Tao Te Ching 19 Destroy cleverness-Tao by Matsumoto-Taoism video text

Tao by Matsumoto

Chapter 19

Destroy cleverness

←Akira Kurosawa's «The Idiot», originally written by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, was shot in 1951. Is it difficult to destroy cleverness? No, not at all because we are not clever. We don't have to be clever because we will never be. All we have to do is to accept the fact. Would you still like to pretend?

黒澤明　白痴

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19-1 No discernment 19-2 Morality of love 19-3 No profit, no thieves 19-4 Taoist investment 19-5 Essence = Uncarved block 19-6 Reduce desire 19-7 Don't learn

[Tao Te Ching Chapter 19] Destroy cleverness / English translation

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Destroy discernment. Throw away intellect. And people's benefit will be 100 times as much.

Destroy "morality of love". Throw away its rules. And people will recover children's filial duty and parents' merciful "love".

Destroy cleverness. Throw away profit. And there will be no thieves.

About these three things, the words don't seem to be enough. Therefore, I am forced to add something.

Show your essence and hold an uncarved block.

Diminish self and reduce desire.

Destroy learning and have no worries.

[Paraphrased]

No dichotomy. Stop discerning good from evil. There is neither good nor evil in nature. It's the same in Taoism. Throw away intellect and stop learning. Then, we can accept and love all much more easily. This is the true profit.

No morality. Love is not "give and take". It is another name for the fundamental energy Tao. Rules are not natural. Be careful with the words "filial duty" and "merciful love". If we accept all, we are merciful to everyone without the word "mercy". When we do something for the sake of filial duty, the act is false. Avoid conceptualization of your feelings. When we have a concept in our mind, it blocks the flow of the energy. Love all (=accept all) without thinking any words like "duty", "mercy", or "love".

Don't be clever. Don't think of profit. Since we have a hidden desire to outsmart others and gain profit, we have thieves. Look at financial markets.

These three things; discernment and intellect, morality and rules, cleverness and profit; are part of your hologram (=the world, =illusion). Stop looking for an objective world outside you. It doesn't exist. The words used above are not strong enough to express true dangers when you practice Taoism. Here, I am forced to paraphrase them.

Be your true self, which is Tao. Be no more pretentious than an uncarved block. To hold it means to be One with Tao.

Your self is part of the hologram. If you are out of your hologram (=your own self), you are one with Tao (=true You). Your desire is part of your hologram as well. "Reduce" it if you can. If you cannot, don't worry. Just leave it as it is. Treat it like clouds in the sky. That is to say, you are not responsible for your desire. It belongs to the rest of the world (=your hologram).

Learning is useless. Stop learning. You already know all you have to know. Don't worry.

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↑ «A Fool's Life» was written by Ryunosuke Akutagawa. He is the author of «Rashomon». The original of the film with the same title is his «Yabu no Naka / In the Grove». Ryokan Taigu is a remarkable Zen poet. Taigu means Great Fool in Japanese. The lice that inhabited in his clothes were literally his close friends. 芥川龍之介羅生門薮の中良寛大愚大愚

-This chapter 19 should be read along with Chapter 18 Taoism out of use because there are so many words shared in-between such as "morality of love", rules, filial duty, and merciful "love".

-As for the difference between studying and doing Tao, see Chapter 48 Reduce and reduce.

-Taoism videos / Chapter 19 1-7 Reduce desire