work
The
woodcutter
works in all seasons.
Splitting wood is both
Action and inaction.
Even
when it is snowy, the woodcutter must split wood. Unless he does,
he and his family will not stay warm, and those who depend upon him
will not survive. But the woodcutter does not work simply on a
piecemeal basis. He labors in concert with the seasons. He worked hard
to store wood prior to the first cold so that he would have the luxury
of merely splitting kindling now. His work seems slight in one season,
because he was industrious in the previous one.
When he splits wood, he must place
the log on the block and raise his
axe. But he must strike the wood with the grain, and he must let the
axe fall with its own weight. If he tries to chop across the grain, his
effort would be wasted. If he tries to add strength to the swing of the
axe, there would be no gain.
Like the woodcutter, we can all
benefit from working according to
seasonal circumstances. Whether it is the time of the method, true
labor is half initiative and half knowing how to let things proceed on
their own.
work
365
Tao
daily
meditations
Deng
Ming-Dao (author)
ISBN
0-06-250223-9
Celestial Worthy of Primordial Beginning (detail)
Ming dynasty, 16th century
Hanging scroll1
ink and colors on silk 140 x 80 cm
White Cloud Monastery (Baiyun Guan), Beijing cat. no. 65
Celestial Worthy of Primordial
Beginning
This and the following two
paintings (Celestial Worthy of Numinous Treasure and Celestial Worthy
of the Way and Its Power) come not from a museum or private collection,
but rather from an active Taoist temple: the White Cloud Monastery2 in Beijing, head temple of the
Complete Realization sect3. Although this painting comes from a
different original set than the other two, it would have originally
been part of a triptych depicting the Three Purities4, the highest gods of religious Taoism5.
This is the central deity of the
Three Purities, the Celestial Worthy of Primordial Beginning. As his
name implies, he is believed to have spontaneously formed from pure
energy at the beginning of the world. According to legend, he observed
the shifting patterns of energy and created the first writing system
from them by casting the patterns in gold onto jade tablets.
Consequently, he is seen as both the source of all learning and the
first author of Taoist scriptures. The first and loftiest section of
the Taoist Canon6 is dedicated to him. Here, he is
shown seated on an elaborate throne that hovers in the cloudlike energy
of his celestial realm. He is dressed in the manner of a Taoist priest,
with his hands in a magical gesture that imitates a Buddhist mudra7. His spiritual energy radiates
outward in a mandorla8 of
swirling colors.
glossary:
1 hanging
scroll
a painting or piece of calligraphy made in the form of a vertical
scroll hung either on a wall or from the end of an attendant's pole.
Unlike oil canvases or panels, scroll paintings could be easily taken
down and replaced at various times of the year to suit the tastes of
visitors or to mark certain occasions, such as the changing seasons.
Scroll paintings are remounted every few decades to repair any damage
and help preserve the image
2
White Cloud
Monastery
(Baiyun Guan) one of the most famous Taoist
monasteries in
China. The temple, located in Beijing, was first built in the Tang
dynasty and assumed its present name when it was rebuilt in 1394 during
the Ming dynasty.
3 Complete
Realization
sect a Taoist monastic order founded in northern
China
around 1160. The sect combines the teachings of Taoism, Buddhism, and
Confucianism. The goal of the sect's followers was to attain
immortality by perfectly realizing the Tao in themselves. Both male and
female members of this sect practiced a strict monastic lifestyle. It
survives today as one of the two major sects of Taoism, and its
headquarters is the White Cloud Monastery in Beijing.
4 Three
Purities (Three
Clarities) the highest deities in Taoism, they reside over
the
three greatest heavenly realms. Their names are the Celestial Worthy of
Primordial Beginning, the Celestial Worthy of Numinous Treasure, and
the Celestial Worthy of the Way and Its Power.
5
religiousTaoism a
term used to define Taoism as an organized, institutionalized religion
as opposed to the original philosophical tradition. Religious Taoism
developed between the second and fifth centuries A.D. and built on the
earlier philosophical foundations. Unlike philosophical Taoism,
religious Taoism incorporated new ritual practices and religious
institutions, established a priesthood, defined the Taoist Canon, and
created a pantheon of deities.
6 Taoist
Canon the
collected scriptures of Taoism, systematically catalogued by imperial
decree for the first time in the fifth century A.D. The present Taoist
Canon dates to the 15th century.
7 mudra
mystical hand
gestures common in Hinduism and Buddhism
8 mandorla
an
almond-shaped halo of light enclosing the whole of some sacred figures
Copyright
© 2000,
The Art Institute of Chicago.
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