Have you ever read “The Little Prince?” (Yes.) It’s a very good book. What’s so good about it? It is very noble, very pure and clean, not forcing anything on anyone. But in the book, there’re lots of substances. For example, the little prince… On his own small planet there is a tree. He says there is a kind of tree. He says that kind of tree has to be uprooted at sight. Yes? (Yes.) If you don’t eradicate it, later it’ll crawl all over the planet and cannot be fixed any more. Because it’s gigantic, according to him. It’s big compared to his planet. What’s that little planet? It’s the stable concept inside us. If it grows all kinds of lousy thoughts, then it’ll be difficult to control. It’ll bear children and then grandchildren.
And, he says that there’re three volcanoes. Two are already… (One.) One is already extinguished. He covers it with a cup. But every day he still has to clean, has to check, because he says, “We’re not sure if the volcano is trustworthy.” It truly is like that. There is greed, anger and ignorance inside us. Sometimes we think we’ve eliminated one, but we’re not really sure if it has really been extinguished. Better be careful and check. The book is related to spiritual practice. You all know, huh? It means that in spiritual practice, if we don’t really take care and strive hard, our greed, anger and ignorance could emerge any time, could come back and revive any time.
OK. Now I must return to that story. That… (Alexandra.) That Alexandra, the French woman. At age 55, she embarked on an adventure in Tibet. Before travelling there, she had learned and acquired certain mystical powers in India, through Esoteric Buddhism. She had also found so-called enlightened Masters in Tibet and learned something from Them. But at age 55, can you imagine it? She climbed the Himalayas. There were no cars there, nothing. She had to carry her own things and travelled in secret, hiding herself in order to go there. It just so happened that at that time, foreigners were forbidden from entering. The region had just emerged from conflict. At that time, Britain was there supporting Tibet. They had prohibited foreigners from entering.
She wanted very much to go in, so she had to disguise herself as a beggar or a Tibetan on pilgrimage. Coincidently, she did look like one, being short and somewhat stout. Then she used cocoa powder, plus the item from when we cook. (Wood charcoal ash, charcoal ash.) Charcoal ash. She smeared the mixture of that on. Smeared it in this way. Then she used black Chinese ink, the kind for writing, to dye her hair, to dye her hair black. Because her hair was too short, she used the donkey(-person)’s… (Tail.) she weaved in the donkey(-person)’s tail hairs. Weaving it together like this. She looked half human, half ghost. That’s how they described her. It’s alright. She dressed herself in ragged dirty clothes to look like a beggar. The pilgrims are very poor, and looking wealthy would only attract bandits. There were robbers over there. She worried about being exposed.
Still, there were many very amusing stories. For instance, one day when she was there… She was accompanied by a lama, who passed as her adopted son, as he was younger than her. Otherwise, she dared not travel alone. She could speak the Tibetan language, but it’s still safer to have two people travel together. Then one time… There was this funny story: The lama was talking to some people, and she noticed them starting to pay attention to her. She got afraid, and quickly pretended to be a humble and dumb mother, very elderly, and then hurried off to wash the bowls and pot. She had only one pot for cooking soup and tea. But after she went there to wash up, and washed and washed often. After washing, she needed to smear ash on her hands again. However, at that time she was too nervous; she forgot about that when she washed. Her hands were washed completely clean, and looked absolutely white. The children nearby said, “Wow! Her hands look like those of a foreigner.” Wow! She was really nervous and quickly smear ash back on.
This is one of her adventurous stories and it’s quite entertaining. However, there is something more than just fun in her stories. I want to say, if someone truly wants to accomplish something, one would put in great effort and achieve success. If our quest for the Tao is as determined as her quest to just see a city, then we can achieve anything. Wow! Her journey was full of danger. If you could have seen it, there were so many dangers and so many hardships. She was walking alone or with a companion, sometime through deep snow, that was as high as their knees. Since they were tall, the snow was up to their knees, but it might have reached my chest, here. I wouldn’t be able to move. They had to walk in such conditions. Sometimes the mountain was so high and the paths were not visible. They were concealed by snow; and it was wintertime, too. It was very difficult for them.
To be able to reach the Lhasa, the capital, they had gone through tremendous hardships. It was even harder than our quest for the Tao. Because they had to hide, they couldn’t expose themselves. They couldn’t buy food for fear that people would know they had money. So, they had to beg. Sometimes, their food was terrible. Sometimes, they had no food for six or seven days, no water to drink, but still had to keep walking. It’s more difficult if they stay put, because there was nothing, no people around. If they stayed there to rest; if you were tired and rest there, and injured, and rest there, you would only get hungrier. They had already starved for six days, if they stayed one or two days more, they would become even weaker, thirstier and hungrier. She had lots of stories when she was there. On her journey, she encountered many strange situations. Sometimes, her Master came to help her. Perhaps she encountered a very good enlightened Master. I don’t know.
However, there was one time when she met a team of Tibetan people. The story told us more about the practice of magic power in Tibet. For example, there are two kinds of magic powers in Tibet. They originated from Bön, the Bön religion. Bön is a very ancient religion, perhaps previously it was also a kind of spiritual practice. Later it became more inclined toward magic powers. Therefore, eventually, only two sects were left from that religion who practiced magic powers. One was black magic and the other, white magic. Most of the white magic was no big deal. They healed the sick, or predict the future for people. Such as where had the cow(-people) gone, and when they would come back. Mostly people would consult them about these things.
Her adopted son, the lama, he also knew something about fortune-telling. However, it was mostly coincidence, according to her. This was what she wrote. They were just a bit smart. Take her adopted son for example. When a crowd came to ask him about their cow(-person) who had ran off, when would the cow(-person) come back, and if he could find the cow(-person). Then he would do a grand show, lots of hand gestures, hand mudras, and he thought for a while, and then said, “If you are very smart, you would be able to find him.” He couldn’t refuse their request. If he refused, then they would wonder, why is this lama unable to see the future? Most red hat lamas should be able to see the future. That’s what usually happened.
One time, there was a big team… a big army of soldiers. Because I’m not sure whether this book is available, so I just tell you a short part of the book. A big team of soldiers was looking for someone who had escaped, a fugitive. They just happened to meet the lama and asked for his advice too. “He fled in that direction; can our police officers catch him? Would we be able to arrest him?” Wow, this was a lot of trouble. If he couldn’t give a good answer, the two of them would be detained. This was the army and the police. He couldn’t fool them with nonsense. So he thought about it for a very long time, while reciting his mantra. Next to him, his so-called mother also knew what was on his mind. There’s no need to say. Both of them were very nervous.
It’s alright to fool the peasants; they could go away later. But it’s impossible to run away from these soldiers; they would chase after you. There was only one road, where could you escape? Only two people, they were concealing themselves. It could cost their lives, since their identities were not real. They need to deceive people; that’s big trouble. Therefore, he kept chanting the mantra for a very long time. The soldiers were there waiting. They also waited for a long time. Both parties were very nervous. Then, he proclaimed: “I’ve got the answer. If you, the police, can run faster than the fugitive, you definitely can catch him.” Very smart. I can also do that. So simple, I can also do it. Later, I’ll go earn money by fortune-telling. People would respect me too. Great, that’s wonderful, great. Perhaps there were many such incidents. They were often in danger, but they always managed to get away.
Also, there were some other things. There is one thing that I want to tell you by the way, also very funny. Anyway, we don’t have anything to do. We have plenty of time. There’s not much going on today. (Right.) So, we can just have a leisurely chat. OK. One time, they met several people. That was at another time when she didn’t have to hide, or stay out of sight. She walked freely, before the ban on foreigners took effect. She roamed around boldly, just like a lama. She had also become a female lama, a nun. You can sit down if you’re tired. Why stand for so long. No one’s punishing you to stand. Hey, this is not the army, why stand for so long.
And then, they passed through a rather unfamiliar place, a bit desolate place. Then they wanted to pitch their tents and stay there. They had a few servants with them. Some other friends were travelling with them, and her adopted son was there as well. So, one time, they had just finished pitching their tents, and went out for a stroll – just to look around. They ran into a few men who were carrying guns. They weren’t soldiers. Soldiers didn’t roam about in those desolate places. Right then, they knew they were bandits. There they just kept thinking and thinking, they didn’t dare to pay attention to them. They knew they were there, but didn’t dare to pay attention. They were trying to figure out a response, figure out a way to handle them.
Then they went back to try figure things out. She finally came up with an idea. They put their guns in very obvious places, showing those people that they also had guns. “If you come at us, it’s hard to tell who will survive.” So they displayed whatever weapons they had in very noticeable places. They showed their weapons. Then they gathered around the bonfire, roasting food, at the same time working out a solution. Later, they came up with an idea to ambush them. In case the bandits really came, if someone came in to attack, and they were surrounded at the same time; they were scared of that. That was the first plan. Second plan, throughout the night, they would assign someone to sing or talk about moral things, while reading the scriptures to them, telling them not to do evil. They stayed around the bonfire all the time, the whole day, appearing to be ready to defend. So the bandits didn’t rob them.
Next morning, two bandits came over, and the servants asked them, “Hey! We saw you last night. What are you up to?” They ignored the question and didn’t say anything. Then the two men both said, “Ah, we are hunters – just hunters.” The servant was also smart. He said, “Oh! We happen to need to purchase some meat, do you have any? We’re running out of meat. Please sell to us quickly.” Feeling very embarrassed, the two said, “We have just arrived, and haven’t caught anything yet.” And they understood the situation. OK, things were fine. After that, the servant continued to say, “Do you know? Our female lama there, oh, she is terrific! Sometime ago, some people stole her things. She simply looked into a bowl with just water inside, and from looking into the water she knew who the thief was and where the stolen things were. Then she told people to arrest him.” After hearing that, the two men dared not say more. Good, the matter was settled. OK, they left.
After a while, they came back with a lot of things to make offering to the female lama. Meaning the lama from France. Then they said, “Incidentally, two of our horse(-people) are missing. Can you look into the bowl, the bowl of water, to see where they have gone, or who stole them?” Wow! That’s it. Our female lama hid in the tent and dared not come out. Afterward, her adopted son handled the problem outside, and he also had no idea. Her adopted son told them… The adopted son, also a lama, he said, “Our great female lama is meditating inside, practicing spiritually. We don’t dare to disrupt her. No one can see her now. But if you come again next morning, she definitely will see you.”
Photo Caption: “Spring Will Always Love to Bloom”
