Tao Sangha Toronto
375 Jane St M6S 3Z3 Toronto, ON, Canada

"Making a New Year’s Resolution" For the first blog of the year, let’s talk about New Year’s Resolutions. Realizing a New Year's Resolution is actually a way to... realize any wish. You just need to be determined about it. And there are two things you need to be determined about: one is that you'll "do whatever is necessary" and the other is "you'll do it no matter how long it takes." You don’t have to decide what to do or make a plan how to realize your resolution. You only have to firmly decide to do whatever is necessary, no matter how long it takes. It’s like deciding the future. You envision what you want in the future, and decide to do whatever is necessary, no matter how long it takes. When you decide these two things, you don’t have to think about what needs to be done, or how to create it; your actions, the words you speak, and your thoughts already automatically promote your wish. Also, there are some tips to make this work easier. The first tip is to "have Faith. As you can guess, if you don't have faith in your wish, your wish will not be realized. It's not gonna happen. It’s so obvious right? So, have faith in the realization of your wish. Then you’ll be in the flow of energy of wish realization of the Universal Spirit. Another tip is that your wish should be for others. If your wish is to come true, you've got to have some good fortune. Maybe Lady Luck will smile on you, or you’ll be in a situation that helps your wish along. In other words, you need outside help. It could come from other people, from something or someone like Lady Luck, a particular situation you are in, or from another person. But if your wish is selfish, who would want to help you with it? Do you think goddesses like selfish people? I'm not saying that you shouldn't make wishes for yourself, but when you do make a wish, be sure that you consider the happiness of others in it. And, actually, if your wishes include the happiness of others, it will be easier for you to get help! One final tip is to not leave a gap in your determination to have your wish fulfilled. You may have decided "to do whatever is necessary" and to do it "no matter how long it takes," but whenever you allow space to come between your wish and your determination to fulfill it, evil will sneak in, or your ego will whisper to you, giving you all kinds of excuses to not remain determined. For example, your ego may sneakily suggest such excuses as "it's not time for this now," "let's wait for another opportunity," "someone is standing in our way," or "because such-and-such a thing is happening, we'd better wait for now." And so on and so forth. You may have millions of excuses, but if you've decided what to do, there is only one way forward: do not leave any space for ego to interfere with your determination. When your wish dwells in you, you are living in your wish, and your wish will be realized. So, let’s make New Year’s Resolutions that will create a bright future for everyone! Let’s make it happen! https://taoshiatsutherapy.com/making-a-new-years-resolution/

"Walk Alone Like a Rhinoceros" https://taoshiatsutherapy.com/walk-alone-like-a-rhinoceros/ This is a continuation from my previous blog about feeling the god within yourself. When you have faith in this, then you can stand on your own and be free from the effects of any situations that occur around you. Also, in this state you can follow the Ki (universal energy) easily, because you are not biased about anything; you can sincerely follow your heart. People usually make mistak...es because they follow what others say. It might sound strange to you, but think about it: how does a war start? No one wants to kill anyone, right? So, why do we wage war? Because they say that we have an enemy, and if we don’t kill them, then we will be killed, or they feed us some other scary story like that, meant to make us feel fear and become agitated. Who are they? We could call them evil, and as Napoleon Hill said, they control people by stimulating ego, such as that of fear, insecurity, or even vanity. Stimulating people's ego is the only weapon evil has. So, listen to the deepest part of your heart, which is whispering to you. Make quiet the surface of your thoughts, any noise from past memories, and what other people have said. Those thoughts, noises, and memories work like gravity to bring you and your energy down. Cut off past karma and fly into the bright future! We have the ability to create the future we wish for. Just cut off the ego and karma that come from the past. "Walk Alone Like a Rhinoceros" is from the words of Shakyamuni Buddha. It’s from the Rhino Sutra in the Sutta Nipata, which is from a very early stage of Buddhism. I will introduce some of it here. With no greed, no deceit, no thirst, no hypocrisy delusion and blemishes blown away with no inclinations for all the world, every world, walk alone like a rhinoceros. Not startled, like a lion, at sounds. Not snared, like the wind in a net. Not smeared, like a lotus in water: walk alone like a rhinoceros. Having let go of passion, aversion, delusion; having shattered the fetters; undisturbed at the ending of life, walk alone like a rhinoceros. There is more, but since the meaning is very deep, this is enough for now. Here is a link to my teacher Ryokyu Endo’s Dharma talk Just Walk Alone Like Nietzsche. This Dharma talk explains the meaning of the phrase walk alone with the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche. I recommend reading it through if you’d like to be free. Happy New Year! https://taoshiatsutherapy.com/walk-alone-like-a-rhinoceros/ See more

Flame of Hope Chanting Live Broadcast schedule for Dec. 13 - 19, 2020. At https://www.facebook.com/FlameofHopeChanting

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The Butterfly Effect Does the flap of a butterfly’s wings in Brazil set off a tornado in Texas? is the title of a famous speech by meteorologist Edward Norton... Lorenz; it’s a part of the Chaos theory. Science hasn't answered this question yet. But in Buddhism, there are very similar concepts that have been taught for a very long time. Buddhism is separated into many branches, but one common teaching is the Three Marks of Existence, and one of them is anatt (no-self). Mahayana Buddhism explains this as emptiness, and also dependent arising, which means there is no individual existence, everything is interconnected. In the famous Avatamsaka Sutra (Flower Garland Sutra), it is explained as the perception of "all is one, one is all, all is everything. It even explains that one particle of dust includes the whole universe, which means, even though the movement of one finger, you can affect the whole universe. Because nothing is separate and everything affects everyone. At Tao Sangha, we cultivate a sensibility of Ki (energy), which is a primitive sense that we all have and that everyone can feel. If you cultivate this sense, you’ll understand that we all subconsciously radiate energy all the time. When you are in a happy mood, you radiate happy Ki (positive, warm, comfortable energy), and if you are in an unhappy mood, the unhappy Ki extends out into the world (negative, cold, uncomfortable energy; Jaki). And so in Tao Sangha, we practice to be aware of our own Ki all the time. I talked about holding ego in a previous blog, and if someone is not holding ego, such emotions as anger, fear, greed, jealousy, judgment, and being above others, etc., radiate out into the world as energy. If the flap of a butterfly’s wings can create a disaster on the other side of the planet, how much does your negative energy affect the world? I remorse, because I spread so much negativity into this world. I practice holding ego so that I don’t damage others, the field, and the world, but I still do this sometimes. I want to be responsible for the negative energy in this world because of all the times I allowed my ego to get the better of me when it whispered in my ear and said, That’s not your negativity, everybody does it. Don’t worry about it. This is a temptation. As Jesus fought with the devil for 40 days and nights, as Shakyamuni Buddha fought with Mara (a demonic celestial king), so too we need to be aware of and conquer these same temptations, and it can happen to anyone at any given moment. Evil’s only weapon is to tempt us and stimulate our ego. As Napoleon Hill wrote, evil uses fear to stimulate our ego and control us. Let’s repel evil’s temptations and continue to hold ego. Then we can start to live the mission of our life.

Tao Sangha continues Flame of Hope chanting on Mondays 6:30~7:30pm, and every first and third Sunday of the month from 9:30~10:30am. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, please continue to join us on Facebook live https://www.facebook.com/FlameofHopeChanting; chant along with us and receive the transference of Amida’s great love. . .... #healing #spirituality #energy #energywork #ki #chi #meridians #buddha #buddhism #tao #theway #shinto #japanese #japan #temple #wadajitemple #taoshiatsu #shiatsu #healingjourney #healingtrauma #toronto #nembutsuchanting #flameofhopechanting #heartsutra

Flame of Hope Chanting schedule for Nov 29 to Dec 5. Live broadcast at, https://www.facebook.com/FlameofHopeChanting/

Flame of Hope Chanting schedule for Nov 15 to 21. You can watch a live broadcast at, https://www.facebook.com/FlameofHopeChanting

Flame of Hope Chanting Schedule for Nov 22 - 28. Live broadcast on, https://www.facebook.com/FlameofHopeChanting

This Thursday, November 19, from 6:30 pm please join the webinar with Setsuko Thurlow and MPs calling on Prime Minister Trudeau to have Canada ratify the UN Nuclear Ban Treaty. Featured speakers Hiroshima-survivor Setsuko Thurlow Liberal MP Hedy Fry,... NDP MP Heather McPherson, Green Party MP Elizabeth May, Bloc Québécois MP Alexis Brunelle-DuceppeFurther information about the webinar can be found at www.foreignpolicy.ca/nuclearban. See more

Sorry, Shodo (Japanese Calligraphy) class on Thursday, November 19, is CANCELED because of the recent Covid restrictions in Toronto. Next class schedule TBA Please see other Calligraphy to keep your motivation up:... Shodo Canada CALLIGRAPHY COMPETITION 2020 You can see all winners and nominees. https://shodocanada.com/competition-2020 If you’d like to enter next year, please ask our teacher directly. https://taosangha-na.com/toront/shodo-japanese-calligraphy/

Existence is body sensation. Body sensation is everything that exists. Feel that the shadow of the phenomenon is emptiness. At this time, my existence is an endlessly clear sky. It is a feeling of total freedom that is not tied to anything.