(Master.) What? Who? (This.) Yeah. (I have seen and talked with many disciples in Dallas) Yes. (and also some cousins living there.) Yeah. (They all would like You to stop by Dallas) I know. (before You go to the next destination.) I know that. “The next operation”? (Destination.) Oh. Yes, yes. Also, the operation came also as a surprise. It was not planned, just as well. This is kind of one of the disasters, just like the fire disaster. Nobody planned that. So therefore, everything… Sometimes, I don’t have truly a fixed schedule, and sometimes because… We cannot know in advance. Sometimes, I know, probably I know, that the next day or two days after I will go to that and that place, and I will have to reschedule my flight, for example. But still, we cannot tell you right away because we don’t know whether it is confirmed. Sometimes, it takes a long time to confirm from that office or from the airplane ticket office. So please do understand me. I truly give you everything and all the time I have. But sometimes, to work in this world, it’s not as smooth as you want. You know.
Hey, now, I tell you a story. It’s very funny. This guy, he always complains that I don’t do the things he wants to do, or you sometimes don’t do it the right way. But look at him, what he did. I arrived at the airport, sick, and got a limousine. And he insisted that he take me in his car. I said, “No, honey, I’m really sick. I just had an operation. I need medicine, I need a lot of things, and my attendants have them. You can’t take care of me. Just let me sit in my car.” But OK, I didn’t want to hurt his feelings. So, I said, “Please lead the way. So, you’re always next to me anyhow, so lead the way, please.” So he said, “Yes, yes, yes, yes.” And then he came and drove his car. We waited for him for half an hour. He never showed up. You know why? He followed the wrong car.
Yes. Just followed the limousine. And my car, at that time, I think you rented a limousine for me because you probably thought I had a lot of luggage, and then I had to rush straight away from the airport to the opera house, so maybe my luggage was all over. So, you rented a limousine for me, which was big. And it was not that there were hundreds of limousines outside on the street that he had to follow the wrong one. (There was only one.) The only one limousine, and then he waved to him even. The limousine driver waved to him, so he just followed. (True.) Yes, yes, so you know… Just such a simple work and you made a mistake. And you could not even “smell” that I was not in that limousine. You didn’t even know. (You shouldn’t have used dark glasses.) I thought you loved me so much that you would know where I was. You would “smell” it. You would detect which limousine was mine, which was not. No. He just followed whoever waved to him. And then he dropped me at the airport with nowhere to go to, no one to turn to, and sick and all that. And he said he looked after me. You see that? So, we waited for half an hour, and we couldn’t wait anymore.
And he made people feel guilty even. Therefore, I couldn’t not wait for him. So, we had to wait for him. He’s very sensitive. You can’t just leave him like that. And we waited and waited for half an hour. So later all the drivers said, “We’ll be late if we don’t go now.” So, I said, “OK, let’s see what we can do.” Then we phoned the guy or something. And then the guy didn’t have the telephone number. I said, “My God, what kind of organization you have? You should have walkie-talkies, you should have phones, you should be able to contact each other. That’s the way we have to work within cars. We have many cars and that.” Nothing done. OK, fine. And then so I had to let the other cars stay there and wait for him. I said, “Twenty more minutes. If he’s not here, you have to go.” So that’s that. Even a small thing like that, so simple as following a limousine, you followed the wrong one. So that’s a good lesson for you. Next time you don’t blame anybody when they cannot work well.
Sometimes, it’s not our fault. This world is full of tricks, and I don’t know why. When you want to do this, it becomes like that. It’s not so? That’s why even people in this world, sometimes they’d like to work efficiently, but everything goes wrong. Maybe their bosses are lousy that day or maybe their bosses don’t have good agreement with them even, and they spoil everything. And the bosses are always right. Not always right, but he’s always the boss. Sometimes, it’s difficult to work. That’s what it is. Even you’re all my bosses. And you always make trouble for me.
Alright. Now, everyone understands, I hope? And next time don’t give the contact person a hard time too much. I know some of you do. In Âu Lạc (Vietnam) also, in Âu Lạc (Vietnam). I tell you, so many things, problems. In Âu Lạc (Vietnam), we sometimes have initiation. I send people home as requested. Sometimes thousands of people are waiting there, so we have to send some people to give initiation in Âu Lạc (Vietnam). And then the contact person dare not always make it public. Of course. So she contacted one by one. And if you were not home, you missed it. And after that missed person learned that the initiation was over and the representative had gone elsewhere, oh, she cursed that contact person, “How much money did you get from Master that you keep everything secret from me? Do you want some money or what? Do I have to give you some money for you to contact me so I can have initiation? You know how many months I have waited now and all this. Why don’t you let me know?” and all that. And you know what it’s like in Âu Lạc (Vietnam). Not everyone has a telephone number. And not always you can talk openly on the telephone. And not always you can contact that person, even if she has a telephone. So, it’s very difficult. So I thought, such kind of person should wait until next time, because we can’t wait. We can’t make it too noisy.
And so the contact person, I must tell you today also, you have to take pity on them. They truly sometimes are innocent. They just contact you whenever they can, or whatever news they have, they give you. If they don’t, they don’t have it. Sometimes, I don’t want to let them know for my own reason. Sometimes, I want to do something else before I come to see you, so I don’t want to tell you. Or sometimes, I’m not sure of the airplane ticket or flight time, or my schedule will change again or not change. Sometimes, we have to wait on the telephone to see whatever happens next. So please don’t blame the contact person. (Yes.) Alright? My brother, you understand now? She only knew yesterday. And she’s not the only one that answers the phone. Many people answer the phone, and they just talk nonsense.
Even sometimes when I phone the Center, I say, “Hallo, can I talk to whom-and-whom?” “Oh, she’s not here,” they say. They don’t recognize my voice. I don’t want to make a big deal anyhow. Sometimes I phone myself to any Center, want to see some person because sometimes my secretary or the attendant is busy to do all the phone work, so I phone. We separate the work like, “You phone this one, I phone this one. You take care of this; I take care of this and that.” Because otherwise we never have time. I don’t take the whole Maoli Center with me. I cannot take 200 monks together to work for me here on the road. First, there’s no house to house them. Second, it’s expensive. And to arrange for 200 people, I might just as well buy an airplane, private airplane.
So, we have not enough manpower. You see, three, four people do videos, one does camera [work], another cooks for us, the whole group, and another is on the telephone day and night, and another does other things, contacting. I am not the president of the United States that I have the whole airplane for me and I can take the whole staff from the White House with me. Everything I have to do is by my own power, my own pocket, and everything has to be self-provided. So, you don’t demand too much from me. I always give and I never stop giving as long as I have it. But you must understand also my difficulty on the road. We don’t have enough manpower, we don’t have enough telephones, sometimes we don’t have enough knowledge of the region; everything. And you, all the people, are working, you are not always available to help me when I need you. I can only rely on some of the monks and nuns who follow me all the time. You can only come to me in the evening or weekend or whenever you have a day off. I can’t rely on that. And you’re not used to working with me. How can I use you? A brand-new person just walks in, I tell you, “Now, telephone Maoli.” And you ask me “What’s the telephone number?” Then I might just as well do it myself. And whom to contact, what to tell her, things like that. Therefore, we as a small group have to divide the things to work.
So now, when sometimes I phone the Center myself, any Center, to do something or phone some person, and the person there is not a responsible person, not the contact person, just picks up the phone. Anybody, because the Center is public, anybody just walks in. Some of the disciples, sometimes even non-disciples, just pick up the phone, and I say, “Hallo, can I talk to Ms. Flower?” For example. “No, she’s not here.” I say, “Can you please find her?” “Don’t know where she is.” Bang. That’s it. And then I have to phone again and say, “Do you know that person, or can I talk to that and that person?” Even though he doesn’t know that person, who it is, he doesn’t go and find out. It’s not always easy. And sometimes when we’re in a hurry, when we don’t have a lot of time to waste, it is a nuisance, it’s a nuisance. And sometimes that Center’s telephone is busy. Because they have to do other things. So, everything takes time, energy, organization, problems. Please understand.
You make me truly feel guilty these days. I have to tell you today, otherwise I would die from guilt. Look like I let you down or I’m aloof or anything. It’s not true. I truly work very hard, not only spiritually, [but also] physically work hard. I work harder than any of you, the employees of the United States. And I have no pay for it. I’m going to think up my salary. How much? Now you know or not? Yes. (Yes.) I just hope you don’t blame the contact person all the time, because it’s not always she or he who answers the phone. Because a Center is open to the public. Anybody just picks up the phone and sometimes they are not responsible. They don’t know it’s urgent, they don’t know it’s serious. Please understand. Some people just say anything.
And by the way, you did not come to Hawaii to see me, so you talked to them, and they thought it was for my sister’s sake, because my sister came to see me. But you didn’t. So they don’t know about that. There must be a person who doesn’t know anything. And sometimes they just want to talk. I found out many times like that. So if you pick up the telephone, make sure you know what you’re talking about, or you go and find the right person. Don’t just answer anything. Just don’t hang up the phone on me sometimes, because it could be me, and you’d miss the chance to talk to me nicely. Right, right, they do it sometimes. They do it sometimes, because they don’t understand the seriousness of it. They don’t mean bad. People are not always careful about what they do. They make mistakes, so it’s OK. It’s nothing intentional. Some people, sometimes children, sometimes young people, they’re just not responsible. They don’t think there’s anything serious about that. So it is not entirely my fault. Well, we have to work together and be tolerant in this world. That’s all there is. What else can we do? We have to be tolerant.
Any other questions? If you ask another question, I will talk another two hours. (Anyway, at the end, we met You here, so…) OK, I’m very sorry. (Everything will be OK.) I’ll take you to my house later and make up for it, alright? (Thank You very much.) I’ll stay with you until midnight or after midnight. Is that enough? (Thank You.) OK, fine. After I finish all this, we can talk together. I’m very sorry.
Misunderstanding is bound to happen for all of you, so please, next time think twice. When something happens, please remember what I tell you today, that everything could go wrong, even with me, with my schedule, because I cannot always say no to people. That’s the problem. I could say no. I have all the excuses in the world. I’m sick, I’m tired, I have already booked the flight ticket, but even then I changed, just to benefit the thousands of veterans who have suffered for freedom and righteousness. It could have been them who protected my life while I was in Âu Lạc (Vietnam). It could have been them who protected my sisters, my cousins while they were in Âu Lạc (Vietnam). I have to be grateful to them. I have to show my love to them while they are nobody now, that nobody needs them, or maybe nobody wants to know them.
I had to be there at a cost of my expense, my health, my inconvenience. It is the right cause. I don’t mind the sacrifice when it’s right, that’s all, but nothing for personal gain or nothing for personal affection or personal kind of relationship. But when it comes to the benefit of other people, I sacrifice everything. So sometimes, you have to also sacrifice with me. That’s when you suffer. For example, I could have come to you on the 7th. On the 7th, I promised to come, and all the flights were booked, and we had to change because of the fire victims. And then we had to change again for the veterans. Even then. So I have overlooked my own problems. So you too also please sometimes have to overlook your own emotion and demand because of a greater meaning, greater cause. So that’s how we learn with each other. I don’t just tell you what to do. I do what I teach you. OK. Now you know? (Yes.)
Yes. I had all the excuses to refuse the veterans. (Yes.) I just had an operation yesterday. (Sure.) I couldn’t even walk, and I attended the meeting for whom, for whom? And I even offered US$200,000. Is that a gain for me? In my health, in my finance, in my anything? No, nothing. Understand? (Yes.) Really, if I wanted fame for that, I could have gone to Washington D.C. where 11,000 people congregated and give US$200,000, then I’d be famous. But in L.A., there’s only about one or two thousand people. A small number, nobody even noticed. I just slipped the check to the… I signed the promise to … not the master of the ceremony, just one of the persons. And told him. There’s no purpose there, no motive; just to give comfort to the people. So that’s why you had to see me later than I promised. OK? Now you understand, huh? (Yes.) Yes, yes.
Photo Caption: Grow Gratefully Where Can With What Provided
