You May Not Know

If we sincerely wanted to change, we can change some of the good or bad things. Most of the good or bad influences were formed when we were young. As a child, whatever people did to us, our feelings would be distinctly recorded in our mind. As we grow up, these memories accompany us. Therefore, our actions and responses are exactly the same as when we were young. It is not that difficult to change these good and bad influences. Though we are ignorant of our past lives or karma, at least we can avoid incurring future karma; and this is already good enough.

It is very simple to rectify our bad habits. Go home and think about it: Was there anything that pleased us when we were young? When was it that something unpleasant happened and gave us pain? Write everything down one by one. What was our reaction when we suffered, or when we were happy; write down all of them. Everyday, write down any good points that we have, in our diary. If there are any faults that we abhor or if are disliked by others, and which we want to correct, also record them in our diary. Introspect on ourselves everyday to see how many good and bad things we have done. In about three months, we can improve a lot. If we do not deceive ourselves and are sincere in our introspection, we could possible rectify all of them in a few years.

If we can rectify ourselves and increase the good qualities in us, our life will attract many of the so called blessed retributions. It is recorded in the scriptures: By doing good deeds, we shall be rewarded with blessed retribution. Since our atmosphere is good, we will attract good things to us, and then become even better. The bad atmosphere will attract the bad things, and then become worse. Therefore, spiritual practitioners are becoming better, while the non practitioners are becoming worse and worse. This is the reason.

It is absolutely accurate for the Chinese to say that "things of the same nature attract each other"! Whatever the ancient people said was always true, because they had the experience, and they knew it from the wisdom derived from spiritual practice. This is a little secret method that I offer to you today as a reference, if you wish to give it a try. You may pursue spiritual practice; and at the same time, you may introspect on yourself, and pray to the highest God, the highest Buddha, the highest Holy Mother or any god that you like or believe in most. Pray for their blessing, so that we will become better and better to benefit the country, our family and ourselves.

Sometimes, the attendants around me hear things that the public don't. However, they took it for granted and didn't cherish it. When I repeated it to the public or gave a similar discourse later on, they thought, "Oh! I've heard that. Nothing special! This manner results in indolence and the lack of cherishing.

As the Buddha's attendant, Ananda failed to attain enlightenment during his 25-year service. It was all due to his over-dependence. When the Buddha gave a speech somewhere, he could always hear what others couldn't. He learned everything by listening to the Buddha chatting with

only a few persons or speaking to several hundred people. He was right beside the Buddha! However, later on, when someone asked the same question and the Buddha replied again before hundreds of thousands of people, Ananda thought, "Oh! I've memorized all this. I don't need to listen to it again. He didn't treasure it. Furthermore, while talking to the multitude, the Buddha's blessing power was different than when talking to one person. We receive double the blessing power for listening twice. Even though we've listened one hundred times, we've failed to assimilate it, not to mention listening just once.

When talking about wearing clothes, Master said that more karma is incurred by wearing silk, and that originally, people should only wear silk when they have reached seventy. Master jokingly said that She was this exception, because She was already very OLD! Actually, even when wearing clothes, an enlightened Master is benefitting sentient beings, giving them blessings while shouldering their karma. Therefore, out of compassion, Master reminds disciples to be cautious in what they wear, so that they can advance more smoothly on the spiritual path.

Furthermore, when choosing fabrics to make clothes, Master would not consider using silk to make Celestial Clothes for fellow practitioners. The Celestial Clothes that She designs for fellow practitioners are woven tenderly with Her absolute love.