The great Tao

Posted at 6:48, 3.12.2008

The Qingjing jing (Scripture of Purity and Tranquility) serves to inspire the active practitioner and believer. It provides an easy handle on the realization of the Tao within the religious life. It is an exhortation to purity and meditation, a warning against bad thoughts and deviant desires. Pious Taoists know this short and rhythmic text by heart. There is as yet no study of this text or of Taoist monastic liturgy:

The Great Tao has no form;

It brings forth and raises heaven and earth.

The great Tao has no feelings;

It regulates the course of the sun and the moon.

The Great Tao has no name;

It raises and nourishes the myriad beings.

I do not know its name –

So I call it Tao.