ROCK CLIFF ROBE, MOUNTAIN CLIFF ROBE, GREY MOUNTAIN ROBE

Ashoka Institute, Waldbröl June 5, 2009
My dear children in Prajna and everywhere else,

Last night while sleeping here Thầy had a dream. He saw that he was climbing a mountain with the Buddha and with little Hải Triều Âm (Sound of the Rising Tide). At that time, it was about 2 am in the morning which is 8 o’clock in the morning in Vietnam.

In the dream, the Buddha was still very young, in his sixties. Thầy was in his fifties and Hải Triều Âm was a teenager. Lord Buddha did not look chubby and jolly like Thầy Lệ Trang, but rather skinny and tall like Thầy Pháp Hộ. He climbed the mountain with ease, Thầy followed the Buddha very closely and climbed pretty well himself. Little Hải Triều Âm was not carrying any cushion or tea or hot water. He just carried a brown shoulder bag which may not have contained anything. The Buddha did not bring his bowl and Thầy didn’t either. Even little Hải Triều Âm didn’t bring his bowl. Thầy and little Hải Triều Âm were supposed to play the role of Buddha’s attendants. How could Thầy and little Hải Triều Âm be as good as Thầy Ananda because the two of them didn’t help the Buddhha with anything? They didn’t even carry his robe and bowl!