LECTURE BY MASTER VI-KIEN ( EXCERPT FROM AUDIO TAPE: “CHRISTMAS AND SOUL LIBERATION” 24 December 1988)

The Christmas Day is the Day of Soul Awakening for all creatures. 

Today, you sit here and rejoice on the Christmas Day, but many of you have not yet understood the meaning of the law of Christmas (the birth of Jesus Christ)! In order to understand Christmas, we must understand Reincarnation. We must know the law of Heaven. Only then will we clearly see the meaning of Christmas. We have seen that we have descended on earth to be born as humans. We have been reborn through innumerable lifetimes, but we have forgotten our path of return. We do not know where our true origin resides, and we keep being drowned in the ocean of sufferings and torn in all 10 directions, from one sphere to another. 

Today, you live as a human on earth, but you always believe: “I have never done any wrong, I have not committed any sin. Why do I have to be imprisoned? I must have the right for freedom. Why am I imprisoned? However, once you are imprisoned, you will see more clearly thanks to your serenity. “Thanks to my constrained circumstances, I can see myself more clearly. I can see my wrongdoings more clearly, my own viciousness, my wickedness, my errors and infatuations, in order to liberate myself. This is a fortunate opportunity, and not a calamity. Thus, the pains and sufferings of a human being cannot be compared to those endured by an animal. Let’s rejoice for having the opportunity to be a human being. Countless souls are currently torturing themselves. They must reincarnate within the 6 paths of reincarnation and practice suffering and austerity. They must practice the immense virtue of sacrifice in order to be able to reincarnate as a human being. In contrast, we are born as human beings, so, shouldn’t we practice compassionate love and spiritual virtue? 

We only understand one side, and do not understand the other one. Therefore, we always think that our adversary is cruel, and our brothers and sisters are wicked! We forget that we all have the same origin, we are all Children of God, and the whole universe is undergoing transformations in accordance with the evolution of the Celestial Mechanism! All humans are learning together. We, as the Vietnamese people, have learned through the common karmic retributions imposed upon tens of millions of people! But for spiritual people, these circumstances allow us to awaken our consciousness even more. We can see even more the subtle divine destiny, and we can return sooner to our innate spiritual nature. We see that our soul is eternal, and we clearly appreciate the value of the Vô-Vi meditation, and the results that we have achieved through our own efforts cannot be described with words! We all meditate with an awakened consciousness. We have meditated all night long, and we cannot describe with words. Words are limited, how can we recount all the awakenings within ourselves? Many of you have cried with an awakened consciousness! You cry because of your own procrastination. You cry because of your wicked sins. You cry because of your greediness. You cry because you have abused the path that God has granted to us. We have an organism formed by the supernatural, but we do not know how to fully utilize it, and do not know how to harmonize with it. We do not know how to truly LOVE it compassionately! Then, how can we ever develop our wisdom? 

When you are able to achieve “Compassion”, your spiritual mind will develop, and your indomitable will always abounds in your spiritual consciousness! Why are you able to receive these blessings? This particular moment is the moment of lucidity! You will no longer feel any obstacle! At that time, you no longer need to read a book of prayers. You do not need to dig out gossips and worldly affairs. You do not need to increase your current wealth, but you will enrich yourselves immediately within your spiritual consciousness. You have achieved a benevolent heart. You have cultivated the field of felicity within your three internal spheres: Lower, middle, and higher spheres. You have awakened yourselves, and you are no longer submerged in the external circumstances! Many of you have said: “I have followed the advice of the spiritual leader and I have practiced meditation. But today, I feel more agitated!” So, where does this agitation come from? You have generated this agitation yourselves since many lifetimes! This is due to your own dark and violent nature. You lack sincerity and have not awakened your consciousness, so this agitation will happen naturally! This reactionary force comes from your own instructions. The twelve viscera must obey the order of the Master-Soul. However, today, you have nothing to replace it. You have no way to escape because you are not sincere enough with your own self! If you are sincere and admit your sins caused by your foolishness, you will feel content and peaceful. You can see it clearly. Once you have admitted your own sins with truthfulness, you will feel an infinite lightness. I release this burden in my mind. I release this difficulty. Because of my actions, I must accept the karmic retributions that will happen to me in the future. But I understand that they are caused by my sins, and this is an inevitable consequence. I must accept it genuinely. I have caused my own troubles, and no one else! Why do I have to envy others? Why do I have to beat others? Why do I hold to unrighteous hatred, and forget the path to return to my own self? Why do I forget that I am the unrighteous person? I praise my good deeds, but I never investigate my bad actions. So, how will I ever change myself in order to return to the law of equilibrium within myself? 

Therefore, what are people on earth doing? They are building and creating a civilization based on materialism, but in reality, there is no spiritual foundation! What do we possess within ourselves? The Esoteric Spiritual Science already exists within ourselves. Why don’t we enter into our own classroom to learn about the supernatural scenery in our inner consciousness? We talk about caring for humanity. We talk about saving the nation and saving the people! But who are the people? Who is the nation? We must be aware of the following: You are the people, and you are the nation. Both nation and people reside within yourselves only! If we do not save ourselves, how can we save others? We know how to pity others, but we do not know how to pity ourselves. So, how do you devise your plan and how are you going to carry it out? Therefore, we learn a lot when we descend on earth! There are many heartbreaking situations, many karmic relations alternate on earth in order to bring our consciousness toward true knowledge! When we practice meditation and attain serenity, we will realize that: “I made progress thanks to these circumstances. Thanks to your scolding, I was able to understand myself better. When you despised me, I was able to see my capacity to overcome your reprisal to defend myself! Thanks to your success, I also want to achieve the same success!” As meditation practitioners, we should not hold to intransigence and infatuations. We should not say: “This person is such an advanced practitioner! I am such a clumsy practitioner!” No! We are all the same! If you know that you have been cultivating yourselves spiritually now and, in the past, then everyone is marching on the spiritual path, i.e., the whole universe. We must live within the consciousness of equality. If you praise that:” This Master is enlightened, while I am incompetent! This Venerable Monk is enlightened, while I am incompetent!” This is all wrong! 

You must return to your own self, then you will see that you have gone through many reincarnations, and you are currently advancing on the spiritual path with all its trials! Therefore, in the past year, we have undergone many trials and we also caused many trials. We are also an actor to test all spheres! Right inside our family, among husband, wife, siblings, and children, we are testing each other, we are being educated to return to our supernatural structure and to awaken our consciousness by our own efforts! Consequently, the Christmas Day is the Day of Soul Awakening for all creatures. All of us must understand the preciousness of the law of Christmas! The great celebration of Christmas is to awaken our soul. If we ask ourselves, do we also have a Christmas? (birth of the Christ) If we have no birth, where does the spark of spiritual light come from, which allows us to discuss among each other? Where is the spark of spiritual light which allows you to fight and cause rivalries with each other? Where is the spark of spiritual light which allows you to ask questions? And where is the spark of spiritual light which allows you to return to your innate serenity? Isn’t this spark of spiritual light your true soul? 

Today, we have understood and we need to awaken ourselves. Where will we go? We must return to our old homeland. We have a home there, we have everything! At that time, you will no longer harbor any prejudice against any dharma. You will no longer hold any prejudice against any spiritual master who wants to share their spiritual learning with you! At that time, you will be aware that all states of mind are helping you on the path of spiritual evolution! You should be thankful and respect the achievements of these spiritual teachers. Even though you think that their level may be limited, we are all progressing on the journey of spiritual cultivation! You are taught in school that the tortoise is the winner, not the rabbit! Therefore, these spiritual practitioners remain calm and advance slowly, regardless of the conflicts and external reactions, even if you despise them, even if you criticize them. You should inspect yourselves and ask whether you have advanced as far as they did? You must understand this point. You feel disdain for those who recite the buddhist sutras. You feel disdain for those who practice meditation. You feel disdain for those who recite the prayers of Christ! But have you been able to do the same? Have you been able to nurture this perseverance? Or have you been pulled away by the impure thoughts? This is an opportunity. This is a ray of light shining into your inner consciousness, so that you may awaken and clearly see: “I still have the strength to perfect myself spiritually and advance with my own efforts! “ 

Therefore, everyone must immediately turn within after undergoing a year full of upheavals, sufferings, and trials. Now, we are able to feel peace and spiritual awakening. This is very precious and will last forever. We must hold to this preciousness to advance further. We should not depend on anyone and let them march in our place.