In the second interview of this series, we feature a telephone conversation in which Supreme Master Ching Hai joins hosts Bonnie Coleen and Jared Wilkensen on the popular US radio show Seeing Beyond which is based in San Francisco, California, USA, on November 19, 1993. Speaking directly to a mainstream Western audience, Master demystifies the role of a Spiritual Teacher, redefines meditation as a joyful daily reality, and explains how true inner awakening can instantly elevate the human spirit to its highest Divine potential.
We now invite you to join us for Media Interviews with Supreme Master Ching Hai (vegan), Part 7 of 12,” where Master begins with a morning blessing for the listeners, explains what it means to be a Master, and details how the suffering in this world inspired Her to seek spiritual guidance.
Sophie: I need to explain to You just a few things. There are two people who will be interviewing You. (OK.) Bonnie Coleen is the first person You already spoke to last time. Bonnie Coleen. (Oh, yeah.) OK. Just call her Bonnie. (OK. OK.) There is a man. His name is Jared. (Jared. Bonnie, Jared, and?) And so both of them will interview and will ask You questions. (OK.) So, I just wanted to let You know. (Alright.) Bonnie wants to talk to You for a minute, just to make sure she can hear You fine. (OK). OK.
Bonnie: Hallo, Master. (Hallo, Bonnie.) You sound very well. (Could You say just a few more words?)
Master: Oh, hi. How are you doing over there?
Bonnie: We’re doing great. You sound fine. What we’re thinking about is Jared and I are going to ask You a question or two. Kind of simple questions. (Yes, yes.) And then we’re going to ask You, Master, if You would honor us and our listeners, with a blessing meditation for about five minutes to kind of get the day started. (Oh, I see.) Does that sound good to You? (Yes, sounds good.) That was Jared’s idea. We’re going to ask You, please, to speak right up into the mouthpiece of Your phone. (Yes.) And we want Your energy to come through not only the phone but also the airwaves. (Yes.) OK. I need to go now. We’re going to put You on hold, and the next time we talk to You, we’ll be on the air. OK? (Alright, honey.) Alright. (Thank you, Bonnie.)
Bonnie: Hallo. We’re here. This is Seeing Beyond. I’m sorry, we had a few technical difficulties, but happy Friday to you and good dawn to all of you. We have a very special guest today, don’t we, Jared?
Jared: Absolutely. I’m looking very much forward to it. We’re going to be speaking by telephone with the Supreme Master Ching Hai. And this is going to be, I know, a very special interview today.
Bonnie: Yes, and I want to mention that the Supreme Master Ching Hai, Who is calling in this morning from the Los Angeles area, is the recent recipient of the International Peace Commendation, and this is a World Peace Award. We’re certainly going to be talking with the Master about that. We want to welcome Her.
Good morning, Master. (Good morning, Bonnie.) We’re very glad to have You here with us today. Supreme Master Ching Hai, I think one of the first questions I’d like to ask You is about Your title “Master,” and what does that mean? I mean, what’s the difference, perhaps, between being called a Master or being called a Spiritual Teacher?
Master: Oh, there’s not really any official difference. It’s just that some people would prefer to call me a Master, or some people call me a Teacher. It’s OK if you call me a Sister.
Bonnie: Oh, well, that sounds very comfortable. Thank You for that. (Yes.) Yes. (Because truly, we are just sisters.) Yes. Yes, thank You. (You’re welcome.)
Jared: Well, Master Ching Hai, this is Jared, and I’m glad to be interviewing You this morning. Maybe we could talk about what the role is of a Master in a seeker’s life. I know this has been both understood and probably largely misunderstood around the world, particularly from those of us in the West, regarding Gurus, Teachers, and Masters. (Right.) So tell us a little bit about how this all works. (You mean daily life?) What is the role of a Master, or a Guru, or a Teacher in a student, or a seeker’s life?
Master: OK. You see, a Master is supposed to be the one who has already realized Himself and who knows what His or Her Real Self is. Therefore, He’s able to kind of communicate with GOD, the Spirit, the Greatest Intelligence, because that is within ourselves, and that’s why He or She can transmit this knowledge, this Awakening Power, to whomever likes to share the joy.
Jared: I’m aware that many times, at least many people in the West feel that there’s a danger involved with a student or a seeker beginning to, what would You say, fall down and adore the Master or the Teacher. (Right.) Do You think that’s a problem?
Master: Not if the Teacher is genuine, because then you only worship yourself, worship the Greatest Spirit, which is already one with the Master. (So You’re saying if the Master really is a genuine Master, that Master, He or She, then holds a mirror up to the person who’s there to help them see themselves deeply?) Right, right, right. Right, that’s it.
(Supreme Master Ching Hai, we are asking You this morning to honor Jared and me, and I want You to know, as You probably already do, That Sophie is here in the studio with us, one of Your followers, and someone who’s been helping to bring You via the phone lines and the radio to our listeners this morning, so she’s here in the studio with us. We’re asking You to honor us and our listeners with a morning blessing. Perhaps You might want to call it a blessing, or You might want to call it a meditation, but I think it would be a wonderful way to start this Friday, November 19th.) Yes. You mean through meditation? (Yes. We have about, I’d say, four minutes.) Yeah, alright.
So, what would you like me to do, to talk or just to be quiet? (I would like You to talk in this meditation and to perhaps address the day. We can get started in a peaceful way on this Friday.)
Yes. Peace has been within us all along. It’s just that when we are too busy seeking outside or perhaps forgetting this real peace within us, that we encounter some uneasiness and difficulties in life. If we always somehow find the time or the sincerity with which we sit down or just quiet down ourselves, and then we search within ourselves, then we will find this peace, happiness, again. This is the true meaning of meditation. We don’t really have to sit in a quiet corner of our house only, but we could sit anywhere, or even by standing at the bus station, or sitting on the bus, or on the way to work, or sitting where we work, just quietly searching deep within ourselves.
The True Spirit always exists because we are not the body, and we’re not the mind. We are not what we are doing, and we are not what we’re learning. We are not what we are brainwashed into believing we are. This is difficult to explain, but I just understand it clearly myself, and many of our fellow practitioners also understand. If we truly, even intellectually, realize or analyze even the one who we call “I am,” or Mrs. Smith, or Dr. George, or whomever we may call ourselves, we will know really, we will know very clearly that we are not. We have no existence if that is the way we understand ourselves. If we understand ourselves to be the one who has a lot of, maybe, school knowledge, who is angry when confronted with frustration or problems in life, and who is loving when he is satisfied with many successful things in life, etc., etc. – this is not the real “we.” Because before we were born, we didn’t have this knowledge of a school degree or book-learning wisdom, for example. We don’t have this quality of anger, we don’t have this probably loving attitude, or the way we feel about pleasant things, or the way we reject unpleasant events, etc. So these are just the habits or the knowledge that we accumulate while we grow up.
(Supreme Master Ching Hai, thank You for this blessing. We are going to be taking a break. We are going to be picking up our extended audiences in the San Francisco and San Jose areas. We’re delighted to have You here with us today. I’m recommending that perhaps if you have a friend out there who would benefit from hearing the Supreme Master Ching Hai, give them a call. And we’ll be back in just a few minutes.) Thank you.
Jared: The Supreme Master Ching Hai, we are talking with Her this morning about Her life and what She has been doing on this planet, at least in this lifetime. So we suggest that maybe give a call to a friend who might be interested in hearing what this amazing Woman has been doing all around our planet, as far as healing ourselves and healing the planet. So welcome back, Supreme Master Ching Hai. (Thank you.) We’re glad to have You with us this morning. (Thank you, thank you.)
Maybe You could say a little bit about Your own personal background. I realize it’s almost antithetical to what You were just saying, talking about the illusion of our own ego-ness and our I-am-ness. But people are always interested, I guess, in knowing where people have come from and what their life has been like. You were born in Vietnam. Can you say a little bit about how You got to what You’re doing right now?
Master: Well, I guess nothing is coincidental, and we are all perhaps planned by the Providence to do one thing or another. (I think so.) Yes. So I cannot really tell you what made me do this. But it’s just probably the suffering situation in our world. That is the most obvious reason that I can think of and I felt it the moment I wanted to know what is the way to help. That’s when I began to search for spiritual guidance.
Bonnie: Master, I’m recalling that the last time You were on this program, Seeing Beyond, that You told a very moving story, and that was how You were in a marriage and all of a sudden – well, maybe it wasn’t all of a sudden – but life started shifting for You as You got to be more and more on Your spiritual path. I know that lots of our listeners have lives that maybe feel like that, also. Would You share that time in Your life with us again?
Master: Yes. I wouldn’t recommend everyone else to do this, (Right.) anyhow, because married life is a sacred life. We should keep it first. I wasn’t enlightened then, so please forgive me. And maybe, perhaps my life had to be this way, but not for every one of us.
Photo Caption: “Real Life Is Hidden Within Ephemeral Life”
