Tao Te Ching Chapter 74-4 Reincarnation

Today's Tao

There are always those who are in charge of ending life, and they end their life. (Ch.74)


What is reincarnation?

It is the circulation of Tao's energy with the constant emission of holograms.

Our own self is part of a hologram.

There is no such a thing as life.

So, there is no such a thing as the end of life.

Life, its end, and Self are all just names.


That's why Lao Tzu says in the very first chapter of Tao Te Ching:

"If you can name something, the word does not stand for what it really is."

(☞See A name can't 1-2)


Time is just a concept.


That's why Zen Master Dogen says:

"A pine tree is time. A bamboo tree is time."

(Uji 有時, «Shobogenzo»)


The beginning and the end take place simultaneously.


[Note]
Kitaro Nishida 西田幾多郎 said: "(One can find his true Self) by eliminating your false self. In Christianity, it is called reincarnation. In Buddhism, it is called Kensho 見性, seeing into one's nature" («A Study of the Good / Zen no Kenkyu 善の研究», which is also called «An Inquiry into the Good»@Amazon ☞See Goodness 49-5)


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 74


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☞The idea of reincarnation fascinated this "extraordinary" Japanese novelist. Yukio Mishima finished the forth and last novel of the series «Sea of Fertility» before he committed seppuku. The soul of the hero in the series is reincarnated three times, but the forth reincarnation does not take place although the person himself desperately tries to believe that he is the reincarnated one. In the 1st book «Spring Snow» the hero is born as an aristocrat. In the 2nd, «Runaway Horses» he is reincarnated as a modern Samurai swordsman. In the 3rd, «The Temple of Dawn», as a Thai princess. In the 4th, «The Decay of the Angel», the hero marries an ugly woman who believes that her beauty is a threat to the society.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 74-1 End of Life

Today's Tao

People are not afraid of the end of life. (Ch.74)


One must not be afraid of the end of life.

Let's talk about reincarnation in this chapter.

First, I want you to forget about the stories of a boy or a girl born in India or China who remembers what he or she was doing in France or Germany a few decades ago.

Like miracle, reincarnation is everyday-life.

Reincarnation is happening right here and right now, constantly, without interruption.

Otherwise, we wouldn't exist.

Tao is creating and re-creating a hologram every moment.

The moment a hologram ends, another begins.

This is reincarnation.

What is life, then?

Life, as well as Self, is only a name you give to a part of a hologram, which is an illusion.

If life does not exist, how can the end of it exist?


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 74


Tao answers your question!



☞"RIN-NE 輪廻" is the Japanese word for reincarnation. Rumiko Takahashi, one of the most successful cartoon creators in Japan, has been treating this subject repeatedly. Please look at the first Kanji / Chinese character of the expression. Rin 輪 is the same kanji for "Tenborin 転法輪", which means "turning the wheel of manifestation". Rin 輪 signifies a wheel. Ne 廻, to turn. The expression itself probably knows better than the Japanese who use it. Reincarnation is turning the wheel of Tao.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 67-11 Leader of the vessel

Today's Tao

I try not to be the first under the sky, so I can be the leader of the vessel. (Ch.67)


"Vessel" is a key word in Tao Te Ching and Taoism.

It is a metaphor of a hologram.

"When the uncarved block (=Tao) scatters, it becomes vessels." (☞See Vessels 28-13)

"The world under the sky is a god's vessel. Don't do anything to it." (☞See A god's vessel 29-2)

"Big's vessel will never be completed." (☞See No completion 40-15)

First, Tao, which is true You, projects a hologram.

Second, your own self is part of the hologram.

The self should not try to be the first in there because true You are already the leader of the vessel, that is to say, the projector of the hologram.

Third, holograms are projected and disappear constantly and simultaneously.

They are "never be completed", therefore, eternal.


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-Heaven, Love, Tao 67-14
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 67


Tao answers your question!



☞«Raku 楽» means easy, happy, and comfortable. Who said life has to be difficult! Enjoy this easy and happy pot-making.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 58-5 Eternal cycle

Today's Tao

No one knows the end of this cycle. (Ch.58)


Fortune and misfortune, Yin and Yang, Tao and holograms; all of them are the same, the same eternal cycle. (☞See Ch.59)

This cycle is the prayer wheel and the wheel of Buddha's manifestation (=Horin 法輪).

Of course, no one knows its end because there is no end.

No one knows its beginning, either, because there is no beginning.


That's why in Buddhism they say:

"No life, no end of life / 不生不滅 [fusho fumetsu]".


In other words, we are living in the eternal cycle, which is the constant beginning.

Fortune and misfortune are one.

Yin and Yang are one.

Tao and holograms are one.

Then, why do they appear different?

In order to give us an opportunity to remember that they are one.


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-Spooky 58-8
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-Don't tear it! 58-10
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-Straight = Bent 58-12
-Amida (Amitābha) shines 58-13
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 58


Tao answers your question!



☞It is a good idea to read and compare these two books on Samurai. Inazo Nitobe was a Christian and wrote «Bushido: The soul of Japan» in 1900. Bushido signifies "The way of Samurai / Tao of Samurai". Yamamoto, Tsunetomo was a real Samurai and "wrote" «Hagakure: The art of Samurai» about 1716. Hagakure signifies "Hidden by the leaves".

Tao Te Ching Chapter 55-11 Constant enlightenment

Today's Tao

Learning constancy is called enlightenment. (Ch.55)


This sentence is totally identical to the one in Chapter 16.

I hope you will read Tao by Matsumoto 16-9 Satori to understand it better.

In that entry, I said:

"By leaving your hologram, you can return to Tao".

What is "leaving your hologram" precisely?

Can we leave our hologram?

The answer is no in two senses.

First, your own self cannot leave the hologram.

Second, Tao, which is true You, is not part of the hologram.

Then, what does "leaving your hologram" mean?

It means understanding and accepting that true You are Tao and have little to do with your own self.

You don't have to seek enlightenment, or Satori, because true You are already and "constantly" enlightened.


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 55


Tao answers your question!



☞Please look at the doll. Doesn't she look peaceful? Satori is not an altered state. Satori is everyday life. If you can emit Love and turn your prayer wheel (=the so-called reality) without resistance, Self-power (=Jiriki) of Zen Buddhism is good for you. Nevertheless, if you think that your ego is a little too strong and often bothers the cycle of Tao's energy, you might get some help from Other-power (=Tariki) of Shinran's Jodo Shin Buddhism.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 55-10 Know harmony?

Today's Tao

Learning harmony is called constancy. (Ch.55)


Please don't forget that you are always in harmony.


In Chapter 16, Lao Tzu says:

"Going back to the destiny is called constancy".


Therefore, learning harmony is going back to the destiny.

What does this mean?

It means that your destiny is always in harmony because life is the hologram you project.

If you know it, you can minimize your resistance every time the hologram comes out of and goes back to Tao.

The process is constant no matter how you judge the harmony.


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 55


Tao answers your question!



☞Lao Tzu's «Tao Te Ching». 老子「道徳経」in Kanji Chinese characters. It is available in Penguin Classics. You can also read its whole text at Tao by Matsumoto (www.taotechingdecoded.com). ☞If you have to do some business with a Japanese man and want to do a bit of research about the way they think and reason in Japan, Yasunari Kawabata's «Snow Country» is a good material. The admiration of a beautiful and perfect girl living outside reality is a recurring theme in Japanese literature. All you need is a little adjustment. Swap the word "geisha" with "maid" and that of "in the country" with "at Akihabara".

Tao Te Ching Chapter 52-10 Enlightenment

Today's Tao

This is called entering enlightenment. (Ch.52)


In the original text, the Kanji / Chinese character 常 [jo], which means constancy, is used to express "enlightenment".

In Chapter 16, Lao Tzu says:

"Going back to the destiny is called constancy. Learning constancy is called enlightenment."

Through the world, which is your hologram, you receive the fundamental energy Love, or Tao.

Then, you emit the energy while loving and creating the world.

This "act" is called Satori, or enlightenment.

Understanding and using this cycle is called "entering enlightenment".

Entering the state is easy because you are constantly living Satori and don't have to do anything to get there. (☞ See Enter enlightenment 27-8)

Just don't forget it.


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 52


Tao answers your question!



☞Hermann Hesse wrote «Beneath the Wheel» in 1906. He had needed to write «Demian» in 1919 before he wrote «Siddhartha» in 1922. What is the wheel to you? To you, is it something that makes you suffer? Or, is it a manifestation of a higher being? The three books, especially «Siddhartha», are highly recommended in order to understand Eastern philosophies with a Western mind.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 45-4 No exhaustion

Today's Tao

Its use never exhausts it. (Ch.45)


"Oh, my god. Oh, my god. All the human beings are using Tao's energy. One day it will be completely exhausted!"


Don't worry.

It is not going to happen.

Tao the fundamental energy will never be "exhausted" because you emit it all the time.

Everything exists for this purpose.

The constant recycling of the fundamental energy Tao.

The more you "use" your hologram, in other words, the more you appreciate this world, the more energy "goes back" to Tao.


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 45


Tao answers your question!



☞Yasujiro Ozu's «Ukikusa / Floating Weeds» is a film about a traveling Kabuki troupe. Yasunari Kawabata's «The Dancing Girl of Izu» is a short story about a troupe of traveling entertainers. When you don't have your own place, you are floating like Ukikusa the floating weeds. You flow with the current. Although common sense in Japan considers them marginal undesirables, we idolize them. They lead a beautiful life that we wish to live but never have the courage to plunge into, we think. Yasujiro Ozu filmed the same story twice. Yasunari Kawabata lived the same story twice as the student who met the girl and the writer who wrote about it.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 40-12 Changing

Today's Tao

The plainest attainment seems changing. (Ch.40)


Changing is the fundamental of all the fundamentals of everything.

Now it is about time we discussed the most important question.

What is Tao?

It is the name of the constant change.

It is the constant exchange of the energy.

The energy creates the energy.

The energy stimulates the energy.

The energy emits the energy.

The energy receives the energy.

The energy change hands inside itself.

If it ceases to change, the energy stops.

Keeping this constant change is our raison d'être.

The rest has no importance.


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 40


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-«Sanma no aji», the taste of Sanma. Sanma 秋刀魚 is the name of a fish. A Pasific saury, they call it. Please see the Kanji / Chinese characters here. The characters mean [autumn] [sword] [fish] in the order. Once it was a delicacy in autumn. Now it has become a everyday cheap fish that Japanese children hate. A sizzling grilled Sanma with a nice cup of miso soup used to be a happy-meal-combo in a quiet Japanese village clad in red momiji.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 34-4 Love = Tao

Today's Tao

Tao loves and raises everything, but doesn't try to be its master. (Ch.34)


Love is Tao. Love and Tao are two names for the same energy.

It creates itself constantly.

"Everything" in the world is a hologram and catalyst.

Tao / Love energy "raises" it to stimulate itself for its constant recreation.

This is the reincarnation.

Tao doesn't control any. It is just the source.

Love doesn't control any. We just emit Love.

You don't try to be a master because true You are Love itself, and Tao itself.


Tao = Love = true You

Reincarnation = the cycle of Yin and Yang = Prayer wheel


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 34


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Tao Te Ching Chapter 33-7 Tao the eternal

Today's Tao

Not losing this place is eternal. (Ch.33)


A: "Master Bonbon, you said I had got Satori, right?"

B: "Yes, indeed."

A: "But, Master Bonbon, I am losing my Satori, I suppose. One day, I'm gonna lose all of my Satori. Please help me."

B: "Donate all of your money to our temple, and you will be saved."


"This place" means Tao.

But you are Tao. How can you lose it! So, you are eternal.

You are constantly in the state of Satori.

You sometimes forget the fact and get confused. That's all.


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 33


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Tao Te Ching Chapter 32-4 Fertile raindrops

Today's Tao

Heaven and earth harmonize with each other, so fertile raindrops fall. (Ch.32)


Heaven and earth.

You and non-you.

The outside world constitutes your feelings and thoughts, and your feelings and thoughts constitute the outside world.

"The true sutra is grasses, woods, you and non-you", says Zen Master Dogen. (Jishozanmai 自証三昧, «Shobogenzo»)

They are part of your hologram, so everything is always in harmony with Tao however disharmonious it seems.

Please remember fertile rains are constantly falling on us.


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 32


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Tao Te Ching Chapter 32-1 Nameless

Today's Tao

Tao is constantly nameless. (Ch.32)


"What is Tao?"

Many people ask this question.

Excuse me, but Tao refuses to have a name.

We just call it Tao for the sake of our discussion.

What do you do you when someone asks you questions like:

"What is a Calvin Klein? What is a Starbucks?"

The easiest way to answer the questions is to point out the underpants or the double mokachino.

I will do the same.

Tao is this.

Tao is constant and omnipresent.

It is bigger than a name.


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 32
-The beginning 1-3


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-To while away the idle hours seated the livelong day before the ink-slab, by jotting down without order or purpose whatever trifling thoughts pass through my mind, verily this is a queer and craze thing to do! (Translated by George Bailey Sansom) «Tsurezuregusa / Essays in Idleness» begins like this. Kenko Yoshida, its author in the Samurai era, might be facing a computer terminal and spending his time playing on Internet if he lived now.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 28-11 Constancy attainment

Today's Tao

Then, the attainment of constancy is sufficient. (Ch.28)


It is sufficient.

You don't have to do anything superhuman.

You accept all.

You love all.

Then, you are perfect; perfectly and constantly one with Tao.

This is constancy attainment 常得 [jo toku].

No one can do better than this.

It is your goal.

You are already there.

You are a runner standing at your goal and waiting to start.


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 28


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-Jizo knows it. We don't really have to squat in an exotic fashion. We can lay ourselves like a Buddha in the tropics. We don't have to be serious to be a Buddhist. Kanzan and Juttoku are laughing at you. Jizo Bosatsu are the ones who are standing at the crossroads of Buddhism and Shintoism. They will never ask you for any sacrifice, but they are always with you like a good friend. If you really want to show some respect to them, just offer them a piece of onigiri, the rice ball. A left-over hamburger will do, too.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 28-8 Protect Darkness

Today's Tao

Protect its darkness. (Ch.28)


Stay with Dark Depth 玄 [gen], which is Tao.

How can we do that?

1. Learn the limit of male attitude. No direct action.

2. Keep female attitude. Do nothing, and your hologram will transform itself.

3. Be the valley. Be void. Being void means accepting all.

4. Then, you will remember that you are Tao. This is constancy.

5. Be like a baby.

6. There is neither black nor white. No dichotomy 二見なし [niken nashi].

(The male and female attitudes above have nothing to do with men and women. They are simply expressions used by Lao Tzu to express certain types of behavior.)


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 28


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-Darkness simply fascinates some. Surely it does the Japanese. In darkness, probably, we find some little fairies profoundly rooted in Shintoism. At the same time, we fear darkness. We transformed Shinjuku from the darkness of water purification plants to the pleasure world of flood of lights. Have the Japanese erased the darkness completely there. Not at all. On the contrary, plenty of people are attracted by the darkness of human existence in illuminated Shinjuku.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 27-8 Enter enlightenment

Today's Tao

This is called entering enlightenment, which means knowing the constancy of Tao. (Ch.27)


Absolute acceptance is called Satori in Zen Buddhism.

Satori is not just a state.

Satori is rather an act.

Satori is not a hallucination or an altered state.

It is not just understanding the acceptance of all, either.

In Satori, you actively receive the fundamental energy by accepting the world.

Simultaneously you emit the energy by loving the world.

Thus, you can be aware that you are the very center of the constant circulation of Tao the energy.


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 27


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-Life is a floating world. Why don't we live like floating weeds? Ukiyo means the floating world. Ukikusa means floating weeds. It is a film by Yasujiro Ozu. Machiko Kyo, the phantom princess in Ugetsu, took the leading female role. Nevertheless, the movie is remembered by the juvenile beauty of precocious girl Kayo encarnated by Ayako Wakao. A fantastic film!

Tao Te Ching Chapter 15-10 Muddy water

Today's Tao

Mixed, as if he were muddy water. (Ch.15)


If you know Tao, you have no discrimination.

You are mixed, as mixed as muddy water.

Isn't it nice? If you know Tao, you are as confused as muddy water.

Hhhh. What a relief!

Muddy water is something very close to Dark Depth.

If you are confused and your head is mixed up like muddy water, congratulations!

You are one with Tao.

So, do not judge, especially, yourself.


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 15


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Tao Te Ching Chapter 16-11 Know constancy?

Today's Tao

If you know constancy, you can accept it. (Ch.16)


Tao is eternal and exists everywhere in your hologram, which is the world in front of you.

Tao is constant.

If you know it, it is not difficult to accept all what happens around you.

Accepting all is the very first step to transform your hologram.

If you want to transform your world, just accept it first.


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-King = Heaven 16-14
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-Eternal 16-16
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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 16


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-"Dodeska den, dodeska, den." The mentally retarded boy thinks he is a conductor of a streetcar. "Dodesuka den, dodesuka den." This is the noises the invisible streetcar makes with its rails. Since the streetcar is imaginary, the boy's voice has to do the work. "Dodesuka den, dodesuka den." Even "Emperor" Kurosawa had a hard time. The film was made under financial difficulty.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 16-10 Calamity

Today's Tao

If you don't learn constancy, you will act stupidly and a calamity will happen. (Ch.16)


The calamity here suggests the vain pursuit of Satori, or enlightenment.

"Constancy" means "going back to Tao".

If you have forgotten it and are obsessed with Satori or any form of enlightenment, you are acting stupidly.

The best way to go back to Tao is to love your life. It is the true Satori.


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 16


Everyday a new entry!



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-"Oh my god! I have finally reached Satori! Now I know the authentic enlightenment of the oriental wisdom! I am entitled to call myself a little Buddha!"
"So what?"
Everyone is a Buddha without any particular effort. The sooner you abandon the idea that you have to accumulate experience before you reach Satori, the better. Even a three-years-old boy knows what Satori is. Why do you have to wait till you are eighty? Accept life and start emitting Love (=Tao). Then Master Miles will compose a tune called "That's it".

Tao Te Ching Chapter 16-9 Satori

Today's Tao

Learning constancy is called enlightenment. (Ch.16)


Some people are too obsessed with Satori, or enlightenment.

Here, Lao Tzu says quite plainly learning constancy is Satori.

Then, what is "constancy"?

It is to return to Tao.

How can you do it?

By leaving your hologram.

How?

The easiest way is to accept all.

If you can love all, it is much better.


«Related Articles»
-Do emptiness 16-1
-Guard stillness 16-2
-Material beings 16-3
-Go back 16-4
-Root 16-5
-Stillness 16-6
-Destiny 16-7
-Constancy 16-8
-Satori 16-9
-Calamity 16-10
-Know constancy 16-11
-Public 16-12
-King 16-13
-King = Heaven 16-14
-Heaven = Tao 16-15
-Eternal 16-16
-The body decomposes 16-17
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 16


Tao answers your question!



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-Satori is everyday life. Everyday life is Za-zen. As Master Dogen said, just squatting is not Za-zen. Accepting life is Za-zen. Emitting the fundamental energy Tao is Za-zen. Satori is not a state. It is an act of receiving and emitting Tao the energy. Do you need a DVD or a CD for it?