indifference
For a true master,
sitting on a
throne
Is no different than
Sitting on
dirt.
A true master is
indifferent to the ways of society. Ambition, knowledge, and religion
are equally uninteresting. Why? Because all these things are in the
realm of human definition.
The holy person transcends all identity. Therefore, wealth or poverty,
good or bad, violence or peace makes no difference. Dichotomies are no
longer valid to such a person.
Do you find this hard to believe? The degree that you find this
difficult to accept indicates the degree to which you are shackled by
dualism. True enlightenment comes from understanding the oneness of all
reality. Such a realization leads to a perception that all things are
truly equal. A master sees nutrition and disease as the same, life and
death as the same, morality and immorality as the same. If you give the
masters something to eat they will eat. If they have nothing to eat,
they forget that there was ever sch an activity. There is no polarity
in their lives.
We ordinary people cannot do this. We make distinctions, defend
ourselves and our territories. We feel safe only inside declared
boundaries. This is the way we define ourselves, but our identities are
also our prisons. Only a master knows the meaning of liberation and has
complete freedom.
indifference
365 Tao
daily meditations
Deng Ming-Dao (author)
ISBN 0-06-250223-9
landscape
Zhang De Quan
4'8" x 2'2
1.42m x 0.68m
from the Gallery of China
http://www.the-gallery-of-china.com/chinese-landscape-painting.html
this is from room sixteen at this site
this original painting is available for purchase
duckdaotsu will
receive a donation
if this painting is purchased
click on thumbnail
for more information
Chinese Paintings Landscape Meanings
For over a thousand years, since the T'ang
dynasty, Chinese landscape paintings have been understood as both an
intimate expression of nature and as a way of conveying profound
emotions. Landscape paintings have traditionally
been China's favorite Chinese painting as they show the poetry in
nature. It is the "nature of nature" that the artist tries to convey in
a Chinese landscape painting. So, it is not so much a portrait of a
mountain but a composite of many elements of nature that invite you to
wander in imagination through the landscape. Literally
translated, the Chinese
characters for landscape mean "mountain and water". Almost all Chinese
landscape paintings depict mountains and water, generally a river. The
mountains represent a long life, and water the sea of happiness. In
harmony together, mountains and water symbolize a long happy life. Most
Chinese landscape paintings will also show mist or clouds which
symbolize good fortune and happiness and are understood to arise from
the union of the two main principles, yin and yang. Clouds and
rain can also refer to sexual
union, the clouds being the blending of the male and female, the sky
and the earth, and the rain, the climax of the union. This relates to
an old Chinese creation story in which heaven or sky, the Great Father,
and earth, the Great Mother, are thought of as a conjugal couple
engaged in never-ending intercourse.
For the Taoist, Chinese
landscape paintings
represent the eternal Tao, the ultimate reality that pervades all life.
It's the Chinese landscape painting in which the overwhelming
experience of the one-ness of nature and soul can be realized.
In ancient times mountains were special
objects of veneration that were thought to ensure cosmic order and
permanence, and virtually every mountain was believed to have its
resident mountain god.
also,
do let
me know if you wish to unsubscribe from the daily
meditations or need to take a vacation.
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