The more you practice, the more you realize that you are everything. All things are of one essence. But if you don’t practice, then you only know yourself as a human being. All day long you just work and go home. Work, go home, take care of your wife, take care of your children. Argue with your wife, argue with your kids; argue with your husband and that’s it. You know nothing beyond that. But if you choose… If you grow tired of it and feel that perhaps choosing this human path was somehow a mistake... If you become weary and say you want to know more, then practice the Quan Yin Method, and you will come to know more. Then your life will naturally change. What’s going on? Why is everyone clapping so loudly? You understand? (Yes.)
Oh my, I explained it so poorly and you still understood. That’s impressive! Really, really! I was afraid you wouldn’t understand. This is actually very complicated. It’s not something easy to explain. (Yes, it’s wonderful.) For example… what is it called again? I don’t know the Aulacese (Vietnamese) word. (A skewer.) A skewer? (Yes.) No. (Grilling stick, Master.) (Barbecue skewer.) Oh, barbecue skewer? Yes, yes, that skewer that has many things on it. (Yes.) But when you bite the piece of tofu, you only taste the flavor of the tofu, right? (Yes.) That’s because you’re hungry. You like to eat tofu, so you take the tofu piece first. You pull the piece of tofu off and chew it, and at that moment you only know the taste of tofu. Even though in your hand you are holding a whole skewer with many other ingredients, at that moment you chose only the piece of tofu to enjoy its flavor. So all your attention, all your enjoyment, is focused only on that piece of tofu. Do you understand? (Yes.)
Even though the skewer contains many other things, you don’t pay attention to them, so you don’t notice them. But not paying attention doesn’t mean you don’t know, you just don’t pay attention. They are naturally there, but because you don’t pay attention, it’s as if they don’t exist. (Yes.) That’s because your mind, your attention, is completely absorbed in the piece of tofu. You’re enjoying it so much, like, “Wow!” You keep savoring its flavor and forget that there are other things on the skewer. (Yes.) But you do know they’re there. (Yes.) You knew before, and you’ll know again afterward. It’s the same thing. Whenever you decide you want to taste the other flavors, you will naturally remember them. So when we’re living this human life, sometimes we think we have a sixth sense.
You don’t have the translation? (Yes, we do.) You do? (They do. Yes.) You don’t? (They do. Yes.) You do? (They have.) I saw somebody doesn’t have? You do have? Oh, it’s good, OK, wonderful. You can share with a neighbor if you have only one. I’m sorry, sometimes I speak different languages. This is a very complicated world. So at that moment… Now, you see? Think back from when you were little until now, while you are living out this human life. Many times, even before practicing the Quan Yin Method, it’s already like that. Sometimes while sitting there, you may suddenly feel as if you are thinking of something which you don’t remember you have ever done before, yet somehow you know it. Or sometimes you think about doing something in the future, and suddenly you feel afraid of it. We call that the sixth sense. The sixth sense tells you, “You shouldn’t do that. You shouldn’t do that.” Do you Chinese understand? Is there translation? (Yes.) Yes? If not, just forget it. There’s nothing I can do, either. You should have asked them before I came. People speak all kinds of languages here; there’s nothing I can do.
Sometimes when you are about to do something, you suddenly think, “Oh, this won’t work. This definitely won’t work.” Suddenly you know it won’t work. But you haven’t even done it yet, so how do you know it won’t work? Some people say that is the sixth sense. Some people say it comes from the experiences of our past lives, that the experiences from previous lifetimes remain with us. Actually, that’s not quite right. That’s just how people say it. It is explained as the subconscious, or as the accumulated experiences of past existences, or even of future existences. But in reality, there are no past lives and no future lives. The life of a human being is an endless, infinite chain. It is just because we separate them as the past and the future; it’s because we choose to see them that way. We choose to do that so that we can have distinct experiences, separated into different compartments, one by one.
It’s like a house: we divide it into separate rooms, but in reality, it’s still the same house. Before we divided it, it was just empty space. And if we want to tear down the walls, it becomes empty space again. We divide it so we can have separate areas to do different things. It’s the same with the everlasting life of a human being. For a being – not just a human, but any sentient being – its existence has many compartments like that. But in truth it is just one infinite, endless chain. An endless chain, but while we live in the present moment, the past and the future are also there, because there is actually no time and no space. Time and space are things we choose to be like that, so that we can live as human beings, so that we can do the things we want to do right now. Because if we could do everything, past and future all at once, it would be too boring. It wouldn’t be the experience we want. We want it this way.
We choose to come down here at this moment and live as a human being. Later on, if we choose to be an Immortal or a Buddha, we choose another stage. And if we choose to be a ghost or a spirit, we choose another stage. We close the door of time. We close the door of space. We choose a particular area in which to live as a human, or a ghost, or a spirit, or an Immortal. But in reality, the life of all sentient beings is one endless chain – infinitely long. And everything is contained within this very moment. There is really no past, no future, and no present. We simply choose one angle of life in order to carry out the program we want to experience – or to experiment with something we want to try. We just like it that way. We like to do it so that we can know. Ah, this is very difficult! It’s very difficult. Maybe explaining it in English would be easier. This kind of thing is actually easier to lecture in English. (It’s very clear, Master.) Very clear, huh? (Very clear.)
So while you are living as a human being, you are also a Saint, a Buddha, all at the same time. You just don’t know it. If you don’t know, too bad. But actually, if at the same time we know that we are Saints or Buddhas, then we wouldn’t be able to fully carry out our role as human beings. Do you understand? (Yes.) It wouldn’t work. Because… You don’t know anything yet and are already clapping so loudly. …Because whatever we do, we have to put our whole heart and energy into it, so that we can experience its full flavor and depth. If we already know we are a Buddha, then, my goodness, how could we sit there and cry because our husband left? Understand? (Yes.) We could not cry our heart out. Right. So if we cannot cry our heart out, then we can’t truly experience the suffering of a wife who has been adandoned. Then we wouldn’t be able to fully carry out the role we’ve created for ourselves – the role we’re using as an experiment to see and learn for ourselves.
We experience it for ourselves so we can understand just how deep suffering can go. Then, later on, when people talk about the pain of being abandoned, we’ll truly understand that suffering. Then we can sympathize with them and find a way to help them, because we have already walked that road. Because if a Buddha just sits there all the time, there wouldn’t be anything for Him to do. He doesn’t feel pain and suffering, isn’t worried about anything – well, that is fine too. If we choose that path, it’s also OK. But many people choose to taste all kinds of bitterness in life just for enjoyment. Because in the endless eternity of the Universe, if we don’t choose to do this today and something else tomorrow, life would be boring to death. (Yes.) Today the husband leaves you, tomorrow you leave the husband. That makes life interesting. You don’t understand? (We understand.) OK, OK. Then you understand. (Yes.) You understand.
For example, suppose there is a Buddha sitting here. (Yes.) Just an example, don’t say I’m tricking you. Suppose there is a Buddha sitting here and He chooses to become human. But if while being human He still thinks that He is a Buddha, then if his wife or husband leaves him, what would happen? He would just think: “Well, if they leave, they leave. I’ll find another partner tomorrow. Life is eternal anyway.” And if He looks into the future and sees a better partner coming soon, He might say, “Go ahead, go ahead, go ahead.” Then there would be no crying anymore. Do you understand? (Yes.)
Let’s use a simpler example. For example, the actors. Suppose an actor… which one? Which actor do you like the most here? For example, Clint Eastwood. (Yes.) For example. Or Liz Taylor. When she played Cleopatra, she had to use all her spirit, energy, attention, and understanding to fully express that role. If she kept remembering that she was Liz Taylor, she would not be able to act properly. Do you understand? (Yes.) Because Liz Taylor in Beverly Hills had many husbands already. That’s different. Right? (Yes.) Then she remembers how her husband left her, and she sits there crying her heart out, sobbing over the whole thing. How could she possibly play Cleopatra convincingly? See? (Yes.) When she acts, she must become Cleopatra completely. When we put it that way, you understand immediately, right? (Yes.)
The same with Buddhas and Heaven. When we play the role of human beings, we must play it one hundred percent. If we keep remembering we are Buddhas or Heavenly beings, we could never act as humans. Buddhas and Gods are great beings with vast powers. How could they sit there crying miserably because a husband left? Understand? (Yes.) So that’s why we choose to forget. So that’s why, when I tell you that you are Buddhas, that you are saints, you don’t really know what I’m talking about – because you have chosen to forget who you truly are. Now you’re tired of it, there’s nothing special about being human. Too boring. Not a not very interesting path to choose. You’d like to choose again. So now you choose to return to being a saint, to being a Buddha. Or maybe you have been human for so long, repeating this kind of life again and again, and unable to get out of it. We feel bored already, there’s nothing interesting about [this path]; we want to return to clarity and wisdom, so we choose to follow the Quan Yin path. That’s all.
You can see for yourself, a human life is extremely difficult. (Yes.) Remember when we were first born? Totally helpless. We depended on our parents for everything. (Yes.) Pocket money and everything, we had to ask for it. Even fixing a bicycle tire we have to ask them again and again. When we were young, pocket money was never enough. Food was never enough either. When we were teenagers, we ate a lot. Even that was already troublesome, right? Parents told us what to eat and we had to eat it. Usually newborn children don’t like (animal-people) meat, but parents force them. Do you remember? A baby drinks (mother’s) milk and that’s fine. But when they first try to feed the baby (animal-people) meat, the baby spits it out everywhere. They spit it out again and again, but the parents keep stuffing it back in. When the child is hungry, they don’t give (mother’s) milk, and when it’s meal time, they stuff food into the mouth, so the child has to eat. (Yes.)
Normally, children don’t like (animal-people) meat. For example, our own children, the children of the fellow practitioners who have received initiation. They have been vegan since they were in the womb. Then when they went out into the world, they were still very young and didn’t know anything, and someone accidentally gave them (animal-people) meat. They wouldn’t eat it. They would say, “This smells bad.” If they were given shrimp, they would say it smelled fishy and wouldn’t eat it. Sometimes even vegan shrimp that smells fishy, they refuse also. Who taught them? No one can force them. They were just little children. Three or four, five years old. You remember? (Yes.) Yes. That’s because that’s human nature. People are born kind and pure at heart, but over time they become influenced and conditioned by society. People learn bad habits from each other. All the bad habits get passed on between people. Good things are rarely passed along. So as we grow older, we become worse. Eventually we become numb and lose our sensitivity. We don’t know which path is good and which is bad anymore.
Alright. Looks like there will be some performances now. I see people wearing costumes out there. Alright, let’s stop here so they can perform. (Yes.) Do you have any more questions? (Yes.) Let the ladies go up and show off their beautiful clothes. If I sit here too long, people will start disliking me. Anyone else have a question? People from Canada, are you all done? OK? If anyone still has a question, ask quickly. The others are busy dressing up and want to go on stage to show off a little. Sitting here makes me feel ticklish. (Master, Your haircut looks very nice this time.) Ah, thank you. It’s cooler this way. Life isn’t that long anyway, why keep long hair? Life isn’t permanent. Life is impermanent. So we change things once in a while to keep it interesting. (Yes.) Alright? Finished?
How many performances are there, Hòa? Who organized the dancing and singing? Where? Where will they perform? Here? Where should we sit, Hòa? What are we doing here? Say quickly. Go ahead and introduce it. (Yes.) (Introduce it.) (Hoàng Phi has a song to respectfully dedicate to You, Master.) OK. (Also, the writer Kỳ Nam wrote a piece called “Journey to the Heavenly Kingdom,” which talks about Your spiritual journey, Master.) Kỳ Nam? (Yes. And this journalist has also written articles strongly supporting You all this time. I’m presenting them to You.) OK, thank you. (Yes.) Later, OK, because there’s too much here, I can’t read all of it while sitting here. (Yes, just for You to have a look.) Is it very good? (Yes, very good.) Really? OK, OK. If it’s good, then share it with the fellow practitioners to read. OK? (Yes. He’s also asking Your permission to publish it.) Publish it? (Yes.) I don’t know. (Yes.) If you… (Yes.) Why do you need my permission? (Because this also talks about Your Quan Yin Method, Master.) Oh, is that so? (Yes.) You read it and report. (Yes.) I’ll read it later. OK. (Yes.)
Photo Caption: “All Praying to GODALMIGHTY, Thanking HIERS LOVE”
