My enlightenment process actually happened in three stages. I met Master Sha for the first time on October 15th, 2000. Within two days all my energy centers, all my chakras opened. It was a totally amazing, shocking, extraordinary experience. Little did I realize that this was just preparation for what was yet to come.

However, at this, our first meeting, we did not talk only about energy issues.

Master Sha asked me, "Doctor, why did you come to see me?" I said, "You know master, there is some evil force which is destroying my life. It has been sabotaging* me throughout my life. I understand that this is the karma, but I do not know how to get rid of it." Master Sha looked at me and said, "There is not an evil force, it is you. it is the result of your wrong doings of your past lives in this life, and that is what is coming at you to make you suffer."

This answer shook me to my core, but it rang true because it did reflect some wisdom from Buddhism, I accepted what he said. I asked, "What can I do to dissolve my karma?"

Master Sha gave me an answer which didn’t make sense to me at the time. He said one sentence, "Ask God to forgive you."

I couldn’t understand this; it seemed too simple. I had read in the holy books how to sit and meditate, do special practices, and suffer to clear karma. I was thinking, "My goodness!" A saint like Sakhyamuni Buddha sat in a forest, tortured himself with ascetic practices for five years and almost died, then sat under the Bodi tree for forty-nine days until he became enlightened. Milarepa sat in a cave for twenty-five years; he had to spend so much time to become enlightened. It did not make sense to me that dissolving karma could be as simple as sincerely saying one sentence, "God, please forgive me!"

In a few hours, I had such a powerful opening of the Third Eye that I had hemorrhages in the skin around my eyes. I looked like a raccoon. The beam of light entering my forehead was incredibly powerful and literally left marks on my skin.

The following day,I could see a small golden Buddha sitting between my chest and my lower abdomen. I finally met my soul. I knew who I really was.

Soon after, I went to the state of full cosmic consciousness. My soul left my body and traveled between star systems.

Over those two days, my perception of spiritual practice totally changed. I realized what was missing. The part that was so necessary, yet so elusive, and had been impossible for me to gain without the presence of an exceptional master.

What I was missing was Presence. What I was missing was Divine Love and Light. Throughout my life, I had meditated many hours, studied many books, and practiced diligently for years, but that all was just preparation. Once I was in the incredibly powerful spiritual field of Master Sha, my full opening happened within hours.

In October, 2000, when I left him, I was totally changed. I had received the connection to the Divine realm and, from that time on, my meditations were at a completely different level.

Any time I would start chanting a mantra, the flood of light would immediately envelope me. I was able to harness the light with such intensity that it was literally blinding. Over the next several months, my entire being began to transform.

We first met that Saturday, October morning at the airport and then drove to his apartment. We did not talk much; we both were trying to get a sense of each other, who the other person was, how far we could go and what we could do in our interaction. It was a solemn time and neither of us wanted to break it with idle chatter without a purpose.

When we came to the house, after a short discussion, we started meditating.
I just couldn’t believe what was happening, it was an incredible experience. I had read books about enlightenment and I knew that such experiences could take twenty to thirty years of work in some remote place, in seclusion in a monastery or a cave.

Yet, here I had just arrived in San Francisco and during those first few meditations, I experienced my entire energy systems completely open up. We meditated on one energy center after another, one Chakra after another. As we moved from one to the next,they completely opened.

The first meditation on the lower Dan Tien warmed me up thoroughly.

During the second meditation, while we were focusing on the Heart Chakra, also known as the Message Center, a beam of white light about 40 cm. wide suddenly came from Heaven directly to this center and opened it up. This light shot into my heart and my body. Then, from my heart, a similar beam of white light went up to the Heaven!

I was totally shocked. What was going on? I had never seen this when I was at home meditating. There, I got very excited when I was able to see a bit of colored energy, as I had seen the light. But this was like a waterfall. This was not a little light; this was like Niagara Falls. So much light! I couldn't believe it. The beam of light was so powerful that it literally scorched the skin in the middle of my chest.

When I told Master Sha what had happened, he just shook his head and said, “Oh, Heaven likes you very much!” So that was the start.

That meeting with Master Sha on October 15, 2000, was one of the most remarkable days in my life. I finally met the man I had been searching for. For many years, I had been trying to find a teacher who would guide me, but the spiritual guidance I received from God never approved anyone except for Master Sha.

When we met for the first time, I felt right away that he was an unusual person. I felt very comfortable and very happy in his presence. What was strange or unexpected to me was that he was not dressed like a master. I had read many books about Taoist masters, and in the pictures, all of them had strange clothes, a hat of some sort, and would hold a symbol of power such as a fly whisk.
And here was Master Sha, dressed like a normal person, wearing trousers and a red sweater, and smiling and laughing. He didn’t look like the serious masters I saw painted in books. He was like everyone else and he was always happy.
This was so very different! Nevertheless, I treated him with great respect because I had read in books that students were supposed to show great respect to their teachers.

With the many personal experiences and knowledge that I have gathered during my studies, it is quite clear to me that this is a problem many spiritual practitioners go through.

We are dedicated. We want to reach enlightenment. We have such a sincere desire in our hearts and souls. However, traveling alone, without good supervision, makes the journey towards enlightenment a very dangerous one. It is not as simple as it looks!

I had to go through a similar situation. I was doing a practice that was too advanced for me because I didn’t have a solid foundation. Why had I continued like that? Because karma was blinding my mind!

During our first meeting, Master Sha explained to me the reason for the repeating karmic pattern in my life. As well, I learned what the problem was with my fatigue and the reason I kept getting sick. Master Sha explained to me that when we are on the spiritual journey, we need to build a very solid Lower Dan Tien and Snow Mountain. If we did not have good and strong energy, then we get drained and ill.

Finally, my wife came across a filmmaker , Francisco Garripolli , who was making a movie about Qi Gong masters from China. Francisco told us that he could arrange for me to meet another Master. He said that he was about my age and a doctor as well, so we would probably resonate with each other. The name of that doctor was Dr. Sha.