spiritual4u

The Library Of Spiritual Science

BIOGRAPHY

The Supreme Master Ching Hai was born in Au Lac (Vietnam). Her father was a highly reputed Naturopath. He loved to study world literature and was especially interested in philosophy. Among his favorites were the writings of Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu which were available to The Supreme Master Ching Hai as a young child. She had read these and other Buddhist texts before she had entered primary school.

The Supreme Master Ching Hai was not a typical child. She was often found reading philosophical literature when the other children were doing homework and playing. This concerned her father who asked her if she understood these works. She answered him "If I didn't understand, I wouldn't have any interest in doing this." Although he remained concerned, she consistently did excellent work in school so he supported her unusual interests.

Although her parents were Catholic, they were open to Buddhism. Suma Ching Hai's grandmother, a Buddhist, whom Master loved to spend time with taught Her the scriptures and Buddhist worship. The Supreme Master Ching Hai developed a very open attitude toward religion due to this background. She would attend Catholic Church in the morning, Buddhist temple in the afternoon and in the evening would listen to lectures on the holy teachings. This left Her with many spiritual questions, "Where did we come from? What is life after death? Why are people so different?"

At one time, there was a shortage of doctors and nurses in Her town, so Master helped in the hospital after Her classes. She washed patients, emptied bedpans and did errands in Her efforts to ease the suffering. Her friends in different countries often called Her the "living Buddha" or the "funny saint" because of Her sense of humor and kindness to everyone.

She has always had a soft spot for animals and has been known often to take a wounded animal home, care for it and release it. If she saw an animal slaughtered, she would cry, wishing that she could prevent the suffering in the world. She has been a vegetarian and has always been repulsed by the sight of killing, and of meat all Her life.

When The Supreme Master Ching Hai was a child, an astrologer said that She was an unusual, very intelligent being with superior character and morals. It was predicted that She would be a renunciate and become enlightened if not married, but if married, She would have a happy relationship and an admirable husband. This same prediction was repeated many other times in Her later life.

When The Supreme Master Ching Hai left home to become a nun, Her mother went to a Quan Yin temple to pray for advice. She chose a temple where the Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva was said to answer all questions of sincere devotees. She was told, "The Master is a very rare and noble child, one of a billion. She has come to this world, on the mission of Quan Yin, to save sentient beings from misery."

She worked for a time in Germany as a translator for the Red Cross. She translated Au Lac Language, German and English, and voluntarily also worked long hours in the service of Au Lac refugees at the expense of her own health and comfort. Her work with Red Cross put The Supreme Master Ching Hai in contact with refugees from many countries. She continuously saw suffering and turmoil brought on by wars and natural disasters. The Supreme Master Ching Hai suffered a great deal as She sought to alleviate the pain She saw, and realized how impossible it was for one person to stop the suffering of humanity. This drove Her more strongly toward enlightenment, as she realized that only this could help alleviate mankind's pain. Therefore, while living in Europe, She practiced Her meditation even more seriously. She sought out new teachers, read everything She could find and practiced many methods She often felt that this was not working, however, and that She was not experiencing the spiritual phenomena She read about in the scriptures, nor was she reaching an enlightened state. This was extremely frustrating for Her.

The Supreme Master Ching Hai has an unusual broad view toward all religions. She has studied and teaches the words of Jesus, Buddha, Lao Tzu and many others. She constantly shows the similarities among the great teachings and lets us see through Her eyes how all the great Masters are preaching the same Truth. She often explains how different religious opinions have arisen due only to the difference in opinions of different people in different countries at different times.

While in Germany, The Supreme Master Ching Hai was happily married to a German scientist. He had doctorates in two fields. He was a kind, attentive and supportive husband. He became a vegetarian, travelled with his wife on pilgrimages and was very supportive of her charitable works. Eventually, The Supreme Master Ching Hai felt that She needed to leave Her marriage in order to pursue Her spiritual goal. She discussed this at great length with Her husband and the separation was with his agreement. This was an extremely difficult decision for both of them, but She felt very strongly that this was the right decision for Her and that She needed to do this in order to pursue enlightenment.

After leaving Her marriage, The Supreme Master Ching Hai sought the perfect method which could lead one to attain liberation in one lifetime. In the Surangama Sutra, Sakyamuni Buddha said that the Quan Yin Method was the highest of all methods. However none of Her teachers knew it. She travelled and searched everywhere and finally, after many years, found a Himalayan Master who initiated Her into the Quan Yin Method and gave Her the Divine Transmission that She had sought for so many years. After a brief period of Quan Yin practice, She became fully enlightened and continued practicing and improving Her understanding. She remained in retreat in the Himalayas for some time, continuing Her daily practice.

Eventually, The Supreme Master Ching Hai travelled to Formosa. One evening, during a typhoon with heavy rain, as She meditated in a room behind a small temple in Formosa, a group of people knocked at Her door. When Master asked them why they had come they answered, "Quan Yin Bodhisattva (The Goddess of Mercy) replied to our prayers and told us about you, saying that you are the great Master and we should pray to you for the method to reach liberation." Master tried to send them away but they would not go. Finally Master was touched by their sincerity and devotion and agreed to initiate them after several months of purification and their agreement to adhere to a vegetarian diet.

Shy in nature, The Supreme Master Ching Hai did not seek out students to teach. In fact, She ran away from people who sought Her initiation. This happened in India, and in the United States where She was living the unassuming life of a Buddhist nun. When She was "discovered" for the third time in Formosa, She realized that She must not run away from the inevitable tasks that lie ahead. She began sharing with all who wished to hear Her message of Truth, and She began initiating sincere students into the Quan Yin Method.

TEACHINGS

The core of Ching Hai’s teachings is what she calls the "Quan Yin Method", a "Method of Meditation on The Inner Light and Sound" [觀音静坐法門] by which an individual is said to be able to attain the highest level of divine realization.

There’s only one religion: the religion of God, of love and of understanding. There’s only one church, one temple: the temple of Enlightenment. Come to that temple; then we’ll know all religions of the world.

The Quan Yin Method

Ching Hai initiates spiritual aspirants into the Quan Yin Method, also called the "Inner Light and Sound meditation." The Quan Yin Method, which exists in various religions under different names, is the "best, easiest, and quickest" way to get enlightenment. The method involves meditation on the "inner light and the inner sound of God", or the Word that she claims is also referred to in the Bible and said to be acknowledged repeatedly in the literature of all the world's major spiritual traditions. The Quan Yin Method requires two and a half hours of meditation per day and adherence to the five precepts.

As part of their meditation routine, followers of Ching Hai partially cover their heads under a sheet of cloth or blanket while meditating. However, while meditating away from the view of uninitiated people, the meditators do not necessarily use this cloth to cover their heads completely.

The Convenient Method

For the people who would like to have some experimental experiences, or cease eating animal products gradually, the "Convenient Method" is offered instead as a preliminary to the Quan Yin Method. The practice involves half an hour of meditation a day and adherence to a vegetarian diet for a minimum of ten days per month.

Spiritual Path and Teachings

Ching Hai teaches that the main goal of life is continuous spiritual elevation. In this world, we have two ways to live our life. Most people choose the normal way that we accept everything that happens to us as destiny, because we do not know the second way. The other way is knowing God's grace, by which we can live a much happier, smoother and more peaceful life, but most of the time it's hidden from us. Accordingly there are also two classes of universal law; One is the law of absolute love and grace, the other is the law of action and retribution. When we’re in the higher dimensions of the Kingdom, we have only love and grace. But when we’re in the lower scales of the universe such as this physical dimension, we have to abide by the law of cause and effect. Most of us enjoy only this world and do not know Heaven exists. However most of the happiness in this world is short-lived or has side effects. To find the source of all happiness, uncover our inner wisdom and love, and get permanent freedom from suffering, namely enlightenment, we must turn to the great Spirit, the spirit of God, that lies within us. Altogether we can live an easy life in this world, that everything is clear to us. We can choose to gain both material and spiritual success. We can choose whatever we want, but we must know how. To be successful in the spiritual knowledge of God, we must find the right opportunity and associate with the right person, one who knows the spiritual way to God, who can help us remember the way that we’ve forgotten and who can reconnect us with Him. Many people can get enlightened to some degree by themselves through the teachings of a Teacher, or through their own effort due to their sincerity and longing. But many people can’t. And even if we can get enlightened ourselves, there are many things that still need to be cleared up by a living Teacher who has gone all the way, back and forth because the spiritual road is invisible. So, only through initiation by an authentic living master can a seeker remember his true self and become fully enlightened.

The Five Precepts

If we want to stay in higher dimension, we need to live up to its standards. We need to be noble, compassionate, and loving. We must adhere to five precepts:

* Refrain from taking the life of sentient beings
* Refrain from speaking what is not true
* Refrain from taking what is not offered
* Refrain from sexual misconduct
* Refrain from the use of intoxicants

These rules have been passed down to us from the many Masters of ancient times to Master Jesus, Master Buddha, Master Krishna, Master Mohammed and so on, and they continue being passed down to us. We could and should live on vegetarian diet. As long as we don’t give up flesh-eating we are still harming the earth and consequently harming ourselves and our children in the future. Therefore one need to be a vegetarian to get initiation.

Initiation

During the initiation, she purportedly will reveal to the new disciple the inner light of god, whether she is physically present or not. The minimum amount of time she recommends to be spent in meditation is two and a half hours a day for her initiated disciples.

Through daily practice of meditation and charitable, noble work, we are coming to know more and more about our godself, and realize that all beings are linked by the invisible force of love. We start to love people more, love the flowers and all the animals more than we loved before, because we see them now with different eyes, with enlightened eyes. We just do it, the more we give, the more love we have, and then the love is all-encompassing again, and we will regain our unconditional love again, 100%.

Selflessness and Humility

Selflessness and humility are important tenets of Ching Hai’s teachings. Selflessness means always love; be loving and kind, think about others before oneself. She advises her disciples to train themselves in any selfless act they can. Even if at first one do it with intention, just keep doing it, then it becomes automatic. Humility means one put oneself last. If we realize that we are not really here, that we’re just a shadow in this non-existent planetary world, then how can we worry about ourselves so much? So, we are no one and we don’t need to really consider this “self,” then we always have the bigger Self. But when we only think of this little self here, which is only the body, then we are just stuck there with the little one, and we will never go anywhere else; we will never grow any bigger.

Contact with Disciples

Ching Hai keeps in contact with her disciples by speaking at meditation retreats that she occasionally puts on for them, as well as by communing inwardly with them when they meditate. Many disciples claimed that they could perceive her omnipresence and help especially when they were in troubles. She says that the real master is not her physical body, but the omnipresent "God Power" that she possesses. Thus, she often tells her disciples that she is always with them, supporting and protecting them, even if her physical body isn't near