The taste of vinegar. The jug of vinegar is said to be life and the three characters are Confucius, the Buddha and Lao Tse….
A Taoist painting shows three men sitting around a jar of vinegar.
The first tastes it and twists his mouth because he finds it bitter.
The second grimaces because he finds it sour, while the third seems satisfied because he finds it excellent.
The vinegar jug is said to be life, and the three characters are Confucius, Buddha and Lao Tse.
The first, Confucius, thinks that life is terrible and that it is necessary to create ceremonies to which one must constantly submit.
The second, the Buddha, says that life is bitter, that we must die, that everything is suffering, and that it is necessary to strive to free oneself from it.
The third, Lao Tse, is a positive being who follows the course of things.
He states :
“Life depends on the point of view we take.
My daily life is a miracle because I am the one who creates it.
I am life”.
Tasting vinegar is a very strong metaphor, but it is about really tasting, really understanding the taste of life.
This pushes us to have a broader perspective of the world.
That is the difficulty of the exercise that we have to do.
How can I live in this world that threatens me with deadly diseases, pollution, self-destruction ?
We have to behave in relation to what threatens us : if there is a vibration, I am calm; if there is war, I am peace.
I am not a foreign body “from outside”.
