«Today's Tao»
Please join me at:
Google+
and
Facebook
and
Twitter.
If you have questions, I am more than happy to answer them.
Let's discuss the subject.
♢♢♢
«My Koan Horoscope»
(available in Taoísmo en Español)
1. Our side dare not advance one inch, but retreat one foot. (Ch.69 / Good luck)
2. Though something is done, he does not rely on it. (Ch.2 / Bad luck)
3. Once up on a time, somebody attained One. (Ch.39 / Little luck)
«Interpretation»
Good luck - Bad luck - Little luck. Do you wonder whether you should advance or retreat? Do you wonder if you will start a new relationship with someone or not? Do you wonder if you will end this relationship with an unfaithful partner and leave him? Do you wonder if an emotional night between a man and a woman is good enough to begin a new life? Do you wonder if a physical intercourse is the beginning of a spiritual intercourse? Do you feel sick and tired of a game of give-and-take between a couple? Lao Tzu don't like advancing. He prefers retreating. Even after a perfect night between a man and a woman is completed, Lao Tzu asks the couple not to rely on the relationship. Once upon a time, Taoism was pure and simple. Now, it is tarnished with adorned expressions that confuse us. They were thought tools at the beginning. They are called Hoben 方便 in Zen Buddhism. Then, they started running wild, insisting their own philosophical independence from Lao Tzu's teachings. It is like a stranded relationship where a man and a woman fool around but never be able to abandon it. Zen Master Dogen shows us a solution in Butsukojoji 仏向上事 chapter of his Shobogenzo 正法眼蔵:
"What we call Hoben is every Buddha, every ancestor."
方便といふは、諸仏なり、諸祖なり。
What does this mean? Your life, including love life, is the holographic manifestation of Buddha's Love. Why does it appear? Because it is a thought tool or a tool to teach Buddhism. What is the teachings of Buddhism? It doesn't matter if it is Taoism, Buddhism, Shintoism, or whatever. Life, of course including love life, teaches us how the mechanism between Love and Hologram functions. How does it work? Life (=Hologram) stimulates you. You emit Tao/Love/Buddha. (Plus, please don't forget that true You are Tao itself.) Now you know why you live through love.
Please try Koan Horoscope (although it is in Spanish).
Naoto Matsumoto
Google+
and
and
Twitter.
If you have questions, I am more than happy to answer them.
Let's discuss the subject.
♢♢♢
«My Koan Horoscope»
(available in Taoísmo en Español)
1. Our side dare not advance one inch, but retreat one foot. (Ch.69 / Good luck)
2. Though something is done, he does not rely on it. (Ch.2 / Bad luck)
3. Once up on a time, somebody attained One. (Ch.39 / Little luck)
«Interpretation»
Good luck - Bad luck - Little luck. Do you wonder whether you should advance or retreat? Do you wonder if you will start a new relationship with someone or not? Do you wonder if you will end this relationship with an unfaithful partner and leave him? Do you wonder if an emotional night between a man and a woman is good enough to begin a new life? Do you wonder if a physical intercourse is the beginning of a spiritual intercourse? Do you feel sick and tired of a game of give-and-take between a couple? Lao Tzu don't like advancing. He prefers retreating. Even after a perfect night between a man and a woman is completed, Lao Tzu asks the couple not to rely on the relationship. Once upon a time, Taoism was pure and simple. Now, it is tarnished with adorned expressions that confuse us. They were thought tools at the beginning. They are called Hoben 方便 in Zen Buddhism. Then, they started running wild, insisting their own philosophical independence from Lao Tzu's teachings. It is like a stranded relationship where a man and a woman fool around but never be able to abandon it. Zen Master Dogen shows us a solution in Butsukojoji 仏向上事 chapter of his Shobogenzo 正法眼蔵:
"What we call Hoben is every Buddha, every ancestor."
方便といふは、諸仏なり、諸祖なり。
What does this mean? Your life, including love life, is the holographic manifestation of Buddha's Love. Why does it appear? Because it is a thought tool or a tool to teach Buddhism. What is the teachings of Buddhism? It doesn't matter if it is Taoism, Buddhism, Shintoism, or whatever. Life, of course including love life, teaches us how the mechanism between Love and Hologram functions. How does it work? Life (=Hologram) stimulates you. You emit Tao/Love/Buddha. (Plus, please don't forget that true You are Tao itself.) Now you know why you live through love.
Please try Koan Horoscope (although it is in Spanish).
Naoto Matsumoto
» inevitably makes a Japanese think about "Ma 間", spacial or sonic emptiness. The Japanese have been considering it as the rich source of creativity. If you find the concept of Everything = Nothing a bit too hard to grasp, why don't you look to this theatrical genius for advice? You don't have to go straight to the gate of Tao or Zen. Anne Bogart will show you some backstage door to get in there. Read her «
», and you will see why theatre is a good friend of Zen Buddhism.
» was written in the seventeenth century. Please compare this classic with Tatsuo Kimura's «
», which was written by a Japanese Mathematician working at Tsukuba University in 2008. Aikido and the quest of "the power / Ki" will never cease to impress us. Aikido 合気道 literally means "Tao of synchronized energy".
were good friends. They were friends from high school. They met each other at Ishikawa-ken Senmon Gakko. The school later changed its name to Dai 4 Koto Gakko, which literally means "the forth high school". It was one of the most prestige high schools in Japan before WW2. The school was closed in 1950. Its tradition was spiritually inherited by Kanazawa University. Nishida was part of the founding members of Koa Kogyo University, now called Chiba Institute of Technology. «
» on the left is the same book as «A Study of Good». The book shines as the beacon of modern Japanese philosophy. Kitaro Nishida was an excellent thinker and black sheep where many people say "A good one doesn't 'think'. One who 'thinks' is not good".
» first. The work is considered a masterpiece in Japan, and many students read it at school. Into a cave under the stream, a frog was swept. The salamander blocked the entrance of the cave with his body. The salamander had been captured there because his body was too big to get away. Now he had a "friend". If you have some time, before you go straight to «
», please read his «
». It is about a young fisherman cast away by a typhoon and rescued by an American boat when it was illegal to leave Japan. Their docile acceptance of what it is and what it is happening will certainly give you another flavor when you read «Black Rain». Although 
is excellent, the end of the story is not precisely the same. It is worth reading the novel. Which after-taste do you prefer?
». Ikkyu, who would be a cynic poet dressed in a John Galliano dress if he lived now, wrote the play in order to tell how Zen functions. (☞Read its modern adaptation «
. / "The mystery of the valley is immortal; It is known as the Subtle Female." On the left, «The Tao of Power: Lao Tzu's Classic Guide to Leadership, Influence, and Excellence [A new translation of the Tao Te Ching]» translated by 
.
. With an introduction by Robert Wilkinson. / "The Tao is called the Great Mother empty yet inexhaustible," On the right, «Tao Te Ching: A New English Version (Perennial Classics)» translated by 
.
. / "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 
.
. / "Blunting sharp edges, Untangling knots, Softening the glare, Settling dust, (It evolves us all and makes the whole world one)." On the right, «The Tao Te Ching of Lao Tzu» translated by 
.
. / If you find Tao Te Ching too abstract, the translation of this Zen master might be helpful. 
(1573 - 1645) lived in the period of the samurai, which is much closer to our days compared to the time of Lao Tzu. Takuan is the author of 
.
. / "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 
.
. / "Thus, the sage manages affairs by 'nonaction' and teaches by 'saying nothing.'" On the right, «A Taoist Classic: The Book of Lao Zi» translated by 
.