Tao Te Ching Chapter 81-6 Richer detachment

Today's Tao

Although he gives everything to others, he is richer. (Ch.81)


What is being rich?

The richest man is the one who can detach himself from all.

Don't be attached to wealth or prestige.

Don't be attached to an object or an idea.

Don't be attached to your life.

Don't be attached to individuality or your own self.

Mu ga 無我. Self doesn't exist. Or, nothingness is your true "self". (☞See Tao Te Ching / Chapter 7 / No Self)

Since the so-called "self" is part of a hologram, there is neither before-life nor after-life. (☞See Man's self 77-7 and After life / Task successfully accomplished 77-11 ☞As for "former life", see End of life 74-1)

An individual and independent soul does not exist. (☞See Out-Tao [Heresy] Seniya / Gedo Senni / Settled 80-9)

If you believe it does, you are too attached to the concept of individuality.

Don't think that your soul will go back to Tao after your life.

You have never left Tao in the first place.

You are always one with Tao. (☞See Tao by Matsumoto / One with Tao)

No life. No end of life. 不生不滅 [fusho fumetsu]. (☞See Live eternally 59-8)


«Related Articles»
-Beautiful words 81-1
-Good one 81-2
-Not knowledgeable 81-3
-Accumulate not 81-4
-Act of others 81-5
-Richer detachment 81-6
-Tao in Heaven 81-7
-Sage's Tao 81-8
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 81


Lao Tzu answers your question!



☞«Recommended Books 16» "The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence." The more difficult to pronounce the mantra is, the more sacred. One can laugh at exoticism, but is he able to show you the way? The way how you can overcome the fancy costumes? If the seemingly greener grass fascinates you, the only solution might be going over the fence into the other side and discovering that the grass has the same color. If a Japanese boy believes that Major League Baseball (or Premier League football) is definitely "greener" than the baseball (or football) his countrymen play, he's gotta go there and beat some hitting records (or play better than George Best). Until then, the kid will be trapped in a strange mixture of complacency and self-negation, saying to his fellow citizens: "You don't know what it really is. What we have is false. Look over there. They have got something authentic". Kafu Nagai needed to go to America to make enough money to see France. The money he had earned was barely enough to let the spoiled Japanese twenty-something hang around in France for just ten months. Did he find that the grass was the same green wherever one went? It seems that in his mind the grass still remained greener somewhere but he was not able to be there. To fill the gap between what he had and what he wished to have, he created his "strange" but adorable world in the life of a woman who practiced a libidinous profession illegally on the other side of the River Sumida.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 80-11 Neighbors

Today's Tao

Neighbouring countries can see each other. (Ch.80)


What are "neighboring countries"?

They are you and the others, not just the other people, but all the other beings, both living and non-living.

You and the others "can see each other".

It means that you project the others and the others define you.

In a way, the others are a reflection of who you are.

You hear an echo of what you think.

What is "you"?

It is your holographic "self" under your control, 自己 [jiko].

What is "the others"?

It is your holographic "self" beyond your control, 他己 [tako].

But, remember true You are Tao.

The so-called "self" is just a part of information you project.

In other words, the "self" doesn't exist.

That's why they say "無我 [mu ga] / No Self" in Zen Buddhism.

無 [mu] - nothing.

我 [ga] - self.

Nothingness is your true Self.


«Related Articles»
-Small country 80-1
-"110 vessels" 80-2
-Don't travel 80-3
-Boats and Cars 80-4
-Armor and Arms 80-5
-Tie the rope 80-6
-Hunger and Food 80-7
-Face transmission / Menju / Beauty 80-8
-Out-Tao (Heresy) Seniya / Gedo Senni / Settled 80-9
-Enjoy your customs 80-10
-Neighbors 80-11
-Moonlight and Dewdrops / Dogs and Roosters 80-12
-Life without intervention 80-13
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 80


Lao Tzu answers your question!



☞«Recommended Books 8» In modern Occidental literature, you have Hermann Hesse and Fyodor Dostoyevsky among others to rely on when you are lost in the wilderness of Oriental spirituality. How about local guides who can show you the way in a language and an approach that you can comprehend? The first Japanese guide is Hiroyuki Itsuki. His «Tariki» is an ideal guidebook of Jodo Pure Land Buddhism to those who prefer teachings based on historical references. The word «Ta 他» of «Tariki 他力 / Other-power» is the same «Ta 他» of «Tako 他己 / Other-self» above. Hiroyuki Itsuki asks himself why Buddha (=Other-power) made him, as a child, go through the atrocities during World War 2. The second guide is Shusaku Endo. His «Deep River» stands at the crossroads between Christianity and Oriental religions. This Japanese Catholic novelist kept on asking one question: "why God doesn't help me when I need his help?". The author doesn't mention either the word Zen nor Tao, but his concept of Deep River that goes through everything is fit nicely into Taoism and Buddhism.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 80-5 Armor & Arms

Today's Tao

Though there are armor and arms, there is nowhere to show them off. (Ch.80)


We still have some gentlemen who happily exhibit their armor and arms in the living room.

Do you want to show off something?

I hope not.

When vanity takes control over you, it is worth asking yourself a question:

"To whom do I show off?".

Remember?

You and non-you are part of the same hologram.

I hope you still remember that in Zen Buddhism they are called Jiko 自己 and Tako 他己, the self under your control and the self beyond your control.

The concept of Self seems to be one of the biggest obstacles in many civilizations, industrialized and non-industrialized alike.

Don't look to a ritual or a pharmaceutical stimulant to get out of "Self".

Why don't we say once and for all:

"Self doesn't exist, Mu ga 無我 (=No Self)."?

You don't have to suppress your vanity if you cannot help showing off.

Like Self, vanity is part of the holographic catalyst.


«Related Articles»
-Small country 80-1
-"110 vessels" 80-2
-Don't travel 80-3
-Boats and Cars 80-4
-Armor and Arms 80-5
-Tie the rope 80-6
-Hunger and Food 80-7
-Face transmission / Menju / Beauty 80-8
-Out-Tao (Heresy) Seniya / Gedo Senni / Settled 80-9
-Enjoy your customs 80-10
-Neighbors 80-11
-Moonlight and Dewdrops / Dogs and Roosters 80-12
-Life without intervention 80-13
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 80


Lao Tzu answers your question!

☞«Recommended Books 2» Here it is. This is the «Tao Te Ching» translation «Tao by Matsumoto» truly recommends. Unfortunately it seems that you have to be fairly lucky to purchase a copy in good condition. Chuang Chung-yuan's «Tao, a new way of thinking: A translation of the Tao te ching, with an introduction and commentaries (Harper colophon books ; CN 356)» was published in 1977. Ironically, the new copies of its Japanese translation are still available at the moment of writing. 老子の思想 (講談社学術文庫)/張 鐘元 (著) 上野 浩道 (翻訳) Roshi no Shiso (Kodansha Gakujutsu Bunko) / Chuang Chung-yuan (author), Hiromichi Ueno (translator), published in 1987.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 77-7 Man's self

Today's Tao

Man's Tao is not like that. (Ch.77)


Here, Lao Tzu says:

"Man's Tao is not like Heaven's Tao".

As we discussed in the previous entry, "Heaven's Tao" signifies Tao's nature of manifestation in each hologram.

What is "Man's Tao", then?

"Man" suggests the so-called individual "self", which does not exist. (☞As for non-existence of self 無我 [mu ga], visit Know yourself 72-4. There are a few links to the related articles. See also Chapter 33 / Self and Chapter 7 / No self of Tao Te Ching.)

What happens after the end of one's self, that is to say, the end of one's life?

His soul goes up to somewhere?

Or, it re-integrates itself with Tao?

No. I am sorry.

It is not like that.

You are Tao, so you are never separated from Tao.

Like a frame in a movie, Tao flashes a hologram every moment.

"Life" is a name given to the sequence of innumerable holograms.

The end of another person's life is a backdrop of your hologram asking you to emit more Love (=Tao).

A self does not exist, so how can one's life exist independently!

不生不滅 [fusho fumetsu]

No life. No end of life.


[Note] Time does not exist in Tao, so all the holograms are created simultaneously.


«Related Articles»
-Bend a bow 77-1
-Suppress doubt? 77-2
-Raise Hossho? 77-3
-No excess / Why does history repeat? 77-4
-Lack and Supply 77-5
-Nirvana / Reduced excess and Supplied lack 77-6
-Man's self 77-7
-Rich man's excess 77-8
-Love and Excess 77-9
-Attachment 77-10
-After life / Task successfully accomplished 77-11
-Secret of superiority 77-12
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 77


Lao Tzu answers your question!



☞«Tao Te Ching» Key word comparison (17) / -Do nothing (treat things without interference) 無為 - Let's see how they translate 是以聖人処無為之事 行不言之教 in Chapter 2. / "Therefore the sage keeps to the deed that consists in taking no action and practices the teaching that uses no words." On the left, «Tao Te Ching (Penguin Great Ideas)» translated by D. C. Lau. / "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 William Scott Wilson.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 72-4 Know yourself

Today's Tao

That's why the sage knows himself and doesn't show himself. (Ch.72)


"Learn what the Self is!"

This message of Lao Tzu is often repeated in Tao Te Ching.

Not only in Taoism, but also in Zen Buddhism among others, it seems to be a crucial question.

You may have heard all the bla, bla, bla about it and be tired of hearing more.

So let's get straight to the point.

The so-called Self does not exist.

That's why in Zen they say: "無我 [mu ga], No Self".

There is no such a thing as Self.

What we believe to be Self is part of the collective information (=hologram) that stimulates Tao, which is true You.


«Related Articles»
-Big's fear 72-1
-Not satisfied? 72-2
-Unsatisfactory 72-3
-Know yourself 72-4
-Love yourself 72-5
-Take it 72-6
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 72
-Learn people 33-1
-Learn Self 33-2
-Defeat Self 33-4
-Self 7-6


Tao answers your question!



☞«Tao of ****» The first line comparison (2) / "Comes over an absolute necessity to move - D. H. Lawrence, Sea and Sardinia (1921)" On the left, «The Tao of Travel: Enlightenments from Lives on the Road» written by Paul Theroux. / "From the heart of Medina to the head of Fort Greene Now-Y-C: Now I See Everything" On the right, «The Tao of Wu (Riverhead Books)» by the RZA. / Literature meets hip-hop.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 51-10 Don't rely

Today's Tao

Let it work, but don't rely on it. (Ch.51)


Leave the world alone.

The world is your hologram.

In fact, it is working as you like.

Don't rely on your hologram.

It will not give you any preferential treatment.

Don't be attached to it.

"I hate this world because it doesn't treat me right."

Well, why don't we stop using "I, my, me, mine".

Because Self is an illusion.

It only exists in your hologram.

Let's use the word "one" instead.

This is a nice approach to accept No Self 無我 [mu ga / wu-wo] in Zen.


«Related Articles»
-Your birth 51-1
-Attainment 51-2
-They form you 51-3
-Vessel = Hologram 51-4
-Respect Tao 51-5
-Honor Attainment 51-6
-By itself 51-7
-Character 51-8
-Possession 51-9
-Don't rely 51-10
-No subject 51-11
-Dark Depth Attainment 51-12
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 51


Tao answers your question!



☞Although the islands are sometimes called the country of the rising sun, their inhabitants enjoy «The Setting Sun» as much. Osamu Dazai describes the strange joy of decadence. Yasunari Kawabata adored the game of go and wrote about a master who just wanted to create the beauty of it. Winning means nothing at all if the game is ugly.