The Spiritual Meanings Behind the SM Celestial Jewelry

The Spiritual Meanings Behind
the SM Celestial Jewelry

An Interview with Supreme Master Ching Hai
by Le Figaro, the French International Radio (RFI), and Radio Enghien
January 24, 1997

(excerpt from: http://godsdirectcontact.us/sm21/enews/www/147/sa1a.htm )

The Spiritual Meaning:

J1: Why did You go so far as to give a meaning to each piece of jewelry?
M: It's because I think that the greatest aim in this life is to find the Kingdom inside us, to find the wisdom or the Godhood inside us. So anything we can do toward the act of bringing us to this Kingdom is the perfect way. Be it jewelry, be it clothes, be it the way we live our lives, everything we do must bring us toward the remembrance of the Kingdom of God. That should be the goal of our life.

J1: The word that sums up this collection: Is it "God?" Is it "wisdom?" Is it "Heaven?" What is it?
M: We call it "Celestial Jewelry," "the Celestial Collection of Beauty." For example, we have a whole collection of clothing and interior decoration items such as lamps and paintings. Everything I do is inspired from Heaven. I don't think that I, as a mortal, am capable of creating such beautiful things. They're just inspired from Heaven so we call them "the Celestial Collection of Beauty."

J1: Clothing, jewelry, poetry: You seem to be interested in everything. Do You have one thing that You prefer, or do You like everything?
M: I actually like everything that I've done. Because it's not me who did it; it's the Father inside who inspired me and helped me to bring it into realization. Because I never studied these things before: I never studied painting or design or jewelry or clothing. I never had any idea about these things; it just came after many years of meditation practice, of going inside and finding wisdom.

The Aims:

J1: What's the purpose of the jewelry that You create?
M: The first aim is to remind people of the beauty from Heaven. That's why each design has a name of its own. The general name is Celestial Jewelry, and each design has a very spiritual name such as To the Other Shore, or Liberation, or Wisdom Eye, or The Future Buddha, or Meditating Quan Yin, or Bodhidharma, or God's Child, or Little Angel and so on. All these are noble names from Heaven to remind us of our own Nature within.

And the second aim is to earn some money for myself so I don't have to rely on my disciples because I never take donations. Of course, the jewelry, fashions and paintings earn a lot of money. And this money I want to give to people who are in disasters or in need, like in poverty or an emergency (Disaster Relief Activities).

The Inspiration:

J1: We know that You're very busy. How do You find time to do that?
M: Because as I said, sometimes I'm inspired. I can work the whole night and whole day and then finish one section very fast. And I just do it when I have time. If you want to do something, you'll find the time for it.

J1: Is the artistic inspiration contagious to Your disciples; do they become artists, too?
M: Yes! Some of them also suddenly become artists overnight. And they suddenly write poetry, or suddenly know how to paint or design their own clothes. That's very good. It's not really "contagious"; it's just the meditation that brings out the best in people in time.

J1: Concerning Your source of inspiration, where do Your visions and colors come from?
M: From inside, from inside my brain! Sometimes the colors and pictures come before I can paint them out. So I have to do it fast before I forget.

The Design:

J1: I have one technical question about Your jewelry: I know that inspiration is very important to You, but do You also pay attention to the materials you use such as diamonds and so on?
M: Yes, we do pay great attention to details such as the materials. For example, we use the best, most reputable gold and the best stones, and we choose the colors. For example, this (indicating one of the opals in the necklace The Hidden Force Connection) is a very rare color, and the size is very rare, too. To have a piece so big and so beautiful as this is rare. As for the gold and all the precious and semi-precious stones, we choose the best to represent the flawless Heavenly quality.

J2: And which materials represent perfection to You, or what's Your preference: Is it diamond, gold or what?
M: I think everything that God created, even a piece of a pebble, is perfect in its own way. It's just that in this world we've chosen those rare and shinier stones to represent our inner shining quality. So likewise, I have to choose them; for example, diamonds, opals, rubies and so on. Since the people of the world like them, I can't just give people things that they don't like. I have to create with the things that people already like and are familiar with.

The reason people like shiny objects is that somehow in the deepest corner of their hearts, they still remember the shining quality or the Light within. That's why people love diamonds and rubies, not for the material possession of these things but because of the yearning in their souls to go back to the Light, to the shining and lasting quality of our inner Kingdom. So likewise, I use these everlasting things.

The Future Buddha

J2: Does this "Light" refer to the Light that touched You like You also mentioned with the Buddha?
M: It's the inner Light. And the Buddha had the Light shining around His head like you see in the picture, Jesus also had a halo around Him and so on. All the Saints, when depicted in a Saint's picture or statue, have a halo of light around them. They really do have it. Sometimes we can see with our wisdom eye that a Saintly person has light around him. We all have different light. Some people have purple light and some have a kind of black light. But the spiritual Master has brighter light, very bright.

So, most human beings love diamonds, rubies, sapphires and so on because they shine. They really resemble the Light within us when we find enlightenment. That's why we say "En-lighten-ment," meaning light, we enlighten. That's why people love diamonds and rubies; I think the deeper reason is that people love the Light within themselves and they yearn to know it again. They've forgotten it and they want to remember. That's why people love diamonds and other shiny objects like gold, silver, sapphires and so on.

J2: And maybe because it lasts, and they want it to last by wearing jewelry.
M: Yes! Because it's everlasting, and our true Self is everlasting. So, when people love all this jewelry, like diamonds and gold and so on, I think they just yearn to remember their everlasting Self, the soul within themselves. So, it's not really the material that they love. It's the spiritual memory, the remembrance behind all these shiny objects that makes people love them so much, not only my jewelry but any jewelry. I think the reason that people love shiny jewelry is that it reminds them of their own shining quality inside.

more: http://godsdirectcontact.us/sm21/enews/www/147/sa1a.htm

天飾珠寶設計的意涵 (节选）

法國BIJORCHA電視台專訪
設計師－清海無上師
1997年1月24日

(http://godsdirectcontact.us/sm21/cnews/www/147/sa1a.htm)

你創作珠寶的目的是什麼？
What is the purpose of the jewelry that You create?

第一，是提醒人們天國的輝煌，所以所有的珠寶都有它自己的名字，我們統稱「天飾」，每一組天飾都有一個非常有靈性的名字，像是「到彼岸」「解脫」「內在智慧」「智慧眼」「未來佛」「打坐觀音」「菩提達摩」,「天堂的小孩」「小天使」等等，所有天飾都有個來自天國的高貴名字，為了提醒我們內在的本性。

第二個目的是為賺錢給自己，所以就不用靠徒弟，因為我從不接受供養，當然除了珠寶，其他像服裝或繪畫也賺了很多錢，這些錢我要給那些災民、有需要的人、窮人或是有緊急情況的人。

您的珠寶和靈修之間有關係嗎？
Can You tell me the relationship between Your jewelry and the spiritual path? Is there a relation?

有關係，真善美是所有宗教的象徵，若有人創造美麗的東西，那也代表美麗天堂的一部份，我認為那會提醒我們修行。

M: I actually like everything that I've done. Because it's not me who did it; it's the Father inside who inspired me and helped me to bring it into realization. Because I never studied these things before: I never studied painting or design or jewelry or clothing. I never had any idea about these things; it just came after many years of meditation practice, of going inside and finding wisdom.
你的天飾,好像帶我們到了另一個世界,那個世界是真實的嗎？
Your jewelry seems to bring us toward another world. Is this world the real one ?

那是個最真實的世界，事實上所有明師和經典，都告訴我們，這裡是個幻想的世界，而耶穌、穆罕默德或佛陀所指出：要向內尋找的那個世界，才是真實的世界，這個真實的世界，只有靜默中才能找到。

為何你的每件珠寶,都有一個意義？
Why did You go so far as to give a meaning to each piece of jewelry?

因為我認為，我們此生最大的目的，是要尋找內在的天國、智慧和內邊上帝的品質，所以不管我們能做什麼，只要能帶我們回天國，就是完美的方法。無論是珠寶、衣服、生活方式，我們所做的每件事都是為了提醒我們回去天國，那才是我們生命的目的。
你的珠寶會影響配戴的人或周圍的人嗎？
Does Your jewelry have an influence on the people who wear them or the people who我認為他們是自己影響自己，他們若選擇這類珠寶，表示他們已經有這種意向想要記得上帝，提醒自己，要讓自己置身於天堂的美麗。
我只是希望，當我們戴上天飾打扮自己的外表時，它們的名字和所擁有的力量，會讓我們記得自己內邊的美麗品質。這就是我設計這天飾的意義，至少可以用這些石頭和金屬來幫助提升我們的靈魂，它們的用途就在這裡，否則，它們就真的只是石頭和塵土而已。
宗教和佛陀對你的創作有多大的啟發作用？

不只佛陀，所有偉大的明師都是我的老師，像是耶穌、穆罕默德、佛陀，所有你能想到的。因為所有的明師、所有天堂偉大的眾生、所有神聖的老師，像是耶穌、佛陀等等，都教我們同樣的東西：在世界做個好過客，過一個美好的人生，還有要記得源頭－－天國或是佛土，名稱不同，但對我而言卻都一樣。
這些創作的名字都跟上帝、智慧、天國有關，這其中有什麼涵意？

喔！我們稱為天飾，美麗天堂的飾品，我們還有天衣、室內裝飾品像萬歲燈和畫作，每件作品的靈感都來自天國。我認為像我這麼平凡的人，不可能創作如此美麗的東西，這些靈感都來自天國，所以我們稱之為美麗天堂的飾品。
您認為哪一種材質代表完美，您最喜歡鑽石、黃金或是別的？

我認為上帝創造的每件東西，即使是鵝卵石都有它完美的一面，只是在這個世界，我們選了這些稀有又發光的石頭，像是鑽石、蛋白石、紅寶石這類東西，來代表內在光亮的品質。因為世人都喜歡寶石，我不能選擇人家不愛的，所以我必須創作出大家本來就喜歡又熟悉的東西，為什麼世人喜歡發亮的東西，因為在他們內心深處，他們還記得光亮的品質，記得他們內在的光，所以人們才喜歡鑽石和寶石，並不是執著物質的東西，而是靈魂渴望要回到光亮的地方，那個恆久閃亮的內在王國，所以我才用這些可以長久保存的材質。
您用光來判斷開悟與否？只是針對佛教或所有的…？ 你指的是內在的光，佛陀的頭上有光環，就跟你在圖上看的一樣，耶穌基督也有光環圍繞，所有聖人的法相或雕像，人們都為他們做上光環。他們是真的有光，有時不用智慧眼也看得見，聖人有光圍繞著，有不同的光，我們都有光，有些人有紫色的光，有些人有黑色的光，但是修行好的師父，光很大，非常亮，多數人都喜歡鑽石、紅藍寶石等等,因為它們閃閃發光，它們真的類似我們開悟時候內在的光，所以我們才說，「開」「光」，「光」代表開悟，所以人們喜歡鑽石、寶石，我想深一層的理由是，人們喜歡自己內在的光亮，他們渴望再認識它，他們忘記了，但想要再記起來，所以才會喜鑽石、金、銀,這些會發亮的東西。

也可能因為它們不會壞,他們想要永遠配戴?

是！是！因為珠寶不會毀壞，而真我也是不朽的，人們喜歡珠寶、鑽石、黃金等等這類東西，我認為他們是渴望記得自己不朽的真我，記得內邊的靈魂，他們愛的不是物質，而是這個發光物體背後，那個靈性的提醒。讓人那麼喜愛，不單是我的珠寶而已，任何珠寶都一樣，我認為人們喜愛閃亮的珠寶，是因為它提醒了他們內邊閃亮的品質。