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Ching Hai

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Ching Hai
Born (1950-05-12) May 12, 1950 (age 74)
OccupationFounder of Quan Yin Method

Supreme Master Ching Hai, or Suma Ching Hai ("Suma" is an abbreviation of the said title), (Traditional Chinese: 清海無上師, Pinyin: Qīnghǎi Wúshàngshī; Vietnamese: Thanh Hải Vô Thượng Sư, Japanese: チンハイ) (born May 12, 1950) is the self titled founder and spiritual teacher of the Quan Yin Method. She is also a poet, painter, musician, jewelry designer, fashion designer, and self published writer.[1][2] She is known for her philanthropic and humanitarian work.[3]

Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association (known as Guan Yin Famen in PRC), Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association Publishing Co Ltd, S.M. Celestial Co Ltd and Supreme Master Television are the main groups and businesses established by Ching Hai. These enterprises and her glamorous fashion have led to criticism that they were out of line with the traditional concept of monastic life.

Official biography

Ching Hai was born to a well-off family in a town north of Hanoi in Vietnam, the daughter of a naturopath. She was brought up as a Roman Catholic, and learned the basics of Buddhism from her grandmother.

At the age of eighteen Ching Hai moved to England to study, and then later to France and Germany, where she worked for the Red Cross and married a German scientist and doctor. After two years of marriage, with the consent of her husband, she left to pursue a childhood dream of enlightenment.[citation needed] Thus began a time of pilgrimages to different countries.

According to Ching Hai, she was given a divine transmission of the inner Light and Sound by a true Master in the Himalayas which she renamed the Quan Yin Method.[4]

Unofficial version

Internet articles offer other details about Ching Hai, however, they were never verified by Ching Hai herself and have been criticized[citation needed] for not offering solid evidence.[5] [6] According to those reports, she was born as Hue Dang Trinh, to a Vietnamese mother and an ethnic Chinese father, on May 12, 1950 in a small village in the Quang Ngai Province in Vietnam. Afterwards, 19-year-old Trinh moved to Britain, and then to Germany. Presumably alone, she immigrated to India to study different religions, visited a wide variety of spiritual teachers and stayed in their ashrams. Among these teachers was the well-known Thakar Singh. During her stay at his ashram, she became the newest "prize pupil" and from him it is also believed by some that her Quan Yin Method is derived.

In 1984 a Vietnamese Buddhist monk in Taipei (Taiwan) named Jing-Xing ordained her "Ching Hai"[citation needed], which means "pure ocean" in Mandarin.

International awards

She was awarded the Gusi Peace Prize in 2006 in Manila, Philippines.[7]

The Quan Yin Method

The term Quan Yin Method (also Guan Yin Method) was coined in 1985 by Ching Hai, to describe the type of meditation that she practices and teaches. The spelling is an idiosyncratic romanisation of a Chinese term said to be in English translation: "contemplation of the sound vibration".[citation needed] It is markedly similar to the much older Surat Shabd Yoga from the Sant Mat tradition which also teaches meditation on the light and sound.

Ching Hai has said, "It’s not that I invented the Quan Yin Method; I just know it. This method has existed since the beginning of time, when the universe was first formed. And it will always exist. It is not a method; it is like the way of the universe, a universal law that we must follow if we want to get back to the Origin, back to our true Self, back to the Kingdom of God or our Buddha nature."[8] In the book The Key of Immediate Enlightenment, it is said that those who recite her name would become elevated.[9]

Ching Hai initiates spiritual aspirants into the Quan Yin Method, which is purported to exist in various religions under different names, as the "best, easiest, and quickest" way to get enlightenment.[10][11][12] The method involves meditation on the "inner light and the inner sound of God", or the Shabd that she claims is also referred to in the Bible and said to be acknowledged repeatedly in the literature of all the world's major spiritual traditions. Ching Hai accepts people from all backgrounds and religious affiliations for initiation. One does not have to change one's present religion or system of beliefs.[citation needed]

The Quan Yin Method requires two and a half hours of meditation per day and adherence to five precepts which appear to be borrowed from The Five Precepts of the Theravadin practice:

  • Refrain from taking the life of sentient beings. This precept requires strict adherence to a vegan or lacto-vegetarian diet. No meat, fish, poultry or eggs (fertilized or nonfertilized).
  • Refrain from speaking what is not true.
  • Refrain from taking what is not offered.
  • Refrain from sexual misconduct.
  • Refrain from the use of intoxicants. This includes avoiding all poisons of any kind, such as alcohol, drugs, tobacco, gambling, pornography, and excessively violent films or literature.

As part of their meditation routine, followers of Ching Hai partially cover their heads under a sheet of cloth or blanket while meditating. However, while meditating away from the view of uninitiated people, the meditators do not necessarily use this cloth to cover their heads completely.

The Convenient Method

For the people who would like to have some experimental experiences, or cease eating animal products gradually, the "Convenient Method" is offered instead as a preliminary to the Quan Yin Method. The practice involves half an hour of meditation a day and adherence to a vegetarian diet for a minimum of ten days per month.

Environment

In late 2008 Ching Hai launched a major media advertising campaign in Australia asking Australians to "Be Green, Go Veg, Save the Planet". At the website Ask More Now, vegetarianism, clean energy, and tree planting are promoted as a solution to climate change and atmospheric pollution. The Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association has made submissions to the Garnaut Climate Change Review advocating large cuts to agricultural livestock production.

Criticism

Flamboyant entrepreneur

Detractors have thought that Ching Hai may only be teaching these methods for her own profit, thus one news writer giving her the nickname, "Part Buddha, Part Madonna".[6] She has opened vegetarian restaurants, held public seminars, and has made millions of dollars as a painter, fashion designer, and jewelry designer.

Criticism of Ching Hai tend to focus on the fact that her disciples buy much of her artwork, which critics see as indirectly donating to her. One disciple is supposed to have bought a pair of used sweat socks for $800 USD because "when the Master leaves the physical world, at least I will have her socks".[5] Followers insist that most of the money she makes is used for helping the poor, providing necessities to refugees, and victims of environmental disasters, however no detailed evidence of significant donations is provided.

She has also raised eyebrows for her flamboyant dress sense, which is not in line with that of a Buddhist monk or nun. In October 1995 on Ching Hai Day, she wore queenly robes "under orders from God," riding a sedan chair carried by eight bearers to the cheers of "your royal majesty".[1] Through her lectures, Ching Hai explains that her way of dress is a statement to prove that one does not need to dress as a nun or monk to achieve enlightenment through her Quan Yin Method.

In 1997, she stated that she earned more than former U.S. President Bill Clinton's annual salary of $200,000,[13] which is incongruous with a monastic lifestyle which renounces worldly pursuits in devoting one's life to spiritual work.

According to political scientist Patricia M. Thornton at the University of Oxford, the Ching Hai World Society's heavy reliance on the internet for text distribution, recruitment and information-sharing, marks the group as a transnational cybersect.[14]

Awards

On October 25, 1993 the Mayor of Honolulu Frank F. Fasi proclaimed the day as "Supreme Master Ching Hai Day" and awarded her Honorary Citizenship of Honolulu and an International Peace Commendation[citation needed]. On February 22, 1994 she was awarded commendations from representatives of six US State governors for contributions to various disaster relief funds as well as a World Spiritual Leadership Award from the World Cultural Communication Association, however neither the award nor the association appear to exist.[citation needed] Ching Hai asks her followers to specifically acknowledge these two days each year, both referred to as Ching Hai Day.

Cult expert Rick Ross said, "Ching Hai has a history of making large gifts in exchange for photo opportunities and what seems like self-promotion."[15]

Politics

In 1996 Ching Hai asked her followers to contribute money to the Clinton Presidential Legal Expense Trust after a meeting with Charlie Trie; the donations were eventually returned.[13] The Taiwan government also investigated her organization for "alleged fund-raising improprieties," which includes a $2 million transfer outside of the country.[1] Nothing unlawful was found and the case closed without prosecution.

Environmental vandalism

An artificial island and 330 foot long boardwalk created in the Biscayne National Park cost $1 million USD to remove after being illegally constructed by Ching Hai, known locally as a wealthy property owner under the pseudonym Celestia De Lamour.[16] National Park workers had to replant between 400 and 500 mangrove trees in the area once covered by the illegal boardwalk. The private property owned by Ching Hai adjacent to the national park was seized and later sold at auction to the village of Palmetto Bay which plans to establish a park on the site.[17]

References

  1. ^ a b c Chua-Eoan, Howard (1997-01-20). "The Buddhist Martha". Time Magazine.
  2. ^ Hackman, Nichollas (1998-12-13). "The Peace Seeker". Los Angeles Times. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. ^ Maragay, Fel V. (2006-11-20). "Master of charity". Manila Standard Today. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ^ Supreme Master Ching Hai (March 2009). "God's Direct Contact". Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association.
  5. ^ a b Young, Gordon (1996-05-22). "God Inc". SF Weekly. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. ^ a b Guzmán, Rafer (1996-03-28). "Immaterial Girl". Metro. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  7. ^ "Gusi Peace Prize Awards Organization". Retrieved 2008-02-06.
  8. ^ Supreme Master Ching Hai (1998-12-17). "Master's Words: The Quan Yin Method is an Eternal Universal Law". Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association Publishing Co Ltd. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  9. ^ Chan, Charmaine (1999-01-03). "Cult branches spread worldwide". South China Morning Post. p. 7. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  10. ^ "Soundless Sound - The Tone That Fills The Cosmos". Yoga International Magazine Issue 36. July, 1997. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  11. ^ Supreme Master Ching Hai (1999-11-28). "Quan Yin Method is the Easiest Way to God". Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association Publishing Co Ltd. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  12. ^ Shakyamuni Buddha. "The Surangama Sutra (Part VI)" (PDF). Buddha Dharma Education Association Inc.
  13. ^ a b Jackson, Brooks (1997-01-09). "Religious Leader Felt Sorry For Clinton". CNN's Inside Politics. CNN. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  14. ^ Patricia M. Thornton, "Manufacturing Dissent in Transnational China: Boomerang, Backfire or Spectacle?" In Kevin J. O’Brien, ed., Popular Contention in China (Harvard University Press, 2008).
  15. ^ Maragay, Fel V. (2009-06-02). "Red-faced over a guru's gift". New York Post.
  16. ^ "Park service to eliminate island". The Washington Times. 2004-03-16.
  17. ^ "Park removes access to illegal bay island". The Miami Herald. 2004-03-24.

Official websites

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