OK. So, no questions? OK. Very good. Have some (vegan) cakes. Now everybody wants to go to the stage, I know. Why didn’t they come before? Right? Come. I’m getting old. If you sit so far, you get nothing. OK. I begin to have love for your country, Peru. (Yes?) Yeah. Because it’s the first time that Peru is included in our list, but many, many people, very warm, very enthusiastic. I’m surprised. (I heard from You before in Atlanta.) Oh, yeah? And then you went to Peru? (Well, I was visiting Atlanta.) Oh, I see, I see. And that’s how you spread the news? (Yes.) Oh, yeah? You are the first, the one who brought things to Peru? Brought the message? (Maybe, I don’t know. I think I am.) OK. Alright. So welcome, have one more jelly. Here. That’s special, eat it right now. So, no questions? OK. Then I’m free.
But I have a little joke for you, if I still remember it. My God! OK. There is a little joke, like… A man – or a woman, who cares – went up after he died, or she died, after the person died, they went somewhere beautiful, went to a beautiful, beautiful place. And then the person at the gate looked at his ID card and then brought him into a very beautiful house, a villa, with lakes and flowers and everything surrounding the big garden, and bird(-people) singing, dog(-people) barking, duck(-people) quacking, everything was perfect. And then after a while, someone else took him to another place so that he could have more enjoyment with delicacies, like vegan cakes, (vegan) candy, blessed (vegan) food, all the beautiful international cooking for him to sample.
And after that, they took him out to maybe a night club, so that he can see the dancing or dance himself. And afterward, they took him to another place for anything else, just enjoyment, listening to music, or watching a theater, and things like that. And many days went on, on and on, on, like this: always eating, sleeping, making merry, and nothing else. So, the man began to feel a little bit itchy. He said, “Well, can you give me some work to do? I’d like to do something.” And the attendant was very sad and said, “I’m sorry, we have no work for you here. This I cannot help you with.” So, the man said, “My God, like this, it could be like in hell if I have nothing to do.” So, the attendant said, “Where do you think you are now? Just exactly where do you think you are?”
I hope you are putting up with this workless schedule for a while. Is it still OK? (Yes.) Your bottom alright? (First day.) Huh? (Only the first day.) First day, well, only two more days to go. It doesn’t matter. After the third day, you’re used to it. And then you have to pack and go. I don’t think it matters so much. I think it is nice to meditate together. Don’t you? (Yes.) Beautiful, huh? (Yes.) Meditate in a group, very nice, even for me. I sleep very quickly whenever I’m in a group, even if I cannot sleep when I was in my place. That’s why whenever [there is] group meditation, I try to manage to come.
Alright, want another joke? (Yes.) My “book of wisdom.” OK. Alright. Just to make sure I remember. There was a man, he cultivated a beautiful, large, lovely, fresh, green, flowering, blossoming garden, because he loved flowers. So he spent a great deal of time and care, so that his garden blossomed with life and all kinds of colorful flowers of choice. But then, there were some weeds growing in the garden, such as dandelions. Correct? Right. They call it Löwenzahn Blume in Germany. Dandelion, right? Löwenzahn Blume. This weed… actually this tastes very nice if you want to eat it for salad. The leaves, the tender leaves of the dandelion are very, very good for salad.
I used to go for a walk in Germany, when I was still there, to the countryside walking, and with a basket. And when I came back, the basket was full of weeds, wild plants like dandelions or something else, I can’t remember the name. Or maybe… what Milarepa used to eat? What’s the name of the plant? Nobody understands? There are some leaves, it’s very itchy if you touch it, but you can eat the heart. (Brennnessel [nettle].) Ah, Brennnessel (nettle). Brennnessel. That’s German. (Yes, German language.) German, but other languages? I asked you in English. (Nettle?) Ah, nettle, yeah, nettle, the heart of the nettle, things like that. Or many other plants along the countryside. And then I brought them home and I made a beautiful, fresh, nourishing salad. So never mind, forget about that.
Now we come back to the garden of the man. He loved flowers of all kinds, so he planted a lot of flowers. But the dandelions were always there, invading his “country,” his garden. So, he tried all kinds of means to get rid of the weeds, but he could never, ever succeed. The weeds were always there. He plucked them out today, the next two or three more days, they came back again. So, he was very fed up, and he asked all kinds of experts what to do with the weeds. Nobody had any clue. And then one day, somebody was recommended to him. This man happened to be a priest as well. A priest. You know what a priest is? Just somebody like me, maybe. Some other priests recommended to him there’s a super father something like a Supreme Mother. There is? No? Supreme Mother? No? Mother Supreme? Superior. So, there is a Father Superior somewhere in another monastery, and they recommended to him that that Father Superior had a way to help him. “He has never turned anybody away without a solution. He must probably have a solution for you, for your weedy garden.”
So here went the priest monk over there, and then asked the Abbot, the Father Superior, what to do about the weeds. So the father asked him, “Did you do that, did you weed [them] out?” He said, “Yes, I did every day, but they grow again the next day even more.” “Did you put some of that stuff, like chemical things?” “Yes, I did, but after some time, the dandelion got used to the chemical, and then they grow fatter, greener, and lusher than before.” And so, the Father Superior continued asking, “Did you…? Or did you do this, did you do that, did you…?” All kinds of expert methods to weed out the dandelion from his garden. So the priest said, “Yes, yes, I did, Father. I did this, did that. Did, did, did, did everything. And the dandelion is still there.” So, the Father Superior sat there with the man for a while and meditated and maybe prayed to the Supreme Father in Heaven. And so, after a while, the Father Superior told the priest, “OK, if you can’t get rid of them, then you have to learn to love them.” So, that’s the problem. That’s how I learned to love you, because I can’t get rid of you.
So, sometimes we have a lot of weaknesses in our spiritual path and our daily life, and we try all our best to get rid of them, if we can, well and good. If we truly, honestly, try our best and we can’t get rid of them, it’s fine. If we cannot, learn the “dandelion way” – love them and just ignore them. Don’t fight with them, and just do our job. Just look at the flowers. Look at the other flowers that you like. Try to develop other qualities in yourself that are more suitable for a practitioner, that are more beautiful for your personality, and just ignore the weaknesses. And maybe they’ll die alone. If not, and nobody looks at them, then you just forget them, like they don’t exist. It’s difficult, but we can practice. We can practice.
Photo Caption: “Life Is Good to All in the Wild”
