Tao Te Ching Chapter 40-18 Hidden with no name

Today's Tao

Tao is hidden and has no name. (Ch.40)


You cannot see Tao.

In other words, you are always seeing Tao's manifestation.

Why do we have to look for it somewhere else?

Right here, right now, you are seeing it.

You are receiving its energy, its love.

And please remember that you are the love itself.

Lao Tzu says that it's useless to define what Tao is.

It doesn't even need a name because it exists everywhere.

If you cannot help having an image to love and admire, Zen master Ikkyu invented «Yama Uba» for you.

Yama Uba hidden in the mountains.

She symbolizes Tao, Zen, Love, or whatever you name it.


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-No form 40-17
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-Generosity 40-19
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 40


Tao answers your question!



-«Yama Uba» means an old woman in the mountains. She is thought to be an imaginary character in Japanese legends. But Japanese ethnologist Kunio Yanagida implies that Japan may have had a substantial number of population who lived in the deep forests without being socially involved in the life in villages. They were dropouts in the feudal age. Some of them may have chosen the way of life consciously for fear of being captured by their enemy. Others may have simply liked the way. Master Ikkyu intelligently used this unsophisticated mountain lady as a metaphor of Zen/Tao.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 40-17 No form

Today's Tao

Big's image has no form. (Ch.40)


A: "Master Bonbon, look, I have just bought a super mandala meditation image kit made in China! It's beautiful."

B: "Made in China? You had better buy our super authentic Japanese mandala meditation image kit hand-made by our certified Zen monks during their strict meditation at an isolated temple in Kyoto, through our proper channel of distribution authorized by our organization."


I sincerely hope that you are not trapped there.

By fancy goods and clothes made in an exotic country.


Lao Tzu says it clearly.

Tao's image has no form.

You cannot see Tao.

Period.

But, the world is the manifestation of Tao. You can accept and love Tao through your hologram, which is called the world.

Do you need some fancy products to love it?


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 40


Tao answers your question!



-"Kokoro" is a Japanese word without any English equivalent. Sometimes, it is translated as mind. Sometimes, as heart. Often, mind and heart confuse a Japanese when he finds out that the two English words are not the same. It seems to me that the definition of the word "kokoro" covers all but material things. It may sound strange to an English speaker, but logic does not belong to the area of "kokoro". To the Japanese, logic is something "fake" and not sincere. It is part of the material world.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 40-16 No voice

Today's Tao

Big's note has almost no voice. (Ch.40)


Tao's note has no voice.

In Zen Buddhism, they call it "the song of the dragon".

In his «Shobogenzo», Master Dogen says:

"The song of the dragon is not something like do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti, do.

Nevertheless, do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti, do were born from the song of the dragon."

(Ryugin 龍吟, «Shobogenzo»)


Don't try to experience Tao.

One cannot hear the note of Tao directly.

But, we hear it through our holograms, the world.

That's what Master Dogen wants to tell us.

Now you know how to listen to the sound of no sound.

Just listen to any sound with respect.

That's enough.


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 40


Tao answers your question!



-Can you hear the sound of silence? Of course, yes. That's what we are doing at every moment of life. You don't have to have any certificate or to be a member of a group. Whether you like it or not, you are listening to the sound of no sound. In fact, you are the one who is creating this roar of the dragon. Please stop underestimating yourself and blaming others for being responsible for what is happening. You cry our the sound of the dragon in order to wake yourself up.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 40-15 No completion

Today's Tao

Big's vessel will never be completed. (Ch.40)


大器晩成 [tai ki ban sei]

This is one of the best known expressions in Tao Te Ching among the Japanese.

It is a pity that modern Japanese have lost its true meaning.

Nowadays, when they use the expression 大器晩成 [tai ki ban sei],

they mean:

"a man of big caliber matures late."


It has nothing to do with Lao Tzu's philosophy.

In Tao, there is neither beginning nor end.

There is no time.

So, everything is forever.

Nothing is completed.

Therefore everything is perfect.


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 40


Tao answers your question!



-An old film maker who never gets old! Shohei Imamura's spirit never gets old. Watch these two movies. Lust is the source of life. We have been thinking so in Japan. And we will keep believing so. Under the mask of social pretence, lust sends us the message of nature. Why do we have to fight to suppress it. Well, you will be excused if you blush when you find out what warm water means, though.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 40-14 Square without corners

Today's Tao

Big's square has no corners. (Ch.40)


I wonder why human beings adore squares and straight lines.

We even want to go straight to the point.

We avoid a man who is not square.

We cannot really blame Swiss architect Le Corbusier and his Domino System for this human propensity.

But we have to know that a seemingly square object has no corners in reality.

A square is a holographic image projected in your mind.

Be round instead of square.


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 40


Tao answers your question!



-"If one works on intelligence, a corner stands out. If one sticks a pole in sentiment, he will be swept away." I translated the sentences word by word. This is Soseki Natsume's well-known expression in «Kusamakura / a grass pillow». When "a corner stands out", it is not good at all in Japan. Being square is not necessarily considered useful in the life of the floating world.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 40-13 White = Black

Today's Tao

Big's white seems black. (Ch.40)


Please read Chapter 25.

"Big" is a nickname of Tao.

Tao's white is black.

Do not judge.

Why do we keep on saying "Do not judge"?

Because judging disturbs the constant change of Tao the fundamental energy.

What seems to be white is, in fact, black. (vice versa)

Something seemingly white changes into something black. (vice versa)

Instead of imposing man-made criteria on Tao, accept and love what exists in front of you.


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 40


Tao answers your question!



-When a Japanese man is tired and have no energy to do anything, what does he have in his mind? The answer is an onsen, a traditional natural hot spring resort. Here, thanks to Amazon, you can hear a folk song of Kusatsu onsen, one of the most popular onsens in Japan. In an onsen in Japan, we will be one with nature. Then, you will realize that what seems to have been important is in fact something trifle. By being tired, your body have given you an opportunity to remember it.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 40-12 Changing

Today's Tao

The plainest attainment seems changing. (Ch.40)


Changing is the fundamental of all the fundamentals of everything.

Now it is about time we discussed the most important question.

What is Tao?

It is the name of the constant change.

It is the constant exchange of the energy.

The energy creates the energy.

The energy stimulates the energy.

The energy emits the energy.

The energy receives the energy.

The energy change hands inside itself.

If it ceases to change, the energy stops.

Keeping this constant change is our raison d'être.

The rest has no importance.


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 40


Tao answers your question!



-«Sanma no aji», the taste of Sanma. Sanma 秋刀魚 is the name of a fish. A Pasific saury, they call it. Please see the Kanji / Chinese characters here. The characters mean [autumn] [sword] [fish] in the order. Once it was a delicacy in autumn. Now it has become a everyday cheap fish that Japanese children hate. A sizzling grilled Sanma with a nice cup of miso soup used to be a happy-meal-combo in a quiet Japanese village clad in red momiji.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 40-11 Lazy

Today's Tao

The firmest attainment seems lazy. (Ch.40)


If you want to firmly attain Tao, be lazy.

Well, the laziest way is doing nothing.

Don't be productive.

Don't work too hard.

Abandon the virtuous ideas of diligence in the 20th century.

Sincerely, it is counterproductive.

We know what happened because of those virtuous mottoes of righteousness and sacrifice.

A lazy man never begins a war.

Accepting your own laziness is one of the first steps to accept all as they are.


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 40


Tao answers your question!



-Kanzan (Kao on the right) and Juttoku 寒山拾得 are very popular figures in Japanese intellectual circles. They have drawn their pictures and written about them. Masuji Ibuse, the author of «Black Rain» wrote a short story called «Kanzan Juttoku». It is about two friends trying to laugh better than Kanzan and Juttoku. It is a pity that I cannot make sure that the collection on the left has this very story.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 40-10 Lacking

Today's Tao

The vastest attainment seems lacking in something. (Ch.40)


People talk about Satori and Tao as if they were difficult to attain.

They are not at all something you get after many years of hardship.

Not at all.

They are something you have already got.

So all you have to do is to remember the fact.

Even then, you may feel that you are lacking in something.

This is a precious piece of advice by Lao Tzu.

Even great masters feel they are still lacking in something.

You don't have to feel perfect although you are.


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 40


Tao answers your question!



-When a society is "young" and full of energy. «Ikiru / to live» is the most important thing. You want to live as you like. You want to accomplish something. You even want to conquer the world. Once the society gets older, life is no longer the most important subject. We don't care how you live. We don't care about your accomplishment. We don't dare try to conquer the world. Tao Te Ching attracts your attention more. Well, after all, its author's name is Lao Tzu the old man. Lao Tzu doesn't care about any. While you are worrying about how you depart from this world, you are still young.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 40-9 Highest attainment = Valley

Today's Tao

The highest attainment seems like a valley. (Ch.40)


"A valley" means void.

As you all know, this is one of Tao Te Ching's key words.

If you are void, you have attained Tao.

"The highest attainment = Valley"

means

"Void = Tao = true You".

You don't have to do anything to attain Tao.

You already are.

But don't be misled by the word "void".

"Void" is plentiful.


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 40


Tao answers your question!



-Valley. In Japanese, we call it "tani". «Kaze no tani no Naushika» means "Naushika of the valley of the wind". The name of the novelist Tanizaki means "the cape of the valley". No matter how much we pretend to be sophisticated modern citizens, the Japanese are more or less animists at the recess of their subconsciousness. Valley god 谷神 might not be accepted as a metaphysical concept but a friendly everyday deity.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 40-8 Smooth = Tangled

Today's Tao

Smooth Tao seems tangled. (Ch.40)


Something that seems to be smooth and simple is, in fact, more uneven and tangled.

Our ecosystem is a good example.

We, insolent human beings, think we know all.

Then, we touch Nature and destroy it, and don't know what to do afterwards.

We need a modern Lao Tzu right now to stop us from making stupid mistakes.

Luckily, we have one. He is late Masanobu Fukuoka.

He teaches us an agriculture of doing nothing.

Don't worry. Something seemingly tangled is in fact simple, too.


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 40


Tao answers your question!



-"We've gotta do something to change the world!" Wrong, absolutely wrong! We have to do nothing to change the world. Late Masanobu Fukuoka, an agriculturist and botanist, has transformed deserts into green fields by doing nothing. It is about time we learned that, every time we act on something directly, we disturb the natural course of change. A truly courageous man knows how to do nothing. Please allow me to feel proud of sharing the same nationality as this late exceptional human being. You never know. One day Fukuoka might be compared with Dogen or Lady Murasaki.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 40-7 Advance = Retreat

Today's Tao

Advancing Tao seems retreating. (Ch.40)


I really want you to understand this key sentence in Tao Te Ching.

Advancing is retreating.

Receiving is emitting.

While you are emitting Tao the fundamental energy, you are receiving it.

It is logical because there is neither space nor distance and everything is one.

If you want to go ahead, you go backwards.

In fact, they are the same.

This is the basis of Reverse Thinking.

If you accept it, you can easily comprehend the signification of Yin Yang cycle.


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 40


Tao answers your question!



-Shohei Imamura, a Japanese film director, founded a film school in Yokohama, Japan in 1975. While the Japanese government has never seriously invested a lot in liberal arts and considered them as a strategic instrument, the movie-maker's contribution to the education of future Kurosawas is immeasurable.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 40-6 Evident = Vague

Today's Tao

Evident Tao seems vague. (Ch.40)


"We hold these truths to be self-evident", said the founding fathers of the United States of America.

In Far East, things are a bit different.


A: "Would you like to buy our products, Mr Suzuki?"

B: "Yes, yes, yes."

A: "All right. Please sign this contract."

B: "No, no, no."

A: "But, you said 'yes', Mr Suzuki"

B: "Yes, I did. I meant 'Yes, I understood what you said just now', but 'No, I don't want to buy them."


Tao is evident.

Probably, it is too evident to accept.

So, people think it is vague.


Colours are justly nothing. Nothing is justly colours.

色即是空　空即是色

[siki soku ze kuu / kuu soku ze siki]


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 40
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Tao answers your question!



-If you want to avoid a situation like above, the movie «Gung Ho» is worth watching. It is an old movie, but old customs never disappear so easily. Besides, I haven't seen any drastic improvement in Japanese citizens' general communication capability in English. Yes, yes, yes still remains no, no, no. Japan is and will be a cultural «Alice in Wonderland» though you might be «Lost in Translation».

Tao Te Ching Chapter 40-5 Chien yen?

Today's Tao

Therefore, the Chien yen has it. (Ch.40)


According to Osamu Kanaya, Chien yen, 建言 [ken gen] in Japanese, means "saying one's opinion clearly, therefore, it means the maxims that can be a model". (Roshi 老子, [Lao Tzu], p136)

According to Gao Heng 高亨, Chien yen is supposed to be the title of an old book. («Tao: A New Way of Thinking», Chang Chung-yuan)

Unfortunately, there is no genuinely original text of Tao Te Ching.

Comments written by later hands are mixed with the original, and even the specialists are not able to perfectly distinguish Lao Tzu's writings from others'.

Inevitably, the teachings written with pure spirituality were tarnished by academic analyses.

On the other hand, Master Dogen's «Shobogenzo» has not been modified by anyone. That's why I want to use the book as a reliable guide.

The truth must be one. It doesn't matter whether they call it Zen or Tao.


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 40


Tao answers your question!



-I hope that people who are capable of reading both English and Japanese will agree with me. Not all the good books have been translated from one language to the other. On the other hand, it is amazing how many less important books have been translated. To work on this Tao by Matsumoto video blog, I owe a lot to these two authors, Osamu Kanaya and Fumio Masutani. None of their works seem to have been translated into English. At least, their books in Enlish are not available at Amazon. If you can read in Japanese, please check Fumio Masutani's «Shobogenzo». You can imagine how embarrassed the English translators of this important spiritual heritage in Japanese will be if they read it.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 40-4 If not laughable

Today's Tao

If he doesn't laugh, it is not worth being Tao. (Ch.40)


Have you laughed out loud today?

Uh, uh, you have been serious, right?

If you are too serious, you may have to ask yourself whether you are talking about something true.

Lao Tzu says, "If they don't laugh at you, you are not talking about true Tao".

Please don't underestimate the power of laughter.

When the lowest and basest man laughs at you like a Japanese Kyogen actor, you should remember that water stays in a lower place because it is close to Tao.

Then, his nasty laughter may have another signification.

Ha, ha, ha, ha.

Laughter and truth go hand in hand.


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Tao answers your question!



-Go and visit Kokuritsu Nogakudo (National Noh Theatre). This is one of the must-see places in Tokyo. Normally Noh performances take place along with Kyogen, a traditional farce. You may have to fight against the temptation of falling asleeep during the Noh play. But, don't worry about Kyogen. It is fairly representational and not too difficult to understand what they are doing on the stage. Even if you don't comprehend it at all, just laugh out loud when the Japanese audience do.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 40-3 Laughable Tao

Today's Tao

When a low man hears about Tao, he laughs out loud. (Ch.40)


This is encouraging, isn't it?

Even more than 2500 years ago, people were not so innocent.

Certainly, when Lao Tzu talked about Tao, some of them laughed at him.

He called them "low". His little ego might have been hurt.

But, when people laugh at us, we know a better way to handle the situation, right?

We say "Thank you for laughing".

People laughing at you are your holograms testing if you truly believe in Tao. We can interpret it this way.

Or, as Lao Tzu will tell us in tomorrow's episode, if they don't laugh, you are not talking about true Tao.

Something or someone lower is much closer to Tao.

Truth must be funny.


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Tao answers your question!



-Don't underestimate them. Although this dog and that cat live in the world of cartoons, they can tell us about life. A laughable Tao is the true Tao. You still prefer serious analyses of Tao Te Ching? If so, Snoopy and Doraemon the gadget cat will laugh at you.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 40-2 Samurai in doubt

Today's Tao

When a middle man hears about Tao, he is half in doubt. (Ch.40)


In the old days, an ordinary person would be half in doubt when he heard of airplanes.

An ordinary person would be half in doubt when he heard of Internet.

An ordinary person would be half in doubt when he heard of Sony's flexible TV screen.

An ordinary person would be half in doubt when he heard of Karl Pribram's Holonomic brain theory.

An ordinary person will be half in doubt when he hears of Tao.


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-High samurai 40-1
-Samurai in doubt 40-2
-Laughable Tao 40-3
-If not laughable 40-4
-Chien yen? 40-5
-Evident = Vague 40-6
-Advance = Retreat 40-7
-Smooth = Tangled 40-8
-Highest attainment = Valley 40-9
-Lacking 40-10
-Lazy 40-11
-Changing 40-12
-White = Black 40-13
-Square without corners 40-14
-No completion 40-15
-No voice 40-16
-No form 40-17
-Hidden with no name 40-18
-Generosity 40-19
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 40


Tao answers your question!



-Of course, even a samurai had doubt once in while. Especially after his function changed from a warrior to a bureaucrat, he had doubt about what he was living for. He needed a book like «Hagakure». It is quite different from Musashi's «The Book of Five Rings».