Now, he begins to tell about the doctrines of the Essenes. It’s like this: “The doctrine of the Essenes tends to teach all men that they confidently may trust their fate in the hands of God, as nothing happens without His will. They are the most honest people in the world, and always as good as their word.” Well, that sounds very familiar. That’s why we have the Five Precepts. We tell the truth. We respect other people’s property, and not taking it home and taking care of it.
Why do we go so far? What was I talking about? Oh, I mean about the water. About the rain here in Paris. Recently, the weather changed a lot. You know that, right? (Yes.) Normally, at this time, we don’t have rain, right? Parisians? (Generally…) No, huh? (No. A little.) A little. (No, no. Normally, no.) Normally not! Very hot! I remember when I was here a long time ago, this is the hottest month, and you had to run away from Paris. Normally Paris is all deserted at this time. Nobody ever stays in Paris. They force you to go on holidays. They pay you to go. Yeah, it’s like that. I know it. So now… We’re grateful for all this rain. It’s refreshing. Otherwise, it would be too hot for us to sit here even, or outside. It’s not possible! Not possible in a tent like that, you cannot bear it. You will think you are in Africa. You know, yeah! So, we pray that the situation will improve for Darfur and other poor refugees.
But Darfur seems to be the most desperate. First, because we tried to go in, but we cannot do it directly. I know they’re so restricted, the policy there or something, because of the war or something going on, or some rivals, so they don’t let us come in. And then second, I tried to give the money to a very powerful organization, the most powerful one. And then they don’t take it. I don’t know why. They were appealing on television, but then when we gave, they didn't take it. OK, fine, then we didn’t give. Until later on, we found out about the movie stars foundation. OK, we gave it to them, and they accepted. But still, I don’t know how the red tape would allow them to do anything quick or not. Over there, they have to go ten kilometers to get water and wood. Because everybody goes there and gets, and so wood is rare also, and water is rare. So we are truly lucky. Every day you have to thank God for what you have. (Yes, Master.) Really, we are lucky! I cannot emphasize it enough. It’ll never be too much for all this. We have to be always grateful. (Yes.) Grateful for the precious peace that we have in our countries in Europe, the precious life that we still have, and the precious Quan Yin Method, of course.
So now, let’s go back to the Essenes. Is it too long? I don’t know. It’s just by the way, spontaneous. Who cares? It’s not an orchestra, that I have to sing certain notes at certain times, is it? No, huh? You don’t mind, huh? (No.) No, no! If you mind, you can go out! You know, huh? You know. You don’t dare, huh? OK now, let’s go to the Essenes that you’ve been waiting for. About the man Banus, he lived in the wilderness, as some of the yogis, they are really maybe tired of the world, or maybe they are tired of the way people live their life and they don’t want to be influenced by this kind of not very favorable life for spiritual enlightenment. So, he went into the wilderness. I remember, Jesus also went there once for 40 days. Buddha was also under the Bodhi tree, alone.
I mean, when we say Bodhi tree, He didn't sit under the Bodhi tree in a New York theme park or something like that. It’s a Bodhi tree that grows in nowhere, in the wild, in some remote areas. Now that you see a Bodhi tree outside in our yard there, don’t try to sit under there and think that you're already a Buddha. So, you can see that most of the really elevated practitioners, they somehow do go into some retreat sometimes in their life in order to be far away from the atmosphere of the world, which is not very conducive to their practice. Perhaps in the beginning, or perhaps during all their lifetime, they do it again and again. Brother, enough already. I’m pretty. Now and again. You relax. Now and again, when I smile very brightly, then you take a photo quickly. Otherwise, it’s just casual.
So this guy, this master called Banus, he went into the wilderness, as we see, and he made his clothes out of the bark and leaves of trees, fed upon wild fruits, that we talked already about, sorry… And then he bathed several times in the cold water. Just to wake him up, I think. Just to stay awake. That’s the idea of cold water. Did you try that? Ice? Yeah, OK. Wash your face with ice cold water. I think when you’re cold, you can’t even sleep. It’s true, huh? (Yes, Master.) I tried that many times. Really, you can’t sleep. But it's also difficult to concentrate, to meditate. Because you feel like restless and in pain. Sometimes. So, temperate is the best. So, in this man… This is Josephus talking again: “In this man’s company, I spent three entire years undergoing all kinds of trials, temptations and privation...” Wow! “…and then returned to the city.” So he stayed with the master Banus in the wilderness for three years, undergoing all kinds of temptation. What kind of temptation can you have in a desert? Tell me. It’s your own temptation, right? Your own hormones that is rushing through your body and telling you, “Go home! Go home! Go home!” “Go find a woman or find a man.” Something like that. “What for, you eat just wild berries in here and befriend only the desert rabbit-people? There are a lot of coffee shops in the city where you left. It’s still there, beautiful girls and so and so.” Especially for the men, it must be pretty hard. I’m telling you!
Yesterday I said to you, “You are very brave people,” because just to be vegan only, how many people can be? The greatest victory is over ourselves. Not over any so-called enemy. It’s so easy to grab a gun and shoot somebody in the face, especially when they are defenseless, when they have no weapon, no means to defend themselves, or they don’t even know how. Innocent people, they don’t even ever see a gun in their lives, let alone use it to defend themselves. So, it’s so easy to kill anybody. It’s not easy to save somebody. That is the most difficult part, and the most noble part that we should try to strive for – saving lives, not killing. Killing is so easy, dead-easy. Even kids, they can do it! They don’t need to be even trained to do it. All you need is just a gun or a knife, and then you go wild, and then that’s it, it’s happened. And even if people keep drinking alcohol or taking drugs, then it will help them to go even more berserk, they don’t even know what they're doing, also, and then it’s nothing at all.
So, the most difficult mission is to save lives. Be it human or animal-people. To kill is cheap, no? Easy! Methinks. My humble opinion. Anyway, sorry if I am offending anybody, but the truth is the truth. And even the most victorious battle is to… to what? Conquer yourselves! Yes, and that’s what you did. And you are still doing it. Sometimes it’s still difficult, but you’re doing it, and it’s fine. It’s not about even the victory, it’s the trying to do it, at least. If everything’s easy, then we don’t need to feel proud about it. You should do the thing that is not that easy, to measure your strength, your stamina and your power of will.
So now, this guy, he stayed three years with the master, eating wild berries and bathing several times per day or night in cold water. After three years, he came back to the cities.
Now, he begins to tell about the doctrines of the Essenes. It’s like this: “The doctrine of the Essenes tends to teach all men that they confidently may trust their fate in the hands of God, as nothing happens without His will. They are the most honest people in the world, and always as good as their word.” Well, that sounds very familiar. That’s why we have the Five Precepts. We tell the truth. We respect other people’s property, and not taking it home and taking care of it. For example. OK. So, “They are the most honest people in the world! And always as good as their word.” It means whatever they promise, that’s the way it will be. So in our group, sometimes we don’t even write a check, we just write, “$20,000” on a piece of paper, and that will be given later, that will be paid in due time.
“They are…” He’s listing all the qualities and the virtues of the Essenes. One is, they teach all men that they can trust God. The second is, the soul is immortal. The third, they are the most honest people, honorable people. And the fourth, they are very industrious and enterprising, and show great skill and concern in agriculture.” Of course, you have to feed yourself, and feed other people. So agriculture, it has always been very essential to any spiritual community. We have many communities nowadays still doing the basic work, the simple lifestyle that their ancestors were always doing. They plant their own vegetables, they till their land, they tend their own cattle. Or just to till the land, they don’t even use much of the machines. They build their own houses. They teach their own children. Many communities are still like that, all over the world – in different countries, at different communities. But basically, they are similar in the sense that they take care of themselves. They plant their own food, and then they will not depend too much on the ups and downs of the society, but depend on their own labor and on God’s Grace.
Another of the virtues, continues: “But most of all are those venerated, esteemed and admired who live in the wilderness.” Probably these are the ones who already cut completely attachment to any possession, fame, profit in the world. They don’t care anymore. They’re just gone to the wilderness, live from the Providence, and do not seek any recognition of any kind. That is why they are recognized and revered, because of their true detachment, and the true devotion to God inside their heart. It’s not the action of going to the wilderness that will earn you esteem and veneration from people. It is your attitude; it’s your true renunciation. Understand? It’s not the robe that you wear, it’s not the place that you live. It is the inside that generates this kind of holiness that makes people trust you. So just like every time, most people, they go into the wilderness, and people will seek them out. “On account of the sense of justice that they ever show, and the courage and intrepidity that they manifest in ever defending truth and innocence” and purity. He means like that – purity. “This trait is not found in such a high degree, either with the Grecian or any other people.” I’m sorry, it mentions Grecian here. I don’t know why. Probably at that time the high priest of Greece was supposed to be a high order, and was supposed to be revered by people. So maybe that’s why he compared it like that and said this kind of honesty, purity, diligence and devotion are not found in such high orders of priesthood, perhaps – established religious orders at that time, I guess. That was 37 AD, after Christ.
