So you never know when you will encounter a Buddha. Maybe He just transformed Himself temporarily next to you somewhere on the bus or on the train and gave you some advice in some matter that you had been thinking about for a long time and you didn’t know how to resolve it.
“‘Earth Store, the beings of Southern Jambudvipa have irresolute wills and natures.’” Means they’re strong-willed, stubborn. “‘They habitually do many evil deeds. Even if they resolve to do good, they soon renounce that resolve.’” Sounds familiar. “‘If they encounter evil conditions, they tend to become increasingly involved in them.’” Unfortunately, it’s almost true. It’s easier to copy bad habits than to copy the good ones, somehow. Somehow, I don’t know why. Can anyone tell me why the Buddha said that? That it’s easier for them, like almost here. The meaning is that it’s easier for the people in this world to copy evil, to follow evil, than good. Can anyone tell me why? (Maybe to learn by experience?) Learn by experience? Why don’t learn with a good experience? (For the contrast.) For the contrast? (I think because everyone is doing it, if everyone does it, it’s easier for us to follow that.) (Maybe the goodness is less appreciated.) Less appreciated. Yeah, maybe. (Most people don’t have a Master to show them the good way.) Most people don’t have. (Here to start is the evil work already. The energy here is not…) You’re all right. All of you are right. (If there is not evil, you can not know the good.) Oh! Interesting. If no men, then don’t know you're women, right? (It’s a rivalry.) A vibratory influence? (It’s like competing for survival.) Oh, for survival. Anything else? Yes. (Temptations are for bad things, for good, there is no temptation.) Ah, OK. Yes, yes. No temptation, not interesting. Maybe? No? The good has no temptation. Meaning, not interesting. And the bad is more spicy. Interesting. (Yes.) Yeah. (There’s another saying here in English.) What is that? (How bad it is to break a habit.) ( Habit. The word “habit.”) (If you’ve drop the “H,” you still got “A BIT.”) (If you drop the A, you still have BIT.) Ah! (And if you…) Drop the “T”? (And if you drop the “B,” you still have “IT.” So it’s very difficult to break out.) Very difficult to erase habits. Oh, no wonder, no wonder. How did you have that? Where did you get that? Very clever. All of you are right, in some aspect.
I think maybe goodness is not so, like, exciting to the human’s brain. It doesn’t raise their… You know, when you’re excited, something produced in you? (Adrenaline.) Adrenaline. Yes, yes. That is the problem. Somehow, the bad things push people on, turn them on or attract them more. Because the good things, they take it for granted. Or maybe it’s inside the people’s chemistry that they have more of a penchant to be attracted to badness, something like that. Maybe they’re made that way. And so, more difficult to resist the temptation of badness. Maybe that is why. Because goodness is more or less very, very placid. It's not very spicy, not very exciting, not very provocative. But badness is more provocative. I guess that’s it. For example, if the girl, she just wears very decent clothes, you know, buttoned up to here. She doesn’t try to sissy-sassy around, and she’s beautiful and she’s a very virtuous person. And she talks gentle and nice and normal. Here comes the girl with the bombshell, and then, “Hallo, there!” Then who will the boy jump onward, forward to greet? Huh? The bombshell. (The second one.) Yeah, the second one. Yeah, you know everything. Yeah, you see what I mean? Because a good girl, she’s just placid, peaceful. She doesn’t try hard to get attention because her nature is peaceful, quiet, and just, you know, the way it is. But the other girl, she tries. And she knows her power. And she can try and she knows she will win. That is the thing. I don’t know why I gave such a bad example. Yeah, well, I look on TV. They have this kind of research, what kind of people are easier to get the job at the interview. They put two girls, similar size, similar beauty, but one girl they puffed up her hair and very special makeup and wearing less things than usual, showing what she got. Not everything, just a little bit to tempt the appetite. And the other girl is just, having normal hair, wearing normal clothes. Both of them, same education, same quality, same qualifications, same diploma. One speaks very gently and good girl-like. Yes. And the other one… is not so like that, is more provocative, more go-getting and more showing off. Yeah, she got the job. Why? The interviewer was a man. Next: same, same girls, same two girls came in, interviewed same, same, same conditions, both girls. And then the woman who interviewed, she took the first one, the normal, gentle one. But, of course, this is too obvious, for example like that. And then…In any case, it’s just like that. And they say that if the woman can cook very well and can keep the house clean and all that, but the man would prefer the woman looks pretty and more voluptuous and sexy, excuse me, instead of the one who cooks nice and who looks just decent. The husband! Not every husband is like that, but they made a survey. So, they would rather the woman doesn’t know how to cook but looks beautiful. Nowadays it’s easy, just go out to a (vegan) Chinese restaurant or (vegan) pizza. What need, to cook? Even people bring food to your house. Yeah, for example, I don’t know... It seems that way, huh?
That’s why a lot of people take up smoking, and even drugs and alcohol and all that because it’s more than ordinary. Ordinary people, they say they don’t take drugs, they don’t drink alcohol that much, and they feel it’s boring. So they need a kick, so they seek something which is detrimental. And they know that, but they still do it. I’ve seen some young people drinking alcohol at the age of, kind of, 20-something, you know, 20, 20-something. I said, “Alcohol…” and smoking to boot, together. So I said, “Alcohol is no good for you. It damages your brain and all that. And smoking, also, it’s bad for you. And you’re too young to do this. So tender. Your body’s so tender, you shouldn’t drink alcohol.” And he said, “Ah, yeah. But it’s better to drink now than when I’m too old and I cannot.” I don’t understand this. I guess he’s saying that if he drinks now his body still can repair or something. I said, “OK, maybe that, but by the time you’re old, you became addicted already and you can’t stop.” He said when he’s older he would stop. I say, “No, at that time you cannot stop anymore.” That is the problem. You know what I mean? Get used to it already. Maybe he can, but rarely people can get out of drugs, cigarettes and alcohol at their old age, because they were used to it when they were young already. Never mind about that. All right. So we re-run.
Yeah. “‘If the beings here encounter evil conditions they tend to become increasingly involved in them. More, for those reasons, I reduplicate hundreds of thousands of millions of bodies to transform beings.’” He made many bodies by His power. Transformation bodies, divided bodies. Therefore, He can use many bodies to help sentient beings. “‘To liberate them and all in accord with their own fundamental natures.’” Ah! This is interesting. This is interesting. You know what it means? You know what the Buddha means by doing that? By saying that? Anybody know how the Buddha transforms Himself into many different bodies and helps them, liberates them, according to their own fundamental natures? How did He do that? What does He mean by that? I don’t have… One (vegan) cake if anybody knows! Huh? Yes, yes, yes! Microphone. We need it for translation outside. Ah, I have a new one. Juice? Chamomile tea. (Chamomile!) You like it? You like chamomile tea? Why did you say, “Chamomile”? Why? You want some? No? You want it? Come! Because you said, “Chamomile!” like, “Wow, long time no see!” Like this, it becomes 50% chamomile only because you have water in it. Never mind, it’s good. (Thank You, Master!) You're welcome. You’re welcome! She looks very beautiful now. When she first came, she was very pale. Why are you so pinky now, so beautiful? (Thank You, Master.) Beautiful, hmm? She looks better. (Yes.) She…Who was with her? She looks better, huh? (Yes.) Yeah! You also.
(Hi, Master.) I listen. I drink, but I listen with my ears. (I think because all beings have their different levels of consciousness and they have their own likenesses, and so Bodhisattva manifests Herself in different forms, and takes different roles, and speaks different languages, I mean, according to their levels of consciousness. So, it’s just like Chi’s Guan Zhong. Like when Guan Zhong talked, he was able to approach his king and then his king was happy. And Guan Zhong pretended that he would do all the drinking and do the stupid things, and when the king trusted him, Guan Zhong could give the King some advice. Yes.) Some advice, yeah. (So like Master, You have different clothes and different outlooks. I mean, sometimes You look like a pretty girl and… Other times You look like a… So, I notice that when our sisters, brothers go to get Your pictures, some like You dressing like a monk or nun, some like You dressing very colorfully and that’s their different understandings of beauty and they feel comfortable. So this way, You enlighten everybody, make them all happy. That’s my understanding.) Yeah, more or less like that. Good. You got your (vegan) cake? (Thank You.)
So you never know when you will encounter a Buddha. Maybe He just transformed Himself temporarily next to you somewhere on the bus or on the train and gave you some advice in some matter that you had been thinking about for a long time and you didn’t know how to resolve it. It’s not necessarily that He will stay long with you. It’s just, maybe that day, you really needed that. And He appears like a passenger next to you or in the supermarket store and says something that you’ll say, “Ah! That is it. That’s it, that’s it. I understand now.” So it’s not necessarily that you found it in the sutra or found it somewhere else. Maybe in the supermarket, or maybe on the bus, (vegan) ice cream booth, something like that. That’s what it is. And, also, the Buddha can manifest Himself in different lands or different planets accordingly. Or maybe, for example, for this drinking man in the bar? He probably goes in the bar also. But He just probably drinks a juice or cocktail, non-alcohol cocktail. And then the heavy drinker sits next to Him and they start talking, and then He will just say casually, like, “Some people’s mother just died because of alcohol-related poisoning,” and how she suffered and this and this and that. You know? (Yes.) Yes, “just yesterday…” you know, things like that. And then that heavy-drinking person may be scared and awakened. And then…And also He lent the power to that person while He sits next to him so that that person can quit alcohol. Probably that person wanted to quit alcohol long ago, but he could not, so the Buddha sees his sincerity and the necessity to help him. So He does that, OK? So if you see a Buddha go into the bar, please don’t say, “Buddha, what are You doing here?” Yeah, He has to do according to “fundamental natures.” For example like that. Yeah? OK. And so maybe He could even go into a brothel. Not to seek out girls or something, but then try to save one of the girls, the one who sincerely really wants to quit, but the situation keeps pushing her. And then, so He is just, by saying something to make her realize, “Ah, this is how I can do it! This is how I can get out.” Understand me? (Yes.) Yeah. Because if she stays in there too long all the time with all this kind of business, she cannot think. Every day is just pushed into this kind of work and she has no other fresh idea. Yeah, doesn’t know what to do. And then He probably appears like a client or something, but not to do anything there. It’s just to talk and then help her, and then (He’s) gone. So again if you see the Buddha go into “The Pink Palace,” don’t say, “Buddha, You even go in here?” Understand me, huh? (Yes.) OK, very good. That’s why in the Bible, it says also, “Judge not, so you won’t be judged.” But I have to tell you that I also made mistakes. Yes. Before, long, long time, more than 30 years ago. I encountered some of the Christian nuns. They said they were nuns, but they didn’t wear nuns’ robes. They just wore, like, ordinary, like you and I. And then I kind of judged her a little. I said, “Why the nun doesn’t wear nuns’ robe?” You know. Yeah. Just like that only, but nothing bad. Nothing bad, yes. So, I think if we just mind our own business, that’s the best.
