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)
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-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.
» is unarguably the best novel written by Yasunari Kawabata. Probably, the most popular Japanese novel in the last one hundred years. "Be like Komako" is the novelist's answer to Lao Tzu's "Be like water". When you face a difficult situation and don't know what to do, check «Snow Country» and make decisions as if you were Komako the Geisha. Water is a little too abstract. Komako is a woman and artist of life. If you are interested in Kawabata's literature but do not have enough time to read all his works, «
» are strongly recommended. They are shorter than most ordinary short stories. There are plenty of them in the book. Therefore, it is ideal to read the book in the bed before you fall asleep.
» 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 «
» 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.
. / "The valley spirit never dies Call it the mystery the woman." On the right, «Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching: A Book about the Way and the Power of the Way» 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 
.
. / "Therefore the Sage acts by doing nothing and teaches without speaking." On the right, «Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching» translated by 
.
. / "Subtle wonder within mysterious darkness. This is the beginning of all understanding." On the right, «The Tao Te Ching of Lao Tzu» translated by 
.
. / "The mystery of mysteries" On the right, «Tao Te Ching» translated by 
.
: Daily Wisdom from Mystics, Sages, Poets, and Saints» written by Josh Baran. / "We are in the midst of what some called 'a major turning point in history.'" On the right, «
» written by Diane Dreher and Lao Tzu. / More than ever we need Tao now. But "What is «now»?
輪廻" is the Japanese word for reincarnation. Rumiko Takahashi, one of the most successful cartoon creators in Japan, has been treating this subject repeatedly. Please look at the first Kanji / Chinese character of the expression. Rin 輪 is the same kanji for "
» translated by Jonathan Star. / "The Tâo that can be trodden is not the enduring and unchanging Tâo." On the right, «
and 
represent modern Zipangu's alchemy.
» available for Kindle. Here we have one in Einstein Books and another in Public Domain Books. It is important to compare the translations. Besides, one has to be aware that most of them are interpretations rather than word by word translations.
/ Jizo in my home village». "I wanna go home. I miss my Jizo."
was a 12th-century poet / Buddhist monk, probably born in the Kyoto area, and traveled the north of Japan twice. Osamu Dazai, the author of this modern classic «
/ Ningen Shikkaku», was born in the northern tip of Japan's main island, Honshu, and became a successful novelist and ladies' man in Tokyo.