The Buddha, of course, I told you before long time ago, that after asking all of His top disciples and Bodhisattvas which method, they all listed their method of their first enlightenment. And then the Quan Yin Bodhisattva, Quan Shi Yin, also listed this method, which is the hearing method.
What was it then? You see that? That’s the proof that I’m getting old. What? What was it before? (Change the law.) Change the law. Changing the law it’s not like, “OK, I go to change the law because I’m the president.” They will ask you why. What will the Philippines gain from it? Our people already need to have employment outside. Why do you want to take these helpless people, and no home, no money? And you don’t even know them. What are they going to do to our country? Or whether or not they’d be good or bad or anything. So, it’s not that easy. And then you also have your opposite position. And every country, they have some socialist party also, in the Philippines also. And that, of course, that will be against the decision. But the Catholic Church, the Council of the Catholic Church in the Christian bodies, the governing body, the priests, the Cardinals, and all these benevolent people, they urged the government to take them because at that time, nobody wanted to take any more Aulacese (Vietnamese) refugees.
It was just repatriation. It was the end of all refugee benevolent programs. So only 5000 were going to go back to Âu Lạc (Vietnam). And you could see in newspapers, they killed themselves, they punched their stomachs with knives and they cut their throats; they did anything just to protest. Some of them did that. I even had to visit them in the hospital. Some of them survived but hardly, almost dying. Or they went on a hunger strike just to protest because they were so fearful to go back. I told you, all the propaganda really worked.
Of course, advertisements work. That’s why they spend, all the big companies, they spend millions of billions to advertise. It also affects me. Normally, I don’t like to drink any Coca-Cola or anything like that, but sometimes, I watch on TV. I remember there is such a thing as Coca-Cola and OK, I want one, fine. Why spend all day thinking of Coca-Cola? Just drink one and you’re peaceful, (Yes.) and carry on with your work. OK, that’s what I thought. It’s not true. I asked them to buy me one or two and then I drank just a few mouthfuls only and I didn’t feel good, nothing. So, I covered it with the plastic around it, and then I plugged the hole, put it in the fridge.
OK, next time if I’m incited again by some magic propaganda on TV or so, I have to sometimes watch it, I don’t know how. But it just will come to your… and then I will drink it, and it tastes even worse because it’s been there for weeks already. It tastes only like sugar, flat and sugar water and bitter and I don’t know what, and I say, “Yuck,” and I spit it out. I put it back again in the fridge. I did that on purpose.
Yeah, carry on laughing. Why? You are allowed to laugh or not. Does it say anything outside (that) you are not allowed to? I like to hear your laughter, it’s good, it creates good energy. They have laughing yoga, no? I combine. I always combine business with pleasure to make you laugh. I don’t have a laughing yoga officially here, but you laugh all the time.
That’s good. You guys are too polite. I guess the westerners are very shy. If I talk to the Aulacese (Vietnamese) directly or the Chinese, they will laugh so much. Next time you don’t laugh, you go behind there and the Chinese come here. Make sure you are heard. I don’t hear anything! Are you laughing or not? (Yes.) I hear nothing. (Yes.) I don’t hear yet. (Yes.) OK. (Thank You so much.) All right, you’re welcome.
What was it then before? (Coca-Cola.) Coca-Cola? I did that on purpose. Normally, I did not know that the first few times; I am just very economical. If I can’t eat the leftover, I save it for next time. But now I know that it doesn’t taste good especially second-hand Coca-Cola. So, I will put it in the fridge again. I did it now on purpose because the longer you save it, the worse it tastes, so that the illusion will be gone. Good, good. But still sometimes, they advertise or do something then I still want it or maybe somebody near me that likes to drink Coca-Cola. I’m telling you, they affect you. Yeah!
I don’t really like (vegan) pizza so much. In Italy, sometimes I go, if I have to go out and nothing else, it’s easier then, because you can order them not to put anything. But the spaghetti, you don’t know; some spaghetti has egg in it, some spaghetti doesn’t have. So only if you buy it or make it yourself, then you know for sure. If you go into the restaurant to eat spaghetti, you’re never sure. That’s why I don’t. I just have pizza, it’s simple. You can’t just sit in the restaurant or in a café shop waiting for somebody and just drink water. People are eating all around you and you take up a table and you eat nothing? Next time you come in they’ll say, “We’re full.” (Take out.) You can’t. Even if there are many tables empty they’ll say, “We’re full.” If you ask about that table, “Oh, it’s reserved.” Now what was that then? What?
Yeah, pizza also I don’t feel like; I’m not really a fan of pizza. And nowadays, even in our kitchen, sometimes they make (vegan) pizza and they give some to me. I take a few bites and then the dogs will enjoy it. So they think Master eats a lot, next time they give me more, more pizza. The dogs are happy.
But when somebody is near me, who are pizza fanatics, then I will want pizza every day and I will eat the whole pizza, the whole big one. Originally, I promised, like OK, I’ll just take a few bites and I will give you the rest. As usual, I thought it was the usual stuff. When no dogs are around, who else will eat the whole big pizza like that? Self, Master, the Great Self ate the whole pizza, swallowed the promise.
And then I remembered and said, “Oh, sorry, I ate them all. I ate it all.” You guys can always go out and buy it, right? It’s no problem. They say, “Oh, of course, no problem, Master.” They said no problem but they were thinking, “Oh, Master, She says She doesn’t like pizza and look at Her. She ate the whole pizza. Didn’t give us anything, not even a crumb left.” The Great Self ate it, with no shame, nothing, enjoyed only. I’m glad with somebody like that nearby sometimes, so some chance that I can enjoy something.
Just like in India, I had to drink tea every day - chai. I had to drink chai every day. There was plenty in the ashram. Even if food was not left over but always chai. So I bought some noodles and they had hot chai. I didn’t have anything to cook water; I was not allowed in the kitchen. I mean, the kitchen had nothing to cook. After they cooked, they just moved everything away. So I used a hot chai and put the noodles in it, (Wow.) and instant noodles. There was only one instant noodle I could eat, curry noodle, only one. The rest were not vegan. And I put it in there, covered it, (with) my cup, in the chai and then it took a longer time to soften, but it would soften and it was still enjoyable. So if you go to India, you can do that. Good tip, that’s how I survived. Because sometimes, if I worked and then I’d go into the dining room, nothing left. Or just a few pieces of salad that they didn’t want.
My God, I talk a lot. From Âu Lạc (Vietnam) to the Philippines, to India. What was that before? You seem to always know everything. (Coca-cola.) Huh? (Coca-cola.) Coca-cola, pizza. What I mean is the propaganda really works. (Yes.) Propaganda or the energy of other people around you.
Because energy is energy, you can’t forbid it to come to you, to come into your magnetic field. That’s why some societies, they just go away from the hustle bustle of the world and they just stay together. Like the Essenes society. Like the Amish people, they don’t interact too much with the world, except what’s necessary. They stay together, they keep their faith strong. Their energy, the way they want it. That’s how monks and nuns’ orders came into realization, because they just want to be away. And if you want to be away, then you have to reorganize your life to downsize your expenses and your needs. So, the monks and nuns just wear simple, just one type of clothes. One or two pairs and then if you can’t have money, then you go begging for food or go digging some, taking some buds or some lotus shoots, something like that, to pass your time.
And then you can use your time to be together with the like-minded, simple, spiritual, pure. But not everybody becomes a monk or nun really realizing what they are wanting and they will go astray also. You see what I’m saying? And then, instead of following the purity of God devotion, they go astray and they become maybe somehow superstitious or doing this and this. Mixing things, so it’s not the same. And then the maya will use their desire or their ambition to lead them astray.
On the retreat, maybe we have more time, I will read you that. I will explain and read all kinds of maya that come to you, all kinds of devils that come and tempt you, and how you would become and how you can prevent it. From the Buddhist Surangama Sutra. That sutra is precious. It said that, when the Dharma-ending Age, like Buddha passed away too long ago, then that Dharma will be the first to disappear. That sutra will be the first to disappear. That’s a very precious one. Inside there is much advice. Inside are many Bodhisattvas, many of His top disciples talking about which meditation method is the best, the most suitable for the great souls and the medium souls and the lower souls alike. I mean, low level spiritually. There’s no such thing as low soul, high soul. It’s just more awareness, OK? Higher awareness or medium awareness or lower awareness souls. That’s what it is.
The Buddha, of course, I told you before long time ago, that after asking all of His top disciples and Bodhisattvas which method, they all listed their method of their first enlightenment. And then the Quan Yin Bodhisattva, Quan Shi Yin, also listed this method, which is the hearing method. And then, one of His top disciples, I can’t remember the name now, then summarized that and said, of course, still after all, The (inner Heavenly) Sound method, the hearing method, the reverting, the hearing method is still the best, most suitable, and lasting, and most reliable.
Because everything else, like, if you rely on the nose to smell to be enlightened, rely on the breath to be enlightened, everything else is not reliable. If there is no smell, then how are you going to practice? For example, like that. And if there’s no sensation of touching, then you cannot be enlightened, no? That’s what the Buddhas and the Bodhisattva were discussing in that sutra as well. So, that sutra, I like very much. It’s compact with the method of enlightenment, the best one, the most reliable, and the quickest, and combines also how to recognize if you are going astray, and why you are going astray, and how you can rescue yourself. Retreat, if you come, I will have more time to read it and explain it to you. Right now.
Oh, the Buddha is nowhere to be seen, poor Buddha. Oh God! Looks like we’re having all-day retreat here. What was it? Never mind. We go back to the white hair. I have plenty. I have plenty of white hair. But I didn’t have to wait for the white hair to remind me. I didn’t have to live 84,000 years in order to know that.
The Buddha, of course, He lived long in order to have more affinity with all beings. The more He lived, the more He could make affinities, and then later, when He became Buddha, He could help them more. All right, now. Even at that time, he wasn’t a Buddha, but he was kind of a deva king. So, his name is Makhadeva.
Now, the Buddha saw the white hair, he became very anxious already. So, right, he knew his time was not long. But it was not like that. He still had 84 more thousand years, more or less, to live on. Not like he would die soon, like in ten years or a hundred years even. No! 84,000 more years. Well, 84, it means a lot but doesn’t mean exactly 84,000, OK? In India, at that time, seems like they had this certain number fixed. If a lot, they said 500, and a lot more, 2000. A lot more, then 84,000. So, the Buddha always mentioned like, the Dharma teaching has 84,000 doors, 84,000 methods. And the six scriptures, 84,000 kalpas, 84,000 lives, or 90,000 you know, they do like that. It’s a fixed number. And if it’s a lot, a lot more than they can think of, they say it’s innumerous. Just like us right now, we say numerous.
