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Markings in dry clay disappear
Only when the clay is soft again.
Scars upon the self disappear
Only when one becomes soft within.
Throughout our life, but especially during our youth, many scars are inflicted upon us. Some of them are the results of violence, abuse, rape, or warfare. Others arise from bad education. A few come from humiliation and failure. Others are caused by our own misadventures. Unless we recover from these injuries, the scars mar us forever.
Classical scriptures urge us to withdraw from our own lusts and sins. But scars that have happened through no fault of our own may also bar us from spiritual success. Unfortunately, it is often easier to give up a bad habit than to recover from the incisions of others' violence. The only way is through self-cultivation. Doctors and priests can only do so much. The true course of healing is up to us alone.
To do this, we must acquire many methods, travel widely, struggle to over come our personal phobias, and perhaps most importantly of all, try to acquires as few new problems as possible. Unless we do, each one of them will bar us from true communication with Tao.
Scars
365 Tao
Deng Ming-Dao
Daily Meditations
Lady at the Window
Artist Unknown
China
17 century A.D.
hanging scroll:
ink and color on paper
22 x 46 Painting
CC.247
On extended loan
from the Ching Yuan Chaibampfa.berkeley.edu