Tao Te Ching Chapter 22-14 Return it!

Today's Tao

Truly, he returns it completely. (Ch.22)


"Return", "go back", "twisted", and "complete".

What did Lao Tzu want to tell us with these words?

First, we "twist", or swap, the cause and the result. It is Reverse Thinking. The Yin Yang circle gives you some image.

Then, we can return our hologram to the state where it was projected.

In Taoism, the state is matriarchally called the mother.

In Zen Buddhism, it is called Bumo misho izen (Before Father and Mother are born).

They mean Tao, which can be also called Buddha, Zen, or Love.


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 22
-Tao by Matsumoto / Eat mother


Tao answers your question!



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-Osamu Dazai's expressions in Japanese seem to be more difficult to translate into another language, compared to, for example, those of Yukio Mishima. Dazai's words have got rhythm. They are the animated souls of his ancestors. «No Longer Human» has a Japanese title «Ningen Shikkaku人間失格». It literally means "human" "disqualification". If you are qualified as a human, we cry out "Ningen Goukaku!"

Tao Te Ching Chapter 22-13 Empty words

Today's Tao

There is an old saying "Twisted therefore complete". How can it be empty words! (Ch.22)


Being twisted is perfect.

Chaos is perfect.

Chaos is perfectly organized in a fashion beyond our comprehension.

So-called human capacities are very limited.

The most advanced science in the 19th century was a laughingstock in the 20th century.

What's gonna happen to the most advanced science in the 20th century.

Lao Tzu, supposedly an old man in the 6th century BC, said: "Twisted therefore complete".

Look at the Yin Yang circle. It is twisted therefore complete.

How can it be empty words!

But, wait a minute!

All words are empty, aren't they?


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 22
-Words are not good enough 1-1


Tao answers your question!



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-Ran, a war or a revolt; a commotion or a chaos. Kurosawa's Ran is beautifully organized. You have a yellow team, a red team, and a blue team. It was not like that in the real history, but it is easier to distinguish one from another especially if you are not familiar with the Japanese samurai era.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 22-12 Aikido

Today's Tao

Simply, he doesn't compete. That's why no one under the sky can compete with him. (Ch.22)


Do not compete.

Then, no one can beat you.

This is the essence of Aiki-do 合気道.

Ai 合 means synchronizing.

Ki 気 energy.

Do 道 Tao.

The Tao of synchronizing the energy.

We do not fight. We just create harmony with our opponent.

In the Today's Tao sentence, we have the expression "under the sky". It means your hologram.

It is useless to compete with characters or images you create in your hologram.

This world is already in the state of Ai-ki 合気 the synchronized energy.

We just forget it sometimes.


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-Return it! 22-14
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 22
-Aikido and Tariki / Other people's power 68-6


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-Tatsuo Kimura on the left, an Aikido budoka of Daito-ryu, one of the highest disciples of late Yukiyoshi Sagawa, is the author of «Transparent Power». Some people say that Sagawa may be the greatest budoka ever lived in Japan, who might be much stronger than Miyamoto Musashi, the author of «The Book of Five Rings». Tatsuo Kimura on the right, a mathematician of the highest degree, working with Fourier transforms and Reimann's zeta function, is a professor at University of Tsukuba and the author of Introduction to Prehomogeneous Vector Spaces (Translations of Mathematical Monographs). Are they the same person? Yes, they are. If you are scientifically skeptical about Aikido, ask this genius.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 22-11 No boasting

Today's Tao

He doesn't boast. So, he is the best. (Ch.22)


Do not boast.

Just remember that you are always the best.

Remember what the baby Buddha is supposed to have said at his birth.

"Above heaven, below heaven, I am alone, who is the only respectable being. 天上天下唯我独尊 [ten jo ten ge yui ga doku son]"

It is totally logical because you are the only one who projects your hologram, which is the world.

Give yourself a bit more credit. You are doing a very good job.

Look! You create a perfect world in front of you.

Don't judge it. Just love it.

Accept it, but just don't boast that you have created it.

By creating and acting on it at the same time, boasting will cause a short-circuit-like effect on your hologram.


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-Return it! 22-14
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 22


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-I don't know if they are the best collections, but at least they are complete collections. Akira Kurosawa's films and Osamu Tezuka's Phoenix. The latter could be a very good introduction to understand oriental philosophies.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 22-10 No bragging

Today's Tao

He doesn't brag. So, he is successful. (Ch.22)


"Don't brag."

"Excuse me, sir, but it is rather conventional as a supposedly eccentric Taoist wisdom"

Taoism is not against conventional wisdom.

We just look at it a bit differently.

Bragging is a waste of energy.

If you want to transform your hologram (=the world) as economically and efficiently as possible, bragging is not recommended.

Being jealous is not recommended, either.


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 22


Tao answers your question!



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-Yasunari Kawabata, the author of Snow Country and a Nobel prize winner, Hiroshi Yamauchi, the ex-president of Nintendo Corp., and Ichiro Ozawa, a Democratic Party of Japan member, have one thing in common. All of them adore playing the game of Go. Kawabata wrote a novel about the last game of a Go master.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 22-9 Righteousness

Today's Tao

He doesn't think he is right. So, his righteousness is visible. (Ch.22)


"You are wrong!"

"I am right!"

"When you eat Sushi, you must not put your ginger between the rice and the fish."

"I know what I'm doing. This is the authentic way!"


You don't have to convince anyone, do you?

Do you still want your righteousness to be recognized?

All right. Use Dark Depth Female technique.

Don't think you are right.

What does it mean by being right, anyway?

There is neither right nor wrong in Tao.


Naoto Matsumoto adds:

We always need innovation and open-mindedness, but, if you put the ginger between the rice and the fish at a high class Sushi establishment in Japan, chances are that they will ask you to leave unless your Japanese friend explain to the Sushi chef that you are an important political figure from Timbuktu.

In a Tokyo-style Sushi bar, ginger is served to erase the aftertaste between a piece of Sushi and another.

At a belt-conveyer Sushi bar, they are less strict, and almost all reasonable bad manners are accepted, including belching and slurping the soup. Nevertheless, talking too loud and sprinkling saliva on the small dishes on the belt-conveyer is considered offensive. Besides, please do not forget that, once you have taken a dish with sushi from the belt-conveyer, you are not allowed to bring it back on it. It is not a question of manners, but it is a question of hygiene.


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 22


Tao answers your question!



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Tao Te Ching Chapter 22-8 Clearly seen

Today's Tao

He doesn't show himself. So, he is clearly seen. (Ch.22)


Impressive! Fantastic! Amazing!

All these adjectives excite us, don't they?

But we don't need to impress others, do we?

For politeness or resignation?

Oh, no, on the contrary, it is to be "seen".

Contradictory as it sounds, it is exactly because you are showing nothing that you will be recognized.

This is how you use Dark Depth Female 玄牝 [gen pi].

Try the technique. It is impressive.


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 22


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-Kyogen 狂言 literally means «crazy words». Only a fool can tell the truth, Sir William? It doesn't matter if it is true or not. Let's laugh. Just laugh like a fool or a crazy Kyogen actor. This young gentle man in the photo above is a well-know Kyogen actor. You cannot become a Kyogen actor. You have to born as the scion of a Kyogen family. A nice can of coffee he sells might warm you up on a cold day. A nice laughter of a Kyogen actor will loosen your Cartesian mind a bit.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 22-7 Canon

Today's Tao

That's why the sage holds Tao and is the canon under the sky. (Ch.22)


There are some easy tips to decode Tao Te Ching (道徳経 in Kanji, characters from Kan).

"Under the sky 天下 [ten ka]" often means "the world", which is your hologram.

The word "sage 聖人 [sei jin]" is important because it means you. You are the sage. Therefore, you are the canon.

It is quite natural because you project the world, so who else can be the canon?

But be careful. Please do not think that you are going to be a sage one day after all the hardships and learnings.

This is a trap.

You are already the sage and canon of the world.


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 22


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-Kyoka Izumi was one of the Bun-shi 文士, which means «a samurai who has a pen instead of a sword» in the post-samurai and modern era in Japan. He wrote a novel about mysterious seduction between a phantom woman and a monk. It is called Koya Hijiri 高野聖 / Saint of Mt. Koya. Hijiri 聖 means sacred. Therefore, Seijin 聖人 in Tao Te Ching literally means a sacred person. In the film on the left, Seijun Suzuki, a magician of visual images, made a film based on one of Kyoka Izumi's works.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 22-6 Not "more"

Today's Tao

More therefore tempted. (Ch.22)


More money. More success. More home runs. More goals. More sugar. More toppings on my ice cream. More romance.

More is always better, right?

Not necessarily. Some people want to lose weight.

Lao Tzu asks you to reduce everything, not just weight.

When we increase our income, achievements or knowledge, we feel successful.

But where does the success take place?

In our hologram!

It is just a catalyst to stimulate us.

More choices, more confusion.


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 22


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-Junko Miyashita once was one of the most under-rated Japanese actresses because she started her career with films publicly despised. In the film on the right, she plays Abe, Sada (Abe is her family name). She was the famous woman who cut the male urinal organ of her lover. Nagisa Oshima made a film out of her life and Quincy Jones composed a song out of the film.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 22-5 Shinran / Jodo Buddhism

Today's Tao

Less therefore attained. (Ch.22)


With "less", you can attain Dark Depth. (The attainment of Dark Depth is called 玄得 [gen toku])

"Thank God! I am alive."

It is not a bad attitude, but, if we want to attain Dark Depth, we will do it differently.

Instead of "Thank God! I am alive", why don't we say:

"I live to thank everyone and everything".

This is what Master Shinran 親鸞 asked us to do some eight hundred years ago.

Shinran (1173-1263) is not a Zen Buddhist. (☞See also Akunin shoki setsu / Feel safe 62-3)

He is the founder of Jodo Shinshu Buddhism in Japan. (And he is a contemporary of Zen Master Dogen.)

Instead of wishing to gain something, he asked the believers to cite prayers as a form of thanking Buddha.

It is a very intelligent way to reduce the resistance of your ego.

That's how we stop disturbing our hologram to transform itself.

Dark Depth will be attained.


Shinran@wiki


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 22


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-In a rough understanding; Tariki 他力 (other-power) = Shinran; Jiriki 自力 (self-power) = Dogen; Some think that Jiriki and Tariki are contrary to each other. Not exactly. If you know that "Self" is just a concept and does not exist. The idea of Tariki is a very useful tool to reduce your resistance. Besides, Hiroyuki Itsuki, a good novelist, talks about his experience of evacuation from Manchuria at the end of WW2, relating it to Tariki of Amida.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 22-4 Before parents' birth

Today's Tao

Worn out therefore new. (Ch.22)


It is exactly the same as breaking the mirror in Zen. (☞See also Tao by Matsumoto / Chapter 15 / Man who knows Tao)

If you want to be new, you should wear out your hologram.

Then, you can return to Tao, or Bumo misho izen 父母未生以前 in Zen.

Bumo misho izen means «Before Father and Mother are born».

It is a very important concept describing the state before holographic images are projected.

To "return" to the state, Reverse Thinking is useful.

Some people thank someone up there for letting them live.

With Reverse Thinking, you live in order to say: "Thank you".

Then, you are as new as a newborn baby whose father and mother have not yet been born.


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 22


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-Misora Hibari was a Judy Garland of Japan. On the left, "musume" means a daughter or a girl. "Tabigasa" literally means a Japanese straw hat for travelling. So, the song is about a young woman travelling alone. On the right, the kanji character for "Yawara" is the same one for Ju of Judo. Judo is "yawara no michi / the soft Tao".

Tao Te Ching Chapter 22-3 Hollow

Today's Tao

Hollow therefore filled up. (Ch.22)


Do you remember "Thirty spokes share one hub. (Ch.11)"?

Hollow and filled. It is about holography.

If you want to be full, empty yourself.

Reduce and reduce. Particularly reduce your knowledge.

If you have nothing, you have everything.

Those words have confused many.

All right. Let's make them clear once and for all.

First, the so-called world is a hologram. That's why it is called nothing or emptiness.

Second, to learn it, your knowledge simply bothers you. Reduce it and stop analyzing.

Third, then, you will realize that the world, including your own self, is a hologram. Don't look down on it because it is a manifestation of the fundamental energy Tao. That's why it is called everything or all.

If you can love the world, you don't have to listen to all the gibberish, mine included.


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 22


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-On the photo of «In Praise of Shadows», can you see a katakana character Mu ム? Shadows are nothing. Shadows are plenty. Junichiro Tanizaki, one of the most prominent writers in modern Japan, explains the importance of shadows. There is another important one-syllable expression Ma 間. It means space/void.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 22-2 Bent

Today's Tao

Bent (like an inchworm) therefore straight. (Ch.22)


In Taoism, returning to Tao is important.

What does "returning" mean?

One can say that it means getting out of his hologram and going into the state of Tao, or Bumo misho izen 父母未生以前, in Zen.

Another can say that it means turning around the Yin Yang circle, which is equivalent to a Tibetan prayer wheel.

How can you return to Tao, then?

One of the answers is to use Reverse Thinking.

If you want to be straight, bend yourself.


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 22


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-One of the biggest contributions to Japanese literature by Master Dogen is to have written a chapter of Hokke Ten Hokke 法華転法華 in Shobogenzo 正法眼蔵. It is a literary equivalent to the Tibetan prayer wheel. Please look at the five Kanji characters carefully. It is, in fact, two sets of the identical pair connected by the character 転 [ten], which means "to change / to turn". It is a visual presentation of the prayer wheel. Traditionally, the Japanese are awed by Kotodama 言霊, the spirits of words, in other words, the phonetical aspests of their expressions. Zen monks and their calligraphy changed the tendency a little.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 22-1 Twisted / video

Today's Tao

Twisted therefore complete. (Ch.22)

Japan stories


When you visit a Buddhist temple or a Shintoist shrine, you will surely see it.

It is a piece of paper called "Omikuji".

You will find a bunch of them tied on the braches of the trees in its precincts.

Japanese men and women pay a few dollars or euros to a young lady working in vermilion and white traditional costume if it is at a Shinto shrine. In exchange, they receive this piece of paper.

As all the good students of Japanese know very well, the prefix "O" expresses politeness.

Though only advanced students of Japanese know it, the prefix "Mi" is an old way to express politeness.

The word "kuji" has plenty of respect, it seems.

It means "lottery".

Although it does not win you money or anything, it will tell you about your future.

Each piece of paper has detailed descriptions concerning your money, love, family, education, job, and others.

If you like what it is written, you keep it.

If you don't like it, you tie it on the branch. Then, divinity will take care of the purification of your bad luck.


To read the text of Today's Tao, please visit Tao Te Ching Chapter 22-1 Twisted. You will find a little article about Shohei Imamura's films, too.


Tao answers your question!



-They are based on a true story. In 1950 Kinkaku-ji / Golden Pavilion was burnt down. A young monk set fire. Yukio Mishima thought the temple was too beautiful for the monk to face. Another Japanese writer Tsutomu Minakami made up a totally different story. The young monk was having affair with a girl from the same village, who was now working in the quarter Gobancho, a district of pleasure.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 22-1 Twisted

Today's Tao

Twisted therefore complete. (Ch.22)


If you want be perfect, be chaotic.

This is how Dark Depth Female works.

You find the thing you are looking for when you stop looking for it.

That's why Reverse Thinking is useful.


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 22
-Valley God 6-1


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-Shohei Imamura, a flim director. He won a Palm d'Or prize at Cannes Film Festival twice in 1983 and 1997. The Japanese owe him a lot for his contribution to internationally explain our cultural peculiarities. «The Ballad of Narayama», on the right, which won him his first Best Feature Film prize at Cannes, is about a Japanese son throwing away his aged mother. The photo shows it well. The son is carrying the mother while singing the ballad. The film on the left, «Warm Water Under A Red Bridge» did not win him a prize at Cannes in 2001. Well, if you know what her warm water is, it is understandable. Nevertheless, it is a pity because I used to think the French and the Japanese share a similar sort of scatological sense of humour. The worship of this warm water must have an animist trait.