Are you with somebody? Over here? She came and asked me, “May I give You a hug?” She meditates only three hours and already knows how to ask for a hug. No need for this. Strong inner power. Deep internal strength. In this job, I have to yell a few words. When I wake up in the morning I have to yell. Naturally I have… Because I’m small, if I don’t have that inner power, I’m finished. They bully me. Those Đồng (…) used to bully me a lot. Why are you so chubby now? (Maybe because I had children, Master.) Ah. Back then the people at the meditation hall missed Đồng a lot; they said she was really funny. Is she still funny now? (Yes, a little.) They remembered her back then together with those guys wearing the carrot-colored robes. Is it OK over there? Can you still go down to meditate? Is San Jose still there? (I’m still up here.) You’re up here already?
How come you are here? (I’ve just come from Texas.) Texas? (Texas.) Why did you come from there? (To see Master.) To see me. (Yes.) Did I tell you that you can come to see me? Many Texan people came? Who’s here from Texas already? From Texas? That’s very fast. Texas is far from here, right? (Yes.) How far? By car? (Five hour flight.) How far? (Five hour flight.) Oh, five hour flight. Not by car, right? OK. Five days by car, huh? (Two days and three nights.) Two days and three nights. We’re here, but how did they hear about it in Texas already? So fast! (Yes, with a phone, you just say hallo, and they come.) Đồng knows everything. Only adults are running out. And even fighting for seats. Sitting in the front? If I stay a little longer, the whole America [will] come, huh? (Yes.) I mean, the whole America that’s Asian.
Which kid is laughing randomly like that? That one. Ah, that one. Yeah, you know? So clever. What did you say? (Because of the applause.) Good? You said it was good, huh? OK. You know what’s proper. Many kids, when we look at them, their faces look like adults. Do you know, do you see that? When we look, we’re startled. She’s tiny like that, but her face looks… oh, like she knows everything. Why I talk in Aulacese (Vietnamese)? I said many kids, even though they look… they’re babies or children, but they look like adults. Sometimes they shock you with their expressions, with their laughter, or their face look like a real big person’s. Did you see them? Yeah. I’m always surprised. Before I never noticed, because I was also young like them. But now I keep looking. Sometimes kids don’t look like kids anymore. They are so young, but so… When I was…
One time, I went to a vegan restaurant to eat something, and there was a kid sitting opposite me. He was sitting there, like turning the pages from the menu, looked like he’s doing something very serious. And then all the adults first ordered some tea for themselves. And because the adult was sitting next to the kid, so the waitress brought the tea, and put it almost in front of the kid, and he was so happy. “Oh! It’s just what I wanted.” But then the opposite adult just took it away from him, and he’s, “Ooh.” Yeah, the way he expressed it, my God, I thought, “This kid, he knows what he’s doing.” Really. And he was just reborn, a few months or a few years ago. And he was still an old man when he died. It was not too long ago. He probably still missed his cup of tea. The way he expressed it is like, “Oh, this is mine.” And then the adult just took it away like… They didn’t even look at him. But the way he expressed his disappointment, I felt almost like I wanted to give him a cup. I just felt so sorry that he couldn’t talk. So, be sure you don’t get reborn again. It’s very frustrating when you sit there knowing the tea you can drink, but then you can’t say anything. Anybody can order any yucky milk to give to you, and order the goodies, like tea, coffee for themselves. And you’ll feel so sorry that you just left it a few months ago. You know, just while you’re drinking coffee, you die, things like that. And the taste is still fresh in your mouth, and now you sit here and you can’t say anything. It must be terrible.
Some of you remember when we were young, we remembered something, up to two, three years old. You remember something very deeply, something else, something more than this physical life. But then we grow older, and we forget. Do you still remember something about when you were… about what you remembered when you were young? Some of you do? (Yes.) What do you remember? (Yes, Master. I remember when I was younger. I remember when I was still young in first grade, and the teacher gave me something because I studied math and was first in the class. I studied with children, boys and girls together, and I was very good at math and poems. I studied in high school for the…) Oh, what is it all about? Translate what she said. (And my father, still when I was younger, my father, who is also in the United States, was an abusive parent.) Quiet. This is the thing you should not remember.
We were young, sometimes our parents beat us. My father only beat me once, over here. I didn’t do anything wrong. So I went to tattle-tale to my mother. I talked to my mother, and she gave him “hell.” “How dare you do that to Her?” “She could’ve damaged Her brain.” And all that. “If you want to hit Her, you hit at the bottom.” “Besides, I’m the only one [who] has the right to hit Her because I know why and when.” And so, father shut up. Just kidding. Only once. And my mother also hit me once for the thing I did not do. (Oh!) I just remembered that. Something was broken accidentally, and I was scared. I dared not go home to tell them. But I did not break it. I was just scared. And then for that I got hit, and I didn’t do it. That’s why I remembered.
But when we were younger, like two years old, three years old, we remember the past life more, or we remember Heaven more than we do now. That’s what I mean. If you, as young children, when you were young, did you, or do you remember that when you were young, did you remember your future or past life, or not? I don’t mean this “garbage.”
No, actually, parents, they hit but [it doesn’t] hurt so much. Just to warn us, to make sure we stay disciplined. But because when I was young, I didn’t do many things, so I [didn’t] need discipline. OK, that’s it. When my father hit me here, it hurt my pride more than my head. That was the problem. He never did hit me before. So I made a big deal out of it. I thought, I was such a good girl, what for he hit me like that. He was angry with something else, and he misunderstood. It’s just a little bit, like, I mean a tap on the head. I went to tell my mother, and then she hit him back with words.
OK, but do you remember when you were young? Do you remember anything? No? No, huh? Forgot, already? Some people still remember when they grow up. Yeah, you do remember? (Yes, I remember when I was little, I got to go out to play. Took both hands to cover the back of my ears and I was pulled up.) Oh, this is nothing. It’s nothing. What I mean is if you remember your past life when you were younger. Or you remember Heaven better from when you were born until the age of two or three, sometimes to four, and then it starts to fade away. And sometimes some people still remember until they’re adults. Still remember. So that’s what I meant. Do you understand now? No. (Yes.) Yes, but then they say, “My father spanked me.” So cute you are. OK, [it’s] nice here, but we go meditate. You want to meditate, here is fine too. (Yes!) Yeah? OK, sit and meditate. Want to say anything else? There’s nothing. Also, I did not do much research this time. I don’t feel you need much, answers or anything. We’re just happy to see each other. (Yes.)
Photo Caption: Preparing to Welcome Spring ‘n’ Refreshing Newness
