246 - Chatting with Oneself

Preface:

    One year, winter arrived early in Seattle, Washington.

    Early one morning, I looked out the window and saw that the fountain in the courtyard had frozen solid. Icicles hung along its edges, glistening like a crystal chandelier. It was a scene of quiet, crystalline beauty.

    By evening, however, the world outside could be summed up in three words:

    Cold.

    Dark.

    Wet.

    The temperature had dropped below freezing.

    Darkness enclosed the house.

    And the wet was the ceaseless winter rain of Seattle.

    It was during such a winter that I sat alone in my study, writing beneath the glow of a lamp — this book, Chatting with Oneself.

    Allow me to explain its title.

    I have no intimate friends.

    In truth, I have no friends at all.

    There is no one with whom I can speak freely.

    I am Grand Master Lu. I have five million students in the True Buddha School — some close, others distant.

    With students of higher capacity, we chat a little more.

    With those of middling capacity, we chat a little less.

    With those of lesser capacity, we chat less still.

    And so, most of all, I converse with myself.

    This is how the book came into being.

    It is not note-taking.

    It is not writing in the ordinary sense.

    It is not creative composition.

    It is a conversation.

    I ask, and I answer.

    I question myself, and I respond.

    Why do I ask and answer my own questions?

    Because:

    “I understand myself best.

    I know that I am a gifted prodigy — one who is truly enlightened.”

    Question:

    “Are you mentally ill?”

    Reply:

    “Yes. If all sentient beings in this world are normal, then I must be mentally ill.”

    Question:

    “What do you mean?”

    Reply:

    “Conversely, if I am normal, then people throughout the world must be mentally ill.”

    Question:

    “Are all enlightened people like this?”

    Reply:

    “Yes. All enlightened people appear mentally ill — beyond the grasp of ordinary understanding.”

    Question:

    “Why is this so?”

    Reply:

    “Hahahahaha! How absurd! Life itself is such a joke that I could die of laughter.”

Living Buddha Lian Sheng Sheng-Yen Lu

17102NE 40th Ct.

Redmond

WA 98052

U.S.A.