Tao Te Ching Chapter 45-10 Clear & Still

Today's Tao

Being clear and still makes you the master of the world under the sky. (Ch.45)


Be still.

Be clear.

Then, you will be the master of the world.

In other words, when you are calm, you can easily remember the most important fact, which is that true You are Tao itself.


Zen master Dogen says clearly:


"«The highest Bodhi / wisdom 無上菩提 [mujo bodai]»

is

«Authentic manifestation of holography 正法眼蔵 [Shobogenzo]»,

is

«Stillness 寂静 [jaku jo]»,

and

is

«Do nothing 無為 [mu i]»."


(Inmo 恁麼, «Shobogenzo»)


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-Tozan Ryokai / Cold 45-8
-Heat 45-9
-Clear and Still 45-10
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 45


Tao answers your question!



☞What is happiness to you? Some people dream of a happy retirement, but it was not the case with Katsushika Hokusai. To him, happiness is painting. He just wanted to paint and the rest had no importance. Money, fame, or even the hygiene of his house was not important at all. At the moment of his departure from this floating world, he wished he were able to live five, ten years more to be a perfect painter.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 45-9 Heat

Today's Tao

Stillness defeats heat. (Ch.45)


As we discussed it yesterday, heat is part of your hologram.

Tao's "stillness" is behind the heat.

What is the "stillness", then?

Please check Tao Te Ching Chapter 16.


Lao Tzu says:

"Going back to the root is called stillness". (Stillness 16-6)


It is also called "going back to their destiny (=life)". (Destiny 16-7)


A moving hologram goes back to Tao's stillness.

Then, a new life / destiny of a hologram will be born.

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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 45
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching Chapter 16 / Go back
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching Chapter 42 / One, two, three The Kanji / Chinese character of Destiny / Life 命 [mei] can be found in Chuang Tzu's text 12-8 on Heaven and Earth.


Tao answers your question!



☞What is the definition of the word "Geisha"? Etymologically speaking, it means "an artist or artisan": "gei" signifies "art"; "sha""person". Since they sell the service of their "art", there are better ones and worse ones. Who's good at this? Who doesn't know about that? Therefore, someone can write about their «Rivalry». A great writer Kafu Nagai takes the pains of recording the humane aspects of this art of flirtation.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 45-8 Tozan Ryokai / Cold

Today's Tao

Movement defeats cold. (Ch.45)


In summer, it is hot.

In winter, it is cold.

Whether it is hot or cold, Tao's "movement" is hidden behind.


Dogen says:

"寒はこれ祖宗の活眼睛なり

[kan ha kore sosou no katsu ganzei nari]

Cold is the very living holography of Buddha ancestors."

(Shunjuu 春秋, «Shobogenzo»)


Like other holograms, cold is a manifestation of Tao.

You accept it with gratitude.


That's why Tozan Ryokai 洞山良价 said:

"When it's cold, make yourself feel cold completely".

寒時寒殺闍梨


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 45


Tao answers your question!



☞Yukio Mishima adapted some Noh plays into modern plays: «Kindai noh gaku shu / Five Modern No Plays». Many Japanese agree that «Sotoba komachi» is the most successful adaptation among others. You can read its original in «The Noh plays of Japan» and find out whether they are right or not. It seems that the adaptation is extremely difficult because, in the originals of most Noh plays, the confrontation of ideas and values, which is often the pillar of dramatic development of a story in a modern play, is crucially lacking. In the country of Zen, concepts are less important obviously.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 45-7 Poor speech

Today's Tao

Big's speech seems poor. (Ch.45)


A: "Master Bonbon, why are you so serious all the time? "

B: "I am talking something sacred. I have to be serious. Otherwise, people will not believe it."


No, Master Bonbon, if you are talking about true Tao, people have to laugh at you.


Lao Tzu says in Chapter 40:

"When a low man hears about Tao, he laughs out loud.

If he doesn't laugh, it is not worth being Tao."

(Laughable Tao 40-3 and If not laughable 40-4, respectively)


When you talk about Tao, don't try to convince others because your speech must sound very poor.


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-Tozan Ryokai / Cold 45-8
-Heat 45-9
-Clear and Still 45-10
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 45


Tao answers your question!



☞Making a speech is not exactly part of Japanese tradition. The more you talk, the less important you are. Ishin denshin 以心伝心: by your heart you can transmit your heart, is our traditional way. You can watch the two good Japanese films in the post-Kurosawa era concerning the departure of one's beloved, and see how Japanese handle the situation with the minimum of speech. Silence is still golden in the modern Jipangu which Marco Polo thought was rich in gold.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 45-6 Capable = Incapable

Today's Tao

Big's capability seems incapable. (Ch.45)


"If Tao is the almighty creator of everything, what on earth did it do to create such a world as this!"


Today's episode is another Kanreisu 関捩子 (a bar / spring) to understand Tao and Zen better.

Tao creates your hologram.

Tao is the source of your hologram.

Then, is Tao responsible for your hologram, that is to say, your life?

The answer is "No".

Tao has no intention.

It does not control any.

Therefore, Zen Buddhists use the expression 恁麼 [inmo], which means «what on earth».


Dogen quotes Sokei Eno's words to Nangaku Ejo (曹谿慧能 to 南嶽懐譲):

"是什麼物恁麼来

[ze inmo butsu inmo rai]

Where on earth did this «what on earth» thing come from?"

(Inmo 恁麼, «Shobogenzo»)


It means:

"Don't think about the cause of your hologram. Just accept it." (By accepting it, you emit Buddha's Love.)


[Note]
Sokei Eno's words to Nangaku Ejo appear in Book 5 of «Record of the Transmission of the Lamp / 景徳伝燈録».


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-Tozan Ryokai / Cold 45-8
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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 45
-Inmo and No mind 49-10
-Tao by Matsumoto / Country


Tao answers your question!



☞Japanese synthesizer player Isao Tomita works with a Shakuhachi Japanese bamboo flutist, Dozan Fujiwara. Some pieces in the album «Kyo» are dedicated to Murasaki Shikibu / Lady Murasaki, the author of «The Tale of Genji». Ukifune the floating boat, which you can find both in the music album and the collection of short stories, is about a woman who "floats" in the flow of her destiny. It runs through between two men.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 45-5 Straight = Winding

Today's Tao

Big's straight seems winding. (Ch.45)


Does anything truly straight exist on the earth?

No.

Straightness only exists in concept.

What you see in the world is not exactly the same as what it really is.

After all, everything is part of your hologram.

In Tao, space does not exist.


Zen master Dogen says:

"学般若これ虚空なり。虚空は学般若なり。

[gaku hannya kore kokuu nari. kokuu ha gaku hannya nari.]

To let us learn what Tao is, the hologram exists.

The very act of learning Tao is the hologram."

(Makahannyaharamitsu 摩訶般若波羅蜜, «Shobogenzo»)


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 45


Tao answers your question!



☞Akira Kurosawa challenged William Shakespeare? Or did he just try to exploit the giant in English literature? Well, Sir William would not mind facing this cheeky challenge by a little man from Far East making a living on a form of entertainment commercialized in the twentieth century, I suppose. Kurosawa's «Throne of Blood / Kumonosu jo 蜘蛛巣城/ The Castle of Spider Nets» is based on «Macbeth». Not just that! Please watch the dance of Lady Macbeth (Isuzu Yamada). The choreography is inspired by Noh, a Japanese traditional theatre. Sir William, you are not offended, are you?

Tao Te Ching Chapter 45-4 No exhaustion

Today's Tao

Its use never exhausts it. (Ch.45)


"Oh, my god. Oh, my god. All the human beings are using Tao's energy. One day it will be completely exhausted!"


Don't worry.

It is not going to happen.

Tao the fundamental energy will never be "exhausted" because you emit it all the time.

Everything exists for this purpose.

The constant recycling of the fundamental energy Tao.

The more you "use" your hologram, in other words, the more you appreciate this world, the more energy "goes back" to Tao.


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 45


Tao answers your question!



☞Yasujiro Ozu's «Ukikusa / Floating Weeds» is a film about a traveling Kabuki troupe. Yasunari Kawabata's «The Dancing Girl of Izu» is a short story about a troupe of traveling entertainers. When you don't have your own place, you are floating like Ukikusa the floating weeds. You flow with the current. Although common sense in Japan considers them marginal undesirables, we idolize them. They lead a beautiful life that we wish to live but never have the courage to plunge into, we think. Yasujiro Ozu filmed the same story twice. Yasunari Kawabata lived the same story twice as the student who met the girl and the writer who wrote about it.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 45-3 Full = Empty

Today's Tao

Big's fullness seems empty. (Ch.45)


Even an "empty" space is filled with Tao.

Watch out!

This word "empty" is not the emptiness that suggests Tao.

The world is full of colours, right?

Those colours are holograms, which are manifestations of Tao the emptiness.

Let's review the cycle.


emptiness (Tao) → full of colours (hologram) → emptiness (Tao)

Therefore, emptiness = emptiness


full of colours (hologram) → emptiness (Tao) → full of colours (hologram)

Therefore, colours = colours


To explain this cycle, Master Dogen says:

"色即是空。空即是色。色是色なり。空即空なり。

[shiki soku ze ku. ku soku ze shiki. shiki ze shiki nari. ku soku ku nari.]"

Colours are justly emptiness. Emptiness is justly colours. Colours are colours. Emptiness justly emptiness.

(Makahannyaharamitsu 摩訶般若波羅蜜, «Shobogenzo»)


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Tao answers your question!



☞I am happy to introduce two great Japanese men. Each of them lived in two different contexts in two different periods of time. Kukai 空海 is the founder of Japanese Shingon 真言 Buddhism and the monastery in Mt Koya 高野山 in the ninth century. Ryotaro Shiba 司馬遼太郎 was a successful commercial novelist and thinker of a profound understanding about the history of Japan. The modern writer described Kukai's monastery as an "exceptionally different city state". Visit it if you have a chance. You can spend a night there and enjoy authentic Shojin 精進 dishes for Buddhist monks.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 45-2 Never tired

Today's Tao

Its use never tires it out. (Ch.45)


Tao never gets tired out.

Then, why do we get tired?

Why don't we think that fatigue is a message your body is sending to you?

What kind of message does it send?

Your body is asking your mind not to work too hard.

It is asking you to do nothing.

In fact, everything in your world is asking you to do nothing.


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-Tozan Ryokai / Cold 45-8
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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 45


Tao answers your question!



☞Jiro Osaragi is the author of «Kurama Tengu» series. A tengu is a legendary god and has a red face with a long nose, but this Kurama Tengu is a man who hides his identity in a black mask. He is an excellent swordsman and sometimes uses a gun as well. Nobody knows who he really is although everyone knows him because he always helps good people. Politically he supports the Royalists against the Shogun samurais, but it is not important. He just cannot ignore underdogs.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 45-1 Completion

Today's Tao

Big's completion seems missing something. (Ch.45)


The word "Big" implies Tao.

Tao has completed its work, but it doesn't look perfect.

This is Tao's perfection.

Look at the world in front of you.

This is a good example.

It's perfect, isn't it?

No?

Well, aren't you judging it by someone else's definition of a perfect world?

Not by yours?

Your hologram (=the world) is always perfect although it "seems" missing something.


[Note]
Today's Tao sentence can be understood from the point of view of Attainment = Beginning.
(☞See Lose = Gain 42-7)


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 45
-Tao by Matsumoto / Do not judge


Tao answers your question!



☞In Kitaro's album «Impression of the West Lake» there is a piece called «Zen». What is Zen really? People ask the question. Kitaro tries to answer it with music. This charming piece is a good answer. Nevertheless, if you need something less abstract, Master Ikkyu does help you. It would be nice if you read Yama Uba the Zen play while listening to Kitaro's musical representation of the beautiful «West Lake 西湖» of Hangzhou in China.