Tao Te Ching Chapter 16-9 Satori / video

Today's Tao

Learning constancy is called enlightenment. (Ch.16)


Japan stories


Satori = Enlightenment? What is Satori, really?

The word has been confusing the Japanese mind for ages.

Most Japanese didn't give a hoot about Satori before because they were pesants and Shintoist-Buddhists (of a non-Zen school).

In principle, Zen buddhists were samurais, soldier-bureaucrats who occupied merely a fraction of Japanese population.

After the end of Tokugawa Shogun era, all the people became legally equal, and everyone wanted to behave like a samurai.

It was cool to meditate squatting in an exotic fashion and think about something abstract like Satori.

Well, what does it mean by Satori?

Linguistically, the word doesn't have a Chinese origin, which is quite rare since most of conceptual terms were imported from China in the middle age.

"Sa" means "that". "Tori" "take"

Please look at the photo above. Can you recognise four Kanji characters on the square wooden plate?

香取神宮 ka-tori-jin-gu

This is the name for one of the oldest Shinto shrines in Japan.

The second one from the top 取 is the Kanji for "tori / take".

So, Satori means "Take that".

Is it just a coincidence that it resembles Lao Tzu's «throw away that one and take this one.» (Chapter12 / Five Colours)?


Tao answers your question!



To read the text of Today's Tao, please see Tao Te Ching Chapter 16-9 Satori.


Keep on squatting, my friend!

Satori is life itself.

Of course, you can accept and love your life while meditating.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 16-17 The body decomposes

Today's Tao

The body decomposes, but Tao has no danger. (Ch.16)


Do you like black and white Japanese film classics like Rashomon, Seven Samurai, and Tokyo story?

Akira Kurosawa and Yasujiro Ozu; they are true master film makers, aren't they?

By any chance, do you know another classic film called «Ugetsu Monogatari» by Kenji Mizoguchi?

The original was written in the Samurai era. It is a collection of short stories.

In it, there is a beautiful story of love.

An old Buddhist priest adored a boy-monk. The boy-monk got sick and met his end.

The old priest could not bear the site that the body of his beloved was decomposing.

So, he ate it.

Now, his beloved is eternally safe in the stomach.

It is a story called «Aozukin (Blue hood)» in «Ugetsu Monogatari (Tales of Moonlight and Rain)» by Ueda Akinari.


Some people search an eternal life.

Would you like to live eternally?

In fact, you do.

Your hologram "decomposes", but true You are Tao.

Tao simply keeps on creating holograms.


Dogen's caution:

We must not think that our individual spirit goes somewhere after life.

There is no such thing as the sea of eternity.

(Soku shin ze butsu 即心是仏, «Shobogenzo»)


Naoto Matsumoto says:

It is easier if we think our individual self does not exist.

A so-called "self" is part of the rest of the world.


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 16


Tao answers your question!



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-It is a great pleasure to talk about our national heritage. The original tales are one of the best literary works in Japanese along with «The Tale of Genji». Although its story is not truly related to the original, the film might be called a cinematographic masterpiece.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 16-16 Eternal

Today's Tao

Tao is eternal. (Ch.16)


A: "Would you like to see a football game tonight?"

B: "I am sorry I have no time."

A: "How about a cup of coffee before you leave?"

B: "No, I can't. Even if you buy me an organic Soya bean cream double mocachino from the Michelin three star restaurant downstairs, I can't. I have no time."


We know it very well, don't we?

We have no time.

No one possesses time.

Even Tao doesn't.

Tao has no time.

Time is just a parameter in order to organise incoming information in our brains.

It is like the speed of the wheel of a movie projector.

You are the one who decides the speed.

Everything takes place simultaneously in Tao.

So, everything is ephemeral and eternal.

Have a nice cup of coffee. You are eternal.


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 16


Tao answers your question!



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-Yasunari Kawabata is a Nobel Prize winner. His other stories and novels are in Japanese school text books. But one of the best pieces cannot and will not be recommended to school children. Or, probably, it should be used in the part of a precautionary measure for girl students. You can take your child to Tchaikovsky's «Sleeping Beauty», but you will never want to read Kawabata's «Sleeping Beauty» to your child.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 16-15 Heaven = Tao

Today's Tao

Heaven is Tao. (Ch.16)


Heaven. The heavens. The sky. The firmament.

Do you remember what I am asking you all the time?

When you see those words in Tao Te Ching, please paraphrase them with «your hologram».

So, what happens with Today's Tao sentence?

It is interpreted as:

Your hologram is Tao.

That's it!

That's the most important thing.

Zen Master Dogen says that this world is Buddha's prayer. (Jishozanmai 自証三昧 etc, «Shobogenzo»)

You don't have to look to somewhere else.

Life is the prayer.

Living itself is the Za-zen meditation.


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 16


Tao answers your question!



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-The Japanese living in Edo, the old name of Tokyo, tried to create a paradise in the area authorized by the Shogun government. For the Japanese, even nowadays, life is a floating world. You should enjoy it while you can. Nagai Kafu is a great writer and connoisseur of the practice of a floating heaven, both legal and ilegal. The book «A Strange tale from East of the River / Bokutokitan 濹東綺譚» is not just a literary masterpiece but an important record of the despised ladies.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 16-14 King = Heaven

Today's Tao

A king is heaven. (Ch.16)


"King" means the creator of the hologram.

At his birth, Buddha was believed to say:

"Above heaven, below heaven, I am the only important (respectable) one. 天上天下唯我独尊 [ten jo ten ge yui ga doku son]"

It is logical.

If you are the creator of the hologram called "the world", definitely you are the most important one.

A harder point to understand is that you are part of that hologram you create.

You create your hologram, and, at the same time, your hologram defines what you are and what you do.

Maybe, with a little help from the design of the Yin Yang circle, we can comprehend this twisted logic of the creator and the created.


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 16


Tao answers your question!



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-Osamu Tazuka is a Walt Disney of Japan and the creator of Astro Boy and Kimba the White Lion, who challenged the task of reincarnate the founder of Buddhism in his comic strip. Hermann Hesse, a pacifist who was treated as a traitor during World War 2, is an exceptional western guide to the world of Buddhism. His book «Siddhartha» will tell you about many practical solutions of Buddhist way of living in the occidental context. Highly recommended.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 16-1 Do emptiness / video

Today's Tao

Do emptiness perfectly. (Ch.16)


Geisha are gone.

We don't have them any more.

It is what we call social engineering.

We have transformed our town.

We got cleaner, better organised, and even wealthier.

I used to go to school with sons and daughters of Geisha.

Geisha got wealthier as well.

They abandoned their kimonos, and bought a Dior and a Louis Vuitton.

They shipped their old Toyota to Russia and asked AMG to upgrade their new Mercedes.

And they have become invisible.

Old businesses continue, of course, but they have put their money safely on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

Oh, excuse me. Not so safely.

You never know. One day they may have to wear old kimonos again and stand at the street corner.


To read the text of Today's Tao, please see Tao Te Ching 16-1 Do emptiness.

To read other episodes of Japan stories, please click the label below.


Tao answers your question!

Tao Te Ching Chapter 16-13 King

Today's Tao

The public is a king. (Ch.16)


"The public" means the state without self.

"A king" signifies the creator of the hologram.

Without your own self, you are the creator of the hologram.

Well, that's not precise.

Whether you are aware of your own self or not, your own self does not belong to you.

So, you are constantly creating the world whether you think you are stuck in your own self or not.


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 16


Lao Tzu answers your question!



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-Being idle is nothing wrong unless you have to starve. In any period of the history of human beings, intellectuals need a sponsor to feed them. Yoshida Kenko　吉田兼好 appreciated his sponsors' contributions in the book / Tsurezuregusa 徒然草 (Essays in Idleness).

Tao Te Ching Chapter 16-12 Public

Today's Tao

Acceptance is the public. (Ch.16)


Here, the word "the public" suggests "without self".

If you accept all, your own self disappears.

Then, you will see that individuality is an illusion.

If you are sure of this, you are one step closer to admit that your own self is part of your hologram.


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 16


Lao Tzu answers your question!



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-Saigyo 西行 means "go west". He is a poet/adventurer when travelling was very difficult. He adored Sakura (cherry flowers) and wished to die beneath it in spring. Poems of a Mountain Home / San Ka Shu 山家集.

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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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 16


Lao Tzu answers your question!



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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.


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-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?

Tao Te Ching Chapter 16-8 Constancy

Today's Tao

Going back to the destiny is called constancy. (Ch.16)


"Destiny" is a misleading word.

Do you agree if I say, "You create your own destiny"?

Then, do you agree if I continue, "but you are not responsible for it"?

"Going back to the destiny" means "accepting your destiny".

If you accept it, you are constantly one with Tao.


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 16


Lao Tzu answers your question!



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-What else can you call it? Destiny, isn't it? Or, is it their fault to be in a wrong place at a wrong time? One Black Rain created an ordeal in a girl's life. Another Black Rain created a group of powerful men without laws. Do we have the courage to say it all took place in our mind?

Tao Te Ching Chapter 16-7 Destiny

Today's Tao

This is called going back to their destiny. (Ch.16)


"Destiny" is a misleading but useful word.

In principle, you are the one who creates your destiny (or so-called reality) in your hologram.

Nevertheless, if you think that you are responsible for it and obliged to act directly on it, you are mistaken.

You had better not act directly on your hologram.

Let it flow by accepting all.

In this sense, the idea that a god is responsible for your destiny is a useful device.

By thinking so, you can suppress your obsession to act, or do something.

You don't have to do anything.

You just accept all.

Then, your hologram will transform itself.

Don't worry.


I sincerely wish that you will read the text in Tao by Matsumoto / Chapter 16 / Go back.

It is about destiny.

You are the one who creates it.

Mata ashita. See you tomorrow.


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 16
-Heat 45-9


Lao Tzu answers your question!



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-Suna no Onna 砂の女 / The woman in the dunes, originally written as a play by Kobo Abe, is directed by Hiroshi Teshigawara. Can you accept your destiny without resistance? Or, can you say that you are responsible for the creation of your destiny?

Tao Te Ching Chapter 16-6 Stillness

Today's Tao

Going back to the root is called stillness. (Ch.16)


To return the root, which is Tao, is easy.

Use Reverse Thinking.

It is a simple technique.

All you have to do is to switch the cause and the result.

You can easily go back to the state of stillness, the state before the things are projected in your hologram.

Reaching the state is called Satori in Zen Buddhism.


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 16
-Tao by Matsumoto / Bumo misho izen. The state before things are created (or projected) is called "Bumo misho izen" in Japanese. It means "before your father and mother were born". The article has an extract from the chapter Buddha Nature in Dogen's «Shobogenzo».
-Heat 45-9


Lao Tzu answers your question!



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-The Japanese adore Jizo. He doesn't preach us. He doesn't impose us his dogma. He likes to be in the place which people don't pay attention to. But he is always there. He is there to help us when we really need help. For most Japanese, he doesn't belong to theoretical Buddhism. He is part of animism. Jizo is a good friend of all the kids like Hello Kitty, Doraemon, Pikachu, Yugi-o or Naruto.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 16-5 Root

Today's Tao

Though things grow thick, respectively they go back to their root. (Ch.16)


The more you think about something, the more energy you feed to your hologram.

Then, it develops. Mutually holograms create (define) each other.

You create (define) others.

Others create (define) you.

But, in fact, all of them are the same because it is the fundamental energy Tao.

Don't be misled by the word "go back".

There is no time in Tao.

Time exists only in your head.

Everything happens simultaneously.

Even the future and the past are being created now.

See Tao by Matsumoto / Chapter 16 / Go back for the details.

It also has the chapter's entire English translation.

It will help you approach Taoism.

Its Rapid Decoded section is for a practical interpretation of the text.


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 16


Lao Tzu answers your question!



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-Ikkyu, a great Zen Buddhist and fantastic poet in the fifteenth century in Japan. According to Daisetz Suzuki, he is supposed be the author of Noh play Yama Uba. Nevertheless, no matter how hard Japanese intellectuals try to resist the idea, Ikkyu-san is our folk hero. Thanks to the TV cartoon show, the image of Ikkyu Sojun in Japan is much closer to the photo on the right.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 16-4 Go back

Today's Tao

I see them go back again. (Ch.16)


Holograms are illusions.

Nevertheless, they are truly precious because they are Tao's manifestations.

Every time we receive Tao the fundamental energy through holograms, it goes back to the state before they were created.

The state is called Bumo misho izen in Zen Buddhism.


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 16
-Tao by Matsumoto / Return to Tao.
-Tao by Matsumoto / Noises don't last.
-Tao by Matsumoto / Result.
-Tao by Matsumoto / Nothing is difficult.


Everyday a new entry!



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-While Ikkyu seemed more a poet thatn a Zen Buddhist, Ryokan was a Zen Buddhist and poet at the same time. It is well known that he adored the fleas and lice that inhabited his clothes. In the post-washlet Japan, it is hard to imagine a  religious poet like him in terms of hygiene level and selflessness.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 16-3 Material beings

Today's Tao

All the material beings grow together. (Ch.16)


Everything is being created here and now.

Material things, time, past and future, space, distance, even your own self; all of them are being created here and now.

In Zen Buddhism, they say the same thing.


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 16
-Tao by Matsumoto / Manifestation. Time and space are just concepts in our head.


Lao Tzu answers your question!



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-Basho is a great poet. Certainly. Some think that he was as great a ninja/spy as a haiku poet. Who knows! If Edward Bond had known the dark activity of Basho, his play Narrow Road to the Deep North could be different. Edward  Bond's Narrow Road to the North@Amazon

Tao Te Ching Chapter 16-2 Guard stillness

Today's Tao

Guard stillness firmly. (Ch.16)


Let's decode this.

It means, "Do not act until it is really necessary".


Naoto Matsumoto adds:


Chuang Tzu's famous maxim «Do not move until you are forced to. 迫而後動»
--荘子　外篇　刻意第十五--

Let's repeat this sentence every time someone tells us we are lazy.

What's wrong with being lazy?


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 16
-Tao by Matsumoto / Do nothing.


Lao Tzu answers your question!



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-You can find Chuang Tzu's maxim for lazy guys in «the Outer Chapters», which might not have be written by the philosopher himself. Never mind. The Japanese have been respecting the book for more than a millennium. Let's make robots work while we chill out.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 16-1 Do emptiness

Today's Tao

Do emptiness perfectly. (Ch.16)


When you first face an oriental philosophy, "emptiness" is kind of an obstacle, which may discourage you to approach it.

The idea is sometimes expressed as "sky" in Buddhism.

Sky is just colour. Colour is just sky.

It sounds enigmatically poetic, but it may mean nothing to you.

Emptiness is acceptance.

So, today's sentence means "Accept all".


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-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 by Matsumoto / Valley God
-Tao by Matsumoto / Colour


Tao answers your question!



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-Kukai 空海, pronounced as Kookai, means «Empty Ocean». It is a beautiful and philosophical name. I just wonder if this fashion house chose the name of the 9th century Japanese Buddhist intentionally or it is just a coincidence. Kitaro's music is always popular in Japan. We hear it fairly often without noticing it.