Okay. Happy，she is clean. She is clean，very clean. Cleaned all day，four，five times. Cleaned before coming here，with vinegar. Not everybody likes dogs. Come. Too friendly，too friendly. Too friendly. Love people; love people so much. Happy，don't lick everybody. You'll eat different cream，you will get sick. She loves people. She loves people very much. Yes，yes，she is very protective.
 
Okay. How are you？
*Good！
 
 
I have a story to tell you. It's a story about catching ghosts; story about catching ghosts or spirits. Okay，let me tell you a story about catching spirits. Maybe it's not about catching ghosts. I haven't read this story either. I was just reading the title. This may be a Chinese story. There was a person named Ko Hsuan. Have you heard of him？
*No.
 
 
No？Aren't you Chinese？Okay. He studied magical powers with Tso Ji.  So，Ko Hsuan had practiced magical powers to a very advanced level，similar to that of the Monkey King. Do you know those stone statues？People take a piece of stone and carve it into a statue，not of a human but of Buddhas and such，understand？So，Ko Hsuan could make the statues walk like living beings. A walking statue！Very powerful！He could also talk to butterflies. So powerful，so powerful！He could make grasshoppers dance. So powerful！Can you do that？
 
*No.
 
 
I can't either. I don't have time doing these kinds of things. He could plant vegetables even in winter，he could make ice even in summer… Powerful！This is very convenient. If you practice this kind of magical power，you won't starve even during global warming，right？
 
 
It is said that once he went out with his friends and they got thirsty. They saw a well，but they couldn't get the water out. So he pointed at the water with his finger and the water came out of the well，with glasses even！The glasses with well water came into everyone's hand. So powerful！This kind of power is very much needed in our time，right？After digging the cave，we can use this technique，so we don't need to dig a well，or worry about having no water.
 
 
One year，there was a severe drought. The king invited him over and asked him if he could summon the rain.
 
 
Sit down，Happy，sit. Okay？She is too excited now.
She begged me to bring her here. She didn't want to sleep at home. She begged to come here，and then she makes noises like this.
 
No，no，no. Sit down. Sleep.
 
 
Ko Hsuan simply drew something and it started to rain instantly. It means that this person was very powerful，he could do anything，understand？He could summon the wind and the rain，talk to butterflies，and make grasshoppers dance. When he wanted to drink water，water would come to his mouth automatically，and so on. Once，there were many ghosts at a certain place; the place was haunted.
 
 
Of course，ghosts haunt. What else can they do？These ghosts went to an earth god's temple. They took over the temple and bullied the villagers. They made the people send food and offerings to the temple for them to eat every day. The people suffered so much. If there were no offerings for one day，the ghosts would start to haunt and cause trouble for a lot of people; it's because they were ghosts.
 
 
So Ko Hsuan went to the village. He went straight to the temple to take a look at the ghosts. They were all sitting on the beams under the ceiling，quarreling with one other. When they saw Ko Hsuan，they said， 『Where is your offering？Hurry up and put it there for us to enjoy.』But Ko Hsuan didn't respond; he ignored them. Then they used their magical power to blow lots of wind，rain and stones at him; these could almost kill people.
 
 
But finally Ko Hsuan said to them，『If you continue your haunting，I'll lock you up in a gourd. If you don't stop，I'll lock you up in a gourd.』Do you remember that there are also these kinds of stories in the Western world？Some genies or spirits were locked in a lamp. If you rub on the lamp，the genie will come out. If you rub it and open it，the genie will come out and ask you for your wish; he can make your wishes come true.
 
 
But those ghosts didn't listen to Ko Hsuan and continued with their haunting. So he used his magical power to cast a spell and sucked these ghosts into his gourd. People can truly do that. Ko Hsuan took the gourd with the ghosts inside and came out of the temple. The whole village was cheering and praising him. He told them，『I have captured the ghosts，so from today onward，they won't trouble you anymore.』
 
 
Then he drew a talisman and put it on the door of the temple. He also posted talismans in the villagers' homes. 『From now on，no one will dare to come bother you.』How wonderful it would be if we had those kinds of talismans！We could then drive away global warming. This means he had a lot of magical power.
 
 
Another time，he was wandering around a volcano and he saw a mass of dark clouds above a house. He knew that it was a very vicious spirit which was occupying the house. So he turned himself into a farmer and knocked on the door. A scholar came out and opened the door to greet him.
 
 
Then Ko Hsuan told him， 『I'm a farmer. I need someone to help me today to harvest my grains and crops.』Then the scholar said， 『I'm very willing to help you.』Then Ko Hsuan and the scholar left the house together. At a good distance away，he told the scholar， 『There is an evil snake spirit in your house posing as your wife.』Too scary. I'm scared. If he took a snake as his wife，it would be terrible. Oh my God.
 
 
We wouldn't recognize it. If the wife was a vicious snake in disguise，how could we recognize that？It's too scary. Okay. Oh my God. There are more terrifying things to come. He continued， 『This snake，your wife，has already eaten a lot of children in the village.』
 
 
Too horrible！Of course，the scholar didn't believe him. How could his wife be so vicious like this？He didn't believe him. Then Ko Hsuan took the scholar into a very dense forest，and showed him a pit. There was a pit underground which was filled with skulls and bones of children. The scholar was very shocked.
 
 
He said， 『What should I do now？What should I do？』Ko Hsuan told him， 『It's okay. Today，if you can give your wife something to do to occupy her attention…』- meaning to accompany her and to keep her busy so that she wouldn't have time to think - 『then I can catch her.』Okay. So the scholar went into the village and bought a bolt of cloth，as beautiful as what I am wearing. He went home and presented it to his wife.
 
 
Then he said to her， 『This is for you. We can use it to make such and such beautiful things.』He pretended to chat with her about the beautiful clothes. Meanwhile，Ko Hsuan drew a talisman outside - you know what they are like. Then he chanted incantations to catch the spirit of the snake. When the snake realized that she had been trapped，she turned herself into a large python and tried to attack her husband，wanting to swallow him up. It's frightening！
 
 
Okay. Good！Sometimes it's like that. Maybe they are not as bad as this snake，but some people appear as our relatives or friends to hurt us sometimes. That's what I mean. Maybe they are not snakes，but they have the ferocious qualities. Sometimes our enemies or creditors come back to reclaim what you owed them. It's so scary. If it's like this，I'd dare not have a wife. I tell you. What if she turns out to be like this？Why are you so quiet today？Yesterday you laughed so hard，but today you are so quiet，sitting here without moving. Why is that？Why？
 
*We are afraid of ghosts.
 
 
You are afraid of ghost stories. Everyone is nervous. Yes. It's the same when you watch ghost movies，right？You are nervous when you watch those ghost movies，right？Okay，okay. It's fun to be scared occasionally.
 
 
At that time，Ko Hsuan saw that the snake was about to swallow her husband，he quickly threw his magical sword at her and impaled the snake against the wall. Understand？He threw a sword at her and impaled her on the wall. At that time，a very stinky smell came out and suddenly
 
 
many poisonous scorpions and centipedes that bite people crawled out from her body onto the wall. They filled up the room and then suddenly dissolved into a very dark，filthy，and stinky liquid. Then Ko Hsuan drew another talisman to make a fire to burn them up. Then the scholar suddenly started to throw up. He vomited out filthy，brown，dark，stinky liquid. After he vomited it all out，he recovered.
 
 
Then Ko Hsuan told him， 『You were poisoned and controlled by this snake spirit. Luckily，you have a little blessed reward and a spark of kindness in you so I could still save you. If you didn't have this kindness in your heart，you would have become a vampire as well，just like her，the snake.』Then he left and went to a mountain with yellow soil. He dug a cave and lived there to practice spiritually.
 
 
He waited to see if the situation of global warming would get better. He continued to practice spiritually there，making the elixir of immortality. The Chinese stories are always like this: spiritual practice is always about making the elixir of immortality. It never changes. I've never seen any Chinese story in which a spiritual practitioner did not set up an eight-diagram furnace to make the elixir of life. Never. Understand？All of them were cultivating this. The Eight Immortals，the Seven Deities were all making the elixir of life. That's what we heard.
 
 
Maybe it's just a metaphor. Maybe they didn't actually make the physical elixir of life. The elixir of life symbolizes liberation，the eternal liberation，from the cycle of transmigration. Maybe he could live a long life. Who knows？We can go find him and ask him. But if the world is totally destroyed by global warming，perhaps the elixir of life would be useless as well. Even if you take the elixir，where can you live？Where can you live if you live a long time？It would be very painful not to have anything to eat.
 
 
When everyone else is dead，it would be very lonely to live by yourself. At that time，you can't even die even if you want to because you have become immortal. I don't want it. I don't want to take this risk. If we should live，we live. If we should die，we die. Why take the trouble？To live a long life，we should have a good environment，such as enough food，fresh air，beautiful forests，high and magnificent mountains，and pleasant weather.
 
 
Only when everything is very comfortable would we want to live this long，right？(Yes.) If we are not comfortable，why bother？Let's check first whether the world is good or not before we start preparing the elixir of life. Okay？Please be careful. Don't prepare it at random. If you have already done it，don't take it at random，okay？Take your time. Wait until a few years later. It won't be too late to take it a few years later. One winter morning，he went outside to gather dry firewood，
 
 
minerals and roots，herbal roots. He walked barefoot. He also grew long hair，wore simple clothes，which didn't have long sleeves. There was a woodcutter with his two daughters. The two girls saw that he was digging in the snowy ground.
 
 
They didn't know that he had great magical powers. The two little girls didn't know that he was a Taoist who had great magical powers，so they said to each other， 『This old man is so pitiful. He has no shoes and wears such a thin layer of clothes which can hardly keep him warm. We should help him.』They were very kind. So one of the girls made a pair of shoes and the other girl knitted a warm sweater for him.
 
 
After they made a pair of shoes and a sweater，they went to his house. They knocked on his door and said，『Old man，we made a pair of shoes and a sweater to keep you warm.』But they heard no reply，so they opened the door and walked in. They saw an alchemy furnace inside. They didn't know anything about alchemy. It was just a big pot heated over a fire，with smoke coming out. The water was boiling and the smoke kept coming out.
 
 
There was a note lying nearby，which said， 『Thank you for bringing gifts to me.』He knew it already，before they came. Maybe he had already passed away. He wrote， 『If you open the cauldron，you will find two halves of a herbal pill.』He didn't say it was the elixir of life. 『It's my gift to you. Each of you can take one half of it.』
 
 
So they swallowed the pill，thinking it was just tonic. Since it was a gift，they just accepted and ate it. From that day on，the two of them… what happened？They stopped aging. They were not like us，not like me and you，old ladies. They each swallowed half of the pill and they stopped aging from then on. For example，if they were １８years old，they'd keep their youthful look. It's wonderful. I want to find one.
 
 
They lived for a hundred years and still looked very young when they died. When their time came，they passed on，but their faces didn't look old. Also，they found a letter on the table. It was a letter inviting them to Heaven，with his signature. It was then that the two girls realized he was a Taoist who had great magical power. That's the end of the story.
 
This is your bonus for your trip here. You are going home tomorrow，right？Or the day after tomorrow？ Are you all leaving tomorrow？(Today.)
 
 
Today. Yes.
*Today.
 
 
You are leaving in a few hours. Are you leaving in happiness？(*Yes.)
You came in happiness and you'll leave in happiness as well. You'll cry and say that you don't want to leave，but if I ask you to stay，you will cry and want to go home.
*We don't want to leave tonight！
*We don't want to leave.
 
 
You don't want to leave. Should I believe you？Okay，okay. I believe you. Some people want to stay，but they can't stay; and some people can stay but they don't want to stay. The world is always like this. But your lovely karma (retribution) is waiting for you at home.
 
 
You have your friendly 『rats，』lovely 『goats，』『tigers，』 『pigs，』etc.，all waiting for you at home. Right？Obedient 『rabbits』and snakes，unlike the snake in our story. Your 『snakes』are lovelier，right？Okay. I wish you good luck. If you run into any trouble，go find Ko Hsuan. Okay？
 
 
 

• Drugs begins with the ignorance and frustration of the young people of our age，because many of the organizations sometimes have failed in satisfying their spiritual need for the higher meaning of life，more than just material. Because material today，we don't lack. Therefore，they're charmed，they're seduced into taking drugs，because in taking drugs，sometimes they can have hallucinations and feel comforted for a very short time. But little did they realize the very grave consequences after that. Therefore，meditation is the best way to relieve all this suffering of the people when they want to know God，when they want to know happiness inside. Because our happiness through meditation，through the Light and the music of Heaven，is everlasting. And it's always improving and always more and more happiness，and never has any consequences like the drugs. If we can propagate more the meditational benefit，then the drug-effect on people will be less and they will understand where to turn to for a longer-lasting happiness.-