Many are no better than dogs. Can this be true? What a joke?
The picture of a dog in meditating pose awes us that even dogs can make it and how can we not do so. But the flip side is that can this be real? We cannot discount the possibility.
For most of us, few realise the importance of meditation. It has to do with the calming of the mind so beset by the yin and yang, the thoughts and feelings that swirl around in the mind. Hopefully, we can get the good habit of moment to moment mindfulness beyond our daily practice of cross-legged meditation. That way we have more of the peace despite the ups and downs of daily life.
Meditation is not just for that special hour and at that special place or temple. It is the cultivation of a good habit. If we are so inspired at a temple during that special hour, we should have that habit ingrained in us every moment of the day and not just during meditation at a temple. Otherwise, it would be just hypocrisy and putting up a show.
Lord Bo Tien has said that people will be attracted to a temple for personal agenda and not out of need to please or seek approval or favor of the lord saint at the temple, let alone out of sheer altruism. Men are like insects attracted to the flower for nectar. We should not blame the flower for insects coming to it. Likewise we should not blame God and saints for men flocking to a temple or church for personal gains and blessings. The call to save others may just be a front.
Likewise many appear to be zealous meditators at a temple but are they putting up a show to impress others and get approval of men. Outside that special hour and more so outside the temple, they are very different persons. They do not walk the talk.
When they are seated cross legged in meditation pose, they appear like saints, just like the dog seated in meditation pose. Perhaps the dog is better off than them, even though it is a dog. The dog don't put on a show but may be made to do so.
Sometimes, many are no better than dogs though they are men. That indeed may be the problem. Dogs can put many men to shame and green with envy.
Dogs may seem far from God and saints but their virtues may well place them nearer to God and saints than even many men in a temple or church. Lord Bo Tien says that the far may be near and the near far. Well, this is for real and not a joke. Sometimes, a dog may well attain sainthood even before many men.
For most of us, few realise the importance of meditation. It has to do with the calming of the mind so beset by the yin and yang, the thoughts and feelings that swirl around in the mind. Hopefully, we can get the good habit of moment to moment mindfulness beyond our daily practice of cross-legged meditation. That way we have more of the peace despite the ups and downs of daily life.
Meditation is not just for that special hour and at that special place or temple. It is the cultivation of a good habit. If we are so inspired at a temple during that special hour, we should have that habit ingrained in us every moment of the day and not just during meditation at a temple. Otherwise, it would be just hypocrisy and putting up a show.
Lord Bo Tien has said that people will be attracted to a temple for personal agenda and not out of need to please or seek approval or favor of the lord saint at the temple, let alone out of sheer altruism. Men are like insects attracted to the flower for nectar. We should not blame the flower for insects coming to it. Likewise we should not blame God and saints for men flocking to a temple or church for personal gains and blessings. The call to save others may just be a front.
Likewise many appear to be zealous meditators at a temple but are they putting up a show to impress others and get approval of men. Outside that special hour and more so outside the temple, they are very different persons. They do not walk the talk.
When they are seated cross legged in meditation pose, they appear like saints, just like the dog seated in meditation pose. Perhaps the dog is better off than them, even though it is a dog. The dog don't put on a show but may be made to do so.
Sometimes, many are no better than dogs though they are men. That indeed may be the problem. Dogs can put many men to shame and green with envy.
Dogs may seem far from God and saints but their virtues may well place them nearer to God and saints than even many men in a temple or church. Lord Bo Tien says that the far may be near and the near far. Well, this is for real and not a joke. Sometimes, a dog may well attain sainthood even before many men.
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| This must be a joke? |
They do not have religion. They know nothing about precepts and commandments but they naturally abide faithfully by the unwritten precept of respecting elders in their pack while men often pay lip service. In the domestic setting, the elders may be the humans in the human families that adopted them.
Men may not even be true to the lord saint in the temple and are liable to make puppet out of the lord saint. Would such men be expected to respect an elder in their temple? Not only do they don't but they may even expel the elder after ridiculing him and spitting him in the face.
Truly sometimes men are no better than dogs. But this may not be exactly right as there is more to it than meet the eyes. Generally, dogs do put some men to shame. Some men are not worthy of even being dogs, let alone be men.
No doubt it is not nice at all to be dogs. Certainly, it is a dog's life for any of the dogs in the world. No one would want to be a dog. But their love for elders can put some men to shame.
This should never be the case and should not be true. It is never easy to be born as man. Man should treasure being man and be worthy of being man. Are we man or rather at least dog enough to respect elders?
