No 42 of Living Life Series 1
One viewpoint of life after death is based on simple axis of one heaven, one hell and one earth where humans are the chosen beings created by God. Other beings are just there or created to serve primary purpose of humans to be one with God after death.
The oriental view often involves rich visualisations of many levels or dimensions of existence, of various grades where often what is heaven to some is hell to others. The difference between one dimension and the next can be ‘sky-wide’ so to speak.
Just because there is one Earth, we cannot view that there is only one (or two) dimensions other than our material dimension. We accept through reality that there are many countries on Earth, but some could not accept that there could be many dimensions beyond material dimension.
Let us now deal with how we can reach or be one with God, the ultimate in all religions where we trade uncertainty with certainty, and imperfection with perfection. Some refer to this as God, others as Universe, Cosmos, Perfection, Nature or Enlightenment.
In eastern culture, in particular Chinese culture, we have the Buddha Worlds and the Deity Worlds.
For the deity worlds, there is the Jade Emperor or God, and there are the deity masters who teach the Way or Tao. God is not just possible of answering prayers but of helping the deserving through imparting his blessings of life energy force to give beings better births in form of beings, such as elevating beings to higher dimensions. The same can be said with regards to all the deity beings with Him.
Depending on their spiritual station some have life-span of aeons and some term these as eternal. Indeed if they cultivate their positive godly energy through continuous compassion for all beings, they can live on in perpetuity or in eternity.
For Buddha worlds, we have the Posats or Boddhisattvas, who vow to help all beings to attain enlightenment. The concept here is to develop spiritually so that beings have less of attachment to self or ego. Beings can do so by primary self-effort or by help of Posats or Buddhist Saints. The primary purpose is not to develop more spiritual energy or merits via good deeds or thoughts but to go direct to eradication of ego.
Nevertheless, the paths of the Way / Tao and the paths of Buddha World do converge when the apex of perfection is reached. Perfection can best be simplified as purity.
In short, beings move on in life because of life energy force. Energy force can be combination of good and bad, and for good there are grades of goodness or purity.
For example doing good because of ego for doing good is not as good as doing good not out of ego needs. Finally perfection by whatever religious means involves being so pure that ego boundaries do not exist, and one is one with the Cosmos / Nature.
The emphasis of Deity Way is to do more good and the highest good can be done when ego is sublimated for the common good. Deities help beings by transferring their merits or life energy force to others. This itself is one form of doing good. The focus in Buddha Worlds is to go direct to renunciation of ego, and we have the two main schools of Buddhism, the Big Wheel and the Small wheel. For the former, Posats lie in wait to release beings from suffering by helping them with merits, and then to teach them the egolessness way to perfection.
Whatever the ways or subways, the paths cross and meet at perfection or ultimate purity, when there is no more ego, when there is pureness that transcends cycle of rebirths, and when eternity in perfect purity is attained.
Basically, the problem of beings is that clinging or attachments shackle the majority of beings down to frequent rebirths in dimensions of relatively short life-spans, and this in itself is not satisfactory and wanting. The more we want the more we do want, and this perpetuates beings in endless cycles of rebirths. The solution is to stop wanting and at same time not to deny existence of being (i.e. to cultivate selflessness or no-ego but not deny existential self). Self should not be perceived or cultivated as ego, as collection of wanting or attachments. The purification of being by removal of impure thoughts or wanting leads beings closer to be at one with ultimate purity in God or purity of Enlightenment.
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