(Master reads the story so well.) (It’s Master who translated it beautifully.) What translation? This is in Aulacese (Vietnamese). (Master told it best.) (Only Master can tell a story that well.) Only I tell it so well? (Yes.) Because I added more salt and pepper to it. Ah, not that, added soy sauce. I added soy sauce, seasoning, so that it is more delicious, that’s all. So you should read and add by yourself. For example, in here they didn’t say anything about initiation, or meditation for two and half hours, but we can add it in. It’s easy, right?
Alright. Just like yesterday, La Thoại Tân talked very well, didn’t he? Up until yesterday, he never talked about veganism at all. But yesterday, he made use of the topics, such as veganism, initiation, spiritual practice… And he talked so well, everybody was rolling with laughter, you saw that, right? (Yes.) It was very good, wasn’t it? (Yes.) Everybody laughed.
There are a lot more previous lives of the Buddha. That’s why many people ask me, if it takes a very, very, long, long, long time to practice to become a Buddha, and that’s indeed true. But now we are already human beings, not tortoise(-people) anymore, so we don’t have to wait that long. Only tortoise(-people) take a long time, because they crawl and crawling is slow.
We are already human beings. Who knows, maybe before we were tortoise(-people) for thousands or millions of years. Or we have been some snail(-person), some slug or something. The Buddha was a tortoise(-person), which is better, I am afraid we might’ve been snail(-people). Snail(-people) crawl even slower, don’t they? Do you know a snail(-person)? Do you know a snail(-person)? Or who knows, maybe previously I was a caterpillar and practiced until now to finally attain enlightenment. Who knows, right? Or perhaps you’ve been practicing for a very long time already, even longer than I have. But you practiced the tortoise way, a little slower.
To become a Buddha does take a long time, it’s true. But for those who are saved by the Buddha, it’s a bit faster. For example, there was a man who killed many people terribly. He killed 99 people and when he met the Buddha, he wanted to kill the Buddha to make it an even 100, so that he could string the [fingers] together and wear them, in order to truly be considered a hero. He was deceived. They tricked him by saying that killing 100 people would make him a Buddha. My God, he actually believed such a lie. How foolish. Even such a person, as soon as the Buddha saved him, he immediately became an Arhat, you see? Outside, if you kill people like that, even the law wouldn’t forgive you, let alone becoming a Buddha. Don’t even mention it. That killer would be rotting in jail, how can he ever meet the Buddha.
It’s obvious. That means whoever already became a Buddha, then just a touch of a finger, he or she would attain the Tao right away. But if they haven’t become a Buddha yet, then it doesn’t matter what kind of practice we are doing out there, it is still very difficult. Wow! Just saying that, why are you guys cheering so noisily? I only tell the truth, what is the problem with you? I just said the truth, there is nothing to cheer about. That’s why Buddha said that it is difficult to meet a Buddha. That is, when a person has attained enlightenment, then that life is like a turtle shedding its skin. The shell is gone, the tail falls already. Then they’ve so-called, “attained the Dharma” already. So if we follow them and learn from them, we will also attain it. If we don’t attain Buddhahood, at least we can become an Arhat, a Bodhisattva, or a Saint. And we will enjoy happiness in this life, and next life, we’ll go to the Buddha’s Land to continue to practice.
It doesn’t mean that anyone who goes to the Buddha’s Land becomes a Buddha. (Yes.) This is mentioned in the Buddhist scriptures, the Amitabha Sutra says, “All beings in the Land of Amitabha Buddha, some have already become Buddhas. Some have become Saints, some have become Avaivarti (Non-regressing) Bodhisattvas, some are still ordinary people.” Even being an ordinary citizen in the Buddha’s Land is already amazing. If I could go there, I’d be willing to just sweep the floors. In the old days, I read the Amitabha Buddha Sutra, and I said, “Just let me go up there and clean toilets. I’m totally OK with that. I’ll say OK right away.” No need for a monthly salary of thousands of dollars or deal with taxes. Forget all that. As long as I have food and drink, I’m happy to clean the toilets every day. That’s more than enough for me. In fact, that’s how it is. I did the same thing down here in this world.
So, back when I was first searching for the Truth, whenever I heard about a temple with a good teacher, or a church with an enlightened priest, for example, or someone famous and well-regarded, I would visit them all. In any temple or any place, any church or cathedral. Or any ashram of any teacher, I would go and clean the toilets, sweep the yard, sweep floors, clean the stairs, and clean where they sit for meditation. I felt very proud to be cleaning the footsteps of the saints. Because the teacher is a saint, so the disciples are also saints, child-saints. At least, they are child-saints, right? (Yes, that’s right.) Father-saints, child-saints. Child-saints are already very good. I wasn’t allowed to clean the shoes for the teacher, because his disciples took care of that, so I only cleaned the disciples’ shoes, and that was already very good for me.
Sometimes, the attendants of the teachers were busy, so I said, “Alright, let me wash clothes for you. Since you’re taking care of our teacher, I’ll take care of you. It’s the same.” I would wash and iron their clothes, and was very happy to do those tasks. Just like if we go up to the Buddha’s Land, and even if we can’t be a Buddha or a Bodhisattva, we can sweep the floor, pick up trash, clean the trees, wipe the tables for the Buddha’s disciples. We’d still be very happy, won’t we? So, the Amitabha Sutra said, “The people in the Buddha’s Land sometimes are ordinary citizens,” but they are citizens of the Buddha’s Land, not citizens of Âu Lạc (Vietnam). No, citizens of some other country, not of Âu Lạc (Vietnam). Wrong words! I made a mistake because I kept thinking of Âu Lạc (Vietnam). So I didn’t mean Âu Lạc (Vietnam). What I meant was the citizens who are suffering, in a country going through a lot of hardship. Citizens who don’t have human rights, don’t have human dignity, not to talk about being called the citizens of the Buddha’s Land.
Being a citizen in the Buddha’s Land is, of course, so good! It is so-called above the human standards, above the angel standards, in order to be the citizen of the Buddha. So if we can just go up there and be a citizen, that will be blissful enough. We don’t need to become a Buddha. Being a Buddha is hard, what is the benefit? All day spreading the Dharma, and then some people believe, some don’t; some beat you, some curse you. Not everyone believes.
For example, you can see in the whole America. Well, let’s just talk about a small number, just talk about the Aulacese (Vietnamese) community. Among hundreds of thousands of people, how many follow me? Very few. There are some disciples. Disciples are few, but followers are many. What does “follower” mean? It’s kind of being superstitious where they take [my picture] home to bow to and ask for blessings, offer a few apples, and then later take them to eat because they’ve been blessed. If I came out from the picture to eat the offerings, they would be so scared they’d run away. No one would dare to eat [the offerings], or even dare to make offerings anymore. There was such a case. Have you heard about that? (Yes, we have.)
I once heard that there was someone who was not initiated, but came up to ask for an apple. Is that true? (Yes, it’s true.) Who witnessed it? Who was there that day? Who knows about that story? Who was the one that ate the apple? Who was that one, not here, right? ([They] ate grapes, Master.) Did you eat the apple? (It was grapes, Master.) Grapes? Oh, grapes. Sorry, I forgot. I thought it was apples, but grapes or apples, it’s all the same. They were fruits, right? At that time, you were not initiated, right? (No, I got initiated already, Master.) After initiation, you asked for it, and then She jumped out to grab the apple, right? (Yes.) What? Say it again, let me hear. Because I was told two, three times… It’s called [listening] from second-hand, so it was not clear. I thought it was an apple. I heard it was an apple. Was it grapes? (Grapes, Master.)
Too many stories, too long ago. I forgot. (Yes, someone ate an apple. There was another story about an apple, and the other is about grapes.) Ah, two stories. There was also an apple story. (Yes, there was also a story about an apple.) Oh, right, right. So, you came up to ask me for an apple, and then I jumped out from the picture, right? (Yes, I asked for the grapes on the altar, and then, Master reached out Your hand and said, “Here you go, dear.” So I jumped down seven steps [of the stairs].) Jumping, jumping, jumping… (But I didn’t break my leg.) Didn’t break your leg. So happy, that you jumped down, right? (Yes, I jumped seven steps but didn’t break my leg. That was at the house.) Why did you have to jump? You could just walk slowly. Being a lady, you shouldn’t be jumping like that. (It was because suddenly I saw Your manifestation body appear and say, “Here you go, dear.” So I just jumped automatically.)
Kind of like the herd of elephant(-people) in that story earlier. Jumping and stomping might break their house! (Yes.) Good thing you are skinny and small. If you’d been bigger and jumped like that, the stairs might’ve collapsed. Then what happened? After you jumped down? (I jumped down and called Thu and Hải.) Called what? (I called Thu, because I was staying at [her house.]) Ah, she’s married to Mr. (…), right? (Yes.) [Her] and her husband. ([He] was only a friend. Yes.) Ah, that means you all sat in their house to meditate. (I was with Hải and sister Mai here, four of us meditated.) Yeah, four, five persons. (Four of us meditated.) (At that time, [he] hadn’t received initiation yet.) (Back then, [he] wasn’t initiated yet.) Ah, after that story, then he got initiated. (Yes.) Because he was really stubborn. If not for that incident, he would not have gotten initiated. His wife got initiated a long time ago, and even though you all came to his house and practiced there, and he still didn’t want to get initiated, see that? Without the grape story, he would be still out there drinking whisky, or something, not in here. Then what? (Then before I…) [He] is an American – he doesn’t easily believe in things. It’s tough.
So what happened next? (Before I went home, I wanted to ask Master for some grapes to bring home for my family.) Grapes? They were yours, not mine, why were you asking me? (But those grapes we had placed them up there when we meditated so that…) You see? You just leave them there, then later take them home to eat – they’re not for me. And yet you all keep saying they’re offerings to Master. That’s what they call “poor Earth God injustice,” – whatever they offered, they eat it all themselves – they don’t make any real offerings, nothing for me! And then still expect me to bless it too! Blessing is free – it’s not like there’s blessings since you gave me two grapes. No way. You leave them to be blessed, then take them home and eat them – and still say it was an offering to Master. And then?
(Then I…) So how did you ask Master? (Yes, I turned around and said, “Master, please give me some grapes.” And as soon as I said it, Your manifestation body gave to me a whole bunch of grapes, right into my hand.) And when the hand gave it to you, it was real grapes? (Yes, real grapes, Master.) But the hand was a transformation body, how could the grapes be real? (Yes, the whole bunch was placed right into my hand.) Just hearing that makes my hair stand up on the back of my neck. Is it true? Practitioners who lie go straight to hell, you know, dear. (Master, You know me.) What? (You know whether I am lying or not.) How would I know? How could I know what you said? That was your Master’s manifestation body, not mine. How would I know?
(I was holding the grapes, when Master handed them to me, I jumped down the staircase.) Oh, you jumped down from up there? (Yes.) Meaning you skipped the steps? (Yes, seven steps!) My gosh! Seven steps? That’s pretty high, isn’t it? (No, no. It was 12 steps, not 7 steps, Master.) Now you are lying. (No, it was 12 steps, Master.) Keep going, it would be 20. (No, really. 12 steps, Master.) Forgot, huh? (Yes.) So you jumped down all 12 steps like that? (Yes, because someone counted. It was 12 steps, not 7.) Really? (Yes.) OK, and you didn’t break your leg. (Right, I…) Next time, don’t do that. Everyone listening, don’t copy that, OK? This was a special case. Jumping like that, you’ll break your leg. See? Already asking for grapes, then expecting me to catch you, too. Jumping a 12 step-staircase and She had to carry you down, otherwise her leg would’ve been broken. I also feel sorry for her Master. She had to give grapes to you, otherwise she’d just stand there sulking. My God! Grapes, just take it, and be done with it. You brought them yourself, took them home yourself, so why even ask?
(There was one time, Master. When I followed You through four countries to Malaysia. I was sitting at the hotel, I told a few fellow initiates that if we prayed sincerely, when we came to Master’s house, Master would give us some grapes.) Oh, grapes again? (Yes… yes.) If you’re that addicted to grapes, just tell me. I will give you a few hundred dollars to buy and eat to your heart’s content, instead of asking all the time. (When we were in California, I told three sisters, Master.) It’s true, you were there? (Yes!) [She] was there? Really? OK, so you’re telling the truth then, not making it up.
(When I went to Mr. (…)’s house to help prepare cooking for Master, Master brought out grapes for the three of us to eat.) Is that so? (Yes. Less than an hour later we received grapes from Your very hand.) I don’t remember. I don’t remember those stories. It really happened? (Yes.) Is that true? (Yes, it really happened.) OK. If it happened, then fine. There are too many of you, you’re the majority, so I can’t win an argument. I don’t remember those stories. Once it’s over, that’s it. So it did happen? (Yes.)
Photo Caption: Lucky To Have Beautiful Sky, Holding Hands 2 Thank MOST LOVING GOD!
