OK, fine. If you want to meditate here… Is it comfortable? No? Not really? It is? Maybe just sit for a while until it’s dark. Can you… Oh no, it’s not possible. Too many people here. No need, let’s go inside. I’ll come in with you. Soon, soon. …No cookies, no kids, no friends, nobody here. You sleep all day. Good about group meditation at least, huh? See, if you go around… Yeah, yeah, everybody can come. It’s alright. Now it’s an open market.
If you don’t believe me about how good the meditation can be, you can go around and compare yourself with other meditation groups. Did you ever see other group meditation people? No, they don’t have a group. There’s some famous master, more famous than me, more big: bigger beard, bigger size, hundred percent from India even. I’m just “half-baked.” I’ve been there, but back again, so… Wow, what are these people? I mean, where from? Still have space? If not, the front can just move a little. The front will move a little. Anyhow. Squeeze together. Who told you to come in late? They also have group meditation. It’s just that their groups are not so “group,” not so big. And they don’t emphasize so much about group meditation. Even if they do, nobody comes. Our people, in our group, we meditate in groups a lot. And you can see the difference. Don’t you see? Do you see the difference sometimes? (Yes.) Do you go around “shopping,” at least compare the price. Here are the Five Precepts, two-and-a-half-hour meditation. Over there, one and a half precepts, two-hour [meditation]. Which one is better?
And here, if you do the group meditation, at least you can sleep for a few days, in a month or something. If it’s a monthly retreat, that’s a very big bonus. Just sleep. Meanwhile, just daydream about some good things. Costs nothing. And that’s why you look so healthy, prettier and fatter, and fabulous. I think that’s the reason. Because at least you have a few days repose every now and then. Sometimes, once a month. Every week, one day at least. (Yes.) Wow, that’s a lot. How many folks out there can have a half a day the way you do? And that’s what makes you more brilliant-looking and younger-looking each day. Sleeping does also regenerate your brain power, highlights your IQ, and makes you feel younger, energetic. So when you come home, dare anybody touch or say anything to you because you’re so fully energized and alert, so everything you think will be more straight, quicker, not to even talk about meditation yet. If you do it off and on, about five minutes, that is also not bad, meanwhile. I also do sleep, but I’m just more honest. I go to bed. I go to bed. You see? So, group meditation – not bad, huh? And, retreat – not bad, huh? (Yes.) Oh, I’m very proud of my idea.
A lot of people, sometimes they go like spiritual shopping. You know that? They do. Oh, I did before. I don’t mean anything bad about that. Well, just go around, then you make sure that when you come back, you know it’s better here. Go anywhere you want and compare. Maybe other masters have a bigger beard and are (physically) stronger. But here we’re a stronger group, we sleep stronger, and are free. See, if I don’t emphasize group meditation, it’s even better for me. Really. That’s why other masters, or if any masters at all – if they are really Masters – they don’t go around so much, because nobody sits there in thousands and says, “Oh, Master, please come. One month, half a year, three days, [and] four hours already, You didn’t come.”
And here, every time you group together, whatever you want comes. Because you group together, and you want the same thing. Even last time when I wasn’t sick and you sat here and said, “Oh, Master, please get well.” So I had to get sick first, in order to get well. That’s terrible. I was wondering why suddenly I had to get sick like this? It’s not supposed to be. It’s not written in my destiny. And then I asked God, “Why? What is that?” Hes said, “I have no idea, it’s Your disciples. They prayed to me that You get well, so I have to make You sick in order to get You well.” You see that? Don’t ever do that kind of stupid thing again. It’s not fun to get sick, just to fulfill your strong power.
So, some people do go shopping like that and then they say, “Oh, Master, other teachers teach the same method, and they don’t tell us to do group meditation, nothing, nothing, and don’t even talk about the Five Precepts.” I say, “Then go there.” Then you’ll lose your sleep, weekly sleep. And then you’ll lose your good (vegan) food from the kitchen, Khôi’s (vegan) phở and (vegan) broken rice, and so on, and lose everything. Then he’d be fed up with curry rice. Too hot, too hot. It’s difficult to digest the curry. He’s fed up with curry rice, whatever, and then it’s too hot and too indigestible, and after a couple of diarrhea sessions, he comes back. It’s safer here, more hygienic. So, after a while like that, he just comes back for our hygienic (vegan) cooking, at least.
And then weekly “sleeping” sessions are very healthy for you. So, actually, I have never scolded you severely for sleeping during your samadhi. It’s OK, it’s OK. What can I do if you’re tired? Your body knows how to adjust, and since you’re sitting like this, you can’t sleep too long anyhow. And even if you put your head on the shoulder of your neighbor, he will soon give you some “upliftment.” And maybe that’s good for him too, because maybe he was just doing something else. Instead of reciting the Five (Holy) Names, he’s making noise, this very familiar soundless sound, you know? And then, so, if you just kind of knock your head on his shoulder, and then “Aye!” Both of you wake up. So, it’s very convenient, really. It’s an automatic system. So, I never worry that you sleep here, because in front of you there are people, behind you there are people, left and right are people. If you bump into anyone, both of you will wake up. So, there’s no problem. I don’t need to spend my energy and time going with a big, long zen board and bang you on your shoulder and scare everybody stiff. No need. You see these two hufas (guards), they’re just there for decoration, they’re doing nothing. And meanwhile, sometimes, just join the group, group meditation.
So, you see, our group is very relaxed, because everything is automatic. The Master also doesn’t need to be there to watch over whoever sleeps or not. I used to go to a zen meditation before, and also I did all kinds of shopping before I got the real stuff. So, the Masters go around with a long-sleeved robe, black and shaven hair, walking like this. Yes. I don’t have a stick, but you imagine a stick that long, bigger than my arms, thick like that, carry it around. He is serious, he’s a monk, and he’s no nonsense with you. And if you just nod a little bit like this, maybe not even 45 degrees, he’s already there on your shoulder. He’s just waiting for that. And that’s why most of the so-called monks, Zen monk masters, they don’t have a lot of students, because everyone’s scared after a few sticks. Can you imagine, even if you’re sleeping or in samadhi … He was too much worried about the stick. So, you can’t even sleep, and you can’t even be in samadhi. But suppose you’re so tired and you’re a daredevil, you just sleep, see what happens. And then he comes and wakes you up like that.
Oh, sometimes it shocks the whole system. Some people cannot bear it. They fainted right there, I saw. And some people cry, “Why did you hit me? I didn’t do anything!” The newcomers, first time. Oh, sometimes it’s so funny. And some other people, like the Master just hit the neighbor, and had not hit him yet, and he fainted already. Oh, it’s so funny. So, in most of the zen, so-called zen retreats, the Master never accepts more than maybe… the most would be 50 people. Because he’s tired, he can’t just go around. The stick is long and heavy. And he’d have to carry it and walk around like that for seven days, can you believe it? But some masters are also clever. He delegates. He delegates to whoever sleeps the most, he’d give him the stick. And then that one, would have to walk like Jesus, carrying the cross or something like that. And he cannot sleep. That’s a trick.
But here we don’t have to. Because we just hit each other by chance. So, you see, I’m a very clever Master. (Yes.) I know. Yeah, everything here is tip-top, except you. And your sleep is tip-top, five-star. You make every one of our meditation centers become a five-star hotel. Because you sleep anywhere. Do you know what it means “five-star hotel”? It’s the best hotel, best service. And then you can sleep the best. So if you can sleep in here like that, then it’s a “five-star.” And best service also. Because you serve each other, by just … Sometimes I’m not around, then everybody wakes up and then goes back to meditating again.
Do you know why most masters make you sit cross-legged like that, or to sit on the floor? So, in case you nod off, you don’t hurt yourself, you don’t fall too far. And also, when you sit like that, you don’t sleep comfortably for too long. You might do it, but not for too long. Then you wake up and meditate again. But if I provide you with a meditation center with double beds or king size, and then what would you think? The whole meditation hall becomes a music hall. All kinds of “tunes” will be playing. So, this is a super hotel. We don’t need beds to sleep. And the reason why you sit near together like this is so that you can wake each other up as well. Everything’s already thought of. “How clever [Supreme] Master Ching Hai is!”
Photo Caption: A Beautiful, Humble Plant, a Proud Big National Hero!
