Tao by MATSUMOTO: Ikkyu

Showing posts with label Ikkyu. Show all posts

Friday, June 10, 2011

Tao Te Ching Chapter 76-9 Hossho stays low

Today's Tao

The strong and big stays low. (Ch.76)

What is the strongest and biggest of all?

Certainly, it is Tao.

Do you remember Tao's nickname is Big? (☞See Big 25-9)

Like water, Tao look for a lower place, which you cannot see. (☞See Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching Chapter 8 / Be like Water)

In a sense, Tao remains in the shadow of every phenomenon.

Zen Master Dogen puts it this way:

"It puts its body into storage, and the shadow is more exposed."

(Mitsugo 密語, «Shobogenzo»)

Zen Master Ikkyu uses the metaphor of Tao (=Buddha, =Zen) being in the shadow of everything in his «Yama Uba».

Yama Uba, the old woman in the mountains, helps everyone in his shadow.

He doesn't know what she is doing.

You don't know what Tao is doing in your shadow.

When you commit a mistake, it is not your fault. Tao is just sending you Love (=Tao).

In Buddhism, it is called Hossho 法性, the nature of manifestation.

«Related Articles»
-Soft life 76-1
-Hard end 76-2
-Fragile life 76-3
-Dry end 76-4
-Mujoseppo = non-living preach / Hard and Strong 76-5
-Soft and weak men 76-6
-Strong army, no win 76-7
-Karoshi / Snapped branch 76-8
-Hossho stays low 76-9
-Hoben gate / Soft and Weak 76-10
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 76

Tao answers your question!

☞«Tao Te Ching» Key word comparison (9) / -Dark Depth 玄 [gen]- Let's see how they translate 玄之又玄衆妙之門 in Chapter 1. / "Indeed, it is the mystery of mysteries. It is the door of all spirituality." On the left, «The Teachings of Lao-Tzu: The Tao-Te Ching» translated by Paul Carus. / "This being so is profound, mysterious, and dark: The threshold to all secrets. (This translation seems to correspond to the Kanji / Chinese characters 同謂之玄玄之又玄衆妙之門.)" On the right, «Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching» translated by Keith Seddon.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Tao Te Ching Chapter 55-1 Inner attainment

Today's Tao

One who richly has inner attainment can be compared with a baby. (Ch.55)

Don't try to look for Tao's attainment somewhere else.

You've already got it inside you.

Zen Master Ikkyu wrote a Waka poem about it.

Sono mama ni

Umare nagara no kokoro koso

Negawazu totemo hotoke narubeshi

そのままに

生まれながらの心こそ

ねがはずとても仏なるべし

As it is,

The very pure mind of a new-born

Is Buddha, whether you wish it or not.

(☞See another translation in Tao by Matsumoto / No Numbers.)

Be like a baby.

«Related Articles»
-Inner attainment 55-1
-No stings 55-2
-No attack 55-3
-No hitting 55-4
-Soft sinew 55-5
-Male organ 55-6
-Virility 55-7
-Su Dongpo / No husky voice 55-8
-Peak of harmony 55-9
-Know harmony? 55-10
-Constant enlightenment 55-11
-No increased life 55-12
-Takuan / Mind and Ki 55-13
-Strong = Old 55-14
-Anti-Tao 55-15
-No early end 55-16
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 55

Tao answers your question!

☞Osamu Dazai had been underrated outside Japan until recently. Yukio Mishima and he detested each other. Isn't it a reason good enough to read Dazai's works. «No Longer Human» is undoubtedly a masterpiece in Japanese literature. Saigyo, a 12th-century Japanese poet, is another underrated artist outside his own country. Like Basho, he traveled extensively. Unlike the Haiku master, he financed his travels out of his own pocket.

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

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.

«Related Articles»
-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!

-«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.

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Tao Te Ching Chapter 39-12 Inexhaustible valley

Today's Tao

If the valley were not filled, it might be exhausted. (Ch.39)

"The valley" means void.

So, Lao Tzu wants to say:

"void is filled and inexhaustible".

In Zen Buddhism, they say:

"無一物中無尽蔵 [mu ichi motsu chu mu jin zo]"

no / one / thing / inside / no / limit / storage

Each Kanji / Chinese character has the signification in this order.

It can be translated as:

"nothingness has an unlimited storage."

Sometimes, I wonder.

All the computer jargons and the internet technology may exist as a metaphor in order to explain us how Tao works.

It is just like Ikkyu's «Yama Uba» play, which tells us how Zen functions.

«Related Articles»
-Attain One 39-1
-Heaven 39-2
-Earth 39-3
-Gods 39-4
-Filled valley 39-5
-Hologram's birth 39-6
-Hologram's master 39-7
-One = Tao 39-8
-Heaven torn apart 39-9
-Earth unstable 39-10
-Gods rest 39-11
-Inexhaustible valley 39-12
-Ruined 39-13
-Lords and Kings = Masters 39-14
-Noble = Mean 39-15
-High = Low 39-16
-Lords and Kings = Less virtue 39-17
-Mean = Root 39-18
-No honor 39-19
-No jade 39-20
-Like stone 39-21
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 39

Tao answers your question!

Previous video / Ch.39 text / Next video

-Visit Asakusa. If Akihabara is the dream of the 21st century Japan, Asakusa is that of the 19th century. Takeshi Kitano started his career as a stand-up comedian. Spend at least a full day, hanging around in the sector behind the Sensoji temple from the river Sumida. You can see the glimpse of Asakusa of Yasunari Kawabata and Kafu Nagai.

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Tao Te Ching Chapter 32-9 Valleys & the Sea

Today's Tao

Tao is to the world under the sky as streams and valleys are to big rivers and the sea. (Ch.32)

Here, some simple equations to decode Tao Te Ching.

Tao = Valley = vacuum

world under the sky = big rivers and the sea = holograms (= the manifestations of Tao)

Tao the vacuum sustains the holograms as Ikkyu's Yama Uba, the old woman in the mountains, helps the workers.

Something invisible sustains something visible.

Something seemingly empty sustains something apparently concrete.

Now you know what they mean by:

"Colour is justly nothing. Nothing is justly colour. 色即是空。空即是色。" (Heart Sutra 般若心経)

The holograms you see is, in fact, empty.

Tao the vacuum creates them.

«Related Articles»
-Nameless 32-1
-Small uncarved block 32-2
-Lords and Kings 32-3
-Fertile raindrops 32-4
-Balance 32-5
-Cuts and Names 32-6
-Stop 32-7
-No danger 32-8
-Valleys and the Sea 32-9
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 32
-Valley god 6-1
-Yama Uba under it 14-10
-Full = Empty 45-3
-Yama Uba the Zen play Zen master Ikkyu wrote the Japanese Noh play in order to explain how Zen works. Now it is available in English.
-100 valleys 66-1 "Hundreds of valleys" expresses the holograms filled with Tao's energy in Chapter 66. For further explanation, please see the note at Related Articles in 100 valleys 66-1.

Tao answers your question!

Previous video / Ch.32 text / Next video

Monday, March 1, 2010

Tao Te Ching Chapter 28-9 Valley, male, female

Today's Tao

Be the valley under the sky. (Ch.28)

The valley is the point where the male meets the female.

When we touch the nothingness, our mind is totally void.

We are happy to be empty.

All of them are saying the same thing.

Accept all.

If you cannot cherish this nothingness, it is no use talking about Zen.

Isn't it right, Master Ikkyu?

«Related Articles»
-Male 28-1
-Female 28-2
-Valley 28-3
-Valley under the sky 28-4
-Attainment of constancy 28-5
-Baby 28-6
-White 28-7
-Protect Darkness 28-8
-Valley, male, female 28-9
-Under the sky 28-10
-Constancy attainment 28-11
-Uncarved block 28-12
-Vessels 28-13
-Chief officials 28-14
-The greatest control 28-15
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 28

Tao answers your question!

Previous video / Ch.28 text / Next video

-Is it love? Or, is it just a necessity to procreate? No matter how you call it, the act between a brother and his sister started the land of the floating world Ukiyo. It is "officially" written in Kojiki. The gods in the Japanese legends are funny and incredibly human. The first striptease in the islands of geisha is also "officially" recorded in the book. Caution. There are some pages, especially at the beginning of the book, where you will find only the names of gods. Skip the part and enjoy the funnier stories of greedy, violent, and promiscuous deities. It is not surprising at all that we have Akiba girls some millennia later. I am proud to be born there.