No 808 of Living Life Series 1
Religion is the making of men and determined by what is popular to the masses. It is not determined by the sage or the scarce few who are more in the know. During the times of the founding sage, religion in the name of the sage as we know did not exist.
What the sage did was to rationalize the culture and enlightened the people. But when the sage ascended and over centuries, religion was created by men in the name of the sage. Religion is more the making of men than of sage.
What the sage did was to rationalize the culture and enlightened the people. But when the sage ascended and over centuries, religion was created by men in the name of the sage. Religion is more the making of men than of sage.
Ji Gong (济公) was one who when he was a man in old China did not follow the ways of men, even the ways of monks in a Chan Buddhist Monastery. He did not follow the ways of men and what they did. He was at odds with the ways of religion and sect of the temple and went his own way. He had to leave the monastery.
But he cultivated the purity of the heart and became enlightened and won the hearts of the many in the streets. He was more a blessing to men than those who toed the ways of men in the religion of the day.
What matters is what goes through the heart and not what goes through the gut or what one does outwardly. This is his axiom.
What matters is sincerity and purity of the heart. What matters is not how we please God and men at the top in a temple or sect but what is right.
What matters is neither to idolize deities, gods and men but also not to idolize doctrine and rules but to live in doctrine and bring peace to self and others. Ji Gong (济公) is such a man and he is a sage in his own right. But he is still very much down to earth and wants none of the trappings of God and saints. He would rather be our friend than our saint.
He stays on in spirit on Earth among men and creatures big and small, even crickets too as well. His meditation on crickets was instrumental to his understanding of the nature of life and of yin and yang - the opposite polarities of life.
Be like Ji Gong (济公) and be free from the trappings of men of religion. Religion is after all largely the making of men and not sage or saint. Such men are good men but somehow, they may be so near to but yet far from God and saints. Didn't the good lord Lord Bo Tien (武天菩萨) say that the near may be far and the far near?
Often, men in religion may invariably do as much disservice to men as they are of service to fellow men. This is more so when they idolize men and the rules of men in the name of religion more than anything else. They even idolize the scriptures as well instead of living in the values of spirituality that the founding sage wants them to do.
It is more important to see in a sage or saint his teachings than to see the saint and idolize him. The doctrine is the saint and the saint is the doctrine. This did the good lord Lord Bo Tien (武天菩萨) say.
Men should not even idolize the doctrine but live in it, let alone idolize men who are meant to speak out the doctrine. Thus Zen masters do not let themselves be idolized and they are up against idolizing the Buddha and the teachings of the Buddha. They would rather we figuratively kill the Buddha.
By the way, Ji Gong (济公) is of Zen but is many cuts above normal run-of-mill Zen. He may be a saint but please he only wants to be our friend. Idolizing him will only turn him off and make us less worthy of his friendship.
Even God does not want us to hero worship and idolize him. That speaks volumes, doesn't it? Isn't it the same with all and any saint?
Only some men who are bigoted, conceited and know not what is true spirituality want to be idolized and hero-worshiped as great and mighty. They think they represent God and can stand-in for God. They project God and saints as hungry for being hero worshiped and idolized by men. No man can project Ji Gong (济公) to be like that. He will never fit such an image because he is just like anyone of us though he is a saint.
Do be free from religious rigidity and be like Ji Gong. Religion is only the means but not the end. Do not go for the means as the end. That is the mistake of many. Do not let religion cloister us up in the closet. Set ourselves free to be with the world.
Better not be worldly in the setting of religion. Instead, it would be better to be religious in the setting of worldliness. This is the Ji Gong (济公) way. He is free from all that tie down men to woes. He roams the world of men to be blessings to one and all.
Let us be like Ji Gong (济公) and not be snared by religion of men.
Often, men in religion may invariably do as much disservice to men as they are of service to fellow men. This is more so when they idolize men and the rules of men in the name of religion more than anything else. They even idolize the scriptures as well instead of living in the values of spirituality that the founding sage wants them to do.
It is more important to see in a sage or saint his teachings than to see the saint and idolize him. The doctrine is the saint and the saint is the doctrine. This did the good lord Lord Bo Tien (武天菩萨) say.
Men should not even idolize the doctrine but live in it, let alone idolize men who are meant to speak out the doctrine. Thus Zen masters do not let themselves be idolized and they are up against idolizing the Buddha and the teachings of the Buddha. They would rather we figuratively kill the Buddha.
By the way, Ji Gong (济公) is of Zen but is many cuts above normal run-of-mill Zen. He may be a saint but please he only wants to be our friend. Idolizing him will only turn him off and make us less worthy of his friendship.
Even God does not want us to hero worship and idolize him. That speaks volumes, doesn't it? Isn't it the same with all and any saint?
Only some men who are bigoted, conceited and know not what is true spirituality want to be idolized and hero-worshiped as great and mighty. They think they represent God and can stand-in for God. They project God and saints as hungry for being hero worshiped and idolized by men. No man can project Ji Gong (济公) to be like that. He will never fit such an image because he is just like anyone of us though he is a saint.
Do be free from religious rigidity and be like Ji Gong. Religion is only the means but not the end. Do not go for the means as the end. That is the mistake of many. Do not let religion cloister us up in the closet. Set ourselves free to be with the world.
Better not be worldly in the setting of religion. Instead, it would be better to be religious in the setting of worldliness. This is the Ji Gong (济公) way. He is free from all that tie down men to woes. He roams the world of men to be blessings to one and all.
Let us be like Ji Gong (济公) and not be snared by religion of men.
