18A-2000 08022000

Date: 8 Feb 2000.

Location: Xian Sheng’s house, Taman Melawati.

Table of Contents

(A) It’s wrong to let people wait like that. It’s wrong [12:29 – 16:41]

Prior to starting this section, Xian Sheng explained the meaning of the term ‘be on time’ as practised in multinational corporations.
See 16A-2000 A1-A13. 

  1. Xian Sheng emphasised that Baitiangong followers need to change themselves in order to adopt the important practice of ‘be on time’.
  2. When it comes to dinner functions or wedding banquets for our family members, Xian Sheng instructed the followers to start the event promptly according to the designated time of either 7:00 pm or 8:00 pm as stated on the invitation card, and not to bother with latecomers although they are friends. 
  3. Xian Sheng instructed the followers not to begin the function at 9:00 pm, as the invitation cards had stated that the start time was 7:00 pm.
  4. As an example, Xian Sheng recalled that he was invited to the wedding banquet of Bro Leong Siew Wai and Sis Mary’s son. When he asked them what time they expected him to arrive, they told him 8:30 pm, despite the invitation card stated 7:00 pm.
  5. Upon arriving at the function hall at 8:00 pm, Xian Sheng noticed that the food presentation ceremony had not yet begun. He pulled Bro Leong and Sis Mary aside and reminded them that he was asked to arrive at 8:30 pm, but it was already 9:00 pm and the food had not been served yet.
  6. Xian Sheng requested them to start the food presentation ceremony immediately. Sis Mary promptly instructed the caterers to begin the function. 
  7. Xian Sheng expressed his disappointment with the poor time management and asked how such a delay could have happened. 
  8. Xian Sheng inquired whether if any followers attended the wedding banquet. 
  9. Xian Sheng clarified to the followers that he had been invited to Bro Leong’s son’s wedding banquet and that the invitation card had stated a start time of 7:00 pm. However, given the common Malaysian practice of arriving late, Xian Sheng asked them what time they expected him to arrive and when the ceremony would begin. They told him to reach by 8:30 pm, which Xian Sheng found absurd considering the start time stated on the card was 7:00 pm. However, despite the agreed time of 8:30 pm, the function still had not commenced.
  10. Xian Sheng pulled Bro Leong and Sis Mary aside and expressed his disappointment with their irresponsible behaviour, as everyone had been made to wait for so long. He asked them whether they thought people enjoyed waiting.
  11. He then questioned whether the couple thought they were in Hong Kong, where in similar situations, the host would prepare Mahjong tables for the guests to entertain themselves while waiting for latecomers. In contrast, everyone in this situation had to wait for hours like a bunch of buffoons. Additionally, Bro Leong and Sis Mary had invited a large crowd to attend their son’s wedding banquet at a grand hotel.
  12. Xian Sheng criticised the notion of having a large group of people waiting for a select few, deeming it as wrong. He issued a stern reminder to future parents to stick to the scheduled time for their events. He stated that it is pointless to wait for a few friends who are late and stick to the scheduled time instead.
  13. Recently, Xian Sheng was invited to a wedding banquet organised by his good friend from his old school days, for his son. When the function was delayed, Xian Sheng asked his friend when it would start. His friend nervously informed him that it would start immediately, but unfortunately, it did not begin.
  14. Later on, as his friend’s son walked by, Xian Sheng grabbed him and asked when the function would begin. Xian Sheng told him, “It’s wrong to let people wait like that. It’s wrong”. The son respectfully addressed Xian Sheng as “Uncle” and assured him that he would start the function immediately. True to his word, the son began the function promptly.
  15. Xian Sheng explained that it did not matter if there were one or two empty tables and that they should not wait for latecomers and forget about their wedding gifts/money, as it would greatly inconvenience the other guests. He advised them to start the function promptly.
  16. When a follower told Xian Sheng that it was a common behavioural trait among Chinese people to be late, Xian Sheng protested against this notion and stated that Baitiangong followers must change this habit. He emphasised that they need not be concerned about changing the behaviour of all Chinese people, but rather, they should focus on changing themselves.
  17. Xian Sheng turned to Bro Sang and advised him to stick to the time schedule when his children’s wedding banquet comes around. 
  18. He further stated that if Baitiangong followers take the lead in ‘be on time’, and every follower practices ‘be on time’, then they could lead a cultural change in Chinese society from being fashionably late to ‘be on time’.
(B) Teach children good values from a young age [16:41 – 19:23]
  1. Xian Sheng explained that if all Baitiangong followers stopped cheating people for money, and overcame their greed by returning any found money to its rightful owner, they would set a positive example for others to follow.
  2. Xian Sheng elaborated further that if someone paid Baitiangong followers more money than intended, they should return the excess amount to the payer. 
  3. He quoted his personal experience with a bank. While banks have a lot of money if the bank mistakenly issued an extra RM1,000, followers should return the money. This is because the cashier who issued the extra money would be required to reimburse the bank for the missing RM1,000.
  4. Xian Sheng called the bank manager to report that he had received extra money and requested that the bank investigate to find out the exact amount that was missing from their accounts. They immediately started the investigation, and coincidentally, the cashier also reported that RM1,000 was missing from her till (cash register). Xian Sheng clarified that the money was not missing, as it was mistakenly overpaid to him.
  5. Xian Sheng rode his Harley Davidson to the bank to return the money. When he arrived, the bank manager came out to meet him and accept the money. However, Xian Sheng refused to give the money to the manager, stating that it was not the manager’s fault, and asked him to call the cashier instead. The cashier, a Malay lady, was very grateful to Xian Sheng for returning the money, as it would have cost her almost a month’s salary to make up for the discrepancy. She kept thanking Xian Sheng in both English and Malay saying, “Thank you, thank you, terima kasih, terima kasih”.
  6. Xian Sheng asked the followers how many people would return the extra money if it was given to them mistakenly. He answered his own question by stating that many people would not return the money.
  7. When Xian Sheng asked the same question previously, Sis Vera Yap responded that she believed only Xian Sheng would return the extra money. She shared a personal experience from when she worked as a cashier, where she accidentally issued extra money to a customer. When she discovered the mistake and contacted the customer to ask for the money back, the customer denied receiving any extra money and refused to return it.
  8. Xian Sheng expressed his regret at the fact that such behaviour is common nowadays. He added that Baitiangong does not accept people with such characteristics and that if any followers exhibit such behaviour, immediate action needs to be taken to change their behaviour.
  9. Xian Sheng gave the example of what happened yesterday when he handed out money1 to a group of children. One child lined up twice to receive money from him, but Xian Sheng didn’t notice and gave the child extra money.
  10. Xian Sheng praised the child’s mother as she noticed it and instructed him to return the extra money to Xian Sheng, which he promptly did.
  11. Xian Sheng was pleased that the child returned the extra money, but he did not allow the child to keep it as a reward. Instead, he took the money back to teach the child at a young age that it is not appropriate to accept something that has already been given to them, twice.
  12. Xian Sheng believes that it is important to teach children good values from a young age so that when they grow up, they will be more likely to remember and practice them later in life.
(C) Change in order to be able to preach [19:23 – 24:33]
  1. Change, we must change. Xian Sheng emphasised that the most important change of all is to change ourselves until we can preach Baitiangong. 
  2. Xian Sheng asked if we can make this change. He responded negatively, stating that we would not be able to make the change unless we attend the Annual Spiritual Discussion at Genting Highlands.
  3. To successfully make the change, it is crucial that we obtain the necessary information to equip ourselves. Attending the Annual Spiritual Discussion at Genting Highlands would provide us with this knowledge, enabling us to preach afterwards.
  4. Xian Sheng emphasised once again the importance of change, stating that if we are unwilling to change ourselves, it would be difficult and we would not be able to preach.
  5. Xian Sheng had witnessed with his own eyes the importance of making this change. He cited Bro Ong as the catalyst, explaining that he and his wife were among the earliest followers of Baitiangong. Xian Sheng then asked us to imagine how young their children were at that time.
  6. Fast forward to the present time, Bro Ong’s children have grown up and are now adults and are married too. All of them have different religious beliefs from their parents. One practice Christianity, one practice a Shintoism, one is an atheist, and another used to practice Christianity but no longer attends church. 
  7. Xian Sheng then posed the question of how we can reconcile with the different belief systems among Bro Ong’s children.
  8. During Xian Sheng’s visit to Bro Ong’s house to discuss Sis Tan’s obsequies arrangements, his children and in-laws tried to prevent the cameraman from recording the proceedings and the tussle resulted in damage to the camera lens.
  9. Xian Sheng shared that he had exercised great self-restraint during the entire incident, admitting that he was tempted to punch Bro Ong’s son-in-law, but his self-restraint ultimately prevailed.
  10. They were shouting at the cameraman to stop recording and attempting to grab the video camera. Xian Sheng could no longer tolerate the son-in-law’s rowdy behaviour and tugged at his shirt as a reminder.
  11. They continued shouting at everyone, but they did not direct their shouting towards him when he confronted them. They apparently chose who to shout at. Xian Sheng stated that he would have slapped them if they had dared to shout at him.
  12. Xian Sheng identified the provocateur as the son-in-law, who is a skinny person, and he and the others were shouting because they were dissatisfied with Xian Sheng’s persistence in not allowing them and their guests to bow to the deceased during the obsequies.
  13. Xian Sheng clarified that the root of the problem originated from Bro Ong and his wife and not their sons. He questioned whether they had ever brought their children to any of the Baitiangong functions or discussions when they were young. He expressed his anger and stated that Bro Ong did not do so, which resulted in their children growing up as strangers to Baitiangong.
  14. Xian Sheng stated that if parents fail to involve their children in Baitiangong functions and discussions, they cannot hold them responsible for embracing Christianity or other religions when they grew up. Parents cannot quote the Chinese proverb, ‘仔大仔的世界’2 as an excuse why they adopted different religion other than Baitiangong. They chose different religions because Bro Ong failed to provide them with Baitiangong teachings or conduct spiritual discussions with them. 
  15. Xian Sheng expressed uncertainty about how he would conduct Bro Ong’s obsequies in the future since Bro Ong’s daughter had informed him that they would not inform him of her father’s passing. In jest, Xian Sheng commented that without Baitiangong in the picture, Buddhist monks and Christians might fight over Bro Ong’s body as they all have different religions.
  16. Bro Ong is still alive and holds strongly to Baitiangong way of obsequies for their mother. Otherwise, Xian Sheng said that there might have been a 3-way interfaith dispute among the Buddhists, Christians, and Baitiangong followers over the right to conduct the obsequies. Initially, the children announced that they would hold a meeting to discuss the matter before informing Xian Sheng. However, Bro Ong overrode them and insisted on the Baitiangong way of obsequies.
  17. Xian Sheng clarified that the pushing and shuffling during the event could have easily led to a fight. He admitted to feeling tempted to punch his son-in-law, but he had to restrain himself. Xian Sheng added that if the situation had occurred outside on the streets, he would have punched him as he would have no qualms about it.
  18. Xian Sheng was extremely pissed with his son-in-law for his continuously rambling about the obsequies. He expressed a desire to call the son-in-law out to have a one-on-one talk with him. In conclusion, Xian Sheng described the entire situation as wrong.
(D) A great disappointment if our children join Christianity [24:33 – 31:35]
  1. Xian Sheng openly declared that Christians lack manners and show disrespect towards other religious beliefs.
  2. He cited the recent obsequies of Bro Ng Foong Huat where a group of Christians from the church of his daughter gathered and sat nearby to recite their prayer out loud. While Xian Sheng did not mind or be bothered by them praying aloud, nevertheless, they failed to observe the proper decorum when attending obsequies conducted by people of a different faith. This incident demonstrates that they neither have manners nor knowledge.
  3. Xian Sheng expressed that it would be a great disappointment if the children of Baitiangong followers were to join Christianity. He pointed out that Bro Ong’s daughter, who is a Christian, showed complete disrespect to her father. Similarly, during the recent obsequies, Bro Ng’s Christian children also displayed a lack of respect towards their father.
  4. While Xian Sheng could tolerate the Christians gathering to recite their prayer aloud, he drew the line when a Christian man walked up and started singing a Christian song loudly in the middle of his sermon. Xian Sheng chastised the man for his rude, impolite, and disrespectful behaviour, his lack of empathy towards the grieving family, and his lack of knowledge about social norms during a funeral event.
  5. Xian Sheng then proceeded to warn the man against testing his patience. He told the man that he was formerly a Christian and had many Christian relatives and friends. Xian Sheng asked the man if he would tolerate it if Xian Sheng went to Christian funerals and started reciting the prayer and singing out loud in the middle of their funeral event. The Christian man stopped and walked away.
  6. Xian Sheng shared with the followers that the Christian man was fortunate that he took on the role of a spiritual leader in conducting the obsequies, or else he would have walked up to him and punched him without any warning.
  7. He gave a hypothetical situation where he attends a funeral event of a Buddhist friend as a guest and a Christian man were to sing loudly to disrupt the funeral. Xian Sheng stated that in such a situation, he would do his friend a favour and punch the man if his friend dared not take any action. 
  8. Xian Sheng recounted his past where he had a reputation for punching gangsters, hooligans, and even police officers if they were out of line.
  9. Once again, Xian Sheng reiterated that these Christians displayed a severe shortage of knowledge and etiquette when attending funeral events of other religions.  
  10. He asked if these Christians would dare to sing their Christian songs in the middle of a Muslim funeral event. He replied that they would not dare to act so brazenly. They only dared to act with such impunity and arrogance because they think Baitiangong followers are meak and easy targets.
  11. Xian Sheng explained that if the Baitiangong followers were to retaliate and fight with the Christian group for disrupting our obsequies, they would be at a great disadvantage since they are outnumbered. If Xian Sheng were to take action against the man, he knows that a few followers would immediately join in the fight.
  12. Regarding the incident that happened yesterday, where the children and in-laws were struggling with Bro Ah Leong to prevent him from filming, which resulted in breaking the camera lens, Xian Sheng commented that it was a pity that Bro Ah Leong lacked any defensive fighting skills. He could have easily executed a back elbow strike to the person assaulting him from behind without anyone noticing it due to the large number of people pushing and shoving around.
  13. Xian Sheng expressed disappointment that the followers standing outside Bro Ong’s house failed to act by rushing into the house and stepping between the assailants and the cameraman to prevent them from grabbing at the video camera. If these followers had acted, they could have prevented the family members from damaging the camera lens. Xian Sheng attributed their inaction due to a lack of situational awareness training.
  14. Xian Sheng explained that he visited Bro Ong’s home in his capacity as a Spiritual Leader to discuss funeral arrangements with the family. In this role, he could not act freely as a bystander and had to exercise restraint from throwing a punch at the son-in-law.
  15. He repeated that the behaviour of the family and in-laws was wrong as their actions resulted in damaging the video camera lens.
  16. Xian Sheng asked the followers what was wrong with the incident, and he replied that the wrong lay with their parents. He said that if Bro Ong had brought their children to participate in Baitiangong activities when they were still young, this wrong could have been prevented.
  17. He inquired if anyone could recall Bro Ong’s participation in the 1977 Spiritual Retreat at Bukit Ari. He then posed a question to the group, asking if they remembered the miracle during the Spiritual Retreat where dark clouds parted to reveal a beam of light as they knelt down to pray to the CREATOR. However, once they had completed their prayer and stood up, the clouds quickly closed up, and the beam of light vanished.
  18. He asked the group who among them had attended the Spiritual Retreat and witnessed that miracle. Bro Mun and Sis Mary promptly replied, confirming that they were present during the Spiritual Retreat and that Bro Ong was also among the participants.
  19. Xian Sheng inquired who might be capable of performing such miracles for others to witness. He went on to mention that he had performed numerous miracles in the past but emphasised that relying on miracles to encourage people to pray to the CREATOR is not a viable solution.3
  20. Xian Sheng proposed a solution, especially for parents, is to bring their children to attend the Sunday children’s session where the children are taught how to pray and encouraged to engage in open discussions. Xian Sheng emphasised the importance of fostering a two-way exchange between teachers and students during these sessions. He believed that it was necessary to train children to ask questions and participate actively in the learning process, as this approach would ensure that the children could cultivate a deep and meaningful understanding of Baitiangong teachings. Otherwise, Xian Sheng felt that the children’s sessions would fail to achieve their objective of building a strong foundation in the teachings. This could lead to children not following Baitiangong, which could pose problems for their parents regarding their obsequies, as was the case with Bro Ong.
  1. Xian Sheng taught the Baitiangong followers not to give angpows containing money although it has been an age-old Chinese tradition. Instead, they should just give money directly. Xian Sheng gave two reasons for this practice.


    Firstly, Xian Sheng wants to eliminate the superstitions that accompanied the giving of angpows. The red colour of the envelope symbolises good luck and wards off evil spirits. This superstition originated from the most popular story that happened during the Qin Dynasty (221 – 206 BC). A demon called Sui would go around on the night of Chinese New Year’s Eve touching children’s heads while they were asleep. This cursed touch caused illnesses to plague the sleeping children, or worse, causing their deaths. A wise man advised parents to wrap coins in red paper and place them under their children’s pillows. When Sui came to touch the children’s heads, the coins would emit a bright light that would scare Sui away

    Secondly, Xian Sheng highlighted the unhealthy social situation that he observed are prevalent in our modern society. There are rising expectations that angpows must contain more money, causing financial strain for many families. There is also competition between relatives to see who gave more money and misunderstandings or disagreements over the amount of money given.

    To address these issues, Xian Sheng emphasised the importance of giving what we can afford and being transparent about it by giving money openly instead of hiding it inside angpows. By leading by example, we can prevent the negative cultural influence from spreading to future generations.

    Read the article from TheStar - Chinese New Year angpows: Too little or too much?

  2. '仔大仔的世界' means that when a child becomes an adult, they have their own ideas, opinions, and ways of doing things that may not necessarily align with their parents or others around them.
  3. In the early days of the Baitiangong, Xian Sheng drew in large crowds of people to listen to his sermons due to the many reported miracles that occurred during spiritual meditation. These included blind people being able to see and cripples being able to walk again, as well as individuals experiencing visiting Heaven and Hell during meditation. Many joined the spiritual movement seeking healing for various ailments, some perform incredible acrobatic feats as seen in the Olympics and some acquired talents in the Chinese martial arts. However, despite these miracles, many who participated only had a temporary interest in the movement and did not stay to listen to Xian Sheng's sermons about saving their souls. Some even attributed their healing to other sources and did not feel obligated to remain in the spiritual movement. Over time, Xian Sheng sought to shift the focus of the spiritual movement away from miracles and towards an analytical mind and logical thinking approach.