Tao Te Ching Chapter 57-12 Desire

Today's Tao

"I have no desire and the people become an uncarved block by themselves." (Ch.57)


A: "Master Bonbon, I want to have 'no desire'. What can I do?"

B: "Meditate for thirty years, and you will have no desire."


You don't have to meditate and wait for thirty years.

You have no desire from the beginning.

It doesn't belong to you.

Like your mind, feelings, and the clouds in the sky, desire comes and goes.

This is Inmo 恁麼 in Zen Buddhism.

It is part of your hologram.

"Have no desire" means "Accept the fact that you do not possess desire".

If you do it, you will remember that true You are "an uncarved block", which means Tao.

From now on, you don't have to suffer from your desire.


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-Ho 法 and Laws 57-8
-Sage's "Do nothing" 57-9
-Don't move 57-10
-Don't work and Get rich 57-11
-Desire 57-12
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 57


Tao answers your question!



☞Some gifts can save one's life. He may be suffering simply because he cannot name the cause of his sufferings. Once he names it, he can move on to the next stage. He may find a solution to heal the pain, or he might discover that he was not suffering at all. True gifts of life will help him find his way. These are the books of the kind: Ronald D. Davis's «The Gift of Dyslexia» and Daisetz T. Suzuki's «Manual of Zen Buddhism».

Tao Te Ching Chapter 57-11 Don't work & Get rich

Today's Tao

"I do no work and the people get rich by themselves." (Ch.57)


"Do no work."

This epigram of Lao Tzu sounds truer than ever these days.

The more you work, the poorer you get.

Some economists may agree.

Then, let's ask ourselves why.

The less you work, the richer you get because you do not waste Tao's energy.

In other words, you create less resistance.

Wealth is part of your hologram.

The hologram transforms itself unless you resist its transformation.

Your hologram is rich and abundant of Tao's energy.

Don't waste it by working on it.


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-Ho 法 and Laws 57-8
-Sage's "Do nothing" 57-9
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-Don't work and Get rich 57-11
-Desire 57-12
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 57


Tao answers your question!



☞There are some underrated giants, particularly in their own countries. While they enjoy admiration and respect abroad, they have to face skeptics at home. Here we have two Japanese men of that sort: Masanobu Fukuoka of the "Do nothing" agriculture and Masaru Emoto of the memory of the water. Read them and see them for your self. We have no right to tell "nobody told me so" in the future.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 57-10 Don't move

Today's Tao

"I like being still and the people correct themselves." (Ch.57)


A: "Master Bonbon, people are not 'correct' politically, morally, and financially."

B: "Stand up and do something. Correct all those evildoers!"


Master Bonbon, please stop saying things contrary to Lao Tzu's teachings.

Lao Tzu doesn't move, and people will transform themselves naturally.

Of course, yes, because the word "people" suggests your hologram.

You don't have to do anything, and your hologram (=the world) will find the best way.

"Don't move until you are forced to."

When your body doesn't move naturally, this maxim of Chuang Tzu will give you the courage not to react.


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-Don't work and Get rich 57-11
-Desire 57-12
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 57


Tao answers your question!



☞Masanobu Fukuoka's idea is revolutionising agriculture. He worked in many projects of replantation of deserts in Asia and Africa and won Ramon Magsaysay Award, an Asian Nobel prize. He doesn't interfere with nature, he just let it work. He does nothing. Some call him "Modern day Lao Tzu". ☞"Mu 無", which is the title of Masanobu Fukuoka's book on the right, means "nothing" in Japanese like "mu 無" of "mu-i 無為 (=do nothing)".

Tao Te Ching Chapter 57-9 Sage's "Do nothing"

Today's Tao

Therefore, the sage says: "I do nothing and the people change themselves." (Ch.57)


This is a true sage's attitude.

This is the true wisdom of Dark Depth Female.

Do nothing, that's all, and your hologram (=the world) will transform itself.

Some people may ask:

"But, we are not allowed to breathe or eat?

We are not allowed to do anything?"

The concept of "Do nothing" has been misunderstood for ages by many people.

"Do nothing" means:

"Accept the fact that, no matter what you do, you are doing nothing.

Accept that your own self does not exist outside your hologram.

In short, accept all."

In other words, minimize your resistance and circulate Tao's energy while letting your holograms transform themselves as smoothly as possible.


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-Sage's "Do nothing" 57-9
-Don't move 57-10
-Don't work and Get rich 57-11
-Desire 57-12
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 57


Tao answers your question!



Japan is a floating world with superstitious post-consumers or a primitive society with hi-tech gadgets. Professor Kawashima's «Brain Age» will make a nice gift to your aged friends or family members. Nintendo can contribute to your "brain" maintenance. On the other hand, Hayao Miyazaki's «My Neighbor Totoro» is an ideal gift for children and young at heart. Studio Ghibli can help your "spiritual" maintenance.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 57-8 Ho 法 & Laws

Today's Tao

The more laws and decrees are known, the more robbers there are. (Ch.57)


Laws cannot control the world.

The more we try to control it with them, the more troubles we create.

We have been learning this hard ways these days.

This chapter 57 has Lao Tzu's maxims directly applicable to your life.

Nevertheless, the more practical they seem to be, the less essential they are.

We have to remember that many later hands had been added to the original Tao Te Ching.

That's the difference from Dogen's «Shobogenzo», whose original is the one we read nowadays.

That's why we often ask the 13th-century Zen master for some help.

Laws are part of your hologram.

In Buddhism, laws, teachings, and Buddha's manifestation are beautifully expressed by one word, 法 [ho].


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-Desire 57-12
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 57


Tao answers your question!



☞This «Child Guardian» is called Jizo in Japan. The Kanji / Chinese characters 地蔵 [jizo] literally express the storage of the earth. He stores plenty of love for the people, for both the children and the adults. This deity probably represents the Japanese sentiments towards Buddhism better than mighty Buddha himself. The earthiness of Jizo reminds us of our ancestors, who came from all over by land or by sea or who had been living in the archipelago all the time. With the incense from Kyoto, this mini Jizo statue will make a good gift for your enlightened friend.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 57-7 More intelligent, more evil

Today's Tao

The more intelligent the people are, the more evil acts take place. (Ch.57)


Let's ask the ex-employees of Lehman Brothers if they agree with Lao Tzu.

Whether they agree or not, Lao Tzu's wisdom can be applied in life.

Then, can we think why in terms of Taoism?

It is because the world in front of you is your hologram.

By working on it intelligently and logically, you increase resistance.

The resistance stops it from naturally transforming itself.

Intelligence and logic are counterproductive.

Well, to be shrewd and do "evil acts", you need plenty of intelligence, right?


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-Don't work and Get rich 57-11
-Desire 57-12
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 57


Tao answers your question!



☞The true intelligence is "Do nothing". You might wonder if it is applicable to our modern life. Yes, it is. And more than ever we need to apply it. A good example is late Japanese botanist Masanobu Fukuoka, who developed an agriculture of doing nothing. Read his «The One-Straw Revolution» and tell your friends interested in ecology about the book on the Taoist agricultural revolution, please. ☞Zen monk Ryokan was a Japanese equivalent to St. Francis of Assisi. Since he was in Soto School, it was natural he admired Dogen and his «Shobogenzo». I wish I could ask this Buddhist poet whether he had overcome our modern problem of Self.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 57-6 More useful tools

Today's Tao

The more useful tools the people have, the more disordered the state gets. (Ch.57)


One can read this piece of wisdom of Lao Tzu as the encouragement of disarmament or the dissuasion from hiring intelligent and brilliant consultants for the nation's top positions.

We all know the stories.

Arms races and financial crises are metaphors and prayers.

Let's remember that the words "people" and "state" signify your hologram.

"Useful tools" like intelligence simply provoke disorder in the hologram.

If you have power or intelligence, can you stay away from using them to act on the rest of the world (=your hologram)?


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-Desire 57-12
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 57


Tao answers your question!



☞The title of the famous tune in Nagisa Oshima's «Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence» is «Forbidden Colors». This is the same as one of Yukio Mishima's novels. "Iro", which means color in Japanese, often signifies lust. Please look at the photo of the book on the left and use your imagination what kind of lust is forbidden and how much pleasure they get because of this very prohibition. Just click the publicity on the right and enjoy the sample music at the Amazon site. I am sure you have heard the beautiful melody composed by Ryuichi Sakamoto, who acted in the film as a Japanese officer at a prison camp in Indonesia during World War 2.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 57-5 No prohibitions

Today's Tao

The more annoying prohibitions there are in the world under the sky, the poorer the people get. (Ch.57)


"You must not do this!"

"You must not eat that!"

Look at the people around you.

Aren't they saying things like that?

Prohibitions make people poorer.

They create resistance and block the free flow of Tao.

Don't impose your prohibitions on others.

If others impose their prohibitions on you, what can you do?

Love them, and accept who they are, but you do not necessarily have to do what they are saying.


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-Ho 法 and Laws 57-8
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-Don't move 57-10
-Don't work and Get rich 57-11
-Desire 57-12
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 57


Tao answers your question!



☞«Forbidden Colors» is the title for the theme of «Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence / Furyo / Senjo no meriikurisumasu», in which David Bowie, Takeshi Kitano, Ryuichi Sakamoto, and Nagisa Oshima got together. The tune was originally composed by Ryuichi Sakamoto acting in the film as a Japanese officer. Gyasi sings beautifully the song. Besides, Yukio Mishima wrote the novel «Forbidden Colors».

Tao Te Ching Chapter 57-4 How do I know?

Today's Tao

How do I know this? (Ch.57)


You know everything.

I repeat "You know everything." although you may feel absolutely contrary.

You may want to say:

"How can you know everything that is happening in the whole world!"

Let's imagine as if you were a radio.

You might have an access to everything, but simply select what you need over what you don't.

That's how information is being reconstructed in your own self, which is after all part of a hologram. (That's one way to look at what is happening with you right here right now.)

The hologram exists as a catalyst to stimulate true You, which know all because you are Tao itself.


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 57
-Restructured world 15-12


Tao answers your question!



☞As the holiday season approaches, you may be looking for a nice gift for your loved ones. If, in case, you are in trouble finding a suitable gift for an intellectual (and probably choosy) person, why don't you try the combination of a Japanese Buckwheat Pillow (Soba gara makura) and Natsume Soseki's «Kusamakura», which means a grass pillow? He will be happy to enjoy the book while resting comfortably on the pillow as the Japanese author might have done after having finished writing it.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 57-3 Don't work

Today's Tao

You get the world under the sky by doing no work. (Ch.57)


Lao Tzu is saying here:

"Don't govern your state with so-called justice.

Don't launch a surprise attack.

Do not work on any. Don't interfere."


He is discouraging you from using your intelligence.

The world, which you want to transform with your intelligence, is a hologram and catalyst you project.

By doing nothing, you can change the world.

If you accept all, the world will change itself.


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-Desire 57-12
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 57
-No work 63-2


Tao answers your question!



☞I don't know if Sei Shonagon, the author of «Makura no Soshi / The Pillow Book», would be happy about the film «The Pillow Book». Probably yes. Thanks to Peter Greenaway, the classical collection of the medieval essays by an intelligent imperial female servant is now digitally immortalized in DVD. (☞See also Can't help it 30-9)

Tao Te Ching Chapter 57-2 Surprise attack

Today's Tao

You use soldiers in a surprising way. (Ch.57)


Don't use your intelligence.

This is the theme of this chapter 57 Intelligence.

Intelligence is not so "intelligent" as we think it is.

In war, some generals opt for a surprise attack and think that they are more intelligent than their enemies.

But history has already told us so many times that a surprise attack is useless.

Intelligence is useless.

The moment we think we are intelligent, we are trapped.


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-Desire 57-12
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 57


Tao answers your question!



☞Who are perfect women? Women like them do not exist, some might say. All women are perfect, others can say. In Japanese literature, Fujitsubo of «The Tale of Genji» has been considered as one of them along with Komako, the perfect Onsen Geisha in Yasunari Kawabata's «Snow Country». One should not omit Midori of Ichiyo Higuchi's «Takekurabe», who is supposed to have inspired Kafu Nagai in his creation of Oyuki, who sells pleasure illegally in «A Strange Tale from East of the River».

Tao Te Ching Chapter 57-1 Justice

Today's Tao

You govern a state with justice. (Ch.57)


Justice, which one imposes on another, is useless.

There is no difference between justice and injustice.

Lao Tzu asks you not to judge.

True justice is accepting all. That's what Lao Tzu is talking about here.

If you feel like complaining about injustice, it is a good sign that you are not accepting your holograms.

The one and only justice is to maintain the circulation of Tao's energy with the least possible amount of resistance.


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 57


Tao answers your question!



☞At first, I found it fantastic to use Albert Einstein's photo for the publicity of a Japanese Classic «The Tale of Genji». Later, when I got to realize that the name of Einstein has been given to the collection of their books for Kindle, I have to admit, I was greatly disappointed. ☞«The Confession of Lady Nijo» is an interesting medieval record of the battle between libido and financial gain in a woman.