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The Living Life Series is dedicated to Lord Bo Tien (武天菩萨). The doctrine is in His image. The image is the doctrine. He who sees, understands and effects the doctrine sees and knows Him. He who does not see, know and effect the doctrine sees not and knows not the saint even if the saint or His image is beside him. The far may be near and the near may be far. Let the doctrine and the saint be part of our life. The lord saint in your life can be any heavenly saint of any religion, sect or school. The doctrine of truth is behind all and this is the Inner Truth that leads all (regardless of their religious affiliation or even if none) to inner peace and heaven on earth here and now and not just in the after life. The ideal worship and devotion is to know and effect the doctrine of God and the saints. The best gospel is the gospel of life. We learn from our life and the lives of others. The true temple is the world we live in. The sky is the roof of the temple and religions and sects are the pillars of the temple. All under Heaven are in the temple. Needless to say that all the saints we know are in this temple. Ji Gong Posat too is no exception. The whole wide world and web is the temple and must be regarded as a sacred place --- a temple for living and learning. It is more important that everyone that counts plays a role in this universal temple if due focus is to be given to the Mission of Heaven. Men must not be distracted by the agenda of men and end up serving the mission of man. That would be a far cry from the Mission of Heaven. We worship God and saints, not man however good that man may be. There should be no hero worshiping or idolizing of man whether he is a charismatic pastor, priest, monk, medium or lay leader. We don't even idol worship the image of any saint but reflect on what the image stands for. - the doctrine in the image. Omitofo 阿弥陀佛!.

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

When will men wake up and learn?

No 377 of Living Life Series 1

This post is based on the understanding of the writer with regards to The Inaugural Message  of Lord Bo Tien and numerous instances of the mention of the parable of the flower and insects come from Historical version of 1984 birthday eve message of Lord Bo Tien Chor Choo at Philip's residence





In the beginning, the sages of Tao (Chinese word for Way)  say that there was primordial energy. From the pureness of primordial energy arose the First Pure One and his supra Heaven and then the second and the third with their respective supra Heavens. The three supra-heavens form the supra-universe.

Then the First Pure One created the universe of realms which include earth, heavens and hells that we know of. He sent The Pure August Jade Emperor to be the God Almighty of the universe. The universe arose as such and is in constant change.

God oversees the universe with his saints, buddhas included. There is constant flux and with the material world, this is called Nature. Nature is beautiful yet not perfect. There is impermanence. God set out to help beings to be good and to be  better than nature. He continues to do so. He is the Creator yet not all things are due to Him.  
 
God knows that beings in the universe must change for the better or be changed for the worse. Man is one of the better beings and man needs to change to enhance their life force or spirit so that they can reach the apex and be pure in spirit or soul so as to be with God and saints.
 
To do so, men must contend with the passive and active aspects of life forces in them and in the world around them. These, the sages of Tao refer to as the yin and the yang. They have to balance them and be at peace, not run away or deny nor indulge and be swept away by the whirlpool of life. Buddhas are saints who are experts on this and the so-called Middle Way though not exactly middle is the practice of balancing the yin and yang or what some refer to as life contingencies such as gain - loss, honour -dishonour, denial - indulgence etc.
 
God has the eternal problem of how to help more men to evolve and have this peace but few if any could understand. All they want are blessings to have better worldly lives and blessings God and saints will unreservedly give these to men. They did not insist that men must make good and have less strife before they will bless them. In short, what Jesus said, "Ask and it shall be given. Seek and ye shall find." is very true. No bargain and no strings attached.
 
When men get their blessings, they will hopefully grow in faith in God and saints and be wise. They must know how to think and have correct outlook. They must know the simple principles or values of truth - of how to be closer to God and saints. This is the problem or issue.
 
God set no bargain or pre-conditions, otherwise He is no God. He and his saints bless and it is because of the divine nectar of blessings that men like insects attracted to a flower will be attracted to God through the flowers of God which are the religions, sects, temples and churches of the world.
 
Majority flock to them because of divine nectar and few are those who go to them because they know the truth (Word) and want to save their souls to be fit to be with God and saints. If God and saints insist that men must know the Word (Doctrine) and be qualified before men can be with the flowers of God, then no one will be saved.
 
If God and saints insist that men account for their weaknesses before they can come to them for blessings, all will be ostracised. Indeed many so-called men of God will do what God won't do and they readily condemn fellow men to hell for whatever weaknesses these men have.  God is not like that. He will bless unreservedly and without pre-conditions even if men have weaknesses so that men may know God and saints and  be attracted to divinity and want to be with divinity.
 
The only way to be with divinity after being attracted by the nectar of divinity is to improve themselves and balance the yin and yang. How to do so can take different forms depending on the context of life and the individual. Thus we have many religions and sects.
 
Religions, sects, temples and churches are flowers of divinity to attract otherwise less spiritually attuned men or otherwise wayward men to God as there is the divine nectar - the divine promise of blessings. Blessings many will get but what next is dependent on the making of men and not of God and saints.
 
If churches and temples can only be for men who are already goody two shoes, then how to  attract the lot of the many who are not. Thus we may say that man is not saved by self-righteousness but by the glory and graciousness of God. God and saints are ever benevolent and will help even criminals and wrong doers so that they hopefully will one day bend and mend their ways to be straight.
 
God and saints never condemn men to hell though all men have erred in some way or other. It is the arrogance of fellow men who act in the name of God and saints who do so. They threaten and condemn men to hell if they see not eye to eye with them, if they do not belong to the same religion or sect with them. This is the way of ignorant and conceited men but not the way of God and saints.
 
God is kind, compassionate and benevolent. Surely He knows one church or temple is far from adequate to reach out to all. Surely, He knows one religion  or sect is not enough but there must be many. That is why there are many and indeed many more in time to come.
 
But dear friends, having said that, do know that God did not send down religions, He sent down the prophets or saints. The prophets or saints spoke the doctrine or Word and they did not say that it is their doctrine for the Word or Doctrine is there even before them.
 
With time, dogmas and traditions were added by men and this formed the basis of religions. With time, culture of the day must be woven into religion or otherwise men would and will not identify with religion. The culture of religions changes like the chameleon to merge with the social environment. That is one reason why religions appear so different now than before and with one another. Even churches of same sect differ from one another.
 
The differences are meant to attract men of different inclinations to God,  like the varied insects to varied flowers. They are never meant to divide men. But, alas, men go to extremes in name of God. There are wars and terrorism. There have been mass murders in the name of God and saints. When will such inhuman ways stop? When will men wake up and learn? All men are brethren in God irrespective of their religious or sectarian affiliation or even if none.

Religions and sects will always be different from one another in some or more ways. They are complementary and their existence is in the will of God and saints. So long as men are different and yet the same, so too are religions and sects. They are different and yet one in God and saints. Prophets and saints will always consider the times and the context and tailor their messages to meet the prevailing circumstances.

So too will religious leaders of a church or temple, they will change at times in surprising and non-conformist ways to better attract and inject some semblance of spirituality to society even if society has deviated far from suitability for spirituality. The congregation too may change and appear lackadaisical to accept leaders who deviate and at times run foul of the regulations of the land.

This however is the seemingly unavoidable, natural, adaptive and evolving way of men and not the wish of God. Attribute (give) to man what is due to man and to God what is due to God. Jesus or the Bible did say this, didn't he?

Obey the laws of the land and the laws of Heaven. This is the saying of Lord Bo Tien. There is no margin for contradiction. Where there is seeming contradiction, walk the way of the sages of Tao and find the balance that brings the best outcome.

Keep religion out of politics and politics out of religion. God and saints never ask men to rise up against other men, let alone the government of the land they reside in.

"As with Heaven, so also on Earth" is a Tao principle of the sages of old in history of ancient ethnic Chinese. This means if we obey God and saints above, we too must do the same for the government of the land. If men somehow still cannot do this, when will men wake up and learn? There will be chaos and strife in the land if men fail to learn that God is God and man is man.

A mission related temple of Lord Bo Tien is no exception as men will somehow fail to learn that man is no God and God is no man. When will men wake up and learn? Lord Bo Tien said that a strong wind will not be there for long.

Many are the men who come to a temple with cloak of spirituality. They actually come primarily for worldly motive (nectar). They are driven by strong wind of self gain to a temple and be like insects coming to a flower for nectar. They will not do so forever and will wake up one day. Lord Bo Tien said that the wind will die down one day and goodness or rather Godliness will prevail. Men will wake up one day and learn to grow the saint in them....Cheers (Last 5th paragraph of Historical version of 1984 birthday eve message of Lord Bo Tien Chor Choo at Philip's residence...)


 
 
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