Why is worship not the end all?

No 372 of Living Life Series 1

Why is worship not the end all? Do we need to worship and who do we end up worshipping when we go to a temple or place of worship? What's wrong and how do we right the wrong in worship of God and saints. The best worship is to live in the doctrine of God and saints but the correct doctrine in life is beyond worship.

Do read series 2 post, Living in doctrine better than mere worship  before reading further below.

When men worship more than living in doctrine, they focus more on adoration, dependence and subjugation. This is good to a point but may limit the growth of the spirit or soul. They end up over believing and fantasizing on the wonders of their saint or prophet.

 

They believe in the written word of men and with time, more are revealed and they take these as true but the moment others cast doubts and show that not all that were said actually took place or were facts, they feel let down but insist that what they feel or  know and believe of their saint or prophet cannot be wrong.  

 

Then they may say that it is the devil or evil forces trying to deny them of their faith and shaking their conviction when in fact it is due to overemphasis on worship, adoration of the personality behind the faith and lack of substantiation and practice of the doctrine that is the problem.

 

If there is substantiation and practice of doctrine, the believer or follower will be no worse off when it is shown that what history has said about the saint or prophet is in some ways not factual but it is alright to believe in "legend" for legends can better deliver moral lessons and messages. Otherwise, religions will be too doctrinal, academic and profound and beyond the reach and interest of the many. History and historians will not be accomodating to religions but religions will be accomodating to them.  

What God and lord saint decide, let no man put aside

No 371 of Living Life Series 1
Reference in series 2: It is God's will

What God and the lord saint decide, let no man put aside. It would take man with self-righteousness and finite regard for the lord saint to do so. Such self-righteousness is to be expected of men at times and the flower should not be blamed for insects coming to it.  Elder Ling and Mission Hiccups

 

 

These are what men should not put aside;-

The religions and the sects. Let not men say that theirs are right and others are not. It is God's will that there must be more than one religion and sect. They may appear different and at times at odds. They appeal to vast majority of beings and are stepping stones for all beings to be on the path to be with God.

It is God's will that even in a temple, those who are far from spiritual are given the chance to make good. Though religious in their own way, they may even orientate the temple more for their social and individual agenda. They may even connive to orientate the temple for their secondary gains, conceal their secondary aims or agenda and still put the front that they are  better men of God and consign the more arduously spiritual men of God to oblivion of sorts by ensuring they have less say.

They may even give honorary memberships and titles to such men who are pioneers and elders so that such men of God have less say and roles.

God does not consider such men who connive, conceal and consign as transgressors but as those who need to learn and so long as there is some spirituality in them which they would invariably be not short off, they should be welcome to the house of God and saints.

So the more arduously spiritual men of God cannot say that a temple is not for men with conniving, concealing and consigning ways. It is God's will that insects can come to a flower for nectar as Lord Bo Tien had said.

It is God's will that we learn from life and these basically good men too must be given opportunities to learn. So all the more goody two shoes, please do not cry foul and say why God allows such less spiritually attuned good men to take over and run a temple.

Men who are better in doctrine and closer to God should not ask why God allow a temple or place of worship to be run over by otherwise good men of lesser spiritual attributes for such men too need to learn to be more good by whatever way. It is God's will.

They too are concerns of God and men who are better in the know and closer to God must not put them aside when God allows them to be inside a temple or place of worship. They have every right to be in a temple or holy premise.

It is because the majority of men who come to a temple or place of worship are likely to come for social agenda and likely to be less spiritually attuned, that in any temple or place of worship, there must be dual key systems of management with an administrative body or committee chosen by the majority and a council of elders who can override the excesses of the administrative body and yet the council has no say in the administration.

Then there will be yin yang balance with neither (1) runaway from spiritual to social agenda which is the way of most good men, nor (2) overplay of spiritual agenda that will put off those who are not ready or spiritually inclined.

The council of elders is a must in any temple or place of worship and it must co-exist with the administrative body of that temple or place of worship.

Cheers be to all men who in the eyes of God are good but can of course be better in goodness






Cross Reference The divine test a temple has to undergo and also What God put together, let no man take apart
 

Bo Tien Temple Outreach

No 370 of Living Life Series 1

The true temple of Lord Bo Tien is the universe. The sky or heaven is the roof of the temple. There is need to reach out to all realms under the sky and under the heavens. Hence the title of the 5th blog in Living Life Series - Bo Tien Temple Outreach. Lord Bo Tien like the great ocean reaches out to many a land and his outreach is way beyond the existing good work of any temple of man. This blog is launched on 20th Oct 2012 seven days before mission day anniversary the 13th day of 9th lunar month -- 27th Oct 2012. http://www.livinglifeseries5.blogspot.sg





 

Anniversary Messages of Lord Bo Tien pre-1974 to 1984

1. Messages before 1974

2. Lord Bo Tien's 1974 Anniversary Message
 
3. Lord Bo Tien's 1975 Anniversary Message

4. Lord Bo Tien's 1976 Anniversary Message

5. Lord Bo Tien's 1977 Anniversary Message

6. Lord Bo Tien's 1978 Anniversary Message

7. Lord Bo Tien's 1980 Anniversary Message

8. Lord Bo Tien's 1981 Anniversary Message

9. Lord Bo Tien's 1983 Anniversary Message

10. Lord Bo Tien's 1984 Anniversary Message

2012 Mission Day Messages

  

 

The 13th day of the ninth lunar month is Mission Day. It is time for reckoning and reflection for those who are not aligned with the mission of the lord saint Lord Bo Tien and even for those who are aligned but yet not exemplary, that is, not effecting the doctrine of the lord saint in the way they speak, act or think. Time to not only believe, understand but to practise the doctrine in life. Time to make use of doctrine as raft to cross the river of life and not admire or carry the raft on shoulders and risked being drowned by the river of life. Day for reckoning


The anniversary day of the descent of the lord saint Lord Bo Tien falls on 13th day of the 9th lunar month which is the 27th day of October 2012.

Inner Truth Netizen has dedicated the following posts as the mission day messages.


 

Paradoxical behaviour of many in a temple or church...


Two wrongs a temple or church should not have

That a temple will not make it is to be expected

  

God and the genesis of life and religions 

 

Heaven here and now and not wait for the afterlife...

  

God's way of reaching out to the many

  

Day for reckoning

  

Relativity of Creation and the Created

  

Belief in a saint is in the Word

  

Completeness and emptiness are vexations in life

 

 

 

Relativity of Creation and the Created

No 369 of Living Life Series 1

God creates us and we come to this world. But we are not born equal and can never be so. This does not mean that God is not fair.

 

God is the Jade Emperor sent by the first of the Three Pure Ones to the apparent universe of Heaven and the realms under Heaven.

 

The Three Pure Ones reside in the universe beyond the apparent universe and arise spontaneously from the prime of primordial energy.

 

Primordial energy gives rise to the universes and the yin and yang energy that Chinese sages refer to.

 

This is the Tao concept of origin of the universes which differ from the Indian story of Lord Sakra which is the close equivalent of the Jade Emperor.

 

The Brahma world, the formless realms in Buddhism is the equivalent of universe beyond the apparent universe.

 

In the apparent universe, beings take on form and this can be astral from or physical form eg of the latter is the human body of flesh and blood.

 

Coming to God, he has form and was sent down by the first of the Three Pure Ones to oversee and further create the apparent universe.

 

Buddhas and Boddhisatvas (saints) are holy ones who are beings in all realms be it in the apparent universe or in the universe beyond the apparent universe. They are the holy ones or priests in the various realms who cultivate themselves and attain thea apex of spiritual purity and they are on their own but act as advisers to the governing lords of the various realms.

 

The lords of the various realms are the government of the realms and are themselves caused, created and originated.  But they too can cause, create and condition events and beings in their respective realms.

 

In the human realm, men are caused, created and conditioned but men can create cause and condition events, beings and entities as well.

 

In the heaven of the apparent universe, the lords can create their own sectors of heaven and can cause, create and condition beings and realms  to be under their purview or that are already under their purview.

 

Thus each religion too through their prophets or saints can create sectors of heaven for their followers to go to after death but being in heaven is not the end all but the beginning of spriritual development.

 

There is rebirth and one comes from previous life to be born in present life and at end of the present life will go on to next life be it in heaven or any other realm. The beings and lord in heavenly realms too are subject to rebirth but at less propensity or hardly if some consider that be so.

 

Only the poverty of human imagination would make men narrow down the concept of life as pivoting between one earth, one heaven and one hell but even this though simplistic is not wrong but may be worthy of belief so long as such belief helps in bringing more to take on and ascend the spiritual path to be with God, the Pure Ones and the Buddhas.

No one would say that there is only one country in the world but it is alright to say that there is one world body called the United Nations. Likewise there cannot be only three realms of earth, heaven and hell.

Concepts and reality may not match. Concepts are the creation of the human mind. There is the created and the creator. The creator is created and the created is also a creator.

There is relativity of creation and the created. The egg is the creator of the chicken and the chicken is the creator of the egg. Even a young child knows that but many are blissfully simple minded when they say the egg is from the chicken (hen) and not the chicken from the egg. The creator precedes creation and creation precedes the creator. There is completeness of the cycle of creation. This is just like saying calm follow storm and storm precedes calm.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Heaven here and now and not wait for the afterlife

No 368 of Living Life Series 1
Duplicated from series 2 post of same name: Heaven here and now and not wait for afterlife

When we go for the spiritual life, the same values for spiritual life if applied to our worldly life give adequate optimum comfort and success in worldly life as well.

  

The spiritual values include having inner peace come what may, neither denying or giving up life nor overindulging in life, neither living in the past(thinking and brooding over the past or living on past glory) nor living only for the future. These are aspects of balance of yin and yang, the polarities of life. Such balance can bring inner peace come what may.

There is also the need to be balanced with respect to God, neither denying His existence nor fearing his existence but ever loving and practising the doctrine God and His saints stand for.

God is like a father. What a father wants out of a child is not adulation and fear of the father but to be able to grow up, be an embodiment of the values the father stand for.

 

These spiritual values allow us to gain spiritually simultaneously while leading worldly life as the values bring peace and comfort to both worldly and spiritual life. This is possible because our moment to moment life, that is, our daily life is the very ground for our spiritual practice and cultivation. We can have heaven and inner peace here and now in this life and not wait for heaven beyond this life. We have both worldly and heavenly gains. Worldly comfort comes with avoidance of denial of worldly life at one extreme and overindulgence in worldly life at the other extreme. The latter will result in suffering as the person is effectively the slave of life and not the master of life.

Our worldly life is our gospel. We learn from the gospel of life as it unfurls. The whole wide world and web is our temple for spirituality - for spiritual understanding and cultivation. We learn to be one with God. God is everywhere in the nature or world we live in and even in us and in our life.

We certainly can have heaven by having more inner peace here and now in this life and not wait for heaven beyond this life.

We practise the doctrine behind the Bagua. The bagua embodies the flux of yin and yang, the polar or dual contingencies of life like gain & loss, love & hatred, joy & sorrow, praise & blame, success & failure, denial & indulgence etc --- the balance of which yields inner peace. Inner peace is the essence of Heavenly experience which would lead to enlightenment - oneness with Divinity

The Bagua

Elaboration of extract from The shrine hall at Bo Tien Temple was designed based on the doctrine of Heaven.

 

God's way of reaching out to the many

No 367 of Living Life Series1
Duplicated from series2: God's way of reaching out to the many

In 1981, the emissary of Lord Bo Tien said, "Heaven however will not forsake the well being of the significant numerical many... Divinity will always reach out somehow to their hearts and souls and endeavour to change their ways." Lord Bo Tien's 1981 Anniversary Message

Thus there are many religions, and many sects per religion, many schools per sect and many styles of leadership and premises per school. This is the will of God or Divinity that all souls must be saved by more than one way but the underlying inner truth is the same inner peace leading to harmony of souls with the holy spirit of God, Pure Ones, Buddhas and Saints.

Thus even in a temple of the lord saint Lord Bo Tien, the few who know the doctrine though near to him may not be the ones to run a temple. But the many who know not the doctrine but still find interest in the temple albeit for the less noble motives may well end up running a temple.

This is a lord saint's way of reaching out to the many and not just to the few who know the doctrine. They are given the chance to make good but whether they can make good or may well end up like insects coming to a flower is the issue. They are given places in the sun by the grace of the lord and not by their goodness and value. Lord Bo Tien's 1984 Anniversary Message

Many may be taken aback that in any church or temple (such as that of Lord Bo Tien), the leaders may be loud mouth or unbecoming in other ways such as loose morals and even socially tainted and corrupt. Ordinary folks will find them distasteful and lose faith. They would think that the saint or god of that temple doesn't exist and just the concoction or mere figment of imagination of men. But perhaps this too may be that temple saint's way of reaching out to the many, not just the goody-goody. Often the popular priest, pastor or monk is no goody-goody.

In the first place, perhaps goody-goody men are rare and even non-existent. Thus even any anchor pioneer may have his dark side. After all, who does not have dark side? Only "pharisees" think they are angels and above all others, as they deem themselves as having no dark side.

At best, men can only be an unpolished diamond and thus far only one man has been referred by Lord Bo Tien as an unpolished diamond. Who is he? He must be an elder in the mission of the lord saint.






 

God and the genesis of life and religions

No 366 of Living Life Series 1

THE 2012 MISSION DAY MESSAGE
God and the genesis of life and religions
Duplicated from series 2 post 177

 

God Alimighty -The Pure August Jade Emperor

 

In Chinese culture the Pure August Jade Emperor, Yü Huang Shang Ti heads the Heavenly Palace of gods. The Chinese refer to him as Tien Kung, the Heavenly Father. He is the supreme head of the manifest or apparent universe that comprises Heaven and realms of existence below including man and hell but he ranks below the Three Pure Ones in the supreme pure heavens beyond the manifest universe.

Originally, Yu-huang was the assistant of the Divine Master of the Heavenly Origin, Yuanshi Tianzun. Yuanshi Tianzun is said to be the supreme beginning --- the limitless and eternal creator of apparent universe with Heaven and Earth. After creating the apparent universe, he picked Yu-huang as the ruler of the universe of Heaven and Earth. Yu Huang became the Jade Emperor and he oversees and moderates the development and fate of beings through his subordinate deities. He is ultimately responsible for the deitification of other gods, or for their exit from the pantheon.

Theoretically there should be a series of Jade Emperors but the life span is so long that it is as good as eternal in human terms. Like all heavenly beings, he is capable of creation of heavenly abodes, beings and entities. He is spiritually developed and enlightened but may not be in the sense of buddhahood but the apex of the path of gods and buddhas overlap and the zenith is one

The Jade Emperor's Birthday is designated on the ninth day of the first lunar month.

The apparent manifest universe we are in started with 無極 (wuji: 'nothingness'). Do note that this does not mean non-existence but mere metaphor on energy state before evolutionary and creative chain of events.

Jade Emperor as the head of the pantheon is however not responsible for the original creation process itself but hand picked into the appointment by Divine Master of the Heavenly Origin, Yuanshi Tianzun, the first of the Three Pure Ones.

Jade Emperor is however of capable of further creation of abodes, beings and divine entities.

The Three Pure Ones were brought into existence through the interaction of pre-existing primordial forces including yin and yang. The first to emerge is The Divine Master of the Heavenly Origin, Yuanshi Tianzun, followed by the second and then the third Pure One.

You can say that Divine Master of the Heavenly Origin, Yuanshi Tianzun brought into existence the second and then the third Pure One came each with his own supreme pure heaven beyond the manifest universe with its levels of heaven, earth and hell.

Readers may wonder as to where the Buddhas come in. As the saying goes amongst the sages of old in China, "What's on Earth will be mirrored in Heaven" There are the clergy and there are the laity on earth.

Whilst all in heavens are spiritual, there are those who deal with the governance of the apparent or manifest universe with heaven and all the realms below including the human and hell realms, there will be those who are the clergy and they are the buddhas who are respected by the non-buddha laity in heaven.

The Jade Emperor and the deities in his pantheon are rulers of the apparent universe. They often consult the buddhas and carry out their advice and intervention but the latter do not overstep to take over the ruling and governance of the manifest or apparent universe

The buddhas and posats (bodhisatvas) are present in both the apparent or manifest universe and the supreme pure heavens above the manifest universe. Posats too can be present in Hell and they can traverse across realms.

The Jade Emperor or God Almighty as the overall ruler of the manifest universe resides in the heaven of the manifest universe and oversee all the realms below.

He reaches out to all beings through prophets and saints of the various religions and sects. These prophets create their own sections of heaven and in this way, beings saved by religions take on spiritual paths and in time are reborn in the specific respective dormains of heaven to continue further spiritual growth. 

Thus in God's plan, there must be not one religion or sect but many and they complement and not compete. But men being men and not God and saints tend to compete and even ridicule one another and this has caused rift and hatred amongst many in the name of God and saints. How ungodly can this be!

That is why God tasked Lord Bo Tien as one of the many more saints to come and he like the rest to come will re-explain the true essence behind the need for the many religions and sects and will not start his own. These messenger saints will however make use of the existing religions and sects to explain the grand purpose of the Jade Emperor.





For more academic information, do read wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jade_Emperor

 

The lord saint no longer speaks to us through an intermediary but through our life

No 365 of Living Life Series 1

From Mission History and News No 7

The lord saint through his representatives in the early 1980s said that after the first 13 years from 1970, there would no longer be any need for the saint to communicate to us through a human intermediary for all the doctrine and directions for the mission to save souls would have been explained.

This caused some concern but the reassurance was given that after the first 13 years, the saint would speak to his followers through their lives and through their temple or mission activities. This will be as good as the lord saint speaking to us through our minds.

If there is foundation of being grounded in doctrine, consensus and cooperation, practice and if men are mission directed, the thoughts on the truth of life and actions that are carried out for life and for a temple would be smooth and fruitful.

Individuals and the groups they belong to will feel the presence of the lord saint and the blessing of God and saints if they are thus well grounded correctly.

If otherwise, they will experience obstacles and things will not be plain sailing and there will be storms instead of calm seas.

But won't that be subject to interpretation and whims and fancies of men? Yes, inner truth netizen agrees but then again, it is too early for us to know. Only time will reveal to us what the lord saint has prophesied.

What is important is for men not to take matters into their own hands and say that this or that is what the lord saint would want.

Just be humble, sincere, pure and simple. Do what is good not only for oneself, for one group but for all groups.

Men must not be lone candle flames but be a collection of variety of candle flames. There must be give and take, acceptance that there will be differences but these should not divide men but unite men as there can be unity in diversity.

Then we can have calm seas and not storms in life. There is calm when what we do are in keeping with the directions of the lord saint. The lord saint speaks to us through our mind and through life. Life after all is the gospel.

The gospel has been seeded in the first 13 years through human intermediary the late Senior P. Philip but subsequent and future generations will grow and expand the gospel (doctrine) for the mission of which the lord saint, Lord Bo Tien is the God-sent heavenly messenger. He is a divine spirit who has never been known to the world before.

The Bagua

Be reminded that we are in the yin and yang world. All need to reconcile with the yin and yang and be at peace and harmony with the diverse aspects of life and people, like the feet of the lord saint balancing and atop the elements.

Life of diversity and issues is fertile ground for the lord saint to speak to us so that we can learn and be wiser from the learning.