Today's Tao
The sage's Tao acts and doesn't compete. (Ch.81)
Who is the sage?
Of course, you are the one.
Then, who are you?
"Eh, excuse me, sir, which are you talking about, 'true You' or 'your own self'? Self doesn't exist, right?"
That's right.
Self, life, world. They are names given to some groups of information.
They are not independent entities.
"I see. Eh, excuse me, sir. What is 'true I'?"
True You are Tao.
Tao is always "acting without competing", that is to say, projecting a hologram without directly interfering with it.
Tao, Love, Buddha, and Zen among others are names given to the fundamental energy.
"Eh, sir, it is also called nothingness 無 [mu], right?"
Exactly.
Please picture the circulation of an energy with neither time nor space.
What else can you call it but nothingness.
Time and space are parameters used to reconstruct information in "the mind".
In other words, they are names.
"If you can talk about Tao, that Tao is not Tao itself."
This very first line of Tao Te Ching is not saying that it is impossible to understand Taoism logically. No!
It is possible to comprehend Taoism logically.
It is saying that the comprehension itself is part of your hologram.
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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 81
Lao Tzu answers your question!
☞«Recommended Books 18» The most important function of a Japanese is making love. It doesn't matter if he is the poorest dropout living in the forests or the most revered priest of Shintoism living in the castle. He or she has got to make love. This could be a hidden heritage from our Polynesian ancestors or a genetic mission imprinted in the deepest recess of our chromosomes. Whatever it is the reason, the Japanese love to make love not only for the reproduction of the people but for pleasure. In spite of all the moral prohibitions by Confucianism and by jealous parents, Japanese girls have been successfully finding a way to enjoy making love. We used to have an institution called Geisha girls. Though it changes names and appearances, the institution never die out. A nice gift of a Gucci bag is an excuse good enough to make love with an aged stranger. Why? Because making love is sacred. Carnal desire is a manifestation of divinity. We, all the human beings, are divine. That's why we make love for pleasure. The gadgets for pleasure are offerings to the deity of joy. Please read «Kojiki
», one of the oldest written records in Japanese, and «Love Songs from the Man'yoshu
: Selections from a Japanese Classic», one of the oldest anthologies of Waka poems, which is a precursor of Haiku. You will see why love and desire are officially important.
» first. The work is considered a masterpiece in Japan, and many students read it at school. Into a cave under the stream, a frog was swept. The salamander blocked the entrance of the cave with his body. The salamander had been captured there because his body was too big to get away. Now he had a "friend". If you have some time, before you go straight to «
», please read his «
». It is about a young fisherman cast away by a typhoon and rescued by an American boat when it was illegal to leave Japan. Their docile acceptance of what it is and what it is happening will certainly give you another flavor when you read «Black Rain». Although 
is excellent, the end of the story is not precisely the same. It is worth reading the novel. Which after-taste do you prefer?
», which is the first book of the tetralogy «The Sea of Fertility». Then, at the very end of «
», which is the fourth of the tetralogy and the last of all the works of Yukio Mishima, he had an old Buddhist nun answer the question with another question: "Does life really exist?" If life doesn't exist, what is reincarnation? The answer is simple: the constant emission of a hologram is reincarnation. "Don't worry, my old friend Jim. There is no end", the Zen master would say to the rock poet.
. / "It blunts sharp edges, unravels their tangles, soften their blazing light, and blends one with their dust." On the right, «Tao Te Ching: An All-New Translation» translated by 
.
. / "Therefore the sage resides in nonfabrication, and conducts himself according to wordless teachings." On the right, «Tao Te Ching: An All-New Translation» translated by 
. / "The secret of secrets, the gate of all mysteries." On the right, «Tao Te Ching: The Taoism of Lao Tzu Explained» translated by 
.
»@Amazon ☞See 
» he is reincarnated as a modern Samurai swordsman. In the 3rd, «
», as a Thai princess. In the 4th, «
: For Health, Well-Being, and Inner Growth» written by Dennis Lewis. / "The self is deathless. Why? Because life transforms into life and love never dies." On the right, «
: Meditations for Body and Spirit» written by Haven Trevino and Gerald G. Jamplsky. / Life and self are metaphors to teach us how Tao functions.
and 
represent modern Zipangu's alchemy.
». If you want to know the mentality and sufferings of Japanese men transforming themselves from samurai to modern consumers, read Soseki Natsume's «
».
". There is a band called "
". A few decades ago, it seemed that Japan had abandoned being "Japan" and was transforming all its territory into "Tokyo". All the provincial areas wanted to be as sophisticated as Tokyo, and the country was on the verge of a successful transition from "lost Japan" to "Greater Tokyo". Old soldiers did not disappear easily, and now it seems that the pendulum has changed its direction completely. The fastest aging industrialized nation is creating a bigger and bigger mass of post-comsumers. The younger Japanese haven't got cash to spend for sure, but they are still happy because spending money is no longer "sexy" there.
», looks at this John Manjiro as a man who made friends with his own destiny. "Ibuse-san, did John Man fight against the tide while the young woman in «
» and the two animals in «
» accepted their destinies?" ☞Even though she is young and beautiful, she only sleeps. Is it good enough for the customers? Who knows. Does this kind of institution still exist now. Nobody knows. Yasunari Kawabata, the Nobel prize winner and author of «
» cannot answer the question now. You have to read the novel and find it out for yourself. "Kawabata-san, do the sleeping beauties accept what is going on in the mind of their customers?"
and 
and ask yourself whether the two words are still different to you.
on the right. The original was written in the days of samurai. The author was 
. It was a puppet play about a tragedy of love. It is based on a true story that took place in an islet called Ami jima, which literally means Net Island. The genius of this Japanese Shakespeare immediately associated it with a famous line from Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching: "天網恢恢 [Ten mo kai kai] Heaven's net is vast". (