Tao. The Way and its power - ACE059.3

Interior of temple dedicated to Ma-tsu, Goddess of the Sea. Woman praying. Statues of other deities; commentary explains that "spirits of the family dead" are rewarded or punished "according to how good their lives on earth were". Burning spirit money for the dead. Lake; mountains, hilltop pagoda. "…mountains, valleys, lakes, all have a meaning beyond their immediate appearance ... the natural world [shows] … what’s there at that moment [and] what lies beyond and behind it…" Twelfth century scroll, The Red Cliffs (by Ch’iao Chung-ch’ang), "… not an imitation of nature … rather an illustration of the spirit of the landscape as it moved the painter…". Commentary says that a Chinese artist "[weaves] into his painting a kind of force or energy that he feels in the world around him … perpetual movement…". Water on rocks. Clouds blowing over mountains. Paintings of dragons, "supreme embodiment of energy". Thirteenth century bowl, in the glaze of which has been combed into patterns suggesting "the fierce coils and feathery ripples of the moving tao". Smoke from incense; tenth century plate decoration representing smoke rising through the air. Burning incense. A pot, the contour of which was "drawn in space, like a thread of tao, rising through the air, shaping the clay".