The past Buddha can bless you in some degree. Or help you in some way. Of course, they all do. Bodhisattvas and Buddhas are always helping you all the time. Just only the living Master can transfer to you the enlightenment. En-light. Put the light on for you.
“‘Seventeenth, they will attain whatever they seek. Eighteenth, their families will be happy. Nineteenth, they will never undergo any disasters. Twentieth, they will leave the bad karmic path forever. Twenty-first, they will always arrive at their destination.’” What destination? Meaning good destination, I guess, otherwise he would say evil destinations. “‘Twenty-second, their dreams will be peaceful and happy. No nightmares. Twenty-third, their deceased relatives will leave suffering behind.’” Even! “‘Twenty-fourth, they will enjoy blessings earned in previous lives. Twenty-fifth, they will be praised by sages. Twenty-sixth, they will be intelligent and have keen faculties. Twenty-seventh, they will be magnanimous and empathetic. Twenty-eighth, they will ultimately realize Buddhahood.’” Just to respect Buddha’s image, I mean, Bodhisattva Earth Store. Wow, this Bodhisattva, is really incredible! Anything to do with Him earns so much merit and saves you from suffering. “‘Moreover, Bodhisattva Empty Space,’” means the Buddha’s calling this Bodhisattva while He’s talking to him, “‘If gods, dragons, or spirits of the present or future hear Earth Store Bodhisattva’s name, bow to Earth Store Bodhisattva’s image, or hear Earth Store Bodhisattva’s past vows and the events of His practices, and then praise Him,’” we praise You, we praise You, hallelujah, “‘behold and bow to Him, they will benefit in seven ways. First, they will quickly transcend to levels of sagehood.’” Why do you need to get initiation? “‘Second, their evil karma will dissolve. Third, all Buddhas will protect and be near them.’” You have to be vegetarian, though. Otherwise, the meat smells so bad, I don’t think Buddha will go so near. “‘Fourth, they will not retreat from Bodhi. Fifth, their inherent powers will increase. Sixth, they will know past lives. Seventh, they will ultimately realize Buddhahood.’” It’s more or less like before.
“At that time, all the indescribable, indescribable numbers of Buddhas, Thus Come Ones, who have come from the ten directions, the great Bodhisattvas, gods, dragons and the rest of the eightfold divisions” — meaning, all different directions, different beings, different ranks of beings, — “having heard Shakyamuni Buddha’s praise of Earth Store Bodhisattva’s great awesome spiritual powers, praised this unprecedented event. Following that, incense, flowers, heavenly garments, and (vegan) pearl necklaces rained down in the Trayastrimsha Heaven as offerings to Shakyamuni Buddha and Earth Store Bodhisattva.” As if the Buddha needed it. Why not give to us? What for the Buddha needs a necklace? Do you think He needs it? (Vegan) pearl necklace? No. He renounced the whole kingdom. It’s just the people, whatever they thought was the most precious they just took it out and just, rained it down on the Buddha, because they loved so much, they respected so much, they just did it. They knew Buddha didn’t need it. And they just did it because they loved. And the Buddha also didn’t mind because they knew it’s just their sincerity. “Then everyone in the assembly joined together in beholding and making obeisance to both of Them.” Means Shakyamuni Buddha and Earth Store. “After that, they placed their palms together and withdrew.” OK, end of the Earth Store Bodhisattva Sutra. Thank you. What a great saint, huh? Wouldn’t you like to be like Him?
(Master, how is it that they can reach sagehood?) How is it that who? Who can reach sagehood? (The one that You read just now, there was a mention of, they attain sagehood if they ...) Recite? (Yes.) How? Why not? (So, without initiation, they can?) This is for the people who don’t have Master to initiate them. There are thousands of ways to be liberated. But this, it’s just they’re on the way to sagehood. On the way to. Ultimately, later on. It takes a long time. And this is like immediate, OK? Otherwise many monks, Buddhist monks, would have become Buddha already. No, it’s not like that. Not so quick. (When reading the sutras, what about other scriptures? It would be similar, like, the very pure scriptures?) Which one? (Like Sikh scriptures.) If it comes from an enlightened Master, yes. It has to come from a very highly enlightened Master, such as Buddha. If it’s purely just from an enlightened Master, OK. (I think the Sikh scriptures are from a pure enlightened Master.) I haven’t read all of them. We take care of that. I have a long life. What I mean is maybe later. Keep reading Buddhist (sutras) first, then I will read other sutras to see if they’re good. Because here, the Buddha only praised the Earth Store Bodhisattva. Probably, He could praise Guru Nanak and Jesus and all that, but He didn’t have so much time. Just Earth Store Bodhisattva is one big sutra already. But He also mentioned many names of other Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. If you just hear a name and just recite one name and then it saves you from suffering. That is what the Buddhas are for. That’s what all the enlightened Masters are for.
It is said also that even in your lifetime, even if you’re not initiated, but you happen just to see the Master once, catch His eyes, then at the time of death He’ll come and get you. Initiates are the worst people. You know, like in the hospital. Patients staying near the doctor are the worst. I’m sorry. It’s true like that. You don’t think that I give initiation just for you? Just for these handful of people? No. I don’t travel all over the planet just for that. But only a living Master can transmit the direct enlightenment to you, and immediate. So I read it to you. One woman, the Earth Store Bodhisattva, when she was not a Bodhisattva yet, she was a woman, just because her mother died and she was so filial and she went all over to look for her mother; she didn’t know where. Therefore, she prayed to that-and-that Buddha, yeah? And then the voice in the empty space told her that if she could sit straight for one day and one night, something like that, remember? And behold His name, then He would tell her where her mother was. She first must meditate To fill yourself with that Buddha’s power. Because He knew she’s about to go into a very difficult hell, deep hell and a very suffering hell, no one can enter except the offenders. So, she had to be empowered with that Buddha’s blessing first. Otherwise, if she went there, she’d die, too. Or she could never go there, never enter that hell. Then, after that, then her mother just was released with the whole hell that day. But she wasn’t enlightened. I mean, not a saint yet. Even though the past Buddha loved her so much and gave her the power, she had to sit for one day and one night in order to receive it. But then she wasn’t a saint. She was just able to go to hell that day only. Not to Heaven, not seeing the Light—nothing. That is the difference. The past Buddha can bless you in some degree. Or help you in some way. Of course, they all do. Bodhisattvas and Buddhas are always helping you all the time. Just only the living Master can transfer to you the enlightenment. En-light. Put the light on for you. That’s what it is. And then continue. Some people, or sometimes maybe you read some great sutra or great bible, maybe you see a little Light or something, or maybe Jesus appears to you a while. But that’s not to continue. You can’t just do that all the time. With a living Master, He transfers this power to you, and it’s a continuous process. Maybe you don’t always see Jesus, but you still can. You can continue if you concentrate well, you still can repeat that experience, or more. But to pray and all that, it’s just in deep prayer or sincerity, you might get some experiences just for that time only. OK. Anymore questions? (No, thank You.) No. No questions? Anywhere?
(Hi, Master. I have actually two questions. First one is, as You mentioned, the other religions, the head is Bahá’u’lláh also an enlightened Master for Baháʼí?) Yeah. He was. He’s gone. (I see. And second is, actually I am running a vegan restaurant business, and we have opened for already two years. And we have lots of brothers and sisters also working in this vegan restaurant. We are actually now having an increasing impact, but we are still kind of very hard to survive. Something like that.) Why? (I mean, we are still kind of working very hard to survive, losing money.) Maybe you have to organize more. Don’t spend much on the nonsense. (This is why I am seeking for Your advice…) Advice? What can I do? I’m not a businesswoman. (Because I’m thinking about, is it because we are… Sometimes, if something is not successful, is it because we are lacking this merit to do it? Or probably, we need to do what kind of things to accumulate more merits?) No, no. Sometimes you need to organize. You learn from other vegetarian restaurants how they do it. Sometimes you spend too much on unnecessary items, too much on frivolous details and then spend a lot of time and a lot of money. Make it simple, OK? (Right.) And whatever you don’t sell, you don’t make it again. (OK.) You can learn from many others. (Yes, because we are trying to create a new kind of mode. It’s kind of, we have not only vegan food, vegan cafe, we have vegan supermarket in it.) Oh, then you don’t ask me. You are doing too much at one time. (Yes.) Anything else? (Yes. I think that’s all. Just seeking for more advice.) Too much work. But it’s good, it’s good you do all that. It’s just you have to know your ability, you know? (Yes.) A lot of people like to do many things, but they’re not able, and then that’s why they have trouble. You have to do small, one step at a time. (OK, thank You. Thanks a lot.) Next question? (That’s all.) That’s all? I thought you said two questions. (Yes, the first is about the Baháʼí faith.) Oh, OK. (The second one is about ...) Why did you ask about Him? Are you a Baháʼí? (Oh, no, no, no. My husband is. But he’s initiated already.) No, it’s OK. He is enlightened. I mean He was, but He’s gone. (Thanks a lot.) Welcome. It’s very difficult when you have three stores at the same time like that. It needs a lot of manpower, a lot of organizing talent. (I am thinking about it because we still need more time?) Ah, OK, time. Yeah. And also have to have some organizing talent and marketing ability. (And I’m still learning it.) Oh, God! You should learn before you open. (Yes.)
Yes, please. (Master, I would like to ask another question about the sutras You’ve been reading to us the last few days. You read a lot of information about the different hells, and I’m very grateful to know that because I didn’t know that information. And I think it’s really important for us to.) Which hell did you like? (I didn’t like any of them. They are all horrible.) Because you say you are so grateful, I thought… (I’m grateful to know.) some of them are attractive to you. (Yes.) It’s good to know so that you’re really more serious about the precepts. (Yes.) Yeah, all right. (So, there were lots of hells that Master described. And, for example, some of them, Master read that you could spend tens of thousands of millions of years.) Eons. (Eons.) Not years, eons. Yes. (And, for example, you could end up in one of those hells for that length of time by harming your parents.) Yes. (Which is an incredibly long time.) Yeah. (It’s a hideous sin to harm your parents, but it’s such an unjust sentence.) Understand. (So what I don’t understand is, I don’t understand how any of us are here, because it seems, to me, very difficult for a human to fulfill their length of a lifetime without committing some sort of sin. And it doesn’t sound as though you need to do that much to end up in one of these hells.) In hell. Yeah. (What are we doing here? Why aren’t we all still there if we should be there for eons? And we’ve had many lifetimes in the past.) Maybe you have done good merit in the past, and your merit has not run out yet, so it somehow counterbalances the sin of this lifetime. But some people are still alive, but their astral body is already in hell also. That happens too. And just waiting until their lifespan allowance is finished, done, then their string is cut and then they will fall, altogether. We have not just this body. We have the astral body, causal body, and so on and so forth. If the soul is highly developed, then the soul will acquire other bodies, up to the Fifth Level. This is for normal human beings. And if the soul is not too developed, then it acquires another body for hell. Or the astral body will go suffer in hell while the human body is still here. And then, so sometimes people have pain here, ache there, or burning sensation, fever, and they don’t know why. Some people even burst into flames and die immediately. Spontaneous combustion Because they go straight there.
(Master, may I ask You another question?) Yes, sure. (Sometimes I’ve read in the past in newspapers, something that was very disturbing to me and I didn’t understand it, and it’s related to this topic that we’ve been speaking about. I’ve read that sometimes there were nuns who actually set themselves alight on purpose.) Nuns? (Yes.) And for what reason? (Well, I don’t know. That’s what I didn’t understand. But I wonder if…) They didn’t say why in the newspaper? (Well, no. They didn’t say why. But I wondered if they maybe thought they were taking on some world karma and sacrificing themselves for that. I don’t know.) Maybe they just protest something. Their cause, you know? Only some, a few people would know. Like, a long time ago, a few decades ago, when the war was still going on in Âu Lạc (Vietnam), there was one monk, high monk, in Buddhist, he set himself alight to protest the government for oppressing Buddhism or something like that. At that time. (And he died.) Yeah, he died. But his heart still remains, like a piece of onyx. Nothing can destroy it. The remaining heart, they tried to destroy it, but they can’t. No fire, no hammer, nothing destroys it. And so they put it in a glass and worship it. Sometimes people do something for a cause, you know? (I’m sorry to ask You these serious questions, Master, but I really appreciate Master giving us this information. Thank You.) You’re welcome. Yeah, I’m sorry also to hear things.
Not only nuns, but sometimes other people, they also do that. Like in Tunisia, last year, a fruit vendor, he set himself on fire and died. Because the police were harassing him or stopping him selling it. He only sold fruits to help his mother out. Then after that, that’s why we have the Tunisian Spring revolution. And from then, it carried on all the way in the Arab world up to now in different countries. Because that boy set himself alight, with petrol. And they intervened and took him to the hospital, but he still died afterward. Not just nuns and monks. People, when they are forced into a corner, they do things.
(I was wondering if this is the case when the astral body is already in hell but the person is still alive? Can he do something while still alive to go up?) Can, can. Can. Can, with sincerity, resolution, and respect to the Buddha, for example, Sangha, enlightened Masters, call for help, repentant, truly repentant and humble. Ask for help, maybe. Maybe, because once in there, it’s difficult to get out. First must serve the sentence. We can prevent it, it’s better before coming. Before coming in, to prevent is better than coming in already. Because in here, I saw the Buddha say that. Because if the offenders already fell into hell, they still have to serve the whole sentence first. Oh, God, it’s terrible! That’s why the Buddha begged all these gods and ghost kings and Bodhisattvas to stop them. Before entering the gate, just lay yourself down there, make something, do something. If they recite one name of the Buddha or Bodhisattva, then help them. Even one name, one time. Before entering. After entering—(it’s) difficult. Maybe can alleviate it, lessen the time, but (it’s) difficult, yes. Now, if the person is already in hell and the body is still here, then they can still try to do something. Help yourself: cultivate, meditate, pray, sincerely repentant, pray for help, etc., then (it’s) possible, possible. Or, if somebody else is praying for you and doing extraordinary things for you, and can go to hell and help you out.
