Like the prologue to John's Gospel, the first chapter of the Tao Te Ching is both an
introduction, summary, and gateway to the festival within. Here is yet one more version:
You are our path
not some pathway in the sky
your word becomes our flesh
walks among us, in our very midst
walks our every path
talks all our words
flies, as a banner, from our rooftops --
yet we know you not.
No name for the virgin-mother of heaven and earth
many names for the mother of the ten thousand beings.
When we do not flow down those deep gorges
cut in the heart-mind by continual repetition-
then, we may see what is before us.
You, the holy one, are there
I, a man, am here...
does this mean:
that I am not there
that you are not here?
Here is wonder, twice hid
wonder that becomes us
doorway through which you pass
come in and go out
and we also. |
