karma QUESTIONS & ANSWERSQ. Does our past karma affectthe present life? How can we believe it? What is the proof? Thankyou.
M. It is not easy to prove this,but I can try. We do not need to talk about a past life whichis unreachable for our mortal understanding. We will talk aboutthe present. It's easier to understand. For example, if everyday you drink alcohol, if in the morning you drink alcohol, thenin the afternoon what do you feel? Lovely, no? Fantastic? Or youfeel drunken, and terrible, with a headache, and lousy and sluggish?You feel terrible, right? Yeah! That is the effect of it, whatwe call, "the past karma affecting the present. If you didnot drink alcohol so much in the morning, then at noon you don'tfeel so terrible, or in the afternoon you don't feel so terrible.You will feel clear headed and very happy, yeah, and very normal.That is the karmic effect, we call "the past affects thepresent". It's very easy. Now, these things are easy to understandbecause they are in the same time, and in the present time. Butif something happened so long ago, in the centuries of times,then of course we do not understand. Every time we're born againwe change into new clothes, and this body is the new clothes,and we've forgotten the last time we wore what kind of clothes.
The fact that we forgetthe past is also a blessing for us, because what is the use tous if we remember that last life we were a tiger, or we were awolf, or we were a kind of very' terrible president or very terribleking? Understand? This will make a very, very heavy, how you say,pressure on us, yeah! We cannot even deal with our daily pressures,how much more so if we have to deal with past karmic burdens,mental burdens. Understand?
So it is a blessingthat we don't remember our last life. This is especially designedby God, by the lord of karma, that we do not remember, so thatwe may live a bearable life. But actually, when we practice somekind of meditation, even just ordinary meditation, not to mentionour method, some people would see their own past lives. Thereare some kinds of spheres which record every minute detail ofour past existences, and when we reach that so-called library[Master laugh] We can see everyone's life like an open book, includingour own. So actually, when we practice our method we can alsoreach there. If it's useful for you, the Master will let you see,if it isn't, and too much for your own enduring power, then theMaster will cover it and won't let you see.
So the secret of lifeis nothing secret. It is a matter of reaching the right libraryand then seeing what is in store before and after. Understand?So you can prove it for yourself even. You can prove it for yourself,no one can prove it for you. For example, if you ask me how Ican prove your karma, now I would tell you, for example only,don't believe it, I would say, "Oh, before you were a tiger".Yeah, and now you would ask me for proof. It is very difficultfor me, because you are here and I am there. I see things differentlyfrom your seeing things. Understand? The one who is on the fifthfloor sees more parts of the city than the one who is on the secondfloor, and the one who is on the second floor will not believewhat the third floor is telling him because he himself doesn'tsee it. Understand that?
So proof or no proof,leave it till later. You should concern yourself more with yourpresent life. For example, our past life we cannot change, it'sgone, it's already happened. So all we can change, all we canworry about, is this present life and the future. No? And nowwe can change the future, and that is a good thing. The futureand the present are so important to us, not the past. The past,we cannot do anything about. And we couldn't do much even withthe present, but we could minimize it, could smooth it, by ourown God power within us. Every day we take it out and use it.
For example, you havea treasure and inheritance from your parents, a million dollarstreasure laid and hidden somewhere, and you don't know where itis; and every day you go and work very hard and earn a littlemoney. But the fact that you know you have a treasure somewheredoesn't help you, does it? But, if you know where it is, thenyou will take it out and use it every day. And now, if you owesomebody a hundred thousand dollars, you cannot change that, becauseyou've already borrowed from him and you cannot change this. Butyou can take your money and give it to him, understand? You canmake your life more comfortable.
Pay him some money andyou can avoid the lawsuit, and avoid people coming to drag youout to scold you and beat you because of owing money. That's howyou can change your present life. Now, our present lives are fixedfrom our past so-called karma: As you sow, so shall youreap. Therefore, our happiness or sorrow are fixed becauseof our own past actions, just like when we owe somebody moneywe cannot change that because we've already spent it. So now wehave to bear it, or if we have the money, we give it to him, andthen we're free. In the same way, our present life may be miserableor unhappy because of our past lives or the past years wrong actions.But now, if we practice, we can take the inner blessing powerto use, and then we can minimize this misery and that's how wecan help and change the present. And of course, in the futurethere will not happen anything, how to say, unfavorable to us,because we have so much merit in store to alter our future. itis the same as when we have discovered our treasure, then we cangive some money to our debtor. Is that not so? And then we evenhave a lot to use in the future. In the future we can avoid borrowingmoney, we can avoid being poor. Is that not so? Yeah! Same thing,same thing! We cannot change the past, we have to smooth the presentand change the future. And that is the purpose of practicing theimmediate enlightenment method- the Quan Yin method. Quan meanscontemplate. Yin means inner vibration, inner sound. So says QuanYin. This is a Chinese word for contemplating the inner music.
..... Q. Can we exchange karmas? Can thosewho were born with heavy karma change with someone who has a lighterkarma?
M. Definitely, you could clean it all out.Even with a lighter karma, you still are not free. Better thatyou clean out everything. I can do that. It's my job, but youmust follow some instructions, and we have to work together. Youmust allow me to clean your house, and don't cling to the garbage.
..... Q. Why is it necessary to erase past karma?
M.It's not necessary if we want to continue living here. But ifwe want to go back to where we belong, then we have to pay allthe debt, either by suffering or by enlightening medicine. Oncewe're enlightened, the past karma is erased, but the present karmacontinues. The future karma is nonexistent, and that's how wecan be free to go back to the Kingdom of God. What keeps us hereis the storage of past karma.
What does it mean by karma? It is a Sanskritterm for cause and effect, for what we call, As you sow, soshall you reap, in the Bible. We have been sowing a lot ofbad and good deeds since thousands of millenniums, since timebegan. That's how we continue to exist here, because we keep payingand borrowing, and paying, repaying. All the time, we come backto repay the past debt. So in order to be clear of this and tobe free of bondage, we have to erase the past karma. The onlything that we can do to erase the past karma, once and for all,is enlightenment. Once we're enlightened, the past is gone. Justlike you switch on the light, doesn't matter how many thousandsof years that darkness has been residing in this room, in oneinstant, it's gone. There is no other way we can erase the pastkarma because it's too much. It's too much. That's why enlightenmentis very necessary.
..... Q. You spoke earlier about karma, do we have controlover what we want to be in our next life, or will someone tellus what it will be?
M.No one will tell us what it will be, because it is our own actionsand the fruits thereof that will determine what we will be inour next life. If you want to control your next incarnation, youmust have the wisdom to find your own path and regain your owngreatest strength. Then you will be able to have control. Butnow you are too weak.
..... Q. Can we reduce our karma by praying?
M.Yes, we can, if we are sincere enough. Because a very sincereand deep prayer is a kind of meditation. We are in a meditativemood, therefore it reaches the deepest recesses of our grace,our merit and our storehouse of blessings, and it has an affect,it cleans. Only when we are truly sincere and deeply longing forforgiveness, then it helps.
..... Q. Could we distribute our karma over several lives,so we suffer less each time?
M.Yes, you can do that, but you will suffer more. I will tell youwhy. Because each life we have karma already, and if you add thekarma of this life, you'll suffer more only. Each life, you haveenough karma even to spare, to suffer and if you add this life'skarma, I think that you will suffer, more and not less. You understand?
..... Q. Do the sins of the father follow the son?
M.To some degree, yes. We call this collective karma. It means thecollective retribution within the family. On top of that, eachone has his or her individual collective bad deeds or good resultsfrom good deeds. Karma means both good and bad actions and goodand bad results, not only bad ones. Most people use it in a negativesense.
..... Q. Does karma oblige us to have children,or do we have the children because of the karma?
M. Yes, we were connected with the child ina past life through something, sometimes bad karma, sometimesgood karma. Okay! So karma mustn't always be very bad. Yes, maybelast life you helped a person, and then this life you get enlightenedand unconsciously want to help that person also get enlightened;then he'll be born into your family and become your child. Inthat case it's very good. The child sometimes comes from the wishof the parents to help that child, because maybe that child helpedthe parents somewhere in the past lives; and now the parents areenlightened and wish to repay the kindness. In the subconsciousmind they wishthat person also can be enlightened and liberated, therefore theperson will be born into that family and become a child. In thatcase, it is good; it is not bad karma, it's good karma.
..... Q. How can we understand the karmaof a couple?
M. If the couple is in harmony, then they havegood karma; if the couple every day strikes out at each other,then you know what kind of karma that is. Easy to understand,no? If your couple is in harmony, then be happy; if it is notin harmony, then try to adjust and be tolerant, to avoid nexttime coming back again as a very undesirable karmic couple again.Tolstoy had a very terrible wife. You know Tolstoy? Yes, the authorof "War & Peace." He had a very terrible wife, soit's told. Every day she nagged him, cursed him, and scolded him,and even beat him and threw him out sometimes. One day his friendcouldn't bear it any longer, so he told Tolstoy, "Why don'tyou kick that devil out of your house and then we can have peace?"Tolstoy said, "Shh...!" "Don't talk too loud. Lastlife I did that already, therefore it got worse this time. I don'tdare to do it." [Laughter] Understand that? The more youstruggle, the worse the situation becomes. So just accept anythingas given by God, and try to get through it and train yourselfin patience, tolerance and love thy "enemy." Even aswise a man as Tolstoy couldn't deal with his terrible wife, sowe ordinary beings had better keep silent. [Master and all laugh]
..... Q. Do we pay karma in our dreams? How do we pay karma?
M.We pay karma in our dreams only if that is the grace of God. Otherwise,most of the time, we have to pay physically, like an eye foran eye, a tooth for a tooth. When initiated, or enlightened,then we live by the grace of God. We don't live so much by thelaw of karma anymore, except for some already fixed karma, likewe have to have some certain karma in order to exist in this life.That karma we have to continue with. But then, it can be erasedto a certain extent, it can be lubricated, it can be lesseneda lot of degrees, or it can be paid in dreams, only at that time.
..... Q. Dear Master, please explain what kind of karma itis for there to be dictators like Hitler, Lenin, Ho Chit Minh,who caused wars that killed millions of people, and made millionsof others suffer?
M.That is the collective karma of mankind which, as I told you,are by-products of the inter-relationships between humans andother beings in this world or other worlds. And those kinds ofby-products became a kind of very forceful strong energy hangingaround our earth's atmosphere. And when it is too condensed, thenit has to manifest into something visible, such as a very greatdictator who kills millions, etc.
So therefore, these people are not to be blamed,in a sense. But, we ourselves are to blame. If each one of ushad led a life of virtues, keeping the commandments, and refrainingfrom killing of any kind, including the indirect killing of notkeeping the vegetarian diet, then the world would never have bredthese kinds of dictators in the first place. There are these terribleexperiences to remind us of the virtuous way, and if we are notawakened yet, then these things will continue to remind us untilthe whole of mankind is awakened.
..... Q. Could you address the issue of karma, how we dissolveour previous karmic debts, and how this relates to enlightenment?
M.Karma is a Sanskrit term for the law of "As you sow so shallyou reap," which is the law of the lower universe. When theMaster gives you initiation, he pulls you up further. Therefore,the karma downstairs can be burned and does not affect you. Hejust leaves a little bit for you to carry on this life, whichis already smoothed out and lubricated by the Master's power.After initiation, you have no more stored karma, so you don'thave to be reborn again, if you don't want to. If you want tobe reborn again, it is very easy. We can create karma or we canborrow it from many sentient beings to come down. Initiation isthe destroying of all karma in the past, leaving no more opportunityfor the beings to come back in the future.
..... Q. How do you understand the karma of a couple?
M.If the couple is in harmony, then they have a good karma. If thecouple is in everyday strife, then you know what kind of karmathat is. Easy to understand, no? If it's in harmony, then be happy.If it's not in harmony, then try to adjust and be tolerant, thereforeto avoid next time coming back again as a very undesirable karmiccouple. Tolstoy had a very terrible wife. You know Leo Tolstoy- War and Peace? He had a terrible wife, so it is told. Everydayshe nagged him and cursed him and scolded him and even beat himand threw him out sometimes. One day, his friend couldn't bearany longer, so he told Tolstoy, Why don't you kick that devilout of your house and then we'll have peace? Tolstoy said, Shhhhh.Don't talk so loud. Last life, I did that already. Therefore,it got worse this time. I don't dare to do it. Understand that?The more you struggle, the worse the situation becomes. So justaccept anything as given by God and try to get through it andtrain yourself in patience, tolerance and love thy enemy. Evenas wise a man as Tolstoy couldn't deal with his terrible wife.So we ordinary beings better keep silent. Silence!
..... Q. Dear Master, when we have a few problems, how dowe know which one is fixed karma and which one is Master's testing?Which one takes priority?
M.Actually there is no testing for us; we test ourselves. Just likewhen we have some hardship, we say, "Oh, God has tested me!"It is not true. It is because of our karma, because of our tendencytoward the negative way that we experience hardship. So the onlyway is to turn back to the positive, and then we experience adifferent way. We can do it by self-discipline or by prayer. Thenwe turn everything into a better way. Whether it's karma or Godtesting, it will be better.
..... Q. Master, I was thinking. Because how you said don'tkill sentient beings, does that include pests, bugs, termitesand mosquitoes?
M.Well, we have to do what we need for the environmental care. Butthen, we have to pay for that. But they are small bugs. They arenot so big, bigger of life, then we meditate for them, and theywill be all right. The important thing is not the act of killing.The most important thing is that the violence in your heart thatmust be terminated, you know what I mean? Some people, they don'tkill actually with their hands but they kill with their thoughts.That is more important than even the act of killing. So what wetry to minimize is the violence in our heart, the tendency towant to destroy other beings. But if we have to do it for environmentalhygiene, we must do it. And pray for these in our meditation.But it is best when we avoid it. Like we keep our place very clean,so that the ants and other insects won't come around. And if youspray around so that they will leave, they will not die. Thereare some ways to avoid not to kill. You have to take care of that.The less killing, the better, even the small insects! But sometimesthey are too harmful for the children and babies, then the motherhas to do it. Because after all, human beings... human life ismore precious. We don't do it because we are bad or we are malicious.It's just the situation.
..... Q. I work in a hospital; sometimes I work with childrenwho are very sick. I was wondering how should we understand whyit is that some small children, who have no choice and who canmake no mistakes, have to suffer so much?
M.I understand your heart. I used to wonder like that also. I usedto say, "Well, if we are adults, we can make some mistakesor can take the retribution for it. But the children, they areso innocent." But now I know. That is the law of reincarnation.What you sow, so shall you reap. If you do not reap enough inthis life, you reap in the next life. You reap the minute youare born. Otherwise, how can we explain God's mercy, which isso differentiated. Some are born with disease, some are born havingsome trouble, some are born blind, some are born deaf, etc. Godis ever-merciful, just that we must reap what we have sown. Otherwise,we can't explain. Now, it may be difficult to believe this. Butit isn't difficult. If we meditate, in some kind of transcendentalway we may go to a higher plane of consciousness, we can see throughthe past lives of a person, and we can know why it so happened.Then we are satisfied or justified. I'm happy to know that youwork from your heart. Anyhow, every time you work, try not tofeel personally involved. Otherwise, you will be drained of energy.Just do your best and leave everything to God. It's God who curesor who severs. It's not in our hands to help. Actually, Hes onlyuses our hands to help those whom Hes wants to help, who deservethe help. The others have to go through some kind of lessons,some kind of cleansing process through suffering, in order tobe greater in the next lifetime; because we are continually ineternity. We are not born only once. Otherwise, it is too depressing.One hundred years - what a waste of creative energy from God'spart. Hes creates and we live all the time. What we do mistakenlythis life, we make up in the next. What we cannot pay this life,we pay in the next. Just like you take a mortgage.
..... Q. Some of science seems to be similar to the lawof karma. Please explain.
M.Yes, but what we know by method of science is too little comparedto what the Buddha knows or what Christ knows. That's all thereis. But science has helped our life very much and has helped toprove many theories in Buddhism and Christianity. There's no harmfrom science, just science has discovered too little.
..... MC. He would like to know if it is so wrong that he separateshis parents for a good cause, because one of his parents doesnot allow the other one to practice meditation. And he would liketo know if his action is related to karma? And if he practicesthis meditation, will that correct the wrong action of separatingthem?
M.Never mind, you should let time take its course. And whateverconcern your parents, you don't worry. You don't worry becausethe time will come when things will change. If you try to forcethe issue before time is right, you incur some trouble and sometimesyou incur, of course, the karma.
..... Q. You mentioned the master can borrow people's karma.In that case the karma is erased, for these people? What is theconsequence for the people?
M.Yes, yes, yes. Oh! The master can erase anybody's karma. If that'swhat the master chooses to do. In fact all the disciples, at thetime of initiation, all the karma in the past has to be erased.I just only leave you the present karma, so we can go on to continuewith this life, otherwise we die immediately. No karma, cannotlive here. Therefore the master has to erase the store karma only,so the person is clean, and leaves a little bit karma for himto continue this life, to do what he has to do in this life. Andafter this, finished. That's why he can go, otherwise how canhe go? Even if he is clean in this life, how clean? And how aboutlast life, you understand? Yes. Okay.
..... Q. And is there karma in all realms?
M.Hum, not all realms, up to the second realm only, because ourmind, our brain, the computer, is manufactured in that secondplane. When we go down all of the way, all the way from the higherplanes down to this physical plane, supposedly to do some work.Right? For example, even the master goes from the fifth planedown to the physical world. Then he has go through the secondplane and pick up this computer and fix it in, in order to workin this world. Just like a diver, you know, who dives into thesea. He has to go through a preparation of a mask, of oxygen andeverything. Even though he himself doesn't look so ridiculous,but, when he wears the oxygen mask and the diving clothes, helooks like a frog you know. That's how we look like sometimeswith our... this computer and the physical hindrances. Otherwisewe are absolutely beautiful. Even though you think you are beautifulnow, you are so ugly compared to what you really are. Understand?Because all the instruments that we have to wear in order to divedeep into this world to work. So after we pass the second levelto go upward, we have to leave our computer there, we don't needit up there anymore. So, just like when a diver reaches the shore,he discards all his oxygen mask and all his equipment to dive,yeah, and he looks the way he was. Yeah? Okay! Yes, you continueif you wish. Here, here. We have only one microphone, so poor.
..... Q. Thank You, thank You, Master. You said that at theend of the second world, before you're go up, that you leave allyour karma behind or you have to resolve or clean all your karma.Does that mean that also all of the karma of the past lives thatyou come into this life with too?
M.Yes. Because no computer to register anything. We only have karmabecause we have this computer, the mind, the brain which is meantto record every experience of this physical world. That's whywe have it. Bad or good we register it in here. That's what wecall karma. Karma is what? Just the experiences, bad or good,our reactions, our learning experiences in many lifetime. Andbecause we have a kind of so-called conscience, we know we shouldbe good and sometimes we did bad. Therefore we call that is karma.And the bad things weigh down on us, just like a lot of garbage,luggage, because the law of gravity; it pulls us down and makesus difficult to climb the mountain. Understand? Because of a lotof moral disciplines in this world, a lot of rules, a lot of customs,lots of habits, in different nations, bind us within these so-calledconceptions of good and bad, guilt and innocence. Therefore whenwe interact with people of this world, we have experiences ofgood and bad, guilt and innocence according to the custom, habitsof that nation, laws of that nation. Understand? And it becomesa habit that we think that way, that we do this, we are guilty...we do that, we are bad person. And this, all is recorded it inhere. That's what makes us transmigrate and makes us bound intothis physical world or a little bit higher world. But not highenough. We are not, not..., we are not free enough. We are notlight enough to float above. You understand? Because of all thisconception... preconception.
..... Q. Master Ching Hai, I have two questions. One is, whatworld do past life memories come from, if you were to have thememory of the past life. And secondly, how do past lives relateto karma?
M.To your present, right? To your karma?
Q. To the present karma and to one's present understanding?Are they part of the excess baggage?
M.Yes, yes. They relate very much. First question, where does thepast karma come from?
Q. Past life memories. Yes.
M.You can read the past life record, that's for sure. And the pastlife records, as I have told you, came from the akashic record.Yes. And this is a kind of library in the second world which isaccessible to anyone who can reach there. Not everyone can goto the United Nations' library and have accessed to it. But Ican, for example today, because I'm invited to talk in the UnitedNations. Right? Not everyone can come in, but you can, becauseyou are a kind of residents here. So, similarly, when we get accessto the second world, we can read the past life, yeah! Also whenwe access into the first world, some of it, we can have some glimpseof the past life of a person. But that's not very high and notvery complete record. And how do these past life experiences relateto the present karma? We can say that these are the experienceswe have learned in order to cope with this present lifetime. Youunderstand? What you assimilated in the past, you will bring intopractice at this present lifetime. And similarly, too many unpleasantexperiences in the past would make you frightened, when you seesome symbol that is very much similar to the past life... Forexample, if last life... just now, you drop off from the staircase,yeah, by accident and then hurt yourself badly and in the dark,and nobody helps you. And now when you walk down the staircase,you would feel a little frightened, especially when it is deepand dark underneath, you would feel a kind of struggle whetheryou go or not. Or if last life you have already studied and researcheddeep into some scientific field. This life you will find yourselfstill very interested... interested in... This is Chinese tongue-twister(laughs). I'm sorry. Is my English still clear enough? Yeah? (Audience:Yes) Okay. Thank you. So you still feel very... you have kindof a pull to any kind of scientific research, even though youare not a kind of scientist now. Any kind of thing like that.That's why Mozart, he was so..., a genius when he was four yearsold. He went straight to the piano and he became famous up tillnow, still. Yeah? He was a genius because he had practiced inmany other lifetimes until mastership, but then he died afterthat. Understand? Before he reached the peak of his career, hedied and he wasn't satisfied just to leave... to leave his careerbecause he loved music. So he came back and all his learned experiencefrom his past musical talent came back to him, because he hadso strong desire to continue when he died. Understand? And someof these people learn many things from the astral world or thesecond world before they are reborn in this world again. Thereforethey are fantastically gifted with science, or with music, orwith literature, or with any kind of inventions, which other peopledon't know. You see, kind of very extraordinary inventions thatother people cannot understand it and cannot even dream of inventing.Okay? Because they have seen them, they have learned them. Therefore,two kinds of learning in this world or in the world beyond. Thosewho are gifted and excellent, like genius, they are the expertsfrom the world beyond, like in the astral world, the second world...sometimes from the third world, if he choses to come back. Yeah?They are excellent. These are geniuses. Okay? Yes?
..... Q. Are pain and illness always the result of presentkarma? If so, how do we clean them out?
M.We clean it out by enduring it. Alright? Because it's alreadytoo late now to reverse the wheel of karma. But we could minimizeit, we could lubricate it by being enlightened, by meditationon the perfection of the Father every day through the guidanceof a teacher, through initiation. Then, we minimize a lot of things.Yeah, um.
..... MC. He would like to know if it is so wrong that he separateshis parents for a good cause, because one of his parents doesnot allow the other one to practice meditation. And he would liketo know if his action is related to karma? And if he practicesthis meditation, will that correct the wrong action of separatingthem?
M.Never mind, you should let time take its course. And whateverconcern your parents, you don't worry. You don't worry becausethe time will come when things will change. If you try to forcethe issue before time is right, you incur some trouble and sometimesyou incur, of course, the karma.
..... Q. I know of the law of cause and effect as a universallaw. Could you tell me more about other universal laws? Are theremore than one?
M.Yes, there is a higher law than the law of cause and effect. Itis the law of grace, the law of forgiveness which comes directlyfrom God. The law of cause and effect is appointed by God to regulatethe universe, but there are higher laws above this, such as thelaws of love, forgiveness and grace. This is what Jesus broughtdown to us when He was in the physical body. And this is whatany great Master would bring to people, whomever comes to themfor refuge and help. This is the law of love and grace.
