Master Hai Tao - True Love Begins from Home 5/5, Stories, Practicing Dharma is to Shrink Ego

(English subtitles) 真愛人生由家開始 Buddhist Master Hai Tao (海濤法師, born in 1958) talks dharma.
Subtitles:
Practicing dharma is to shrink ego. The worldly methods is to expand ego, which is upside down. The majesty of the Buddha is incomparable. When I just left home, I have good fortune, I was at the Huiri Lecture Hall. A laywoman worship Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva (Guanshiyin) there every day because she doesn't know words. She came when we were practicing morning and evening course. But she didn’t care what we recited. She just chanted Avalokitesvara anyway. Then, she was always absent at noon. I thought she went home and took a nap at noon. No, then I knew that she would help others make vegetarian buns at noon every day, working from 11 am to 2 pm. They will sell it at 4 pm. She earned 7,000 NTD per month and spent 3,000 on herself and and spent 4,000 on charity and assisted the temple. They are Bodhisattvas, she told me. In addition, she told me, Master Haitao,
1:00
if you have any question, just ask me, Avalokitesvara will tell me, and I will pass it on to you. It's the fact. Later, when the Huiri Lecture Hall was to be demolished, she told me, now that the lecture hall was to be torn down, I will have no place to worship, and I did not want to disturb my son. I'm recruited to Dashan Temple in Chiayi and responsible for washing vegetables so that I was allowed to live there, and I can continue to worship Buddha. You are welcome to see me when you are available. I went to scold her son not filial. My home doesn't lack money, said his son. My mother likes this life, she is very happy. She is really happy. This is the highest level of practice.
During the time I was at Huiri Lecture Hall, I would take the trash out every evening. When you practice, you need to go the reverse way. There are things you've never done before that you must do now. Such as, take out the trash, clean the ditch, go to the bank, wait in line.
2:00
Then you can eradicate your bad habits. If you move slowly, please move quickly. If you speak loudly, speak softly. Then you can change yourself. So I took out the trash every day. There was an elderly couple outside looking for empty bottles to recycle in the garbage. Stinky. I kind of despise these two elders every time I pass them. One afternoon, when I was receiving phone call at the Huiri Lecture Hall, two elders suddenly walked in. Aren't they the couple recycling garbage? They handed me an envelope and said: Master, you will tear down the lecture hall and build a new one. We've recycled garbage for 4 months and earned 110 thousand. This is for you to build lecture hall. On hearing that, I almost fell to my knee. I looked down on them before. From then on, before I take out the trash,
3:00
I will classify them well and dare not throw them randomly. I feel I am so blessed that I am good at studying. People think I'm smart enough to get multiple doctorates to contribute more academic degree for Buddhist society. However, I found the real doctorates are those Bodhisattva who are illiterate and recycle garbage. I regard them as the doctorate of life and that change my lifetime concept. I would like to start over. From then on, I changed. Every day, I clean table for everybody. Back then, there were 6 monks. One eats congee, the other eats rice, these are his chopsticks, he adds milk powder, and he adds...
I did all these chore. I want to be a new person. Raise your hand if you're a man and can't do laundry. So many. Your wife is so kind to you. You need to start over to do laundry and wash dishes by yourself. Try to cook yourself and let your wife eat, she will scold you to death. You only know how to eat, but swap to you, you wouldn’t know how to cook.
4:00
You have to learn and go the opposite way. At that point, you can reach mid way. Let's recite 4 phrases by Master Oee, which I like very much. Please follow me. Holding precepts is the foundation; Pure Land is the home; Watching the heart is important; rely on virtuous friends. For a spiritual practitioner, even the ordinary, morals are roots. So we have to obey precepts and disciplines. Laypeople have to hold the Five Precepts basically. No kill, no steal or robbery, no sexual misconducts, no fraud, no alcohol. By the way, may I do a survey here? Raise your hand if you haven't taken the full Five Precepts yet? Too many. No wonder the economy is not prosperous now. Put your hand down. Let me tell you, people's behavior affect the world. If everybody do good deeds, the world economy will be prosperous.
5:00
This is the essence of Buddhism. If you bring forth the resolve to take Five Precepts for Malaysia, this merit can make Malaysia a bit more stable. If I take the precept of no killing today and transfer the merit to my mom, my mother's illness may be half as painful. This is the merit of precept.
There was a monk named Dayou. His mother had skin cancer and hastily told her neighbor: Hurry to find my son and daughter.