No 532 of Living Life Series 1
Peace is for victory and victory brings peace.
Are we at peace with life? That matters more than what religion we are in. Whether a religion is informative and inclusive is not the issue. The issue is whether it enables peace in life. What matters is peace and not if the religion is substantial. Religion can be like fairy tale and not in tune with science but if it enables peace of spirit, that matters more.
Thus the great Gautama as the Buddha in his lifetime as man went round on foot to convince as many on what he knew in various places in northern India. He taught only what was best for the man he met and not more. There is precious limited time he had for every man or woman he met. He could only say a thing or two but often that was enough to enlighten the individual whom he might not meet again. There was no time for indulgence for more.
Thus the great Gautama as the Buddha in his lifetime as man went round on foot to convince as many on what he knew in various places in northern India. He taught only what was best for the man he met and not more. There is precious limited time he had for every man or woman he met. He could only say a thing or two but often that was enough to enlighten the individual whom he might not meet again. There was no time for indulgence for more.
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| THE BUDDHA |
But in the modern days of 2014, we find tons of doctrine ascribed to him. If man is to comb through these, it may take a lifetime or more before he could digest and practise.
Luckily most of them are based on the same basic truth which in a nutshell is about life and how to find peace with life - the four noble truths. But men add on and with time, there is a complex maze of doctrine. There will then be more complexity than clarity.
This led some to simplify matters but in their attempts to do so, they widened the scope and started new trends in history. They then started new schools of thoughts.
With these, they added other buddhas and added complexity. Men would have difficulty to decide what to read and what information to stomach when there is information glut. How then to have peace?
It is that much better to know a little and even if that little is far from expectations and truth, that would be enough if that little be it truthful or well be even like fairy-tale instead. What matters is that it has impact on the man and makes him a better person and a more peaceful one at that.
Even with what the Buddha taught which is still allot, he said that what he taught was like the leaves in his hand and what he had not taught are like the leaves in the forest.
So do not ridicule religion or sect if it is simplistic in approach to extent that what it tells you to believe is like fairy tale. Even if it is indeed fairy tale but it livens the man and lights up his spirit for life and more importantly peace in life here and now, this will be it. That religion or sect has helped that man to somewhat arrive. At least he is not lost in information glut.
The Buddha did caution that men do not use the Dharma, the doctrine, to admire and to show off what they knew. This will only put others off and not help them. He said that a raft is meant to be used to cross to the other shore and be discarded once the shore is reached.
Some would like to read too much into what he said but let us be more convergent and not be too keen to be divergent though at times we need to. We need to converge and diverge as we move on in life and as we handle life, be it spiritual or otherwise.
We must go for peace above all else. If what we believe or are told to believe may not be factual or applicable for others but livens up our very own life so that we can be at peace, that is good. After-all, we are just using it to cross to the other shore and then we can move on without the raft but choose another means to move on.
Go for peace and often knowing a little even if not factual or complete may be better than knowing more and ending up lost, restless and empty. More is less and less is more. Being supposedly near to Heaven by knowing more may be far from Heaven because the man is dead lost with information glut.
Luckily most of them are based on the same basic truth which in a nutshell is about life and how to find peace with life - the four noble truths. But men add on and with time, there is a complex maze of doctrine. There will then be more complexity than clarity.
This led some to simplify matters but in their attempts to do so, they widened the scope and started new trends in history. They then started new schools of thoughts.
With these, they added other buddhas and added complexity. Men would have difficulty to decide what to read and what information to stomach when there is information glut. How then to have peace?
It is that much better to know a little and even if that little is far from expectations and truth, that would be enough if that little be it truthful or well be even like fairy-tale instead. What matters is that it has impact on the man and makes him a better person and a more peaceful one at that.
Even with what the Buddha taught which is still allot, he said that what he taught was like the leaves in his hand and what he had not taught are like the leaves in the forest.
So do not ridicule religion or sect if it is simplistic in approach to extent that what it tells you to believe is like fairy tale. Even if it is indeed fairy tale but it livens the man and lights up his spirit for life and more importantly peace in life here and now, this will be it. That religion or sect has helped that man to somewhat arrive. At least he is not lost in information glut.
The Buddha did caution that men do not use the Dharma, the doctrine, to admire and to show off what they knew. This will only put others off and not help them. He said that a raft is meant to be used to cross to the other shore and be discarded once the shore is reached.
Some would like to read too much into what he said but let us be more convergent and not be too keen to be divergent though at times we need to. We need to converge and diverge as we move on in life and as we handle life, be it spiritual or otherwise.
We must go for peace above all else. If what we believe or are told to believe may not be factual or applicable for others but livens up our very own life so that we can be at peace, that is good. After-all, we are just using it to cross to the other shore and then we can move on without the raft but choose another means to move on.
Go for peace and often knowing a little even if not factual or complete may be better than knowing more and ending up lost, restless and empty. More is less and less is more. Being supposedly near to Heaven by knowing more may be far from Heaven because the man is dead lost with information glut.
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| Lord Bo Tien |
Lord Bo Tien says that the near may be far and the far near. He who knows little and even if that little is at best fairy tale, may be better off if he has the peace and able to move on to the other shore of life to go for more. He is not drowned even before he could get started.
The more appealing of religions are those which appeal to the sheer fancy of man and those which stress on the simplicity of life. After all, what men need is to use it as a raft to cross to shore of hope and peace so as to move on.
Religion as institution must be simple and fairy-tale like to appeal to many who want simplicity and peace. Don't ask a man to be a philosopher and to get his theology doctor of philosophy PhD before he can get peace and ultimately salvation - the saving of his soul.
Whatever religion we look at and whatever belief system we ascribe to, what brings about peace is balance in life and in particular in the approach to life, be it spiritual or otherwise.
Work life balance is what we know of non-spiritual or mundane life. Yin yang balance is the focus of Tao or Way made the craze that transcends time by sages of old in ancient China. In the process, it becomes out of this world and seems unreachable and not feasible in modern life.
Really, this is not just the way of sages of China but also those of any religion in the world beyond China if we care to understand religions better. It is actually the same as work-life balance modern society talk about but becomes that more special, unique, complex and fairy-tale like when we use the catch phrase - yin yang balance.
There is nothing mystical or complicated in yin yang balance but men somehow make it so mystical and out of this world when they try to rationalise life but end up making it seem to be way beyond rationality.
How then to have peace when we are carried away and go for the sky without going for the ground we stand on? Be simple and go for the peace with less and not be lost with more.
Lao Tse as man centuries ago in China did just that when he left the palace as emperor's librarian to go for simple life - to go for less. But to the many in this world, they fantasize that he went for that much more - for immortality beyond the frontier...
Thus they get awed struck by him and just give up and be content with being devotees of the great immortal sage. They end up having less with the more expectations and complexities they create and conjure in their minds of the man they idolise.
They get awed and many just become devotees or admirers. Way of immortality for divine peace is not for them - the common folks or mortals.
Plainly put, they get taken aback that peace is only for immortals and not for the commoners and the mortals. How then to have peace?
They go for more but end up with less and not able to have any touch of the peace that Lao Tse attained. Go for peace with less and not be lost with more.
Think again and meditate on this to get the grasp if not the feel of the issue. More is less and less is more. Well, this has to do not only with spiritual (peace) but also mundane (peace) as well.
The moral of the story behind this write-up is to go for simple beliefs and make life simple. Go for the action and put into practice what we know however little this may be. There is no need to know more and end up awed and not practising at all. Nothing wrong with mere fairy tale for the start if this livens up life and push start us to peace of spirit.
Go for less and not be lost with more. Then we can in a way have the same peace of sages like Lao Tse and count ourselves as among the new sage-lings of the modern times of 2014 and beyond. This would be what Lao Tse would want us to have and not to be awed by him and the over elaborate Tao philosophy.
If Ji Gong as man many centuries ago can be a sage and saint though found unfit to be monk at monastery, we too can. He went for the simple almost fairy tale like belief that all that matters is what is in the heart and not what one does, not what one knows or what goes through the gut.
He went for less and ended up with more peace of sainthood. He is The Living Buddha, isn't he? In his days, nobody would expect that of him but he did. Indeed he did.
Do have more peace with less and not end up lost with more. This applies too to non spiritual or mundane life. Whatever principle or value that works well for spiritual too will work well for the mundane or non-spiritual life. This Lord Tien did say.
Peace is for victory and victory brings peace. Go for peace with less and not be lost with more.
The more appealing of religions are those which appeal to the sheer fancy of man and those which stress on the simplicity of life. After all, what men need is to use it as a raft to cross to shore of hope and peace so as to move on.
Religion as institution must be simple and fairy-tale like to appeal to many who want simplicity and peace. Don't ask a man to be a philosopher and to get his theology doctor of philosophy PhD before he can get peace and ultimately salvation - the saving of his soul.
Whatever religion we look at and whatever belief system we ascribe to, what brings about peace is balance in life and in particular in the approach to life, be it spiritual or otherwise.
Work life balance is what we know of non-spiritual or mundane life. Yin yang balance is the focus of Tao or Way made the craze that transcends time by sages of old in ancient China. In the process, it becomes out of this world and seems unreachable and not feasible in modern life.
Really, this is not just the way of sages of China but also those of any religion in the world beyond China if we care to understand religions better. It is actually the same as work-life balance modern society talk about but becomes that more special, unique, complex and fairy-tale like when we use the catch phrase - yin yang balance.
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| Synergy of yin and yang makes life move with ease. Then there be peace |
There is nothing mystical or complicated in yin yang balance but men somehow make it so mystical and out of this world when they try to rationalise life but end up making it seem to be way beyond rationality.
How then to have peace when we are carried away and go for the sky without going for the ground we stand on? Be simple and go for the peace with less and not be lost with more.
Lao Tse as man centuries ago in China did just that when he left the palace as emperor's librarian to go for simple life - to go for less. But to the many in this world, they fantasize that he went for that much more - for immortality beyond the frontier...
Thus they get awed struck by him and just give up and be content with being devotees of the great immortal sage. They end up having less with the more expectations and complexities they create and conjure in their minds of the man they idolise.
 |
| Lao Tse riding away from the frontier on a buffalo |
They get awed and many just become devotees or admirers. Way of immortality for divine peace is not for them - the common folks or mortals.
Plainly put, they get taken aback that peace is only for immortals and not for the commoners and the mortals. How then to have peace?
They go for more but end up with less and not able to have any touch of the peace that Lao Tse attained. Go for peace with less and not be lost with more.
Think again and meditate on this to get the grasp if not the feel of the issue. More is less and less is more. Well, this has to do not only with spiritual (peace) but also mundane (peace) as well.
The moral of the story behind this write-up is to go for simple beliefs and make life simple. Go for the action and put into practice what we know however little this may be. There is no need to know more and end up awed and not practising at all. Nothing wrong with mere fairy tale for the start if this livens up life and push start us to peace of spirit.
Go for less and not be lost with more. Then we can in a way have the same peace of sages like Lao Tse and count ourselves as among the new sage-lings of the modern times of 2014 and beyond. This would be what Lao Tse would want us to have and not to be awed by him and the over elaborate Tao philosophy.
If Ji Gong as man many centuries ago can be a sage and saint though found unfit to be monk at monastery, we too can. He went for the simple almost fairy tale like belief that all that matters is what is in the heart and not what one does, not what one knows or what goes through the gut.
He went for less and ended up with more peace of sainthood. He is The Living Buddha, isn't he? In his days, nobody would expect that of him but he did. Indeed he did.
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| He is Ji Gong the Living Buddha Lord Ji is he. |
Do have more peace with less and not end up lost with more. This applies too to non spiritual or mundane life. Whatever principle or value that works well for spiritual too will work well for the mundane or non-spiritual life. This Lord Tien did say.
Peace is for victory and victory brings peace. Go for peace with less and not be lost with more.
Man sees in the dove the peace of life. Dove is just a bird not even a man but is seen as symbol of peace. This is yet another fairy tale like approach that invokes the air of peace. Keep to the simple value of belief in peace come what may. Surely, there is no need to dwell in complex philosophy and dabble with the academics of religion or be lost with more. Go for less and be simple. Hold on to fascination with life like evoked by any fairy tale. Let wonders abound in life like in a fairy tale. Keep cultivating and flapping the peace like the dove in flight. This is all we need to do to have peace in life, spiritual or mundane. Then we can reach to the other shore and move on further.
