NO BARGAINING
Long time ago, that day, maybe around 15 years back, when our Master took his meditating practitioners on a trip back to our home country. The tour firstly aimed at visiting the Grand Master, then Trúc Lâm Monastery in Đà Lạt and the other ones at Bà Rịa, Vũng Tàu. Later, it headed to the South, Vĩnh Long, to drop at Venerable ĐP. Finally, the group reached HàTiên and everyone would joyfully taste the seawater there.
It was the days before the Lunar New Year then. So, along both sides of Highway 1 or in the alleys across many towns, we saw many bazaars scattering here and there, like mini swapmeets but hectic, where watermelons, oranges, tangerines or other festive fruits were for sale. The buses once stopped and we jumped down to them. We asked the price for each dozen and habitutally haggled. The vendor smiled kindly and said “Oh! Ladies, a dozen here includes 16, not 12.” Everyone was overjoyed for hurry purchases.
The local people were busy shopping for the Lunar New Year, so Hà Tiên beach was deserted that day. Our Master walked alone on the trail along the sea. Just a couple of tourists! Just a few retailers by the sand side. Among them was a woman silently sitting with a small basket in front of her. Our master was passing her. He stopped and said something. Then, she hurriedly pulled out the paper bags. I saw it from afar and could tell he was buying something. I came over, ready to pay. I was assigned the group treasurer. A quick glimpse at her basket. Oh, what? Y’all, dried shrimps!
I didn’t dare to ask him, but I definitely looked at him. He looked another way, solely looked at the retailer who was so much happy. She pulled out all the dried shrimps, packed them in the bag, weighed it with a hand scale. She, then, handed the bag to him, and I paid for it. Holding the bag and walking over far away from her, I whispered:
- “Master, why’d you buy these dried shrimps?
He smiled without any word.
I dared to ask him one more.
- “Why didn’t you try a bargain, Master?”
Like he didn’t hear me. He just looked out at the sea. Not an answer. I murmured to myself “Maybe Master thinks he’s still in America and forgot a deal!”
Seemingly our Master distributed all those shrimps among the students. That was the story. It was possibly forgotten. But recently, at some meeting, someone recalled it and said loudly “No bargaining” We all cracked up. From the innermost feelings of the longtime students, we all knew “Our Master’s finance was limited but his heart is so generous.”
Between the years of 2000 and 2019, our Master possibly held ten pilgrimage trips to India. Even in the last years, though moving with physical discomfort, he determined to accompany with us, his pilgrims. Back then, 1 USD was worth around 40 Indian rupees. The Master often kept in his hands a huge wad of cash, peeled the paper cover and gave it to rows of hotel staffs where we stayed for one or two nights. Only at Bodh Gaya did we spend for a whole week. Often on the last day, the staff gathered outside his room, waited for his tips. We quietly looked at our Master while the Indian workers looked earnestly happy. Our Master also laughed and joked at them. But we whispered among ourselves “Broke but how come he burnt money like a big royalty?”
Not only that, when booking the Indian tours, no matter what prices they offered, our Master accepted them without letting anyone haggling. We understood him. Who agreed, joined. Disagreed, then stayed home. At the end of each pilgrimage, the Master always offered souvenirs to each of us and bonus to those contributing to the tours. But many of us even voluntarily gave him extra money to keep generously handing out. Stunned, huh? He was overhanded but with other people’s moolah! Surprised, huh! Everyone was joyful with that.
Now, let talk about life back at the Monastery. Around five years ago, in 2015, on the 20th anniversary celebration of Dharma developing journey, all the senior monastics who were with our Master from the early beginning were present. Oh! The start-up time, “the time of hardship when a single grain of salt had to be split into two.” It means for 20 years the whole sangha resided at the Monastery just for their mind practice. Our monastery sits over 4 acres while all monks and nuns were aged except me, 63 then, but was the youngest and the most “adored”. Someone even joked “Under our Master-Commander-in-Chief are senior-retired generals.” Later on, with some more ordinations, I lost the “youngest record”. But my renunciation goal, just for mind culture, is unchanged. The Master didn’t care about expanding or upgrading the monastery. So, monks only did light tasks like watering plants and pulling weeds while nuns handled the cooking for the sangha.
Thus, heavier work required outside hiring. Sometimes, it might be paving the long walking way for meditation. It also might be digging the ground for tree planting, tree trimming or cutting down; or building some more personal cells for the sangha. Then, we had to hire one or two young men of different nationality. Sometimes they were contracted for continuous work in a long time, sometimes one or two weeks. Our resident monastics got aged and aged. The labor cost for each was at least $100.00 per day. Though too low if compared with the official pay, it was a growing concern. We had no stable income then.
Sometimes, some members of the mendicant community quietly said to me:
- “Please tell our Master to stop hiring those youngsters. How come he kept them years after years like raising kids?”
I felt somewhat worried about that and once brought it up to our Master’s attention:
- “Yes, Master. We were penalized for some banking overdrafts. Maybe we should slow down the work and stop such hiring. Others wondered why you cared of those 2 guys like your sons.”
He just smiled:
- “Ah! I might own them in past lives.”
And then, just like that. Nothing changed. The Master still kept finding jobs for them both and sometimes gave them extra tip as well.
The young guy came helping us for several years. Everyone knew him. Nice, smiling and greetings all the time. He was tanned and looked kind with smiling eyes and face. He was quick and strong with heavily manual work in the sun day after day. No wonder he was dark-skinned. I know he had to endure such hardship outside just because of his finance. He had to trade his physical strength for money to support his family in his homeland where he could be back for a visit once in a while. Sometimes when the work got bigger and busier, he’d bring his younger brother for help.
One day, when no one around, the Master asked me to go pay him. That day, the sun was still blazing but the working time was not over; he was crouching next to the pond. Seeing me, he looked up and smiled. I also smiled back raising and waving the bills. The guys stood up, walked over to reach the wage. Accidentally, our hands slightly touched. I felt his rough and calloused fingers.
Back inside, a surge of emotion arising! His youth! His age at school! So nice and meek! How come his smiles kept opening among dust, sweat in the burning sunshine? His hands should have held a pen in an air-conditioned classroom, but instead, they were holding stones, bricks, hammers, or saws in the scorching sun like this. Barely 20 years old, isn’t he? How com he had to give up his youth for family support and immigrate to this country for earning living day by day by manual work? Oh, God! His stiff and calloused hands! His hardened, roughened childhood and the daily meals soaked in sweat!
Until that moment, I got it, the reasons why our Master always found work for him and tipped him extra. I’m never gonna wonder “why hard up, our Master was so overhanded?”
And now, y’all, I’m the same. Limited budget but spend like a big boss. In the last few years, with Master getting weak, I hosted three Indian-Nepalese pilgrimages without him. About tours to India, same familiar travel companies, so whatever fees they quoted, I always accepted it even though they added something tempting “Ma’am, no matter what the price you name, it’s okay.” All the three trips went super smooth.
CONCLUSION
The joking words of the Master’s long-term students are the conclusion for this piece. In daily life, “No bargaining.” Why? When someone quotes a price, it’s what they’re expecting. When we say yes to it, they’ll be so happy, right? We, mind practitioners, should bring joy to everyone. So, yeah! “No bargaining.”
Dear friends, a Master can thoroughly understand his disciples. But the disciples could hardly grasp their Master’s full depth of compassion.
Bhikkhuni Thích Nữ Triệt Như
Sunyata Monastery, July 23, 2021
English version by Ngọc Huyền
Link to Vietnamese article: https://www.tanhkhong.org/a2602/triet-nhu-snhp021-khong-tra-gia
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