Tao Te Ching Chapter 69-7 Love wins

Today's Tao

Therefore, if two facing armies look like each other, the one sending Love wins. (Ch.69)


What are "two facing armies"?

In Tao, everything is supposed to be one.

This is the source of all the problems: the two imaginary entities in the sole existence.

In your hologram, you have created the division between you and non-you, or Jiko 自己 yourself under your control and Tako 他己 yourself beyond your control.

You and non-you are the same hologram.

That's why Lao Tzu says:

"Two facing armies look like each other".

You and the rest of the world are not separated.

You just think they are.

What is the solution to this imaginary isolation?

Lao Tzu answers you:

"Send Love, and you will win against the isolation".


«Related Articles»
-Use of arms 69-1
-Be passive 69-2
-Retreat 69-3
-Advance without advancing 69-4
-Underestimating the enemy 69-5
-Lost treasures 69-6
-Love wins 69-7
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 69


Tao answers your question!



☞«Tao Te Ching» the first line comparison (3) / "A way that can be walked is not The Way" On the left, «Tao Te Ching: The Definitive Edition (Tarcher Cornerstone Editions)» translated by Jonathan Star. / "The Tâo that can be trodden is not the enduring and unchanging Tâo." On the right, «Tao Te Ching (Penguin Great Ideas)» translated with critical analysis by James Legge.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 69-6 Lost treasures

Today's Tao

If you underestimate the enemy, you have almost lost my treasures. (Ch.69)


What are your treasures?

We have three treasures.


In Tao Te Ching, those three treasures are:

1. Send Love.

2. Don't waste any.

3. Try not to be the first.

(☞See 3 treasures  67-4)


On the other hand, for the Buddhists, their three treasures are:

1. Buddha.

2. Manifestation.

3. Company.


Let's decode them.


1. Buddha is another name of Love, Tao, or the Higher Being.

2. Holograms are Buddha's manifestation (=Dharma). Don't waste your hologram.

3. Your company, your enemy, and the rest are part of your hologram. Why do you have to prove that you are better than them?


[Note]
Buddhists in China used the expression "three treasures 三宝 [san po]" found in Tao Te Ching to translate the Sanskritic word "Tri-ratna". (Osamu Kanaya 金谷治, «Roshi 老子»)


«Related Articles»
-Use of arms 69-1
-Be passive 69-2
-Retreat 69-3
-Advance without advancing 69-4
-Underestimating the enemy 69-5
-Lost treasures 69-6
-Love wins 69-7
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 69


Tao answers your question!



☞«Tao Te Ching» the first line comparison (2) / "The tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao" «Tao Te Ching (English and Mandarin Chinese Edition)» on the left. / Ditto. On the right, «Tao Te Ching: An Illustrated Journey» by Stephen Mitchell. They are the same translation, but one has the original text and the other has Chinese paintings.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 69-5 Underestimating the enemy

Today's Tao

No disaster is as big as underestimating the enemy. (Ch.69)


Don't underestimate your enemy.

Even if you think about this within the limit of conventional wisdom, it is difficult to disagree.

But this cautious approach in a competition or a battle is not at all what Lao Tzu wanted to tell us.

He is saying here:

"It is disastrous if you don't accept your enemy as part of your own self".

In other words, your enemy is part of your hologram.

Respect your enemy while respecting your own self.

No matter what you do, you are sending Love (=Tao), but respecting someone is one of the easy "acts" to send Love consciously.


«Related Articles»
-Use of arms 69-1
-Be passive 69-2
-Retreat 69-3
-Advance without advancing 69-4
-Underestimating the enemy 69-5
-Lost treasures 69-6
-Love wins 69-7
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 69


Tao answers your question!



☞«Tao Te Ching» the first line comparison (1) / "The tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao." «A New English Version (Perennial Classic)» by Stephen Mitchell on the left. / "The Tao that can be understood is not the eternal, cosmic Tao" «Tao Te Ching» by Dwight Goddard on the right.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 69-4 Advance without advancing

Today's Tao

This is called advancing without advancing, rolling up the sleeves of no arm, taking up no arms, and pulling in no enemy. (Ch.69)


Can we advance without advancing?

Yes.

Act no act. 為無為

This is one of the best-known sentences in Tao Te Ching. (☞See Act without acting 3-7)

Can we really act without acting?

Yes.

Lao Tzu asks you to "roll up the sleeves of no arm".

This is a Taoist counterpart to Zen Buddhist Hakuin's famous Koan:

"What is the sound of one hand?". (☞See The sound without a sound 14-4)

All of them are talking about the same thing: how to use your hologram.

All the acts, including advancing, are part of your hologram.

All the objects, including one of your hands, are part of the hologram.

So are arms and enemies.

How can you use them?

It is simple.

"Do nothing."

In other words, by accepting all, maintain the circulation of Love, or the fundamental energy Tao.


«Related Articles»
-Use of arms 69-1
-Be passive 69-2
-Retreat 69-3
-Advance without advancing 69-4
-Underestimating the enemy 69-5
-Lost treasures 69-6
-Love wins 69-7
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 69


Tao answers your question!



☞According to an English dictionary, the definition of "matsuri" is: a solemn festival celebrated periodically at Shinto shrines in Japan. It is something more than that. Etymologically speaking, "ma" means an empty space or time. "Tsuri" signifies being suspended in the air. To the Japanese, "matsuri" is "a suspended time". Enjoy the sample music of the Japanese traditional drum Taiko on the left. Happi is a traditional costume for a matsuri. You can see the nice Kanji / Chinese character matsuri 祭 written in red in the middle of the back.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 69-3 Retreat

Today's Tao

Our side dare not advance one inch, but retreat one foot. (Ch.69)


Don't try to advance.

Never mind retreating.

In Taoism, advance is retreat, and retreat is advance. (☞See Advance = Retreat 40-7)

If you want to go forward, go backward.

If you want to get something, give something.

This is the way a hologram functions.

There are two raisons d'être of a hologram:

1. To give us an opportunity to receive Love (=Tao) through the hologram.

2. To stimulate us to emit Love (=Tao).

This bilateral exchange of the fundamental energy Tao may explain why a hologram "seems" to work that way.

But remember?

There is no space in Tao.

There is neither distance nor direction.

How can you advance or retreat there?


«Related Articles»
-Use of arms 69-1
-Be passive 69-2
-Retreat 69-3
-Advance without advancing 69-4
-Underestimating the enemy 69-5
-Lost treasures 69-6
-Love wins 69-7
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 69


Tao answers your question!



☞Some Japanese have contributed to the propagation of some Eastern ways of thinking abroad. The post-war consumers in Japan seem to have behaved totally contrarily to their principles. Now the Japanese post-consumer youngsters are taking the important roles of carrying the philosophical torch of their grandfathers. Read Masanobu Fukuoka's «The One-Straw Revolution» to find out his "Do nothing" farming. Michio Kushi has something to say about «The Cancer Prevention Diet».

Tao Te Ching Chapter 69-2 Be passive

Today's Tao

Our side dare not be active, but be passive. (Ch.69)


Be passive.

Don't be active.

Passiveness defeats activeness. (☞See Female beats male 61-4)

Use Dark Depth Female 玄牝 [gen pi].

In Taoism, the word "female" represents passiveness.

While being passive and accepting all, you create no resistance.

Then, Tao, which is expressed as "Dark Depth 玄 [gen]", can flow without hindrance.

"Don't be active", in other words, "Do nothing" suggests this attitude.

Please don't think that "Do nothing" means "You must not move your body or do something".

Whether you do something or not, true You are "doing nothing", that is to say, accepting all.

It is your hologram that is doing the act.


«Related Articles»
-Use of arms 69-1
-Be passive 69-2
-Retreat 69-3
-Advance without advancing 69-4
-Underestimating the enemy 69-5
-Lost treasures 69-6
-Love wins 69-7
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 69


Tao answers your question!



☞Small is big. This is the idea of Taoism. Small spaces can give you plenty of "space" in your mind. Katsuhiko Mizuno's «Landscapes for Small Spaces» will offer you many ideas for your spiritual gardening. ☞The Rock Garden at Ryoanji temple in Kyoto is one of the most beautiful Zen gardens in Japan. «The Art of the Japanese Garden» will show you a different concept of "What a garden is".

Tao Te Ching Chapter 69-1 Use of arms

Today's Tao

There is a saying when you use arms. (Ch.69)


Here we have a fundamental question.

Is there a Taoist way of fighting?

The answer is simple.

"No, absolutely not."

No matter what later hands have been added to Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu dare not fight.

This is the quintessence.

Then, what does the word "arms" mean here?

It symbolizes the hologram.

After all, everything you see is your hologram.

In this Chapter 69 Enemy, we discuss how you handle your hologram, which is called the world, life, self, or whatever.


«Related Articles»
-Use of arms 69-1
-Be passive 69-2
-Retreat 69-3
-Advance without advancing 69-4
-Underestimating the enemy 69-5
-Lost treasures 69-6
-Love wins 69-7
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 69


Tao answers your question!



☞Ruth Benedict's «The Chrysanthemum and the Sword: Patterns of Japanese Culture» is a classic in the sense of being classical. It was written before the world discovered Pikachu and Naruto. The soul of Katana remains the same, but now the sword may have a cute Hello Kitty printed on the hilt.