The "I thoughts" that all should not have, more so in death

No 1478 of Living Life Series 1

The instructors sent by Lord Bo Tien武天advise that when someone passes on from this life, it is important to dissipate the "I thoughts" and not to enhance such thoughts or energy fields .

This "I thoughts" are the ego thoughts of the deceased due to the desire of the deceased to hang on to life of the body and to the physical entity or self that he has been so used to. 

The risk is that the spirit of the deceased may be dominated by the "I thoughts." These constitutes the upfront self which is due to life of the flesh and blood experienced with the six sense doors - the five sense doors such as nose, eyes tongue, touch and ear as well as the mind sense door that takes up mind objects. 

This is the stand-in self and not the eventual true self that is innate in him, yet to be developed and that will be pure and independent of ego. 

In life, the upfront self dominates and masquerades as the only self. The true self is made rudimentary and undeveloped. The developed true or divine self will pure and be the one that attains inner peace. 

Some religions refer to the divine or true self as the presence of God in us. God is omnipresent and can reside in every individual who cultivates inner peace. What then is this inner peace?

To put things in perspective, it is the cultivation of the inner peace come what may be it the ups and downs, the yin and yang that brings out and awakens the true divine self and the divine self expresses the presence of God in the individual. That way, the upfront and defiled self (defiled by ego drives) is subdued and eventually eliminated. 

The upfront defiled self is ego based and based on need to meet ego needs and this is inevitable in world of yin and yang. It generates the "I thoughts" that linger on after death and may be given more life and vigour if the living kins and friends call upon him not to leave but to come back even when the body is dead and rotting. 

There is risk of transforming the spirit of the departed to become a wandering ghost and neither here nor there - neither in hell, human world or in heaven. It is better to send the departed without groans and tears to a better future for the afterlife. No wailing but smiles and cheers to send him off. This is the correct approach.

So, it is so important not to encourage the ego and fan the "I thoughts" not just while a person is alive but even when the body die on the individual. 

It is necessary that all should not stress on the "I thoughts" more so in death. Otherwise, there will be more devils of the ego among the living and many lingering spirits or wandering ghosts among the departed who either refuse or are somehow reluctant to have rebirth or resurrection of spirit even in heaven.

One Recipe for Physical and Spiritual Health - PSH

No 1477 of Living Life Series 1

Take three colored capsicum, plenty of asparagus, red rice beehoon, carrots, onions, garlic, baked beans with less or no sugar and five colored vegetables. 

Three meals a day six to eight hours apart. 

No rice or potatoes. Go for red brown beehoon 

No oil based or meat based soup.

No oil, no fried food, no sweets dessert and and no snacks. No coffee or tea or soft drinks. Only plain water. 

Take daily smashed and lightly steamed pumpkin. 

Shun all red meat and even avoid chicken meat. 

Two servings or mouthfuls of steamed salmon a week. 

One slice of apple a day. 

Take one half boiled chicken egg daily to prevent anemia 

Daily calories of food a day to be around 1500 to 1800. 

Keep weight at below 70 kg. 

Practice moment to moment mindfulness every minute a day. 

Remember that health is the highest gain and a recipe for spiritual health. 

Do not indulge in food as this will create wants and clinging which brings unrest and make inner peace more remote.

Do not live in the past and lament over the shortcomings of past. No living in fear of past or original sin. Do not live in the afterlife while still in the body of the present life. Let spirit and body be one. Learn from life. 

Marriage puts many on path of spiritual realisation

No 1476 of Living Life Series 1

In the beginning, there is none. The person who is not conceived is none existent to his life as human in the present. This is one application of Tao which says there is nothing and from nothing arises one - the person himself.

Then one gives rise to two and two gives rise to three and more. When the person looks for a life partner and marries, one gives two and with marriage, there is yin (femaleness) and yang (maleness). The union of yin and yang can be smooth and at times not so. Then to offset these issues of marriage and bring common ground to the two, two gives rise to three and more - the children. 

The need for ensuring self as entity gives rise to ego. Ego needs to carve out a place and field of control and influence for the person. This is often difficult and the family with children allows sense of being able to carve a world for the person - a world out of the bigger world of society.

But this is only a means to the end. The end is to find satisfaction and peace. The growth of the family results in more changes as nothing is static. Change is the way of life - the way of the ego which ever searches for new avenues to do so. 

The ego way results in solving problems by creating more problems and issues. The solution to an issue in time becomes a problem as well. The changes in family with maturing of children into adults bring in more egos that complicate and bring conflicts within the family. 

This is illustrative of the fragmentation of the simple yin and yang into subsets of yin and yang that is mentioned in Chapter 10 of Dao Ti Ching. The fragmentation and proliferation of yin and yang into many complicates the equation of life. Peace and harmony will be tenuous and more difficult to attain. 

This is the true nature of life and marriage with coming together of yin and yang is a gift for many to learn about the truth of life. 

There is need to live life and we all will agree on this. There is no need to be priests, monks and nuns for the majority. We cannot run away from life but we can learn from life. Bo Tien 武 天 says that anyone in any religion can do so. Life is the holy text. Truth is in life. 

We must realise that ego is behind the vexations of life. We must seek to be one with the world and not have the "I thought" or ego. (Bo Tien 武 天 stresses that we give up the "I thought and do not encourage the "I thought" more so in the departed.) 

We must like Tao or God be one with the world, with others and not think, speak and act with need for ego preservation and expansion which step on and hurt the egos of others. 

We must not be in conflict and we must forgo the ego and be one like God who is one and everywhere.

Marriage is indeed a blessing to position many to know Tao - the truth of life. Tao is the true nature of life and this is God. 

Do we know Tao? Tao is the path and we can only know it by walking the path of life - not talking about it. Marriage is blessing to be on path of Tao - to imbibe and live the truth of life. 

We must walk the talk and that way we will realise more of the way to true inner peace within us. Ego merely tries to find peace in the world we are in but this will result in no peace for us. Peace must come from within. 

Marriage puts many on path of spiritual realisation. This is achievable in any religion, culture or society. Tao is in life and is found in any religion. 

Bo Tien 武 天 refers to this as the inner truth that requires us to manage yin and yang to lead us to the ultimate perfect inner peace and be with God and saints. 

If we need to learn to manage yin and yang, the best rebirth is to be born as human beings, not in one of the heavens as human life is rich with abundance of yin and yang. 

If we cannot achieve this learning, we may have to return again as humans if fate allows - if we have enough good done to deserve to be humans again. 

Bo Tien 武 天 on far and near - the yin and yang and more

No 1475 of Living Life Series 1



The saint or deity of any temple in any religion will try to attract those who are far from God so that they will be near to God, never mind if these people come to a temple like insects to a flower for nectar. They seem to get their worldly wishes granted. This is mentioned by Bo Tien 武 天. 

But for those long at the temple, this seems strange as the long timers do not seem to get what they want anymore or somehow seem to have less of them. 

Well, the long timers already have the greatest blessing which is the doctrine of life. The gift of truth is the greatest of all gifts. 

They should not need any other gifts which pale in comparison to the gift of truth. With it, they can cultivate spiritual realisation of the ultimate inner peace which no nectar of worldly blessings can provide. Worldly blessings only awe the newbies but may fan the endless incessant need for more. more so in the old timers. 

If the newbies cannot wake up and go for the gift of doctrine or truth in life, they will have to pay for what worldly credit extended to them by above. 

They will have to pay with compound interests like loans from a bank or finance company. That way they will suffer and face the karma or effects of the ego drives they have. They suffer and will begin to ask what have happened to them and why they are forsaken by above. 

They will learn the hard way to know the truth of life and be wiser from the learning. Then, they will be better off. 

But why the need to learn the hard way when the truth is there in life, more so in the temple and in the saint or representative from above. The truth or doctrine is in the saint and the saint is the truth or doctrine. 

We must not be blinded by ego and let the ego drives us to need more and more wants at the expense of all others around us. Let us open our eyes and see the truth or true nature of life that is everywhere and in life. 

By right, the truth of life should be more evident  in a temple of any religion but many are blind even with eyes open. Many see with the eyes of the ego and not with divine third eye of the spirit. 

The third eye is not even developed in the many who flock to religion like insects and ants to a flower for nectar. Blame not the flower for ants and insects coming to it. Blame not God or any saint for such people in any temple of religion. 

It is such people who need to be helped. God and saints can only show the path and it is the people who need to walk the path. Listening and believing is just that and will not help. 

People must realise the true nature of life and why life is full of vexations, and why ego is the root of all problems. They should not seek the peace out there in society as this will be elusive. But they should go for inner peace within themselves - in the world of their own mind or spirit and not the world out there. 

This is the message of Bo Tien 武 天 for all beings so that they will be able to see the light of truth within them and tread the path or Tao which brings them to the ultimate peace. 

Meanwhile, they must not yearn for this ultimate inner peace but be content and happy to be not so affected by the polarities of life - the yin and yang. 

Yearning is ego driven and creates no peace but more swirls and twirls of the dual yin and yang with fractioning of yin and yang into three and more. 

Yin and yang must work in harmony so that we have less vexations. But with the fractioning of yin and yang into three and more, this would be not be easy. 

We must reduce ego drives and cut down the many derivatives of yin and yang - from many to three and then two and from two to one when we reach ultimate inner peace. 

Yin and yang is the two referred in Tao. From nothingness there arise Tao and from Tao there arises two and with change due to ego or entity survival, there arises three due to change. With two there is the third which is change - very characteristic of the visible world or universe and this gives rise to three and more. 

The first two parts of Chapter 10 of Dao Di Jing

No 1474 of Living Life Series 1

Dao Di Jing is collection or summary of the wisdom of the many learned wise in the few thousand years before Lao Tse. Lao Tse an ancient imperial court librarian of old China is not the founder of Daoism and Daoism is no religion. 

Chapter 10 of the Dao Di Jing has nothing to do with religion but is about life. 

We do not run away from life but can realise this Dao or Tao in daily life. We do not ride on a buffalo to the wilderness to have Dao the path to have life of peace as often depicted with regards to Lao Tse riding on a buffalo into the wilderness upon his retirement as court librarian. 

We do not run away from life but can realise this Dao the true nature of life in daily life. 

First part of Chapter 10 tells us to let spirit (mind)  and body live as one in the present here and now. It is not to let mind or spirit live in past wrong or original sin and divorced from body. 

It is also not to let spirit think of life after this life. 

The two habits separate body and spirit. 

We must let spirit and body be one. 

The second part of the many parts of Chapter 10 is to ensure spirit to be as soft and innocent as baby and to clear away the dusts and debris gathered as we grow up. 

Can yin and yang balance be the same over time?

No 1473 of Living Life Series 1

Tao is God. Tao is cause and effect. 

We must not be obsessed by wanting which is regarded as yang or aggressiveness in Dao Di Jing, the summary collection of thinking of sages by imperial court librarian Lao Tse in the few thousand years before him.

We must not be carried away by receiving which is yin or receptiveness. Yin and yang are polar opposites.

We must find the balance, move along in peace with life without being carried away by wanting and receiving, without incessant male aggressiveness as well as being carried away by its polarity of docility or femaleness.

Only then can we stand still while yin and yang go round and round but we do not go round and create more unrest and swirls.

The human couple must find balance to have peace and harmony.

Those who are celibate and not married like priests must not force their religion on others especially more so the followers in their respective religion or temple on one hand and on the other hand they must not act to please them even if their followers are wrong. They must find the balance and find peace by avoiding aggressive yang and  and submissive yin.

As with regards to those who are not priests, it is not uncommon to find ladies trying to be more man than woman. Gentlemen too may try to be more female or yin than having yang maleness. The outcome is breakup and disharmony in family  as well as the risk of homosexuality and lesbian overtures and adventurism.

As opposed to the days of old, young people once they grow up and start to have their own jobs, want to stay away from parents and live on their own. Previously, it was the norm to stay with parents even if they got married. 

The risk of independence and privacy of staying away from parents is that harmony and peace will be hard to achieve. 

Somehow there must be a way to find new balance of yin and yang. The new balance of yin and yang is to have nuclear families or bachelor homes but to visit and sometimes stay with parents in the homes of parents. This can be the new norm - the new balance of yin and yang to have peace and harmony in the big family.

The parents must realise this reality. Do not anxiously wait for the visits of your children. They have their own lives to take care of. They are like tops being spun continuously. They are sandwiched between even the younger (their children) and the old.

The old one is the evening sun wheraas the the young is the is the morning sun. Of course, the young will get more attention. This is nature's law. It is human race survival cycle and no one can defy it. Please remember that the young grown ups will always be more busy than the oldies.

But isn't that not much difference from animals though much better. Cannot humans be much better than animals and not just better.

No wonder, Bo Tien 武 天 stresses on yin and yang and to learn from life. This is so that everyone can be better at than they are.

Can those who follow false teachers attain spiritual realisation?

No 1472 of Living Life Series 1

Can those who follow false teachers attain spiritual realisation?

There are many who speak for Heaven and attract others to idolise them. But this is of no use.

A good teacher or spiritual leader is one who tells you the way to have inner peace. 

A good student is one who can see and put into practice the way to inner peace.

Thus it is not true that those who follow popular teachers can invariably attain spiritual realisation.

There are those who have spiritual realisation and inner peace on their own even without religion or following faithfully and idolising human teachers.

Even the Buddha never projected himself as a great teacher. He only showed the way to inner peace to anyone who came to him.

A great teacher never says he is one but only teaches the way to spiritual realisation - to inner peace.

Those who are humble will be exalted and the seemingly exalted will be humbled.

The inner truth or the way to inner peace is in all religions and in life and in any culture. This is the message of Bo Tien 武 天 and his mission is to awaken everyone to this realisation so that all can be better in whatever life, religion or culture he or she is in. 

The spiritless body and the bodiless spirit

No 1471 of Living Life Series 1



The spirit and body must be one for those who are in the flesh. The strange part is that this is not the norm. 

Many have their spirit or mind in past be it the past in this life or the past in present life while the body is in the here and now. They dwell on past bad they did and even blame everything on the original wrong or sin. 

Many too have their spirit focussed on the future more so the future after this life while the body is in the here and now. They want to free and resurrect the spirit even while in the body of flesh. What happens is effectively that the spirit is divorced from the body. 

Then in either scenarios, there will be the mindless body and the seemingly bodiless mind. There is the separation of yin and yang when yin and yang must revolve as one. How can there be peace and harmony?

Chapter 10 of Dao Di Jing deals with need for spirit and body to be act together to have peace and harmony to be one. 

We need to have the background on this and go to chapter 42 of Dao Di Jing - a summary of the ancient court librarian Lao Tse of the the thinking of the ancient sages in the few thousand years before him. 

What is Dao? Dao is one and one is nothing but God. From one arises two and from two arises three and more. Why is this like that? 

Well, there is always the need for entity or ego to look after its own interest. With this, there will be change. Change is a characteristic of the universe and of all life. Change has to do with cause and effect.

Some refer to God as nothingness. This nothingness which is one gives rise to two - the yin and the yang. With the need for change and lack of peace, further change results in three and more. All these have to do with cause and effect. Some western scholars of Dao also refer to cause and effect as God. So God is nothingness and cause and effect

Dao is not religion but is in life and applicable to all religions. The understanding of Dao can make a person of any religion better than what that person is in that religion. 

Yes, some say Dao is one - nothingness. God is nothing (like us) and is pure. He is not a person with ego entity and in that sense is nothing. 

To be pure and have nothing to do with change, ego and more changes and vexations and rebirths, we must be at peace and to be at peace, we must start with ensuring that the polarities of life, yin and yang are in harmony and revolve in tandem. So the peace that we aspire to is long way down the road, but we must start with aligning the yin and yang to revolve in tandem and not to create from two to three and more with fracturing within yin and yang.

Thus Bo Tien 武 天 did say that all regardless of religion or even if none must know yin and yang. This has the roots in Dao which is not a religion referred by many as Taoism. Dao or path of life to have harmony and reach ultimate peace and be one instead of two or more is applicable to all whatever their religion or culture. 

Do be mindful that in every culture or religion, there are many levels and practices  because people are not one but many - not one or even two but three and more. So even adherents of Taoism are not one but many.

Bo Tien 武 天 aspires to make aware the inner truth that leads to harmony and ultimate peace so all will be one, not two, three or more. Though they may still remain distinct and separate, they will be one in need for inner peace and harmony.

Even the wrong in others can make us better men

No 1470 of Living Life Series 1

We reap what we sow. The purpose of life is to fulfil what we sow. We are here to fulfil our karma. 

Karma is there so long as we let our ego full reign. We often do what are best for us and not for the good of others. Even if we do good for others, we do so with the purpose of getting more for ourselves. 

As long as there is this ego, we are not good enough when we do good though of course, this is still good. Many take pride in running aged and nursing homes but they are out to show the world that they are good and to win recognition from the land. This is still good but not good enough. This Bo Tien 武 天 wants us to know. 

Such people Bo Tien 武 天 says may be like ants coming to the flower for nectar of personal fame and worldly gain. They want to get praise and acclaim more by men than by God and saints. 

Even the wanting to please God and saints is not good as this is like wanting to be in good books of divine, thinking that surely God and saints will favor them over other men. 

They think only of themselves. They are egocentric and expect God and saints to be many times more ego oriented. They project the ego onto God and saints. 

They even find fault and ostracise others who want to do the same as they do. They even want God and saints for themselves. Those who are not with them have no place to be in the same temple or society with them. 

Others must either submit and serve them or be out of their sight. They even pronounce the displeasure of God and saints for those not with them in thinking and in serving their ego needs. 

Aren't they making the devil out of God and saints? They create ego monsters out of God and saints. 

Bo Tien 武 天 says that this is to be expected. There will be the likes of them in any religion, culture or place. 

We must learn from them - from their strengths and weaknesses and the vexations they cause. 

According to Chan thinking of Chinese culture, they are like saints as their faults teach us not to be like them but be better people than what we are and what they are. 

This is the sentiment of Bo Tien 武 天 who adds that we must know who is man and who is God and not mistake God as like man and man as God. 

But if we can learn from men and be better in what good we already are, well this is good. No wonder, Chan masters like Sheng yen says that the not so good provides us lessons through their life to learn from them and they are like saints teaching us not to be what they are. 

Even the wrong in others can make us better men. 

The twin dragons supporting the pearl is for all religions and persons

No 1469 of Living Life Series 1

There are many who do not have the good fortune to have a better material or worldly life all because they are not fated to do so, try as they might. 

This is due to the lack of good done in past, be it past in present life or the past in past lives. 

It is even more difficult to have the opportunity to be associated with a religious institution. 

Even then unless they have done allot of good will they be in more fortunate position to come to know the true doctrine in religion. 

Our limited fate or good fortune is like a bankroll. We can overuse it for worldly matters and have little or none for spiritual. Some even are thrifty with worldly needs and reserve whatever good they have for spiritual or religious life. This is voluntary deprivation or hardship if we may like to use the term hardship.

Thus for the many who want to be spiritual and yet lack the good fate for this, they must pay for the wrong they have done in the past and create more good fate or merits by practices such as fasting, undergoing penances like firewalking, foregoing easy life and going on mission trips. 

They have to experience family or personal setbacks not that God and saints are punishing them but that they have to make up and enrich their merits or fortune to bankroll their spirituality. 

Additionally, many help to setting up aged or nursing homes and hospitals or schools where the poor and the suffering could not otherwise have. 

There is thus the twin paths of hardship and good deeds before we can receive the true doctrine inside and behind religions. 

Bo Tien 武 天 likened this to the two dragons supporting and bringing up the pearl of doctrine. 

Once the pearl is there, we must not go one step further. We must not go for what we can get in return for hardship or good done. We must not think of 'we', 'I', or 'you'. 

Doing otherwise will put us on the path of cause and effect and create clinging and the endless rebirths. We must understand this and know that the vexations we have are all because of this, otherwise we will not have inner peace. 

We must know that inner peace comes from within us and not from without. God and saints only guide us and help to make our life less onerous so that we can stop being ego centered and yet not deny self or life. 

We must be one with life, others and nature and even one with God and saints. Then we will have inner peace - the pearl. This is the innate God or true or pure self in us. This had become the guest self when overtaken by the guest or false self created by the five senses and the mind or 'I' sense. 

We must cultivate this pearl or gem in us that is innate in us. This cannot be instant but takes time. Do not even crave for this divine gem or pearl for then there will be the ego that craves for it and we will be more distant from the gem. 

Just do be mindful and have moment to moment progress in cultivating what inner peace we have. Go for whatever purity of heart and mind we have for the moment. 

For Chan practitioners, if the divine aspiration is the ultimate inner peace in pure land of Amitabha, then they should not yearn for the pure land in afterlife but go for the pure land they can have with like minded others here and now. 

Yes, they can have heaven here and now and not wait with longing for the afterlife. So can anyone in whatever religion or culture he or she is in. This is the message of Bo Tien 武 天 on behalf of Divinity.