Tao Te Ching Chapter 67-2 Parents

Today's Tao

Simply I am Big, so I resemble an idiot who doesn't look like his parents. (Ch.67)


Big is a nickname of Tao. (☞See Ch. 25 Manifestation and Big 25-9)

Then, what is "an idiot who doesn't look like his parents"?

Please do not mix this expression with Bumo misho izen: before the father and the mother are born.

This expression is the translation of the Kanji / Chinese characters 不肖 [fusho].

It means an idiot, but the two characters originally signified "not to resemble the parents" (Osamu Kanaya, «Roshi 老子», Kodansha Gakujutsu Bunko)

Today's Tao sentence means:

"Simply true You are Tao, so you resemble an idiot who does not look like others in your hologram".

Don't be intelligent, and you will remember Tao is true You.


«Related Articles»
-Idiot 67-1
-Parents 67-2
-Ordinary? 67-3
-3 treasures 67-4
-Protect the treasures 67-5
-Send Love 67-6
-Don't waste holograms 67-7
-Not the first 67-8
-Be brave 67-9
-Be vast 67-10
-Leader of the vessel 67-11
-Stuck in life 67-12
-Love, win, defense 67-13
-Heaven, Love, Tao 67-14
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 67


Tao answers your question!



☞Osamu Kanaya (1920 - 20060) was a Japanese specialist on Chinese philosophy. It seems that his works have never been translated into English. It is a pity.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 64-10 Do & Defeat

Today's Tao

If you do something to it, you will defeat it. (Ch.64)


This sentence is identical to the one in Chapter 29. (☞See Defeat it 29-3)

According to Osamu Kanaya, a Japanese Orientalist specialized in Chinese philosophy,

this chapter might be a patchwork of maxims.

It is not logically well constructed.

Some sentences might be original;

others might be added by later hands.

When you read Tao Te Ching, you cannot treat it as if it was written by a modern judge.

Having said that, the message here is quite clear.

Handle your hologram with care.

Or rather, handle your hologram with Love.

Don't act on it directly.

If you do, you will simply block the natural flow of Tao. (☞See Chuang Tzu's teachings 42-8)


«Related Articles»
-Something stable 64-1
-Before materialization 64-2
-While fragile 64-3
-While minute 64-4
-Before existence 64-5
-In order 64-6
-Tree from a hair 64-7
-Nine-story tower 64-8
-A thousand league travel 64-9
-Do and Defeat 64-10
-Stick and Lose 64-11
-Defeat nothing 64-12
-Don't stick 64-13
-Before completed 64-14
-Careful end 64-15
-Desire no desire 64-16
-Rare coins 64-17
-Learn no learn 64-18
-Excess 64-19
-Transformation 64-20
-Don't dare 64-21
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 64


Tao answers your question!



☞Think twice before you pick up a Zen book and take it to the cashier. Ask yourself whether you are not looking for a refuge. Zen Buddhism is not an alternative. They are talking about the same essence of life with a bit more exotic words. You can find exactly the same teachings in what you are familiar with. Look for Hermann Hesse's «Siddhartha» and browse it. Compare the book you have chosen with the poet's masterpiece, and make sure that the book in your hand is easier to understand than «Siddhartha». If you want something more authentic as for Buddha's life and more visually helpful, Osamu Tezuka's cartoon «Buddha» is recommended.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 47-3 Kensho Jobutsu / No Away

Today's Tao

The farther you go away from it, the less of it you know. (Ch.47)


Osamu Kanaya talks about Kensho Jobutsu 見性成仏 of Zen Buddhism in his Japanese translation of this chapter of Tao Te Ching. («Roshi», Kodansha Gakujutsu Bunko, Kodansha, Tokyo)

"See one's nature and become Buddha." (=Kensho Jobutsu 見性成仏)

You are Buddha. You are Tao.

So, it is logical that "The farther you go away from" your own self, the less you learn about Tao and Buddha.

First, you learn that your own self and the rest of the world are part of the hologram. (1)

Then, your hologram will teach you what Tao and Buddha is. (2)


Naoto Matsumoto adds:

This exchange between (1) and (2) is precisely the cycle of Yin and Yang, Tao's cycle,  the prayer wheel, or the wheel of the manifestation (Horin 法輪).

That's why turning the wheel of the manifestation (Tenborin 転法輪) is interpreted as preaching, where the learning and the teaching of (1) and (2) take place simultaneously.

This is synonymous with receiving and sending Love.


«Related Articles»
-No outside 47-1
-Not out of Self 47-2
-Kensho Jobutsu / No away 47-3
-Accomplish with no act 47-4
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 47


Tao answers your question!



☞A man who can speak English cannot talk about Zen as well as this Japanese man does. A man who can talk about Zen cannot speak English as well as the Japanese man does. His name is Daisetz Suzuki. He asks us three questions: "Can we live by Zen?", "Can we live with Zen?", and "Can we live Zen?". His answer is a rhetorical question: "Can we live without Zen?". Whether you live by Zen or not, Zen is you. One cannot live without Zen.

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.


«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!



-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 38-1 The highest attainment

Today's Tao

The highest attainment is not attaining. That's where there is attainment. (Ch.38)


This is the first sentence of the second half of Tao Te Ching.

The word "Te" of Tao Te Ching comes from this sentence.

Osamu Kanaya (1920 - 2006, Japanese Orientalist specialized in Chinese philosophy) thinks that the Te of 徳 [moral] is the same as the Te of 得 [attainment].

I agree with this late academic totally.

Don't try to attain Tao, Satori, or enlightenment.

If you don't try it, you will simply remember that you are already there.


«Related Articles»
-The highest attainment 38-1
-The lowest attainment 38-2
-No trace of act 38-3
-Mercy 38-4
-The highest righteousness 38-5
-Politeness 38-6
-Lost Tao 38-7
-Lost attainment 38-8
-Lost mercy 38-9
-Lost righteousness 38-10
-Disorder 38-11
-Foreknowledge 38-12
-Thick and Thin 38-13
-Tao's Flower 38-14
-Leave it 38-15
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 38


Tao answers your question!



Previous video / Ch.38 text / Next video


-«Tao: A New Way of Thinking» by Chung-yuan Chang. This is the English translation of Tao Te Ching I truly recommend. It is a pity Amazon doesn't have a photo of the book.