No 736 of Living Life Series 1
It is strange that people like to drop names and claim that so-and-so have taken on a religion. But no matter what religion they take up, it remains that they are still Chinese if they are Chinese.
While they may have taken on the religion, they are in no way adhering totally to the religion though they do profess to embrace the religion.
The reason is simple. The practices of the racial culture will always exert its influence.
Ancestral respect which is interpreted by many in the West as worship is frowned at simply because there should be no other worship than the worship of God the Creator. They insist that there should be no other God beside God.
But the West and Asians like the Chinese are coming from different angles. This must be made clear from the onset.
Firstly, Asians refer to respect and there is hierarchy of respect. It would be sad if others construe of respect for the leaders of a community and for elders be they ancestors or living ones as worship akin to worship of universal creator.
Secondly there is no mention or emphasis on Creator in many cultures. The respect for God the Jade Emperor is like the respect for the ruler of the country. If we want to, we can use for want of a better word, the word "worship" in place of respect.
Thirdly what is wrong to worship or respect those all in the seven directions, in fact everyone in the four cardinal directions, all in Heaven and all in Hell. We must respect the self. It is best to refer to word "respect" but this word is too light a word.
What is meant is something much more than that but yet nothing to do with worship of a Creator. We must respect our servants, our elders, our family, our friends and even our enemies for what they are. Respect is simply too light a word. It is closer to worship but yet not worship in the sense of the West in reference to worship of Creator.
Worship or deep respect for others especially elders is in keeping with culture. Asians like Chinese will ever worship or have deep respect for all beings based on hierarchical system.
The culture in ancient China during the times of the emperors was considered by the elite then as superior to The West. The ancient Chinese considered those outside China then as not so cultured with no deep sense of respect within society.
But with the decline of dynasties and the superiority of civilization of the West, the West introduced their niche concept of worship such that it would appear that respect or worship of ancestors, elders, all beings in the nether and heavenly world as wrong and not in keeping with rationality.
Derogatory words such as pagans and satanic practices were at times used. This though not the norm was still unfortunate.
We must learn from the misgivings men had for fellow men and be wiser from the learning. The good lord Lord Bo Tien (武天菩萨) says that there is plenty to learn in life from the good and not-so-good of men. Life is the living gospel.
The culture in ancient China during the times of the emperors was considered by the elite then as superior to The West. The ancient Chinese considered those outside China then as not so cultured with no deep sense of respect within society.
But with the decline of dynasties and the superiority of civilization of the West, the West introduced their niche concept of worship such that it would appear that respect or worship of ancestors, elders, all beings in the nether and heavenly world as wrong and not in keeping with rationality.
Derogatory words such as pagans and satanic practices were at times used. This though not the norm was still unfortunate.
We must learn from the misgivings men had for fellow men and be wiser from the learning. The good lord Lord Bo Tien (武天菩萨) says that there is plenty to learn in life from the good and not-so-good of men. Life is the living gospel.
