You have only one home in Taipei. (Yes. Thank You, Master. We…) What I have in mind is this… (Master.) (Hallo, Master.) (Master.) (Master is so beautiful.) Ah, I hear you. How come there’s no sound? OK. A Jewish story. Both adults and children like stories. Then I won’t have to tell stories especially for kids. It’s convenient for me. Wow. Wow. Is it OK that there are so many people? (OK.) Is it OK? (OK.) Monks and nuns are not included yet. How’s everyone? (Fine.) Can you see me? (Yes.) Is my seat high enough? (Enough.) OK. I also haven’t read this story. I’ll just read it for you.
There was a very sincere Truth seeker. He had a plot of farmland, and in the middle of that field, there was a very big Bodhi tree. Everyone passing by liked to sit under the tree to enjoy the shade and rest. But before reaching the tree, they had to go through his field and ruin the crops planted there to get to the tree to enjoy the coolness. So he thought, “Hmph, it’s better that I cut down the tree.” He told his wife, “Otherwise, all our crops will be ruined. Then we’ll have nothing to eat.” Then his wife said, “You do whatever you want.” And so, the very spiritually minded man, who believed in God, he took an axe. And went to the tree, intending to chop down the tree.
He hadn’t even started yet – he was just about to begin – when suddenly, he saw a ghost… Is it a “piece” of ghost? What’s the word? One “figure” of ghost? One “strip” of ghost. An “individual” of ghost? (One piece.) OK, “one ghost” is good enough. What I said was correct. He saw something like a ghost jumping out from the tree and said, “If you don’t chop this tree, I’ll give you one coin every day, one gold coin.” Then the spiritually minded man said, “No. No.” Then the ghost said, “Then I’ll give you three coins,” bargaining back and forth. Then the farmer, the spiritually minded farmer, he threw the axe there and went back home. He probably agreed to the deal. Here it doesn’t say that he agreed, but it seems to be the case.
Oh! That thing looks very good on you. What is it? Looks like a golden coin. (This is Master’s picture.) Do they do it like that now? (Yes.) It looks so beautiful. (It’s the latest one.) The latest? (New.) Most trendy? (Yes. Latest one.) (It just came out today.) Let me have a look. Is it framed with gold? Not real gold. Wow! So beautiful. Oh! Much more beautiful than before. Isn’t it? (Yes.) It looks very valuable. Very beautiful. (Yes.) Oh, this is truly beautiful. I like it very much. I myself also want to wear one. Give it back to him. As an adornment. Hang it over here. Oh, it’s really beautiful. This new one is more beautiful, meaning that because of the golden circle that makes it shiny, it looks more dignified.
Now, let’s go back to our story. So the farmer, who was spiritually minded, he went home. The next morning, he came back to the side of the tree and found, as expected, three coins. It happened every day. Every day the same thing happened. Every day he went there to collect three coins and went home. Until one day, finally he had a lot, a lot of money with which he could buy a lot, a lot of land and many houses, a lot of wealth, and had many servants. No one knew where the money came from.
As time went by, the children of the spiritually minded farmer passed away one by one. After that, his servants also died one after another. Suddenly, the spiritually minded farmer began to think to himself, “Oh, what is happening? Could I have done something sinful to deserve this?”
He continued to think, and then together with his wife, they went to the tree, wanting to collect the daily money. When they got there, they saw a lot of people, several people, playing under the shade of the tree, just playing at that cooling place. They joined them to have some fun. The couple played with them together. After playing, they went to look for their three coins, but they were gone. The three coins had disappeared. Then the farmer thought about chopping down the tree. And then that ghost jumped out again and said, “If you hadn’t played with them so hard, you would have gotten the three coins. But because now you yourselves also have enjoyed the shade and the coolness, and played with them, I think I don’t owe you anything anymore. As you yourself also have enjoyed the coolness under me, the shadow of the tree; then why do I still owe you anything, why do I still have to give you anything? Aren’t you just the same as everyone else?” That was what it meant.
But the farmer still went ahead and started chopping down the tree. The ghost said, “If you raise that axe one more time, I will kill you.” Then the farmer was very scared. Then he went to find a so-called “renunciate” to talk to him. That person, the so-called renunciate, he was one of the renunciates who had some authority. He told the farmer, “Alright, now you go back and sell all the wealth and property that you’ve bought with the money gained from that tree, and return that money to the ghost. Then, after that, you can cut down the tree.” The farmer did that accordingly, and chopped down the tree. The ghost came out again and said, “OK, alright, alright, alright. I’ll give you six coins, six coins every day. Is it enough? Don’t chop down the tree.” Then the man said, “I don’t want anything now. I won’t listen to you. No matter what you offer, I won’t listen to you. I must chop down the tree.” Then the ghost ran away. The farmer chopped down the tree and went home.
One year later, the farmer continued to cultivate his land, farming as usual. As a result, the crops from his field became one hundred times more. A lot, a lot. A lot of harvest. Then he sold all the harvest and got a lot of money, 800 coins, gold coins. Then, after one more year, while he was tilling the land, unexpectedly he found – under the place where the tree used to be – a great, big treasure. Of course he dug it up and brought it home. Then he used it well, wisely. He wanted to show everyone this big fortune. Because he thought that if we believe in God, God will reward us. He didn’t have to take money from the ghost, and still became very rich, even richer than before. Maybe the ghost had been giving him the money from that treasure under the tree, which was originally God’s money all along. Wasn’t it? (Yes.) That’s what he realized. Why? Because he thought he should not have believed in a ghost, understand? Since he already devoted himself to God, why should he still worship the ghost? Which allowed the ghost to cause trouble. So after he returned to faith in God, God still gave him what he needed, and even more. That’s the meaning of the story.
Do you still want to hear more? (Yes.) Wow, there’s so much. But it’s already 5:30 (PM). Don’t you want to leave? (It doesn’t matter.) It’s alright. OK. Whoever wants to leave, leave. I don’t know if this story is good. Ah, here is the story which is more… Which is shorter. This is not a Jewish story; it’s from another country. In Prague. There was a man, he was Jewish. There was a Jew whose name was Pinkas. He was doing business in buying and selling used clothes. Some people have used clothing which they feel is no longer trendy, not beautiful, old. (Vintage.) Vintage. They’d sell the clothes to him, and he’d resell it to other people. He was doing this kind of business. However, his business couldn’t earn enough to support his family. But there’s a Catholic person, very rich and noble, who helped him. Every time he gave him some relief money to help him. Not every time. Just on festivals, whenever there were religious festivals, he gave Pinkas some money. OK, it’s like that.
Each time Pinkas received any gift from that person, he would be very happy and feel very grateful. Each time he would thank God. He’d kneel down to worship God. The noble rich man was surprised to see that. He thought, “Why is this man so grateful to God? God didn’t give him anything. It’s always me who gave him money, and he was always there saying thanks to God so sincerely. So infuriating! I’m not giving him anything from now on, and see if God would give him anything. Let him know who his benefactor actually is.” He decided not to give any more. Since that day, he stopped giving him anything. So Pinkas went home and told his wife what had happened. Then they both just sat there, not knowing what to do.
Suddenly from their window, something broke the window and burst in. They went over to have a look. Oh, they saw a dead body. Oh! How terrifying. They were starving at that time and they were lacking things, and a dead body was thrown in suddenly from the window. They cried and shouted, saying, “Maybe someone tried to set us up and then say we’ve killed someone. That’s why a dead body was thrown into our house.” That’s what they thought. Someone wanted to hurt them. But when they looked at it again carefully, they found that it’s the corpse of a monkey(-person). A monkey(-person) corpse, not a human one. Then they heaved a sigh of relief, “Ah! Amitābha Buddha.” Like that. “Oh, then there’s no danger, no danger. All we have to do now is to bury him.”
When they began to take the body out and bury it, from the corpse of the dead monkey(-person)’s mouth came out a lot of gold, which surprised them very, very much. Then they cut open the monkey(-person)’s body opening him up. Wow! It was full of pearls. They of course sold those things and then bought the necessities they needed. There was still a lot of money left after they bought those things.
At that time, the rich person, who was very rich, suddenly felt a sense of serious guilt. “Ah, why didn’t I give him? Why didn’t I give him money? He didn’t do anything to us. Why did I suddenly stop giving him money?” He felt great pain and guilt, and he went to the door of the poor man’s house, was about to knock, when Pinkas ran out to greet him and welcome him. After he came in, he saw that his home was different than before. Oh! There were all kinds of good things in the house, very precious, very elegant and valuable things, which filled the house. He was very shocked.
Photo Caption: My Own Home-Made Jam: Sloe Berry of the Forest (No Pain)
