanse them out, and thus they come back to harm us later. Therefore, don’t blame anyone. From now on, whatever bad things you hear, you must tell yourselves immediately that this information is not true, is negative, is not good and not beneficial to anyone or ourselves. Stop it. You must get rid of it immediately. When you go home, at night, recite the Holy Names to cleanse it out. And in the morning, pocket a big reserve before you go out. Therefore, you should meditate in the morning, and at night, when you come home, if there’s some leftover garbage in your pocket from outside, meditate to cleanse it out. The more you cleanse yourselves the better; the more surplus in your pocket the better; so that when you run into some garbage, you can cleanse yourselves right then so there’s no need to carry it home with you.

   

The Five Precepts

1. Refrain from taking the life of sentient beings

2. Refrain from speaking what is not true

3. Refrain from taking what is not offered

4. Refrain from sexual misconduct

5. Refrain from the use of intoxicants

The Benefits of a Vegetarian Diet

Master on Meditation
*Quan Yin Method Retrace the “Word” of God to Go Back to Our Origin
*Interview from Radio 720 “Believe It Or Not”
*Bless Yourself with an Enjoyable Treasure — Meditation
*The Effectiveness Of Meditation
*Aphorisms


Meditation Questions & Answers


Helpful Tips for Meditation



       


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