You make something that we can tie it up. Tie them up, climb up. Very easy! Those plastic poles… You can’t buy anything. (How much are those poles?) How many can you buy? Let’s make a roof to cover it, so it doesn’t look empty. Then you make the supporting frames for the plants to climb up, the trellis is in the front, (Yes.) or an awning or something. (Yes.) Yeah, like that. (Yes, I planned to do it over there. There is a trellis.) Practice! Find a used, old model [mobile home]. Then later put them up. (That one, we can do it fast.) What can we do first? Just look. Well, from the outside, it looks mysterious, like a small little thatched house. You don’t know anything. It’s easy to cover! (I want to cover that for Master.) It is easy, right?
But it actually takes a long time to make, right? (No, it doesn’t take long. Because You bless us, we just know what to do.) Got it right away, easy right? (Yes, I understand now.) Yeah, yeah. Very easy! (Yes.) Once it’s done, it looks really beautiful from afar. We should cover it. We will cover the front, and put the trellis here. For example, build some poles, and the roof or something… garden, a kind of garden chair. …It looks so beautiful! Here, can you imagine it? (Yes.) OK. [If we build the roof], it may cost a lot of money and take a lot of efforts. And sometimes it can leak, too. (Yes.)
You see me having a “heart attack,” and you pretend to have the same. OK. This guy, how come you sit here all the time? You don’t go home and go to work? You have a day-off? How come you have the day-off everyday? Three or four days already. (It is Sunday.) Sundays you are off, other days you are off as well. If Sunday is the day off from work, then why do you need to work on weekdays, right? Just like in Hsihu, they say, “Oh, my! It is raining, so it’s too hard to work!” When it is sunny, then, “OK, let’s go drink tea and have fun.” In the old days, long time ago… They are a little decent. More decent than yesterday. Seeing [the way] you guys work, I have a “heart attack.” You are doing it all wrong.
OK. Come over. Wow. So many people! (Yes.) Today, I will speak Aulacese (Vietnamese). (Yes.) Walk slowly, otherwise it will be dusty, OK, love? What I forgot? How many Aulacese (Vietnamese) are here? Raise your hand. Oh, my! My goodness! Oh, my! Goodness gracious! All of you here are Aulacese (Vietnamese)? Is it right? All are Aulacese (Vietnamese)? (Yes.) OK. Forget it. Even though you come from America, but you all are Aulacese (Vietnamese)! What? (All of us are Aulacese [Vietnamese].) So, are you happy at home? (Yes, happy.) Happy? (Yes.) I heard that the group meditation was until 12:00 (PM) only; how come you stay here this long? What? (We wait for Master.) Why do you stay here so long? Waiting? (Yes.) Well. Don’t force me, alright? They always say there are 400 or 500 people, so I have to come.
OK, do you have any questions? Normally, in the old days, those kings… Either king or queen, when they “lâm trào.” Do you know what “lâm trào” means? (Yes.) Yes. “Lâm trào” means “the king comes to the court and sits there.” He sits down and asks the officials, one on his right and one on his left, “Now, if you have something to report, tell me quickly. Otherwise, dismissed!” That’s it. Not that the king would not sit there all the time for people to look at him. So, what do you have? Once in a while, you can see Master and ask some questions. If you want to ask me something, then do it. If not, then that’s all.
How come today… Is anyone here having heart problems? Is there anyone? Raise your hand. (That uncle has heart problems.) Oh! You have heart problems, do you? How long did you have it, uncle? (Yes. For four years now.) It’s been four years, and you still have it? Then you should forget it. Four years, if it doesn’t go away, then forget about it. What kind of heart problem do you have, uncle? (I have an enlarged heart [cardiomegaly].) What? (I have an enlarged heart.) Enlarged heart? That means your heart is big and painful? So strange. The doctor couldn’t cut it smaller? As soon as I walked in here, my heart was in pain, and I don’t know why. Is there anyone who is lovesick? Heartache has two kinds, you know? OK. The old people have heartache such as enlarged heart, right? The young ones have a “lovesick” heart.
(Hallo, Master.) Hallo, auntie. Are you (…)’s mother? (Yes. I am 96 years old.) Ninety-six years old? My goodness! Congratulations to you, auntie! What did you say, auntie? I could not hear you at all. Give the microphone to her. Wait a minute, auntie. Hold back your precious words a little bit, auntie. Wait a minute, wait a minute, auntie. I had a stomachache the other day. Today I have a heartache. (Where do I speak to?) OK, you speak directly into it. (Hallo, Master!) Hallo, auntie! (Yes. Since the day I met You until now, I did not get sick at all.) Wow, lucky you! (I am 96 years old this year, and still very healthy, Master. I would like to come up there to prostrate to You.) Oh, never mind. Thank you, auntie. You don’t need to. (Thanks to You, Master! Clap your hands!) That’s right! These people are very silly. Don’t even know when to clap hands; you have to tell them, you see? Very difficult to teach them! Fortunately, you come here to teach them; otherwise, they don’t know anything. They have two hands but don’t know how to clap. Poor me!
Please continue, auntie. (Yes.) Continue to teach these hard-headed people for me. Are you doing well, auntie? (Master, I forget what I was saying.) Goodness! Auntie, you are 96 and still so “cool.” (I had this dream before.) What? (I had a dream in which the demons pulled me into a hole…) Is that so? (…and then they tortured me.) Oh, my gosh! (But since the day I wore Your picture, I don’t have any problems anymore. Whenever I had dreams, I saw myself flying, playing, swimming, riding in a car and all that.) My goodness! (Now, however long I have left, I do it for one last time in my life.) This is happiness to the utmost, right, auntie? (This is my last time [to be here], so I come to say hallo to You. I thank You so much, Master! For saving my life! Clap your hands!) You are welcome, auntie! You wear one picture and become so happy, then why don’t you wear three or four pictures to see what happens. No wonder you guys keep wearing my pictures. I thought you wear them to look stylish, but they are somehow useful, huh?
(When I go to sleep, I always recite Your Name, Master. Whenever I go to sleep, I always recite Your name.) Ah, really? It is good that you are healthy and happy. (Yes.) Seeing and meeting you, I am also happy. (Yes.) How come you are so healthy? Ninety-six years old and you look wonderful. (Yes.) I am only 46, but sick here and sick there. It takes 50 more years to be at her age. So, I am like in the first half of my life. (Dear Master.) What? (Dear Master, I sing like this: “A ninety-four-year-old lady. Sitting by the window, writing a letter to look for a husband.”) Oh, my goodness! (I am ninety-six now.) There are any more verses, auntie? “Going to Cầu Bông bridge in the morning, Asking a fortune teller, if having a husband is any benefit to me?” The fortune teller did a reading and said: “There is benefit, but there is no more teeth!” None left.
What else, auntie? (I would like to sing for You, Master.) Did you find any man yet? (“Seeing Master walking by, Her footstep sounds like a five-note instrument.) My goodness! (The five-note instrument is playing our bonding song. I served and bonded with Master since a long time ago.”) Oh, man! (I sing like that.) Oh, my! How come the more you age, the more charming you are? Is there any man going after you? (Yes.) After you wrote a letter [to ask for a husband], has anyone replied to you? (I am sorry, Master. I will sing this one, but it sounds so rude.) Stop, stop, stop. Forget it, forget it! (“A ninety-six-year-old lady Sitting by the window, writing a letter to look for a husband.”) You wrote (a letter), but did you find anyone? Any man came after you? (Dear Master, I was looking for a man with 6 sides.) Did you have one? Ugly is OK. The handsome ones will leave you. (Like a six-sided-coffin.) What? Sixty-five? (Six-sided-coffin, Master.) Ah, six-sided coffin? I thought she found a very ugly man. OK.
(Dear Master, when I was 13 years old, my mother said this: “A hundred years later, a living Buddha will appear and go everywhere to teach the Tao.” And now, I am sure that Buddha is You. In about four more years, it is 100.) (Yes, that’s it. The Buddha will go to all the countries to teach the Tao.) Thank you, auntie. Anyone else want to ask questions? Whenever you are getting married, please let us know, auntie. In America, people write letters to find friends around the world, did you try yet? (I cannot hear.) Can you hear? Can you hear me? (Yes, I can hear clearly now. I am afraid I am deaf.) Why didn’t (…) buy a hearing aid for your mom? (Yes, I am worried that she might have tinnitus, so I didn’t let her wear it.) Is that so? OK. Whenever she wants to hear, then wear the hearing aid; and when she doesn’t want, then take it out. Is that OK? OK.
Anyone else want to ask something? Did you have fun meditating today? (Yes.) Talking nonsense, gossiping, did you have fun? (Yes.) Really? Alright, I just wanted to see you all and say hallo. Otherwise, you would say I didn’t want to come. I couldn’t sleep well because you guys are calling me too much inside. You guys come here with good friends, good (vegan) food and so much fun, why call me then? I am getting old, so let me rest. That old lady said she is 96 years old, so we have hope. There will be a few decades before we reach that age. So it is good that we still have many tens of years. My family, my clan lived a long time. My grandmother passed away when she was more than 100 years old. Like 105 years old. She lived very simple – ate vegan food, and recited Buddha’s Name all the time. And my parents are more than 80 years old; they are still alive and well. And healthy too. They might have high blood pressure or something, a little bit of problems from old age. I think I can live long too. (Yes.) What? Who knows, I may outlive you, guys.
Alright. Try to be vegan and keep the Five Precepts. (Yes.) And the people who don’t follow me, try to keep the Five Precepts, so that you can be born as human again. Because these Five Precepts are for you to be human. If you drop “below” the Five Precepts’ standards, then you will be born as another species. Just like we have primary school and high school. You must have certain standards to be able to attend primary school. There are required standards to attend high school, and standards to attend university. But those who are child prodigies, they can jump from high school to university. Primary school students can jump to university, but very few can. Similarly to the ones who become Buddhas. They are young, haven’t practiced that many years, but they become Buddha immediately, because they are child prodigies, “Buddha prodigies.” It’s a bronzed prodigy Buddha, not a wooden Buddha!
So, if you want to come back as a human; for example, you feel that following Madame Ching Hai, being vegan and meditating long hours are too hard, then you just keep the Five Precepts, it’s OK. Which means do not kill, do not lie, do not commit adultery – one husband and one wife only. Neither drinking alcohol nor gambling and all that. You do not drink alcohol, then when you come back (reincarnate), you will be a human.
Photo Caption: “Stand Out Only If There Is Something Good to Offer”
