Q: My daughter is stubborn, ill-tempered, and disobedient…
A: Your daughter is just like you!

Q: How come the Master's face is swollen and there is medication on those bruises?
A: I didn't turn on the light so I fell as I was walking up the stairs.
(The Venerable Master is very frugal. He doesn't waste any money, no matter how insignificant.)

Venerable Master: Whose turn is it to translate tonight?
(People pushed a disciple out from the crowd.)
Disciple: I don't know Chinese and didn't bring pen and paper.
Venerable Master: Just say what's in your heart when you're giving a Dharma talk. Don't be scared that people will think you're a poor speaker. Just tell the truth and there will naturally be people who appreciate it.

Q: Can teachers go on strike?
A: Teachers can't go on strike… The pilots of an American airline had gone on strike once, and the public suffered... education is the work [based on] conscience, as well as the work of developing people for generations to come. If teachers readily go on strike, how could they be role models for students? How could they educate the next generation?

Q (by a disciple): I would really like to have a pet dog, is that okay?
A: You can own whatever you want to become in the future!

Q: How do we eliminate our bad habits?
A: Getting rid of bad habits is like shaving off the skin of pineapples. It's useless to cut away only the surface because the thorns that are in the pineapples need to be pulled out and tossed too.

Q: Why do we have to bear humiliation?
A: A person becomes one-in-a-thousand when he can humble himself before a multitude. Only when we can take the most insufferable sufferings will we become people who are better than others. If we want to be the choice candidates for Buddhahood, we must first be workhorses for living beings. "The Way is sought from down below." We will never see the Way if we were searching for it from the top of Mt. Sumeru; the Way only exists at the foot of the mountain.

Q: What kind of talk is wise?
A: To be truly wise, we would speak simply, clearly, and to the point. Don't say any more than is necessary.

Q: How can we disciples work on behalf of Buddhism?
A: The four types of monastic and lay disciples must complement and support each other, working together cooperatively for the sake of Buddhism.

Q: Elder Master Laiguo said that the grave illness of birth and death. . .
A: Birth and death is no grave illness; not being liberated from the cycle of birth and death is the grave illness.

Q: How come we can't be liberated from the cycle of birth and death?
A: Because of ignorance. So ignorance is the gravest illness.

Q: May I ask about how my future will turn out?
A: Ask yourself whether you're compassionate. There's no need to inquire about your future.

Q: We talk about different worlds as many as motes of dust in Buddhalands. What's the use of having heard the names of so many worlds?
A: I'll tell you, this is a state according to the Avatamsaka Sutra. It teaches us to expand our minds.

Q: But if we clear away all those worlds that are as numerous as motes of dust, does that mean there would be no more worlds?
A: To clear away those worlds means that evil worlds filled with the five turbidities are gone; however, wholesome and pure worlds as many as motes of dust remain.

Q: Why aren't we free?
A: Because we have tied ourselves down with the ropes of attachment and false thinking, so we can't move freely and cannot attain liberation.

Q: Why are there sicknesses?
A: Because people are unhappy. As it is said, "Since the times of old, immortals have had no other elixir except to always be happy and never be sad." This is the secret to a healthy body and mind.

Q: How would you explain these words: "If you don't want to die, you must be a living dead man."
A: The living dead do not see things with their eyes, do not listen to sounds with their ears, do not speak with their mouths, and do not think with their minds-just like corpses. If we can reach that state, we will have become liberated from birth and death.

Q: How come so many people retreat halfway along their path of cultivation?
A: This is because their resolve for enlightenment is too weak; their resolve for Bodhi consequently does not grow and develop. They back out as soon as they encounter some negativity. Monks and nuns are often tempted by the objects of the Five Desires. Failing tests that are demon-like desires, they become slaves to these desires.

Q: The Venerable Master says that "Instead of having the power to focus while still, 'tis better to have the power to focus while moving." Why?
A: Because we will, at the least, be affected by different states without any concentration. We don't want to be stuck in emptiness and stagnate in stillness. To be stuck in emptiness means liking emptiness; to stagnate in stillness means being attached to stillness. We ought to cultivate movement in stillness and cultivate stillness in movement.

Q: Why are our tongues so tiny and short?
A: Since we enjoy being dishonest, our tongue shrinks. If we can learn to be honest and keep the precepts purely the way the Buddhas do, then everyone will have a tongue large enough to cover one's face.

Venerable Master: What are the Four Qualities of Mindfulness?
A disciple: Oh, I don't know.
Venerable Master: What are the Five Roots?
A disciple: Oh, are they the five sticks (which has the same pronunciation as "roots" in Chinese) of incense I burned yesterday?
Venerable Master: What are the Six Paramitas?
A disciple: Oh, I'm just one person; I don't have six stomachs (which has the same pronunciation as "Paramitas" in Chinese).
Venerable Master: What are the Eight Noble Paths?
A disciple: Probably eight large roads!
Venerable Master: What are the Ten Powers?
A disciple: Are they ten different kinds of powers?
Venerable Master: What are the Eighteen Shared Dharmas?
A disciple: I don't have a clue.
Venerable Master: How can you improve if you don't know the answers to any question though you have studied the Buddhadharma?

Q: Why is our dhyana samadhi so flimsy?
A: We want to enter samadhi, but when a tick bites, we have to scratch it. We're kept from entering samadhi when a fly comes to suck our blood. An ant crawls onto our face and we can't enter samadhi either. It's no wonder that our samadhi is so flimsy.

Q: If Bodhisattvas save all living beings, why are there so many living beings left?
A: Bodhisattvas save living beings with whom they have affinities.

A disciple's praise of a picture of BodhidharmA:
Do you know who he is?
Bodhidharma the elder patriarch, the man of the Way!
From the Western Land whence eastward he came.
Sitting before a wall for nine years,
He saw his nature and understood the mind.
Oh but actually, he was being a busybody!
Venerable Master: You still haven't gotten it. To see his nature and understand the mind implies that there are two dharmas; but the Buddhadharma is a dharma of nonduality. Understanding the mind is just seeing one's nature.

Q: The stairs to my house head straight for our main entrance, is that bad?
A: Don't be silly.

Q (by a disciple): Have I misinterpreted the Vajra Sutra?
A: Mull over its meaning.
Q: Obviously I only say what I think is right.
A: Then you have stepped right into it!

Venerable Master:
In my empty hand, I'm clutching a hatchet.
I walk while riding on a buffalo
For someone crossing a bridge
The bridge appears to move, while the water runs still.
Can you do that?
A disciple: No.
Venerable Master: What a waste for you to have followed Buddhism for several decades!
(He reaches for the disciple's shirtsleeve as he finishes talking.)
I hang on to a sleeve that leaves me empty-handed.
A disciple: What's use of talking about it?
Venerable Master: What's the use of not talking about it?

The Venerable Master turns his head that so he is looking at a monk's notes upside down.
A: What is this?
Disciple: My notes.

Q (by a disciple): My relative gave birth to a child. The Chinese typically prepares sesame seed liquor to celebrate when the baby is a month old. . .
(Editor's note: The Buddhist Five Precepts includes a precept prohibiting the use of alcohol and other intoxicants.)
A: Unnecessary.

Q: What is the straightforward mind?
A: It's said that, "The straightforward mind is the Bodhimanda." If we were not straightforward, we would not have come to a place of cultivation. With a mind that is straight, we reach the Bodhimanda quickly. We're not talking about a place of cultivation such as the facility in which we're lecturing the Sutras now, but the Bodhimanda that is Buddhahood. The straightforward and right mind is not crooked and twisted. What does it mean to be crooked and twisted? To be sycophantic.

Q: What does the Venerable Master think of hierarchy?
A: All living beings are family members; the universe makes up my body; emptiness is my university. My name is nonexistent and I practice kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity.

Q: People are not born as equals in the world: some are intelligent while some are dumb; some are rich while some are poor; and some live long while some die young. There are all kinds of differences in terms of social status. Why?
A: Because we didn't cultivate in our lives past. As it is said, we suffer in this life because we didn't cultivate in a previous life; we will suffer in the future if we don't cultivate in this life.

Q: The material world is inequitable too. There are luxurious houses and fertile lands while there are debilitated housing and infertile lands. There is an abundance of clothing and food while there is a dearth of clothing and food too. Why do inequity like this exist?
A: Because we did not cultivate blessings and wisdom in the past.

Venerable Master: The True Wordless Sutra is the Heart Sutra, the Sutra of our heart and mind.
Q: What is the Sutra of our heart and mind?
A: The mind upon which the Three Realms are based; the consciousness upon all noumena is based. Everything is created because of this mind.

Q: How large is this Sutra?
A: It fills up three thousand great world systems of a thousand worlds.
Q: Why is it so large?
A: Because there are so many dust particles.
Q: Would the Sutra be smaller if there were fewer dust particles? Where would a larger Sutra be?
A: It's not that the Sutra is large but that it exists in every mote of dust. The number of dust motes is large. Not only is the total number of dust motes large, but the worlds are large too; so this Sutra can become really huge as well. Where is this Sutra? That's a meditation koan. It's wherever you say it is.

Q: What is the mind?
A: The mind is the Dharma Realm. You mind is bigger than all of empty space, bigger than the universe. It's just that you don't use it.

Venerable Master: Why do human beings have so many false thoughts about what is right and wrong?
A disciple: Because everyone thinks that he or she is right.
Venerable Master: Why don't you say that you think that you're right?

Q: Will the Master please instruct me on how to be a person?
A: You've still got a person.
Q: I'm asking about how to cultivate.
A: Why cultivate?

Q (by some women at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas): We do not have enough tools to weed and it's inappropriate to ask the men for them, so we can only write notes asking to borrow them. But we always have to wait several days and sometimes we don't ever get a response.
A: To adhere to the precepts and observe the boundary between men and women don't mean that you are forbidden to talk to one other and therefore can only write notes. Don't you become freaks that way? If problems occur because of conversations between you, then that will just have to happen. You're humans after all!

Q: How come the Buddha neither comes nor goes?
A: Because the Buddha's Dharma body pervades all of space and the Dharma Realm. He is everywhere present and nonexistent

A disciple: I will accept any beating and criticism for any mistakes that I make in the future.
A: You deserve a beating whether you're wrong or right. It would be genuine patience when you can bear being beaten though you were right.

Q: What is the meaning of life?
A: Death.

Q: Many people are dissatisfied with the current state of social disorder. These people are all very educated and do not wish to comply with unscrupulous norms. As a result, they want to escape and come here to cultivate.
A: That kind of motive is faulty. They shouldn't be escaping reality; they should use what they've learned to save the human race and improve society.

Q: What are the advantages to reciting Sutras?
A: There's not much advantage to reciting Sutras. It takes a lot of energy, time and effort. People, don't be so foolish! Advantages that you can see are not real. Anything that has a characteristic is illusory and false. Any tangible advantage cannot be a plus. What are intangible advantages? Every time you recite a Sutra, you cleanse your self-nature and enhance your wisdom. What is invisible to the eye is honest advantage. Superficialities are visible. This is an explanation for the importance of Sutra recitations.

Q: How can we make sure that there will be no Armageddon?
A: If we translate the Buddhadharma into English and other different languages, then people will stop being so apathetic. By making progress in their spiritual development, the world would be far removed from its end. Armageddon could be delayed until numerous great eons later, or, maybe the end of the world will never arrive. It's possible that the end of the world will not arrive because the great wheel of the Buddhadharma is being turned, for it magnetizes the sun in orbit so that it never disappears.

A disciple (is thinking): There are so many excellent offerings, why don't we eat more of them and really enjoy them?
Venerable Master: Okay, eat more, cultivate more, stir up more trouble-you always want more; you never get enough of anything.

Q: Why do people lie?
A: They lie because they want to show off their strengths and hide their weaknesses. Isn't that right?

A disciple muses: When will I become a Buddha, Master?
Venerable Master: When will you become honest and not lie?
The light of Buddhas shines on everything.
A disciple: Does it shine on me?
Venerable Master: It has been shining on you since long ago.
A disciple: How come I don't know it?
Venerable Master: When the mind is clear, reflections of the moon appear in the pool of the mind; when thoughts are pure, the sky is cloudless. When your mind becomes extraordinarily pure, the Buddhas' light shines on you. When your mind is impure like a pool of muddied water, moonlight could hardly penetrate it.

Q: What kinds of things are wonderful?
A: The wonderful Dharma is wonderful. What is wonderful? Living beings are wonderful. What else is wonderful? Buddhas are wonderful too. What else is wonderful? Everything in the universe is wonderful. Everything is the wonderful Dharma.

Q: How can a mote of dust contain three thousand great world systems of a thousand worlds?
A: You should know why three thousand great world systems of a thousand worlds can not be contained in a mote of dust. If you understand that principle, you would understand how they can be contained therein. The Avatamsaka is just this inconceivable!

Q: The Saha World is a polluted land; a world in the Flower Treasury is a pure land. The Buddha spoke the Avatamsaka Sutra in a Flower Treasury world. Does this mean that the Buddha left the Saha World and went to a Flower Treasury world?
A: He didn't leave; he's still in the Saha World. Saha is Flower Treasury, and Flower Treasury is Saha. This is a mixture of impurity and purity, a state that is neither pure nor impure.

Q: What are the Flower Treasury Worlds?
A: They are called worlds of the Flower Treasury because they arose from the great lotus in the Sea of Perfume. The flower contains worlds as many as motes of dust. There are twenty layers to each world. Each layer has infinite worlds. The Saha World on which we live is on the thirteenth layer.

Venerable Master: Do you know me? Do you know yourself?
A disciple: I am ashamed. . .

Q: What is wisdom?
A: Wisdom is about always knowing the right thing to do and say.

Q: I have a dog at home that's very old, it's sick and miserable and near its end. My mother feels sorry for it and wants to put it to death.
A: Don't do that. Recite the Great Compassion Mantra for it.
(After a period of time, this dog passed away in peace.)

Q: What are false thoughts?
A: This question on what are false thoughts is a false thought.

Q (by a disciple): Master, is there a genesis or a source of creation for living beings? If living beings have existed since beginningless time, then is the number of living beings fixed? If they originate from somewhere, where might that be?
A: The genesis is "zero." Ask yourself where "zero" begins and ends? It has no beginning or end. If you break through "zero" so that it turns into "one," then there's a beginning. "One" comes from zero. Once there's a one, there's two, then three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, and infinitely many numbers. How many living beings would you say there are in that case?

A disciple: If you twist "0" a bit, then it becomes the symbol for infinity.
A: It's also the symbol for yin and yang in Chinese. It's drawn differently in the West and in China. You have to cultivate so that you turn "1" into "0." You will then have returned to the source of creation. Do you understand the answer to your question now?

Q: Do human beings have souls?
A: Of course. Buddhists believe in souls. If you don't believe in souls, you don't understand Buddhism.

Q: What are souls?
A: Souls are ghosts. Having cultivated successfully, they become Buddhas; not having cultivated, they are ghosts.

Q: Where is the soul?
A: It's in this jail-like body of ours when we're alive. Once we've successfully cultivated, it leaves this jail cell and attains true freedom.

Q: What is the destiny of animals about?
A: Acting on one's ignorance and deviant views, one eventually becomes an animal.

Q: How can we avoid being reborn in the four evil destinies?
A: If you don't have any wish to fight, you will have ended your connection with asuras. If you are not greedy, you will have ended your connections to the animal realm. If you do not become angry, you will have severed all connections to the realm of ghosts. If you are not deluded, you will have severed all connections to the realm of hells.