I’m sorry for those who don’t speak English and don’t understand anything. Later you can have a little translation. Just remember two things, money… Money and power, that’s all. The whole lecture consisted of two ingredients: money and power. Then you will not go wrong. Talking about practicing, huh? You think you come here and listen to the wise Master telling you to go to the Himalayas, shut yourself in some cave or something and eat only dry bread and drink Ganges water and get diarrhea. Hey, sorry. Hepatitis B or something. And here She sits and talks about money and power. What kind of a Master is that? I tell you what kind. It’s the Real Master.
OK. Curtain call? OK. I'm here again. I’ll see you later. I see you later. Alright? (Yes.) I’ll let you eat and rest or sleep. Whatever you want. And later we can see each other again. If I didn’t see any of you, please see me. Look at me. Love me. Follow me. Believe me. Does it look good? OK, do you all understand? Why aren’t you beautiful today? Normally you’d style your hair high like this, which is beautiful. Why is your hair so flat today? See you later.
We’ll talk a little, and then let you go to sleep earlier. Or you may go back to your tent to meditate. Here there are so many mosquitoes. Are there many mosquitoes? Yes, huh? Enjoy yourself. I also do. Look here. Not here. It’s in my room. I think you can go to your room and then sleep. Meditate in your tent until you go to sleep. Is that OK? Is this OK? (OK.) Too many mosquitoes to bite you. I’m also afraid that you disturb the mosquitoes. So many people here, can they stand you? They would die from overeating. For a long time, they haven’t had any people to bite. Suddenly there are so many people, like a treat or something. Free restaurant, open 24 hours a day. I’m just afraid that they’d die from sudden overeating. Do you know that kind of disease? (Yes.) Like people who have no money, those who are poor, or disaster victims, who have no food to eat. When they suddenly eat too much, they will die from overeating. Got it?
In order to protect the mosquitoes from being “liberated” too soon, you can go to your tents to meditate. If your tents are too far away, if you like, you can also sleep at the bamboo grove, but you have to bring your mosquito nets or things like that. Don’t drag your tents there and pitch them. What for? But you’ve taken some rest over there this afternoon. Yes? (Yes.) I saw some of you lying there, on the leaves, which is also quite comfortable. This is truly terrible. It’s sad to face this reality suddenly. Just now enjoying your dreams was better. No? Better for you to enjoy your dreams over there. Is it not so? I have awakened you. Alright. That’s it. Do you have any questions? If yes, ask tomorrow.
Are there some people who want to leave tomorrow? Koreans. Yes? (Yes.) All of you? Go home? Yeah? (Yes.) How many Korean people go home? (About 87.) Eighty-seven all go home? Leave me alone here? (Sixty-seven.) So, (Yes.) already 80% gone. What shall I do with 20%? No sense of humor. Forget it. What a “cold” country. So cold. “Cold,” eh? They come and think it’s too hot here. I’m telling you that summer is already the best season. No other problems besides mosquitoes. Taiwan (Formosa) is very good, having four distinct seasons. I already told you that whichever season I choose is not good. Hot in summer. Got it? You are experiencing it. Have you experienced anything these few days? (Yes.) I don’t lie to you. It’s hot in summer.
Let’s begin with spring, which is the rainy season. Every day it rains so much that even the mountain is washed down by the rain. In summer it’s so hot that your faces soon become tanned. You know I was very beautiful when I first came here, and now, after staying in Taiwan (Formosa) for a long time, I became like this. Just looking at my beauty and you know the power of summer. Just a few days in Pingtung, wow, my whole body was tanned. No one would see me even if I wore nothing. When I first went to Pingtung in summer, when I first went there, I wore one suit… No, not one suit. It was a piece of cloth to wrap me up. Remember? (Yes.) I did wear a swimsuit underneath. But I was afraid people would gossip about that spiritual practitioner still wearing a swimsuit, so I wrapped a piece of cloth outside. At that time, people still criticized that my back was bare or something. After a few days, they stopped criticizing me, as they could not see me. My whole body was all dark. And they thought, “It’s strange. Why does She wrap Herself from head to toe?” Then, no more criticizing. That is the power of summer.
If you think it’s too hot here, I can take you to Kaohsiung or Pingtung, then… Over there you don’t have to cook. You don’t have to do anything. Just put the rice and vegetables under the sun, after two minutes they are ready to serve. Add a few drops of soy sauce and then it’s ready. The food cooks naturally. It happens in Kaohsiung or Pingtung in the summer of Taiwan (Formosa), which is very well known.
And then, in autumn… Last time when I told you about mosquitoes, it’s nothing. Mosquitoes are… Now is the mosquito season; when it’s hot, and there are mosquitoes. Do you know what we have in autumn? (Typhoons.) Typhoons. One time, before this big, great ashram was built, at that time, we didn’t have a roof to cover us. Remember? Before this natural ashram was built, a long time before, we have gone through three generations. In the first generation, there was nothing. At that time, we hung a piece of cloth here, and then you sat underneath. I’d tell you some history before you go to sleep, tell you a bedtime story. In the place where you’re sitting now, there was nothing, really. It was all grass, the grass that the cattle(-people) eat. Is it not so? (Yes.) The grass grew so tall. That’s all there was. Later, we chopped up the grass and then everyone pitched tents. The place where you’re sitting now used to be for pitching tents.
Once, when we first came here, really there was nothing but grass. Not even a tree. These are due to my “magical power.” These trees were due to my “magical power,” plus the little “magical power” of monks and nuns. Big and small “magical power” together have made it become like this. Originally, even “bird(-people) wouldn’t lay eggs” here. Bird(-people) didn’t even come, not to mention laying eggs or not. Bird(-people) didn’t want to come. Without trees, where could they perch? But later on, after fellow initiates came here to meditate, they slowly came, to perch on the heads of fellow initiates. Because we sat too straight, they thought we were trees. Later, many trees were planted; they could not tell which tree was real, so they just perched as they wanted. So, if you stand up and find that your head is wet, don’t be surprised. It often happens. Bird(-people) here don’t discriminate. Both trees and people are the same. Because they know that we’re all very kind and are vegans, so we’re similar to the trees. Alright, this is what happened before.
There was one time when we held the first 4-day retreat, oh, we were all wet. Every one of us was totally soaked. Because we didn’t have a roof, and there was a big typhoon. There were no trees here. Nothing. Therefore, when you walked by, you saw all the tents were overturned. That day was the Moon Festival. That’s why I remember it happened in autumn. Moon Festival, right? Some of you know it, right? (Yes.) Just sitting in the small main hall, you still had to put up umbrellas. All of you just meditated like that. Amazing. Also, the umbrellas soon flew away, because of the strong wind. And then you had to chase after the umbrellas. What a pretty sight! Tents were overturned, with some flattened, just like mooncakes. Seeing that, I was bewildered, “The wind is so strong and there are no people in sight.” I went and knocked at each tent. Because some people seemed to be… Some tents were turned over and became very… twisted, and the length of it looked as if someone was inside. I knocked to see if that “someone” was dead or alive. That was in autumn.
If you think summer is too hot, we can consider autumn, to organize another… But now it’s more beautiful because of the trees. Even when it rains, the trees would be wet first, and then it’s our turn. Therefore, it’s alright. Everyone gets wet together. And we can put up umbrellas. Previously, you had to put up umbrellas even in the small main hall. Now, even if we don’t have any, it is still OK really. I see you are now really awesome. You fix something to the front part of your hat, which can be pulled down like a tent over you. Then you can sit like a small mountain, with only two eyes exposed. This way we don’t need any tent forever. I’ve told you before, I can design a kind of tent, a personal raincoat transformed into a tent. Have you ever heard about it? (Yes.) Perhaps it was recorded, yes? (Yes.) All monks and nuns laughed crazily at the idea. Do you remember? (Yes.) OK. Now we can begin to design it. It’s time we truly need it.
If you think summer now is too hot, we can try the typhoon. Try to struggle with a typhoon, especially around the Moon Festival, which is beloved by the Chinese. At the Moon Festival people eat a lot of vegan cookies, then they have an excuse to gain weight. No one would say anything, because everyone gains weight. And so we’re not afraid. Vegan mooncakes are so big, and everyone eats a lot, and afterwards says, “Why has my figure become like this?” “Why have I become like a vegan mooncake?” Eating many vegan mooncakes makes you become vegan mooncakes. Later I’ll tell you a story about “you are what you eat.” And then, “you are what you follow.”
Photo Caption: What a Beautiful Gift, Dear GOD!!!
