Poland. Where else? (Germany.) Germany, Poland. Then what? (Just two countries, Master. Only two.) Only two countries? So we don’t have Holland? (They all went home already, Master. They left earlier.) Oh dear, poor things! They came all the way here – they used to help me too, back when I was going around giving lectures, and they worked very hard. (Yes.) I wanted to chat with them for fun, but it was so noisy, with a lot of Chinese jumping back and forth. They’re so eager and longing, (Yes.) so I had to put the Aulacese (Vietnamese) at the back. I have to do it this way so people don’t say that the Master from Âu Lạc (Vietnam), how to say... (Too sentimental.) Meaning discriminates. (Yes.) They might think I have a discriminative heart, always taking care of the Âu Lạc (Vietnam). I planned to talk to the Aulacese (Vietnamese) coming from Âu Lạc (Vietnam), but I took care of the Chinese first, you see? (Yes.)
Do you want to ask anything? (Just to look at Master.) It is OK for you guys to see me, right? (We are happy to look at You, but do not dare to ask.) Asking is like dropping the “bomb.” (Dropping the “bomb,” Master is not pleased.) If you guys ask all kinds of nonsense questions, I get bored. Did they ask good questions earlier? (No.) (I forgot to ask You earlier to allow me to defuse some of the “time-bombs.” This is a professional minesweeper.) They asked all kinds of meaningless and worthless questions, which are not beneficial at all. (Yes.) If those questions are not beneficial, then we definitely forget about them. I just come to talk a little bit. (Yes.) It is very special that you can “look-look” [at me] a little bit, right? (Yes, special happiness.) Very special already.
Are you happy doing business over there? (Yes.) You have money? Happy. (Yes.) You are in Germany. (Yes, I am in Germany.) Are you still running the beauty salon? (Yes, I am, Master.) You are working there doing makeup for people, right? (Yes.) And are you professional, love? (Yes, I am professional.) How many years did you learn the trade? (Two and a half years.) Oh, my God! That means you are excellent. In Germany, where do you live? (I just moved to live in Munich.) So now, you live in Munich, right? (Yes.) Does the contact person know? The contact persons, do they know? (Yes, here.) (Yes, the sister is sitting here.) Yeah, you know, right? (Yes.) Last time, you were “trotting” after me. She planned to do makeup for me, to beautify me, but I was so busy that I could not “give” her my face, could not show my face for her to do it. Just touch up my face, then I ran up on stage. At that time, I was in a hurry, during the European lecture tour. (You were lucky, Master. If You “showed” Your face at that time, You would be in danger.)
Alright, it’s OK to let you guys see me a little bit like this, right? (Yes, it’s nice.) I am so busy. (If Master is tired, please go to rest, it is OK.) No, no, I have other work to do. (It is OK, Master. We are very happy to be able to see You like this.) Thank you. That’s good, that’s good. You guys have improved. (Thank You, Master.) How do the communists in Âu Lạc (Vietnam) say “improved”? “Hồ hởi” (enthusiastic) or something? (That’s right.) (It also means “improved.”) It also means “improved”? I thought they changed all other languages into Aulacese (Vietnamese) already. Because “tiến bộ” (improved) is Chinese. (But Âu Lạc [Vietnam] now uses a number of Chinese words.) Now they use all of those Chinese words? (No, only a number of Chinese words.) (Now, we initiates say “tinh tấn [diligent]”.) Ah, “tinh tấn.” (Lifting the spirit.) That’s different, that’s different. Our comrades at home say something differently.
You guys look [at me] a little bit more, (Yes.) to make your money's worth. It is very far from Europe to here. (Yes.) How many hours? (It took 13 hours, about 13, or 14 hours.) Oh God, and you still tried to “swim” over here? (Yes.) Was it expensive? (No, it wasn’t. But we come mainly to see Master, and that makes us blissful, happy. We have the perfect spiritual food which Master bestowed on us.) It was worth the money, right? (Yes.) OK. (Even if we had no money, we still had to try by all other means to earn money to come.) I know, I know. But was it expensive? How many hundreds? (It was not that much expensive. The round-trip ticket was about 650 dollars.) Six hundred and fifty dollars, already. (Yes, in US dollars.) How much in Deutsche Mark (DM)? (It’s about 2,300 DM.) Was it double? (Yes.) So, to the Germans, it was expensive.
Over there (Germany), how much do we earn working per month? (2,000 DM.) Two thousand Deutsche Mark (DM)? (Yes, 2,000 DM, or 2,000 and a half.) Yeah, it’s about 1,000 US dollars something. (Yes.) Not bad, not that bad. And that salary is normal, average, right? (Yes.) Is there anyone who can make two, three hundred thousand a month? (Yes, there are some comrades. They are thinking about it, Master.) The Aulacese (Vietnamese)? (They are trying to find a way. Yes, there is.) Is there? OK. (A comrade is doing it.) This comrade is doing it? (This comrade.) I also go to the bank to get money, always. (Which bank, Master?) I can get money at any bank. I go to any bank once, or twice. Somebody asked, “Where did You have the money to give so much? Where did You get it?” I said, “I got it from the bank,” otherwise where else? I am professional in getting money from the bank.
And you guys in Poland, what are you doing? (We are doing business, Master.) Ah, business, trading, right? (We are only doing business, so we have a lot of free time. So wherever You organize [a retreat], we always can go.) You are talking so cute. (No, because I am not [working] in an office, so it doesn’t depend on that.) You are doing it yourself, right? (Yes.) Working by yourself. (Yes, I arrange my own time off myself.) Good! Doing business is like that, makes a lot of money. (But it is difficult to get visa.) Business never has problem with visa. (No, because in Poland, it’s mostly all Aulacese [Vietnamese]. For the Aulacese [Vietnamese], to get a visa to go to other countries is a little bit difficult.)
So the Aulacese (Vietnamese) are not Polish, haven’t become Polish already? (No, we are not Polish. In Poland, even after a hundred years, they don’t grant citizenship.) Oh, really. (Yes.) They only give you residency. (Yes, they only let us come and settle in their country.) (They only give the visa to stay in. That means only if we open a private business, and they see that we can guarantee our living and contribute to their country a little bit, then they give us only a visa to stay.) To stay for how long? (They look at our company to see whether it is profitable, otherwise) Kick you out. (they’d kick us out.) Kick to where? (Then we have to go back to Âu Lạc [Vietnam].) My God! (Go to other planet, Master.)
Oh, so isn’t it true that the people from Âu Lạc (Vietnam) who came to Poland are all recognized as refugees? (No, Poland doesn’t accept [Vietnamese] refugees.) Ah, that’s right, because at that time, it was (Communist.) a communist country. Ah, I understand. But now, how many [Aulacese (Vietnamese)] are in that country? (In Poland, there are about more than 10,000 [Aulacese (Vietnamese)].) And you guys have to do business to be able to stay. (The [Aulacese (Vietnamese)] mostly are doing business, and a small number of them opened restaurants, Master.) Oh, that is OK. There are not a lot of Aulacese (Vietnamese) who immigrated to Poland. Poland not Holland. (Yes, Poland not Holland.) How long do they allow you to stay? (Normally, they let us stay one year at a time. It was six months before, but now they allow one, two years.) Ah, really. (Yes, any [Aulacese (Vietnamese)] who can afford to buy a house, will be allowed to stay permanently.) Oh, really? (Yes, but our initiates are all poor people.)
My horoscope said that I would be poor, so wherever I go, I meet all the poor disciples. (We are always counted as poor, so they let us stay only one year.) No problem, even if we are poor, we are together and happy. (Yes, we are rich in spirit.) It is fine that we are rich in spirit. All of you guys are from Poland? How many are from Poland? (This time, there are 10 coming from Poland, but two are Poles.) Really? (And eight are Aulacese [Vietnamese] in Poland.) So it was difficult to get a visa to come here? (Yes, on that day when I went to apply for a visa for the group, the [Korean] embassy said that if we have the invitation paper, they would give the [entry] visa [to Korea], and this applied to the Aulacese [Vietnamese] only.) Then was it OK from this side? (Then we contacted the Center here,) Korea. (they asked the initiates to write an invitation letter to sponsor everyone.) Yeah. (So the ambassador gave us a visa to come here.) OK then. OK, good. (In general, it was also easy, Master.) Yeah, that’s OK. Next time, it is OK to go where you have an invitation letter, (Yes, yes.) then it’s good. (For our Aulacese [Vietnamese] people, in general, it would be easy to get a visa if we have an invitation letter.) So pitiful! Now, in Âu Lạc (Vietnam), to go... (Otherwise, if we apply for a tourist visa, they might not approve it.) Ah, so that is difficult. OK, OK, next time do the same. (Yes.)
Now, Âu Lạc (Vietnam), each country works differently, (Yes.) each country does business in its own way. I see that and I am happy for you. Having a place to stay is already something to be happy about, having a job too; step by step. For example, if you are doing business, then find something which is not unprofitable, not requiring a lot of capital, then even if we lose, we don’t lose a lot of money. If you do that, you will earn money quickly, otherwise if you work for someone else, you earn very little money. (Yes.) If you work for someone else, there is a limit to what you make per month. (Doing business in Poland is also very easy, Master. We can rent and open a stall [or booth], then there is an owner who sends his products to us, and we can receive it without paying in advance. We sell the products with profit which we can keep, then we just pay back the capital to the owner, and if we can’t sell all of the products, we send them back to the owner.) Yeah, that’s so good. (We can also change the products.)
How did you know? It is very good that you know that kind of business. (No, there are a lot the Aulacese [Vietnamese] already in Poland.) Who are doing that kind of business. (They came to Poland a long time ago, either to study or to work as laborers, then they stayed and were able to get jobs. At that time, they made money easily, became rich, and now they’ve become business owners. We came later, then we buy their products to sell to others.) That is OK then, you can also make a living? (In general, Master arranged for us. We can do business for 1 year... then every time Master organizes an event, we would try to go.) [You] don’t have much money, but you can go all the time. (Too poor.) Too poor.
(He always complains that he is the poorest of all initiates.) Poorest of all initiates in Poland. Poorer than the Aulacese (Vietnamese) coming from Âu Lạc (Vietnam). (Yes.) Initiates from Âu Lạc (Vietnam) didn’t want to come, even though the retreat was open for all. You are too poor, but you come every time, in order to earn merits, right? (Yes.) But the other people who are rich, they come once in a while only. The poor ones come all the time. (Therefore, he becomes rich.) So, your wife and children are all doing well? Your parents are OK too? (I’m not married yet.) Oh, not married yet. (I am still working, and my whole family is initiated.) He is alone, young, but working very well. (Yes.) (This brother said he is not married yet, but I don’t believe it, Master.) Why? (Because we have our Quan Yin family.) Such a “liar”! (“Liar.”) Trouble-maker.
(Let’s send him to the new economic zone, Master.) (In Poland, there is no Lâm Đồng area.) Is Lâm Đồng a new economic zone? (Yes.) Lâm Đồng has good weather. (Yes.) It is fresh and breezy, and has the forest, too. We can be very happy living there. (Yes. It is a good place for an ashram, Master.) Those places can be very good to live. (I think Lâm Đồng’s weather is quite similar to here.) Oh, not really. (During the day, it’s hot, and in the evening, it gets chilly.) Not very cold, though. (Not cold.) It is normal, not as cold as here. Âu Lạc (Vietnam) is in the tropical region; even when it’s cold, it’s still not that cold. Because it’s mountainous, it just feels a bit cooler. (Yes.) Its weather is moderate, not... (Over there, in the evening, if we go out and wear a short-sleeved shirt like this, then it can feel chilly.) Of course, of course. It depends on the season. But it is cooler than other hot locations. (Yes, it is much cooler.)
(Sometimes, I was riding a motorbike, I thought Âu Lạc [Vietnam] is better now with some stork[-people], but when I looked at them closely, those were only the plastic bags, Master.) Don’t worry, the government will take care. No problem, don’t worry. Now, you have the Buddha and Bodhisattva to take care of you. (Yes.) It is the same for you anywhere. See that, even in a strange country like Poland, you still can work and live on... (Yes.) And he came anytime there was a retreat – but many could not. He talks like it was so easy. (No, it was not.) (No, it was not easy.) It was not. (Right.) He was joking, right? (Yes.) Only he could attend any retreat, but not his family, right? (We only went to a few retreats, not that many. Because in [Poland], it is still very hard to get a visa. We came here for this second retreat, but could not come to the first one.)
Photo Caption: To Live, Don’t Mind Difficult Hardship. To Die, Awaken in Eternal Life
