Tao Te Ching Chapter 23-9 Bonno soku bodai

Today's Tao

When you don't have enough faith, you doubt it. (Ch.23)


Faith and doubt. You know them very well.

Today, let's learn a powerful spiritual tool called "Bonno soku bodai / Being lost is justly Bodhi, or the spiritual awakening".

If you don't have enough faith, you cannot accept all.

Then, you create resistance against accepting your hologram (=the world).

Your resistance create images or feelings that bother you. These hindrances come about in your hologram.

Then, you are completely confused and lost in Mayoi.

But, do not worry.

Their goal is not to make you suffer but to lead you to the attainment of Tao.

That's why in Zen Buddhism they say:

"Being lost is justly the spiritual awakening".

Bonno soku bodai 煩悩即菩提.

Thank you.


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-According to Tao 23-6
-Satori = Attainment 23-7
-Attainment loss 23-8
-Bonno soku bodai 23-9
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 23


Tao answers your question!



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-I have been waiting for this truly for decades. I have been thinking for ages that someone has to translate this underrated master's works.
There is nothing wrong with being commercial. Futaro Yamada's imagination and originality deserve a place in Japan's history of literature. I sincerely want to thank Mr Geoff Sant, the translator, and his editor for their contribution without snobbism in introducing the excellent literary works in Japanese into English.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 23-8 Attainment loss

Today's Tao

Those who act according to the loss of its attainment are one with the loss of its attainment. (Ch.23)


"Shittoku 失得(徳)." The loss of attainment.

"Mayoi 迷い", in Zen Buddhism in Japan, which means "being lost".

When you are lost, do not panic.

It is absolutely all right.

You can lose your attainment of Tao, while being one with Tao.

You can be in Mayoi while you are in Satori.

What can we do, then?

Your attitude is supposed to be:

"Uh, uh. Here comes Mayoi. Welcome, Mayoi. I am happy to be lost and confused."

And accept it.


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-Say no words 23-1
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-Attainment loss 23-8
-Bonno soku bodai 23-9
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 23


Tao answers your question!



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-Is it really possible to translate a Haiku or a Tanka into English? Why not? If you can translate Baseball into Japanese, translating a Haiku is a piece of cake. Shiki Masaoka, one of the greatest poets of modern Haiku and Tanka, is the one who translated the game of baseball into Japanese. Without Shiki, no Ichiro.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 23-7 Satori = Attainment

Today's Tao

Those who act according to the attainment of Tao are one with the attainment of Tao. (Ch.23)


Living is Satori.

The moment you try to attain Tao or reach Satori, you lose it.

In other words, you forget that you are in the state of Satori, being one with Tao.

That's why Lao Tzu says:

"Do nothing".

Life is a koan.

We answer it by living it.

Don't try to look for Satori or Tao somewhere else.

You are already there.


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-Say no words 23-1
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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 23


Tao answers your question!



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-Rashomon and Rashomon. They are not the same story, but are admired and adored as a masterpiece respectively. The written one is a short story most school children will read in Japan. The shot one is a text book of a film-making that most film school students will watch. The original of the latter is not called "Rashomon", but "In a Bamboo grove". No worries. You will find it in a copy of Penguin Classics' "Rashomon and Seventeen other stories".

Tao Te Ching Chapter 23-6 According to Tao

Today's Tao

Therefore, those who act according to Tao are one with Tao. (Ch.23)


What is acting according to Tao?

It is our objective.

It is receiving and emitting the energy of Tao with the least resistance possible.

How can we do it?

By accepting the world with gratitude.

Then, you are one with Tao.

"But aren't we one with Tao all the time?"

Yes, we are. We just forget it sometimes.

By accepting all, you can easily remember the fact.


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-Attainment loss 23-8
-Bonno soku bodai 23-9
-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 23
-Tao by Matsumoto / 10 points to be one with Tao


Tao answers your question!



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-The Parisians have the River Seine. The Londoners have the River Thames. The New Yorkers have the Hudson River. The people of the floating world Ukiyo have the River Sumida. This story, «Bokutou Kidan 濹東綺譚 / A strange tale from East of the River», is about the despised ladies doing their business on the eastern side of the River Sumida illegally. On its western side, which is closer to the center of Tokyo, there was a section to do it legally.

Tao Te Ching Chapter 23-5 Man's responsibility

Today's Tao

How can man keep on doing it for a long time if heaven and earth cannot do it. (Ch.23)


You are not responsible at all.

"Wait a minute, Matsumoto-san! You said: «I am responsible for everything.» yesterday."

Certainly I did.

I said: "true You are responsible because true You are Tao".

Please do not mix true You and your own self.

Your own self, or ego, not true You, is part of your hologram along with man, heaven, and earth.

The Today's Tao sentence means:

"Even heaven and earth's influence is ephemeral. How can a man or your own ego affect other objects in your hologram!".

Your own self is not responsible for anything.


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-Tao by Matsumoto / Tao Te Ching / Chapter 23


Tao answers your question!



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-Chikamatsu Monzaemon, playwright, 1653 - 1725. On the left, «Chikamatsu Monogatari / A story from Chikamatsu» was directed by Kenji Mizoguchi. On the right, its original title is «Shinju Ten no amijima». A director / actress couple, Masahiro Shinoda and Shima Iwashita worked together. Iwashita was considered one of the most beautiful women in Japan at that time.