Tao Part 11

Touched by the Heavenly Great Dao
Written by Lin Shin Huoy

With my deepest thanks to the Grace of LAO MU, I would like to thank LAO MU for granting me such a great opportunity to join the summer youth program. Indeed, there are a lot of great people whom I'd also like to thank for giving me lots of advice and encouragement. My masters and my dearest mom helped me to take the chance to join the youth program. From my heart, I thank you for everything that you have done for me. Therefore, I thought it might be a good idea to type down my feelings and share with everyone.

First, I have been lucky to have studied abroad for a year, yet there's more pressure and it is much harder than living in the homeland--Taiwan. No matter where you are when you feel lonely, or hopeless, my best solution to deal with it is that I always think about LAO MU and the family who give me the faith and strength to deal with my fears. In Canada, every foreign student has his/her own problems, such as drugs, love, school, etc. As I mentioned in the beginning, here everyone is scared.

Let me put it this way: life is so frightening that there's nothing we can do to live for. Perhaps we are just fooling around all our lives! Yet, that's not what I want. I have my goal to achieve in order to support my family, and if it's possible I'll try my best to help those who are suffering in hunger, wars and so on. The point for me to keep going on is not only my family but also Dao.

Though I don't approach Dao very often, deep inside my heart I'm touched by Dao, the Heavenly Great Dao!

Second, the spirit of Dao is as wide as a whole universe so we realize how great LAO MU is! As the world turns, every single natural source is created by LAO MU. However, human beings are totally destroying everything nowadays. For instance, conscience, society, environment are being changed by mankind, which it supposes not to be this phenomenon. The way to fix it up is to believe in Dao. Somehow I found that Dao is the most dignified religion that I had ever believed. Believing in Dao, I have learned a lot myself with respect to love my family, be more responsible, and eliminate discrimination. As long as I believe in Dao, I know I will become much better eventually. So if everyone starts to advance toward Dao, it will completely reform us better in our personality, mind, and so on!

After I joined the youth program, I discovered more about myself than in past years. Furthermore, I thought that LAO MU would always be with me and help me go through the difficult times when I was depressed. As I am overseas, and many things have been changed over the recent years, I may say I really have grown up more than anyone could have predicted. There is no doubt that I believe in Dao, otherwise I wouldn't be a member of it. These are my personal feelings about Dao. Hopefully my feelings can encourage today's teenagers to be responsible, lovely, and real. Also, I will always remind myself everyday to cherish everything I have and make the most of my life! Mother, you are always in my heart!

By Liu Fang Ling

Translated by Grace Ho

My dearest mother,

The celebration for Mother's Day is here again. Every year, this day is just like another ordinary day in our family. As for you, mother! You still continue your daily house work as usual, never take a day off to rest, not even on the Mother's Day! As for us, your 3 children, we do not know how to express our deep appreciation for you, our respectful mother. Just like this, year after year has gone by! But, mother! It is very special in this year. Since the PROVIDENCE MAITREYA MONTHLY has been published and circulated, Dao brothers and sisters would have opportunity to express their personal viewpoints and feelings. I want to give my thanks and appreciation to the Virtue of the Holy Grand Teacher, the Holy Teachers, and the Mercy of Senior Dao Cultivators, for giving me the opportunity to express my hearty appreciation to you, my dearest mother!

Like most mothers do, you have great expectations for me as your eldest child, due to the fact that you have not been given an opportunity to excel in life. For this is the reason why you would wish me in higher requirement for greater success! I understand that your hopes in me exceed that of my younger siblings. But because of my immaturity and ignorance, I was not aware of your good intentions for me, and I deeply disappointed you! I remembered that I was not studious enough in my school studies, one day I failed in my mathematics examination scoring 57%. I knew I caused you to be worry and anxious about my future. You then sent me for tutorials. After much work had continued, my studies were improved, and this made me feel more complete but yet more arrogant. Like another cycle I returned back to my old self, neglected my work again, and even further I befriended classmates who were considered as bad students. This made you very angry, so angry that you almost disowned me! I regretted that I was an undisciplined, unfilial, and disobedient child. I did so many things to disappoint you in every way. But, mother! From now on, Please trust me and don't worry! I have changed myself to be more mature and sensible now. I promise that I will work my hardest for you to be proud again.

Father had passed away for almost one year now. In this period, you endured tremendous hardship and responsibilities. You must, not only accept this painful reality of losing a loved one, but also take care of your 3 children. Another great role to fulfill was to take over the temple that was left behind by father. During this time you let your tears flood through your face in time of distress. This kind of suffering made you unable to eat and sleep, your body had wilted through time. I felt the pain of our loss of father but we also felt your pain. We fear for the deterioration of your health and fear for the loss of you. We already have lost our father we can not afford to lose our mother now, for we do not know how life can go on.

Lately I notice that you have often sung Dao Songs and listened to Dao lectures in the Holy House that made you temporarily put many painful memories aside. I am able to lessen the worries for you now. I realize that losing father means losing the mainstay in our life. That will make us much harder in our time of growth. But I do believe that our father will bless and protect us in Heaven. The future roads that lies ahead may be rough and bumpy, but I know that with the aide of you, Mother and brothers, we will survive and endure any hardship that lies ahead.

Maybe you think that I will resent you for giving me such a life of hardship and misfortunes, but I do not blame you or the world for my life. As the saying goes Reward for good deed, penalty for bad deed! No blames will need, Dao governs indeed¨ I believe that in my past life I have done wrong, and now I must pay for my deeds. Fortunately we have supplicated for the Heavenly Great Dao which disconnects us from the reincarnation of life and death!

Mother, we owe you the world! Your affections and devotions mean higher than the highest mountains and deeper than the deepest sea. You sacrifice your youth and everything to take care of us and to nurture us. In this gratitude day I want to tell you, Mother, I will seriously devote myself in Dao cultivation, one day I would like to become a great talent in Dao field. Thus I can take over and care for the Holy House that has been left behind by father¨ This is our father's expectation and your wish. I will seriously try my hardest to fulfill this obligation. Please trust my intentions for I will make you proud!

Wishing best health and happiness.
Your beloved daughter,

Fang Ling

What is cultivation of Bliss and Wisdom?
The Heavenly Great Dao is the superior way of achieving the cultivation of bliss and wisdom¡¦. It neither overly emphasizes the cultivation of bliss nor the cultivation of wisdom. The scriptures and doctrines of all religious sects have their valuable teachings, to save sentient beings from going astray in the world. But unfortunately, because of mankind¡¦s greediness, extreme obstinacy, and lack of enlightenment, most cultivators would turn to either cultivation of bliss or cultivation of wisdom without a balance between the two. How regrettable it is!

Now upon the Heavenly Decree, the Heavenly Great Dao has been bestowed on the world in order to simplify all of these complex doctrines and make it easier for us to understand and to practice. In addition, with the support of the Heavenly Decree, it is also easier for us to cultivate and accomplish the goal of cultivation of bliss and wisdom without deviation. Therefore, the Heavenly Great Dao with the Heavenly Decree is the superior way of achieving cultivation of bliss and wisdom!

What does the cultivation of wisdom mean?

It is a mental breakthrough; a spiritual elevation of our wisdom, that gives us the tremendous strength to eliminate all inner barriers of suspicions, obsessions, and evil thoughts. This is the Heavenly marvelous wisdom that we inherited from birth, is covered by greediness, obsessions, and delusions. Thus, our Heavenly marvelous wisdom cannot be our guidance, making us unable to rid ourselves of bad karma. Therefore, we have struggled and suffered through the cycles of life and death. But how can we free ourselves from bad karma? The only way is to receive the Holy Touch from the Holy Teachers upon the Heavenly Decree. Upon the power of the Heavenly Decree, the Heavenly Door, also called Buddha Door, Conscience Door, or Wisdom Door within us is opened. Then we should work hard to accumulate meritorious deeds and fulfill our vows, to repent and correct our mistakes. This way we are able to, pay back our bad karma, and recover our Heavenly marvelous wisdom.

At the moment we were attaining Dao, the Master represented Holy Teachers to inform us of the Holy Legacy: The true water (our true wisdom) and the true fire (our true nature) are within us.¨ This means that we have inherited this Heavenly marvelous wisdom from birth. We don't have to seek outside support or search outside sources. Because of our obsessions and irrational desires or delusion, we cannot consistently develop our strength. Hence after attaining Dao and trying to keep ourselves in cultivation, the most importance is to fully believe in the power of the Heavenly Decree. Those who believe in the Heavenly Decree will be blissful! Once we have this kind of strength, we will have inexhaustible wisdom! Therefore we must make good use of the Three Treasures to suppress our obsessions, delusions and greediness. Furthermore, we must work harder in repentance, propagation, and salvation. This way we can be sure to regain our Heavenly marvelous wisdom. This is the true way of the cultivation of wisdom.

Maybe someone asks: How does the cultivation of wisdom relate to the Three Treasures? or, how does the cultivation of wisdom relate to the various practices such as repentance, propagation, and salvation? The answer is quite simple. The Three Treasures is the unique noblest secret treasure of all Budhhas, It is the greatest mystery in the universe. If it was not LAO MU Grace to permit the Great Dao to be bestowed on us upon the Heavenly Decree, all of the sinful souls, like us, would probably stay forever in suffering and tortures without hope of recovery. Therein , the Three Treasures is the greatest Grace bestowed on us from LAO MU. Actually this Three Treasures is the treasure of Li(Heavenly), Qi(Celestial), and Xiang(Material). In details, the Heavenly Door is the Heavenly treasure (Li-treasure). It is the primary origin of human nature, everyone's sacred conscience, or the vision of Heavenly marvelous wisdom. We should revive our conscience by self-discipline in our daily lives, and never fall into self-delusion.

A person with Heavenly marvelous wisdom will be instantly enlightened at the time of receiving the Holy Touch from the Holy Teachers, this kind of person is able to achieve great realization and understanding of Dao. Unfortunately, most of the populace are sinful and dull spirits, they have got lost in this world and found it difficult to seek for the Truth. Therefore, LAO MU (God) has given us the Heart Sutra as a second treasure. It is the Celestial Treasure (Chi-treasure). As reciting the Heart Sutra, a kind of great strength from Buddha would come to suppress our wandering thoughts, irrational desires, delusions, and obsessions. This strength can even overcome and balance all our six organs (ear, eye, nose, tongue, body, and mind). Then, we will not be deluded, irrational, boastful, greedy, or desirous. Therefore, this Celestial Treasure (Qi-treasure) is the Supreme Illumination Sutra, Super Purification Sutra, or Sacred Suppression Sutra. As frequently reciting this Sutra in mind, our wisdom will surely be enlightened, all suspicions, worries, wandering thoughts, irrational desires, and crises will be eliminated. As the result of this effort, our Heavenly marvelous wisdom will finally be attained!

The third treasure is the Hand Seal. It is the Material Treasure (Xiang-treasure). As holding a special formation, the Hand Seal symbolizes a pure or newborn heart to sincerely pray, repent, reflect, and renew ourselves. This way we can heart-impressingly work on repentance, worship, and salvation. Even we can heart-impressingly act and react whatever, wherever, whenever as our conscience governs at all! This is called the cultivation of wisdom. The basic step of the cultivation of wisdom is to make good use of the Three Treasures. The next step is to work on meritorious deeds, fulfillment of vows, three great dedications, salvation, and contribution of assistance without any reward. If we can accomplish all of these, we have then followed the philosophy of true cultivation and true practice. Thus, our Heavenly marvelous wisdom will naturally be elevated.

As practicing in ritual of koushou and repentance, we pray LAO MU for help. We try to make conscience connection with LAO MU and all Buddhas; to learn and follow Their great virtues, paragons, and spirits. On the other hand, we need to reflect and renew ourselves, to correct our mistakes and follow Dao. In this way, our sins and bad karma will be removed, our Heavenly marvelous wisdom or sacred conscience will be elevated and brightened!

Our Grand Holy Teacher Buddha Maitreya is, the commissioned Buddha of White Yang period, the governor of Heavenly Foundation; His marvelous dharmas and powers are such unlimited. All of His great achievements are from His great efforts in koushou, repentance, salvation, and benefiting others. Therefore, the Heavenly Great Dao is truly the superior way of achieving the cultivation of wisdom. It is the most perfect way that is easy for everyone to practice.

Finally, the cultivation of bliss is the lifelong devotion for Dao and for sentient beings. We would like to sacrifice our bodies, our minds, even our lives, in order to exert our full efforts to assist all sentient beings in their successful attainment of Buddhahood; then we ask nothing in reward, renown, and repay. Indeed we would try to do our best to work in accumulation of merit, fulfillment of vows, dedication of money and energy until our last breath. In this way, Buddhahood or Sainthood will be achieved! Since we could directly benefit all sentient beings of three-world according to the heart of Heaven and Holy Teachers, the rewards or bliss from this practice are immense! Therefore, the Heavenly Great Dao truly is the superior way to achieve Buddhahood or Sainthood, and to achieve the cultivation of bliss and wisdom!

Origin of Father's Day

By Huang Shu Hui

Translated by Avi Lu

Father’s Day was first put forward back in 1945, on the eighth of August, in Shanghai. The citizens of Shanghai also held many activities to celebrate it. After the victory over the Japanese invasion, many Shanghai celebrities considered setting such a day as a way to demonstrate the spirit of the Chinese people. They therefore requested the central government via Shanghai’s Society Ministry to set the eighth of August, which was similar to the word father in pronunciation (ba-ba) as Father’s Day. Its original, six-hundred-ninety-six-word application form stated, “Father and Mother are equally important, and since there’s already a Mother’s Day, why not establish a Father’s Day, on which the children would wear plum flowers to show respect for their fathers, whether their fathers have passed away or not? Another reason to do all this is to raise the level of patriotism.” However, the day was usually celebrated in private households only. In 1978, the Chinese Family Association again requested the government to put more effort on this day. They now hold activities such as publicly nominating model fathers.

The concept of “raising boy as dragon, girl as phoenix” is deeply rooted in every parent. Most parents would give everything and do everything they possibly can for their children without second thoughts. However, children rarely understand just how fortunate they are to have such devoted parents. Some teenagers behave so poorly as to rob, gamble and even kill. The Four Books said, “Morality is the root, whereas money is the end.” The Treasures of Self-cultivation noted, “It’s wiser to do some good things and leave an invisible fortune to the children than to leave them money and books.” Also noted that “It’s generally better to accumulate invisible credits through helping people than to accumulate wealth to give to one’s offspring.”

Douglas McArthur, who was assigned as the Far East General during the WWII, was mercifully raised to be Heavenly Emperor East Guard (????) by LAO MU with the help of Great Grand Master Wang. The famous McArthur’s prayer for his son:

Build me a son, O Lord, who will be strong enough to know when he is weak; and brave enough to face himself when he is afraid; one who will be proud and unbending in honest defeat, and humble and gentle in victory.

Build me a son whose wishes will not take the place of deeds; a son who will know Thee – and that to know himself is the foundation stone of knowledge.

Lead him, I pray, not in the path of ease and comfort, but under the stress and spur of difficulties and challenge. Here let him learn to stand up in the storm; here let him learn compassion for those who fail.

Build me a son whose heart will be clear, whose goal will be high, a son who will master himself before he seeks to master other men, one who will reach into the future, yet never forget the past.

And after all these things are his, add, I pray, enough of a sense of humor, so that he may always be serious, yet never take himself too seriously. Give him humility, so that he may always remember the simplicity of true greatness, the open mind of true wisdom, and the meekness of true strength.

Then I, his father, will dare to whisper, “I have not lived in vain!”
General McArthur’s prayer for his son truly reflected his love as a parent, the love for his son to be good in all aspects. He is one of the best models for fathers!

With love and light,

Love knows no bound.....