Tao Te Ching Chapter 66-7 Don't compete

Today's Tao

He doesn't compete, so no one in the world under the sky can compete with him. (Ch.66)


You want to fight, right?

"Get up and stand up. Don't give up to fight."

Right?

But against what?

Everyone and everything in the world is part of your hologram.

You are the one who projects it.

Do you want to compete with yourself?

It's useless.

Don't stand up.

Lower yourself.

That's Lao Tzu's message.

Don't fight.

Love all.

Everything you see is asking you to send Love (=Tao).


«Related Articles»
-100 valleys 66-1
-Verbally 66-2
-Physically 66-3
-Never heavy 66-4
-Harmless 66-5
-Support 66-6
-Don't compete 66-7
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 66


Tao answers your question!



☞Read «Tannisho» by Yuien to find out what Shinran and Honen's «Akunin shoki setsu: the Doctrine of Evil Persons as the Object of Salvation» is.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 66-6 Support

Today's Tao

Therefore, the world under the sky is happy to support him and never hates him. (Ch.66)


"Therefore, the world is perfect."

That's what Lao Tzu is saying.

Your hologram is perfect.

It must be.

Don't judge it.

Just accept it.

Do not impose your criteria on it.

"Support" and "hatred" are one's interpretation.

No matter how awful it looks, it is the manifestation of Love (=Tao).

Do not doubt it.

It seems awful because we see it with our limited capacity of comprehension.

Or, even accept your own judgement as part of the hologram that comes and goes.

All you have to do is to emit as much love as you can.

That's the one and only thing the world is asking you to do.


«Related Articles»
-100 valleys 66-1
-Verbally 66-2
-Physically 66-3
-Never heavy 66-4
-Harmless 66-5
-Support 66-6
-Don't compete 66-7
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 66


Tao answers your question!



☞On the left, Heart Sutra. It is called Hannya Shin gyo in Japanese. On the right, «Essence of the Heart Sutra: The Dalai Lama's Heart of Wisdom Teachings»

Tao Te Ching Chapter 66-5 Harmless

Today's Tao

He puts himself before people, but they find him harmless. (Ch.66)


Even though true You are the creator of the world, which is your hologram, people inside it don't know it.

Even your own self doesn't know it.

This is the origin of suffering.


Zen Master Dogen says:

身先の心あり、身後の心あり。

[shinsen no shin ari, shingo no shin ari]

"There is a mechanism before the body. There is a mechanism after the body."

(Sangaiyuishin 三界唯心, «Shobogenzo»)


In the mechanism, you receive Love (=Tao) and emit Love.

The body is your hologram.

So is the world.

You emit Love before creating it.

You receive Love after accepting it.

Love is nothing but harmless.


«Related Articles»
-100 valleys 66-1
-Verbally 66-2
-Physically 66-3
-Never heavy 66-4
-Harmless 66-5
-Support 66-6
-Don't compete 66-7
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 66


Tao answers your question!



☞The title of the book on the left is «Vision of Awakening Space and Time Dogen and Lotus Sutra». On the right, Diamond Sutra is called 金剛般若波羅蜜多経, Kongo Hannyaharamita kyo, or simply Kongo Kyo.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 66-4 Never heavy

Today's Tao

Therefore, the sage puts himself above people, but they don't find him heavy. (Ch.66)


今この三界は皆これ我が有なり

[ima kono sangai wa mina kore waga yu nari]

"Now these three worlds are certainly my own existence."

(Hoke kyo 法華経 / Lotus Sutra;  Sangaiyuishin 三界唯心, «Shobogenzo»)


Buddha declares loudly that the whole world belongs to him.

Buddha (=Love, =Tao) is true You.

So, his declaration is your declaration.

The whole world is your hologram.

(world = existence = hologram)

You project people.

You are above them, but they don't find you heavy.

They don't have to know that you are the creator.

(☞See Creator 4-4 and Creator of Creator 4-5)


[Note]
Why do they not have to know it? Because you create the mental short circuit. (☞See Brambles 30-3)


«Related Articles»
-100 valleys 66-1
-Verbally 66-2
-Physically 66-3
-Never heavy 66-4
-Harmless 66-5
-Support 66-6
-Don't compete 66-7
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 66


Tao answers your question!



☞Lotus Sutra. In Japanese, it is called Hoke Kyo 法華経, which means "the sutra of the flowers of manifestation". You can see the book on Lotus Sutra and Dogen in tomorrow's entree.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 66-3 Physically

Today's Tao

If you want to be before people, be after them physically. (Ch.66)


There are two things I want you to remember.


1. Every time you hear the word "people", please ask yourself where they are.

They are part of the hologram you project.

Often, in Tao Te Ching, the word "people" is a synonym of a hologram.


2. After = Before.

There is neither time nor space in Tao.

They are parameters to reconstruct the world in the mind.

"After you" is "before you".

(☞See also Before and after 2-7)


Let's practice 自未得度先度他 [jimitokudo sendota]:

Though you haven't crossed it yet, let others cross it first.


This is the best way to learn you and non-you are in fact the same.


«Related Articles»
-100 valleys 66-1
-Verbally 66-2
-Physically 66-3
-Never heavy 66-4
-Harmless 66-5
-Support 66-6
-Don't compete 66-7
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 66


Tao answers your question!



☞If you want to know the mentality of Japanese men transforming themselves from consumers to post-consumers, read Fujiko F. Fujio's «Doraemon: Gadget Cat from the Future». If you want to know the mentality and sufferings of Japanese men transforming themselves from samurai to modern consumers, read Soseki Natsume's «I am a Cat».

Tao Te Ching Chapter 66-2 Verbally

Today's Tao

Hence, if you want to be above people, lower yourself below them verbally. (Ch.66)


Lower yourself as if you were water.

Water doesn't argue.

Water doesn't try to convince others.

If you are in a difficult situation, don't move, or dispute. (☞See No hurry 17-6)

Accept what others are saying.

Remember "Advance = Retreat". (☞See Advance = Retreat 40-7)

When the process reaches the lowest bottom, it will start going up.

"People" are part of your hologram, a dewdrop reflecting the moon.

Don't forget that you are the moon above them.


«Related Articles»
-100 valleys 66-1
-Verbally 66-2
-Physically 66-3
-Never heavy 66-4
-Harmless 66-5
-Support 66-6
-Don't compete 66-7
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 66


Tao answers your question!



☞William Somerset Maugham, the author of «Moon and Sixpence», wrote «The Razor's Edge», in which there is an american man who goes to India to obtain Truth. Strangely, this successful author of best-selling novels introduces readers to oriental philosophies in a very capitalist way.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 66-1 100 valleys

Today's Tao

The reason why big rivers and the sea can be the king of hundreds of valleys is that the former is well down the latter. Therefore, they can be the king of hundreds of valleys. (Ch.66)


Let's decode these sentences word by word.

"Big rivers and the sea" imply Tao.

So, the king is Tao.

The king of what, then?

"A valley" means void.

Do you remember? (☞See Valley 28-3)

The void is Tao.

The expression "Hundreds of valleys" here is a beautiful metaphor of the holograms filled with Tao's energy.

And down below you have the far greater mass of Tao's energy as the ocean lies below the valleys.

Zen Buddhists use the metaphor of "dewdrops reflecting the moon".

Holograms look independent like dewdrops.

But they cannot help reflecting the moon.

The moon is true You, which is Tao.

Tao's light is called Mugeko 無碍光: the light that lights up everything.


«Related Articles»
-100 valleys 66-1
-Verbally 66-2
-Physically 66-3
-Never heavy 66-4
-Harmless 66-5
-Support 66-6
-Don't compete 66-7
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 66
-Valleys and the Sea 32-9 Please note that in Chapter 32 "big rivers and the sea" expresses holograms, which are the manifestations of Tao. One can see Tao's energy through a hologram. If you put together the two sentences, you can make a full cycle of "big rivers and the sea" → "valleys" → "big rivers and the sea", that is, hologram → Tao → hologram. It is the Yin Yang circle. Please do not think that a hologram and Tao are two separate entities.


Tao answers your question!



☞"You have to work hard to get what you want." I wonder where we got this strange idea. In Buddhism, Amida Butsu (Amitābha Buddha) is the one who is in charge of "what you want". Basically, he gives you all, even your desire of wanting something. Therefore, you have already got what you want. If you haven't got one thing that you seem to want, in fact you don't want it. This Buddha of Infinite Light is also called Mugeko Butsu in Japanese.