LIVING LIFE SERIES 1

A BO TIEN (武天) MISSION INITIATIVE LAUNCHED ON 28TH SEPT 2010 BY INNER TRUTH NETIZEN 2. THE MISSION IS TO SHOW THE WAY TO HOPE, INNER PEACE AND ULTIMATELY SALVATION FOR ALL BEINGS. THE PURPOSE IS TO SAVE SOULS. IT IS WAY BEYOND NORMAL GOOD WORK LIKE CHARITY AND WELFARE ACTIVITIES. NO ONE SHALL BE SAVED BY GOOD WORKS ALONE BUT BY MORE THAN GOOD WORK. THERE IS NEED TO BE IMBUED WITH THE BASIC DOCTRINE COMMON TO AND BEHIND ALL RELIGIONS AND SECTS. LIVE IN DOCTRINE. DOCTRINE IN LIFE IS PARAMOUNT.

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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!.

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

The Gautama perspective - is it still relevant?

No 741 of Living Life Series 1

Gautama was not happy with the existing religious culture of his time. He was not happy why men must suffer birth, illness, age and death. He was not content that this is the will of God.

He left his palace despite his being a crown prince and destined to life of luxury but he knew the four scourges of life spare no one, not even a king considered most blessed by God and saints.

In his mind, it must be odd that despite the greatness of God and sages, all still will have the four ills of life. Worshiping God in those days is the way out, just like today. There will be paradise after death but that paradise he found out later is also transient and there will still be more rebirths.

All the gurus of his day could only teach him that much more and he could not find the answers. To him it must be ridiculous to leave things in the hands of God and saints. "Just believe, adore and be saved by grace of God and saints" is simply unrealistic.

For centuries, men have been doing that but he wanted the way out of rebirths. Being in heaven is just a rebirth and not the answer. This problem that he faced is faced by us even today.

To us, heaven is the goal but if heaven is just another place for rebirths, what is the answer or solution? Surely it cannot be just believing and trusting matters in God and saints. That would be a deception and an ironical one at that.

But we still need promises by God and saints. We want to be saved or at least sheltered by grace. We do go for religions and go for some sort of salvation by grace. We would rather still go to heaven even if this is a myth or at best a transient one where we are born to and still have to leave to be reborn again and again.

This is what we can regard as the Gautama perspective which is as relevant if not more relevant today than in yesteryear. So are we going to be content to just leave our life and future to the grace of God and saints or do we take things in our own hands like Gautama?

Gautama succeeded and he went against the norms and was enlightened as the Buddha. But is his way for all and if so, why is there the need to leave life and the future in the hands of sages, and cultivate the spiritual path under their grace? Isn't this running counter to the Gautama perspective?

But alas, he is Gautama and many of us have long way to go before we can be like him. Doesn't this mean we still need the grace of God and saints?

It may still be better to be in heaven in afterlife than to be men again or worse still be animal or in states of hell even if there is no eternity of heaven.

On further thinking, it is not as simple as that and religions, we have, allow us to make do with going to heaven and saving by grace. But if we can, we should go the path of Gautama Buddha in our own small way.

The good lord Lord Bo Tien (武天菩萨) never stress on our being Buddha for that would be not in this life or for that matter in the immediate coming few lives.

He did say we must have love for life like the Buddha and that we should seek the guidance of shelter of God, Buddha and saints so that small issues will be no issue and big issues can end up small even if they cannot be no issue. This is good for the life here and now.

He does not encourage any idolizing of God and saints and no amount of idolizing will help. What matters is that we have inner peace and this can be cultivated over time by being atop and balancing the yin and yang of life as depicted by his image with feet atop the elements.

Lord Bo Tien (武天菩萨)

Inner peace can be here and now and if developed over time and many lifetimes will put us on the path of sainthood to be like the Buddha even if we cannot be Buddha. Inner peace cultivation is in all religions and this is the inner truth behind religions.

The Gautama perspective is for us today as in his lifetime centuries ago. We should cultivate ourselves spiritually at least in inner peace and have less dependence on grace of God and saints.

Our main approach is inner peace cultivation and let this be complemented by divine grace or shelter. Having just dependence on God and saints is just not going to be enough.

We cannot fold our arms and leave things to God and saints. We need to be hands-on in life - spiritually and otherwise. Cheers.

Lest you forget

Do not make the mistake of idolizing any man who tells you about the Word. He is in the same boat as you even if religion refers to him as a religious leader. Mere mention of a religious leader is as good as encouraging idolising of that man. Why must there be hierarchy in religion? Hierarchy is conventional but may end up as liability rather than a necessity or asset. There should be no caste or hierarchy system in religion. No one is to be considered above another in religion. A religious leader or follower is a servant to serve you and not a leader to be idolised. Do not put him on the pedestal and make a monster out of him.

MAY ALL BE WELL AND HAPPY

May all be well and happy. May they have peace. May our departed friends and kins be well, happy and have divine peace. The main writer wishes the best for all for those near and far. Our kins may be far when they had passed on to better lives but they are near though far. He remembers and wishes his parents Mr Siow Soo Koh and Mdm Tay Hung Siang, his uncles and aunties like Mr Tay Koon Huay, his cousins like Mr Tay Chong Sim and his friends like Mr Philip Png well and have abundance of life. May they be rich in spirit for without such ancestors, there will be no posterity - no us and no you and me. They have blessed us and we must blessed them in return forever and ever.