Lecture 18:

Carrying Tao

second level lecture by Endo Sensei on Dec. 16, 2006. Tokyo

1) SHA Mother nature—carrying the other’s pain

To empathize with another’s pain, we have to feel our own pain.

Because we do not want see our own pain, we cannot carry another’s pain. As a result, we are far away from The One, and our lives become more empty. To escape from the pain, we escape to the outside world. E.g. position in the world. When we cannot escape from our own pain or another’s pain (when we face it), then we turn to The One.

Depth of my life is depth of my Tao Shiatsu.

Being on top is also because of our own hurting, so we want to hurt others. How I treat others (like other members) is how I see myself.

Non- Protective State (no protection)

To really care for others is to carry others’ pain, until they can stand on their own feet and then carry anothers’ pain as well. Even wanting positions in our Sangha, this is a protection too, using position as a protective state. To be in an unprotective state accept and carry our own pain and others’ pain. We need to be in this state all the time, otherwise we can hurt others. If not, we are on top. Therefore, we hurt others.

Persons who feel their own pain and others’ pain is always with The One.

How you treat others is how you deserve to be treated by others.

To feel The One, we need to be in this state (Seshin Heart).

2) Middle is carrying the mission. Middle is the child.

Carrying the mission means any relationship. If it is not positive it is negative. Either you’re carrying or you’re not carrying. There is no middle. Carrying the mission means as long as I/we have responsibility to open the possibility of development for others. So here we wish for the possibility of others.

Believe in the possibility of others.

Others/and self’s possibility=Mission

So child is the possibility (child has a future in front of it).

Life=treatment

When new people come to the Sangha, I/we have the responsibility to open up the possibility of/for them.

When leading/teaching on top of people it is the same as not being responsible for opening the possibilities of others.

The One Is Always Resposible For All Beings.

The final stage is “ what is your relationship with The One/Amitabha Buddah.”

Society’s duty and responsibility is mostly ILLUSORY.

Being tied to the responsibility of society we mostly feel DUTY right?

But Sangha-responsibility has nothing to do with duty.

Carrying a life mission has nothing to do with duty.

Sangha mission is completely different from the society’s duties.

Mission comes from painfully wanting to share and help others to realize their possibilities.

(Possibility is opposite to “already decided”). Truth is always possibility(ies).

When pushing with thumbs on Tsubo-→more Heart and then carrying Mission, then a new possibility will come up for yourself and others. The person can be healed and opened up for new possibilities.

Position=Duty (You start thinking “oh I gotta do this”). Duty means you’re on top of others. So if it becomes a duty, carrying Sangha work it becomes more scary. Usually in most spiritual groups, past and present, the founder wants to hold the position then it’s better not to do it. Carrying The Mission Should Be The Disappearance Of One's Ego.

We shift from group mentality (always leaning on each other) to “do it to SHARE”→ opening up the possibility of others.

Conversion Experience Is Actually Painfully Wanting Others To Experience This Possibility As Well (Of Having The Connection With God)

Groups could be like seduction in that we assume that ‘we know’ better than others (a fixed group mentality). This makes I/we become Unreal. So we should not just look inside our own group. If so, we don’t treat people from the outside caringly and wish for their possibility

3) TONIFY/FATHER CHARACTER

Confronting The Ego, Carry The One
And Then Spreading The Way.

In spreading Tao, how others feel about you (which is us)=how others feel about Tao.

Other People→self→Tao

This is a continuum. If there is a break between self and Tao that means I want others to think “I am great”.

To study Tao Shiatsu is to let others experience Tao. Carrying the Tao is to connect to everything.

If my relationship is just to use Tao, then that means I want others to just use Tao also.

If I really want to carry the Tao, I/we have to confront what I/we see in my/our heart(s). Otherwise, it cannot be real. (fake heart). If you can’t confront the darkness in your heart then it becomes a fake heart.

If one really carries The One, the giver has to disappear. The ego has to disappear.

The real meaning of holding the ego back is hard to understand.

It is completely different than what we were taught as children, eg. Don’t be selfish.

Holding the ego back does not mean Following What Others Said!

Holding ego back and living with The One, breaking the ego, means letting the heart of The One come out and making everyone feel Alive—Like Liberating And Relieving Yourself And Others From Prison. Not with words only but with Heart. Liberated means “living with the Life of the One. Allow the true nature to come out : express The One.

Don’t follow the “outside”, follow the Tao heart, that is the true measurement. If one depends on the outside, then understanding the real meaning of it is not possible. Holding the ego back does not mean: “Be patient”.

So when doing Shiatsu, it is easy to reflect ‘how I am doing’. It is more important to consider how the other is doing.

Be responsible to what the receiver feels by imagining with Setsu heart. If you feel responsible to the receiver, the Tsubo sticks to your finger (it wants to follow).

Carry Tao (Summary)

  1. CARRYING SELF AND OTHER’S PAIN--BE RESPONSIBLE TO HEALING
  2. CARRYING THE MISSION (WISH)—BE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE APPEARANCE OF POSSIBILITY
  3. CARRYING THE ONE—BE RESPONSIBLE TO WHAT THE OTHER FEELS.

PURENESS IS STRICTNESS. IF WE WANT SOMETHING PURE, WE HAVE TO BE STRICT WITH THIS.

SUNDAY DEC. 17, 2007

LECTURE

CARRYING TAO

It is easily misunderstood and taken as duty and loss of freedom.

Why is it so easily misunderstood? Because we objectify Tao.

Something we put as an object, we should not carry (e.g. house, ancestor, nation, company). If we put Tao as an object, it’s because we want to use it. Something we objectify should not be carried—if we do it is negativity. If we carry Tao as an object this leads to tension, to a tense relationship or heaviness. (If we carry nation as an object, we will hate the nation later—like going to war for nationalism, we will end up hating the nation). We will be “tied up” if we carry any material object for too long. This leads to hesitation because everyone does like being tied to matter.

This is all misunderstanding—we are not clear in our subconscious.

Why make it clear? We make it clear so we don’t make excuses.

All the time ego is trying to protect itself.

The real question is why anyone would want to use Tao? The part we want to use is the object(ive) part.

What Do We Do?

Create something so that Tao can depend on you without you depending on it. (There are SO MANY TRAPS HERE!)

Here are the traps:

1) Making it your own, like this is mine.

(In the Tao Sangha, we do not want to share. Only what I/we know is important. Rather Tao Sangha is just not an object. Tao is infinite and everywhere.)

2) Being afraid to carry Tao. It is the projection of the ego to be afraid or excited about the group. This is really the same (being afraid or excited about the group). In the beginning people are afraid about the group. But what is more scary is being excited about the group. Ego is always trying to be afraid or excited (grasping at something).

Carrying Tao

This means not depending on an object.

This also means having a HEART WITH NO PROTECTION.

(The One will not come if we are protecting our heart).

This means the PURE HEART.

Something we want to protect is always objectifying it. Eg, we want a position so we protect the position.

Child’s heart is the only way to enter heaven and the only way to encounter and face The One (this is the non-protected Heart).

The state of non-protected Heart has nothing to do with society.

To encounter the One we must be in an unprotected state. Throw away all illusions.

Really put effort and determination into not messing up your Heart (this will make your spirit die).

Lying to our/my heart is all excuse and traps set by the ego. Please don’t escape to something that’s an object.

Carrying Tao Heart

The opposite of carrying Tao Heart is to make others carry the Tao. If we don’t carry Tao, we want other people to carry. So it comes down to either DEVOTION or USE. That is why strictness is so important. If we are ashamed about our action we devote more effort to the Tao.

To realize this clearly is WISDOM.

If we are really devoted and are serious about this and do not use Tao, then when we do use the Tao, we feel embarrassed and shamed. We ought not to feel on top. IF WE ARE NOT SUPPORTING OTHER PEOPLE THEN WE ARE ON TOP OF THEM.

RELATIONSHIP IS THE ONLY WAY TO TAO. WE CANNOT KEEP IT FOR OURSELVES.

Because only the part we share with others will stay with us. The other part will leak away.

Only through sharing with others will we unify with Tao and stay with It.

True heart means no option but sharing.

I/we have responsibility to share Tao. This is caring.

WHAT IS SHARING?

  1. Not depending on others.
  2. Depending on others—watch for this trap.

If I/we depend on others to do it then the group will judge me if I do something and similarly when the group does something I will judge them. This is NOT CARING. WATCH FOR THIS TRAP.

There is another trap. If I/we afraid of carrying Tao, then if a lot of people are carrying Tao, then WE GET AFRAID if we are not carrying Tao.

Then there is a fake carrying when many people do it, then I do it (mechanically or monkey-like fashion).

Do Sangha work more than my/our own limit.

CREATION IS MORE THAN THE LIMIT. CREATION HAS NO LIMIT.

In daily life, we shall always give more than what we receive. Otherwise, how can we develop?

If we really concentrate on doing this then it becomes fun. Because we receive so much from Tao we want to give back a little bit more.

ESSENCE OF TAO HEART.

INCREASE GIVING HEART.

Raise person who raises others’ giving heart. This Sangha work. We cannot do this as a duty because as a human being we have dreams or wishes. (We do dreams out of passion NOT duty).

It is not something we calculate when it is a dream or a wish. If we can have this image of a dream then we CAN do it with giving heart. Otherwise, it is suffering (negative).

We want to realize the dream (wish), and not do it just when we have time. We can only do it through infinite devotion. Do it through effort for creating life is an art. To join the infinite and create through relationship is how we take care of people. That is the meaning of to “raise a person who raises the others’ giving heart.

So why would Tao choose to express through me? Because it is only through human beings that Tao can be expressed.

Overcome your limitation. Do not do it for the person.

There is a gap if you do not overcome your limitation.

What is my true wish?