News 81, Master Says
Spoken by Supreme Master Ching Hai
Hsihu Center, Formosa • May 27, 1990
(originally in Chinese)

Adam And Eve

A long time ago, when God created the universe, Hes created our world. Hes created day and night, the stars and moon, as well as the sky, the oceans and the land. Hes created birds that flew in the sky, fish that swam in the oceans and animals that roamed the land. God was pleased at the sight of Hiers creation.

As the universe was meant for human beings, Hes started creating man and woman. God made Adam and Eve and had them rule the world, which included the plants, birds, animals and fish. Hes gave them a beautiful place to dwell, where there were cool streams, shady trees and a variety of fruit. That was the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve were delighted with all they had, except for one thing that God had forbidden — the eating of the fruit from a special tree. If they ate it, they would die. Adam and Eve obeyed God and lived as Hiers friends.

However, there was someone else who had his mind set on ruining God’s world. One day as Eve passed by this special tree, she heard a sweet serpent voice calling her. (The Westerners give the snake a bad name, saying that it always looks for a chance to seduce human beings. They have embodied Satan in a snake.) Anyway, the tree was named “the tree of good and evil knowledge.”

The voice told her, “Look at the wonderful fruit! Your mouth must be watering. Taste it, and you will become very smart, as smart as God has ever been.”

Upon hearing the serpent’s gentle voice, Eve forgot about God’s warning, because she wanted to become as smart as God and do whatever she wanted. She reached for the fruit and ate it. Then she saved some for Adam. That was where things began to go wrong. God knew what Adam and Eve had done, because no one could ever hide anything from Hirm.

From then on, they were no longer God’s friends. Hes asked them to leave the Garden of Eden. They had once lived such happy lives in the garden, where they had walked and talked with the Lord. Now the angels stood on guard at the gate of the garden with swords in their hands, never to allow the return of Adam and Eve.

They had to work very hard till they were exhausted. Now they experienced pain. What was worse, God gave them a most horrible message, that they would age little by little, and eventually die.

After they left Eden, Eve gave birth to Cain and Abel. Cain grew up to be a farmer, cultivating the land and growing grain on it. Abel was a shepherd, taking care of his father’s sheep. At harvest time, Cain offered part of his crop to God in gratitude, while Abel offered a flock of sheep. We know both are very good gifts, but we can’t give them in exchange for God’s love, because Hes knows what we really are. Abel was a righteous man, so God was very much pleased with his gift. Cain was jealous and angry. He hated his younger brother Abel, and God did not like his gift as much.

One day in the field, Cain rose up against Abel and slew him, believing no one witnessed it. But God did, Hes punished Cain by driving him and his family away forever. A world once so attractive was thus brought to ruin.

Do you understand the story? It’s not that eating one piece of fruit brought about all this misfortune, but that we know what’s right and wrong and have the right to make choices. We shouldn’t do what we know we shouldn’t. If we do know but still do it deliberately, we will make a mess of our life, turning it into something complicated and painful.

The fruit was just a symbol of what we shouldn’t do. Following God’s instructions means acting in a reasonable way, and not harming other people for our entire life. Even if you have not taken up spiritual practice, you may well have done yourself and the world a big favor by staying on a vegetarian diet and keeping the precepts. It’s the same with my students. We choose to do what we should and avoid what we shouldn’t.

God’s Wishes Are Not Extraordinary

God had taken such good care of them, gave them every kind of food or pleasure. There was nothing else they needed, which implied God’s love knew no boundary. Where else could anyone have lived such a carefree and pleasurable life without having to work? All they had to do was have fun. Did God ever ask anything extraordinary of them? Never. All Hes said was, “You may eat anything, but that tree is mine. Leave it for me. You shall not eat from it.”

But they didn’t even spare that one. Not that they were starving. Was there anything they needed that they didn’t have? God had only one requirement for them, but they weren’t able to do it. Hes created so many things for their pleasure, but they still made mistakes.

Today we are in a worst situation, tantalized and forced to drift in the ocean of suffering. Our world is full of distresses like birth, aging, illness and death. But at that time they knew no illness, aging or death. They didn’t even have to fight for their bread. All they were asked was just one tiny favor, which they actually fell short of fulfilling.

What came from God’s mouth, they disobeyed, not to mention what it would have been like had it been from my mouth. What would it have amounted to? They knew very well that God had created everything for their enjoyment. They knew Hes was their master and that Hes offered them whatever they wanted except the fruit of one special tree, yet they decided that they must eat it, of all things.

As a matter of fact, there was nothing special about the tree. It was just like any other tree. But God wanted to see if they could keep themselves from eating the fruit for Hiers sake, but they failed even such a simple request. They turned a deaf ear to God, yet they listened to the serpent! It was a serpent, of all beings! The words of a serpent were more important than those of God?

Now you see, if anyone should fall into the circle of transmigration, there is absolutely no one else to blame. If this story is true, we can’t put the blame on God anymore. Hes was so nice and hospitable to human beings. Hes asked for nothing, only the keeping of a tree for Hirmself. But they had to get the fruit of this very last tree. They had faith in everything but God. They even believed in a serpent and ate what they shouldn’t have. Not until they swallowed it did they realize what sufferings they had created for themselves, and what was good or bad. By then, God had also known that they hadn’t had enough faith, and that they didn’t deserve to be Hiers friends.

There are many things in this world, each a different price. For example, if we buy a diamond, we have to pay a huge amount of money, but we don’t have to pay that much for gold. We pay even less for a piece of silver. A piece of iron costs us a few hundred dollars, but gold of the same size may cost ten times more. Similarly, if they wanted to be God’s friends and enjoy whatever there is in Eden, they had to follow the rules. If they couldn’t even spare a tree, how could they live there?

People have to respect each other if they are to stay together. I may have a request for you and you may have one for me too, and we just have to cooperate. That’s the moral of this story, not that God really wanted something from Adam and Eve.

God thought that if Hes gave them everything but no rules, it would be monotonous and boring. Therefore, Hes granted them everything but this tree, just for variety. Alas, they didn’t understand this, and wound up listening to a serpent rather than to God, their benefactor. That’s disgusting! So they went “kaput” after they followed the serpent.

If you think more highly of a serpent than of God, you surely don’t deserve to be a friend of Hiers, do you? You have betrayed Hiers trust and spoiled the cooperation between you and Hirm. You want your own way. You don’t respect Hiers opinion, even though it has not harmed you at all. With so many things in your hand, what else could you possibly want? So that’s the ego, the eagerness to be as great as God.

Beware Of The Ego

If you weren’t as great as God, so what? It’s good enough to live in Eden. Every day, you have enough to eat and wear. You have whatever you want, but you still want to become God. What for? We human beings always have this troublesome ego. We want to be the king, the highest and the best. That’s why we have been cheated into this world of hustle and bustle.

We earn a lot of money to be richer than other people; we use a lot of make-up to look prettier than others; we buy expensive clothes to look better, too. Everyone races against each other. The better we are, the harder we race because there always seems to be someone ahead of us no matter how good we are.

This biblical story is not just about a piece of fruit; it has a moral. The ancient teachers, for fear of trouble, didn’t dare put things in a straightforward way, so they used various parables to get the ideas across to the people. If you read this book, “The Bible Stories,” that’s all you need. This book has selected quite a few good stories. Good, but simple. Even children can understand them.

Even by reading this story, you can feel how horrible and inconvenient it was for ancient people to pursue spiritual practice. Most of the time, they were envied and in danger of being captured of killed. The spiritual practitioners must have been better, wiser, smarter and more talented than ordinary people in every way, so they were very much envied and in danger. Just reading the Bible, you will know how hard it was to practice in the past.

The first story of the Bible has given us many good points to ponder and study. It’s not just a matter of fruit; it’s a matter of discipline, mutual respect, cooperation and ego. Adam and Eve didn’t want to follow the instructions. They just wanted to be greater than others, even God. But they were pretty stupid in their attempt. If they really wanted to surpass God, there must have been some other way. They could have asked Hirm, “Why are You so great? Can You tell us how You did it?”

Being so great meant God must have had Hiers own virtues and ways of practicing. Hes couldn’t have become what Hes is in one day. So they should have told Hirm their wish. Stealing behind people’s back is by no means a good quality. God had treated them so well, but they ended up doing nasty things behind Hiers back. That’s human beings!

The Greater The Goal, The Higher The Price

I have told you, everything has a price. As you follow me in your spiritual practice, you have to obey strict rules. But you get something in return. You know this very well. Otherwise, why are you still here? Buying gold is different from buying iron. If you want to get something, work for it.

Take me for example. I underwent an operation some time ago, but that was not the end of it. I had to work my muscles and nerves for three to four hours a day to help them recover because of the anesthetic and the surgeon had sutured them. If I hadn’t exercise them they would have become stiff and gone on strike.

I was told that I’d have almost, if not complete recovery after working the muscles three or four hours a day for six months. Similarly, if it is a higher goal that we are after, how can we not work hard every day? This is a rule that we just can’t ignore. You may know it very well, but you haven’t worked very hard. Still, you have gotten something in return, but not as much as a hard worker.

It is more difficult to obtain worldly things. For example, you have to pay hundreds of thousands of NT dollars for an operation, and you feel very terrible afterwards. For the first few hours, you are unconscious. After you come to, you will discover a lot of tubes all over your body. It’s a painful mess. On top of that, you may not yet have recovered completely. The suffering continues, because you have to exercise for several hours a day. Nothing in this world is simple or free of charge.

It seems that God’s offer is easier. Hes created the whole Garden of Eden solely for the two of them, except for one single tree. However, they took even that. That means man is never satisfied, no matter how much he has been given. So if anyone should treat you badly or walk out on you, don’t always think that you must have done something wrong. Probably it’s just another human being with an insatiable heart, demanding one thing after another.

Have you ever noticed that our mind is really nasty? It keeps bothering us all day long. Once we have settled for one thing, it says, “No, I want that one too.” Thus we are always busy with a lot of things. That’s why we have to examine it and keep a spiritual diary. We have to watch closely to see whether it really needs something. If it doesn’t, don’t comply with it. The more you give, the more it demands and the busier we get, although we may never figure out what makes us so busy.

For example, you may have accumulated a lot of stuff in your house, which you don’t use even once a year. Sometimes it was used only once after you bought it, and then it was forgotten forever. There are many things like that.

Don’t Mistake A Lack Of Discipline For Freedom

If we make our lives simpler, they won’t be complicated anymore. We have to watch our minds carefully, to see what they demand, how they get what they demand, how they bother us, and how they get hold of us. Once we have made a clear analysis, we will have better insight.

We have to be strict with ourselves, observing ourselves as if out of our bodies, and ask, “What do you want this for? What else do you want after you get this? How much time, money and effort do you have to pay for it? What can you do with this?”

Probe deep into these questions, or else we might become slaves to our own minds while still believing that we are free enough to do whatever we want. No, that would be undisciplined, not freedom. Freedom means doing something when you need to, and not doing it when it’s wrong. On the other hand, doing what our mind tells us to do is just pampering ourselves. We can never improve in this way.

It will only do us good if we are strict with ourselves, not with other people. Nothing is free of charge in this world. We have to work very hard to get what we want. We have to be strict with ourselves, very strict, to acquire the characteristics and level that we pursue.

If we just want to pamper ourselves, that would be too easy. We might just as well follow what our mind dictates and believe it’s freedom. No one would interfere, no one would care; we ourselves wouldn’t care either. But that’s wrong. That’s slavery, not freedom.

The whole world is upside down. It always finds my rules and teachings difficult to accept, even though I’m telling the truth. People think I’m too harsh on them and they can’t stand it. They want to do whatever they want because that’s easier. But where does this easy way lead us?

We are accustomed to walking the easy way, regardless if it’s right or wrong. Because it’s an easy and comfortable way. We keep walking on and on and never want to turn back. To keep on going is more convenient than to turn our car around, even though we are actually getting farther and farther away from our destination.

It’s all right to keep going, but we have to first make sure that it’s the right way. Just because it’s a big freeway it doesn’t mean we always have to take it. If our home is in the other direction, we have to make the necessary turns or even turn our car around, no matter how hard it is. We can’t speed on and on just because it’s a big freeway, nor should we give up because it’s a narrow path. If we give up, we will never get back to where we want to go.

Freedom is not going straight ahead all the time — stupidity is. The difference lies in the lack of self-control. Irresponsible people may look just like those who have freedom, because they do whatever they want and they believe they are free. No, that’s being negligent of one’s duty, and they are being too easy with themselves.

So now you see. This Garden of Eden story is not just about a piece of fruit. It’s a parable which tells us that it’s not easy for us to obey others. When people tell us not to do something, we have to do just that. Our mind always messes things up this way, doing what it is warned not to do. That’s why Adam and Eve listened to a serpent just because of one piece of fruit.

They knew how nice God had been to them, giving them the whole world for their use, but they were not grateful. They believed in the hypocritical serpent and ate what God had told them not to. We shouldn’t steal anything from our benefactor no matter how attractive it seems. If we really want it, we have to tell him.

They were given the whole world, but they were not satisfied. They were told not to eat the fruit, but they ate it anyhow. The moral is: it’s not easy to keep ourselves in line, because we always listen to the bad guys.

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