Tao Te Ching Chapter 61-11 Go down

Today's Tao

If each wants to get what she wants, the big one should go down. (Ch.61)


All Tao wants is to cycle.

To do so, it has to "go down", or be submissive.

Remember?

True You are Tao.

So, Lao Tzu is talking about your attitude here.

Be submissive and activate Dark Depth Female.

A hologram is not Tao.

But, accept your hologram, or the world, as if it was Tao itself.

Then, your spiritual quest is over.

Now you know the starting point and the goal are the same.

This is the Yin Yang circle.


«Related Articles»
-Satori = Reality 61-1
-Intercourse 61-2
-Female of the world 61-3
-Female beats male 61-4
-By stillness 61-5
-Under small 61-6
-Under big 61-7
-By going down 61-8
-Gather and Raise 61-9
-Work on people 61-10
-Go down 61-11
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 61


Tao answers your question!



☞This yellow animal on the right is a monster in fact. A monster can be cute and friendly in the land of Nintendo. The name of the world-famous monster is Pikachu. He lives in the virtual world of the video game Pocket Monster, in case you don't know it. Monsters and robots are not enemies in Japan. They are friends that console the hearts and souls of tired Japanese workers, students, and children, who more desperately than ever want to leave this reality for a virtual one. Nevertheless, it is not appropriate to blame technology for their daydreaming because the wish of escape is something rather "traditional" there. Please look at the samurai-like man on the left. He is in fact a fisherman called «Urashima Taro». He is riding a turtle, which is taking him to a "Paradise under the Sea". To modern-day Hawaii, Tahiti, or New Caledonia? It doesn't matter. The turtle is surely taking a tired Japanese worker to the paradise to which his ancestors once belonged.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 61-10 Work on people

Today's Tao

A small country simply wants to enter and work on people. (Ch.61)


Do you think some authority or power is dictating to your life?

What Lao Tzu is saying here is rather the other way round.

The outside world, which is your hologram, seems to be influencing you and your life, but it doesn't in fact.

In Zen Buddhism, they use various expressions to illustrate a hologram:

山河大地

[sen ga daichi]

"mountains, rivers, and lands"

and

尽十方界

[jin juppo (jippo) kai]

"ten nooks and crannies of the whole world"

among others.

Its sole objective is to stimulate the circulation of the fundamental energy Tao.

Then, how can we get along with it?


Master Dogen answers the question with a metaphor of a man and a boat.

「われふねにのりて、このふねをもふねならしむ」

[ware fune ni nori te, kono fune wo mo fune narashimu]

"I go on board the boat and make it be a boat." (boat = hologram)

(Zenki 全機, «Shobogenzo»)


«Related Articles»
-Satori = Reality 61-1
-Intercourse 61-2
-Female of the world 61-3
-Female beats male 61-4
-By stillness 61-5
-Under small 61-6
-Under big 61-7
-By going down 61-8
-Gather and Raise 61-9
-Work on people 61-10
-Go down 61-11
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 61


Tao answers your question!



☞When you visit an island in the southern Pacific Ocean, you may come across a tree tied with many strips of colorful cloth. This is a sacred tree. The tree protects the local people. The reminiscence of this worship still remains in the collective memory of the Japanese. We have not forgotten at all our distant past before the days some of our ancestors traveled across the sea from the islands and settled in this archipelago. No wonder Jizo Bodhisattva wear a fancy Pikachu cap in Japan. (See the photo of Jizo Bodhisattva with a Pikachu cap) He is a reincarnation of the sacred tree in the islands of Nintendo. Now Jizo with colorful strips has come back to Hawaii.  («Guardian of the Sea / Jizo in Hawaii»@Amazon) Looking down the ocean, he is doing his business as usual, protecting the locals and travelers.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 61-9 Gather & Raise

Today's Tao

A big country simply wants to gather and raise people. (Ch.61)


Tao simply wants to gather its energy and "raise" your hologram.

I want you to remember a few things.

Tao is the energy, so Tao gathers Tao.

And true You are this energy called Tao.

People, nature, or the world, physical and metaphysical alike, is part of your hologram, which is "raised" by Tao.

Raising it is accepting it.

It's not controlling it.

By doing so, Tao circulates itself.

That's the one and only objective.

Tao just wants to maintain this circulation.

Having said that, "maintaining" means creating one "Big Bang" where time doesn't exist.


«Related Articles»
-Satori = Reality 61-1
-Intercourse 61-2
-Female of the world 61-3
-Female beats male 61-4
-By stillness 61-5
-Under small 61-6
-Under big 61-7
-By going down 61-8
-Gather and Raise 61-9
-Work on people 61-10
-Go down 61-11
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 61


Tao answers your question!



☞A new generation comes in and soon are considered as an old one. A thing that used to be accepted as normal are no longer acceptable. Once it was a karaoke. Once again came a nintendo. Now it is the washlet, which will carry Japanese notoriety as a weird gadget. Try it if your hotel room has it. Once you experience it, you will know why it is common in the country of the rising sun. Our problem in this archipelago is that a generation who considers the usage of paper as weird has come of age.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 61-8 By going down

Today's Tao

Therefore, some take it by going down. Others go down and take it. (Ch.61)


Going down is being passive, or receiving Tao's energy through your hologram without resistance.

Some do it on purpose.

Others do it without being aware of it.

The key thing is to know that everyone does it.

This act of sending and receiving Love (=Tao) is Satori.


Zen Master Dogen encourages us by saying:

"Some learn Tao by letting go the mechanism of Tao and the hologram (=your mind, =the world).

Others learn Tao by tackling the mechanism of Tao and the hologram."

これらの心を放下して学道するあり拈挙（ねんこ）して学道するあり

(Shinjingakudo 身心学道, «Shobogenzo»)


Whether you are conscious of it or not, you are in the state of Satori; you are one with Tao.


[Note]
心 [shin]: the Tao/hologram mechanism in Zen Buddhism, sometimes translated as mind or heart. It means the center. Picture the center of the Yin Yang circle. Tao manifests (=projects) itself as a hologram. The hologram stimulates Tao. This is the cycle of the mechanism. (☞See also No heart 49-1)


«Related Articles»
-Satori = Reality 61-1
-Intercourse 61-2
-Female of the world 61-3
-Female beats male 61-4
-By stillness 61-5
-Under small 61-6
-Under big 61-7
-By going down 61-8
-Gather and Raise 61-9
-Work on people 61-10
-Go down 61-11
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 61


Tao answers your question!



☞Saiichi Maruya is an excellent novelist who wrote «Singular Rebellion» in 1972 and «Rain in the Wind» in 1991. Besides, he is known as a specialist of James Joyce. He co-translated «Ulysses» into Japanese.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 61-7 Under big

Today's Tao

A small country takes a big country by going under the big country. (Ch.61)


Yesterday's sentence was:

"A big country takes a small country by going under the small country."


In Today's sentence Lao Tzu simply swaps the words "big" and "small".

The important thing is this interchangeability.

It doesn't matter if it's big or small.

They are just showing two points.

One goes under the other, and vice versa.

This is what the Yin Yang circle is symbolizing.

This intercourse is Tao.

It is Love.

Returning to Tao is sending Tao's energy to Tao.

Send it to Tao by going under Tao.

What does "going under Tao" mean?

It means "receiving Tao's energy through your hologram without resistance".

By assimilating it, another hologram can appear.


«Related Articles»
-Satori = Reality 61-1
-Intercourse 61-2
-Female of the world 61-3
-Female beats male 61-4
-By stillness 61-5
-Under small 61-6
-Under big 61-7
-By going down 61-8
-Gather and Raise 61-9
-Work on people 61-10
-Go down 61-11
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 61


Tao answers your question!



☞«House of the Sleeping Beauties» was written by Yasunari Kawabata, a Nobel Prize-winner, in 1961. It is about the aging male citizens who pay money to only sleep beside a young female body.
☞«Snow Country» is Kawabata's masterpiece. Its first publication was in 1935. But the author kept adding new chapters. In 1948, the novel reached the final form. The story took place before WW2. Now no Japanese man can possibly imagine doing the same thing in an expensive onsen ryokan/hotel.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 61-6 Under small

Today's Tao

Therefore, a big country takes a small country by going under the small country. (Ch.61)


Please don't be fooled by the words "big" and "small".

Likewise, please don't be fooled by the words "Yin" and "Yang".

They are just Hoben, tools to explain metaphysical concepts.

They are like Satori and Mayoi, or being lost.

These pairs are, in fact, the same thing.

No combination of antonyms is important.

The important thing is that you discover they are one.

That's why Zen masters just draw a circle.


«Related Articles»
-Satori = Reality 61-1
-Intercourse 61-2
-Female of the world 61-3
-Female beats male 61-4
-By stillness 61-5
-Under small 61-6
-Under big 61-7
-By going down 61-8
-Gather and Raise 61-9
-Work on people 61-10
-Go down 61-11
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 61


Tao answers your question!



☞Small = Big. This is one of the concepts that may interest many architects and interior designers. It is also an idea that you have to live with and utilize if you live in a small house in Tokyo. You can find many useful tips in «Small Spaces». In «Super Potato Design», there are many photos of Takashi Sugimoto's works. The book has an introduction by Tadao Ando.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 61-5 By stillness

Today's Tao

By stillness, she gets lower. (Ch.61)


Here I repeat Chuang Tzu's teachings.

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

Please read and watch Tao by Matsumoto video blog / No hurry 17-6.


Lao Tzu says in Chapter 37:

"Don't desire and be still, and the world under the sky will stabilize itself".

(☞See Be still 37-5)


These are not asking you to fight to sit still.

No, not at all.

They are asking you to accept the hologram, or the world, in front of you as it is.

By stillness, by accepting all, the female gets passive.

Stillness means "going back to the root".

(☞See Stillness 16-6)


«Related Articles»
-Satori = Reality 61-1
-Intercourse 61-2
-Female of the world 61-3
-Female beats male 61-4
-By stillness 61-5
-Under small 61-6
-Under big 61-7
-By going down 61-8
-Gather and Raise 61-9
-Work on people 61-10
-Go down 61-11
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 61


Tao answers your question!



☞Judo means "Soft Tao". The expression "Yawara no michi / The way of being soft" has become outdated, and its original idea seems to have been abandoned in the modern competition of the sport. Thanks to some girl practitioners, we can see a few remaining lights of this spirit. Please look at the colors and expressions of this manga «Yawara! A Fashionable Judo Girl» on the left. It is ironical that it will tell you more about the softness of Judo than the Judo matches in the Olympic Games. ☞On the right, it is a book on «The Hand Arts of Danzan-Ryu Jujutsu».

Tao Te Ching Chapter 61-4 Female beats male

Today's Tao

The female always beats the male because of its stillness. (Ch.61)


This is Lao Tzu's useful message, which you can apply to life without any complicated interpretation.

The word "male" suggests direct action.

Inaction beats action.

If you are still, you are better.

Passiveness defeats activeness.

Use Dark Depth Female rather than acting directly on your hologram (=the world).

Use Reverse Thinking, swapping the cause and the result.

If you are confused, don't move.

If you are forced to do something, do it without feeling ashamed.

When Chuang Tzu asks you not to move until you are forced to, he is not prohibiting you from moving.

On the contrary, if you sit still against any force, it shows that you don't understand his teachings at all.


«Related Articles»
-Satori = Reality 61-1
-Intercourse 61-2
-Female of the world 61-3
-Female beats male 61-4
-By stillness 61-5
-Under small 61-6
-Under big 61-7
-By going down 61-8
-Gather and Raise 61-9
-Work on people 61-10
-Go down 61-11
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 61


Tao answers your question!



☞If you are interested in non-verbal communication, Japanese Haragei the belly art must be a fascinating subject to study. "Hara", which means one's belly in Japanese, is a key in many martial arts. Even in performing arts you cannot ignore this center of gravity in one's body. Besides, if you are a businessman negotiating with a Japanese, it is a must to overcome this art of communication without words. (☞See also Tao by Matsumoto / Haragei the belly art) Read this «Haragei» book with «With Respect to the Japanese: Going to work in Japan» if you are planning to settle in Japan. Don't underestimate Golden Silence.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 61-3 Female of the world

Today's Tao

It's the female of the world under the sky. (Ch.61)


A big country is the female of the world under the sky.

That is to say, being one with Tao is the female of the world under the sky.

What does this mean?

It means:

"To be one with Tao, you use Dark Depth Female".

Then, how?

By accepting all.

This is the attitude symbolized by the word "female", which is very important in Taoism.

Dark Depth Female is the translation for 玄牝 [gen pi].

(☞See Tao by Matsumoto / Dark Depth and Dark Depth Female. See also Tao by Matsumoto video blog / Dark 20-13, Dark Depth 15-1, and Dark Depth Female 6-2)


«Related Articles»
-Satori = Reality 61-1
-Intercourse 61-2
-Female of the world 61-3
-Female beats male 61-4
-By stillness 61-5
-Under small 61-6
-Under big 61-7
-By going down 61-8
-Gather and Raise 61-9
-Work on people 61-10
-Go down 61-11
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 61


Tao answers your question!



☞We can learn a lot about people and their culture while reading their folk tales. «Taketori no Okina», translated as «The Old Bamboo-Hewer's Story», is a story about a girl born inside a bamboo trunk. The old man raises her with his old wife until the baby girl comes of age. The beautiful young woman is in fact a princess of the moon and, having refused all the desirable suitors, goes back to where she belongs. ☞«Momo Taro» could be translated more literally as, for example, "John the peach" or "Taro the peach". Here it has got a fancy English title «Peach Boy». Instead of surfing on the beach like Beach Boys, the Peach Boy travels floating on the river.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 61-2 Intercourse

Today's Tao

It's the intercourse of the world under the sky. (Ch.61)


The world is your hologram.

Being one with Tao is "the intercourse" between Tao and your hologram.

This is the Juki 授記, which we discussed a few days ago at Tao by Matsumoto / Forever 59-7.


Zen Master Dogen says:

授記なんぞ大悟大迷ならざらん。

[juki nanzo daigo daimei narazaran]

"How can Juki not be Big Satori and Big Mayoi!"

(Juki 授記, «Shobogenzo»)


Satori is part of your hologram.

Mayoi, or being lost, is part of the hologram.

Your own Self is part of the hologram.

The intercourse between Tao and the hologram is part of the hologram itself.

Contradictory as it may sound, Tao is this intercourse.

Tao is the act of receiving and sending Love, which is Tao.


«Related Articles»
-Satori = Reality 61-1
-Intercourse 61-2
-Female of the world 61-3
-Female beats male 61-4
-By stillness 61-5
-Under small 61-6
-Under big 61-7
-By going down 61-8
-Gather and Raise 61-9
-Work on people 61-10
-Go down 61-11
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 61


Tao answers your question!



☞We have a few national treasures in Japan. Some are official, and others are the ones that we adore but feel too ashamed to admit it. Some Buddha statues and Zen drawings are the former, and Geisha and robots are the latter. At the deepest recess of a Japanese male's heart, he always have a little room for idolized femininity and mechanized animism. They have even mixed the two entities together and ended up inventing «Robo-geisha».

Tao Te Ching Chapter 61-1 Satori = Reality

Today's Tao

A big country is the lower reaches of the river. (Ch.61)


"A big country" here means "to be one with Tao".

"But, wait a minute! You said: 'A country' means one's hologram, didn't you?", you might want to ask me.

Yes, I did.

Being in the hologram is being one with Tao, or being in the state of Satori.

"What? It means that the hologram, the so-called reality, or the world in front of us is Satori, doesn't it?"

Yes, it does.

Living in this world is the Satori.

Many people say some teachings of Taoism and Zen Buddhism are contradictory and incomprehensible.

Why?

Because of this.

They don't want to accept that this very reality is the state of Satori.

It is not something you obtain after long painful hard work.

At "the lower reaches of " a river, which means your hologram, your life, or this world, you are one with Tao.


«Related Articles»
-Satori = Reality 61-1
-Intercourse 61-2
-Female of the world 61-3
-Female beats male 61-4
-By stillness 61-5
-Under small 61-6
-Under big 61-7
-By going down 61-8
-Gather and Raise 61-9
-Work on people 61-10
-Go down 61-11
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 61


Tao answers your question!



☞You never know. One day we might consider «Transformers» as national treasures of Japan. At least, the name of the company that invented the group of toy robots is a nice one. The Japanese word "Takara 宝" signifies "treasure". Now Takara corporation is consolidated with Tomy. The Japanese word "tomi 富" means "wealth". No one can deny the future possibility of the Transformers being as much cherished as «Japanese Treasures» like a  Netsuke, a carved ornament suspended from the sash of a kimono.