Be at rest and that will be best

Learning Point No 118

Many are tired out by the trials and tribulations of life, by the ups and downs, what the sages of old refer to as yin and yang.

We cannot run away from life but we must not be swirled around by the yin and yang of life.

We must be with life and be on top of life, be at peace and ease even with the ups and downs of life.

We must be at rest by day or by night and come what may. We must not let life tire us out and deflate our life spirit and stifle out the zest for life.

Lord Bo Tien advises us to have the inner peace that comes with balancing and being atop the yin and yang of life as depicted by his feet on the elements.



Lord Bo Tien

 

The bandit Angulimala asked the Buddha why the bandit could not catch up with the Buddha after running after him to get His thumb to complete his collection of a thousand thumbs. The bandit asked the Buddha to stop running.

The Buddha replied that he was not running. He was at rest and at peace with life whilst the bandit was running and in distress. Angulimala woke up and was won over by the Buddha and was ordained as monk. He later attained enlightenment and known as Arahat Angulimala.

Those who are going for the conditioned, caused and created, that is, the yin and yang of life, are perpetually restless and going after the rainbow. They never arrive and are always restless. Issues and problems follow one another endlessly. The Buddha Gautama said that men unwittingly and inevitably create problems by solving problems as that which are conditioned caused and created  will create more of the same.

The way out is to go for the unconditioned, uncaused and unoriginated by eradicating ignorance - the roots of delusion, ill will and clinging

Those who are at peace are those who live life in peace by realising the unconditioned uncaused and uncreated (the very essence of nirvana) amidst the conditioned, caused and created (the nirvarana or the wrongs and woes of life)  that Taoistic sages of old refer to as the polarities of life - the yin (passivity) and yang (activities) of life. They are able to be atop and to balance the yin and yang. They do not carry the burdens of yin and yang.

To put it simply, they know how to be at rest and not to carry the burdens of yin and yang of life. They do not leave life but live life and are at rest. Yin and yang are no longer burdens when they can be atop the yin and yang of life.

Sages and saints* teach us to be at rest and neither carry the burdens of life nor running away (escaping)  from life. They teach us how to be at rest and to stand still amidst the yin and yang and not to run around burdened by the yin and yang of life. There must be that balance or moderation what is referred not so appropriately as Middle Way in Buddhism by the English educated.

One such saint* is Jesus. Jesus said, "Come to me all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest" Mathew 11:28

Are you at rest and at peace with life? You can do so with any of the religions or sects of the world. But you must have grasp of the essence of the teachings of any saint and not just dwell on the surface of the teachings like what many would do.

Go into the essence or core. Go for the inner truth and be at peace. Be at rest and stop running around in life.