All of my cousins were boys. If you don’t go along with the toy guns and all that, they won’t let you participate. So I had to carry toy swords and wave them around wildly too. Only if I acted just like a boy would they let me join. (Yes.) If you’re not like them, they won’t play with you. I was lonely. The lonely Buddha went looking for those kids to play with. All my cousins were boys, so if they shot “guns,” I had to shoot too. But I didn’t know how so I missed every time. They were constantly drilling and practicing every day. Ah, no actually, I was the one studying hard, while they were sharpening swords and knives; they were boys, after all. They were always shooting at each other, both sides. Whichever side I followed, I ended up losing. Both sides were firing wildly, and after a while the leader just took off and disappeared. I was standing there awkwardly; before I could fire a single shot, I’d already been hit ten times. That’s terrible. Girls don’t know how to shoot anyway.
Besides, my karma isn’t as heavy as that of you men – so why should I have to listen to gunfire and all that? It’s because you guys brought it over here, you brought your karma here. Ever since I came here, I hadn’t heard any gunshots at all. It’s only when people from Âu Lạc (Vietnam) came that the gunshots started. See? Isn’t that obvious? Karma, that’s all. Don’t blame it on me. I haven’t even blamed you yet, that’s already being very generous. You comrades brought the gun karma over here. I only used those push-pop toy guns. Those toy guns make no sound, just a tiny bit. But over here, they don’t play that. You have karma, that’s what it is. So whatever happens, just endure it. Imported goods, you see. (Yes.)
Ever since I came here, I didn’t hear any gunshots. Came many times, never once. This is the first time. This time, because the people from Âu Lạc (Vietnam) came over, now we hear gunshots. It’s obvious – that’s how it is. Last time, the Aulacese (Vietnamese) couldn’t come to stay for ten days to attend the seven-day meditation retreat. Last time, since they didn’t have enough documents, they wouldn’t let them through, just held at the border. So there were no gunfire at all. See? Clear or not? This time, people from Âu Lạc (Vietnam) are allowed to come and I hear gunshots. Don’t blame anyone, alright? It’s your own karma that you imported here. Imported karma, see? (Yes.)
But it’s nothing serious. They just fired a bit for fun at night. Probably nothing happened. Just a small clash, no one was hurt, from what I heard. I even asked, nothing serious. Many of those soldiers are my disciples too, you know. The ones who visited us yesterday. (Yes.) Three or four of them. (Yes.) They said they’re my disciples. Over here, it’s very easy to get disciples. They just come, take a look, and then they’re “disciples.” That’s how it is.
Thailand is the same. So many disciples, young and old, so many of them. Recently in Thailand, they had their year-end ceremony. (Yes.) In Thailand, their year-end ceremony isn’t like ours. (Yes.) I think it’s around April. (Yes.) Ours is in February, right? (Yes.) Then so many disciples came running in, bowing and bowing. I said, “Good Heavens, aren’t you a secretary in some ministry?” He didn’t dare say it out loud, better left unsaid. “Some ministry or another. Why are you bowing to me? No, no, I wouldn’t dare accept that. Get up, please.” And he said, “But Master, I’m also a disciple.” I said, “Since when? I didn’t know that.” Over there, once they meet you, they put their palms together, bow their head once and that’s it, they’re “disciples” already. So be careful, don’t casually accept disciples. Lots of karma, exhausting.
It’s the same over here. It’s similar to Âu Lạc (Vietnam). (Yes.) In Âu Lạc (Vietnam), when you meet a monk, you bow once, put your palms together, and just like that, you’re a “disciple.” Sometimes, if I give a red envelope, that’s even more certain. Because I don’t take those red envelopes. The red ones with something inside, you know? That scent of money. I don’t take red envelopes. So some people came and kneeled, put their palms together, and became “disciples.” (Yes.) When did they become disciples, you don’t even know. And sometimes they invite you to their house, invite you for a meal. That’s strange. How come? Out of nowhere, someone invites me to eat. They say, “Because I’m Your disciple.”
I’m shocked whenever I see my disciples everywhere. Where do all these disciples come from, popping up everywhere? Because over here, it’s customary for disciples to follow strict practices like eating vegan food, sleeping on the ground. They also have to meditate. Whereas in some other Asian countries, the disciples just choose to become followers on their own. Some people choose to become a master, and then they just go ahead and do things like visiting each other during the New Year, and so on. It’s pretty lively and cheerful. Well, never mind. (Yes.) People can do what they want. We can’t kick them out. (Yes.) It’s voluntary, so you can’t really push them away. When they have a card, then you can take it away, but if they don’t have the card, how can you take it? Those people, I just give up on them. There’s no degree, so how can you take it away from them? It’s not possible. They just come in randomly. They don’t even have an initiation card or anything. Now, what do we say?
They only come once in a while, so it’s not worth kicking them out. They don’t come often enough for that. And they don’t even have a card, so how can we talk about taking it away? How can we threaten them? It’s not like we can. We can’t threaten them by saying, “If you mess up, I won’t let you go to Heaven.” They’re not even supposed to go there, so what are we threatening them for? There’s nothing we can do, so just laugh it off, no big deal. Right? (Yes.) How can they go to Heaven, practicing spiritually like that? Why bother threatening them? They don’t even want to go to Heaven. If they wanted to, they would have already come for initiation. (Yes.) They just want to hang around here. They just accepted someone as their Master for fun, out of politeness. “But the Master goes the Master’s way, and I go my way. I stay in my own home.”
They’ll stay here and play for a few hundred years more. When they’re tired of it, when they’ve had enough, they’ll say, “Master, wait for me.” By then, I’ll be long gone. Why bother waiting? Don’t worry, by then you’ll still be around. The ones who lag behind will be caught, grabbed by it. Then you’ll have to bear it. I’ll be gone, far, far away. I’m not waiting for you. At that time, you can stay and wait for each other. One person holding onto another person’s hand while standing there. Don’t say, “Oh, it’s OK. I’ll practice spiritually at my own pace, just leave me alone.” Leave me alone to be grabbed by others. If you lag behind, you’re bound to be caught. It’s because they couldn’t grab the Master, so they grabbed you instead. The ones who lag behind should be very afraid. You’ve already stepped halfway to the border, yet the other half is being pulled back. It’s like trying to flee to cross the border but getting pulled back before you even get there, remember?
You need to hurry up with your spiritual practice. (Yes.) It’s not something you say for fun and then forget. I joke for fun, so that you all can be happy and practice while here. (Yes.) Because if I keep shouting all the time, who can practice like that? If I always look serious and say, “You’d better become a Buddha quickly. If you don’t become a Buddha, you’re dead, got it?” It’s similar to the old women who scold little kids. Hearing that kind of talk, even the Buddha would run away, let alone a mere mortal trying to attain Buddhahood. That’s why I’m not foolish. I’m not foolish enough to keep telling you every day to become a Buddha, become a Buddha. What’s the point once you’ve already become one? Why keep doing it and make it such a hassle? You should just pretend to be a little clueless for fun.
Everyone is already a Buddha, but are just pretending to be clueless so I have to tell fairytales and such. I have to feed you, so you can be guests, and then have to clean up after. Once you’re a Buddha, you’ll have to endure the kind of suffering I go through. Why would I be that foolish? I have to run back and forth, and entertain guests. I have to make this person happy and that person happy. I have to make everyone happy, otherwise they’ll scold me. If they scold me, they’ll incur karma. They incur karma, then later on, they’ll call on me [for help]. And I’ll have the burden of carrying their karma too. Therefore, you try to make them happy, but you can’t make everyone happy. (Yes.) Well, never mind, just let them be. Let them carry their karma for a while, so they’ll learn. When I’m not busy, I’ll come back and check. I’ll check to see how much karma they’ve accumulated. If I want to carry it, I’ll carry it; if not, I’ll leave it for another Buddha. Let Maitreya Buddha take care of it in 5,000 years or so. Leave it, let them carry their karma for 5,000 years and learn. When Maitreya Buddha comes 5,000 years later, we’ll think about it. Why be foolish and carry it all?
I told them already, if they don’t want to practice, that’s their choice. You’re all Buddhas already, every single one of you is a Buddha. You just pretend to come here, looking a bit clueless, for the fun of it. Being a guest is more enjoyable than being the host, isn’t it? All day long, just going around carrying… Carrying… Carrying something, do you know what it is? Running back and forth. Then you sit here, sit there, eat your fill, then sleep. Sleep, then meditate. Then you go up to the “lying down” world to play. Let Her become a Buddha and do the work Herself, why burden ourselves to do it.
Why rush to become a Buddha, just to suffer? Rushing to become a Buddha and we must start saving beings and all that. Have to play the clown for one person after another. Have to pretend to be foolish, silly, even crazy, just to entertain them. So that the worldly people couldn’t figure out who we are. They wouldn’t know who we are. Do all kinds of acts to protect oneself, so that one can become a Buddha. Why bother, right? Might as well enjoy it while we still can. Stay at Master Ching Hai’s home where we can eat well, and sleep soundly. Why bother becoming a Buddha? She wants to do it and play the fool, let Her do it. Just watching Her do it is exhausting already. It scares us to death. There’s no point in foolishly jumping in to do it. Because back then, She didn’t know. Now seeing what She’s doing, we know already, we are not foolish.
OK. It’s already 9 o’clock, almost time to go to the land of sleep. So, should I just let everyone go to the “Fifth (Level)”? “To lie down.” Did the tent get wet at all? (No.) (No, not mine.) It seems there wasn’t. Otherwise, how could there have been gunfire last night and you didn’t hear a thing? If things were wet, sleep would be difficult. Yet even so, you still slept, didn’t you? You all slept quite well, didn’t you? (Yes.) If one could sleep so deeply even in the meditation hall, then surely sleeping in the tent would be no different. For several days now, the Buddhas have been visiting repeatedly, but everyone has been asleep. They said to me, “Why invite us here if everyone simply sleeps? No one even comes out to say, ‘Hallo’ to us.” So I had to bow in apology and said, “Oh, my goodness! As You can see, my students are all like that.” I dared not say anything to Them. Never mind. The world is peaceful, after all. (Yes.) Our world is peaceful, so we fall asleep. Every now and then, when the outside world is not peaceful, it pulls at us and disturbs us, that’s when we wake up. Otherwise, there is no reason to wake up.
Alright, please go and rest well. (Yes.) May you return home safely tomorrow. Have a safe trip home. (Yes.) If you stay, then eat well and rest well here. If there’s any gunfire, others will take care of hearing it. Alright. Good night. Sleep well. When I’m in good health, there will be more time to talk. (Yes.) I’m really not well. (Master. You are so beautiful. Good night, Master. We love You, Master.) Thank you. Thank you. Good night. (Yes.) Here there is no need. No need for blessing. You can sleep very well without blessing. I said that even without any good-night wishes, these people would still sleep well all the same. Those permanent residents. They’re permanent residents. Residents of their sleeping tents. I said that even without a good-night wish, they would still sleep well as usual. OK. Good night. (Good night.) (Good night, Master.) The later the night, the better. No need for good-night wishes. (Yes.) Each of you knows your own responsibilities. (Yes.) That is, once you go back to the tent, you sleep. There’s no need for any reminders. (Yes.) (Goodbye. Good night, Master.)
Photo Caption: “Does It Remind Us of Ancient EDEN? Well It Does, Though REAL EDEN is Thousand x Much More Beautiful!!”
