Q: Why don't we put advertisements on television and do some promotions to attract more people?
A: "Perfume is fragrant on its own, why would we need a gust to blow it?" We must cultivate honestly and pay attention to our virtue. Promotions would be useless too if we were not down to earth! We propagate the Dharma and benefit living beings by lecturing on the Sutras and giving Dharma talks, not by selling ads.

Venerable Master (over the phone): I'm going to wear my black face-mask to the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas today.
Q (by a disciple): Why does the Master want to wear a [black] face mask?
A: Not only do I have a black one, I've got a yellow one, a red one. . . the traditions that took me several decades of sweat and blood to build up were blown away in a matter of minutes. I can't bear to face them!

Once a shramanera (novice monk) was walking around when someone was [performing the ceremony for] requesting Dharma at Gold Mountain Monastery. After the request concluded. . .
Venerable Master: What are you doing?
ShramanerA: Answering the phone.
Venerable Master (before the assembly): What could be more important than requesting that the Dharma be spoken? You have to be most sincere and earnest when requesting Dharma and that the Buddhas throughout the ten directions to come before us. How can you cultivate if you don't have the slightest respect toward the Dharma? Kneel down!
The Venerable Master proceeded with his two-and-a-half hour class on the Records of Water Mirror Reflecting Heaven without telling the shramanera to stand up.

Q: Two Bhikshus would like to fast for eighteen days. . .
A: It would be better if they just worked hard on sweeping the floor. There's no need to fast.

Q: A relative of mine has cancer in the bladders.
A: It's from changing husbands.

Q: Is it in accord with the Dharma for monastics to stand up and greet lay teachers for class?
A: It's okay with elder teachers. If you want to stand up, stand up. If you don't want to stand up, don't stand up. It's okay to sit and greet them with your palms together too.

Q: I'm so busy with work that I have no time for anything else. I get yelled at. I cannot seem to survive the karma that faces me now. I want to return to lay life. Will the Venerable Master please help me?
A: No one can help you. One monastic rule is that we don't keep anyone who wants to return to lay life. How can you cultivate if you can't even stand this?

Q: How should we be receiving outside guests who are staying overnight?
A: One rule at a typical Chinese monastery is that any outsider, regardless of where he is from, must leave his belongings in a luggage room outside the guesthouse. No matter how busy, two people will check the luggage on the first day. They can't check people's belongings the next day. Each person must place his luggage where he can see it to avert "Thousand-Handed Guanyin", or thieves and thugs. You don't know because you've never lived in a large monastery.

Q: The Christmas tree was stolen (October 6, 1993), money in the Buddha Hall donation box was stolen on Tuesday (October 14), and three young men had wanted to steal the Buddha statues in the Lengthening Life Hall. . .
A: Large monasteries need surveillance personnel. Two people need to survey the entire City of Ten Thousand Buddhas. Make an announcement to everyone that during lunch, two people must be on the watch outside. If anyone notices, they must take the initiative and question any suspicious character or vehicle: Why are they here? Did they register at the main office? Have they completed the paperwork for staying the night? Vehicles must have permission slips.

Q: A non-Chinese monastery across from one of our branch temples proposes to borrow our basement for their classes because their parking lot is too crowded. Is that okay?
A: What if you attract gangsters? What will you do then?

Q: Why do people like to talk?
A: Too much emotions.

Venerable Master: There's good and bad in everything.
Visitor: So there's no difference between good and evil.
Venerable Master: That type of viewpoint is deviant.
Visitor: . . .I believe the Master is out of time.
Venerable Master: My time stretches into the end of time throughout future.

Q: What did I do in my past life that I've got a big temper in this lifetime?
A: You had killed a great deal in your lives past. You had created karma from killing, the causes and conditions for killing or having taught others how to kill. As a result of so much killing in your past, you have a tremendous amount of resentment and enmity, which led to a huge temper, a tough demeanor, and the tendency to want to take another's life.

Q: Why are some people so selfish? They only do things to help themselves but do not want to help others.
A: This is because they had stolen in lives past. Thieves steal because of selfishness. If they were not selfish and self-interested, they would not steal from others. People who had stolen from others in past lives are very selfish in this life. That's a definite.

Q: How come some people are extremely jealous?
A: Those who had created a lot of karma in the area of sexual misconduct are extremely jealous in their present life. Their jealousy is so extreme that they are jealous of everybody and their every move and every action. This is because they had been extremely licentious in the past.

Q: How come some people are skeptical about everybody?
A: It is because they always lie and exaggerate. Having sowed causes like those, they do not believe in anyone. They have no confidence in anyone because they had been telling lies in this life and in past lives throughout countless eons. Consequently they think other people lie too and find whatever people say implausible.

Q: How come some people are extremely confused?
A: Those people have sowed the causes of drinking alcohol in their past lives, hence they are extremely confused in their present life. They don't' understand anything. Even if you teach them, they would not understand. Teach them once and they don't understand; teach them twice and they don't recall.

Q: How can we avoid hunger?
A: If we have enough vital energy, then we will not feel hungry. With enough vitality, we can go without eating for several days without any problem. We can talk with a booming voice still; our voice does not wane and our health does not become poor when we don't eat. This is because we have developed our real qi, which pours in endlessly like running electrical currents.

Q: How can we avoid sleepiness?
A: If we have enough spirit, then we will not be so sleepy. Why do we sleep so much? Because for us, yin energy is dominant. If our yang energy were dominant, we would sleep less.

Q: Why are we afraid of the cold?
A: If we have enough essence, we would not be afraid the cold. If we can keep the precepts and not violate them, we would not be afraid of the cold. There's nothing special to this. If men don't get near women and women don't get near men, we would be fine without food and much clothing.

Q: Why do we want to eat?
A: Because we don't have enough samadhi power.

Q: Where does the power of samadhi come from?
A: From the precepts. We would not be afraid of the cold if we kept the precepts in a strict manner. Our power of samadhi has surfaced if we are not physically afraid of the cold. Given that power of deep absorption, we would be fine without food because we would have forgotten about hunger for sure. Why do we want to eat? It's because we're thinking, "I haven't eaten today!"

Q: Could the precepts show us where the Buddha nature lies?
A: The Precepts are your Buddha nature.

Q: There are some trees at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas that seem to be withering away and dying gradually. What should we do to save these trees?
A: We don't want those that are withering away and dying. When it's time, they will inevitably die. It's not easy to save something or someone that has lived a long time. Of course we try to save what we can; however, if we can't, we could try nourishing them with the soup from cooking or rinsing rice. If they don't live, we've at least tried our best. All we can do is try our best!.