The flower and insect paradox is no paradox

Learning Point No 227

A temple is like a flower. It attracts admirers and believers. But it also attracts those who do not truly admire the flower but come for nectar and in the case of a temple, there will be those who come not so much for the doctrine but for other agenda - social or even personal agenda.

 

Is this right? Could not the saint of the temple prevent this?

 

The issue is that only a handful will be true belivers and understand and grasp the doctrine. The majority will understand at lesser levels and they will be the ones who in a democratic system run the temple.

 

Thus in his inaugural message, Lord Bo Tien  said that the pristine doctrine of a prophet will over time be buried by proliferation of poor understanding of the teachings.

 

To add to the problem, there will be those who are like insects to a flower. They will come to get what they want out of a temple, never mind if the flower will wilt.

 

Anyway, even if no insects come to a flower, the flower will in time wilt as well. This is the law of nature. There is impermanence.

 

But a saint of a temple or religion will do what the lord saint can. He cannot overturn the law of nature but can go the mile to repeatedly create the flower over and over again.

 

To the lord saint of a temple, the insects amidst men are not barred from coming. Blame not the flower or saint for their coming for nectar.

 

They the insects do create buzz and attract other men and in the process, there will be one or two or at most a handful who will probe further.

 

The temple is like an archaelogical archives for them to dig in to the truth that the pioneers know. The insects amidst men may still thus do some good though they are not doctrine orientated.

 

Also even if the temple they are in wilt and closes, some from that temple will go out to start new temples, just like seeds from a wilted flower disseminated far and wide for new plants and flowers.

 

If a lord saint like Lord Bo Tien do not tap into this natural process of nature, there is no way the doctrine will have hope of disseminating.

 

The same applies to a religion. Over time and generations, the true and pristine teaching will be burried the interpretations and thinking of the times.

 

Religion is beset with the fate of evolution.  Lord Bo Tien said in his before 1974 message

 

In his inaugural message a good half a century ago, Lord Bo Tien said: " From time to time in history, saints arose amongst men to lay down certain rules and regulations to help the masses lead better lives and to incline them towards GOD."

"Over time, these rules become the tenets of an organised religion, but the idealistic spirit and motive, which prevailed during the founding saint's life time, changed gradually after his passing with arising of sects and differing sectarian styles."

"This is why often an organisation cannot bring out spiritual truth more effectively and closer to true nature of life unique to each individual in society. Life is an individual concern. Religion is always centred on life and a personal concern. Religious organisations often may end up over time as archaeological departments trying to discover the past."

"Therefore, I shall not attempt to establish any new religion, cult or organisation. But I shall rekindle and re-invigorate the religious thought* of all people and instill a higher understanding of life in them."

"Dogmas evolved over centuries after the founder's death frequently differ startlingly, unexpectedly, inadvertently and at times even uncannily in emphasis from the preliminary teachings for each faith and between faiths and sects."