And some of you want to be monks in our group again. I have told you for a long time already that we don’t accept any more monks or nuns. There’s no need. You just have that noble ideal and aspiration in your head and continue to live in the world and try to spread the Truth; try to encourage people to live a virtuous, compassionate life. That would be monkhood already. Even if you stay in the monk community and you don’t do anything helpful to the world to uplift people’s spirit and help them to find liberation, then you are no monk at all. The robe doesn’t make you a monk. […]
whatever you wear or not wear has nothing to do with your enlightenment. How many times you eat, has nothing to do with your enlightenment. Continue to practice this enlightening method. That’s important. And don’t boast about it. That’s why mostly I tell people not to tell their experiences to outsiders or family members even. Just sometimes, now and then, you write them in a Heartline, or you can’t bear to keep it once in a while – OK. But not every day or often go out boasting to people […] they praise you, they make your ego puffed up, and then you’re doomed, you’re finished. That is one thing. Another thing is that other people might think you are lying, or they might be jealous of you, and they will try to harm you in many ways…
