 11 May 2010 @ 13:12
MEANING
Lightning tears temple asunder.
Divine wrath, or natural disaster?
There was a seaside temple in India that was struck by lightning.
That minor storm was the vanguard to a full hurricane that eventually
ravaged the entire countryside. The old temple was split from its roof
line to its foundations. One entire end of the building was parted from
its body like a severed head. Was this karma? Was this the punishment of
the gods? Or was it simply an old building and an unfortunate accident?
What you say shows your attitude about nature, reality, and whether
you believe gods intervene in human affairs. If you insist that there
was some reason that lightning cleaved the temple, then you live in a
world where uncertainty is the by-product of some supreme being's
emotional whims. If, however, you accept this incident solely as a
natural disaster, then you also accept random occurrences in life. Such
a viewpoint does not preclude any notion of the divine, of course. It
merely states that not everything in nature is administered by some
heavenly bureaucracy.
It is a simple fact that lightning split the temple. The meaning of
this incident -- if there is any -- is determined by each person. One
person regards it as a disaster, another as a good thing, while a third
views it dispassionately. There is nothing inherent in the incident that
dictates its meaning. It is enough that we all recognize that it
happened.
365 Tao: Daily Meditations
Deng Ming-Dao
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