10 lessons from the Spiritual Journey of Mae Chee Kaew and the inspiring story of Life

The Mae Chee Kaew is one of the most inspirational and powerful spiritual journeys of the modern times. She was an ordinary women born in 1901 in North Eastern region of Thailand and she lived a life of poverty and hardships and had no proper education. That didn't stop her from her spiritual awakening. One grows through understanding; not knowledge. The Great Mae Chee Kaew is one of the best recent examples for that. She had the guidance of great teachers and she followed the path to her spiritual enlightenment and she reaped the benefits of a journey.

I found her through a paperback copy of her Biography which I borrowed. While I was researching for my previous article on Buddhism I stumbled upon the pdf which I linked there. After further research I came across http://www.forestdhamma.org which freely distribute books in English, Thai, 中文 (Chinese), Deutsch, Tiếng Việt, Português, Bahasa Indonesia, සිංහල (Sinhala), Français, and Español.

I don't know how many of you read the whole biography. After all the pdf had 247 pages. So as a way of concentrating some of the lessons of her life while building enough respect and intrigue in you to read the book, I'm going to present you a collection of quotes that can illustrate the wisdom of her 90 years of life. Don't be afraid. Her words aren't complicated at all. She learned in simple ways and she taught in simple ways.

Being born into this world, you must rely on your innate wisdom.
You can seek pain or pleasure, seek things of value or things of no
value at all. Depending on the direction you choose, you can find
heaven or hell, or the paths and fruitions leading to Nibbāna. You
can find anything: it’s up to you to decide.

This is fundamental to anyone's salvation. If you can't genuinely treat the above words as gospel you are NEVER going to achieve any form of real salvation. Spiritual development cannot be given nor taken. It's your own making. If you don't 100% agree with this..... please stop reading and go somewhere else.

The goodness of others is their own. We cannot share the fruits of
their actions, so we must do good deeds ourselves.

Do not doubt the efficacy of kamma or underestimate the consequences
of your actions. As human beings, we should feel compassion
for the suffering of all living beings, because we all experience suffering
as a result of our past deeds. In this regard, everyone is equal. What
differentiates us as good or bad, coarse or refined, is the kind of
actions that we have done in the past.

Nobody has more potential to be or achieve something than another person. There is no good or evil as an inherent human nature. It's something we all build up. We can choose to do anything and all have to reap the fruits of those actions regardless who they are. Reality is dependently originated. All is bound bu cause and effect. Everything that happens to you happens because of a reason whether you can see that root cause or not doesn't matter. I don't believe in creator God. But apart from that, this is an excellent speech.

You can’t grow enough grass by yourself to thatch every roof in
town. Be generous within your means.

The entire western world can be saved based on this simple wise quote alone. You could read the life's work of Ayn Rand or just read this one quote. The entire world's economic structure can be salvaged purely by fully accepting this single quote. This is no quote of some academic or intellectual. It's a village women who attained wisdom and enlightenment.

Don’t go around boasting and bragging to the whole town. If
something makes you look bad, you’ll have to go hide, like a frog
that jumps down into the water as soon as it sees someone coming.
If you’re dumb, don’t advertise yourself as clever.

Flaws and scars are nothing to show to the world. One must learn to grow out of disabilities instead of going the easy and contemptible path of being proud of failures. This is something superhero creators should seriously understand. It's not good to have flaws. And lastly it's also not good to say the opposite while you carry your flaws. There is no Fake it till you make it. You either make it or you don't. If you "don't", then you can work on it. If you are faking, then you are just stuck there.

Those who fail to restrain their speech are unaware of whether they
are right or wrong in what they say. Those who know the truth usually
remain silent; those who often talk of truth know very little about it.

This is a quote that can get very easily misinterpreted. I can tell you this in a more casual and less elegant way. Turn on the TV and look at all the bullshit on non-issues. Some things are just simple and intuitive. Words can mask truth like no other. Look at all the non-answers politicians make. Some people speak 200 words so that they don't have to give or don't know to give a 10 word answer.

Be determined to keep watch over your bodily actions, speech and
mind, and conduct yourself with composure. Don’t talk too much
or create difficulties for yourself. Don’t lose your self-control or
be disrespectful to your elders. Watch your words, and laugh with
restraint.

Basically just be civil. Don't be Diogenes the Dog/Cynic or Deadpool. Keep calm and be awesome. Never loose your cool. Never be this guy even though it's nice to come to realize things at some point in some way. Always be cool, calm and collected. Relax and enjoy life.

No matter how close you are with someone, don’t let your speech
become careless. No matter how frustrated you are, don’t let your
speech become angry.

Don’t be crafty and sly, trying to fool people into thinking you’re a
good person when you’re not. Someone who feigns virtue and intelligence
is actually a dumb, silly fool who lacks moral goodness.

This also relates to fake it till you make it mindset. But more than that it's about virtue signaling. It's about playing a game of pretending not till they make it; but in order to never make it. This is pretty much like cheating in a test. Most of the things a person learn at school are not used in real life. But a person's spiritual life is there for eternity and each and every instant. You can fool the world. If you are really delusional, you'll fool yourself. But kamma(Action) and kamma Vipāka(Consequence of Action) is just there. It's not a thing or a person. It's simply reality itself. You can change perceptions but that won't change the things that are being perceived.

Having been born into the world, we attach importance to the
days and the months and the years as they pass. We believe in the
importance of our lives and the lives of others. For this reason, our
minds are constantly concerned with pain and suffering. No sooner
do we take birth than we cling on tightly to our precarious state and
start to worry. We are afraid of this and fear that. Our minds are immediately
consumed by worldly influences and deluded tendencies
driven by greed, hatred and fear. We are born with this condition,
and if we don’t do something about it now, we will die still carrying
those tendencies with us. What a shame!

I'll start with a great quote from a steemit friend @citizenzero "To follow a path is to go in a circle, just as the Earth is always falling into the sun, but never arrives." Instead of trying to get rid of our own suffering accumulated over "who knows what" amount of time, people keep adding things up to the mix. They go after more stuff, more fame, more education, more respect, more thrills. Some gets stuck in the middle of the process. Some fails and find themselves in despair. Some succeed and find themselves nothingness. That's not even the worst. Some, whether they succeed or fail,
they add other people's suffering into their lives. From that point it's not about developing and maturing spiritually.
From that point on it becomes a battle to own other people's minds. It leads to slavery and madness in of the highest form.

Download the full Biography for free
PDF: http://www.forestdhamma.org/ebooks/english/pdf/Mae_Chee_Kaew.pdf
EPUB: http://www.forestdhamma.org/ebooks/english/epub/Mae_Chee_Kaew.epub
MOBI: http://www.forestdhamma.org/ebooks/english/mobi/Mae_Chee_Kaew.mobi
Audobook (203 MB): http://www.forestdhamma.org/mp3/audiobooks/zip/Mae_Chee_Kaew.zip
More at http://www.forestdhamma.org/books