If you want a good beach, then I don’t know. Also very far from the airport, like three hours at least, no? (Yes.) I went. Far from the city. That means far from the airport. That means far from food, whatever. Because every time you come, not only you eat, you want to take it home shamelessly, openly, and request it. So, what am I going to do? Live for spiritual or live for food? It’s trouble. To eat or not to eat, just tell me. You never consider all these, do you? You never. You come here, you have a good time. “Oh, Master’s here, blessed (vegan) food, a lot. And good stories.” That’s it. But we do have a little practical problem to solve. If we want everyone to be happy, it’s a little difficult. That’s why we have to stick around some place like Miaoli.
And here – people say that where the monkey(-people) dare not cough. In Âu Lạc (Vietnam), we say, “Where the monkeys cough and the flamingo(-people) crow,” ‘Crok, crok, crok,’ in the morning, because there are no chicken(-people). That means no farming, nobody there. But I say in such a place, monkey(-people) are not even there to cough. Miaoli, when I first came there, there was no electric lamp on the street, no street, no water, nothing. We had to do it all ourselves. We just bought it and we stayed there forever. And everybody liked it so much. And this place, some of the disciples looked for it, he said it’s good, so we just took it. At that time, I was… I didn’t consider the map. I should have looked at the map. Is it near the water or not? But at that time I didn’t think too much. Mostly I told them to look for a place, and they looked for the place, and that was it. That was where we went.
But now I’m more clever, more clever. I’ve seen the water. I’ve seen the sea. And because these last few years, I did not have Miaoli, I had to go out because I don’t have a visa. I have, but I can come in and out every two weeks. I’m “lazy.” Either I stay forever or nada (nothing). So I went all over, looked for more places. And by the way, because I stayed in some hotel, and next to the sea, and I said, “Wow, this is something for us!” That opened my eyes. Don’t, don’t, don’t, don’t. It’s too soon. I’m just telling the story, I have not come to a conclusion. Well, we did already. As I told you: What we do with the numbers? And we’d have to buy many hotels. And who’s going to run them, because we have to deal with tax and everything. And if we make mistakes, this will be... So what do I do?
What is that? I really like that very much. Huh? (Campground near the beach.) Campground near the beach, huh? (Well, I mean, like, in Mexico there’s a place near Mazatlán, it’s just a big, big place) I know. I know. (in Mexico but) Yeah. (not good.) No good? (Well, I mean, lots of laws.) A lot of laws, I know. And you can stay [for] only one month. (Yes, that’s right.) At least in the United States you could even come and stay [for] three months or four months, six months. (Six months.) Yeah. A lot of people can stay for six months. I can stay for three months But also, it’s very difficult to get (vegan) food. I was in Mexico for a month, I almost lost 100 pounds (~45 kilograms). Almost. That means, I didn’t. They don’t have vegan food so much. Oh, I tell you, the restaurants in Mexico... And it was in a very famous city, Cancún, even. (Cancún, yes.) I went there because my visa expired and I was in a rush to go somewhere. I had to go somewhere. And then, by the way, I ended up in Cancún. It was the nearest for the ticket that I could get before my visa ran out of order. So I ran over there. It was good, and I tried to look for a place too. Actually, I tried to look for a place there, and then it didn’t go well. I went somewhere else. I almost bought a place there, too.
But then I went to a restaurant every day, and there was nothing to eat. They don’t know what vegan is. There was one restaurant they called vegetarian. Oh, fine, good. But they had eggs and all that included. OK, we can pick something out (without eggs). But they didn’t have anything except the mashed potatoes and some vegan sausage. That’s fine for me. Even if I eat that every day, it’s OK. And they had two ‒ one is vegan sausage with mashed potatoes; another one is vegan beef with mashed potatoes or rice. The rice, you know how the Mexicans cook. (Yes.) They don’t even cook it. They just dip it in hot water, make it warm and then put it out for you. So that’s how they cook. I think the Latin Americans, they cook rice like that. (Yes.) It’s half-cooked, like the French. They also do that to make salad, no? (Oh, yes.) OK. You, I know.
Luckily, I lived in France before. Otherwise, you think only the Mexicans do it. Anyway, so, the rice I could not eat. So I ordered mashed potatoes and that vegan beef. And tomorrow, alternatively, with the vegan sausage, which was very, very rare to find already. I had to go half an hour every day to go eat there and come back. The hotel did not allow to cook, and I didn’t bring anything to cook. Anyway, listen to this. First day, fantastic. Oh, OK. The mashed potatoes were real. The second day, it was kind of softer than yesterday. The third day, oh, it was more than soft. It was like a (vegan) milkshake. No, I’m not kidding. Third day, it was like potato soup! The fourth day – water, water running all over. And the vegan beef, there was a big piece like this. And the second day, it became half of it. The third day, one third of it. Fourth day, it was just a little, like vegan corn beef sprinkled on top of my mashed potatoes. I don’t understand this. I really don’t understand. And I gave such good tips. I’m generous in the restaurants.
When I was a student, I used to work in a restaurant as hostess – you seat people at the table, and they give you tips sometimes, but most people don’t. So, I used to love people who gave tips, and didn’t love those people who did not give tips. I didn’t practice yet the Quan Yin Method, I’m sorry. Don’t tell anybody. So, of course, you want to be loved. Once you work in there, you know what it’s like. So I gave generous tips. Still, the potatoes didn’t change. Oh, I mean, it changed not for the better. And the vegan beef certainly changed, out of shape, became like sprinkle on top of that. So, I was getting more and more hungry every day. And then my visa ran out fast because they give you only one month. You could extend, though, I heard. But it went so fast, I forgot to extend. So by the time I looked at it, it was only time enough to jump on the airplane because it was weekend. If you wait until Monday, you become like an expired person and maybe live there illegally, and then you might never be able to get in again, or I don’t know. I forget time so easily. I forget what day it is unless I have something to do, I look in the calendar, or I don’t know.
Anyway, so that’s that. But it’s a beautiful place there. The sea is wonderful. The sand is so white. But I cannot own a piece of land there. I had to buy it with the Mexicans. The Mexicans will own it no matter what. (Right, right.) Yes, you know it, huh? How do you know all this? (And they’ll take it back.) You checked it out. (They have a loophole.) They have a loophole? You can make a company, yeah? (They have a loophole that if you buy land, that the government owns the majority of it and they can take it back) Yeah. (whenever they decide.) Oh, that’s true. Oh, I thought the loophole will... (So, I have some friends that have actually lost their property.) So, we cannot use it. They can use it. The government can use it. We can’t. That’s why. I thought this is too much trouble. Suppose we go there and then develop something nice for everybody, and we just lie down and enjoy, and they say, “That’s it, man, move.” Then, what am I going to do? I know the world is already ephemeral enough without that. Every country has something.
(Have You tried any of the U.S. islands, like Puerto Rico, Guam?) Virgin Islands and all that? (Guam, Virgin Islands.) Oh. Yeah, I haven’t. (The same visa. The good thing about it is it’s still the same visa. Land in Guam is probably pretty cheap.) Guam is cold, man. (Puerto Rico.) Now, I’m talking like you. “No good, man.” I learned so fast American language. I learned so fast all the “bad things.” See that? See that? How about U.S. Virgin Islands? Is it good? (Yes.) Is it warm? (Yes, very warm. Very warm.) Too warm? Humid. (Or even off the Florida Keys, maybe. They’ve got a little island.) Oh, airport? (Yes.) And hurricane? (Yes.) Every year they run here to Orlando. (Yes.) Orlando is supposed to be a safe place to go when hurricane season. (Yes.) Yeah. So what to do? Key West is good? Are they cheap? (No.) No, huh?
(Puerto Rico, may be cheap. Puerto Rico?) Puerto Rico, cheaper? (Maybe.) Good visa? Everybody can go? (It’s all American visa.) I know, but… Yeah? (Should be able to go.) Puerto Rico? Where is Puerto Rican? (Not safe.) Not safe, honey? (Some parts are not safe.) You are Puerto Rican? (No. No, some tourist camp.) Oh, who are you? Where are you from? (I’m from [Washington] D.C.) No wonder. You don’t like me to move the capital, that’s it. No, what I mean is, not only we need land and big and near the sea, but we need also safety so we can meditate. What if you were halfway up to the Fifth Plane, and then somebody comes and tells you, “Give me money or else?” Then, you have to come back, because you were only in the Astral, half of the Astral Level yet. And then you’ve got to come back and do it all over again. And have to see [Supreme] Master Ching Hai again. She will tell the same story all over. Or worse, she just plays the videotape for you, saying, “You’ve been here last time, you know already. Just relearn your lesson, that’s it.”
My God, you can’t have everything, can you? But we can work out something. How about if we have a place and you can come just one hundred at a time or two hundreds at a time, and come once a month or once every two weeks or something like that? But then you don’t meet the ones you like. That’s the problem. When you come here shopping for friends, you’ve got to come like in a big group. What to do? Can we do that? Like come once a hundred persons at a time?
Originally – I’ll tell you a secret – originally, this was meant only for a hundred or so persons, hundred or plus persons, for the contact persons only. Don’t be offended. No, I just want to take care of them for a while because they take care of you all the time. But then I told them to keep it (a secret). But some of the zips broke. Maybe an old zip. Cheap zip. And then it leaked out, and everybody’s heart began to make trouble for my heart. Our hearts beat in the same rhythm, so I said, “Well, OK, then let their families come also, fine.” But then the family has families, and the family-family have friends of the families. And the friends of the family have friends, of friends, and then so on and so forth. And I couldn’t sleep. I said, “OK, OK, OK, never mind, let them come. It’s OK.”
But then I had to take care of the contact persons a little more special. You guys don’t mind, huh? (No.) Because I was thinking just to invite the contact persons to another place, not here, because there are only 100-something people. I could take care, like go near the sea somewhere and stay together every day, (Oooh.) swimming. What? Yeah, yeah. That [was the] original intention. But if your “zip” is broken, everything is broken. What can I do? Yeah, it was intended like that. You believe me, huh? (Yes.) Yeah. I don’t tell lies. It’s true, it’s true. It was like that.
Photo Caption: A Mini Jungle of Moss, But a Refuge for Many Mini Beings
