That’s why I told you to save at least a few hours to meditate every day. Only when we are peaceful and quiet can we think of our Home and remember the teachings of Buddha and Jesus Christ. Otherwise, how can we remember Them when we are so busy?
People are so pitiful. They have Buddha Nature, but they cannot recognize it. They have their own inner Heaven, but they cannot realize it. They roll in the dust all day all night, until they are so filthy and lost, and unable to think of anything. That’s why I told you to save at least a few hours to meditate every day. Only when we are peaceful and quiet can we think of our Home and remember the teachings of Buddha and Jesus Christ. Otherwise, how can we remember Them when we are so busy? However, I admire you very much. You’re so busy in your daily lives, yet you still allocate some time for meditation, and you can come on Sundays and for retreats. I also admire you very much for that, really. Since I myself am very busy also, I understand what it’s like to be busy. It’s not that easy. When I’m busy, I truly can understand you.
For example, sometimes I want to do this and that, or sometimes I’d like to call the doctor or one of you to repair something, or build a road or fix this and that. For example like that. But I just don’t have time! Because if I make a call, I have to answer questions and explain in details. I don’t have time. Sometimes he may have questions, like about building things here and there, or doing this and that. It takes many days before I can answer him, because I have other important matters to attend to. There are deadlines for Supreme Master TV work. Timeliness is important. This is just an example. Or my dogs may be ill, which is more urgent; or my physical body is also important. I treat my body as the last priority. Unless it is not well, that it prevents me from seeing initiates; otherwise, my body is not that important. Nowadays, there’re all kinds of medicines. But taking too much medicine is even worse for the body. Sometimes medicine doesn’t even work. The illness will just go away by itself, or maybe not.
We spiritual practitioners are not supposed to talk a lot. It consumes our vital energy. A Master once said, “If I had known, it’d have been best to be blind, deaf, and mute.” Because we don’t need these faculties to practice spiritually. Right? We don’t need these faculties. Besides, if you talk a lot, it’s not good for you. Neither is it necessarily good for others. They might listen in one ear and let it go out the other. Not to mention that sometimes they’d criticize at random and create bad karma.
But it’s not good, either, if a Master doesn’t talk. If Shakyamuni Buddha hadn’t talked, or if Jesus Christ hadn’t talked, then how could we remember? “Ah! We all have Buddha Nature. There’s the Buddha’s Land! There’s the Kingdom of God within us!” However, it’s because They spoke that They got hurt. I’m not talking about the harm to the body yet. When They speak about the Truth to people, some governments or enemies may not be pleased or get jealous, because everybody likes Their talk and praises Them. The Buddha had a cousin, Devadatta. He had been trying to hurt the Buddha life after life. He was the Buddha’s disciple, yet he wanted to hurt the Buddha. It was because of his desire for fame and wealth. Of course, one might say, “It’s Heaven testing the Buddha.” What kind of test? He was already a Buddha. What test would He still need to undergo? Not to mention that it caused harm. When the Buddha talked, a lot of people listened. Many people listened to Him and followed Him. They not only listened but also worshipped Him. They worshipped Him and often went to see Him. They kept looking and staring at Him. They looked with loving eyes. They looked with great love, with a worshipping heart. They offered the Buddha incense, flowers, lamps, and other things. Why would the Buddha need offerings? If He needed good food to eat, He’d have stayed in the palace. If He needed a good place to stay, He’d have remained on His throne. Isn’t it so? Yet, some people still doubted Him, thinking that He wanted things. What would He need? From a high prince, He became a monk who had to beg for alms. What would He still want? That’s how it is. People are brainwashed and poisoned like that. Poisoned to such an extent, that their eyes become blind and their ears deaf. They can’t hear or see, and they criticize randomly. There is too much poison, social contamination.
A blind person is leading another blind person. Of course, one day, both will fall into holes or down a mountain. Very pitiful. It’s not that they’re bad. They’ve been misled into becoming bad. That’s why when you see someone is bad, don’t blame that person alone. Blame the person who leads him astray. Very few can lead people to be good. What a pity! It’s all because of the desire for fame and wealth; holding on to one’s position; stubbornly holding on to one’s power. And then they don’t care about right and wrong. Randomly they misguide people, without regret, without turning around. They don’t want to retire either. If people don’t understand, they shouldn’t sit high up. They should retire. If they’re afraid of misguiding people, they should retire. They should withdraw; go home. Go back to their place of work and earn their living. They’ll cause less harm and create less karma. The higher their position is and the more ignorant they are, the more people they can hurt. I don’t know what to say about them. I don’t only pity them, I’m also very angry, very angry. Because they use their status to lead tens of millions of people astray. It’s not only one or two persons who are misled. I don’t know when they will be able to go up.
Society is like that. We eat vegan food, but sometimes it contains non-vegan substances that are not in the ingredient list. And the more we eat, the worse it is for our health. Our minds become more agitated. Then we get angry and everybody starts arguing with each other. See that? It’s even like that. Being vegan doesn’t mean always having peace and happiness. We still can be deceived. Sometimes animal ingredients are added to the food in the belief that it’ll be tastier and sell better. People are deceived. Sometimes even drugs are added. Drugs were added to the meat to make people addicted, so business would be better. That was horrible! That’s why nowadays, it’s very difficult to truly protect ourselves. We all have to be more alert, more careful.
It’s good that the Taiwanese (Formosan) government now has a law that requires ingredients to be clearly listed on the product label. But I don’t know how clear the lists are. It’s best to cook for ourselves. We don’t need any vegan meat, after all. It’s OK if the food is prepared by our own fellow practitioners. We have to check if it’s OK. Check if there’s anything like onion in the ingredients. I don’t know about products made by outside people. I can’t guarantee them. We have to stay clean and pure by ourselves. For example, if you occasionally eat a little bit, then it’s still all right. Or if you cook for others, and use it just once occasionally, it doesn’t matter. Besides, it’s not retreat time, so it’s more OK. During retreats, you cannot eat those things. If you eat, then you cannot calm down. Your thoughts will run wild.
I’m not threatening you. And it’s not because the Buddha laid down the precepts and I keep them. It’s not about the precepts. It’s for your own good. You have to protect yourselves. This is from my personal experience. It’s not because the Buddha said this and that. If you don’t believe this, you can try and see. Shut your door and meditate for three or four days and eat onions every day or just for one day. You eat a lot of food with onions and garlic. Or you cook for yourself and add some into your food, not necessarily a lot, but enough to make the food tasty. And then you meditate for three days. Then come to tell me if what I said is correct or not. I’m not scaring you. What for? Why would I scare you? Eating onions or garlic is not killing. I am not being strict. I’m just advising you.
You see, this was why Shakyamuni Buddha had to speak about these things. If He didn’t speak about them, how would we know? “Strange! I’m vegetarian, I’m vegan! I don’t eat anything with animal ingredients. How come I’m not in a good mood? And I can’t let go of sexual desires?” You don’t know. That’s why we have to thank the Buddha. Thank You.
Then, because He spoke, people got jealous. His lectures were so good that everybody went to listen. Jesus Christ also, everybody worshiped Him.
If you have a boyfriend, a girlfriend, or husband or wife, then of course, at least you try to make it smooth. If you have family or a relationship, of course, I wish you well. And you make it smooth and I wish you happiness, so that you can have peace of mind to meditate. I don’t blame you. I don’t say you are a sinner or anything; it’s your karma. It’s your maybe, fixed karma, maybe former life karma that you have to go through. And try to be good to each other and make happiness, so that you can meditate well. Because if your relationship is turbulent, it’s very difficult, difficult to peacefully meditate or do your job. Just look upon each other like a friend, best friend. Treat each other respectfully, peacefully, affectionately, so that life goes well for you.
It’s your karma you have to go through. I have no condemnation or anything. Just that you don’t know, being single is the best solution. That’s all. My own experience, I am sharing with you. But it’s not an obligation or it’s not an accusation, nothing like that. I do understand everything. I have been there too, so that I understand you.
The reason Shakyamuni had family before, so that He could understand the situation of the world more than if He did not have. After He became enlightened, He understood a different level, you see? But He still understood the world level, so that He could teach the laypeople, not just the monks, but the laypeople who struggled with their family life, so that He could advise them, so that He could understand first, and sympathize with them, then He could teach them. Maybe for that reason, I had to be married before. There is no excuse for me, nothing. I was just a girl, like everybody else, and I was chased around and finally I said OK. Everybody else told me, “OK, what else do you want? You’re already 28; you’re already very old. If you don’t marry now, when? And he will not stay there forever waiting for you. He’s handsome, a doctor, so lovely and spoiling you. What do you want, man?” Peer pressure, everything. But I never regret having married my ex-husband. He’s a wonderful man.
He’s the best man you can have, in my opinion. That’s all. So, I understand you. It’s not easy to refuse love and affection from someone else who loves you so much and devotes his heart or her heart to you. I understand that. Treasure that, and make it into a tool, a good tool for happiness, joy, so that you can go on with your life, which is lonely, difficult and a lot of challenges. You might need a partner always with you, to encourage you and run into the arms of sometimes, when you need comfort. When you are not strong enough to be alone, that is OK. Just be very careful not to break it, or to make more trouble. And not to chase someone else to make it heartbreaking for the one who loves you, that’s all. That is the meaning of one of the precepts. Not that you cannot have a partner. It’s just, be sparing with the physical desire. Try not to indulge too much. It will wear you out. You need fuel to go Home. If you wear yourself out too much, it tires you out, and when you sit, you cannot concentrate well. You will be sleepy.
We have to try to make the best of our life in this world, as short as your life can be, very short. I just came out like an innocent girl, and now I’ve already passed 30 years since then. So quick, so quick. There was one of your Dharma guards here, bodyguard. I knew him when he was two years old, not even when I first came out, already had many disciples in Taiwan (Formosa). And he was one of the kids that was still in papa’s arms, and always cried, because he, “I want to see Master!” Two years old! At home, every time he saw Master’s photo, “I want to go see Master! I want to see Master!” And cry, cry, cry. And now he is a bodyguard, one of my guards. I remember him because we called him at that time, I don’t know how the name came about, but “flat nose.” Flat nose, because his nose at that time was kind of flat. I don’t know why somebody called him that and his name stuck, so I still call him “flat nose.” I told him, not because your nose is still flat, but you look very handsome now. It’s just I like that name because you were a very good kid, and it brings good memories to me. So, he said, “I also like that name, Master.” I said, “OK, then we both like that name.” And now he is already big, strong, much taller than me. Very strong and big. I don’t know, he is not here today; maybe he is somewhere. Yesterday he was still like protecting me when I was going up there and coming here; one of the guards. It’s funny. And he’s so big and tall now, and strong, good-looking. So I said to him, “Not because you are not good-looking. It’s just because I like the name, brings good memories.” He said, “OK, I like it, Master. I still like it.” My God! I look at him, and every time I look at the kids like him, grown up now, I feel, “Oh, my God! I belong to the museum already, antique.”
