No 870 of Living Life Series 1
It was on a Wesak Day that the Buddha told us his last advice "Strive on with diligence." Though he said that to the monks that gathered around him, it was meant for the world and not just his followers. Why and why on earth would he say that?
He had also mentioned in his last lifetime as man that "Short is life as man" and he also said that "Precious is rebirth as man." Well, we need to know more. don't we?
Perhaps it is pertinent to know that even many in the heavens in order to upgrade themselves must descend to be born as man. The belief in eternity of heaven is not as it is though life in any heaven seems an eternity.
The Buddha himself too descended from Heaven to be born as man. When he attained enlightenment, he is beyond heaven and beyond man.
There are two sides of being man. One is to live as man and not to live as though one is not a man and for man we include woman as well. For many they get carried away by being man that they plain forget why they are here as man.
The Buddha did not forget that, though he was born a prince and got married and even had a child. We too must follow in his footsteps though we are no royalty and not going to be Buddhas in our lifetime.
But we must neither forget about being man and at the same time, learning to be more than man. We need to answer to both lower and higher callings.
Life is short and time passes like the wind but unlike the wind, time will not stop. Time waits for no man. We cannot be just man. We also cannot live as though we are no longer man. We need to grasp this reality and balance the two. This is perhaps one aspect of why we have the term Middle Way to refer to the solution of life elucidated by the Buddha.
It gives us the insight of what the Buddha was driving at when he said thus: - "Short is life as man", "Precious is rebirth as man." and with his last breath as man, he passed on into ultimate enlightenment saying, "Strive on with diligence."
It is his message to the world - those who know him and those who don't so that all will be better at what they already are. There is no need to jump the band wagon and switch culture or affiliation.
It gives us the insight of what the Buddha was driving at when he said thus: - "Short is life as man", "Precious is rebirth as man." and with his last breath as man, he passed on into ultimate enlightenment saying, "Strive on with diligence."
It is his message to the world - those who know him and those who don't so that all will be better at what they already are. There is no need to jump the band wagon and switch culture or affiliation.
Do live the life that the Buddha wants us to. Keep the wheel of life turning according to the Middle Way with the avoidance of the three negative mental roots of ill-will, greed and false views through the Eight Fold Path or through the many various other perspectives explained by the Buddha and other heavenly sages of all cultures and traditions.
The teachings of all sages and saints need to be different to conform with the times, the culture and the needs of the society they serve. But all have the common base of the need to avoid evil, to do good and to purify the mind. This is the inner truth Lord Bo Tien 武天菩萨 as messenger of God and saints set out to do in 1969 when he touched down in Singapore.
