No 1101 of Living Life Series 1
Do not judge a book by the cover. Do not judge a man by his appearance and what he does.
A man may eat meat and drink wine but he can be more sober than one who don't drink. He may be more compassionate and kind to animals than one who don't eat meat.
What matters is not what one does or what goes through the gut but what goes through the heart. Ji Gong is one fine example. He drinks, dance and frolic with monkeys and children but he is a living saint - a buddha no less.
Do not judge a religion or sect by the practices and beliefs of the members. These do not reflect the true nature and ways of the saint or prophet.
When an emperor in days of old patronized a religion, he threw the weight of his empire behind the religion. The religion becomes authoritarian like him. The members tend to go all the way out and over the centuries continue to be aggressive in promoting the religion.
This paints an aggressive picture of the saint or prophet and it takes effort by followers who realize this to correct the anomaly. Then they tend to overdo and give impression that he is so kind that if we are prepared just to believe in him, all will be fine. We will be saved by his grace.
This is not unlike the subjects of an emperor thinking that all would be well, if they obey the emperor and ask no questions. The saint may not be an emperor of sorts but ends up portrayed as one. That can be misleading.
Do not think that the good lord Lord Bo Tien 武天菩萨 is a chinese general just because his image portrays him as one.
The image just portrays his seriousness in carrying out the mission of God to show the oneness of religions and that the basic teaching of all religions is the same. All religions must be based on common sense or Tao 道 - logic.
When men forgo reasoning or are skewed in thinking, then they become impulsive and can be wild when they are passionate about religion. They will misportray their religion and even undo the very efforts of the founding saint.
The elders over the centuries try to preserve the religion in its originality. But this may not catch on with successive generations and what is worse is when elders no longer call the tune and are sidelined by the young who insist on their way. They are in the majority and will have their way.
That is why it is not surprising at all that this will add to the misportrayal of religions and saints. All religions try to prevent this or at least slow down the degradation by telling us to respect elders. That is why there is the precept to respect elders and parents in religions and in cultures. This is pointed out to us by the good lord Lord Bo Tien 武天菩萨.
But then some will say that the real father is the Father above and not your parents. What now and how come there must be this sweeping statement that will contribute to or be used as the excuse for erosion of cultural and religious values.
Men need to take instructions from God and saints. But this does not mean that they ignore ways of family and land. They may end up not letting the elders and parents lead us in life both religious and otherwise. They may then ignore the laws of the land, family and society. This is unwise and foolish.
Obey the laws of the land and obey the laws of God and saints. This the good lord Lord Bo Tien 武天菩萨 says. Jesus too says that we give to God what is due to God and to man what is due to man. Obeying the laws of the land includes getting guidance from the elders and parents.
Isn't this common sense? But it takes saints to remind us of common sense and how to be logical. Perhaps to save our face, the sages of old in China call this common sense Tao 道.
This sounds intellectual, profound and classy. They were being kind to us and did not want to hurt our feelings. They did not want to refer to us as dumb and dense in the head. It is because of lack of logic that religions and saints are at times being misportrayed.
Well, this is life. Sometimes, it is better to let it be and even go along but be mindful of what ought not be done. Then at least we do not rock whatever peace that be.
When we go upstream for clear water, we do not change the downstream. Then we will never go upstream. The good lord Lord Bo Tien 武天菩萨 exhorts us to go upstream if we want to have clear water. Don't worry if many are flowing downstream and few are able to go upstream.
The elders over the centuries try to preserve the religion in its originality. But this may not catch on with successive generations and what is worse is when elders no longer call the tune and are sidelined by the young who insist on their way. They are in the majority and will have their way.
That is why it is not surprising at all that this will add to the misportrayal of religions and saints. All religions try to prevent this or at least slow down the degradation by telling us to respect elders. That is why there is the precept to respect elders and parents in religions and in cultures. This is pointed out to us by the good lord Lord Bo Tien 武天菩萨.
But then some will say that the real father is the Father above and not your parents. What now and how come there must be this sweeping statement that will contribute to or be used as the excuse for erosion of cultural and religious values.
Men need to take instructions from God and saints. But this does not mean that they ignore ways of family and land. They may end up not letting the elders and parents lead us in life both religious and otherwise. They may then ignore the laws of the land, family and society. This is unwise and foolish.
Obey the laws of the land and obey the laws of God and saints. This the good lord Lord Bo Tien 武天菩萨 says. Jesus too says that we give to God what is due to God and to man what is due to man. Obeying the laws of the land includes getting guidance from the elders and parents.
Isn't this common sense? But it takes saints to remind us of common sense and how to be logical. Perhaps to save our face, the sages of old in China call this common sense Tao 道.
This sounds intellectual, profound and classy. They were being kind to us and did not want to hurt our feelings. They did not want to refer to us as dumb and dense in the head. It is because of lack of logic that religions and saints are at times being misportrayed.
Well, this is life. Sometimes, it is better to let it be and even go along but be mindful of what ought not be done. Then at least we do not rock whatever peace that be.
When we go upstream for clear water, we do not change the downstream. Then we will never go upstream. The good lord Lord Bo Tien 武天菩萨 exhorts us to go upstream if we want to have clear water. Don't worry if many are flowing downstream and few are able to go upstream.
