Our society, our world keeps getting better all the time, in all aspects; a lot of vegan food everywhere, vegan restaurants are mushrooming everywhere; vegan distributors, vegan producers are mushrooming all over the planet. And soon we will not be able to find any meat-eaters here, and that’s what I like to see.
Sometimes, bad things happen to us, it’s to lead to better things. Sometimes, we lost something, but then we will be given something better.
Like in Hsihu, we had problems. We cannot build there and then you cannot meditate there. Also, you built some things right in front of my cave, suffocating me. When I came back, I had nowhere to walk. If I walked out, I had to bump into your nose right away. How can I breathe like that? And you had everything already; the whole ashram is yours. I have only that little maybe 20 square meters that they call a home. And you had to build something, solidly with metal frames and everything, right in front of my cave. So, I demolished it and told you, you cannot go up there anymore. And some of you were angry with me, I know. But the right thing is the right thing. Wrong is wrong. You cannot go and just like some place, and then just take it.
We like many things in life, but we cannot just take it, if it’s not appropriate. We have to always consider other people before ourselves. Maybe I could bear it, but I don’t want you to continue behaving in such an inappropriate manner, and causing bad karma, bad example for others to follow. Even if I don’t ever live there anymore or I don’t need that anymore, you shouldn’t have done that. And then you were sad, you were mad, and some were cursing me with poisonous mantras, whatever incantation. Mantra is a better thing; mantra is only for good teaching from the Buddha; incantation, and make trouble for me. And then almost fall to hell. If I didn’t help, that person would never go back to human life or never see the sun ever again for many kalpas to come.
But then after that, you have this land. It cost me a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot more than that little 20 square meters of mine. There wasn’t land there; we had to level it. It was a mountain like this, and we had to make some levels in order to have just a little square like that, for me. In my cave, I did not level. I told them to build it just in the mountain without destroying any natural landscape. So now, you see, you lost that little tent, but now you have a bigger tent and more comfortable here. For example. This is an example.
Because example is louder than any lecture, any words; always good example. So, you have to make good example as well. No matter what you say, if you don’t make good example, people don’t follow. Well, of course, then you would say to me, “Then how come Buddha made a good example, Jesus Christ made a good example, etc., other Masters made a good example; how come other people didn’t follow and they did the opposite?” These are different stories. Life after life, it’s like that.
Humans are being poisoned before they are born, and equipped or installed with many unfavorable instruments inside their being, either in their mind or in their body. Therefore, not many people can follow the Buddha’s example. Many people want to be monks or nuns, but not everybody can because of these instruments that have been placed in their beings; hormones are one, for example. It’s not what we wanted. It’s just given to us without asking; maybe asking. Before we came here, of course, we had choices. That’s not fair to say without asking.
We did give permission for whatever happened to us. We had consented to them. We had to, otherwise, we could not exist in this world, which is imperfect. We have to be imperfect in order to be here. It is like that. Just like in some countries, the laws are very strict. You cannot wear this; you cannot wear that. You have to maybe cover your face. Then you have to abide by that, whether or not you like it. Whether or not the weather is too hot for you, you still have to wear that. And even if you were foreigners, a long time ago; now there’s less restriction, but before, if you were a girl, for example, and you went to some very restricted countries, and you didn’t wear what they wear, then you’d be in big, big trouble, big trouble. Even if not with the law, then with the people in that country. Or in some other countries, their laws are different. Everything is better now, of course. I’m glad. But in some other countries, you cannot even go out.
Even in Taiwan (Formosa), a long time ago, before I came here, Taiwanese (Formosan) people could not go out if they were single, if they were young and single; and more and more conditions. Like if you didn’t have property and you were single, then you couldn’t have a visa to go to America. Taiwan (Formosa), before I came, a single person could not go to America. Very restricted law. Unless you maybe had a really good job, that they’re sure you’re coming back to Taiwan (Formosa), and not going to America and marry there and stay there or do something there. I don’t know why. Taiwanese (Formosan) people are so nice. We should welcome them everywhere. Now, wow, you go anywhere, five-year visa, six-year visa. Whoa! And go to Europe, no visa. Wow!
When I first came here, I wanted to take even a couple of monks or nuns to go to America with me to do some lecture. Not allowed. And I had one, only one could go. I don’t know why. I can’t remember how she could go to America with me; only one; she was a nun. At that time, she was a nun, so, she went with me to America, because she spoke English very well, maybe that’s why. And they reckoned that in case she got lost in America, she still could survive because she spoke English. She could get a job and she could be contributing to American society, for example like that, and not taking social benefits.
Nowadays, we advertise on our TV that immigrants are really good contributors to any society’s economy. So, nowadays, it’s better. Everybody welcomes refugees; every country is taking in more immigrants, and the laws have become more relenting. Wonderful! I love it so much.
Our society, our world keeps getting better all the time, in all aspects; a lot of vegan food everywhere, vegan restaurants are mushrooming everywhere; vegan distributors, vegan producers are mushrooming all over the planet. And soon we will not be able to find any meat-eaters here, and that’s what I like to see. It will be like a barbarous action, deed, if you eat animals in the future. Just like now, we look upon human eating like barbarous, immoral, unbefitting to the civilization. It’s getting better, much better.
I hope and I think, sooner or later, everyone on this planet will realize that they are doing wrong by killing weaker and meeker beings to eat. Animals, they are defenseless, they are harmless, So this is immoral to begin with, not to talk about spiritual practice or merit or Heaven’s rewarding or anything. It’s immoral to harm someone who is weaker than you, who is defenseless, who is innocent, and who is harming you in no way. Any civilization should be based on this. Then, our world will be a paradise. Oh, I think my calendar should stop.
Now we go back to Lord Mahavira, our good and compassionate Lord. But this is too extreme for me. I don’t wish any Master to ever have to undergo this kind of ascetic life, which is so filled with suffering like this. It’s not necessary at all. Now my calendar is coming again. Well, why not? Who cares? You want calendar? (Yes.) Thank you. This just makes me think right now that our world is sadistic, truly.
You see, who is the most famous Master on our planet right now? The past Master. Who? (Jesus.) Jesus Christ. His life of a Saint, of public preaching life, how long? Three years, more or less, and people still worship Him now, 2000 plus years after His Nirvana, His home-going. Why? Tell me, anybody? (Because they realize that He was speaking the Truth. He represented the Truth all that time and…) Fine, fine. But why? He didn’t talk so long. He had only three years, more or less, to speak. And other Masters, like Buddha, He talked for many years. He lived until 80-something. He preached for maybe 40-something years.
How come Buddhist followers are not as many as Christian followers. Tell me? (Because He sacrificed Himself.) Yeah. Because He suffered. That is a very sadistic penchant of human’s mentality. Don’t you agree? (Yes.) So many Masters had to suffer one way or another, in order for people to look upon as, “Wow! He’s worthy of Sainthood, of being a Saint.” You name it, all the Masters suffered. Wow! You cannot imagine how They suffered. I don’t want to talk about it because it will choke me. The more you read about the stories of the Masters who had to suffer so much, the more you just might lose faith in humanity. So, it’s better we don’t know; it’s better you don’t know. I read too many.
I still cry whenever I remember how Jesus had to suffer. From His birth on, already, He had to lie in the manger of the animals in the cold winter night, in a foreign land. His parents had to run to protect Him like criminals. They’d done nothing wrong. And Jesus was just born. He wasn’t born yet, was already condemned to death, if He was to be born there in His native area. So, His parents had to run. Well, you know the story, so I don’t want to talk to make my calendar longer.
And for example, many people – I don’t mean you or anyone in particular – but for what I know from many stories, any master who practiced asceticism, or maybe better still, didn’t eat anything, then a lot of people come and worship them. At least believing in them that he or she is really a worthy practitioner. So, many people dropped out of my group, our group, because I’m not looking like an ascetic and I don’t even look like a monk. I wasn’t born to be looking like an ascetic monk this lifetime. I’m born for you. I was born for this type of people who look through the clothes and the skin to see something more valuable than just the price of the material that I wear. Got that? (Yes.)
This lifetime, this period of our life, of our Earth, people have too much karma, very heavy karma. All the Saints told you that – Kali Yuga, meaning the Dark Age. Therefore, we have so many big tragedies, events like wars, millions of millions, tens of millions of people die; and then plagues, also millions of people die or at least hundreds of thousands of people die; and again epidemics; and then again war; and then disasters of big scale, natural or man-made.
So, only the desperate souls will accept redemption if they find it, and they will hang onto it. These desperate souls, they truly are wiser than the non-desperate. They will not see anything outwardly that obstructs their faith and their determination to escape from these suffering worlds, which they see and perceive and know that it is ephemeral to begin with. So, it doesn’t matter what the Master looks like. As long as their souls perceive that She speaks, He talks the Truth, they will follow to the end sincerely and diligently.
And for these souls, I might have appeal. For ordinary souls, they just look for personality, they look for appearance, they look for demonstration. They look for whatever. You know it, right? So, they will not be able to maintain their determination and faith as long as the so-called Master that they have seen or wanted to believe in doesn’t fit their small little frame. There are bigger frames, smaller frames, little frames to fit different photos. So only the one who likes the big photos use the big frame. And the little one, they’re used to with small things, they don’t like big photos. They have a small frame and that fits them for now. It’s good. You like the larger picture. (Yes.)
