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| Gautama Buddha |
Every year as Vesak draws near, those of us who are and were immersed in Buddhist way either wholly or in part cannot help thinking if what we learn and try to practise is effective enough to bring us to what we are subconsciously or consciously looking for. This is whether it has made life meaningful.
Let us reflect on what Gautama and another saint Ji Gong then Li Xiu Yin felt about life and meaning of life in their lifetimes as man. This will also make us understand why despite the well meaning intentions of religions many somehow cannot feel complete and whole. Many felt that while religions have so much to tell us and have done that much for us, we are still somehow still searching for why we don't seem to feel good though the great men like Gautama and Ji Gong could do so.
In the case of great Gautama, he was a prince and have all he wanted but something substantial was still missing in his life. To ensure that what the wise men predicted will not come true that he would leave the palace for good, his father the king married him off to Yasodhara.
But he still left and what the woes he saw in the streets made him even sorry for the plight of men. He knew he would suffer the same. He went all out to learn from the religious men of his time, that is from the religions or what may be close to religions we know today in 2014.
But he found no substantiality in religious ways prevalent then, otherwise he would not have been the Buddha we know today. Conventional religions or religious ways popular to the masses did not give him substantiality and he needed to go for meaning of life and how to meet this need. He got this only on Vesak day and what he found was very different from what religions or religious people propagated.
Then we have the young man Li in China many centuries later. He was desolate after family tragedy and was driven into the streets. He sought spiritual fulfillment by entering a Chan Buddhist monastery. But what he learnt and what he saw didn't please him. There were contradictions. and human hypocrisy was rife.
Let us reflect on what Gautama and another saint Ji Gong then Li Xiu Yin felt about life and meaning of life in their lifetimes as man. This will also make us understand why despite the well meaning intentions of religions many somehow cannot feel complete and whole. Many felt that while religions have so much to tell us and have done that much for us, we are still somehow still searching for why we don't seem to feel good though the great men like Gautama and Ji Gong could do so.
In the case of great Gautama, he was a prince and have all he wanted but something substantial was still missing in his life. To ensure that what the wise men predicted will not come true that he would leave the palace for good, his father the king married him off to Yasodhara.
But he still left and what the woes he saw in the streets made him even sorry for the plight of men. He knew he would suffer the same. He went all out to learn from the religious men of his time, that is from the religions or what may be close to religions we know today in 2014.
But he found no substantiality in religious ways prevalent then, otherwise he would not have been the Buddha we know today. Conventional religions or religious ways popular to the masses did not give him substantiality and he needed to go for meaning of life and how to meet this need. He got this only on Vesak day and what he found was very different from what religions or religious people propagated.
Then we have the young man Li in China many centuries later. He was desolate after family tragedy and was driven into the streets. He sought spiritual fulfillment by entering a Chan Buddhist monastery. But what he learnt and what he saw didn't please him. There were contradictions. and human hypocrisy was rife.
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| Ji Gong |
He felt empty but persisted. He refused to do what others do, more so the ways of the revered monks of the temple. What they projected outwardly were so different from what they were inwardly. How could he be like them?
So, he gave up with religion or rather the religious ways of the time and like Gautama went out of religion rather than go into more of religion to seek the answer - to seek truth though truth was supposed to be present in the religions or religious ways of the day.
He did away with false front and believed in "what is in the heart and not what goes through the gut or what one does." He ended up being initially more despised by the clergy but the masses loved him for he was able to help them but not the monks at the temple.
Both Gautama and the young Li succeeded not by going more into religions but by going away from religions of the day. If this be so, then we in the modern day of 2014 and beyond should not be faulted if we feel lost and in-satiated by the religions of the day.
Both Gautama and the young Li succeeded not by going more into religions but by going away from religions of the day. If this be so, then we in the modern day of 2014 and beyond should not be faulted if we feel lost and in-satiated by the religions of the day.
This is not that the teachings of the prophets of religions are not there in religions today (2014) but that the way they are disseminated and delivered somehow leaves much to be desired. There is no doubt that the propensity of religions to awe those who come to them is there. But then, many of us still feel not satisfied and no where near fulfillment other than having more friends, more socialisation and more worldly blessings.
But life is more than these. What is missing in religion? Religiosity is there but many feel the absence of true spirituality which is missing or sidelined when we are in the crowd of religion - when we are in a temple or church.
We need to leave 'religion' and go for spirituality not demarcated and defined by religions of the day, just like what Gautama and the young Li did. Then we can be like them and find the light of spirituality more easily by being away from religion rather than being with the crowd.
This is not that the doctrine of the prophets are not there in religions but that over centuries, men elaborated added and are still adding layers upon layers to the truth taught and the essence of the truth is either decimated, marginalised, lost or worst still buried. That is why men today may be no where near deliverance or enlightenment and there is need to rediscover the meaning and fulfillment in life.
Religions end up as archaeological sites for the few wise enough to want to discover real truth. There is need to be different from the crowd by not dabbling with the prevalent practices but by going away from them and digging for the basic truth. This is what Lord Bo Tien refers to as the inner truth. This is the crux of the mission of the good lord on behalf of God and Heaven.
Even Lao Tse had to leave society and the palace as archive librarian of the emperor in ancient China because he needed to go away from the prevailing practices, rigid dogmas and religious ways to be able to find true and basic spirituality.
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| Lord Bo Tien |
Even Lao Tse had to leave society and the palace as archive librarian of the emperor in ancient China because he needed to go away from the prevailing practices, rigid dogmas and religious ways to be able to find true and basic spirituality.
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| Lao Tse |
We too may need to find spirituality and if being in religions of the day or rather being with the religious ways of the day make it more remote for us to find spirituality, then we need to go away from conventional or institutional religion to find spirituality.
Go for spirituality and not for religion. This is not that religion is not good, but that religion has become complicated and often removed from simplicity of the basic truth that the prophets of religions wanted us to know.
But men being too clever, more so men who are no where near the wisdom of the prophets try to be like the prophets. They may often be akin to the blind men trying to tell us what the elephant is like. They truly want to help but they themselves need help. They may be as lost or as blind as us to spirituality.
Indeed if the religious leader or pastor is more insightful than the congregation, it may be likely that the majority who know less will be at odds with him. He will have to make way for someone who is like the majority.
That may be the fate of many temples and churches because people go for religion and religion is the way men wants. Religion is by men and of men. Spirituality is not and is of God and saint.
That may be the fate of many temples and churches because people go for religion and religion is the way men wants. Religion is by men and of men. Spirituality is not and is of God and saint.
Do go for spirituality and not for religion. Religion is more man made. Spirituality is not. It may not be at all easy to find spirituality in religion because of the odds posed by men too keen to make us be with them in ways more than one.
We become oddly religious like them but perhaps lost to spirituality unless we can get away from religiosity as defined by popular ways of the masses. That is so and so be it. We can always get around the problems of religion and be spiritual and oddly enough without being religious in the eyes of the many.
We may be far from men of religion but we may be that bit more spiritual. The far may be near and the near far. This the good lord Lord Bo Tien did say, didn't he? Wasn't Ji Gong far from temple ways of monastery? But he was much more near to spirituality than all of them or rather most of those at the temple.
Gotama did bravely part ways with the men of religion in his days as ascetic Siddhartha, stopped being ascetic, ate food and sat under the Bodhi Tree. He was far from religion as it was in those days but he became the nucleus of the faith we refer to as Buddhism or rather spirituality of Buddhist culture. He became the Buddha.
Though far from religion then, he was not only near but is the spirituality we all want to have. May we have the blessings of Buddha everyday and not just on Vesak. May every day be Vesak. If we go for spirituality and not religion, everyday is Vesak. Sadhu indeed.
We become oddly religious like them but perhaps lost to spirituality unless we can get away from religiosity as defined by popular ways of the masses. That is so and so be it. We can always get around the problems of religion and be spiritual and oddly enough without being religious in the eyes of the many.
We may be far from men of religion but we may be that bit more spiritual. The far may be near and the near far. This the good lord Lord Bo Tien did say, didn't he? Wasn't Ji Gong far from temple ways of monastery? But he was much more near to spirituality than all of them or rather most of those at the temple.
Gotama did bravely part ways with the men of religion in his days as ascetic Siddhartha, stopped being ascetic, ate food and sat under the Bodhi Tree. He was far from religion as it was in those days but he became the nucleus of the faith we refer to as Buddhism or rather spirituality of Buddhist culture. He became the Buddha.
Though far from religion then, he was not only near but is the spirituality we all want to have. May we have the blessings of Buddha everyday and not just on Vesak. May every day be Vesak. If we go for spirituality and not religion, everyday is Vesak. Sadhu indeed.
