Q: Dharma Master, can laypeople also perform the ceremony for feeding ghosts?
A: Lay people can eat and so can monastics. Lay people can wear clothes, and so can monastics. Lay people have to sleep, and so can monastics. Whatever monastics cultivate, laypeople can too. You should not lie and say, "I'm not performing any ceremony to feed the ghosts." Don't put on an act and collect donations too. No matter what it is that laypeople do, they cannot accept donations. When lay people perform Buddhist services such as reciting Sutras, they cannot accept remunerations. They can't accept remunerations for anything that they do. You can do any Buddhist service if you were not doing it for your own gain. If you were interested in your own gain, you can't do any Buddhist service because you would be using Buddhism to get your clothes and meals, even though you haven't even left the householder's life.

Q: What does "the mutual unknowing of dharmas" mean?
A: Do you need to ask? They don't know one another! Do you think dharmas can be cognizant of one another? Do dharmas have awareness?

Q: My parents have been dead for many years and I have participated in crossing over ceremonies many times as their son. May I know if my parents have been crossed over to the other shore and in which destiny have they become reborn?
A: Ask somebody who knows. I'm somebody who doesn't know. I can't answer this question of yours. I don't have that kind of knowledge.

Q: What kind of Buddha is the Japanese Buddha?
A: Japanese Buddha!

Q: Will the Venerable Master explain from the Buddhist perspective why the Chinese never unite wherever they are, including in Malaysia?
A: They do this to help other people and other countries. It's negative in one respect and positive in another respect. For instance, we work during the day and rest at night, but if you think it's wrong to rest at night, then you will wear yourself out! They may be discordant and fragmented now, but when they have helped enough people, they will become united. That's all right. When things reach an extreme, it will turn around. When things become extremely negative, it will turn positive. Opposition is Tao's movement while weakness is Tao's function. If you can reverse your perspective and find the positives, then everything is OK. No problem.

Q: How do we leave suffering and attain happiness, become liberated from birth and death?
A: You're happy if you don't suffer! You will be reborn if you don't die!
Everything can be let go,
Except for our temper.
If we can really remain free from anger,
Then we have attained a priceless gem.
If we can stop blaming people,
Then things are even better.
When afflictions never arise,
How could our enemies and debtors find us?
When we look for people's faults all the time
We shall never end our suffering.

Q: Is there such a thing as Tibetan Tantric practices for couples in the Buddhadharma?
A: Why do you want to know so much? Have you had too much to eat?

Q: You said earlier that animals produce toxins in their bodies when they eat polluted plants. Will humans also produce toxins when we eat those plants?
A: Not only toxins, but death! Try it if you don't believe me.

Q: Will you be our master once we leave the householder's life?
A: I'm already your master without you having to ask! If you think I can be your master, then I'm your master even if you don't ask. However, if you don't cultivate, I'm not your teacher even if you ask.

Q: How should we explain the text in the Great Compassion Repentance: "The nature is directed toward the Buddhadharma and the Sangha; the two truths interpenetrate the seal of samadhi."
A: Do you want to cultivate this? If you don't want to cultivate it, then don't ask about it. If you want to cultivate it, then don't ask so informally. You must be earnest and serious. What's the use of learning a bunch of clichés when you don't respect the Dharma?

Q: Bodhisattvas are cultivators who are about to become Buddhas. Guanshiyin Bodhisattva is a Bodhisattva while Shakyamuni Buddha has already become a Buddha. So why does the "Universal Door Chapter" tell us to recite "Namo Guanshiyin Bodhisattva" more and recite "Namo Fundamental Teacher Shakyamuni Buddha" less? We should be learning from the Buddha more!
A: If you want to recite "Fundamental Teacher Shakyamuni Buddha," you can recite more even if he tells you to recite less [Shakyamuni Buddha spoke the "Universal Door Chapter"]. If you don't want to recite "Guanshiyin Bodhisattva," you can recite less even though he tells you to recite more!

Q: The kids that I teach don't listen to me. It's impossible to teach them. I have used everything. What other methods can I use to make them listen? What kind of mantra should I recite?
A: Be patient, be patient, so po he.

Q: How should parents encourage their children to cultivate? Should they start cultivating at a young age or should they wait until a certain age before they begin to cultivate?
A: "We become red around rouge; we become dark around black ink." If you do what is good, then kids learn that; if you do what is bad as parents, then kids learn to be bad too. For instance, if the parents were to think about selling drugs all the time, the kids would definitely smoke dope because they're too close to it.

Q: Are you my teacher from lives past?
A: You're asking me this question because you don't really believe it. You're skeptical about it.

Q (a disciple): We earnestly request that the Venerable Master remain in the world. (People expressed this on three different occasions in 1990.)
A: I didn't say I was leaving. This kind of thing is predetermined.

Q (a disciple): I would like to set up a lengthening life plaque for the Venerable Master.
A: How can I help others if I need other people's to help?

Venerable Master: Are you really shy?
Disciple: Yes.
Venerable Master: You're shy because you have the mark of self. The Vajra Sutra says, "We should have no mark of self, mark of others, mark of living beings, and mark of life span."

Q (a disciple): I'm really scared that the Master will yell at me.
A: Have I ever yelled at you before?
Disciple: No.
A: If anybody yells at you, you should smile.

Q: How do we curb our desires?
A: If we want to put restrictions on our desires, we might as well cut them off completely. We should know that desires drain people's wisdom. Without desires, we increase our wisdom. With desires, we increase our stupidity. Why do we have desires? It is because we eat too well. We have desires after we eat a lot of rich foods and yet we don't control the resulting thoughts of desire well. People with strong desires should not eat so much meat, onions, scallions, and leeks. Eat less rich and nourishing foods; eat only a bit of it. People have strong desires because they eat too well. If they don't eat for six months, they will definitely have no desires.

Venerable Master: I would like to ask everyone, do people live to eat, or eat to live?
Disciple: We eat to live.
Venerable Master: Why do we live?
Disciple: For knowledge.
Venerable Master: What is knowledge for?
Disciple: To achieve our spiritual goals.
Venerable Master: That's right, we should all search for wisdom. With great wisdom, we will not be so confused. Why do we always act confused? It is because we don't have any wisdom. This is the fundamental issue. The Buddha realized Buddhahood for the sake of wisdom. We should do some meritorious things for the world, virtuous things for the citizens, and beneficial things for the entire human race. This is the duty of human beings, eating isn't it.

Q: Master, how will Panchan Lama's death affect Buddhism in China?
A: I will not respond to this question. I honestly don't know, so I absolutely will make no judgments and offer criticisms on this. Although I don't have much to do after I have had my meal, I refuse to discuss this issue.

Q: Master, how should I cultivate?
A: Be bold and courageous in life. Don't become arrogant and egoistical.

Q: Why don't disciples of a certain non-Buddhist sect study the Shurangama Sutra?
A: The Shurangama Sutra is a mirror that reflects demons. The demon-reflecting mirror make their true character appear.

Q: I have read many Buddhist books but they seem to be different than the Buddhism that the Venerable Master describes. The Tantric practices of the Secret School are completely different than anything that the Venerable Master says. May I ask what is the value of that kind of practice?
A: I am less than him. If you want to listen to me, then listen to me. If you want to listen to him, then listen to him. I refuse to compare and say what is right and what is wrong. You choose for yourself. However, the Buddha never said that anyone can become a Buddha by having desires. The Shurangama Sutra says, "Without eliminating lust, one cannot transcend defilements. It would be like steaming sand and hoping that it becomes rice."

Q: How should I help others?
A: Quietly help from behind the scenes.

Q: I would like Buddhism to be my faith, but my parents are Catholics. Am I being disrespectful to them by not following their faith? How should I settle this dilemma?
A: Is it disrespectful to them for you to smoke dope? Is that a dilemma? I believe you don't smoke dope and that's why I'm answering you this way.

Q: Isn't it good if we can appropriately express our hatred and anger?
A: It would be excellent if you could do it so that it's just right, but I'm afraid that you can't stop at "just right." You either go too far or not far enough, because there's no line drawn at the place where it is "just right."

Q: We should not harbor any hatred even though it may be just right, right?
A: Yes.

Q: Why are there asuras in the three wholesome destinies if they don't belong there?
A: Although asuras belong to the three wholesome destinies, they are often dragged into the four evil destinies too. Why are they classified into one of the three wholesome destinies? It is because some of them have done some good deeds, such as fighting against injustice. It's just that they have been too extreme; they're good and bad. That is why sometimes they are grouped into one of the three wholesome destinies and sometimes the four evil destinies.

Q: If someone eats human flesh, will he become a human being?
A: You go ahead and try it. I've never been a cannibal. Neither have you. How would I know the answer to this question? I can only say that you can try it out.

Q: Why do Christians eat meat while Buddhists do not?
A: Christians don't have to eat meat. In the past, some Buddhist monks ate meat too. Buddhism doesn't necessarily forbid people to eat meat; Buddhists can eat the three kinds of purified meats. Christianity doesn't necessarily make everyone eat meat; there are Christians who are vegetarians too.

Q: How can we cultivate to have the karma to become enlightened?
A: You will not have the karma for enlightenment if you don't change your habits.

Q: Why am I terminally ill and bedridden though I've done lots of good deeds? Will the Venerable Master please bless me?
A: Just recite Guanshiyin Bodhisattva's name and you'll get better.

Q: Aren't arhats able to become liberated from birth and death?
A: They only take care of themselves.

Q: Isn't it miserable for Bodhisattvas to save living beings in life after life?
A: Although we're not Bodhisattvas, we want to learn the ways of Bodhisattvas. We will no longer be miserable once we have realized the path. By then, people are but photographic images to us.

Q: Master, what were your greatest delight and greatest disappointment in the past?
A: I enjoyed helping people the most. I am most disappointed to have lied: not being able to do what I said I would.

Q: Buddhism is separated into the two schools of the Manifest and the Secret. Which one is more helpful to living beings? Do those at the City of the Ten Thousand Buddhas study both the Manifest and the Secret schools?
A: The "Secret" in the Secret and Manifest schools are not the kind of secret we imagine. The Manifest isn't what we imagine to be either. The Manifest School in Buddhism means that it allows everyone to understand: when I speak Dharma for person A, person B also understands; when I speak Dharma for person B, person A also understands. This is Manifest. Secret means that I speak Dharma for Smith but Lee doesn't understand that Dharma. When I speak Dharma for Lee, Smith doesn't understand. It is definitively "secret." It doesn't mean that it is secretive so that people wouldn't understand. It's not talking about Tantric practices for couples, for singles, for the confused, or for the outrageous.

Q: Both the Secret School and Christianity say their believers could marry. Is that impure?
A: I don't want to answer this question because you don't know whether they're telling the truth or I am. Implicit in this question is an argument. I don't want to fight. In general, real cultivation requires celibacy, not homosexual behavior or masturbation.

Q: I had heard that there's merit and virtue to bowing to preeminent Sangha members. One gets to eliminate one's past karma. Is that true?
A: Yes and no. If the Dharma Master that you bow to is a real cultivator, then there would be merit to bowing to him. If the Dharma Master that you bow to has no merit, he will have to bow to you because he has to pay back his debt to you. How do I know this? I know lots of people who owe a lot of debts. That's why I have been bowing to all living beings since I was twelve. I had even bowed to mosquitoes and ants. I had never hoped for them to release some kind of light to shine on me. I don't wait around for it because if I did, I would owe so much to so many that I could never repay my debts.

Q: Some people say there is no Buddhahood to realize. So why exactly are we cultivating?
A: There is Buddhahood. It's just that once we realize Buddhahood, we no longer become attached to the existence of Buddhas.

Q: I often hear people say that one's soul can leave the body during meditation. What exactly is real meditation?
A: Here's what the Honorable Ji said about meditation, "The gluttonous gets hungry; the starved becomes lanky." You're a glutton because you're hungry. When you've been starved, you become skinnier. To meditate is to cool your thoughts. You know when you're having an out of body experience during meditation. You also know when you can't leave your body. I don't think about this. I don't think about leaving my body or not leaving my body. I don't want to eat too much either.