NMJ: My name is Nominjin.

Q: Please explain yourself to the audience.

A: I decided to become a singer when I was 11. When I told my parents, they supported my idea, and my career started when I was 12.

In Mongolia, many of my songs have become No.1 hits, and I’ve also sung duets with different artists. Those songs have done very well. Basically, Mongolia is a country with about two and half million people, and I am the youngest Mongolian artist in history to top the record charts.

I’m also included in John Lennon’s album, called Peace, Love & Truth, as a part of a group of Asian singers. On this album, the director of EMI Records South Asia requested that I participate with other Asian artists in singing “Give Peace a Chance” with John Lennon. I think that was a very good beginning for my career as an international artist because my goal initially was to be an international singer, to sing in English and become a very famous star. But that changed after getting initiated. I don’t wish for anything of this world now.

Q: How did you get initiation?

A: In December 2003, my uncle came for my grandmother’s funeral. She had passed away suddenly at only 56 years of age. Myself, my mother and the entire family were in deep sorrow. But when our uncle came, he reminded us that we have a choice to learn the method of the Truth. He told us there was a fully enlightened living Master who could teach us about the Truth and help us understand that death is nothing to be worried about. When my uncle introduced us to the Quan Yin Method, my mom and I decided that we wanted to become vegetarian. So we learned the Convenient Method, and in April, 2004we got initiation.

Q: How do you feel you’ve changed?

A: I was 14 when I got initiation. After initiation, I realized that I hadn’t been living at all for the past 14 years. I felt like I had been living in a dream, and I wasn’t completely in control of my life. As Master promised, initiation helped me feel really elevated, much wiser and very loving to other people. I could feel that the inner Sound and Light were changing me. I didn’t try to change at all. I just practiced and it changed from within.

I also became inspired to write songs. I am a singer but I never thought I could write lyrics or do other creative things like dance. But after initiation, all the possibilities just sprung up and I became multi-talented. Thanks to Master and Her grace, and the meditation practice, I even started doing ballads, which I never previously thought possible. In the album released in December 2005, I wrote eight of the songs myself.

However, I felt that it wasn’t “me” who wrote them; the words and lyrics just came in a way that is unexplainable. I would just copy them down, and when the melody and lyrics all came together, I put them on a piece of paper and then memorized the melody. I have no formal training or musical background except to be able to play the piano. But most importantly, the Quan Yin Method has helped me realize the Truth and helps me to understand and connect with my inner soul and real Self so that I can be wiser.

I’ve been in India for five years with my mother, where I was introduced to the teachings of the Buddha and learned about how He had renounced His life to find the Truth. This idea fascinated me, but it never occurred to me that in this particular era there could be a living Master, as great as or greater than the Buddha, who could lead me to enlightenment and liberation and the Truth. Thanks to Master and Her wonderful arrangement, my mom and I got initiation and everything is perfect now. Even though my father is not initiated, he supports us. All our relatives know that we are successful and we are happy because we meditate. Everything is perfect. I’m fully content.

Q: Can you give us any examples of spiritual stories from your public life?

A: For some people, the idea of meditation and enlightenment seems absurd. It never occurs to them that they can reach Buddhahood or anything like that; for them God or Buddha is something very far away. But since I’m a singer, they invite me to TV shows. So I talk about Master a lot; I talk about enlightenment and liberation, vegetarianism as well. Interviewers or journalists always ask things like, “Hey, I heard you meditate,” and then I explain to them.

Recently I was on a live three-hour show, a cable TV show that actually reaches about 30,000 households. It’s called Message Center. Children and many other people send messages with questions and comments. So when I went there I was wearing necklaces of Master and also a big picture, which I just wore on my clothes. Also, I put Master’s big picture behind me. When the journalist introduced me, he said, “We have another guest with us today, which is Supreme Master Ching Hai, singer Nominjin’s Master.” I also made a big album of all different pictures of Master, beautiful pictures. People were very impressed, and the journalists said, “Wow! She is very beautiful.” So I showed the whole album and asked the cameraman to zoom in, zoom in on Master.

Also, I’m always very happy, and when I’m at the recording studio I am always deeply into the songs. When I listen to a song, I just concentrate. So once a hip hop singer asked me, “Hey, are you on drugs?” I said, “No! I don’t use drugs.” So he asked, “Then how can you get so deeply into the songs? And why are you so happy all the time?” I told him, “You don’t have to use drugs, smoke or drink alcohol to be happy. You just have to get the inner connection with your own greater Self, and then you will be happy.” After he questioned more, I told him, “If you learn how to meditate, you will be inspired to be able to do anything, and you will become a ‘hip hop’ Buddha.”

Fascinated by the idea of enlightenment, he and two other singers learned Convenient Method, and two of them have now applied for initiation.

Every singer and artist I meet becomes very interested in our meditation technique because Master has inspired me to write a lot of songs and they wonder how I’m able to write so many. I just turned 16 so they think I’m just a young kid; how can I write so many songs? My only explanation is, “I’m just a vegetarian and I meditate.” Some then decided to get initiation.

Another time, I was on a morning TV talk show that reaches the whole nation. We have a million people in the city, and another million and a half people in the countryside. So the national television station reached the whole country. I don’t remember the exact topics of the discussion. But when I was on TV that day, people wondered how I could speak such good Mongolian. It just flowed through me. I didn’t really try; I didn’t intend to speak well. It’s because I have so much passion for our message, and I believe that everyone should be happy by knowing that God is within themselves.

After I spoke on that TV show, many people who were previously opposed to meditation suddenly understood that meditation is not such a bad thing. Some have encouraged their young ones to start meditating, and in the countryside people have started accepting Master’s teachings. So Master’s words are basically spreading through our country with the help of many initiates. Everything is working out very well in Mongolia through the grace of our Master.

Q: Is this your first time to be in the Seoul Center?

A: Yes. I’m so glad to be here during Ching Hai Day because it’s very special. I was also given the opportunity to perform with the Seoul brothers and sisters in Korea, which has been wonderful. My mother and I have been received very warmly by our fellow initiates.

And I would just like to use this opportunity to thank Master for Her limitless love and patience with us disciples. Thanks for uniting all the races and religions, everyone young and old in this world, for truly uniting everyone. I’ve written a song for Master; it’s called “Isn’t It Wonderful”! There is no way to express how beautiful it is to feel so connected, to love each other so sincerely without all the worldly emotion dragging us down. It’s just amazing. Thank You Master. We love you, and on behalf of the Mongolian initiates, I’d like to say, “See you at Home!”

For more information about Nominjin, please refer to:
http://www.nomincater.com