Supreme Master Ching Hai graciously visited Formosa’s (Taiwan) Taipei Center, bringing boundless joy and happiness to the Association members there! Supreme Master cheerfully talked about a variety of topics: the Formosan (Taiwanese) traditional snack, “stinky tofu”; the diet of spiritual practitioners; the Muslims’ Ramadan; the reason why Buddhists eat one meal a day and no meal after lunch; and the price a Master has to pay. Supreme Master reminded Association members that although the nature can be beneficial to spiritual practice, the most important is to stay in contact with our inner Self and the inner Master power all the time. Relying on our inner power is the best.

1. Master encouraged disciples to focus inwardly for spiritual practice and appreciate each group meditation session. Don't think that we are practicing spiritually by just attending group meditation and sitting there. We should really concentrate and appreciate the opportunity when we attend group meditation.
2. Some people thought being a Master is an easy job, but in fact, being a Master is a very hard work because a living Master has to collect bad karma all the time. When a living Master eats, sees or talks to people, that living Master will all collect a lot of bad karma. If a person hasn't accumulated merits for many eons, he/she will collapse after barely giving a few words of lecture, not to mention the bad karma collected from giving initiations. If a living Master gives initiation to 1,000 people, he or she will have to meditate 7-8 hours a day for 2-4 months in order to cleanse the bad karma collected during the initiation.
3. Master said, "Eating is also costly. It's not just about money, it's the karmic burden. If you eat less, you pay a smaller price. But whatever a living Master eats, he has to pay a high price." If ordinary people eat during “the negative time” period, they can just recite the Holy Names more often, meditate more, and do more Light and Sound meditation to cleanse the bad karma. What time is the negative time? Why is it that eating during the negative time one would have to pay a high price?
4. Master mentioned that watching TV and surfing the Internet would incur a high cost as well. Why is it that some TV programs or Internet content will give us nightmares or make our meditation difficult? How do we reduce these effects?
5. Everything costs us dearly in this world. For example, some fruit and vegetables are contaminated by environmental factors and some are even toxic by nature. Therefore, eating a lot or having a great variety of foods in one sitting doesn’t necessarily make one healthy. Yet, eating only one meal a day won’t turn one into a Buddha either. Eating is just a habit. Spiritual practitioners should eat simple and nutritious food, meditate more, and stay in contact with the inner Master power at all times.
6. Spiritual practitioners should not care too much about the blessings from the moon and stars, because they automatically bless all beings anyway. Don't pay attention to the external physical things; because, depending on the season, sometimes the moon and stars are covered, but the inner Master power is always with us. We need to contact with that great Master, that great Universe. That's most reliable. If the stars, moon, or sun bless us, of course it's even better, extra blessings!