Four Types Of People - Part Two
Following up on a previous article - Four Types Of People:
http://gforce-guru.blogspot.sg/2013/05/four-types-of-people-part-one.html
Continuation:
When a bird is alive it eats ants. When the bird is dead, ants eat the bird. Time and circumstances change all the time and at any time. Do not hurt or devalue anyone in life. You may be very powerful today but time is the most powerful. A single tree can make a million match sticks but only one match stick is needed to burn a million trees. So be good. Do good. Evil lurks at every corner and leads to destruction. It sneaks into you stealthily.
Last time I shared about 227 rules you ought to keep everyday of your life from a Buddhist's perspective. You need a sort of perfect obedience to escape karma and achieve nirvana. I'll give some simple ones - no lying. Many if not all of us can fail here. No insults. Most of us do not just insult, we abuse others and take advantage of others. Do you know that you are not supposed to even stand while urinating. Ha ha, the ladies wins here! No more arguments whether the toilet seats should be lifted up after usage.
"We Can Work It Out". Life is very short, there is no time for fussing and fighting my friend. Who said this? Beatles, my friend. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g--Vlij1X1Y
The women have 311 rules, their life is much harder. Don't even argue who should make the coffee in the morning. There is a chapter in the Bible that said Hebrews.
For golfers, take note, a Buddhist law forbids you from urinating on living trees. The Mosaic Laws (of Moses' time) was about a sacrificial system. Leviticus 17: 11 says - "For the life of the flesh is in the blood and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls. For it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul. Hebrews 9: 22 - .....without the shedding of blood there is no remission (meaning forgiveness of sins).
Since man cannot help himself, Jesus being sinless gave of His blood on the Cross and went to Hell for 3 days so that our sins were transferred to Him. There are no other way of righteousness. If there were, it shall be called self righteous. Self-righteous people will bend the rules as they go along so as to justify themselves even as they failed and then call it a success. When any person does this, it becomes the opposite of what God taught us to be meek and humble in spirit because that is what God loves out of His purity and righteousness so self righteousness is one of the worst sins. Truly. The law of Moses and the teachings of Buddha were meant to show us the sinful nature of Man, not to save us.
How Good Are You?
Everyone of us thinks that we are good. Even if you know you are bad, you try to do a few good things to equalise your own karma, like maybe you created some trouble or stole some one's ideas but then donated a few dollars. People will do things in secret because they thought no one is watching and they can get away with it. Never mind that, let's say you are totally and really good. How good is good? At what scale is your goodness? What is the highest standard of human goodness? Please continue to do good. What I am saying is by giving more money you are better than good? A God that is real looks at your heart and not the size of your wallet. If God looks at my wallet, he will cry together with me because my wallet is like an onion, it makes me cry when I open it. Romans 3:23 says: For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and are justified freely by His Grace.
Becoming Buddha
To escape from the cycle of suffering in life and to go to Heaven, you have to become a Buddha because a Buddha is purified of karma. One way is to become a monk. Some Buddhists believe they can accumulate points for salvation even for their mothers. Others become monks when they thought they have bad luck.
Is There A Hell?
Go to Hell you often hear people say. On a hot day, walking in the open or resting in an air-conditioned makes a huge difference. When golfing, the shade of a tree lets you know the difference between and Heaven and Hell. It is popularly believed that Buddhism teaches reincarnation so do not believe in Hell. In the Tripitaka (means Three Baskets in Sanskrit, a term used to describe their canon of scriptures), Buddha talked about Heaven and Hell. There are 8 levels each with greater intensity of torment and heat for breaking moral laws like killing, cheating, stealing, sexual immorality, cursing, gambling, binge drinking or challenging others to drink, lying. Buddha said those going to Heaven are like cow's horns and going to Hell are like hairs of a cow's hide. Jesus taught that "Wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction and there are many who go in by it while narrow is that gate and difficult is the way which leads to life and few will find it.
Beware those who comes in sheep's clothing when inwardly they are ferocious wolves. Beware those who preach there is no hell for they are false prophets. Ancient Greeks believe that Atlas is holding up the earth under it but the Bible says Hell is under the earth. Do you go to Hell because you do not believe in God or believe Jesus is God? Actually, the truth is that you don't. People go to Hell when they die because they are sinners.
Jesus has a parable in Matthew 18. Matthew 18: 23-35 says:
23: Therefore, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a certain King who wanted to settle accounts with his servants.
24: And when he begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents.
25: But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold with his wife and children and all that he had and that payment be made.
So if a person has to keep working and paying his debts where even his life is not enough.
26: The servant fell down saying "Master, have patience with me, I will pay you back all. 27: The Master was moved with compassion, released him and forgave him the debt. 28: That same servant went out and found one fellow servant who owed him a hundred denaraii (which is a lot less than what he owed) and he laid hands on him and took him by his throat and saying "pay me what you owe.
From verses 29-34:
This fellow servant fell down and begged him but he would not relent and threw him into prison. Other fellow servants saw what happened, felt grieved and told the Master what happened who then chided the servant he forgave yet never showed compassion to another and delivered him to be tortured.
35: So my Heavenly Father will also do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.
Whenever you read anything put yourself in the situation. Do not read by thinking things only happen to other people. 1 Denarius is equal a day's wage those days so 10,000 talents is about 60 million denaraii or 60 millions days of work. You will probably spend more than a thousand years to pay back what you owed. James 4:14 tells us that Life is short - "For what is life? It is even a vapour that appears for a little time and then vanishes away". How much more time do you have at this moment? And you don't even know what holds tomorrow. How much does the billions of people in this world owed altogether? From here I deduced that Jesus and Buddha taught us that it is impossible to rid ourselves of our sins even by doing good works. So what if you go to church or temple, got baptised, read spiritual books, studied religion and quoted scriptures.
Bill Clinton goes around giving speeches and he earns millions. Your bosses may work the same or less hours than you and earn 5-10 times more than you. They may not really be more capable than you but they have the title and position you don't. Royalties command more. Ministers/Presidents cut ribbons and give speeches and they will get donations amounting to hundreds of thousands and millions. So someone from the highest position must come down to redeem us.
Is There A God?
Atheists say no. Free thinkers think freely? Yet at the first sign of trouble, everybody blames God. "God why did you let these happen?" "Why didn't you stop these things?" Buddhist teachings are just as deeply rooted in absolute morality. So there seems to be a moral, personal and intelligent God who takes notes and keeps track of everyone? Thai Buddhists pray to "Something Holy In The Universe", a Supreme Being. I believe every child is born into the world with the knowledge of God but as we grow, religious indoctrination, social conditioning and peer pressure can alter us. As I have said before, everybody has a conscience implanted in us to know right from wrong. People who choose wrong will justify it to be right for their own advantage. It is that simple. Look at the clouds, look at the seasons, look at the birds and the bees, the trees with their flowers, fruits and seeds. Look at people. If every paved road, new buildings and machines are designed by humans and you think that the world with everything in existence including us happened by accident? If your children looks like you it is design not accidents. Accidents well, may happen in the back seat.
So who are you? What type are you? Search yourself. If you haven't love, you have failed in all.
http://gforce-guru.blogspot.sg/2013/05/four-types-of-people-part-one.html
Continuation:
When a bird is alive it eats ants. When the bird is dead, ants eat the bird. Time and circumstances change all the time and at any time. Do not hurt or devalue anyone in life. You may be very powerful today but time is the most powerful. A single tree can make a million match sticks but only one match stick is needed to burn a million trees. So be good. Do good. Evil lurks at every corner and leads to destruction. It sneaks into you stealthily.
Last time I shared about 227 rules you ought to keep everyday of your life from a Buddhist's perspective. You need a sort of perfect obedience to escape karma and achieve nirvana. I'll give some simple ones - no lying. Many if not all of us can fail here. No insults. Most of us do not just insult, we abuse others and take advantage of others. Do you know that you are not supposed to even stand while urinating. Ha ha, the ladies wins here! No more arguments whether the toilet seats should be lifted up after usage.
"We Can Work It Out". Life is very short, there is no time for fussing and fighting my friend. Who said this? Beatles, my friend. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g--Vlij1X1Y
The women have 311 rules, their life is much harder. Don't even argue who should make the coffee in the morning. There is a chapter in the Bible that said Hebrews.
For golfers, take note, a Buddhist law forbids you from urinating on living trees. The Mosaic Laws (of Moses' time) was about a sacrificial system. Leviticus 17: 11 says - "For the life of the flesh is in the blood and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls. For it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul. Hebrews 9: 22 - .....without the shedding of blood there is no remission (meaning forgiveness of sins).
Since man cannot help himself, Jesus being sinless gave of His blood on the Cross and went to Hell for 3 days so that our sins were transferred to Him. There are no other way of righteousness. If there were, it shall be called self righteous. Self-righteous people will bend the rules as they go along so as to justify themselves even as they failed and then call it a success. When any person does this, it becomes the opposite of what God taught us to be meek and humble in spirit because that is what God loves out of His purity and righteousness so self righteousness is one of the worst sins. Truly. The law of Moses and the teachings of Buddha were meant to show us the sinful nature of Man, not to save us.
How Good Are You?
Everyone of us thinks that we are good. Even if you know you are bad, you try to do a few good things to equalise your own karma, like maybe you created some trouble or stole some one's ideas but then donated a few dollars. People will do things in secret because they thought no one is watching and they can get away with it. Never mind that, let's say you are totally and really good. How good is good? At what scale is your goodness? What is the highest standard of human goodness? Please continue to do good. What I am saying is by giving more money you are better than good? A God that is real looks at your heart and not the size of your wallet. If God looks at my wallet, he will cry together with me because my wallet is like an onion, it makes me cry when I open it. Romans 3:23 says: For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and are justified freely by His Grace.
Becoming Buddha
To escape from the cycle of suffering in life and to go to Heaven, you have to become a Buddha because a Buddha is purified of karma. One way is to become a monk. Some Buddhists believe they can accumulate points for salvation even for their mothers. Others become monks when they thought they have bad luck.
Is There A Hell?
Go to Hell you often hear people say. On a hot day, walking in the open or resting in an air-conditioned makes a huge difference. When golfing, the shade of a tree lets you know the difference between and Heaven and Hell. It is popularly believed that Buddhism teaches reincarnation so do not believe in Hell. In the Tripitaka (means Three Baskets in Sanskrit, a term used to describe their canon of scriptures), Buddha talked about Heaven and Hell. There are 8 levels each with greater intensity of torment and heat for breaking moral laws like killing, cheating, stealing, sexual immorality, cursing, gambling, binge drinking or challenging others to drink, lying. Buddha said those going to Heaven are like cow's horns and going to Hell are like hairs of a cow's hide. Jesus taught that "Wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction and there are many who go in by it while narrow is that gate and difficult is the way which leads to life and few will find it.
Beware those who comes in sheep's clothing when inwardly they are ferocious wolves. Beware those who preach there is no hell for they are false prophets. Ancient Greeks believe that Atlas is holding up the earth under it but the Bible says Hell is under the earth. Do you go to Hell because you do not believe in God or believe Jesus is God? Actually, the truth is that you don't. People go to Hell when they die because they are sinners.
Reincarnation And Heaven
Some people believe in reincarnation. Why? It was said that Buddha taught it. The Buddhist ideal is that each person should live a good life without sinning, accumulates merit points and then get out of the wheel of suffering. Not many people can achieve this. We suffer in life because of our karma and our sins are so bad we can't even pay back in one lifetime such that after you die you have to come back and pay back more. That is the notion. That is how sinful we are. Buddha and his 5 disciples went to Nirvana. The Buddhist Heaven is one where after you are gone you are not coming back. You ceased in being. The Christian Heaven is one where you go on to live with God for eternity. Sin is like and worse than that of a financial debt when you borrowed from "Ah Long" (loan sharks) or just like a country in debt will have to depend on the next generation to pay up. Can anyone spend themselves out of bankruptcy or sin your way out of sinning? Jesus and Buddha identified our problems. So Adam's sin continues in us and Jesus paid for it all you have to do is to accept the plan.
Jesus has a parable in Matthew 18. Matthew 18: 23-35 says:
23: Therefore, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a certain King who wanted to settle accounts with his servants.
24: And when he begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents.
25: But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold with his wife and children and all that he had and that payment be made.
So if a person has to keep working and paying his debts where even his life is not enough.
26: The servant fell down saying "Master, have patience with me, I will pay you back all. 27: The Master was moved with compassion, released him and forgave him the debt. 28: That same servant went out and found one fellow servant who owed him a hundred denaraii (which is a lot less than what he owed) and he laid hands on him and took him by his throat and saying "pay me what you owe.
From verses 29-34:
This fellow servant fell down and begged him but he would not relent and threw him into prison. Other fellow servants saw what happened, felt grieved and told the Master what happened who then chided the servant he forgave yet never showed compassion to another and delivered him to be tortured.
35: So my Heavenly Father will also do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.
Whenever you read anything put yourself in the situation. Do not read by thinking things only happen to other people. 1 Denarius is equal a day's wage those days so 10,000 talents is about 60 million denaraii or 60 millions days of work. You will probably spend more than a thousand years to pay back what you owed. James 4:14 tells us that Life is short - "For what is life? It is even a vapour that appears for a little time and then vanishes away". How much more time do you have at this moment? And you don't even know what holds tomorrow. How much does the billions of people in this world owed altogether? From here I deduced that Jesus and Buddha taught us that it is impossible to rid ourselves of our sins even by doing good works. So what if you go to church or temple, got baptised, read spiritual books, studied religion and quoted scriptures.
Bill Clinton goes around giving speeches and he earns millions. Your bosses may work the same or less hours than you and earn 5-10 times more than you. They may not really be more capable than you but they have the title and position you don't. Royalties command more. Ministers/Presidents cut ribbons and give speeches and they will get donations amounting to hundreds of thousands and millions. So someone from the highest position must come down to redeem us.
Is There A God?
Atheists say no. Free thinkers think freely? Yet at the first sign of trouble, everybody blames God. "God why did you let these happen?" "Why didn't you stop these things?" Buddhist teachings are just as deeply rooted in absolute morality. So there seems to be a moral, personal and intelligent God who takes notes and keeps track of everyone? Thai Buddhists pray to "Something Holy In The Universe", a Supreme Being. I believe every child is born into the world with the knowledge of God but as we grow, religious indoctrination, social conditioning and peer pressure can alter us. As I have said before, everybody has a conscience implanted in us to know right from wrong. People who choose wrong will justify it to be right for their own advantage. It is that simple. Look at the clouds, look at the seasons, look at the birds and the bees, the trees with their flowers, fruits and seeds. Look at people. If every paved road, new buildings and machines are designed by humans and you think that the world with everything in existence including us happened by accident? If your children looks like you it is design not accidents. Accidents well, may happen in the back seat.
Buddha's Last Words
Before Buddha left this world, he gave his last commandments to his disciples: (1) Do not make, worship or bow down to idols. (2) Seek the Holy One who is always living. (3) Do not be careless, watch your heart and and be ready at all times. (4) Search for the way to escape your sinful nature, if not eternal ruins shall follow. Buddha always commanded his disciples to worship correctly and not materially for material good has no value. Buddhism is not a religion but a way of life. God is in the hearts. Some Buddhists have knowledge that Buddha taught about the coming of a saviour after him. (I have actually heard some Buddhists talking about this but there are also Buddhists who disagree). He is supposed to be a teacher and ruler of the world that will end death. He is called the "Maitreya" in Sanskrit. Buddha was known to have told his followers not to look to him but the Holy One. You have to thank the Cambodians for preserving the Cambodian or Khmer Canon. Thai Buddhism came from Khmer. Once, an old Brahman priest asked Buddha how humans can follow the commandments and escape from sin. Buddha replied that even if you give alms to the poor, kept all the commandments, prayed many times a day or sacrificed yourself as burnt offering you still can't escape your sins. Buddha said that even if he were to lived 10 lives he could still not erase his sins. "Let all of you do good deeds and seek the Holy One who will come and save the world. 1 Corinthians 13 tells us that "even though I bestow all my goods to the poor, give my body to be burned, but have not "love", it profits me nothing. It is all about love.
Denomination
While Christianity is divided into the Catholics and the Protestants, Buddhism is divided into Mahayana and Hinayana. Originally there were 18 denominations. Hinayana is prevalent today in Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos and Thailand. This Southern Buddhism is the oldest, purest and strictest form and also known as the Theravada (way of the elders). Mahayana was a movement in China and eventually travelled to South Korea and Japan which is the Northern Buddhism. Northern Buddhism are mixed with local traditions and they have other buddhas and may have mythology of gods, goddesses, spirits and Mahayana saints the most famous saint is "Guan Yin" the Goddess of Mercy. There is another form called Vajrayana which exists in Tibet and Mongolia and also the Japanese Shingon Buddhism. Vajrayana appears to have accelerated paths to enlightenment. Theravada is old school and strict in the original teachings of Buddha.
Finally, in the beginning there was no religion. Religion is a word. There is God and then humans. Humans created the word religion. Humans called it Roman Catholics, Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, Christianity, Taoism, etc. They say Buddhism is a way of life and Christianity is a relationship. What I can tell is humans are sinful by nature, like a fallen race. If you believe there is God then pray sincerely for God to show you the way. Humans are helpless by ourselves. You can't work yourselves into favours. That only happens to humans and we call it "kelong". If God is real then He is omnipotent and omnipresent. He is Peace, Mercy, Forgiveness, Faithfulness, Just, Righteous and above all He is Love.
My question is not which religion you belong to? My question is if there were four types of people, which type are you? Buddha taught that some people are smart because they listen, learn and therefore grow - like lotus above water. Some just have average intelligence but if they listen and work hard and practice they can understand like a lotus on the same level as the water. There are those who takes a long time and lots of effort to learn and are liken to a lotus under water and finally there are those who are ignorant and unwilling to learn so they are like a lotus in the mud. No matter how they will not listen and refused to understand. How is there any chance to come out of water?
Jesus taught about the parable of the sower. He divided people into four groups. He described God's words as seeds and people are like four types of soil. When seeds (truth) are sown into the soil (people and their hearts), they reveal the condition of the heart. Only one in four is good ground if it allows the truth to change their minds and it can bear fruit as intended. Some may get it for awhile but soon quit and forgot, others follow the truth but then get distracted by worldly pursuits. Some would be totally indifferent and apathetic.
So who are you? What type are you? Search yourself. If you haven't love, you have failed in all.
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