Mission History and News: The future depends on the present

Thursday, May 10, 2012

The future depends on the present

Mission History No 3

The success of the first phase of devotion and discipline at Jalan Kali Batu had paved the way for the charity or compassion phase at Woodlands but at Jurong site whether there will be success of the third phase remains to be seen.

It was predicted that there must be the third phase of awakening in the doctrine which will enable more to purify their spirit and save not only their souls but others as well.

The new concrete building at Jurong is the apex of the success of second phase transiting to third phase but what remains to be seen is whether the wisdom phase has come on to enhance both the discipline devotional and charity compassion phases.

A few booklets have been printed but beyond that there must be more to show that the doctrine phase has or had set in.

Fire and water marked the first two phases.

The earliest shrine premise was gutted by fire, necessitating shift to second phase.

The second phase with the aged home and free distribution of rations through mutual help and care division was beset with inundation of premises by flood water at Woodlands Road 11 3/4 ms.

The shift to a mega concrete building did set the tone for the third phase. While the first phase of devotion and discipline underwent test by fire, the second phase by flood water, the third phase will be tested by human issues and problems.

The future depends on the overcoming of nitty gritty issues of men. This was foretold by the lord saint Lord Bo Tien. Praise the lord and praise the men at the helm and hope they could pass the test of human problems. The future is in how the present is negotiated and handled.

There are two or even three connections to the mission story. We have the Singapore connection, the Sitiawan (Perak, Malaysian) connection and the world wide web connection. Will there be an interplay of the three? God knows but the future is in the hands of men and what they want will determine the outcome for the lesser or greater good. It can be better than good.......

Heartening to note that there is no shortage of interests to run the mission, but more important is to put in place a concerted and purpose-directed doctrinal push. This must go beyond having web sites and blog sites

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Bo Tien mission-related temples

Four Bo Tien mission-related temples have been set up over time since 1970 with two in Singapore and two at Sitiawan. They are independent, autonomous but yet under the umbrella of the same mission. There is one Bo Tien Temple at Jurong Singapore and another Bo Tien Temple at Sitiawan. Another temple by name of Bo Ser Keng set up by a Mr. Tan Niap Peng at Boh Ling Sua Singapore lasted for some time and a fourth set up by the late Chee Sin Hee at Sitiawan Malaysia was named initially as Bo Tien Keng and later changed to Bo Tien Soo.... (not sure of the name). More temples are likely to be set up in the future so long as there are passionate followers of Lord Bo Tien. But it appears that only those temples which are seeded from Bo Tien Temple Singapore will continue to grow. Elder Ling would be able to throw more light on the matter.

The awning shed era - 1974 to 1978

at 11 3/4 ms 407A Woodlands Road Singapore marks the beginning of the mission. It was donated by Poona and was graced by a saint under Lord Bo Tien who goes by the honorific Tien Xin with characteristic pose of twin cross swords. Though not under the martial wing headed by Mou Chi Sun his cross swords is reflective of the cross arms of saint Mou Chi Sun. It had a zinc roof or awning with six metal pipe pillars. It is reflective of the teaching that the altar of the lord saint can be under the sky as heaven is the roof of the temple and religions are the pillars of God to bring salvation and save souls. The original altar at Woodlands is at the back in a debiliated hut and the shrine room there was vacated to house the aged destitute as per the direction of the lord saint Lord Bo Tien. Photo courtesy of Elder Ling

Published in year 2000 by Bo Tien Temple Singapore for its 32nd anniversary with Forward by Bro Peter Kong Meng Sin the then incumbent temple President. The book was compiled with advice of the late Senior Brother Philip Png and extracts of the early literary contributions of Dr. Siow Hong Him and of the Commonwealth Colombo Plan scholar and Kedah state civil engineer the late Senior Brother Tay Chong Sim. Many of the near verbatim transcriptions of Lord Bo Tien Chinese Hokkien messages were by Brother William Chew who was the Hon. Gen Secretary of the Bo Tien mission-related temple at old premises - 407A Woodlands Singapore. Chong Sim did the first draft for the book in the last few months before his passing away from terminal illness. He was so weak that he had to request a lady aide to get the draft book cyclostyled and bounded (108 copies). He requested that the final book to be published be named LORD BO TIEN'S GUIDANCE. Indeed his wish came true in year 2000 but the book omitted some key material substance in the messages of the lord saint and did not openly give due credit to him for writing the first draft. Why this had to be is anyone's guess and speculation. Perhaps the book is indeed independent from the first draft he wrote in his dying days. But what is most reassuring is that Lord Bo Tien did say that if Heaven wants, even the lost parts of doctrine/messages can be recovered and made available for men who have the heart in the mission of the lord saint. Chong Sim's first draft book contains the missing parts. This is just more than coincidental and is perhaps evidence of the hand of providence at work. Credit must be extended to Brother Peter Kong for supplying him the nine original translated scripts of the messages of Lord Bo Tien. No one in right mind would deny that the act of giving the scripts was a simple and yet very noble deed that will go down in the history of the mission.

The eventful post 2004 era

Elder Ling replaced as Chairman at Singapore connection at AGM in 2004

The burning of the shrine image in the immediate post 2004 period instead of placing it in museum at the top floor

The separation of welfare wing from temple as entity of its own in 2010 /2011

22nd March 2012: Elder Ling's membership was revoked at Singapore connection and on 23rd, the next day, a notice of the removal was put up at two notice boards.

24th March 2012: Elder Ling's trusteeship termination process was instituted at Singapore connection

For details, go to The eventful post 2004 era

Elder Ling Diung Kwong

Elder Ling's up and coming book

Mission History and Elder Ling

Read the above post in series 1. reviewing how the book by Elder Ling should be angled and correctly positioned. The views of inner truth netizen will always be that Elder Ling must balance the effective delivery of the history and steer clear of mention of individual personalities. The yin yang balance in this respect will determine the degree of value of the book. With Elder Ling's input and verbal consent, the jist of the Mission History has been included and posted in this Series 3 as five posts but due to editing and various constraints (such as readability, space and presentation), roles and names of many individuals have not been included as they might prefer to stay out of mention and publicity. The representation of the history regretably may thus be considered not adequate and not effective. Inner truth netizen regrets that some may be be upset over this but yin yang balance must be observed so that all will be better able to have more of the peace even if not exactly the divine inner peace of spirit in the twirls and swirls of life in the yin yang world.

13th May 2012

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The folly of man

The folly of men is often to idolise a man instead of God and saints. Man however good is not good enough. In fact, we should not even idolise God and saints and to make matters worse, go further to put words in their mouths. We should live in God by living in the Word of God and saints instead of being awed by the awesome goodness of God and saints. It would certainly be more far fetched to idolise man which would be unthinkable but many do this. Instead, we need to learn from both sides of a man - both the sunny side and the dark side. After all, life be it our own or of others is the living gospel and the gospel is God.

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Thursday, May 10, 2012

The future depends on the present

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