The picture below shows Ji Gong the Living Buddha sitting on a dragon. Legend has it that in one of his previous lives, he was the Dragon Taming Arahat, one of the eighteen legendary arahants.
The legendary dragon blows fire and whirls around but once tamed is restful and serene. It signifies the life of men and the realities of nature. Life is full of whirls of ups and downs and to the sages of Tao in ancient China, life is about the yin and yang. If we are not at peace with life and are not in control, we will be swept and tossed around by life. The dragon symbolises life and nature. Man must be atop the ups and downs in life, the dualities in life and nature, such as gain-loss, honour-dishonour, life death, joy-sorrow, floods and drought etc.
To do so, some may think that they must leave society and family and be in a temple, seminary or better still be a recluse in the forest. But however, one tries to run away from so-called the throes and woes, one will still be with nature and life. There is no escape.
At the other end, some may say that if that is so, we might as well live for now, indulge and be sinful to the letter but whatever gains we have only create more issues and will not last. For that which is of nature like the flower even if beautiful as whole will not last and not as beautiful if taken apart. This was the gist of the flower parable that Lord Bo Tien talked in depth in one of his latter messages. (Historical version of the 1983 message of
Lord Bo Tien ...)
So there is need not to run away or deny life and nature and not to cling to nature and life. For many, this would mean we have to follow the norms and rules of religions and sects. Many of the rules and norms were put in place many years and generations after the passing away of the prophets or founders. They become dogmas and the tenets of religions. Not many are comfortable with them and they can be restrictive and restraining. The means can become the ends and the real ends then are not met. (Do refer to The Inaugural Message of Lord Bo Tien)
Ji Gong had to leave his monastery in his lifetime for he was not adhering to rules and norms. He is jovial, fun loving and ate meat and drank wine. Not able to change his ways, he was asked to leave the monastery. But he was kind at heart and cultivated the Way or Tao but felt that what is important in life is not outward show but must be genuine and comes from the heart. He succeeded and became enlightened.
He left the monastery with rags for his clothes and wore a torn hat. He was more like a vagrant but he did not run away from life but lived the life, even eating meat and drinking. But he was pure and neither intoxicated by life nor did he run from life. He was able to tame the yin and yang of life and the sages said that he was able to tame the dragon of life.
His image above with him atop the dragon taming it, not running away from it shows the way to handle life. Do not run from life but be atop life and not be swept around by the whirls and swirls of life. The dragon depicts life and is capable of whirls and swirls if not tamed.
His gourd in left hand depicts that even if one lives the worldly ways, one needs not be affected if one is steady and pure at heart. That we drink and eat meat do not imply we are not good.
His right hand fanning away with a torn fan to keep him amply comfortable from heat and dust tells us that we need not have better requisites or conditions, before we could walk the Way. The torn fan which others would discard is good enough for him. It serves its purpose and likewise whatever little we have will enable us to fan away the issues and nitty gritty of life. We need not have a big monastery,be learned in history and comb the many voluminous scriptures before we can lead the holy life. We need not have air conditioner or more than simple luxuries to be comfortable enough to be great in life spiritually and otherwise.
We can stay what we are or even be poor and of little means and yet we can make it spiritually. We can know only that little and have that little and not more, yet we can make it. Ji Gong's life in question is a good example. One would have thought that having been condemned and not fit to be a monk in a temple and cast away to the slums and dumps outside the temple, he would be lost spiritually. On the contrary, he succeeded when many in the temple or monastery did not.
The image of him above depicts him taming the dragon of life and nature whist still garbed in modest beggar-like robes and torn hat, whilst still drinking and fanning away. In Chinese mythology, "Double dragons supporting pearl" is actually the pictoral presentation of harnessing and balancing the yin and yang dragons to have the pearl of divine wisdom. Thus taming the dragon means mastery of yin and yang balance that is later depicted as the Bagua.
He even had a jar of wine beside him while drinking from a gourd. We should be like him. We can be what we are and not try to be what we are not. But at the same time, we can still make it spiritually. No need to give up life or to have more in life but simple make do. In the case of Ji Gong, even wine and meat are no hindrances. What is important is not what goes through the gut but what goes through the heart.
The Ji Gong way is for you to be what you are, stay with life and yet make it spiritually. All depends on the heart and not the gut or what you do or show.
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| Ba gua |
He even had a jar of wine beside him while drinking from a gourd. We should be like him. We can be what we are and not try to be what we are not. But at the same time, we can still make it spiritually. No need to give up life or to have more in life but simple make do. In the case of Ji Gong, even wine and meat are no hindrances. What is important is not what goes through the gut but what goes through the heart.
The Ji Gong way is for you to be what you are, stay with life and yet make it spiritually. All depends on the heart and not the gut or what you do or show.
