Master Tells A Joke
Illusion About Marriage
◇Spoken By Supreme Master Ching Hai,
Hsihu, Formosa February 19, 1996
(Originally In English)

It's a true story. I know a person, not a friend, just an acquaintance. While we met, probably a few years ago, he told me that he was not married. I said, "Why not?"
He said, "Well, I have not had the time yet."

Yeah, very busy and all that.

So I said, "Okay, so when is the time then you will marry?"

He said, "Yes, of course, I like very much to get married and I've some person already that I want to marry."

I asked him, "What is the reason you want to get married?"

He told me, "Well, it's a very sad life to be a bachelor."

For example, when he has a glass of juice or drinks something in the morning, then hurries to go to work and puts the glass on the table without cleaning or putting it away, after he has worked all day long, he comes back in the evening (laughter), the glass is still there. No one moved it away or tidied up for him. So he feels like it's pretty untidy, cold and unwelcoming. He would like to get married. It would be better.

After some time, I heard that he was married.

I said, "Oh, good! Congratulations! Ah, now you are married."

He said, "Yes."

I said, "Well, I wish you all the best luck in the world. I still remember the story you told me about the empty glass on the table which you put in the morning after breakfast and it still stayed there until after you got back from work in the evening. So what happened now to the glass story? Did it change?"

He said, "Oh, yes, it changed. There are two glasses on the table when I come back." (Master and everyone laugh. Applause)