Painting the Dao

113 ak23.25 The Peaches of Immortality Ink and watercolour on cloud-dragon paper Handscroll, 24.5 × 175.0 cm, Hong Kong, April 2023 inscr iption Title panel The Peaches of Immortality Inscribed by the Master of the Water, Pine and Stone Retreat. Three artist seals 水松石山房 Shuisongshi shanfang (Water, Pine and Stone Retreat) 墨者不朽 Mozhe buxiu (Let ink be my immortality) 山外山樵 Shanwai shanqiao (Mountain woodcutter who is not in the mountains) Painting Two artist seals 如如居士 Ruru Jushi (Retired scholar who believes all doctrines equal) 攜杖老人 Xiezhang laoren (Old man who carries the staff ) Colophon The Peaches of Immortality are said to grow in the garden of the Queen Mother and fruit only once every three thousand years. But for immortals they are, of course, entirely unnecessary. They are a myth invented as part of the interface between the Dao and the religion that arises out of it; their purpose, to render the mystery more accessible to the mystified. But there is no mystery in the Dao, only on the path to it. At the Garden at the Edge of the Universe, in the spring of 2023. Three artist seals 竹虛老人 Zhuxu laoren (Old man as empty inside as bamboo) 養石閒人 Yangshi xianren (Idler who cherishes stones) 石狂 Shikuang (Stone fool)