OM MANI PADME HUM

Leave all the worries behind each time you sit in front of the altar to worship. Clear the mind of disturbing thoughts and set the minutes between you and your Lord for the cultivation of calmness. There will be too many problems in life, for every lifetime, if the practice of calm mind is not taken up. Learn to accept problems as part of your life and be calm about facing them.

If each sitting is nothing but a report to your Lord that you are not getting the best out of life, then you are only complaining and demanding like a spoilt child, then there is no real worship in your heart, then there is no way for you to practise My Path of Compassion, then you will only bring laughter to the eyes of many when you disclose to them how you pray to your Lord, and then you will be the most disappointed human being.

Not to know dharma will set you back as a cultivator. Not to practise what you know of is mere mocking of your faith. If you are sure that you are in the good path, you must practise according to the faith, if you have chosen to worship the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, you will have to be on the selfless path. All your problems are not new to the world. Each being in Samsara has as many, if not more problems than you. Knowing it to be so, you seek the aids of the Buddha to get you out of the Wheel of Life which binds you to a miserable state within the realms.

When you call yourself a Buddhist, even a devotee of Kuan Shih Yin, you must know that you will have to work out your own future; you will clearly understand the causes of your being what and who you are; you will realise that there are countless beings less fortunate than yourself no matter how many problems you may have, because you are already going for the good practice of Buddha worship and receiving the Teachings that point the way out of the miserable states of existence. You must be able to kneel before the Buddha with a subdued mind, with the ability to let go and not complaining of your misfortunes to Him.

The Buddha does not reward you just because you pray to Him; the Buddha does not solve the problems of those who pacify Him with praises and gifts; the Buddha only show you the Way to a Supreme Life by your following of His Teachings which have been proven to be dependable and workable, because by the same Dharma, He became awakened.>/p>

You who are professing to be Buddhist, have the great responsibility to study the Teachings and pass them on to others. You must improve yourself each day by good and gentle living. You must not only seek for mercy and love but must offer them to those who need them.

Charity must be spontaneous and offered to all beings. Discriminations will take away your meaning of cultivation. It must be so that each one of you who calls My Name shall be the gentlest of being who are ready to hear the problems of others, who are ready to raise your hands to give others something to hold on to, who are ready to offer genuine and brotherly help at any time. You must be ready to be strict with yourself and should treat each day as an opportunity to open up your Buddha Nature. There will be times when you will not feel so kind and generous, there will be time when even to chant a round of prayers would be meaningless, but that is how the human mind must behave - with all the past defilements which have been accumulated over countless lives. That is why you must be ready to sit with patience and clear your mind of such sick mental dirt. And you must not expect to perfect yourself within a short period of sitting because if you would compare the amount of time you have sat over the past to the accumulation of defilements of past lives, you will be ashamed to get up at all. To clear the mind is to bring forth all the defiled thoughts. This is the reason why you get all kinds of unkind and impure thoughts after sitting for some time. The crust of this filth is loosened, you must be aware of them and be prepared to let them flow away, but if you should hold on to them, then you are only bringing back more rubbish to the store and it will be more difficult to cleanse your mind.

All that you are, all that you have, have been what you have been, what you have collected for yourselves. So there is no point to try and worship when the mind is filled with all kinds of worries and thoughts. First of all, cleanse your mind each day. It may not be that simple at first, but even small drops of water can fill up a large tank, if time is there.

When you come before your Lord with a mind filled with rubbish, devotion is absent. So how much love, respect and devotion you have at the time of prayer is how much response that you will receive in return. But it should not be at this level of thinking that you utter My prayers. Those who are unable to pray selflessly should not claim to be a Kuan Yin disciple.

So calm your mind each day. Be content that you are well enough to sit and pray. Be sure that all your thoughts are not directed only to yourself but towards others who need help more desperately than you. When you are able to visualise the sufferings of others, you will be able to learn contentment and appreciate the position that you are in. Each day is a great opportunity for you to practise deeds of loving kindness, a possible day for you to gain insight which leads to enlightenment. Each days is so very precious that those who are alive and healthy should live it well and in gratitude. Another day to keep the precepts and the lessening of evil karma. Come to Me then, with a mind of calmness, with a happy heart, with gratitude that you have at least found meaning and know how your life should be lived and you know how to recite the Mani Prayer!

Sunday, 10th July 1983 (6th Moon 1st Day)