So, every day, we must live as though it’s the last day that we have the opportunity to do what we are doing. And every day we must make sure that everything we do is up to our noble ideal about how we choose to live a very high-quality life. We can also choose to live a very lousy or no quality life at all, no problem. […] But it is that when we die or when we leave this world, we review our life and we see it’s an empty page, or a blank tape, blank video tape. Nothing appears there, nothing interesting about our life, and we’ll probably feel very sorry, inadequate. […]
In the old times, there was a Zen practitioner. He chose a rock over a cliff to meditate so that he would never fall asleep because he would be very worried that he would fall down. […] But then, finally, he fell down. […] When he fell down, the Bodhisattva, an angel, caught him midair. The Protector, Dharma Protector, caught him midair and then put him back on the rock. […] So, he said, “Oh, thank You very much. Why did You rescue me?” So the Dharma Protector told him, “Because we protect good practitioners.” So the practitioner felt very proud, and he said, “How many excellent, sincere Truth-seeker practitioners like myself are in the whole of Thailand?” So, the Dharma Protector felt disgusted. He said, “You are so arrogant. Real practitioners, excellent practitioners, are plenty in the universe. But some lousy ones like you – sleepyheads, oh, we have them anywhere! It’s even more, the majority.” Anyhow, the Dharma Protector was a little bit disgusted with his very arrogant attitude so he said, “Next time if you fall down, I will not come and rescue you again. So, take care!”
So the Zen practitioner felt very bad after he was scolded. He felt bad and was repenting, very humble again. But still, he sat there on the rock again. He said, “OK, if this time I die, I die.” Not “my die (ได้ (Dị̂)),” (“cannot” in Thai) “I die.” “Because I’m so bad, I have to practice hard anyhow. So I have to risk it and sit here and concentrate, even if the Bodhisattva doesn’t come and rescue me.” So he sat and sat, and then finally, he fell again. But the Bodhisattva came also and rescued him, put him back on the rock again. So this Zen practice is called The Zen on the Rock. Not soda on the rocks. So after that, he came up on the rock again, and he was surprised to find the Bodhisattva also beside him. He said, “Oh, I thought you said you’d never rescue me again. How come you came again this time?” So the Bodhisattva said, “Well, I only said I wouldn’t if you were arrogant. But since you became humble again, you are another person, so I still help you.”
So, if you want to try this cliff method, you can go find a rock somewhere in Pattaya Beach or the Chiang Mai mountains and see whether it works. I will not try it. The Dharma Protectors, they’re all so busy protecting you, they just “don’t care” about me. But I think each one of you has one. Can I borrow yours today? This is very difficult to keep myself even on the chair today. But you’re OK.
So happy Mother’s Day. Just because it’s Mother’s Day, I come to say hallo to all the mothers, my mothers. Yeah, you say you are my disciples. But I think you are all my “mothers,” even “mothers-in-law.” Very difficult to tell you what to do. Anyhow, you try your best, I understand. It’s just that sometimes I don’t have enough time to wait for your mistakes to be corrected because, in my time, there are some different schedules. If you keep being too slow and try again, again, again, I don’t have time to wait for you. So, that’s all. Especially the ones who are near me. If they make a mistake, then I have to replace them with another and correct it. And then they have to spend time working and working. If they finish it quickly, then we can play or do something else together, things like that.
Just like your children. If they don’t do well at school, sometimes the teacher makes them come on Sunday or stay after class while everybody else plays – to correct their mistakes or redo their exam. And people, you, really don’t seem to realize that I have to do a lot of different things all the time. And you seem to have all the time in the world. So, whenever I tell you or ask you to do something, you take your time. “Oh yes, Ma’am, I’ll do it,” taking your time, taking it easy. Things like that. And I sometimes don’t have time for this. Because the next minute, I will do something else. Then, you miss the fun and you don’t catch up with me, then I will have to leave you behind and take someone else. Or you will feel very sorry that you cannot catch up with me, and then you’ll ask why I don’t let you play with me and things like that. But it’s not possible if you’re so slow.
It’s like somebody who wanted to phone me. He said he would call me on Saturday because Friday he’s busy – busy all day, I don’t know. He said, “Friday will be very busy, so I will call You on Saturday.” That was the day before, one day before that. He said he missed me very much. He would call me on Saturday, but Friday not possible. OK. But from Thursday, that was the last day he called. And then, up to now, we have not been able to contact each other because I was on the road all the time. I’ve been talking and busy until midnight, until 2, 3 o’clock in the morning, and now I’m still here. So that’s Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Three days already, no contact at all. And I don’t know if I’ll go home or I will have something else. I have to go somewhere else now in the evening, so I never know. He thinks that he’s the only one who is busy because he has a family, he has a business, and he’s successful in the world. But he forgets that I’m also very busy, and sometimes more suddenly busy. So, we never know what tomorrow brings. Just do what you have to do today.
And yesterday I had to do something that was so… you can call it dangerous that I did not even know whether I could get out. Never mind sitting here and talking to you. I had to go to talk to somebody who is not very gentle and generous in the ordinary lawful way. So, if they wanted to keep me there, I had no way to escape. But for the safety of other people, I had to do it. I could send somebody else, but then I would endanger that person. So I had to do it myself. For example, like that. So, not to talk about Saturday or Sunday, you know? Might not have any day! So, every day, we must live as though it’s the last day that we have the opportunity to do what we are doing. And every day we must make sure that everything we do is up to our noble ideal about how we choose to live a very high-quality life. We can also choose to live a very lousy or no quality life at all, no problem.
God does not punish people. I told you many times: Hell is made by our own conscience. And even if we don’t have hell, we just live a very ordinary life, and we also enjoy very simple happiness; that’s also fine. God does not demand that we live a very noble life or sacrifice for other people’s happiness and safety. But it is that when we die or when we leave this world, we review our life and we see it’s an empty page, or a blank tape, blank video tape. Nothing appears there, nothing interesting about our life, and we’ll probably feel very sorry, inadequate. And then we have to ask for another life again, to come down and do something that we think is more meaningful, more colorful for our footage, “film footage.”
Photo Caption: Just a Friendly Embrace to Assure That You Are Loved
