How to make rain – and anything else…

How to make it rain – follow Tao

Richard Wilhelm (the sinologist and translator of I Ching) was once in a remote Chinese village that was suffering from severe drought. The villagers had invoiced every kind of prayer for rain, but nothing worked. In desperation they sent for a well-known rainmaker who lived in a distant area. Wilhelm was on hand when the rainmaker, a wizened old man, arrived in a covered cart. He alighted, sniffed the air with disdain, then asked for a cottage on the village outskirts. He gave instructions not to be disturbed, and that his food was to be left outside his door. Nobody saw or heard anything of him for three days. Then the villagers awake to a downpour of rain mixed with snow, which was unheard of for that time of year.

Continue reading