That was because, in ancient times, the custom was like this… People didn’t really have shoes back then. You understand? Only the wealthy could afford footwear. Those who practiced spiritual cultivation usually walked barefoot, practicing the ascetic way. That was the discipline for spiritual practitioners; the renunciants walked barefoot. It was simpler that way. If you had to buy shoes wherever you went, where would you get money for that? And in those days, shoes were mostly made of leather. Many of them did not want to wear leather anyway, so they went barefoot. When they walked barefoot and came to someone’s house, outside the entrance… In the old days, many people went barefoot simply because they couldn’t afford shoes. Before stepping up into a house, there would usually be a basin prepared for washing feet, or at least a tub of water placed there. Anyone entering would dip their feet into it. Just a quick dip – sometimes only enough to shake off a few grains of sand. It wasn’t necessarily very clean. After all, how could a quick dip really make them clean, right? Even when we wash with soap and scrub thoroughly, it’s not really clean. But it was symbolic at least; better than bringing mud and dirt into someone’s home. So they would dip their feet in, wipe them on a cloth placed there, and then enter together.
The Buddha compared Rāhula at that time to a foot-washing basin. It’s filthy, with all kinds of dust, dirt, and mud. All the filth from outside is brought in and washed into it. He said, “If you are bad like a foot-washing basin, no one will value you. No one will place you on a table or a chair in reverence. Or you won’t be used for anything more noble than for washing dirty feet.” He scolded Him to that extent. And that was His biological son. It was because He was His own son that He scolded him. If He (Rāhula) were a stepchild, He (The Buddha) wouldn’t have scolded. Other people’s children He wouldn’t scold them like that. Yes, that’s the point.
For example, when Ananda did something wrong, being lured to a girl’s house, He was also severely scolded. But He was only scolded privately, in a private room. When it was a private scolding, there was probably no one to record, no one to put it on tape like nowadays, no audio recording or anything. So we wouldn’t know whom He scolded. But the entire Shurangama Sutra was spoken specifically for Ananda alone, to teach Ananda. Teaching Him what to do, and how to avoid shortcomings; so He could practice properly, and so on. Always saying, “Ananda, You must understand this.” “Ananda, You must understand that.” The whole Shurangama Sutra was spoken just for Ananda to hear, to teach Him. Because at that time, He had been seduced by a woman and put under a kind of spell. There’s no need to cast any spell. When a boy meets a girl, there’s no need for spells. Who knows who was casting spells on whom? No need for any spell, just a little winking of the eye and it’s done for. Especially those women out there who really know how to dress up, that’s their profession. No need for any spells. What spells are there to be casting around like that.
Ananda was kind of… you could say very negligent. No, not negligent. Careless. Not careful. Sloppy. Ananda was very careless in keeping the precepts. For example, the Buddha taught that you must not touch women or girls. You must not look into the eyes of the opposite sex. “If you want to uphold your duties as a spiritual practitioner, never look straight into a woman’s eyes. So when you see a beautiful woman, keep a good distance. Do not seek excuses to approach.” But it seems He still looked for excuses to get close. Even pretending to ask for water and things like that. And that woman didn’t only give water, she gave more than that. Voluntarily. So He came back all dazed, as if He had lost His soul, and ended up following her straight into her house. Once inside, He suddenly snapped out of it and prayed to the Buddha. Then the Buddha appeared and recited the Shurangama Mantra for Him. No need to recite any mantra at all. The moment He saw the Buddha appear, He was terrified, there was no more thinking about water or anything, no more being infatuated with anyone, so He just hurried off. After He was already inside, just when things were about to happen, He suddenly got frightened and started calling out to the Buddha. So the Shurangama Sutra, or the Shurangama Mantra, came about because of Ananda, that’s the reason.
He was very undisciplined. He thought, “I’m a practitioner, I’m doing just fine. I’m not affected at all. I’m not thinking about anyone. To me, girls are the same as boys.” When we get too close, when we’re too careless, we’ll inevitably be drawn in by that energy field, that’s all. Or many times, it’s past karmic connections. Those karmic ties from the past are old karmic bonds. In the past, you were husband and wife. Or in the past, you made promises to each other. Or maybe in the past she was infatuated with you and you left her, and so on and so forth. Now she has returned and is looking for you again. Yeah, like that.
That’s why the Buddhas and Heaven teach us to keep the precepts carefully, otherwise, later on it (the karmic bonds) will come looking for you again. Even if you practice spiritually, it will still come looking for you as usual, there’s nowhere you can escape. That’s how it is. It’s not like you can say, “Why are the Buddhas and Heaven so strict? The number of wives I have is none of His business, why is He forbidding me?” It’s not about forbidding. But if we act carelessly/promiscuously and create too many karmic ties, then life after life we’ll be exhausted. Five wives this life, then five more in the next life, that makes ten, understand? And then every time you come back down, if ten women are waiting for you, that’s really a mess. You won’t be able to practice at all. They’ll already be standing right outside the door. Five women standing inside the house, five standing outside the door. Wherever you go, you’ll run into them. And by then, no matter how much you cry out or wail, it won’t help at all.
So if you don’t want the karma or the karmic fruit, then don’t plant the seed. Don’t plant the cause, and there will be no result, that’s all. That’s all. Just a reminder from the Buddha, that’s all. Don’t do that. Don’t do that, don’t act that way. If you do, you’ll be very tired later on. That’s all. And if you want to do it, then do as you wish. The Buddha isn’t idle enough to keep worrying about you all the time. The same with one’s own biological children. Even a biological child – if they’re not good, they can end up being treated like a stepchild. Sometimes a stepchild who is good becomes like a real child.
Like Rāhula when he was young – he liked to play, was fond of playing, and was lazy and negligent at times. So Gautama Buddha always had to remind him, and was very strict. Once, when there was a guest – a monk who had come from another place – Gautama Buddha told Rāhula to give up his sleeping place so that the guest could sleep there. Rāhula had to carry his alms bowl and move to another room. In another room – the monk happened to be away at that time – so Rāhula slept there. After a while, that monk came back, so Rāhula had to run off again – there was no place left. He hugged his alms bowl and went to sleep in the toilet. The toilet – what we call a “toilet”; in Âu Lạc (Vietnam) that’s what it’s called. He went in there to sleep. See? Just because you’re the Buddha’s son doesn’t make you special. It’s not that the Buddha showed favoritism toward his own child. He treated the guest even better than His own son.
So sometimes you see some guests who come in, who don’t even practice at all, who have only met Her once – and, oh my, She gives them things, gives them gifts. Then She holds their hands and feet, shakes hands with them, looks into their eyes, and so on. She sees them off and such, and even asks us to go out and see them off as well. And as for us – oh my, we may be there three or four days before She even looks at us once. And then She speaks in some language that we don’t understand at all. Today She speaks one language, tomorrow She speaks some other language. She makes us listen with this ear…
There is translation, but sometimes these brothers translate quite intensely too. They translate, but it doesn’t match at all. Sometimes She speaks at great length, and he sums it up in just two or three sentences. Then everyone bursts out laughing, and he tells us, “Just laugh along. Master is speaking at such length now that I don’t know how to translate it – so just laugh and let it go.” And when you see everyone else applauding, he says, “Everyone, clap quickly. What are you waiting for?” Then the applause gets so loud that we miss half of what’s being said; we don’t even know what we’re hearing anymore. After all, She’s also from Âu Lạc (Vietnam), yet She speaks hundreds of different languages or something like that.
And when guests come, oh, She invites them warmly and takes very attentive care of them. Guests are different, right? We’re already family – how could we be treated like that every day? (Yes.) Once you come here, you’re considered family already – you should help me receive the guests. Help save sentient beings, to assist others who are suffering. Their suffering may not only be material suffering; sometimes they suffer mentally or emotionally. When people do not practice, they suffer; they remain immersed in the cycle of samsara. They do not know their own Buddha Nature, so they must come here and practice gradually. When we’ve just begun practicing, we help a little, OK? When we’ve practiced for a long time and become more seasoned and steady, then we can help more. You become the eldest sister in the family, or at least the second or third sister. You can’t always expect your parents to keep feeding you like a little child, that’s not acceptable. So don’t compare or feel jealous about anything at all. The scriptures are always full of examples like this. It’s not that Master is imitating those Buddhas. It’s just that now that things are being done this way, and you all are thinking like that, so I take the opportunity to bring it out and show it to you. In the past, He did exactly the same. He made His own son go sit and sleep in the toilet – there was no other place.
In the past it wasn’t like now, when you can have a tent and carry it with you wherever you go so comfortably. (Yes.) Now you all practice spiritually in such comfort. Each of you has become a Buddha, and each person has your own temple. A temple about one and a half square meters, right? And on top of it there’s something round, looking just like a tomb. Therefore, spiritual practice is like dying a little inside, isn’t it? (Yes.) That’s how spiritual practice should be, as if you were already dead. And lying in a tent is no different from lying in a tomb. But this “death” is only according to the material world, toward fleeting fame and illusion. As for ourselves, we are still living as usual.
In fact, we live more heroically, more strongly, and better than before. We know what we are doing. In each moment, we clearly recognize who we are and what we want to do. Whatever we do, we know we are acting in goodness, in the infinite Love of Buddha. We know that every step we take is within the Buddha’s Land. We breathe the Buddha’s air. All our thoughts exist within the Buddha’s Universe. Therefore, we become more noble, greater, and happier day by day. A noble person, no matter what, is happy, because their ideal is pure and serene. They are elevated and noble, and naturally every cell in their body blossoms with joy. This is because “All things are created by the mind.” Everything is formed from our own mind. If our mind is pure, then our words, actions, and body will also be pure. That is why it is said, “When the mind is pure, the land is pure.” The Land of Buddha is right here, nowhere else. Wherever you are, that is the Land of Buddha. What other land could it be? The land of ghosts? (No.) How can the Buddha allow ghosts to run wild and create another world? Of course not.
Every land is the Land of Buddha; every dharma is the Buddha’s Dharma. We create such dharma so that we may practice spiritually; so that we may remember our Buddha Nature and understand what it truly is. Without such contrasts, how would we recognize other contrasts? Without women, how would we know men? As I’ve said before, right? Without suffering, how would we know what happiness is? Without poverty, how would we know what money and wealth are? That’s all. We were born with “golden plates and jade bowls,” so we came down here to experience and understand the happiness we had up there. When we return, we feel and understand our Buddha Nature even more deeply. If we just keep saying, “I am Buddha Nature, I am Buddha. Buddha, Buddha, Buddha…” but you have nothing to compare it with, then we cannot understand it in a profound way. So we come down here simply to realize our own Buddha Nature. There is really nothing else to do.
Therefore, when someone has realized it, there is no further learning to undertake. This is called a “Non-Learning Bodhisattva.” “Non-learning” does not mean uneducated; rather, it means that there is nothing further to learn because realization has already been attained. It is also like the “Non-Retrogressing Bodhisattva.” When you truly understand your Buddha Nature, there is actually nothing left to accomplish. But since we are here, we may as well do things for fun, we go dig the soil, plant sweet potatoes, and so on. Whether we dig or not, it is all the same. But while we are at it, we might as well move our bodies. Since we have this physical body, we can play with it. We can use it to do good things, or to enjoy what we have created. (Yes.) That’s it. That’s all. OK.
Now go home and sleep well. (Yes.) Thank you. Those who have to leave may leave; those who have to stay may stay. (Yes.) I don’t know which day I will leave. I’m still waiting for some paperwork, and then I will go. Otherwise, I would have left already. If not, then I would have gone already. (Yes.) I can go over there to get the paperwork, or just wait for them to send it here. So that’s why I’m lingering here a little longer. Otherwise, if the paperwork were done, I’d already be gone. These past few days have been the weekend. (Weekend. Weekend.) Yes, the weekend. And then Monday is some kind of holiday too, I don’t even know what, so it turns into three or four days altogether. So I end up just eating and staying here the whole time. That makes all of you very happy. Each and every one of you, seeing me stuck here, looks so delighted. Why are you all so “kind-hearted”? All of you are probably praying, “Let Her affairs not go smoothly so She’ll have to stay here.” No one is praying for things to go smoothly and quickly for me. Instead, you’re praying, “Never mind Her, the slower, the better!” At times like this, the administrative turtle(-person) is very useful. “Let it crawl a little slower so She can stay here longer. Every night She tells us stories from the old days.” There’s nothing much to do here anyway. All day long it’s just eating and sitting; legs getting sore and stiff. At night, when we gather here and talk, that’s the most enjoyable part, right? (Yes.) There’s no going out to see plays or concerts here.
Alright, everyone go rest, OK? (Yes.) Those who are leaving, travel safely. (Master, sleep well.) Thank you. You’ve had a good look, right? (Yes.) You’ve looked enough already? When it’s a new outfit, you just keep staring at it. (It’s so beautiful, Master. So beautiful.) It’s simple. You can make this. (It’s so beautiful. So beautiful.) You can sew this. You can. Some outfits you can’t sew yourselves, but simple ones like these, just sew them yourself, it’s cheaper. (Yes.) But you have to choose nice colors. And the right fabric too. It’s not just about finding something that looks similar; similar but very different. You also have to consider your body shape, so it suits you. (Yes.) Those of you who are a bit chubby don’t wear this style, alright? Don’t copy me, then complain it doesn’t look right and scold me. Then you’ll blame me. If you want to wear an outfit like this, you’ll have to fast for two or three days. Otherwise, just eat twice a day. One or two meals a day, eat a little. Eat enough to live not live just to eat. Alright, bye. (Yes.) Good night. I wish you beautiful teeth forever. Bye again.
Photo Caption: “Loving Life in All Forms”
