In this episode, Master emphasizes the importance of direct spiritual experience over philosophical debate and explains how a true Master guides seekers to the inner Heavenly Light and Sound and to higher realms.
So we have just noticed, the Amitabha Land looks like a fairy tale story. So many people will think, “Well, that is some imagination, hallucination or maybe illusion.” So, according to some Christian believers, Buddhism is a kind of imagination, hallucination or something. No, no, no. I tell you the truth: the Land of Amitabha exists. Some of my disciples have visited it after initiation, or some of them visit it right at the time of initiation, because it doesn’t take long to visit these “countries.” It’s just a second, you can go, and a second, you come back. A fraction of a second. It all depends on the openness of our mind or the inner channel. Everything is within; there is nothing we can find without.
It all depends on the openness of our inner channel or so-called our “mind,” or our enlightenment level. So, that’s the difference between hallucination, imagination, illusion and the reality. Now if a place is a hallucination or a product of imagination, then the others cannot come there. Only that person can come, and he can only come once, never twice, because it is a dream, it’s an illusion. But if a place is real, then anyone can come, before him, after him, or anytime, and verify the place’s existence. So, if we do not practice the way to go into such places, then we cannot know that these places exist.
And most of the religions of the world are based on some kind of philosophy and argument, back and forth – if there is God or there is no God? And why it’s so, and why it isn’t so? Well, I’m no exception. Most of the times I go to give lectures, I have to also air the views of different religions and make them understand that what the Buddha said about the Moon, and what Lao Tzu said about the Tao, and what Lord Jesus said about Heaven is the same thing. But that is not my intention, and it’s not my beloved subject.
Actually, it’s difficult. And you know what? After I die, another one who comes would have to add some of my sayings in it in order to compare again and to convince the later generations that “[Supreme] Master Ching Hai said the same thing like the Buddha, you don’t need to argue,” etc. So it goes on and on and on and on. So, we have so many religions in the world with no help to the yearning people.
Because we only talk about philosophy and we do not show people the way. The “way” cannot be shown through books, through speaking, but through experience. That’s why the Buddha said, “Look at my finger and you will find the way.” Therefore, if the queen followed the Buddha, she saw the Buddha’s Land, she went with Him. The finger just means instruction, or follow, believe in the Master and let the Master lead you to wherever is suitable for your spiritual attainment at that time. That is the meaning of the finger. Now, the queen, she was an ardent believer of the Buddha, and she surrendered herself to the Master’s instruction. Therefore, that day in the prison, with a very sincere and longing heart, she prayed to the Buddha that this world is too miserable. Her own son, had put her in prison. Therefore, she felt the world is full of misery, unhappiness, and uncertainty.
She prayed to the Buddha that she may go to some Lands, to some places in the Universe which are more stable, more loving and more kind. So the Buddha came and took her to that Land. Now, after she went back from the Amitabha Land, she wrote the experience down. And these leaked out. And so then people got them and printed them. And until today we have them preserved in a full original form.
But although many people are aware of the content of the Sutra, less people experience the Land of Amitabha Buddha. The same with Christianity. If we are not sincerely devoted, if we are not gifted since many births with spiritual tendency, it is hard for an average Christian believer to experience the Second Heaven, or the Third Heaven, or the (inner Heavenly) Light of God, or the (inner Heavenly) Sound of God, which are mentioned in the Bible. For example, in Christianity, there are some experiences about the Inner Kingdom of God. Like when (Lord) Jesus was baptized, He saw the white (inner Heavenly) Light from Heaven. The Spirit from Heaven came down like a white dove.
You remember? (Yes.) Now, how many of us today are baptized with such high experiences? Or when Moses went to Mount Sinai, He saw God like a big flame. So God appeared as a big flame – big (inner Heavenly) Light. Actually, it just says a big (inner Heavenly) Light. God is a big (inner Heavenly) Light, and God’s Voice is like the Sound of thunder, like the Sound of many waters. And John heard the Sound of a trumpet in Heaven. And someone else had been caught up in the Third Heaven, etc. Now, who has these kinds of experiences nowadays? Very seldom, very seldom.
There are some exceptional saints in the Christian Kingdom, and they have similar experiences to these mentioned in the Bible. But the average Christian or even the average Buddhist cannot experience these. So, religions boil to nothing without an actual experience. So someone who is called “enlightened” is someone, who can go at will to these kinds of (inner Heavenly) Light Abodes, Light Planes, Light Worlds of Existence. At least those of my disciples are called “enlightened” because they experience the (inner Heavenly) Light.
“En-light-en-ed” implies you must have the (inner Heavenly) Light to be “enlightened.” The (inner Heavenly) Light is within you. In the Christian Bible, it is said, “Take heed that the Light in you should not become darkness.” It also says, “If your eye be single, your whole body shall be full of Light.”
It always mentions about (inner Heavenly) Light, about (inner Heavenly) Light, and (inner Heavenly) Light. Also, it mentions that many kinds of Godly (inner Heavenly) Sounds, like the Sound of thunder, the Sound of many waters, the Sound of the Heavenly trumpet, of harp, of all these kinds of things. Now, if we do not see God at all, at least we must see some of God’s (inner Heavenly) Light – the manifestation of God – or hear the Heavenly Music which resounds from Heaven in order to reassure us that we are very near Heaven. Now if we do not see Amitabha Buddha or are not taken to that land, at least we see some of the (inner Heavenly) Light of Amitabha Buddha. Because “Amitabha” means “infinite Light.” Or at least we hear some of the (inner Heavenly) Sounds – the Sound from Amitabha’s Land, the (inner Heavenly) Sound of the bird(-people) singing, the (inner Heavenly) Sound of the leaves, and the (inner Heavenly) Sound of all the animal(-people), or the Buddhas speaking the Dharma, giving the Teaching. At least we hear from afar, so that we know somehow that we are very near the Buddha’s Land, or we are in touch with the border of the Buddha Land. Otherwise, how do we know at all if God exists, if Buddha exists, if any Buddha Land exists?
There is one more thing I want to mention about Amitabha Buddha. It is said in the sutra that Amitabha, when He was in the flesh body, when He was practicing as a Saint, as a yogi, He had 48 vows. One of His vows is this: If anyone hears His name, prays to Him even once at the time of death – in sincerity, of course, and all utter devotion and longing – He will take that person to Amitabha Land, to His Land. But His Land, according to the sutra, is not a ready-made land, or a purchased-from-the- supermarket land, or is already there empty and waiting. His Land has been made from His own Spiritual Power – His own austerity and disciplines.
Now, this is what makes Buddhism stands out in contrast to Christianity. It is only because Christ had not that much time to explain to us in detail what He meant in such short paragraphs. Or maybe He had explained, but the information was too much for the church and they cut it down. Or maybe He had explained, but the prevalent authority had erased it. Anything happens; anything.
So now let me tell you about Amitabha Buddha. So, when He practiced austerities and virtues of meditation, He vowed that His Land, His own created Land later will be as pure as crystal, as precious as diamond, and everyone can always go there if they sincerely wish.
So, what is the point of me telling you this? It is like this: A great Master of virtues and power can even take us to His own Land. He can make a new Heaven for us. It is the same like Lord Jesus said, “In my Father’s House, there are many Mansions.”
Photo Caption: “The Distance Is Only Physical”
