Posts
My thoughts on this are that people have the right to join any deviationist cult. At least that's the personal freedom that I subscribe to as far as believing in any religious or spiritual matters. That's according to individuals. No government should be cracking them and preventing on these believers. If the government wants to crackdown, then investigate directly on the head of the group and their principal leaders. Check their organisation headquarters. But not to disturb the followers, unless they are doing physical harm to others. While I do not believe in interference of the government on the personal believes of sentient beings, that does not mean I believe in the perpetuating of cults or deviationist groups. Not at all. There are two different issues and we must be able to distinguish our personal right to believe in something and whether that "believe" is right or not.
Moreover, according to this article, it was listed as a heterodox teachings because of two reasons. One, it was not legally registered in China. Two, it is out of the control of the Chinese Communist Party. Based on these two reasons alone, I am afraid it does not warrant being regarded as "heterodox". You must have solid facts based on the founder's /group's teachings that totally deviate from the original teachings. And not just deviate, it must result in harmful practices to the followers themselves or to others. However, I also recognise it is difficult to really define what is "harmful".
Master Lu Jun Hong (based in Australia but was born in China) was reported to pass away suddenly last Wednesday (Nov. 10, 2021). He was born in 1959, so he was 62 years old. He mainly teaches what he calls the "Guan Yin Citta" method. He has a considerable size of followers in Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan, Australia and elsewhere. Whenever he came to Malaysia or Singapore, the arena will also be very crowded. People with all sorts of problems and issues flock to see him. Out of curiosity, I had been to one of these events in the past. Even though I was not a member, I managed to get myself into the main arena (I suppose it was due to the crowd was too huge, hence a few might slip in) but at a higher lever. So I can only watch from a distance.
In economics, we know about supply and demand. Similarly, when there is demand for such services, there is such teachers like Master Lu to fulfil the demand. All those local mediums and "sinsehs" are in fact fulfilling such demands.
Of course, some of the things he talked about, did not make sense to me, or that I thought he was just imagining things. But nevertheless, I see that most people do believe him and in most cases (but not all), some of his prescriptions do work. If none of his prescriptions work, do you think he would have that many millions of followers worldwide? Surely, a lot of them works. You can see from publicly available videos of him doing his public "consultations" that he looked like he was possessed by some spirit or something... not very different from those local people who supposedly are "Arhat CheGong", "Kuan Yin" and others who supposedly heal people through human mediums. Was he possessed? I don't know for sure. Regardless, I see him as the lesser heterodox leader than some other groups such as Happy Science and the other Master Lu. Falun Gong is also another group that has members in this part of the region that is said to be only doing physical exercise activities. But I am not sure whether the members are unaware or a certain smaller group within the larger group is doing it, or what, ...but people have noted there were some small group that distributes pamphlets that are seemingly anti-CCP. I suppose many people may not be aware of this. On the other hand, I am not aware of Master Lu Jun Hong's group doing these things.
I cannot blame so many millions of Budhists believing in him. I personally know someone who does. This "someone" do go to one major Buddhist temple in Penang. But when asked, why she does not refer her "problems" to the temple Abbot. She answered negatively. She does not believe the Abbot would be able to help at all. What would this Abbot do to help? Perhaps do more chanting of certain mantras? Perhaps recite more "Namo Amitabha Buddha"? Do more repentance? Basically there is a perception that Buddhist Sangha is not able to help sentient beings in need. I find this feedback very disturbing because I do support the Buddhist Sangha and I think the Sangha has done many things to help sentient beings. But I suppose, we cannot just brush aside this "feedback". It merits our deeper consideration and self-reflection on how the entire Buddhist Community can do MORE to help one another, particularly in social engagement with the public. That is, doing more in the personal life of Buddhists who need help. As we know, ever since the Covid-19 pandemic started, there are millions of people affected in terms of being out of jobs, bankruptcies, and not to forget, the suicide rate has sky rocketed.
I end this post with that thought for you to ponder. "What can I do to help another human in need"? However, I noted that many Buddhist temples are still close and are not letting in Buddhists into their temples to do prayers or to consult the Monks/Nuns. I know the temples are being cautious about the spread of the coronavirus to the Sangha community. But then, I feel that there must be balance between this and opening up to allow a controlled number of followers into their temples to do their worships (and of course, following all the required covid-related SOPs). To close the temple gates indefinitely is incorrect Buddhist attitude! I am sorry I have to say this.
So, for me, the real dharma to learn from Master Lu Jun Hong is that even lay Buddhists can do a lot to help people. If you do not believe in his ways, or if you think his ways are wrong, then find your own way to help others. In the future, just as in the past, there will always be people like him who will be able to attract millions of followers. Then people will say these are cults. We have to use our wisdom to judge ourselves. But try to help more people. That is what I think we can learn from him.
If you like this post, try read another https://buddha-and-me.blogspot.com/2012/09/helping-sentient-beings-through-rites.html
#lujunhong #guanyincitta #cults
note: I do hope that there is nothing in this post that directly or indirectly encouraging people to believe in him. That was not the intention.
No comments:
Post a Comment