The Vinegar tasters

In the picture "The Vinegar Tasters", Confucius, Buddha and Lau Tzu stand around a pot and taste vinegar.

Confucius tastes sourness as he sees the world is out of order, it used to have great structure of respect, the emperor stood between man and heaven and ruled, people followed ritual handed down through generations, and now the world is sour.

The Buddha tasted bitterness, as he saw only people with too much desire, desire they could never quash and so they drove themselves to a bitter life.

Lau Tzu says the vinegar is perfect, this is how it tastes, heaven is on earth, too many rules spoil it, you can't change the taste of vinegar with a rule, this is its nature, we should not force the way, nature has her way and she follows Tao, if you understand the flow, you understand the world.