LIVING LIFE SERIES 1

A BO TIEN (武天) MISSION INITIATIVE LAUNCHED ON 28TH SEPT 2010 BY INNER TRUTH NETIZEN 2. THE MISSION IS TO SHOW THE WAY TO HOPE, INNER PEACE AND ULTIMATELY SALVATION FOR ALL BEINGS. THE PURPOSE IS TO SAVE SOULS. IT IS WAY BEYOND NORMAL GOOD WORK LIKE CHARITY AND WELFARE ACTIVITIES. NO ONE SHALL BE SAVED BY GOOD WORKS ALONE BUT BY MORE THAN GOOD WORK. THERE IS NEED TO BE IMBUED WITH THE BASIC DOCTRINE COMMON TO AND BEHIND ALL RELIGIONS AND SECTS. LIVE IN DOCTRINE. DOCTRINE IN LIFE IS PARAMOUNT.

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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!.

Monday, February 14, 2011

Glimpses of The New Age Doctrine

No 242 of Living Life Series 1

Thoughts for the day, courtesy of BWY

(1) Lemonade of life need us to have sugar and water, not just lemon from lemon tree. Sages and saints can provide sugar and water of life while we grow our lemon tree of life to produce lemon fruits. But such fruits cannot be lemonade of life if we do not have sugar and water of our own. Help from sages and saints can make the difference.

(2) Shit of life can be channeled to grow lemon trees if we know how. They need not pollute our life and make it stink to high heaven. We must turn our misfortunes into fortunes and that must be done somehow, some way and whenever we can, for no way we can stay away from shit all the time. More of lemon trees we must have and then we can have more sweetness out of lemonade in life.

(3) "Neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you" Matthew 7:6

Do not cast pearls to swines or this be sheer waste but cast them to oysters and bigger pearls there will be. Do not waste time trying to win over those not ready for the doctrine but do so only for those who are prepared, primed, ready and receptive. Evangelism can be misdirected.

The above are glimpses of new age doctrine format presented by BWY. The presentation or format is more appealing to the new generation so as to rejuvenate the religious thought and fervour. Otherwise, the good works of the old may not see the light of the day in time to come.

whole chicken on its own
not appealing as the ultimate
dishes they end up in

That is why there must be new sects and new ways, new forms of approach but only involving mere modification of substance.

This is just like new ways of cooking the chicken but the outcome will make the difference if we innovate, repackage and re -invent. The dishes may be different and may even be new but the meat used is still chicken. The garnishing and other ingredients need to be different. Even fried chicken cannot be the same way it is fried over the decades. That is why we have modern fast food chains for fried chicken.

New age dishes or religions or sects of a given religion need to come on stream and are unavoidable. The above should be the thoughts for the day. Let us call this the new age doctrine. This certainly may be the way to go. Isn't this food for thought? Or perhaps they afford glimpses of manifestations of the new age doctrine format for the truth of ancient wisdom to make it simple and more relevant for the new generation and era.

We must never ever insist that we stick to the old and decry the new. We must not be die hard fundamentalist or be lost and buried in history. Even God sends down new saints and prophets from time to time to better meet and keep pace with the march of time. Some may not agree and this will be alright .... just a bone of contention and we can always agree to disagree.

There are many roads to Rome and there are many religions and sects committed to God. There are many ways to apply the same principle, the same one truth of God and saints. This is the Inner Truth message for which Lord Bo Tien is a divine messenger of God. There is unity in diversity. There is convergence in divergence.

There is balance and harmony of yin and yang for the 'sages' amongst men who wield mastery of yin and yang but not so for the many 'lost' in web of yin and yang. The mastery is depicted in the symmetry and balance of the pakua where every point is both the beginning and the end and yet there is no beginning and end. Just like existence be it for the universe or that beyond, there is both a beginning and the end and yet no beginning and no end.

If there be need for choice of way to peace in life, is there a need to follow any specific way or to choose the best of the spread like in buffet of sorts? Yes, we need not be aligned to any way but can pick a bit here and a bit there so long as the combination makes sense for us. But fundamentalists will raise hue and cry that this is not the way.

The one who belongs to no religion, the so-called free thinker, is actually no free thinker at all but he is a believer of what he thinks is believable and best for him. He is likely to be one who has doubts and will pursue the doubts. He will not be cowed to believe wholesale but will choose from the buffet of spread of beliefs and have his say and way.

This has been remotely referred to by Lord BoTien when He said that we should not be upset if amongst those who come to us, there are those who disagree and have doubts. Doubts can be healthy and if they can be overcome, the seeker of life will be stronger in affinity with God and saints even if he started out as non believers of God and saints.

The new age doctrine will lead to bigger share of beings who believe in God or Divinity but who are both non aligned to any religion and yet believe in some way to all. But religionists will be ruffled by them and feel threatened. This group has grown in sizable proportion and has made impact in new age society. but this does not necessarily spell the drop in popularity of institutional religion.

On the contrary, if men of religions adopt an open and liberal mind, more accomodative, perhaps a wee bit less dogmatic fundamentalist stance, the opposite effect may be the case. "Take it or leave it approach" must be relegated to the incinerator, or at best, be on back burner, or perhaps just take a back seat.

Ultimately, we must remember that religion is only a means to the end but not the end itself. The end is inner peace of spirit in God or Divinity. You can have this even if you say there is no God but only goodness of life. There is no need to squabble over, terms, names, semantics and concepts. After all, a rose by any name is till a rose they say.

Thanks to BWY, this article comes about and in conclusion, let us remember what representative of Lord Bo Tien said and will say, " The lordship is not here to start a new relgion or sect or to champion any but he did choose the frame work of a Chinese ethnic temple to begin with, for even in such a temple, the truth can be found"

Lord Bo Tien. "The doctrine (truth) is my image and the image is the doctrine (truth) "

Many like BWY are not wrong but are near to the saints like the lord even if they may be far or do not belong...... This new age approach is to be reckoned and given the limelight. The relative decline of religions if any does not mean that there will be more of the unsavory Godlessness but may spell the contrary as God and saints will have their way. Trust God and saints to make things right. 'God is' but we cannot say 'man is'.

Lest you forget

Do not make the mistake of idolizing any man who tells you about the Word. He is in the same boat as you even if religion refers to him as a religious leader. Mere mention of a religious leader is as good as encouraging idolising of that man. Why must there be hierarchy in religion? Hierarchy is conventional but may end up as liability rather than a necessity or asset. There should be no caste or hierarchy system in religion. No one is to be considered above another in religion. A religious leader or follower is a servant to serve you and not a leader to be idolised. Do not put him on the pedestal and make a monster out of him.

MAY ALL BE WELL AND HAPPY

May all be well and happy. May they have peace. May our departed friends and kins be well, happy and have divine peace. The main writer wishes the best for all for those near and far. Our kins may be far when they had passed on to better lives but they are near though far. He remembers and wishes his parents Mr Siow Soo Koh and Mdm Tay Hung Siang, his uncles and aunties like Mr Tay Koon Huay, his cousins like Mr Tay Chong Sim and his friends like Mr Philip Png well and have abundance of life. May they be rich in spirit for without such ancestors, there will be no posterity - no us and no you and me. They have blessed us and we must blessed them in return forever and ever.