To have found Kuan Yin is to be free from duality and all kinds of discriminations whenever you practice acts of love to others. Look about you and see how many of them are acceptable to you, are liked by you, are loved by you and then those who put you off. If such a feeling is still within your heart then you have not received the spirit of Kuan Yin, the essence of compassion has not descended upon you; you are only trying to practise worldly love though touching on some of the compassionate aspects. But you have failed to gain the insight, you have not entered the door of bodhisattvahood yet.

Change then your way of thinking. If your mental state is not right, your motivation has been rather superficial and this lifetime of practice will not bear the fruits of your labour. Whenever there are those who hurt your feelings by acting and speaking against you, or when you find some people’s ways of living distasteful to you, you have no reason to become angry with them, speak against them, avoid being even around them. This is not the mind of a Kuan Yin practitioner, this is just an ordinary ignorant mind that is trying to make some headways in practice and hiding behind the name of Kuan Shih Yin.

Do justice to yourself then and change your ways of thinking while you are still fortunate enough to have the opportunity to change. Maintaining wrong views is an evil act which will not destroy others but yourself. Instead of being on the path of love and understanding, you will be led to walk the path of hatred which is just delusion. Hate not the evil doer who harms you but be very wary of the evil that exists in this world. Conditions of the world of life and death have caused 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. You can either make use of this available vehicle and with great effort cleanse your mind or get yourself deeper and deeper into the quicksand of greed, anger and ignorance that will bring about more and more evil dispositions which will bring about great sufferings. 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 religion which you profess that you are practising. The way to destroy a religion is not by any physical means but the inner hatred which you harbour.

Do you still think that you are a true Kuan Yin follower? Reflect and search within each time you have the tendency to reject doing that which is good. Do you really seek to gain the Kuan Yin spirit in you or not? Do you really understand what it means to receive the Kuan Yin mind? Be true to yourself first before you claim to be true to Kuan Yin. You will have to put other’s interests before your own each time you come across a situation whereby a decision has to be made. You have to practise selflessness and realise its meaning before the meaning of loving kindness is transcended. ‘Charity begins with oneself and then at home’ is the view any fool can uphold. But ‘charity to others before self’ can only be practised by the sages. Meditate on this simple truth and then you will learn to hold your tongue and practise humility. 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, to feel for others as you would feel for yourself. Then you will be on the first rung of the ladder to Bodhisattvahood, then you will feel the energy of Kuan Yin vibrating within your body, speech and mind. You will be the only one who feel it, to understand it, but you will not be able to cause others to feel what you are feeling or understand what you have understood.

The higher you go upwards, the greater will be this divine energy and it will manifest the great powers of compassion so that you may act to assist others. Then great understanding will be within your mind each moment of your life and you will speak less and act more. You will reflect deeper and become more serious towards life, for the sufferings of others are your very own sufferings. Each being is part of you, part of your family, because to you, the people of the world are one big family. So you cannot be happy when your dear ones are sick and are in suffering.

You will find ways and means to help them but you cannot help all of them. But 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 sufferings and tests and these trials will be severe because you have chosen to become father and mother to all. Great endurance, great understanding, great perseverance and great wisdom must be developed before your acts of love can be universal, can be all-embracing. You will need to destroy the ego that draws you back to seek safety for yourself before you can really realise what fearlessness means.

The Kuan Yin disciple will be such a noble being that he does not need any praise or reward. He exists in the state of purity and love. He is with 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. Are you one who has such inclinations and motivations? Does it scare you away to have to live in such a state of being? Do you still decide to seek the spirit of Kuan Shih Yin? If you do, then there is another potential light that will brighten this age of darkness!

Saturday, 24th December 1983 (11th Moon 21st Day)