In this episode, Supreme Master Ching Hai explains that both Lord Jesus Christ (vegetarian) and Lord Buddha (vegan) were enlightened Masters who taught enlightenment, with the essence being the same. However, because of different circumstances, including Lord Buddha’s longer teaching period and the records of His disciples’ experiences, there is a richer treasury of teachings left behind in Buddhism than in Christianity.
(May I have your honor to present Supreme Master Ching Hai to you now. Master Ching Hai, thank You.)
We never have so “many” people in the audience like in America. It’s very, very few people indeed. We’re never used to this kind of scarce audience before. Anyhow. So, welcome nevertheless, and we shall make it together. It doesn’t matter if people who come are so few. The lecture will go on, and it will benefit people after today. Some of the lectures that are printed in my books are spoken with sometimes only five or six close disciples even, not to a large audience, and they benefit many people after that. So you are just an excuse for me to speak something.
You see, some of my lectures which are printed in the books actually are not for a large audience but with some of my so-called disciples, if I may call them disciples. I don’t know what is the other name for these people. My friends or my cooperators. In the human language, there are many terms for many things. I feel shy to call them disciples, but I don’t know if there is any other name. So these so-called disciples jot down all my lectures which are meant for them alone – for the advanced minds of the people – and they also jot them down and brought them into the public light. And sometimes it causes a lot of stir for me, problems. Because sometimes what you can speak to one person, you cannot speak to the other person. For example, these things that Doctor Mai just brought into your notice, that was only for him alone, because it was he who asked all these questions. But never mind, as he already brought it to your notice, I will also comply. I will also make the best out of it.
You see, these are kind of questions for individuals, like what are the interrelations between the religions? And what are all these sayings from the past Masters? What are their real meanings? But also, everyone should be pondering over these questions, not only Doctor Nguyễn or myself, or only a small group of individuals. But because these topics or questions are too controversial, so sometimes I hesitate to discuss [them] in the public and only tell them to those who are truly interested in such things. So mostly, when I go to a Christian audience, I will only speak about Christianity, use Christian terminologies. And when I am speaking, addressing the Aulacese (Vietnamese) group or Chinese or something, I would rather address only Buddhism. So, of course, if I met a Hindu group, I would speak about Hinduism.
So maybe I ask you, what would you like to hear today? Anything special? (Enlightenment.) Enlightenment? Enlightenment, you cannot “hear” it actually; you must experience [it]. Well, it takes a little while to warm up the atmosphere. So, please be patient. Also, do not walk out in the middle of the lecture so that you don’t have only half of the impression. And then you might cling to the last sentences, and then have a wrong impression about the speaker. What we listen to, we should listen to the whole, and then we could understand the impact of the lecture. I find some people, sometimes they just listen to one or two sentences, which sound very provocative, and then say, “That’s it. I don’t like it.” And then they walked out, not understanding what is coming afterward.
Now, yes, please. (In some of the thoughts from The Razor’s Edge, it was stated that it was easy to be a holy man in the mountains, and it really didn’t answer that in the novel. Do You think… how much is the environment important?) Yes. (In spirituality.)
I understand. You have heard my own students. They are engineers, or some of them are doctors, physicians, and workers, or taxi drivers, or many kinds of social positions. And they’re working in daily life and also practicing. And as for me, I was a nun and enjoyed the wandering life just for a very short while. My destiny is not that I could enjoy the nun’s life in leisure, in the mountains or in the monastery for a long time. So, you see as I am now, I’m mixing with all kinds of people and leading a very active life. I’ve been in many countries, talked to many people, and daily in contact with different people.
You need mountains sometimes, sometimes just to refresh your spirit, refresh your body, and then collect some energy, and then you have to go out and give again. So, to be a monk or not to be a monk is all the same. If you are householders, we should go sometimes to the mountains, or to a monastery, or to our Master’s abode in order to practice some quiescence, some silent spirit in order to refresh ourselves, but later on we must not always stay there. So, no difference.
So now let’s go into something I would like to tell you. So, now what I would like to tell you today is: “What is the difference between Buddhism and Christianity?”
Now everywhere I go, I tell people: “There is no difference between Buddhism and Christianity.” Basically, there isn’t, but there is some difference. Well, basically when (Lord) Jesus and Buddha talked about enlightenment, there is no difference. But if you read Buddhist Sutras, there are many different things. The Buddhism offers a richer treasure. That’s all.
If (Lord) Jesus Christ had been allowed to live for a longer time rather than just three-and-a-half years, He might have told us of many so-called Planes of Existence – many levels of attainment like Buddha did. So that is the difference between Christianity and Buddhism. Christianity has only one Bible, but I did not say that Christianity has not the essence in it. The essence is excellent and everything is there. It’s just why some people are interested to study Buddhism, because the Buddhist scriptures are so vast – so many wide ranges of experiences and inner enlightenment which Jesus did not have time to mention.
So, many people misunderstood and think that (Lord) Jesus did not get that high attainment like Buddha did. Because the Buddha has gone through many different levels of consciousness, and therefore, He encountered many so-called Inner Planes of Existence. And He told His disciples. And also, some of the Buddha’s disciples had gone to these kinds of Planes of Existence and wrote them down. Therefore, we have a very rich treasure of Buddhist sutras, whereas in Christianity, due to the prevalent persecution of the time, and also the short life of (Lord) Jesus, we have not many records of His disciples’ attainment as well as the Master’s.
So now, I will go into one of the Buddhist Sutras, which describes one of the inner experiences of the disciples of the Buddha. This sutra is called “Amitabha Buddha Sutra.”
The Sutra of Amitabha Buddha. Sutra means “scripture.” In that Buddhist scripture, the experience of one of the Buddha’s disciples is described. The disciple was a queen of India, but she was put into prison. Now, when she was in prison, she longed very much to see her Master, that was the Buddha – the Shakyamuni Buddha of India. Now, when she was longing so intensively, the Master appeared to her. The Master appeared not in a physical body, but in a light form of body, what we call a light body or manifestation body.
Manifestation. Manifestation body. Any kind of Master who has reached a very high level of attainment can manifest many bodies at the same time to appear to Their disciples in different places.
Photo Caption: “Real Love Can Rise Above Mundane Obstruction”
