Quote of The Day (183)
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.
People yearn for happiness and fear sadness. If only they knew that in happiness there is sadness and in sadness there is happiness, then they would learn to stop yearning and instead learn to deal with happiness and sadness whenever they come. (STQ-1996-p59)
According to the Law of Karma, actions based on a powerful thought will yield powerful influences and results. What is a good action? It is a good action when it produces a good influence for those present and is done with a good intention. (STQ-1996-p24x2)
In the philosophy of Karma, the fruit of action unfailingly goes back to the doer. It is also impossible to eliminate karma since life cannot be without activity. Thus, it is not possible physically to escape from karma or to avoid action. (STQ-1996-p24)
Do not be too quick in your judgement of others. Remember, no one can be all good or all bad. Everyone is sometimes good and sometimes bad. Whether a person is good or bad to you is dependent on his past relationship with you. (STQ-1996-p23)
(1) Learn to be a disciple so that you may someday be a guru, one who has practised the disciplines of the Way and developed himself sufficiently to lead others.
(2) When you have practised self-discipline, nothing will distract or tempt you away from your Path. (STQ-1996-p32,20)
Prajna Paramita (Perfection of Wisdom, Transcendental Knowledge) is the excellent knowledge that has gone beyond knowledge. Wisdom power is wisdom practised with Bodhicitta. Preceding this, Purification, Renunciation and Harmonisation are the Three Principal Practices to be adopted. (STQ-1996-p9,8,12)
What are you here for, except to develop the abilities to:
a. Give happily
b. Love purely
c. Help sincerely
d. Forgive willingly and joyfully
e. Serve humbly
f. Worship whole-heartedly
g. Pray single-mindedly
h. Uphold precepts willingly
What, then, is the primary purpose of human life? It is to elevate your consciousness, which in turn, increases your wisdom. (STQ-1996-p19,15)
Let this be the year that will earn you your spiritual awakening and the causes that win you a happier future. Drop all your fears for life. Start living it rightly as of now. Do that by following the Teachings that are freely available to you that teach you how to develop the heart of a Kuan Yin Devotee.
You have been placed onto the Path so that you may awaken your spiritual heart and that of others. Let this year be well lived then. Om Mani Padme Hum! (STQ-1996-p54,17)
Perform your daily duties mindfully. Know that the Divine Mother is there to witness all your actions. Each day do some good to others—do it joyfully and gratefully. It is not enough to be practising virtues; be one who is perfect in virtues! (STQ-1996-p20,12,8)
Do not rely on others to achieve your life’s goals. You alone are responsible for handling your own destiny. You alone are responsible for deciding your path in life.
As one who walks the Path of Kuan Yin, develops the love for truth and the love of avoiding hurt to others. (STQ-1996-p14,20
Be not afraid to die, for what must happen will happen. If you are meant to be alive, then even in an area of danger, you will still survive. Still, we must die someday, somehow.
Remember that each day you will meet your destiny. You cannot avoid it. The only choice that you have is in how you accept it; that is what produces spiritual growth and evolution. (STQ-1996-p15x2)
The people you meet in this lifetime are those who have had a strong bonding with you in past lives. Therefore, it is natural that they come to you and for you to feel deeply attracted to them. Your deep links with them are both of karmic and of soul relationship. This really means that you have shared deep experiences with them, but that does not necessarily mean that they have to be repeated again, unless they are necessary lessons for growth. Do not try to run away from your lessons of life, or you will not be able to balance your karmic account. (STQ-1996-p16,14)
Receive the Divine Energy of Healing through the crown of your head and send it to others through the portal of your heart. The most beneficial energy that you can send to others comes from love, kindness, friendship, and compassion. (STQ-1996-p26,29)
You can lose everything in the world except what is in your mind. It is by losing one’s self that the Self is discovered. Your greatest enemy is your own self! (STQ-1996-p6,1,12)
There is nothing to stop you from becoming a Kuan Yin disciple but your own limitations. There is nothing to stop you from being an Attained One except your own unwillingness to be such a one! (STQ-1996-p13)
“True Initiation” is when you have actually gone through a particular kind of experience that is connected with the mantra. Through initiation the Master imparts Divine Energy to the disciple and connects his or her soul with the Guru deity within. (STQ-1996-p9x2)
To do well in life, think, speak, and act with awareness and mindfulness. See in every being, in everything that comes into your life, an opportunity for learning and growth. Remember, you are the creator of everything that happens to your life. (STQ-1996-p13,14)
It is good to bear in mind that everything is changing momentarily. Therefore, what was right for you then may not be right for you now. One can, by a change of consciousness at any moment of time, transform one’s future and one’s past (views, memories, karmic potentials). One can change from a beastly to a kindly soul! (STQ-1992-p2, 1996-p13)
The reason why most people choose not to live in the present is because they are afraid to face reality and all the lessons that they have to learn and all the tests that they have to face. They are far happier being in a world of their own creation than in the real world! (STQ-1996-p14)
How the present is lived will determine how the future shall be and at the same time may change the past (views, memories, karmic potentials). In essence, there is no past and no future. There is only the present, which is the only reality that you can know. (STQ-1996-p13x2)
During recitation, reflect on the cultivation of altruism, on love, on the kindness of sentient beings, and on compassion to discover the power of mantras through your own practice. (STQ-1996-p10,11)
Word is energy, and energy is power. Chanting the Om before the start of a worship will provide one with a powerful catalyst for inspiration and illumination. (STQ-1996-p7,10)
Practising meditation on the “OM”, generating Pure Energy to be offered to the Divine Guru and receiving Divine Light at the heart, in return to be sent to all beings, is a practice of Universal Love! (STQ-1996-p7)
Om - represents the body of all Buddhas.
Hum – represents the mind of all Buddhas.
Chant the Om to purify the Body. Chant the Hum to purify the mind. Chant the sound… hear the sound… contemplate on the sound… be one with the sound. (STQ-1996-p10,11)
Let this be the year of the changing of your attitude and view of life. It is when you are able to be at peace with the past and rejoice in the present that you are able to tap the spiritual energy to accept the lessons of life gratefully, to become selfless and caring, and to serve others as a return for blessings received. Then the Law of Karma will not take its toll on you.
Spiritual energy is the life energy or life principle of the universe, also called the Universal Consciousness Light. (STQ-1996-p50,10)
Practise happily; Live gratefully; Serve joyfully; the liberating power of selfless service has its ways of helping others to free themselves from fears and pains. Begin with practicing attachment in detachment; then, with the practice of detachment in attachment, if Liberation is to be won. (STQ-1996-p4,19, 1992-p3)
My gaze is upon all, especially those who have fallen and are in despair. If there is still a sentient being left in Samsara, My work is not complete! If you will bring Niang into your heart, there the Pure Land exists! (STQ-1996-p4,1)
Everybody has a part to play in your life, you have a part to play in everybody’s life.
The merit you gain is measured by what you have done to and for those who are in pain and misery. (STQ-1992-p1x2)
The Path that you are on is fully capable of winning you the causes of enlightenment. Through its activities of helpful, considerate, kind, and compassionate deeds, immeasurable merits are won; through worship and contemplative practices, meditative experiences, great insights, and the right view of reality are won. (STQ-1996-p32)
Sit to worship, sit to pray, to meditate, to contemplate, and to perform the meditative exercises. Sit to discover the joy of sitting and what it can do to you physically and mentally. Sit to find out why you have been advised to sit, sit, and sit! (STQ-1996-p58)
Meditate on love to understand what it is and can be. Directing it upwards and devotional love is felt; directing it downwards and compassion will reign. Directing it outwards and you’ll have friendship; directing it inwards and peace and bliss will be experienced! (STQ-1996-p32)