In the middle of my sleep, I was awakened a bit past 3 am by the loud and annoying speaker from the building’s PA system. The first thing I did was to scold the crazy person on the mic for speaking so loud in the middle of the night, even though I knew that was an emergency. However, the first thing I did was go to the washroom, pee, and wash my hand, and the water started to run out when I washed my hands.  I knew it was going to be bad. The city pipe has broken off, and my apartment building got a major water shutdown. That is no good. However, as Taoists, what can we learn from this?

I went back to sleep more and prepared myself for the day. At 5:15 am, which is 15mins earlier than my usual wake-up, I got up naturally and started my day. I knew the day would be rough, but I continued my early morning things with some tweaks. Everything is done but at a minimal level to reduce the amount of energy consumption and water used. Then there goes the e-mail from the building saying that we have a major water outage and there is no elevator service (now that’s bad).  Even if you plan to go out and buy some drinking water, you have no luck, trying to walk 20+ floors of stairs to get water and coming back the same way. Have fun.

Luckily, my daily discipline saved my life. The daily drinking water tank was full, and I had a kettle full of water, with some in the coffee machine. For a day or two, I should survive. However, the worse thing is that toilet flushing, laundry, and things that need water would suffer big time. If it is a planned water outage, we usually have things prepared to flush the toilet, wash hands, wipe the body, etc. Now, this is different. Therefore, we must reduce the number of things we consume to reduce the body’s output and not have to use the toilet that much.

Wisdom For All

In this world, my apartment building belongs to a company greater than my family and me. Therefore, I live inside this building under this “bigger one” as my upper.

However, the building relies on the city to provide the main resources such as electricity, water, etc. The city is run by the government, which is the upper of the building’s owner.

The relationship from top to bottom is like this: City, Building, My home and my home contain my wife and me inside.

The city is the sky, the building is the ground, and I am the “human” in the ground.

Everyone in our lineage should know this theory of sky, ground human. However, have you thought of this?

You are a disciple, the lineage is the ground and the lineage contains you, and the lineage connects to the sky, which is the celestial court. The court represents the Tao above, our biggest source from Daai Law Tin.

Every disciple’s soul is connected to the lineage as their soul is inside the lineage’s soul. If the lineage is out of water or power, my building is cut off from the city’s pipe. How bad will that be for you? It’s a huge problem.

In the lineage, the three Cia Juan(s) are the head that runs the lineage, like the building here is run by the big boss in the property’s owner business. If the Cia Juan(s) have any issues, then the lineage will suffer, resulting in you suffering too. Therefore, as a disciple, you should always care for the Cia Juan(s), so the lineage can be healthy. If the Cia Juan(s) live well and are always happy, the lineage will grow and develop nicely.

You are in the lineage, and your magic runs on the power from the lineage. If the lineage is doing well, your magic also works better and will create better results. It Is important to see this relationship because the lineage is the home of every disciple and their altar. Even if you have an altar built, your altar still relies on the lineage’s power to do anything; just like my apartment unit is an altar, the building is the lineage; if the building is cut from the city, my apartment is immediately dried up. Scary to even think about it!

Here, we have a few things that are super important to our daily life:

1. Internet and all communication services (D5)
2. Electricity (D1)
3. Water (D2)

You can live without food for a day, but no water can be a big problem. Sometimes when the electricity is out, you will not be freaking out because at least you will survive with the water, and your cell phone can still call for help. Even though we seldom make an emergency call during a blackout, the ability to make a call to whatever emergency response team that can save you is important; it keeps your mind at peace. It feels safer to avoid going into a freak-out mode like you are “on your own” on a bare planet.

The feeling of no one at the back to back you up at the end is very scary, and that is why we heavily cherish our communication power in this world, such as the internet and phone service.

For a Taoist, you have these three elements too.

1. The power to communicate with the gods. (D5)
2. When you need help, the Tao can empower you to give you a boost or help you positively bring success. (D1)
3. The Tao can help you absorb the impact when bad things happen. (D2)

However, all these three elements come to you from Daai Law Tin, through the celestial court, to our lineage, then to you and your altar. If the lineage’s channel to the court is shaken or weakened, you will also be affected, like in my city’s pipe-breaking incident.

Therefore, as disciples, we must always keep the lineage strong and help to defend the lineage, give back to the lineage, and make sure the lineage is always growing healthily. If the big boss of the property owner business is living a horrible or stressful life, why would they want to keep running the business? That could lead to the business’s failure, which would be a big problem too!

In the lineage, you are cultivating yourself and your altar daily, but every one of you adds up to become “the Lineage.” When you get stronger, your altar strengthens; the whole lineage also strengthens. Just imagine you are one muscle in the body, and every disciple is a muscle, which adds up to become a whole body. Daily cultivation is important because you do your part to upkeep and grow the body as a team.

If you still need to become a disciple, feel free to ordain today!  If you are a disciple already, learn from this article, and remember to cultivate the Daily Rite daily as a disciple, doing your role to support and grow the lineage.  It is a big deal and our commitment to the lineage and the Tao. You help to protect and grow the lineage; then the lineage will do the same to you. Just like how I have to be good to my apartment’s building, keep paying rent monthly and support it when it needs, then the building will also support me and provide whatever I need to me.

At this moment, I am still out of water, but my mind is all on the lineage and my disciple; you can see from this article how much I am sacrificing for the lineage. I hope you all cherish that kind of love and do the same back to the lineage and the Tao!

Read part 2 - How can Magic Help in Emergency

and part 3 - How Virtue help in Emergency