In ancient times, there was a king who ruled over a very beautiful kingdom. He was an ethical and spiritual person; he even practiced the Quan Yin Method! We know very well that taking up spiritual practice doesn't make one become a saint overnight, so his majesty still had some faults.

One day, he made a mistake. Do you know what mistake he made? That day he was taking care of his beloved horse, and was going for a ride on it. A monk happened to pass by, and he begged for some food from the king. Busily caring for his dear horse, the king became impatient and annoyed. He told the monk to go away, but the monk didn't move. The vexed king said, "All right, you may have these!" He gave him some apples used to feed horses. This type of apple is very small, and is not meant for human consumption. Of course they are edible, but they taste so bad that humans rarely eat them. He said, "All right, go quickly and bother me no more!" The monk took the apples and left.

After having taken care of the horse, the king was a bit remorseful. He thought, Rarely does a monk come by and beg from me. He was so pitiful; his clothes were ragged; he had nothing to eat; he was skinny, so old and pathetic looking. I should have taken good care of him and given him some food!" He was remorseful, so he went home and made a mark on the "Selfless Service" column of his spiritual diary, because he failed in this respect.

That day in his meditation, he saw the merit accrued by his horse-apples had grown to the size of two big hills. He gave something to a person, but he did it with ego and aversion instead of love. Therefore, his accrued merit turned into horse-apples as numerous as two big hills. Good heavens, the hills were tall! God told him, "You have to consume these two hills of horse-apples before you can become one with me!"

Good grief! He was frightened to death. "How could I possibly swallow so many horse-apples?" Shedding tears, he went to seek help from his Master. I wonder whether his Master was named Ching Hai or not. (Laughter) Perhaps it was another name, a different name in ancient times.

He cried, "Master, I am in grave trouble!" The Master asked him what it was, so he narrated the whole story, and asked the Master to save him.

His Master replied, "I can't do anything. I have told you what to do and yet you didn't follow. You have to save yourself by consuming the two big hills of horse-apples!"

He cried like a baby and begged his Master to help him. The Master said, "All right, you may try this. Tomorrow, you go out with your daughters. Bring along a clear glass wine bottle with red liquid inside and pretend that you are drinking wine. Then, start to talk nonsense like a crazy person while fooling around with your two or three daughters. Observing your behavior, people will gossip and talk ill of you. In this way, your karma will be eliminated."

He followed the instructions and acted accordingly. He pretended to drink wine, and fooled around with his daughters to make people think that they were his girl friends. The whole day, he ran around the city like an insane person. Recognizing him by his clothes, people began to gossip, "Do you see how bad our king has become? He is fooling around with women, and drinking a lot of wine....". The news spread throughout the city, and everyone began criticizing him. When he went home and meditated that day, he saw one of the hills was gone, but there was still a big hill of horse-apples left.

He again went to beg his Master, "Master, there is a hill of horse-apples. What should I do?

The Master replied, "Why, you just eat them."

The disciple said, "Master, I am not a horse. How can I finish them all?"

One of the hills disappeared so fast because all the inhabitants in the city ate them; it is impossible for him alone to consume the other hill.

The Master thought for a while and then told him, "All right, I'll see how I can help you." Later, he told the king to repeat the same actions in another place, and let the people there criticize him. Unfortunately, the population was smaller in that place. In his meditation that day, he saw the hill of horse-apples had reduced by half, but there was still half a hill left behind! Again he went to his Master crying. (Master laughs) Disciples always trouble their Master in this way. They make the mistake, and then ask their Master to solve their problem. This time his Master told him, "I really have no solution. You must eat them yourself."

The king kept pleading and crying, "Master, please have mercy on me... please!" He used all the sweet words that you know too well.

The Master said, "All right, stop it! You are giving me a headache! On the other side of this hill, there is a spiritual practitioner who is an Arhat, a saint. Go to him and provoke him, or make up a story so that he will malign you. Then he will consume the remaining half of the hill."

A saint can digest fast, so he can consume half a hill alone, which is equal to the digesting power of a whole city. You see, when I or any enlightened Master scolds you, it is to help you eliminate your karma quickly. The karma of some people is too heavy that it cannot be eliminated by other methods -- not even through scolding by ordinary people, because they are not powerful enough. Therefore, the Master has to scold you personally.

Unfortunately, you are not grateful to the Master, but speak ill of and hate the Master instead. Isn't this a topsy-turvy world? However, I won't mind. You can always take your horse-apples back (Master laughs), no problem. If you cannot tolerate my scolding, the horse-apples will be returned to you immediately.

The king went to the other side of the hill and found the saint. While pretending to give him a massage, and told the story, "Master, are you aware that our king (he was wearing ordinary clothes to disguise his identity) has been acting contemptibly lately. He goes about seizing women and frightening everyone; the ladies especially all hide from him. He also drinks profusely and talks nonsense. He despises heaven and earth, and has stopped practicing spiritually. He is no longer the ethical person he was, and seems to have become possessed. Now he is an evil man practicing devilish ways...."

Despite his lengthy speech, the saint didn't react at all. The king repeated his words, "Master! Do you know that our king has become an evil person? He is seizing women everywhere. The women are so afraid that they all are in hiding. Having become a drunkard, he talks nonsense and has become immoral. He is not managing the country and the court, and neglects all his duties. Now he looks like a ghost -- a very evil one. What do you think? Don't you think that he is very bad?"

The saint remained silent(laughter) as though he had not heard anything. Oh! The king thought he was deaf, so he repeated loudly: "Master! (Master and everyone laugh) Do you know that our king has become very evil...?" Then the saint hit him once and said, "I am not going to eat your horse-apples! Take them back with you."

In great shame, the king went back to his Master crying, "Master! It is useless. He saw through my plot and refused to eat them. What should I do now?

His Master replied, "Well, you have to eat them yourself!"