No 16 of Living Life Series 1
Live life without guilt and fear. That's what we should do. It is due to lack of knowledge and understanding of life that fear and guilt arise.
When there is ignorance and lack of self-confidence, there is fear and guilt. We feel that we may be punished or suffer consequences.
The answer lies in trying to understand, to be level headed and at peace and to try to understand the best solution, the best and most pragmatic option. If there is no solution, such as when perhaps fated somehow, how to reconcile and move on.
Often, going for the rainbow and the horizon is the cause of our fear of not being able to do as well and to have as much. We end up being dissatisfied, and unhappy. We end up fearful that we cannot achieve when we have in reality already achieved to to a great deal. We want more and that causes us to feel pain, fear and guilt. We wonder if we have suffered retribution, if we are being punished by father Heaven and so on.
That is understandable but we need not be in this situation. Cave dwellers in pre-historic times fear thunder and lightning and they worship them as God not out of love for God but out of fear.
Modern day men are better off but still harbor fear and guilt even if they are religious.They feel intimidated. They fear they have wronged Heaven and the gods. They think the divine saints or gods are like men and have wrath and will exact punishment and retribution in men for failing to meet up to standards which wolves in sheep's clothing, namely in form of some erring leaders amongst them proclaim. They speak for the gods and saints. Other then fostering fear and guilt, they encourage the unnecessary craving and pain for perfection.
When this is often an illusion, there is depression and more fear and guilt. Is there this need to foment restlessness and disturb the peace which often eludes men who have fear and guilt.We should not end up as modern prehistoric cave dwellers.
Lord Bo Tien is not the first saint to tell us not to have fear and guilt. There are only better ways of doing things and to improve and move on in life.
We should however avoid illusion that we are never wrong and already know a lot. This other extreme breeds conceit and makes mockery of spiritual values. We will become complacent and think we are gods amongst men. That is why there are wars and terrorism amongst men in name of religion.
Lord Bo Tien in seated pose bids us with left hand in salutation to balance the two extremes of fear and guilt on one side and conceit and self deception on the other side as portrayed by his feet balancing the two elements (yin and yang).
Live without fear, guilt, self deception and conceit.
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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!.
