Meditate diligently. Attain health and happiness. See matters for what they are and let go. Leave troubles and obstacles behind. Perform good deeds with compassion. Achieve a more auspicious life. On August 7, 2016, during a worldwide online group practice, Grandmaster JinBodhi shared with his global audience about the meaning and essential elements of meditation, and gave a powerful energy blessing. He opened the door of wisdom which leads to a luminous body and mind and enlightenment for all sentient beings.
Hello, everyone, (Hello, Grandmaster.) and online friends, old and new. (Hello, Grandmaster.) Many of you came from southern Taiwan to Taipei, right? Please raise your hands if you are not from Taipei. Welcome. You must have got up very early, right? What time did you get up? At 2, 3 or 4 o’clock? 4 o’clock, at the latest. That’s early. Not bad. You are a bit later than me. I usually get up at 11 ‘o’clock at night. When I was young, I used to get up at 2 o’clock to practice. So you were all late.
Actually, everyone has his own preferred time for practice, and the feel is different. I like to practice after midnight. I feel comfortable at that time. Because it is very quiet after midnight, good for sitting meditation, chanting and even practicing Energy Bagua. I don’t follow the Chinese tradition of the “Five Elements,” where it says Zi Wu time is best for practice. Some Taoists believe Zi Wu time (23:00-1:00 and 11:00-13:00) is the best time for practice. I don’t think so. In general, any time is good. Practice when you have time, it will benefit you. It improves your health and quiets your mind. That is for sure.
But individual physical conditions vary, so perhaps during certain times of day, the result is better. But people’s life style nowadays dictates they have to work daytime. Even if that is the best time for you, you can’t practice. Earning a living is a must, right? Otherwise, you can’t support the family. It is reality. You can’t stop working to learn meditation and Buddhism. That won’t work. We must be responsible for our family. So retired people who have time can pick the best time to practice. In general, the more time you spend practicing, the greater the health benefit. Everyone here has learned Bodhi Meditation. Is there anyone who hasn’t? There is one at the back. You are a different species. Welcome. We even welcome aliens. You will gradually want to learn because of health and age-related issues.
Some young people come to practice to develop their wisdom. They are from elementary, high schools and universities. In Taipei, Taiwan, in this New Taipei Haishan Bodhi Meditation Center, an international Bodhi Meditation Youth Camp just completed successfully. These children have learned things they can’t get from school. In school, we study the natural world, scientific subjects, language and mathematics, all this comprehensive knowledge, but lack education about what’s necessary in life, such as morals and ethics, confidence building, self-awareness, and how to free ourselves from a life of low spirits.
Nowadays, many children stay home and live off their parents. They neither work nor go to school, but staying home still incurs living expenses. Costs aside, their parents are worried about them. There is no future for these kids. Does anyone have children like this? Even if you do, you are too embarrassed to raise your hand. But if you don’t, your problems remain. We have helped many families. Their children finally moved out. I have a way with this kind of children. Normally, my three tricks will do. But I seldom need all three. After the 2nd, the child won’t dare move back home. He would rent a place for himself and start working. Usually it works that way, because my three tricks are pretty ruthless. I am different from other Buddhists: I can be quite ruthless when needed, and hot-tempered when called for. It is not the hot as in “Hot Girl”. It is the hot as in “spicy dish”.
All over the world, Bodhi Meditation brings people health and happiness. Please remember, Bodhi Meditation is for health and happiness. That is our mission. Without health and happiness, you won’t have joy for most of your life. You work hard, you toil away for the purpose of a happy life. Many people do not think of health as their purpose. But in poor health, at least half of your happiness is gone, especially if you suffer from a painful illness. Some illnesses cause no pain till death; other illnesses aren’t fatal but very painful, such as lower-back pain that’s not kidney disease. Lower back and neck pain, and frozen shoulders that cause pain when you work, comb hair, or wash hands. It is annoying, though not fatal.
You might feel happy compared with those facing death. But it is hard to feel happy with great pain. The pain won’t kill you, just makes you suffer. There is no medical relief for it. Lots of cases are like this. Of course, death is not the solution. We hope to live long and healthily for as long as we can. Try to live to at least 80. That is the happiest. This is my wish for everyone. We all die, but quality of life differs person to person. If we live in pain every day, that is hard.
In our life, there are at most 30,000-some days, not a big number. Many of us have not calculated how many days we have lived. 30,000 days are not many, your savings may be more than that. But you live at most 30,000 days. It is really short. In the same 30,000 days, are you living happily? Healthily? In joy? In abundance? Do you have someone who loves you and loved ones? If you are lacking in any of these, your happiness will be much less. But you will obtain more of these through meditation practice. Every aspect of your life will improve.
You tell me: Learning meditation from me, did it make you happier? (Yes.) Did you find more friends? (Yes.) Did you get more chance of finding a partner? (Yes.) Some chose to stay here even after recovering from illness because they want to find a partner. I noticed that several ladies cast searching glances at the male practitioners here, scanning them nonstop. If this was a medical scan test by a doctor, it would cost a lot of money. These ladies watched the males so attentively that the males started covering themselves. I have no objection, do as you wish. Anyway, it is free. And the feeling is mutual. You won’t have a good relationship or marriage without first knowing each other.
To find health and happiness, we need to practice, as that awakens our wisdom. We may not be a buddha, but try to, at least, be a human. If you live in pain every day, your life will be nothing but suffering. You will be unhealthy and unhappy. After a period of practice, wisdom is opened. Wisdom seems to be controlled by a valve. I felt that way when I was young. If the valve is blocked, every part of the body will lack energy because nutrients cannot get through. One day, this valve is opened, every part of the body and mind becomes illuminated. Our meditation practice produces such effect. Sometimes all of a sudden, the valve for wisdom and energy is activated. And the person becomes bright, his eyes sparking. He is happy and joyful, walks tall and confident. In the past when it was blocked, he felt low and depressed. Thus meditation brings the activation effect. It is really special.
I am not saying this to promote it. When I was young, I scored 30 points in 4 subjects. So many people were jealous of me. Other children got 40 points easily in one subject. But the total from my 4 subjects was 30. What an achievement! So when my school posted the marks, I was always the “first.” It was easy to find my name, always in the bottom 3. How did I feel? It was like living in hell, as the valve of wisdom was blocked. After some time practicing meditation, it slowly opened.
Unlike the 6th Patriarch Hui-neng, who achieved enlightenment in an instant, it was a slow process for me. In Buddhism lexicon, it is gradual enlightenment. In Chinese it is called “Jian”, which means “slow, gradual”. The other kind is called sudden enlightenment. It is like turning on the light switch — the whole room lights up. The latter were few and far between. Sudden enlightenment typically lacks depth. The valve seems to have opened, but still many unrealized aspects. That’s why I am not so keen on sudden enlightenment. I prefer gradual enlightenment.
Sakyamuni Buddha perfected his spirituality, thoughts and teachings through the trials of life, experiences in teaching and helping people. That formed Mahayana Buddhism in the latter part of his life. By doing good deeds to earn merits and virtues, you will achieve buddhahood, bodhisattva or arhat status. It is different from his early teachings. Prior to that, one couldn’t achieve enlightenment without ascetic practice. The earliest Buddhism spread to Burma, Thailand and India. Many Southeast Asian Buddhist practitioners believe that they can’t achieve enlightenment without meditation. They must go through the stages of 4 dhyanas and 8 samadhis. From age 48 and on, Buddha enriched his teachings. They were indeed better. What was added? The 6 perfections. Many aspects can lead us to enlightenment.
Sometimes doing well in one aspect suffices, as Buddha indicated in a sutra. There was once the daughter of the Dragon Lord, let’s call her the Dragon Girl. She was very compassionate. Her heart was set on kindness, and she admired Buddha for a long time. Upon hearing that Buddha was teaching in her region, she rushed to pay respect to Buddha. Upon seeing Buddha, she made the offering of the most precious pearl from her palace in the East Sea. Seeing her with not only a devoted offering heart, but also great compassion and kindness, Buddha elevated her to buddhahood instantly.
This story was told in a sutra. Buddha didn’t lie. This means that when you have great reverence toward a great Buddhist self-cultivator, his merits and virtues extend to you. If he reaches buddhahood, you will too. This is because of your association with him. His compassion, like a magnetic field, can make you achieve as well. If I am a self-cultivator, and achieve buddhahood because of your offering, then as an all-compassionate being, I can help free many people from their sufferings. Such merits and virtues will also make the offeror achieve greatness. Because the time and space are compressed, this is called “instant buddhahood”. Say, you are destined to reach buddhahood in 500 years. Buddha can allow you to achieve it now. The time and space required are compressed.
Next, let’s review the 6 perfections, the common Buddhist practices. The first is generosity. It means giving to the needy. For example, I have money, so when I see poor people going hungry or without medical care, I give financial and physical support, and teach them skills, or give them food. Or as a doctor, I treat the poor free of charge. These are all examples of generosity.
The second one is following precepts. In order to achieve, we must follow precepts. There are five commonly known precepts. No killing, no stealing, no sexual misconduct, etc. Doing these harms goes against reason and Nature. Harm others, and you will be harmed. Kill pigs, and you will be tortured by their souls, even though they can’t kill you. For those in certain positions, such as those licensed to kill by law, if they kill unlawfully or quasi-legally, say, a policeman sees two people fighting, if he shoots them even though they have raised hands in surrender, is it lawful? No, it is law enforcement violating the law. But through clever argument that they were trying to kill him with a knife, so he shot them in self-defense, he may escape punishment.
But the unseen Heavenly law enforces justice, since all the deities are watching. The one on duty would say, this brute is plain evil and deserves to be punished. He won’t be the only one affected, his children or parents will be too. This god will unleash disasters onto them. “You kill one person? I will torture 3 or 5 of your family. You will suffer greatly.” So it is true that parental evil karma brings suffering to the children, that is, a son pays his father’s debt. We have to be wary of it. As parents, we must exercise restraint in our conduct. That is to say, following precepts. Do not do harmful deeds. Do not think no one sees it. Heaven and Earth know. What does that mean? It may seem no one is watching you, but Heaven sees you. You ask where the eyes of Heaven are. They are omnipresent, thus you don’t see them. Causality is to be feared. Thus we should do nothing against reason or Nature. This is known as “following precepts”.
Patient endurance trains our willpower. Others laugh at, humiliate and insult you even though you did nothing wrong. He suspects you of stealing his stuff because you are poor, but you didn’t. However the accuser calls you bad names, spreads rumors about you, and gossips with others, and makes all kinds of wrongful accusations. We must learn to accept, endure and dissolve it. Lots of things are beyond our control. Learn to see through it, then it won’t matter to you. As ordinary people, do we get wronged or insulted sometimes? Yes. It happens to everyone. To me as well. It is happening right now. Search online and you will find many cursing me. But I feel that when people have been cursing you ever since you began teaching dharma, with such a strong determination, it is not an ordinary hatred. It is not one individual, but a force. This is normal.
Someone asked me, “Grandmaster, why don’t you fight back publicly?” I said, “Dogs bite me, I don’t bite dogs.” It’s that simple. A dog bites your leg and you bite back. It seems fair, right? No, it is not. Because a dog is an animal and you are a human. You are not in the same realms. If someone cheats you and you cheat others, you are the same as the cheater. You won’t bite back a person who bites you first, let alone a dog. Let’s not act on “an eye for an eye, blood for blood.” That is foolish. A Buddhist firstly cultivates his self-restraint, willpower and endurance. Even if you are wronged and humiliated, what is there to fear if you haven’t done anything wrong? No need to declare your innocence, nor fight to clear your name. Your innocence will shine through with the test of time. It is fine being misunderstood at the beginning. Eventually, people will know your compassion and goodness.
In our life, there will be insults. But we must understand that we are attacked because we stand out too much. For example, a student with good marks, apart from feeling great, will he be jealous of people like me who always had low marks? To this day, I still dislike people with good marks. So I still need to cultivate myself. I especially hate those few closest to me. They are like bookworms. Things they read once stay with them for decades. I can’t remember for a day even after repeated reading. But our roles are different now. With poor memory, I am their master. They remember everything, but yet are my disciples.
The Monkey King is more powerful than Monk Tang. Disciple Pigsy knows 36 tricks. Monk Tang only knows two tricks — pee and poo. What does he know? Nothing except for one miraculous thing — chanting mantra to discipline Monkey King when he misbehaves. Nothing else. Even his steed is all-powerful, flying up to Heaven and down to Earth. The cute, silly Pigsy knows 36 tricks of transformation; an average person or demon can’t beat him. Monk Tang’s disciples are all very powerful.
The next of the 6 perfections is dedicated practice. How? I am not sure. Different schools have different ways, such as practicing meditation, copying sutras and chanting. I think that there are several ways to perform dedicated practice. Firstly, practice the main meditation methods. For Bodhi Meditation, the main method is The Meditation of Greater Illumination. This is the principal method. Secondly, it is chanting. What is the third one? I almost forgot. It is prostration. It helps one to lose weight and enhance beauty. It activates meridians, energy channels and opens wisdom, which is especially beneficial. In the Buddhist community, everyone knows how to do prostration. It is simple.
Is this esoteric dharma? We don’t have to teach esoteric dharma, but prostration can eliminate the hidden toxins from your belly. That is one of its effects. Many of our female practitioners want to lose weight. They tend to accumulate fat in the midsection, even when not pregnant. So, we can do prostration to get rid of the fat. Ladies are happy to hear this, right? The disadvantage is that pants will be too loose, you will need a smaller size. After practice of prostration, your belly will shrink, and you will show off a slim waistline. It also opens wisdom. Many problems, such as vascular diseases, both cardio and cerebral, as well as digestive system issues and gynecological diseases can be relieved or resolved by doing prostration.
What is the goal of our dharma school? Our goal, in four words: “For Health, for Happiness.” If you are unhealthy, how can you be happy? If you are unhealthy, you might not achieve enlightenment, as all your energy is focused on physical pains. “Ah, my legs hurt.” If you are in pain, you might not be able to achieve enlightenment. The chronically sick are not necessarily unable to achieve, but it is extremely difficult, as their energy is used up by their sickness. Thus we should be dedicated to our practice.
The second part of dedicated practice is using supplementary methods. Firstly, do more good deeds. Some may not know how to. Just come to our centers to help. We realize our goal and belief at our centers by serving all sentient beings through volunteering. We have built this center, and with it, a master has a place to teach all sentient beings to learn dharma, for you to practice and achieve enlightenment, and most importantly, for you to break free from suffering. Not sure whether you will gain happiness, but you will suffer less, definitely. At such a place, serving others is practicing self-cultivation. Merits and virtues come with your practice.
And most importantly, it cultivates our mind. Many illnesses arise from our mental states, wrong views and perceptions. Sakyamuni Buddha said that for human beings, what is considered good may not be good. The Divine perceives the world differently from humans, just like in the old-style camera, photographers saw the image upside down. Perhaps that is the view in Buddha’s eyes. But when humans see the world, their heads are right side up. Perhaps in the Divine world, heads are upside down. A lot of what we strive for are really disasters; many goals are things we shouldn’t pursue.
The more evil the things, the more attractive they are. We are pursuing lots of wrong things. Take money as an example. As I said, we should be responsible for our family and to ourselves. We need to work. Is this right? Maybe it seems contradictory. Should we be obsessed with working? Maybe it is not clear. If you are obsessed with not working, you will starve next month. So, we should work, but not be greedy about it. Everything in moderation.
Raise your hand if you like spicy food. We are talking about moderation. If we switch the proportion, chili becomes the main food, and rice the side dish. Would that work? No. Need to have balanced proportion. For the necessities in life, at what amount are they reasonable, safe and causing no harm? This is especially important. If we lose our mental grip on it, we will have problems. What problems? If we can’t control our emotions, relationships will suffer or marital problems will surface. If we can’t manage our work, we will lose our jobs.
Many say they work hard for their boss, but slack off at work when their boss isn’t watching. Their boss might fire them in a fit of anger. You may think you work hard for your boss, but remember this: regardless of whether you are an employer or employee, you always work for yourself. If you work for someone, don’t be lazy when your boss isn’t watching. The consequence is that you will lose your job. Your boss may not watch you work, but results show. If you didn’t work hard, the result is bad. You will be fired for sure. If you were the boss, you would do the same. So we always work for ourselves. We should be conscientious and grateful. Do you understand? But many lose their job because they don’t realize this. There are people like this everywhere.
The Taiwanese media reports a high unemployment rate on a daily basis. But just look how many people really work hard. Very few. Many lack motivation at work because they don’t understand. Those interviews run like stories in classic films. It goes like this: I was going over a mountain and stopped by a bandit. The bandit said, “Kill him and take his money and stuff.” I said, “Don’t kill me. I have an 80-year-old mother and many children. If you kill me, no one will care for them. I beg you, please let me go.” Some job seekers talk like this, hoping they will get the job. Once they get the job, they forget about their 80-year-old mother and many children. They muddle along, slack off as much as they can. They have no sense of work ethic.
When one is unclear about his duty, he acts foolishly. This is what some poor people do. What about the rich? They say, “I’m so smart and make so much money. Look how clever I am!” But in business, there are always people smarter than you. In the second round, you will be cheated of all your money. Just as: “The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind.” There is always someone smarter, more cunning, more sinister than you. Thus, only when we are clear about our roles and reasons can we conduct ourselves appropriately and never fail.
That is why when working at our centers, we must understand that we are earning merits and virtues for ourselves. So, when we serve people at the centers, in anything we do, we are actually cultivating our heart and mind. Some claim that they are rich; their maids do all the household chores, grocery shopping, even their hair. They are like those ladies described in the Chinese classical novel The Dreams of the Red Mansion. She had maids to comb her hair, wash her face, brush her teeth, and put on her glasses. Even her foot binding was put on by her maids. They all lived like that. But here at the centers, you are Buddha’s servant, and that is your honor. Thus, cleaning floors and bathrooms, and serving food, are honorable activities here. Actually, doing these chores prompts your transformation.
Causes of illness are quite complicated. Many illnesses are due to your wrong perceptions, your wrong views. Thus, when you have no discriminating mind, when you can let go of your superiority complex, your illness will be gone. That is why I usually give menial jobs to the noble. So the rich should do some manual labor, an unglamorous job. When they can do the messy job with peace of mind, with humility and modesty, you will find that their mind is at a much higher level; their illness is gone. Because many illnesses are caused by the state of mind.
Newcomers may not understand this. Is anger from our mind? Does anger lead to illness? What about fear? Fear can cause death. I helped many whose souls were scared out of their bodies. These people often have problems. If it is severe, they may suffer from low intelligence. So mental perceptions are causes of illness. Is lovesickness an illness? Of course it is. Lovesickness will make one ill. I think you have all been in love, right? Some are lucky enough to get married without being lovesick. All our emotions lead to either health or sickness. So the dharma teaching is to help us cultivate our mind. Cultivate to perceive things the right way. With our mental condition balanced, our physical health will be balanced as well. Extreme hot or cold are both wrong. Balance makes us healthy. I hope you practice diligently.
The fifth of the 6 perfections is meditation. Meditation is our main practice. Thus, we should practice every day whenever we have time. If there isn’t time, take time away from sleeping. Even with one hour of practice, we will feel comfortable. You may feel very tired after ten days of hard work. But with 1 hour of sitting meditation, your fatigue will go away. Apart from this method, are there other ways? Some use gadgets, such as massage chairs, which can be problematic. Afterwards, you are sore all over. Originally, you only had a bit of a sore back. Some want to spend more money, so they go for a foot massage. It works a bit, but it is far inferior to practicing meditation. After one hour of meditation, you will feel comfortable and happy. Your fatigue will be all gone. After your foot massage, it is hard to say whether you are comfortable or have a different kind of problem. Originally, you had back pain, but after the massage, you have got foot pain.
The 6th perfection is prajna or wisdom. The grand concept of wisdom is learning about compassion and morals. That is my understanding. Prajna is a strange word that’s hard to understand. I can only just reach this level of understanding. It is learning the wisdom of compassion and kindness, and drawing close to the wise and the kind. In choosing friends, choose the kind ones. If you are not strong-willed, stay away from bad people who do drugs, gamble or fight, and value money over people. It is better not to have such friends. Because when we are with bad friends, it is easy for us to go astray. If we are with bad people, we become bad if we are not careful. Thus we should stay close to the kind, and learn compassion and true dharma.
In learning about the 6 perfections, we should earnestly set aside time to understand ourselves. When you are sick or have problems, I suggest you find senior disciples, practitioners, and the wise ones, our Buddhist masters, monks, etc., and ask for their advice. Sometimes we are stumped by obstacles, but wise ones can solve them with few words. It is so easy for them, and you will feel relieved, lots of things will become simpler.
I don’t have great wisdom, just simple solutions. Once there was a great stock trader who made over $30 million. He was a Chinese student studying in the United States. In the beginning he was penniless. But through speculation in the stock market, he made over $30 million. One day, he lost $20 million and he felt so bad that he didn’t want to live anymore. I happened to be in New York at that time. New York was the source of his pain. New York has Wall Street, flashy but without substance. It could ruin your family and cause great pain. He came to me for help. “Grandmaster, please teach me some secret dharma so that I will never fail.”
I said, “It’s very simple.” (Tell me!) I didn’t want to say as it is secret dharma. So he bought me several cups of coffee. He thought that would flatter me. I like to help people, actually. But I couldn’t resist his flattery. Seeing that he was sincere, I asked him if he will listen, he said yes. So I said, “Stop buying stocks”. He exclaimed, “What kind of trick is this?” I said, “There is no trick. It’s like gambling.”
No matter how good you are, the house always wins. If you win against the house, you will be abducted, that is for sure. You think casinos only engage in gambling? They also resort to dirty tricks. If you cause a casino to lose money, then all they need to do is kill you. That is an easy way to keep their money. The smart gamblers never figure this out. You may have a good brain, but they have a heavy hand. If you walk by the sea all the time, it is impossible to keep shoes dry. Especially for those who want the gain without the pain, you will surely get your shoes wet. Not only that, but you may drown.
He said, “Then I lost my $20 million for nothing?” I said, “If you stop taking these risks, you will still have $10 million. But continue on playing, you may even lose your life.” Not all stock traders end up in a bad state. But those who have, you won’t find them anymore because they all died. Many people lost money on stock market crash. Venture capitalists saw this as a good opportunity to invest in some good company stocks. Are there any good companies in Taiwan? Which one? (Taijidian.) TSMC. TSMC. I got it. When TSMC drops, we buy, right? Is it good timing? Perhaps not.
In Canada, there was a UBC professor who taught stock trading, marketing and management. His wife came to learn meditation due to insomnia. Why? She couldn’t sleep because she lost money trading stocks. She was sick and came here to learn meditation. She recovered. Her husband not only couldn’t sleep, he also couldn’t walk. Because of playing stocks, he ended up like that. After he got to know me better, he told me he had written books. He was an expert teaching marketing, management and stock trading. He taught just about everything, a superb professor, very capable. While teaching others to trade in stocks, he also traded in the market.
Once, there was a big electrical power company in Canada whose stock dropped like a landslide, from $130 to $30. He said, “Honey, let’s buy. Put all our savings in it, even if we have to mortgage our house!” After buying, they waited. It dropped to $7 a share 6 months later. Undaunted, he said: “The time for glory has come. Victory belongs to the daring. It is my moment to shine. Tell your mother to mortgage the house in China.” So they put in a few more million. It dropped to 70 cents a share 6 months later. Then the husband couldn’t walk, and the wife couldn’t sleep. Congratulations! Finally, it turned human into beast.
So regardless how much TSMC stock drops, it is better not to buy, OK? Because you have to spend money to buy it. Right? True, bank interest is low, but at least it won’t shrink. At least your capital is safe. When you buy vegetables, the vendor only takes real money, not your worthless stock certificate. It is true that you can make money when you find a good deal. But more often than not, we lack willpower and can’t foretell. We have no way of knowing which way it will go. Usually in stock trading, some get rich, most become poor, especially when the price fluctuates a great deal. Then your life will rise and fall with it. If you want to continue to walk, sleep, eat and breathe, don’t buy into stuff that rises and falls. This is secret dharma.
In Singapore, there was once a feng shui master who seemed to know everything. He said, “Look, that company does very well because I did the feng shui for them. This one failed because they didn’t follow my advice.” Wow, he seemed to be like a god. I said, “Give me some advice, please.”
He said, “You need to invest.”
I said, “I don’t invest.”
“Can’t grow without investing!” he said,
“I’ve grown taller than you even though I didn’t invest,” I replied.
He answered, “Your money won’t grow.”
“If I have enough to live on, it’s OK,” I said.
He seemed a powerful figure. When people heard his title, got his business card, saw his appearance — he dressed like one of the Three Musketeers — many people were fooled. Although Chinese, he dressed like an Englishman with a bow tie. It was ridiculous. I hadn’t known him for very long. He got sued 6 months later. He advised someone who wanted to get rich to invest in a foreign stock, promising a $100,000 return for a $100,000 investment after one year. The investor thought that since the feng shui master was so famous in Singapore, and dressed in that pompous suit, he must be respectable, admirable and honorable. He was indeed famous, having published several books. So he invested, but 6 months later, he took the matter to court because it was a fraud. The feng shui master was arrested and all his wealth and property confiscated.
This person who claimed to help people get rich ended up in jail just like anyone else. So what can protect us? A heart free of greed. Many things aren’t decided by gods, but by your mind, your inner power, your responsibility and your undesirous heart. Basic life needs are not greed. Anything over and above is greed. Danger lurks, hidden, like a beast beside you. As a rabbit hops in the grass, a fox or wolf may be watching. So you must be careful. You must be responsible for your family. Do not get into risky stuff. It is best to avoid things that cause havoc in our life. Once we get into it, illness is inevitable. That professor couldn’t walk, his wife couldn’t sleep. No one could help them. All because their stock did not rise. After a long wait, they sold at 50 cents a share, but a year later it jumped to $30. That was the most painful thing. In the end, as he had no money to invest, teaching was his best bet. So he continued teaching others to invest.
Sometimes I think over-studying is harmful. If you lack composure, no amount of studying will help. Clear mind is the most important thing. That is the best strategy. That is why it is so important for you to come here to cultivate your mind. So that you have a steadier mind by which to accumulate merits. When you are free, listen to my talks. Some call them “teachings,” the video recordings of me talking. I am embarrassed to call them “teachings,” as teachings belong to grandmasters. I am nobody, and I am used to being criticized. So I feel they are unfit to be called “teachings.” If you feel they are useful, take them; if not, ignore them, OK?
