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.
You should, by now, understand why you have been asked and given ample opportunities to serve others. This is purely because such wonderful traits of devotional service easily transform your heart into a vessel that is capable of holding the Divine Light that is being sent to you. If you serve and believe that it will bring good to others, you shall receive Divine blessings and help to make it so. (STQ-1996-p30,19)
If you will spend time examining the Teachings, you will find that each line can be imbued with light and profound wisdom. And if you will practise them with sincerity, changes are bound to fill your life. Then you will no longer be unhappy or afraid of whatever responsibilities that your Divine Guru has entrusted to you. Instead, you will carry this out with gladness and diligence. (STQ-1996-p31)
The Path that Niang has set you on is not an easy one. Being led into an Unmistaken Path and shown an Unerring Practice that promises Unfailing Fruition, if you are not prepared for a great deal of struggles, then it’s not likely that you will stay long with it! In being a devotee of the Path, part of your challenge and growth opportunity is to learn to serve others. (STQ-1996-p18,24,28)
Receiving the Light of the Divine is no different from receiving the Light of Life, which is the same as receiving the Light of Redemption as the Light of Salvation. Therefore, it is important that all who are already in the Path of Light and Love should work to receive Light daily through spiritual practices of devotional services performed for the benefit of humanity and living beings. It is with the help of Light that you are able to live intensely and happily! (STQ-1996-p30)
Life is subject to a continuous change, a procession of transformations of our past karma brought on by the changing conditions of the present. Therefore, we must learn to accept changes and not fear them. It should be borne in mind that if we do not change then we are lifeless. (STQ-1996-p52)
Fear not what the months ahead shall be, unless you have not lived your life rightly. Instead, look forward to what is about to happen, treating it as a way of realizing the Law of Karma. When this Law is known, it is feared, it is respected, it will be upheld, and its great depth and beauty will be appreciated and revered. (STQ-1996-p47)
Understanding the purpose of life and knowing how to live it well will remove our fear for the future and help us to accept life as it comes. Then even should bad times befall us, we will be able to bear the burden with patient understanding. Likewise, if life should be rewarding, we should know how to live with our wealth and joy. For that has been the result of our efforts and the good karmic cause we have collected. (STQ-1996-p53)
People yearn for happiness and fear sadness. If only they knew that in happiness there is sadness and in sadness there is happiness, then they would learn to stop yearning and instead learn to deal with happiness and sadness whenever they come. (STQ-1996-p59)
According to the Law of Karma, actions based on a powerful thought will yield powerful influences and results. What is a good action? It is a good action when it produces a good influence for those present and is done with a good intention. (STQ-1996-p24x2)
In the philosophy of Karma, the fruit of action unfailingly goes back to the doer. It is also impossible to eliminate karma since life cannot be without activity. Thus, it is not possible physically to escape from karma or to avoid action. (STQ-1996-p24)
Do not be too quick in your judgement of others. Remember, no one can be all good or all bad. Everyone is sometimes good and sometimes bad. Whether a person is good or bad to you is dependent on his past relationship with you. (STQ-1996-p23)
(1) Learn to be a disciple so that you may someday be a guru, one who has practised the disciplines of the Way and developed himself sufficiently to lead others.
(2) When you have practised self-discipline, nothing will distract or tempt you away from your Path. (STQ-1996-p32,20)
Prajna Paramita (Perfection of Wisdom, Transcendental Knowledge) is the excellent knowledge that has gone beyond knowledge. Wisdom power is wisdom practised with Bodhicitta. Preceding this, Purification, Renunciation and Harmonisation are the Three Principal Practices to be adopted. (STQ-1996-p9,8,12)
What are you here for, except to develop the abilities to:
a. Give happily
b. Love purely
c. Help sincerely
d. Forgive willingly and joyfully
e. Serve humbly
f. Worship whole-heartedly
g. Pray single-mindedly
h. Uphold precepts willingly
What, then, is the primary purpose of human life? It is to elevate your consciousness, which in turn, increases your wisdom. (STQ-1996-p19,15)
Let this be the year that will earn you your spiritual awakening and the causes that win you a happier future. Drop all your fears for life. Start living it rightly as of now. Do that by following the Teachings that are freely available to you that teach you how to develop the heart of a Kuan Yin Devotee.
You have been placed onto the Path so that you may awaken your spiritual heart and that of others. Let this year be well lived then. Om Mani Padme Hum! (STQ-1996-p54,17)
Perform your daily duties mindfully. Know that the Divine Mother is there to witness all your actions. Each day do some good to others—do it joyfully and gratefully. It is not enough to be practising virtues; be one who is perfect in virtues! (STQ-1996-p20,12,8)
Do not rely on others to achieve your life’s goals. You alone are responsible for handling your own destiny. You alone are responsible for deciding your path in life.
As one who walks the Path of Kuan Yin, develops the love for truth and the love of avoiding hurt to others. (STQ-1996-p14,20
Be not afraid to die, for what must happen will happen. If you are meant to be alive, then even in an area of danger, you will still survive. Still, we must die someday, somehow.
Remember that each day you will meet your destiny. You cannot avoid it. The only choice that you have is in how you accept it; that is what produces spiritual growth and evolution. (STQ-1996-p15x2)
The people you meet in this lifetime are those who have had a strong bonding with you in past lives. Therefore, it is natural that they come to you and for you to feel deeply attracted to them. Your deep links with them are both of karmic and of soul relationship. This really means that you have shared deep experiences with them, but that does not necessarily mean that they have to be repeated again, unless they are necessary lessons for growth. Do not try to run away from your lessons of life, or you will not be able to balance your karmic account. (STQ-1996-p16,14)
Receive the Divine Energy of Healing through the crown of your head and send it to others through the portal of your heart. The most beneficial energy that you can send to others comes from love, kindness, friendship, and compassion. (STQ-1996-p26,29)
You can lose everything in the world except what is in your mind. It is by losing one’s self that the Self is discovered. Your greatest enemy is your own self! (STQ-1996-p6,1,12)
There is nothing to stop you from becoming a Kuan Yin disciple but your own limitations. There is nothing to stop you from being an Attained One except your own unwillingness to be such a one! (STQ-1996-p13)
“True Initiation” is when you have actually gone through a particular kind of experience that is connected with the mantra. Through initiation the Master imparts Divine Energy to the disciple and connects his or her soul with the Guru deity within. (STQ-1996-p9x2)
To do well in life, think, speak, and act with awareness and mindfulness. See in every being, in everything that comes into your life, an opportunity for learning and growth. Remember, you are the creator of everything that happens to your life. (STQ-1996-p13,14)
It is good to bear in mind that everything is changing momentarily. Therefore, what was right for you then may not be right for you now. One can, by a change of consciousness at any moment of time, transform one’s future and one’s past (views, memories, karmic potentials). One can change from a beastly to a kindly soul! (STQ-1992-p2, 1996-p13)
The reason why most people choose not to live in the present is because they are afraid to face reality and all the lessons that they have to learn and all the tests that they have to face. They are far happier being in a world of their own creation than in the real world! (STQ-1996-p14)
How the present is lived will determine how the future shall be and at the same time may change the past (views, memories, karmic potentials). In essence, there is no past and no future. There is only the present, which is the only reality that you can know. (STQ-1996-p13x2)
During recitation, reflect on the cultivation of altruism, on love, on the kindness of sentient beings, and on compassion to discover the power of mantras through your own practice. (STQ-1996-p10,11)
Word is energy, and energy is power. Chanting the Om before the start of a worship will provide one with a powerful catalyst for inspiration and illumination. (STQ-1996-p7,10)
Practising meditation on the “OM”, generating Pure Energy to be offered to the Divine Guru and receiving Divine Light at the heart, in return to be sent to all beings, is a practice of Universal Love! (STQ-1996-p7)
Om - represents the body of all Buddhas.
Hum – represents the mind of all Buddhas.
Chant the Om to purify the Body. Chant the Hum to purify the mind. Chant the sound… hear the sound… contemplate on the sound… be one with the sound. (STQ-1996-p10,11)