I lived near the temple. Many of the older monks and nuns from my group know that. We lived in a small house. The monks and nuns lived in the house. I lived in the small shed a little bit further from the backyard. It was all broken and bad, so I fixed it; I lived there. And the monks and the nuns lived inside the house that we rented with our meager income from selling vegetables, soy sprouts and all that. All the monks… many are still alive and know that. They still are there in Taiwan (Formosa). Some might have gone somewhere else, other countries, but they know all these stories because they lived there with me. And then later on, even that house was sold and we had to go out, camp anywhere and got kicked out of this place, that place. Or we camped on the street – meaning the rejected street. Also, we lived in some ghost-haunted houses where people don’t live. There were plenty of them in Taiwan (Formosa) before, and some of the monks and nuns were very scared.
The house we first rented, nobody lived there for a long, long, long, long… I don’t know how many years. And big, tall grass – looked even similar to those of small sugarcane – grew all over on the street. We had to cut them all in order to get in the house. But we paid the rent; more or less, it was cheaper. And later, after it’s all done, all good, all cleaned up, they sold it! Somebody bought it. So we had to move out and we had nowhere to go. So we just ran around everywhere in Taiwan (Formosa) with a fifth-hand car, which always “slept” on the street anytime the car wanted to “sleep.” At least we had that. We put some of our things in it, had a lot of pushing with it and we just camped anywhere or just slept anywhere.
If we found somewhere that had some water, then we just camped temporarily for that day or that night. But then we got kicked out often because the owner would come and kick us out. We didn’t know who the owner was; we just stayed in the field for a while. But then if they saw us, they would call the police. Then we had to move sometime in the night. And sometimes we camped on the side of the street, and sometimes we didn’t have good drinking water or anything.
And for that, I even dared to scold a patron of that temple. He must have been big in order to do that, wiggling, wagging in front of the Buddha like that. And showing all his stuff, almost all his stuff in front of the Buddha, the butt and the front as well. And I got so mad. Maybe I shouldn’t have. But I was young and had no experience on how to deal with such situations. I’m getting better with the days, thinking about that. I hope that guy forgives me. Now, we talked too long.
Talking about monks, the monks wear the robe, dignified robe, to symbolize Buddha’s teachings and the compassionate way. So, of course, they would invoke the respect and trust of the people. Sometimes the faithful, they’re overdoing it. They make too much trouble or they spoil the monk so much so that the monk sometimes would forget what he is a monk for. But because of that do not slander them or make their life hell. Whatever they said, they did not mean anything bad. They said it straight out of their heart because they have been at least teaching some of Buddha’s principles and they take 250 precepts. So at least basically, they are in a frame of goodness. Of course, maybe some of them are bad, either intentionally or they’re sick or they normally are not truly a good person or are not being taught well. But anybody who sincerely wanted to be a monk or a nun, they have this ideal in their heart, the noble ideal. Maybe they couldn’t make it, then they get out or they don’t do well. But please, leave them in peace.
Even if a monk asks a Buddhist faithful to donate a lot of money for the temple, he couldn’t eat all that. He eats at maximum three meals a day, whatever you give to him in the temple. He wears a few pairs of clothes, not much. Nothing expensive. And even if somebody gives him a car from the donation money or gives it to him, it’s for him or just to take care of his tired body walking around to the town to meet some maybe sick faithful to pray for them or to go to the cemetery to pray for some soul. He’s not doing anything bad with that car. Do not think that you give just some dollars and then you have the right to criticize a monk like that. His life is already the very least comfortable. He has no wife, no kids, no love, no real personal love anymore. So he has forsaken them all to follow the teachings of the Buddha, and he’s believing in his heart that maybe because he became a monk, he will be enlightened, he might be liberated. Maybe, maybe not, of course. Not everyone who is a monk is enlightened.
It’s very difficult to live in this world already, not to talk about living as a monk. Everybody is watching all the time. So please understand that. If you don’t want to donate, you don’t donate. If you donate, then you don’t slander a monk just because of your donation. You have no right to do that. You respect them. And if you are all good, then he will be good, even though he wasn’t that good, but then he will behave. And if you come to him, you ask only about the Dharma (Teaching), goodness, and how to be a good person in society. You don’t ask him all kinds of nonsense, or to bring your husband back to you, use magic to bring your wife back to you, control your wife for you, whatever. These kinds of things don’t belong to a monk’s business.
And another thing: Do not associate my name, my teachings with any of the monks or the priests of any kind. I don’t know any of them, or if they are good or not good. And I don’t want them to think that I’m using their name to be famous. I’m famous already – too much. I wish I wasn’t born to be famous like this. I would have more peace, less work. OK. That doesn’t matter. We are all born in this world; we all have to bear something that we like or do not like. But what I mean is, do not make unnecessary trouble for me. Do not associate me with the best monks in the world, the most respected, the most followed, or the bad monks, or the medium monks, or any monks, any priests, or any nuns of any religion.
I’m outside all kinds of religious systems. I only follow the Buddhas, Lord Jesus, and many other similar Masters and Buddhas – “Masters” means Buddhas – until I go back to the Master’s House, that means Buddha’s Land. I will go there. And whether you go there or not is your choice. I only show you the way, and I help you in any way I can – physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. Because sometimes, people use my name to do other things that I cannot control. Even one of my ex-residents has come out, branched out, and calls himself a master. Not just one, maybe a couple – I don’t have time to check, but I just know some because they (current disciples) reported it to me. I couldn’t care less. I just hope that they don’t do bad things and harm other people because of their greed and their low level.
The thing is, Buddha already warned you that if you have low ambition in your heart, all the demons, the ghosts of the invisible domain will know it, and they will try to get to you to cheat you, delude you, to use some of their magic to lend it to you, to make all kinds of fake things. Like, they’d make people see that your body has this and that miracle, and then something happens to them, and they also credit it to you when it is not true. If you have ambition – low ambition in your heart for worldly fame and gain – then you will be under the influence of the demons. I know at least a couple of them (disciples) who left me, branched out and became possessed by those magical beings in the demons’ world.
There are many kinds of demons. The Buddha taught us to know many different names of the demons and ghosts, like a “yaksa,” for example. Many kinds of demons and ghosts have power– not that like they don’t have. The maya – the opposite element of the Buddha – he has superior power (than demons and ghosts). He has almost the same power as the Buddha, except he doesn’t have compassion. That’s the only difference between the Buddha and the maya. Well, we talked about that before. If you don’t remember, try to look into a sutra or something.
And they even threatened the Buddha – one of the demons, Mara (King of demons), one of the powerful demons told The Buddha that in the Dharma Ending Age, he will let all his children and grandchildren, great-grandchildren and his relatives all went out to become monks, and use the monks’ appearance to destroy Buddha’s teachings in the Dharma Ending Age, which is right now.
“After Ananda had repeated the question three times, the Buddha told him, ‘After my nirvana, when the Dharma is about to extinct, the Five Mortal Sins will foul the world, and the demonic-way will flourish exceedingly. The demons will become monks, to spoil and wreck my Way. They will wear like mundane people’s dress also with sash for monks; they will delight to show off multicolored precept-sash (kashaya). They will drink wine and eat meat, killing living things in their desire for fine flavors. They will not have compassionate minds, and will hate and envy each other.’” ~ The Ultimate Extinction of the Dharma Sutra
But there are many good monks, I know that. It doesn’t mean that they’re enlightened or fully enlightened or have become an Arahant or a Buddha or something. At the moment, we don’t have any. I’m sorry to say that. Well, some of you would know if you have this spiritual eye open and you could see. Of course, you are my people; you’re very powerful. You can go to different planets, different Buddha’s Lands. You could even go to the Medicine Buddha’s Land, and some of you go to Amitabha Buddha’s Land. Some of you see Quan Yin Bodhisattva, some of you see Lord Jesus oftentimes. And it’s funny that the Buddhist believers see Lord Jesus. Up to now, it’s like that. And some of the Christians see Buddha and go to Buddha’s Land, or see Quan Yin Bodhisattva, etc. It doesn’t matter. They are all Nobility and Compassion incarnate. Whatever Land They are in right now, They are just Compassion, Love, Nobility, and Mercy.
Suddenly, everything comes out so much, I don’t know what else to tell you. So, you just practice. Practice well, quietly, and be grateful. Be grateful.
Photo Caption: Do Not Try Anything If Your Gut Says No, Even If They Look Similar to Your Favorite.
