No 66 of Living Life Series 1
In modern worldly life in society, we hear of concept of productivity by having work life balance.
For the working adult, we must not be workaholic and neglect social, personal and family life. There must be control and balance.
For the single or the young, this is sometimes referred to as work and play. All work and no play make Jack a dull boy.
For the one who is a follower of any given sect or faith, the Sakyamuni Buddha had this to say, “The home is the first temple, and your parents the first gods”. We must not neglect the home.
Even with spiritual dimension, we must strike a balance of devotion to family and to temple, church or mosque we belong to. Devotion to family and parents is as important as devoutness to saints and gods at religious shrine of a temple. If there is neglect of family and overzealous involvement in temple or church, then cult like habits may take root.
Thus balance in life takes on two perspectives, (I) spiritual work life balance and (II) worldly work life balance where life means personal and family life, and work means where we have our job or where we devote to God and the saints.
The seated image of Lord Bo Tien with feet astride the elements of yin and yang portrays the need for such balance.
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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!.
