..续本文上一页l use water buffaloes to pull a plow, to plow the field for planting rice. That way we don”t need gasoline, we only need grass for the buffalo to eat. Because the water buffalo works very hard to help the farmers to plow the land, they are considered to be friends of humans, and we Vietnamese never eat the flesh of water buffalo, because we consider them to be our friends. It is like in India, where no one eats the flesh of the cows, because the cows are very helpful to every Indian citizen. Cows carry things, and help in several ways—even the cow dung is used. Everything from the cow can be used to help make daily life easier, and that is why our Indian friends never have the heart to eat the flesh of the cows. From time to time they use leather from cows, but that does not mean that they have to kill the cow in order to get the skin. No, they have to wait until the cow dies in order to get the skin to make into leather. So, if you go to India and you see that there are people who use leather products, that doesn”t mean that they have killed the cows. So you have to look deeply to understand. In Vietnam the same thing is true with the water buffaloes. We know that the water buffaloes work very hard to pull the plow and help us, and that is why we take very good care of water buffaloes, and buffalo boys always consider the water buffaloes to be their friends.

　　I have had the opportunity to ride water buffaloes myself. It”s very nice. One day I just lay down on the back of a water buffalo. It was warm and soft, and the buffalo knew the way home, and just brought me home like that. Many buffalo boys enjoy going home sitting on the back of their water buffalo, and they play the flute. Some of them use lotus leaves to shelter themselves from the sunshine, and go home that way, very beautifully.

　　So, the buffalo boys usually have three things. The first thing is a scythe to cut the grass to feed the buffaloes at home; the second thing is a flute, because they like to play flute while sitting on the back of the buffalo; and the third thing is a lotus leaf to shelter them from the hot sunshine. Those are their belongings. Don”t think that the life of a water buffalo boy is hard. No, a buffalo boy can be very happy.

　　So, our young man who proposed the strategy to bring the four astronauts home was such a buffalo boy. After he had proposed the strategy, he continued to watch the moon each night. One day, he did not see the tree on the moon, and he did not see Cuoi, either. So he knew that the four astronauts had been rescued. He was so happy because he had been able to save the lives of four people, two Russians and two Americans. But a week later, he did not know why, looking at the moon, he saw the tree again, and he saw Cuoi again. He did not understand. When he looked at the moon one week ago, he did not see either the tree or Cuoi, so he believed that Cuoi was home on Earth again. But now, looking up at the moon, he saw that the tree was there, and Cuoi was there, as before. He just did not understand why.

　　This is why I think you have to help me, to shed light on the matter, to find out why Cuoi had returned to Earth, and why he didn”t like it here, and why he wanted to go back to the moon. I think you need to learn a lot of psychology in order to understand. So maybe today, during your Dharma discussion, you will discuss why, after having been exiled from Earth for so many thousands of years, Cuoi did not want to stay with us, among humans. He must have found life here difficult, so he preferred to live alone on the moon. He knew the technique to get back to the moon. Tomorrow we will celebrate the coming of the moon together. We shall be able to look up at the moon together. But today, let us think a little bit about what happe…

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