While in Formosa, Suma Ching Hai was meditating in a room behind a small temple during a typhoon rain storm and a group of people knocked at her door. When she asked them why they came, they responded, "Quan Yin Bodhisattva (The Goddess of Mercy) replied to our prayers and told us about you, saying that you are the great Master and we should pray to you for the method to reach liberation." The Master initiated them after several months of purification and their agreement to adhere to a vegetarian diet.