So if, in time of desperation, they should know there is God, there are angels, there is Buddha, for their peace of mind. Research has found that people who believe in God, who pray and all that, have more calmness and peace during times of emergency. Or in trouble, in sorrow time they're more composed, more at ease.
This is the second sin. "Beings who shed the Buddha's blood, slander the Triple Jewels," Buddha, Sangha, Teaching. "and do not venerate Sutras," meaning do not venerate the teaching of the Buddha which is in the written word, "will fall into the Uninterrupted Hell where for billions of eons, they will seek escape in vain." Same. Killing parents, harming parents… killing parents is worse. And harming Buddhas, being disrespectful to the Buddha, the Sangha, and the Teaching, same stuff. Slander, you know, slandering the Buddha or the Sangha or the Teaching. "Beings who usurp or damage the property of the Eternal Dwelling, who defile the bhiksus and bhiksunis," meaning monks and nuns of the high order, "who commit sexual acts within the Sangharama," meaning within the ashram, "or who kill or harm beings there will fall into the Uninterrupted Hell where for billions of eons they will seek escape in vain." Same stuff. "Beings who seem to be sramanas but in their minds are not sramanas, who destroy the things of the Eternal Dwelling," meaning the ashrams of the Buddha, the temples, "who deceive lay people, who go against the precepts, and who do many other evil deeds will fall into the Uninterrupted Hell where for billions of eons they will not be able to escape. Beings who steal the wealth and property of the Eternal Dwelling…" just say ashram of the Buddha. The ashram of the Buddhas. "…including its grains, its food and drink, its clothing, or take anything at all that was not given to them…" from the sangha grounds, sangha ashram, "…will fall into the Uninterrupted Hell where for billions of eons they will not be able to escape."
Scary, huh? I didn't know that it was so scary. Would you like to continue? (Yes, Master.) Yes or yes or yes? (Yes!) Yeah … You want or not want? I don't force it upon you. Yes or no? You really want it? (Yes, Master!) OK. Don't blame me if it gets scarier. If you steal something from someone else, then you won't fall to hell like this. But it depends on what you steal also. If you steal and make people hungry and die of starvation because of no money left, then maybe you could go into this hell, but maybe you can escape, or lesser hell. But if you steal things from the Buddha or take things that are not given to you from the ashram, then it's like that.
When the Buddha was alive, people came and made offerings to the sangha. Be it medicine, or clothing for new monks, or to replace the old clothes for old monks, etc. If somehow anyone steals anything from that, medicine, clothes or anything, without asking permission or without being given, then that's a very great sin. Because why? Because the Buddha and the sangha, they are pure, they're enlightened saints. And they just don't have anything anymore. They left everything, they sacrificed everything. They denied themselves everything for the sake of all beings in the world, as well as in Heaven. So these beings, you must take care of them, not take things from them. So that's why. Because if you harm them, it means you harm all beings in the world and the universe. If they have no more health to take care, to continue the teaching, then of course all beings will be harmed. Right? The blessing will be gone if they die. And of course other Buddhas will come, but who knows. Maybe the (bad) karma is so great on this planet, other Buddhas will not come for many other eons of time. In nature it's like this. For example, in a pack of wolves, even wolves, the leader of the wolf pack eats first. And eats well first. And then the rest, for the whole pack. Not because the leader is greedy, or the whole pack is stupid. It's just that the leader has to be strong and well, in order to lead the pack. For their safety, their well-being to take care of, he, the leader must always be vigilant and take care of the whole pack. Therefore, he has to be strong, well fed, ready for action. Understand? (Yes.) All right. Very good.
But in South Africa, I just learned yesterday from your sister. Because I invited her to my hut. And I gave her something to eat. She said, "Normally…" I gave her, I did things, I packed… Oh I did something and gave it to her, a sandwich or peeled fruit I gave. She said, "Master, it's OK You do that?" I said, "Why not? I take care of my worker." She said, "I should do it for You." I said, "Are you my boss?" She said, "On the contrary, the employee should take care." No, because I asked her to check something on the Internet for me about the land. So I jokingly said, "I'm your boss. I have to take care of my employee, worker." So she said, "It should be the opposite." I said, "Not here. If You're not my boss, I take care." And then I gave her a chair to sit and then while I was … Because I had to wash my hands, and the bucket under the sink was already full. I disconnected the pipe from the sink that the water goes to the waste channel. I disconnected it. So if I wash my face, I wash my hands, it goes into a bucket that I put underneath. It's almost full. So I carried it into the toilet area. Later, I'll use it to flush. And she said, "Master, Master, let me take care of that. Let me do it." I said, "No, you sit there. You're my guest. You sit. You don't work here." And then I'd done it, and then I came back and put the empty bucket so I could wash my hands, so water would go in. And after we both sat, she said, "It's weird, Master, it's weird." I said, "What is weird?" She said, "It's weird to see You carrying things around while I'm sitting here eating." I said, "What's weird about that? It's my work. It's my life. I do this all the time. Only when I cannot, it's too heavy, then I ask the attendant to help." She said, "No, in Africa, we don't do this. The elderly don't work like this. If we are around, we help." So it's really a very good education. In India also similar, even in Philippines similar. And we, many people, look down upon these countries, thinking, "Oh, Africa, jungle, tribal stuff, developing world." No! They are really, really educated in important matters. Not in PhD, not in whatever you call education in this world.
Education in this world is very good, but the main point always emphasized that you have to learn well, so you get a good job, and then you can have a good wife, or good husband, or good money, and buy a house, or buy a good car, blah, blah, blah. Rarely anybody says you must learn well so that you can serve the world in more capacity, and people forget to educate children in a proper manner, to respect the elderly, to take care of the parents. Nowadays, parents, when just a little bit old, they throw them into the old (age) home. Visit once a month or maybe once every Christmas, And blah, blah, blah, blah, talking about goodness and all that. This is not right. Our world is not all correct. So if you go to the Philippines, you must remember. I saw Philippine children, whenever they came home from somewhere, they'd go and touch the feet of the elderly, like, "I'm home, I pay homage to you." Their parents, or things like that. And if they go, they very respectfully say goodbye. And the Philippines, everybody thinks, they send their people outside to work, for labor and all that. What can they do? In their country, they don't have enough jobs. But to go out to work as a laborer or as a housekeeper, using your hands to earn an honest living, is not a shame. They're not going out to steal, they're not going out to kill, they're not going out to cheat people. They go out to work, to bring money home. Anywhere work is the same. What's the difference if you work in the Philippines, this kind of country? So, you go home, think about this. Treat the elderly, or whoever needs you, treat your parents respectfully. That doesn't mean you are uncivilized. That means you are very, very, very extra civilized.
If a human being doesn't know the basic courtesy to the person, the first persons they ever knew on this planet, the first friends they ever saw on this planet are their parents, the first persons ever to nourish them, ever sacrifice for them, wake up all night to feed them, go to work all day to bring food on the table, then this human being is not worth it to call a human. And no wonder, if they don't treat the parents well, they should go somewhere else. As the Buddha, Bodhisattva said, should go to hell. If you're not filial in some lesser degree, then you probably don't go to this forever hell, just some other kind of hell. You have to learn. You have to go there to learn the suffering, to learn how your parents suffered by your rebellious actions or words, or impolite replies. There are still these minimum standards of goodness, to the parents at least. Parents are the only first two friends you see in this world when you come out, and the two best friends that accompany you through your life. So, they are the best. You're lucky to still have parents. Go home and think about that. And think of how your mother, father had to wake up all day, all night, all night for you, and work all day, and go through a lot of sacrifice, just to bring you up, so that you're educated in the universities, for just some worldly repeated knowledge.
Rarely anyone teaches you about God. But I'm not sure if the one who teaches you about God knows anything about God. That is another problem. And then misinterpretation also about God. But it's OK, at least the name God is mentioned. And God doesn't mind. As long as we remember somebody called God, and then in the time of trouble, or they pray every day before they sleep, then it's also some goodness in it, and some protection for them. But many families don't teach children this way. So when they have trouble, everything, they don't know where to turn to. The parents are not always there 24 hours. Nowadays, they're both working. So if, in time of desperation, they should know there is God, there are angels, there is Buddha, for their peace of mind. Research has found that people who believe in God, who pray and all that, have more calmness and peace during times of emergency. Or in trouble, in sorrow time they're more composed, more at ease.
"Earth Store Bodhisattva continued, 'Worthy Mother, beings who commit such offenses will fall into the Five-fold Uninterrupted Hell where they will constantly seek temporary relief from their sufferings, but will never receive even a moment's respite.' Not even a moment of rest. Lady Maya further asked Earth Store Bodhisattva, 'Why is that hell called uninterrupted?' The Earth Store Bodhisattva replied, 'Worthy Mother, the hells are all within the Great Iron Ring Mountain. The 18 great hells and the 500 subsequent ones each have their own names. There are hundreds of thousands more that also have their own names. The Uninterrupted Hell is found within a city of hells that encompasses more than 80,000 square miles. That city is made entirely of iron.'" Metal. "'Ten thousand miles above the city is an unbroken mass of fire. Within the city are many interconnected hells, each with a different name. There is just one hell called Uninterrupted. The wall of that hell is a thousand miles high.'" Can you imagine? And we think that Everest is high already. "'Totally made of iron, and covered with a fire burning downward that is joined by a fire burning upward.'" Nowhere you can go. Incredible.
Please, please rethink about how we react in this world. I read some of these before I went to the Himalayas also. I had one at home before. But I don't remember all this. For example, if I read about hell, I just said, "OK, all of this is about hell," so I read the next page and etc., and I didn't always have much time. At night when I had time, I read all this, I read other sutras - the Lotus, the Medicine, the Amitabha, and this one, but don't always remember all of the detail. So it's good for me to reread that again also. It's very interesting for me. No one, even the Buddha, will be able to know all these hells, except the Bodhisattva Earth Store. I must tell you that. You know why? Because the Buddha doesn't always go to hell. He doesn't need to. He will ask someone else to go for Him. Or even if He goes, He doesn't know all the details, He doesn't go all over the hells, because He has other work to do on Earth and in Heaven. So Bodhisattva Earth Store, He or She specializes in saving beings from hell. Whoever has just a little tiny grain of merit left, He will try to find an excuse to rescue that being. Imagine, He just went to hell once to look for His mother. Just because He had such a power to contemplate on that Buddha name for one day one night first, and then when he went there, of course he's still thinking of that Buddha. Therefore, just that merit saved all the beings from hell at that time. No matter how many beings go into whatever hell, it's never full. It's not like a prison, say, "OK, we have no more space." No matter how. Just like Heaven. No matter how many people go into one Level of Heaven, it's never filled. Jesus says, "In my Father's house, there are many mansions." But not just many mansions, limitless mansions. So don't worry that Master initiates so many beings, how can they all go to Heaven? You all go to Heaven. (Thank You, Master.) Welcome, welcome.
