No 52 of Living Life Series 1
All of us have both good and bad in life. There will always be happiness and sorrow, gains and loss, win and defeat, health and ill-health etc. The list goes on.
We must not dwell helplessly into our ill fate but try to resolve, ameliorate or at least contain and come to terms with it.
We should not amplify it but focus on our good fate and ensure more of the good to come. We have to create wealth, both worldly and spiritually.
We too have to deplete or miminise our bad fate. This concept may be foreign to many and controversial somewhat but nevertheless worth mention.
We can do so by fasting, observing austerity of life on certain days, give up comfortable life for a day or two to attend to the unfortunate, give up our meals occasionally and save the money for the destitute. The two fold advantages are obvious. We voluntarily allow our bad fate to take fruition in small bites and in a managed and controlled way. At the same time, we create good fate by doing good acts for mankind and hopefully all beings. (Good deeds include donating coffin, becoming a monk or priest will bring good fate for the doer and the family lineage as well.)
Both thoughts and actions count. Sincerity and commitment are determinants of extent of good fate. But in doing austerities, self --affliction, penances or self discipline to attempt to somewhat deplete the bad fate elements, we must not go overboard to extreme of self-injury, self -depreciation and destruction. We must not injure or harm our body and soul (spirit, if you like).
We must strike a comfortable and easy balance and be at peace with the two extremes of indulgence and denial of self as aptly depicted by the image of lord saint Lord Bo Tien balancing the two elements with his feet.
So in short, there are two ways to manage fate, deplete the bad fate in managed way in small bites or instalments and creating more of the good fate so that the bad has less chance to manifest.
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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!.
