Buddhist Monk Quotes in Heaven & Earth (1993)

Le Ly: I am insulted at the insolence of men. They don't respect women. I cannot believe such men have known a mother's love.

Buddhist Monk: If I show you a tiny baby killed by a bayonet and say it is his karma, we may cry for the baby, for the baby's karma and the bad karma of the soldier who killed it. But we must never use our emotion to deny the wheel of incarnation that caused the act. It is as natural as the movement of the sun and the moon.

Le Ly: Master, how can I tell him we must be friends and soul mates without being husband and wife?

Buddhist Monk: He has created much soul debt for himself. But if you fail to give him the opportunity to redeem himself, you will only increase your own soul debt. The man hate that blinds you will blind any man you find in a future life. If you turn Steve away, you will be rejecting your own redemption. Child, you have forgiven the man who raped you, destroyed your country, harmed your family. And this is how it should be. Your karma is mixed with Steve, to Tommy and Alan. The future, the past are all the same. If you divorce, you will only have to come back again and work it out again. The path to Nirvana is never being safe, but tricky and steep. And if you walk only on sunny days you'll never reach your destination. Choose well my peach blossom.

[Recites an Asian proverb, then translates in English]

Buddhist Monk: A child without a father is like a house without a roof.