Lecture 13:
Let your heart lead you in your life
There's a way of thinking that your body is the master of yourself but not your mind. How do you think it connects with shiatsu method?
This relates to what I said before, about the viewpoint of material welfare as happiness, i.e. a lifestyle trying to fulfill the discontented part.
To tell the truth, the way of life led by ego appears in the way of thinking that Tao Shiatsu can be mastered by learning the technique physically One step further, the more one thinks material welfare important, the less one thinks of the value of his/her life.
In other words, you become closer to animal-like as you let material welfare drive you.
Your purpose in your life inclines to be, how can I say it, to satisfy yourselves physically. On the contrary, the more you think your heart is the master of yourself, the purpose of your life becomes spiritual and much more valuable.
For example the purpose of your life is to delight others, bring about the spiritual development to others. Now that you were born as a human being, you were born to perform what you are meant to do (i.e. fulfill your mission.) Animals do not have such missions to fulfill unlike human beings.
You shall pay back the grace to the nature that you've been given.
There is another interesting principle.
The more you are given, the more you have to do something valuable in return to the nature which gives you a life. Otherwise you shall be unbalanced. I mean that being born as a human being is such a grace in itself, no matter whether you have your own complaints about your life.
Would you like to be born as a cockroach? Can you imagine? If you are born as an ant, or a dog kept on the leash all day or any such animal, you would feel like being in a jail all day, wouldn't you? No small birds such as sparrows die of old age. They all starve to death. It does not sound happy as a life of a human, no, no, of a sparrow, does it? (laugh)
Unlike animals, human beings have freedom, freedom to talk, to express, to laugh. Some scholars say the difference between animals and human beings is the ability to laugh.
Born as a human being, you are so much gifted. You shall be unbalanced without doing valuable deeds in return to the nature.
Therefore, for those who don't pay back the grace, their lives become miserable. They feel distressed. They suffer in their hearts.
Even as a human being, imagine how hard it is if you are born in southern countries such as starving African countries. Now you are on the Northern hemisphere where you have no trouble in feeding yourselves. How lucky you are!
Besides, if you are rich, you need to pay it back wisely. Otherwise your money brings evil to you instead. You know people who are super-rich and super-miserable in their life.
The reason why the Buddha suffered so much was that he had led a very rich life until going into spiritual life. He was so sensitive that he suffered more from inner pains.
The more responsive to life he was, the more he subconsciously felt emptiness and contradictions, and the more he was urged to do something such as renouncing the world.
Now, we start practicing Tao Shiatsu. What I've just said is a warming up for lesson of Tao Shiatsu.
How will you learn to do Tao Shiatsu?
Now is the turning point of Tao Shiatsu. Well, in a sense, I can say, it is clear now the course how everybody can do Tao Shiatsu.
It was surprising for me to find what was missing in the teaching. My subconscious knew it but it had never been surfaced clearly.
I even feel sorry for having been unable to clarify it earlier. So many new aspects have found this month, in such a short period of time.
Today we will directly learn the core among all I found recently.
You might think it a great, fantastic and superb technique if we say so. But it is very, very simple. Simple as it is, some people feel reluctant to comply. Such an unexpected development, don't you find?
'Grace and Growth Method', we call it. How awesome it sounds!
To be honest, I am too shy to make a boast of it. I said it is awesome to hide my embarrassment. Oh, boy.
Now, let's do it. Well, are we even or odd? Odd? Then let's call Miyazaki-san. Just kidding. Let's do in rotation. Please make a pair, one person lies down, and the other sits side by side. (At that moment Miyazaki-san entered into the classroom. Everyone clapped and roared. "Oh, yeah! Great!") (laugh)
We've just meant to call you Miyazaki-san. You get my message via telepathy, don't you? Or you were waiting for your turn at the door to the stage? (laugh)
The meaning of your existence to the world
We are to learn what your existence means to others in the ki-world. That's what we are just about to practice. For example, you felt heavy just now but now you feel lighter. Do you know why? The teacher sends ki. This is very important.
You are absolutely mistaken if you think the teacher has special power or the teacher is so great.
You need to understand the interpretation of this effect in ki-world, in the context of the relationship between you and the world, and between you and your patient.
I'm telling you what. Now you remember, I mentioned earlier today that it makes such a difference if you are based in the heart vs you are based in physical body.
You remember, right? People who think much of material body incline to learn Tao Shiatsu just as a technique. They are trapped by visible world.
Therefore, you need to think in two ways. What is the purpose of your life? Are you absolutely sure that your purpose is developing and deepening your sprit? Or is your purpose physical welfare?
I am not saying it bad to be based on physical body. Don't get me wrong, I mean physical body is not the subject. It should follow the heart.
Otherwise it will become as in the medieval Christianity that physical body belongs to devil and the sprit belongs to God. But I do not mean it. We are talking about which should be the base.
As long as you put your ego as a base, you will focus on physical body and mastering superficial technique. Then you will miss the essence of Tao Shiatsu.
The essence of Tao Shiatsu
If you focus on the physical body or technique, you cannot see the essence of Tao Shiatsu at all. You bring human body just to physical world and make Tao Shiatsu only to visible forms.
I really tell you, when your heart become the subject, you will see Tao Shiatsu is the lives of all the beings. This is the essence of Tao Shiatsu..
I repeated this so many times, you know.
Technique is only the tip of an iceberg. The whole sea exists behind and emerges through techniques or as words. You will see. If you do Tao Shiatsu by your consciousness, you will never get out off the tip of an iceberg.
You will never master Tao Shiatsu no matter how much effort you make if you don't improve your heart and if you only see the technique side of it and try to learn physically. You have to see your heart clearly.
You must clearly understand this point. The relationship between you and Tao Shiatsu mirrors the relationship between you and the world. You must know it not by mind but by heart. Your heart must realize it. In other words, you know, realizing by heart means your heart becomes such a state. With such a state of heart, you can do Tao Shiatsu. You must be clear about it.
Why are you here in the classroom?
To tell the truth, you joined to the class to become this state of heart. Your subconsciousness knows it.
Can you see why you are here, now?
You are here to learn such a state of heart. This isn't something shallow that you learn the knowledge and technique and just do it. You already knew it in your subconscious.
At the same time you must know you are subconsciously eager to be in such a state. You've come here to be aware of the fact. You can learn how to do Tao Shiatsu by realizing it, clarifying it and confirming it in your conscious. Then you will be able to do Tao Shiatsu. Therefore we have to make clear what we can do to achieve this. This is what the class is all about.
Since the only way to learn Tao Shiatsu is to live at such a state of heart, you must make it clear. You never learn by memorizing knowledge. It is vain to memorize knowledge. That's why 'grace and growth method' is offered here.