Tao Te Ching Chapter 27-12 Profound truth

Today's Tao

This is called the profound truth. (Ch.27)


Yin and Yang. Satori and Mayoi, which means being lost. Birth and reincarnation.

These paired concepts have confused us, the occidentals and the orientals alike, for hundreds of years.

They are the results of our desperate attempts to convey the concept of the cycle between Tao and hologram. This is the prayer wheel.

Thanks to the invention of holography, we can comprehend it without any metaphors.

But, be careful.

Don't conceptualize it.

That makes it less easy to accept that Tao receives Tao through holograms.


Dogen quoted the words of Nangaku Ejo (Nan-yueh Huai-jang):

"I don't say that practice and the attainment of Satori do not exist, but we had better not tarnish them by meddling with them."修証不無。染汚即不得。(jishozanmai 自証三昧, «Shobogenzo»)


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-No bad man 27-10
-Lost completely 27-11
-Profound truth 27-12
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 27


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-When a Japanese girl hears the word "princess" and is asked to draw a picture of her, almost certainly she creates an image of a Snow White. I personally do not know any Japanese married woman who made a vow of their eternal love solely in kimonos without changing her outfit and putting on a white Western-style wedding dress. Nowadays, blonde Japanese girls are getting more and more banal.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 27-11 Lost completely

Today's Tao

If you don't value your teacher, if you don't love your resources, no matter how wise you are, you will be lost completely. (Ch.27)


As we have discussed them in the previous entries, "teacher" and "resources" mean a good man and a non-good man.

They suggest a cycle.

It is the cycle where the fundamental energy is emitted and received.

It is the cycle between Tao and your hologram.

But, don't separate the two.

Don't try to understand the cycle intellectually.

Just love the world, which is your hologram in front of you.

Don't despise the world, saying that it is just an illusion.

Otherwise, you will be profoundly lost in the abyss of intellectualization.


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-Lost completely 27-11
-Profound truth 27-12
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 27


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-"Sensei!" If you are learning Japanese, you know it. There are too many homophones in this language. If someone says that "sensei" means a teacher, he is right. If another says that "sensei" means a surprise attack, well, he is almost right. "Sensei" can be a leadoff attack. If you want to declare under oath something like peace, it is "sensei" as well.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 27-10 No bad man

Today's Tao

A non-good man is the resources of a good one. (Ch.27)


Yesterday, we talked about "a good man is the teacher of a non-good one".

Please pay attention to the expression "non-good" man 不善人.

In the original of Tao Te Ching, it is not written as a "bad" man 悪人.

There is neither good nor bad in Tao.

Good is the source of non-good.

Non-good is the source of good.

It shows us the cycle of Yin and Yang.

It doesn't matter whether the hen or the egg comes first.

As long as it cycles, it is perfect.


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-No good man 27-9
-No bad man 27-10
-Lost completely 27-11
-Profound truth 27-12
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 27


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-Hanzo on the left is Hanzo Itami in Goyokiba. Hanzo on the right is Hanzo Hattori in Kill Bill. The latter is not Hanzo the Ninja minister, but his descendent acted by Sonny Chiba (Shin'ichi Chiba), who played the great athlete cop in Key Hunter series. Since I was a kid, I have been wondering what a key hunter means.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 27-9 No good man

Today's Tao

So, a good man is the teacher of a non-good one. (Ch.27)


Don't judge anyone.

There is neither good man nor bad one.

Zen Master Dogen says:

"It is not that something evil does not exist. Just do nothing. It is not that something evil exists. Just do nothing." (Shoakumakusa 諸悪莫作, «Shobogenzo»)

Today's Tao sentence should be read along with tomorrow's.

«Do nothing» is the creation of Tao's cycle.

If you read just Today's sentence, you will make just a one-way street.


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-Lost completely 27-11
-Profound truth 27-12
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 27
-Tao by Matsumoto / Do not judge


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-To a certain generation of Japanese men, Mako Midori (on the left) and Meiko Kaji (on the right) have left a long-lasting trace in their memory. While Meiko Kaji has been given some special place in the heart of some men living outside Japanese islands thanks to Quentin Tarantino, fewer and fewer men remembers the name of Mako Midori because of the diminishing number of baby boomers in the archipelago.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 27-8 Enter enlightenment

Today's Tao

This is called entering enlightenment, which means knowing the constancy of Tao. (Ch.27)


Absolute acceptance is called Satori in Zen Buddhism.

Satori is not just a state.

Satori is rather an act.

Satori is not a hallucination or an altered state.

It is not just understanding the acceptance of all, either.

In Satori, you actively receive the fundamental energy by accepting the world.

Simultaneously you emit the energy by loving the world.

Thus, you can be aware that you are the very center of the constant circulation of Tao the energy.


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-Lost completely 27-11
-Profound truth 27-12
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 27


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-Life is a floating world. Why don't we live like floating weeds? Ukiyo means the floating world. Ukikusa means floating weeds. It is a film by Yasujiro Ozu. Machiko Kyo, the phantom princess in Ugetsu, took the leading female role. Nevertheless, the movie is remembered by the juvenile beauty of precocious girl Kayo encarnated by Ayako Wakao. A fantastic film!

Tao Te Ching Chapter 27-7 Things = Prayers

Today's Tao

He helps things very well. So, he abandons no things. (Ch.27)


Don't break things. They also have souls.

Don't waste their lives when you eat animals or plants. Chew them well and assimilate them into your body completely.

Don't hit the keys on your computer too hard even though you are frustrated.

Don't you hear their cry? "Please, master, don't hit me like your enemy."

Like living beings, objects are prayers.

When you accept them as they are, you turn the prayer wheel.

In order to give you opportunities to turn your prayer wheel, everything exists.

So, don't abandon things, please.


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-Lost completely 27-11
-Profound truth 27-12
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 27
-Take time 15-4 Please take time when you eat. Chew food well and appreciate the life that it once had (or still has when you eat sushi or sashimi at a very good establishment).


Tao answers your question!



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-Tattoo is beautiful especially when it is engraved on the skin of a beautiful woman. Jun'ichiro Tanizaki wrote a short story called «Shisei», which means tattoo. Later, Yasuzo Masumura made a film called «Irezumi», which also means tattoo. Ayako Wakao, the actress whose back was the shrine of the spider tattoo in the film, was an ideal woman to embody the beauty. Who else can do it!

Tao Te Ching Chapter 27-6 Jimitokudo

Today's Tao

Therefore, the sage always helps people very well. So, he abandons no people. (Ch.27)


Help others especially when they try to cross their hologram (=the world).

In Zen Buddhism, it is called «Ji mi toku do, sen do ta 自未得度先度他». Though you haven't crossed it yet, let others cross it first.

You don't have to be a super master to help others.

You just help others realize that this world is their hologram projected in their head respectively.

But, please remember there is no difference between you and non-you. Your own self and others are both part of your hologram.

If they have crossed it, you have already crossed it, too.

Don't abandon others, your own self, or your hologram.

Just accept and love them.


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-Profound truth 27-12
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 27


Tao answers your question!



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-Was Yukio Mishima an actor or a novelist? Was he an actor acting the life of a novelist? Or, was he a novelist acting like an actor. His childhood friends may know the answer. His public image deceives us. He tried everything to be what he really was not. Ironically, the image has become his second nature. There could have been a happy ending like a movie if he had been able to convince himself that he had finally become what he was not. His second nature could not allow the first one to exist.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 27-5 Strings nor cords

Today's Tao

Good tying doesn't need either strings nor cords, but no one can untie it. (Ch.27)


If you want to keep something with you, let it go.

If you want to keep someone with you, let him go.

The best way to tie something is to do it without strings or cords.

The best strings are Dark Depth 玄 [gen].

This invisible string is the most effective of all.

Sounds like the story of «Emperor's New Dress»?

Try it, and you will see how effective it is.

To use Dark Depth, do nothing.

Let everything go.

This is called Dark Depth Female 玄牝 [gen pi].


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-Lost completely 27-11
-Profound truth 27-12
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 27


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-They are the same story. Originally it was written by Jun'ichiro Tanizaki with the title of «Manji» in Japanese. There might have been a certain consideration not to use the original title for the English translation probably because the design of «Manji» reminds most of the readers in English of our dark history during World War Two. Please don't imagine that the film on the left is about two Mata hari women working for some espionage. The novel and film will tell you about love between two women.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 27-4 Bars nor bolts

Today's Tao

Good shutting doesn't need either bars nor bolts, but no one can open it. (Ch.27)


The best defense is no defense.

Don't try to protect anything.

Protecting something is the best way to lose it.


Chuang Tzu, a distant disciple of Lao Tzu, says in his book:

"Although you hide your boat in a valley and the nets in a swamp, a powerful man may steal them and run away". (The 6th chapter in Inner Chapters, «Chuang Tzu»)


If a thing is supposed to stay with you, it will be there.

If not, let it go.


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 27


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-Jun'ichiro Tanizaki wrote about women. He wrote about tattoos on the back of a woman. He wrote about a man who stung his own eyes not to see his wife's once beautiful but now burnt face. He wrote about women in the classic, the Tale of Genji. He wrote about the key who knows everything.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 27-3 Counting sticks

Today's Tao

Good reckoning doesn't need counting sticks. (Ch.27)


Don't calculate because our human intelligence is very limited.

Instead, use Tao.

Tao doesn't need counting sticks.

Tao doesn't need anything because you do nothing.

Doing nothing is the best way to activate your Dark Depth 玄 [gen].

Tao is much more reliable than our intelligence.

That's why Lao Tzu asks us to reduce our knowledge.

He knew that our intelligence was not so intelligent.


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 27


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-Once upon a time Naomi was a cool name in Japan. It was way before the time of Naomi Campbell and Naomi Watts. It was even before World War Two. Jun'ichiro Tanizaki liked the name. That's why he gave his character the name. Naomi that Tanizaki created likes dancing, fooling around with many men, and transforming a man to a slave.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 27-2 Good speech

Today's Tao

A good speech has no flaws. (Ch.27)


When you say something according to Tao, your speech is perfect.

Then, a question arises.

Can we really say something against Tao?

It is impossible.

So, give yourself a bit more credit.

No matter what you say, you are right.

Your speech has no flaws.


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 27


Tao answers your question!



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-It is not a competition. It is not a judgement at all. Some still remember the old Zatoichi the blind swordsman. The others don't. Some grew up with watching the TV series. The others don't. Some saw the ones with Katsu, others saw the one with Kitano, and the others saw one with another. But, all of us, who adore this blind man, imitate Zatoichi with a bloom or a scale once in a while.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 27-1 No traces

Today's Tao

A good traveller leaves neither wheel tracks nor footsteps. (Ch.27)


You follow Tao.

You do something.

Then, you leave no traces.

People don't know that you are doing it.

No direct action. No signs.

But Dark Depth works.


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 27
-Tao by Matsumoto / Dark Depth Female


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