Why am I talking about this? What did we talk about earlier? What did we talk about before that led to this story? (Elephant(-people). Talking about elephant(-people).) Elephant(-people), but how did it connect to eating grapes? Was there something to connect the two? (Blessing, blessing food.) Blessing. (Blessing food.) Ah, offering grapes then blessing, right? (Offering them then taking them home to eat.) Offering them then taking home to eat. (Yes.) (I was scared when I saw Master come out from the picture.) Oh. What? (Master said that if you see Master coming out from the picture, you might get scared and run away.) Running out of fear. Ah, right. Because I said if you offer and I would truly eat, then no one would offer, or you would be scared and run away. You see, they were running for real.
It doesn’t mean she was very scared, but just a little so-called shocked. She was shocked, otherwise, she wouldn’t jump the stairs. She was so surprised, that’s why she acted like that, right? (Yes.) But if the hand was fake, how could it give real grapes? (No, it wasn’t fake, Master. The whole manifestation body appeared, for real.) Appeared for real… (And I saw Master…) Manifestation is not this physical body. (But Your hand was real.) Is that so? Yeah. (Because I used to joke around with other sisters that Master is small, but She has a big hand, meaning the hufa’s hand.) And that day, I did appear for you to see? (Yes, it was real. You showed Your whole hand, Master.) OK. This story is shared in here only. (May I ask for Your permission.) If we tell this story outside, people would say we tell lies.
OK, is there anything else? So when you came down the stairs, and told the other sisters, did they believe you? Did they? (Those sisters shared the blessed grapes to eat.) Eating was very fast. Yeah. But the apple story was not from you, right? (No, it was not from me.) What I heard was an apple story. A moment ago, I was trying to remember the apple story, but I didn’t remember the grape story. (Yes.) But how come eating apples became eating grapes? But I remember the story where everyone was pushing each other to kiss the sister’s hand. (Here, here, Master.) Ah, this one? (Yes, this is the one.) Ah, that was true then? (Yes.) I got mixed up, didn’t know if it was apples or grapes. (Yes.) So it was grapes, not apples, right? (Yes.) When you came down, they kissed your hand, right? (Yes.) Which hand received the grapes? (This hand.) OK, I understand. (May I ask Your permission.) Yeah. Thank you. So we are not afraid of telling the story to the initiates, but worry that the outside people would be scared. They do? Or don’t they?
But there was a story about the apple with a would-be initiate, right? (Yes.) The apple story was not from an initiate. (No.) Where? Who was in the apple story? Who had the apple story, let me see? (In San Jose [California].) In San Jose? (Yes.) Do you know that person? (Yes, I do. But the person is not here.) But do you know that story? (No, I forgot, Master.) You forgot? Too many, you couldn’t remember them all. (I only remember because this person jumped down the stairs and yelled, making me nervous.) Then you remember. So nervous, you didn’t know what happened, right? (Yes.) See that? For example, if I appeared like that to the outsiders, they’d probably “die” [of surprise]. They would faint, and no one would make offering anymore.
But there are many people who made offerings like that. Ah, what I mean is that there are many people who follow me, believe in me very much, but are not disciples. Not true disciples, because they don’t want to practice spiritually, because it is too hard. They believe in me, so that I can help them, [it’s] just for themselves. But if a person follows me to study, to become a disciple, then his or her five generations will be liberated, too. And those who just pray for help, then I would help that person only, but rarely… I can help their relatives, but only in special cases. Otherwise, only that person himself will be helped, if they practice spiritually, or have faith in Master. Or someone who is close to that person, and also believes in me, then it is OK, too. Otherwise, it is impossible for his or her five generations to be liberated, like in the disciple’s case. [Disciple] has to work hard to practice spiritually, to be vegan, to meditate, then his or her relatives, from the mother and father side will be liberated. Saying it’s five generations is being modest – because if I said more, people would think I’m lying. Five generations is nothing!
By the way, I will say [to explain] here. Otherwise, you would say that you [have] to practice very hard so that Master would give you liberation. But the outside people don’t practice at all, eat vegetarian once in a while; Or they eat only on the first and 15th of the month, bow to Master two, three times. Or recite two, three sentences, but Master would liberate them, or She would save them, too. No, it is different. When you practice, the society in which you live will benefit, too. The people around you, your friends, everyone will benefit. Your five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, hundred generations will be liberated, if their [karma] is light. If it’s light, then they’re all liberated. If it’s heavy, it takes a little longer. For example, like that. If your relatives and family members want to attain liberation, they can all achieve it. Anyone who doesn’t want it, then of course, we can’t force them, they will have to come back as human again.
And there are people who believe in me, believe in the Method, not believing in me. They believe that I have a good Method, they believe like that, then they also [will be liberated] due to the merit from having faith in my teachings. My teachings are not mine, but the teachings of God and Buddha since time immemorial. Everyone taught the same. So, to have faith in that teaching is to have faith in the Truth, understand? Then you gain the benefits for yourself. From that, the Mahayana and Hinayana traditions were born. Mahayana is like a big vehicle which can carry us and many others. Hinayana is like a small vehicle which can carry only us. Or two, three other people. That’s why it was called Mahayana and Hinayana.
Mahayana is for the people who make a great vow. As we practice spiritually, we know that not only we are benefitted, but our relatives who have passed away or fallen into hell, all of them will be liberated. So, that is called taking a greater vow. And while we are still practicing, even not yet attaining Buddhahood but already enlightened, already attained Sainthood or a low-level Saint. [Because] Saints have many levels. Or when we attain the Bodhisattva level, we can attain eloquence without obstruction, are able to speak in a way that inspires faith and helps liberate many others. So it is called Mahayana.
As for those who believe, they do so because they believe in the Truth of a person who preaches from the Truth. And that person also believes in the Truth, and works for the Truth, and is always in the Truth, and because of that strong attraction, they believe in it, so those two are harmonious. In harmony, it pulls up. Just like a magnet. For example, the magnet pulls a needle, right? And that needle touches the other needle, and it also pulls the other needle in, do you see? Ah, it is like that.
The magnetic field is just a physical phenomenon, and yet it’s so powerful. Pulling three, four needles stuck together in a bunch. Sometimes, it can pull five, six needles, some are still sticking, even though weaker. Yeah! So the power of spiritual practice of course is there. Only physical matter, the power of the magnet can pull like that, how much more the power, the magnetic field of spiritual practice. Of course, it has an effect. So when you practice spiritually, you also pull a bunch of needles.
OK, OK. OK. That is enough, right? Yeah! No wonder so many people have asked me that question. Some even get jealous and say, “Why bother practicing spiritually? Being vegan, meditating, going through all that hardship, even doing group meditation as well. And yet, those other people who don’t even practice, and Master still says, “Yeah, OK.” OK or not is up to me, right? My right, I want to save whomever I want, to give to whomever I want, what for do you get jealous! For example, I give you five thousand, and that person ten thousand. They are all my money, why do you get jealous? I am free to give anyone I want. Yeah! You have enough. How come you are jealous with others? Yeah! For example like that. Do you want to ask me anything? Oh, is that so?
(Master just said that nine generations of the disciple will be liberated. I would like to testify that fact in my family. My mom died, Master. Then when I came to Taiwan [Formosa] for initiation, I was meditating and asked Master to let me know where my mom is at the moment. But I didn’t see anything. During that period, my sister in North Carolina [United States] saw Master took my mom away. Master wore a yellow dress and my mom wore also a yellow dress. Two months later, my sister meditated and saw our mom also practiced the Quan Yin Method taught by Master [up there]. I would like to thank You, Master.)
The yellow color symbolizes the Second Level. She went up to that level, not just the color yellow. Not that you have to wear a yellow dress when you go up there. Don’t be afraid. Whoever likes the red color, wear red. If anyone likes white color, it’s OK. Wearing black color is OK, too. Don’t listen to her, and then, “My God, wearing yellow like being a renunciate. Master forced her mom to become a nun up there,” It’s not like that. You don’t need to wear yellow to practice. Your heart is yellow, then it’s OK. The golden heart.
That kind of thing, we don’t need you to prove. All kinds of similar stories, right? Our initiates know a lot about it already. What for do you have to prove? Yeah! But we tell the story to our initiates, they understand. But the outsiders, they don’t understand a thing. (Yes.) Not only they don’t understand, but they are saying we are boasting. That’s why following me, I told you not to tell the spiritual experiences. Not that I forbid you anything. When I said that, many also misunderstood. “My God! We practice and She forbids everything, doesn’t let us talk anything. What for we practice then? Surely, She deceives us!”
The outsiders, whether we say it or not say it, neither is OK. If we tell our experiences, then they say we are boasting. They would say that we intentionally tell the experiences to call on, to attract others, so that we have more initiates, to spread the “religion” and all that. If we say that, either they don’t believe, or they slander us. Because they don’t know about such wondrous things. And if I don’t say anything, they’d say, “She must be hiding something. It must be something really serious if She refuses to say it. But if She doesn’t say it, how am I supposed to know?” And blah blah blah. That’s why, either way, we can’t win. We are stuck. (Yes.) We have to select the time, the people. (Yes.)
Besides, if we talk about our [experiences] not at the right place, and usually if we boast all the time, our ego will grow, and we become very arrogant. People will keep praising us, saying that we are Bodhisattvas. If they keep praising you, you will lose all the merits. If people slander us, we gain merits; therefore, don’t be afraid if people scold you. But if they scold us too much, we worry that they will poison the innocent people outside, that’s all. Otherwise, truly for the one who is being scolded, it is very beneficial.
The one who is being praised would be scared. Sometimes, I just praise you a little bit, tomorrow, you will do it wrongly. Do you see clearly now? (Yes.) So many times like that would prove it, right? And even the disciples who practice for a long time still fail. Praising once is enough to be in trouble, because the ego is inflated immediately. My God! So well, so good. Continue to do exactly as yesterday. Today is different. Yesterday was different. Doing like yesterday is wrong, because yesterday, She praised us.
Like the other day, remember how the renunciates performed in a play really well. And I praised them one time, right? I said, “Oh, that was so well done, they did it so fast! With so little time and yet they tailored the costumes so quickly. And then how could they perform so expressively like that, even though they didn’t have enough time – still remembered all the lines so well. Only two, three days and they made it so fast. Tailoring the costumes, and doing it all themselves, cut and sew and finish – just like that, fast, fast, fast, fast. So talented!” I said it honestly. If I think they did well, then of course I’ll say so.
After praising, then the next day, next time, next occasion, the play was lousy. Watching it made me embarrassed. I almost wanted to get up and leave. I felt so ashamed watching it. And other renunciates said the same thing, “Today’s performance was so embarrassing.” The acting was completely lousy. That’s why I told them to cut off that part, in the video, tape, if they were recorded. Don’t let that play come out. It’s too embarrassing. That’s how bad it was. The acting itself was embarrassing, but even the core story was embarrassing too. And while they were performing, even the music just cut off by itself. Their performance was like “an elephant’s head with a mouse’s tail.”
Therefore, the one who is being praised should be scared, right? Except when we don’t have the ego anymore, then what we are doing is for others, not for our own benefit anymore. Then, at that time, if people are praising you, you would not be scared that much. “Scared a little” doesn’t mean not being scared. But we know, we are more careful. And our ego is gone already. So if people praise us, we would feel the same as they scold us. Then that would help us some. We should be scared when people praise us, but not when they are scolding us.
That’s why you see the renunciates who follow me for a long time, for example, sometimes I send them to a certain place for initiation or to spread my teachings for which I gave them permission. Then they stay there to do the job. But the would-be-initiates have to be vegan for three months to be more clean. Because my disciples have small charge. When they went there, people would bow to him or her as they do to me.
Even myself, I never tell anyone to bow to me, right? Number one, because I am afraid that my ego would rise so big as an elephant(-person). Then it will trample on all of my virtues. Our virtues are as small as turtles, but the ego is as big as an elephant, it will trample to death the virtues, similar to the tortoise story earlier. Therefore, no bow, number one.
Number two, if people bow to us like that, that means we look down at the people. Everyone is a Buddha. If we are a spiritual leader, we have to lead [people] the right way. Now, if I lead them to be lower than us, then when can they be elevated? Right from the start, have to be big. Because it is hard to change a concept. So many people have wrong conceptions for a long time already. Now we even teach them another wrong conception. But it takes a very long time in order to correct a wrong conception. Now that it is corrected, we shouldn’t add another wrong conception. From this moment, we are equal already. How long can we wait to be equal?
The people already have the Buddha Nature inside. It takes a long while for people to start realize that Buddha Nature. It’s not only when they become Buddha that they will be a Buddha. It’s just that they haven’t yet realized that Buddha Nature, so they don’t know that they are Buddhas. And that Buddha Nature is never lost. Whether they realize it or not, it’s the same, they still are equal to us.
