Discussion on the missing / misplaced 1979 message

Bo Tien Temple Outreach No 9

The novel of the Journey to the West of China namely India is legendary depiction of the spiritual fault lines of every man's search for divine doctrine. It is an account of the pilgrimage to India by the monk Xuanzang (Sam Chong) from the Great Tang Records on the Western Regions. The monk travelled during the Tang Dynasty to obtain sacred texts.  There is actually a historical personality of Xuanzang during the Tang era. Part of the scriptures were lost and many were not well translated or even if translated, many salient pointers were left out.

 

In 1984, Lord Bo Tien referred to the problem of missing scriptures and pointers even in the doctrine messages he had passed to men at His temple. One message that went missing was the 1979 message but word of mouth versions differ.

 

Fortunately the 1979 message was touched in in summary in the 1980 message by Lord Bo Tien before He proceeded to the 1980 message proper. This reflects on the foresight of the lord saint.

 

In the year 2000 publication LORD BO TIEN'S GUIDANCE, the 1980 message was edited from the original historical scripts translated from Hokkien dialect to English. Even then it was edited in such a way that there was change of the message though semblance of the message still remains and the paraphrased message by inner truth netizen 1 and 2 were like it or not based on the message in the book.

 

Luckily the late Senior Brother appended the historical versions of the messages by the lord saint in his first draft book My Interpretation of LORD BO TIEN'S MESSAGES which he dedicated it to be named as LORD BO TIEN'S GUIDANCE which saw the light of day only years after his death. The paragraph below is from the 1980 message in the appendix at back of Chong Sim's draft book

In 1980, Lord Bo Tien "referred to His previous year's message about a lone tree planted in a plot of land. Because of its survival due to the water that is beneath this tree had enabled it to survive and blossom in full bloom. The beautiful garden it had now created had given a feeling of pleasantness, harmony and serenity, once people stepped into this garden. The many grating towards this big tree had enabled other people to nourish its knowledge of survival." Historical version of the 1980 anniversary message of Lord Bo Tien    
 
Let us now compare with the version found in the book LORD BO TIEN'S GUIDANCE. The paragraph quoted below is part of the 1980 message on page 27 of the book.

"He then recapitulated His last year's message about a lone tree planted in a plot of land. As there was water beneath the tree, it survived and blossomed. The beautiful garden that it was part of, has created an atmosphere of pleasantness, harmony and serenity. The transition to this big tree had enabled other people to cherish its knowledge of survival."

The version by inner truth netizen based on this was even more way of the mark though it does convey the same meaning that men must be deep rooted so as to be able to be nourished by the water of truth in both good and bad times. That way men will blossomed in peace and joy at all times and are not affected or at least less affected by contingencies of life which sages refer to as the yin and yang.  (Do avail yourself with the version by inner truth netizen Lord Bo Tien's 1980 Anniversary Message  and you will realise how it is way off the mark though the meaning conveyed is similar but still off the mark.)

The original and earlier version found in Chong Sim's book better conveyed the meaning that the tree is more deep rooted than the plants and flowering shrubs around it but come drought, only the tree with deep roots to reach underground water is able to do well whilst the shrubs and plants around it wither. This deeper meaning was pointed out to inner truth netizen by Elder Ling in phone conversation on 11th December 2012.

The lesson from the 1979 message is that any temple or man be deeply rooted in doctrine like the big tree with deep roots. But with the missing 1979 message, we can only get a summary of it in the 1980 message and of the three versions of the 1980 message, the earliest version in Chong Sim's draft book was best in portraying this lesson as it is like the upper source of a stream. Historical version of the 1980 anniversary message of Lord Bo Tien    

We must go for the upper source of a stream if we want unpolluted water. Let men go to the early and basic teachings of a religion if they want to understand more. This was stressed in the 1984 message of the lord saint. Historical version of 1984 birthday eve message of Lord Bo Tien Chor Choo at Philip's residence...

"He ... says that water from the upper source of a stream is pure and clear. When it reaches mid-way of its course , the water will be polluted by many users. If we want pure and clear water, then we have to go to the upper, then we have to go to the upper source of the stream to get it."