What else do I want to tell you? I keep telling things and it jumps from one thing to another.
Mahākāśyapa never wanted to marry. But His parents wanted Him to marry, of course, because He’s a son and He will inherit all their business, their properties, and He will have children for them and all that. So, they really kept pressuring Him to marry, but He said He doesn’t want to. And they kept pressuring Him. So one day, He asked a very famous, very good sculptor who makes statues to make a statue of the most beautiful woman you can ever imagine for Him. And then He brought it home. He said, “Parents, if you want me to marry, this is the kind of girl – with virtues, with the heart who wants to also devote to spiritual practice – then I will marry her.”
That was difficult for the parents to find such a beautiful girl; they didn’t even know where. And then He said OK, then let Him leave home, to beg for alms everywhere in the world, anywhere in the country at least, to find that woman for them. So, the parents, because of the prospect that He is going to marry, let Him go. So even then, He was very young, but He already had this kind of monk mentality, monk spirit, monk’s heart. So, He went out, left the family behind, taking nothing, and with a begging bowl went for alms and walked from one place to another, making that excuse just to find a spiritual Teacher worthy to teach Him. He was very intelligent as well. He knew many things, He learned everything, and He was perfect in many ways. So, many teachers also could not continue to teach Him anymore.
But as fate would have it, the parents somehow had a friend who found this beautiful girl who looked exactly like the statue that He had made, even though He never met Her before. So, He had to marry. And the girl that the parents wanted Him to marry also had a similar spirit like Him – didn’t want to marry, just wanted to find a Master and practice spiritually. So somehow, She was very sad, very sad to have to be forced to marry because Her parents were so eager to marry Her off because His family was very, very rich, and He was also good-looking, educated, virtuous, gentle, sweet, and all that. So, She could not argue with the parents.
In the old times, whatever your parents said to you, you just had to obey. Especially in the matter of marriage, they picked your partner for you. They picked your husband, your wife for you, and you couldn’t say no. But mostly, they would consult their astrology expert to see if both of them have a compatible spirit, like almost the same things, and have a similar family heritage, or richness. Otherwise, there might be conflict. And they ask the astrologers whether or not the children are compatible, whether or not they will be OK. Many other things they ask to make sure before they marry their children to each other – if that family has money and all that. Otherwise, if it’s just a poor family, they just do it (arrange the marriage). Mostly maybe they couldn’t care too much. They couldn’t afford too much.
Now, both of Them married. But, They didn’t know each other before, of course. And Mahākāśyapa didn’t want to do anything with the wife. So in the evening, the girl was crying. After the wedding night, She was crying. And then, Mahākāśyapa asked Her what’s the reason. At first, She didn’t want to say it because She couldn’t believe that She had such a good husband like Mahākāśyapa. But finally, after [Him] asking many times, She told Him that She doesn’t want to have any physical contact with any man. She doesn’t want to be married. It’s just because Her parents forced Her into this marriage and now She’s going to be ruined and doomed being a wife.
So, He was so happy to hear Her say that She just wanted to practice spiritually, wanted to find a real Master. She didn’t want any kind of mundane, physical thing at all. And then He told Her also His ideal. So, They talked to each other, exchanged ideas. They both were very, very happy. So, They decided that They would stay together, no problem, and help each other to find the Master somehow. Whoever finds first will tell the other – by chance, or by any news, or any other person’s recommendation. So They didn’t sleep with each other. They had two beds, slept in two separate quarters.
Until Their parents found out; they didn’t like that. So then They had only one bed. They were forced to sleep in one bed together. But then They had a solution: One slept and the other walked around or sat in meditation in the other corner on the floor. And They took turns to do that. Therefore, They never had to sleep together, touching each other in bed. That’s the kind of marriage They had.
I remember many years ago, I read a story about a couple – not for spiritual reasons, but for a bet – that they slept together, but never had any physical contact until five years later. Then they won the bet. Their friends wanted to bet them because they’re beautiful and handsome. So they bet that they could not do that, but they could, in all honor. And they had cameras and all that to prove it. So in the end, they got a lot of money from the bet, and they could afford to buy good things, or bought a new house.
It could happen if you have determination in your mind that you do that for some purpose. You marry for some purpose, but not to have this kind of intimate, physical togetherness. It’s possible. That’s how many monks also become celebate. Because they also train themselves; they use their mind power to control their urge, their hormonal desire. Monks and nuns do that. If you live in a community only with men, if you are not a kind of homosexual or bisexual or something like that, then it’s alright to live together. Nobody would feel anything. That’s why one of the Buddhist precepts, principles, is that they ask you whether or not you’re a normal man or you have a tendency for the same sex or for both sexes, things like that, before you are accepted to be in a monks’ or nuns’ community, to take the vow.
I told you before. And if you live together only with women, nuns together, then I guess you don’t contact much with outside people, unless for some necessary short time. Then you probably will have no problem with that. No problem – you just keep yourself busy. You read sutras, you read the Bible, you read all kinds of Saint stories, you do charitable work – then you will never have time for physical desires. And same with the monks. Unless sometimes it happens naturally because of too much hormones in their dream or in their sleep. But that is not their fault, and it doesn’t count as breaking the precepts.
Don’t worry about my cough. It will be OK. The Karma King told me that that cough is caused by my interference with the karma of some people in Russia. Some of the Russian fighter soldiers were released, came back home, and they molested or killed others –other Russians who had nothing to do with them; it’s just their tendency is like that, or they have been criminals in jail before, and the government of Russia converted them into battlefield soldiers. And when they came home, they just do the same things they did before. And I interfered with some of their karma, and that’s why I suffer extra as well – to prevent their criminal deeds and to help their victims... We did many things for the Russians and Ukraine (Ureign), but still it’s not possible to stop yet; probably needs some more time. Both sides lose heavily, but they still cannot give up.
It is terrible, this world. Sometimes I feel, myself, I could not bear the suffering of humans, of animal-people, of trees, plants, insects and everything. Even fish-people and small things. Snail-people – they’re born, they are in the garden or on the street, and people walk around and step on them. Oh, God! Imagine all these shells piercing into their sensitive, soft body. Terrible. They have the shell because they need to protect themselves, but then when it’s crushed into their body, oh, it’s horrible. Everything hurts me in this world. I don’t know how I can bear it so far. I just try to forget and ask Heavens to bless them, to lift them up, to liberate them from their miserable fate. So, everything you do for others, mind you, you will bear the karma. It’s not possible that you help someone and you become karma-free. It’s not like that. Somehow, you will have to bear some.
Photo Caption: Don’t Believe in This Crude Initial Appearance, We Will Be Beautiful and Beneficent, Soon!
