Tao Te Ching Chapter 58-5 Eternal cycle

Today's Tao

No one knows the end of this cycle. (Ch.58)


Fortune and misfortune, Yin and Yang, Tao and holograms; all of them are the same, the same eternal cycle. (☞See Ch.59)

This cycle is the prayer wheel and the wheel of Buddha's manifestation (=Horin 法輪).

Of course, no one knows its end because there is no end.

No one knows its beginning, either, because there is no beginning.


That's why in Buddhism they say:

"No life, no end of life / 不生不滅 [fusho fumetsu]".


In other words, we are living in the eternal cycle, which is the constant beginning.

Fortune and misfortune are one.

Yin and Yang are one.

Tao and holograms are one.

Then, why do they appear different?

In order to give us an opportunity to remember that they are one.


«Related Articles»
-Dark Government 58-1
-Brilliant government 58-2
-Fortune = Misfortune 58-3
-Misfortune = Fortune 58-4
-Eternal cycle 58-5
-Criterion? 58-6
-Odd criterion 58-7
-Spooky 58-8
-Confused about time? 58-9
-Don't tear it! 58-10
-Kyoka (crazy song) hurts 58-11
-Straight = Bent 58-12
-Amida (Amitābha) shines 58-13
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 58


Tao answers your question!



☞It is a good idea to read and compare these two books on Samurai. Inazo Nitobe was a Christian and wrote «Bushido: The soul of Japan» in 1900. Bushido signifies "The way of Samurai / Tao of Samurai". Yamamoto, Tsunetomo was a real Samurai and "wrote" «Hagakure: The art of Samurai» about 1716. Hagakure signifies "Hidden by the leaves".

Tao Te Ching Chapter 57-8 Ho 法 & Laws

Today's Tao

The more laws and decrees are known, the more robbers there are. (Ch.57)


Laws cannot control the world.

The more we try to control it with them, the more troubles we create.

We have been learning this hard ways these days.

This chapter 57 has Lao Tzu's maxims directly applicable to your life.

Nevertheless, the more practical they seem to be, the less essential they are.

We have to remember that many later hands had been added to the original Tao Te Ching.

That's the difference from Dogen's «Shobogenzo», whose original is the one we read nowadays.

That's why we often ask the 13th-century Zen master for some help.

Laws are part of your hologram.

In Buddhism, laws, teachings, and Buddha's manifestation are beautifully expressed by one word, 法 [ho].


«Related Articles»
-Justice 57-1
-Surprise attack 57-2
-Don't work 57-3
-How do I know? 57-4
-No prohibitions 57-5
-More useful tools 57-6
-More intelligent, more evil 57-7
-Ho 法 and Laws 57-8
-Sage's "Do nothing" 57-9
-Don't move 57-10
-Don't work and Get rich 57-11
-Desire 57-12
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 57


Tao answers your question!



☞This «Child Guardian» is called Jizo in Japan. The Kanji / Chinese characters 地蔵 [jizo] literally express the storage of the earth. He stores plenty of love for the people, for both the children and the adults. This deity probably represents the Japanese sentiments towards Buddhism better than mighty Buddha himself. The earthiness of Jizo reminds us of our ancestors, who came from all over by land or by sea or who had been living in the archipelago all the time. With the incense from Kyoto, this mini Jizo statue will make a good gift for your enlightened friend.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 49-11 Close ears & eyes

Today's Tao

People all open their ears and eyes, but the sage closes all of them. (Ch.49)


The sage never watches the news on TV because he knows so-called objective information is truly misleading.

Now it is about time we followed the attitude of Nikko's three monkeys.

See nothing.

Say nothing.

Hear nothing.

Not just something evil.

Nothing at all because we don't judge.

Or, let's go a tiny step farther.

All what we see is a hologram and catalyst to stimulate us.

We watch and listen to all the financial disasters and environmental catastrophes, while knowing that they are a prayer wheel or Horin 法輪, the wheel of Tao's manifestation.

And we will thank all of them for taking place, while receiving their Love and sending your Love to them.


«Related Articles»
-No heart 49-1
-People's heart 49-2
-A study of the Good 49-3
-Non-good 49-4
-Goodness 49-5
-Tariki / faithful 49-6
-Not faithful 49-7
-Faith 49-8
-Have no heart 49-9
-Inmo and No mind 49-10
-Close ears and eyes 49-11
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 49


Tao answers your question!



☞Nikko is a place you must not miss when you visit Japan. It is not too far from Tokyo, and, if you have a day-off, it is enough to pay a visit to Toshogu shrine and see the famous three monkeys of "Mizaru, Kikazaru, and Iwazaru" (See no evil, hear no evil, and say no evil, respectively in Japanese). You can also visit the beautiful Kegon-no-Taki Falls. Watch out! Wild monkeys might violently welcome you there. The real monkeys there have nothing to do with Lao Tzu's wisdom and are happy to rob you of the sweets in your bag.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 47-3 Kensho Jobutsu / No Away

Today's Tao

The farther you go away from it, the less of it you know. (Ch.47)


Osamu Kanaya talks about Kensho Jobutsu 見性成仏 of Zen Buddhism in his Japanese translation of this chapter of Tao Te Ching. («Roshi», Kodansha Gakujutsu Bunko, Kodansha, Tokyo)

"See one's nature and become Buddha." (=Kensho Jobutsu 見性成仏)

You are Buddha. You are Tao.

So, it is logical that "The farther you go away from" your own self, the less you learn about Tao and Buddha.

First, you learn that your own self and the rest of the world are part of the hologram. (1)

Then, your hologram will teach you what Tao and Buddha is. (2)


Naoto Matsumoto adds:

This exchange between (1) and (2) is precisely the cycle of Yin and Yang, Tao's cycle,  the prayer wheel, or the wheel of the manifestation (Horin 法輪).

That's why turning the wheel of the manifestation (Tenborin 転法輪) is interpreted as preaching, where the learning and the teaching of (1) and (2) take place simultaneously.

This is synonymous with receiving and sending Love.


«Related Articles»
-No outside 47-1
-Not out of Self 47-2
-Kensho Jobutsu / No away 47-3
-Accomplish with no act 47-4
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 47


Tao answers your question!



☞A man who can speak English cannot talk about Zen as well as this Japanese man does. A man who can talk about Zen cannot speak English as well as the Japanese man does. His name is Daisetz Suzuki. He asks us three questions: "Can we live by Zen?", "Can we live with Zen?", and "Can we live Zen?". His answer is a rhetorical question: "Can we live without Zen?". Whether you live by Zen or not, Zen is you. One cannot live without Zen.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 44-8 Last long

Today's Tao

Thus, you can last long. (Ch.44)


True You are Tao.

Therefore, you are eternal.

In Buddhism, we call this «Fusho fumetsu / 不生不滅».

No life no vanishing. (No life. No end of life.)


Dogen says:

"Future is past and present".

(Juki 授記, «Shobogenzo»)


Life is a form of a hologram.

Vanishing is a form of a hologram, too.

They are part of the wheel of manifestation 法輪 [horin].

Don't be attached to either life nor the end of it.


«Related Articles»
-Body or name 44-1
-Body or money 44-2
-Gain or loss 44-3
-"Love" too much 44-4
-Store = Lose 44-5
-Contentment 44-6
-Stay 44-7
-Last long 44-8
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 44


Tao answers your question!



☞Kitaro's album «Onbashira» is the name of a traditional Shintoist ritual. «Onbashira 御柱» means "The sacred pillars". The matsuri festival takes place once every six years. They drop the huge and heavy trunk of a fir tree (about 17 meters long, one meter in diameter, 10 tons) at the edge of a cliff top (about 35 degrees , and 100 meters long). People ride the log down the slope. If you want to get your adrenalin going, you can go to Suwa, Nagano, Japan, instead of Pamplona for the run with the bulls, for change. Well, in six years time. Beautiful Lake Suwa will be always there, waiting for you. Enjoy magnificent Mt Fuji over Suwa Lake as millions of Samurai did. Here is Onbashira official site in English and Japanese.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 39-6 Hologram's birth

Today's Tao

Everything attained One and was born. (Ch.39)


This is one of the key sentences in Tao Te Ching.


Step 1 There is nothing. It is Tao the fundamental energy.

Step 2 A thing before its birth (=Bumo misho izen) gets Tao.

Step 3 The thing will be projected, be born, and become a hologram and catalyst.

Step 4 The hologram stimulates Tao the energy.

Step 5 Go back to the first step. There is nothing.

Step 6 More holograms will be created.


Tao emits Tao. The energy emits more energy. Nothing emits nothing. You emits you. They are saying the same thing.

This cycle is the reincarnation, the prayer wheel, the wheel of manifestation 法輪 [horin] or the Yin Yang circle.


«Advice»
Don't mix the element of "self" with the idea of the Tao/hologram cycle before you fully accept it. Your own self does not create holograms, and is projected along with the rest of the world.


«Related Articles»
-Attain One 39-1
-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 by Matsumoto / You and non-you


Tao answers your question!



Previous video / Ch.39 text / Next video


-Let's not talk about taste here. Some works are too important to ignore. The photographer Nobuyoshi Araki tells his stories with photos. One wonders why Japan has lost things once so adorable to those who know about its literature and philosophy. Araki will tell you: "You ain't seen nothing yet". True geisha souls never disappear so easily.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 38-14 Tao's Flower

Today's Tao

He remains in its fruit and stays away from the flower. (Ch.38)


Certainly, "its fruit" means Tao, and "the flower" its hologram.

You always remain in Tao's "fruit" because true You are Tao itself.

Nevertheless, holograms are important, too.

In Dogen's «Shobogenzo» 道元の正法眼蔵, he explains 法華　転　法華 [hokke ten hokke]:

the flowers of manifestation turn the flowers of manifestation.

It is a beautiful way to describe "holograms provoke holograms".

This makes a circle or a cycle, which is the wheel of manifestation 法輪 [horin].

Keeping the cycle is precisely turning the wheel of manifestation 転法輪 [tenborin].


«Related Articles»
-The highest attainment 38-1
-The lowest attainment 38-2
-No trace of act 38-3
-Mercy 38-4
-The highest righteousness 38-5
-Politeness 38-6
-Lost Tao 38-7
-Lost attainment 38-8
-Lost mercy 38-9
-Lost righteousness 38-10
-Disorder 38-11
-Foreknowledge 38-12
-Thick and Thin 38-13
-Tao's Flower 38-14
-Leave it 38-15
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 38


Tao answers your question!



Previous video / Ch.38 text / Next video


-There are many ways to turn the wheel of manifestation / Horin. You don't have to look for Satori. You can learn how to rely on Tariki / the power of non-self. Eventually you will find out self and non-self are the same thing. A contemporary Japanese novelist Hiroyuki Itsuki talks about his experience of evacuation from Korea during WW2 and tells us how to "embrace despair".

Tao Te Ching Chapter 38-13 Thick & Thin

Today's Tao

Therefore, a great man remains in its thickness and stays away from its thinness. (Ch.38)


Thickness means Tao.

In Chapter 15 Man who knew Tao Lao Tzu says:

"Thick, as if he were an uncarved block."


Thickness = an uncarved block = Tao

(☞See also Chapter  28 Uncarved block)


Thinness means a hologram.

A hologram is superficial.

Besides, Lao Tzu asks you to stay away from the thin hologram, which we call the world.

You should detach yourself from your world. Don't get stuck in there.

Nevertheless, we must not despise it.

Because it is the flower of Tao's manifestation (=法華 [hokke])

It stimulates you to emit more Love / Tao energy to turn the wheel of manifestation, 法輪 [horin].

The act is called 転法輪 [tenborin].


«Related Articles»
-The highest attainment 38-1
-The lowest attainment 38-2
-No trace of act 38-3
-Mercy 38-4
-The highest righteousness 38-5
-Politeness 38-6
-Lost Tao 38-7
-Lost attainment 38-8
-Lost mercy 38-9
-Lost righteousness 38-10
-Disorder 38-11
-Foreknowledge 38-12
-Thick and Thin 38-13
-Tao's Flower 38-14
-Leave it 38-15
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 38


Tao answers your question!



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-Beautiful flowers bloom in all the spheres of existence. Some stories shine. Some are worth telling to another generation.