本期「道德經演繹」,集德居士闡述道生一,一生二,二生三,三生萬物。天下萬物皆為道所生,人自然也不例外,道既生育萬物,當然會衣養、照顧萬物。這次「八八水災」,不管是天災或人禍,最重要的是不要心存怨氣,因為怨氣的集結,是形成災難的主要原因。佛經曰:「萬法因緣生」;美國人也常說:Everything Happens for a Reason. 若能真心相信道,即使肉體遭遇險厄,只要心平氣和,靈性必能提昇到好的境界。
For the details of the story, please refer to Chapter 16 in Journey to the West, translated by W.J.F. Jenner and published by Foreign Languages Press, Beijing, ISBN 7-119-00653-3
For example, the president of the U.S. is on the Idea level, you are on the Energy level and I am on the Image level. Those who are on levels of Energy and Image must practice Tao; you also need to cultivate your physical self, such as from emperors to citizens of all countries shall all focus themselves on practicing Tao. Therefore, the Idea among the levels of Idea, Energy and Image of the Individual level also needs to practice Ta o . Although there are many problems in the process of approaching the Idea level, once it starts functioning, we are able to tell. For example, in this case, when Tang Taizong took the throne, everything started functioning and falling into place. What we need to observe is to see if he is a humane ruler. It would be problematic if he continued to kill so many people after he became the emperor.
To stabilize his political power, Tang Taizong killed people before he obtained his empire. This is not the same as some politicians in history, who used armed force to acquire their political power and killed a lot more people afterward. Hence, one thing we learn from this story is that we should do things according to our status and position. The chart on page 14 in issue #78 indicates clearly what a person shall do or practice, and it is all based on the position of such a person. There is a legend about how Huang Cao of the Tang Dynasty went to hell to save his mother and released many spirits in the meanwhile. To send them back to hell, he killed all of the spirits in the end. Because the hell is a place for the dead only, Huang Cao killed many people just to send them right back to where they came from.
Question: In history, Sui Yangde, the second emperor of Sui Dynasty, also killed may, of his brothers, what level and position was he in?
Answer: Similar to Tang Taizong, Sui Yangde was a Dragon King on the Collective level. Some may ask why Sui Yangde was not born as the first son, so that he could inherit the throne automatically to save all the trouble. Why couldn’t he become the emperor through inheritance? It is because those demons, who named themselves as Kings, stayed on the Energy level and created so much chaos among people, so that they could benefit themselves from it. In other words, Sui Yangde wanted to be born as the first son in the family, but the “kings” of Ta Hua Zi Zai Tan (or the demons’ kingdoms formed by stolen energies) interfered and prevented him. As a result, he became the second son. The Heaven on the Idea level arranged him to be the first-born, but the disturbing energies of the Energy level changed things and he became the second-born. That is why, in many cases, before a person is born to this world, Haven arranges the soul to be a boy, yet in reality the soul turns out to be a girl at birth. This shows the Energy level causes things to change. That is why we need to cultivate Tao. Once a person cultivates Tao to a certain level, the arrangements from the Idea level will remain unchanged. Why are we changed by the Energy level? It is because our souls do not understand the cross in the spiritual world and walk onto the wrong path. Supposedly, you needed to go to the east to be a boy; however, you went to the west and became a girl. This is because you got confused, thus lost in the four directions. Why so? It is because the demons manipulated things, thus changing the outcome. It was supposed to be your own choice, but the demons’ manipulation made it become taking chances, like playing the lotto; you are not seeing the directions clearly but must choose one particular direction to carry on. This is totally incorrect.
Question: Why did Wu Cheng En, the author of Journey to the West, know about the way the spiritual world worked? Was he channeled by someone from the spiritual world?
Answer: It is uncertain if Wu Cheng En was the author of the book. Scholar Hu Shi of the early twentieth century believed that Wu was the only man who would be qualified to write such a book at that time because no one else had such a sophisticated writing style. Although Hu believed that Wu Cheng En should be the author of the book, it is still not certain.
Taoists believe that Chu Cu Ji was the author of Journey to the West, and Zen Master Bai Yuen was the author of Fong Shen Bang, or The Investiture of the Gods. It was a competition between the two religions, in which the Buddhist master portrayed Taoism while the Taoist master portrayed Buddhism. Taoists said,”Do the Buddhists really understand Taoism? As Taoists , we understand Buddhism very well, too.” So, one of the Taoists wrote the book, Journey to the West, a story about a Buddhist monk seeking the sutra. Therefore, each religion wrote one book about the other religion to show how well they understood each other’s religion. Then, how did Chu Cu Ji write Journey to the West? It is possible that he was channeled by someone from the spiritual world to write the book, or he wrote the book all by himself because he had practiced Tao so well that he fully understood how the spiritual world worked.
However, I tend to support the idea of him being channeled by someone from the spiritual world while writing the book. Even if he truly understood how the spiritual world worked, it would be very difficult to arrange all the characters in the book because each of the characters was arranged so well that it might be far beyond human’s imagination. If you really try to study Journey to the West, you will find that many parts of the story are amazingly arranged to perfection. For instance, the poems, lyrics of the songs, and many metaphors cited in the book are very well organized and properly developed; all of its logic fits the points of view of Idealism, the soul-spiritvitality concept, and the Idea-Energy-Image principles. No matter which concept you use to interpret the story, it always makes sense.
The story is composed so well that it is flawless. Had the author not been channeled, it would have been very difficult to create such a perfect story with human intelligence. Suppose you understand one principle, and you are told to express it by writing a novel, it is nearly impossible to express it as good as Journey to the West. If you could really write a flawless structure like Journey to the West, you would be called the most ingenious among all the geniuses. I believe Wu Cheng En was not capable of writing such a great novel by himself. That’s why we say that the novel was really created by some “genius” beyond the human world.
Question: Is it karma that Tang Taizong killed his own brothers? If so, would he need to repay his karma?
Answer: This is the consequence but not the cause. Lee Yuan (Tang Taizong’s father) robbed and killed others, so his children suffered this kind of consequence. In Chinese culture, generally the debts of a father will be automatically inherited by his children. How so? If you understand the logic of the spiritual world, you will know that his children shared parts of the father’s soul; they were the father’s soul-splits. Since Lee Yuan was the emperor, his energy must be strong. Did he need to deal with the karma in person if he wanted to solve his own karma? No. All he needed to do is to send a few representatives to take care of it. Therefore, this is the real reason why Tang Taizong’s two brothers got killed in the “Riot at Xuan Wu Men”, or the Black Tortoise Gate, because the sons shared parts of Lee Yuan’s soul.
Speaking from the spiritual world’s point of view, the two beings who got killed were Lee Yuan’s soul-splits; speaking from the physical point of view, they were his sons, thus representing him. The Riot at Xuan Wu Men is the consequence of Lee Yuan’s killing the former emperor, Sui Yangde; therefore, his sons were the victims of Lee Yuan’s killing act. It is called, “The debts of a father need to be repaid by his sons.” This proved that the Riot at Xuan Wu Men was the consequence, not the cause. However, in reality, Tang Taizong was the one who executed the killing of his two brothers, so he became the bad guy and was blamed. However, if we look at the karmic point of view, someone else would still kill Tang Taizong’s two brothers had he not killed them himself. Therefore, Tang Taizong did not commit a big sin. Furthermore, he gave his brothers an opportunity to take part in the grand era of the Zhen Guan Administration (627 - 649); both of the brothers’ spirits became Dragon Kings and entered into Tang Taizong’s body to rule and govern the country together. Hence, his brothers did not have any spite against him.
Nowadays there are some Taiwanese TV soap operas that portray Lee Shi Min (Tang Taizong) as a humane ruler, and some historical soap operas have reversed the previous verdicts of tyrants in history and turned them into humane rulers as well. This is because the disputes were settled in the spiritual world by allowing the related parties (spirits) to take part in doing things in the physical world, thus alleviating a lot of grudges in them. So, where are the current grudges from? They are actually created by the readers and audience. It is extremely important for the readers to not serve as the vent for somebody else’s anger and get involved in the history, which is already settled. Some readers might say I want to help vent the historical figures’ anger because they were murdered in cruelty. As a result, such readers are the ones carrying on the spite and grudges for the ancient people. Since the ancient people are already sleeping peacefully in their graves without worries, there is really nothing for the reader to worry about. Holding onto the grudges for the historical figures are unnecessary at all.
Question: Why did Tang Taizong dispatch Tang Sanzang to go on the pilgrimage for Buddhist scriptures?
Answer: It was because the trip to hell made Tang Taizong realize the karma and learn that the Buddhist doctrines could save the world. He knew to go on the pilgrimage for Buddhist scriptures is a great opportunity to earn spiritual merits. Besides, Tang Taizong vowed to the King of Hell that he would hold a “Water and Land Dharma Assembly” by sending a high-ranking monk to go on the pilgrimage for Buddhist scriptures to offer the earned spiritual merits to the spiritual world and help the Dragon King of Jing River. Tang Taizong is actually returning the earned spiritual merits and offering them to the Energy level so that the Energy level can turn around and help him.
This is very similar to practicing Tao. All the spiritual merits we earn in the mundane world need to be offered to the Energy level so that the Energy level can turn around and help us. However there is a realm called Ta Hua Zi Zai Tan( demons’ kingdoms formed by stolen energies). The “kings” of this realm, or demons, cannot get the spiritual merits earned by Tao practitioners, so they will steal or rob some spiritual merits/energy from some other places just enough to block and interfere with Tao practitioners. Nothing bad would happen to Tao practitioners if it wasn’t for the world of Ta Hua Zi Zai Tan . Many people forget about this fact when talking about Tao principles. So, they claim if Tang Taizong has the mandate from heaven, he would naturally become the emperor. Why would he steal the throne from others? It proves that the damage caused by Ta Hua Zi Zai Tan is intangible. It is true that if all spiritual merits earned by Tao practitioners in the physical world can be o ffered back to the right parties, whoever deserves to be the emperor will be the emperor. However, since not everyone offers the spiritual merits they earned to the Dragon Kings of the collective body, many spiritual merits are offered to demons of Ta Hua Zi Zai Tan. This is the real source of many problems caused by Ta Hua Zi Zai Tan.
If we understand Tao principles well and we know they are reasonable, the spiritual merits we earn will be offered to the correct places on the Energy level. Some might say, “I don’t understand the logic of Tao; what should I do?” It is quite simple. As members of Great Light Tao, we worship Maitreya Buddha1 and Ji Gong Living Buddha.2 All we need to do is to offer the spiritual merits we earn to these Buddhas and they will handle the problems for us.
今年三月才出版的「少做一點不會死!愈少愈厲害的超簡單工作生活雙贏法則」(The Power ofLess: The Fine Art of Limiting Yourself to theEssential in Business and in Life),作者李奧‧巴伯塔(Leo Babauta)幾年前是個負債累累、工作滿檔、與家人相處時間寥寥可數的人,不僅體重過胖、健康亮起紅燈,還每天都吃油炸及重口味的食物,並且從不運動,又是個癮君子。因為不滿意工作現況,覺得步調過快但又不知何去何從,因此他決定簡化一切,積極地改變自己,就從戒菸開始,專心一意,唯在戒菸。結果神奇的事情發生了!「專注」讓他得以跨越戒菸初期的種種障礙—過去一而再、再而三嘗試卻都無法跨越的障礙。成功戒菸給了他很大的鼓舞,他繼續挑戰新的目標與習慣,運用同樣的方法,把所有心神專注在一個挑戰上,種種障礙竟自然而然地化解了。集中精力,一次專心追求一個目標─稱之為「唯一目標」(One Goal),而非企圖同時間完成多項挑戰。