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!.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Beyond God

No 267 of Living Life Series 1

God Almighty The Jade Emperor

By convention, religion is about going towards God. But some may question why is there the need for God as the centre of focus? Why is there the need to fawn on God in order that we can have spiritual gains? Are such gains tentamount to favors from God in exchange for our adoration?

Why is there the need to please God when we want to please ourselves and to ensure our happiness beyond the flesh and blood? Do we need to please God before we can please ourselves with the ultimate peace in life? That will be belittling God and saints.

Do we need in the first place to please God and saints in the same way we try to please men? Do we put God in the same category as man? Is spiritual pursuit nothing more than being with God and do God need to hunger for human attention and adoration?

If spiritual pursuit is so myopic, then there is no real gain in being spiritual and the very weaknesses we see in men who worship and fawn on fellow man would be seen in those who worship God. (However, do not blame God when there are men who fawn on God and saints for the flower should not be blamed when ants and insects come to it for nectar. This is as what lord saint Lord Bo Tien said)

Yes, the Shangrila of spiritual way is focus on divinity and God and saints but goes beyond God.

Even if God and saints cannot be proven to be there or to be not there is immaterial. What is important is that we are able to arrive at the ultimate meaning and purpose of life.

We need to go away from going for recognition be it by fellow men or by God and saints.

To say that we do not need recognition is to be untruthful but to say that recognition is the end all of the purpose of life too is untruthful.

Why do God and saints tell us little of themselves but instead tell us more on the social and religious mores which can be independent of and detached from the existential reality of presence of God and saints?

That is, even if God and saints are fictitious and not what we are told they are, the spiritual values still stand and inject meaning and purpose to life not just in afterlife but in the here and now.

In short, we must go beyond God and this does not mean we forsake God. The truth of God and divinity lies not in the description of God and divinity but in the values and ethos eschewed in the name of God and divinity.

It is the same way in relation to our parents. When we grow up, we must go beyond our parents but this does not mean we do not love them but that we become adults and parents ourselves by imbibing their value systems, evolve our own additions and find our place in society and in life.

In fact, those who know the universal spiritual values know God and saints but those who know God and saints may not know the spiritual values and the truth and purpose of life. This is alluded to by Lord Bo Tien.

What is the truth and purpose of life? The truth is not God and saints but how to be in Shangrila without going to Shangrila or leaving the present life and circumstances.

How do we reconcile with the ups and downs of life, the yin and yang and be at peace over them without leaving them and without being tossed around by them. The way to be at peace with life and to find purpose and meaning in life is not in worship of God but in imbibing the spiritual values God represents. We translate and evolve them into our very own value systems that work for us and thus there will not be one religion or sect but many. This then is the way, the truth and the light. That is perhaps why some do not believe in practice of having images or idols of God and saints.

It is for the same reason that Lord Bo Tien gives precious little information of who He is other than that He is a messenger of God for truth and its spiritual values. He says that those who see truth and spiritual principles see and know Him but those who do not do not see or know Him even if He is right before them. Lord Bo Tien even said with regards to His image. The doctrine of Truth is His image and the image is the doctrine.

Lord Bo Tien

There is no need for a heavenly saint like Lord Bo Tien to display His heavenly splendour and to coerce submission, fear and subservience of men. The saints are there to help us to understand life and how to find that purpose and peace in life. They teach us the values that we need to cultivate to reach peace in life here and now and not wait for the after life. We can even have the ultimate in peace in life that can even be beyond God. What is important is that we become the embodiment of the values God and saints represent. Then we would have gone beyond (God) to cherish the values God represents.

What are these values? We must be at peace with the polarities of life that is the worldly contingencies such as praise blame, gain loss, joy and sorrow, fame and ill fame. This is depicted in seated image of Lord Bo Tien with feet atop and balancing the elements of yin and yang at His feet. His left hand in salutation bids us to stay the course and be steadfast. His right hand bids us to follow His lead to hold on to the sceptre of divinity and truth. He sits on the combined love and compassion of God and saints and this is depicted by the dragon chair He sits on. We too must sit and ride on the love of God and saints by cultivating love for life, our own life and the lives of others not just men but of all beings in all dimensions.

Buddhas are men and beings who attain the zenith of spiritual values and are beyond God. They epitomise the perfection or zenith of realisation of spiritual divine values in life. But they are not Godless. They are more than what God and saints want us to aspire to if we can but not all can.

Most however can attain a wee bit percentage of this ideal and that is enough for now. Shelter by God and saints will make up for the very finite capabilities of most beings. Do have a precious little and God through saints will multiply what little we could have to make it that more wholesome. Though we may not be Buddhas and the Three Pure Ones, we can then be immortals of sorts in heavens under Divinity though not in the supreme heavens in the universe beyond the known universe of earth, heavens and hells

Those who do not adulate Divinity but yet are able to imbibe the spiritual values are not Godless and are near and dear to God and saints. Not many are able to do so and there will be many who somehow need to worship and adulate God and saints to have any headway.

The two approaches are but two of the three ways to divine bliss elucidated by Lord Guatama Buddha, namely the devotional and wisdom path with the third being the energetic or discipline path.

The seemingly far therefore may appear to be near and the seemingly near may appear to be far. Such is the paradox that works both ways and in more ways than we think and if this be so, then there is in a way no paradox but in reality a synergy of sorts. This we can infer from what Lord Bo Tien reminded us.

We need to go beyond God (adulation) not because God (adulation) is not good. In fact, there is no doubt at all that God (adulation) is good for many but we need to go beyond God (adulation) and reach out to more good than can be achieved from mere belief in God (adulation). If we can, it is that more important that we cultivate divine virtues beyond mere adulation of God and saints. But the reality is that for many, adulation (devotion) to God is enough and perhaps the bottom line and even one of the common denominators of most spiritual paths.

Religions are in reality differing approaches providing a buffet of choices to divinity. This is the essence of the inner truth message of which Lord Bo Tien is a messenger. The message envisages commonality and oneness of divinity as evident from religions having common denominators despite different dogmas and approaches

Buddhist sects of the southern or Hinayana tradition go beyond God to stress on possibility of man to have perfect divine virtues beyond devotion to God and saints. But the Bodhisattva schools of the northern or Mahayana tradition prefer the primary approach of devotion to a saint (Divine saviour) so as to be born in heavenly paradise created by the vast merits of the saint and from then on, the followers can further cultivate divine virtues beyond adulation of the saint. This does translate into a two step process to divine fulfilment.

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.