When you came here, you should be determined to meditate alone. Just forget the ones who could not come. It’s their fate, they had to bear it. If you keep asking nonsense, then your mind would be distracted. And other people who listened to your questions also got distracted and thought about other things instead of their goal of coming to the retreat. It would be a waste of time for them, for everyone, understand? […] Next time, when you come to retreat, you should drop everything, drop everything. Drop everything outside the gate. […] Dropping them forever is even better.
How strange? How come the Aulacese (Vietnamese) could not find any land everywhere they went? Why do you let people pitch tents in such a place that’s more steep? Is he there? (Yes.) Did you cheat them or what? (No. They’re lazy. There are so many spades, and they didn’t want to dig and flatten the land themselves.) Oh! That’s how it is. (Each person digs 36 square feet [~3 square meters], and it’ll be enough.) That’s how it is. Because you didn’t know. What... How to say “strategy” in Aulacese (Vietnamese)? It’s a strategy. His strategy is like this. It was just revealed, so let Big Sister translate for you.
He said: “My God! Because the Aulacese (Vietnamese) are lazy. We brought a lot of hoes, shovels, but no one wanted to dig.” He was planning that when people come for a 7-day retreat, each one can dig a small area [for themselves]. To make the land more flat, so save money by not hiring outsiders. How come you guys don’t understand at all? Pretending that the language is different? If you see a hoe and shovel, then no one need to talk. He said: “We have hoes and shovels everywhere, but no one wanted to dig and level the land in order to set up the tent. They’d rather sleep with leg ‘suspended’!” No, probably the Aulacese (Vietnamese) prefer it that way. Right? They always do paradoxical things, therefore they also sleep upside-down! But can you sleep? (Yes, we can.) This person rolls to another person’s tent (Yes.) and you can support each other.
There are hoes and shovels. Are there? You don’t have them? (Yes, we do.) You have them but don’t want to touch them, right? Gosh! We Aulacese (Vietnamese) are “high-class,” we don’t dig dirt. In Âu Lạc (Vietnam), we already labor too much, too tired already, right? We come here to rest, to sleep-meditate. We come to sleep-meditate, what for do we have to work? He couldn’t speak Aulacese (Vietnamese); he just stood there pointing a finger and left. And we also stood there, look-look and then went off. So just bear it. We only have one or two more days, so just hang in there and sleep. Because if we dig now and tomorrow we take down the tent and go home, then it’s a waste of effort. Later on, other people come and stay there; you get nothing.
Because we just bought this mountain a few months ago. They did a lot of work already, although you don’t see. You come here and see nothing, because you don’t know what it looked like before. Yesterday, Big Sister went to sightsee our land, and my God, the roads up there are even more terrible. What kind of road that we don’t see the road at all. The road is so narrow, but the pothole is this big; if we are not careful, the whole car will fall into that hole! When you came here and saw the road that big, it’s because it was just built; there was no road before. In this Samsara (world), how can we find any good place to stay; we have to work very hard to have a place. If we want a place where people prepared already, then it would cost hundreds of billions – hundreds of billions of dollars. Big Sister even gave them some more money. They also dug into my bag to get money! But then this is all we have. They let us stay in the strawberry farm. And even hung some strawberry-shaped lanterns; they treated us like trees and grasses.
This world has a lot of rules and regulations, we can’t just do what we want. It is difficult. Big Sister already said that. This rule is blind. Blind rule. We don’t do anything bad, but they prohibit all kinds of things. It’s not that we do something bad and destroy the landscape, or that we come and damage the beautiful tradition of a country, then they can punish us. We don’t do anything [harmful]; we always do good for people wherever we go. Anywhere we go, we make the environment beautiful. Yet, they just follow the rule and tell us that if we want to do it, we have to ask for permission. And if we apply for permission, then it may take many months or a year. After you get the permission, finish the work, they would find other reason(s) to kick us out again. So Big Sister is very tired. Auntie Hải is tired already!
What kind of temple that is made with nylon. And this nylon is not intact even, has holes all over! This place, they used to grow strawberries, you know? Growing cabbages, strawberries. But here, we grow Saints! OK, just bear it. Just sleep upside-down for a few days, then when you go home, you can sleep straight. You guys don’t dare to come for retreat anymore, right? (No, we still come.) You come and suspend your legs in the air like that. (Then we will remember Korea more.) What? (We will remember Korea more.) Sleep what? (If we sleep upside-down like that, we will remember Korea more.) Remember Korea.
Why don’t you guys dig it up a bit to level the land? (If we dig, we have to dig a lot, Master. If we dig just enough for the tarp and it rains, the water may easily flow in.) I don’t know. How can it come in? The tent is like that, if the water is coming in, it will flow down. If you dig, you must dig a trench around it. (But when we crawled up the mountain, we were so tired that we couldn’t dig anymore.) Crawling up the mountain and could not dig, huh? How come you crawled that hard? The mountain is vertical like a wall, how could you crawl? This mountain is like that, how can you crawl up, no way! Very tired, right? Crawling up the mountain and then you’re all tired? Because you guys got used to traveling by car at home already? (Yes.) Ah, I know, I know.
The brother didn’t know this situation. He climbed the mountain every day, and didn’t know that people drive cars at home. It was the same when Big Sister first came, I drove a car and he ran. He ran and followed with the hufas (guards). It hurts me to see that, so I said: “No, no, no. Don’t run anymore. Otherwise, jump in the car and we go together”. Then he said: “Oh, it is nothing to run today.” When I hadn’t come here, he ran a few hundred times up and down the mountain. (Yes.) Going up and down, so he got used to it. Whatever we practice, we get used to it. Actually, it’s easy to talk about it. But if you are not used to climbing the mountain, you would be tired.
Each time you climb down to eat, and climb back up, the food was all gone. The food in the small cup was all digested. (Yes.) You should bring an extra cup to eat when you get back to your tent. (Yes.) When you climb down to eat, bring an extra cup back, because when you climb up, you will be hungry again. So, is the food OK for you? (Yes, it is.) Could you eat the Korean (vegan) food? (Yes, it is delicious.) Yeah, the Chinese are so funny. Yesterday, they brought the food to Big Sister, they had the boiled vegetables with... What is that? What is “sauce” in Aulacese (Vietnamese), I forgot. Soy sauce? The sauce that you pour over the salad. Yeah, they made the sauce a little thick to pour over the salad. Big Sister asked, “Oh, this one is to eat with what?” It was like apple sauce, so I thought they made it with apple. I asked: “What is it?” I thought it was a dessert. Big Sister asked, “This one is to eat with what? Is it a dessert?” They said, “No. This is the dipping sauce for the boiled vegetables.” Because she put it next to the vegetable dish, so she said it is for this dish. This is for dipping the boiled veggies.
Big Sister said, “Oh, I’ve eaten these boiled veggies all the time in Taiwan (Formosa), but never seen with this dipping sauce.” Then the Taiwanese (Formosan) sister said, “Oh, this one probably is made by the Koreans. It is Korean style.” Big Sister said, “What Korea? This veggie dish is obviously Taiwanese (Formosan).” She said, “But there is a Korean sister in the kitchen who got things mixed up.” Then Big Sister asked, “So strange! This is not it. It’s not it.” Then another sister came and said, “It is not it, Master. This sauce is for the salad dish.” They always blamed the Koreans. I said, “If you don’t know, then say don’t know.” They didn’t know and blamed the Koreans cooking wrongly. Even with eating, we could not learn enough, huh? (Yes.) Yeah. Not to talk about learning to be a Buddha, a god!
So, did you make any progress by meditating during the last few days? (Yes, we did.) Making progress like that Chinese guy? Yes? (Yes, we did.) At least, you did, because you could not open your mouth anymore. Big Sister let you guys climb the mountain three days, and meditate three more days. Then you can’t ask questions anymore, right? Too tired! That’s why Big Sister organized 7-day retreats all the time. So that you become so tired that you don’t think, don’t talk nonsense anymore. OK, you won’t ask any questions? (Right.) Really? (Yes, really.) Not asking? OK. Then, you go to meditate. Let’s meditate. Do you, the audio team, have translation? (Yes.) No translation? (There is.) You didn’t understand anything? No wonder I’ve been talking so much, and you look expressionless.
When you came here, you should be determined to meditate alone. Just forget the ones who could not come. It’s their fate, they had to bear it. If you keep asking nonsense, then your mind would be distracted. And other people who listened to your questions also got distracted and thought about other things instead of their goal of coming to the retreat. It would be a waste of time for them, for everyone, understand? It was very hard for them to come here, and climb the mountain out of breath... Sleeping with your legs hanging in the air, and still asking on behalf of this person or that person. Remember, OK? (Yes.) Next time, when you come to retreat, you should drop everything, drop everything. Drop everything outside the gate. When you go home, you can pick them up again if you miss them. Dropping them forever is even better. OK. Meditate.
