Spiritual Growth, Spiritual Improvement, Growth in Spiritual Practice

Sometimes you might feel you haven't made any growth in your spiritual practice and that it seems like a waste of time. Do you know why?

Spiritual growth in spiritual practice includes our speech, body and mind. For example, you've developed your mind very well in your spiritual practice and cleansed it of evil ideas and impure thoughts. Every day you only think about the living Master, the noble teachings and the practicing assembly. You only think about Quan Yin spiritual practice, et cetera.

In this case, your mind has become very advanced and "civilized"; but your "body" may still lag behind in development and is not in line with your advanced "mind". At that time, you may feel that your spiritual growth has come to a standstill. In some other cases, you may have a pure body and mind, but your speech hasn't been cleansed of its karma yet. There is another case, in which you have kept silence for some time, not speaking as much as you normally do. However, your body hasn't been cleansed of its karma, so you can't make any spiritual growth.

This is like when parents are walking with their child. The parents are walking very fast, but the child, distracted by flowers, stones and streams along the road, forgets to move along. The parents have to stop and wait for him until he catches up. It's the same with your speech, body and mind. If any of them lag behind, the other two cannot move along. All three have to be balanced and coordinated for your spiritual growth in your spiritual practice.

You may feel that you have grow spiritually a lot at the three or seven-day retreats, but that is not because the Master gave a lot of blessings to those who attended the retreats and withheld the blessings from those who didn't. It's because during these retreats, your speech, body and mind were at their purest. First, your body didn't move a lot, waste energy, or work too much, so you didn't feel very tired. Second, you didn't talk, scold, or criticize other people. Third, you didn't divert your thoughts elsewhere. You just listened to my lectures and meditated. There was no time left for you to think about other things. Consequently, your speech, body and mind were almost all purified. In this pure and harmonious state, they were open to all the blessings from God or from the Master, so you improved a lot. In this situation, your mind is concentrated, your body is not restless, and your speech is purified, so you can make spiritual growth very quickly.

It's not that the Master don't give you blessings when you are talking. But why can't you receive the blessings when you are talking too much? It's because you would become agitated and lose the blessings. For example, I want to give you something, but you can't stop moving even for a second. Then you cannot receive whatever I want to give you. For another example, when you pass the tollgate, sometimes you may miss the receipt from the toll collector after you pay the toll, but a toll collector never misses the money from you. This is because the toll collector is in a stable position; but you, the driver, are in a moving state.

It's the same with your spiritual growth practice. If your speech, body and mind are balanced, you will receive all the blessings. If you keep wandering, even the greatest power is useless to you. It's like when you're bathing your child. If he runs around, you can't put the water on him. Instead, you may get yourself all wet. Similarly, if you can't take my blessings, they will come back to me entirely.

The Quan Yin Method that we are practicing can cure all diseases. However, our speech, body and mind have to developed at the same time. Any one of them that lags behind will delay our spiritual growth.

As the background and stage of spiritual growth levels over past lives differ for each of us, it seems that there is great spiritual growth rate for some people who have only just started on their path of spiritual practice. Sometimes we think that we have not made any progress, but in fact, as long as we are not falling behind, we are making spiritual growth. We cannot use our inner experiences of Light and Sound alone to determine whether we have made any progress or not. We have made spiritual growth progress once we've started spiritual practice if we find our lives run more smoothly, we are freer from obsessions with worldly, mundane matters, more relaxed physically and spiritually, our wisdom and love for others is enhanced, and we have a deeper sense of security and contentment about life and our fortune.

Lastly, we should check that we meditate for two and a half hours daily as instructed at initiation, and that we keep the Precepts clearly with our bodies, speech and minds. Also, it could be that by not meditating in the correct way, we do not make spiritual growth.

How much spiritual growth progress we make depends on whether we have a pure heart. Having a heart that is pure and kind, being able to accept the Master's instructions completely, and having steadfast faith in the Master are the most important keys to making great spiritual growth.

Whenever the situation needs our love to show it, we have to show our love and we have to show some actions, speech and thoughts always in loving kindness. That's the best for our spiritual growth and best for our fellow beings.

Before we came here we came with the high ideal, with the best intention, with the good heart and a mighty determination to help and to improve ourselves spiritually, even also by helping people in this world. But when we came here, most of us forgot and we prefer to sleep, eat, and go around playing. We prefer to take care of our own interests and sometimes forget what's our purpose before we came here, why we came here. It is also good that we forget, it's good. And then we do not feel very sorry for ourselves because we'd like to go back there; it's better in heaven than here.

But if we do spiritual meditation, then unconsciously our soul will remember. Then we don't have to feel too much suffering because we live in this very confined, very unhappy surrounding. And then we feel more settled down, not attached to the world but settle down in the world. And then we know that we have to finish our mission. And then whether we realize or not, inside we will, the soul will understand that we have to accomplish our mission on Earth and then we will go back home very soon.

Spiritual quotes on Spiritual Growth, Spiritual Improvement, Growth in Spiritual Practice

To grow faster in spiritual practice, we must forget ourselves; be the lowliest person and do the dirtiest, the most unwanted work.

We pursue spiritual practice because we want to use it to make our daily life more comfortable. Our spiritual growth within should be used on the outside, so we can see the result. We will also feel very comfortable, very useful and have great spiritual growth.

If you have to talk then talk about God, something beneficial, something that vibrates positively in the air and contributes to the harmony of the world as well as to your spiritual growth  and those of your neighbors.

Retreats are very important! Why do our fellow initiates make such quick spiritual growth ? It is because we hold retreats frequently to make up for what we can not achieve in our daily time schedule.

For spiritual practitioners, the best way to make spiritual growth is to analyze ourselves daily. Introspect and warn ourselves each day; check whether we have any faults, or have done anything illogical. If we have done something wrong, make sure we don't do it again. Find out why it is wrong to handle things this way. Always be cautious and on the alert!

A few obstacles are good for us. They gives us the incentive to strive; our willpower will thus grow stronger and our determination to seek the Truth will also become firmer. If we want to have faster spiritual growth, we must forget ourselves, be a humble person, and do all the filthiest work that others do not want to do.

You are making spiritual growth on the path of spiritual practice when you have developed a loving heart, not when you can meditate a lot everyday not at all! We should have more affections and forgiveness towards others, and not to mind the level of experience.

Look at the way you behave towards others and then you know where you are. Look at how much you complain every day then you know where you stand. Look how much effort you put into your meditation and then you would know whether you grow spiritually or not.

We have to study again and again. Make firm start again. Today I failed. I didn't meditate very well. Tomorrow, next day, I'll make more effort. Always try to strive for better will, so that we can grow in spirit.

Some linked readings on Spiritual Growth, Spiritual Improvement, Growth in Spiritual Practice