Lecture 11:

The Three Hearts Of Tao Shiatsu

Ryokyu Endo Jan. 29, 2003

Pain is the base of the human existence. The Buddha said, “Life is suffering.” It's interesting, isn't it? Everybody is looking for comfort, but even when it is found, it never lasts. The more we live, the more we lose. This is the principle of life. This is reality. There is no way to avoid this pain. The only solution to be found is to connect to The One. The One is the source of peace, the source of pleasure, the source of healing, the source of power. It is infinite and everlasting. No other way exists to heal the suffering in our life, and in the lives of others, except connecting to The One. This is only possible through the heart. We can never depend on anything outside us; we can only take refuge in Tao Heart so as to enter to The One.

The Three Hearts of Tao Shiatsu

  1. Recognition of pain as the base of human existence.
  2. Motivation, from this pain, to connect to The One.
  3. Take refuge in Tao Heart to connect to The One.

Ki Method for Meridians with The Three Hearts

  1. Recognize the meridian with the Three Hearts. Let Tao enter 100% into your heart. If you are recognizing meridian with the Three Hearts when you touch, you feel the meridian on the surface (in front) of your chest.
  2. Press until before bottom.
  3. Again deepen Three Hearts (letting Tao enter your heart 100%) You now feel the meridian appear inside the chest.
  4. Press the feeling of the meridian that appears inside your chest to reach the bottom.
  5. Meridian now appears in the ki body.
  6. See Three Hearts inside the chest, (let Tao enter your heart 100%), Press the ki body meridian, Reaches bottom of bottom.

Sangha is all people in the world! Why not share it with others?

As human beings we easily drop into a "group mentality" state to cover our pain. It arises because we close our eyes to the pain we feel. The group mentality, hierarchy, and worship of the guru, are all connected. The way they relate is that they create a situation where everything is "balanced." If the guru is put up, others are put down. This is natural. With a hierarchy you will always have people above you and people below you. What happens to the people who end up on the bottom though? They in turn will look down upon people who are outside the group. This continues to maintain the balance of the group mentality.

How can we break the Group Mentality?

Our ki will remain the same as the everyday society we have now if we are not released from it. We need to realize very strictly that while we are living with calculation, comparison, and racing to be on top of others, there can be no unification, no devotion. This is human instinct. Since the primal age we have created groups to protect ourselves from the dangers of the surrounding world, such as being attacked by other animals. It is our history. We inherited this Karma. As mentioned earlier, "Sangha" is not the group you see here. It is also the people you don’t see here as well - all human beings. This is the real spirit of Tao Shiatsu.

What is the meaning of standing at this horizon now?

Perhaps the easiest way to understand this is to imagine that you are the only person left in Tao Sangha. Nobody else is there. Now ask yourself: "Will I still continue to work for Tao Shiatsu and Tao Sangha?" If there is real motivation then of course you will keep doing the Tao Sangha activities, even by yourself. The spirit of Tao Sangha is to share this warmth with all people in the world, through ki unification and heart unity. The alternative is to be separated from other people and give pleasure only to ourselves. To be alone, yet be still determined to share Ki Unification and Tao Sangha with other people, this is the real attitude, the real spirit.

Sharing is such a lonely and painful way

There is one more thing of a practical nature and that is how you can bring people to the Gathering. It’s actually quite a tough thing to do. Have you ever thought about why this is so? When we think about it in our head, it seems easy. However, in reality, it's hard because of the challenge presented in bringing somebody from outside of the Tao Shiatsu class. They come as a guest, and since the guest is always "on top," naturally enough they have the customer mentality. Customers of course think they have the right to judge. Remember all the times that you have judged Tao Shiatsu. From this you know that to judge is to be on top.

If you feel that Tao Heart is a secret treasure of life, then of course you will be determined to share the pleasure of receiving it with other people. Be aware though that you will find yourself in the situation where people will be on top of you. But you feel you have to keep doing this, until they too receive “the heart of wanting to share this with others”. And you can never stop, no matter how painful and lonely it may be: trying to share this treasure with people who act as customers, judge, and place themselves over you. This is real devotion. This is really challenging your ego. Your subconscious is very aware of how confronting it is. That’s why it is so difficult to bring people to the Gatherings.

Relief from the group mentality

Actually, the only way to relieve the group mentality is to keep bringing people to the Gatherings. This really expresses the heart of sharing. It is a real chance to confront your ego. Without confronting your ego the group mentality arises. Especially if the group is small, the hierarchy soon leads to criticism of one another. This is what the ego desires.
To bring your friends to the gathering and to accept being alone is the only way to deal with this situation. Do you understand? You have to be alone, to be by yourself, with no one else. What are you to do with what you know of the world of ki, this knowledge, this understanding? Share it by bringing somebody to the Gatherings. This is the horizon you are facing. This is what you are confronting. You know it subconsciously. You need to make a lot of effort with this.
If the group is not just our Tao Shiatsu community, but also truly all beings, yet they don’t know about the Ki world, then your feeling should be that it’s your responsibility to share it with them. This is what Giving Heart really is, right? If it sounds like a tough job, it is. That's the truth isn’t it?

Only by you bringing people to the Gatherings can the warmth of this ki be shared. The meaning of “One Ki” is to care about others, especially people out side of Tao Shiatsu and Tao Sangha. Once you stop caring about the outside, then the ki becomes solid and cold. Maybe you enjoy being with the class and Sangha members, but somewhere inside, a cold wind comes through, like a gap in a door. There is separation.

Confronting what Tao Heart is for you?

As I have said, the toughest part in bringing people to the Gatherings is that they will try to judge what you are doing, and they will judge you. If you yourself are still trying to judge Tao Shiatsu, or Tao Sangha and the Gatherings, or whatever, then you can never bring people. A person who is judging cannot attract people to experience this and hope they will not judge it. This is impossible. Therefore if there is still some "guest part" in your heart, you cannot bring people. Guests are customers and they will always try to judge Tao: "Is this good for me?" "What I can get from this?" It's just like choosing what to buy in the super market.

You know, it’s really tough to be judged. It’s painful and lonely. What the "customer” wants is to try and judge the most delicate part of yourself - your heart. Judging the very heart you painfully want to share. Imagine for a moment, you are being judged by the person who you are trying to give and share the most important treasure of life with.
Of course in this situation you will experience the most confrontation with yourself. You will be asked the deepest questions of your being:

what is Tao Shiatsu to you?
what is Tao Sangha to you?
what is Tao Heart to you?

Tao Heart shouldn't be just a philosophical decoration, should it?

The Ego will not disappear: it just changes form.

At Nembutsu chanting practice in Ibaraki, I explained how the ego changes form. In the beginning the ego judges the teacher. The doubting comes through the projection of our shadow (the negative part of ourselves) onto the teacher. It occurs in many ways: “Is this guy real?" "Is this guy true?" " Does he want something from me? “After accepting the teachings the ego seems to stop at the surface level, but is still there. It now takes the form of the group mentality.
There are two aspects operating in the group mentality.

  1. Judging people inside the group: “This person is serious, this person is not." Comparisons start being made.
  2. Judging people outside the group: “They don’t know the truth that we do." We make comparisons that put us on top.

The ego is the same, it's just a different direction, the form has changed. Ego never disappears, it's always looking for ways to express itself.

If we wish to stop creating sadness in the world…

We cannot keep playing around with this ego. Look at the sad history this ego creates for human beings. Will it continue? Ego is the danger, the biggest enemy. If we close our eyes to the pain of human existence that exists inside, then we create external enemies. It’s such a big challenge, and becomes more and more difficult to shift the longer we are blind to our calculations, to our pain. We have to do it at this moment and wish to stop creating sadness in the world. Human history is littered with sadness. We have to accept our sadness and not ignore it. Realize that this sadness is the sadness of all beings. It's not just personal. We have to work on this.

To do this you have to be in a position of being judged. It’s very strict and really lonely to be judged. How much and for how long have you judged Tao Shiatsu? If you graduated from judging Tao Shiatsu, you are now in the position to be judged. If you are not ready, if you are still judging Tao Shiatsu, then you can continue to stand in the judgement position. If you have finished judging and “graduated” from that, you have to go to the next step. You cannot stay in the same state and just continue to enjoy your studies. You will end up trapped in the group mentality. We have to break through it. If you are not yet ready to be at that horizon, it’s OK. But if you are to graduate, you should accept that it's tough and lonely.

Do you want to escape?