Master's Words 
               
                
                Spoken by Supreme Master Ching Hai, 
                   
                  Surrey, United Kingdom, January 8, 2006 (Originally in English) 
                
               
				
				Anything in this world like that hurts me a lot. I can’t watch 
				TV right now because of things like bird flu, where they take 
				thousands of chickens or ducks, just take them by the neck, 
				throw them in a bag, close it, and throw it in the garbage. Can 
				you imagine, if it’s you? Imagine it’s you! They just bury them 
				alive, just like that! Or throw them in the fire, and burn them 
				alive. Imagine it’s you! If all the world could just be 
				vegetarian and not breed a lot of chickens and let them be them, 
				they wouldn’t bother anyone.  
				Oh 
				God, I cannot watch all this! It just hurts me, and I can’t 
				sleep. Anything in this world, when I look around, it hurts me 
				all the time. Even when I was younger, if you remember I made a 
				poem, “I Don’t Know What to Do with My Heart.” It’s because of 
				that. Even when I was younger, before big enlightenment, before 
				the Himalayas, I really couldn’t bear it. That’s why when I was 
				married, I couldn’t enjoy. If I watched TV, I would feel sad for 
				many days and many weeks. I worked in the Red Cross, and nothing 
				was happy. And when I was young, I witnessed people dying and 
				suffering, and war and all that. There’s just nothing really 
				good in this world.  
				
				So, anything can hurt me, so easily. Sometimes I even see 
				healthy, good children being pushed around in prams without any 
				covering in the front. Of course they are warmly dressed, but 
				the cold air can hit their face, also the debris from the street 
				or anywhere. Because you are tall, you are walking up here but 
				the baby is down there. So I also feel hurt for that baby, 
				because they are delicate and something can flow into their 
				eyes, or they can breathe something bad or the cold air into 
				their nose, which can be painful!  
				
				Some humans are very inconsiderate. Sometimes they put the dogs 
				behind them on the truck, without anything to grip. So they’re 
				just running under the hot June sun, or in some very hot weather 
				kind of country. The dog is just slipping here and there, and he 
				might be hurt on his legs or in the heat from the sun. We could 
				not even bear it! So I don’t know how a lot of people do a lot 
				of things. I don’t know how some humans have no feeling.  
				So 
				the thing is, whatever you do, consider the other party. Then 
				it’s easy to understand and to feel it. Don’t ask me how 
				enlightened you are and what level of sainthood you are in. Just 
				watch yourself. Watch how you react with other people, how you 
				treat other people and how you treat the less fortunate animals. 
				Then you know what level you are; you don’t need to ask me. 
				Because if you are enlightened, you must be more intelligent. 
				More intelligent human beings can see everything better than 
				before. When your eyes are open, you see better! So just watch 
				yourself. Don’t bother asking me when you’re going to reach the 
				Fifth Level and be a Master and all that. 
				
				You have to do the best, alright? If you can! There’s no use 
				rescuing some animals and then just putting them into another 
				different kind of hardship and neglect. Talking about these 
				things, it makes me feel painful again. I cannot rescue all the 
				dogs in the world, but if you see a neglected, suffering animal 
				or something that is not right, try to correct it. Don’t ignore 
				it just because of inconvenience. 
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