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A father without a father
Has difficulty balancing.
A master without a master
Is dangerous.
We look up to our parents, our teachers, and out leaders with trust and expectation. Their responsibility is to guide us, educate us, and even make judgments on our behalf when circumstances are uncertain. Ultimately, they are to bring us to the point where we can make our own decisions, based on the wisdom that they have helped us develop.
But the potential for abuse and mistakes is very great. What person can be right all the time? A simple lapse at the wrong time can cause confusion, psychological scars, and even great disaster. Harsh words during a child's impressionable moments can engender years of problems. That is why we need to parent for the parent, a for the master, and leaders for the leaders. This prevents errors of power. In the past, even kings had wise advisers. Every person who would be a leader should have such assistance.
Eventually, someone has to be at the top. And who will that person turn to? Let us invoke not deities but pragmatism. It is experience that is the ultimate teacher. That is why wise people travel constantly and test themselves against the flux of circumstance. It is only in this way that they can truly confirm their thoughts and compensate for their shortcomings.
accountability
365 Tao
Deng Ming-Dao
Daily Meditations
Peddlers by the Castle Wall
Kim Hong-do (1745 to 1806?)
Choson Dynasty
late 18th; early 19th century
Ink and light colors on paper
27.0 cm x 38.5 cm
Genre pictures by Kim Hong-do are renowned for their realistic presentation of scenes from the daily lives of ordinary people, displaying the artist's keen sense of observation as well as his ability to describe both interesting and sympathetic narratives. At the time, paintings of this type were called sokhwa, meaning 'secular painting.' The present album leaf, showing two porters carrying heavy loads of copper coins, exhibits his concern for the lives and hardships of ordinary people. The composition is unique, with the castle wall slanted and partially blurred. It is signed "Tangu," a signature used by the artist during his later years.
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