Why does water bring to mind life, purification and the Dao?

Water nourishes all things and can also help us understand principles. Watching Raya and the Last Dragon, I found the choice of a water dragon meaningful: water becomes ice, steam or mist in different forms; it can carry a boat or overturn one; and drops can wear through stone. These familiar properties can also help us understand the Daodejing’s use of water as a metaphor for the Dao.

In the film, rain falls and people turned to stone come back to life. As a viewer, I felt water expressed nourishment and life beginning anew, with thoughtful elements of Eastern culture in the creation. This was my own interpretation; I had not asked the production team. The film’s plot is also not a method for reviving people in reality.

After watching, I thought again about daily life. We may take water for granted until a shortage makes its importance more apparent. In that conversation, someone also connected Taiwan’s water shortage with questions about the relationship between human hearts and the environment. These were reflections prompted by a film, not established knowledge that a particular state of mind caused drought.

When teaching Fu Mo practitioners, I also compare flowing and stagnant water to the need for energy to circulate. Water’s movement helps explain the difference between stagnation and circulation more easily than abstract talk of energy alone. This borrows water to illustrate a principle. It does not mean all water that appears still is incapable of supporting life.