Tonight I / Ban Dao come to preach to you for a little while so please try to sit and listen. (The Ho Phap refers to himself throughout as 'Ban Dao' or 'poor monk')

Tonight's topic is: the Divine Path to Eternal Life / Con Duong Thieng Lieng Hang Song.

What is this "Divine Path to Eternal Life / Con Duong Thieng Lieng Hang Song"? If understanding is based on the true teachings of God the Father, the "Divine Path to Eternal Life" is: a path reserved for true souls after they have left their physical bodies, who then make their way back to unite with God the Father. These true souls will return to their spiritual domain, rising higher, or falling lower as their merit dictates. If we want to understand this according to the way of the Buddha, then the Divine Path to Eternal Life is known as the path of reincarnation (samsara).

It is a very difficult topic to speak about. If all the Children of God the Father were to understand this path completely, a great book would have to be written, such a book would have to be several thousand pages long.

Therefore, Children of God the Father, try to listen! Come here to pray and make offerings (ie at the Great Divine Temple) and afterwards listen to these words. And in the future you will not regret that you came. Neither should you complain that Ban Dao did not let you know in advance of the revelations of Caodaism. Only in Caodaism can the profoundest and loftiest philosophy be found. (It is by the special grace of God the Father, for the Caodai Religion today, that there are a few young men here who have tried to learn shorthand so that they can write down these words as they are being preached tonight.) But these words are not the words of Pham Cong Tac, they are the Ho-Phap's and the Ho-Phap is speaking for God the Father, so this is a message that the children of God must hear. That is why these words are so very precious.

Ban Dao is extremely fortunate to be selected by God the Father as his "Ngu Ma Quan" (Translators note - "Ngu Ma Quan" was the official who accompanied the Emperor). On behalf of Him, I will work to form the true religion - the Cao-Dai Religion - the religion that will replace all religions that have ever been. The religions of today are no longer adequate in terms of human thought and consciousness, in other words their way has been closed off.

Do you remember some time ago when the Supreme Being (Duc Chi Ton) selected Ban Dao for the position of Ho-Phap? He taught Ban Dao how to be a medium and how to develop automatic writing (chap but), especially the "chap but". With the "chap but", Ban Dao was taught by the Supreme Being how to meditate. And this higher meditation was slowly revealed to me "nhap tinh" (mystic meditation , internal alchemy). This mystical meditation is not easy - a simple mistake or omission can ruin your whole life. To under-practise "nhap tinh" could leave you sleepy/nodding, to over practise could make you mentally disturbed. When you practise correctly you need to have the Divine Beings on hand to help open your celestial eye (hue quang khieu). When this happens your spirit is allowed to leave its physical domain (xuat hon). The path upon which your spirit returns home to the Supreme Being is the "Divine Path of Eternal Life". Ban Dao's Celestial Eye was opened by the Supreme Being, this allows Ban Dao to meet the Supreme Being and learn many secret and essential things from Him.

Today Ban Dao is preaching about the Divine Path of Eternal Life, Ban Dao would like to guide all the souls of the children of God back to Him by the very form of the teaching you are listening to now.

The Path that takes you back to Him is not an easy path to travel, and your return will not be instant. As we desire to travel home to God the Father, we must pass through many temples, many palaces. In each temple we will be confronted by strange things. In each palace we will face a different mystery. Yet we must pass through all these temples and palaces. Only by desiring spiritual evolution can we progress along the Divine Path to Eternal Life - and return home to the Supreme Being! - there is no happiness equal to this.

Even after a lifetime of cultivating the way, there is no guarantee that a soul will return to the Supreme Being. Over ten thousand years and a thousand lives if the soul never cultivates the Way this soul will never return to the Supreme Being. Brothers and Sisters, you must try to remember this. What is cultivation? The Cao-Dai Religion has already explained cultivation to you. Ban Dao has already spoken of it a great deal. You must uphold the virtues (Lap Duc), do good works (Lap Cong) and speak the good words of the Great Way (Lap Ngon).

Now I return to the topic of how we can, by desiring spiritual evolution, progress along the Divine Path to Eternal Life.

A little while ago I mentioned that, by the grace of the Supreme Being, I was granted the favour of an audience with God the Father. Before this audience I was able to meet the Divine Beings in the realm of Eternal Life.

From tonight Ban Dao is not really teaching you, I am only recounting what I have seen, heard and learnt when meeting the Divine Beings in the Spiritual Realm. Telling you this is also a way of allowing the children of the Supreme Being to visualise the spiritual realm in advance. This will save you from confusion in the event of your return.

As Ban Dao talks, the Children of God must imagine that you have a guide. Where ever you go the guide will explain the scene to you. For example when a foreigner comes to Vietnam, the visitor is provided with a guide to help explain the scenery.

Each soul on this planet, when leaving the physical body, must gather here at this Great Divine Temple, you must go from inside this building in order to reach other realms. Why must you enter the Great Divine Temple and not other temples? Because this Great Temple is an examination centre. Just as every year the Government holds a baccalaureat, the location of your soul's elevation has already been decided. You must come here if you want to be qualified or valued. It is this Great Divine Temple that God has made for His children to "lap cong" , "lap duc" , "lap ngon" and prove worthy of their return.

Enter the Great Divine Temple means entering the Hiep-Thien-Dai and moving from there to the Cung Dao (religious place). However in order to reach the Cung Dao you must make your way along the Cuu-Trung-Dai. At each of the nine levels of the Cuu-Trung-Dai your soul will be confronted and tested by a Divine Being, also on each step one of the nine female Buddhas (Cuu Vi Nu Phat) will appear to offer mercy and guide the soul who begs for salvation. If you are not sure, Children of the Supreme Being, read again the prayers from the De Nhut Cuu Prayer ( chanted nine days after death ) then read all the prayers until the De Cuu Cuu Prayer (the last prayer in a cycle of nine prayer days which take place once every nine days), and Tieu Tuong Prayer  ( said 281 days after death ) to Dai Tuong Prayers (said 581 days after death ).

In the Cao-Dai Religion there are three methods of returning to the Supreme Being, and gaining a position in the spiritual hierarchy.

The first method - is for the peri-spirit ( or reincarnating soul) to manifest inside a physical body that must follow the ranking of the Cuu Thien Khai Hoa ( the nine masters of the nine heavens ), - or following the Sacerdotal Council or the Cuu-Trung-Dai. This method requires you to use your talents and abilities to contribute to the Religion ( and thus to humanity ) as a path for attaining the Way. This path leads from a normal believer ( Dao-Huu ), to Student -Priest ( Le-Sanh ), and from Priest ( Giao-Huu ) to Bishop (Giao-Su) and so on… On this path you must serve from tieu thua (novitiate) to trung thua (intermediate) and then to dai thua (superior), these categories include practising vegetarianism from six days a month to ten days a month and then full time respectively. One must cultivate the way firstly within oneself, then within the family and the country, and finally for all humanity. When you follow the ranking of Cuu Thien Khai Hoa (the Nine Spiritual Levels) your peri-spirit must have confidence in it's own spiritual direction so that you can lead others towards their salvation. This is what makes the Cao-Dai Religion different from others. You must save yourself, your family, people outside your family, and then you can save all humanity. One must study in order to understand the Way. When you understand you must teach your family, but not just your family, you must teach the whole of humanity. One studies in order to understand the Way and this is lap duc, to teach the Way to one's family this is lap cong, to save the whole of humanity, this is lap ngon. These three duties must be fulfilled in order for one to return to the Supreme Being along the path of the Cuu Thien Khai Hoa (the nine masters of the nine heavens ).

The second method - To gain a ranking in the spiritual hierarchy by following the Thap Nhi Dang Cap Thieng-Lieng / Twelve Spiritual Levels means that you must follow the Hoi-Thanh Phuoc-Thien / Charity Body. Here, besides practising a vegetarian diet, following the religious laws, and also the true teachings of God the Father, one must use virtue to rise to a position.

In order to lap duc one must start and serve from Minh-Duc, Tan-Dan, Thinh-Thien, Hanh-Thien, Giao-Thien, Chi-Thien . . . . etc . . . . (Translators note: there are twelve ranks within the Charity Body).

What is lap duc? It is using love in order to save humanity, as God said "love is the key that opens the door of the Jade Palace/ Bach Ngoc Kinh."

Souls incarnate through life on this planet over the turbulent waves of the suffering that Buddha spoke of in the Four Noble Truths. In order to escape from suffering one must endure suffering. By enduring suffering one can overcome suffering. One who follows the Thap Nhi Dang Cap Thieng-Lieng / Twelve Spiritual Levels is showing others how to endure suffering in order to overcome suffering. To show people how to endure suffering, firstly one must endure suffering oneself. When you want to endure suffering there is nothing better than by using the virtue of love: therefor the first level of the twelve spiritual levels is Minh Duc.

Having love enables one to endure suffering, loving your parents means that you must suffer as you serve and protect them in their old age. Loving your children means that you must work hard to take care of them as they grow. Loving the disabled and the destitute means trying to find a way to help them, finding this way also means suffering.

To endure suffering allows you to overcome it; but not just for one day, you must do this right to the end. For example you must look after your parents throughout their old age, and your children until they grow up. Yet these two things are easy when compared with the task of helping the whole community. When you look after the whole community suffering never stops, when you are finished taking care of one person, there are always others that you must deal with, this continues until the end of your life. By doing this, one can overcome suffering, and in doing this you will be able to return to the Supreme Being by way of the Thap Nhi Dang Cap Thieng-Lieng / Twelve Spiritual Levels.

The third method - Tu Chon or Tinh Luyen styles of mystic meditation comprise the third method. Those who have followed the path of Cuu Pham Than Tien ( the Nine Spiritual Levels ) or the path of Thap Nhi Dang Cap Thieng-Lieng / Twelve Spiritual Levels and feel that they have fulfilled lap duc, lap cong, lap ngon, or feel that they have already endured and overcome suffering, and still feel able to progress in their spiritual quest, can enter a meditation centre for the practise of mystical meditation. At the mediation centre adepts will learn the method of transforming matter (ching/tinh, our body, vitality) into energy (chi/khi) and energy into spirit (shen/than). This is the unity of the three treasures / tam buu (tinh khi than hiep nhat).

Now we return back to our discussion of the Divine Path to Eternal Life. When we pass through the Cuu-Trung-Dai and enter the Cung-Dao suddenly we look up, we will no longer see the Bat-Quai-Dai, but the vast sea, which is so great, it is unimaginable. At this point we begin to walk the Divine Path to Eternal Life.

If you follow the path of Cuu Thien Khai Hoa or the Thap Nhi Dang Cap Thieng Lieng you will wait to the end of your life before returning to God the Father and return with both your perispirit and your soul. However today we can travel back to the Supreme Being by the perispirit (chon than) for by a special favour of God the Father Ban Dao has been permitted to travel by this shorter way.

We look up to see a vast sea, but in fact this is the sky of the universe, and there in the distance, sometimes visible, sometimes not, you can see a magnificent and beautiful palace. The moment you see it you want to rush toward it. But you realise that you don't know how to move, but then you realise that your astral body (Phap-Than) is attracted to the palace by an incredible power. You do not make your own way, it is this force that drags you faster than an aeroplane.

When you arrive you see innumerable beings, human beings, coming and going, there are too many to count. The crowd is silent, very ordered and secure. This palace is called the Cung Thanh, that is, the place where souls leave the spiritual realm (to journey back for reincarnation), it is also the place where souls are welcomed back after they have left their physical body.

It looks like an airport or a railway station, people are coming and going at an uncountable rate, leaving is sad, coming home is joyful, but the face of each soul, whether they are coming or going, carries the strain of a common worry. Those going down are worried, wondering if they can carry out the duties of the assignment given to them by Duc Cao Dai / God the Father. Those coming home are also worried because they do not know if they have retained or lost their position in the hierarchy of the spiritual realm. They worry too much, so much worry, everybody is worried.