Tao. The Way and its power - ACE059.7

Musicians and monks. "Taoists can also hear the music of earth [which flows] through the currents of this extraordinary Taiwan coastline" at Nanya. Jade carvings: a twin vase, combining yin with yang; a carved jade mountain showing gods being worshipped by visitors. Villagers at an evening fruit ceremony in a country temple, making offering to the spirit of tao; their prayers echo Lao Tse’s teaching that "man follows the earth, earth follows heaven, heaven follows the tao and tao follows what is natural…". Village children chanting prayers. A unique Taoist ceremony in which a medium conveys messages from the spirit world through automatic writing. Sky and landscape at dawn; ceremony continues. Commentary suggests that Taoism warns against hiding "the fact of change" which can sometimes be savage: volcanic eruption, soldiers on streets during time of political unrest. "We now are reaping the dreadful harvest of failing to look beyond ourselves into the process of change on which the whole system of nature is actually built." Statue of Shou Lao: "… when we open our eyes to the movement of tao, we shall see our condition in a different light." Credits.