“Excerpts from Master Oneness’s Lecture at TransformationArt, Round 1, in Lam Ha, Lam Dong”
Ready to Die to Awaken
Only when you are ready to die will you awaken. If you cannot yet understand that this body, your business, and your family are only temporary, you are not awakened. The entire body and mind are created by the Source and can be lost at any time. Let go of all attachments to the body; allow the ego to flow and surrender before nature.
The Sun Gazing Practice: Melting the Ego
Relax the body, turn the black part of your eye (the pupil) upwards, and look at the sun. When you feel tired or your eyes hurt, you can close your eyes and then open them again to look at the sun. Looking at the sun with the pupil turned upwards will have no side effects. Allow the ego to melt. Open your mind and heart to receive energy from the sun. In the face of nature’s power, we humans are just mosquitoes.
Letting Go of All Definitions
Let go of all definitions—that you are a doctor, engineer, or leader. Let go of the ego and be just an objective observer. This is the state of complete surrender. Only then can all old patterns begin to be broken and we begin to upgrade. Release all trauma, pain, sadness, and insecurity. All these things come from expectation and definitions.
Awakening Before the Power of the Universe
Sometimes the human ego is very high, thinking that we are the creators of the universe and nature—this is a vast unconsciousness. We don’t even create this body; we are just the recipients. Our breath and body are all gifts we receive. All that humans create are buildings, culture, and nations. The universe does not have these definitions.
With just a tsunami, an earthquake, or Covid, everything can disappear. The universe does not care about what humans build, or human attachments. Awaken to see the bigger picture. One important thing to understand is that we can vanish at any moment. We only have finite time, so use it wisely.
The Caterpillar Escaping the Cocoon: An Allegory for Transformation
Make your old self ready to die, like a caterpillar escaping its cocoon. Just as the caterpillar melts inside its chrysalis, the ego also needs to melt. Only then can we transform into a butterfly. Utilize the energy sources of nature—the sun, moon, and creation—to support this transformation. And all these energy sources are free.
The Path to Enlightenment
When we can see the big picture, we can celebrate life purely, with no more judgment or hatred toward anyone. Otherwise, we can only see with a limited and suffering mind. Surrender is the gateway, the path leading to awakening and enlightenment. Once you have enlightenment, you can be one with the universe, and you can access the innate wisdom within you.
Ready to Melt the Ego
Dear friends, understand clearly that the process of transformation does not easily come due to expectation or desire; it only comes when we are ready to melt the ego. It’s like the caterpillar being ready to melt to become a butterfly. This is the spiritual allegory of transformation. In the practice process, don’t expect immediate transformation, but check if we are ready to melt. Only when you are ready to melt can you practice with quality.
Preparing the Right Information
Give the mind the right information to support quality practice. Tell yourself that we are ready to melt the ego. If we don’t have the right informational preparation, we will easily feel bored, disappointed, and give up. Thus, the loops cannot be broken, and we believe that money is everything and we will do anything to get it. One thing that can truly save us is wisdom.
No one can love us more than ourselves. When we cannot love ourselves, no matter how much love we receive, we still feel a lack.
Communication with the Universe: Conscious or Unconscious?
When bothered by a mosquito, we can easily swat it without caring about its life. Similarly, the universe does not care about our life. But if the mosquito could communicate to us, “Friend, don’t swat me…” things would be different. When we see a snake, we just stand far away and say, “Look, a snake,” instead of going close and saying hello to the snake. This happens because there is a communication gap between us and the snake.
If the snake could communicate to us, “Friend, I am a blue snake, though I am venomous, I won’t bite you,” then we could put the snake on our hand. Communication brings trust and understanding. Similarly, there needs to be communication between us and the universe.
Two Types of Communication with the Universe
However, there are two types of communication with the universe: conscious communication and unconscious communication. Unconscious communication is when we pray to God/the gods/Buddha/the universe, “Give me a house, a piece of land, make my child intelligent… if God/the gods/Buddha/the universe gives me this, I will offer a coconut/sweets/fruit or I will be vegetarian once a month.” We demand a lot from the universe but give very little; this is unfair.
Conscious communication is when we pray to the universe, “Give me the right focus,” or, at a higher level, we send gratitude to the universe. We are grateful to the universe for both the pain and the blessings, because through these things, we gain experience and learn.
TransformationArt (TA) - The Tool for Self-Awareness
TA is a tool that helps us recognize what is unconscious and what is conscious so that we can make our own choices. TA is not designed to provide theories, nor is it a religious system. TA is about popularization, creating an environment for us to have the opportunity to merge into the flow, thereby becoming our own researchers to find the answers for ourselves. Because if it only offers theory or follows a religious direction, you will only do it for a while, then stop, not continue, and forget. TA helps you realize things for yourself.
Expanding Yourself
Life is full of creation and vitality, but people often miss it because of unconsciousness and limiting beliefs. For us to receive these energy sources, we need to expand ourselves. Even NASA has its unconsciousness. If politicians and scientists were all awakened, why is there still war and suffering in the world? These are the matrix and paradoxes of life.
When we are doctors, engineers, or people of influence, we think we are educated, but even that is nothing. Become your own researcher and explorer. Increase your capacity for awareness to know yourself. My unconsciousness is my responsibility; your unconsciousness is your responsibility.
The Art is for Transformation, Not for Performance
If we practice art merely for performance, it is just entertainment, but if we practice it with awareness, we are transformed. Displaying art for exhibition is seeking fame and money. If seeking fame and money with unconsciousness, there will be great suffering. Usually, artists perform just to gain more popularity. That display creates a lot of competition.
If we only want to stand out from others, we will miss the small things in life. That is why children suffer greatly because they have to endure competition. Even great artists like Michael Jackson still had regrets about their childhood. We do not use art for performance but for transformation, thereby melting the ego.
Namaste - Unity and Surrender
The greeting Namaste symbolizes unity, reverence, and surrender. The Namaste greeting, performed with awareness, makes us stable and transformational. Otherwise, we can do it a hundred times and there will be no transformation. Life is not a performance.
Effort in the Right Direction
In TA, we often practice dancing; dancing here is not to attract others. Effort is not important; what is important is effort in the right direction. Hunting animals are also very focused and patient, but this focus is only for survival and harms other animals, so this is unconscious focus. Right-directed focus is observing and reflecting on oneself to understand one’s mission.
Many people are sad but don’t know why. If you don’t know why, how can you work with the sadness? Therefore, you need to know where the sadness comes from to work with it. Practicing art is to understand oneself better. If we put in a lot of effort without results, check if that effort was in the right direction. There are many very subtle, minute points that we are not conscious enough to perceive.
True Self-Love
What we practice in TA is the ability to recognize and adjust from wrong focus to right focus, and we also have self-love. Self-love is when we constantly steer ourselves toward improving our physical and mental health. We know clearly how to make the body better and healthier, and we do it even when we don’t want to.
Self-love is not being able to do whatever one wants; that is freedom. If a person smokes or uses stimulants thinking it is freedom, that euphoria only lasts for a short time and makes us dependent, wanting more. Self-love is doing the right things to support our holistic development.
Receiving Wisdom
Self-love can come from the inner teacher or be prompted by the outer teacher. What is important is that we are ready to receive. That is how we receive wisdom from anywhere. Only doing what we want is not entirely wrong; there is a very fine line. To discover those subtleties, support from a teacher or community is needed. We have accumulated so much unconsciousness from the past, so self-awareness is the key.
The Awakened Family
Children who are traumatized are victims of unconscious loops happening within the family. Conflicts between parents can affect children. When there are problems and parents don’t know how to behave, the child is very easily hurt. Most family members do not know how to express themselves to each other but usually only give orders and demands. Practices like observing, listening, not labeling, and not controlling are very important in the family.
It is our responsibility to help the family awaken. An unconscious family suffers more sadness and worry and needs more money to feel wealthy. An awakened family always feels sufficient and celebrates life. The market system is designed to make most people not feel wealthy. If one nation becomes increasingly rich, the nation next to it becomes increasingly poor. If wealth is measured by money, that is a matrix; true wealth is connection, trust, and understanding.
The Art of Expression in the Family
How do we bring this energy source back to the family? It is the practice of the art of expression. When couples first marry, everything is new, but after having children, the common topics become tuition fees, wedding costs, rent… repeating like grooves and habits, with nothing new. If this continues for a few years, everything becomes very dry.
Expressing Instead of Talking
Talking and expressing are different. Expression is when we have gratitude or pain, we express it to each other. Talking is talking about a third thing, like work or other people. We need to talk less and express more. In daily life, the husband feels both love and annoyance, or hatred, toward his wife. This makes it difficult to express themselves to each other. We cannot express ourselves because we do not have harmony, always feel a lack, and are always in a vicious cycle.
Expression is very important. For example, if the husband jokes to a friend, “My wife’s cooking is inedible,” and the wife feels unhappy, then in the evening the wife can express to the husband, “Today when you said that, I felt disrespected, and I hope you won’t say that next time.”
Creativity Instead of Tragedy
Expression is very important in any relationship. Without expression, life is very monotonous, boring, and lonely. Then people seek drama in their lives to feel more alive, but at the same time, they create a lot of suffering. We need to practice many times to be able to do this. We don’t need more tragedy to feel alive; we need more creativity.
And so, the 4-day, 3-night TransformationArt experience with Master Oneness in Lam Ha, Lam Dong, has concluded, but it has also opened a new, exciting, and challenging chapter for the students. From the profound sharing about the nature of meditation, the process of karma purification, the difference between knowledge and wisdom, to learning how to live consciously amidst the unconscious whirlpool of life—all are seeds sown in the consciousness of each person.
What you have experienced is not just knowledge but the real materials to begin your own journey of transformation. Remember, practice is not for accumulation but for purification, not for performance but for transformation. The road ahead may be full of challenges, but when we have seen the bigger picture, when we have learned to surrender and trust the flow of the universe, every step will become lighter and more meaningful.
Continue to practice every day, nurture the awakened community around you, and remember that your unconsciousness is your responsibility. Every conscious moment is a gift you give to yourself and to this world.
See you on the next adventure, where we will delve deeper into practice, melt more together, and fly higher together, like butterflies that have escaped the cocoon.
Namaste 🙏 Wishing you all to always live consciously, love yourselves, and celebrate life every day!
