Notes taken prior to departure for Hai Hui Temple in Keelung, Taiwan.

October 27, 1969.

The Master eats only once a day because he knows that many of the world's people are hungry and wishes to offer his food to them. Eating only once a day at noon is in accord with Sakyamuni Buddha's rules.

In cultivating the Way, the Master instructs us not to look at the faults of others, but to speak of their good points instead. This is to have "virtue with respect to the mouth". If you don't have this kind of virtue, no matter what you say, no one will believe you, but with virtue in the three karmas of body, mouth, and mind, you will be respected on first sight. People will know by your bearing that you have virtue.

In the future, the Master will transmit the Dharma to ten people; five who have left the home life and others at home. When we understand and can teach the Surangama Sutra, the Dharma Flower Sutra, and when we have studied the Avatamsaka Sutra, we will separate and travel in the ten directions to be Dharma Hosts and teach those with whom we have conditions.

In Buddhism you stand on your own two feet! Don't worry! Everything will be very easy.

October 28, 1969.

The Master said:

"If you wish to give gifts, give Sutras, not perishable things like food. No one is to have a special style. We are a corporation and no one is first or last. Don't praise or slight others, and don't listen to them when they praise or slight you. You must do everything correctly and show them that Americans can cultivate the Way. Don't listen to praise and don't praise yourselves. Maintain "virtue with respect to the mouth" at all times and never speak of the faults of anyone. If people start talking falsely, just go away. Don't dirty your ears. These small points are the easiest to violate and are therefore the most important. Don't even think of the bad points of other people.”

The waves of the Vajra Sea help purify your Bodhi heart.

October 29, 1969.

The Master said:

"Let me tell you what my work is: it is coarse work, like that of a brick maker. Bricks are made from mud and are used to make buildings, but if you let the mud dry by itself, it will crumble. You must fire it first, and then it won't fall apart. For a year the five of you have been fired and fired and now the time is ripe. You are bricks that won't fall apart and turn into mud. The bricks are fired, and later they will be used to build a house, a Dharma house, and they will be a firm and solid foundation.

Long ago a Bodhi seed was planted and now it bears fruit and you are going to receive the precepts. But you must tend the tree and nourish this fruit so that all who see it will want to eat it. Don't be the kind of fruit that waits to be eaten before people know that it is sweet. People should know at a glance.

But don't let yourself be eaten either. Then, like the bricks, you won't fall apart. These words are difficult to put into practice.

Protect one another; protect one another's vows.

The prediction of Kuo Hsun has come to pass. (Months ago she predicted that five people would go to Taiwan to receive the precepts.)

The most important thing to cultivate is samadhi. Recognize your own original nature. What is it? How do you recognize it? It is clear, pure, and unstained. Faced with worldly situations, do not react. Whether you meet with good conditions or with demons, do not let your heart be moved.

If they say you are good, if they say you are bad, whatever they say, pay no attention. You have followed me long enough to know better than to let your mind be moved by joy or sorrow.

And as to good and evil: there is no way you can say that someone is entirely good or entirely evil. Sakyamuni Buddha, for example, was praised by many people, and yet there were also many who tried to destroy the Sangha.  Devadatta was the worst of men, but many disciples studied his practices.  Some people even call the Buddha's disciples pigs and dogs. Don't let your heart move. Turn the situation, don't let it turn you. If you can know things without knowing them, that's truly wonderful.

Good and evil come not from others, but from yourself. If you are good and others say that you are evil, you yourself know that you are right. But if you do evil and others say you are good, you are still a fraud. Turn the state. If you are right, it doesn't matter what people say.

I am happy that you want to leave the home life and in the future you must spread the Buddhadharma and make it great and vast. But you must not beg or take advantage of situations. Haven't I told you that those who leave the home life under me must follow my Three Conditions? These Three Conditions are very important. As one who has left the home life,

Starving, I do not beg,

Freezing, I do not scheme, and

Dying of poverty, I ask for nothing.

Unless you can meet these Three Conditions, you cannot leave the home life under me.

Spread the Buddhadharma, but have no mark of "self". Just this is the Orthodox Dharma. In Buddhism there is no such thing as suffering or difficulty. You must help others and not be selfish. Greed, hatred, and stupidity—-like turning your hand over---before, I was greedy, now I am not.  Before, I was hateful, now I am not. Before, I was stupid, now I am not.  Turn it around, turn it over. This is the Mind Seal of all Buddhas, which is being transmitted to you. Do you understand? Don't have a "self". Put your "self" to one side and help others. But do not think, "I am helping others.

I am a Bodhisattva." What is done is done; put it aside. This is the "emptiness of all Dharma marks" and there is nothing higher, sutras are explained just to tell you this. So don't look elsewhere, you won't find it.

The Old Man of Mount Wei (The First Patriarch of the Wei Yang lineage) was given a sack of gold, but he didn't touch it. Three years later, the donor' returned and it was still there, right where he had left it. With this kind of samadhi power, you will surely succeed.

Are you enlightened? This is the last speaking of the Wonderful Dharma.  Any questions?