Chapter Eight Natural Achievement without any Desire for Reward
The music was played. You accompanied the music to sing and your singing was recorded. Later, you play back the recording. "I did not catch the beat. It was too quick there and too slow here. I was out of key this place." However, you were unaware of that at the time of singing. You look back to examine whether you kept up with the music or not. Old Zhang knew she should harmonize with the music and follow the melody. This is a kind of self-consciousness, which proves she had some training. She revealed this kind of skill-- "in harmony with nature". If you don’t sing often, you won’t have this kind of awareness.
We exhibit this kind of poise on this thing. But do we have this kind of poise on other things? Old Zhang cooked pretty well in the past two days. I think she was no worse than Old Liu. Especially one day we hadn’t tasted the dishes. Yet we did not know who cooked the dishes. However, that dish, Three Freshness on the Ground, showed that the cook had a lot of love. She must have had a lot of love. Look at that dish, its appearance and taste. Its texture showed that the cook had a lot of love. Why? The good taste of that dish demands full attention of the cook. It means that her mind was completely focused on the dish. That dish was truly like that. Is what I am saying right? However, the Three Freshness on the Ground next day decreased fifteen points because she did not do it well. She felt confident, thinking that it would be like last time. However, when you felt a little confident, we had it and decided that you only got eighty-five points out of a hundred. Because she was praised, she couldn’t do it well in her next cooking. This is our unstableness.
All right. As long as you are motivated, I will feel it. Who can feel why you want to do it or why you don’t want to do it? Why are you willing to do it and why are you reluctant? It is a lie to say that I can’t feel your emotions. The faculty of awareness is naturally furnished! The faculty of awareness is not lacked! If your mind is not on this, you will have no awareness; as soon as your mind is on this, he (the master) will feel. Often times your mind is not set on realizing something (or being aware of something), but on gain or loss as well as on "Me". Realization is aloof from "Me". When your mind is on "Me", your gain or loss will fall on "Me". Then, you will not make a good judgment. This is a bad quality of humans. It is what was stated by the old generation, "not knowing what’s good for you". The most precious thing for humans is to know your place and appreciate it.
Recently, I handled Jian Li with a kind of special method as far as this issue is concerned. Before that, I used a kind of special method to handle Sister Cong. Sister Cong got awakened at the fastest pace. Her Base Line now is only next to Wu-lai in our entire Buddhist place. One by one. I am counting the true ones. As far as the level of Base Line is concerned, even though you may be less intelligent or educated, which means that your Upper Line is not high, the gap between your Base Line and Upper Line won’t be big. Sometimes our views are extraordinary so our Upper Line is very high. But what about our Base Line? It is in the Realm of Desire, the First Realm. In this light, the Middle Line is still not high. Similarly, you may graduate from a college with a diploma, but you can’t recite the multiplication table. How can it work? You can’t even pass an elementary school’s test. Most of us are in this state in terms of spiritual cultivation. It means that there is a big gap between the Upper Line and the Base Line. Therefore, the Middle Line is in a very low position. Can you understand what I have said? However, for those stable and down-to-earth people, although they don’t have great intelligence so their Upper Line is not high, they acknowledge every word they have heard and execute it. Therefore their Base Line is likely to be high and the gap between their Upper Line and Base Line is not big.
Jian Li has been treated like a stepchild since the Chinese New Year. I did not criticize her, nor did I praise her. I just ignored her. Then she cultivated the true self out. Can spiritual cultivation be faked? She did not depend on my affection, nor did she depend on my favor, or my adoration. I even did not give her any candy personally. Over here, everyone sweeps the floor, waters plants, and works hard. Everyone gets tired from hard working. In the morning you go to chop the firewood and bring it back. You have some tea in my room. I may serve you some delicious snack. Did she ever have that? No. A self-respected person will always remember the respect he receives. This kind of person is called the one who does not have a low-down disposition. But the one who is not satisfied at what he has got is merely a person with a low-down disposition. This kind of low-down disposition is worth nothing! You don’t have a lot of chances to get it, but you don’t care about or are unaware of it when you get it. When you are dying, you will realize that you haven’t got anything. You failed your life.
Therefore, it is the hardest thing for humans to respect themselves or regard themselves as humans. This is the hardest thing. We have this power: when you regard yourself as a human, you are a human; when you regard yourself as a ghost, you are a ghost; when you regard yourself as a dog, you are a dog; when you regard yourself as a thief, you are a thief. You are as whatever you regard yourself. This is what I said that "human’s heart is originally in Buddha’s nature". Human’s heart is originally in the highest quality. If you want to regard yourself as Buddha, you are Buddha. When you say you are a Buddha, is your heart Buddha’s heart? Buddha’s heart won’t be focused on "Me". Buddha’s heart is focused on "the public". If you are focused on "Me", that is devil’s heart. You don’t need to argue. That kind of heart can’t even compete with "animal’s heart" because animals don’t have a strong sense of "Me". All animals don’t have the conception of "Me". Insects don’t have a strong sense of "Me" either. It is just humans who have the strong sense of "Me". But we can completely eliminate it. What do you regard yourself? You don’t respect yourself. When can you start to respect yourself? Haven’t others given you a chance to respect yourself yet? If you fall into this state, you are done. No matter who you are.
Look at Jian Li. Look at Sister Cong. They are your models. Sister Li took care of that mentally ill patient. She has got a lot of chances to see me since the Chinese New Year. She has seen me three times altogether. Her lesson now is different from Sister Cong. What is her lesson about? She is smarter than Sister Cong so she is more stealthy-minded. Therefore she is unstable. It needs more effort to adjust her unstable heart. Brother Yang (Sister Li’s husband) is here. Is my judgment of your wife right? Although her Upper Line is higher than Sister Cong’s, her Base Line is lower than Sister Cong’s. Now, their Middle Lines are equal basically. All are created by themselves. It won’t work if you persist in your own way. As far as this issue is concerned, what do you think how to cultivate your qualities? How to cultivate your qualities?
People often times think that they know something but in fact, they don’t really know it. This thing blocks you from advancing. It is an obstacle that decreases your opportunity to understand yourself and respect others. If you can drop one more "of-course" thought or one more self-assumption, your realization will develop. Without such an attitude, it is difficult for you to live a good life in this world even though others may be very nice to you, not to speak that others may not be nice to you. Where is the Law of Cause and Effect (the Law of Retribution) ? If you are not nice to others, how can they be nice to you? If you don’t care about anybody, how will anybody care about you? I don’t believe that will happen. Is that right? Feeling is a matter of reciprocal relationship. However, sometimes we may feel unfair. Look at what Ting-yu said. "They all receive stipend at their disposal. How come I don’t? Do you think the people in the mountain are fair? Is that fair? I think that Wu-lai does not treat me fairly either. How come they all have nice clothes but I don’t?" I replied: "Child, perhaps everyone is more fortunate than you. Who got kicked out of school twice like you? Who got thrown out of home like you? Who got beat up by his family and told to get lost like a dog? However, your quality is the worst compared to other children. You are abandoned. It is my blindness to keep you who don’t know your place! What else do you want? A position as high as others’? People are born with different status." Your past acts decide how much you have in this life. What is the use for you to compare yourself with others? The more you compare, the more you feel unfair. Look at the Inner Court of ancient emperors’ palaces in China. Have any concubines who know their place been consigned to limbo? When you get the upper hand, you may become small-minded and don’t make room for anybody. Please remember that this will be an inauspicious moment for you. Nothing can last forever. Don’t you see history pass by incessantly, one generation by another? O.K. When someone gets the upper hand, he very likely loses his popularity gradually. People tend to think that they are exceptional. This is how people are.
People need to make room for others and provide some convenience for others. When you provide convenience for all the people, will they all refuse to provide you any convenience? I don’t believe that will happen. Is that possible? Don’t they have to give you some? Even if you get a half, fifty percent of convenience should be enough for you! Wouldn’t this benefit both you and others? But I am afraid that we don’t think that way. If we don’t care about others, we don’t have the right to ask others to care about us! If we don’t help others, we don’t have the right to ask others to help us. If we are not nice or honest to others, we don’t have the right to ask others to be nice and honest to us. This is an absolute principle. God does not interfere in this matter. He has assigned the task to the Yama King (Yamaraja). The Yama King is the incarnation of Lord Siva. He is like the director of a mediation committee who was sent to this material world by Lord Siva to execute the Law of Cause and Effect. He is in charge of this—causes and effects (retribution). The Yama King is an incarnation of Buddha, absolutely at the level of Buddha. And he is scrupulous about every detail. Do not complain it is unfair. It won’t be wrong.
I have emphasized in the lectures of the past two days that you do not need to worry you may make mistakes. It is not a grave thing if you make mistakes. The most important thing is whether we detect our mistakes. When we find out we have made mistakes, do we try to cover them up and defend for our wrongdoing as if it is right? That won’t work. Even if you succeed in talking the wrong into the right, you can’t escape the retribution. The cause must be followed by its effect (or retribution). This is a Cause-and-effect world. If a Buddhist cultivator forgets this, he will be done. You must be on the alert constantly.
This world is furnished with the nature of resistance and the nature of controlling. It constantly shows the nature of controlling. If you don’t believe it, it will fix you. But if we know to fix ourselves, we will reduce the frequency of being fixed. If we don’t want to fix ourselves, we will be fixed. This cause-and-effect law is not lenient. Therefore, a certain kind of realization is always manifested in our harmonious relationship with others, our mutual caring, and our mutual respect. Do not self-assume that we respect others. What is the use of your own assumption? Does it mean that we did not make a mistake when we think that we did not make a mistake? Will that Yama King let you get away? That’s absolutely not true! In fact, it is impossible that we don’t know our wrongdoing. We must know it. What’s the matter with wrongdoing? What’s the big deal? Making a mistake is not a big concern. Refusing to correct it is a more serious issue. Being indifferent to your mistakes is another big concern. It is a very serious issue if you know you have done something wrong but don’t want to correct it. For anyone who has obtained more precious things, the less he appreciates them, the more he will suffer from a misfortune. Because of this low-down quality, he would be placed to the lowest level first. This is how things go.
The Creator has a kind of very very strict and harsh penal code. You may know that bees may sting people. But when the owner of bees goes to pour out the honey, they won’t sting him. But if the one who goes to dump the honey is not the owner, they should sting that person. If an outsider goes to steal the honey, he deserves to be stung. If the owner comes to get the honey and gets stung by a bee, this bee will suffer retribution. If the purpose of stinging action is for the interest of the whole group of bees, although the bee will lose its sting and its life, its level of life will be elevated after it has accomplished this mission. It will immediately advance into human quality (human form) because it has finished the lesson of "forgetting the self". When you forget about yourself, the Creator will give you a "self". When you don’t care about it, the Creator will give it to you. That’s the principle. Then, when can one have a "self"? One can have a "self" only when he becomes a human. It originates from the state of "selflessness". Bees don’t know about themselves. Ants don’t know about themselves. It is easier for them to accomplish their missions in their state. If bees knew about themselves (have selves), would they produce so much honey that they only get a little portion? They would not do that task. You go to get the honey everyday. Wouldn’t they sting you and kill you? However, they know they should devote to you. Then, when they sacrifice their lives for defending their group and the interest of their group, but not attacking the owner, they are in a "selfless" state. Afterwards, the Creator will give them a "self". However, this "self" is not a true-self but a false-ego. This false-ego is a human quality. So they can transmigrate into humans. As far as other animal species are concerned, only cows can transmigrate into humans in their next lives. Other animals can’t! Look, all living entities are advancing themselves gradually.
On the other hand, when a human is furnished with the devotional quality of insects and remain in a selfless state, always providing convenience to others and benefiting others, the Creator will give him a "Self" at this time. Yet, He won’t give you a false-ego as you have got rid of your false-ego in the state of false-ego. He will give you a true-self which displays an independent quality. So-called souls in general are individual entities. They may be called "individuals", but they are not independent. Let me put an analogy so that it may be easier for you to understand. A mule is neither a donkey nor a horse. It is an individual entity. A head is a head. When there is a head of mule at work, it is only one head. However, it is not independent. Why isn’t it independent? It is neither a donkey nor a horse. It doesn’t have a complete nature—complete individuality. That means that it doesn’t reproduce. Can you understand that? So look at bees. Only the queen bees have complete individuality. Those little laboring bees are just individual entities but they are not complete entities. They are like mules that can’t reproduce. They don’t have complete individuality.
All right. Mundane people are like bees. The nature of mundane people lacks a little true thing. As they are not truthful, they lack a little true thing. This little true thing, as clearly stated in the Bhagavad-gita, is given by the Creator. When you have it, you will have the quality of independence. The ordinary people have only very little independence. But even so, they often times use it incorrectly. Then, only the one who forgets about himself can be given larger independence, but which is absolutely not complete independence. Only the Creator has complete independence. When our quality of independence has attained nearly fifty-one percent of the Creator’s quality, we are liberated; when we have achieved seventy-eight percent of the Creator’s quality, we can attain to the planet He lives. Between fifty-one percent and seventy-eight percent, you will go to different spiritual planets according to your quality. The gap between the Creator’s spiritual planet and the entrance of spiritual universe is very big, and there are a great number of different levels in the gap. There are subtle differences between different levels. There are not only several levels as in our imagination. The number can not be counted by math in this world. That is billions and billions of levels. Look at the people in this world. Don’t billions of people have billions of faces? They are so different! The daughters raised by the same mother have different fates; the workers at the same factory have different fates; the students taught by the same teacher have different fates. Some have better lives while others have worse. This is fate. It is in vain to deny it.
As no two identical causes and conditions exist, Dharma is not a thing that can fit all. Therefore, Dharma is not a casting model. Clearly speaking, how do you obtain it? Dharma is not just a single thing. It is unlike a Mooncake mold which can be fetched by you immediately. For example, you runs a pastry shop but in fact you have just a Mooncake mold. You make Mooncakes everyday and sell Mooncakes everyday. People come to the shop to buy birthday cake or buy almond cookies and other cookies but you don’t have those things in your shop. They say: "Isn’t this a pastry shop?" "Um? I just have a Mooncake mold." "You can’t just make Mooncakes otherwise you should call your shop Mooncake shop instead of pastry shop!" Therefore, to possess one kind of quality is not equal to possess many kinds of qualities. To be furnished with one kind of quality is not fully furnished. Do not regard the possession of one thing as the possession of all. No, that is absolutely not it! As far as Dharma is concerned, therefore, there are different correlated treatments at different times and different Dharma at different stages. For example, students go to school today. Their teacher says: "Class is over and school is out!" The class for today is over. Does that mean all the classes are over and they don’t need to go to school tomorrow? Can you stay home tomorrow? Yes, you can do that. No one says that you can’t. But if you stop learning and don’t go to school from now on, what will you learn? This is how life goes. Dharma is an uninterrupted continuity. When you feel self-satisfied and conceited, that will be the time you start to lose things and you would be done. You must be done. You have lost things. You will leak all! People regard Dharma as an apple and they can just eat it once for all. Dharma is a spiritual master. A spiritual master is Dharma. When he is still alive, you are not finished. Otherwise, you are just a fool. It continues until he tells you: "Come to see me no more." Then, that means you have got your share. What you can get the most is this. Take it and leave! If you want to come back to get more, he won’t give more to you.
Don’t you know Milarepa? After he said goodbye to his spiritual master, they never saw each other again. They couldn’t see each other again! That is the law! As soon as he came back to see his spiritual master, his spiritual master would die. He must not come back. His spiritual master’s life would be in danger if he came back! Could his master allow him to come back? If the master didn’t allow him, the master would feel bad because they loved each other like father and son. If he allowed Milarepa to come back, he would have to die. Therefore, Milarepa must leave and must not return. Don’t you see later Milarepa sent away Gampopa and Raschungpa. After they left, they never saw their spiritual master again in their lifetimes.
Therefore, the Biography of Milarepa does not tell us when Marpa left. Nor did it tell us how Marpa left the world? However, the Puranas describe all of those in detail. This book also provides detailed account of the lives, anecdotes, and the processes of spiritual cultivation, of all the spiritual masters. It explains who is whose incarnation, how long they lived, and how many children they had. It stated all the information clearly. How can it do without that thing? Can it do without that thing? It must tell you clearly and completely. If a spiritual master doesn’t tell you clearly, you are not his disciple. You are just his student. Students can start something without finishing it. The master won’t be responsible for them. If you want to learn, you can try to learn. If you don’t want to learn, the master has no responsibility to tell you anything. This is a passive relationship, not an active relationship. Students can’t ask questions. If he is a disciple, he can ask questions. But it must be at appropriate times at the master’s consent. Then, he can ask questions. He can’t ask questions without authorization, like Little Tan. One night, I just finished a lecture and said, "O.K. Let’s rest. We are done for today." Then, he went to my room and waited at the door. He said, "Master, I have a personal question that I would like to ask you." I replied, "Get lost! Look at your manners. Don’t you understand human language?" When someone has no brain, he has no realization. He is not enlightened. He doesn’t understand. He can’t understand you. One who doesn’t have the ability of realization can’t understand your words. How do you remind him? The ability of realization lies in that he can remember things that should be remembered. If one can’t remember the thing that should be remembered, it is low and disgraceful. What can he do? What do you think?
It is not that the persons who have never seen a spiritual master will never get enlightened by themselves. It is also possible! That kind of quality existed. But none of the people today has that quality! Therefore, we underestimate the Dharma stated in the Triplet Poem. What did Milarepa say when he drank the poisonous wine that someone offered to him? He said: "I have completed the cultivation and transmission of the Dharma that I was destined to take and give in this world. Therefore I should leave." If you have obtained Dharma in this world, you have to spread it. He doesn’t ask you to bring it with you when you leave! The world above also has that thing. Who told you to bring it back? Does the world above lack that? Don’t you understand? It is similar to that your parents have asked you to bring something to your grandmother, but you take it over there and then bring it back. Wouldn’t you get punished when you return? Right? You have been asked to take something there but you bring it back. Grandmother says, "O.K. You leave this here." Then, she will give you a package to bring back to your parents. That is the courtesy of gift exchange. Right? It does not matter how valuable the gifts are. The point is that you can’t bring the thing for your grandmother back to your parents. The Dharma you have realized in this world is given by God to you. Therefore you can’t bring it back to the world above. You need to give it to people since you have been furnished with the quality of giving and devotion. You act as a representative of the Creator in this world. You must give away everything until there is nothing left. You can leave the world only after you have given out everything. If you have not given out all the things you have completely, you have not accomplished your mission. The level of your fruition will not reach the maximum. Nor will it attain the ultimate. Do you understand this? Then, can you act in a solid manner in this world? In colloquial language, the phrase "not down-to-the-bottom" is used to mean someone who is not down-to-earth. Will it do if you are not down-to-the-bottom?
Milarepa said, "I am done. I have finished my lessons. Life has lost its value when all lessons are done. It is the departure time! " You won’t be asked to remain here after your lessons are all finished. We may think that we have finished most of our lessons, Actually there is still a long way to go! When your lessons are almost done, you are approaching the time of death. Do you understand? Therefore if you make a vow to become a spiritual master, you must remember this—you have to work. You have to distribute as much as you have gotten from me. You can’t postpone the job of distribution until you have gotten the full share. When you have gotten one thing, you have to distribute one thing right away. When you have gotten a couple of things, you have to distribute a couple of things immediately. You can’t keep anything for yourself. Who has told you that you could keep anything? Did I ever tell you that? Be prepared to get things everyday. Continue to take things. But you must be humble! Therefore, humility is the foundation of cultivating the Way. In the process, if you think about exhibiting yourself a little bit, that will be bad because you will fall. The noodles in the pot will all fall out.
What is the Base Line? It is discussed in Buddhism that it is not a stable line. It is not a non-sliding line. It is a line of non-equanimity. When it goes upward, it jiggles and then goes up; when it doesn’t go upward, it drops all of a sudden to a great depth. Have you ever seen a kite? It may seem that it is situated at a stable height at a moment, but when an air current comes against it, it will fall straight down. When it is situated at a slightly unfavorable angle, a gale of strong wind will make it go head down. You don’t have enough time to control it. Sometimes, you may have enough time to control it. You can move it around and make it go upward. But if you don’t get good luck and don’t make it in time before a gale of strong wind is blown over again, it will fall down in a short time. The Base Line is similar to that. Sometimes we don’t fall too deep or too much. Sometimes we fall at a great depth. This is because you don’t understand Dharma thoroughly.
Therefore, you have to tend your heart like a fisherman. You can’t position your rod at a place and leave, and then come back only when there is fish on the hook. It doesn’t mean that you absolutely can’t catch any fish that way. But if a big fish gets hooked, it may drag the fishing rod away. If it is a small fish, does it matter to catch it or not? Right? Fishing depends on your sensation, or your ability to sense a fish on the line. Fish don’t eat dead things in the water. If you don’t move your rod for a long time, they will detect that the bait is dead and they won’t eat it. Fish eyes are different from human eyes. You don’t know. Fish eyes are similar to snake eyes, including poisonous snakes. When a snake wants to bite you, if you don’t move, it can’t discern what you are. That kind of vision is a kind of sensation. As soon as you move, it will know you are alive. It doesn’t depend on smell. It depends on the light you emit. When we stand there, our legs emit some light. The snake can’t see darkness. It can’t see the darkness of your legs, but it can see the white light, or the brightness. When your legs move, the light will move. Do you know? As soon as you move, it will move to it. If you just stand there watching it, there will be no problem. The fish in the water are like that, too. If the rod stays still, they will swim around it but can’t see it. They don’t eat dead things. As soon as you move the rod, they will bite the bait. Therefore you have to stand by your rod. When my father was young, he liked to go to the Swallow Nest at Great North Bridge to fish. He often brought me along. When you are fishing, you need to jiggle your rod. The ability to make a good jiggle depends on your ability of sensation. Why is the tip of a rod always made very thin? If you fish with a thick stick whose tip and handle are in the same thickness, can you sense any movement with that? It won’t jiggle. Aye, that subtle sensation is what we need.
As far as Buddhism cultivation is concerned, you need to be able to sense subtlety. This is not a rough job. I discuss this kind of sensibility to you every day. If you sense the wrong thing, you may think it is more or less right. As a matter of fact, it is way different from the true thing. There is still a long way to go! The true crust of a dumpling is not broken yet. Don’t discuss the taste of the filling. As the crust of a dumpling is not yet broken, how can you talk about the Way? We must not have the attitude of procrastination, or think that we can take a break. Never take a break. Therefore, a Buddhist practitioner needs to have the "strike first" spirit. He must find things to do himself. However, we may stay inactive when we don’t see anything that needs us to do. In this light, we can only attain the Arhan stage at most. You don’t want to get involved in other people’s business. You just do what is assigned to you. You only work hard on your designated jobs. But as far as other’s business is concerned, you don’t care whether other people do their job right or have any problem. If you are asked about how the other people are doing, you just keep quiet. It is not that you did not see their problem, but you just don’t want to say anything. Even though you don’t say anything, don’t you know their problem in your heart? This is a kind of untruthfulness! You may keep quiet if nobody asks you about it. However, when someone asks you about it, you shouldn’t keep quiet. This is the condition in the stage of Arhan.
Little Pon, do you know your lesson? I have touched this point. Can you realize what your lesson is? Your problem is the lack of sensation to the permeation of feelings. You still have a kid’s mind. But you shouldn’t think like a kid. They can still think like a kid, but you can’t. You must try to sense everyone’s heart carefully. For example, when you went home last time, you tried to sense your father’s heart and you succeeded. However, there is no father-son relationship for you over here. Do you understand? You are a smart kid. Your parents, Brother Du and Sister Lang, are both intelligent people and have passed to you their intelligent genes. Then, since you are very intelligent, there is a kind of stingy quality within you. You don’t like to take any responsibility. Do you know? That is an inactive and irresponsible attitude. When you are not concerned about other people’s business, you will also gradually become indifferent to your own business. When you don’t want to take any responsibility for others, it will be difficult for you to take responsibility for yourself. Therefore, when we try to nurture a truthful quality and personality, which is responsible for your own deeds, this is the most important thing. Your current issue is this kind of sensibility. Look at Brother Ren. He has just been here for a few days. He is constantly observing his own sensibility. He never falls short of sensibility. Not even a little. You are more careless than him in terms of this issue. Do you understand? This is your lesson. Little Brother Song, do you know what your lesson is? You entered the sect comparatively late, and you are still young. However, little Brother Fu is about the same age as you. In fact, you are a year older than him, although he is taller than you. When you saw him last year, he was still shorter than you. However, he always follows my instructions. When he is unable to achieve what I have said, he will be worried about it. His attention is fully focused, but yours drifts away.
As far as spiritual cultivation is concerned, you must find your model in your surroundings and try to learn the solid qualities from the model. You learn from anybody as long as he has the good quality you are looking for. This is your own matter. How can you cheat? Can it work if you lie to yourself? One must not be a smart person if he lies to himself. This is not something you can cheat yourself. You must always observe yourself to determine whether you have two faces. You need to know whether you are untruthful, right? You must observe it. Otherwise... Why did I scold Gi-wu harshly ten days after coming here from outside the mountain? He was very superficial! As soon as I got out of the car and saw him, I felt very upset about him. If I did not scold Xiao Xuei, the chance would be missed. Could her energy channels get opened? Her energy channels got opened that same night. Therefore I couldn’t delay it. If I put it off, young people may turn into sly customer. They would become like Wu-wei. If one develops a quality like Wu-wei, he will even have no right to transmigrate into an animal. It has to depend on his accumulated merit. If he doesn’t have significant merit, he even has no right to transmigrate into an animal! We talk about transmigrating into a human. Do you know how many causes and conditions you need to acquire in order to transmigrate into a human again?
I have installed a light-ring on each of you at your Xuan-guan, which is at your wisdom-eye. When a doubt or negation arises in your mind, the brightness of the ring will decrease for a degree. The more frequently doubts and denials appear, the less luminous the ring will become. When your light-ring becomes very dim, it will be the end of your present life. Have you ever looked inside a flashlight? When you turn it on, it still emits a little light, but not enough to shine a hallway, because it is running out of power. In fact it still has a little power, but it is not effective. Not to speak of shining far, it can’t even shine the near front. At the time, we need to change batteries, right? You have to throw away old batteries. Do you understand? The old batteries won’t work, right? When the light within you is used up by your denial quality and emotion and it becomes very dim, you will have to be thrown out. You can’t be regarded as a spiritual master’s disciple anymore. You must go down to take your karma. When your light is bright enough, you don’t have to take your karma right away, even though you may have made a lot of mistakes. You are given a chance to enjoy your merit first. I have underlined the importance of this point again and again. There is no remedy for the people like Wu-yeh. The Bhagavad-gita doesn’t lie to you. You must be honest. That is you must till thoroughly, regardless of the depth you are able to till. Those kinds of people are done. Sometimes because of my love for some people such as some of my relatives and the people I have special feeling for, I would use expedient and convenient method in order to give them some fortune to pave the way for their cultivation in their future lives. However, their present lives have been done. I won’t put on another light-ring on them again because it is prohibited by the laws of universes.
Therefore, as far as those who have obtained Dharma are concerned, regardless of from which spiritual master, you don’t have to examine the level of their light-rings. But when the emotion of negation arises in their minds, their light-rings will become dimmer. It is because they will have harder time controlling themselves when they have that kind of emotion. Then, they won’t check and examine themselves. The degree of their emotion of negation will increase gradually. If we possess a quality that can help us to go upward, we will be able to go up again after we have had this kind of emotion. It means that we can recharge ourselves with our own merit. Do you understand? This is why I am nagging at you from day to night like a grandmother’s foot-wrapping cloth. I need to remind you of keeping yourself from falling.
What is "falling short of consciousness"? Consciousness is that energy, that recharging energy. If you lose that, your energy can’t last long. It will be used up soon. How can I lie to you about this? This is not a lie! With that little energy, can you shine all your way home? Your flashlight will run out of power in halfway. Can you find home in the dark? Won’t you slip down a cliff? This is something about vision, right?
You don’t really understand why I have given you the light-ring. A true spiritual master must have this quality—try his best to pull you to go upward after you fall. As long as you are still alive, he won’t refuse saving you before your negation has developed thoroughly. It is because your life was no longer a human’s life after he accepted you. Do you understand? Why aren’t our lives perfect? We chose to become humans based on our previous merit. We must ask ourselves why we suffer. It is because the asset we had was used up. We need to cultivate the waste field again. It means the condition of the present life is determined by previous lives. If you want to have better material enjoyment this life, you must cultivate merit again. Do you understand this principle? What you did in previous lives and what you did so far in this life will determine your future. You at this level have to till more ground and plant more seeds so you can have a better harvest. Do you understand? This is very clear.
Of course it is inevitable for us to create karma in this life. For which of the people who came to the world with original sin won’t create karma? When you told a Buddha that you wanted to start spiritual cultivation, do you know the principles of the cause-and-effect world? Your karma created in this life will be repaid by you in this life. So you won’t put off the repayment of the karma of the present life to future lives. Can you talk about that: "I am like my neighbors. The repayment of the karma created in this life will be deferred to future lives"? In addition, the merit you have crated in this life will be used to repay the karma you have created in previous lives. Do you understand this? It is similar to you working in a factory. You receive the wages for the work you have done last month. If you ask to get the wages for the work you have done this month, can you be given that? No. If you haven’t taken on spiritual cultivation, the karma created in this life can be repaid in next life. The present life has nothing to do with next life. It means one lifetime has nothing to do with two lifetimes. Do you understand? If you say you want to take on spiritual cultivation, your karma created in the present life has to be eliminated in this life. If it can’t be eliminated, it has to be repaid this life, unless you have a privilege. Did you understand that? One who understands this doesn’t need my teaching anymore. He can act by himself. To be good or bad is up to him. I have explained this principle clearly today. For the people in general, there is a fair principle in this universe that they can put away the karma created this life and repay it in their future lives. Spiritual cultivators don’t have this debt. You are not going to take this kind of later-happening karma. You must repay it in this life. The karma created in the present life is repaid in the present life. The results of spiritual cultivation will be manifested right away.
Why did Old Brother Guo smash his hand so seriously? A few days before his hand got smashed, I said that if you had bad intention, wanting to hurt devotees, the Creator must punish you. It is clearly explained in the Bhagavad-gita that the Creator allows you to offend him but He won’t allow you to harm his devotees. This is absolutely not allowed. Did you see Old Brother Guo’s hand? Did it just get smashed once? Don’t you know that? It got smashed seriously at the first time, and then it got smashed again when he tried to work. He could barely stand it. Do you know? It must go that way. However, if he were not a spiritual cultivator, the karma he created could be repaid next life. He might be short of a finger. Do you understand? But he is a spiritual cultivator. Then he has to repay it in the present life.
You are let off lightly by repaying your present karma in the present life. Why are you let off lightly? You will have a light-ring within you in the case you have to repay your present karma in the present life. The karma won’t be repaid directly onto your body because your body is spared for spiritual cultivation. Your body won’t be damaged to the extent that you can’t use it anymore. It depends on how much merit you possess. That merit is not yours. It is lent out to you by your spiritual master. He lends you money to pay off your debts. When you have used up the borrowed merit, it will be the time that your karma begins to directly fall on you. Let’s say your life expectancy is eighty years. Your life will be transformed after you have obtained this Dharma.
Do you know the meaning of the incantations of the tight-hoop that Monkey King wore? Could you get rid of it? Monkey King frequently told Monk Xun Zang : "Can you take this off from my top? Please take it off!" He was rolling around on the ground in pain. Could that thing be taken off? Your present karma determines the fixed destiny of your present life, regardless of how much the karma is. A mundane man must have a fixed destiny! Then, being a good person will suffer more than being a bad person. You will feel your life gets worse. Do you understand? Being a good person is to cultivate oneself. Why don’t spiritual cultivators get better lives? It is due to this principle—karma created in this life must be repaid in this life. A non-spiritual cultivator can put off the repayment of his karma created in this life to his next life. Regardless of whatever he has done in this life, he will just suffer from the karma created in previous lives. It means that the karma created in this life will be repaid in future lives. If one is a spiritual cultivator, however, he has to repay it right away. For example, your life expectancy may be eighty or ninety years. But due to your karma created this life, you won’t have so many years to live. You will approach the end of your life soon. This principle was not allowed to reveal. It could not be revealed as far as the cause-and-effect law is concerned. Could you understand what I said? Why is a spiritual cultivator different from a mundane man? We have got on the path. Then how do we execute self-control? How does it affect us? These issues are all explained in the Bhagavad-gita.
I would like to make this point clear. I am responsible for you. But I don’t take responsibility to Wu-wei, Wu-zhi, and Xiao-na. Why am I not responsible for them? They did not take refuge in me. I don’t have to take the responsibility. Do you understand? There is a benefit that I don’t take responsibility for Wu-wei. What is it? It is because he betrayed his spiritual master and violated the Way. Do you understand? If he were my disciple, he must have suffered from this karma in this life. I did not tonsure Wu-wei (shave the head). Nor did I tonsure Wu-zhi. I have never accepted their kowtow. I was sitting at this place at that time, and Wu-wei and Wu-kong were standing there. They came together. He said: "We have decided to take refuge in you." I said: "Please don’t kowtow. I won’t take it. I won’t take it." It was because I knew his cause and condition with me. In fact I tried to protect him. He is not destined to succeed in spiritual cultivation in the present life. But it doesn’t mean he doesn’t have the predestined relationship with me. We do have the predestined relationship! Do you know our relationship? He was my child in one of his past lives. How could I refuse to protect him? But how do I protect him? Just refuse to be his spiritual master in this life. If I had become his spiritual master this life, he would have created tremendous karma. Who can understand this feeling? Who can understand it? This is our destined relationship. There are many things you don’t know. If I say too much, you can’t keep your mouth shut (you will disclose it). Some causes and conditions cannot be revealed. Due to this relationship, they will be allowed to take on spiritual cultivation next life. They are destined not to succeed in this life. Do you think I don’t wish them succeed? But can your good intention work? You need to know the method. You need to know how to appropriately deal with the matter so they can be protected. They are already suffering. You need to know how to help them in gaining some benefit from the suffering. What do they know? Just ignorance! They know nothing! If they knew something, how could they be like this?
You are not like that. Don’t I know what I should do? But you don’t know. A spiritual master must make a clear explanation when he needs to. If you let people swallow dates whole—lap up information without digesting it, what have you fulfilled your promise to them? How high can they cultivate themselves to? How much have you given to them? That is a teacher, not a spiritual master. If he is a spiritual master, he can choose not to be responsible for you. Therefore Master Marpa did not take that man who ate two potatoes to be his disciple, right? He did not make a promise to that student. He knew that student would not succeed. Once a spiritual master accepts you, he can give you a big light-ring, as well as a lot of honor and merit. However, whenever there is negation arising in your mind, you will ruin yourself. At the time, you may scold if you have fallen into hell: "I wouldn’t have fallen down to this place if you did not give me the light-ring." Did you understand what I said?
Can I force anything on you? You may feel that I am very aggressive. Perhaps one day you will understand my heart. You will understand my feeling for you. Perhaps you will never understand me in this life. It is especially difficult to be a spiritual master in this era. Buddha Sakyamuni’s method doesn’t work. Nobody knows which method works. Every household is holding a dead body. Everyone considers themselves in the right. If you reveal some truth, they will criticize you to go too far. Therefore you can’t point out any important issues in scriptures. Whatever you say will be twisted by mundane people. They will act according to their false assumption. Who dares to say anything? Therefore it is very difficult to transmit this Dharma. Dharma cannot be transmitted on a large scale. Any large-scale Dharma transmission is similar to the singing of a harvest song—a bustling scene. Don’t you know the difference between the singing of a harvest song and a performance presented on stage? Even if one performs stilts walking in singing a harvest song, is that a big deal? It is just like a duck swimming across a river—following the current! Just a bustling scene. Isn’t that what it’s about? Is that appealing to a refined taste? That won’t bring salvation to people. No.
The method of saving people requires tracking. If I track you too closely, you may blame me for being merciless. If I am lenient with you, you may think I am not an able person. I can’t just sit there watching you suffering, wasting your merit away, or delaying your cause and condition. Therefore I can’t be too strict or too lenient with you. Do you think I have choices? It is you who can choose to advance or fall back. But I have no choice. There is a saying: you won’t understand the kindness of your parents unless you become a parent! Perhaps one day you may start transmitting Dharma after you possess the merit of a spiritual master. Then you will understand this thing. Otherwise it is impossible for you to understand it. You won’t love God unless you have attained to God. You also won’t understand what Godly qualities are. Absolutely not!
I would like to make it clear to you again that anyone, regardless of your relationship with me, please don’t reproach my attitudes and the ways I handle things. You are with me everyday. For example, Wu-hui has followed me for ten years since the days we started to search for Dharma. You can ask her whether she understands me. She feels I show her an unfamiliar face all the time. I can test her eighteen times a day and she would fail most of them. What is the use? What is the use for you to speculate my mentality? Therefore a Buddha shows a certain face each time he comes down to the world. A Buddha carries a specific mission each time he comes down! Can you wear the same clothes in both winter and summer? Is it possible that all Buddhas carry the same Dharma when they come down in different times? Then, they don’t have to leave. Please don’t use your mind to guess this and that. What do you know? What have you seen? It is not so easy! It is very difficult!
I can’t wait and then act this until you have accepted me or understood me. There is no such a thing. But if you are a smart disciple, you should pay attention to all my acts. I will never do something for nothing. No. There is no whimsical act by me. It’s all nonsense! Even if you are full of energy from your head to the tip of your hair, you can’t even observe ten thousandth of me. It would be good if you can see the thousandth of me when I show it to you. You would be a good disciple in this count. I would be satisfied with you. I am like the river in the back, flowing incessantly everyday. If you get a bowl of water, it will be enough for you to play around for a round.
Therefore any of you who can understand my words tonight please remember them. Dharma is not a thing. Based on all of your levels now, none of you has taken away any great thing. There are only few who can bite through the skin (attaining the essence). You can think about this analogy of biting through the skin. Think about the concept of Four Actions set up by Patriarch Bodhidharma. Look at his four disciples. How did that disciple who obtained the skin answer his spiritual master? Look at the level of his view. Was that view not on a certain level? Look at yourself and see whether you can surpass that view. Am I right? Don’t I understand you very well? Don’t you know how many swirls on your fingers? Don’t you know your fingerprints? Don’t you know how much hair you have? How do I deal with you if I did not know your causes and conditions? Therefore, looking back from the past time throughout the present time, do not think that it is easier to proceed this lesson now than before. In fact, it could be easier. However, people’s minds now can’t do.
When Buddha Sakyamuni came down to the world, he was so dedicated but eventually failed. He prepared to discuss the hidden Dharma-eye, but Ananda did not know that he should ask him to leave the Dharma he had not discussed. The Buddha was leaving soon as he was more than eighty years old. Ananda did not know what to do. He just cried. The Buddha is a Buddha. He did not consider other issues. His body was almost done. He had to rely on milk to survive. His head was aching. Why? He hadn’t accomplished his mission. He was planning to teach the mundane people all he knew. How did he think? His disciples all ran away upon hearing a truthful word from him. First, five thousand disciples left. Then, another five thousand. As a result, he stopped the talk! At last he revealed a little bit to Ananda, but he also couldn’t understand his spiritual master. He did not ask the master to stay. Therefore the Buddha scolded Ananda: "You are truly ignorant. Your tears have covered up your wisdom. You don’t even have the basic feeling that a mundane man should have! You are just crying. You such a useless thing!"
The people in this world are difficult to be saved. The Buddha told Ananda at last: "Since my teachings have been transmitted through your mouth, you can tell all the people that I did not reveal even a word in the forty-nine years of teaching. I did not discuss truths. I wanted to discuss them, but the situation didn’t allow me. It is not that I don’t have them. I do. I have the hidden Dharma-eye. However, I can’t transmit it within religions. I can only transmit it one-on-one outside religions."
Can the people today be more clean than the people at that time? Can it be possible? Do you think the people today have similar realization as the people at that time? If you get this hidden Dharma-eye, the progress of your cultivation can advance quickly! Very fast! But your mind must be clean. The people today are very low. Even a living entity with very good qualities would be ruined when he transmigrates to the world. Facing anything, at any place, please remember to be humble. Don’t exhibit yourself or consider yourself in the right. Don’t consider yourself to be so great. When you feel yourself to be great, it actually indicates that you have only weed in your belly (knowing nothing). If you have something, you won’t be like that. One with something won’t want to say anything.
You always say: "Before you die, leave everything you have to us!" Wasn’t Wu-wei like that? "How can I obtain your knowledge? How can I learn your acupuncture skills?" I said: "How you? You must learn to be a good human first, child. If you don’t learn to be a good human, nothing will be useful for you. What can you take from me? You are not yet ready!" Prepare your mind. Always prepare it. Don’t have the once-for-all mentality or cutting-corners mentality. Whenever you are cutting corners, you can’t accomplish anything. I am always ready. When you have done a little, I will give you a little. When you have done more, I will give you more. This is my philosophy. It is because this is an inner system. This is how things go.
I also want to finish all things quickly. I don’t expect I can enjoy my life in this world. This world is not wonderful to me. It is only coarse and pitiful. It may be all right, but I don’t need it. I can adapt to it, but I don’t need it. However, you can’t. Wu-xiang, Wu-yeh, Sister Zhang, Li-hong, and Xiaorong are here. They all know why our schedule has been so tight. Why were the people working so hard to transcribe my lectures? Why? It is because we need to race with time. We don’t have much time. I let people know what they should know in such little time that has remained. Do you think I put you guys off, unwilling to teach you? It is because you are not qualified. You are not at that level yet. I am ready. Other Buddhas of this world needed their entire lifetimes to achieve what I can achieve in several months. Can you keep up with me? Can you accept it? Can you understand it? What can you take away from me? Just a few pieces of paper. What is the use of black words on white paper? Don’t you know? Everything is in vain if your heart is not ready.
Therefore I have said that please don’t force yourself if your heart is not ready. This is not cruel. Please don’t force yourself if your heart is not ready. It won’t work even if I am your father. Or you are my mother. It won’t work. Don’t have the mentality of depending on that. What can you depend on? It will be in vain.
What about (one of the ten great disciples of the Buddha) Maudgalyayana’s mother? Maudgalyayana had attained the venerable Swami’s status. What would that help? His mother still had to become a hungry ghost. What could he do? Even the Buddha couldn’t save her. What would that work? You are expecting to be carried by this person or held by that person. You do not understand those principles. That was the expediency adopted by a Buddha in discussing Dharma. I have repeated clearly that a Buddha is not allowed to bring anyone back with him from the world. He does not have this authority. If any Buddha could bring people with him, there would be no living entity remaining here. Which Buddha has no mercy? Which Buddha is willing to see living entities suffer here? Doesn’t he know? Can a Buddha bring all the non-enlightened people with him? No! The number of earthly people who attained the Buddhahood is as numerous as the sand grains in the Ganges River. The river in the back isn’t as big as the Ganges. Hundreds or even thousands of it together can’t even compete with the Ganges. Whenever a Buddha comes down to the world, he can’t bring all people back with him. Why is that? You expect to be carried by this person, or held by that person. What can you rely on? Yourself! You have to finish your own lesson.
Therefore, none of Dharma has been explained as clearly as by me. There are the Upper Line, Middle Line, and Base Line. You do your job and I do mine. This is division of labor. It is very clear. Whoever can’t do what I demand or whoever don’t trust me or like me, should just leave. Don’t waste your time here. Perhaps you may find some other spiritual master who is better than me. Please don’t waste your time as well as others’ time here. I am telling all of you right here that I have started to drive away people now! I can’t waste your time. That won’t benefit you. Time is so short. What do we do? Playing around? Perhaps you can run into another spiritual master if you leave. You may be fortunate.
Now the lectures are straightforward without expediency. Do you understand? If I ask you to do something, just follow my instruction. You don’t need to think a second whether it is due to expediency. In any case, if I tell you to drive the car into a trench, just drive it into a trench. You don’t need to consider whether there are people in the car, like your Mom or your Dad, or whether they would be injured. Please don’t think about that. Can you just do it? Can you? If you can, you must succeed. Just accomplish it.
Obey your spiritual master. Obedience is based on your trust. You need to accomplish the lesson of trusting your spiritual master, and develop your determination. In order to develop your determination, you need to nurture a kind of love, based on your cause and condition with him. This kind of love is different from kin’s love or friendship. Th love originated from your pre-conditioned relationship with him is far from enough. You need to sublimate that feeling. Trust me only and absolutely. If you still believe in obtaining things by sheer luck or are worried about something, how can you focus totally on me? You are one foot in this boat and another foot in another boat. Or you ride in many boats at the same time. How can anyone fool me? You are smart for your own good! I tolerate you again and again. You treat me like I am a fool. However, the true fool is you. But you still regard yourself highly. The people today cannot be respected. I am afraid to praise them or criticize them. How do you think I should deal with this? They can’t understand you. They show their ignorance upon hearing anything from you.
Why did the Buddha Sakyamuni deny the Vedas? The Vedas are the highest scriptures in the world. Why did he negate it? Wasn’t it due to a statement in the Vedas saying that animals could be killed for the purpose of sacrifice? Then, those Brahmanas in India started to kill animals whimsically. Every corner became a butchering place in the name of sacrifice. I would like to tell you today that animal sacrifice was actually allowed. But it can’t be told to the people today. You must remember that you can’t tell the people today that. For the people today can tear a small opening into a three-forged river. Do you understand? At last the Buddha had to come down to repair this opening. He didn’t discuss the Creator. He didn’t discuss the Vedas. He negated the Vedas. He didn’t discuss anything but merely prohibited people from killing living things. The religion established by the Buddha Sakyamuni is aimed to prohibit killing of the lives. There are five major Precepts. If it were delayed to protect animals, they would have been all eaten up by the people at that time. The situation now is more terrible than that time. We eat many more animals! I haven’t seen a wild rabbit. I have seen woodpeckers and frogs, but nothing else.
Just a little bit. The scriptures just discuss a little bit. Buddha Sakyamuni said that, in case of no alternatives, one might eat a little "clean" meat. As a result, people grasp the statement to eat meat. Eventually, the Buddha had to tell people that even these three kinds of "clean" meat were disallowed to eat. This is it. The people today, in the Age of Kali, are hard to save. Therefore, I have the most flexible Dharma. Why did I tell Lihong to buy some leeks and cook them? Do we need to eat those things? They are stinky. Who wants to eat those? I was teaching you a more advanced lesson, adjusting your mentality. I was helping you recognize a principle! If I ask you to eat them, it won’t do you any harm. But I can tell you that, if you eat them when I am not present, you will suffer from retribution. If you don’t believe it, you can give it a try. For example, Sister Fu, who just left the mountain, thought about eating some leeks. She was gluttonous so she made some leek dumplings. As a result, she got diarrhea. It was very serious diarrhea. That’s not allowed! Therefore I want to tell you that, when I say it’s O.K., it’ll be O.K.; when I say it’s not, it’ll not be O.K. It is O.K. to me, but not to you. Don’t imitate me. That’s not allowed. I have to help you recognize that principle, which is a flexible one, not a dead one. If you just recognize that dead principle, it won’t work in the future. Nothing will work for you. You won’t be able to transmit a little bit of practical Dharma. There won’t be any practical function. Can you learn this?
We must know first whether we can solve our own anxieties. Let’s not talk about we are concerned about others first. The first thing is to solve your own anxieties. Your heart has to be adjusted by yourself. Adjust your heart well! That is not the thing that can be put off after death. That is the thing you have to do when you are alive. Why do you need to do that after you die? Therefore, all the causes and conditions manifested by me are within my flexible Dharma for the purpose of your sensing and feeling. Sometimes, I try to keep quiet. In fact, I have repeated those words several times like dumping excretion. That shows none of you has comprehended Dharma. Therefore, you must nurture one of the five kinds of feelings with a spiritual master. Then, never mind which kind of method I use. Let me tell you. Regardless of whichever method I use, you are not adorable. I just grasp you to keep you from falling down. Otherwise, you would be snatched by other causes and conditions. Then, I will tell you to hold on me and not to let go because you will be done as soon as you let go. Hold it fast! Hold it fast! Hold it fast! This is the basis of the whole lesson. You truly don’t need anything else.
What is the condition of your mind when you read the Bhagavad-gita? You must read the entire book. The last word of the book is telling people one thing: submit unto your spiritual master and listen to him or her. There is nothing more. When a spiritual master is gone, nothing will be useful. There will be no Dharma, no scriptures, no Buddha, and nothing! As soon as he leaves, the root is cut off. The Creator left the Vedas here, which are very and the most authoritative. As soon as he left, the Vedas were interpreted as instructing people to kill animals. What is the use of them? The root will be cut off immediately after a Buddha leaves, and so the transmission of Dharma will be disrupted. It will be useless! When a spiritual master appears, why do you still grasp other things? They can be all negated. They are all bullshit, stinky bullshit, useless. They are useless! Just follow his instructions because he understands all the principles. A learned person can handle everything well. Not to speak of demolishing this or that, it will even work when he takes a pee. So what’s great of that? You just know your experiences, but he has the things that are beyond experiences. He can make things work in a short time.
Therefore, let me tell you. Other venerated persons may need the whole life to cultivate something out. They may publish some books in their old age. At that time, there is not much to give out or to exhibit. I can tell you that, what I give out in a month is more than that by any other Buddha who came to this world. A group of three or four has been busy in transcribing my lectures. Can they keep up with my lectures? I come out with things in a twinkling. Is there a need to revise them? You don’t even understand such a little thing. Not to speak of a long period of time, if the Dharma I spoke in this winter could be all transcribed, it would be too heavy to carry with bamboo baskets.
What have you understood of the lectures I have given in the past few years? It will be good if you can understand one or two statements. Do not feel superior to others because you accompany me at my side. Never! You must not! I have made this very clear to Wuhui. I said, "Wuhui, you must get out of that mentality. Never feel superior! Never regard yourself in the right! Otherwise you will be harmed."
Why did I come over tonight to give a lecture? Do you know? I usually didn’t come over here without a special cause and condition. Old Wujuei is well recognized by everyone. Although this old man’s Upper Line is not high, he has solid actions, which means good virtues! I don’t need to worry about him. I am really proud of him! Since your place is far from that place, I usually couldn’t come over here frequently. But I am not worried about you. Do you know? It’s not true that I did not make a selection when I put you guys here. I did select you to be put here. When an outsider comes, we need to give them good impressions. You are a window. But let me tell you that you should not be self-conceited because of that. As soon as you feel you understand me in full, you will keep up with me. Just understand me in full.
You may always find that your ideologies are in conflict with mine, or your demands are different from mine. Then, what are you going to do? Do you want me to follow you? Revise mine according to yours? Does that make sense? Whom should I listen to? Which of you? None of the spiritual masters who came down to the world exhibited my appearance and executed my mission. I have told you several times that I am doing what they have never done. They did not need to do this when they came down. I have run into this time so I have to do this thing. However, you all are like blind people trying to catch flies. You don’t even know what I am going to do. When can you keep up with me? When I need your cooperation, do you think you can do it? Won’t you be like an upside-down pot? Look at you.
I hope you can remember my words today! I don’t expect you to meet all my requirements, but hope you can remember them. Then, you can try to execute them one by one. This will benefit you. Otherwise, it’s useless. This kind of Dharma could not be spoken all the time. In fact since the lesson of the Bhagavad-gita, I have made it clear that do not force yourself. Dharma is cultivated by real practice. Don’t waste your time to do useless work. That’s unworthy to yourself. Do you understand?