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

Thursday, October 3, 2013

On inseparable love

No 20 of Yin Yang Equations 

For other posts in series, go to Index of posts



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






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. 





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






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. 





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





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. 

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. 





Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Optimizing sunrise and sunset

No 16 of Yin Yang Equations 

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. 

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




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.

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. 

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. 

Lord Bo Tien


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.



Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Yin yang approach to threefold blessings

No 14 of Yin Yang Equations

For other posts in series, go to Index of posts






There is the real need for man to be happy for what he already have and not take life for granted. Men can hope for more but must not insist for more. 

He must not say that he must have this or that at all cost. That can prove to be the undoing of his life if such attitude is his habit in life. 

As common knowledge to many in the streets, we should not even count the chickens even before they are hatched, let alone dream of eggs we have yet to have. The catch phrase is "to be contented". 

The Buddha says that contentment is the greatest wealth while health is the greatest gain. Whatever we do, we need friends but dependence on others can put us at a loss if friends are either found wanting or cannot meet our needs. 

It is not that we should not have friends but it is better that we depend primarily on ourselves and not so much on others if we can. While society is interdependent, we have to be as independent as much as we can. 

To be aloof and not work with others or be with others, neither position is also at all good to have. There must be that balance between the two polar positions. 

Yes, the Buddha did also say that self confidence is the best friend or kinship but we must relate with others as well. We must live  and relate with others but primarily we must be asset to ourselves. 

Our friends too must be assets to themselves before they can be assets to us. We too can only be assets to others if we can be assets to ourselves. 

To be associated with those who are wise and are assets to themselves such that they can be assets to us as well is a blessing as stated by the Buddha in the Mangala Sutra - Scroll of Blessings. 

Lord Bo Tien too reminds us that men must be able to help one another but before men can do so, they must have the potential or skill to help themselves. Thus our friends can be blessings to us. We do not always need to depend on Heaven to bless us. We must however avoid crutch mentality which will work against our long term interests.  

Thus there is that balance  between self confidence and being independent and the wisdom to seek help and cooperation from others when necessary. 

We must strike the balance between dependence and being stubbornly and unwisely aloof, wanting to go it alone when we sometimes cannot make it. 

This applies not only to help from friends but also from all the heavenly saints as well, not just one or two in our very own religion but from saints of all religions. This point was stressed by Lord Bo Tien. 

This yin yang balance approach will optimise and yield more blessings from all three quarters, from self, from God and saints and from others. It is also not a one way flow but two or if you may say three ways. 

We will be blessings to ourselves and to others, be it God and saints or friends. God and saints as well as friends will be blessings to ourselves as well. Cheers and do cultivate the yin yang approach to threefold blessings. 



Sunday, August 4, 2013

Lord Bo Tien's advice is universal

No 13 of Yin Yang Equations 

For other posts in series, go to Index of posts


 




The era of consumerism has engulfed the world and will be there to stay. It is good for the economy though some will say that easy credit facilitates buying on future or unearned income. 

This can be bad as in the long run it can destabilise the world economy and lead to a run on banks. Countries also run into the red, perpetually in debts but big time businesses will thrive initially but lose out in the long run. 

What is this due to? There is too much emphasis on spending what we could not afford for now, that is spending on assumed future earnings. We assume we have future gains and want to bask in the glory of future gains for now. 

The end result is not good. We end up chasing after the rainbow. We end up on losing ends as we pile up a mountain of debts. Why don't men be prudent and thrifty. 

This state of affairs is not bad if men can have insight that there must be yin yang balance not only in spiritual life but also in secular life. 

We must not spend more than we can earn for now and over the next few months. Be modest and do not envy what others have that we don't have or yet to have. There is need to come to terms and be at peace. 

How much must we have in life? What is excessive and what is not? When do we spend and when do we not? 

Well, it boils down to having a healthy state of mind. It is as simple as that. The solution is not onerous but a simple one. We should try to have simple solutions to issues in life and not create more problems by solving problems.

We must want to move on and not run away from life say by not living life. But earning more but be ing miserly and suffering as result of the misery from being miserly is running from life as well. 

At the other extreme, we must be ever mindful not to be spendthrift by spending not only every cent we have but the potential of our future earnings not only of ourselves in our present life span but also of our children and grandchildren. 

Thus to have peace with no or less of live issues, we must have moderation and avoid the two lifestyles. This is yin yang balance which sages cultivate to achieve enlightenment of the spirit but which if applied to secular life brings peace in life which effectively injects more life. 

Lord Bo Tien says that the same principle that brings spiritual success can bring on secular or mundane comforts which constitute the optimal ground for more spiritual progress. The principle is yin yang balance or equilibrium.

Do we need a religion to do this? We do not. Can we practise this in any religion. Yes, we can and without compromising the tenets and dogmas of any religion. That is the beauty of the exhortation by the lord saint, Lord Bo Tien. 

The advice by Lord Bo Tien is ever universal. You don't have to know him or pray to him. You only need to know his advice. 

By heeding the advice, you know life better, your own life better and you will surely appreciate your own religion. You will be closer to God and saints better through the religion of your choice. 

That is the beauty of the advice by Lord Bo Tien. The strange part is that in the end, you will end up knowing him even if you don't intend to do so at all. 

Those who know and heed his teachings know and are with Him. Those who do not know are not with Him even if they are in a temple or mission under His name. 

But lest others may still somehow think the mission has not made any great headway, it is the truth that those in the mission and any mission-related temple have done well to show case the teachings by the lord saint with regards to the oneness of religions in God and saints. 




Saturday, August 3, 2013

Plain talking by Ji Gong

No 12 of Yin Yang Equations 

For the other posts in series, go to Index of posts





One of the striking points with regards to the saint Ji Gong is that he is ever always very much simple and very direct. He speaks frankly and does not go around talking in riddles or beating round the bush. 

He speaks plainly and directly as well as precisely. What is black is black and what is white is white. 

If he can help you, he will tell you and if he has difficulty in telling you what you must do say in sorting out a health problem, he will say so but still open the way to a better solution. 

No problem or issue is too big or small. All issues big or small will be no issue in the end even if there is no solution in the horizon. 

What he likes us to know if we are ready to know is that what all of us need to have is to seek out the peace of life in whatever we do. 

It is not that we deny or run away from life but we handle life in the most optimal and simple way so as not to create more issues but to have less but more of the peace in life. 

There is always invariably a very simple way out in any issue. 




We need to come to terms with life, with our own as well as with life around us. We are intertwined with the world but this does not mean we cannot be in control of our being, with our very soul so to speak. 

We need, Ji Gong will ever say, to be at peace. Are we at peace? Why are we still not at peace despite being spiritual and knowing God and saints. 

Of course, the more we know the more we may still be blind to the basic simplicity of truth and not grasp the basic behind the teachings of the saints. 

What we need to know is just plain simple and it is that we need to be at peace and all boils down to balancing the many contending needs and emotions we have. 

Ji Gong never fails to utter the few simple words to us but only when we are ready to know. It is this, "Balance yin and yang."  

We need to balance the yin and yang in any matters or issues with life. This applies to both secular and spiritual. 

Ji Gong speaks directly and plainly and will leave you with a simple advice or solution, with a mere few words and perhaps with the usual waves of his golden fan. 

There are no secrets of Heaven and even if there are, they are not actually secrets which cannot be revealed but that we may not be ready to know. 

If you are not ready even the short phrase, "Balance yin and yang" may not make sense and any impact as yet. 

There was once when he told the writer that the writer was associated with him in the immediate past life, and will have three such lives associated with him, including the next. 

Isn't this encroaching on the so-called secrets of Heaven? They say the secrets of Heaven cannot be revealed. But Ji Gong don't seem to subscribe to that. This is Ji Gong after all. This is indeed him. 

He speaks plainly from the heart but only if you are ready to know and it will benefit you to know. 



Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Correct yin yang approach to God is best

No 11 of Yin Yang Equations

Read why the wrong approach to God may create hell for you in life




Who would you think is closer to God and saints? Is he the one who thinks he has a long way to go before he can stand before God or the one who thinks he has already arrived and is with God and saints but actually is far way? 

The far may be near and the near far. This the lord messenger of God Lord Bo Tien did say. 

The one who thinks he has arrived and cries aloud that God is with him and he with God may well be in delusion that he can have instant or overnight union with God. 

He talks of the promise by God and that promise is a reality overnight. He lives in delusion that all the issues of men can be wished away by believing in God. But mere believe will not whisked away the issues in life. 

Such a man lives in a dream and the dream will just burst in his face and he will find himself in hell on earth. He will be in anguish and exclaim why has God forsaken him though he believes and has faith. 

The problem is that he is not alone but pulls others into his dream or delusion and they too will be in anguish when the dream bubble burst. 

The one who thinks he is far from God and saints but keeps a respectful distance and remains stoic in face of problems in life. He knows that he has long way to go and many more steps to God and saints. 

Such a man is a real rarity these days. He is usually meek, humble, realistic and pragmatic with both feet planted firmly in the ground of life and yet has confidence that one day though not soon or the next day, he will make it to God and saints. 

He suffers not in anguish while waiting to make it with God and saints. He takes satisfaction in the little progress or peace in life that he can have moment by moment. 

He is the man of the moment but unlike other men of moment who have no vision, he has a vision but is never a victim of anguish just because the vision cannot be realized overnight. He has a vision but is neither a fatalist (nothing else matters except the now) nor a dreamer. He is near to God and saints though far. 

He has yin yang balance in life, neither myopic and going for the moment without any vision at all nor long sighted with presbyopia and deluded (cannot live in the now and living in a big dream bubble of being the immediate choice of God and saints). 

There should be good yin yang balance with no blindness, myopia nor presbyopia but good proper balanced sightedness or vision in life. That way one is near to God though far at the moment. 

The true man of God is not blind to life and God. He also has yin yang balance and sees life in good vision, neither dreamer nor short sighted. 

Correct yin yang balance in approach to God is best. But not many can make it, for many will be out of balance and may end up fanatical somehow. But they will still learn. God will bless them, even if due to their views, they are in their own created hell but they will not be in hell for long. God is benevolent. 

Correct yin yang balance in approach to God is best if one is to avoid creating that really hell of a mess for oneself due to imbalance of yin yang approach.

Correct yin yang approach to God is best if we are not to be in hell of a life and create hell for others' lives because of our wrong orientation or erring ways. Cult culture is also one such consequence. 





For the other posts in series, go to Index of posts

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Yin Yang approach to a mission

No 10 of Yin Yang Equations 

For the other posts in series, go to Index of posts





There will be those who jump at the chance to take over a temple or mission though they are not really inclined spiritually. They take over a building and credit of running social services such as welfare activities but they cannot and are not capable of taking over mission or doctrine. 

They hide behind charity and status. They relish the chance to excel and be recognised by society. They however shy from knowing more doctrine and spreading of doctrine for fear of being ridiculed and losing face. 

They are not convinced and won over by doctrine. They may in fact be sort of very embarrassed by doctrine. They go for face value and are not men of substance for the lord saint of that temple or mission. 

This in a way is pathetic but if you care to have insight, it is these people who should be inducted even if they are not up to the mark. They are like those out there whom the lord saint of that temple wants to reach out to and save with doctrine. 

The lord saint cannot depend on the few who know much more for such knowing ones actually will not be able to come down to level of those who know not. 

It is those who know not but capable of some interest albeit the wrong motives who can truly be counted to project a less threatening spiritual image of the temple or mission. 

No "holier than thou" people will be able to fit the bill to make those out there to identify with the lord saint of that temple for the mission. Those destined to run a temple or mission will invariably be those who are not holy yet not unholy. 

If these people can make it spiritually a little more, those out there will be able to do so as well. We need the balance between those who know allot and those who know nothing. The middle ground or less than the middle ground can cement the gap.

We need those who are less or little motivated in doctrine to attract those out there who are worse off than them or a bit like them, not those who stay in lofty towers because they know more. 

This is the moderated or yin yang approach to a mission or temple in projecting the Word or Doctrine of God and his saints. 

Thus do not try to find perfection in the leadership of a temple, church or mission. You will not find any because they are few in number and will not be in that temple or church. 

So the next time you find the occasional leader of a church or temple wanting, please reflect and be mindful why God and saints prefer people like him in leadership position. 

Thus even in a mission related temple of Lord Bo Tien, there will likely also be those at the helm of management who are embarrassed by the the Four Pillar Doctrine of the lord saint that all religions are one in God. 

They often dare not even mention the doctrine to others. You may think that they should not be there but the lord saint thinks differently. That deserves our reflection and cognizance. 

Thus in a modern church or temple, you will find strange bedfellows at the helm who are impressive eloquent and charismatic. They are that much more awesome as speakers and they are better at it than spiritual masters because they can act and act well the part. 

They are more effective than the true masters at galvanizing and moving the masses. They are not ignorant but definitely also not the best. But they fit the role  as public speakers and many can identify with them. 





Monday, July 29, 2013

Yin yang balance in approach to worship

No 9 of Yin Yang Equations

For the other posts in series, go to Index of posts




Whoever says that a man does not know God if he misconceives God as having an image is both right and wrong. Nobody knows how God looks like or for that matter how a heavenly saint looks like. But God or heavenly saint has no issue if man chooses to conceive him in one way or other. 

What is important is how a man conducts himself as a result of his belief in God or saint? What is important is the Word or Doctrine. The Word is God. 

There must be that special motivation as a result of his belief in God. The Word is the motivation. But there is need to rationalize this motivation and the way to do so is to conceptualize God as a form or image though God and saints are really beyond form. 

But not having a physical concept or just a simple visualization of God is a limitation to one's attempt to know God and saints, for that image even if not correct acts as the nucleus to grow the faith and the Word in God. 

However if one just goes by the image and that becomes the end and not the means, one will end up idolising the image. He will end up not knowing and worshiping God. He will never know the Word for he is an idol worshipper. He idolizes the image as God and not God. That is one extreme. 

The other extreme is to think that there is no need for portrayal of God or saint in any form for then many will end up not focus on God less his Word and see God as Man and Man as Word. Thus this will be fertile ground for cult to arise. Follies against the law of the land may fester as such. 

There must be balance between the two approaches or extremes. This is one wholesome example of yin yang balance. The image is not God but man uses it to depict God. It is merely a nucleus for faith in God and the nucleus to focus and grow the Doctrine that God and his saints represent. The Word is God. 

The image is the Doctrine and the Doctrine is the image. Lord Bo Tien has said this before. He who sees the image sees the Word and he who sees the Word knows and sees God and saints. He who knows not the Word worships the image as God or saint but knows not and worships not God or saint.



Sunday, July 28, 2013

Knowing the yin yang equations in life

No 8 of Yin Yang Equations

For other posts in series, go to Index of posts




Yin and yang attributes are of opposites but they are complementary like fire and water or sun and rain. They are often antagonistic and opposing but yet often synergistic. They are polarities on the same axis. 

Good and the not-good are polarities on the axis of morality. Birth and death are polarities of life. We cannot only dwell on one as though the other does not exist or matter. There must invariably be some counterbalance of sorts but less of the unavoidable conflict. This is in a way moderation as such and dynamic at that, as well as productive in nature, not destructive or conflicting. 

Thus, if we live as though religion does not matter or if we live as though religion is all that counts, then life will be unreal and woolly. 

If we want to live, we must not fear death. If we want to be man, we must be prepared to be saint and if we want to be saint, we must learn to be man. 

But let not the opposites or polar positions cause conflict in the moment. We must live in the polarity of the moment but be mindful of the reality of the other polarity. 

If the polarity of the moment is that we must be a family member, we must do justice to that but be mindful that we are a member of the church family as well. 

That would take a back seat for the moment but would moderate how we behave in the family. Our morale conscience takes root in the church family and that motivates us to be better at being family to the whole family. 

But if the polarity of the moment is that we are part of the church as on Sunday church activities, we must be wholehearted in that but do not forget that we have the earthly or biological family. We do not go overboard and devote all our time and resources to the church and neglect the family. 

The same applies when the polarities of loyalty is concerned such as loyalty to the land and loyalty to God and saints. Give to God what is due to God and to Man what is due to Man. We do not go for one and forget the other. 

At any one moment, there must always be focus on one polarity with the other moderating it at the background. The focus may change depending on the issue at hand but always there will be the other interacting or moderating at the background. 

This is yin yang interaction in the many yin yang equations of life. There is equilibrium but dynamic equilibrium. 

Sometimes, the reaction is more on one polarity, that is more towards one side and sometimes towards the other but always there is equilibrium as in chemical or biological equilibrium. 

In equilibrium, one polarity affects the other but there is need for dynamic shift to one side or the other but always dictated by needs. There is ever the dynamic balance. This is the yin yang balance in life.