Know and Not Know

Spoken by Supreme Master Ching Hai
Los Angeles, U.S.A. March 12, 1994
(Originally in English)

There was a man who, because he saw that Master Ching Hai always went around and lectured, wanted to lecture also. And so the first day he came to the lecture hall about a hundred people were gathered there and he said, "Well, since you've wasted your time to come here, do you know the subject that we are going to talk about?" The audience said, "No, we don't know." And he said, "Since you don't know, tomorrow come back here, and I'll tell you."

The next day everyone came and he asked the same question again. And some people got angry and said, "we know." And so he said, "Well, if you already know, it's no good staying here, so see you tomorrow." Then, on the third day he came back again, and a few people gathered again and he asked the same question. So the audience got mad, and divided into two sections. One said, "We know," and the other section said that they didn't know what he was going to talk about. So he said, "All right, in that case, the ones who know should tell the ones who don't know.