Mountains and Seas (cont'd)

I am currently reading The Sacred and The Profane: The Nature of Religion by Mircea Eliade. This is an absolute must-read for anyone seriously interested in the history of religion. Although the book draws most of its examples from archaic, Indo-European, and Mediterranean religions, it does contain a few interesting thoughts about Chinese religions.

One such thought that has stricken me is about the art of Chinese miniature landscapes. Such miniature landscapes often portray a miniature mountain over a miniature lake — very similar to the concept of mountains and seas. And their being miniature and confined to a garden or a flowerpot renders them "controllable" and less threatening.

Just a thought I wanted to share...