He has been a Buddha long, long, long time already, but then He he sacrificed His Buddhahood. So He returned to normal beings again so that he could transmigrate with all beings to help this suffering existence, to elevate them, to help them, to sow affinity with them so that He could help them in the future.
“And the bad king, Ba La Bà Bạt Đi, heard about that, came out and greeted the Brahmin who came back and said, ‘Have you been able to get the eyes of the king?’ He said, ‘Yes. Now I can see everything and see very far just like him.’ ‘And is the King Pleasant Eyes dead or not?’ ‘Your Majesty, when they took the eyes from his sockets, it was very painful and he lost a lot of blood. Blood was soaking all over his body; it looked very, very terrible and frightening. But many heavenly beings came down and asked him, doubted his intention, so he vowed that if he was sincere, then his eyes would return to him. And then it was really like that, his eyes returned to him and even looked even better than before.’ After the King Ba La Bà Bạt Đi, a bad Ba La Bà Bạt bad king heard that, he was so angry. His heart was broken, his real heart broken, dropped dead.” He deserved it. Meaning, he deserved it. “After this...” That's I say, not the Buddha, no, no. I'm bad, bad Master. Maybe it's not your Master says, it's the Maya somewhere here. But he’s a bad king, what for he lives? He made his people suffer so much, right? And almost lost the country and almost blood will be flowing everywhere because of war. Innocent people would die because of him. So if he dies, one person... (Save millions.) It's a good cause. (Save millions.) Save millions, yeah! Otherwise a lot of refugees and a lot of troubles for the neighboring countries as well, almost like now.
“So, the Buddha reminded Ananda thus: ‘Ananda, you should know.’” You know already, right? “‘You all should know that the Pleasant Eyes King at that time was no one else but I, myself. And the Brahmin, the ex-blind Brahmin before was the ex-blind bhiksu now that already attained Arhat. In the former life, through my good heart, he had gained his eyesight and in this lifetime not only he regained his eyesight also, but also he has his Wisdom Eye too, from me. Life after life, I also have been doing similar sacrifices so that I can gather merits, like mountains and rivers, countless merits, so that I can become Buddha. Because of all these gathering merits, so I became Buddha. Therefore, all of you should also be diligent in practicing and aspire to the highest goal of Buddhahood.’ Everyone heard the Buddha say it thus; everyone was so touched with his immense compassion and love. Therefore, their hearts were open and sincere, so many people attained different levels of spiritual consciousness. Everyone prostrated to the Buddha and left.” The story ends.
My God! And the book's not ended yet. Lots of stories. But we stop now. And you come and drink and tomorrow maybe we joke again and read another story again. Less scary tomorrow, less scary. But even the scary story also helps us to know that whatever we suffer is nothing compared to the Buddha's sacrifices. Such a great courage person! But do you think that the Buddha really needs all these sacrifices to become Buddha? (No.) No? Why? Tell me. Why not? (Because He just did something good for others and...) Where's the microphone? Because everybody wants to listen to your wisdom! Why doesn't…? Why did the Buddha not need to do all this in order to become Buddha? If you say no, then why did He do it? Why did He do all these sacrifices? (Just because the Buddha had the unlimited love for all beings and when others wanted, He just gave. Not He wanted do this just for Buddhahood. And doing this kind of things, this guy can have affinity with Buddha and later He has the chance to be initiated and to be liberated.) Correct. So you have heard very well these days. (Thank you, Master.) I thought you were sleeping, but you were listening with your wisdom ears. Good, good, bravo! Very good. Can I keep this? Continue drinking later, because here I'm shy. At home, I will go... (Thank You, Master.) That is correct. The Buddha has done all that, behaved like a normal king, or like an animal even, just to sow good affinity seeds with other beings. Otherwise, it's not... It looks like He just became the Buddha 2,000 some years ago, or almost 3,000 years ago, looks like that. It appeared like that in our history. And He also wanted people to think like that. Mostly He would not explain. Maybe He explained somewhere else. But it's not the first time that He became Buddha. But He did all this, appearing as a normal person and then gathering merits and all that, no. He had become Buddha, I don't know, ever since time did not even exist yet. He has been a Buddha long, long, long time already, but then He he sacrificed His Buddhahood. So He returned to normal beings again so that he could transmigrate with all beings to help this suffering existence, to elevate them, to help them, to sow affinity with them so that He could help them in the future. Otherwise, no one, no ordinary being can be liberated from suffering so easily like that. Even Buddha has to do so many things like that to become a Buddha again. He was the Buddha, but then he sacrificed Buddhahood to become an ordinary being, even becoming animals. Therefore, you see, if I read you all the stories about Buddha. There's one story in here that he was a Khuda the animal with the golden fur and emitted golden light. What kind of animal would emit golden light? It's not a normal animal. You see what I mean? And then, but in other times he also appeared as just a normal animal, too. But even then, the heart is noble, the behavior is not normal, you see? So you never know. He sacrificed His Buddhahood to roll back into existence, into suffering existence, in order to sow affinity with all beings. All Buddhas do that. Therefore, we have to thank all of them, really.
We really, really are grateful. And we're grateful more to Shakyamuni Buddha and Ananda, so we can hear all these stories. Otherwise, we have many religions, but we don't always hear good stories like these, true stories. Except today, sometimes you tell me, you tell everybody your experiences inside, your own experiences, then we could also write it. “Thus I have heard. The Master Ching Hai was at one time in SMC. And there were 1,200 great assembly, including monks and nuns from Korea and Formosa (Taiwan) and China, etc., etc.” You know what I mean? It's similar, understand? Similar. Except in the Buddha's time, whoever believed in Buddha, their minds were more pure, Their faith was unshakeable, because these had good affinity with the Buddha, many lifetimes. And at that time, the people were still pure, life was more simple. It's good to have TV and internet and all that, but then it also occupies a lot of our time and elevates, heightens more our intellectual capacity. And therefore it dims somehow … Dims, dims, lowers our spiritual aspiraton somewhat. Also all this poisonous air and water, vegetables, whatever these days, are not very conducive to our purity, and our sincerity of spirit has been hampered somehow. But we do have experiences, too. Many people see your Master flying everywhere in different Heavens and different situations, helping different people. Yeah, it's similar. Except we don't say, “Thus I have heard” because Ananda is not here. Yes, similar like that.
So the Buddha had not become Buddha just under the Bodhi Tree 2,000-3,000 years ago. No. How many maybe? (2558.) 2558, more or less 2,000 and half, 2,500-plus years ago. It's not the first time that He became Buddha. How can a person, even merits from many lifetimes, have a lot of merits become a Buddha just like that? No. He already has been a Buddha. He just sacrificed it. Just like a Master coming from the Fifth Level, They also sacrificed Their comfort and bliss to come down to become human again, be born and grow up and go to school and marry and have children or not have children, suffering like everybody else, sick and get old and all that. But They came from the Fifth Heaven, came down to help us. Jesus Christ, Prophet Mohammed, (Peace be upon Him) Guru Nanak, Mahavira, Krishna, etc., etc., They all have been from Nirvana. Otherwise nobody can be enlightened so quickly in one lifetime. Not to such an extent, except you have the great Master to help you, pushing you up, lifting you. But these Masters who have become Masters, They have always been Masters. OK? All right.
So, thank you very much, all the Bodhisattvas. (Thank You, Master.) We do appreciate, I do appreciate your sacrifice. You have to get up early and go to bed late, and miss much of the fun. I appreciate that very much. Every day like that for a month or two months, three months, before and now. And you pay your ticket like everybody else. But you came, just work, work, work, mostly work. I really appreciate that and I'm glad to have this opportunity to say thank you in this way. (Thank You, Master.) Everybody appreciates you, I think. All the disciples appreciate you. If they don't, then we don't care. If you need some of these (vegan) cakes because you want to go home or you want to eat, it’s OK. We can buy more, all right? (Thank You, Master.) Any one of you all have blankets and enough? (Yes.) For this situation? (Yes.) Because maybe you didn't prepare. If you need more blankets like this, you tell the supplier, OK? They’re very cheap. I can buy for all of you, whatever you need. Extra. Did you hear? Hallo! (Yes.) You can buy. Anybody that needs something extra because they didn't prepare to stay long, you can buy for them. OK, then. (Thank You, Master.)
Beautiful people, I'll go now. (Thank you, Master.) Give some (vegan) snacks to my dog. And maybe for the cat. “Do not enter.” Why? (Earlier, that's from earlier.) Earlier? The women, as many as can, up. Then, as many as can down here, men also. You come and go wherever there’s spare… because sometimes it's cold, sometimes it rains. Can go in. If you have to, come in, OK? (OK.) If not, stay outside of course, it’s more fresh air and everything. Bye, beautiful. (Bye.) No pain? No? Old people, no pain, nothing? Have any pain? (No.) Rheumatism, knees? (No.) Elbow? (No.) Here? OK, good then. (Thank You, Master.) Because I have some medicine if you need, OK? (OK.) And the food, the dried food, in the cupboard, can take and use. Use them and if needed, can buy again. My kitchen or your kitchen, no problem. Bye. (Bye.) Thank you for all your love.
