"What sign shewest thou then" - The Inevitable 4th Religion

Lawmakers' Office Building around the National Diet (Parliament) Bldg. of Japan, Tokyo

The Inevitable 4th Religion

The three steps in Hegel's dialectic are thesis, antithesis, and synthesis.

On the other hand, the quadripartite structure of certain Chinese poetry is introduction, development, turn and conclusion.

Any event in the human world can be observed and analyzed by applying these two sequences of matter.

But, for example, a recent part of the sequence of US presidents is Clinton, W. Bush, and Obama.  Can it be analyzed by applying the conceptual movement of thesis, antithesis, and synthesis?  Yes, it can be if it is viewed as a sequence of intellectual and social elitism. 


Or, other recent part of the sequence of US presidents is Reagan, W.H. Bush, Clinton, and W. Bush.  Can it be analyzed by applying the basic pattern of introduction, development, turn and conclusion?  Yes, it can be if it is viewed as a sequence of political and popular elitism.

In a long sequence of events and phenomena, some part can be identified as one following the structure of thesis, antithesis, and synthesis, while other part can be regraded as being subject to the rule of introduction, development, turn and conclusion.

However, other instance of religion, that is, Judaism, Christianity, and Muslim, might not fit Hegel's dialectic.  It looks like thesis, antithesis, turn, and synthesis, though the fourth religion is yet to be manifested to mankind. 

And, the US can be one possible place where the fourth religion is formed.

January 11, 2012 

Opinion: The changing face of Judaism in the U.S., Israel 

BY SHMUEL ROSNER
...
SR: Is there a growing gap between Jewish Americans and Jewish Israelis? If so, why? 

HG: The basic historical fact is that Judaism in America and in Israel have evolved along differing trajectories. Given the constitutional separation of church and state in the United States, Jews were free to formulate different religious paths and to organize synagogues, schools and other forms of communal life accordingly. This led to the growth of liberal forms of Judaism, but even Orthodoxy in America benefited from this freedom. Diversity among the various streams grew with time, and no group can force its beliefs and practices on another.

In Mandate Palestine, and then the State of Israel, Jews who were committed to exact religious practice sought to protect their way of life and turned to politics to ensure that formal institutions were in place enabling them to follow their religious conscious. This resulted in the established place of Orthodoxy, and the separate streams of education seeking to ensure the continuity of various Orthodox ideologies and groups.

Thus, while the majority of Jews in America affiliated with Reform or Conservative congregations, these were stifled in the Israeli setting and only slowly attained some recognition. The recent strengthening of strong nationalist rhetoric in Israel, anchored in the conflict with Palestinians, is another factor now driving many Jews in America along religious and cultural roads that separate them from Israel. Liberal ideologies and laws enabled Jews to make their way in America, and many find it difficult to understand why Israel seems to ignore or even run against these principles. There thus have emerged articulate Jewish voices in America that distance themselves from contemporary Israeli life. Simultaneously, other American Jews feel deep connection to Israel no matter what policies its leaders advocate, and some remain attached even as they try to contribute to projects of social change.

http://www.jewishjournal.com/opinion/article/the_changing_face_of_judaism_in_the_us_israel_20120111/

And the fourth religion must have some linkage to American Christianity, as a matter of course, as well as to American Judaism.

Christianity is the most popular religion in the United States, with around 77% of polled Americans identifying themselves as Christian in 2009. This is down from 86% in 1990, and slightly lower than 78.6% in 2001. About 62% of those polled claim to be members of a church congregation. In the mid-1990s the United States had the largest Christian population on earth, with 224 million Christians. 

Protestant denominations accounted for 51.3%, while Roman Catholicism, at 23.9%, was the largest individual denomination.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_in_the_United_States

I think when Americans, either Christianity-associated or Judaism-associated, come not to call themselves Christians or Judaists, the era of the new religion must be closer.



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Joh 6:30 They said therefore unto him, What sign shewest thou then, that we may see, and believe thee? what dost thou work?
Joh 6:31 Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat.
Joh 6:32 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven.

"on the one cheek offer also the other" - Introduction of Cavalry in China

Another Tokyo Street...

Introduction of Cavalry in China

The concept of a horse soldier was not so old as a chariot in the human history.

Horse soldiers appeared first among the Scythians in the 8th century BC, who occupied regions south of the west Siberia or west of Central Asia. This type of war capability was first introduced in China in 307 BC by King Wuling of Zhao.  Then state Zhao became a strong state in the Period of Warring States between 403 BC and 221 BC.

However, many subjects of the King were first against adopting the new method of war to have a soldier equipped with a bow and arrows mount a horse.  They claimed that it was a habit of barbarians in the western regions or in Central Asia.  Besides, riding on a horse needs to wear clothing those western barbarians put on.  Great Chinese so civilized should not behave like those barbarians living in wilderness west of China.  But King Wuling patiently persuaded his subjects to  set up a cavalry consisting with pairs of one soldier and one horse instead of pairs of three soldiers and one chariot.

However, state Zhao could not conquer all the other states, unify China and establish an empire.  Zhao was defeated by Qin in 260 BC in a great war called the Battle of Changping, since Qin also followed suit to set up its own cavalry.  And, as Qin was closer to the western wilderness where horses were traditionally bred than Zhao, formerly a backward state Qin became one of the strongest states in ancient China.

But why was Zhao so doomed due to one defeat in the Battle of Changping?  It was because Zhao lost 400,000 soldiers in this great Battle against rising Qin.

Zhao Kuo (of state Zhao) assumed command in July 260 BC of an army reinforced to approximately 400,000 men. Zhao Kuo took part of his army and attacked the Qin camp. Bai Qi responded with a Cannae manoeuvre. The first group of the Qin army withdrew toward the Qin fortress and drew Zhao Kuo after them. The second group of 25,000 cavalry, and 5,000 light cavalry with bows and crossbows, remained behind to spring the trap.

When the Zhao attack reached the Qin fortress, the Qin cavalry ambushed the Zhao Kuo's rear while the Qin light cavalry surrounded the Zhao fortress. With the enemy trapped Bai Qi ordered the Qin to counter-attack. The Zhao army was split in two and its supply lines cut. Zhao Kuo was unable to continue his attack or return to the Zhao fortress; his army dug in on a hill and awaited relief.

Since 295 BC, Zhao foreign policy had been dominated by opportunism and had frequently shifted between hezong (anti-Qin alliances) and lianheng (pro-Qin alliances). Thus, as the battle in Changping unfolded, Zhao was unable to secure support from either the State of Chu or the State of Qi. King Zhaoxiang of Qin used this opportunity to mobilize additional forces against Zhao from Henei, in modern-day Henan province; he bestowed one grade of noble rank to the population and ordered all men over the age of 15 to Changping to bolster the encirclement.

Zhao Kuo hill fortification was besieged for 46 days. In September, having run out of food and water, his desperate army made several unsuccessful attempts to breakout. The general was killed by Qin archers while leading his best troops. The Zhao army finally surrendered.

Bai Qi ordered the captured soldiers to be executed, presumably by being buried alive; the local population was hostile to Qin rule and he was afraid the captured soldiers would revolt. 240 of the youngest soldiers were released to spread terror in Zhao. Sima Qian claimed over 450,000 Zhao soldiers were killed during and after the battle. Emperor Xuanzong of Tang later built a temple over a collection of some of the human remains, and bones continue to be discovered on the site.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Changping

So, the introduction of cavalry into China set the course of its history into the era of classic centralized empires but not of warring states.

But it was not the state which introduced the new war method first but the one which followed it with some crucial advantage that could make the best use of the new war technology cavalry before the era of the First Qin Emperor.

http://tupian.hudong.com/a0_32_00_01300000020798126620005170364_jpg.html


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Luk 6:29 And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloak forbid not to take thy coat also.

"Consider the lilies of the field" - War, Crimes, and Religion

A Tokyo Street...

War, Crimes, and Religion

What's going on in Iraq now?

IRAQ: Crime Becomes Another Occupation 

By IPS Correspondents
Brian Conley and Isam Rashid 

BAGHDAD, Feb 17 2006 (IPS) - Iraqis live amidst the excesses of the occupation, death squads, shooting and terrorist bombing – but that is not all. They have learnt to live increasingly with crime that often enters homes without anyone to check it. 

It is widely accepted that Iraq's recent crime problems began with Saddam Hussein's general amnesty declaration in October 2002. It is also widely believed the crime wave reached a high in April 2003 with the collapse of Saddam’s seat of power in Baghdad.
...
Such crimes were unknown in Iraq under Saddam. Before the war, the only kidnapping Iraqis worried about were those carried out by Saddam’s secret police. Iraqis knew that if they did not challenge Saddam’s political mandate, they could expect to remain relatively secure. 

"We lived in this country before the war and there was safety," Thaer said, "Nothing has changed except the occupation. It is the only new thing; that means the occupation bears a big responsibility for the crime in Iraq." 

Drug trafficking too has risen after the war, says 35-year-old taxi driver Salem. "Iraq was a very clean country before the occupation," he told IPS. "Under Saddam's government if they caught anyone with drugs, the sentence was execution. After the war drugs became a very big problem for Iraqis." 

The drugs problem is rarely discussed publicly. "As a taxi driver I meet many people using drugs in my car," said Salem. "I feel sad for them because most of them are young. It was easy for anyone to smuggle drugs because the Iraqi borders were open after the war."


4/21/2011
Iraq 2011 Crime and Safety Report: Baghdad
...
Crime Threats
There are no reliable crime statistics and/or crime reporting mechanisms in Iraq. Individuals associated with the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad are required to travel with a protective detail, limiting potential criminal threats against embassy personnel. Kidnappings for political or monetary gain are common throughout Iraq. The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad recommends that individuals travel with Personal Security Details (PSDs) to limit potential terrorist and criminal threats. 

Police Response
Iraqi security forces maintain a large presence in most major urban areas to limit potential terrorist, insurgent, and militia activity. Iraqi checkpoints and security stations are manned at all times and Iraqi police and military units normally respond rapidly to all incidents.   Iraqi Police and Army have permanent manned checkpoints and security stations, and also routinely set up temporary checkpoints lasting only a few hours.  However, Iraqi police and military units are still undergoing training in techniques and procedures. These units are not as organized or capable as U.S. police and military units.
https://www.osac.gov/pages/ContentReportDetails.aspx?cid=10884

Afghanistan, Iraq Crime Increasing, According To New Report  

AULINE JELINEK   10/30/11 07:32 PM ET 

WASHINGTON — A Marine in Iraq sent home $43,000 in stolen cash by hiding it in a footlocker among American flags. A soldier shipped thousands more concealed in a toy stuffed animal. An embassy employee tricked the State Department into wiring $240,000 into his foreign bank account. 

As the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan wind down, the number of people indicted and convicted by the U.S. for bribery, theft and other reconstruction-related crimes in both countries is rapidly rising, according to two government reports released Sunday.
...
The U.S. has committed $62 billion to rebuilding Iraq and $72 billion for the reconstruction of Afghanistan. 

The independent Commission on Wartime Contracting estimated in August that at least $31 billion has been lost to waste and fraud in Iraq and Afghanistan, adding that the total could be as high as $60 billion. It studied not just reconstruction spending, but $206 billion for the logistical support of coalition forces and the performance of security functions. 

The commission found that from 10 to 20 percent of the $206 billion in spending was wasted, while fraud accounted for the loss of another 5 to 9 percent.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/30/afghanistan-iraq-crime_n_1065947.html

The War on Terror in Iraq and Afghanistan might be regraded as having an effect of preventing other major terror conducted on the American soil.

But, the War has not improved morals of Iraqis and Afghans as well as Americans.  It introduced new types of crimes and multiplied old types of crimes.

So, we may have to wish that the deterioration of situations would intensify a need to rely on religion more than ever in each country.

After this era of the War on Terror, more pious people might appear in the US, Iraq, and Afghanistan.  But, the War is not an effective way for improvement morals in society in those countries.  It should have been avoided.  The fact that the US could not find and execute a better way to solve the threat of terror and the problematic situations in Iraq and Afghanistan points at the limit of the American justice and the American faith in God.

http://chikyu-no-cocolo.cocolog-nifty.com/blog/2011/01/91110.html
Iraq in March 2003


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Mat 6:28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:

"do good to them which hate you" - The Japanese Deflation

A Tokyo District near the Japanese Parliament Bldg.

The Japanese Deflation

The biggest question in the world economy is not why Greece went bankrupt but how Japan came to suffer 20-year long deflation.

Japan's GDP in 20 Years
http://philnews.seesaa.net/article/134476364.html

Some people think Japan's deflation is caused by the decrease in population of Japan.

An old problem
Will it take more than monetary policy to cure Japan’s deflationary ills?
Feb 10th 2011 | TOKYO | from the print edition

JAPAN, one of the great exporting nations, usually runs a trade deficit with, of all places, Switzerland. Why? Ask Rolex. Japan also buys more from France and Italy than it sells there. Why? Bordeaux, Brie, mascarpone and Armani, to name a few expensive vices. In Japan such delicacies are mostly immune to deflation, while prices of everyday goods like cars, electronic goods and clothes tumble. Why then do Japanese firms continue to churn out the latter, even though margins are low? And could this help explain Japan's persistent deflation problem? 

These questions preoccupy Kosuke Motani, author of “The Real Face of Deflation”. In this book’s first seven months in print, 500,000 copies have been sold, including one to Naoto Kan, the prime minister. Mr Motani argues that deflation in Japan is not so much a monetary problem as a structural one linked to bad business decisions and demography.
http://www.economist.com/node/18119075

Others deny that Japanesedeflation has been cuased through trade with China.

China in Transition
Is Japan's Deflation "Made in China"? 

In recent years, China's remarkable progress in industrialization has been regarded as a major cause of deflation in Japan, and Japanese financial authorities are calling for a stronger yuan to solve this problem. However, if we consider the fact that Japan's imports from China amount to only about 1.5 percent of gross domestic product and that there is very little competition between the two countries on the trade front, it is clear that any decline in prices in China has only a limited impact on the Japanese economy. In fact, the rate of inflation - or, to be more accurate, deflation - in China is about the same as in Japan, and if China is to be called the cause of deflation in Japan, the reverse also applies... 

As this shows, it must be said that both the therapy that attributes the cause of deflation in Japan to the rise of China and the prescription that a stronger yuan will solve the problem are wrong. So long as the real reason behind Japan's deflation is the delay in structural reforms and the protracted domestic economic slump that accompanies it, Japan's economy will not see a real recovery unless these problems are solved, no matter how strong the yuan becomes.
http://www.rieti.go.jp/en/china/03030701.html

Indeed, deflation in Japan has been a mystery for many parties concerned in the world, including economists and journalists.

Cheap imports compounding deflation shock
Asahi Shimbun
March 23, 2001 

Globalization may have its fans and its foes, but one thing about the trend cannot be denied: It is exacerbating Japan's deflation shock... 

After the bubble economy collapsed, asset values sank as land and stock prices plummeted. Companies and households alike tightened the reins on investment and consumption, further deflating assets. Inexpensive, high-quality foreign products flooded the market, adding to deflationary pressures.
http://www.asahi.com/english/asahi/0323/asahi032301.html 

Deflation is related not only to prices but also wages.  Some analyzes the Japanese deflation in this context.

No Japan-like Deflation in the US
Risaburo Nezu
Senior Executive Fellow, FUJITSU RESEARCH INSTITUTE

As deflation is a phenomenon unique to Japan, its cause should also be singularly Japanese. As the graph illustrates, this cause is the consistent downward trend in wages observed only in Japan. Workers lose their purchasing power when wages fall. Companies respond by slashing prices to maintain sales volume. Absent improved productivity, lower prices inevitably lead to wage cuts to reduce costs. In this way, deflation and declining wages fall into a downward spiral—such is the Japanese phenomenon.

Prices of goods are falling and the government finally admitted on March 16 that the nation is indeed experiencing deflation... 

Falling wages are rooted in company-based unions and an increase in non-regular workers 

Why have wages continued to fall in Japan? Among many reasons, the first and dominant view is that securing job opportunities is given priority in Japan, and a slight drop in wages is unavoidable to maintain employment. Behind this perspective is the problem that mid-career reemployment is difficult in Japan, and, even if successful, is disadvantageous in terms of wages. It is comparatively easier to switch jobs mid-career in the US, and American companies that cut wages risk losing their top talent. In Europe, the unionization rate is high with unions forming by functionality instead of by individual company, and a wage system is maintained uniformly in each country. It is therefore difficult for individual companies to slash wages based on their particular circumstances. 

The second view is that the employment of cheap non-regular workers(1) has dramatically increased. These workers already represent a third of the entire Japanese workforce. Non-regular workers are also common outside of Japan, but the comparatively low wages of non-regular workers, who see half of what regular workers earn, is uniquely Japanese. No such disparity exists in other developed countries, where the principle of “equal pay for equal work” is maintained more rigorously, and, as a result, there is no incentive to replace regular workers with non-regular workers to save money.
http://jp.fujitsu.com/group/fri/en/column/message/2010/2010-08-20.html

Yet, the key factor is downward pressure on Japanese wages from labor force in China, since 20,000 Japanese businesses are operating in China.

Comparison between Yearly Income in Japna and China (in US$)
Year      Japan             China
------------------------------------------------
2000    $54,946.59        $2,317.23
2001    $54,112.26        $2,669.47
2002    $53,397.12        $2,926.29
2003    $52,920.36        $3,330.07
2004    $52,324.41        $3,666.39
2005    $52,086.03        $4,030.80
2006    $51,847.65        $4,443.45
2007    $52,086.03        $5,215.56
2008    $51,251.70        $5,936.12
2009    $48,391.14        $6,430.07
http://www.china-b-japan.org/archives/460

(to be continued...)

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Luk 6:27 But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you,
Luk 6:28 Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.

"Behold the fowls of the air" - Traditional Chinese Heroes

Shibuya, Tokyo

Traditional Chinese Heroes

A self-sacrifice chivalrous spirit was respected in ancient China.

Sima Qian (Shibasen in Japanese, ca. 145 or 135 BC – 86 BC), the greatest ancient Chinese historian, wrote about some persons with a self-sacrifice chivalrous spirit in his great history book called Shiji (Records of the Grand Historian).

Those people with a self-sacrifice chivalrous spirit acted for others. They sacrificed their interest, profits, merit, and money so as to help others who were inflicted unreasonable burdens, pains, and losses by bad guys, rich people, or men in power on.

Sometimes they resorted to violence, but their execution of violence is different from that by gangsters.

When they used violence, it was to redeem his honor, save a victim, or avenge the wrong they had suffered. But, Sima Qian made a distinction between those with a self-sacrifice chivalrous spirit and a peaceful mind and others with a chivalrous spirit but an aggressive or guileful mind.

But in either type of men with a self-sacrifice chivalrous spirit, they collected many guests, spongers, and free-lance politicians. They fed them and provided accommodations for them for free. They helped those guys in their mansions get a chance to be employed by a king, a feudal lord, or a local governor. They were not titled aristocrats but were treated as such by a Chinese emperor and kings.

This concept of a man with a self-sacrifice chivalrous spirit has become an underlying cultural feature of China through its long history. However, it is sometimes adopted by gangsters for their disguise. But many of poor men who eventually became gangsters understand value in being men with a self-sacrifice chivalrous spirit. If they did nit respect law and order, they would respect a self-sacrifice chivalrous spirit.

In addition, though originally some people with a self-sacrifice chivalrous spirit followed Confucius, Confucianism later came to neglect or deny merit of existence of men with a self-sacrifice chivalrous spirit. 

But, the fact that China underwent a communist revolution might mean that most of men with a self-sacrifice chivalrous spirit turned to be mere gangsters around WWII. If so, the fall of the Chinese Communist Party might indicate revival of a good and old Chinese tradition of men with a self-sacrifice chivalrous spirit.


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Mat 6:26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
Mat 6:27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?

"the head of John the Baptist" - Hiroshima Black Rain

Around Tokyo

Hiroshima Black Rain

At 8:15 a.m. on August 6, 1941, an atomic bomb (a nuclear bomb) blasted 580 m (1900 feet) above Hiroshima City as a US bomber dropped it in its air raid in the last phase of the US war against the Empire of Japan.

The nuclear explosion instantly took 70,000 lives, mostly, of Japanese civilians.

At the moment, a middle-aged manager of a clothing factory just got on a train, whose windows were open, in a station 1700 m (one mile) from the ground zero. Before the train started, he saw a very bright flash.  Next moment, darkness surrounded the space which made him blinded. Passengers in the train all started to dash out of the train. The man was pressed and kicked to fall down. He struggled to stand up. A wave of men and woman crumpled him on the platform. So, the man clung to a pillar and closed his eyes to secure himself. And a little while later, silence fell on him. He looked around to see nobody.  Electric wires fell on the floor. Carefully over them, he went out of the station to see most of houses and buildings being knocked down. 

Finally a long day started for a middle-aged Hiroshima civilian on this day when the first nuclear weapon was used in the human history.

Shizuma Shigematsu could luckily meet his wife near his home. Then, the couple walked a long way to an office of a transportation company in the Hiroshima port where their niece worked. She was also safe as the office was 4500 meters south from the ground zero. At the time she lived with the Shigematsus in Hiroshima City. Then, through the devastated city full of the dead and the wounded, the three people narrowly managed to make it to a railroad station 3500 meter north of the ground zero, where transportation service was available. They got to a railroad station and got on a train which carried them to a town where the factory Shigematsu worked in was situated. They were finally relieved. 

During their hard journey across nuclear-bombed Hiroshima to the station from the office in the port, they took a break near a brook. He took out a towel to dip it in the small river. But he noticed a school of Japanese killifish. The fish swam so peacefully. So, he put his towel in the water downstream not to disturb the small fish. Then he wiped sweat off his body with the towel. He dipped other towels into the fresh flow of water in the same manner. The two women also used the towels to clean up their skin. And then they again started to walk to the station in the periphery of Hiroshima City, passing by countless casualties and injured persons under the hot sun of August.

Shizuma Shigematsu was 42 years old in August 1941 when he was attacked by the atomic bomb in Hiroshima; his wife 31 and their niece 20.

But all the three persons suffered a kind of atomic-bomb disease, respectively. Shigematsu died in 1980 at the age of 77; his wife in 1991 at 78. And, their niece died of radiation disease in 1960 at 35, leaving her husband and two sons.

Shizuma Shigematsu kept a journal and a diary in those days when he experienced the Hiroshima nuclear-bomb attack. Based on his diary, a novel was written by a Japanese author. It became a best-seller.

Black Rain is a novel by Japanese author Masuji Ibuse. Ibuse began serializing Black Rain in the magazine Shincho in January 1965. The novel is based on historical records of the devastation caused by the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. However, Ibuse does not refer to social or political considerations that led to the atomic holocaust. Sometimes his characters criticize the wartime government, but Ibuse generally focuses more on an everyday level. In the depiction of ultimate act of violence, Ibuse uses contrasts between horror and humor, destruction and beauty, the state and the individual. The narration alters between Kobatake, a rural hamlet some distance from Hiroshima, at a time several years after the end of the war, and Hiroshima itself in the days immediately after the bombing. The protagonist, Shizuma Shigematsu, a real-life person, tries to find a husband for his niece, Yasuko. Shigematsu, his wife Shigeko and Yasuko reassure prospective husbands that Yasuko was not affected by the radiation, although she was under the black rain that followed the destruction. Shigematsu reads his wartime diary to understand his own life. Yasuko gives up all hopes of marrying and falls ill with radiation sickness.

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Rain_(novel)

http://plaza.rakuten.co.jp/jyoudankeri/diary/201008060000/




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Mar 6:25 And she came in straightway with haste unto the king, and asked, saying, I will that thou give me by and by in a charger the head of John the Baptist.
Mar 6:26 And the king was exceeding sorry; yet for his oath's sake, and for their sakes which sat with him, he would not reject her.
Mar 6:27 And immediately the king sent an executioner, and commanded his head to be brought: and he went and beheaded him in the prison,
Mar 6:28 And brought his head in a charger, and gave it to the damsel: and the damsel gave it to her mother.

"woe unto you that are rich!" - Lao-tze and the Way

Lao-tze and the Way

Heaven's vengeance is slow but sure.  This is one of famous teachings of Lao-tze.

It means that Heaven symbolized by the sky looks full of loopholes.  But it never misses evil forever.  It will take on an evil man someday without exception.

Lao-tze ("Ro-shi" in Japanese), one of the greatest philosophers of ancient China who lived in the sixth century BC, also studied and explained the Way, the true nature of the universe.  

Lao-tze observed everything in this world and found that any entity grows from the initial environment and dies and decays to return to the initial environment.  Everything moves, changes, and gets bigger and prosperous without interruption after its origination or birth.  

But its direction is to the original condition from which it emerges.  By returning to the basic and original sphere, every entity becomes complete.  Accordingly, a man should abandon his desire, learning, and wisdom he has acquired after his birth, and he has to enter the infinite and nameless universe from which he was born spiritually.  

The ultimate purpose of life of a man is to return to the original space and get into it as deep as possible to merge together with the space.  

This theory looks like a theory of the creation of the physical universe in the modern physics.

Usually, Americans and most of Europeans enjoy only the early part of this process.  They enjoy growing and getting bigger and prosperous.  But they cannot enjoy returning to the infinite and nameless universe from which their souls and spirits were born.

But ancient Chinese philosophers could see the truth of existence and life of human beings, that is, to return to the world from which their life came.  Japanese also felt this truth about the state of existence and life of living things.  So Japanese view on death and life has been highly influenced by Lao-tze or coincided with Lao-tze's teaching.  Japanese unique Buddhism reflects this inclination in the Japanese philosophy on death and life.

But what is the different between a man who follows Lao-tze's teachings and another who blindly tries to enjoy his life by only becoming bigger and prosperous?


The latter would not respect life of his own and others as he does not respect the deep truth of the universe about death and life.  So, he just enjoys living and riches in his life by sacrificing others and even neglecting his own ultimate duty to obey the truth of the universe.  He will finally lose a sense of justice and ethics.  Enjoying rich material life will be the most important proposition for him.  For this aim, he will not mind taking money and happiness from others.  He will even shake hands with the Devil to borrow any power from him so as to make himself economically successful, since life and death and the truth beyond this world are not of his concern.


However, a man who follows Lao-tze's teachings or the Way knows that his material and physical life in this world has an ultimate goal of returning into the infinite and nameless universe from which he was born so as to be complete.  From the beginning, as there was something imperfect in the original environment, he was destined to be born.  In order to solve this imperfection, he was born in this world and he has to return to the original space in a better manner.  Accordingly, he would respect life of not only himself but also others.  He will not make himself rich by sacrificing others as everybody must solve his own imperfection by returning to the infinite and nameless universe and not by having rich life while making others poor.     
  
And, this teaching is shared with Christianity and Buddhism.  The core of teaching is the same between the Lao-tze's philosophy, Christianity and Buddhism.

http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/timeline.html#bang



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Luk 6:24 But woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation.