Lecture 16:
Gratitude and Giving merit to others
Kyoto, Ryokyu Sensei, 11-February-2004
“It not because you want to give to that person, but only that this person will become a giving person. That is the only motivation. This is Giving Heart.”
(From Lecture11/02/04)
Gratitude.
Gratitude toward Tao is not gratitude towards what you receive from the Tao. If you take it personally it means that for how much you receive, for how much you can get, is the amount of gratitude that you have. How much the Tao can benefit all beings. If you can give gratitude to this, this is the real gratitude toward Tao. It is not gratitude for the self.
It is synchronizing the appearance of the heart that you want to give to all. Even if you have this heart, but there is no way to share with others, you cannot give. So, if the way of how to share the heart with others is shown as Tao, the Way, and then you can feel gratitude about this! And this is real gratitude toward Tao. Personal gratitude toward the TAO, as in how much you received for yourself, cannot be continued because it’s just the capacity of personal things. If there is no gratitude, you try to look for the “un-satisfaction part”. What is very interesting is that it is only one or the other.
The Tao is the Universe so it is a void. It has no form. So depending on your heart it can be seen in any form. You can see it as full of bullshit towards Tao. It can be seen as full of pleasure. It is really up to your heart. As it has no form it can be seen in any way by a projection of your heart. It is about how this can be in appearance, as I said before. It is not a matter of what you do. It is a matter of the state of your heart.
For example, if there is a discussion about giving out Uni Shiatsu or Gathering fliers and some people don’t want to do it, if you have Tao Heart you should do it. If there is no Tao Heart you shouldn’t do it. It can be really the best action or it can be really the worst action, it really depends on your heart. Also giving advice to other people if it is really with Tao Heart, do it. If it is not with Tao Heart don’t do it. The measurement is only by looking at your heart when you say or do something.
Shiatsu can also be damaging or it can be most effective. It really depends on your heart. You really have to put yourself in the state to really not see it as a form. To see Tao Shiatsu as a form, to put it as a form, is to put responsibility to the object and not put the responsibility to your heart. If it is synchronized with the appearance in a heart of giving then it becomes full of gratitude and there is no space to think about the doubt. To have doubt towards the void (TAO) is fighting your self. It is not effort. You don’t call it effort to be in a state of fighting with yourself. It is suffering. You think it is effort, but it is not effort. Effort is not to put doubt to the object but to put doubt to the self.
As I said on Sunday, the teacher, for the student, is Tao, but for the teacher, the student is Tao. If the doubt can be projected to the object, for example if a student cannot do the real Ki method, and if I, as a teacher, project my doubt to the object it is going to be like “Why can the student not do it?” But a teacher will not do this. The teacher will think: “What is missing in my teaching of the Way? What is missing in my heart?” They will never ever think it is because the student is wrong. There is no space to think about it this way. If each person now would really have this attitude the Tao will continue. If both student and teacher have the opposite of gratitude it is going to be really ugly Ki. If there is doubt about each other, the teachers` doubt about the student, and the students` doubt about the teacher, the ki is going to be really dirty. If each is thinking, “What is missing in my heart?” “What can I do to improve?” Then both can really improve.
If you have more faith in the Tao, you try to confront your self. You ask, “What is missing in myself?” The more you have faith in the Tao the more you are confronting yourself. If you want to be lazy about this then you want to put doubt to the Tao because you want to relax. That is not truly relaxing, that is really tiring. It is only one or the other.
Giving Merit to Others.
The Heart of giving merit to others is really the basic measurement of the judgment for your action. This means if your motivation of your action is to give merit to others, you should do it. But if there is no such motivation, you should not do it. So, this is really the measurement of your action.
The base of this is Zuiki -Follow pleasure of others` pleasure. This is to increase the heart to feel pleasure at others` pleasure. If that heart is bigger, the richness of the heart is bigger. The amount of the riches of the heart is the amount you can feel pleasure at others` pleasure. You have to really overcome jealousy. It is really strict. The amount of pleasure and the amount of happiness is the result of how much you feel pleasure at others` pleasure. This is really mystically arranged. You cannot complain about what happens in life. This is synchronized by how much you have faith in your future happiness. It is really synchronized. This is also synchronized with faith towards the Tao. So with this kind of karmatic law, if your heart is against this you don’t want to believe this. That is why the doubt comes up.
You can do Tao Shiatsu if you depend on the Wish: want to give pleasure to the world through Tao. Even how much I wish that everyone can do Tao Shiatsu, if you don’t have this wish, you cannot do Tao Shiatsu. And this wish comes from the realization or determination that you are the only student. This doesn’t mean you are special or elite. This means there is nobody to compare your self with. If your conscience is like “one of the other students”, you cannot keep this wish. This means no one else but you have to do it.
The only student, this is a big responsibility. There is no space for any excuse. If you become `one of them` it means you are supported. Of course there is a heart of support coming. To be supported means that you use another person to support you even though you don’t think about it this way. It is a fact in the Ki Field, in the Ki aspect. To `Stand on your feet` means to be one as an only student, it means: I am the only one who is responsible to share the heart of Tao.
Are you coming here for the chance to give? Or you are coming here to receive something? The attitude of coming to receive something keeps you looking to receive something forever. The giver or the receiver, who is more rich? Who is in this state?
I really wish, painfully wish, that everybody, all the students will be able to give. The reason why I wish this is that it is good for the world and also good for that person. Giving fortune to others is really inviting fortune for the self. And do you know? If I wish somebody to become a giver but not a taker, what I can do is to only give heart or action or anything I can give to that person, only giving, giving, giving and I wish, finally, someday this student will shift the heart and start giving to others. There is no other way to express this heart. Giving merit to others-Zuiki- it is not merely a word it is really heart and action.