Quote of The Day (182)
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.
Why is this Period of time so difficult to live in?
That is because we are aware that the Old Culture is dying but has not yet died and the New Culture is coming to birth but has not yet been born. Caught in the middle and not knowing what will come next we do not know where to turn!
Since the highest purpose of life is about attaining freedom from worldly existence, why then are you attracted to the worldly concerns? (STQ-2014-p4,10)
(1) “Stupid” people are arrogant. “Wise” ones are ever humble.
(2) As a spiritual friend and guide, scold only those who listen, not those who don’t.
(3) Discipline and self-surrender are the prerequisites for progress and success, both materially and spiritually.(STQ-2009-p31,2014-p11x2)
Let the Chanting of the Holy Sounds of “Namo Pao Kwang Sern Ai Kuan Shih Yin P’usa” be made frequently, wherever you are whilst visualising the Great Downflow of Light and Love onto whoever you are seeking to bless!
Receiving the Light and love of the Divine Mother, this is how our mind becomes illuminated, and our heart purified. (STQ-2013-p22,2014-p10)
The Three Root Virtues of Kindness, Caringness and Helpfulness must be practised to start your Journey to Developing Compassion, because: Kindness pleases a person; Caringness heals a person; and Helpfulness inspires a person to take on the Path of Self-Development. (STQ-2014-p16)
Be forgiving towards those who hurt you.
Be loving to all without exception.
Be compassionate even to those who have no compassion for you!
Learn to live to accept the faults and weaknesses of others and pray that others, too, will accept the faults and weaknesses of ours! (STQ-2014-p16x2)
Be kind to yourself.
Be caring towards others.
Be helpful towards friends and strangers.
Let the Practice of the Kind, Caring and Helpful Heart win you the right view about yourself and others and of the Nature of Life. Then, may you be moved to make the right changes to your life and be transformed by them! (STQ-2014-p16,2013-p19)
What Virtue can be greater than Compassion which is the Source of all Happiness? Practise it then and make bloom the Good Heart from which Bodhicitta arises and by which you enter the Gateway to the Path of the Kuan Yin Contemplatives!
Nothing can be more precious in life than to have the Good Heart that loves purely and selflessly. Be glad that you have been placed onto a Path that is promoting it! (STQ-2014-p21,2015-p9)
Happy Wesak Day!
A Master once gave this advice to his followers:
You need to get rid more of the “you” that you think you are, if you are to discover the “you” that “you” really are!
This refers to the need to clear away some aspects of their “false selves” such as their habits, beliefs, judgements and expectations that are obscuring their views of their True Selves! (STQ-2014-p11)
Meditate to empty your mind. The fullness of emptiness is marked by the absence of its boundaries.
Discuss not “emptiness” with anyone. Know that the wrong interpretation of it may cause them to take it to be “nihilistic” or that “emptiness” is saying that nothing exists. Of course, “emptiness” does not mean denying all that exists, but that “existence” is there and that it is ever-changing and transient and impermanent. (STQ-2007-p68,2014-p2,11)
All teachings given to you are meant to inspire you to work towards awakening your Heart of Love. All practices undertaken by you are meant to develop in you, the virtues and wisdom that are the causes of Awakening the desire to attain the Great Loving Heart and the Acquiring of the Right Understanding of the Path!
All Teachings received are meant to be expanded, experienced, and expounded later on! (STQ-2014-p5,14)
Better it is for one to commit a wrong act and hide it than one who performs a good deed and announces it!
What makes an act unwholesome is when one knows the Law of Cause and Effect and yet willfully breaks it. For that is deliberately choosing evil over good when one knows what good is! (STQ-2014-p14,15)
Taking on the New Life of a disciple is about taking on the Practice to Self-Transformation. These are the five Steps of Practice:-
1. Viewing the Path
2. Entering the Path
3. Learning the Path
4. Practising the Path
5. Teaching the Path
(STQ-2014-p10,16)
Harmful it is to sin. More harmful it is not to repent!
One always feels sad and remorseful whenever a sincere repentance is made. But that is alright because this is spiritual sadness which has a sweet and joyous effect in it in the end.
Practise repentance and be rewarded with its taste of “sweetness”! (STQ-2014-p14x2,p15)
Complain not that your life is strife and trial-filled. Know that none can be without them. Instead, rejoice that they are there to remind you that such is the Way of Life in Samsara so that you will cease to live unwholesomely and begin to pay heed to right living, which will lead you to the Path to Enlightenment! Know that it is whilst you are fulfilling your karmic responsibilities that the Light of Divinity shall descend to light up the Flames of Love that is in your heart! (STQ-2014-p15)
One takes on Incarnation to Clear the Karmic Debts that were created in previous lives and to Learn the Karmic Lessons of this life. In every Incarnation, one makes contact with those whom one has loved and helped and disliked and hated.
Where one has been kind towards, the one that one will be meeting will be giving him help and love, whilst those one has hurt and hated will be harming one in return, till one is able to hold out his hand to them and be friend to them again! (STQ-2014-p8)
Be Silent to Feel Silence.
Be Silent to Know Silence.
Be Silent to Reach Silence.
Be Silent to Welcome Silence.
Be Silent to Be Silence.
A contemplative sits in solitude to enter into stillness and silence. For, in stillness, he frees himself from all worldly concerns and in silence, he enters into the depth of his heart and goes to the higher regions! (STQ-2013-p20, 2014-p4)
Take in the Steps of Training with courage, particularly those that you are confident with. Know that the more you excel in one area, the stronger you will get in another. This is how you get to familiarise with all of them in a matter of time! (STQ-2013-p27)
In time the New Millennium will bring forth a New Karmic Cycle which shall have the various Traditions merging into a New Spirituality and a new Consciousness that is aimed at the highest Good of all. This is when humanity will begin to see that there are many Paths up the mountain and that they all converge at the Summit!
In the Beginning, this is the Path of Light and Love, in the End, this shall be, to you, the Great Path of Love and Light, that shall be of Great Benefit to all of Mankind! (STQ-2013-p21,2014-p7)
Truth is one but the Path leading to it are very many. Arising from this are the very many perceptions and the understanding of it which have been causing much pain and division to mankind!
As a Kuan Yin Contemplative, live responsibly and exemplarily if others are to see the beauty of the Path. (STQ-2013-p25,2014-p3)
Remember well that all virtues must be performed and all responsibilities fulfilled, and that the Practice of “Self-Blame” and not “Self-Praise” must be upkeep at all times! (STQ-2014-p5)
Each time you say: “May all Beings be Blessed!” you are wishing that they may be having a better and happier Life, one that is full of Happiness and Joy!
Better than the Prayers from your lips are the words from your heart which are the True Offerings that Niang prefers more than anything else you can offer! (STQ-2013-p15,18)
(1) Suffering is not needless when you can see that it is the Doorway to a Deeper Insight that will bring about Positive Changes to your life!
(2) Challenges are simply Changes that shall be creating new experiences for you to learn and grow. (STQ-2013-p16,19)
Avoid achieving a short-term gain without considering the long-term implications.
When you regard others as good and yourself as bad your very faults become virtues in their eyes. (STQ-2013-p32x2)
(1) Worldly learning has little use for spiritual progress. Sincerity of Heart, Purity of Mind and Selflessness of Nature, are the most essential in Spiritual Practice.
(2) What is and what you shall be experiencing represents inner and outer clarity and purification. (STQ-2014-p3,4, 2013-p32)
SHARE, CARE, BEAR AND DARE
You Share because you Care!
You Bear because you Dare!
Sharing, Caring, Bearing and Daring; these are the Inner Virtues of one who would walk the Great Path of a Kuan Yin Contemplative! (STQ-2013-p13)
The more knowing you are, the more useful you shall be to others. The wiser you are, the more purposeful and beautiful Life shall be to your own self.
Live benevolently and you will be living rightly to benefit yourself and others, which is what Wise Living is all about. (STQ-2013-p19,15)
Humility is the greatest virtue of one who would tread this Path of Service. It is pride that prevents one from Spiritual Progress. Indeed, humility is the Virtue that prepares one for discipleship. For it is the meek and not the egoists who are ready to learn! (STQ-2014-p2x3)
Live the simple life, wanting little, owning little so that with the least of possessions you may walk freely and quickly towards the Great Goal of Life.
Be a Saviour of Yourself. Surrender is the Door to True Discipleship. (STQ-2014-p2,3,7)
Recognising that each person is an individual with his viewpoint and purpose do not impose your belief and way on others. Learn to accept others as they come.
Go then with humility and purity of confidence and return with Heart of faith. (STQ-2012-p21,2013-p6)
It is from the Teachings that Spiritual Insights are found.
It is from your Sittings that Inner Visions are gathered.
It is from your Practice that you learn about the deepest needs of the heart.
It is from Serving others selflessly that you may learn about the loveliness of Human Compassion! (STQ-2012-p4)
The best way to quiet your mind is to practise meditation.
The best way to find your self is to sit in silence.
The best way to learn intuitively is to practice contemplation. (STQ-2012-p34)