Quote of The Day (181)
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.
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)
Faith is the first essential virtue to cultivate. With it, one does not abandon the Way and lose faith no matter how many obstacles cross the Path. The beginning is always difficult because there are so many things that one does not fully understand and there are too many changes to one’s life. But this is to be so because to develop a stronger character and to gain further insight into religion, one must practise and be engaged in relentless efforts so as to gain true understanding. (D-820109-1)
It must be remembered that before achieving what you want, they are wonderful to possess, but after having attained them, they are not as you have expected them to be. And this is the pattern of human wants and thoughts. And this is the cycle that will repeat itself again and again, and that is why those who are ever seeking for greater things will suffer the most in life. (D-820105-1)
This will be a year of changes. It will be a difficult year for many, and so what is better than learning to calm the mind and to understand the reasons for this existence. Guidance will be given to those who seek. Protection will be given to those who act in a righteous manner, and Faith will be experienced by all who practise devotion and walk the Path! (D-820102-1)
The Law of Cause and Effect is unbendable: “Good produces good and evil produces evil.” The wrongdoers are enjoying their wealth and health because the bad causes they have generated have yet to be ripened! Eventually, the change will come! (STQ-96-p48)
The year may be said to be filled with problems and pitfalls, but that is only a general prediction made by unenlightened ones, though they may be famous. Yet there is no way to know who will be affected by them and what their outcome shall be. Such a question will only arise in the minds of those who have not truly understood the workings of karma. It would well be a good year for many people too! (STQ-96-p47,48)
Do not only perform deeds that you consider are worth your while performing. It is the small drops of water that make up a bucketful. And charitable or meritorious deeds come from the heart. It is not judged by material things that you give away. A sympathetic smile, some comforting words, a sincere prayer—these are ways of giving too, and these little acts can give greater comfort to those who receive than the material things that you can offer. (D-820205-3)
Today is the Birthday of Amitabha Buddha. Namo Amituofo! Om Ami Deva Hrih!
Life is a process of learning, which is the way to gain wisdom. Do not wish only for the pleasant things in life, or you will never wake up to reality. Accept all pains as natural to life, as lessons whereby you can see the truth better. (840125-3, D-820205-4)
This is a year of practice, a year for practice, and a year of attainment. The past 18 years of endeavour should bring you to a peak of spiritual living and awakening. So, there is no need to worry about what the year will be. Take all opportunities to be lessons to learn from and to practise. (STQ-97:96-p46, D-820205-4)
Each day is a good day. If you have a Buddhist mind, you will look forward to understanding the happiness of each day, and you will welcome the thousands of opportunities for you to perform some worthy deeds that are wholesome in nature. Without a day there is no more life left in you, so you should never reject the call of the morrow; you should get up with a happy frame of mind because you are alive and there will be vast opportunities again for you to cultivate and to practice your Buddhist Way of Life. (D-820205-1)
You must not give only when there are people around you. Helping others in front of witnesses does not qualify it to be a good deed because that would be easy to do. But that does not mean that you should not be kind to others just because there are other people around. It all depends on your intention, your sincerity, and your mental attitude at that moment. It is always good to help others at any time. But it is better for one to be charitable when no one is around, when there is no one to see you helping a poor fellow. (D-820205-2)
Happy New Year 2026! May 2026 bring opportunities that inspire spiritual growth and transformation. Let’s step into this year with gratitude for the experiential learning of the past that provides one the knowledge and courage to take on the coming lessons for self-cultivation!
This is meant to be a year of cultivation of self-reliance so that you need not learn to depend on others too much. No one may be able to give you much spiritual training unless you train your mind to be ready. You are your own guru if you have the capability to dwell within. Much knowledge will be brought forth from the Alaya consciousness so that you will marvel at what self-training can do. (D-840113-1)