23 Jun 2010 @ 13:46
WORSHIP
You can worship gods,
But you cannot worship Tao.
Adoration of your god is more beautiful than lovers, more fulfilling
than feasts, more valuable than mammon. It provides greater shelter than
palaces. Proper worship is joyous and ecstatic.
If you have a limited view of worship, you can always lose sight of
holiness. When you are on a junior level of achievement, you can turn
away from your gods at any time. Those who follow Tao know that Tao is
not the god on the altar; they therefore see their god in their every
action and never lose sight of the divine.
Gods can be worshipped, but the Tao can't be worshipped. Why?
Because gods lead to good things and inspire our highest devotion. As
magnificent as this is to imagine, it is still limited when compared to
the eternity of Tao. Tao has no definitions, no limit, no personal or
individual consciousness. Thus, to worship Tao is meaningless, for our
effort would be lost in an infinite sea. There is no supplication to it,
for it will not respond. There is no adoration of it, for it displays no
glory. There is no ecstatic union with it, for it has no
differentiations. Tao is great. Tao is eternal. Anything limited and
small -- even worship -- disappears in it. One can only enter Tao to
become a part of its limitlessness.
365 Tao: Daily Meditations
Deng Ming-Dao
|
|
