- 1. Yin yang doctrine in 1980 message of Lord Bo Tien
- 2. Yin and yang doctrine again in 1984 message of Lord Bo Tien...
- 3. Fengshui for year 2013 has to do with yin and yang...
- 4. The summary of the doctrine has to do with yin and yang...
- 5. Mission - what mission?
- 6. Yin yang balance ensures victory even in death
- 7. Untying the knots of life
- 8. Knowing the yin yang equations in life
- 9. Yin yang balance in approach to worship
- 10. Yin Yang approach to a mission
- 11. Correct yin yang approach to God is best
- 12. Plain talking by Ji Gong
- 13. Lord Bo Tien's advice is universal
- 14. Yin yang approach to threefold blessings
- 15. Avoid the two hells in life if we want a heavenly life ...
The image of Lord Bo Tien portrays the need to be atop and balance the polarities or dualities of life. We cannot have only yin or only yang but need to find the fine point of combination of yin and yang, sometimes more yin and sometimes more yang.. The left hand of the lord saint in salutation bids us to be ever mindful and steady to go for yin yang balance as depicted by the feet atop the elements. The scepter in right hand depicts the mission for yin yang balance for all
Friday, October 4, 2013
Index of posts
Thursday, October 3, 2013
On inseparable love
From page 52 of the 1st draft book My Interpretation of LORD BO TIEN'S MESSAGES by the late Senior Brother Tay Chong Sim of Kedah Malaysia where he was the resident state civil engineer. Written three decades ago, it is still evergreen and relevant.
In recent days, it is noted that there are a few cases of couples committed joint suicide so that, in their opinions, they can be united in death instead of suffering the agony of physical separation due to strong parental objections, religious or family grounds, etc. This is not romantic but it is tragic, wasteful and wrong. Hence, if we on occasions come across couples who are deeply in love but separated by individual type of commitments and constraints, we should try to persuade them to see the light for long term reunion, instead of resorting to drastic action. No man or woman should terminate his / her life as well as his / her beloved's life just like that. It is just SELFISHNESS or "BLINDNESS" for them to make that decision. They should be advised to formulate the idea of long term reunion in a karmic free way that will lead to eternal unison before returning to GOD's Main Stream.
God Almighty the ONENESS, in creating the universe and establishing the Universal Law of Nature has included the Law of Dualism (Yin and Yang). The force of Yin and Yang are opposite but yet they are attracted to one another, in a checked and balanced way to ensure stability and harmony. We, human beings, are born in either a Yin(Female) or Yang(Male) form and the two must meet to generate growth and propagate. The life spark that exists in each of us, is either a Yin Component or a Yang Component of God's Main Stream of creation (from HIS ONENESS). (From ONE to TWO, from TWO to ONE). Each one of us will have his/her equally opposite but "attractive" life spark that exists in that person concerned. How the two separated life sparks will meet, since these are so numerous in existence, is Life's Mystery. It is from here that LOVE manifested itself from all of us. Love becomes a subject of great inspiration and creation by both men and women over the past years and will continue to affect all human beings as long as they exist. The continual search for the right opposite life spark is ever ongoing and the process is long suffering. Each life spark is his/her own entity and each is responsible for his/her actions and reactions in each phase of life span. Hence in our life time, we should differentiate love from just physical attraction i.e.yearning and craving from that of love on the mental and finally the spiritual planes. Love on the three planes of consciousness i.e. Mental, Physical and Spiritual will end the endless search for Holy Union. Just because we are prevented from any physical union in this world, it does not mean we are not the right component. Each of us is subjected to his or her own past karma and "debts" have to be paid. Once we recognise this fate, we should be "awakened" and should not go against the Law of Nature. We should seek ways to cultivate mental and spiritual loves with the physically separated opposite component and at the same time convert the physical, passionate love into Universal Love to all beings and practising the Doctrine of Loving Kindness. It is important that each one of us must play our individual part towards the cultivation of the development of the Physical, Mental and Spiritual planes of consciousness, in order to be united harmoniously in the next cycle of rebirth.
Physical "separation" can be overcome by the couples concerned to take part in common charity activities by organisation or temples, attending similar religious talks and discussions, etc all on the mental and spiritual planes of communion. Therefore there is no need for any drastic or dramatic display to show the world how inseparable they are because of their "forced" physical separation.
Monday, September 23, 2013
The same one way of all saints
No 19 of Yin Yang Equations
For other posts in the series, go to Index of posts
For other posts in the series, go to Index of posts
No one would even imagine that the concept of yin and yang is applicable to any religious system. Men is far from God because of the wrong they have done and cannot be near to God though God would want to be near to all men.
Men have erred in handling life. Men are troubled by life and are not at peace, not pure enough to be at peace because men are restless and disturbed by the worldly matters which often fall into opposing contingencies like praise and blame, gain and loss, growing and ageing, storms and calm seas. The list is endless.
Men may even blame God for men think God is omnipotent but yet helpless and not helpful. But men must realise this.
The world and universe we are in are in a flux and comprises various forces and energies in dynamic interactions. These include mental forces and all do separate men from God and saints.
Men must be able to handle them and be atop and at peace so that men will not be swept around and backslide and be further away from God, so that men could walk the straighter road to God and saints. Thus it is yin yang issues that separate and distance men from God.
Resolving the way to handle, to balance, to live and to be atop and ride the yin and yang of life will bring peace. Then men are near God and saints even though men are in the world of yin and yang.
As long as men exist, men cannot run away from yin and yang and not even in afterlife, be it in some corners of heaven or elsewhere. So men must wake up and resolve to cross the mountains, seas, desert with scorching sun and drought of life by being not affected, conditioned and submerged by and be at the mercy of the harshness, deceptions and conflicts of yin and yang.
Happiness in life is just prelude of sorrow. Living is just the prelude of dying. Men must not be at mercy of life - the yin and yang of life.
God and saints had overcome the yin and the yang to be at peace with and masters of yin and yang. We must learn to be like them.
Only when we do not go after yin and yang and think we can run away from yin and yang but only when we willed to be not affected by yin and yang, can we be at peace and be with God and saints.
We do not wait till afterlife for the promised land but we are there in this life the moment we arrive at yin yang balance, for then our peace from yin yang balance merges with the peace of God and saints. Some refer to the latter as the holy spirit.
Surely we can make it. Practice makes perfect. The way or Tao to God and saints is one through balance of yin and yang. All saints teach this same way but they do not use terms like Tao or yin and yang.
Even Jesus way is the same. Just ponder and give some thought and then we will be more insightful. Didn't Jesus say, "I am the way the truth and the light...." ?
He did show men the way but to the people of his time in ancient Rome where the unthinkable happened, he rightly added that "no men can go to God but through him" and the way he showed.
But perhaps, his perspective of the way to God may be the best for many men who would otherwise be lost and far from God. God is kind and he gives great choices of the various religions and sects.
He did show men the way but to the people of his time in ancient Rome where the unthinkable happened, he rightly added that "no men can go to God but through him" and the way he showed.
But perhaps, his perspective of the way to God may be the best for many men who would otherwise be lost and far from God. God is kind and he gives great choices of the various religions and sects.
Sunday, September 22, 2013
Yin and yang leadership in a temple
No 18 of Yin Yang Equations
For the other posts in series, go to Index of posts
For the other posts in series, go to Index of posts
Yin is soft or passive and yang is hard or active. We can say that yin is female and yang male. Yin and yang work together and yet can counter each other.
The countering can be negative or positive. In yang, there is also yin but there is more yang than yin. In yin, there is also yang but there is more yin than yang.
Yin and yang can be in perfect harmony only in perfection like in the realms of the saints. But in lower dimensions or realms, there is no such perfection but often they serve to counter one another and cause problems because there is imbalance.
But more often, if there is some spirituality in men, yin and yang do check one another in positive way but this is not as ideal as yin yang harmony of the saints.
That is why in the mission related temple of Lord Bo Tien, the good lord appoints a religious leader and a management leader. Such two key systems or duality is found in any spiritual society, or temple.
The religious leader is more on the religious side but he too has management and non religious role and strength Likewise the management leader is more on the management side but he too has religious role and knowledge.
Both leaders in human setting of any society or temple are not in harmony all the time but yet more often than not, they can complement one another through checks and balance. If they collide at times this is not good but as they do check and balance each other and keep each other on their toes, they complement each other.
Woe befalls a temple if either one gets rid of the other and wants to go it alone. Then yin and yang no longer complements one another through checks and balance. Such a situation is not wholesome in any temple, more so in a mission related temple of Lord Bo Tien.
Incidentally, if there is weakness of religious leadership and a credible one cannot be there in a temple, then alternatively, a spiritual or religious council of a few men would provide the collective religious leadership to fill the void.
This was mooted by representatives of the lord saint for the mission related temple of the lord saint Lord Bo Tien after passing on of the religious leader and medium. But human issues intervened even before the implementation strategy could be worked out.
The countering can be negative or positive. In yang, there is also yin but there is more yang than yin. In yin, there is also yang but there is more yin than yang.
Yin and yang can be in perfect harmony only in perfection like in the realms of the saints. But in lower dimensions or realms, there is no such perfection but often they serve to counter one another and cause problems because there is imbalance.
But more often, if there is some spirituality in men, yin and yang do check one another in positive way but this is not as ideal as yin yang harmony of the saints.
That is why in the mission related temple of Lord Bo Tien, the good lord appoints a religious leader and a management leader. Such two key systems or duality is found in any spiritual society, or temple.
The religious leader is more on the religious side but he too has management and non religious role and strength Likewise the management leader is more on the management side but he too has religious role and knowledge.
Both leaders in human setting of any society or temple are not in harmony all the time but yet more often than not, they can complement one another through checks and balance. If they collide at times this is not good but as they do check and balance each other and keep each other on their toes, they complement each other.
Woe befalls a temple if either one gets rid of the other and wants to go it alone. Then yin and yang no longer complements one another through checks and balance. Such a situation is not wholesome in any temple, more so in a mission related temple of Lord Bo Tien.
Incidentally, if there is weakness of religious leadership and a credible one cannot be there in a temple, then alternatively, a spiritual or religious council of a few men would provide the collective religious leadership to fill the void.
This was mooted by representatives of the lord saint for the mission related temple of the lord saint Lord Bo Tien after passing on of the religious leader and medium. But human issues intervened even before the implementation strategy could be worked out.
Monday, August 19, 2013
Contradictions do bring out the glory of God
No 17 of Yin Yang Equations
For the other posts in series, go to Index of posts
For the other posts in series, go to Index of posts
There is truth in that religions are different. But there is more truth that God is the same God and the way to God is to be godly and to be master of the polarities or contradictions in this world and nature we are in. There is much to learn from them.
Contradictions need not be at odds. In fact contradictions are here to stay and they can complement. Religions are like that. Often the religions of the East meet that of the West.
Religion of one generation is often no longer that of the next. There are role reversals in East and West. Such contradictions invigorate the new generations and set them apart from the previous but in reality, there is sameness, wholeness and life comes a full circle. This goes on and on in cyclical wholeness.
Religion of one generation is often no longer that of the next. There are role reversals in East and West. Such contradictions invigorate the new generations and set them apart from the previous but in reality, there is sameness, wholeness and life comes a full circle. This goes on and on in cyclical wholeness.
Fire and water will yet be another example of contradictions that do often complement. Man and woman will be another. Cat and mouse may be at odds but you cannot have one without the other.
Like it or not, we do often see in a church leader the pastor, contradictions in the same man. He has in him the spiritual man who leads. But he has in him the man of the world with worldly, fiscal and sensual needs.
These do not disqualify him from being pastor but in fact make him more suitable to be one, for he will know and empathise with the needs of those in the crowd or congregation and not expect them to be lofty angels of God.
Contradictions do bring out the glory of God. They do not and should not make us distant from God but instead highlight the wonders of the world of God we live in.
Life would be drape without contradictions. Whilst they do cause strife but the fault of strife lies in men who fail to see the polar nature of yin and yang in life.
When there is harmony, there is God but when there is disharmony of yin and yang, there is the conflict in men which distance men from God.
Contradictions can divide us from God but if we can reconcile contradictions and see the harmony and synchronization of opposites, we should see the wholeness of life.
Heaven and Hell may be far apart and vastly different but when we can see the synchronisation of Heaven above and Hell below, we see oneness no different from day and night combination that makes a whole day.
Wholeness of life must often go in tandem with embracing of polar opposites, not to be perplexed by them but to be awed and absorbed by their wholeness when seen as one.
This is true divine revelation which we must have through being atop and at peace with the ups and downs of life, the yin and the yang.
Contradictions do bring out the glory of God. Heaven would not be Heaven without Hell. Hell would not be Hell without Heaven. Can we do with one without the other?
It is because of Hell, that men want to be in Heaven. Buddhas and saints go one step further. They go atop both Heaven and Hell and will be whole that way. They have wholesomeness and are in unison with God.
Lord Bo Tien says that if there is sunrise, there must be sunset. If men must work by day, they must rest by night. We must have both work and rest to be whole and complete.
We must have both sunrise and sunset to have the completeness of a day though the length of sunrise and sunset may vary.
Contradictions do bring out the glory of God. Death and birth too are no different if we care to have more insight.
If we can embrace birth, we must embrace death. If we treasure life, we must not just welcome birth but fear not death.
Death will make us whole if we do not shun and terminate life. If we love life, we treasure and prolong life but embrace death as inevitable and as something that will make life more whole and complete.
Contradictions may be apparent and not substantial but even such contradictions are good for men to develop more insight. The following are but further examples.
Death is actually not death but mere exit into more life. Well, this does not sound right but it is so.
One of Lord Bo Tien universal precepts states that we must believe in all heavenly saints and what they teach. But the lord also did say that it is alright to have doubts for doubts do really mean men do not understand.
In time, if they could know more, they may know better than those who say they do not have doubts. Their deeper understanding may create doubts in those who believe and have no doubts.
The Old Testament states categorically that men may have to exact an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth but in the New Testament, we are told that we must offer the other cheek if we are slapped on one cheek.
These examples do illustrate that no doubt the two sides of a coin are different, they are still parts of the same coin when put together. Thus, like it or not, without the seemingly contrasting sides, the coin will not be coin.
If we want to know God, we must know Satan. If we want to know God and Satan, we must know who we are, how we think and act. Then and only then may we realise that God and Satan may exert some influence but have no direct bearing on what right or wrong we do. Blame not God or Satan.
Our thinking on spiritual matters are often fraught with contradictions but if we can understand from more angles, we know better. We must own up and appreciate God ever the more better.
We would not want to malign neither God nor his fallen angel Lucifer who is discredited as Satan. God is benevolent and God is love. Surely if God can accept and tolerate men despite their flaws, He can welcome Lucifer back to His fold.
That is why God will never decimate both men and Lucifer, not that He is powerless but that he is all loving and benevolent. God gives room even for men to err, not that it is alright to err but that men must learn and He has faith that men can do so.
Flaws of beings attest to His benevolence. To err is human and to forgive is divine. Contradictions do bring out the glory of God.
Then again, lest we forget, have we not heard what Lord Bo Tien did say that the far may be near and the near far. Those at the helm of a temple or church may well be far from God and saints than those not in the temple or church.
The shady nature of those at the helm may betray their projected religious profiles.
The lord saint said that insects do come to the flower for nectar and blame not the flower for the insects.
Also they are the very ones who need most to be given the priority to make good but goodness cannot be forced and coerced though God is supreme.
These are contradictory considerations at work in a temple or church. Instead of undermining the glory of God, they bring out the glory and grace of God.
God is one but in the traditions of the sages even among the Jews, there is reference to God as not one but many, otherwise how come there are many names of God.
But in latter or new testament, the realisation is that God is one. Such seeming contradictions are not contradictions but merely make us know the many characteristics of God.
This is not just that He is the creator but that not all creations have to do with Him. He is also known by many other attributes and can thus be personified as many gods based on each attribute, but yet they are in fact one.
Because of the possible confusion, some religious founders preferred not to stress on God terminology but the God principle which is Enlightenment. This is no contradiction but is in a way still same, yet different.
This recalls to our minds the Buddhist concept of identity and non identity. With any entity, there are four perspectives. An entity either is or is not. It both is and is not. If so, it is neither this nor that.
So with respect to God, we may say thus. God is one. God is not one but many. God both is one and is not one but many. God is neither one nor many.
It is because of Hell, that men want to be in Heaven. Buddhas and saints go one step further. They go atop both Heaven and Hell and will be whole that way. They have wholesomeness and are in unison with God.
Lord Bo Tien says that if there is sunrise, there must be sunset. If men must work by day, they must rest by night. We must have both work and rest to be whole and complete.
We must have both sunrise and sunset to have the completeness of a day though the length of sunrise and sunset may vary.
Contradictions do bring out the glory of God. Death and birth too are no different if we care to have more insight.
If we can embrace birth, we must embrace death. If we treasure life, we must not just welcome birth but fear not death.
Death will make us whole if we do not shun and terminate life. If we love life, we treasure and prolong life but embrace death as inevitable and as something that will make life more whole and complete.
Contradictions may be apparent and not substantial but even such contradictions are good for men to develop more insight. The following are but further examples.
Death is actually not death but mere exit into more life. Well, this does not sound right but it is so.
One of Lord Bo Tien universal precepts states that we must believe in all heavenly saints and what they teach. But the lord also did say that it is alright to have doubts for doubts do really mean men do not understand.
In time, if they could know more, they may know better than those who say they do not have doubts. Their deeper understanding may create doubts in those who believe and have no doubts.
The Old Testament states categorically that men may have to exact an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth but in the New Testament, we are told that we must offer the other cheek if we are slapped on one cheek.
These examples do illustrate that no doubt the two sides of a coin are different, they are still parts of the same coin when put together. Thus, like it or not, without the seemingly contrasting sides, the coin will not be coin.
If we want to know God, we must know Satan. If we want to know God and Satan, we must know who we are, how we think and act. Then and only then may we realise that God and Satan may exert some influence but have no direct bearing on what right or wrong we do. Blame not God or Satan.
Our thinking on spiritual matters are often fraught with contradictions but if we can understand from more angles, we know better. We must own up and appreciate God ever the more better.
We would not want to malign neither God nor his fallen angel Lucifer who is discredited as Satan. God is benevolent and God is love. Surely if God can accept and tolerate men despite their flaws, He can welcome Lucifer back to His fold.
That is why God will never decimate both men and Lucifer, not that He is powerless but that he is all loving and benevolent. God gives room even for men to err, not that it is alright to err but that men must learn and He has faith that men can do so.
Flaws of beings attest to His benevolence. To err is human and to forgive is divine. Contradictions do bring out the glory of God.
Then again, lest we forget, have we not heard what Lord Bo Tien did say that the far may be near and the near far. Those at the helm of a temple or church may well be far from God and saints than those not in the temple or church.
The shady nature of those at the helm may betray their projected religious profiles.
The lord saint said that insects do come to the flower for nectar and blame not the flower for the insects.
Also they are the very ones who need most to be given the priority to make good but goodness cannot be forced and coerced though God is supreme.
These are contradictory considerations at work in a temple or church. Instead of undermining the glory of God, they bring out the glory and grace of God.
God is one but in the traditions of the sages even among the Jews, there is reference to God as not one but many, otherwise how come there are many names of God.
But in latter or new testament, the realisation is that God is one. Such seeming contradictions are not contradictions but merely make us know the many characteristics of God.
This is not just that He is the creator but that not all creations have to do with Him. He is also known by many other attributes and can thus be personified as many gods based on each attribute, but yet they are in fact one.
Because of the possible confusion, some religious founders preferred not to stress on God terminology but the God principle which is Enlightenment. This is no contradiction but is in a way still same, yet different.
This recalls to our minds the Buddhist concept of identity and non identity. With any entity, there are four perspectives. An entity either is or is not. It both is and is not. If so, it is neither this nor that.
So with respect to God, we may say thus. God is one. God is not one but many. God both is one and is not one but many. God is neither one nor many.
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
Optimizing sunrise and sunset
No 16 of Yin Yang Equations
For other posts in series, go to Index of posts
Omitofo.
For other posts in series, go to Index of posts
There are many competing factions in our daily life. We have work and education, rest and personal time, family time and time for friends.
As for rest and personal time, we need to sleep and exercise. Sometimes we need to daydream and let go. We need time for hobbies and pastimes.
With work, we need to meet targets and get things done so that we do not hold up the work chain or our personal life. We need to learn and upgrade. This we call education when we are young and work upgrading when we are older.
All these make competing demands. We also need time in our daily life to make sense out of the many competing demands but without recharging and energizing ourselves, we cannot make it.
We need to be recharged to meet daily challenges. We need sleep and we need to eat to nourish the body but not in excess as this will work against the body.
We do have physical and biological needs as well as psychological and spiritual needs. There are so many aspects of our day to day life. We cannot have more of one and risk forgoing the interests of the others.
They are the many factions of our daily life. We need to attend to them all and not be sunk by them but be atop and afloat.
We need to pilot our life so as not to crash or to be worn off in our daily life. We should not turn them into warring factions in our daily life. There should be time for all factions of our daily life.
They should complement and augment, otherwise life will be a battle field of warring factions. If we can balance the various factions, we will have peace and ease. We must not turn them into warring factions and be victim of life in the process.
Balancing and devoting resources for the various factions or needs of daily life is neither easy nor difficult but require focus, mindfulness, effort and presence of mind.
The sages of old refer to this as yin yang balance so that our daily needs are not at war but at peace with one another. That way, our life will be peaceful and easier.
As Lord Bo Tien did say that when the sun rises, most men must work and when the sun sets, men must rest. There must be time for everything and these fall either under work or rest.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. This we learn at school in our childhood days. Doesn't this ring a bell?
We must optimize sunrise and sunset in life, more so in daily life. In doing so, however, let us not forget to devote some quiet time with God and saints each day to seek for their guidance and blessings for this.
With their shelter, issues big or small will be no issue. Small issues will be no issue and big issues will be small issues even if they cannot be no issue.
As for rest and personal time, we need to sleep and exercise. Sometimes we need to daydream and let go. We need time for hobbies and pastimes.
With work, we need to meet targets and get things done so that we do not hold up the work chain or our personal life. We need to learn and upgrade. This we call education when we are young and work upgrading when we are older.
All these make competing demands. We also need time in our daily life to make sense out of the many competing demands but without recharging and energizing ourselves, we cannot make it.
We need to be recharged to meet daily challenges. We need sleep and we need to eat to nourish the body but not in excess as this will work against the body.
We do have physical and biological needs as well as psychological and spiritual needs. There are so many aspects of our day to day life. We cannot have more of one and risk forgoing the interests of the others.
They are the many factions of our daily life. We need to attend to them all and not be sunk by them but be atop and afloat.
We need to pilot our life so as not to crash or to be worn off in our daily life. We should not turn them into warring factions in our daily life. There should be time for all factions of our daily life.
They should complement and augment, otherwise life will be a battle field of warring factions. If we can balance the various factions, we will have peace and ease. We must not turn them into warring factions and be victim of life in the process.
Balancing and devoting resources for the various factions or needs of daily life is neither easy nor difficult but require focus, mindfulness, effort and presence of mind.
The sages of old refer to this as yin yang balance so that our daily needs are not at war but at peace with one another. That way, our life will be peaceful and easier.
As Lord Bo Tien did say that when the sun rises, most men must work and when the sun sets, men must rest. There must be time for everything and these fall either under work or rest.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. This we learn at school in our childhood days. Doesn't this ring a bell?
We must optimize sunrise and sunset in life, more so in daily life. In doing so, however, let us not forget to devote some quiet time with God and saints each day to seek for their guidance and blessings for this.
With their shelter, issues big or small will be no issue. Small issues will be no issue and big issues will be small issues even if they cannot be no issue.
Omitofo.
Thursday, August 8, 2013
Avoid the two hells in life if we want a heavenly life
No 15 of Yin Yang Equations
For the other posts in series, go to Index of posts
For the other posts in series, go to Index of posts
There are two hells men must not be in even before they transit from this life to the next. What are these two?
One is the giving up of life, saying that we do not deserve to have life and the few comforts of life until others are no longer suffering. Worse still, we may think that we must deny the blessings of life we already have and suffer so that by doing so, by crucifying ourselves thus, others may be saved.
Surely, we will suffer but whether any good will come about is another matter. The answer is plain and obvious.
We would have already forgone whatever finite good or blessings we have and the likelihood of having any good out of giving up, out of the so-called heroic self sacrifice or to put it crudely, out of the crucify-thyself mentality is rather dubious.
Even if some good could come about, we would likely forgo the good as well. This is so that we may save many more others. This would be our delusion or wrong way of self sacrifice to save others. We think we are equal to martyrs.
Surely, we will suffer but whether any good will come about is another matter. The answer is plain and obvious.
We would have already forgone whatever finite good or blessings we have and the likelihood of having any good out of giving up, out of the so-called heroic self sacrifice or to put it crudely, out of the crucify-thyself mentality is rather dubious.
Even if some good could come about, we would likely forgo the good as well. This is so that we may save many more others. This would be our delusion or wrong way of self sacrifice to save others. We think we are equal to martyrs.
The other hell is the going for more and more, the more the better. Greed is good. Go for more, grab more and seize more out of life, never mind the toil and suffering, never mind if we become the victims of wants, never mind we have no time to get what we want and enjoy what we get, never mind if we become jacks of all trades and master of none, or never mind if we do become rolling stones that gather no moss.
Often we may even think that we should have more worldly blessings, as if we don't, we have failed God. We may think it is God's wish or plan that we have more, indulge in more even at expense of others. We may think it is God's will.
Surely we may have plenty but we will never have enough. We will suffer from want and pain as such and we may think that this too is God's will. We may end up in jail because of running foul of the laws of the land, the laws of Man. That would not be at all right.
But we might think that it is necessary for us to undergo the pain and indignity so that we will come through better in the end to be stronger to even go for more and to do God's bidding or ministry.
Often we may even think that we should have more worldly blessings, as if we don't, we have failed God. We may think it is God's wish or plan that we have more, indulge in more even at expense of others. We may think it is God's will.
Surely we may have plenty but we will never have enough. We will suffer from want and pain as such and we may think that this too is God's will. We may end up in jail because of running foul of the laws of the land, the laws of Man. That would not be at all right.
But we might think that it is necessary for us to undergo the pain and indignity so that we will come through better in the end to be stronger to even go for more and to do God's bidding or ministry.
Some of us go for more not because of God's bidding but because we think why bother if there is God, why bother if there is life after death, why bother how others will be so long as we ourselves have ever the more. But we too would never be happy because the more we want, the more we must want and the wanting is itself the pain we will have. This can prove to be endless and what next?
As men, we must avoid the pitfalls of the two hells in life before the afterlife. We must tread life by not denying and by not indulging in wants.
We must go for balance, take care of bodily needs and have enough of blessings to have peace but not end up in pain from incessant wanting.
This is the Middle Way in Buddhism and the Tao or Touli Way in Chinese culture and is depicted by the image of Lord Bo Tien with feet balancing the yin and the yang or as depicted by the two fish-like symbols of the Bagua.
We must go for balance, take care of bodily needs and have enough of blessings to have peace but not end up in pain from incessant wanting.
This is the Middle Way in Buddhism and the Tao or Touli Way in Chinese culture and is depicted by the image of Lord Bo Tien with feet balancing the yin and the yang or as depicted by the two fish-like symbols of the Bagua.
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| Lord Bo Tien |
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| Ba gua |
Balance yin and yang to avoid the two hells in life so that we may have peace without denial of wants and suffering from wants. This the sages refer to as peace in life here and now - the heaven that we can have even before the afterlife.
Avoid the two hells in life if we want a heavenly life of peace. Omitofo.
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