“My life is not my life anymore. My life belongs to all of you. Whatever affects you, affects me. Whatever I have to do, I have to do. All because of you. I don’t have a life. I don’t have any freedom. I don’t have even freedom to choose my clothes or to wear what color my hair is. But I don’t mind too much. It’s just that it’s not like I choose to. It doesn’t matter; it’s a small thing.” “The value of a person or a Master doesn’t lie in the house, bigger house or bigger temple for Her or for Him, or a lot of stuff. It’s not like that. The value is inside. And if I know my own value, it doesn’t matter what I have or don’t have, it’s the same.” “This is about Ananda, the one who told us all of these stories. We are in debt to him. If he wasn’t there, there was no video, no digital camera, nothing. He’s the one who brought all of these to us. And he was even the one who pleaded with the Buddha to let the nuns come into the sangha, because of His mother, His step mother, of course.”

“There was a bhiksu who had adopted a sami (sramanera). Every day, he made him learn the sutras by heart, very diligently on time, and never failed.” “Next day, the sami (sramanera) was going out begging again. He was walking and crying at the same time. Then one of the rich persons in that region came and asked him, ‘Why are you crying, monk?’ ‘My Master is too strict to me. If I recite it on time and fulfill the schedule, then He is very happy. If not, then he is very cranky, scolding me. Going out for alms is not always precise. Some days they don’t give or give very little, then I have to go farther. And then when I come home, it’s late. I have no time to fulfill the schedule. So I am very sad. That’s why I’m crying.’ ‘So from today then, you just come to my house.’” “So since then, he always goes there and has everything he needs, and Master and disciple, very, very happy, happy, happy!” So the Buddha said, “The sami (sramanera) at that time is the past reincarnation of myself. The noble gentleman who offered food every day to the Master and disciple, that was Ananda.” In a Chinese idiom, they say, “Strict masters produce the best disciples, excellent disciples.” So maybe because the Master was so strict, so Ananda, life after life has such a good memory, and good point!

And now we come to “The Names of Hells.” “In Eastern Jambudvipa, is a mountain range called Iron Ring. The mountain is pitch black because the light of the sun and moon do not shine on it. A great hell is located there named Ultimately Uninterrupted. …Within the Iron Ring are endless hells like that. There is also the hell of Crying Out, the hell of Pulling Tongues, ….” “Each of those hells contains lesser hells numbering from one or two or three or four to hundreds of thousands. Each of those lesser hells has its own name. Such are the karmic responses of beings in Jambudvipa who commit evil deeds. The power of karma is extremely great. It rivals Mount Sumeru in its heights. It surpasses the great oceans in its depth. It obstructs the path leading to sagehood. For that reason, beings should never think that minor bad deeds are unimportant or assume that they do not count as offenses. After death, there will be retributions to undergo that cover all those details.” “To inflict these retributions in each hell, hundreds of thousands of instruments made of copper, iron, stone, or fire arise from karmic forces. Those four materials come into being in response to the kinds of karma offenders created. How much more would that be the case for the sufferings in all the many hells? If I were to speak in detail, it would take eons.”