Some people, when they practice a lot, they have a different kind of extra bonus. Many of the Buddha’s disciples knew some of their past lives. Buddha knew many, many past lives. Not just His, but His monks and His other disciples as well. So, that’s why I read you many, many Buddhist stories, because the Buddha told about the past lives of this and that, and other people.
Hallo, guys. (Hallo, Master.) Can you hear me? (Yes, we can, Master.) Because I don’t dare to turn on the loudspeaker. (Oh.) You hear well or not? (Yes, Master. Very well.) I have to be among people. Not like living with them, but nearby. And so, I cannot be too loud. Hey, how are you guys? It’s better today? (We are good, Master. Thank You. How are You, Master?) I’m good. I’m good. I’m good. (Good to hear. That’s good.) I just have solved some problem. It’s been a long time, many months, and a lot of trouble and prolonging problems. I just finished one section. And what next? Many more sections, of course.
Are you guys sleeping a little bit better today? Yesterday you had to help people move and it was so late – all night long. But we had no choice. (Understand, Master. Yes, Master.) I was also awake with you. You know that, right? (Yes, Master.) Because I kept calling you until the end. Until you ended. (Yes.) Meaning, until the night ended. The night did end. Eventually. And thank you for helping others. (You’re welcome, Master. Yes, Master.) What to do? We sometimes don’t have any choice of what we do. (Understand, Master.) And to help others is to often have no choice. Have no choice at all.
I want you to tell me some good things. Not always bad news, or I have to tell you. Is there anything good? (Yes, Master. Yes.) If not, also good – that means I just say goodbye and it’s good for me. I also want to sleep a little bit, but I didn’t have a chance today. No. (Oh.) Too much work, just follow up of the work. You have delivered and you’re done, but it’s not done for me. (Right.) You know, right? (Yes, Master.)
And I’m happy that you helped, because that part I cannot do. (Right, Master.) That part, you have to. I can’t drive. I don’t know where to drive, and I don’t know how. So, it’s very, very good that you helped yesterday to drive people and things. God bless then.
Tell me, is there anything good? Or I just “good night” then. (Some good things. Yes. There’re some stories as well, Master.) Tell me, tell me. Quick, quick.
(Regarding past lives, I was told a story about a bird and a worm. The bird met the worm in one of their past lives, and they became a human couple in this lifetime.) Is that a true story? (Yes, it’s a true story. They are my parents.) Who is the worm? (I think it’s my father. And my mom is the bird.) One bird and one worm. Oh, the bird ate the worm and had to come back, right? (Yes.) Together. (Yes.) Oh, poor worm. And poor bird ate the wrong worm!
I could see that. Maybe your mother looks chubby like a bird, a well-fed bird. And your father – slender and tall like a worm. Maybe an earthworm. (Yes.) But he’s good-looking for a worm. Don’t you think? (Yes.) He was. And very gentlemanly. Very good. I think your mother was the more active one, the more controlling one. (Yes.) And your father is always, “OK, dear. OK, dear.” Right? (Yes.) “You win, you win.”
How do you know that? (They told me this story.) Who told you, your mom or your dad? (Yes, my mom saw the past lives and shared the story. And there are two questions: How can we know our own past life? And how does the bond between people work life after life?) Oh, wow. It’s complicated.
Some people, when they practice a lot, they have a different kind of extra bonus. Many of the Buddha’s disciples knew some of their past lives. Buddha knew many, many past lives. Not just His, but His monks and His other disciples as well. So, that’s why I read you many, many Buddhist stories, because the Buddha told about the past lives of this and that, and other people. Remember? (Yes.) And the past life…
Don’t worry about the past life. What for do you remember the past life? You can’t change anything. I will tell you about a past life. (Yes, Master.) My own past life stuff. (Oh, cool! Yes!) One of the lives.
I’ve been feeding the bird-people. I told you. (Yes, Master.) They came to my house and they even wanted to come into the house. (Oh.) The cat-person, even, from anywhere just came and then told me, “Open the door.” Not out loud, but inside. So, I opened the door and she or he just wanted to go in. I said, “No, no, no! I can’t, I can’t! I don’t know how to deal with it right now. I’m very busy and it’s not the place that I can have a zoo here.” And fox-people and all kinds of bird-people came. (Wow.) And I fed them. Remember? I told you that. (Yes, Master.)
It’s a mini-zoo. But I don’t let them in. I said, “You can stay in the garden or come and go. But you don’t stay too long either because other people might think I seduce you and make you stay here, and then they will be bothered or jealous and they will make trouble. So, when you see feeding, you eat and then you leave.” That’s good. (Right.) This is very simple.
But then the prominent ones are the seagull-people. They always come and tell me these good things and or, “Be careful with that thing,” and stuff like that. The cat-person also wants to tell, and the fox-, and the other bird-people – small birds, big birds. And even spider-people – if the big cannot come in, the small come in. It’s so simple. They can get through the gap of the windows, or the gap under the door.
They tell me every day a lot of stuff, but mostly similar things or the same thing – important things. So, I said, “OK, OK, I heard it all already.” And even the dog-people from the far-away neighbors also keep trying hard to tell me… trying so hard to let me know. The dog-person’s voice, even far away with all the windows closed, you still can hear him. (Wow.) The voice is very high: “Aw, aw, aw.” (Oh, wow.)
And so, about this seagull-person… there are different stories from all different animal-people, but I just tell you one – the seagull-person that I remember today. (Yes, please. Yes, Master. Thank You, Master.) The others, maybe another day.
One day, I had some questions about some bothering kind of feeling, or kind of attached feeling from somebody. I didn’t really ask anybody. I was just, “Aya, why all this troubles me? Just leave me alone.” And then the king of the seagull-people of that area (Wow.) came and said, “Oh, it’s not You. It’s not that person. It’s the world’s karma that’s projecting this way to You, to trouble You.” (Oh.) I said, “OK, OK. I kind of guessed it already.” It’s always world karma, world karma. It’s like a mantra they keep telling me.
And then I said, “Who are you, anyway?” He said, “I am…” Now, I forgot his name. I can’t believe that. Just one moment. Ah, Neo. His name is Neo. So, I said, “Spell it for me.” He spelled it like N-E-O. (Wow.) I said, “Oh. Are you a new one? Or have I not known your name before?” He said “No, no. You knew my name. I am that king of the seagulls in this area.” I said, “Oh, but last time, when you first came, you introduced yourself to me, your name is ‘N-U.’” (Yes.) I said, “Yeah.” He told me, “Ah, it sounds the same. So, I made it short and simple for You.” Means, he made it short and simple. So, I said, “Ah, yeah, yeah, I got it now.” “N-e-o” and “N-u.” It sounds the same, like “new.” (Yes, Master.)
I even asked him, “Is that Nu or is that Neo?” He said, “Neo.” And that second time, when I asked, “Who are you that tells me this and that?” So, he spelled his name – actually it’s N-e-o. But it’s really pronounced the same. Neo. (Yes. Yes, Master.) Neo, more or less.
So, I said, “OK, OK. Alright. Why are you so kind to me?” He’s so good. He said, “Because You’re helping us through some cold days. And we’re very appreciative.” I said, “Oh, it’s my pleasure. I love to do that. I love to do that.”
Let me remember. The front and the back. The beginning and the end. Let me remember the sequence of the conversation. I know the whole thing, it’s just I want to tell you the way it was. (Understand. Yes, Master.) And not like afterward, I say, “Oh oops, that was at the beginning, and that one at the end.” I often do that. Forgive my old age. So, what was it then?
I said, “OK, you are so kind to me. I thank you anyway. But, is there anything else you want, except what I gave every day? Like, bread and mixed with some fruit. But do you have any kind of preference? Something else that I don’t know about your kind of food?” He said, “That’s OK like that.” I said, “Do you like fruits? Any special fruits?” He said, “No, we don’t.”
Because some days they don’t come, and the food is left over until the next day. I worry it’s not fresh, so I asked him if it’s still OK like that. I can’t just crawl out onto the roof and pick out, one piece at a time from the bread, because I chop it into cubes, small cubes, like small finger-sized cubes. (Yes, Master.) I said, “If you don’t eat it fresh, I can’t go out and pick it up, pick them one by one like that.” He said, “No, it is still OK. We eat worse than that.” I said, “What?”
I remember some days before that when they didn’t come, I asked Neo, “Why didn’t you guys come yesterday? What happened? Did you have some better food somewhere else? Or somebody fed you?” He said, “No, no.” I said, “Then what did you eat?” He said to me, “Trash.” Oh. (Oh!) It was terrible for me. I felt like a pinch – a pin just pricked my skin. I said, “I would not eat trash myself. Why do you have to eat trash?” And the fox-person also sometimes reported to me the same thing if he didn’t come and eat the food I put outside. He said he ate trash. (Oh.) And I felt so terrible. I felt so sorry. Imagine if we had to eat trash. (Yes, Master. Understand, Master.)
So, I asked him, just kind of the same as I asked the fox-person, “But how do you get trash to eat?” I felt so terrible, felt so sorry that they had to eat trash to survive. So, I asked the fox-person, “How did you do it?” Because mostly nowadays, people cover the trash. “How did you get in and eat? How did you open it?” He said, “Some trash cans are closed. Some trash cans are open.” So, he just eats whatever is open. “And when we are full, we don’t come to eat your food.” I said, “OK, I know that now, so I will still continue feeding you. And if you don’t eat, then you can eat next time. Otherwise, I thought you don’t like the food and you might not come again.”
The fox-people like fruit. There were two of them. They like fruits, but not all kinds of fruit. They like pears (Oh.) or papaya, things like that. (Oh.) But, like, apple, they didn’t really like it too much. The bird-people, if I chop them very fine, very fine, then they eat them also. After all the bread is gone, they have no choice, they eat them too. I said, “It’s good for you, eat the fruit also.” And I always tell them to thank God, and they also thank me.
