Be like Ji Gong and live with glee

No 392 of Living Life Series 1

The joy of the one who is enlightened is beautiful and perfect. His joy is not tied down to wealth or status. He does not need to put on airs. His body language mirrors the joy in him. His very presence is soothing and blessing to others. 

Ji Gong The Living Buddha is such a being. But he goes further to show you that he can be carefree and forgoes status and trappings of a saint. He behaves like a beggar or vagrant, jumps, hops, sways, sings and dance around, even drinking and eating meat unabashed. 

For he is free  and a master of life, living life way beyond the ails of conditionality of yin and yang. He demonstrates that one can be with society and continues to be, even drinking, eating and merry making. But one must do so when free and pure at heart. This matters more than what one does and eats. 

We can dance with every step of life if we are pure at heart and liberated from conditionality. Then we be like immortal Ji Gong who to this day still lives and hovers amongst men. 

Ji Gong manifests his joy of sainthood by frolicking amongst men on streets and floors of men. We may say this is his way to show us the dance of joy and man too can be like him without giving up the worldly ways. 

What is needed is to be pure and free and yet be man but a free man, free from stifling rules and expectations of the many, free from attachments of family and society. Denial or running away from family or society is not the answer and does not bode well for the man on the run from life. 

Ji Gong left the monastery in his life as man to be with the world of men and nurtured the universal temple in the whole world of men. He neither deny self nor cling on to self. For sure,there is need to value self as well.

Be what you are and value self. If you value self, you set yourself free to be with wider life and society. You should not want to be seen to be different. You should want others to know that you are like them and not beyond the world. They too can be pure at heart and be buddha like Ji Gong. 

No need to stop being what you are. No need to stop what you do or eat. There is only need to have the heart to be pure, be at peace and free even in world of conditionality of ebbs and flows. 

Let us be pure at heart and live life free and with glee. Be like Ji Gong and live with glee. 

Ji Gong carving in Linyin Temple

The world is his home and the people his kin. Ji Gong roams the world of men to bring to them the life of glee which is reachable by all. 

It is however best that men must go beyond home and fame which can often tie men in knots and chains, for worldly wealth and status though good is not good enough for life of glee. Many are rich but poor in spirit and the heart. There are those rich in spirit and heart but not as endowed worldly wise. They are better off in the end.

Man must be mindful to look after home, task and job at hand. Otherwise, how can he look after the many in society out there. The little bit man can do, best for man to do it well so that one day he can look after the many out there. Man must start with himself and the home. 

Man needs to cultivate pureness from the heart and nurtures the life of glee and nurtures the same at home base with kith and kin. Only when man can live at home and nurture the life of glee in all at home, then can they spread the glee to those beyond (the home). 

Learn to be a little immortal before graduating to become a saint of sorts and be able to bring glee to more. Then Ji Gong will be proud of him for he has become a bit more like Ji Gong to live life with glee and help others to do so as well. 

Omitofo

Taming the dragon

No 391 of Living Life Series 1

One of the many legends has it that in his past lives, while cultivating in the Buddha’s teaching, Ji Gong was said to be a reincarnate of arahat with magic powers. He chose to be a holy fool who portrayed crazy eccentricity to provide a cover for his real identity as the incarnate of the Taming Dragon Arahat (Xiang Long Luo Han, 降龙罗汉) -- one of the eighteen legendary arahats. Thus he could complete the task set out by Amitabha Buddha for him to find the escaped Da Peng Bird (大鹏鸟).

There is a kingdom in ancient India where the people incited by a demon went on a rampage against the monasteries and stole the Buddhist scriptures. The undersea king flooded the kingdom and took over the scriptures and put them in his palace. Nantimitolo subdued the dragon guards and restored the scriptures back to earth. He is thus known as the Taming Dragon Arahat.

To recapitulate, legend has it that Ji Gong is the incarnate of the Dragon Taming Arahat who came down as man to tame the budding dragon in man. The dragon is the yin and yang - the soft and hard aspects, the worldly contingencies (like health and sickness, loss and gain, growth and decay) that shape and characterize nature, be it in life, mother Earth or beyond.

With mastery over yin and yang, Ji Gong rides the dragon and brings welcome relief and reprieve to all by leveling the  playing fields of life. Life plays out the ups and downs that can be trying. But do have hope in God above to level up and level down the humps and troughs of your life on Earth.

Ji Gong is here for you, to help and show you the way, just as Amitabha had for him the incarnate of the legendary Taming Dragon Arahat. Amen. That is so and that we must know. Thanks to God and Heaven above for Taming Dragon Arahat in Ji Gong the Living Buddha.

Ji Gong is there for one and all. You don't have to be of any sect or religion or any temple or church to be entitled to his blessings. All in any religion or even those without religion can come to him. He is the dragon tamer and will help and show you how to tame and balance the dragon of yin and yang in your life. Thus he is often portrayed riding the dragon as above.

Let us ride the dragon of life to more of peace in life. Go for more of life if we can but ever be prepared to make do with less. Be with life and not run away from life. We need to take on and ride the dragon that is life. We need to stay atop of life and not falter.

We need to tame the dragon to have more and not less in life. Let not life swing,  swirl and fling us around. We need to tame and ride the dragon of yin and yang. so that we can be around for more of peace amid the sound and flury that abound.

Let us tame the dragon that is life and ride the dragon peacefully to more of life. Ji Gong will bless us for sure. He is the Dragon Taming Arahat.  Omitofo and peace be, peace be to one and all.

The quest of the golden fan

No 390 of Living Life Series 1

The golden fan of Ji Gong seeks to fan down the problems of man which are due to ignorance and unfavorable circumstances in life of man. 

In place, Ji Gong fans in goodness to harmonize life conditions so that issues are not blown up but fizzle out to make path of life more even and pleasant. 

Life will then be more experiential than tormenting and life will ever be better ground for learning and cultivation of Tao, the Way. That is the quest of the golden fan. 

Man must have the right milieu to grow optimally and learn to have the peace of God here and now and man is blessed to have saints like Ji Gong to ease the living pains and grow the gains in life. 

Balancing the dualities in the world, both within and without the self is tough for the wayfarer in any man. If in need, do seek divine help. Ji Gong the Living Buddha has vowed to stay with men on Earth and even be on the floor with men. 

You may say that this is manifest of the quest of the golden fan. Omitofo and peace be to all. 

Man must know the dualities in life. Call it yin and yang if you may. Life is eventful and no bed of roses. Even a bed of roses too have thorns. Heaven knows this and feels for men. 

Issues and problems in life will always be and are good for learning but the issues in life of man are many and plentiful. Without divine providence, man on his own may have difficulty to take them on.  

Saints like Ji Gong are there for the good and compassion of the many so that it is easier for man to be atop the yin and yang of life. Many an infant need help to walk. Man too needs help to walk his life. 

The golden fan of Ji Gong evens out ground of life so that the path of life is less bumpy and not so eventful. Man can then walk better down the road of life. Man needs divine compassion but as the saying goes that God helps those who help themselves, man must still walk the road of life. 

Seek out Ji Gong to bless you with the golden fan. A timely help here and there and now and then makes a great difference. That way, you will fall less and walk more in life. Even if you fall, he will be there to pick you up again. 

Omitofo and peace be once again to one and all.

Ji Gong continues to touch more lives

No 389 of Living Life Series 1

The legends of Ji Gong are varied and many. 

For centuries, Ji Gong is widely known among the civilians in Hangzhou. Ji Gong is depicted as wearing the tethered cap and dons a torn cassock and holds a broken fan. He did not look like the typical monk. 

Ji Gong became a monk at Linyin Temple at the age of 18. He was never a conformist and never abided by dogmas, regulations and standard principles. He liked drinking and eating meat. 

Legend has it that after he was asked to leave Linyin Temple, he turned to the Jingci Temple as an amanuensis monk. 

On one occasion, fire destroyed the main hall of Jingci Temple. The abbot turned to him for gathering wood for restoring that hall. But instead, he slept for three days from wine drinking. He miraculously exclaimed:"the wood is here, take it from the well." The wood really flew out from the well of temple until there was enough for reconstruction of the hall. To this day, there is a Shenmu Well in Jingci Temple.

One day, Ji Gong predicted there would be a catastrophe from earthquake that would result in a hill taking form in the front of Linyin Temple. For the sake of saving the villagers ,he evacuated the villagers and saved them from disaster. The detail story  is as follows.

During his lifetime as man, Ji Gong predicted there would be a peak flying from afar at the village in front of Linyin Temple. He advised the villagers to evacuate. But no one believed in him. They thought he was playing tricks. This made monk Ji Gong worried. He then conceived  a way to lure the villagers away in quick time. He rushed into a wedding ceremony and took the bride away. This infuriated the villagers and all ran after him. Suddenly a storm with earthquake resulted in earth movement that resulted in a peak in the front of Lingyin Temple. The villagers then realized that Ji Gong had saved them. This peak came to be known as 'Fei Lai Feng' - the Peak Flown From Afar.

One variant of the story had it that one little girl was staggering behind and trailing behind the villagers running after Ji Gong and a boulder was hurtling towards her. Ji Gong directed his magical palm at the boulder and prevented it from hurting the girl. It is said that an imprint of the hand can be found at the base of the boulder that formed the peak.

Undoubtedly, there are many more stories and folklores from Hangzhou. In the past 2000 years or more, the stories were passed down from one generation to another. The narratives were closely connected with ordinary people's daily lives. 

What is more striking is that Ji Gong in the last 2000 odd years and more continues to be with people not just at Hangchow but through his manifestations and through his human intermediaries in many countries such as South East Asia, Taiwan, Japan, India and Australia. 

He continues to speak through intermediaries and touch peoples' lives. No issue is too trifle for him to attend to. Seek him out and he will be there for you. There is no barter or conditions. He only wants to help and he never sets preconditions that you must be his disciple or believe in a sect, religion or be member of a temple. 

You can be of any race, of any belief, religion or of any culture. So long as you have an issue for him to attend to, he will be there for you. All he wants is for you to suffer less, to have a better life and to be good. Whether you can be spiritual or not is not his immediate concern. How he can make a difference in your life is all that matters. He never proselytize or politicize - no expectations of any conditions. 

All he wants is to make the difference to your life. The numerous good works of Ji Gong are more than legend. He is accepted in the pantheon of Taoism and Buddhism. He is both a buddha and a deity but he never said that you must be a Buddhist or Taoist to come to him and to seek his help and guidance. 

He has the heart to help and that is what counts and that is why many are attracted to him and yet remain as members of their respective culture and religion. You never need to renounce your religion or sect to benefit from his compassion. His compassion knows no boundaries. 

You can even be a criminal or wrong doer but if you need help, he will be there for you. Of course, he will try to help you to make good in life. 

That is Ji Gong and many have asked him for wins in lottery, for a good job, for health issues and for social problems. There was never any strings attached. You don't have to believe in him or be a Buddhist or Taoist for you to be eligible to seek his compassion. 

But invariably after he touched your life, you would and will be a different person - a better person and an asset to others regardless of religion, sect or affiliation. The stories of Ji Gong are unfolding every day and continue to do so. The numerous good works of Ji Gong are more than legends. 


Ji Gong will continue to touch more lives. He lives on with man and in man. He is a living saint - a living Buddha. Thus he is Ji Gong Huo Fo. 

Cultivate the Ji Gong in us

No 388 of Living Life Series 1

JI GONG THE LIVING BUDDHA

There is in everyone of us the true nature of life. We are what we are and many want to be what they are not. We need to accept what we are before we can be what we are not. 

If we detest or are not comfortable with what we are, it would be a denial of life  and self. If we go for what we are not and find we are way off the mark for now, we will have poor esteem of ourselves and have no comfort in life we are having now. 

Many seek the truth of ancient wisdom, yet the profound truth is simple but difficult to perceive. The reality is to accept what we are and to know ourselves. If we can do that and be at peace with our life, be it our job, our family, our resources, our attributes, our strengths and limitations, we have seen through life and will be at peace. Only then could we have the joy to move on and to cultivate more in life that will yield more satisfaction in life.

Do not try to be what we are not, more so in spiritual life and do not try to ape the saints and the holy ones. Ji Gong in his life time as man did not do so many centuries ago. He was desolate after the family tragedy and entered the monastery but the trappings and rules of monastic life. 

Many put on a show and conform but ended up bound by ropes and chains of conformity. Their mind or spirit is chained and bound. They end up far from the end which is divine peace and mistake the means as the ends. The rules and dogmas of institutional religiosity laid down be men end up tying them down with the laid down norms of society. Men end up pandering to the expectations of men and not God and Heaven, effectively worshiping men instead of God and Heaven. 

Ji Gong certainly did not and was excommunicated from the monastery for his care free ways, for his drinking and meat eating, for his frolicking with ordinary men,  beggars and monkeys. He was what a monk in his days should not be but whilst his actions were at odds with expectations of the religious clergy then, he was not lost to Divinity and enlightenment. 

JI GONG 

He believed in being what he was and cultivated purity and peace of the spirit. What is important is what goes through the heart and not what goes through the gut. He succeeded in divine peace and sainthood and now is seated with God and saints but there again, he prefers to be with men. 

We should be like him and cultivate our heart and not our body. We should not cultivate the expectations of men and end up tied and bound by societal norms. 

Ji Gong 

There is the Ji Gong in us. We should never mind if we cannot be monk, pastor or priest. We should never mind if we cannot chant the holy scriptures and never mind if we cannot lead the flock in a church or temple and pander to the expectations and fancies of men. We should be what we are and not have guilt, but cultivate the heart to be pure and at peace. It is not what we do, what we act or what we say and can show outwardly that count. It is how we can truly be and it is the heart that matters. 

JI GONG THE LIVING BUDDHA

Cultivate the Ji Gong in us by taking a leaf or two from the life and ways of Ji Gong. Be what you are and not be what others are or what others expect of you. Cultivate the heart and not what you want others to think of you. Be yourself and be pure. Don't end up trying to be what others expect of you and be in chains and far from being at peace and far from being pure and Godly. 

Jesus of Nazareth too did not behave as though he is God but he is amongst men and every bit like any other men though extra-ordinary. He displayed his Godliness not by being a king or nobility of men such as the nobility of the Roman empire. He is rich in God but not rich in the ways of men during his time. He was humble and pure at heart, easily acceptable to the masses and ordinary folks of his time. He even allowed himself to be crucified. He never asked to be portrayed as all powerful, awesome and to be feared. He would never ask or boast to be enthroned beside God. 

Modern men remembers him as the Godly one who was wronged by being crucified like a murderer. Jesus like Ji Gong are alike in being pure at heart and not keeping to the norms expected of priests, saints and sons of Heaven. Men may cast them in the image of nobles and kings even to this day but this is not what they expect and what they would want us to remember them by. They are saviors of men by being with men and very much like men which makes affinity with them not an issue. 

Lord Bo Tien too did say in 1975 that he descend not to display his saintly prowess or to exhibit his divine might. In one of the last messages in the early 80s, he said that he is no general or martial of Heaven but the image of him as a general is meant to convey his teachings. Truth or teaching is in his image and his image is his teaching. 

 LORD BO TIEN

Men who are the priests of saints like Jesus, Ji Gong or any deity like Lord Bo Tien however likes to paint them as all powerful awesome and to be feared. In turn their priests like to command awe in their congregation and deck themselves in robes of nobility like those nobles of the Roman Empire or the Emperor's Court in  ancient China. This is not desirable but merely reflects the echoes of men and a disastrous misrepresentation of the humble and pure Godliness of saints like Jesus, Bo Tien and Ji Gong.

We must all cultivate the saint or Ji Gong in ourselves and yet be ordinary like other men and at same time extraordinary in being pure at heart and not try to live up to the unwholesome worldly expectations and fancies of the men of society. 

Renunciation is that of the mind and must come from the heart and not just a show of the body and outward actions. It is renunciation of mental roots of ill-will, greed and false views. It is not and never will be a renunciation of who we are or how we have been living out life - our daily life. It is the embracing of life and not rejection of self but the purification of being that must be sincere, complete and whole. For this it is the heart that matters. 

Even Gautama Buddha in his lifetime on earth lived by the heart. It is the heart that matters and not what is eaten. People gave him alms and this included meat. He ate what was offered and this did not meant that he wanted animals to be slaughtered to provide meat for food. Of what use is vegetarianism if there is malice and no love for human life, let alone love for animals. It is the heart that matters. 

Ji Gong had led the way and showed us how to be pure at heart and not just stick to norms and expectations. We need to cultivate the Ji Gong in our heart.Then issues big and small will be no issue. For the wise one will neither run from life nor be slave or victim to the incessant wants in life. He will know his limits and set his markers in life so as to do well in life and yet be able to reach and go for the divine peace others find so elusive. Then there is heaven and peace even here and now and no need to wait for afterlife or yearn for yesteryear. 


Omitofo.

JI GONG 

The Rich Man and Lazarus

No 387 of Living Life Series 1

 

The rich man may think that he is near to paradise and providence and that he is close to God and saints. The poor may think that they are in hell on earth and neglected by providence. The truth is that what is important is what goes through the heart and not what one can have or get, not even what goes through the gut. The more one has the more likely one is so distracted and too preoccupied to have time and resources to cultivate the heart towards Godliness - the purity of mind and heart. 

The far may be near and the near may be far. This did Lord Bo Tien say. Thus those who are well endowed be it in body, wealth, politics or in religious trappings such as a concrete temple or crystal church may well be at serious disadvantage compared to those who have little and are not endowed. One may be rich in standing in the eyes of men as birds of feather flock together and fools think alike but the one who is alone may well be of better standing in eyes of God and saints. This echoes what the Christian Bible says in Luke 16:19 - 31.

Luke 16:19-31 New International Version (NIV) 

19 “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. 20 At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores 21 and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores. 

22 “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. 24 So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’ 

25 “But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’ 

27 “He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, 28 for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’ 

29 “Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’ 

30 “‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’ 

31 “He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.”

Chinese New Year and the Gods of Wealth

No 386 of Living Life Series 1

Chinese celebrate the birthday of the God of Wealth on the fifth day of Chinese New Year.  Firecrackers are exploded as a sign of welcoming the God of Wealth. Shops hang red cloth banner over the top of the main door.   

Every home will hang a picture of the God of Wealth for Chinese New Year. Originally only merchants practise this custom but soon others took on the practice.  Soon people of different times and regions worship their own concepts of God of Wealth. There is the traditional one Zhao Gongming, then the Martial God of Wealth , the Civil God of Wealth, the Deities of Wealth of Five Directions and the Angel of Fortune. The concept of God of Wealth is not one but more than one.  

According to Chinese culture. com, the five main gods of wealth are as follows

The primary god of wealth is Zhao Gongming, also known as Marshal Zhao or Altar Zhao. He was originally one of the gods in the hell before the Jade Emperor appointed him as marshal or general responsible for trading, business and wealth in the human world.  He is depicted with a dark face with a full beard and dons an iron helmet and battle robe. He holds a precious scepter and rides a tiger. Around him, there are treasure-amassing basins, big gold and silver ingots, precious pearls and wealth enhancing corals.

Guan Yu, a famous general of the State of Shu during the Three Kingdoms Period. He was loyal and courageous. He would not be lured by gold, silver and treasure and was loyal. He could not be bribed. People especially businessmen admire and respect Master Guan Yu's loyalty and integrity and  he became a saint of fortune making and business. He is thus a god of wealth.  

Fan Li, a civil god of wealth was an outstanding statesman, thinker and strategist of the Spring and Autumn Period. He was also a businessman good at making money. Later, he lived with his family in Taodi and continued to amass wealth though farming, livestock raising and doing business. He distributed his wealth to local people. His generosity was highly acclaimed and many worshiped him as the God of Wealth. 

Another civil god of wealth is Bi Gan.  Bi Gan, the uncle of King Zhou of the Shang Dynasty was a loyal and righteous minister. It is recorded in Fengshen Yanyi or The Creation of the Gods that Bi Gan's heart was dug out by Daji, King Zhou's concubine, but he didn't die due to the incense paper offered by a certain sage Jiang Ziya. There after, Bi Gan retreated into the midst of the common people to distribute treasure. Merchants under the blessing of Bi Gan did honest business. That's why Bi Gan came to be worshiped as civil god of wealth. He is depicted dressed like a civil official who wears a minister's head gear and robe, with a ruyi (an S-shaped ornamental jade, a symbol of good luck) in his hand and gold or silver ingots under his feet.     

Apart from two martial and two civil gods of wealth, the side god is also worshiped among the people. The name of the god comes from the position of the portrait, which is often placed on the side of a house or shop. It is believed that with the blessing of the side god, good fortune will come to someone when he or she goes out of his home, office or shop, where ever he goes, be it north, south, east, west or middle. The side god is sometimes referred to as "Five-Road God". 

But the term the Five Directional Gods of Wealth or Wu Lu Cai Shen often refer to all five and not just to the side god.

Reference:

http://www.cultural-china.com/chinaWH/html/en/13Traditions29.html

How lion dancing came about in Chinese culture

No 385 of  Living Life Series 1

The 5th lunar day of Chinese New Year is the welcome day for the god of wealth. Many families worship the god of wealth in the early morning.  

Some even invite the lion dance team to celebrate the opening ceremony of a store. The lion is the mascot of the god of wealth. 

The house or store owner will give the mascot a red packet with money reward inside. 

Who is the god of wealth? The answer is that there is more than one god of wealth in the Chinese culture, in fact five. There are two gods of sword wealth and two gods of pen wealth. 

The fifth is the god of windfall, because lucky money make it easy for people to get  rich faster. He is the one referred to when Chinese refer to the god of wealth as one. 

The five gods of wealth arose and were intertwined with Chinese history. They were personalities involved in history of dynasties.

The five gods or deities  of wealth  are sometimes referred to as god of wealth for military wealth (武財), god of wealth for scholarly wealth (文財), god of wealth for directly-associated wealth (正財), god of wealth for physically-associated wealth (偏財), god of wealth for sudden wealth or wind fall (橫財). Each type of Wealth is being in-charge of by one deity or god of wealth. 

In Taiwan, Ji Gong the Living Buddha is regarded also as god of wealth and this is also the popular belief in South East Asia. He too likes to frolic with lion dancing during festivities in temples. 

Ji Gong the Living Buddha

Feng shui practitioners are fond of using the statue of Laughing Buddha (Maitreya) as a fortune god to bring fortune to home or business.

Gong Xi Fa Cai is the way to go

No 384 of Living Life Series 1

Every new year brings new life, new hopes and aspirations. Families congregate once a year on the eve of the lunar new year for reunion traditionally at home.  This signifies wholeness and wholesomeness. From beginning to end of a year is like starting off and completing in a circle. The beginning is the end of the previous year and the end is the beginning. The circle is everything and is complete. But a new cycle of life begins.

Whilst families warm up their kinship over steamboat on the evening of the eve of the lunar new year, the gods and saints of the family home are sent off at midnight as they too must report to Heaven and have audience (reunion) with the Buddhas and the Jade Emperor. Thus the more traditional Chinese send them off by offerings of 'nian gou' or sweet sticky glutinous rice and sugar, hoping that the gods and saints have sweet words to report to Heaven of their human wards. 

The word 'nian' may sound like the word 'year' and 'gou' sounds like the word 'high'. May the new year bring on more highs in endeavors of life

There is much to rejoice over a completed year and more to rejoice for the unfolding of a new year. Chinese are encouraged to be positive and to count their blessings for the past year and to look forward to a whole new year of life. There is joy for the end and more joy for a new beginning.

It is time to put aside misunderstandings and hiccups in life and to look at the bright side. There is hope as there is new life, specifically a new year. Cheers to life of past year and more cheers to welcome life in the new year.

Truly the end of past year is the beginning of new year and the beginning was the end of a past year. This is life and it is best we make the best out of it. It is best we be happy and learn to be more happy. We need to count our blessings and no time to wallow in woes.

The new year brings new hopes and allows for a year for bountiful blessings be it in health, wealth, kinship and spiritual bliss. Gong Xi Fa Cai (Happy and Prosperous New Year) is the way to go in life but remember life is a circle. Let there be cyclical joy and blessings.

In a circle, the beginning is the end and the end is the beginning. Yin or soft attributes must follow and go in tandem with yang or hard attributes of life. The motto in life is to go for blessings and what better day to remind us folks to do so than the first fifteen days of the lunar new year.

Be happy and joyful not only during the festive first 15 days of the new year but for every moment and day of the whole year. Go for the goodness of both yin and yang and not be perturbed by and dwell in the not-so-good yin and yang.

Let us accept life and count blessings as well as cultivate and nurture more joy and peace in life. This is the spirit of the new year.

On the fifth day of the new year, the gods and saints return from heaven to the homes of men. Traditional families will welcome them with offerings. There is also the practice to welcome the kitchen god with offerings usually on the fourth day and in the kitchen of shops and factories.

The God of Wealth (Cai Shen Yeh) figures prominently on the fifth day and some families still go to the sea to welcome him. They offer food and release birds and sea turtles to give them life and hope God and saints too will give them life and set them free from issues that may curtail and limit life.

On the seventh day, Chinese celebrate everybody's birthday. This day, some cooked vegetable soup with 7 types of vegetables. This concept has close parallel to the concept of creation of man in the Genesis of the Christian Bible. It is day for the celebration of life. God gives men life and the seventh day is the day to commemorate this. The seventh day is symbolic day to rest and to rejoice in the creation by God of the universe and of life.  

In fact the seventh day of the lunar new year too is about more life or extra life. To celebrate the blessing of extra life providence, Chinese in Singapore  gather to eat raw fish salad which in Chinese is 'yee (fish) sang ( raw or life)'. The words sound like 'extra life"  

On the ninth day, Chinese especially Hokkien  celebrate the auspicious birthday of God Almighty the Jade Emperor. This calls to mind that God arises or is born out of the best of primordial energy and oversees the various realms under Heaven. He is the creator of realms and beings but He too is created in a way. Thus God is both created and the creator, just like any being or man who is both created and creator.

A man is the son of another man and the father of another. This too again is like the circle where the beginning is the end and the end is the beginning. Life goes on that way and man must find meaning and fulfilment in the circle of life.

The lunar new year is both the beginning and the end. Ancestors and sages want us to be happy over this and we need to live up to the happy new year message that we utter ever so often on the new year days.

Have a Happy New Year. All are entitled to be Happy and to have more blessings. The issue is whether we are able to live up to this, never mind if our neighbours and colleagues are better than us.

On the fifteen day of the lunar new year, young men and ladies roam the streets. In the old days, eligible ladies throw mandarin oranges at a bridge hoping that their future life long partners will pick them up. After all, young ladies are like gold (symbolised by the mandarin oranges) to their would-be husbands. 

The new year heralds romance that brings out yin yang harmony - the desired outcome for  many couples. Cheers and more children too. That too is in a way prosperity that is beyond fiscal wealth. 

Happy New Year.  Gong Xi Fa Cai  is the way to go

 

Wu Lu Cai Shen
"The 5 Directional Deities of Wealth"

PS The 5th lunar day of Chinese New Year is the welcome day for the god of wealth. Many families worship the god of wealth in the early morning.  Some even invite the lion dance team to celebrate the opening ceremony of a store. The lion is the mascot of the god of wealth. The house or store owner will give the mascot a red packet with money reward inside. Who is the god of wealth? The answer is that there is more than one god of wealth in the Chinese culture, in fact five. There are two gods of sword wealth and two gods of pen wealth. The fifth is the god of windfall, because lucky money make it easy for people to get  rich faster. He is the one referred to when Chinese refer to the god of wealth as one. The five gods of wealth arose and were intertwined with Chinese history. They were personalities involved in history of dynasties.


PS Do you want to know more of the reunion dinner in days of old? 

The Reunion Dinner 回家過年 by Anthony Chen 陳哲藝 @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLyVarVFM9w