No 9 of Living Life Series 1
Lord Bo Tien explained that we can lead the family life but the same principles that put us on the path to spiritual success would stand us in good stead for the family or worldly life. (The reverse may not be true. Values that bring worldly success may not bring success in spiritual.)
We should not renounce or give up the family or worldly life but make use of worldly blessings so that we can have the health and mind to be better poised to lead the spiritual life firstly for our own good and then for the good of others if we can.
The success factors and methods for long term spiritual goals will bring on material success.
We need to succeed first before we can share our success with others.
We need to love ourselves before we can love others, namely our loved ones, then our friends, our society and lastly our foes.
For all blessings, we need to view and handle blessings correctly and enjoy more blessings. But if we view them wrongly and handle them incorrectly, we turn them into liabilities.
We should not crave and find life wanting. We should neither over indulge and ask for more and more, nor should we feel guilt and fear and deny our blessings thinking that this will win us the favor of God and saints.
There is need to steer the middle ground as depicted by Lord Bo Tien's image balancing the two elements of over indulgence and self mortification. This is true for worldy life. This is even true for spiritual life as well. His left hand in salutation pose bids us to steer the middle ground. This is the best way to handle the blessings of life be it spiritual or otherwise.
Lord Gautama Buddha summised on the blessings of life, "Health is the highest gain. Contentment the greatest wealth. Self confidence the greatest friend. Enlightenment the greatest bliss"
Live life the blessed way.
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The Living Life Series is dedicated to Lord Bo Tien (武天菩萨). The doctrine is in His image. The image is the doctrine. He who sees, understands and effects the doctrine sees and knows Him. He who does not see, know and effect the doctrine sees not and knows not the saint even if the saint or His image is beside him. The far may be near and the near may be far. Let the doctrine and the saint be part of our life. The lord saint in your life can be any heavenly saint of any religion, sect or school. The doctrine of truth is behind all and this is the Inner Truth that leads all (regardless of their religious affiliation or even if none) to inner peace and heaven on earth here and now and not just in the after life. The ideal worship and devotion is to know and effect the doctrine of God and the saints. The best gospel is the gospel of life. We learn from our life and the lives of others. The true temple is the world we live in. The sky is the roof of the temple and religions and sects are the pillars of the temple. All under Heaven are in the temple. Needless to say that all the saints we know are in this temple. Ji Gong Posat too is no exception. The whole wide world and web is the temple and must be regarded as a sacred place --- a temple for living and learning. It is more important that everyone that counts plays a role in this universal temple if due focus is to be given to the Mission of Heaven. Men must not be distracted by the agenda of men and end up serving the mission of man. That would be a far cry from the Mission of Heaven. We worship God and saints, not man however good that man may be. There should be no hero worshiping or idolizing of man whether he is a charismatic pastor, priest, monk, medium or lay leader. We don't even idol worship the image of any saint but reflect on what the image stands for. - the doctrine in the image. Omitofo 阿弥陀佛!.
