Quote of The Day (184)
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.
Chant the Om. Bring to mind the wonderful sound of the Om; dwell upon it, merge with it! Be part of the Universe! Surrender your body and mind and feel only the vibrations of love and compassion; that is the real nature of you. The sound of Om is pure, is mighty, is infinite. Let Om become you! (D-830301-1)
By sitting in meditation, one does not only benefit from a relaxed mind, but one actually gains a pure and calm mind, which is then the Cause. To have attained such a pure and calm mind, which is developed out of steady meditation, you will begin to enjoy a peaceful and calm life, which brings harmony and happiness not only to yourself but to all those who are in your life as well; this, then, is the Effect of the good Cause of meditation. (D-820129-1)
To sustain your cultivation, you must spend time in daily contemplation and meditation. Sit to know what your mind is made up of. Learn to sit alone and to be alone and yet with the whole world. If it is meaningless and difficult in the beginning, you must discipline yourself to continue until the no-meaning becomes meaningful. You must bring that meaning into your life before you can understand what life is for. (D-820120-1)
To want to reach Me, you must be sincere in your heart. There are no halfway feelings; there must be no half-hearted approach to life, and there cannot be any result unless you have decided to act on it with a single-minded effort.
To reach Me with a true heart is easy because when the desire to reach Me is there, I shall make the Way more meaningful to you so that cultivation may become much easier. It will be your very own effort once you have discovered the Way. (D-820118-3)
To reach Me is easy. It requires only faith and devotion; it requires the will to live a life that is righteous and beneficial to others; it requires the cultivation of loving-kindness and compassion and the practise of understanding towards others. It requires a mind that is pure and free from wants and rewards, and it requires your acceptance of Me into your heart and mind so that you are able to be aware of My presence in you at any moment. (D-820118-2)
Many people struggle to concentrate because they have not understood the meaning or importance of one-pointedness in whatever they are doing. They allow their minds to be flooded with thoughts, and they end up performing actions driven by automatic reflexes rather than mindfulness.
Set aside all thoughts whenever you are engaged in any task. This is the way to truly be in whatever you do. This is the way to be in full concentration, and this is how you practice meditation even in the midst of activity. (D-820112-1-1,2)
One must learn to accept the challenges of life; otherwise, one will never arrive at any realisation; one will become too dependent. It will be by your own cultivation that you will be rewarded. It will be by great and relentless efforts that you will complete the journey to liberation. Once you become a Kuan Yin disciple, learn to understand the Spirit that you have reached out for, and no matter how difficult it is, you know that you must make it! (D-820111-2)
Bowing is a ritual that modern man has abolished even though they come in front of some who are worthy of such respect. Being on your knees when you begin to offer homage too should not be treated as an inferior gesture, and greetings between friends and acquaintances in places of worship should be with the gesture of both hands placed palm to palm, which is a sign of respect for each other’s Buddha Nature, for all human beings are ‘Buddhas-to-be’, and a sign of peace and kindness. (D-820104-1)
One will need to spend time to study and practice contemplation and meditation to know and to attain a calm mind. Guidance is given only so much as to stir your interest and to help you to awaken. It is up to you to follow through with acquiring proper understanding through daily practices of contemplation or meditation. It is up to you to understand that to realise your Buddha nature will not be an easy task. It will take a lot of faith in yourself and in the method that the Buddha has shown. (D-820107-1, 820109-5)
Happiness and power are what everyone hopes to achieve in life. This is the natural trend of human thinking. And happiness and power, too, are within the reach of any of you, only that they are limited, and that is how far you can get. Do not yearn for more than you can receive; do not expect a good life to always be with you. Because most people do not understand ‘contentedness’, they begin to suffer for want of more. (D-820105-4)
It is to be remembered by one and all that worship and prayers alone do not lead anyone to liberation. Knowing and doing are two separate aspects towards achieving the goal in life. One must act; one must work for salvation. Knowing the method is helpful, but only through true, dedicated cultivation in this and future lifetimes will one reach the final goal. (D-820102-2)
If you are one who cannot be satisfied, it is time that you awaken and learn to see into the meaning of life. It will be a waste of time to pray to Me or to pray to any Lords of the Universe; it will be wishful thinking to expect too much out of life, for no one will be able to gratify your desires once you are on the path of accumulation of material things, which are indeed worthless! (D-820105-3)
Those who are here to find peace of mind will achieve peace of mind; those who are here to find loving kindness will find loving kindness too. And they will be as happy and contented until the day arrives when they seek more than what they have come for. It is up to each individual to seek his needs and to be satisfied with them; it is up to you to know how much you should seek. (D-820105-2)
Dharma and Faith
Dharma is but the direction towards enlightenment and will not carry you through unless you know the directions and make your own efforts to cultivate. And to follow the directions laid down, you will first of all need the basic and genuine Faith. (D-820109-4)
Many will soon abandon the Path because there is a lack of faith in them. There is no foundation in their faith, which is mere curiosity and expectations. It is an opportunity lost for such people, for they have seen and experienced but did not have the wisdom to transcend the meaning of cultivation. (D-820109-3)
Strengthen your mind and cultivate virtues that will lead you onto the righteous path, bringing you great rewards in the future. Once you are on the Path, do not look back, be brave, be steady, be pure, and be filled with love and compassion for others, and your light will be bright! (D-840630-2-1,2)
Treat life preciously and be the creator of new and better conditions for the future. If you are sick of the present circumstances, why seek a future that is even worse? Use wisdom and be clear about your goal in life. Be with the good who can guide and cause you to be good. (D-840630-1)
To develop the ability to help others, start with helping yourself. Begin at once to purify your character and develop the qualities that you need! Live a life that is good and helpful, and follow the ways that lead to good rebirth as a Bodhisattva! (D-840322-2-1,2)
Make sure that each day is well lived and is free from the control of greed, anger, and delusion. All your acts must be noble and kind, all your thoughts must be sweet and gentle, and all your words must be truthful and tactful. (D-840322-1)
Daily thank Kuan Yin P’usa for the blessings that you have received, and be happy to serve in Her Name no matter how difficult it is for you to do so. You have to develop the Kuan Yin spirit and essence, and you will have to practise them to benefit not only yourself but all beings! (D-840317-6)
There are limitless things to learn from life’s experiences, whether personal or in relation with others, and as long as you are not deviating from your daily practices and state of mind, what great gains you can make that will lead to wisdom, what great virtues can be developed, and what benefit you can bring to yourself as well as others. (D-840317-4)
The Path that you are pursuing now is one that makes each day meaningful because you are learning awareness, you are learning discipline, you are learning contemplation and reflection, and you are learning to respond to your own desires with a discriminating mind. You must be grateful that this Path has been opened to you. (D-840317-3)
All experiences in life are but lessons for your mind. If you can see them with open eyes, if you can truly see and understand them, then you are on the way to great learning and self-improvement. You can then accept every situation in life, and there will be wisdom to be gained and an awakening of the heart and mind. Make your life a calm one then and build up the foundations so that the future will not be too difficult to face. (D-840317-2-1,2)
At all times, be diligent in practice and be strict with yourself so that practice is not a superficial thing. Life is the golden opportunity to gain; death has no power whatsoever left as far as cultivation is concerned. The energies and seeds of karma of the living follow and determine what the future is to be. In death, one is helpless, and there will be much to regret for not having made use of the golden opportunities while one is alive. But regret can bring no help; the body is gone, the skandhas have broken up, and unless one has lived relatively well enough, where is the chance to cultivate further? (D-840630-1)
Giving is the foremost practice in the Path of Compassion. Be ready to give to those who ask. Giving is not always in the sense of material help, which lasts only for a moment of time; it can be in the form of good advice, in the form of being kind to the troubled and downtrodden ones, in the form of being able to give company to the forlorn ones, and so on. As long as you will be able to let your time be used to give some help to others, that is real giving, which has the best values. (D-840305-1)
Wish happiness on others and see if you really can be joyful at seeing others being happy even though you are not having the best of health and opportunities of life. That is the way to remove envy from the heart. (D-840125-5)
Recite the Mani mantra as often as you can; make it such that it is part of your being, and whether you are breathing in or out, the Mani is your Life Stream. (D-840125-1)
Always remember that once you walk the Compassionate Path, once you accept Me as your Guide and Teacher, you have chosen your Dharma door. It is an easy way, and it will be a pleasant way even though it is not a smooth way. But life cannot be smooth, and people are suffering from moment to moment; you too must learn to accept such sufferings when they come. But with your understanding of the Way, you will not blame heaven or others for any such sufferings that come your way. You will understand that some sufferings and hardships will be necessary for you to polish your character, to purify your nature, and to keep you understanding what they meant to you. And you will wish to get rid of your own sufferings and those of others by reaching Me. (D-820118-1)
Walk the path by your own effort, and you shall attain the goal the correct way. Do not rely on others; do not rely on Me to lead you all the time. Only when you have tried and tried and then stumbled, only when your faith is still there and your mind is still yearning to continue the journey, do you cry for Me, and only then may you feel My presence once more. (D-820111-1)
It is not right thinking to expect your problems to be worked out by mere praying. You will lose your interest in no time, and you will also become a helpless and hopeless being. The Gods cannot help in your cultivation; the Buddha only points the way, and unless you make every effort to practise and to learn from your experiences of cultivation, you are not ready to walk the Spiritual Path. (D-820109-2)
Each good thought that you have for others and each good act that you do—all these are but the results of the opening of your compassionate nature.
Know that each day of your life will be an opportunity to further develop your spiritual understanding and to practice selflessness as well, and you should be the happiest man on earth! (D-840320-1, 840317-5)