We truly need to have wisdom; otherwise, everything we do is a nuisance for others. The more we want to help, the more trouble we make. This is the thing about our world, it’s like that. We have a lot of good-intentioned people, truly it’s like that. But good intention is not good enough! We must have wisdom; we must have concentration.
In the morning, it’s a drama to get them out of my house, or my cave or whatever. Don’t care what, just don’t want to go. And then after they (attendants) left, (the dogs) want to go out. Yeah! Ask me to take them out! Joking? They think I have nothing to do but dogs, nobody else but dogs, nothing to do but take care of…? (Dogs.) Dogs. God. And then talk like they understand me, everything. “Oh, Master, You work very hard day and night for everybody, for the animals. Thank You.” And all that. “But work for us, work for me, work for the dogs, it’s better! Don’t stress Yourself. Take a walk with us. What for You’re reading all this stuff? It’s so boring, paperwork. Why? Take a walk with us, fresh air, running, climb trees, or whatnot. Go drink the water in the lake, even though it looks dirty but never mind. It’s cool. It’s free.”
I said, “I wish I could, really.” I apologized to them. I said, “I am not really a good dog caretaker. I don’t have enough time to walk you out and walk with you. I just work here, and then now and then, you come nudging, and then I pet, pet, and give you some (vegan) snacks, clean your mouth, clean the floor. That’s it. I’m so sorry. I really am sorry.” But I told them, “There are worse situations for dogs. So, for that, I can forgive myself, and you please forgive me.” They understand all that, but it’s the same, same drama all the time.
So, you see, a long time ago, I told you about the kings. We should not envy the kings, or the presidents and prime ministers, whoever is in a high position. In the public eye, it’s not easy to behave. People mostly would criticize you from jealousy or just from too much expectation. Don’t think that that person… The president is also just a man; the prime minister is also just an elder woman. She has also her limit, etc. Especially if they eat meat and drink, then their body is not even as capable. Because if they are the head of the state, then they have to work with many people. They have no selection of who comes to work with them. And these helpers sometimes can bring them down. You know many examples, like America. Even good presidents can be brought down by their own helpers because of karma, their inescapable karma.
Otherwise, do you think any president would like to have an affair with a girl who came to help? Nobody would want that. Nobody is that stupid. No man would be that stupid. I know you say men are stupid, but no man would be that stupid to be in such a position and to have an affair, knowing that all eyes are always on 24/7. It’s just inescapable. It corners you. The karma just corners you, and she is there for that only. Not on purpose in the beginning, not intentionally, but the karma arranged it so that she came or he came just for that purpose. So, you have nowhere to run. So, ordinary people have an even better life than the head of state or any famous person, truly. They are always in the eyes of the public. They always have to behave well, even if they don’t feel well. It is another kind of prison. A prison. It’s like that.
Because everyone who comes, brings different karma and affects you, and because you are using them – they volunteer, they help you – you have to bear some of their karma as well. That’s the give and take. It’s fair like that and you cannot avoid it. Formerly, the kings were even worse off. Wow! We had no telephone, no television, no email, no way of communication, so the kings had to rely on thousands of all kinds of people in order to get the word across. And even then, if the feedback came too slowly, also sometimes, somebody’s head was already chopped off before the king had enough time to clear the verdict or the innocence of the man or the woman. It happened.
There was a joke, I’m not sure if it’s a joke or not, but one time a king was playing chess with his official or something, and then suddenly he needed to go to the bathroom, and then his eunuch asked, “So, what to do now?” He asked his attendant or something to continue playing for him until he came back, so the attendant or eunuch asked, “Your Majesty, what to do with this now?” And then there, at the same time, another person came in and asked about the decision – what to do with one of the prisoners waiting to be chop-chopped. So, at that time, he was just in the bathroom and he talked out, he said, “Just kill. Just kill it.” And that’s it, that guy was done. And when he came out, “Oh, my God! No, we did not even hear what he had done or anything.” And later, the king knew that he was innocent, but it was too late; his head already went somewhere else, away from the body. Things like that.
You know chess. They say, “Just kill.” When you play chess, you attack or you kill. They say, “You kill the king.” Checkmate, right? (Checkmate.) Checkmate. Something like that. I used to play. I forgot now. I couldn’t even say the word. A long time, I think three, four decades ago. I played for fun. I used to have time to even play chess. Imagine now, what do I do? Just can play with dogs and don’t even have time. And they have to go and force me to play.
The kings are worse than any person on this planet. I think people did not understand that, so mostly they criticize…
I’m not reading yet, so don’t need this one. I can open a glasses shop, eyeglasses shop. I have more at home. If I buy one, they say, “Oh, Master likes it, buy two, two more.” If I want one banana, I have one big bunch. Today, really today, they gave me a whole bunch of bananas. I haven’t finished the two they gave me yesterday. I made a mistake; my fault. One moment, I’ll tell you in a minute. Don’t worry. No secret kept from you, cannot. Looks OK. Looks OK.
The day before yesterday, they gave me a couple of bananas, the ones that I like, so I ate one, and I made a mistake. I returned the food leftover and the empty container, but I put the banana peels in it. “That means Master liked it! She ate it! And that’s probably the last one, that’s why She threw it in to let us know.” Today, I got the whole big one. This big, ready, ripe to eat. How can one person eat so fast, even if I want to? It’s funny. In case you want to become a Master, you should know all these things. If you don’t like bananas, don’t ever mention it. And if you eat bananas, don’t return the peels to the kitchen, never, or you will get more than you bargained for. This is 100% more or no?
I returned one peel only, banana peel, and I got 20 of them in one big…a big bunch of it, the whole thing. So, that’s the lesson for you, banana lesson; must remember if you want to be somebody. I guess if you’re a president, it’s also like that. If you’re a king, it’s also like that. If you want something, everybody goes out, buys like crazy. So, you can see in my house, my room may be small, but the shoes are everywhere. I have not even time… I did, I did have time to clean up many of them, throw away many already that I don’t need, I don’t want. And now, more are coming! More than what I threw out. It all keeps interest all the time. It’s like a bank. I’m like a banker. One banana peel becomes 20 whole bananas, in the whole… one bunch.
You didn’t tell the girls to come? (Yes, they’re coming.) Coming also? Always the girls after? (They are here.) Where are they? (Over there.) Sit there already, where? Come here. Come here. Otherwise, you’ll feel neglected, yeah, and then your heart complains, and then I cannot sleep. Come, come, come. I forgot. OK?
I have a thousand things and my dogs bother me, and my attendants bother me, and the trees bother me; they planted in the wrong place. That’s why I’m busy right now, to remove them. They planted so next to my house. Like in Hsihu, if there is no door, you cannot get inside the house because everywhere are trees; trees just so next to your window like this. And the trees are so nervous, they cannot grow bigger, because if they grow bigger, my window will be crushed. Here is the same. Plant trees everywhere. My God!
They planted so many trees to make a fence. But when they grow big, then I cannot see any more outside; only the fence of the trees is next to me. And I don’t like that. We have so many trees already. And they pick a place where there is no sun at all. The sun runs on the other side of the mountain, so all day long, just some rays come in to one corner. Already no sun, but they said good feng shui. OK, I accept anything nowadays. I give in. I surrender because I can never win. I’m one person, and they are thousands. So many ideas, and the same with my shoes. I wish one day I could have more time to sort out the shoes again.
Maybe we can sell them, including the glasses. And dresses that I don’t need. It’s not my taste and not my size. This one this morning, I had to even alter it a little bit, otherwise, it becomes like this. It looks like a mushroom. I’m already small and the upstairs big. I take out the padding, otherwise, I look like a muscleman. Macho, macho man. Not caveman, but muscleman. So now I have to ask them please remove many of them because they will grow very tall, and then they will cover everything. I like to see the slope, even a little bit, because that place is very small; both sides are mountain, hemmed in, and a little slope on both sides. So, I like to see that. I don’t like everything just square and sculptured and manicured grass and stuff like that. I’m not used to it. I don’t really like that. I like natural. And if I keep all these fences next to my window, the trees, I will never see them. And it will cover whatever little ray of sun that sneaks into my yard.
And the little square yard is about this size, and they planted trees all over. And at the cave, they planted in front of my cave. The trees, they will grow like this, and the trunk will grow like this. And they planted right next to the wall of my cave, in front of my door, in front of my window. What’s the use of making a window when it’s going to be all covered up? And it’s not enough, they put crawling plants all over, hanging down now already and they’re going to invade everything. Where is their wisdom? My God. “Master loves trees!” Of course. Why not bring it all into my kitchen, my living room, my bathroom, my toilet? What’s the use of making a deck or the yard? Just plant all trees. “Master loves trees!” Like the banana story. You understand what I’m saying? And now I’m busy having to undo many things.
But last time I came here to see you guys – not you guys, maybe other guys, other “you guys” – my car broke down on the highway. It happened the second time during my travels, no, third time maybe. So, I thought, OK, I had enough warning already. If I continue to travel, maybe my kids will never see me again, you know, kids – white hair, white beard, bent back.
That’s why I have to bear it, but then I have to redo many things. Busy these days, a lot. And I’m not settled down yet; not unpacked all my things yet. These things were already here. We just wheeled the whole clothes rack in, so I just pick it out and wear it. Easy. But then again, I still had to fix it. I want to wear another one, it’s similar. So, I thought, “OK, I’ll repair the first one, otherwise, I keep picking and it takes too long.”
We truly need to have wisdom; otherwise, everything we do is a nuisance for others. The more we want to help, the more trouble we make. This is the thing about our world, it’s like that. We have a lot of good-intentioned people, truly it’s like that. But good intention is not good enough! We must have wisdom; we must have concentration.
