"There was a master, supposed to be very enlightened, and one day he was sitting there in a very expansive mood, so the disciples asked him about the stages of consciousness that he had passed through. The master told them that, one by one, God led him from one stage of consciousness to another. He told the disciples that God first led him by the hand and walked with him into the Land of Action. There the master dwelt for several years. God came back again and led the master to the Land of Sorrow. There the master lived until his heart was cleansed of all the inordinate attachment. That was when the master found himself in the Land of Love, whose burning flames consumed whatever was left of the self (meaning the small self). This brought the master to the Land of Silence where the mysteries of life and death were reviewed before his wondering eyes.
The disciples asked him, "Was that the final stage of your quest for the divine?

The master said, "No, no. That was not the final stage.

One day God said to the master, who was at that time a seeker of the Truth, "Today I shall take you to the inner most sanctuary of the temple, to the heart of God Hirmself. So the master, at that time, was led to the Land of Laughter.

In the journey to the Land of the Absolute, I think we have to pass through many stages of understanding, many stages of consciousness in order to understand the complete Truth at the end. "

Spoken By Supreme Master Ching Hai at the 7-day Retreat
In Cambodia, May 14, 1996 (Originally in English)
Extracted from "The Supreme Master Ching Hai News" No.63
Five Lands Of The Spiritual Path