Journey to the East

There are many lessons that can be learnt from this book if you keep an open mind. Many people would read this book and immediately write it off as fiction as the supernatural abilities that these meditation masters possess are too hard to believe. They think that if these masters truly existed then it would be known to the public by now considering the advanced technology and far reaching media we have today. They also think that these masters would be out there performing these miracles to help humanity rather than mysteriously hiding themselves in the Himalayan mountains and caves. Therefore the stories of these master's supernatural powers are all made up or those who claimed to have seen them are deluded or fooled like a magician fools his audience. These were the thoughts and ideas I used to have too until I met my master. When I first met him, I didn't see anything special about him at all. He looked, talked, ate, dressed just like an ordinary person. He runs a healing centre, and together with a team of volunteers, he provides free energy healing to anyone who walks through the door. He never charges any money and doesn't even accept donations and gifts. He can heal patients with any illness, from physical, to mental to spirit related issues. Despite following very closely and volunteering with him 4 days a week, I still didn't realise how powerful he was until about 9 months in. It was about at that point that I realised he had the ability to see spirits, guide spirits to follow grandmaster/Jesus/Buddha to take rebirth, read people's minds, see people's past, read people's auras and know exactly what illnesses they have, communicate to the higher beings like Jesus, Bodhisattvas etc. I've been following him for almost 2 years now and am discovering more of his powers as the time goes on. Despite all of us calling him master, he never addresses himself as a master, rather he'd refer to himself as uncle or brother depending on our relative age. He's guided thousands of students around the world and taught them how to meditate and how to heal others and despite the miraculous results that countless students have had, there are less than 15 of us who've come back to the healing centre to help heal patients and meditate to develop spiritually. I've meditated on this and realised it's due to our karma and destiny. Some people will never see beyond the superficial view of life and to them their destiny is just to work hard, make as much money as they can to fulfil their material and sensual desires, get sick, grow old and die. To those people, the stories in this book are for gullible people who need a reality check. To those that are fortunate enough to see beyond that, who know that life doesn't end at death, who then looks back at themselves everyday and tries to be a more loving, kind and compassionate human being, then they may pick up a book like this and be inspired to know that these supernatural abilities are simply lying latent inside their own consciousnesses, waiting to be developed and used to help others. I can't say that I've seen all of the supernatural powers in this book done in real life, but the descriptions of some of those supernatural powers, especially those revolving around the unseen world of spirits, is accurate with what I've seen and learnt from my master. I wish such truth seekers are able to find a true master to guide them spiritually and experience the mind blowing moments when they see these supernatural abilities performed in real life and even better, to develop these abilities themselves one day to help other living beings.

I have read the Vietnamese version (Hanh Trinh Ve Phuong Dong) several times and, being able to read English as well, I always want to have a copy of the original English version of Baird Spalding, but despite my intensive search during the last 20 years, I could not find one. It is really a dream comes true for me to have a copy of " Journey to the East ", re-translated by Bien Giang and Poven Leace. I congratulate them for an extremely difficult task. There are so many Vietnamese words and expressions in sino-Vietnamese which are very difficult to understand even for Vietnamese, yet they manage to find the English equivalents. In fact there are difficult expressions such as "Dong thanh tuong ung, dong khi tuong cau" which I didn't understand until I read "Great minds think alike or birds of a feather flock together". Besides the great spiritual value, the translation is written with an English style which is so close and so true to the original Vietnamese text that I can use "Journey to the East" as a textbook to learn English by comparing it with the Vietnamese version. The greatest advantage of this English version is that it enables non-Vietnamese speakers to read and absorb the wonderful philosophy of the original author, be it Nguyen Phong or Spalding. I have read some controversy on this matter but to me, it is not important who wrote it so long as it is good in helping people follow or return to the right path to live a good and peaceful life.In the present world where most people run after wealth and materials, books of high spiritual values like " Journey to the East " should be translated into many languages and disseminated around the world.

Having read The Life and Teaching of the Masters of the Far East (5 volume set), I thought that I would give this first book that the author wrote a shot. Truly, it was probably good that I had not read this 'first' book first. I would have never bothered to read the 5 volumes if I had started with the Journey to the East.In a nutshell, a group of 'scientists and skeptics' go to the east to discover the kernel of truth in the true religion of that area. Their efforts to search for and engage others who know the truth are clumsy and yet, unbeknownst to them, guided by those who have the truth to share, so the outcome is that they do learn some truths and are amazed by the findings. The writing is 9th grade level and is set before you as if you are the most skeptical person in the world and the author, by his words, is trying to assure you of the veracity of his (and the other scientists) findings. It is as though he tries a bit too hard. This was not the case with the "Masters..." 5 volume set. That is written at a much higher level. (Perhaps his truth seeking did in fact, 'wise him up' a bit).Would I recommend it as a primer to the 5 volume set? Nah. Those who are ready for the 5 volumes are those who are already seekers for something more to believe in and would not gain much from the Journey to the East. Perhaps if you were an open-minded skeptic who wanted to dip his toe into this field, it might be ok.

This little book was a joy to read. I couldn't put it down. I had already skimmed the boxed set which followed this introductory book and was delighted and tantalized by the stories and the enticing way in which he wrote them. It is a wonderful introduction to the books which follow it, providing a context for the other teachings. You will be intrigued.

Das Buch ist sehr zu empfehlen. Es hat mein Leben massiv positiv geändert.

Pünktlich eingetroffen .. super Zustand .. alles prima ..

Very deep, but truly amazing as usual.