Many make it seem so simple nowadays to be in the good books of God and secure places in Heaven.
We just have to believe in so and so and doing good is not enough. This is the unmistakable message of some men.
Then there is another group of men which say that being in the same religion or believing in the same prophet or saint is not enough. You must be in the right sect.
All these are due to men who think that to please God they must win more people to their fold. This is as though they are trying to win votes for a party to run the government.
Then there is yet another group of men who say that just believing is not enough. You must know the Doctrine or Word for the Word is God.
Then there is yet another group of men who say that just believing is not enough. You must know the Doctrine or Word for the Word is God.
Then there are yet those who say thus. Do not believe any other men but only in this or that man. Do not believe in what we read. Believe only in those few men for they are the latest to be anointed to lead men to God.
From another corner of the world, there are those who say you only need to call out the name of a saint nine or ten times and you will be in the paradise or pure land created by him out of compassion for those who could not grasp the Word or Doctrine, let alone practise and cultivate the spiritual life.
Men somehow like to make it so simple and easy. Yes, it is true that God or Heaven is indeed simple and pure but perhaps not as projected or construed. We only need to be pure and simple to be one with Heaven even in this life.
But men always complicate matters and make life so complex that it is not possible or rather difficult to be simple. The many layers of complexity that men spun around themselves are simply too many and to unwind from these can be tall order to many.
Be good and be simple Do good. Avoid wrong. Purify the mind. This is the teaching of Heaven, regardless of religion or saint.
But men are never simple and they are trapped in centuries upon centuries of complexity. The religions and sects they dwell in then cannot be simple because they are never simple. The more religious there are, often the less simple they are.
That is why the way out is to go to basics, to go for the inner truth - the upper source of a river for clear water. This Lord Bo Tien said.
But still somehow or other, people in his mission either don't know or don't want to know. They prefer to deal with the downstream and the tributaries and pride themselves for doing wonderful job of the mission.
What more can we say and do except to say this? It is supposed to be simple and easy. But the moment the egos of men come into the picture, presto, it becomes no longer simple but complex and distant.
We become separated by wide guff from Heaven by complexities of life, the yin and the yang the sages of old in China talked about. These make us go round and round in life. That is indeed the problem.
Lord Bo Tien said that the issues of men are many and plentiful. Yes indeed he is right. We need to make life and spiritual simple and easy but the moment we said yes to this, we start to backslide and make it complex again. We create more issues. This is man and the very nature of man. Omitofo.
For that matter, men make the 48 vows of Omitofo so elaborate and complex so much so that they become difficult to understand. Instead of being thankful and one with Amitabha, we find him distant though we are awed by him and his majesty.
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| Lord Bo Tien |
If this continues, many may think Amitabha Buddha is a figment of imagination of men who just somehow add to the confusion of the many views on religion and God.
Men especially clever men or rather those who are too clever may often plant Trojan horses within religions, sects or temples. They make religions become no longer the same as in the days of the founders.
Even the writer is too clever in trying to inject simplicity in spiritual outlook. What have you to say to this? Perhaps, the writer is a simpleton. Simplicity, mind you, often works but may be scorned at.
Ji Gong in his life as man did forgo the many rules of monks and was expelled from the monastery. His simple principle is to be true to the cause from the heart and not what goes through the gut or what one does. He became enlightened saint - Ji Gong the Living Buddha.
Even Gautama Buddha did not mince his words when he said that the seeker of enlightenment has to be clear in mind and be simple. But the seeker must go upstream against the current.
The basics for enlightenment are far from the accepted beliefs and practices of the day and to this very day due to evolved sects and schools of Buddhism, this may still be true. He gave up the beliefs of his time and decided not to fast and to take food. His close disciples were perturbed and left him. But because he went against the current, he succeeded and became the Buddha under the Bo Tree.
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| Ji Gong |
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| Guatama Buddha |
