Quote of The Day (182)
This section contains short teachings extracted from the messages that Sifu Kuan Ming received over the years, since 1979. The quotes contained herein are a collection of the daily quotes for your contemplation.
Set your mind towards achieving the Goal of this lifetime. Be confident that you will not waver. With earnestness, practice generosity, for it is one of the greatest virtues for man to cultivate. Be willing to provide, be happy to be in the position to give, and be sure to maintain a sympathetic mind towards all who need help. (D-820628-1)
To worship Me in the form of Kuan Yin is to develop your compassionate nature. It cannot be done by mere belief; it can be done by devotional prayers, and it can be done by living a charitable life toward one and all, so that the qualities of love and mercy are practised with a pure mind. It need not be generosity to the extent of bringing poverty upon yourself, for there are many ways of performing acts of charity. It need not be about quantity but about quality, and a true giver begins charitable acts from the heart! (D-820615-3)
To gain inner knowledge from reading the sutras, one must have a deeper understanding than merely grasping the literal meanings. It requires someone who has gained insight in order to discern the true meanings beneath the words. Therefore, many will find it very difficult to comprehend what is contained in the sutras. Thus, if one is truly sincere in seeking, one must seek assistance from the qualified ones. This is precisely why the Sangha was established—to provide guidance to all Buddhists.
Attend as many lectures given by the revered Sangha, and as often as you can, so that you will receive the correct interpretations and so that a firm foundation may be established within you. Then, through your own reading, you will gradually begin to understand the wisdom contained in the Teachings of the Lord Buddha. (D-820615-1,2)
If My presence is not felt strongly, it does not mean that I am far away from you. How could it be? When you have been calling on Me, honouring Me, and practising My Way of living by being a benevolent being in this world, I am pleased, and I am always near—like a mother who gently let go of Her hands so that the child may learn to walk on his own, so that in years to come, he may rely on his own ability, so that through the experiences of life, he may understand and he can find his own way to meet its challenges to solve life’s problems!
As you go forth, more and more difficult obstacles must be expected, but keep on; strengthen your mind by cultivation, by living in accord with the Dharma, and by accepting all the challenges that come your way. (D-820605-4,820803-2)
When someone seems to be suffering, be sorry for him and say a prayer to wish him well; when someone seems to be the most fortunate, do not envy him but be glad that there is one human being who is not suffering on the day that you have met him. (D-820803-3)
Learn to appreciate the teachings of the great religions, which teach all to live upright lives. Buddhism is a way of living that brings harmony to the self and to the world. If you should seek to embrace Buddhism as your religion, then your task is to attain a peaceful mind!
For you who are on the Buddhist path, learn restraint and practise patience. Try to be with fellow cultivators and avoid such company that will cause your mind to give rise to anger and argument with them. (D-820607-1,820610,820714-1)
When there is a place to give some donation to help the running of the temple, shrine, or whatever it is, give, and give without feeling generous. If there is a deity, pay your respect with clasped hands or closed palms and make a bow or three. This is giving respect. (D-820513-1)
Life for all beings is filled with great struggles. If you win, happiness is felt; but if you fail, depression confronts you. Winning a small battle only helps to fortify you for greater struggles, so you must not be too complacent. Today, you may be able to conquer all kinds of temptations and feel a quiet happiness deep in your heart. However, if you are not aware that temptations will come to you again and again without end, you will surely end up as a victim one day. That is why you must face each day with determination, beginning with a morning devotion that reminds you of the battles you may have to fight throughout the day. (D-820803-1)
You use the mantra to help your mind achieve one-pointed concentration. This is only for the beginning of the sitting, to help you concentrate and reach a calm state before you drop all other methods of concentration. After that, you will just sit and hold your mind. Each practitioner experiences calmness differently. Some may soon find their minds filling again with thoughts, visions of lights, or various reactions. This is part of mind training. As long as you remember that you are the observer of these phenomena, you will not be attracted or distracted by them, and you will remain calm! (D-820421-2)
To expect guidance out of prayers of requests at all times is to become over-dependent on Me, and that is the wrong attitude. Even when help is given all the time, would it increase one’s faith? When help is there at any time, what is there left to pray for? Where, then, is faith? It is not right thinking to expect your problems to be solved through mere praying. You will lose your interest in no time, and you will also become a helpless and hopeless being. (D-820109-4)
Today, the 16th day of the 3rd lunar month, is our Precious Guru Deity Chunti Fwo Mu Festive Day! Om Tsala Tsule Chunti Soha!
The very fact that one has come across Spiritual Paths in life means that one of such Paths must be followed, and if one really puts his heart and soul to walk the chosen Path, there is every possibility of removing such sufferings that abound. Faith and endurance, together with wisdom, will lead one out of the nightmares of life.
Those who are now on the Path of giving help to others, be true to your cause, be true to yourself, be true to your belief, and you will be truly walking the Path of Loving-kindness. (D-820408-1-2)
Complaining about your life will not help. It will be more meaningful if you could appreciate all that you already possess. No one can attain a fully satisfactory life; there will always be areas of discontentment. If you are poor in wealth, you may still be rich in health. But even if you are poor in both wealth and health, how can there not be any stimulus to cultivate a richer spirituality? To such people, I ask: Have you really tried? Have you really understood the nature and causes of your poverty? Have you realised that since the distant past, many have willingly given up wealth and even health in their search for spirituality? Have you not heard of the Buddha? (D-820401-2)
Most people have such weak minds, such poor minds, and such uncontrollable minds that their lives are constantly in a state of agitation and unhappiness. If only they would look away from themselves, forsake self-pity, and learn instead to transform this negative force into a positive one by turning it into compassion for others who are more unfortunate. If only they could realise that there are millions praying for what they have; then they would melt away in great shame. (D-820401-1)
The desire to have more, the lust for others, and the craving for the satisfaction of desires must be kept under control and gradually extinguished. It is necessary for you to understand the difference between your needs and your wants. It is good to begin to examine your mind, to seek the truth, and to recognise the beauty of cultivating a contented and calm mind. As this understanding grows, cravings naturally diminish, and you become grateful for whatever you have, without envying those who possess more. (D-820330-3)
Attachments come in many forms. In this very materialistic world, most people are drawn to accumulating more and more worldly things, which lead not to fulfillment but to greater dissatisfaction. There is also attachment to worldly pleasures, which abound today and give rise to ever‑increasing desires, resulting in greater sufferings. The ‘lesser evils’ of attachment are those found in human relationships with loved ones, and the many other attachments that you cling to will bind you to the perpetual rounds of worldly existences. (D-820330-2)
The more attachments you have, the more difficult it will be for you to cultivate; therefore, the lower your chances of attaining your spiritual goal in life.
So, what are you to do? Are you expected to abandon everything and everyone? This need not be the case, as you are a layperson—a worldly person who has not dedicated your life to the Sangha. But there is a great need for you to understand the meaning of contentment and non-attachment by understanding the nature of existence: that all things are impermanent. (D-820330-1)
A true Kuan Yin disciple is such a noble being that he does not need any praise or reward. He exists in a state of purity and love. He is of his own true nature, and he is not affected by the environment and conditions of life. He is bent towards his noble task of bringing those whom he can back to the right path and those whom he cannot to safety by giving them all the encouragement and help that he can offer so that they are not completely lost. He is living in the practice of the essence of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, and he is on his way towards full realisation. (D-831224-5)
Great endurance, great understanding, great perseverance, and great wisdom must be developed before your acts of love can be universal and all-embracing. You will find ways and means to help, but you cannot help all of them. Yet you try and try, and that is how you will arrive at the stage of applying skillful means to help them. To get to this level of awakening, you will have gone through great suffering and severe tests and trials because you have chosen to become father and mother to all. (D-831224-4)
The way to Kuan Yin is not by clever thoughts and words but by selfless and virtuous actions. The way to pray to Kuan Yin is not by sweet words of praise and promises or vows but to act in accordance with life, to live in accordance with nature, and to feel for others as you would feel for yourself. Then you will be on the first rung of the ladder to Bodhisattvahood, and then you will feel the energy of Kuan Yin vibrating within your body, speech, and mind. You will be the only one who feels it and understands it, but you will not be able to cause others to feel what you are feeling or understand what you have understood. (D-831224-3)
The Buddha’s Teachings are the very Teachings that will liberate you from this conditioned existence to the untainted and unconditioned nirvana. Use your time wisely in your pursuit of the Ultimate Goal by studying and practising the Teachings. Avoid holding wrong views which are easier to accept; discard all kinds of hatred that are within you, or you will destroy the essence of the Buddha’s Teachings that you profess that you are practising. (D-831224-2)
Hate not the evil doer who harms you but be very wary of the evil that exists in this world. The conditions of the world of life and death have caused the mind to become deluded, and each person has to patiently remove the hindrances that are within his mind. The Buddha’s Teachings provide you with the means of purification. (D-831224-1)
All kinds of spiritual materialism should be avoided. When the mind is weak, when it is not ready, do not dwell on the practice for any kind of gains; otherwise, confusion will arise and complications will certainly be difficult to remove.
One should avoid hoping to be able to come into contact with any spiritual exposure, for the consequences will be harmful when the mind is not ready but the desire is great. This is ego building. This is wrong understanding and wrong cultivation. (D-831109-5,820610-2)
Set aside a certain time each day for sitting in contemplation or meditation. Only when the mind is disciplined and brought to a calm state—only when feelings and sensations of both mind and body have been subdued—will one enter the true state of contemplation. From contemplation, one should then proceed into meditation. At all times, learn to be extremely patient and strict with yourself. Contemplate the Four Noble Truths and consider how the Noble Eightfold Path can be applied to your daily life and then put into practice what you have resolved to do. This is correct cultivation! (D-820608-1)
Today, the 3rd day of the 3rd lunar month, is Cho See Puk Tao Sing Kwan, The Spirit of The North’s Festive Day. Om Dika Ranjir Hum Peh!
Depending on one’s own spiritual insight, reading about this Great Lord’s Legends may bring faith into one’s mind or otherwise. Some will treat it as a fairy tale; others will look down on those who believe and pray to Him, but to those who have experienced His blessings, they will stand apart. There is no need to talk further, and there is also no need to force others to pray to Him! While He is real to some, He too can be very unreal to others. This is how the world is—always. Belief and Disbelief - Dualism! Confusion! (D-860906-1)
This is but the early beginning of the building of the foundations for the Contemplative Order. Be not afraid of the obstacles that are there, or its history will be brief and disappointing. The Way has been given; how many will choose to walk it? The Truths have been taught, but how many can truly discern their meanings? One must not just believe and hope that their simple faith will bring them liberation! (D-820607-3, STQ-87-p3)
Divine Energy has been with you, guiding you, protecting you, nurturing you, and comforting you, because there is no one to whom you may turn to for help and assistance. This will continue to be so as long as you are true to the Call to establish this noble Order, which shall prove to others that the awakening of your spiritual abilities is not learned from others but from knowing made manifest from the depth of your heart, which is possible! You may have done much, but much more must you do if the Order is to be well founded! (STQ-1987-p2)
Those who have chosen to follow My Path, those who seek the true meaning of life and the essence of the Buddhist Teachings, should devote themselves to understanding the Greatest Truths of the Universe—the Four Noble Truths—and to practising the Most Noble Path in the world—the Noble Eightfold Path. One must discern the doctrines and live by them in order to grasp the real meaning of the Teachings, and once this is done, one will never turn back. The Path must be practised; otherwise, one will soon lose interest, for the meaning of the doctrine cannot be realised without direct experience. (D-820607-1)
Niang is nudging you to face the world, to learn from life, and to earn your own merits through your very own efforts in search of a wholesome life that will contribute harmony to the world. In time, you will understand what compassion is and what love truly is. By over-protecting you, you may become weak and unable to stand on your own feet or make decisions in life. At that point, Niang’s protection would no longer be compassionate. True compassion empowers you to grow strong and self-reliant! (D-820605-3)
One must learn to accept falling before one can succeed in life. Each time you experience the pain of a fall, you become more careful; you learn to be steadier and more alert. With every fall, you build the resolve not to fall the next time you rise and walk again. That is the rhythm of life—fall and rise, rise and fall—and how far or how fast you progress depends on how fast you learn to get up and try again. It also depends on your understanding that every fall is a lesson: to recognise how and why you fell, and in doing so, to become wiser. (D-820605-2)
Do not expect to be guided throughout your entire life, for that is not cultivation. Motivation can be given, but the effort must come from within. If you are being helped all through life, then there is no need to cultivate or to practise—and without self-help and cultivation, how can there be any real progress? Be glad when you can reach the state of 'no help' and dwell in the state of normalcy that would mean that you are ready to proceed on your own, relying on your effort and mental strength. This is the essence of true cultivation – achieved by your very own self. (D-820605-1)
Look at any image with devotion and reverence, honouring what it is meant to represent. Even if there has been an image which has not been carved or made to the degree of your liking, do not criticise or even comment but realise that even being so imperfect, others have found faith and have chosen it to be suitable for worship. Try to appreciate the effort that the image-maker has put into creating it or be grateful that it is not worse than it can be. Any form of criticism on the effort of others is bad for a cultivator. (D-840120-3)