Even if god made some big and powerful animals, he made something else to control them. Even just once a year, each of them takes turns to take care of one season with the strength that god has bestowed upon them. They frighten those vicious animals which are made by? By whom? (By god.) (Same god.) By god.
“How does god arrange and make everything perfect and complete? Every year when the month of Tishrei,” about the months of August and September. That’s in August, in Autumn. “God would give more power and strength to the eagle Zis-Sadai, so he can become stronger, powerful. And then, he just lifts his head and keeps it right in the middle of his wings and just ‘zoof,’ flies up to the sky. And he emits one very, very powerful voice.” Oh, no, no. This one is a bigger… It’s not an eagle. (Condor.) (Condor.) Condor. Yeah, yeah, that’s it.
“So god gave the strength to the condor. And then he can just fly up to the sky like that, and he emits one very powerful sound. Just one only. And all the birds, and all kind of birds heard that voice, even just one time. Even far away, they can all hear that. Even the vulture and the eagle were so frightened with this kind of sound, that year after year, they still feel very, very scared, terrified. Otherwise, all these birds would never be able to withstand the big birds like eagles and…” Oh, man. I’m reading Aulacese (Vietnamese) and my English is just gone.
“Eagles and vultures.” Because they… It’s funny how god… This is a funny god. Sorry, sir. I feel you’re funny. Sorry if I offend you. He made the vultures and eagles very powerful. And he made also very gentle and small little birds, parrots, parakeets and all that. And then, he had to make a bigger condor in order to frighten the eagle and the vultures so that they don’t kill all these birds, all these smaller birds. Why did he do that? Why didn’t he make them less powerful? Then he wouldn’t have to make another one to counter it. But he’s like a scientist. In our world we do that. We do that. We make this, and then we make something else to counter it. (Yes.)
“And then, in the sea he had created many fish types, big ones, small ones. Do you know how much it weighs, the biggest fish in the sea?” (No, Master.) (No idea.) The author is asking. I don’t know how much it weighs. “And many of them are as long as 400 leagues.” Four hundred leagues is about... One league is about four kilometers. Imagine how long it is? (Wow.) We don’t see them anymore these days. Four kilometers (Wow.) for one league, means a fish, the biggest one, some of them. I guess before when we still had dinosaurs, right? I don't think we see this kind of four-kilometer-long fish anymore. Do you? Did you? (No.) I hope not. Where did you go and find such? Sometimes the rumor has some like Loch Ness monster or something like that. They’re supposed to be very big and long. (Yes.) Maybe one of that kind, is still hanging around on our planet.
And it’s not just one league, some of them were longer, as long as three, four hundred leagues. That means three, four hundred times of four kilometers. You calculate. I am too lazy to think about that. Where can we find that anyway? So, we forget that. That’s probably a long time ago. We had many dinosaurs and big and long like that. “If there is no grace or love and the perfect arrangement from god, then all the big fish would have eaten all the small fish already. And then he even made sure, made it more perfect. Thus, had made another…” How to say “Thủy quái” in English? Sea monster, monster. (Sea monster.) Oh, yes, yes.
“He made, he created a sea monster named Leviathan. Every month of Tevet, that is the beginning month of the winter,” November to December, “of course, god gave him more strength again, like every other strange animal. He gave them a lot of strength, so he will lift his head up.” I guess all this time, he doesn’t lift his head up. He just sleeps or comatose or hibernates. And only in this winter, all the other animals, god gave them in spring, summer, autumn, and this one, he gave him strength in the winter. So, all seasons have some of these monsters all over the planet.
“And then he will lift his head, and then he blows, he makes a strong wind or tsunami. And then he saw all the water became bubbling. Those big fish,” that we talked before, “were so frightened, so terrified. Otherwise, all these smaller fish would never be able to survive. All these big fish would have eaten them up already. So these are the four guardians or caretakers of the world.” Wow, they’re scary. Even if god made some big and powerful animals, he made something else to control them. Even just once a year, each of them takes turns to take care of one season with the strength that god has bestowed upon them. They frighten those vicious animals which are made by? By whom? (By god.) (Same god.) By god.
Yeah, thank god. He made so many vicious things and then he had to work again to make other animals. No wonder it took him seven days. Took a long time. No? I wonder if it is seven days in Heavens or seven days here. Because if it is seven days Earth time, then I think god didn’t have enough time. Right? (Right. Yes.) Otherwise, maybe he had too much power, he could make it in seven days. But it’s not very perfect, is it, our planet? Maybe he was in a rush. Like me, I work fast. I don’t like to leave things hanging around, waiting, maybe tomorrow. So he hurried up and compacted everything in seven days. Therefore, maybe we have problems in our world.
“Do you think…” the author or whoever wrote this book, Mr. Nguyễn Ước or maybe he translated it from somewhere? “Do you think my friends, that these four guardians of this world would feel very arrogant, very proud of themselves? ‘No.’” He answered himself, not I. “No. All these four are not arrogant at all. On the contrary, they are praising, they are praying, they are glorifying the One, the One that made this world materialize.”
I guess I should not pack things too tight. I’m tired, a little bit tired, that’s why couldn’t think well. “So, every day they praise god, they sing the words, they pray to god, and they prostrate to god, and they worship god and all that. Because all of this will return to dust. Whenever this world returns to dust, there will be nothing left except god again, in the only one and unique quality within himself. May your holy name be praised and whenever people utter your name, it will be just glorifying. Because that day,” I guess that’s the day when the world is finished, “that day, there’s only god to be praised.” We’re all gone, if it’s all kaput.
That’s it, the story. This story, sorry, it’s too serious. The ghost story is more fun. Ghost is more fun than god. God is so serious. Praised be You, God Almighty. But I think you know already this is not God Almighty. (Yes.) Perhaps the highest would be Brahman. That’s why we see in this world we have good and bad. We have gentleness and we have viciousness. That is true so, and all thanks to him, the creator. But the creator is not God Almighty. The creator of this world, of this shadow planet, of this shadow universe is not God Almighty. You know that by now. (Yes, Master.) I hope so after all these years of explaining from me. If not, I will never read you stories again. Very good, one story finished. (Thank You, Master.) You’re welcome.
Thank you for listening. I’m worried maybe you forget who I am, so I have to now and then remind you I am still here. (Thank You, Master.) I am worried later you think you don’t need me anymore, so I make myself useful, reading you bedtime stories, hoping you don’t sleep. Any questions or any comments about this story? Now you know how this world is created. (Yes.) And you don’t have to ask me anymore. Anymore? Any questions at all? (No, Master.) This story, it is said that people… This is from a long, long time ago. I mean, hundreds of thousands of years already.
What is the word for “thời trung cổ”? Mid… What? How to say “Trung cổ”? (Middle Age.) (Middle Age.) Middle Age. No. Is it? Middle Age – you mean like me? People maybe made up some of the stories like this in order to explain the Bible. Because in the Bible, or maybe other kinds of holy books, they don’t explain a lot. Or in some book, like “The Book of Enoch,” it very graphically explains how our world, some part of the world is made. But not every book explains so clearly.
In Buddhist sutras, there is also some explaining before, differently – not so graphic like this one with all the guardians like that. But in Buddhism, we have… they’re called “hufa,” those very vicious-looking beings, with the big axe or something, waiting to crush anyone who doesn’t obey, or who makes bad stuff, or enters the temple without respect and not respecting the practitioners within. Something like that. In every temple, they have this kind of vicious-looking beings outside the gate, and inside also, just to tell you, “Behave! Behave yourself! It is a holy place!”
Maybe next time, we will learn from Judaism. (Yes.) Jewish and Judaism are the same, right? (Yes, Master.) You are sure? (Yes.) I think so, but I have not studied too much about these things. Next time, if we have time and if I have enough power, if God gives me enough power to lift my head up, then I will roar again on time. Then we might study about how the angels have fallen. We’ve heard of fallen angels, no? (Yes, Master.) Next time.
