How Religion (Taoism) changes my life?
Quite a few people enquired this question on me, hoping that I can give them an Accurate and Definite answer.
But, do you think it’s possible for me or someone to give anyone out there a 100% Accurate or “Follow-able” answer? Definitely a NO NO.
Why? It’s simple, by believing in any individual Religion or putting strong Faith into any individual Religion is a very personal and individual action (sincerely out from the Heart/Feeling/Soul). No one out there (Temples/Organisations/Groups/Families/Schools/Departments), can change your opinion or view on an individual Religion.
Once you have put in Faith in one individual Religion or you are strongly committed to one individual Religion, you must not back-out, give-up half way or considered to give-up (regardless of criticism, arguments, being boycott, etc).
Why? Because All Religions (in this World) don’t belongs to any individual one of us (but yet belongs to All of us in this World). If one day, you happen to come across anyone that makes any comments on you, with contents like: “You don’t fit to be a Taoist or You not a Buddhist/etc”, you can just ignore that person or that Group of people. Why? Cos they shall be the one who’re not fit to be part of that Religion.
A Good and Cultivated Religious Follower shall have a good manner/attitude of helping the others, allowing the others to gain the same or certain level of enlightenment as he/she is in (at that moment), and not down-grading or discouraging the others, in-order to climb higher-up or wishing to get Enlightenment before any one of the others (such people show selfishness and low-cultivated mind).
For me, personally, I have come across such people. But to me, all these are not important or have any effects on me, because I’m learning and doing cultivation on my own and not doing cultivation for the others or to affect the others. As long as an individual own, oneself can concentrate and follow what a Taoist (or according to your own Faith) shall do, I’m sure the Deities or the “Boss” up there will know and the credits and merits will be recorded.
For a Taoist, the most important is not to force oneself to believe in certain things or to train on any thing or to accept anything.
For self-cultivation, accept the things that come natural to you or things that a Master/Spiritual passed-down to you. Once you force yourself into learning or attaining certain skills/level, this will oppose the “Nature Law” of the teaching of Tao (yet in this Taoism Society, we can see quite a number of people fighting over certain issues, etc).
In-order to reach a certain level of self-cultivation, oneself must learn to Let Off, Sustain, Care, Filial, Willing To Gain Knowledge, Forgiving, Loyal, Respectful, Hear & See & Feel The Right Thing, etc.
So what actually are they?
Let Off – Not to keep reminding oneself about the past or the past of others, if that person is your enemy and yet he/she did not causes any serious harm to you, let go that hatred and accept him/her as one of your friend again. In this World, there’s no Life-long enemies nor friends, being a more Accepting Person, you’ll be able to go a further distance than holding on to hatred and causes oneself to suffer.
Sustain – Regardless of what difficulties that you have faced, attacks by the others, caused by jealousy, let them be and the most important, continue on what you are doing to promote the Culture and forever, never have the thinking of giving up. Once you have that idea, all your efforts will be gone with the water.
If you really feel tired or stressful, take a short break (put all Religious stuffs down), after the time is right, get on going again.
Care – Care for all people that are related to you and also, to those who they need your help. Regardless where they are from, what races they are or what Faith they are in, they are all Human in this World, just like you and me. As a Human, no matter where we are, who we are or why we are there, we need CARE. CARE, a method to close-up the communication gap and a method to allow people to understand each other better. If you are a shy person that don’t know how to approach people or show your Care attitude to, take that slowly, for the beginning, try doing that on people you know first, by the time you think you can extend your Care to those who you don’t know and yet needed your help, then you approach them. I’m sure most of such people will be very grateful to you.
Filial – As a Taoist, without this action, you can’t be a Good Taoist or considered a Cultivated Taoist (even if you reach a High Cultivation Level). Filial Piety is the root of all Actions.
Filial to parent, cos they brought you to this World.
Filial to parent cos they feed you till you are able to earn your own money to feed yourself.
Filial to parent cos they encouraged you when you are down or when you meet with difficulties.
Filial to parent cos they comfort you when you are sad or disappointed on certain issues.
There are more than just these reasons that oneself shall be Filial to his/her parent. Many people may answer back with, if some of the parents are bad to us, ill-treat us or even wanted to kill us, how do we show the Filial Piety to them? Hmm, this may sounds a bit complicated, but, if someone met with such circumstances, how to show his/her Filial Piety? Very easy, show no hatred to the parent, do not fight with them or have the thinking of revenging them. All these are the best ways to return our gratitude to them.
In the past, I had met with such an incident that, someone forced me to go for work, planned for events and so and so and knowing that my Mum is somehow seriously ill at that period. Due to no better ways to solve my problem, I had to stop going for work and stay at home to take care of my Mum 24 hours round the clock.
This case may not be a very good example for all, but this is what our teaching of Tao is about. Without Filial, no matter how much money you earn or how high up your position is, you are just you. And something to keep in mind, in this life, you only got a pair of parent, once they are gone, you can find anyone outside there to replace them but work/job is able to re-apply again.
So in the future, if you met with such a case, consider carefully before making your decision, once some decisions made, you may regret forever.
Willing to Gain Knowledge – How to gain knowledge? By not restricting oneself (open-minded) in only learning on one skill but to all skills that come to you or being passed-down by someone to you.
A lot of people (out there) always have such thinking, after seeking a Master, oneself shall only restrict/follow to the Master’s teaching and don’t allow him/herself to gain more learning from other sources, this is definitely a Wrong Thinking.
Chinese, we have a saying, Teacher/Master may have accepted you in as his/her disciple, but a disciple’s cultivation has to depend on him/herself. This means that, by learning what a Master has passed-down to you, you also have to grab the opportunities to learn more stuff besides what you have learnt.
Forgiving – To let go, to accept and to have a heart of kindness. Once a person can achieve these 3 mentioned actions, oneself will be able to show forgiving.
Sometimes, it’s easier to say then do, but without real practicing, how do you know that it’s impossible to do it?
So, from today onwards, try your best to achieve the 3 mentioned actions, I’m sure all people in this World is able to do that.
Loyal – Not only to the Country, but also to the School that you belong to or the Sect you take refuge under.
Many people tend to sway from one School to another or from a Sect to another, even though this seems to be quite okay (no restriction on Learning or No Standard Rules to control), but this is not encouraged in all Religious Society.
Since you have put in your commitments and strong Faith into your School/Sect, why must you sway around? Even though you may like to learn more from the other Schools/Sects, but you still, must hold your own Initial School/Sect’s name out whenever you go. Be proud of where you belong to, cos this is where you are fated/destinated in this life or many all your lives.
Respectful – To Human, Deities, Souls and all Living Kinds. This may sounds stupid but it does happen to a lot of people in this Modern World.
Have the simple courtesy of respect to the others (regardless of their position, cultivated level or gender). Being respectful is also a form of ways to determine a person’s cultivated level.
Hear, See and Feel the Right Things – This may sound a bit weird and to be frank, this is the most difficult, one out of all mentioned above, to achieve.
Never believe what the others heard before you heard it yourself.
Never believe what the others see before you see it yourself.
Never believe what the others felt before you felt it yourself.
A lot of the people will tend to bias one side or believe on just one side of saying and neglect the opportunities for the accused person to have a chance to speak up. This shows not only how cruel the others are but also shows how Low-cultivated the group of people is.
Always balanced oneself (Nature Law of the Teaching of Tao), allowing oneself to have a feel on both sides (Yin and Yang), allowed oneself to listen to the complaints and explanation and allowed oneself to see the bright and dark sides before making any judgment on one issue/case.
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All the above are what I learnt after fully, seriously putting myself into a Religion – Taoism.
Some of the points that I have listed out may not be the best sharing information, but this is what I, personally, felt or experienced before.
For those who are interested, can used this as a reference but never a “Holy Rule” to follow, cos each individual person has their own experiences and encounters.
Hope that by sharing these, more people can understand how a Religion can have certain “effects” on an individual.
Last of all, wishes ALL, Wu Liang Shou, Wu Liang Fu.