Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Tao Te Ching Chapter 64-8 Nine-story tower


Today's Tao

A nine-storeyed tower's construction begins with a small heap of earth. (Ch.64)


In Zen Buddhism, they say exactly the same thing.

For example, Dogen describes it as:

"to pick up one minute piece of dust and build a stupa of Old Buddha".

一微塵を拈じて古仏の塔廟を建立する

(Hotsumujoshin 発無上心, «Shobogenzo»)


The important point is what follows this.


He says:

"this is the act of sending Love".

これが発菩提心なり

[Note]
Literally, "this is the emission of  «Bodai Shin 菩提心 / the mechanism (=heart) of Bodhi (=the spiritual awakening, =the wisdom of Satori)»".
発 [hotsu]: emission.
菩提 [bodai]: the spiritual awakening or the wisdom of Satori.
心 [shin]: mechanism, mind, or heart.

(Ditto)


This is the hologram.

You can find the world inside one tiny mote of dust.

In other words, the mote of dust sends you Love.

You receive Love and project a tower or a stupa, which implies the rest of the world.


«Related Articles»
-Something stable 64-1
-Before materialization 64-2
-While fragile 64-3
-While minute 64-4
-Before existence 64-5
-In order 64-6
-Tree from a hair 64-7
-Nine-story tower 64-8
-A thousand league travel 64-9
-Do and Defeat 64-10
-Stick and Lose 64-11
-Defeat nothing 64-12
-Don't stick 64-13
-Before completed 64-14
-Careful end 64-15
-Desire no desire 64-16
-Rare coins 64-17
-Learn no learn 64-18
-Excess 64-19
-Transformation 64-20
-Don't dare 64-21
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 64


Tao answers your question!



☞«Animated Classics of Japanese Literature» includes Yasunari Kawabata's «The Dancing Girl of Izu». The story is harmless and lots of Japanese boys and girls still read the Nobel prize winner's masterpiece. Nevertheless, if you think about the fact that the novelist later wrote «The Lake» and «House of the Sleeping Beauties», the seemingly innocent story between a student and a dancing girl will start shedding a different sort of light. On the other hand, Kafu Nagai's «A Strange Tale from East of the River» is a beautiful homage to the innocence and nonchalance of a woman illegally practicing world's oldest profession.

Monday, February 14, 2011

Tao Te Ching Chapter 64-7 Tree from a hair


Today's Tao

A big tree grows from the minutest tip of a downy hair. (Ch.64)


The origin of a big thing is a small thing.

The origin of everything is Tao.

Then, what is the origin of Tao?

The answer is the Today's Tao sentence.

Everything, including "the tip of a downy hair", is sending Love (=the fundamental energy Tao) to you.

Thanks to this act of sending Love, there exists the movement of the energy.

The movement is Tao, which is true You.

Tao's origin is the act of sending Love, which is called "Doing nothing".

The hair sends Love.

Love is Tao.

Tao (=true You) projects the big tree.


«Related Articles»
-Something stable 64-1
-Before materialization 64-2
-While fragile 64-3
-While minute 64-4
-Before existence 64-5
-In order 64-6
-Tree from a hair 64-7
-Nine-story tower 64-8
-A thousand league travel 64-9
-Do and Defeat 64-10
-Stick and Lose 64-11
-Defeat nothing 64-12
-Don't stick 64-13
-Before completed 64-14
-Careful end 64-15
-Desire no desire 64-16
-Rare coins 64-17
-Learn no learn 64-18
-Excess 64-19
-Transformation 64-20
-Don't dare 64-21
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 64


Tao answers your question!



☞Which do you think is more prestigious, a founder of a university or a man whose face is printed on the 10,000 yen bill? Ask a Japanese what comes up to his mind when he hears the word "Yukichi". Chances are that he may answer "money". Then, ask other Japanese about "Fukuzawa". Most of them will repeat the same answer, but, if you are lucky, you might encounter a person who replies: "Yukichi Fukuzawa was the first modern Japanese citizen who founded Keio University." Fukuzawa literally means "lucky swamp". The Japanese economy has been wading a muddy swamp for two decades, but you never know. If you believe in a Taoist economy, it certainly is a lucky swamp.

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Tao Te Ching Chapter 64-6 In order


Today's Tao

Put it in order before it has got disordered. (Ch.64)


What is the difference between order and disorder?

And who decides it?

The mass media, the state, or the multi-national corporations?

I am afraid not.

Unfortunately, there is only you who can decide it.

"Disorder" exists in your judgment.

Everything in your hologram is perfectly in order.

Then, what does Lao Tzu mean by "Put it in order"?

It's easy.

Since everything is already in order, what else can you do besides "Doing nothing"!


«Related Articles»
-Something stable 64-1
-Before materialization 64-2
-While fragile 64-3
-While minute 64-4
-Before existence 64-5
-In order 64-6
-Tree from a hair 64-7
-Nine-story tower 64-8
-A thousand league travel 64-9
-Do and Defeat 64-10
-Stick and Lose 64-11
-Defeat nothing 64-12
-Don't stick 64-13
-Before completed 64-14
-Careful end 64-15
-Desire no desire 64-16
-Rare coins 64-17
-Learn no learn 64-18
-Excess 64-19
-Transformation 64-20
-Don't dare 64-21
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 64
-Muddy but clear 15-11
-Big's chaos 34-6


Tao answers your question!



☞Where is our «Snow Country»? Don't tell me the onsen hot spring resort is just two hours away from Tokyo station. Gala Yuzawa is not exactly the same as Komako's Yuzawa Onsen. Besides, Japan's social structure has changed since 1934, when Komako (a geisha "Matsue", probably) might have met Shimamura (the alter ego of the author Yasunari Kawabata). It no longer allows a Japanese man to stay in a hotel for weeks while paying for a geisha's daily charge. The spirit of «Snow Country» is diluted but has prevailed. Nowadays, many everyday girls at Akihabara or at Shibuya behave like Komako without a Shamisen guitar. With democracy, some privileges have disappeared. Have romances disappeared in commercial arrangements? Who knows. You are the one to find out in the land of geisha girls, or of Kitty Cat and Pikachu, depending on the way you look at the country.

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Tao Te Ching Chapter 64-5 Before existence


Today's Tao

Do it before it has come to exist. (Ch.64)


華開世界起

[kekai sekaiki].

That's what they say in Zen Buddhism.

It means:

"A flower opens. The world gets up".


A flower symbolizes a hologram.

A hologram opens up and the world comes to exist there.

This is a so-called "reality" that is reconstructed in our "mind" as a catalyst.


Buddha said:

"It is like a man with bleary-eyed vision seeing the flowers in the middle of emptiness."

亦如翳人見空中華

(Shuryogon Sutra Book 4 首楞厳経 第四巻 ☞See also Wild field 53-4)


But, watch out.


Zen Master Dogen cautions.

We must not ignorantly interpret it as: "Since we are lost, we see illusions in the air".

In Buddhism, "a man with bleary-eyed vision" means a man of Satori.

(Kuge 空華, «Shobogenzo»)


Let's decode Today's Tao sentence.

Send love "before" your projected hologram "comes to exist" in the world, asking you to send more love.


[Note]
The world = your projected hologram


«Related Articles»
-Something stable 64-1
-Before materialization 64-2
-While fragile 64-3
-While minute 64-4
-Before existence 64-5
-In order 64-6
-Tree from a hair 64-7
-Nine-story tower 64-8
-A thousand league travel 64-9
-Do and Defeat 64-10
-Stick and Lose 64-11
-Defeat nothing 64-12
-Don't stick 64-13
-Before completed 64-14
-Careful end 64-15
-Desire no desire 64-16
-Rare coins 64-17
-Learn no learn 64-18
-Excess 64-19
-Transformation 64-20
-Don't dare 64-21
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 64


Tao answers your question!



☞Was Godzilla "born" with a grudge? Surely, the monster had been asleep when human beings experimented a hydrogen bomb. He was just a gigantic animal asleep in the middle of evolution. In Akira Kurosawa's «Ikiru», was the man living with a grudge against bureaucratic work? Surely, the man was working to earn a living. He was in the middle of spiritual evolution. Godzilla left his body in Tokyo Bay. The bureaucrat left a small park for children. The director of «Godzilla», Ishiro Honda, worked as an assistant under Akira Kurosawa during the production of «Stray Dog».

Friday, February 11, 2011

Tao Te Ching Chapter 64-4 While minute


Today's Tao

It is easy to erase a thing while it is minute. (Ch.64)


"A thing" is your hologram.

The Kanreisu (the bar / spring for your spiritual leap in Zen) here is that your own self is part of a hologram.

Tao projects a hologram.

The hologram stimulates Tao.

As Zen Master Dogen clarifies it,

this exchange mechanism of energy between projection and stimulation is what we call Life or Self.

(☞See Before materialization 64-2)

Self is not individual or independent, but a name for the mechanism.

Therefore, Self does not exist as a tangible entity.

"Erase" the concept of Self if you think it exists.

If your own self or ego is minute, it is easy to forget it.


«Related Articles»
-Something stable 64-1
-Before materialization 64-2
-While fragile 64-3
-While minute 64-4
-Before existence 64-5
-In order 64-6
-Tree from a hair 64-7
-Nine-story tower 64-8
-A thousand league travel 64-9
-Do and Defeat 64-10
-Stick and Lose 64-11
-Defeat nothing 64-12
-Don't stick 64-13
-Before completed 64-14
-Careful end 64-15
-Desire no desire 64-16
-Rare coins 64-17
-Learn no learn 64-18
-Excess 64-19
-Transformation 64-20
-Don't dare 64-21
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 64
-The minute being 14-6
-Small = Big 63-4


Tao answers your question!



☞Ju-on 呪怨 means "curse - grudge". Do the Japanese hold a grudge against someone and never forget it? In general, no. We forget things easily. Rarely we plan well and revenge ourselves well. Nevertheless, it does not mean that all the happy-go-lucky islanders in Far East are incapable of holding a grudge. Of course, some do. They do it very well. They even commercialize their curse. Having enjoyed commercial success, the film «Ju-on the Grudge» was turned into a video game. It is available on Nintendo Wii.