We Have Always been and Will Always be Enlightened

Spoken by Supreme Master Ching Hai, 
San Francisco, California, USA, 
November 27, 1993 
(Originally in English) 
Videotape #397

Curiosity is a Natural State of Mind

Most of us have many questions, and it doesn't matter how many answers we get, we still have more questions. When we were young, we asked our parents many questions. Some were never answered, and as we grew up, we asked our teachers, friends and various wise people many questions, as well, some of which were also never answered. I, too, had many questions until I achieved so-called enlightenment, and at the beginning of my enlightenment, I still had questions about very unimportant issues. But these I only understood after a long period of time.

Some questions that we ask ourselves and try to attach ourselves to are very unimportant, and this makes trouble for us. But it doesn't matter because sooner or later all these concerns will fade away. As we grow higher into spiritual maturity, we become calmer and more placid in our thinking and viewpoint on life. So when people come and ask many questions, I always try my best to satisfy them, but it’s still difficult for some to understand the answers despite our best intentions. It’s because they’re using their limited understanding to try to grasp something that’s beyond it.

I also used to have many questions myself so I very well understand those who come to us and ask questions. It seems that they can never get enough answers, but that’s the way the mind is. We always feel curious because the mind is always inquiring; that's why it collects a lot of information each day, whether bad or good. The mind doesn't have the power of discernment. And most of the misery, dissatisfaction, prejudice and discrimination among us and with various subjects in life comes from this inquisitive nature of the mind, which takes in all kinds of data, possesses it and makes it become its own.

We Should Consider Carefully before Believing

So we should be careful about what we read and what we hear because if we don’t select discriminately, other people's ideas, theologies or philosophies, which are sometimes not quite correct, will sink into our minds and become our own. And we’ll think it’s we who think this way, who accept this, that and the other. Then later, when other information comes to us that’s more correct and more helpful, we reject or doubt it because we’ve already recorded some idea or theory that seems contradictory to the new data.

And this is one of the problems we encounter in our lives and in the world that has produced or given birth to many things, such as hatred, discrimination and conflicts between religions, between nations, between neighbors and between people. So whatever theories, teachings or ideals we take in, we should first or at least later examine as to whether they have any grounds, any use in our daily life or for our spiritual progress. Otherwise, we’ll have a lot of trouble struggling between different ideals, groups or systems of thought.

There’s nothing that we should take on faith without consideration or proof. We need to prove everything, even spiritually because it’s a science. It’s the highest science, but it’s still a science. The Masters of the past, present and future are those scientists who know many things about the universe that we ordinary people probably find difficult to understand or believe. But then they also teach us or guide us into this science so that later we ourselves also become a master or teacher, at least of ourselves because to be master of ourselves is the most difficult task. And to be able to do that, we must have the strongest power, which is the power of God or the universal intelligence that we’ve had all along.

When He was alive, some people accused Jesus of telling lies and being blasphemous because He said He was one with God, that He was the son of God and that He and the Father were one. But we’ve forgotten, and even nowadays people still think this way. We’ve forgotten that except for God, there’s nothing and no one else who lives within this temple.

The Soul Never Reincarnates

The "I" that we assume ourselves to be never really existed because when we’re first born, we don't know much; we don't even have a name. So we don't even have the "I" because if you boil it down to the "I" that exists from the time we’re babies, what is it that you call the "I," or the "her," or the "she" or the "he"? What is it? Can you identify a baby with any entity that we call the "I" or the "he" or the "she"?

When we grow up, we get a lot of knowledge from teachers, relatives or friends and then we begin to have an identity, to become an individual, perhaps one who’s described as an angry person, an irritated character, a loving person or a wise person. But where do these wise, loving, angry, lustful or greedy individuals come from? We weren’t born with them; they weren’t the “he” who was born in the beginning. They’re only the input that we collect and then identify ourselves with.

So the theory of reincarnation actually shouldn’t be taught to people because we don't have an identity that reincarnates. Perhaps what reincarnates is this tendency to cling to the information that we got, whether bad or good. And then that clinging tendency goes and finds one instrument after another to satisfy the longing that we haven’t gotten from the previous so-called birth.

So after the knowledge, wisdom or God Self that resides in this body passes out of or leaves this temple, he, she or it will pass to another temple. Just like when we go from one church to another, we’re the same person. And actually, in the universe there’s no one entity that exists but a whole mass of energy in a loving field, sometimes just divided into different sections.

It’s just like an electric current that’s in a bulb and in a wire; it goes through a microphone, which is of a different shape. It goes into a refrigerator, a different shape again, and into an electric fan, a different shape again. But the current inside is exactly the same. Similarly, we’ve never been separated from the most High, the highest power. We’ve always been the Supreme. But because of our tendency to identify with the information we get and the habits we collect from the environment and from our circumstances, we have an individual, an entity that thinks of itself as separate from the whole.

So after we’re enlightened, through our own effort—I repeat again, through our own effort or through a spiritual friend—we see things differently. Then, even though we still have an individual shell, we know we aren’t that, and at that time, all our answers appear naturally, or we don't have any more questions. That's the best way because no question is a good question! When we’re enlightened, we rise above this position of bad and good, of the discriminating nature of the mind. And then we see: “Ah! That was just my shell, my clothing. I’m here, me.” It's different.

The more we identify ourselves with material knowledge and possessions, the less we know how great we are. Some who have a lot of intellectual knowledge find it harder to meditate and harder to attain the higher wisdom than less educated people because these people have less to wash away, less to disentangle or “un-knot.” Just like with our house, when there are too many things inside, it takes a longer time to clean it up in order to bring in new furniture. But if we only have a few things, it’s quicker.

Be Friends with Your Mind

So it’s very easy to believe that we can get liberated in one lifetime because actually we’re already liberated. We’ve always been liberated, and we will always be liberated. What makes us feel bound and un-free is the tendency to clutch onto the mass of knowledge or habits that we call "I" so that we forget to look at the real thing. I think many of you understand this. Actually, the enlightened people or the brilliant, higher-level people don't need a lot of lecturing or explanation. Just one word or one sentence is enough, and that’s also a kind of sudden enlightenment.

We’ve always been enlightened, and we always are enlightened. It’s just in a little bit of obscurity, that’s all. It’s not easy to bring home these abstract ideas with simple, ordinary words. But when we understand this, it’s deep inside us and becomes part of us, and we feel very easy and elated.

But that’s one of the intellectual enlightenments only. In Zen meditation, they sometimes call it “sudden enlightenment” or “immediate enlightenment” because one word from the teacher can set you free in part, or maybe set you free a great deal or completely. Then why do we have to meditate after we’re enlightened or after we’ve already understood what the Master or Teacher wanted to say? It’s because we have too many habits and too much knowledge from the past; so one time isn’t enough to convince us that we’re enlightened. We’ll probably forget it tomorrow or the next day.

Thus we need to repeat the experience of enlightenment again and again until our mind also accepts it. It's not enough that the soul, the real Self, recognizes itself because the Self has always known the Self anyway; our Great Self already knows itself. But because we’re in this world, we have to do everything with an instrument; that is, the mind or the computer. That’s the tool we have to use for working in this world, for bringing the blessing and power of love into our chaotic environment in order to make a better world for our children and many generations to come.

The mind is a very powerful instrument; it’s what hinders us life after life so that we can’t know God and can’t know our real position in the universe. So we cannot overlook the mind; we must befriend it. We must let it know why we do this and why we do that until the mind completely accepts and becomes our good friend; then we can be very happy and relaxed. Otherwise, if the mind doesn't agree, we can forget about meditation. It won't yield any fruit because you sit in meditation and it keeps asking you questions: “Why do you sit? What for? I want to go to the movies or see a girlfriend. Why are you sitting here like an idiot? Coffee is better and cake is nice”—all these kinds of things.

So apart from transmitting the silent knowledge of the real enlightenment, spiritual teachers still have to give oral teachings to the people in order to satisfy the inquiring nature of the mind. The mind is always asking questions and weighing things because the input that it received before contradicts the data it’s receiving now, or it may not even understand the new information but it says it's not the same.

That's why many of us can’t understand that one religion is no different than the next. It’s because of the mind. After we’re enlightened, however, we go beyond the mind. Then we see differently, and truly understand that there’s no difference, ever. It's such a simple thing that after enlightenment we shake our heads and can’t believe that we couldn’t understand it before. It’s as easy as seeing each other now, but we couldn't see each other without enlightenment. That’s a very, very complicated situation created by the king of illusion to keep people in darkness. After you’re enlightened, you’ll be very surprised to discover many times that so simple a thing, something that’s so easy to understand, you were never able to understand before.

The teachings of the Teacher, Master or spiritual friend are called oral teachings, which are the theoretical part of spiritual practice. But the more important part is the one that’s transmitted in silence twenty-four hours after the Teacher has accepted a person as His new younger friend or new student.

So the theoretical teaching of any Master, past, present or future is just a small part of the whole. If we only learn the theory, we can get somewhat enlightened, or we might at least become an ethical person. For example, we’ll understand the need to keep the precepts, to spread love instead of using violence, to share with our neighbors instead of stealing and so on. But after a Master passes away, the theoretical teachings are unavoidably left behind in the records of disciples or other people who attended His sermons. And the later generations lean on this recorded information, perhaps in order to practice or have guidelines about what to do to find God. Because of their thirst for knowledge, they grasp at anything in order to understand God, and from that, religions begin to form.

At the Heart of All Religions is the Same Truth

That's why before Christ, we didn't have Christianity and before Buddha, we didn't have Buddhism. The Buddhists came from Buddha or Bodhi, which in Sanskrit means enlightened or enlightenment. So an enlightened person is called a Buddha. And Christ is the Hebrew name for enlightened; a person who is enlightened is crowned as Christ. So after Christ went back to the Father, we formed the religion called Christianity, and it was the same after the Buddha left.

One term for Christianity in German is Christ so Christianity is easier to understand and relate it to. And Buddha came from Bodhi so the people who follow the Buddha and the Buddha's teachings are called Buddhists. And after Lao-tse, Who taught the Tao, went away, they formed Taoism, and then came the Taoists. So we already have at least three religions, and we’re in trouble! It's OK if each of us can pursue what he or she wants to study and believe, whether false or true. But the problem comes when we start to argue and fight among each other because of philosophical differences. Then we truly disgrace ourselves and our ascended Teachers because They always preached peace, integrity and love.

Thus, it doesn't matter now whether we believe that Christianity is the greatest religion or that Buddhism is the highest belief system in the world; we don’t need to argue. Instead we should seek to know our true religion, the true religious essence, which Buddha left behind, which the Teacher of the Tao left behind, which Christ left behind. And then we’ll know that the only, the best and the quickest way is enlightenment.

The Living Master Reconnects Us with Our Enlightened Self

Many people can get enlightened to some degree by themselves through the teachings of a Teacher, or through their own effort due to their sincerity and longing. But many people can’t. And even if we can get enlightened ourselves, there are many things that still need to be cleared up by a living friend, a living Teacher who has gone all the way, back and forth because the spiritual road is invisible, but it’s still like any other road. We can master it, we can walk it and complete it, but this is only a mundane way of speaking. Because the universal wisdom is so vast that we can never in one moment or even one lifetime make use of it all. So even if we say we’ve completed the journey, we still don't use all of our wisdom at once except when we need it.

Many people come to me and ask if I know the future of the world or if I know her future or his future and so on, and I say, “I don't!” I don't look into the future; I only look into the present and know what I have to do in this moment. That's enough for me. Sometimes, if necessary, I can glimpse into the future or even into the past, if you want to know it. But that’s only if it’s truly necessary and beneficial to someone or to the world; then God lets me know it and that's enough. Otherwise, we burden ourselves with too much knowledge of what's going on.

So have no illusions about enlightenment but see it as it is, that we’ve always had our true nature. And now, if we want to know it, there’s a way because it's always been there. If we’re truly sincere in meditation, every answer will come when we need it. You don't need to write a letter to the Master because we’re always connected, even more so after initiation. We’ll be connected forever until you become a master.

I speak too much sometimes; I don't know if you believe half of what I say, but the Truth always comes out and I sometimes can’t stop it. It’s because God speaks through my mouth and then when I forget to stop Hirm, Hes goes on and on all the time about all the secrets. And then people sometimes think that I’m boasting, but it's all the Truth. If you go to a doctor, he should tell you that he’s able to cure your sickness. Otherwise, what good is it to go to him? If you come to a friend for enlightenment, he should tell you of his ability, that he’s capable of helping you recognize your enlightened Self.