GOD IS IN YOUR HEART
Grandmaster Wong Kiew Kit
Question
How I wish I could find a temple and dedicate my life to be a monk although I know it cannot be like this. I dropped out of my martial arts classes with my master as I knew he could sense the unrest and turmoil of my evil ways constantly re-emerging in my life. So I feel shameful and have not returned. I don't feel comfortable telling him my problem as he is not fluent in English and I am afraid he might think I am being disrespectful.
— Edward, Australia
Answer
The real temple where you will find God, the Buddha or any name one may use to call the Supreme Being according to his religion or culture, is found in your heart. The fulfillment of all religions is here.
God, or whatever name one may call the Supreme Being, wants everybody to be happy, healthy and rich. God does not want anyone to be sad, sick and poor. Appreciating this great truth enables one to realize it is a big mistake to think one has to be poor and suffering to reach God or to attain any spiritual fulfillment. It is just the reverse!
Why, then, are some people sick, poor and suffering? Has God forsaken them? Of course not. God is fair and kind to all. Some people are sick, poor and suffering not because God does not bestow His blessings on them, but because they themselves block God's blessings. Their blockage can be physical, emotional or mental.
The most serious is mental blockage. In Chinese terms, these people have closed their heart. If they open their heart, they can find not only the temple and God's blessings, they may also find God himself. There are many ways to open the heart; practicing genuine chi kung is an excellent way.
You are very lucky to have learnt genuine chi kung from your master. Therefore, your heart was open, and you experienced inner peace and spiritual joy, which are two of the wonderful blessings of God. But when you returned to your bad company and bad ways, your heart closed again.
You must not only avoid evil company and evil deeds, but most important you must not think of evil, because evil is dirt or defilement that blocks your heart. An example of evil thought is to think that your master would abandon you and not help you to get out of your evil ways. You must change your heart, which in simple language means you must change your mind-set.
From thinking that your master and other good people will despise you, you have to change your mind-set to thinking that your master and other good people will help you. From thinking that you cannot get out of your evil ways, you must change your mind-set to thinking that you will definitely leave your previously evil ways and lead a normal, healthy life. From feeling ashamed of yourself because of your past wrong, you must change to feeling proud of yourself because of your determination to rise up again.
Even if for some reasons, your master and other people cannot help you directly, you have to help yourself. The most important step is to change your mind-set from surrendering to evil to working towards good. In other words, you change your heart from dwelling in your gloomy past to working towards your bright future. Once your heart, or mind-set, is changed for the better, the rest will follow.
The above is taken from Question 3 of September 2003 Part 2 of the Selection of Questions and Answers.
LINKS
Courses and Classes