We can be enlightened if we want to.

No 363 of Living Life Series 1

Enlightenment is beyond going to Heaven, beyond acting on the promise that if we believe we have arrived.  Many do believe and find solace in divine promise. But these are only the first steps. What is important is not mere believe and not mere faith but be able to live in the teachings of the heavenly saints sent to us by God and the Pure Ones.

Enlightenment too is not just being good and doing good but is more than that. Why do good? What is the basis, the reasons behind and what do we expect there after?

To be enlightened, we must not just scratch at the surface of truth. For then, we will be scratching not the substance but the coatings of truth together with dusts that are at the surface. We have to go deeper as there is more to it than meet the eye and the world of senses and material life.

This does not mean being academic, going to conferences and bible colleges. It means that what you need is to be told that much, well perhaps even a little but that little at the right time and context can open up your understanding of life, the nature of life as it has unfurled and will continue to unfurl.

Even a mere stanza will do to open up the inner eye of the mind to the true nature of life. What is the basic problem or issue.

It is mere ignorance. Why are we ignorant? We believe on mere hearsay and on what others and the scriptures say. Though these are from men and by men, we want to believe they are from God and saints. 

Wrong or even if not wrong beliefs and attitudes will lead us to go into endless superficial thinking, that is, rationalisation that leads us round and round on the globe of life but not to the core of life and its truth.

Belief that there is only this life to decide for eternity is simple but not realistic. For men are not born equal and cannot equalise in one life time to be in same eternity in the afterlife.

Even for this one human life, men differ from one another and cannot exactly walk the same life. So for levelling up, there must be many rebirths be it in the heavens above or elsewhere.

Belief that there is no afterlife is the other extreme. It is just like believing there is hopelessness and if that be so, why care at all to do this or that. Just get the utmost out of life and we only face consequences in this life. But how can this be? Men may then behave like wild animals and be no more humane.

All these views are due to ignorance. Being blinded by ignorance, beings are flustered by life and sucked in swirls of life, going round and round on the surface and not going to address the core of the problem which is ignorance.

From the gutters of ignorance arise delusion or false views and false views are fanned by self-centred and ill-conceived greed or attachment as well as ill will or dislike not only for others but for life, even the individual's own life. These do add layers upon layers of dirt and such layers must be removed by cultivating purity from the three roots of delusion, ill will and attachment -- delusion, hatred and greed as some prefer.

From these roots, a whole lot more of worldly contingencies or what Tao refer to as yin and yang are added to the life experiences of beings, making them blind to the basic issue of ignorance and the three offshoots of ignorance - the three roots of the unsatisfactoriness of life. We cannot run away from life experiences or yin and yang but we can see the true nature of life, to eradicate the roots of the problem by being atop and neither affected by life experiences nor denying them. We can be at peace with them and then we will not be at the surface of globe of life gathering dusts and being buried by dusts of life experiences 

You may find it painful to remove the roots but the layers added on by time of many rebirths can stick like glue. Steer clear of the two wrong views. Be alert, do be mindful and do what we can but do not postpone. Be mindful, persevere and avoid sloth and torpor. Every moment of effort counts. While life experiences can be daunting and exhilarating, bringing us helter skelter,  from highs to lows, and from peaks to troughs, we need to keep the calm and be as at peace  as we can.

Lord Bo Tien

Like depicted by the feet of the lord saint Lord Bo Tien balancing and atop the elements, we can do so by being atop and balancing life experiences of success  failures, gain loss, happiness sorrow etc while trying to peel off the whole gamut of endless life experiences arising from the roots of attachment due to ignorance --- false views, attachment or greed and ill will or hatred

The taste of success comes with each moment of improvement and we will be a bit that more peaceful and collated. In short, we will be on the way to enlightenment and so long as we keep up the effort and be ever more mindful to grasp the true nature of life, we can be enlightened if we want to.

Gautama Buddha did say this. Like in the great ocean, there is but one taste, the taste of salt, so also in enlightenment, there is but one taste the taste of deliverance from rebirths and unsatisfactoriness of life ---  in the yin yang world that we are in.

The great ocean

The lord saint Lord Bo Tien is not here to start a new sect or religion but like the great ocean, he is here to reach out to all land and all sects and religions to bring us to understand the true nature of life in whatever sect or religion we may be in, so that all could grasp the inner truth and be at peace --- all could reach the core of life and not go round and round on the surface of globe of life.

We can be enlightened if we want to. Effort and mindfulness are needed. Sloth and torpor are hindrances. Be steadfast as depicted by the left hand of the seated image of Lord Bo Tien.  As depicted by the scepter in the right hand of the image of the lord saint,  do hold on to the doctrine of truth -- the inner truth behind all religions and sects. Go to the core of the globe of life and not go round and round on the surface of the globe of life.

We may experience trials and tribulations along the way, hard landings, knocks and bumps as well. Do not be disheartened. Take faith in the heavenly saints or overseers of life like Ji Gong Posat. They will pick us up,  heal our life wounds and smoothen the way for us. Otherwise, we may often be lost and back track.  But for the long haul, we must tread the way and the path to save our own souls. Those who pray with heart in earnest to the saint, the saint doth know. He who seek in earnest the saints do come to his side.

Praise be to saints like Jesus and Ji Gong. Seek and ye shall find. Knock and the door will be opened. Whoever seeketh findet.... Do not lose heart. Have heart and take heart in the heavenly saints. Namo (honour) to all saints. They will be there for us. Praise be to God and all saints.

Our social circles are reflective of ourselves, our aspirations and our frustrations

No 362 of Living Life Series 1

The people we meet, work and live with are often a reflection of that many bits that are part of ourselves. But these people may not be those we like but those we can live and work with even if at times we find them wanting. They  are in a way mirror a wee bit of ourselves. Otherwise there will not be any affinity and we will keep our distance from them.

The Lord Buddha has more to say about friendship, kinship and relationships. "Associate with the wise. Do not associate with the fools. Honour those who are worthy of honour." In Pali this stanza reads thus, "Asevana cha balanang. Panditanang cha sevana. Puja cha ye balanang. Etang mangala mutamang." These are the first of 38 blessings he listed in the Mangala Sutra -- the Discourse on Blessings.  

Subconsciously or as though intuitively we can can only interact with others with some semblance of our individual self. It would be better if there is more common ground. Hopefully the common ground is wholesome somewhat. Otherwise, if they are not, then our social network will accentuate the unwholesomeness in us. Birds of the same feathers flock together.

Thus if we associate with fools and indulge in ungainly ways that harm not only others but in the end will harm ourselves, we will have more downfall and pitfalls in life.

Often we look up to a few and idolise them for their abilities, leadership and feel dejected if they are not happy with us. This is because such people represent the ideal that we want or are the epitome of that bits of us which we hope we could enhance manyfold.

But do remember that our associates in our social circles are like us made up of various aspects of personality --- the passive and active, what the sages of old refer to as the yin and yang. We cannot go for one or few aspects without being affected by the other aspects we find unpleasant or which we can do without. We have to accept our associates and friends for what they are but must not feel let down or allow them to mar our peace of life. To put it simply we need to have to balance the various aspects of life that our associates or social network present to us in life.

The Ba gua

Thus the Bagua symbol of the Tao Sages does stress on the roundness and perfect harmony of the yin and yang of life. Lord Bo Tien in his seated image personifies the need to do so with his feet atop and balancing the elements of life.

Lord Bo Tien

In social circles, we need to have friends and associates who mirror hopefully the better bits of us but we must accept our friends for what they are. There are other aspects of them which we have to reckon with. We cannot expect our friends to be our replicas.  We cannot run away from the various aspects in them but need to be atop and in harmony with all aspects of them -- what sages refer to as the harmony of yin and yang as depicted by the Bagua and the image of Lord Bo Tien.

Our social circles are reflections of ourselves, our aspirations and our frustrations. Others can have better idea of us through knowing the type of social circles we are in. 

Thus in one of the earlier anniversary mission day messages, the lord saint Lord Bo Tien reminded that we can learn from life our own and from the lives of others. We can know ourselves better by knowing others better. The converse too is true. We can know others better if we know ourselves better, both the strengths and weaknesses.

.