Confucius, you have to understand that He is a scholar, a poet. He wrote good poems, good essays, and He is excellent in His spiritual attainment. And all He wanted to do was to help the world to be enlightened, so that they have no more war with each other, they have no more killing of the animals or humans. (Yes, Master.) And that is His job, His mission at that time. I guess He did not have enough time to read other scientific research and outcome.
Being a Supreme Master and don’t even know everything! But I told everybody, everybody knows that I don’t know everything. Correct? (Yes, Master.) First of all, your brain has a limit. Second, you have limited time to do research on all this worldly knowledge, and it keeps updating all the time. You know that, right? (Yes, Master.) Even nowadays, we have iPhones, but then (when) a newer iPhone comes out, everybody goes gaga to get that. Even get up so early, two, three o’clock in the morning and queuing all night, just to get the first whatever iPhone that is the newest one. (Yes.) And we still say, “Oh, my iPhone is outdated. Your phone is old-fashioned.” “This phone doesn’t have this ‘app,’ doesn’t have this ‘down.’”
We forget to be grateful for what we have. Because in the old time, when I was in high school or something, the only people who could contact each other were in the government. They have these kinds of long, complicated big machines. And in the beginning, they could not even talk to each other. They had to use Morse code. “Tick-tick-tick, tack-tack, tick-tack.” Short-short, long-long. Remember? (Yes.) And they use that in the army to contact each other. So when they are in the field and all that, they can help each other in time of emergency, when they need more backup – more soldiers, more units to come and fight, etc., etc. Or before, they used that for telegraphs. Before that, we did not have telephones. We normal people did not have that kind of communication instrument. (Yes.) I remember when I was in high school, I did not have anything like that. At that time, I read some newspaper somewhere, they said somebody predicted that in the future we can talk to each other long distance. And after that, somebody predicted again, saying that in the future, you can not just talk to each other, but you can even see each other. (Wow.) And now we have that. (Yes, Master.) We have iPhones that we can Skype and talk to each other, just like now. (Yes.) So, all these predictions came true.
Oh wow! So now Confucius is in trouble. It’s true what he said, the little boy, right? (Yes, Master.) He knew already in advance. He already prepared all these questions, I guess, before Confucius came. That’s why he built the clay citadel there waiting for Him. I guess his parents were initiated and maybe forced him to get initiation from Confucius, and he did not like it. (Oh!) So, he prepared all this for Him. Now, Confucius, feeling very, very uncomfortable, very … How to say “lúng túng” (in English)? Nervous? No. Means didn’t know how to act. (Frustrated.) Not just frustrated. No. (Perplexed?) Lúng túng. (Helpless or something?) (Confused?) Not confused. Perplexed. Not that. You know how to search it? If you know it, you do it. (Google searching.) Lucky we are between each other in the house. All in-house. Otherwise, people can see what you’re all doing and say, “Ah! We thought the Supreme Master TV people were smart!” Not against this little boy. No. I will also surrender. I don’t know all this kind of stuff. I still don’t know a lot of stuff. Anyway, like embarrassed and… awkward! “So, Confucius felt very, very awkward in front of this intelligent boy with all his questions and answers. So, Hạng Thác (Xiang Tuo) continued, ‘Sir, may I ask You more?’ Not waiting for the answer, he immediately shoots. ‘Sir, why is the Sun in the morning big and at noon is smaller?’ Oh! Confucius, He answered too quick. He should have thought. He answered immediately. He said, ‘Ah! Because in the morning, at dawn time, the Sun is nearer to us.’ So Hạng Thác grilled Him. ‘No, Sir! Then why in the morning, the air is cool, and at noon, when You say the Sun is farther from us, but the Sun feels very hot? The Sun makes the air hot.’ So, Confucius…” Guess what He did. Tell me. (He gave up.) (Maybe He was speechless.) Yeah. He sighed a very long… long… sigh. If it were me, I’d do the same. I’d do it in the beginning already, don’t even wait until now when at the end. He’s defeated, time again and again like this. I would have sighed already in the beginning. After the boy answered all the questions already, He should have gone. Turn away from the citadel, go on one side of the road, and disappear, and saying something like, “Oh, I have group meditation to attend.” Like I would say that. I would. “Sorry, I am busy. I have Supreme Master Television to edit the shows. I have group meditation to attend. I have many disciples waiting for me. Excuse me! Sayonara!” So that I don’t lose more face than I already did.
Never mind. Confucius, you have to understand that He is a scholar, a poet. He wrote good poems, good essays, and He is excellent in His spiritual attainment. And all He wanted to do was to help the world to be enlightened, so that they have no more war with each other, they have no more killing of the animals or humans. (Yes, Master.) And that is His job, His mission at that time. I guess He did not have enough time to read other scientific research and outcome.
Just like me now, I don’t know everything. I know something when I have time to look. Even before this pandemic, I don’t know how long, how many years I don’t even look at television. Only now and then when there are some good movies. Very rare. Like “Merlin,” remember? (Yes, Master.) We can watch it, some part of it, together, so that I can explain to you about Saint Thái Tú Hòa. Remember? (Yes.) Like that. Otherwise, I don’t even watch anything. I don’t watch the news. Only when the pandemic came, I know I have to know, in order to tell you what to do, and to protect you, and to protect many other people, as many as I can, whoever listens to me. Got that? (Yes, Master.) And by the way, I came across many other news that are not favorable. And then knowing me, when I see things that are not fair, not correct, I cannot just ignore it. (Yes, Master.) Even though I know it is not very safe for me. Because you will always offend someone when you defend someone else. That is this world. (Yes, Master.) And it’s not only one or two someone else, but millions of someone else, in the case of America, for example. (Yes, Master.) My fault, of course. I told you already. I never blame anyone, just myself. I take care of too many things and worry about too many people.
So, “Confucius gave a big, big long sigh and turned around to His retinue and disciples and told them, ‘Wow, the younger generations are truly praiseworthy.’” But in some other printed story I read before, they say, “Oh, the younger generations are really to be feared,” something like that. “The younger generations are to be feared; the younger generations know better.” So never mind, it doesn’t matter. Either to be praiseworthy, or scary or fearsome, it’s similar. He really felt humble and defeated. So, in order to know all this worldly knowledge, we should really observe well and think through. So, all the things that He couldn’t answer, He should have observed it more and thinking it through.
But of course, He did not put attention too much into worldly knowledge, and these things have not much to do with spiritual practice and liberation. Thus, He did not study or research well. (Yes, Master.) So, in the Tao Te Ching, it is also said that “the wise seem like the ignorant.” The wise and the ignorant look similar, seem similar. They are wise in spiritual practice, in spiritual wisdom, in Heavens, but they are not necessarily wise in worldly knowledge. There’s also a saying in India, that if you have too much intellectual knowledge, it will hinder your spiritual understanding. Maybe because you’re too full in here, in your head. Or maybe because if you have too much worldly knowledge, you’ll feel too proud, too arrogant, thinking nobody knows better. Or you’re too proud of your knowledge, then you might not seek inside wisdom. Then you might lose your kingdom, which you could not find that easily. You might not lose it, but meaning that you’ll lose the chance to find your kingdom again, to find your spiritual splendor again. (Yes, Master.)
Many of the highly accomplished in the world, they rarely seek spiritual knowledge. Rarely they come to the feet of any Guru to learn something more than just the material aspect of life. Things they can see, things they can prove, things they can touch, things they can hear. (Yes, Master.) So, very little of the highly intellectual people became spiritually interested or became highly achieved spiritually. (Yes, Master.)
So, now we… You want to know what happened to the boy? (Yes, Master.) He left his physical body when he was eleven years old only. (Wow.) Four years after he met Master Confucius. (Wow.) And people in that area they made a small memorial to remember him and to pay respect to this genius. They call him “youth genius.” That’s it. It’s the end of the story.
Wow! We had only four or five stories up to date. And the book is long. (Wow.) And this is only the first book. (Wow.) This is what we have done. Missing one or two even, and this is what we have not done. (Wow!) Good! Good like that. (Yes.) Then we have time to see each other. (Yes, Master.) Because I think I told you everything that you can digest over the years and everything I think necessary. Except something comes up urgently or suddenly, like COVID-19. And I don’t think I can tell you much because the higher Heaven, you cannot describe; you can only experience it. Even if I can describe, how can you even digest it or imagine it? (Yes, Master.)
