For this seven-day retreat, several-hundred disciples were forbidden to attend, including those who had violated the precepts, those who were not qualified, those who had bad manners, or those who didn’t practice well.  It’s not that everyone who wanted to could attend, not even the residents.

I know the seven-day retreat will help you tremendously.  Everyone who attends will benefit a great deal, so I would love to have all of you here.  It’s good for you, and it pleases me.  I really don’t like to punish anyone, but if I don’t do this, these people won’t wake up, and then others will follow their bad example, and that will be even worse for them. That’s why I would rather sacrifice a few attendees to protect the peaceful atmosphere of the retreat.

Who is the Master? The Master is actually our own Self, our higher-level Self, and our true Self. This is the Self who knows everything, is everywhere, and can do everything. But usually we rely on our lower-level self, meaning our own experiences. We say, “What should I do under such circumstances or when I encounter such people? Oh!  I’ve had such experiences already, so I know what to do.” When we do this, we’re only relying on our past experiences.  However, some experiences are different from these personal experiences.  It’s because they come from different situations.  Sometimes, even though the differences are small, the results are completely different.

Actually, nothing happens in this world; all troubles are created by us.  If we see our true nature, we’ll be at ease, because we know that nothing matters, and that everything is created by our mind for the fun of it.  It’s truly for the fun of it.  We turn into a butterfly to see what it feels like.  Or we turn into an ant, a bird, a lion or a tiger.  Then everyone has so much fun playing the role.  But insideall there is the same electric current.  The only difference is the appearances of the wires.  Some are thick and coarse, and some are small.  Some look pretty, and some are black or other colors.  The speed of the current is also different.  Nevertheless, what runs inside is still the same electric current, and it comes from the same power source.