Those who haven’t practiced the Quan Yin Method don’t have that inner joy and peace, so we have to help them, both materially and spiritually. But if everyone already practiced the Quan Yin Method, then we’d have nothing left to do, right? (Yes.) Even when one is poor, he wouldn’t complain. When rich, no one celebrates. (Yes.) What’s supposed to be a new economy ends up as the old economy. (Yes.) Meeting comrades, we become like-minded. Fear nothing. (Yes.) Not seeking anything. (Yes.) Not avoiding anything either. The sad thing is that in this world, almost no one practices; very few people do. You can see it clearly yourself: once you practice, everything changes. (Yes.) It’s fun here, isn’t it? (Yes.) Out here in the middle of nowhere. Come and laugh joyfully. (Yes.) Eating vegan food, sleeping on the ground, enduring hardship, right? (Yes.) Practicing in such hardships, yet you’re still happy and joyful. Nothing to complain about, nothing to grieve over. (Yes.)
The Dharma guards here are quite fierce too. They’re just as tough as the officials out there. My God, if you mess with them, you’ll be in trouble. (Yes.) They’re so-called very disciplined – iron discipline. (Yes.) Here, it’s not iron discipline but more like lead discipline. Pretty similar. (Yes.) On the dot, on the minute, you have to go in and meditate. (Yes.) Try to run, they herd you like chicken(-people). If you can’t keep up, their faces turn pitch black. They show their teeth and everything – it looks really scary. But we’re not afraid. (Yes.) We’re not angry either. (Yes.) Sometimes they herd you from one spot to another because one place isn’t for standing or playing, so they send you somewhere else. Something like that. (Yes.) When I gather everyone to talk, you have to move quickly. (Yes.) Standing behind, they chase you like chasing chicken(-people). But you still enjoy it as usual. Being a chicken(-person) here is even more fun than going anywhere else. Even more fun than being a father at home.
You see, spiritual practice really is different, it’s obvious. When someone scolds us or causes trouble, we just laugh. (Yes.) When we feel so joyful, there’s nothing to cling to anymore. Our heart naturally becomes happy. The heart naturally opens, naturally feels compassion, naturally experiences joy and letting go. It’s not like someone keeps telling you all day, “You must let go and rejoice.” Am I the one rejoicing? Maybe your nose rejoices, but that’s about it. See? (Yes.) So what I say is truly real. (Yes.) I’m telling you, spiritual practice is the best, but no one listens. I heard there are several dozen people like that. No, in Âu Lạc (Vietnam), now there are also a lot, right? (Yes.) (Many, Master.)
If the Âu Lạc (Vietnam) government were smart, they would let the whole country practice the Quan Yin Method, then no one would be afraid of anything anymore. (Yes.) No rebellion, no revolution, nothing to complain about. No need for prison, no need for re-education, no need for new economic zones at all. Everyone volunteers to go to the new economic zones. If I went there, I’d volunteer too. Why? Because we’d have our own place to do group meditation. Yes, exactly. (Yes.)
Places like this, aren’t they like the new economic zones? (Yes.) Wilderness, mountains, no one around. You have to dig your own well for water. (Yes.) But it’s strange, here, when we dig, there’s water; just a few dozen meters away, digging yields nothing. Here, we dig dozens of wells, all have water. Nearby, people dig hundreds of meters and still find nothing. See that, when we practice, we will always have water. No need to compete. No need to fight with anyone over water or land at all. Wherever you go, there is land and water anyway. Like in places in Âu Lạc (Vietnam), those new economic zones, very comfortable to practice there. You didn’t know, right? (Yes.) That place is deep forest and very deserted. (Yes.) Nobody there at all. We sit there and practice the Quan Yin Method; in our wisdom, thunder rumble loudly [but it] doesn’t disturb anyone at all. And that place, the mountains and forests are cool and fresh too. (Yes.) We dig a well, we get spring water and drink it. If the water is bad, we make it clean again. (Yes.) A wild, empty forest can be made lush and full of fruit.
So when we practice, everything works; without practice, nothing works. Without practice, even being a president, you’d still suffer. (Yes.) Headaches, neck aches. (Yes.) After being vice president, then you want to be president. (Yes.) After being president, then you want to take over the whole world, something like that. You’re never truly at peace inside. If you have a lot of money, it’s also hard. You’re afraid of getting kidnapped, threatened, worried about getting robbed. (Yes.) Then if you have status, people envy you. No matter how high you are, there’s always someone higher, and we bow our heads and neck all day, tiring. But when we practice, we can be an ordinary citizen and still feel happy. (Yes.) Wherever we go, it’s enjoyable.
If we have land, we plant; if there are trees, a simple house can be built to live in. And if we don’t have a house – just carry a tent to stay in. (That’s right.) Like here. Like Hsihu, Miaoli, and Cambodia. (Yes.) Bring a tent over and live, comfortably. (Yes.) And if you don’t own a tent, just share one with a fellow practitioner. The people from Âu Lạc (Việt Nam) always share with someone else. They don’t have tents over there. You do? (Yes, we do.) You have tents? Are they expensive? (Fifty dollars.) Fifty dollars? That’s too expensive, that’s pitiful! Where would you even get the money to buy one? That’s pitiful! Anyway, I’m telling those of you from Âu Lạc (Việt Nam) who come over there, when you come here and don’t have a tent, it’s OK, I’ll let you stay with people from the US. And, sometimes, when they leave, they just leave their tents behind. (Yes.) So here, those of you from Âu Lạc (Việt Nam), remember to clean them up and put them all together in one place, OK? (Yes.)
Those of you Aulacese (Vietnamese) living in the US. The Âu Lạc (Việt Nam) living in the US are very rich. Oh my! Richer than me. Fifty dollars is nothing to them. They’ve got fifty million. They’d buy thirty or forty tents at once. Sometimes when they leave, they don’t want to carry heavy luggage, so they leave the tents here. (Yes.) So if anyone coming from Âu Lạc (Việt Nam) or from another country doesn’t have a tent, remember to ask at the desk? What is “info”? (The check-in counter. Registration, paperwork.) The registration desk, the information desk, the place where they give directions. (Yes.) Ask them, “Is there an extra tent I can borrow?” (Yes.) OK. Two or three people can sleep together in one tent. But the tents here are single tents, each person has their own tent. A coffin has never buried two people together. Well, you can’t sleep on top of each other in a tent. Sometimes with a big tent, two or three people can sleep in it. But remember, don’t snore, OK? (Yes.) Because when sleeping together, snoring isn’t allowed. (Yes.) And even the tent next to you can hear it. The tent is thin plastic, not a real house where you can snore however you want. If you snore, you can snore when you get back to Âu Lạc (Việt Nam).
During the 3-day, 7-day, and 4-day meditation retreats, no snoring is allowed, it’s already been said, that’s the rule here. Anyone who breaks it will be exiled out to the border over there, sleep alone, scared of ghosts to death. The land here is huge, and being exiled to the border means tens of kilometers away. (Yes.) Sleeping out there, you’ll get scared of the ghosts, I already said. Remember? No snoring, OK? (Yes.) If you snore, snore softly then. Otherwise buy some earplugs for the neighbors in advance, bribe them first. Say, “Tonight I’ll probably snore. Please put on your earplugs, or else we’ll become unfriendly neighbors, it would be awkward.” Practice must not be messy. It’s simple. Those little earplugs are cheap. If not, pick up some secondhand ones. The ones that people dropped or threw away after use. Pick up some old items, wait until the neighbors are asleep, put the earplugs in for all of them, and only then go to sleep yourself. Then snore however you want, snore all the way to the Western Pure Land.
OK, it’s almost time for me to work now. Everyone, go eat quickly and then hurry to gather, (Yes.) or else the Dharma guards will bare their teeth, it’s frightening. Those of you from Âu Lạc (Việt Nam) who want to take photos, please come stand here. (Yes.) Only those of you from Âu Lạc (Việt Nam), the others don’t need to. Stand behind. You can stand behind, stand in front, or sit anywhere, as long as your face shows up. People in the back, stay in the back. The taller people stand in the back. Don’t touch. (Don’t touch Master.) (The people from outside are crowding Master.) Those of you from Âu Lạc (Việt Nam), come over to take photos. If there are too many, then we’ll do it a bit later.
Âu Lạc (Việt Nam), come here. Up, up, up. Sit here, or stand there. OK. Include everyone. (OK.) Have you? (Yes, yes.) OK. Smile. (Yes.) Do it again, do it again. One more time. Anyone who doesn’t smile will be punished. (Do it again.) Even if you have false teeth, you still have to smile. (Again.) (Two, three. Ready.) Oh, my God, it’s taking too long, my mouth is tired from smiling. (It’s not turned on yet.) Is it done yet? All done? Alright, smile again. Just keep getting ready to smile, don’t turn it off. Because we don’t know when they’ll press the button. OK, that’s it. That should be fine. Everyone… did you smile? (Yes.) (I smiled.) Show your bright white teeth like that is fine. OK, see you later. (Yes.)
These things, those of you from Âu Lạc (Việt Nam) take them home to eat. (Yes.) Give them to fellow practitioners or your relatives. (Yes.) Only the people from Âu Lạc (Việt Nam). (Yes.) Those of you from Âu Lạc (Việt Nam) who come here. Those of you from the US are rich already, they can buy it themselves. Those of you from the US are very rich, you don’t know. (Yes.) Oh, my God, they can buy (vegan) candy and (vegan) snacks themselves; they can even buy blessing. In the US, you can buy anything you want. (Yes.) OK, yeah. The Aulacese (Vietnamese) who came from US can just stand nearby and drool. We’re all one. (Yes.) Those from Âu Lạc (Việt Nam) eat just like we eat. Here, men and women, each person gets a little. (Yes.) If someone has too little, we give more; (Yes.) if someone has too much, we take some back. See you later. Come on, hurry up and eat. (Yes.)
Photo Caption: “Express Yourself, Feel Groovy!”
