The Inner Truth that men fail to see in religions

No 1080 of Living Life Series 1

Spirituality in any form is to bring peace to men and to bring people together. It is never meant to divide and elevate any group to be the chosen ones above all others  - to lord and oversee others. 

The diversity of religions and for that matter, the proliferation of sects and denominations are meant to facilitate divinity to reach out to the many for the benefit of the many and out of compassion for the many. 

This is to meet their various immediate needs and inclinations, hoping that one day all may progress further into the higher levels where there are not just devotion and faith but more insight of the common truth that is simple but yet eludes men who are entwined in the web of worldly indulgence of some forms or other. 

There are many religions and sects but there is the same inner truth behind. This is the God Knowledge that in 1969, the good lord Lord Bo Tien 武天菩萨 descended to awaken men to this inner truth. 

This Inner Truth is buried like archaeological relics over the centuries by the additions of religious practices and beliefs. There is the need for the archaeological dig. 

We need to dig away the layers to find this inner truth. But the good lord is compassionate to show all this inner truth. There is no need to dig. He has presented it to all in whatever religion or faith they may be in, so that all can be better at their respective religion. 

This is the common truth of the need for goodness. True goodness brings inner peace comes what may. 

There is too much of indulgence for many and for some there is the denial even of life, both of which disable men and gives no peace. 

Belief in God and saints is good but indulgence is not good as men driven by passion may ferment ill-will for others who do not share their views. 

Non-belief is not good as well and few are steady on their own and are unable to have the peace on their own. 

There must be neither indulgence nor denial. There must be peace through balance in life. This the sages of old refer to as logic or Tao 道 - common sense. This is the inner truth. 

Worship all life if we love life.

No 1079 of Living Life Series 1

Worship in cultural sense refers to high respect. In Asian culture, there is the utmost respect not only for God and heavenly saints but also for the ruler, parents, elders, colleagues, neighbors and even the servants. This too is captured in the discourse by Buddha to Sigala. 

Obviously, this is more civil and refine than just respect or worship of God and none other. God would have expected all to accord high respect to one another and not just to him alone. He is a loving God and not given to jealousy, greed and ill will. He will not hoard respect for himself alone. 

Men shall respect all lives and even their subordinates. Thus in Chinese culture, there is respect for lost souls during the Seventh Month Festival, the worship and respect of the guards of Hell, respect for departed ones and the earth bound Earth God. 

Ji Gong Buddha altar often on the floor
He prefers to be at the level of men
and be treated like one

The Earth God
His altar often on floor 
at the feet of men
but ever the grand old man
of the village of men
He prefers the ground shelter 
than the temple by men.
With mother earth 
the grand old dame
the pair holds sway over men

大二爷伯 
Dua Di Ya Pek 
- the Hell guards
of one of the courts of Hell
They would rather 
you not be in any Hell
and will meet your Earthly needs.
More popular are they
than the gods and saints above
They are the beloved of almighty God

We must help one another. We must respect or if you like worship one another. This is logical and common sense. This is Tao 道. But this is unthinkable in monotheistic thinking. Worship begets love and love for all beings will bring peace to all. This is not contrary to God belief.

Worship and love go hand in hand. Worship all life if we love life. During traditional Chinese marriage ceremony, the bride and groom bow to each other. They show their love by worshiping one another.

Man and woman
must worship each other
on their great day
they say
They epitomize
the union of yin and yang

Love is the beginning, the middle and the end of all that is in life. Love is the basis of all levels of spirituality. This is present in all religions but many in their adulation for their God and saint turn a blind eye to this. 

The good lord Lord Bo Tien 武天菩萨reminds us on loving kindness behind spirituality in all religions. With loving kindness, there will be more peace especially inner peace of the self. 

The good lord says that the far may be near and the near far. Those who think that men shall not worship anyone else except God may end up far from God than those who believe in love for all life and worships all life.

Lord Bo Tien
a heavenly saint
yet not one in any religion
He favors none
but is for all
yet belong to none
Far though near to 
any religion of the day 
they say.
Far is near
and near far
or is this the case\
or not so?

Do not go overboard because of faith

No 1078 of Living Life Series 1

Man has tendency to go overboard when they believe in a saint. Though man knows that death is a certainty as much as birth, life and illness and even a saint in man must face the same like the Buddha, yet man says that if they believe in the saint, they would have eternal life. They would not die but when they do have to die, they say they will be restored again in physical body. 

This is all because they are besotted with their saint and reality and rationality takes a different dimension. That is why a saint will always say that he who knows a saint will only know the saint if he knows the Word - the truth in life and behind life. 

The Word is God and God is the Word. Lord Bo Tien 武天菩萨 says that he is here to point out to men this truth behind life that is in all religions. Know this and know God and saints. The image is God or saint. God or saint is the image. 

Men of religion thinks they will live on in body forever and when they know the body must rot away in death, they clutch on to their belief that they will live on in flesh if not at least be restored by faith. 

They cannot accept old age, illness let alone death. But the man of Word knows that as long as there is birth and life, there will be illness, ageing and death. 

Lord Bo Tien 武天菩萨 adds that a wise man has faith but he is not deluded that he will never die or be sick. He knows that the problems and issues of life may be plentiful but if he has faith in God and saints, issues will be no issues and even if big issues they will end up as lesser issues even if cannot be no issue. He will also accept that there is always the element of fate. 

Have faith but do not be go overboard because of faith. Faith must be backed up by inner peace. Without inner peace, a man of faith may end up odd and think he will not die or will be restored back to flesh even if death comes knocking.

Maintain the inner peace and stay in peace and be rooted in common sense of Tao 道. If we can have the peace from moment to moment, death is just the same - death of one moment and rise of another moment. Contemplate on this. Contemplative meditation or mindfulness is good and is in all religions. 

The solution to the problems of religions

No 1077 of Living Life Series 1

Be reminded that the problems of religions are man-made. This is not surprising when religion is because they are man-made though inspired by God and saints. 

Men decide how a saint is portrayed. Texts of religion are written by many in different contexts based on what they prefer or want out of their saint. 

When superimposed on wrong contexts and times, the texts can end up misleading. A loving and peaceful saint can end up as harsh, unrelenting and fierce - far from peaceful. 

Religion too can be a tool of politics - to further the ends of politicians like Emperor Constantine or the emperors of old in China. 

Buddha can end up very Chinese or Japanese and there arose many Buddhas even though there is only one historical Buddha. That there are many saints or Buddhas is undeniable but why no emphasis on Gautama Buddha in country outside India is an interesting point. 

Religions have evolved such that they are more interesting but the initial basic teachings are sidelined and burred away by layers of added beliefs and traditions. 

Religions become the archaeological grounds for men to dig into to reach the common inner or basic truth all religions start off from. This the good lord Lord Bo Tien 武天菩萨refer to as the God Knowledge. 

This is the basic or inner truth of goodness and purity of God, saints and their Word. The Word is God and saints. God or saint is the Word. 

The Word is simple, good and pure but is too profound for men as men are complicated by worldliness and even think that worldliness is of God and saints. 

Yet, the Word is about life. Yes, God is about life. We cannot run away from or deny life but we also cannot be consumed by life. 

Worldliness is when we are consumed by life and indulge in life. We can only find peace and purity if we stay clear of the two and be atop the yin and yang of life - the contingencies of life. This is as depicted by the image of the good lord with feet on the elements.

Be a warrior for inner peace

No 1076 of Living Life Series 1

Be a warrior for inner peace

Battle on so others may have ease

Not be crumbled by yin and yang

but be atop and at peace

come the rain, the shine or the storm

 to ride and subdue come what may

Didn't the good lord Lord Bo Tien say?

A warrior is fearless they say
and unshakable come what may
The man of inner peace is same
ever at peace amid a storm
Like the oak tree deeply rooted
he stands his ground and stays his place,
not affected by wind or flood
He is warrior and no worrier.

Warrior for inner peace is he
He helps the others not at peace
with blessings and word and the all
one day too they could stand the ground
and have the unshakable peace
and be better in faith they be
better at what they already are
be it this or that religion.

Chong Sim is such a man they say
He stands his ground come woes or wows
Never be thrown by ups and downs
Now in afterlife too he comes
to be warrior of lord of peace
to help till we can stand our own
and be shining warrior like him

Have inner peace and not be defeated by yin and yang

No 1075  of Living Life Series 1

Lord Bo Tien 武天菩萨 has no primary intention to have devotees but only to have disciples who will join him in mission. His mission is to save souls through the various religions. 

Religions are the pillars of the universal temple with heaven as the roof. He sets out to make adherents of the various religions better in the religions they are in. 

They must be better in having inner peace and not be defeated by the yin and the yang. They must know how to be atop and master the yin and yang. 

His disciples are like his warriors and whatever happens, they must have inner peace and not be defeated by yin and yang. They will maintain the inner peace come what may. 

Have inner peace and not be defeated by yin and yang. They will be like the image of the lord at rest with inner peace and with feet atop the yin and yang. 

A disciple is like his warrior. As a warrior, he is the image of the lord and the image of the lord is in him.  He lives in the Word. The image is the Word. The Word is the image. The Word is behind and common to all religions. It enables inner peace come what may. 

The late Tay Chong Sim is radiant in belief and practice of inner peace. He is the image of the lord and the image of the lord is in him. He is a senior warrior of the lord - shining and radiant to light up the lives of beings and men. He is every bit the image of the good lord and will ever be better at this. 

Let us be like him but meanwhile pray to the lord for guidance till the time comes when we can be more on our own. Be sure that when we do so, warriors like Chong Sim will act for the lord. 

The aim is not to start a new religion or to make all fawn over the lord and displace other saints but to make all better at what they are, better in relating to the Word and saints in their respective religions. 

The underlying truth behind all religions is to have inner peace but for many, they still need God and saints most of the way. This basic or inner truth behind all religions is in the image of the lord. 

It too must be in us. We must live in and be the image of inner peace - that way we can be the image of saints. The image is the Word. The Word is the image. 

Chong Sim shines in doing this. He leads by example. He acts for the lord so that all can be better at whatever religion they may be in. They will also be better in relating to their respective saints.

We too can be like him and do what he is doing. We must have inner peace if we want to be warriors not defeated by yin and yang. 

Why go for the word of man?

No 1074 of Living Life Series 1

Men in trying to do what God and saints want them to do often end up thinking they can act for God and saints. They end up being the stars of their religion. 

The followers of their religion end up looking up to them for inspiration rather than to God and saints and the scriptures that represent them. 

Men at the pulpit instead of referring wholly to the Word end up creating their own and inadvertently sideline the actual Word. This is happening to religions and is for real. The man at the pulpit is more real and inspiring than the saint or prophet he talks about.

No wonder the good lord Lord Bo Tien 武天菩萨 cautions that in any religion, men must know who is man and who is God or saint. Man is man. God is God. Saint is saint. God is no man. Man is no God. 

He adds that to know God or saint we must know the Word given by God and saint. But men often makes the mistake of going for the word of men rather than the Word of God. 

Men who are not ready for the Word often finds the Word is dull. Thus men at the pulpit to make their sermons attractive distort the Word and give their own versions of the Word. 

Often the word of men who speak at the pulpit is not even the Word of God and saints. They write their own scriptures to replace the written scriptures. People will buy their books and videos rather than read the holy texts. It is folly to go for man and his word rather than go for God and his Word. 

Go direct to God and his Word. The man at the pulpit is just serving God to help you to do so.  

More ideal for inner peace than even heaven

No 1073 of Living Life Series 1

The experiences of life that can lead to the ultimate solution of the problems of life lies with the human realm where there is both joy and sorrow and not in hell or in heavens where there is either dominant joy or dominant sorrow. 

While man can be master of his own destiny in worldly sense, he is also often the slave of life. He goes for worldly success only to find that that success can exact more pain if it eventually goes away and indeed it will. Man must be mindful of that and make use of his worldly success as the means to the end. What is this end? 

Without meeting the needs of the flesh, he may end up in pain. But going for more and excess of the needs of the flesh is in itself his undoing as well. 

He may suffer in pursuit and create more desires than his worldly success can meet. There will be no contentment when there is bottomless pit of wants. Moreover, the higher he climbs in social ladder, the more painful will be his fall. 

Eventually even a king will have to come down and be not even a commoner when the end comes knocking on his majesty's door. But this does not mean that we give up with worldly life and do nothing - be a vagrant. That will be suicidal and create more problems. 

The good lord Lord Bo Tien 武天菩萨 says that the problems of men are many and plentiful. Men create more issues by solving issues if they do not have insight and inner peace. 

Men must know the true nature of life, contemplate on this and be ready for all eventualities - have the best for now but not suffer in wants in the process and at the same time be at peace to accept that what he has will not be forever. He must move on and not give up. But at any moment, there must be that inner peace.

The human realm presents the experiences which enables the inner peace. It is even better than that in heavens where joy is dominant and very lacking in hell where sorrow and pain dominates. To attain the highest inner peace, many in heaven may have to come down to Earth as men. That is what Gautama did. 

Jesus too came down as man and he succeeded what he could not do if he did not. He had both glory of God and pain on the cross. Through him, many gain inner peace come what may.

The human realm is more ideal than even heaven for inner peace. Treasure the life as a human. Be man enough to have more inner peace. Many in heaven look down on humans to see how they can help men and at the same time learn from the lives of men in their endeavor for more inner peace. 

If they do not do so, they simply bask in their shinning life up there till the they lose their shine and they will have to leave heaven anyway. If they undertake to bless and help life of beings like humans, they increase their shine and are able to have more inner peace. 

But it may be better if they be men if they want and are ready for more inner peace. As men they can help others and at same time cultivate more peace.

Culture and not religion prevails

No 1072 of Living Life Series 1

New year joy comes once a year. To the Chinese celebrating the lunar new year, they must start the new year with the correct note with prosperity and joy aplenty. This is so as to welcome the year with the best of the best. 

This is part of culture and regardless of the religion, the same culture will be there. In fact the culture takes over religion and dominates. 

A Christian Chinese or for that matter a Chinese of any religion will still be practicing popular Chinese culture regardless of the religion he is in. 

Thus we can say that the culture of the individual in a religion prevails. This culture in the days of old in China used to be referred to by West as Taoism but in reality it is just Chinese culture. 

Chinese culture absorbs religion or rather religions become integrated into Chinese culture. 

For that matter a Westerner who takes up Taoism is still practicing Western culture and though he professes Tao philosophy, he is very much different from the Chinese who call himself Taoist. 

Thus we have to address the issue of whether culture is religion. Yes it is though of course it is not. 

Chinese New Year is rooted in popular Taoism but is not Taoism. If it is, those Chinese who are not Taoists would not celebrate Chinese New Year. Culture not religion prevails. 

You can call a rose by any name but a rose is still a rose by any name. It is just as sweet. 

Won't the icons of the lunar new year mean the same to Chinese regardless of their religious persuasions? 

Image is the Word. The Word is the Image

No 1071 of Living Life Series 1

The image is the Word. He who knows the Word knows the lord. Thus the far from him can be near and the near can be far. All that is needed is the Word. The Word is God and saints. 

The Word is in the image and is in every religion. He is in every religion though far from all religions. He though far is near to all religions. The far can be near and the near far. In one sense he is near to all religions than the saints of religions. Yet he is not in any religion. That is the good lord. 

He is Lord Bo Tien 武天菩萨. He is near though far. No need to know him. All that is needed is to know the Word and then surely we know him and see him even though he is not what he is portrayed in the image. 

He is the Word that underlies and common to all religions. That is why he says that he favors none. 

All religion is about how to be good and to be at peace if we are good enough come what may - the push and the pull, the ups and the downs, the yin and yang. 

All that is needed is to be like a warrior or general to be atop and master of life come what may. Be at peace and stay at peace no matter what. Be atop the yin and yang like the elements under his feet in his image. 

Good are God and saints. God and saints are good. The Word is good and teaches us how to be good. We are at peace if we are good. The Word is good. Good is the Word. The lord is good. Good is the lord. 

The Word is life. Life is the Word. Lively is the image. The image is lively because it is the Word. Let the Word be in us. Then we are the Word and the Word is us as well. Then we are lively as the Word comes to life in us.

This image is lively and awesome
because it is alive with the Word

The call to mission

No 1070 of Living Life Series 1

It is better to be a nobody than to be somebody but if already somebody, do behave humbly like nobody. A somebody will end up nobody. A nobody will likely end up somebody. The humble will be exalted and the exalted humbled. Jesus said that, didn't he?

All religions are good. Those who think their religion is better will end up humbled when they know the richness of the other religions. That is why the good lord Lord Bo Tien 武天菩萨 says all religions are the pillars of the universal temple - the world with the sky as the roof. 

The good lord said that the near may be far and the far near. How true this is even in a temple bearing his name. 

Whoever says that medium-ship is unreliable may in fact end more unreliable than the mediums as they tend to speak for God and saints instead of giving God and saints the chance to talk to them. 

There are also those who say that God and saints talk to them through the holy texts but then the texts may be applied out of context and this can create problems. They may upset the peace. 

Problems will befall those who create problems for others or talk ill of others. The good lord Lord Bo Tien 武天菩萨says that the problems of men are many and plentiful. He is right as men who turn to religion may even create problems for themselves and others in the religion they are in. 

Men must learn to be wise and know how to be at peace come what may. Inner peace is the starting point. There must be peace too in any process or event in life. Peace must be there at the end even if the outcome is not favorable. We refer specifically to inner peace. 

Blessed are they who stay away from those who prefer not to be wise. More blessed they will be if they stay around those who are wise and honor those who are worthy of honor. Blessed too are those who stay and orbit in a favorable and congenial place for spiritual learning. The Buddha said this.

Lord Bo Tien 武天菩萨 says that it is better to be far from his man-made temple but near to him in doctrine than to be in his temple and far from doctrine and wisdom. The far may be near and the near far. He said. 

But the good lord added that it is alright for those who are not inclined to spiritual to be in a temple. They come only for material and personal gains. Insects are attracted to a flower for nectar. Blame not the flower or the saint for this. 

The good lord is like the great ocean not affected and sullied by the mud of the wrongs of men. Like the ocean he will also reach out to many a land.

There are the fortunate few in a man-made temple bearing the name of the lord. They were groomed by the lord through the late Philip to lead. They may for some reason not be at the temple.  Though physically far from a temple  of the lord, they are near though far. They know and live in doctrine - the God Knowledge. 

They have confidence contentment and move on in life with inner peace come what may. Goodness will prevail. Not only the good lord is with them but also God and all heavenly saints are behind them.

In a temple of any saint, all new and old members have fallen short of the expectations of the lord saint but there will still be one or two despite their shortcomings and odd ways will be the most beloved of the saint. 

But whatever be the shortcomings, be mindful and change with time. Have no guilt feelings but move on in doctrine and in light - from light to light and not from light to darkness. 

With regards to the mission of the good lord Lord Bo Tien 武天菩萨, the third phase is already well in place. This is the Doctrine Phase. 

Those who heed the call to mission must know the doctrine. He who knows the doctrine knows the lord. The image is the lord. The lord is the image. Those who heed the call to mission is a disciple of the lord. Those who do not are just believers. 

As the good lord is not here to start a new religion or favor any existing one, there is no need for believers. This may seem strange to you but do ponder on this. 

What is needed is for people to believe in whatever religion they are in and be better at this through the efforts of the good lord. This is what the mission is all about. 

To be exact, Lord Bo Tien 武天菩萨 has no need for believers and devotees. All should continue to believe in the saints of their respective religions but be better at this. 

All he needs is one or two reliable men to be his disciples to further the mission which is the mission of Heaven for men to see the oneness of religions and be better at what they are. 

The good lord needs only disciples and not believers. But many have misconceived him and ended up only as believers. But a temple of the lord is actually the temple of Goddess of Mercy who is the patron saint of the temple. People are the believers of the Goddess of Mercy.