Q: How do we transcend the three realms and become liberated?
A: When you are not in the three realms, you have transcended them.

Q: Where does much of the suffering come from?
A: From being attached to money, sex, fame, food, and sleep. Once we have let go of money, sex, fame, food, and sleep, we will be very relaxed. We'll feel like we're on cloud nine, happy and trouble-free.

Q: 1. I have a serious bone spur on my neck and if I have it removed by surgery, I may be paralyzed. What type of karma created this? 2. What kind of karma created depression that has led to insomnia? How do I resolve this?
A: 1. You had killed people with guns, knives, swords, and spears. 2. Who told you to worry?

Q: How do I cultivate vigorously and advance?
A: By eating, sleeping, and playing mahjong.

Q: You mentioned "eating, sleeping, playing mahjong" in your previous answer on how to cultivate vigorously and advance. What did you mean? I am too stupid to understand the profundity of your statement.
A: You don't understand even with your great wisdom? You obviously know that it's wrong, but you still do it. Most people need food and sleep, but if you want to transcend the worldly, you must let all this go. I don't dare call this Chan wit, but if you don't even understand my sarcasm, what else could you understand?

Q: Is it effective to have sutras and mantras printed on fake money for the deceased and also to burn them?
A: The paper money turns into ash you burn it. How would I know whether ash is effective [as money in the underworld]? Let's suppose it is effective; so does that mean all the Westerners hungry ghosts are poor because they don't believe in burning paper money?

Q: Whenever I recite sutras and the Buddha's name, my body will feel very hot and bloated. Are these symptoms a result of the reawakening of the bugs of my self-nature?
A: You have these symptoms because you are uptight. You won't have that feeling if you were not nervous and pretentious.

Q: During the Venerable Master's talk, you had mentioned the coming of Maitreya Buddha to this Saha world. Approximately how long will it be before he gets here?
A: It is too long for me to count.

Q: Are arhats' segmented births and deaths temporary or permanent? Is the enlightenment realized by preeminent Sanghas of the past the same as that by Pratyekabuddhas and Arhats?
A: Have you ended your segmented birth and death? I don't know the answer to this at all, as I am neither an Arhat nor a sage.

Q: Does an eternal and absolute truth exist in this universe? If so, what is this truth? I pray that the Venerable Master will advise us out of compassion.
A: It is due to the Truth that you are able to ask me the question now.

Q: Morality, especially valued by the Chinese, is fundamental to systems of belief. According to the teachings of Buddhism, how should we handle the relationship between the mundane and the transcendental?
A: By perfecting yourself on being human, you'll have an opportunity to become a Buddha. If you don't perfect yourself on being human, you are like a house without a foundation, which is not durable and can't be successfully built. Therefore, you must have a good moral character and virtue. Do your part well at home before you learn about leaving the householder's life. Don't try to escape at the last minute.

Q: Many people say this is the Dharma-ending Age. Is there an exact period of time for it? For example, what year during B.C.E. did it start?
A: Who knows so much? Your questions have reached the limits of my wisdom. However, you should know that, "People know whether the water is warm or cold by drinking it."

Q: My ears have been ringing and my treatments for the last eight months have been ineffective. I also recite the Great Compassion Mantra constantly, but my condition has not improved. Please tell me what to do.
A: Why are you asking me instead of all these doctors in Taiwan? Just eat less food containing the fire element.

Q: A kind of "Contemporary Chan" is popular now, their instructors teach mudras. I hear people achieve rather quick results with this. Master, is it okay to learn this "Contemporary Chan?"
A: I am old fashioned and do not understand this contemporary question.

Q: How do we overcome our lack of focus while reciting the Buddha's name? Which methods should I use?
A: You will not be scattered if you recite the Buddha's name more often! "Whether for one day, two days, three, four, five, six, or seven days, with one heart unconfused." Since you don't recite often enough, of course your mind is scattered.

Q: I have heard many people say that cultivators are protected by many gods, dragons, and Dharma protectors. Cultivators have many mystical experiences. May I ask the Master what kind of mystical experiences or miracles have you encountered?
A: I have encountered many miracles, but I don't know about the eightfold heavenly dragons, ninefold earth dragons, or tenfold human dragons.

Q: What health condition is ill-suited for bowing to the Buddhas?
A: All animals and hungry ghosts are suited to bow to the Buddhas. I don't know what kind of condition you have.

Q: Are we retreating if we surrender to karmic obstacles?
A: Why do you surrender to them?

Q: There are two possible reasons why people insult me: 1. I had insulted them in a past life and so they insult me in this life. 2. They are sowing bad causes now. How should I think about this?
A: It's okay for you to think that you are facing the consequences. You can't imagine that other people are sowing negative effects for the future. If you have that thought, you will be developing your unwholesomeness. Even if they were really sowing unwholesome causes, don't think about it that way. In so thinking you will have sown some unwholesome causes too. Therefore, this is not a good method. It's no problem if you just don't think about it.

Q: I have so many false thoughts, what should I do?
A: You should recite the Buddha's name more often.

Q: Is the so-called possession by Bodhisattvas or spirits real? Is it evil?
A: Didn't I mention earlier that there are all kinds of ghosts, spirits, demons, and ogres? Whether you recognize them or not depends on whether you have wisdom.

Q: I don't know how to proceed with and apply the Chan meditation koan, "Who is mindful of the Buddha?"
A: You should investigate, "Who is mindful of the Buddha?" instead of asking it. Investigation is like drilling a hole; we will understand when we drill through. Before you do, you will not understand by asking the question. This is the Dharma door of, "When the path of language is cut off and the places for the mind are extinguished." No one can describe it. What others can tell you is usually phony.

Q: Venerable Master, could you provide some instructions for your disciples in Taiwan during this visit?
A: For peace in this country and the world, we must have a foundation of decency between men and women. How can the world be at peace if husbands, wives, and children do not act their parts? I beseech husbands and wives to live up to their responsibilities, take good care of their children, and do not get a divorce. Once we have harmony in our families, there will be peace in our country. Furthermore, I must ask you not to have abortions. Just think, so many unborn babies become angered souls; many little ghosts are seeking opportunities to return to life everywhere. Consequently, how can a society be peaceful? These baby ghosts are hard to deal with and only virtuous people who are not greedy for money can liberate them. How could it be peaceful when karmic offenses are being committed everywhere?

Q: Venerable Master, you said that China will improve after it reaches its worst. Exactly how long will that take?
A: There is no set time as it all depends on people's minds. We need to see what the Chinese people will do.

Q: As an overseas Chinese, I often want to help China but find myself helpless. Please tell me what I can do for my fellow citizens in China.
A: You should try your best to do good deeds. You should not be narrow-minded and think only about helping Chinese people or certain individuals. You should help anyone who experiences hardship and difficulties. More importantly, do not get upset. You are helping China by being a good person and by changing your behavior. Since you are Chinese, your good behavior will add to China's integrity.

Q: Why does Buddhism encourage vegetarianism?
A: Those who eat meat have strong desires while vegetarians have less. Jesus did not necessarily teach people to be vegetarians. Some religions allege that all creatures are made for the human race, so it is reasonable for people to eat meat. However, Buddhism believes in compassion and treating all living beings as if everyone were the same. Buddhism maintains that we should avoid killing and protect life because we see all living beings as having the Buddha nature and all can become Buddhas.

Q: Where did human beings come from?
A: Have you seen those bugs in rice containers? Those bugs appear all of a sudden and we don't know where they came from. In the same way, people are born from true emptiness.

Q: How do we, especially laypeople, rein in our minds while living among the six kinds of defilements? What kind of Dharma door should we maintain in a society full of temptations?
A: Use the Dharma door that requires you to be strong and not to be enticed by the external environment. Tell yourself not to be affected by anything. This is not really a Dharma door. No mantra can make you unaffected by others; no sutra can lock down your wild monkey-mind. We must work hard on our own and set some goals. Ten thousand Dharmas are made from the mind alone. If you don't want to be influenced, no one can move you.

Q: Master, how do I deeply feel the pain caused by the wheel of life and death? How do I bring forth the resolve to cultivate?
A: How can I make you feel pained when you don't?

Q: 1. Do we have to leave the home-life to recite the Buddha's name? 2. Please explain to us what kind of desire and love should we be cutting off. Is it love between husbands and wives? Love for our parents and friends? 3. Is it worthwhile to recapture the good relationship between a man and a woman after one party has changed his/her mind? Is it okay if one person really wants to get back together? How does one try to get the relationship back?
A: 1. Why would we have to leave the home-life to recite the Buddha's name? If this were the case, what would we recite after leaving home? 2. I don't know how to go 'round and 'round. 3. I don't have any experiences with this issue and can't give you a good solution.

Q: It is generally said that the precepts help us enter samadhi and develop wisdom. Why does the Chan school only talk about cultivating a balance of samadhi and wisdom until we perfect our enlightenment and conduct?
A: They can say whatever they want. It is also okay for some to talk only about precepts, or samadhi, or wisdom. It is not definite. It all depends on each individual's goals and principles. There is no set standard.

Q: Human beings are so tiny in comparison with the universe, and yet we lord over the universe. What is the tiniest thing there is?
A: Human beings are not tiny and the universe is not huge.

Q: In your poem, "White Universe," there is a phrase, "One breaks the cover of empty space with two fists." What does it mean?
A: There is no meaning to it. If it means anything, the cover of empty space would not be broken.

Q: While meditating, what should we be contemplating?
A: Nothing specific. "Give rise to the mind that is nowhere dwelled." If there is anything specific, then you would be dwelling there. Dwell nowhere; don't think about good or bad. This is where you want to do some serious work.

Q: Do insentient beings possess prajna wisdom?
A: Go ask insentient beings this. Since I am not one of them right now, how can I know whether they have prajna!

Q: Do we need to have all the right conditions before leaving the home-life?
A: What kind of conditions? I don't understand this question of yours. I didn't have any right conditions when I became a monk.

Q: Can we offer music with Sanskrit lyric to the Buddhas?
A: Anything is fine. Anything that you like can be offered to the Buddhas.

Q: Since everything is equal according to Buddhism, people and dogs should be equal too. Why are people and animals different?
A: Could you call a dog "Daddy"?

Q: Master, please be compassionate and save my daughter Lin Wan Rong. She was born at 10:13 a.m, on January 29th (according to the lunar calendar), 1963. She was diagnosed with hereditary weak metabolism, which has affected her bones and heart.
A: When I was in Hong Kong, there was a five-year-old child who couldn't walk. His mother brought him to my Buddha hall in the mountains every day to bow to the Buddhas. After half a year, he was well without having to take any medication. Please ask the person who bowed to the Buddhas. I don't understand it.

Q: Vegetables have life too. Are we killing plants by eating them?
A: I don't eat meat to avoid killing. If eating vegetables is another form of killing, I would not eat them. What else is there to eat? Many people have asked me this question a long time ago. Even though vegetables have life, they don't have much wisdom and don't run away when you try to eat them. They have life to them but they have nowhere to run and they aren't scared either. Look at the mosquito that's sucking your blood: it will escape as soon as you move. When you kill it, you are committing the offense of killing.

Q: My husband is having an extramarital affair. What should I do?
A: Recite the Heart Sutra more often.

Q: Why does the dead bleed from the nose when he/she sees family members? What is the reason for it?
A: You should ask a doctor.