“Excerpts from Master Oneness’s Lecture at TransformationArt, Round 1, in Lam Ha, Lam Dong”
What Is Meditation? Observing Instead of Creating Stories
When we still have hesitation or resistance, those are the things we need to work on, and practicing meditation will help us work with them. When we feel comfort or discomfort, let’s not cling to them. If we haven’t been able to do that yet, we are still operating based only on knowledge.
Meditation does not mean creating stories; it means only observing. We observe the root of everything, and thus, let’s start by observing the breath as it is. The more you relax, the better you observe. Dear friends, we are not this body, emotion, feeling, or mind. Whenever we meditate, return to the state of emptiness and observe everything as it is, without the loops of the mind.
The Process of Karma Purification: The Path to True Peace
Many people, when they first start practicing meditation, wish to immediately achieve peace, but peace cannot be obtained right away. Peace will come after our karma has been purified. And the key point here is our readiness to purify our karma. Going through a purification process can sometimes be very boring, but the time spent meditating is a worthy time for us to practice.
It’s similar to sitting by a river: we just observe the river without any control. Let’s truly surrender, and then we will experience oneness with the Source. Keep relaxing, relaxing, observing every process unfolding as it is.
Living Fully: Exploring Self Instead of Expressing Self
Dear friends, human life is incredibly precious. We are not on this Earth to suffer; we are here to experience our highest potential. Let’s live a full life together, transcend the limits, and the Master sends blessings to each and every one of us.
This body is like a guitar or a piano; we need to learn how to use it, otherwise, we’ll only use it as a decoration. It’s like boasting about graduating from this university or that. We want to stand out from others, which is why so many people are busy expressing themselves on social media. People are looking for ways to express themselves instead of exploring themselves.
Meditation is Surrender, Not Accumulation
We might have practices that help us find peace and achieve a meditative state, like visualization or imagination exercises, but that is not true meditation practice. True meditation practice is objective observation. To meditate is to say, “I am ready, I am ready for the purification process.” Meditation is a process of surrender, not a process of accumulating more.
Consistent Practice: The Difference Between Peace of Mind and Surrender
Here, if we practice the guitar, we need to practice every day, consistently instead of randomly, and we practice not out of obligation but because we want to do it from within. And when we practice the guitar, we often learn to play old songs instead of knowing how to flow. Similarly, with practices that dissolve the ego, we need to commit instead of just reading books.
There are two things here that seem similar but are not. First, when we know how to organize our lives, we feel peace of mind. Second, we fully trust what is happening in life, which makes us feel at peace. They look similar but are different. In the first case, we have peace of mind because we have organized our lives, but there is no surrender yet. In the second case, we completely trust the flow of life, and we have surrender.
Knowledge and Wisdom: Who is Wise?
A person with a lot of knowledge and a person who is truly wise look similar but are different. A wise person is someone who lives what they know. So, how much wisdom, how much peace, is shown in chaotic situations? If we can maintain our peace even in chaotic situations, then we are a person of wisdom.
You might be a good person, you might even have spiritual knowledge, but if you still have many reactions in chaotic situations, then everything is still on the surface. Surrender requires intense faith.
Experience Instead of Knowledge: Cooking Your Own Meal
When we learn meditation in corporate systems, we have curricula and need money to learn. However, enlightened beings like Jesus or Buddha simply shared their wisdom without being paid, but companies do charge. Meditation practice is the process of purifying our ego to touch upon our deepest potential, and then we naturally become creators.
Often, people write books based on their knowledge rather than their experience. And when you read a book, it’s also just knowledge, not your experience, just like the spices in the kitchen—you still need to cook your own meal.
The Highest Education: Accessing the Soul's Potential
The highest education helps us access our highest potential. And skills are not the highest potential of our soul. You may be a doctor or an engineer, but that is just a skill, not the true potential of the soul. Our skills cannot define who we are. Our wisdom transcends skills. You may be very good at your job, but when you return home, you don’t know how to live a happy, joyful life. Therefore, don’t seek from the outside, but let the unfolding come from within. Spiritual discovery comes from surrender instead of serving your ego.
Painting Meditation: From Unconsciousness to Awareness
Observe, listen to the breath, and move with each stroke of the brush. If we live unconsciously, it is like merely surviving, like an animal. When we begin to live consciously, we begin to create our own lives.
So, what is unconsciousness? Unconsciousness manifests as hesitation or aversion. These unconscious patterns are passed from generation to generation, and we need to take responsibility for our unconsciousness. Unconsciousness helps us recognize and dismantle our own prejudices. We observe the lostness and observe it with reality.
We don’t speak randomly; we communicate in awareness, and in all the activities we spend time on, are we unconscious? We need to be aware, enlightened. Any feelings of worry or insecurity, we need to be aware of them. And taking responsibility is not about blaming or regretting, but about not feeding the material and allowing it to gradually dissolve.
Learning from Nature: Giving Without Expectation
Our system is increasingly advanced and moving toward a higher level of consciousness. This is not about understanding theory but about practice. No matter what happens, it’s just a ripple on the surface of the water.
If someone hurts you, do you easily forgive, or do you adopt a victim mentality and seek revenge? Imagine if you walk into a forest and a rock hits you—do you hate the rock? If we accept the forest, why don’t we accept people? It’s because we have too many expectations. We should remember that humans are also a part of nature.
Breaking unconsciousness, purifying insecurities and sadness—these are possible when we know how to be objective, not prioritize our ego. All these practices are meant to grow the capacity for spontaneity, to nurture the inner child, to be simply like nature.
What is the nature of nature? It is a wonderful ecosystem. Nature is an unconditional giver and has no expectation of return. When we are like nature, we expand ourselves, like a river flowing past many villages but not clinging to any of them. All the elements of nature, the processes in nature, teach us lessons in life.
And when we have natural awareness, we will connect harmoniously with nature, and our brain can also be reprogrammed to break these habits. Then we will know how to steer our lives toward freedom and enlightenment.
The Universe Shakes: Life's Washing Machine
When we want to wash clothes, we put them in the washing machine. How does the washing machine wash them—gently, or do we want it to scrub vigorously? That is how the universe works for us. When the universe shakes us, everything is revealed. When our karma reaches its peak, the universe will shake us, no matter how skillful we are, we can’t do anything about it.
When clothes are washed, it hurts, but when they are clean, they are fresh; humans are the same. When we change our perspective, our lives change, shifting from reaction to self-reflection. We need a supportive environment and practice, which we call a mindful, awakened lifestyle—the path toward awakening.
So, when we are bored, that is also a purification process. We need to practice an awakened lifestyle instead of waiting for the universe to shake us. If the stain is light, just dipping it in water is enough to clean it, but if the stain is too dirty, it must be scrubbed hard.
Increasing the Capacity for Acceptance
We will increase our capacity for acceptance and flexibility to adapt in all situations, and this means our clothes are not dirty. If our clothes are dirty, the universe will shake them. We come from the source; if it needs shaking, the universe will shake it.
How much time do we spend practicing in our lives, and how many friends do you have to practice this awakened lifestyle with? We often talk about market trends, even unconsciously gossiping or being curious about the private lives of others. What they are doing is their life. We spend very little time on ourselves, so we become increasingly unconscious. Things we don’t like, we easily reject.
Appreciating What We Have
If life is stable, and you are satisfied with your current life, have nice clothes to wear and food to eat, that is how we should look at things comprehensively and become aware. If you go to your neighbor’s house and don’t like this or that person… If you were abandoned in the forest or desert, just seeing a human being would make you happy.
There are survival stories of people lost in the jungle or harsh environments who are rescued; they cherish small things. Just seeing a match is a gift they receive as something immense. If we live in a comfort zone, everything looks blurry. You won’t see the value of the sandals you are wearing. You may be grateful for this, but it is only on the surface; you haven’t felt it deeply.
For example, the Master asks us to skip lunch today, to practice all the way through, and we ask why. But if we look at it differently, at least we get to eat in the afternoon. Imagine if you were lost in the ocean for a month—you would cherish everything.
Karma Purification: Paying Debts on Time
When we haven’t purified our karma, everything on the outside seems fine, but when a mishap occurs, you shatter. This is because we have suffering that we haven’t learned how to purify, so we seek other pleasures like alcohol and we blame the other person.
What happens in our life is our karma—the purification of karma, practicing mindfulness, and stepping out of the comfort zone. When we are in an uncomfortable place and still feel content, it means our karma is being purified. It’s like paying the bank on time. If you keep postponing the due date, one day the debts will pile up, and the universe will shake us.
The Importance of the Awakened Community
Những người trên thị trường không giúp chúng ta thanh lọc. Môi trường ở đây là cộng đồng mà bạn có thể tạo dựng hoặc bạn là một phần trong cộng đồng. Chỉ ở trong cộng đồng tỉnh thức chúng ta mới có sự thấu hiểu, nếu không chúng ta sẽ quen dần với sự khó chịu.
Thông thường chúng ta tiêu thụ quá nhiều như mạng internet… Chúng ta càng tiêu thụ nhiều, chúng ta càng tin vào phải có nhiều tiền và chúng ta phải làm việc vất vả để có tiền tiêu thụ và chúng ta ở trong vòng lặp. Để chúng ta hiểu rõ tiến trình này gọi là thực hành chuyển hóa.
Môi Trường Phù Hợp Cho Sự Tăng Trưởng
People in the market won’t help us purify. The environment here is a community that you can build or be a part of. Only in an awakened community do we have understanding; otherwise, we will get used to the discomfort.
We usually consume too much, like the internet… The more we consume, the more we believe we must have a lot of money, and we have to work hard to get money to consume, and we are stuck in a loop. To fully understand this process is called TransformationArt practice.
The Right Environment for Growth
For example, a coconut tree cannot be planted in a cold region; therefore, each of our incarnations needs the right environment to grow. So, we should practice every day so that the long journey becomes more effective. Even when problems arise, we recover quickly because you already have contemplation and wisdom within you; you already have freedom, and we are always in a state of readiness to transform, and we transform immediately.
Befriending the Pain
Pain is a perfectly normal phenomenon. Transforming pain is extremely important. If you can befriend pain, when it comes, it becomes material for transformation instead of turning you into a victim.
You meet the Teacher or a lesson and you realize, and even without any reminder, we have the contemplation to change. So, dedicate more time to yourself, according to the law of cause and effect.
When the Mind is Paralyzed: Advice from the Master
Lee asks: If we have any negative emotions, and we use TransformationArt, but if our mind becomes completely paralyzed, what should we do?
The Master answers: First, never stay still in the room you are in or use any other form of distraction like watching movies. Second, go outside and do something with nature, like planting a tree, or find a wise person and stay with them for a few days so you can be purified. If you don’t have a friend or a teacher, don’t stay still in the room; go outside and pay attention to nature, like observing a river.
The moment of weakness is like an inertia that pulls us back. When we are in good condition, we move faster. The important thing is to recognize and break free from the old loops, starting a new beginning. Otherwise, it is karma, and then the wounds and psychological traumas are what we suffer.
Breaking Free from the Unconscious Loop
We hurry and rush after this and that without knowing the reason. We must be number one to have more power. That is not an awakened lifestyle.
The practice process is supported for 63 days. That is the process of purifying karma, increasing self-mastery, and becoming your own teacher. Dustin practiced a lot of spirituality; his life was very enjoyable. When practicing transformation, he saw the key points for deep practice.
Exploring Many Layers in Practice
You see many layers in the practice process. You realize this process can go deeper, and you continue to explore and research. The more we practice, the more we see the connection points.
So, start from the point you feel is reasonable and practice it. For example, the Master shares 10 things, but you grasp 3, then practice those 3 fully.
