Monday

dao source

source
Chinese for "source"


golden goddess, hands in prayer and folded


Wellspring of energy
Rises in the body’s core
Tap it and be sustained.
Channel it, and it will speak.


The source of all power is within yourself. Although external circumstances may occasionally hamper you, true movement comes solely from within yourself. The source is latent in everyone, but anyone can learn to tap it. When this happens, power rises like a shimmering well through the center of your body.

Physically, it will sustain and nourish you. But it can do many other things as well. It can give you gifts ranging from unusual knowledge to simple tranquility. It all depends on how you choose to direct your energies.

We cannot say that a person will become enlightened solely by virtue of having tapped this source of power; energy is neutral. It requires experience, wisdom, and education to direct it. You may gain power from your meditations, but it is possible for two people with the same valid attainment to use it in two different ways, even to the extremes of good and evil. Finding the source of spiritual power is a great joy; deciding how to direct it is the greatest of responsibilities.



source
365 Tao

daily meditations
Deng Ming-Dao (author)
ISBN 0-06-250223-9


Tibet, Treasures from the Roof of the World
TIBET:
TREASURES FROM
THE ROOF OF THE WORLD
Unidentified Four-armed Goddess
Gilt copper
Tibet, 14th - 15th century
H: 29 cm; L: 23 cm; W: 16 cm

Tibet Museum, Lhasa



Published: Precious Deposits, vol. 3, pp. 56-57, no. 24; E. F. Lo Bue, Tesori del Tibet: Oggetti d'arte dai Monasteri di Lhasa, pp. 116-118, no. 76; Ulrich von Schroeder, Buddhist Sculptures in Tibet , vol. 2, p. 1040, pl. 260A.

Originally from the Red Palace inside the Potala, this unidentified goddess sits in meditation on a lotus throne placed on a lion pedestal. She has two pairs of hands. The bottom pair is held in the gesture of meditation. The top pair is in the gesture of preaching (dharmachakra mudra), while also holding two stalks of lotus blossoms, supporting a conch (left) and a vase of immortality (right) at shoulder level. The goddess is bedecked with jewels, mainly inlaid turquoise. Her head is enclosed within a cloverleaf halo and the wavy scarves behind her arms add a sense of movement.

In her elaborate ornament, jewel encrusted lower garment, and clover-shaped halo, this figure closely resembles a group of copper repoussé images from Densatil Monastery, a Kagyu establishment founded in the 12th century that was once located in central Tibet. During the 14th and 15th centuries, this region of Tibet was ruled by the Lang family, who generously patronized Densatil.



T A O t e C H I N G

hand drawn calligraphy of the word dao
t w e n t y - e i g h t

tao 28

Know the male,
yet keep to the female:
receive the world in your arms.
If you receive the world,
the Tao will never leave you
and you will be like a little child.

Know the white,
yet keep to the black:
be a pattern for the world.
If you are a pattern for the world,
the Tao will be strong inside you
and there will be nothing you can't do.

Know the personal,
yet keep to the impersonal:
accept the world as it is.
If you accept the world,
the Tao will be luminous inside you
and you will return to your primal self.

The world is formed from the void,
like utensils from a block of wood.
The Master knows the utensils,
yet keeps to the the block:
thus she can use all things.


— translation is by Steven Mitchell



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