The eternal life and the law of the universe
Harvard University,Boston, U.S.A. October 27,1989.
Page 4Embody The GreatLove Of Christ Into Your Life Every great Master does that.Jesus also did the same. He walked barefoot. He had nowhere tolay his head. Now in our days, in these modern days of our time,we couldn't follow exactly like Buddha or like Jesus. But we couldfollow it in our hearts their ways of living. We have to feela detachment for this world, and that is also renunciation. Welive in the world, but we live without the world. We shouldn'tcrave so much for the material comforts. We have them just tosustain our life, but knowing in our heart truly that the greatestones like Buddha and Jesus never care for them. We follow Buddha in this way, by detachment,by desirelessness. We follow Christ in this way by detachment,by desirelessness, and also by love for our people.
Now, the American people haveshown some of their Christianity love, of the Christ love in someof the world's interactions with other countries. For example,the American country has accepted many refugees from differentnations. That is a part of Christ love. That is how we followChrist. And as for the Au Lac people, I also have to thank theAmerican sisters and brothers who have open their arms and receivedsome of our truly in need refugees from Au Lac. That is also apart of Buddha's compassion. Therefore, I believe that if youare a good Christian, you are also a good Buddhist. There is nodifference between a Christian and a Buddhist, as long as we dogood to others.
Therefore, I never discriminatebetween the Buddhist believers and Christian believers. Christianpeople did good to mankind in many ways, and Buddhist people didgood to mankind also in many ways, just maybe different ways ofdoing and working. Take care that I do not go too far into thispolitical situation. But I cannot help not to express my opinion.Actually because if we cannot make use practically what we learnedfrom Christianity or what we learn from Buddhism, then what isthe point? Is that right? So, we show our religious mind throughour own actions. Therefore if we say something about the world'ssituation, and the amnesty, and the compassion of the Americanpeople or other countries, that's also very fit! This fits ina religious lecture.
But, what I want to expressis something more concrete than just like that, because some peoplewant to know God, not only to serve God in human frame, but alsowant to know the God, the transcendental God, the transcendentalBuddha nature. We see that Buddha became Buddha by what way. Wesee Christ how he had become so great. There is a reason, thereis a way to achieve this greatness. Just like any science. Justlike you want to study in university, you have to have such andsuch condition; you must have some money, some qualificationsfrom high school; you have to pass some exams. Now if we wantto become a Buddha or Christ, apart from this great love thatwe show to other human beings, like in human work, in amnestywork, in social service, we have to know our real nature; we haveto know where we come from; we have to know how great we are.
Journeying BackTo Our Source Now, we have been great inthe past. We have come from the kingdom of God. If we haven'tcome from God, then where have we come from? God created all things.If we haven't come from this Buddha nature or the Tao, then wherehave we come from? We must start from there, from that greatestsource in the universe. So, therefore we have been great always.It's just that we forgot, that is the Truth that we forgot. Now,there is a way to remember these things again by walking backwardto the higher source, where we have come from. Just like you follow the river downto the sea. Now if you want to go back to the source of the river,walk backward. So, the kingdom of God is within us, so walk inward.There is a way to see the kingdom of God within, to see the Buddhawithin. That is what we call the enlightenment method. Go backto the original. The Buddha had followed this method to becomeBuddha. Jesus Christ had followed this method to become the sonof God.
Now if we say we are all sonsof God, we are already Buddha, so why we need to practice? Yes,we are. But we forgot. That is no use for us now. We have to rememberagain through diligent effort to go back into the past, to ourown deep memory.
That is what the scientistscall 95 percent dormant intelligence. In that 95 percent laysmany things. Now, with only 5 percent, we can already go to Mars;we can already go to the moon. We can already make airplanes androckets and all kinds of comfort to life. What much more if wecould use the 95 percent? The kingdom of God is ours, if we knowhow to use it. We know we are Buddha. Everybody tells us we areBuddhas, or we are the sons of God, but we don't know where thatgreatness is. We only know that we are miserable everyday, ornot everyday but I mean most of many days. I'm sorry if you arehappy, but I see the majority of people. Though they have money,have good family, status, everything is ephemeral. Look at ourcountry, the Au Lac country, it had been glorious, peaceful. Wehad many things; we were very rich in minerals, in agriculture,in culture. But then suddenly, we have nothing. Suddenly, allis turned upside down, everything destroyed. People had to leavethe country, so dangerous on the sea, and they had to fight forsurvival. Many people who came to your country have been heroesin our country, have been generals, top leaders, millionaires,billionaires in our country. They are not just all poor. Theyare not just all illiterate. They are not just all useless, helplesspeople. They have been in the glorious past, they've been themen of wisdom, of social standing, of rich, of culture. It isjust the ephemeral life turns sometimes and makes people becomenothing that humiliate our people.
Maybe it is good for them,I do not know, that we have to learn sometimes to come down, tobe humble, and to know there is a greater force than our own handand human brain can control. Then we have to turn back to God,to turn back to practice to become Buddha, to rely on this greatforce of the Buddha nature or Kingdom of God. That is maybe thereason why we have to learn sometimes through disasters to knowGod. Otherwise we keep having success in our life and being sosuccessful, we are carried away with it, and we forgot where wecome from. We forgot that we are greater than just a lawyer.We are greater than just a president, we are greater than justa millionaire. We are God's children; we are Buddhas. So thisbirthright we have to claim. It doesn't matter through what. Throughhappiness, through longing, or through disaster.
Life Is Ephemeral,So Practice Before It's Too Late We have to be awakened throughmany means. Therefore, I said earlier, there are many ways tofind the wisdom within. If we don't long to find it ourselves,sometimes the Creator will send disasters to wake us. So we seethat many times, in time of stress and disaster, we pray morehonestly, more sincerely to God than when we are well-off, thanwhen we are in happiness, or in stable condition. Is it not so?So, when we have pain, or our family have people died, or somedisasters, then we pray. At that time we remember God very clearly."Please, please, please ...." So many prayers. Now,we do not need to wait until a disaster befalls us in order toremember to practice to become Buddha again or to be like Christ.We should do it when we have time, at leisure, and good conditions.So that we do not have to have experience disaster. What we callin Au Lac: To prevent is better than to cure. We all know this.Every nation will say the same thing. But we just don't do it.We just don't prevent things. We just do things, and then reapthe result and then we cry. Now we have been through life, 30,40, 50 years now. We should have known a little bit more aboutthis ephemeral nature of life. We should turn back to God now,so that the day we leave this world, God open the kingdom forus, Buddha welcome us. Not the darkness, not the evil plane ofexistence what we call Satan power, or the Negative power, orthe power of Maya.
So I'm here like everywhereelse, just to offer you a way to find your own Greatness. WithGod, well and good. With Buddha, it's also well and good. WithoutGod, without Buddha you still can find your Greatness. Becauseyou are that, you are born from God. You are bound to go backto God, whether you believe or not believe. You are that, youcannot escape anyhow. So I just want to offer you what I havefound as a treasure, hidden treasure within myself. And I knowthat the hidden treasure is within you as well. I would like onlyto help you to know your greatness, your self-worth. And thenyou live in the world as king, as saint, as Christ did, as Buddhadid. And not having inferiority complex, and not doing your workwell, and not sleeping well, having guilty conscience, havingsickness, disease body and mind. That is my purpose. Now I willend my lecture. Thank you!
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