No 867 of Living Life Series 1
What has Wesak to do with Meng Po 孟婆and the universal teachings of all cultures and sages to look ahead and move on? All religions, all cultures and all saints teach us to be hopeful and to move forward.
The past is history. the present is a present and the future is yet to be. There is hope for the future and it begins with the present. Let us not look back.
In life, we need to look ahead and move on. There is neither time to while away and think only of the past nor waste precious moments of the here and now.
Even at death, Chinese culture has it that the newly departed must cross the bridge after drinking the elixir of the giving up of the memory of past life.
In Chinese folklore and culture, there is Meng Po 孟婆 Goddess of Forgetfulness. She is the Lady of Forgetfulness in Chinese culture. Literally Old Lady Meng, Meng Po 孟婆 serves in Di Yu, the Chinese realm of the dead. It is her duty somehow to ensure that souls who are ready to be reincarnated do not remember their previous life or their time in hell. This is more kind to them.
The past is history. the present is a present and the future is yet to be. There is hope for the future and it begins with the present. Let us not look back.
In life, we need to look ahead and move on. There is neither time to while away and think only of the past nor waste precious moments of the here and now.
Even at death, Chinese culture has it that the newly departed must cross the bridge after drinking the elixir of the giving up of the memory of past life.
In Chinese folklore and culture, there is Meng Po 孟婆 Goddess of Forgetfulness. She is the Lady of Forgetfulness in Chinese culture. Literally Old Lady Meng, Meng Po 孟婆 serves in Di Yu, the Chinese realm of the dead. It is her duty somehow to ensure that souls who are ready to be reincarnated do not remember their previous life or their time in hell. This is more kind to them.
Having been purged of all previous hang-ups and knowledge, the dead spirit is sent to be reborn in a new earthly incarnation, and the cycle begins again. Occasionally people are able to avoid drinking the brew, resulting in past life memories surfacing in children.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meng_Po
To those who are cultivated they have mindfulness and presence of mind neither to dwell on the past nor to hold on to the moment but to move on moment by moment. They bypass the need to drink the elixir of erasing the memory of the past life and cross the bridge to wait rebirth.
To those who are cultivated they have mindfulness and presence of mind neither to dwell on the past nor to hold on to the moment but to move on moment by moment. They bypass the need to drink the elixir of erasing the memory of the past life and cross the bridge to wait rebirth.
Those with accumulated good merits would have better rebirths in heavens or on earth and those who are cultivated in purity of the spirit will not have to depend on merits alone and will know how to be at peace with life, look ahead and move on. They do not need the elixir drink to erase the memory of their past life. They could even do so long before they pass on to the next life.
In daily life, they overcome the passing of the moment with the birth of a new moment by looking ahead and not look back at the past moment. This is the way to go to have more of hope and peace.
Do look ahead and move on. That is the short and long of the story of life if we want life to be peaceful and pleasant. Hang on not to the good or bad of the past. Do not be self-absorbed in life.
Treasure the moment and that will prepare us for the next. Waste not the moment. Do not cling on or hold on to the moment for like it or not the moment will pass. Harness life to have peace of the moment. It will be pathetic if we are troubled even before the next moment comes for then we will end up wasting the next moment and even more moments to come.
Look ahead and move on. We will make it easier for Meng Po 孟婆. She would have less souls to serve the Five Flavored Tea of Forgetfulness. But this is only if we could look ahead and move on. Thus for most of us, we would be too willing to drink the tea when the time comes.
Bear in mind that we must not be afraid to move on and start a new chapter. Holding on is being brave but letting go and moving on is often what makes us stronger and happier. We cannot start on the next chapter if we keep re-reading the last chapter.
Do not look at life through the rear view mirror but look ahead through wide front windscreen. Our past is not as important as our future. Perhaps that is why the front windscreen is so big and the rear view mirror so small.
Well, whatever it is, the future holds hope and the past is written. The lotus cannot grow in the past. The lotus can grow from what we nurture now and in the future. Perhaps this too is a story for Wesak and a story for everyone waiting to unfurl and to be told - a story waiting to come to fruition.
Isn't this the essence of Wesak message that we look forward and move on? One day we can grow the lotus in us.
Worldly progress should serve only as means to the end of a virtuous, pure and peaceful life that we know as spirituality in all cultures. It is not the end in itself. If it is so, then we have got it all wrong and need to go back to the drawing board.
The need for "looking ahead and moving on" is universal to all cultures. You can say that this is part of the common doctrine of all sages and all cultures. Culture incorporates readily good values of all religious systems and that makes culture so beautiful.
The use of the story of Meng Po 孟婆 enables this value of "looking ahead and moving on" to be introduced and planted into the subconsciousness of the people of old China. It's value to modern China and the world at large should not be lost just because it is just a story. How else could the sages of old inject it into Chinese culture to be passed on over the many centuries to the present and to the future.
Happy Wesak and may the story of Meng Po 孟婆 and why look ahead and move on add more to the richness of Wesak from the Chinese cultural perspective. Wesak is part of Chinese culture and not only that, Chinese culture gives more color, substance and dimension to Wesak.
There is no need at all to jump culture and leave Chinese culture to celebrate Wesak. Wesak is one the world over and yet it is celebrated differently in different cultures. Wesak enriches culture and culture promotes Wesak and the universal teachings behind Wesak.
The universal teachings common to all cultures constitutes what the good lord of no specific religious affiliation Lord Bo Tien 武天菩萨 refers to as The Inner Truth. This is certainly true and this makes it ever the more awesome when we realize that all cultures and religious thoughts are one in inner truth though different outwardly.
We can embrace the diverse sects and religions as one and integrate the best practices into the culture of the land we are in. All these certainly provide ever more the cause for rejoicing and celebration of life, more so on Wesak Day. Happy Wesak once and ever more.
