Whatever you do here or anywhere, eventually the benefit will come to you.
Whatever we do good to people, we think good about people, the benefit
eventually is ours. That's why I ask you to think positive, speak positive,
and do positive things. That's the only thing we should do if you want
any good out of this life, to balance, to make our life better than before.
Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. Remember that. If your mind is filthy,
dirty, and you think everything is filthy, dirty, even sex becomes dirty
to you. It's a gift from God. If it's no good, God didn't make it. But
it must go with love. If you love someone, that is a kind of celebration
of the love between you -- if you want to celebrate it that way, if you
want to express it that way. But don't think anything dirty about it, don't
try to abuse people just for the sense of pure control or possessiveness,
then abuse the gift of sexual pleasure from God.
If two people love each other when they marry each other, it's their business.
And if you marry each other and love each other, nothing is anyone else's
business. You can make love to each other or don't make love to each other,
it's your business. It's your entire right -- the way you try to express
yourself, the way you choose to express yourself. We choose to express
ourselves in many different ways. If our mind is pure, everything is pure,
as long as we don't hurt anyone, as long as we have faith in God that everything
God arranges is good for us even though it doesn't look good at the moment.
For example, like this afternoon I asked one of the brothers whether his
wife had come back. He said no that she left him for good, but then he
has another better one. Of course he had to suffer a little meanwhile.
Sometimes we think it's bad for us, but it's not. I told you that if God
takes something away from us, Hes will give something. We have to have
enough mind power, wisdom and the openness of the heart to appreciate when
Hes gives us something new to experiment with, to have a new adventure,
new challenge, new power of creativity.
Don't just sit there and sulk, "Oh, my last one was better."
It might not have been better. She might not have even liked you. Maybe
you feel it was better because it was the past. Every time, everything
we think about the past, we cheat ourselves -- we think the past was good.
I tell you truthfully, living in the present is the best, because the present
is all we have. Even if the past was truly beautiful, even if your mind
doesn't cheat you in thinking the past was beautiful -- like your past
wife was better or your past lover better -- it's still the past. We don't
have it. Cleopatra is gone. So you might just as well be satisfied with
the Mrs. X that you are married to.
Share Only The Beautiful Things With Others
Most of the troubles in our lives we make ourselves. We imagine a lot of
garbage because we have preconceived ideas about how the situation is and
how it should be because of our past experiences. Then we just fix our
idea on that and demand that things happen the way it was or the way we
think it should be. Then we make our lives miserable. If we'd just be open
to new challenges, receive God's gifts every moment -- anything with new
curiosity and new enthusiasm -- and work together with whoever is next
to us to bring happiness to each other, then everyone is an angel. Every
moment is paradise.
But we have too much garbage. If you have garbage, check yourself and throw
it out, don't bring it to the Center and share it with people. We like
to share food, love and enlightenment but not garbage. Every time you bring
any garbage in this Center, you are doing yourself a great disservice,
not to talk about all your brothers and sisters here.
This is a place where you should come to feel love, blessings, togetherness,
everything that is positive; because you maybe not have them at home already.
You have enough quarreling at home, you have enough negative things at
home, you have enough bad thoughts about people at home, you have a lot
of suspicion at home.
When you come here, even if you have that, pray to the Master, pray to
God, the inner power to cleanse it for you. At least you bring that and
share it with people. Do you bring your garbage and share it with your
neighbor or whatever at home? No. If you share, you share spring rolls,
vegetarian Pho (Au Lac food). You don't bring the garbage from your rest
room to the neighbor and say, "Here it is. Please look at it. Do you
ever do that? (A: No!)
The same with mental garbage. Come here and gossip about who is bad and
who is good. It's no good for you. Garbage should stay where it belongs.
As fast as possible throw it away. Never share it with people. It's no
good, why do you share? Most of the things we talk or think about are not
true anyhow, because you don't know how karma works. You just see the surface
of things, like this guy treats that guy bad. But you don't know that last
life he treated him worse even.
I have told you so many thousands of stories to demonstrate, to teach you;
but you must learn it, you must digest it, and put it into practice. Don't
listen here and let it come out there. Don't just sit here like an idiot,
and don't think, don't better yourself. Clean yourself before you clean
anyone else.
In my life, I haven't said I am perfect or anything; but I face myself
every day without shame. I have nothing that I cannot tell you. So make
your life like that. It's more comfortable for yourself.
There's no need to poke into the neighbors' business and even share their
garbage, negative sometimes mostly untruthful information, dragging each
other down. What's the use? Suppose really that person is bad, you gossip,
you talk to a man and say, "Oh, he's really bad." Both of you
agree he's bad. So what's the good for you? Does it make both of you better?
(A: No.) You share the garbage that he has even if he is bad.
Suppose the neighbor has a lot of garbage, and both of you go to that garbage
can and say, "Look here, this is the neighbor's, these are full of
garbage, let's both take it and examine it." What good does it do
for you? Then you take the neighbor's garbage to your house and examine
it, and that's all there is. And you know that from beginning already,
you don't even need to examine it -- it's garbage; and it belongs to the
neighbor. You don't even have to talk about it, you don't have to discuss
it. It is so plain, so simple that it's garbage. So leave it where it is.
Is that clear to you? (Audience says, "Yes". Applause.) You know
it is a garbage can, it's full of garbage, and you still poke your nose
in it, dig your hand in it, smell it, and smear it. "Oh, it's really
garbage, isn't it?" (All laugh) Isn't that stupid? If any man does
that, do you think he is stupid? (A: Yes.) But you do that all the time.
Don't laugh, isn't that true?
A Garbage Collector
Sometimes you dig also into my garbage. I've told you that I have a lot
of garbage. I have never cheated you. Everything you have, I have. I collect
it so that you're clean. I collect it so that your house smells nice. Don't
criticize my garbage if I even have it. Don't smell it. Let me take care
of it. I'll take care of it in my time. I'll dump it where it belongs,
I'll destroy it so that you're clean, beautiful, nice, hygienic and healthy.
Don't criticize my garbage. (Applause.)
This is the mistake that many of you make. It's okay with me, but there
are many things that are not okay with you. For example, you smell like
garbage, you look like garbage because you carry it around, and people
know you are garbage if you collect it. It's not your job. We have a lot
of garbage collectors out there on the streets. You pay them because they
are doing their job. Don't do their job, you have better jobs to do. Be
happy that someone else collects the garbage for you. Why do you snatch
it from them, and even examine whether it is really garbage or not? It
is. You know already.
I have never cheated you. I told you I have a lot of karma. That's why
I am often sick, I am often in trouble for nothing, I am often in bad shape,
bad reputation. Even the people I've helped have turned against me. The
things that I do good, people use that against me, personally also -- a
lot of things. A lot of newspapers write bad things about me which are
100% garbage, not true at all.
So if you know already I have a lot of garbage, don't come around me, don't
come near. Stay away. Keep yourself clean and pure. Even if I am full of
garbage, it's okay, it's my problem, it's my job. Don't look. I've never
cheated you and said I am always okay. I am not okay.
I am a sacrificed garbage can. Anyone can dump anything into it, and I
have to digest it and take care of it. It's very painful sometimes. I don't
have to go through it but I do. That's okay with me because I don't look
at garbage as garbage. I have the way to digest it, make it into fertilizer,
and turn it into beautiful flowers. But you don't do that, you don't have
the means to. You were not born to do it, so just stay away. Leave the
garbage to me. Leave the garbage to your own neighbor whoever that is.
Keep yourself clean and pure. That's your prime duty. Your duty is not
to be born to look into neighbor's garbage or into my garbage. You have
enough with your own problems.
Suppose you have done everything to make yourself pure and clean. Then
be happy. Be happy that you are now not in war. Why criticize the people
who died in the war zone? Be happy that you are not there. Be happy that
your hands and legs are still intact, you're living in a peaceful country,
and you have enough money to live a decent life. Be happy. Don't criticize
the poor people who are uneducated, who are homeless, and all that. Just
be happy with what you have and don't criticize people who don't have even
that.
Beauty Is In The Eyes Of The Beholder
But we never know. Most of the things we see are not truthful because it
is our mind that sees things, that makes things not clean, that makes things
not pure because we are not pure, we are not clean. Beauty is in the eyes
of the beholder. Remember that. So whenever you see someone impure, check
yourself. Whenever you see someone bad, check yourself. Whenever you see
someone dirty, check yourself. If you're really clean and pure, then be
happy, be proud, walk your beautiful way, and pray for the ones who are
less fortunate or pray for me. I don't need but you can.
There's something that's not okay with you, that is No. 1. And No. 2, if
you bring all that garbage into the Center, you damage the beauty of this
holy place where people come expecting the best, the most uplifting blessing
so that they can carry on with their duty, with their heavy laden burden
when they go back home. They can deal with problems, with the garbage at
their house, so they don't come here to deserve the garbage that you throw
around. If ever you have poisonous thoughts in your mind, then pray to
God, to the inner Master to cleanse them. Don't blame it on anything else
and don't believe in that.
Negative things are never true because God is not negative. How can God
create anything negative? Everything negative comes from our devil mind.
Everything God created is perfect. We just make everything topsy-turvy,
turn everything into bad because we are taught that way, we accept other
people as our own opinion. We learn it from other books, say this is no
good, that is no good. Then we believe in it, and we make it into no good.
So be careful what you read, be careful what you take into your system
and make your own. Be careful what you believe, whether it is really good.
You have to examine it. Examine even everything I say whether it is good
for you or not, whether it is logical or not. If not, you just reject it.
Really. Just tell me that what I am saying is garbage. You have to examine
everything before you take it into your own system and make it become yours.
Otherwise, it will be damaging. If you take some garbage, some bad system
and you make it into a belief, it becomes yours, it's fixed, it's forever;
and you die there, you are trapped there. You cannot be free. Thoughts,
systems, conceptions, all these can trap people.
How many families are unhappy because the husband, the wife believe that
sex is sinful? Meanwhile, they cannot help it. They are so unhappy, they
inhibit each other, and they make their lives hell. Does God want your
marriage to become hell like that? Does God want two people who love each
other to feel guilty, sinful all the time like that? What for? What does
it serve God over there? All these conceptions do a lot of harm to people.
I'm just citing one example. Every other thing you have to examine yourself,
I can't just chew all the food and feed it to you. It's no good for you.
You have to be clever. Meditate, polish your wisdom so that you can be
more clever. Then you can judge yourself what's good, what's not. But you
have to examine carefully, honestly without any judgmental attitude, without
any preconceived ideas. So pure as a child, looking at a flower as it is
without judging, "Oh, this is white. It's not red. It should be pink,
I like pink. I don't like red." Red is okay. Pink is also okay. Okay
or not okay is your own mind's problem. Your soul doesn't discriminate.
Pay Attention To Your Life, Make It Pure And Positive
So we have to be very careful how we live our lives because everything
we think generates something. If it's negative, it generates a negative
atmosphere. It attracts bad luck to us, to the people around us; and everywhere
we go we bring it with us. Like if you carry a bag of poison and it's leaking.
Anywhere you go, will that poison you and will it poison anyone who comes
near you? It will.
Poisonous thoughts are more poisonous than poisonous films or any substance.
Be careful what you think. If it's really no good, discard it right away,
recite the Holy Names, keep yourself centered, purify yourself, enjoy the
blessings that God gives you every moment that you are living. Be thankful
that you are healthy, you're alive, you have a good place to come and relax,
you have good friends like these, and you have a good friend like me. (Applause)
I have never asked you to do anything for me personally. Everything I do
for you is free, willingly and lovingly. You always ask me, "How can
we repay You, Master?" Don't. You don't have to repay me anything.
Just clean yourself, mind your own business, and let me do mine. That's
very simple. Because if you keep looking at my garbage, you cannot improve.
If you're looking at the neighbor's garbage, you're doing yourself a disservice.
That's all. I don't forbid you to look into the neighbor's garbage or to
do anything that you like to do. But you have to think whether it is good
for you or not.
Every time you think negative about some people, is that comfortable for
yourself? No. Already no good, no need to believe my words, you examine
it. Every time you are angry with someone, think bad about them whether
true or not, who is the one who is the most uncomfortable? The first, No.1,
ourselves. Yes. So very simple.
It's very easy to keep ourselves in control. Just look straight inside,
recite the Holy Names, and pray every time that the Master helps you. Helps
you, gives you loving thoughts right now or replaces the bad with the loving
ones. That doesn't mean sometimes you don't get angry if rightfully you
believe like that. Just express yourself if you really believe like that.
Like if you are angry with that person and tell him the reason. But you
have to examine first whether it's true, whether it's logical, and whether
it's worth it. If you are angry because he made you angry, tell him. At
least, give him a chance to clarify it or clear the air with you. Don't
just think and judge that person by your own personal experience, low or
high level of consciousness, fix him there, and then go to talk to someone
else about him without him even knowing what you are talking about. The
third guy is even more helpless. He just sits there listening to all the
garbage. He doesn't even know anything about it. Then maybe the third guy
talks to the fourth guy. Oh God, then the whole Center is full of garbage.
Sometimes you don't talk about it but you think about it, also no good.
You had better pray to God at that moment and say, "Take away this
poison from me," or else you poison everyone around you; because thoughts,
deeds and speech are all the same. They are powerful, especially when we
have concentration. It's very tiring when sometimes the karma comes and
you have to clash with someone. In the morning you look at yourself, your
face looks black. Something poisonous is inside you. Released is some poison
that makes you feel very tired, get old quickly, and not look so fresh
and young anymore. So keep yourself pure and positive. It's best for you.
Unless you can't help it -- like you have to live together with the person
and that person causes trouble, both of you misunderstand-- then you have
to clear it with each other. But that is not like thinking negative about
someone who doesn't even know anything about you, who doesn't even know
that you think negative about him, and maybe the thing you think is not
true. Even if it is true, you don't know how karma works. You don't know
what God has arranged for that or this person, for what purpose. You know
nothing.
So better just shut up. Shut the mind, recite the Holy Names, and think
positive; because you don't lose anything if you think positive. Every
time you think negative, you lose. That's all. It's for yourself. It's
not that I forbid you or God will punish you. Your life will be much better
if you always try to think positive about everyone.
Honesty And Trust Are The Keys To
Maintaining A Marriage
If you have some problem with your close one, then sort it out with him
or her alone. You have no right to talk bad about your partner, whether
it is true or not, to another person. You violate his personal private
privileged honor. And if you love that someone, then it's really bad. You
really disgrace him or her by doing that, because sometimes you misunderstand
him or her.
Even if it is true, maybe he did not intend to do that. It's his habit,
or he thinks doing that is good for you. But then it's no good for you
because you don't like it. You have to tell him or her alone because that's
where you have to work, you can't work with the third person. If you live
together like husband and wife, you have to work things out together. Trying
not to gossip about him or her because suppose later he or she heard about
that, your relationship would be gone, finished. He or she can not forgive
you. The trust is broken.
If you live together as husband and wife, you must have trust in each other,
you must know you can turn to him or her in times of trouble, and he or
she will protect you, will honor you, will protect your honor; not that
he will sell you out at any moment to anyone. And you don't even know who
that is, you don't even know what they are talking about, and half of the
things are just in their own heads, it might not be true.
It's difficult I know that, but try. That's the only way to do it. I mean
there's no other choice anyhow. Any other choice brings you trouble. You
can try any other choice you want, but then it will bring you trouble.
Then you will find that this is the only choice we have to live with.
We have to live truthfully and just take care of whatever it is -- our
own business. We have enough problems with ourselves, with our partner,
with our children. No need to take care of his or the neighbor's. Don't
you think you have enough, or not? I can give you some of mine. Free. I
have a lot, left over and to spare.
Whew, talking about garbage. If you really love it that much, come live
with me. Be my boyfriend, and then I'll share with you a lot, even voluntarily.
You don't even have to ask, I will give it. If you live next to me, you
will see it. How can you live next to a person and not see the garbage.
Just follow me and then you'll know what garbage really is. Sometimes you
will suffer too if you wish to know what suffering is. So be happy that
you are not with me, your life is peaceful and normal.
A really normal life is a blessing, don't fantasize. If you have one partner,
one lover, try to work with that person because it is workable. In the
long run it will work.
I don't see any marriage as easy, even the so-called happily ever after
ones. Have you seen any problem-free marriages or partnerships? No. Today
I ate with my primary school teacher. He told me voluntarily that he has
been observing since he was young up till now that no marriage is ever
trouble free.
Because he was surprised when he was young why adults were fighting all
the time, so he kept observing and checking everyone, every couple that
he knows. He has never seen one without rubbing and polishing, then afterwards
they are okay. Maybe still not okay, but then they get used to it; they
are getting better because they are getting used to it.
A married couple came to a master and said, "Oh Master, our marriage
is in so much trouble, please help us. Can you tell us that it is really
worth it? Should we continue?"
The Master said, "Don't worry, I guarantee everything will be better
in the future. You will feel better soon."
So the husband asked, "Oh how soon could that be?"
He said, "Maybe ten years, twenty years."
Then the couple said, "You mean at that time we will live happily
ever after finally? We'll have no more problems, no more quarreling?"
The Master said, "No, no. It will be the same. It is just that you'll
get used to it and then you won't feel so bad." (Laughter.)
It's just habits. Everything you just get used to it, and you don't feel
so bad anymore.
Go Beyond The Habits And Represent The Qualities
Of Truth, Beauty And Goodness
Husbands and wives quarrel also because of the mind. It records all kinds
of garbage information and whenever the situation is nearly the same, it
puts out the same stuff, husband and wife or partner quarrel again. You
know it's almost always the same story, same mistake again. So even if
you quarrel with each other a lot, do know that it's just the mind that
is making trouble or the karma.
Karma means the things that have been recorded in the mind. The deeds that
you did before, the consequences, the mind records it; and then next time
it puts out the same. So do love each other beyond the mind, beyond the
physical contact, beyond the sex, beyond the troubles. You have to love
with the love of God, with the enduring kind of love and unconditionally.
Then it will last and it will sail over troubled water.
If you keep looking at the trouble in your partner all the time or in yourself,
then you just make the problem bigger. Try hard and work together. That
doesn't mean you ignore anything that the partner annoys you with or his
or her habits. You talk about it. Hate the habit but not the person. Throw
away the bad qualities but not the person. Everyone has to have something
to work with, that is what we are here for, that's what life is all about.
It is difficult but it is not impossible. I, myself, try to be an example
of it. So you, yourself, also try to be an example for yourself. Alright.
Be happy.
