The Mission and the religion without borders in Chinese temples

Learning Point No 423

Why do people go to a Chinese temple? 

To many, it is just tradition. They go there to seek worldly blessings and to pray for health, peace and prosperity. Some seek fortune windfall. 

Few go there to know more of God and the doctrine of life. They revere the heavenly gods in a way that condition them not to know more as respect is such that they do not pry into the matters of the gods. 

Thus many will not know more of the temple god or saint and what he stands for. There will be apathy for specifics of spiritual way of life. They do what the parents do. No questions asked. No need to be inquisitive for that will be disrespectful of the gods.  

To many, all that they need is to do good, be good and lead a good life albeit a worldly one. So, in such social culture, conversion and baptism have no place. 

You just go and you can go to any temple or even church or even to a mosque if invited.  There are no borders and nothing to stop you from who to pray to and where to go to pray. 

Often men go to the same temple deity or buddha year in and year out on festive occasions as per their usual annual routine. 

They offer food offerings, jos sticks, some incense papers and some token donation.  Often the donation is referred to as "to offer more oil" to keep the temple oil lamp going. These they believe will go some way to show their appreciation to the temple saint or deity and cement their relationship with the heavenly saint or the local earth god. 

Whilst such men may be loosely aligned as Taoists or even Buddhists if among the gods they pray to, they also pray to Buddha, they are just more like free thinkers who are more ethnic Chinese than members of a religion or sect. 

They do what they like and follow traditions taught by their parents and grandparents. We may also say that they are not really free thinkers but just adherents of Chinese ethnic culture.

But in the last few decades w.e.f. 2013, there are significant numbers who 'kooi yi' or take up precepts the loose equivalent of baptism. 

In a way, we can say that there is religion without borders in Chinese temples and it is in such background that Lord Bo Tien descended on the bequest or assigned mission by God to inject the need to go beyond culture and religious affiliation.  

There is need to know doctrine of God common to all religions and culture so as to have better appreciation of life and to save souls not only now but in the life hereafter. 

His objective is that whatever the culture or religion, there is need to save souls, our own and that of others. 

The way to do so is to have peace through yin and yang balance in life - the coming to terms with polarities and vicissitudes of life so that there is peace and heaven here and now and not wait till the afterlife. Isn't this marvelous?

Is  Bo Tien Temple a Chinese Temple?
It started out like one. But will it in time be
a temple for all religions and cultures? 
Based on teachings of the lord saint,
it already is, isn't it, or perhaps 
on the way to being one? 
A temple without religious borders