There is the strange twist to life. What was indulgence and need to be refrained from during the times of Gotama may no longer be so in 2014 and beyond.
In fact what was just right neither indulgence nor self mortification of sorts then may in the modern times be a self mortification of sorts - a denial that punishes and trashes oneself and may be the modern version of self mortification.
Not to work and earn one's keeps for the basic necessities in life will most likely condemn oneself to mortification as society may not give alms as in the days of the Buddha. Then one will just go to waste physically and otherwise as well. There will be no basic comforts of the body and where will there be peace of the body let alone the peace of the spirit.
Isn't that mortification and not conducive to moderation which is the Middle Way in Buddhism and Tao the balancing of yin and yang in Taoistic culture? Isn't this being so muddle headed and what is being practised is no longer Middle Way but Muddle Way?
In fact what was just right neither indulgence nor self mortification of sorts then may in the modern times be a self mortification of sorts - a denial that punishes and trashes oneself and may be the modern version of self mortification.
Not to work and earn one's keeps for the basic necessities in life will most likely condemn oneself to mortification as society may not give alms as in the days of the Buddha. Then one will just go to waste physically and otherwise as well. There will be no basic comforts of the body and where will there be peace of the body let alone the peace of the spirit.
Isn't that mortification and not conducive to moderation which is the Middle Way in Buddhism and Tao the balancing of yin and yang in Taoistic culture? Isn't this being so muddle headed and what is being practised is no longer Middle Way but Muddle Way?
The Buddha as Gotama had to give up self mortification as ascetic Gotama in his days to eat just enough to have bodily health and comforts. This is so that he could have peace of the body that lead to peace of the spirit that is none other than Nirvana.
Before he was ascetic, he was a crown prince and living in indulgence yet never had the peace of spirit and feeling ever the void of life despite the luxury and opulence. He neither mortify or deny life nor indulge but live just right to have peace of body before he could then go for peace of spirit.
Nowadays in 2014 and beyond, for monks to live like the monks of old roaming the streets without any home or permanent shelter is really impractical. Such ways in many modern societies will end up creating more problems than solve problems. There will be no peace of life and how to have peace of spirit?
There is indeed need for monks to be sheltered in temples whereas in old days they only go to a temple only in rainy seasons when they could not go out in the open for the benefit of the many.
Buddha had told them that no two monks should go together in any one direction and that they should fan out for the benefit of the many and for the benefit of one and all. Let not even two go in one direction or place the Buddha exhorted.
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| Lord Buddha |
Before he was ascetic, he was a crown prince and living in indulgence yet never had the peace of spirit and feeling ever the void of life despite the luxury and opulence. He neither mortify or deny life nor indulge but live just right to have peace of body before he could then go for peace of spirit.
Nowadays in 2014 and beyond, for monks to live like the monks of old roaming the streets without any home or permanent shelter is really impractical. Such ways in many modern societies will end up creating more problems than solve problems. There will be no peace of life and how to have peace of spirit?
There is indeed need for monks to be sheltered in temples whereas in old days they only go to a temple only in rainy seasons when they could not go out in the open for the benefit of the many.
Buddha had told them that no two monks should go together in any one direction and that they should fan out for the benefit of the many and for the benefit of one and all. Let not even two go in one direction or place the Buddha exhorted.
There would be many more who need to learn the doctrine. Many would be lost in spirit if the monks then did not fan out as individual monks to separate places to reach out to as many as possible.
But in modern times, monks cannot be beggars and wanderers without shelter. They need money to travel. They need amenities. They need to be in temples.
But sheltered monks in temples might end up going from vowed homelessness to being home bound to a temple or organisation - from detachment and liberation to attachment and bondage to a temple home. Sometimes this is compounded by laymen in a temple wanting to control monks and bringing them under their wings.
Well to be fair, the situation is not like that or not as such for many of the more worthy temples. But the situation can potentially devolve into such predicament and unwholesome state of affairs.
Many laymen who are not monks may think it is a good thing to be homeless. But is this right?
Will they go against their spiritual motivation? The motive is to have spiritual peace but they ironically end up having no bodily and worldly peace by being homeless and jobless.
They are drop-outs of society unlike in the ancient days when spiritual beggars were somewhat still well regarded by society. The drop-outs are not at peace but in sheer pain and agony of self-mortification in the process, albeit in the modern sense?
Will they go against their spiritual motivation? The motive is to have spiritual peace but they ironically end up having no bodily and worldly peace by being homeless and jobless.
They are drop-outs of society unlike in the ancient days when spiritual beggars were somewhat still well regarded by society. The drop-outs are not at peace but in sheer pain and agony of self-mortification in the process, albeit in the modern sense?
We have to be honest with the reality of life in the jet age and in the age of money. Our modern society is no longer laid back. It is no longer as plain and simple as in the days of old. What was not self-mortification in the old days become obviously self-mortification.
Is this good or bad? It is neither good or bad. We need to appraise life as it is now and know how to apply the teachings of sages of old like the great Buddha Gautama or for that matter any sages or saints.
God knows what will become of men if they are not able to do so and just follow the crowd and be lost in the crowd. We stop thinking somehow when we are in the crowd and moving with the crowd. Crowd dynamics take over and we seem to be mesmerized somehow or other.
Let us hope, men can wake up and come to basic common sense. Men must at all cost not be muddled headed. They may keep saying they are practicing the noble sublime teachings of heavenly saints such as the Middle Way as expounded by Gotama. But what they do is no longer in spirit of the Middle Way but end up as overt or covert display of self mortification which is out of the Way.
Sadly, somehow, they know not how to do so in context of the reality of the modern world. They may well end up doing the exact opposite which would be pathetic.
They should be ever mindful. They have to stand up and say "No" to muddle way of understanding and effecting the Middle Way of the great Gotama or for that matter the teachings of all saints. That would be the day.
But as things are going, there is always and ever will be plenty of sheer muddle up in religion with passing of time. Many want to be fundamentalists.
Is this good or bad? It is neither good or bad. We need to appraise life as it is now and know how to apply the teachings of sages of old like the great Buddha Gautama or for that matter any sages or saints.
God knows what will become of men if they are not able to do so and just follow the crowd and be lost in the crowd. We stop thinking somehow when we are in the crowd and moving with the crowd. Crowd dynamics take over and we seem to be mesmerized somehow or other.
Let us hope, men can wake up and come to basic common sense. Men must at all cost not be muddled headed. They may keep saying they are practicing the noble sublime teachings of heavenly saints such as the Middle Way as expounded by Gotama. But what they do is no longer in spirit of the Middle Way but end up as overt or covert display of self mortification which is out of the Way.
Sadly, somehow, they know not how to do so in context of the reality of the modern world. They may well end up doing the exact opposite which would be pathetic.
They should be ever mindful. They have to stand up and say "No" to muddle way of understanding and effecting the Middle Way of the great Gotama or for that matter the teachings of all saints. That would be the day.
But as things are going, there is always and ever will be plenty of sheer muddle up in religion with passing of time. Many want to be fundamentalists.
But they will somehow end up tragically making mockery of sticking to fundamentals because they do not know how to be clear headed. It is not surprising that they would often end up very much muddle headed in effecting fundamentals in the much evolved context of the times.
That is simply all just because religions do evolve and yet want to stick to fundamentals. The teachings may not evolve as much but the context of society will often evolve more dramatically. Then what was right in days of old become no longer right.
There is need to rethink and to get back to the basics or principles common to all religions and sects. These basics constitute the inner truth behind religions which the good lord Lord Bo Tien refer to. Religions become archaeological sites for men to dig at to rediscover the inner truth.
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| Lord Bo Tien |
Lord Bo Tien wants to awaken men to go for the inner truth behind institutional religions. This is the mission Heaven sets him out to do. He is not to start a new religion or sect but to awaken men to the inner truth or real truth in their respective religions.
There is either the fundamentals are lost by new thinking or the applications of the very same fundamentals have gone awry because of drastically changed context of modern society.
Men have become muddled up and the good saint has headed the mission to correct this in order to save more souls. This can be done through the existing religions and sects through awakening and awareness.
