Today's Tao
Learning constancy is called enlightenment. (Ch.16)
Japan stories
Satori = Enlightenment? What is Satori, really?
The word has been confusing the Japanese mind for ages.
Most Japanese didn't give a hoot about Satori before because they were pesants and Shintoist-Buddhists (of a non-Zen school).
In principle, Zen buddhists were samurais, soldier-bureaucrats who occupied merely a fraction of Japanese population.
After the end of Tokugawa Shogun era, all the people became legally equal, and everyone wanted to behave like a samurai.
It was cool to meditate squatting in an exotic fashion and think about something abstract like Satori.
Well, what does it mean by Satori?
Linguistically, the word doesn't have a Chinese origin, which is quite rare since most of conceptual terms were imported from China in the middle age.
"Sa" means "that". "Tori" "take"
Please look at the photo above. Can you recognise four Kanji characters on the square wooden plate?
香取神宮 ka-tori-jin-gu
This is the name for one of the oldest Shinto shrines in Japan.
The second one from the top 取 is the Kanji for "tori / take".
So, Satori means "Take that".
Is it just a coincidence that it resembles Lao Tzu's «throw away that one and take this one.» (Chapter12 / Five Colours)?
Tao answers your question!
To read the text of Today's Tao, please see Tao Te Ching Chapter 16-9 Satori.
Keep on squatting, my friend!
Satori is life itself.
Of course, you can accept and love your life while meditating.
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