So we can see that after practicing spiritually, this world no longer has anything that attracts us. (Yes.) Today, while sitting on the plane and looking down, I saw houses packed tightly together below, with cars moving one after another. I found it quite strange. Why do we live in this world, yet feel that we don’t belong to it? Even after 41-42 years, I still feel I’m not a person of this world. There’s nothing here that binds me. When I stay, I just stay; and if I leave tomorrow, then I simply go. Like when I was in Mexico, I felt like staying there, but I knew that once I left, that would be it. I no longer felt the desire to stay as I did two days earlier. Wherever I go, it’s the same. When I’m there, I stay; when it’s time to go, I go. I don’t remember anymore. It’s because inside, we’ve already found the True World, the world that doesn’t change or fluctuate like this one, so we feel peaceful, content, and joyful within ourselves. Therefore, this illusory world no longer seems important.
For example, sometimes when we ascend to higher realms, we see countless diamonds, pearls, and jewels everywhere, as numerous as the sand on the seashore. Whole fields made entirely of precious gems. In those worlds, people use jewels and diamonds to build airplanes or scientific instruments to improve their lives; they don’t need to wear them as ornaments anymore. Wearing them is fine, but when we see so many jewels like that, we no longer feel they are precious. So sometimes, after visiting those higher worlds, when we come back home, the jewels we have here seem like worthless toys, don’t they? Wearing them is just for fun, like children wearing plastic or rubber trinkets. You can wear them if you like, but not wearing them doesn’t make any difference. There’s nothing that feels truly valuable anymore. You see that, right? (Yes.) Sometimes while we’re here, we still like to have fun, dressing up a bit, wearing this or that, shining a little for amusement. But honestly, after wearing them for a while, they become itchy and heavy, and we can’t wait to take them off. Right? (Yes.)
My disciples like to be fancy – they buy me boxes full of jewelry, all kinds, but they’re fake. But they look really pretty, sparkling in all colors and styles. When I wear them, they do look nice. But I usually just keep them there, looking at the whole pile, rarely wearing any of them. Once in a while, I dress up a bit just for fun. But after wearing them, they start to itch and feel heavy, so I end up taking them off. I wore them this afternoon, and now they’re gone already, see? I [couldn’t] bear it anymore. So heavy, really. Just like that. Our karmic burdens are already heavy enough, yet we still add more on ourselves. But sometimes, I wear those “karmic burdens” just for fun. Because we’ve been living with karmic burdens for so long, adding a bit more doesn’t matter at all.
Like today, when I was in Mexico going up to the airport, there were these guys collecting garbage. They were so tired that they lay down right on the pile of trash at the back of the truck. The truck was huge and full of garbage, and they were using it as a bed, sleeping so soundly. Two of them lying there. I don’t know what it smelled like, but they looked really peaceful. They’re used to it, huh? Used to it. Just like me, I’ve been carrying karmic burdens for so long that I don’t even feel bothered anymore.
Then yesterday, a woman told me she saw a bright white Light radiating from me, completely pure and transparent. Oh my! I told the guy next to me, “Wow, it’s amazing that she can still see any Light at all. I thought my whole body was already covered with karmic burdens, completely blocking all the Light, yet she could still see it, that’s something, isn’t it?” Everyone laughed together. Just like those guys lying in the pile of garbage – they’re used to it. Garbage is garbage, but a person is still a person. It doesn’t make any difference; you can’t turn into trash. Even though they’re lying in the garbage, they’re still human, not garbage. So even though I’m full of karmic burdens, I’m still a Buddha. OK. I’m only joking. I’m only joking.
Now that I’m wearing these clothes, the police don’t see me as a Buddha anymore, so they just let me pass through right away. The first time in human history! Passed through without any inspection at all. Before, I had gone to America hundreds of times, and every single time they inspected me. Sometimes they checked for three or four hours, and I even missed flights. You all had to stand outside waiting, sweating and tearing up, because it took so long. Oftentimes I missed flights, and I missed transfer flights too. I had to go on a different plane, since they were searching through my belongings. But this time, they didn’t even bother to look. They handed me the paper while looking the other way, talking to someone else. “Here, go ahead.” I thought I was dreaming. All my disciples passed through instantly too. They saw we were dressed nicely, like educated, well-off people. They were so respectful. Didn’t even dare look directly, just waved us through. Didn’t even touch the clothes.
In the past, oh my, they would check everything, even flip garments inside out, and part my hair into four or five sections to look for hidden items. But this time, wearing this style of clothing, everywhere I went, I passed through immediately. Just the other day, passing through Australia, they let me through instantly. I thought maybe that’s just how Australia is. Oh, I praised them so much! I said, “Wow, Australia is so great, so kind! They really know people! They knew I was a good person, so they let me through right away. So happy!” I openly praised them. Today, going to America was exactly the same. Earlier my eyes could barely stay open. My eyes were wide open as I said, “How could that be?” Then Trang, she’s from Âu Lạc (Vietnam) but an American citizen, came over and said, “Oh God, Master, that’s amazing! What’s going on today? So strange!” Then she said, “It’s miraculous. An unbelievable but true event.” Then three or four disciples, along with me, kept marveling together: “How could today be so incredible?” Honestly, there was no inspection at all. No checking, no touching, not even looking. They didn’t even look at the luggage, didn’t look at the people, just let us pass right through, because they thought we looked exactly like them. Before, when they saw something different, they probably thought it was a Buddha, so they pulled me aside to chat idly and take the chance to receive some blessing. This time, I felt so good! So refreshed.
It’s not that I don’t want them to take responsibility for their duties, but sometimes they just overdo it, too dedicated, too responsible. Sometimes, they asked everything already, had nothing left to ask, yet still just stood there. Then [I] asked, “Is there anything else to talk about now?” [They] said, “You’re done talking?” [I said,] “You ask, I answer. If you don’t ask, then that’s it.” And then he just stood there, not knowing what to ask anymore, still standing there not letting me go. Isn’t that frustrating? And even when they had already checked all the belongings, found nothing at all, they still kept us there and wouldn’t let us go, isn’t that frustrating? Then our flight was delayed, we already knew it, and so many people were waiting outside. Sometimes there were important people waiting. They knew it, but still wouldn’t let us go. I don’t know why they kept us. So now it’s much better, really much better.
It’s like being in disguise. Like those marines. Wearing camouflage clothes that look like trees and plants, even stuffing leaves and grass all over their helmets. They move around looking like a walking bush. So our side knows, but the enemy doesn’t. That’s so much easier! I think that having an ordinary mind is the true Way. Practicing spiritually while staying simple is better. If you practice and make things too fancy, too showy, it becomes exhausting. Now I feel a bit better. Thank you, I learned it from you. By following your example, that’s how I improved. You go to retreat wearing makeup and nice clothes, so I imitate you. Sentient beings learn from the Buddha, and the Buddha learns from sentient beings, back and forth. But now I’m feeling much better, really better.
Before, what tired me the most was having my luggage inspected. My clothes are clean, you know I love cleanliness. I really love cleanliness, but when going through inspection, their hands touch everywhere, pulling my clothes out. Even my face towels. Clothes, OK, maybe I can tolerate that. But when it comes to clean face towels, they squeeze them, pull them back and forth, and I couldn’t say a thing. Then after coming home, I don’t even have time to wash them right away. Especially on lecturing tours, sometimes I had to travel from one place to place. Three or four days in one place, then another three or four days somewhere else, there’s really no time to take care of such things. Seeing them do those kinds of things is truly heartbreaking, I just stand there with tears in my eyes, not knowing what to say. They use their authority doing those kinds of things. But they don’t even know they’re causing me suffering, they just think they’re doing their duty. Sometimes they go too far, you understand? That’s how it is. That’s why I fear most when traveling that my clothes or personal hygiene items will be handled by others. They search from top to bottom, pulling everything out and piling it all on the table. And that table had just been used for shoes and socks, all kinds of stuff. Then they put my clothes and face towels right on top of that, you see? That’s why sometimes I really dislike traveling.
And then there’s the cigarette smell too, my goodness. The seats are like this, they say this area is non-smoking, but behind it is for smoking, so there is a distinction. It’s arranged properly, you can’t say there’s no distinction. Yeah, then sitting there, you don’t even need to buy cigarettes, you can still smoke. Free offering. They don’t realize that I don’t accept offerings, yet they just offer freely anyway. I don’t even know what to say anymore. Today on the plane I kept running back and forth, because the people sitting behind were smoking. Every time they smoked, I had to run all the way to the front, covering my mouth with a wet towel to stop myself from vomiting or getting sick. I couldn’t stand it, it felt like I couldn’t breathe. Poor little Trang too. I thought it was just me, but she also suffered. She said, “Today I wanted to go to the toilet several times but couldn’t.” I asked, “Why is that?” She said, “Because every time I walked past, I got surrounded by a wall of cigarette smoke. I couldn’t stand in the waiting line too long, so I had to run back. Just couldn’t take it.” Poor disciples who follow me, they really suffer too.
Now we’re going back to this hunchbacked guy. Talking around in circles all the time. What time is it? Oh, how long have we been here? We have to leave by 10, right? Why doesn’t anyone know anything? Don’t you want to know? (Any time.) Oh, very good. Any time, but I have my time. I didn’t sleep for many nights. I thought I wouldn’t even be able to get up to see you all. I thought that if I went down to meet you, I would just collapse and die right there; that’s how exhausted I felt. But after getting up, nothing happened at all. The mind tricks us, doesn’t it? We’re not really that weak. When lying down, it keeps chanting, “Sleep, my dear. Sleep, my love. Sleep, dream your normal dreams.” It keeps singing that line over and over, and then I can’t get up.
Alright, now let’s get back to this guy. He worked for hire, doing all sorts of odd jobs, and he could even support ten more people. Then when the government started drafting people for military service, this guy ran around everywhere without any fear. Because he was hunchbacked, disabled, so the government couldn’t conscript him. His head was down near his belly, how could he even aim straight to shoot anyone? Where would he even put the gun? His shoulder was down below his ribs, so where could he hold the gun? So when the government started drafting soldiers, he still ran around everywhere. He was not afraid at all. He didn’t need to hide. Many people avoided conscription. Handsome ones, rich ones, smart ones, they had to hide from the draft. If they feared death or didn’t want to kill, they would hide. But this guy, he went everywhere without fear, never hid. When the government wanted to recruit citizens to build some special place, some huge project, he didn’t have to join. Because he was considered useless, disabled. When the government distributed aid or rations to the poor or the sick and disabled, he would receive three portions of rice and ten portions of firewood. So it means he received a lot like that. Didn’t have to do anything, didn’t go to military service, yet still received everything. Such a good life.
What does it mean here? It means that sometimes God, or what we call the Creator, or Heaven and Earth, gives us things that seem unfortunate or look like misfortunes, but in fact they are blessings, they are grace for us, you see? Just like in the old story called “Sai Weng Losing His Horse,” losing the horse prevented his child from falling or something like that, falling from the horse, and later he didn’t have to be drafted for the military, or things like that. Do you know that story? (Yes, we know.) You know it? If not, go home and read it. I’m tired. Don’t pretend.
Photo Caption: The Garden of Life Is Quite a Confusing Mixed-up!
