These days, there are so many Buddhas. Ever since the Quan Yin Method was so-called introduced, there are so many Buddhas in the Saha world. That’s why I don’t have time to go around enjoying myself. I have to keep visiting all Mr. and Ms. Buddhas. I have to work and earn money to buy plane tickets. This isn’t the realm of Maitreya, nor Amitābha’s Pure Land, where you just close your eyes, think for a moment, and instantly fly off to another world. My goodness, if it were like that here, wouldn’t it be wonderful? I wouldn’t have to design clothes, design outfits, or make jewelry, no need to go through all that trouble. (Yes.) Every time I get on a plane, there’s check-in, check-out, and all that touching and patting you down. It’s ticklish. Every time I go through customs, oh, my goodness, they poke and pat everywhere. It’s exhausting! It’s ticklish.
We practice spiritually, which means the Four Elements are all empty, so what is there to search for? They asked, “Who are you?” I told them I am a Buddha, but they did not believe me. If they do not believe it, then why keep asking? When they ask me, I tell the truth. But this Saha world (mundane/suffering world) is strange. When you tell people the truth, they do not believe it. When we tell a little lie, they believe it right away. Yeah. If only I said I was someone very important, that I made a lot of money and all that. That I was some kind of VIP, some big official or influential person, then they would believe it. But when you simply say you are a Buddha, they do not believe it at all.
So they keep inspecting you over and over. They check your pockets, touch your head, make you take off your hats and everything. And sometimes… sometimes… (Socks. Stockings, shoes.) Even socks and stockings, they make you take everything off for them to check. Socks that thin, what could you possibly hide in there? What could you possibly hide in nylon socks like these? How could you store anything? (Yes.) So funny. The customs officer buddha is really ridiculous. (They’re looking for a blessing.) Huh? (Looking for a blessing.) Because they want to receive a blessing? Will touching my socks give them a blessing? There’s blessing power? No wonder they always want to poke and touch everything. Even shoes and sandals, they make you take them off and touch them.
But now it’s better. When you dress elegantly like this, they think you must be someone important. They think you must be some big shot, some high-ranking person. Even though my size, my build, is quite small, once I dress in elegant clothes, they assume I’m an important figure. Sometimes they even let me pass more easily. In the past, when I wore a monk’s robe and had my head completely shaved, wow, some of them thought I had escaped from some prison. In many countries, they have no idea what Buddhism is, or what a monk is. Because, usually, people who are imprisoned have their heads shaved, right? That’s for hygiene. They shave it every two or three weeks. So when they saw me like that, they thought: “Oh no…” They told me to take off my clothing to check whether there were any numbers on it. To see whether there were any tattoos on my body or not? I said, “I only have my eyebrows ‘tattooed.’ Other than that, I don’t have any tattoos at all. Don’t bother looking.” But they still insisted on checking. After they checked and found nothing, I said, “I told you already.”
This world is strange, isn’t it? When people tell the truth, others don’t believe them. Because this world is full of lies. (Yes.) Most people lie; very few people tell the truth. So once in a while, when they encounter someone who speaks the truth like we do, they simply cannot believe it. Because they’re used to lying themselves. They say, “This woman is nothing like us at all.” Even the scent is different, so they feel they have to inspect Her.
In this world, if people don’t practice spiritually, their way of thinking is very different. In the past, before we practiced spirituality, our way of thinking was also very different, wasn’t it? (Yes.) Right. You had to be rich, with a big house and grand doors, to be considered prestigious. And you needed a new car to look impressive. (Yes.) A large garden and grand gates were considered the proper human life. It’s not like that anymore now. (Yes.) Coming here, eating vegan food, and sleeping on the ground is perfectly fine. It really is sleeping on the ground, nothing more than that. (Yes.) The tent is just a thin sheet of plastic, that’s all; there’s nothing more to it. (Yes.) It’s just simply spread out over the ground to lie on, nothing more. (Yes.)
(Yes, yesterday a snake[-person] crawled in, Master.) A snake(-person) crawled in with you? Did she get frightened? When she saw you, did she get scared? (I chased her away and she ran off.) Why did you chase her? She was already scared to death when she saw you, and you still chased her. (She crawled into his tent.) Is that so? (Yes. She crawled into his tent and curled up inside.) Ah, never mind. Why talk about that? It came to practice as well, so just let it be. She was already terrified when she saw people, so why chase her? She just wandered in there by mistake. Checked whether she has the initiation card or not? No? (I didn’t see it.) If she doesn’t have it, then tell her to leave. If she stays and eats (animal-people) meat, then it’s troublesome. Alright, try to eat vegan food and sleep on the ground properly. You’ve already come to a new economic zone like this; what more do you still want?
You see, even in the exact same situation, now you feel happy. Back then, when the government sent you to the new economic zones, they gave you tents to live in, (Yes.) you wouldn’t even accept a grass house, but now even a plastic-sheet tent is fine. It was even worse than a house. There were wooden houses, stilt houses, right? (Yes.) There were actual houses. Here, it’s just a tent; it feels like lying in a coffin. Right? (Yes.) That’s about the same size. A single-person tent is just like that. It’s about a meter high. Right? (Yes.) You have to bend down to get inside. Truly an exercise in humility. And yet, people are happy and laughing like this. Back then, when the government asked you to go to the new economic zones to reclaim land with a house and land provided, you wouldn’t accept it, and cried loudly.
After practicing, it’s different, right? (Yes.) Ah, that’s why they say, “Buddha is in your heart.” (Yes.) “When the heart is pure, the land is pure,” that’s what it means. (Yes.) When your mind is calm and pure, everywhere you go is a Buddha land. (Yes.) There is no difference from the new economic zones here. (Yes.) You’ve got to dig and till the soil to grow sweet potatoes, right? See the snake(-person)? The snake(-person) came into his tent, see that? Then it’s all the same; everything is OK.
Occasionally, even one or two guys were forced to go into the forest to hang out. Hang out with those guys – those Khmer Rouge guys over here. They’re so bored; there’s nothing to do. These guys are useless, so they kick them home. Keeping them there is a waste of rice and food for nothing. For instance, it’s pretty fun here too. (Yes.) Because we’re not afraid of anything anymore. (Yes.) If they want to arrest, let them; they do whatever, OK. If we die, let it be, right? (Yes.) No one will come to bail you out; don’t sit there and wait for anything. There’s no money anyway to bail anyone out like that. (Yes.) Practicing spiritually is like being “dead in your heart” already. Where would we get money to bail them out? Temple money? Here the money is for building the temple, not to go bail people out. Bail out people who are already “dead.”
From the day of the initiation, I have already considered that you are all “dead.” Dead to this worldly realm – already “dead.” (Yes.) So whatever happens to you, you already know for yourselves. No one should be concerned about anything. I’m telling the truth. I’m a vegan and I speak honestly. Those “kidnapped” guys sit there praying to some Lady Ching Hai. Let it be. Let them pray to whoever they want. Then when the “kidnappers” get bored, they just release them. That’s how it is; our spiritual practice is like that. (Yes.) Wherever we go, it’s the same. If we consider ourselves already dead, what’s there to fear? Sooner or later, we’ll die anyway. (Yes.) So wherever we go, it’s all the same.
If only everyone in Âu Lạc (Vietnam) practiced, then there would be no suffering at all. In any situation, we would still be happy, and accepting it. (Yes.) Because 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.)
Photo Caption: “In This Blurry Physical, None Knows What Are We, Just Bow Down and Be, Not Even Dare to Hope for a Future Carefree!!!”
