Everybody was so nice. The police also. They were so polite, so elegant. They looked like valiant guards of an old kingdom. Very beautiful, handsome looking and very polite, to me. I don’t know if to you or anybody has any other experience, but for me, very good. So, I even wrote a poem for them.
So, I told you the story already, right? No, no, not this story, but I intended to tell you something. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I remember. He was working, and then I left, I went somewhere else to learn more helicopter. And he stayed where he was, because he didn’t have to go with me, and he learned fast. He even slept flying. When he slept, he flew. He practiced all the time at home, without the helicopter. So, he learned very fast and he became even an inspector for new pilots. Right? Before, right? Yeah, yeah. And then now, he works in a different area. I don’t want you to pay too much attention to that guy. Leave him alone. Leave him alone! He’s married, by the way. And he’s a good boy, very faithful husband, so don’t even think. I know you guys, you like pilots. I also did. But not all pilots are as good-looking as you think, only I’m good looking, but only half pilot.
I could not continue to fly. I’d love to. I had to leave the outside flying in order to fly inside, for more benefits for everyone. I love flying. It was so beautiful to be up there; nobody bothers you; you cannot think of anything except what’s in front of you. And in front of you it’s all empty also. Just be careful with the electric lines. Sometimes in foggy weather, if you fly too low and you don’t pay attention, then “sayonara” (goodbye).
I almost died one time flying, because the engine kaput, broke down. Luckily, we had one more engine. There’re two engines, so with one engine we landed, but landed emergency landing. The hill was like this, not like flat land, landing like this. Oh! Luckily my instructor was next to me, so he took over, but his face was very green. It was a close call. He has children and a wife, he cannot just go like that. I could. If I went back that time, then I wouldn’t have to worry about anything more nowadays. OK, that’s it. That’s the thing. So, if you see him, say “Hallo.” I’m sure he remembers me. Maybe not. Just show him Supreme Master TV, “There She is, remember Her? Looks older now.”
I met him when I was younger. He invited me to the palace. But when I first went there, I went to look at the palace, only standing outside, and suddenly all the cameras turned toward me. Hundreds of them! Oh! And then I was scared. And then we went home. And when he said, “Come to the palace tomorrow,” I remembered that scene, and then I was just scared. I didn’t want to go anymore, at that time.
Afterwards I lived in Thailand, and he asked me for my number. I don’t know if he called or not, because I forgot to give him my name, because they only knew my name as Master Ching Hai, they didn’t know my other name. So, whatever, they probably said, “Nobody like that lives here. No such name exists in our house.” I don’t answer the phone normally, anyway. When they answered, they probably said, “The owner is not home,” or, “We don’t have this person.” I don’t know.
He went to Thailand soon afterwards, to visit Thailand. He probably thought I was a princess, so he went to the palace, but they only saw other princesses. I was not there. But he knew the number. I lived on the golf course, and I gave him that telephone number. Never mind, I forgot, whatever, whatever. An old friend, long time, long, long, long time old friend. He doesn’t remember, but I remember. That’s the problem.
Never mind. I used to live in Monaco before. I don’t mean this lifetime, other lifetime, as a princess. But don’t talk about that, I get mad. But they all treated me there like royalty also. When I lived there in any hotel, they treated me so good. That’s why I treat you good now, because of the good memory from Monaco. I want to repay the people’s friendliness and kindness. They called me “princess!” They didn’t even know me. I went to restaurants and ate and all that with all the disciples. They said princess this, princess that. I said, “I’m not a princess.” And then she said, “Never mind.” The owner of the restaurant said, “Never mind, You are my princess.” I said, “In that case, thank you.” And then, when I ordered a taxi or something, they always thought I was a princess. They called me princess this, princess that. And I always said, “No.” One Monégasque taxi driver, he has a house in Monaco, and he’s not a normal taxi driver. And I called him to come because there I didn’t drive. And then he came and picked me up. The first time he came with a normal taxi. The second time he came with his best Mercedes, white and big. I said, “Oh! Where is your other taxi?” He said, “No, this is for You, princess.” He said it like that.
The taxi drivers, they like me. I have good affinity with taxi drivers somehow. Beautiful car he had, the Mercedes, white and clean and new and spacious, his own car. He didn’t bring the taxi. He was really a Monégasque. His special feature. And he said he was a Monégasque, born there and originally from there. He spoke French to me, and I said English was preferable. My tongue was tied; a long time I didn’t speak French. So, he spoke English to me. They are very educated people in Monaco.
And when I first went there, I said to the people working in the restaurant in the hotel, “Can you tell me who of you are Monégasque? I’d like to meet the real Monégasque people.” And they said, “There are no Monégasque working in Monaco.” Like they are all princes, they don’t need to work. Only foreigners go there to work. Is that true? (Yes.) It’s true. He doesn’t know anything. Men, they don’t know much. So, I kept looking for Monégasque, to see what they look like. (I am also not originally from Monaco.) You are not? You are French? (Yes.) But you live in Monaco? (Yes.) Yes? (I live next to Monaco.) Next to Monaco. (I am not from Monaco.) Understand, understand.
When I was in Monaco, it was difficult to find an apartment or anything for short term, so I lived next to it. One time, I met one Monégasque who worked in a restaurant. She adopted an Aulacese (Vietnamese) son even. Very nice, very kind. I don’t know the Monégasque people, because when you go to Monaco, you think it’s all Monégasque. It’s not true. It’s all foreigners, all rich and famous who live there. The rich and the powerful live there, with yachts and helicopters parking on the yachts, parking lot or something like that. So, when I was there, they also thought I was rich and powerful, so they treated me very nicely. Not the Monégasque – rarely can you meet them. It’s all outlanders, the foreigners.
Oh man! Where are the Buddhas? We go back to the… I’ll read you the story of Lord Mahavira. It’s almost… Oh, it’s almost finished? Almost finished the suffering, His suffering, His karma enduring, during His 12 years of practice, but there are some more later with His teachings. And when He already achieved complete enlightenment, some more teachings later. OK. Now, this is another story – He delivered Chandana. It’s “The Deliverance of Chandana.”
Before, when I was on the lower level, I was in France, at a house in France, in the mountains, while I was looking for an ashram for the European people. So, I lived in a house. Before that house, I didn’t have anywhere, anybody near where you were and where we were right now at that time, so I had to live in a hotel. And they were so nice to me, so nice, all the time. Anything I wished, immediately came. And I stayed there. I was very sick. Even though I was sick, there were appointments already to go to France to look for houses. And in France, I didn’t see any hotel that was next to the sea. At that time, I didn’t know much about that part of France. And I passed by Monaco a long time ago, when we did the Fashion Show everywhere. Passed by Monaco and my driver introduced to me, “Go eat couscous and the discotheque owned by the prince” at that time. So, we went there, and I saw it was a very nice area and easy to find a hotel next to the sea.
I was sick at that time… But even sick, I still went to look for an ashram and houses in France at that time. We booked a hotel and I lived in a small room but faced the sea. And then after a few weeks, my cough stopped. Every day, I went down to the bar, I drank some juice, mixed juice, fruit punch, no alcohol, and then I got better, so quick, just a few weeks. So, a few years later, we had an ashram and house, but whenever I’m sick or feel very suffocated somehow, in that area sometimes... It’s not the area, it’s just the karma sometimes comes too overwhelmingly, I get sick. Coughing or very uncomfortable, all kinds, and I also go back to that hotel. I try to get the same room and look at the sea. Breathe in everyday and go down, drink juice. And get out, get a vegan pizza or something, and come back and drink the juice there. And I get better quick.
But they’re so nice. Every time I come, they see me coughing again, they’d say, “Go get this, go get that for Her, quickly.” You know, the bellboys who bring my luggage into my room, they say, “Go get this for Her, that for Her. Call the doctor.” They’re automatic. I did not even say anything yet. They say, “Go buy Verveine.” Something like that, the tea for the cough, and “Get the doctor. Bring Her juice. She likes this kind of juice, that kind of juice.” They even have one (non-alcoholic) cocktail named after me. The other name, not your Master’s name. They told me, “This is Your cocktail, Your name now. We’re going to name it.” That’s what they told me, but I didn’t last long enough there to know whether or not they’d print it in the menu. Or maybe they printed it, it’s too long, I forgot. That’s how kind they are. Of course, I was very kind to them too. I have always showed respect to the valet or to the bellboys, to the waiter, waitress, and I give them good tips, out of love and respect. At Christmas I bought them presents. Each one, the whole hotel had, each one, some little present, (vegan) chocolate boxes, something like that or (vegan) candies.
Even though I don’t live in that hotel anymore, whenever I see them, they see me, they’re very, very happy, happy. And we make a lot of jokes stuff. They’re very funny with me. They’re serious with other customers, but with me, they joke like longtime friends. They were talking together and I came out of the hotel, I said, “What are you guys doing? Talking behind my back?” Just a joke. They said, “No, no. No, we were talking about this guy. He has a tattoo, You know where.” I said, “I don’t know where. How do I know where?” I just made a joke. I said, “I don’t know where, but I have something.” He said, “It’s a secret place. You cannot see.” I said, “Of course, I don’t want to see his tattoo, no matter if it’s secret or not. I also have something secret.” And then I lifted my trousers up a little bit, “Here!” Just joking. Nothing there. It was just a little maybe mosquito scar. I said, “Here!” And they all laughed together, so the manager came out and said, “What’s going on here?” I said, “Nothing, nothing. We are just comparing the tattoos to see who’s better, and in which position on the body.” And they also all laughed together. That’s a good memory.
I never had any bad memories at all in Monaco, at all. Even one time, they bought me a new car. I didn’t know how to drive it. I did drive, but it was too fast, faster than I thought. And then I scratched some or I don’t know what I did, I scratched it or not, then I stopped on one side waiting for the police. And even the police were so nice, that I had to buy some (vegan) cakes to apologize later for making them work for nothing.
Everybody was so nice. The police also. They were so polite, so elegant. They looked like valiant guards of an old kingdom. Very beautiful, handsome looking and very polite, to me. I don’t know if to you or anybody has any other experience, but for me, very good. So, I even wrote a poem for them. At Christmas, I gave it to them with some (vegan) chocolates. Remember? (Yes.) You drove all the (vegan) chocolates to them.
They even worried because nobody ever gave chocolates to the police before. I guess they were scared that maybe we bribed them, so they didn’t dare to buy things for the police. I just bought them and then they asked him, they thought I didn’t speak French and they asked him, “Where did you steal the chocolates?” Because so many, so much and he said to them, “No, we bought it in the Carrefour, you can call and ask now.” He was angry. How can they think that we, his Master, stole the chocolates? He was kind of cross, a little bit. His tone was not so friendly. “You call and ask now. We bought it in the Carrefour just now.” It was so funny. Then the police kind of backed off, because he looked strong and fierce, fearful. The way he behaved, maybe his energy just came out, “Woof!” And the police backed off, thinking, “Oh, don’t mess with these people.”
Aiyai! Imagine, he must be joking, because what kind of person steals chocolates and brings it to the police? If you steal something, you run as far as possible from the police, right? Or you bring it right in front of the police headquarter and present it! And say, “Merry Christmas, Happy New Year.” One box for each. I counted, 300 something. And then they turned around and said, “Where did you steal all these chocolates?” Maybe he just made a joke. But the police, they don’t joke very obviously. They joke the police way, very serious. “Where did you steal all these chocolates?” Maybe he laughed inside, “Ha, ha.” But we didn’t see his laughing inside. And this guy got a little cross. He said, “No, we didn’t steal anything! We bought it from the Carrefour over there. You call now and ask.” Right? You said it like that. So, the police, “OK.” He thought we didn’t have humor, so he didn’t want to deal with this type of people. So, he said, “OK, bring it in there.”
And then I asked the chief, I made an excuse, “Last time I bothered you so much and I’m just a guest in your country. Please allow me to present some little (vegan) chocolates for each of you, because you’re working hard all year round and I don’t know if anybody thanks you, so we thank you.” And he said, “OK.” And the other police knew my name. One of the police knew my name because of the car problem. But nothing happened because I have insurance anyway, just scratching maybe. I didn’t even see the car that was scratched. So, the chief knew me also already, because he dealt with me before. When the car had problems, we brought the car inside and he also asked me, because it wasn’t transferred to my name yet. He said, “Did You steal this car? Yes or no?” So, I said, “No, sir!” Very loud, as loud as him. So, he knew already, don’t mess with me. Later, he knew it was true, I didn’t steal it, so he had more respect for me. So, when I asked permission to give the chocolates, he “OK” right away. Very happy.
And also, before, I bought them some (vegan) donuts type of stuff. I heard that police liked sweet things like donuts, so I bought a lot. (Only in America.) Only in America? (In France, no.) In France, no? In France, what do they like? (Cheese.) Cheese! Oh! Oh! I did not know. (Wine.) Wine! Oh yeah, I also got some (non-alcoholic) champagne. And when I brought it in, they said, “Oh, we were just joking.” I said, “What! I didn’t see you joking. I thought you were serious, so I bought it now. I cannot return.” So, I opened it all and everybody saw it open, and they said, “OK.” Maybe they gave it to the children later, I don’t know. But I just left, and I said, “Thank you. Thank God that you have accepted my apology.” And then some of them knew me, and then later, when I brought the (vegan) chocolates for Christmas, the chief was OK already.
And the other guy, maybe intendant or whatever, maybe sous-chief, something, he asked me, “What’s Your name? We have to know Your name. Who gives?” I said, “You know my name. I have a record here.” And the other, the inspector of the police told him, “I know Her name.” And he spelled the name out for that guy. So, I said, “You see? I’m well known here. I’m good. Don’t worry.” And they all let me go. They’re very friendly police, very, very friendly. The police there are maybe more stressed than elsewhere because Monaco is small. And everybody goes there with flashy cars and all-important VIPs, so, they’re very, very careful.
And if you go there on a bicycle, motorcycle, they have to check your ID, everything. Even doctors, they go on bicycles because there’s too much traffic. Easier for them to zigzag through the traffic and then get to their patients quicker. And even then, even if they know them already, they have to check ID, because of protection of the city, of the country. So, over there they say there’s no crime, no robbers, nothing happens; everybody’s very safe over there. It’s famous for being safe, that’s what they told me. I was safe there all the time anyway. I went everywhere alone. I didn’t need so many diamond guards there. They call them diamond guards. I’m not sure how diamond it is. One day I will test it. Maybe just noodles made in the shape of diamonds.
