Does anyone have anything? Who wants to ask a question? Does anybody want to ask me anything? No? Do you want to ask anything? (Anyone who has a funny story then you can tell it to Master.) Not a joke, but you should ask more properly, keep to the main point. Don’t be too serious. Have fun. Alright? If you can go, it’s OK. What? (Master, I have a funny story to tell You. Master, there was a man, who is living in this world, and he did many bad things, but also many good things. One day, he died and went to hell and met the Yama King. The Yama King said, “When you were alive, you did many bad things, but you also did some good things. That’s why I will show you some leniency.” Then King Yama took the man who had done bad things around all the gates of hell, and asked, “Now that I show you the punishments here, which one would you choose? Because you did some good things, therefore you have the privilege to choose, but still have to bear the punishment.”
So the man passed through and saw all these cauldrons of boiling oil, the flaying of flesh, and he was terrified. By chance, he passed by a bridge and saw a lot of people stood underneath that bridge. A lot of people stood underneath the bridge, in the water full of feces, only their heads were above the water. He thought that with this punishment, he must bear the stinky smell, but it would be OK, [not painful]. So he told the Yama King, “I will take this punishment.” Then the Yama King said, “Alright.” At that moment, the demons led the man down into the pit below. As soon as he stepped into the river, the demons announced, “Now, break time is over. Sit down!” Yes, Master, that’s all.) (Break time is over. “Sit down.”) I read that story already. Sometimes we read a lot but we forget, right? Ah, so it’s not that we haven’t heard it, huh? (Yes.) Each person knows a few stories, but when we want to tell them, then we forget them all. (Yes.)
There’s tea? (Yes.) Whoever wants to drink tea then go out and get some. (We had already, Master.) Bring it over. Where is the tea? Over there, there is a fire, but no one wants to go over there to listen? (The fire here is warmer, dear Master.) (Master, may I say a few words to our brothers and sisters. In the cup of tea which the brothers and sisters are drinking or will be drinking tonight, it’s a pretty chilly night, but we have a warm cup of tea such as this. It is very precious. My brothers and sisters, do you know what is special about it? Tonight, Master brought us two jars of tea, personally brewed by Master, and it was poured into the cups of fellow practitioners. We sincerely thank Master.) Aha! (Tastes so good!) It’s called “Heavenly Vegewine.” Thiên Hương (Heavenly Aroma), Thiên Hương wine, without alcohol. (Yes. Thank You, Master. Thank You, Master.) Enough? (Yes.) Everybody a little bit only. (Yes.) (More than enough.) More than enough? (Yes.) Really? That’s very little. (Tastes so good.) A little bit, huh? (A lot of love.) There was just a little bit like that, and still enough, huh? (Yes.)
Do you put a little bit more water inside? Because it was concentrated. Did you add some water to it? You didn’t, right? (Yes, we did.) (Yes, we added water.) You did? (Dạ.) OK, let me taste. You made it too diluted. (It is delicious, Master. It is different.) My God, he made it so diluted. (It tastes a little sour, delicious.) Oh, my God. Only water. They added “300 gallons” of water. They added “300 gallons” of water in it already. Then it’s only water, nothing else. (It is fragrant.) Just a little bit fragrant, that’s all. My God, even that, they advertised so much, embarrassing me. And even said that Master brewed it by Herself. (But it’s delicious! I think it’s delicious.) Never mind. It’s a little warm, right? (Yes.) Yeah, if indeed it is the original, we can’t add that much water in it. But they were afraid it was not enough, so they added water, (But it’s very delicious.) added the whole well in it. (But it is very delicious, Master. Very delicious!) Never mind, just drink it for fun. (But it’s good. Thank You, Master.) (Master cares for us so much, so how can we not love You, Master.) Don’t worry about it. OK, that’s it. What time is it? A little past 8 (PM) only? My God, it’s so early. (Yes, it’s very early, Master.) (Drinking hot tea makes you feel warm, Master.) (It’s very early, Master.) Do you know the story of the dog(-person)? (Not yet.)
In the old days, there was a king who was so cruel, everyone hated him. Everyone prayed for him to die early. There was only one old lady who prayed for the king, day and night, to live longer, for the tyrant to live longer. And if by chance someone tried to assassinate the tyrant, she would take his place and die for him instead. She prayed every day like that, everyone knew it. The tyrant was so surprised, “Everyone prays for me to die soon, everyone hates me. How come this old lady loves me so much like that?” He called the old lady over to ask her. [Do they] translate for you? The English-speaking people, you have? Good. Because you just sit there. I don’t know if you understand.
The king summoned the old lady and asked, “Why is it that you pray for me every day to live long, while everyone else prays for me to die quickly?” The old lady said, “Now, I am no longer young anymore, that’s why I am afraid if you die early, then it will be too late for me...” “Too late for what?” She said, “Because when I was young, this country had a terrible, bad king, who caused the citizens extreme suffering. Therefore, at that time, I prayed for the country to be liberated from this terrible king, and that king died immediately. Whenever I prayed, it brought results. Then the king was immediately assassinated, and another king succeeded him. But this king was even more cruel than the one who just died. So I prayed for that king to die early, and he did. And now yet another king succeeded him, but even more cruel than the previous king. So now, I am afraid that if Your Majesty dies, then the next one will be worse than you. Therefore, I pray to God, to Buddha that your time be extended as long as possible.” Understand? (Yes, we do.)
This story is like a funny story, but in fact, it also carries deeper meaning. It means that sometimes we can’t escape fate, “there’s no running from fate.” “Out of the frying pan and into the fire.” Normally, we encounter circumstances that sometimes we are not pleased with. (Yes.) We lament, we scream, we pray to God and Buddha to give to us someone better. Sometimes, the husband is not good, or the wife is not good, so we pray for a better one. But the next one is even worse – worse and worse every day. So this story teaches us to accept our situation; in time, everything will pass and be resolved. Just like the other day, I talked with the Aulacese (Vietnamese) government, it was the same. It’s because of the collective karma of the citizens, so we can’t blame anyone. But [the karma] will go away gradually. We practice spiritually, then it will be minimized. There is no other way. Kill this guy, then another will replace him. Kill all of them, and it will be the same. (Yes.) But many people don’t like to hear that.
OK, there is another story. Remember before, I told you story about Tolstoy? (No.) “War and Peace.” Tolstoy had a wife who was very mean and wicked. (Not yet, we haven’t heard this story yet, Master.) Not yet? (Not yet.) I told this story many times, how come you haven’t heard it at all? (No, we haven’t heard it yet.) I told this story in the Chinese tapes; you should dig it out and listen to it. (But we don’t understand Chinese.) Then you have to learn Chinese. (Yes, we are learning, Master.)
So Tolstoy had a wife who was considered very harsh toward him. That day, Gandhi came to visit, he said, “Why? You are so big and tall like that, so strong and famous. You can give her one ‘kick’ and she would be gone. How come you let her bully you all the time?” Tolstoy said, “Shh, don’t talk so loudly.” He said, “How come you are so afraid of her? Let me handle her.” For example like that. Tolstoy said, “No, it’s not that I can’t ‘eliminate’ her. But in the previous lifetime, we were also a couple. She also did like this. Then I kicked her out, and looked for another woman. Now in this life, she came back again – and she’s even worse than before. Now, I don’t dare to mess with her anymore. If I’m unlucky and meet her again in the next life, who knows how much worse she will be.” Do you understand? (Yes, we do.) It is similar like the other story. That means we have to accept our karmic consequences from previous lifetimes. (Yes.) Now, whatever we say or do, it will be the same. (Yes.) If you find another partner, that one might be even worse. If you try to escape, next time will be worse. (Yes.)
Now, this story is about learning the trade of thievery. Does anyone here want to learn? This story is a Zen story. Enough, that’s enough (taking pictures). I am so embarrassed. There was an eminent monk during the Song dynasty, his name was Fayan. He taught his disciples how to meditate. He said, “My meditation method is no different from teaching someone the trade of thievery.” For example, in this story, there was a son of a robber, and the son one day thought, “My father is now old and weak, I have to do something to help the family. If I can’t carry on my father’s work, then I must learn the trade of stealing.” He then discussed his idea with his father, who was so delighted and said, “Very good! Very good! If you can succeed my career, then you are very filial.” So the father and son sneaked into a rich family’s home to rob them. After picking the lock and entering, they opened a large chest full of clothes. The father signaled the son to climb inside the chest and start taking whatever he wanted. As soon as the son climbed in, the father closed the lid shut, locked it, then he went outside. The father banged loudly on the door, waking the family, then ran away, leaving the son locked inside the chest. The whole family woke up, turned on the lights, searched all around but couldn’t find anything. So they turned off the lights and went back to bed.
The young robber almost died of fright inside the chest, and was confused, “Why did my father want to harm me like this?” But later on, he came up with an idea, to imitate a mouse and use his finger nail to scratch the bottom of the chest. The owner of the house thought it was a mouse, so he turned on the light, got the key, and opened the chest. As soon as it opened, the young robber jumped out, pushed the owner to the ground and ran away quickly. The whole family chased after him, he realized that he was in a dangerous situation, so he grabbed a big stone and threw it down a well. Everyone thought the robber jumped into the well out of fear and died. So they went home, they didn’t look for him or run after him anymore. The young robber then quietly walked back home. When he got home, he angrily confronted his father. The old man said, ‘Whatever happened, happened. But how did you manage to escape? He then told his father how he escaped, the father then laughed heartily and said, “Good! Now you can carry on my work.” It was a test! How does this sound like meditation? Does it? Does it? (It’s different.) It does, huh? It does. A little bit? (Yes.) Yeah. (A test.) Sometimes, when encountering a situation, we have to rely on ourselves. We have to use our brain, and not ask Master all the time. (Yes.) The mindset of relying on others isn’t good. (Yes.) We can ask for help, but we cannot sit there praying all the time. (Yes.)
Photo Caption: PARADISE FLOWERS, the SOUL Would Always Remember!
