Contradictions do bring out the glory of God

No 17 of Yin Yang Equations 

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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. 

Optimizing sunrise and sunset

No 16 of Yin Yang Equations 

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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.

Avoid the two hells in life if we want a heavenly life

No 15 of Yin Yang Equations 

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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.

Yin yang approach to threefold blessings

No 14 of Yin Yang Equations

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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. 

Lord Bo Tien's advice is universal

No 13 of Yin Yang Equations 

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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. 

Plain talking by Ji Gong

No 12 of Yin Yang Equations 

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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.