Alright. Where was I before I went off to talk for so long? This doctor, three hundred patients. What about the other one? How many “heads”? How many patients? No, no, no, the one in the back. He is a dentist, and he has extracted teeth for 80 people. No more patients for him. (He charged very cheap.) (Report to Master, the Chinese medicine section has seen more than 520 patients.) Wow! Do you have translation? Was there a translator? (One did come at last. (…) is very good at translation.) He is very good. (After he came, I was able to unleash our full power.) He told me that he could not translate too much. (Yes, he can. He translated very well, very well.) Because you don’t understand. How do you know? OK, OK. When I told him to go on the stage and translate, Was it (…)? Yeah. The first one. He just… I said, “Translate. Quick.” He said, “I cannot translate so much.” I said, “Translate as much as you can.” He said, “Only a little.” He pretended to be humble. Silly.
Then we went to find the other small one to translate. The small one was even better. Whose son was that small one? Is he his father’s son? (The sister’s son. Now their whole family are initiates. Both father and mother are initiates.) Local people? (Local people.) Then ask him to translate. (Yes, yes. We told him to translate.) To help with translation. Is he a resident or something, working here? (He is working with us here.) Then stay after this. Even after the work is finished, he can also stay. But our work will last very long. (Their whole family will come to live here. Because his parents are teaching here.) OK. That’s great. Wow, wonderful. Is he here? None of them are here. Are there no residents here? We’ll see the residents later. Or tomorrow. There’s one who translates quite well. You can look for him in the future. What’s his name? (Little brother.) It just happened… He depends on his parents to “sweep the floor” (Chinese pun). “Little brother.”
So, what happened next? Is everything OK? Did you give him something? (Because last time, when I came for the 7-day retreat, I found out that the wife of the local garrison commander here was sick; I was sent to check on her. I noticed that the women here, even in their thirties, looked as if… compared to women in Taiwan [Formosa], they looked well over fifty. They were malnourished, very weak and suffering from anemia.) And then? (This time when I came, I brought some pills targeting the women’s health conditions caused by overexertion. I brought those pills.) Wonderful. (They have all been given out.) All been used up? (Yes.) Bring more… (The Chinese medical section saw more than 500 patients. Combined with the doctors of Western medicine and the dentists, the total number of patients exceeded one thousand.) More than one thousand patients. Wow! There are only a few hundred villagers living here, how could there be over 1000 patients? (There were women and children. The clinic was brimming with patients. “Business” was very good.)
What are these? Are they Korean doctors? Korean doctors? Come here. We have a doctor’s meeting. Please sit down anywhere. But I’m sorry it’s a little bit dirty. Why didn’t you bring your cushions? Why didn’t you bring your own cushion here? I’m sorry. OK. Women doctors can also come. Bring your certificates. Come here, this way, come here. OK, fine. Sorry, no seats. Get something for them to sit on. We are still underdeveloped. Very sorry. Just be comfortable. Are you OK? You have a chair? Anyhow. Are you a doctor? Come over here. Come over here. Are they also working today or not? Do they have any work to do today? (Yes.) Those who are working, come over here. If you’re working today then come over here. It’s OK, come over here. I don’t want to look both sides, my eyes will become crossed. Over here.
(I just brought my mouth.) You brought your mouth, what do you mean? (For the translators.) Oh, that’s not bad. Come over. (It’s OK?) Come, come, come. (Thank You.) Did she do anything? Your wife. (She didn’t.) Not doing anything! Oh! What a shame. She is a pediatric doctor. Aren’t you? Did you do anything? (Yes. I did.) Yes? If yes, then come on over. Did you treat the sick children? (But I didn’t bring any medicine. I didn’t know I was coming here to treat patients.) So… “So beautiful.” If you don’t bring medicine, what can you do? Let them stay sick? You didn’t even tell us that you didn’t bring any medicine. We could have gone out and bought some. Medicine is very cheap here. Certainly, it’s not like… probably not as abundant as in Taiwan (Formosa) or the US. But then fewer people die here. The more medicine people take, the more they die.
Then what did you do today? Without any medicine, what did you do here? (I worked for a while.) Ah? Did nothing? (I worked for a while.) You worked for a while, and then that’s it. He said that he was sick, and you said, “OK. Continue to be sick?” (No, no.) What did you say? What did you tell them? You treated the children, right? (But because I didn’t know there is this activity this time, so I didn’t know.) Tong (…). Of course she didn’t know. With this kind of personality, how would she know? I understand. I understand you didn’t know. God. You have to be quick. I need a lot of talented people to help the world. Don’t just make excuses saying, “I don’t understand. I’m sorry. I’m not used to being rushed like this. What’s the hurry?” Of course, you can have fun with anything, but if for your whole life, you just make excuses, you’ll have no confidence.
I tell you, the more you work. the more responsibility you take on, the more confidence you’ll gain, and the more you’ll feel like you’re a Buddha. I’m not saying we should go out and find work to do, but when it’s happening right in front of your nose, what kind of people would refuse to help those in distress by making excuses? Of course, it’s also OK if you don’t do it, but why find excuses? Just say “I don’t want to do it.” People here are all very straightforward, doing things voluntarily. No one would scold you for not finding work to do, or for not doing anything for others. We have to figure it out for ourselves. If you truly, sincerely want to contribute your effort, you’ll find ways to do it. Just like when you’re hungry, won’t you sincerely find food to eat? Will you? (Yes.) At that time, you won’t say, “I don’t know where the kitchen is.” Neither will you say, “I don’t speak the language here; how do I say ‘food’?” At that moment, will you make excuses? Really. Answer me. (No.) No. You’ll find it no matter how far it is. The language barrier doesn’t matter. You’ll go and find it. It’s really like that. Alright.
When others have problems, when others have difficulties, it’s just like when we are starving. Just put yourself in their shoes, and then you’ll go and find a way. If that person were you, you’d go and find a way. Understand? (Understand.) There are always too many excuses. There is no need to look for more. If you want, I can write down one thousand and one excuses and leave them there. Whenever you don’t want to work, just pick one and tell us. Since you’re here, figure out a solution. Help others, they are also Buddhas. They just happen to be in difficult circumstances. Yeah. They are all our own people.
(I’m worried about the difficulty with translation. Because children are different. The dosage of medicine for them is different, while I only have medicine for adults.) You didn’t bring any medicine at all. Why tell us about your worries? (I’m sorry. I didn’t know. I didn’t know this time here…) Forget it. You didn’t know. You haven’t been working for a long time. Even if she knew, it’d be the same. Originally, she quit on her own. Has she come back to work again? Has she come back to work? Just started looking for a job? (Starting to read medical books.) Medical books? (Started to practice…) Just starting again. (Because it’s been too long.) Yeah, yeah. She’s not working. It’s enough to rely on you alone. You’re earning so much. I don’t blame her. It’s you who have spoiled her. Sometimes, when we help someone, we may not be doing good to him. We could be undermining his/her ability to be independent, giving him/her the idea of relying on us. Afterward, he/she’ll become limp and weak, walking like “me” (ref. to a story in Part 2). That’s not good. Each of us must depend on ourselves, which is the best.
Let me tell you. Normally, the people in the world don’t like making children work. They would say that it is child labor, and so on. But actually, children who start work at an early age have a higher IQ. This is according to statistics, from scientists, not from me. It’s not that we intentionally force children to go out and work, but because their circumstances are like that. They are forced to use their intelligence earlier, as they have to figure out ways to survive. When they’re forced, they can’t say, “I’m just a kid, I don’t know how.” If you don’t know how, no one else does either. You have to figure it out. Those homeless children, they are so smart, so sharp! Of course, they might also do bad things. Since he has to think of ways to survive, he might resort to bad things. He’d be smart with it, stealing things very quickly, and so on. Our children couldn’t do that. He can only steal from us.
Therefore, you have to train your kids well from a young age. Try to let him share some burden of work. Let them know the value of money. Let them know that working and nimbleness are a kind of honor, and reward them for it. Once they’re used to it, they’ll associate work with honor, with warm feelings, and with the love and praises from their parents. They’ll associate all these together. When they grow up, they’ll be used to it. If you don’t train them from childhood, it’s impossible to train them after they’ve grown up. When they’re over thirty years old, you’re finished. Really, it will be impossible. It’s not that he wants to be sluggish or slow; he just can’t adapt to it. His whole system can only be changed very slowly. I spent more than ten years teaching this kind… this group of other people’s children who are not easy to teach, and turning them into the people you admire so much today. Even so, I’m still not happy. It’s you who praise them. Because I have a lot of work, I need a lot of people. It’s not enough however fast they are. It’s not that they’re slow. They’re just not fast enough, not fast enough to meet my demand. It’s not that they haven’t progressed or are slow. They are tens of times faster than you are, which you all know, huh? (Yes.)
Just like before, there were some residents who just came. When I asked him to do things, he was also very, very slow. There was a videographer, an attendant who was a videographer. Once, after a recording, I said, “Alright. I’m going to a place further away. You bring one person to help you. You bring whoever you like.” There weren’t that many people to choose from, and so he picked one who spoke his language. But then he said, “Ah, no. No, Master, I’m not bringing anyone.” And I said, “Why not?” He said, “Gosh! That person is so slow.” I said, “You say… How do you say that he’s slow? On what grounds? Coming from someone like you… And you keep saying that he is slow.” He said, “Yes, Master. But compared to me, wow! He is really too slow. When I told him to do something or bring anything, he always said, ‘Take it easy. What’s the hurry?’”
Now he can’t tolerate that kind of slow people anymore. He used to be like that before. Now, when he works with that person, he can’t tolerate him. That person told him, “I’m not used to being in such a big rush.” And then he threw a tantrum, and was in a bad mood. Then the two of them didn’t want to talk to each other. Finally, he alone still had to carry everything all by himself. That’s it. I said, “Why don’t you ask the other person to help?” He said, “Oh! He’s a kind of… nuisance. He moves too slowly. It’s faster for me to do it than asking him to help.” He has to explain a lot, beg him to help, and try not to hurt his feelings, and so on. Very slow, and then … People are all like that. They will talk endlessly, ask a ton of questions, and pretend they don’t understand. They like to waste time chatting, and so on. Habits, bad practices. Bad practices die hard. Sometimes it’s like that. Then he remained working alone. Then I said, “You can look for another person.” He said, “No. No. No. Scared. I’m scared.”
Only a few years ago, I didn’t want to work with him. Because he was very, very slow. I couldn’t understand what he said. Because he would talk for a long time, very, very long, and still couldn’t get to the point. Therefore, I disliked him and didn’t want to work with him. At that time, I didn’t have many people. I didn’t want to work with him, the Aulacese (Vietnamese), even though I could communicate with him better. I still disliked him and didn’t use him. Now, it’s his turn to dislike others. Not many years ago; only three or four years ago. But that kind of situation did happen. We had a resident Tong (…). When he first came, he was even slower than a turtle(-person). He wasn’t used to anything. If there was a little bit rush, he would say, “Oh! My heart.” Sweating. “Oh! Pressure.” Stress. “I am not used to it.” Now when he sees others behaving like this; he can’t stand it. That’s how it is. He only realizes the difference now. He knows that he was also like that before, and now he’s completely different. Therefore, if you want to train yourselves, come here quickly. Come here to train yourself. You definitely will be trained.
Photo Caption: “Together in Harmony Ah, Soo Joyful and Free!”
