Tao Te Ching Chapter 40-1 High samurai

Today's Tao

When a high man hears about Tao, he tries hard to do it. (Ch.40)


上 [jo]: high

士 [shi]: man, samurai


In Japanese, this word 士 [shi] has a special connotation.

When you say 武士 [bushi], he is a samurai with swords.

When you say 文士 [bunshi], he is a samurai with pens. He uses a pen instead of a sword to fight.

Are you a seeker of Truth?

Are you a true seeker of Tao?

Everyone is kind of a samurai of life in his own way.

We simply try hard to attain something; Tao or Satori.

It is exactly because of that we will never get it.

Seeking Satori like a samurai is a mental Hara kiri.


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-Advance = Retreat 40-7
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-Lacking 40-10
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-No voice 40-16
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-Hidden with no name 40-18
-Generosity 40-19
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 40


Tao answers your question!



-The word "Samurai" somehow fascinates the Japanese. All of them want to embrace the values of samurai although their population represented 10% of the Japanese population at most. The majority of the islanders in this floating world had nothing to do with severe reasonings of world-famous warriors.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 39-21 Like stone

Today's Tao

They are like stone. (Ch.39)


"Be like dust", says Lao Tzu.

In the chapter of Mountain Water Sutra 山水経 [san sui kyo] in his «Shobogenzo» 正法眼蔵, Dogen 道元 quotes Fuyo Dokai (Fu-jung Tao-k'ai) 芙蓉道楷:

"Blue mountains walk constantly. A stone woman gives birth to a child at night." 青山常運歩、 石女夜生児。

Dogen tells us not to doubt if mountains walk.

"While you are doubting mountains' walk, you don't know anything about your own walk", he says.

"Mountains" and "stone" as well as your own self are part of your hologram.

A stone woman gives birth to her child, and the child gives birth to the stone woman.

This is the Yin Yang cycle.

Nature and people are our prayer wheel.


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-One = Tao 39-8
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-Ruined 39-13
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-High = Low 39-16
-Lords and Kings = Less virtue 39-17
-Mean = Root 39-18
-No honor 39-19
-No jade 39-20
-Like stone 39-21
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 39


Tao answers your question!



Previous video / Ch.39 text / Next video


-Monaco is well-known for its Casino de Monte Carlo and Formula 1 Grand Prix. Some may associate the principality with off-shore banking. But, believe it or not, it enjoys a beautiful Japanese garden in its territory. The garden was conceived and built by a Japanese master from Kyushu. He didn't like to bring in all the rocks and mosses from Far East. He believed that the materials must be related to the land there. Surely, the garden is authentic both in style and in spirit. Princess Grace must be quite content.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 39-20 No jade

Today's Tao

They don't want to be like jade. (Ch.39)


A: "Master Bonbon, if I meditate three hours a day, can I be a movie star?"

B: "That is not enough."

A: "Okey. I will meditate five hours a day. How about that?"

B: "There is something more important than meditation. All the stars make a generous donation to us. Then, we can invest in Treasury Bonds."


Do we really want to be a star?

Do we really want to shine like jade?

Lao Tzu discourages you from standing out.

You don't have to be brilliant.


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-One = Tao 39-8
-Heaven torn apart 39-9
-Earth unstable 39-10
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-Ruined 39-13
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-Mean = Root 39-18
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-Like stone 39-21
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 39


Tao answers your question!



Previous video / Ch.39 text / Next video


-You don't have to be a star, baby, to be in my show.... So stop your running around 'cause now you've found what was cloudy is clear. (YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE A STAR / Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr.)

Tao Te Ching Chapter 39-19 No honor

Today's Tao

Therefore, if they often do something honourable, there is no honour. (Ch.39)


Honor must have been quite important to Confucius, but not at all to Lao Tzu.

It was not important at all to Zen Master Dogen as well. He thought it was rather dangerous.

After his disciple Genmyo came back joyfully from the then capital Kamakura with the letter of a grant of land by Shikken Tokiyori, the most powerful man in the country, Master Dogen castigated him and made him leave the temple.

It was not enough for the pious master. He made the disciple's seat taken away and the soil beneath it thrown away.

They had to dig as deep as seven feet.


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-One = Tao 39-8
-Heaven torn apart 39-9
-Earth unstable 39-10
-Gods rest 39-11
-Inexhaustible valley 39-12
-Ruined 39-13
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-Mean = Root 39-18
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-No jade 39-20
-Like stone 39-21
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 39


Tao answers your question!



Previous video / Ch.39 text / Next video


-The Japanese adore simplicity of colour and form. The art in Kamakura period is an antonym of Baroque. It is just a 40-minute-train-ride away from the center of Tokyo. Kamakura is worth visiting especially when you don't have time enough to go to Nikko or Kyoto but have an afternoon free.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 39-18 Mean = Root

[Notice] Visit our new site Yama Uba the Zen play. Now it is completed!


Today's Tao

This act is making the mean their root, is it not? (Ch.39)


Water stays in the lower place.

That's the idea of the mean = the root.

This is how you can remember that you are one with Tao.

"Though you haven't crossed it yet, let others cross it first."

«[Ji mi toku do, sen do ta] 自未得度先度他».

Let's say "After you." as often as you can.

Then you will see that your own self and others are in fact part of the same hologram.

The most humble way is being like the baby Buddha who said:

"Above heaven, below heaven, I am the only respectable being."

«[Tenjo tenge yuiga doku son] 天上天下唯我独尊»

I hope you will understand this.

This is not haughty at all. He is saying everything is one.


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-Heaven 39-2
-Earth 39-3
-Gods 39-4
-Filled valley 39-5
-Hologram's birth 39-6
-Hologram's master 39-7
-One = Tao 39-8
-Heaven torn apart 39-9
-Earth unstable 39-10
-Gods rest 39-11
-Inexhaustible valley 39-12
-Ruined 39-13
-Lords and Kings = Masters 39-14
-Noble = Mean 39-15
-High = Low 39-16
-Lords and Kings = Less virtue 39-17
-Mean = Root 39-18
-No honor 39-19
-No jade 39-20
-Like stone 39-21
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 39


Tao answers your question!



Previous video / Ch.39 text / Next video


-Yama Uba has often been used as a motif in Ukiyo-e. Although Yama Uba was considered grotesque and scary at the beginning, the Japanese started liking her supernatural power. Later on, she was associated with Kintoki, a powerful baby, and regarded as his mother. On the other hand, Zen Master Ikkyu gave her a different interpretation.