"I want to look good, but I’m cold. Looking good and being warm is not easy together… Oh, really. Oh, wow, this is cool. This is good, good. Now, come over here, baby. This is good, good, good. This is some invention. Warm machine. How are you guys? (Good.) Are there a few of you comrades from Âu Lạc (Vietnam) who just came over? Where? Raise your hands, let me see. Wow! (I came over six months ago.) Six months ago, huh? (Yes.) How long have you been here? (Respectfully, Master. I’ve only been here for a little over two months. I just came over a little more than three months ago, Master.) Over three months. Oh! And already speak English so well? (The first time I met You, Master, I was so happy. Today makes just over a month for me.) One month. OK. (I’ve only been here for just over two months.) Two months. Ah! Got it now. (I’m here too, Master.)
(I really longed to be able to see You, Master.) Yeah. (Yes. Yesterday, I heard from the contact person. She said I… Yes, and also said that I have a vegan restaurant named Thanh Hải.) Ah, that’s you? The millionaire lady, huh? Wow! (Oh no, I wouldn’t dare, Master. Yes. Opening the restaurant was my wish, but it was Your great arrangement that made my wish come true. When I had that wish, I told my sisters that since we’re already eating vegan, we should try to open a vegan restaurant. Then… I’m so nervous, Master.) Why? Why are you nervous? Over there you weren’t nervous, but you come here and get nervous. (I was so happy I got nervous, Master.) Strange, huh? (Yes.) Anyone who stands in front of me is shaking like crazy.
(I wished to open the restaurant. I told a few sisters but one of them said, “Oh, so far everyone who opened a vegan restaurant, their business ended up very bad.” Then I said if we lose money, I’ll let them take over my restaurant. No rent. And if we lose, I’ll take the responsibility. So there were three or four of us. Four of us. Three sisters and one male teacher partnered up and we were really united in effort. Yes. We opened the restaurant I forgot what month but it was in 1993, during the flood disaster and all our profits…) All of it went there. Good. (…went to relief efforts. Fellow initiates in the US sent Ms. (…) a thousand dollars and we added it in to the fund for relief. Oh, wow! We hauled so much rice and noodles, Master. We gave to this place, gave to that place. But back then, even during the revolution, people were very kind.)
The high-ranking comrades, huh? Ah. (They even supported us, lent us trucks to deliver stuff.) Oh! Very enthusiastic, huh? (Yes. They lent trucks to deliver things here and there. Then we wrote thank-you letters. Usually, people say, “The good leaf shelters the torn leaf,” but in the letter, we wrote, we said, “The slightly torn leaf shelters the more torn one.” Yes. I felt very honored. But, oh, wow, Master, I felt that it was Your immense Power that allowed me to do all that. Back then everyone said I was pretty, Master.) That’s because they hadn’t seen my photo yet. (Yes. But after I opened the restaurant, my face didn’t look like the one in the picture anymore. It looked like a tiger. I had flowers and patches of white and black like a calico cat[-person], Master.) And you still called yourself pretty? (No, no one said I was pretty anymore.) Having a (vegan) restaurant makes you pretty! My gosh!
(Yes. I was so sad I cried. I cried and went out to the rooftop, where there were some patches of grass. I didn’t know what it was, but when I went out in the sun, my face turned completely red – not normal, Master. I picked the grass and rubbed it on my skin. Then suddenly the patches turned pale. People say my sickness is vitiligo, and that there’s no cure, Master. But I kept rubbing and it turned paler. Then when I went out in the sun it got better. I picked flowers, picked leaves, picked grass and applied it day and night, and it healed completely. All gone, Master. Yes. There are many stories, Master.) So many stories you can’t even finish telling them all? (Yes. So many stories but I don’t know if Master allows me to tell them?) Do you guys want to hear? (Don’t want to.) No? (No.) Why not?
(About the time we opened the restaurant…) Want to hear or not? (Yes, we do.) Yes or no? (Yes. Yes.) Yes means OK. (Yes.) You should translate it for her; she doesn’t know what “yes” means. (Yes, yes, yes.) “Yes” means OK. In Aulacese (Vietnamese), we say OK. (I don’t know many words but I do know “yes.”) “Yes” means enthusiastic. (Yes, yes.) That’s what the comrades call “enthusiastic.” (Yes. The four of us who worked in the restaurant, with this sister here. So when we went out to give aid… Oh, when we visited people affected by the flood, their houses and everything were washed away. They only had the clothes on their backs. When they bathed, they had to take those off and wear an undershirt, Master. Yes, we went out there and gave directly and clearly and seeing that made us feel so bad. But we were also happy that we could help directly. Yes, yes. I was happy too.) The government kindly allowed you to help.
(Thank You, Master, for arranging it. And there was more. When there was a flood we gave aid the very next day. Then later on, the temple started thinking, “The disciples of [Supreme Master] Ching Hai are just so few, yet they’ve gone everywhere.” Then the temple began to give aid following us.) “Temple” money, you can give anytime. (Yes, I didn’t know. I just say what I feel. And the temple also gave a lot.) That’s temple money, our money is what? (Yes.) (Our money is what Master gave us.) Shrine money.
Then what’s next? (Then later on I… Later, suddenly, Master, I had never been sick before but that day I was in pain for about five days. It was intense pain. I said, “Oh no, this time it’s probably cancer.” Then I…) Jinxing yourself. (Yes. I hurried to get it checked. The next day, the doctor said I had kidney problems and needed surgery. I sat out in front of the hospital waiting for the surgery day. Then I saw a truck carrying tons of flowers. I said, “Oh, is there a temple around here? Why so many flowers?” They told me no but that the Nguyễn Tri Phương hospital used to have a statue of Quan Âm Buddha, but later they took it down. But today is the Buddha statue enshrining day. I was happy but didn’t think much of it. I left for an appoinment at 8 [AM]. I sat and waited until 9 [AM] for the surgery. But I felt like, instead of going in for surgery I was being wheeled around to look at flowers. How come I kept seeing the flowers? Master. The park was filled with flowers and I was sightseeing the flowers nonstop. Then I thought, “Huh? Today I’m having surgery but why are they pushing my bed around to see the flowers?” I didn’t know anything else.
When they did the surgery, I wasn’t wearing any clothes anymore, and even the necklace… with Master’s image, they tried to take that off too. I held onto it and wouldn’t let go. I said no, I wanted to keep the picture. I held on to the necklace, and wouldn’t let them take it off. Then when the surgery was done and I went to look at flowers, the nurse who took me in said, “Let’s check on her, see how she’s doing.” She asked the nurse there, how I was. The nurse patted me and said, “Here, I’m giving you back the necklace. Otherwise, I’ll be blamed if it gets lost.” Then she asked, “How are you?” And suddenly, I smiled; I wasn’t tired at all. Master arranged everything for me. It felt like Master took me out to have fun. I was completely fine. When I opened my eyes, I wasn’t seeing the flowers anymore, Master. Yes, I stopped seeing the flowers.) You were just going around, where else would you go? (Yes, I don’t know. I just went round and round looking at flowers, Master. Then… what was next, I forgot.) Sightseeing up there.
(I feel that Master’s arrangement is truly magnificent. Later on, after the surgery, I returned to the restaurant and the sisters were busy with their business. Sales were down, so we couldn’t even pay for rice, Master. I was a bit sad, everyone was feeling down. Later on, I kept it going until the month I came over here. That’s when the restaurant over there closed, Master.) (Yes.) You closed it because of losses? (No, no. Even with losses I still kept it going, whether profit or loss. I didn’t think about it.) So later on, you stopped losing money? Only then did you come here? (Yes. Sales were just enough to cover expenses, Master. I forgot what else I was going to say.)
But I heard someone say you were really rich over there. How come now you’re saying you are at a loss? You’re afraid people will ask you for money? (Yes.) Did anyone ask her for money? (No, Master. No one did.) Yesterday, someone said there was a whole street full of vegan restaurants over there, right? (I think she heard it wrong or something. Later on, temples started opening a lot, Master.) Oh, that’s right. (Yes. Many temples opened restaurants. This temple, that temple opened restaurants, many.) The temples opened vegan restaurants? (Yes, the temples opened vegan restaurants and they were very crowded.) Because they were popular, right? Popular. (Yes. The demand was unbelievable. But when I first opened the restaurant I thought it would fail, Master. I talked in the wrong order.) OK.
(Yes. It was so popular that there was one man who came in, ate, then rode off on his bike. Then he came back and said, “What kind of restaurant is this? I had to stand and wait, then got seated, then waited again just to get a bowl of noodles. And no one took money. I could’ve walked out and without paying. But who would eat without paying at a vegan restaurant? I came back to pay you, ladies!” Master arranged for it to be that popular, Master. And the money, it all went to relief efforts. Nothing left.) Selling so good that the temples nearby opened up [restaurants] too? (Yes.) Well, that’s good. That’s good. (Yes. They were all nearby and many, Master.) So people are eating vegan a lot over there now.
Photo Caption: Stunning Beauty in the Wilderness Living by God’s Grace!
