The lord saint predicted that His image would crack in 20 years from 1980

Mission History and News No 18

In 1980, the lord saint Lord Bo Tien came down to deliver His message at the old Woodlands premise and the image before him was a one metre wooden image that had just been installed a year or two earlier, either in 1979 or 1978. The image was not colored except for the golden armour and was similar to that portrayed in this blogsite.

The following paragraph comes from the 1980 message. Historical version of the 1980 anniversary message of Lord Bo Tien 

 

"Boss (Lord Bo Tien) stressed that though this Image is important to us, it is important to Him, because it signifies such great importance in the facts of life and mission we are to carry out. Although the Image is made of wood, in 20 years time it will crack. This is not important, the important factor is that men will be able to grasp its significance and put it into practice. Thus there is no permanency in life. To live is suffering, but do not forget that after a storm there is a calm. There is sorrow, there is happiness. There is pain, there is joy. That is not important for the soul is the purest of them all. For our purpose in life is to care for our soul not the wealth and status we will attain during this lifetime."

 

What is important is the significance behind the image. The image reflected the facts of life. There was no permanency and in 20 years from 1980, it would crack.

 

This the lord saint said but this statement on 20 years was deleted from the later version of the 1980 message in the year 2000 publication LORD BO TIEN'S GUIDANCE by Bo Tien Temple Singapore.

 

The earlier version of the 1980 message was published by the late Senior Brother Chong Sim  in his first draft book My Interpretation of LORD BO TIEN'S MESSAGES. Historical version of the 1980 anniversary message of Lord Bo Tien 

 

Chong Sim wrote the draft book in the last few months of his terminal illness and had the intention of writing the draft so that the final version would be named LORD BO TIEN'S GUIDANCE. He obtained photocopies of the historical scripts of nine of the lord saints messages from Peter Kong and wrote his understanding based on the messages and from his long association with the lord saint. But he was too sick to bind the 108 copies and had to depend on a lady colleague to bind it. Ten copies were sent from Kedah  to Singapore.

During his last admission to hospital at Singapore, he called Elder Ling and Peter Kong to his hospital bedside and shared with them that they should treasure time, should do more for the mission of the saint.  Unlike them, time was not in his favor. He said that both Elder Ling and Peter should be more serious in undertaking the mission and he regretted for not contributing enough in the past.

Only in the wee hours of his life when he was in pain that he was able to write his draft book. He advised both of them to be more serious in mission. Upon his return to Kedah, not long after that, he passed away on the eve of the anniversary of Lord Bo Tien's mission day. Though weakened by cancer, he dressed in white after his wife bathed him and after praying to the lord saint, he passed on.

Whilst his draft book mentioned that 20 years from 1980, the image of the lord saint would crack, the mention of 20 years time frame  for it to crack was somehow omitted in the year 2000 publication LORD BO TIEN'S GUIDANCE by Bo Tien Temple Singapore. Why this came about may perhaps have to do with the person/s who edited the message.  They might have felt uneasy with the accuracy of the prediction. The motive for this is obviously a very human one and no one will ever know.

 

True to the word the image did crack in year 2000 before the Singapore temple moved over to Jurong in 2003.  The happening of the crack in base of the image occured in the same year as the publication of the book LORD BO TIEN'S GUIDANCE and this is more than coincidence.

After Elder Ling stepped down as President in 2004, the temple found the crack at the base of the image inauspicious and disposed it by burning and replacing it with a new and better looking one despite respecting every word of  what the lord saint said in the 1980 message.

 

"Although the Image is made of wood, in 20 years time it will crack. This is not important, the important factor is that men will be able to grasp its significance and put it into practice."

 

The importance is the doctrine and mission depicted by the image and the image too echoes the nature of life such as impermanence and the dualities of life  - happiness and sorrow, calm and storm, wholesomeness  and decay (crack). What is important is not the transitory worldly beauty but the more lasting beauty of the soul. We should go for purity and wisdom to enhance the spirit or soul of life. 

As with regards to the image of the lord saint, what is important is the beauty and wholeness of the doctrine it stands for and not the physical beauty and intactness of the wooden image.  As like all of nature, it is subject to impermanence and will crack with time but the lord saint was even exact in saying that in 20 years time from 1980, that is in year 2000, the image would crack and the image did crack at its base.  Historical version of the 1980 anniversary message of Lord Bo Tien 

 

In 1980, the lord saint said, "... Although the Image is made of wood, in 20 years time it will crack. This is not important, the important factor is that men will be able to grasp its significance and put it into practice. Thus there is no permanency in life. To live is suffering, but do not forget that after a storm there is a calm. There is sorrow, there is happiness. There is pain, there is joy. That is not important for the soul is the purest of them all. For our purpose in life is to care for our soul not the wealth and status we will attain during this lifetime."

 

The lord saint predicted that His image would crack in 20 years from 1980 but His advice on the significance of this somehow fell on deaf ears because people were more keen to adore Him than to grasp the doctrine He and His image stand for. They burnt His image and replaced it with a new one.

As the image depicts the doctrine and the doctrine is in the image, this perhaps would be equivalent to the sidelining of the doctrine. In 1983, the lord saint said the doctrine would be returned to Heaven if not valued as the primary concern of the mission.  Historical version of the 1983 message of Lord Bo Tien...

Likewise it is not important if our body 'cracks' with time but it is more important that we embody the doctrine and practise it so that it will enrich, heal and and strengthen our spirit. No point having a new body or image be it for the image at the temple shrine or for the body which others see as us. The new image or body too will be subject to the laws of nature.

Chong Sim understood that and wanted Peter and Elder Ling to know and do better. Elder Ling had stepped down as President in 2004 and after physically leaving the temple, his understanding and grasp of the doctrine has improved exponentially whilst many of those still at temple have not because they go more for the face value or image and not the doctrine. The mission is a doctrine mission and all must know that.

Thus Elder Ling is a fine example when the lord saint said that the far may be near and the near may be far. Elder Ling since 2004, unlike others appears far from temple but is near because the doctrine is in him. Remember to grasp the doctrine in the image for the image is the doctrine. This too did Lord Bo Tien say.
 

That what form the mission should take and that whatever the form may be, the doctrine should take centre stage. This should be clear and indisputable. Elder Ling is adamant on this. The mission is the doctrine with welfare as part of the thrust for doctrine. The mission is the temple and the mission is one under the umbrella of temple. All welfare activities as decreed by the lord saint should be under the temple with one common logo that was sanctioned by him.

If Elder Ling has his way, there is no place for two separate logos, one for temple and one for welfare as the mission is one in doctrine. Welfare is a mere aspect of the doctrine and the predominant emphasis of doctrine is oneness in God and saving of souls through all religions.

If there be two separate bodies one for temple and one for welfare, then there is crack in the image of the mission and this is more serious than the crack in the wooden image of the lord saint. Even then this should come as no surprise as impermanence is pervasive in the world we live in.

What to do when men are never perfect and the world we live in, being eternally part of nature however good and beautiful will not be as good or perfect as what is in Heaven. This too did Lord Bo Tien say.

But if the not-so-ideal or far-from-ideal step has been taken, we should not be taken aback but should sit back and reconcile with the imperfection of man. Afterall, man is always man.

The imperfection of man is such that they see the mission not as doctrine mission but as a welfare mission based on loving kindness and compassion but they tend to be myopic and not see the long term view of the mission to enhance and save souls. For the latter may appear remote and not real to them.

The 'crack' in perception of what is the mission may explain why the lord saint reiterated that the mission is the Mission of Heaven and not the Mission of Man. But with proper alignment the two can be one. That will be the day.

 

Incidentally, the government would have relocated the mission related temple  to a common premise  with three other Chinese temples had it not been for it's having under its fold the welfare activities. Only Elder Ling lives today (2012) to share this grim reminder.

He was the prime architect to ensure that the temple and the mission it represents remains as an entity in its own right and not 'amalgamated' with other temples. That is why he is the unpolished diamond the lord saint refers to.