Tao Te Ching Chapter 15-14 Break your face

Today's Tao

It doesn't fill up. So, you can wear it out, and it will not be created again. (Ch.15)


No matter how big your ego is, it cannot fill your hologram.

As Zen Master Dogen said, you can polish a tile and make a mirror.

You can "wear out" your hologram.

When you have polished it completely and "worn it out", your face is broken.

"Break your mirror!"

"Break your face!"

All right.

But it is worth thinking what kind of state it is when your face is broken.

Lao Tzu drops a hint:

"It will not be created again".


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-Break your face 15-14
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 15


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Tao Te Ching Chapter 15-13 Break your mirror

Today's Tao

He who keeps this Tao doesn't want to be full. (Ch.15)


"Break your mirror."

"Break your face."

These are famous Zen sayings.

The mirror and the face are metaphors for your hologram.

A man who knows he is one with Tao doesn't want his hologram "to be full".

With desire and resistance, the hologram gets bigger and bigger, in a way.

The bigger it is, the harder it is to break it.


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-Break your face 15-14
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 15


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Tao Te Ching Chapter 15-12 Restructured World

Today's Tao

Who can move it and gradually have it give birth while it is at rest? (Ch.15)


Tao gives birth to all, and no one can force it to do so.

You cannot touch Tao.

But you can touch things in your hologram projected in the "head".

Our brains need a restructured world (=a hologram) to comprehend what we are seeing and doing.

In other words, you can touch only illusions.


Dogen says:

If it is not a picture of cake, it cannot fill a hungry man's stomach. [it is not a medicine to satisfy hunger.] (Gabyo 画餅, «Shobogenzo»)


Naoto Matsumoto says:

Only holographic cake can fill the holographic stomach of a hungry man.


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 15
-How do I know? 57-4


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Tao Te Ching Chapter 15-11 Muddy but clear

Today's Tao

Who can keep Tao calm and gradually make it clear while it is muddy? (Ch.15)


No one can keep Tao calm, but it is calm.

Tao is an energetic chaos without form or time.

So, it is still and vibrant, muddy and clear at the same time.

It is a mess perfectly organised.


You may be sick and tired of hearing this contradiction.

I am sorry.

We can't help explaining Tao this way.

Words are not good enough.


But, why don't we use this?

For example, we don't hesitate to be confused in order to have a clear idea.


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 15


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Tao Te Ching Chapter 15-10 Muddy water

Today's Tao

Mixed, as if he were muddy water. (Ch.15)


If you know Tao, you have no discrimination.

You are mixed, as mixed as muddy water.

Isn't it nice? If you know Tao, you are as confused as muddy water.

Hhhh. What a relief!

Muddy water is something very close to Dark Depth.

If you are confused and your head is mixed up like muddy water, congratulations!

You are one with Tao.

So, do not judge, especially, yourself.


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 15


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Tao Te Ching Chapter 15-9 Empty

Today's Tao

Empty, as if he were a valley. (Ch.15)


A: "Be empty."

B: "Sir,... Excuse me, sir. How can I be empty?

A: "Empty your mind."

B: "Yes, sir."

B tries to empty his mind.

B: "No, sir, I can't do it. I can't do it. Oh, my god! There must be something wrong with me. Something wrong with me!"


Don't worry.

Nobody needs to empty his mind.

Don't waste your time and energy. It doesn't matter if you can do it or not.

Your mind and body are a hologram. In a sense, you are already empty.

Then, what does "Be empty." mean really?

It means:

"No resistance. Accept all".


☞See Tao by Matsumoto / Chapter 6 / Valley God. The word "valley" is always associated with emptiness, vacuum, and void in Tao Te Ching.


Buddhists say:

Colour is justly equal to emptiness. Emptiness is justly equal to colour.

色即是空。空即是色。

[Shiki soku ze ku. Ku soku ze shiki.]


Dogen adds:

Colour is colour. Emptiness justly emptiness.

色是色なり。空即空なり。

(Makahannya Haramitsu 摩訶般若波羅蜜, «Shobogenzo»)


Naoto Matsumoto says:

You say Potato. I say Potahto.


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 15
-Full = Empty 45-3


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Tao Te Ching Chapter 15-8 Thick

Today's Tao

Thick, as if he were an uncarved block. (Ch.15)


"You are a bit thick. You know that?"

When you talk about Tao in front of people, some of them must say this.

If they say: "Wow, you are a true enlightened man", you are not talking about a true «uncarved block».

This is one of Lao Tzu's favourite expressions to describe the initial state of being.

Be as innocent, as stupid, and as thick as an «uncarved block».


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 15


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Tao Te Ching Chapter 15-7 Disintegrating

Today's Tao

Disintegrating, as if he were ice about to melt. (Ch.15)


If you know Tao, you are disintegrating.

Hang loose.

Never mind falling apart.

Don't try to structure things.


A Buddhist monk, Bassui Tokusho 抜隊得勝 (1323-1387), said:

"When you are lost, you are like ice."

(«Bassui Kana Hogo» 抜隊仮名法語)

鎌田茂雄「正法眼蔵随聞記講話」講談社学術文庫より


Other Zen Buddhists say:

"When you are tight, you are lost. When you are loosened up, you are Buddha."


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 15


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Tao Te Ching Chapter 15-6 Solemn

Today's Tao

Solemn, as if he were a guest. (Ch.15)


If you know Tao, you are formal and dignified as if you were invited to a dinner party.

What does "to be solemn" mean here?

It means "to be detached".

When you are a guest, you have to be polite enough, but largely detached from what the hosts are really doing, saying, and especially thinking.

Never mind. It's not your business if the sauce is too salty or not.

In life, you are a guest to the world.

You don't invite them. You are invited.


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 15


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Tao Te Ching Chapter 15-5 Hesitant

Today's Tao

Hesitant, as if he were afraid of four neighbours. (Ch.15)


If you know Tao, you hesitate to influence the world.

You had better not change the world.

You don't have to correct the wrong-doings of other fellow citizens, especially your neighbours.

They may forget to give food to their dog.

They make too much noise during the sacred act of love.

All right, all right. You are right. You are righteous. I understand how you feel.

But, please think before you act.

Who creates them?

Who projects those holograms in your "mind"?


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 15


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Tao Te Ching Chapter 15-4 Take time

Today's Tao

Taking time, as if he walked across a river in winter. (Ch.15)


Be lazy!

When someone criticises you for being lazy, here is the best reply.

"A great Chinese philosopher Chuang Tzu said: «Move only when you are forced to move»."


Take your time, especially when you eat.

Chew food well and receive its life.


Zen Master Dogen says:

"Cut the nails of your ten fingers." (Senjo 洗浄, «Shobogenzo»)

"We don't really know neither inside nor outside our body/mind because we don't know the limit of any existence or the elements of material beings."


Naoto Matsumoto says:

If there is no limit between inside and outside the body, keeping your body clean is keeping this world clean.

Chewing food well is another way to show respect to life, a very good way to emit the fundamental energy Tao.

Plus, you may be able to eat less by chewing each mouthful of food 30 - 50 times. You get tired before you finish your third Big Mac.


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 15


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Tao Te Ching Chapter 15-3 Mr I-know-Tao?

Today's Tao

Though we can't understand him, let us force ourselves to picture what he is like. (Ch.15)


We cannot understand the person who knows Tao, Lao Tzu says.

How does he look?

Nahhh, you don't have to know it.

Excuse me?

You really have to know how he looks?

Well.

He looks exactly like you because you know Tao.

You don't need any super human exercise to know Tao.

You know it already.


Zen Master Dogen says:

"Buddha and you are the same."

自己は諸仏なり。

[jiko wa shobutsu nari]

(Genjokoan 現成公案, «Shobogenzo»)


Naoto Matsumoto says:

Stop doubting. You are Mr I-know-Tao, 100% guaranteed, because true You are Tao itself.

Let's start saying: "I am all right because I know Tao".

To learn Tao, you don't have to read any reading materials, this blog included.


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 15


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Tao Te Ching Chapter 15-2 How profound!

Today's Tao

We cannot tell how profound he was. (Ch.15)


A man who knew Tao was profound.

Tao is profound.

Dark Depth is profound.


Zen masters are profound.

Zen Buddhism is profound.

Buddhism is profound.


Tao is profound.

Zen is profound.

Love is profound.


You know it instinctively.

You feel it.

That's enough.


Naoto Matsumoto says:

Though I use the expressions "Dark Depth" and "Dark Depth Female", please don't relate them to any sort of spacial relationship. The words "Dark Depth" are chosen in order to express the darkness you get when you put many layers of colours one upon another.

It is a translation of the word 玄 [gen / xuan].

Since Tao has no space, it doesn't have any depth.


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 15


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Tao Te Ching Chapter 15-1 Dark Depth / video

Today's Tao

In the old days, a man who knew well about Tao comprehended Dark Depth minutely and subtly. (Ch.15)


When you visit Japan, I hope that you will have some time to go to an onsen, a traditional hot spa resort.

This symbolises what Japan is.

Hospitality, warmth, tradition, and a bit of promiscuity.

A bit of contradiction as well.

You may be able to find an old onsen ryokan (a Japanese style hotel with maids in a kimono) with a gigantic wooden bath you share with other visitors. Then, you will find an old Williams pinball and a Space Invader video game machine half abandoned in its amusement hall.

Kusatsu, where I shot the photo above, is one of the magical places in Japan. A splendid memory guaranteed.

Please ask me if you need some advice on your choice of a onsen in Japan.


As for the text of Today's Tao video, please visit Dark Depth / Tao Te Ching Chapter 15-1.


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Tao Te Ching Chapter 14-19 Tao's quintessence

Today's Tao

It is called the quintessence of Tao. (Ch.14)


Tao is you.

What are you afraid of?

Of future? Of others? Of your own mind?

Don't be afraid. You are all right.

"Your life itself is Buddha!"

Zen Master Dogen says so.

You are the quintessence of Tao.

You don't have to look for it somewhere else.


Naoto Matsumoto says:

The Chinese Character (Kanji) 紀 [ki] is translated as "quintessence" here. It can be understood as "the hub" in the sense that is discussed at 30 spokes 11-1 and Wheel 11-2.


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 14


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Tao Te Ching Chapter 14-18 Big Bang

Today's Tao

Then, you can see the beginning of the distant past. (Ch.14)


Ha, ha, ha, ha. Ha, ha, ha, ha.

This is the way actors laugh in a Kyogen play.

Laughter is your personal Big Bang.

When you do "ha, ha, ha, ha", you can change your emotional cosmos immediately.

"The beginning of the distant past" is the world-famous Big Bang.

But when did the beginning of the world take place?

Tao doesn't have time.

So, it has to be now.


Naoto Matsumoto says:

Kyogen is a comic counterpart to the serious Noh theatre of Japan, in which characters rarely laugh. You don't have to worry about falling asleep during a Kyogen performance.

And, you know, it is you who is creating the world, your hologram.


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 14


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Tao Te Ching Chapter 14-17 Distant past

Today's Tao

Stick to Tao of the distant past, and control the existence of the present by doing so. (Ch.14)


Tao has no time.

Past, present, and future is our memory, which is being created simultaneously now.

So, "stick to Tao" means "accept the present".


Zen Master Dogen says:

"A pine tree is time. A bamboo tree is time. You must not learn that time only flies away".

(Uji 有時, «Shobogenzo»)


Time is attached to your hologram.


Naoto Matsumoto says:

Forget about past. Forget about control.


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 14


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Tao Te Ching Chapter 14-16 Tao's rear

Today's Tao

When you follow it, you don't see its rear. (Ch.14)


Can you see your rear?

No, we can't.

"Tao's rear" symbolises our feelings.

It is not important to know how your feelings are composed.

Do you know why the clouds in the sky move this way and that?

It is a useful tool in life to think that feelings are like the clouds.

You are not responsible for them.


Dogen says:

You own self is like mountains, rivers, and lands. (Keiseisanshoku 谿声山色, «Shobogenzo»)


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 14


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Tao Te Ching Chapter 14-15 Tao's face

Today's Tao

When you face it, you don't see its head. (Ch.14)


I wonder why we cannot see our face.

If our appearance is quite important, why don't we have eyes on our hands, or somewhere we can see the face without a help from a mirror.

An inevitable conclusion:

Why can't we see our face?

Because it is not important at all to know what others think of us.

Well, they are part of your hologram, aren't they?


Dogen seems to think we are a mirror itself, and says: "If a roof tile were not to become a mirror, a man could not become Buddha". (Kokyo 古鏡, «Shobogenzo»)

Tile = Mirror = Man = Buddha


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 14


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Tao Te Ching Chapter 14-14 The evasive being

Today's Tao

This is called the evasive being. (Ch.14)


You cannot get hold of Tao.

Can you touch the magnetic field?

Can you touch radio waves?

We can only perceive things projected in our mind, that is to say, holograms.

Words are quite ironical, but one has to say: "Only illusions are perceivable".


Dogen says:

You must not think that mountains, rivers, and lands are only mountains, rivers, and lands. (Keiseisanshoku 谿声山色, «Shobogenzo»)


Naoto Matsumoto says:

Cherish your illusions (=holograms, =the world). Herman Hesse says the same thing in his «Siddhartha».


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 14


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Tao Te Ching Chapter 14-13 The shape without a shape

Today's Tao

This is called the shape without a shape, an image without a thing. (Ch.14)


Tao doesn't have a shape. Anything that has a shape belongs to the sphere of your hologram.

But a thing needs Tao's energy to exist.

So, Tao is the essence of an object with a shape.

Where do we have images?

In our mind, isn't it?

We use time and space to decode our holographic images according to our own social perspective of life.

Well, with or without time and space Tao is the origin of a shape or an image.


Zen Master Dogen might say:

Don't waste your time, and learn "time doesn't exist." as soon as possible.


Naoto Matsumoto says:

I like Master Dogen's practical contradiction.

Why don't we think that the concept of time and space is like grammar to understand a language? We need it in order to interpret the world.


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-The shape without a shape 14-13
-Evasive being 14-14
-Tao's face 14-15
-Tao's rear 14-16
-Distant past 14-17
-Big Bang 14-18
-Tao's quintessence 14-19
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 14


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Tao Te Ching Chapter 14-12 Back to nothingness

Today's Tao

It goes back to nothingness. (Ch.14)


The word "nothing" confuses new comers of Zen and Taoism.

It is because it's difficult to eliminate the concept of time and space from our head.

If there is no time or space, everything is taking place simultaneously in one place, which is Tao.

Everything is generated in Tao and goes back to Tao the nothingness.

Check Zen master Dogen's essay on existence-time.


Master Dogen says:

Time and space exist in mountains, rivers, and lands.


Naoto Matsumoto says:

It would have been much easier for Master Dogen if had had the word "holography". He could have said: "Time and space exist only in your hologram".

Zen Master Dogen helps us a lot about how to deal with time and space.

He wrote a masterpiece essay called «U-ji», which can be roughly translated as existence-time.


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 14


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Tao Te Ching Chapter 14-11 Tao has no name

Today's Tao

It is omnipresent and has no name. (Ch.14)


You say: "Buddha".

I say: "Tao".

You say: "Zen".

I say: "Love".


Tao has no name.

So, any name can be its name.

Even if you don't know the word Tao, you can live happily.


Naoto Matsumoto says:

Don't you think some Buddhists are too concerned about terminology, Daisetz Suzuki and Master Dogen included? In this sense, Master Ikkyu is much more original. This drunken Zen bonze is a poet rather than an academic.


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Tao answers your question!



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Tao Te Ching Chapter 14-10 «Yama Uba» under it

Today's Tao

It is not dark even if it is under it. (Ch.14)


Japanese Zen Master Ikkyu supposedly wrote a Noh play called «Yama Uba» in order to explain how Tao (= Zen) functions.

Behind any human or natural activity lies Tao.

Tao's function is symbolised by an old woman roaming in the mountains, who helps working people without letting them know her presence.

Master Ikkyu wrote it in the fifteenth century.

I wonder if it was easier then to receive Tao's energy by cherishing the holographic world.


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-Big Bang 14-18
-Tao's quintessence 14-19
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 14
-Ikkyu's funny dirty love poem 6-6
-Yama Uba the Zen play


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Tao Te Ching Chapter 14-9 Not brilliant

Today's Tao

It is not brilliant even if it is above it. (Ch.14)


Tao the fundamental energy is everywhere.

It lies inside and outside the objects we see.

Even though Tao lies "above" something, it is invisible. It is not brilliant.

You can interpret what Tao is this way if it is too hard to accept that the world is a hologram.

There is no point forcing yourself to think that we are living in a floating world, or an illusion, unless you are very unhappy about it.


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-Distant past 14-17
-Big Bang 14-18
-Tao's quintessence 14-19
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 14


Tao answers your question!



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