Here, we can’t just ask for merit or spiritual power and take it freely. It doesn’t work like that. We have to work hard to earn it. It is the same as having money in the bank. If you are on the road, and you want to get more money, you have to go back to the bank. You can’t go over the limit with a credit card, understand? You can with some cards, but there is a monthly limit. […] It’s the same with merit and blessings.
Huangmei, Hubei. How long does it take? How many days will the trip take today? Two days? Three days? (One month.) One month? On foot? (On foot, yes.) On foot. Who told you to walk? Nowadays who would walk? Only the mentally ill would walk. Today we have the train, bus, taxi, and car. Mainland China is very rich now. Who would walk? Now we are afraid that nobody walks. No. It’s because there are too many cars. You see it on TV. Beijing, oh! The traffic congestion is terrible. The government is gradually introducing restrictions. It allows fewer cars on the road to reduce air pollution. In Taiwan (Formosa), every time there is smog, when the air is smoggy, they blame mainland China. “It comes from the mainland. The air quality is not good. Air quality in mainland China is not good. The wind blows it over.” I don’t know. I didn’t ask if the air came from the mainland. Every time I asked, “Why is it like this today... so much smog?” He said, “Ah! No, it’s from the mainland. The air pollution is coming from mainland China.” It’s too close. Of course, we can’t stop the air from coming here. It doesn’t need a visa, right? No need to pay money, no need to take a car or anything.
At that time, if the Sixth Patriarch Hui Neng came from Âu Lạc (Vietnam), He probably walked. Or if He had money, He rode a horse – a horse or a carriage. It was like that before, even for Master Xuanzang. I saw in a movie that He was the only one who had a horse. His three disciples had to walk as they followed Him. They were monks. How could they have much money? They also needed to save money for the long journey, right?
It was the same for me in the Himalayas. Every day I could only make chapatis for myself. Rice was not easy to cook. I was walking and carrying so much stuff. How could I bring rice, vegetables, or anything else? Impossible. So making chapatis was better. They sell that kind of flour everywhere. And you buy a small bag of flour that’s enough for the day. Then you mix it with water to bake chapatis. To make chapatis, I had a small pan – small like this. Then the sides were this high, just a bit higher, so I could boil water or bake chapatis in it – very convenient, made of aluminum and lightweight. Then I’d get a little water and some flour, mix them into dough, bake it, and eat it. I still had money, but I dared not spend much. I ate those chapatis and some cucumber or maybe peanut butter. That was how I lived. If I spent too much, I’d have no money later. In that place, you couldn’t do any business. You could only spend what you had. I still do the same. Whatever merit I could bring, that’s how much I can spend. I cannot ask for a lot. If I use too much, then I won’t have any left and later I will have to work hard to earn it again.
Here, we can’t just ask for merit or spiritual power and take it freely. It doesn’t work like that. We have to work hard to earn it. It is the same as having money in the bank. If you are on the road, and you want to get more money, you have to go back to the bank. You can’t go over the limit with a credit card, understand? You can with some cards, but there is a monthly limit. They don’t want you to take all of it, right? It’s the same with merit and blessings.
This body is troublesome. When I first got sick, my nose was blocked and I couldn’t breathe. I told my doctor that I wanted to relieve the congestion. Stuffy, stuffy nose. Stuffy. No, not runny nose. It was clogged up. I couldn’t breathe. I told the doctor that I couldn’t breathe. I was given some medication to clear it. After taking that medicine, I got a runny nose. Of course, after it was cleared, it started running nonstop. Now I’m having this. I had to ask the doctor for medicine for a runny nose. It doesn’t listen to me anymore. He said to take that medicine in the beginning. Now my nose keeps dripping. It’s useless to take another medicine, so I thought I’d just let it drip. Those toxins are no good. Let them be flushed out and forget about it. Just not good looking, sorry. The nostrils are troublesome. It’s more trouble if we don’t have them.
In this world nothing is without trouble. Having a car is troublesome; not having one is also troublesome. The same goes for money. Having no money is troublesome; so is having money. You need to save it in a bank, right? If you put it in the bank, there are restrictions when you want to withdraw it. It’s also very troublesome to put it in. Having money and depositing it is a bother. They will ask where it came from and how you earned it. OK, you write it down, provide proof, and make the deposit. Then it will be difficult to take out later. “What are you withdrawing it for?” You need to give a clear report. Do you understand? Yes! It’s very difficult. So it’s hard to have money, but it’s even harder to not have it. I don’t know what is not difficult in this world, do you? It’s miserable whether you are married or not. Not getting married is tough. Being married is even harder. Then you have a lot of complaints, telling me that your wife is this, your husband is that. And I say, “It was your own decision. I can’t do anything.” I can’t be biased; both are my disciples. How can I favor one over the other? I can’t side with either one. Aiya! Whatever we do is troublesome. We have a body that we need to take care of. If we don’t, it will bring us trouble.
But for us humans, it’s wonderful to have a healthy body, isn’t it? If we have arms and legs and everything is intact, it’s much easier to do things. Some people are not able-bodied because of disease or whatever. So even though this body is physical, impermanent, and illusory, it still causes us a lot of trouble, doesn’t it? Like these past few days, I was sick and couldn’t come out to see you. I was really sick, and the medicine made me drowsy. I couldn’t get up. After getting up for a while, I had to rest again. When I went back, I read books or documents. After reading for a while, I dozed off. The documents were there, and I was there, but I didn’t read anything. A while later, when I woke up... Eh? I wasn’t done yet. I had to read them a second time. So, I took another look and zoned out again. Ah! It was really a bother! But I had to take the medicine. Without medication, I might gradually get well but it would be too slow. Then I’m afraid it could affect my internal organs and I’d be in bigger trouble.
I have gained two or three kilograms recently because of the medication – not because of taking too much Chinese medicine. No, it’s not that the Chinese medicine is a lot, no, no. That is even worse. If you take Chinese medicine, it’s one bowl of broth from each herb. Three or four herbs mean three or four bowls. You can’t finish it, understand? Because Chinese medicine is served in bowls. I can’t even stand looking at it; how can I swallow it? And then comes another bowl. It’s more than 10 bowls a day. How can you bear it? So I took only Western medicine. But Western medicine is not taken that way. The pills are small. Small, but they have to be taken with food. We need to eat something, otherwise they will hurt our stomach. So, I have to take antacids, and then the medicine for nasal congestion, together with the medicine for a runny nose. Because sometimes the nose is congested and sometimes it is runny and I don’t know which medicine to take. Taking both is safer; they will function as they should inside. Some pills should be taken after a meal. Some are taken before a meal, and some after. I’m busy all day checking the time to take medicine before or after a meal. My alarm clock is ringing continually throughout the day so I can take pills on time. And as many times as I take medicine, I have to eat.
Normally, I don’t eat in the morning and have little appetite at noon. If I continue working, at 3 or 4 o’clock – when my work is done – I go down to eat. After that, no more food. At most, if I didn’t eat much for lunch, I will have a soup or some fruit in the evening. That’s it. But now I have to eat every meal. They were very pleased and cheerfully brought me food. Oh! So happy to see Master eating. Oh! Three times, four times, great! Cheers! The kitchen staff were also working hard, bringing more and more food. Oh! They came even before I called. Chinese people are really very generous! The more generous they were, the fatter I became. Normally, like when I was in France, if there were no attendants, I would be working. If it was a retreat, I would be there from early morning until it was time to leave, always receiving initiates from different countries and answering their questions. So I wouldn’t eat. And then when I went home, there was no one to cook, so I’d eat something like soda crackers with some water. It would be OK. I didn’t gain weight then. Here in Taiwan (Formosa), it’s different.
Taiwan (Formosa) is a land that likes heavy people. The fatter you are, the more blessings you have, good fortune. Chinese people like large sizes, right? Having food to eat means that you are fortunate. If you get fat, it means you have food. To be able to eat means that you have good fortune. They like to marry women with a round face and a big, round belly, the rounder the better. It’s the same in some African countries. Men like to marry women that are generous in size. There was a movie about this. A man sees a big, chubby woman, and he thinks, “Wow! She is beautiful.” That’s their conception of beauty: fat and full-figured.
The last few days, they seemed to make me gain weight intentionally. Wow! The food just kept coming! And when I saw it, I ate it. They are excellent cooks! If you don’t look at food, you don’t think about it much. But when many kinds are laid out in front of you, the nose smells and the eyes see. Then your mouth surrenders, and you begin eating. Wow! When you start gaining weight, you don’t even know. It just happens like that. You stand on the... what is that thing you use to weigh yourself? (A scale.) A scale. “Cheng.” In mainland China, you say “cheng.” OK, I stood on the scale, then I realized: Aiya! I had grown. I didn’t know how it happened. Ah! That’s it – because of the medicine. I said that when I take medication, I need to eat. I thought I’d have small cookies and things like that. Cup noodles are also fine, simple – just a little something to go with the medicine. But they brought food every time they came. Well, then I knew. I said, “OK, I’ve eaten this one and can’t finish it. Take it away. Leave the three bottles here, and I will eat again at noon and in the afternoon. Don’t bring anything else.” What happened? It was the same at noon. They didn’t hear me clearly? They heard me very clearly. (They heard clearly.) They heard, but they still brought more food. It was hard to change their habit of bringing food three or four times a day. They would feel strange if they didn’t bring food. They are used to being generous, understand? That’s why I don’t ask for anything now. I only pray that I get better soon.
