Born during the Vietnam War in Au Lac (Vietnam), Supreme Master Ching Hai witnessed much death and human tragedy in her early years. During this time she always showed great compassion and never failed to lend a loving, helping hand to those in need,. A precocious child with a pious heart, she also read a surprising number of Christian, Buddhist and Taoist scriptures, which brought her great comfort.
As a young adult, Supreme Master Ching Hai traveled to England to pursue her academic studies, and later lived and studied in France and Germany. In this period, she devoted much time to assisting Vietnamese refugees by working with the Red Cross. She later married a German physician, with whom she spent several happy years, and continued her charitable work of helping refugees, but in her heart she yearned to find the true solution to ending human suffering and war.
After gaining the reluctant consent of her husband, she embarked on a journey to the Himalayas in search of spiritual enlightenment. And eventually, as fate would have it, she received divine transmission of the inner Sound and the Light meditation, which she later called the “Quan Yin Method.” She realized that only through practicing this ultimate method can one find true inner peace, transcend suffering, and become liberated from reincarnation, the endless cycle of life and death that binds humans to this imperfect, physical world.
Later at the sincere request of sentient beings, Supreme Master Ching Hai began to teach the Quan Yin Method publicly, and over the years has conducted many world lecture tours and been invited to speak at the United Nations as well as in many countries on all five continents. Today, Supreme Master Ching Hai has tens of thousands followers around the globe.
Having been given the herculean responsibility of elevating the consciousness of sentient beings, Supreme Master Ching Hai also tirelessly tends to their physical needs. Through the years her charitable work, including worldwide disaster relief, has touched countless lives.
Besides “greatest spiritual teacher of our times,” an equally befitting title for Supreme Master Ching Hai is “great artist.” Her passion for art is deep and profound, and her talent exquisite. She has expressed her gifts through a wide range of creative works, including oil paintings, fan paintings, decorative lamps, musical compositions, poems and aesthetic jewelry and fashion designs. In the last few years, she has also published books on animals and nature, illustrated with beautiful photographs she took herself.
In all art forms, including poetry, painting, songwriting and photography, Supreme Master has proven to be highly accomplished by any professional standard. But more importantly, her works transcend worldly analysis, because spiritual beauty defies measurement. Her creations are imbued with her limitless love, and reach into people’s hearts in ways that few artists can achieve.
Attributing her Heaven-endowed artistic creativity to humanity’s innate spiritual power, Supreme Master Ching Hai says, “Once our inner Almighty power is awakened and developed, there is nothing that is impossible! We are here to learn, to learn to grow as well as to learn to use our power, our limitless power of love and creativity, to make the world a better place wherever we happen to be.”
Indeed, in appreciating the artistic creations of Supreme Master Ching Hai, it is impossible to tell where her spiritual teaching ends and her artistic expression begins. She teaches through art and her art brings out the spirituality in all of us. We hope that this exhibition will bring you much joy and inner peace!
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