Tao Te Ching Chapter 79-2 Good grudge

Today's Tao

How can you call it good? (Ch.79)


You have successfully suppressed your "big grudge".

You are happy about the power of your will.

Then, you notice that a tiny "remaining grudge" is creeping into your heart.

"How can you call it good?"

Lao Tzu describes the situation with a rhetorical question.

He is saying that, if you are bothered because of the fact that you are not able to erase your "remaining grudge", it is not good.

Since your own self does not belong to you, your own feelings do not belong to you, either.

Your grudge is like the clouds in the sky.

The best attitude to face any bitter feelings like a grudge is to accept them while saying:

"Welcome, my grudge. Enjoy staying with me."


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-Remaining grudge 79-1
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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 79


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☞«Tao Te Ching» Key word comparison (30) / - Dark Depth Female [genpi / xuan pin / hsuan pin] 玄牝 - 玄 [gen / xuan / hsuan] means Dark Depth. 牝 [pi (hin) / pin], Female. This is one of the most important words in Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching. Mr Michael P. Garofalo has done an excellent research and comparison of the various translations. (http://www.egreenway.com/qigong/vstccs2.htm) Thanks to him, we can see easily how they translate 谷神不死, 是謂玄牝 in Chapter 6 / Valley God. / "The valley spirit never dies; It is the woman, primal mother." On the left, «Tao Te Ching, 25th-Anniversary Edition (English and Mandarin Chinese Edition)» translated by Jane English and Gia-Fu Feng. / "The spirit of emptiness is immortal. It is called the Great Mother" On the right, «Tao Te Ching: Book of the Way» translated by J. H. McDonald.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 76-5 Mujoseppo = non-living preach / Hard & Strong

Today's Tao

Therefore, those who are hard and strong are men of non-life. (Ch.76)


無情還解説法否

Do non-living objects understand what one preaches?

In Zen Buddhism, they discuss the question often.

They also ask themselves a question:

"What kind of people can hear the preaching of non-living beings?".

無情説法什麼人得聞

(cf. the preaching of non-living beings = Mujoseppo 無情説法)

The answers are quite clear:

"Yes, non-living beings can hear the preaching of non-living beings".

Life is part of a hologram, which we call the world.

A hologram is projected.

As both people and buildings in a movie are projected, living beings and non-living beings in your hologram are projected.

Living and non-living beings are the same.

In a sense, everything is non-living.

How can you tell that people and animals have got thoughts and feelings while rocks and clouds haven't?

Now you know why you are not able to hear what other people and animals think or feel.


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-Soft life 76-1
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-Dry end 76-4
-Mujoseppo = non-living preach / Hard and Strong 76-5
-Soft and weak men 76-6
-Strong army, no win 76-7
-Karoshi / Snapped branch 76-8
-Hossho stays low 76-9
-Hoben gate / Soft and Weak 76-10
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 76
-Heaven's Tao 9-6 Zen Master Dogen says: "Life is just non-life". (Shoji 生死, «Shobogenzo»)
-Life non-life 50-1
-Non-life 50-3


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☞«Tao Te Ching» Key word comparison (5) / -Dark Depth 玄 [gen]- Let's see how they translate 玄之又玄衆妙之門 in Chapter 1. / "The passage which exists between them is a door to all the miraculous." On the left, «Lao Tse. Tao Te Ching» translated by Vladimir Antonov. / "Mystery of all mysteries! The door to the hidden." On the right, «Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching: A Book about the Way and the Power of the Way» translated by Ursula K. Le Guin.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 72-1 Big's fear

Today's Tao

If people are not afraid of fear, Big's fear arrives. (Ch.72)


Don't be afraid of anything.

Even fear itself.

Fear is part of the world, which is your hologram.

All your feelings belong to the hologram as the clouds in the sky belong to the world.

Isn't it a bit strange to be afraid of the world?

Because you are the one who projects this hologram.

When you accept this world as a hologram, "Big's fear arrives".

Do you remember that "Big" is a nickname to Tao? (☞See Chapter 25 Manifestation)

"Big's fear" suggests the uneasy sensation you feel when you remember that you are always one with Tao.

This uncomfortable feeling of something being missing is very important.


Zen Master Dogen explains it:

"When the manifestation fills up the body and mind mechanism, it feels that something is missing somehow".

法もし身心に充足すれば、ひとかたはたらずとおぼゆるなり。

(Genjokoan 現成公案, «Shobogenzo»)


Since you are perfect, cherish your uneasy "fear" of imperfection.


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 72


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☞«Tao Te Ching» The first line comparison (12) / "Talking about a path is not walking that path." On the left, «A Path and a Practice: Using Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching as a Guide to an Awakened Spiritual Life» written by William Martin. / "Tao can be talked about, but not the Eternal Tao." On the right, «Tao Te Ching (Shambhala Library)» translated by John C. H. Wu.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 71-1 Learn knowing nothing

Today's Tao

To know "not knowing" is the best. (Ch.71)


You must be a smart person.

Admit it!

You are intelligent, or at least intellectual because you are interested in Taoism and other Oriental philosophies.

You know you are much smarter than others, don't you?

If you are truly smart, of course you know you don't know anything.

Lao Tzu says here that the most knowledgeable person doesn't know anything.

Does it sound contradictory?

Oh, no. Not at all.

It is totally logical because the smartest person knows that knowledge is part of his hologram, which does not belong to him as the clouds in the sky don't.

He is aware that he knows nothing.


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 71


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☞«Tao Te Ching» The first line comparison (8) / "One cannot cognize Tao only by speaking about It." On the left, «Lao Tse. Tao Te Ching». The edition by Dr. Vladimir Antonov. / "Tao is beyond words and beyond understanding." On the right, «The Tao Te Ching of Lao Tzu» translated by Brian Browne Walker.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 65-2 Too intelligent

Today's Tao

It is difficult to govern people because they are too intelligent. (Ch.65)


"How intelligent you are!"

When someone tells you this, does it make you happy?

If so, you have got a few things to think about.

First, is intelligence yours?

Is intelligence generated purely inside your own self?

Intelligence is information that comes and goes just like the clouds in the sky.

Second, does intelligence help you?

If you don't care about it, no problem.

It is like the flowers on the field.

But if you think that intelligence is a powerful tool to analyze the objective world, mmm, certainly it is a hindrance.

The word "people" means «you» in the Today's Tao sentence.

Lao Tzu is telling you:

"Don't be intelligent!".


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-Return to Tao 65-8
-Perfect integration 65-9
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 65


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☞The original of Akira Kurosawa's «Rashomon» is Ryunosuke Akutagawa's «In the Grove / Yabu no Naka». Akutagawa also wrote a short story called «Kappa». A kappa is a legendary bipedal semiaquatic creature. It is believed to be as intelligent as human beings, probably more. It has a dish-like body part situated on the top of the head, where it can keep water. As long as the part is wet, it can prolong the time outside the river. Kappa 河童 literally means a river kid. It is thought to adore cucumbers. That's why a sushi roll with a piece of cucumber is called "Kappa-maki".

Tao Te Ching Chapter 64-16 Desire no desire

Today's Tao

That's why the sage desires not to desire. (Ch.64)


A: "Master Bonbon, I still have got my desire. I cannot suppress my desire. Please help me."

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

A: "I did, Master Bonbon. I have meditated for sixty years. I am eighty years old now. But I cannot suppress my desire yet."

B: "Contact our sales division and buy the special amulet to get rid of your desire."


Master Bonbon, stop saying things like that.

One is suppose to have "no desire".

Desire is part of your own self.

The self is part of your hologram.

Holograms do not exist in reality.

In conclusion, desire does not belong to you from the beginning.

It is a catalyst like feelings, thoughts, mountains, rivers, clouds, and flowers.

"Desiring not to desire" means "accepting that there is no desire".


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 64


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☞In stead of studying Tao Te Ching, why don't we live Tao Te Ching? Living without resistance. Accepting all with love. "We can't do that cos we are not a saint!", some may say. But, in fact, no matter how you live, you are doing it. It is a question of whether you refuse to admit it or not. Even this question is not important. Look at the geisha girl Komako in Yasunari Kawabata's «Snow Country». She is not aware of what she is doing. She is just living. Her way of living does not stop her from enjoying life. She is a perfect Tao girl.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 24-8 Frustration

Today's Tao

Things may detest them. (Ch.24)


"Things may detest «excessive food and unnecessary conduct»".

They don't like excess.

Well, Tao prefers to be a minimalist, it seems.

"Things" here mean everything in your hologram.

They do not work as you think.

No worries. Your very thoughts are part of your hologram.

When things don't work out as we wish, we get frustrated.

This is perfectly all right.

Your feelings, including frustration, are like the clouds in the sky. You don't possess them.

Or, if you wish, we can say that you create the most suitable frustration for your spiritual development.


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 24


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-To Kafu Nagai, staying in the United States of America was a compromise. He was there to make money like any other economic immigrant. His purpose was not to be a millionaire because he was already one. His family had tons of money. Simply, his father did not give him enough. He was there to save enough money to go to France. It was not so easy for a bon vivant like Kafu. He dreamed of the life in the old continent, the poets in Montparnasse and the girls in Montmartre, while staying in Tacoma, Washington.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 14-16 Tao's rear

Today's Tao

When you follow it, you don't see its rear. (Ch.14)


Can you see your rear?

No, we can't.

"Tao's rear" symbolises our feelings.

It is not important to know how your feelings are composed.

Do you know why the clouds in the sky move this way and that?

It is a useful tool in life to think that feelings are like the clouds.

You are not responsible for them.


Dogen says:

You own self is like mountains, rivers, and lands. (Keiseisanshoku 谿声山色, «Shobogenzo»)


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-Distant past 14-17
-Big Bang 14-18
-Tao's quintessence 14-19
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 14


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Tao Te Ching Chapter 13-11 No body, no trouble

Today's Tao

If I don't have my body, I don't have any trouble. (Ch.13)


Please don't take it as if your troubles are as important as your body.

In Tao, it is completely the other way round.

Don't take your own self too seriously, and all your troubles will disappear.

Your thoughts and feelings are like clouds in the sky.

You don't have to feel responsible for them, do you?

So are your troubles.


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-Your body = World 13-12
-Love the world 13-13
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 13


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Tao Te Ching Chapter 28-4 Valley under the sky

Today's Tao

Be the valley under the sky. (Ch.28)


The valley is void.

The void is Tao.

You are the valley, the void, and Tao.

If you forget this, you will be lost in your desires (=Mayoi).

Your desires don't belong to you.

They are like clouds in the sky.


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 28
-Tao by Matsumoto / Valley God
-Tao by Matsumoto / Crazy Cloud - Ikkyu's love poems. A Japanese Zen master Ikkyu finds a Buddha at the valley of the female anatomy.


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Tao Te Ching Chapter 28-3 Valley

Today's Tao

Be the valley under the sky. (Ch.28)


In Taoism, the valley means "vacuum", "void", or "emptiness".

"Emptiness" means Tao.

This is one of the keys to understand Taoism.

Be Tao because you are Tao.

Forget about your mind and body.

They are part of your hologram like clouds in the sky.


Mata ashita. See you tomorrow.


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-The greatest control 28-15
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 28
-Tao by Matsumoto / Valley God.


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