Showing posts with label Kitaro Nishida. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kitaro Nishida. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Tao Te Ching Chapter 81-2 Good one


Today's Tao

A good one doesn't talk. One who talks is not good. (Ch.81)


The good one is Tao.

Tao doesn't talk because conversations only take place in a hologram.

Tao is not a hologram.

A hologram is a manifestation of Tao.

What is "good", and what is "evil"?

Jodo / Pure Land Buddhists Honen 法然 and Shinran 親鸞 told us «The Doctrine of Evil Persons as the Object of Salvation / Akunin shoki setsu 悪人正機説».

In Buddhism, Shoki 正機 signifies "the people qualified for salvation".

Sho 正, like the Sho of «Shobogenzo 正法眼蔵», means "authentic".

This Ki 機 here is not the same as Ki 気 of energy.

This Ki 機 means "a mechanism".

The two masters were telling us:

"Evil people are part of the authentic mechanism".

This mechanism is Shin 心, the Tao/hologram mechanism that stimulates us to emit more Love (=Tao).

There is neither good nor evil in Tao.

As Japanese philosopher Kitaro Nishida explains in his «A Study of Good», being good is learning that true You are Tao. (☞See No favoritism 79-4)

You don't need to judge any.


«Related Articles»
-Beautiful words 81-1
-Good one 81-2
-Not knowledgeable 81-3
-Accumulate not 81-4
-Act of others 81-5
-Richer detachment 81-6
-Tao in Heaven 81-7
-Sage's Tao 81-8
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 81
-Non-good 49-4
-Goodness 49-5


Lao Tzu answers your question!



«Recommended Books 12» Kitaro Nishida and Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki were good friends. They were friends from high school. They met each other at Ishikawa-ken Senmon Gakko. The school later changed its name to Dai 4 Koto Gakko, which literally means "the forth high school". It was one of the most prestige high schools in Japan before WW2. The school was closed in 1950. Its tradition was spiritually inherited by Kanazawa University. Nishida was part of the founding members of Koa Kogyo University, now called Chiba Institute of Technology. «An Inquiry into the good» on the left is the same book as «A Study of Good». The book shines as the beacon of modern Japanese philosophy. Kitaro Nishida was an excellent thinker and black sheep where many people say "A good one doesn't 'think'. One who 'thinks' is not good".

Friday, July 29, 2011

Tao Te Ching Chapter 80-8 Face transmission / Menju / Beauty

Today's Tao

Make them appreciate the beauty of their clothes. (Ch.80)


The face is the place where the contact between Tao and a hologram takes place.


Zen Master Dogen puts it this way:

"Face-giving [Menju 面授/ Face (to face) transmission] is receiving and giving at the face."

面授は面処の受授なり

(Menju 面授, «Shobogenzo 正法眼蔵»)


Your face is the interface between Tao and a hologram.

That's why you cannot see the face.

You can see only an interpretation of it, such as your reflection on the mirror or the reputation.

Since it is the important interface, let's keep it clean.

Therefore, Dogen painstakingly explains how to wash the face and other body parts. (Senjo 洗浄, Senmen 洗面; «Shobogenzo 正法眼蔵»)

Your body is a manifestation of Tao (=Love, =Buddha).

By washing it, you can emit Love (=Tao, =Buddha).

That's one basic way to keep Tao's energy circulating.

Your clothes are an extension of your face.

Forget someone else's criteria.

Please appreciate your beautiful clothes, your beautiful body, and your beautiful face.


[Note]
The titles of the two chapters in Shobogenzo above, that is to say, Japanese words "Senjo 洗浄" and "Senmen 洗面", signify "wash" and "washing the face" respectively.


«Related Articles»
-Small country 80-1
-"110 vessels" 80-2
-Don't travel 80-3
-Boats and Cars 80-4
-Armor and Arms 80-5
-Tie the rope 80-6
-Hunger and Food 80-7
-Face transmission / Menju / Beauty 80-8
-Out-Tao (Heresy) Seniya / Gedo Senni / Settled 80-9
-Enjoy your customs 80-10
-Neighbors 80-11
-Moonlight and Dewdrops / Dogs and Roosters 80-12
-Life without intervention 80-13
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 80


Lao Tzu answers your question!



«Recommended Books 5» When you travel in an unknown territory, you might be happy to have a guide. If he is good, your journey will be safe and fun. The best Japanese guide to Zen in English is, without question, Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki. It is a pity that this learned scholar did not translate Dogen's «Shobogenzo» into English. He may have had thousands of reasons not to do it, and his decision was wise. Still, many Zen learners in the non-Japanese speaking world cannot help imagining how enormous his contribution to the humanity would be if he had done it. This excellent guide with a hearty sense of humor wrote a summary of Zen Master Ikkyu's play «Yama Uba» in his «Zen and Japanese Culture». Ikkyu, who would be a cynic poet dressed in a John Galliano dress if he lived now, wrote the play in order to tell how Zen functions. (☞Read its modern adaptation «Yama Uba the Zen play» by Naoto Matsumoto)

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Tao Te Ching Chapter 79-4 No favoritism


Today's Tao

Heaven's Tao has no favoritism. It is always on the side of a good person. (Ch.79)


"Heaven" means your hologram as the word "sky" does.

So, Heaven's Tao signifies Tao's energy inside all the beings in the hologram.

In other words, it is Hossho 法性, the nature of manifestation. (☞See Hossho stays low 76-9)

Tao does not judge.

It seems that the limited capacity of human beings judge.

Tao's energy inside your hologram has no favoritism.

There is neither good nor bad in Tao.

Then, what does "a good person" mean?

"A good person" means you.

True You are Tao.

Therefore, only you can sustain the Tao/hologram mechanism, Shin 心.


Japanese philosopher Kitaro Nishida 西田幾多郎 (1870 - 1945) says:

"Practically speaking, we have only one true Good, which is to find out the true Self. That's all."

(translated by Naoto Matsumoto; Book III, Chapter 13, The Perfect Good Action, «A Study of the Good 善の研究» ☞See A study of the Good 49-3 and Goodness 49-5)


[Note]
What is the true Self?
"It is the true body of the cosmos", Nishida answers. (Ditto)
The true body of the cosmos is the Tao/hologram mechanism, Shin 心.


«Related Articles»
-Remaining grudge 79-1
-Good grudge 79-2
-Contract without payment 79-3
-No favoritism 79-4
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 79


Lao Tzu answers your question!



☞«An Inquiry into the Good» and «A Study of the Good» are the same book. Kitaro Nishida 西田幾多郎 first wrote this book in order to teach his high school students. The Japanese title is «Zen no Kenkyu 善の研究». Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki 鈴木大拙, the author of many important books on Zen in English, was Nishida's close friend. They met each other at a high school in Kanazawa, Ishikawa prefecture, Japan. High school education is no longer available exclusively for the elite these days while its level is not so academically "high" as the name declares.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Tao Te Ching Chapter 49-5 Goodness


Today's Tao

I attain goodness. (Ch.49)


What is goodness?


Let's ask again the author of "A Study of the Good", Kitaro Nishida.

He answers:

"It is to find out the true Self".

Don't we ask him how, do we?

His answer is:

"By eliminating your false self."

In Christianity, it is called reincarnation.

In Buddhism, it is called Kensho 見性, seeing into one's nature, says Nishida.


How can we eliminate our false self?

Simple.

You do nothing.

Because you don't have the false self from the beginning.

It is just part of your hologram.


«Related Articles»
-No heart 49-1
-People's heart 49-2
-A study of the Good 49-3
-Non-good 49-4
-Goodness 49-5
-Tariki / faithful 49-6
-Not faithful 49-7
-Faith 49-8
-Have no heart 49-9
-Inmo and No mind 49-10
-Close ears and eyes 49-11
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 49


Tao answers your question!



☞A quotation from Kitaro Nichida's «An Inquiry into the Good / A Study of the Good»: "According to Aurelius Augustinus (St. Augustine), something bad does not exist in the world, and the nature which God created is all good, but the lack of the true nature is bad." (Book III, Chapter XIII, A perfectly good deed)

Monday, August 23, 2010

Tao Te Ching Chapter 49-3 A Study of the Good


Today's Tao

I think something good is good. (Ch.49)


What is the good?

Let's ask a good friend, a high school mate of the well-know Zen scholar Daisetz Suzuki.

He is Japanese philosopher Kitaro Nishida, the author of «A Study of the Good».

He says:

"We have only one true good, which is to find out the true Self."

(Book III Chapter 13, «A Study of the Good»)


Watch out.

Nishida is not talking about a self that comes and goes.

He is talking about the true You.

The readers of Today's Tao surely know what it is.


Kitaro Nishida@wiki


«Related Articles»
-No heart 49-1
-People's heart 49-2
-A study of the Good 49-3
-Non-good 49-4
-Goodness 49-5
-Tariki / faithful 49-6
-Not faithful 49-7
-Faith 49-8
-Have no heart 49-9
-Inmo and No mind 49-10
-Close ears and eyes 49-11
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 49


Tao answers your question!



☞«A Study of the Good» and «An Inquiry into the Good» are the same book. They are the translation of «Zen no Kenkyu» originally written in Japanese by Kitaro Nishida. Kitaro Nishida might probably be the only Japanese philosopher whose works are fairly available in other languages than Japanese. He was a classmate of Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki at a high school in Kanazawa, Japan. The dynamic duo's contribution to the English-speaking Zen community is immeasurable. When you get confused with an oriental philosophy, ask Kitaro or Daisetz.

Friday, January 8, 2010

Tao Te Ching Chapter 21-3 Formed objects


Today's Tao

Though it is vague and elusive, there are yet formed objects inside it. (Ch.21)


Here you are! This is one of the key sentences in Tao Te Ching.

Please picture the image.

First, you have Tao, the energy, the essence and in-form-ation. (Its etymology is interesting. The word knows what it means.)

Second, you have formed objects inside Tao the energy / information.

This second part includes your own self and the rest of the world, in other words, you (=your own self, not true You) and non-you.

In Tao and Zen, the radio receiver (=your own self, =«you» in the conventional sense) and the sounds it creates (=non-you) belong to the same sphere, which is your hologram.

Dogen taught it to us clearly.

Kitaro Nishida repeated it with modern terminology.

Daisetz Suzuki repeated it again in English.

We are not supposed to have a problem of «self», are we?


«Related Articles»
-Tao only 21-1
-Object 21-2
-Formed objects 21-3
-Images 21-4
-Essence 21-5
-Genuine 21-6
-Sure thing 21-7
-Tao's name 21-8
-Tao supervises all 21-9
-By Tao's name 21-10
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 21
-Tao by Matsumoto / You and non-you


Tao answers your question!



Previous video / Ch.21 text / Next video


-Important works by Kitaro Nishida