Taoism

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Daily 1_31 – Buddha Zhen Discusses TAO #18c about Rules, Nature and Obedience to Society

November 1, 2023 / Daily Taoist, Tao of Taoism, Taoism / By Richard

Alright. Daily Taoist here. I told you I was gonna try to finish these 18s, and I’m on #18c. And I’ve g5 mileote ined a ‘d’ and an ‘e’ to do. Let’s see if I can blast you.

I’m reading from my book, TAO OF TAOISM – USING THE DAO TE CHING TO IMPROVE YOUR LIFE based on Lao Tzu’s book, The DAO TE CHING.

Okay, let’s see. Where are we? We’re on #18c page 31 of my book.
And I’m claiming Lao Tzu said,

Tao #18c
When families are organized and maintained by following rules:
Nature is ignored.

Ah darnit. This is where people put that battle between Confucius and Lao Tzu out there. Because this seems like its at all odds with him. Most of the translations were of course like this. But I’ve come to have a broad understanding and realize the two were completely in harmony.

Okay. Here we go. But it’s the same as like a speed limit. It’s obeying the speed limits on the freeway. You can say, “Well I don’t want a speed limit. I want to go 100 miles per hour.) Well, it doesn’t matter. You’ve got to realize that organization is important. Rules, and following and maintaining those rules is important. Okay? And that’s all that Confucius is saying is that rules are better than not having any rules.

And it’s saying that Nature is ignored. And that’s true. We’re ignoring Nature when we go 65 miles an hour. You should be walking. [laughs] You’re defying Nature in that car. But anyway the Nature of that car is to only go so fast. And the Nature of the turns is to only go so fast. And the Nature of the traffic is to not go too fast and run into the car in front of you. l

So there’s all these Natures. All these Taos going on all the time. So even when we can change and create a mechanical Nature we’re still creating a mechanical Tao. A new Nature withing the real big natural Tao. Building a city on this planet is an unnatural environment but it’s still connected to the Tao. And within the environment of the city there’s a different kind of Tao when you are in the city, and sleep in the forest as opposed to sleep between two buidlings. It’s a little different, I mean two trees and two buildings. There’s all– but anyway.

So.. this is not the battle between Confucianism and Taoism everybody makes it out to be. They are in harmony.

When families are organized and contained by following rules Nature is ignored. That’s not all true. Because Nature requires harmony. If you go to a pack of wolves there’s certain rules that they have to keep the cubs from wandering off and getting eaten by another animal. So all Nature has rules. And this translation needs– Well you can see how it misleads people.

We’ll say Nature is ignored. Okay, so in that sense we’ll say it’s kind of right. So, I’m not gonna have to rewrite this but– We’re saying we’re ignorning the Nature that says we’re supposed to be walking. We’re saying we’re in a car going 65 miles an hour. When you born I don’t think that was predicted. You know, saying oh this guy’s gonna be cruising at 65 miles an hour in a machine sometime. So anyway, you define Nature. That’s something you created and imposed on Nature.

So you’re ignoring Nature when you’re in that car. You’re ignoring the wind. You’re rolling up the windows so you don’t even feel the air that’s outside. You are ignoring Nature.

So in that sense you’re right. But it’s not saying that it’s a problem–it’s a bad thing…

Just remember that some people– Don’t react to this information. Try to figure out how to use it. See, that’s why I’m here. Okay? I’ll show you how to use it.

Here we go.

What rules were you raised by that seemed unfair but simplified your parent’s control?

I’ve been a parent. I know this. You made rules that the kids don’t like but it makes your life simpler. Like, keep them in the house. Don’t let them run out where you can’t see where they’re at. So you make all kinds of rules that keep life simpler for YOU. That the kids may not appreciate at all. [laughs]

What rules do you employ that simplify life?

That’s a bit general. I didn’t say whose. I guess I’m saying the whole life around you.

What rules do you employ that simplify life?

I know of one woman who liked to simplify her life by having the kids watch TV. So that’s how she simplified here life was by having the kids watch TV.

Although a contemporary of Confucius, why does it appear he conflicts [LAUGHS] just remember I was already talking about this with Confucius and Lao Tzu.

What does it take to keep a family organized?

Rules. You can’t do it without rules.

I’m sorry. I shouldn’t answer your questions.

What does it take to keep a family organized?

There’s all kinds of answers.

I said, “I’m sorry.” I’ll interject again.

When should parents get a divorce?

I got scolded a year ago. Sommadebody actually doesn’t like me and got mad at me about that I’ve been divorced. A fellow Catholic. Weird. That anybody’d get mad at you for being divorced. But anyway, he was saying, “You should get back!” She’s already remarried somebody else.

The whole concept of getting ge a divorce. When SHOULD parents get a divorce?

What is an ideal family in your opinion?

What is an ideal– You should write that down on a piece of paper and say, “Oh, when I get up in the morning my family does this… My wife does this…My kids or dogs are…Maybe you family doesn’t have any– it’s all pets. I don’t know. But whour at is your ideal family? YOUR ideal family.

Not the one– well actually, if you start writing it–you’ll realize, “Hey, this is my parent’s idea of an ideal family. But I don’t know if I buy into this.”

That might be good for you to realize. So anyway, just write it douuu’ve bwn right now and see what it is. Okay? Because you might actually realize you’ve been fooling yourself.

What is an ideal family? (In your opinion.) I put that in parentheses. So I guess I was trying to lead you to your own answer.

What do you know about filial piety?

Huh? Americans don’t know anything about that. It’s so embarrassing how Americans… Filial piety is one of the most ikmportant things you can learn in family structure. That’ll answer one of your questions from earlier.

What do you know about filial piety?

Filial piety is the one thing in the Eurd aop– In the Asian cultures: has proven to provide success–and huge success. it’s the filial– Filial piety I think has created has created an amazing amount of success. Obviously, there’s a down side to it too

If you’re– When I was– Like I said, I’ve been buying Kung Fu weapons since the seventies in Chinatown. I got to know a lot of store owners. Really personal over the years going there on a regular basis. And their kids grew up. I watched their kids in the store. Then they grow up, go to college and then they leave. And, I haven’t seen them– well, ten years ago, the last times I was visiting there buying weapons with my students–I was talking to them and they were like–these people are old and older than me and, they’re retired and their kids don’t want to have anything to do with the stores. They’ve gone on to their own businesses or other careers… whatever it is. But by filial piety their kids would run that store and take it over but– See, that would be more like a prison to put them in that position to take over that store. And they don’t want to. “I want to go to college. I want to go to Europe.” Don’t want to run a Chinese merchandise store.

So filial piety can unfortunately go astray In my own kids. I was– I pushed that on my own kids. I wanted them to run the school but realized, No, this wasn’t right for them, to take over my Kung Fu school. But that’s the normal thing in Chinese and even the martial arts thing is: your kids grow up and take it over. KIn fact a lot of martial artists who’ve passed away, have died and they say, “Where are their kids? ” And they didn’t do their martial arts. Like Bruce Lee’s daughter never did any Kung Fu. And she’s running the orgainzation. And Parker. I think Ed Parker maybe. I think he’s very famous as a martial artist. But his kid didn’t graduate the system. So since then I think they’ve tried to beef him up so he could kind of keep that thing going to represent the lineage of these other people who followed him

There’s all these things about propping people up into that filial piety thing that didn’t even exist. So it’s kind of an interesting thing.

How would your family be structured the same as your parents’ family?

Oh I’m gonna hurry and see if I can make my ten minute mark.

How would your family be structured the same as your parent’s family?

In other words, are you following– And if your parents have a good family and it’s going good and you follow it–That’s great.

See, that’s the problem with President Trump. He followed into the soup but he wasn’t suited for it. He didn’t have the acumen, the talent, the ability, or the honesty to do real estate business. He’s a crook. He’s a liar and a cheat. That’s not the kind of person you want to do business when you’re doing real estate. Especially big money like that. Cheating people out of little money’s bad, horrible… But cheating people out of millions of– well, it’s the same thing.

Okay. Here we go. Describe someone’s family that you envy or respect.

There you go. So you can start over. Maybe you were born in the wrong family. “Oh, I wish I was born in that family.”

Look at that and structure that. Just decide what your reality–your Tao.

Remember? This is the TAO of TAOISM.

There’s always different realities. And none of them are wrong. Unless you’re in the wrong place, at the wrong time, in the wrong Tao. They can’t be right.

That’s what your goal is: to make the RIGHT TAO.

Should a wife obey her husband?

There’s a question that will open up a lot of understandings for you because this is very important.

Should a wife obey her husband?

Remember I wrote this thirty years ago. Before i actually learned Confucianism and everything.

If you’re a Methodist, they took it out of the vows. A wife never says she will obey her husband.

Should a husband obey his wife?

I’m not sure what your other answer was but what’s your answer to this one?

Should a husband obey his wife?

Who should the children obey?

The mother? The father? Nobody?

Who should the children obey?

How do you teach children to be obedient?

Ooops. Ten minutes.

How do you teach children to be obedient?

Or do you? Should you? Some people think you shouldn’t.

So okay, there’s your questions.

And now let’s go back to the very beginning of it and see what Lao Tzu said. See if I kind of led you to integrate that into your life.

When families are organized and maintained by following rules. Nature is ignored.

Ah! Let’s look at that as a positive. If people’s Nature is to be selfish and greedy and do terrible things and run out in the street and get run over–

Then we want to basically ignore their Nature and say, “No. This is the new Tao and this is what you should do. Forget your Nature and your wants and your desires to fit into this Tao. Artificial Nature I’m creating– which is my Tao.”

Okay. So hey. There’s the positive of this. IS that sometimes you need to ignore Nature. You need to ignore your desire in order to get something accomplished correctly.

Daily Taoist outta here. In 10:59.

Whoops. I missed the button.

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Tao of Taoism — Using the Dao Te Ching to Improve Your Life by Buddha Zhen (Richard Del Connor)

AUDIOBOOKS and PAPERBACKS and Kindle eBOOKS by Buddha Zhen from Amazon .com

Buddha Z Official Blog (Heavy Metal “Buddhist Rapper,” Buddhist Poet, Shaolin Flutist)

Buddha Zhen (Shifu Zhen Shen-Lang: Zen Kung Fu Master and Chinese Music Composer)

Shaolin Chi Mantis traditional Shaolin Kung Fu and Tai Chi Chuan classes

YouTube Channel of Shaolin Chi Mantis Traditional Buddhist Kung Fu (“Daily Taoist” EPISODES)

Produced by Richard Del Connor for Shaolin Records

Music and excerpts used by permission of Shaolin Records, Shaolin Communications, and licensed by Shaolin Music. ASCAP

Daily Taoist 1_30 – Buddha Zhen Explains #18b which Republicans Use to Confuse Ignorant Americans

October 25, 2023 / Daily Taoist, Tao of Taoism, Taoism / By Richard

YouTube Video TRANSCIPT Daily Taoist 30

Hey, I said i was gonna sit down and run but it looks like I’m gonna do about five of these things in this sit down session here. Let’s see if I can finish my 18s. I’ve got five of these things.

#18b: When information becomes abstract, complicated, scientific, or too elaborate in becomes unnatural to understand, and leads to ignorance of the underlying truths.

Ouch. That was a big one.

Hey. Buddha Zhen, the Daily Taoist here. And we’re working in my book, the TAO OF TAOISM. And this is #18b. Now Lao Tzu supposedly wrote this. Let’s see if we can understand it. I paraphrased it and… I’ve got a lot of words in here.

When information becomes abstract– (Okay. Like “Make American Great.” That’s abstract. That means absolutely nothing.) –complicated– (Or complicated? How would you make something complicated? Oh, let’s make it like MC-squared. What?) –scientific– (I just said that. “Like it was 300 years ago on this particular date in this season…”) –or too elaborate– (See. I’m kind of one step ahead here. Okay like this-and-this-and-this…) –it becomes unnatural to understand.

Okay. So when information becomes abstract, complicated, scientific, or too elaborate: it becomes unnatural–to understand. And leads to ignorance of the underlying truths.

Oh man. Is that so true! You see, that’s the secret of our current political climate. The Republicans love this. They want the information to be abstract so that the underlying truths will support ignorance. In other words they don’t want you to know the truth. So this is– Look at this! This is actually– this is a little triumvirate of how to put this thing together.

When information becomes complicated, scientific, abstract, too elaborate it becomes unnatural to understand. So you have to FORM an understanding. They TELL YOU what the understanding is. That’s the trick: is they TELL YOU WHAT TO THINK. Here’s this information that doesn’t make sense. It means this: “Oh. Okay.”

Now they have basically used your ignorance to make you think in a way that actually has no reality. [laughs]

That’s cool. That’s the science of politics right there.

Are your rules and ethics understandable and simple? Explain them.

I gave you four lines to do it.

Are your rules and ethics understandable and simple? Remember, we were talking about that before. You have all these rules and ethics. You should be a little more familiar with who you are and what you are. So are they understandable to other people? Are they simple? Are they complicated? Explain them. Either way.

Which of your rules and ethics are not so simple or understandable by others?

Okay, so some of these things may be understandable to you, but how easy is it for other people to understand and appreciate them?

Like one of mine about writing music and poetry. People just grasp that. “What do you have to do that for?” “I don’t have to do that.” “I never want to do that.” “You have to do that? That’s ridiculous.” They don’t understand. It’s okay. So… I’ve just had to live my life with the fact that most people aren’t going to understand my ambitions, lifestyle… is important to me. And here I am 66 years old still–you know, kind of fighting with–even my family. Sorry. I just have to accept the fact that a lot of people are never going to understand me.

What is your purpose in life if there is an afterlife?

Oooh. Well my purpose in life is to — actually this is kind of an interesting thing: is to end all wars. There never needs to be another war on this planet. Ever. Wars are so ridiculous and stupid its amazing. Its amazing. There never needs to be a war. Ever. Ever again. If you think there is–then you’re the problem. You don’t need to have a war. Anything that a war can solve–can be solved without the war. There’s a way to do it without war. Okay. Anyway, that’s one of my purposes in life.

And one of my ways to do that– is actually: if I can make people smarter and happier I think that they’ll be able to understand that. Right now, the way it is: people are greedy and mean. Selfish and corrupt. So they think war is a cool thing. Wow. I talk to people. They believe in war. They support war. The think, “War has to exist. War needs to exist.”

Sheesh. I can’t even talk people out of it right now.

So that’s my goal to make people happier and smarter so they can go, “Oh yeah. You’re right. We don’t have to have a war.” “Yeah look. There’s no reason to have a war.”

Simple as that.

Okay. What is your purpose in life if there is NO AFTERLIFE or soul?

Same thing either way. I’m hoping my legacy will be to make people happier and smarter and healthier. AND HEALTHIER. Make people healthier they’ll live longer.

So what is my purpose in life if there is no— I guess it’s that same thing. Whether I have an afterlife or not– It’s not gonna affect what I’m leaving behind. So I’m willing to just leave it behind… And there we go. I’ll go on to my next thing.

But actually, if I am going to believe in an afterlife–I’ve got all kinds of religions. I’m a member of so many different religions and believe in all of them–One at a time. And seriously, I could spend one day in each religion. Be a lot of fun. Be a Catholic one day. Native American the next day. Taoist the next way-day. And a Buddhist the next day. And a Confucianist the next day. Then start– I could just have fun each day. And each one I’d… Okay.

But, which afterlife would I prefer?

Ahhhhhh. Now that’s an interesting question. I wouldnt-didn’t have this answer when I wrote this book thirty years ago. And… I’ve studied a lot more religions and books and I know a lot more about the afterlife. That’s why I’m not sure I’m coming back. I may want to mess around. If there is an afterlife: there’s a chance I can control my spirit. And I’m not sure why. Actually I might be… My friend who passed away last week gave me a clue as to how I can control myself in the afterlife. And in his case we were just starting to talk about it and he was kind of perturbed. He was helping me with my ‘5 Soul Concept.’ He had a WOMAN in the first position so he wasn’t real happy about that. But he couldn’t disavow it. [laughs] He was not real happy about that. But still, if he would’ve just hung in there… He could’ve accepted it. And dealt with it better. But we hadn’t quite gotten to that.

And that’s what I was trying to do, was help people. USE what they have to their best ability.

Let’s see. I got on that for some reason. Oh. And I was kind of starting to think maybe the reason I can control myself in the afterlife is because when I– if I did. IF I did get a vision of his after- of his final moment in the spirit– Separation between us and them… I tried to reach him. Or say, “Hello,” after I found out… Found out hours after so I don’t know. But in my mind, or in my imagination: I had a very bizarre image of him leaving our reality. Which gave me some clues as to how to control leaving this reality–if there is a spiritual world. And I saw something I’d never seen before. When I saw this. So like I said… Could’ve been my imagination. But it’s something I’ve never seen before, and I’ve imagined it since. Still– I’m stilltrying to grasp that or understand that image that I saw.

But it made me consider the possibility that it’s your merging– Remember I was talking about those 5 souls? If you can get those souls to connect better–then you have more control in the afterlife. But if they all just split apart– you don’t have as much control. And you’re just drawn off to those directions in the afterlife.

So that’s one of the things I’m studying now is, can I control the afterlife by keeping my souls together. Or at least two or three of them. Or something like that. Could that give me more power in the afterlife, as opposed to being just one WORKER soul or a WOMAN soul. If I’m a WOMAN-WORKER-WARRIOR soul. Or a MUSICIAN, MANAGER, WARRIOR… does that give me more power in the afterlife? If I can fuse those spirits in the afterlife. That’s what I’m working on.

Sorry if I freaked you out. But anyway. I’ve gotta start plugging that book. Because I’m gonna release it in the next year or two. So I’d like to get a little buzz going. Because it’s obviously gonna freak people out. Whether it’s true or not. It’s a different way to look at things. But its really made everything understandable.

Everything that I could not understand about my family, my kids, my ex-wives… When I look at it throught ‘5 Souls’ now I can– I can be at peace now. I can be a happy Taoist now that I understand that. It allows me to put everything into perspective.

Eight minutes here. Daily Taoist getting out of here.

Oh, did I read this at the end of it? What we were supposed to read? Yeah. I think we did. The underlying truths. And everything being abstact. And people can then control how you think. And lead you in ignorace even when you don’t know it.

Yeah, so…Watch out for slogans. I was anti-slogan for years. Then I came to realize we all think in slogans.

So how can I use slogans to be more positive.

You’ll see me use them to some extent. But I’m actually ANTI-slogan. And there’s a reason for that. I want to get out of here before the 10-minute mark.

The reason for not believing slogans is because they STOP your thinking.

In other words, as soon as I said, “Yeah. But that’s good enough.” Then the conversations ended.

So be careful. Slogans END CONVERSATIONS.

Or, “It’s better than that.” Something like that. Those are slogans. The end the conversation.

So be real careful. We all use them all the time.

I’ve been trying to get them out of my life because they end conversations and THEY END YOUR THINKING process.

The Daily taoist getting out of here saying, “My slogan is to end all slogans.”

Just use them appropriately and know when you’re using them.

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Tao of Taoism — Using the Dao Te Ching to Improve Your Life by Buddha Zhen (Richard Del Connor)

AUDIOBOOKS and PAPERBACKS and Kindle eBOOKS by Buddha Zhen from Amazon .com

Buddha Z Official Blog (Heavy Metal “Buddhist Rapper,” Buddhist Poet, Shaolin Flutist)

Buddha Zhen (Shifu Zhen Shen-Lang: Zen Kung Fu Master and Chinese Music Composer)

Shaolin Chi Mantis traditional Shaolin Kung Fu and Tai Chi Chuan classes

YouTube Channel of Shaolin Chi Mantis Traditional Buddhist Kung Fu (“Daily Taoist” EPISODES)

Produced by Richard Del Connor for Shaolin Records

Music and excerpts used by permission of Shaolin Records, Shaolin Communications, and licensed by Shaolin Music. ASCAP

Daily Taoist 1_29 – Buddha Zhen Explains TAO #18a Using his Act Zen Concepts to Live-Act Naturally

October 18, 2023 / Daily Taoist, Tao of Taoism, Taoism / By Richard

YouTube TRANSCRIPT: Daily Taoist 29

Hey! Buddha Zhen, the Daily Taoist popping in here real quick and then I’m gonna run away.

This is #17 on page 28 of the TAO OF TAOISM written by me, based upon the Dao Te Ching by Lao Tzu. This is #18a. This one had so much to unpack in it–it’s #18. That I broke it down all the way to #18e. I had to break it into five sections to make sense of this thing.

So here’s what I say. This is #18 of– There’s 80 of them actually, and this book has forty of them. Then I was going to break it into two books, because this is a huge book.

Okay. #18a by Lao Tzu; paraphrased by THE Daily Taoist, Buddha Zhen here.

Tao #18a
To deviate from Nature–
(Anytime I say, “Nature,” I mean “The Tao.”)
—To deviate from Nature is to create new rules that are unbalanced with Nature.
Any rules or activities not in balance with Nature are evil and destructive.

Well, like dumping your chemicals into a river. We don’t want those chemicals over here so we’re saying dump them over there. Okay?

So that rule was not balanced with Nature. That unbalanced rule or activity that’s not in balance with Nature is like I said, evil and destructive.

There’s a real simple example.

Let me read it one more time and then I’ve only got two things to read here. This’ll be kind of a quick one.

What are your rules, ethics, morals, codes of conduct, or religious principles?

And then look. I gave you like five lines to answer that question. So that’s why this is important. That’s why I–Just unpacking that.

What are your rules? List them out. Seriously. Who are you? And what are your rules or ethics. Yeah, your morals. Your codes of conduct. Think about those.

Codes of Conduct of YOU

Codes of conduct. You’re probably not aware of it. But if you had to train someone to be you– Say, “Hey. Listen. I’m going to disappear for a month. I’m going to be gone for a month and I want you to take my place.”

And the guy goes, “Okay. What do I do?”

Well, you’ve gotta tell him. How hes’ gonna eat. When he’s gonna go places. And how he’s gonna talk to people. Who he likes. Who he doesn’t like.

Okay? So somebody’s gotta impersonate you. If you had to train someone to impersonate you– What would you tell him are you tell him are your rules, your ethics, your morals because maybe this person’s a liar, and doesn’t care, or he cusses… And you go, “No. No. No. I have a rule. I don’t cuss. Oh no. I don’t do that. I don’t touch people like that–” Or… I don’t… You’ve got rules and ethics. So anyway: what are your rules and ethics? You are obviously different from somebody else. And this how you define your separation from them. Okay?

So. You’ve got to think– If you’re driving forget it. Well, maybe think of it a little bit. I’ve got a big space here, so I’m gonna make this a short podcast. So you can just kind of concentrate on ur that. Think of all your rules and ethics, morals…

I have another book that I wrote for my daughter fifteen years ago when she thought she was gonna be an actress. It’s called, ACT ZEN. And it’s basically– Actually it’s based on my movie career. My training at UCLA being a director and how to create a character. And so what I did was I took that — and then I took everything I learned about Zen Buddhism and thought, “How do you take a person and shape their character with Zen Buddhism… And then as an actor make them fluid in that so they can create other people but then they can go back to being the person they wanted to be originally–that they’d already pre-designed. So that’s what ACT ZEN is.

I designed this so first of all you decide WHO your are. And then you can be somebody else. And then you can go back to being who your. I call that ACT ZEN, or ACTING ZEN, or Act Zen to Act Naturally. All these little slogans I made for it.

But it really works. Well, it’s just good for everybody. Because we’re always acting. When you go into a business and you’re going to be a salesman you have certain roles– An acting role that you have to do. And so you should know what that is. And then when you go home, you’re not gonna try to sell your kids and everybody like you do every day. You have a whole different attitude than how you play with your kids and how you treat somebody out on the parking lot trying to sell them a acar.

So you can Act Zen: is to be able to define who you are in your different roles.

So how are any of these rules that you are making are out of balance with Nature?

Some of these rules you’re living by, and codes of conduct might out of Nature… Out of contact… Maybe getting up in the morning. [laughs] That’s– Your nature says, “No. I’ve gotta sleep in until 10:00 every day. I just can’t go to sleep before two in the morning…” So maybe that’s your Nature.

I hope I’m not getting you in trouble. I don’t want to give you any bad ideas.

Anyway.

What is your Nature?

Whatever it is. Just say what it is. If that’s what it is– I accept it.

So then I have “My Suggestions.” and that’s it.

So let me read what Lao Tzu said. I should always try to remember to go back and wrap up at the end.

#18a in my book, the TAO OF TAOISM:

To deviate from Nature, or The Tao, is to create new rules that are unbalanced with the Tao. Or Mother Nature. Any rules or activities not in balance with The Tao, (Nature), are evil and destructive.

Tell me if I’m wrong. To be honest with you I’m looking at them from different perspectives. [laughs]

Alright. The Daily Taoist here, Buddha Zhen here. I’m thinking about this too. So let me think about it. You think about it…

See you tomorrow.

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Tao of Taoism — Using the Dao Te Ching to Improve Your Life by Buddha Zhen (Richard Del Connor)

AUDIOBOOKS and PAPERBACKS and Kindle eBOOKS by Buddha Zhen from Amazon .com

Buddha Z Official Blog (Heavy Metal “Buddhist Rapper,” Buddhist Poet, Shaolin Flutist)

Buddha Zhen (Shifu Zhen Shen-Lang: Zen Kung Fu Master and Chinese Music Composer)

Shaolin Chi Mantis traditional Shaolin Kung Fu and Tai Chi Chuan classes

YouTube Channel of Shaolin Chi Mantis Traditional Buddhist Kung Fu (“Daily Taoist” EPISODES)

Produced by Richard Del Connor for Shaolin Records

Music and excerpts used by permission of Shaolin Records, Shaolin Communications, and licensed by Shaolin Music. ASCAP

Daily Taoist 1_28 – Buddha Zhen Explains TAO #17 with his new 5 Soul Theory to Help People’s Careers

October 11, 2023 / Daily Taoist, Tao of Taoism, Taoism / By Richard

YouTube Video TRANSCRIPT: Daily Taoist 28

Alright. Daily Taoist here. And I’m on NUMBER 17 and then I’m gonna cut it for today.

This is of my book, the TAO OF TAOISM – USING THE DAO TE CHING TO IMPROVE YOUR DAILY LIFE. In which Lao Tzu wrote a bunch of stuff in Chinese two thousand and some hundred years ago. And then a bunch of people translated it. And I thoug.ht some of the people didn’t really understand it As accurate as they may think they’re translating it, they may not– I don’t think they have quite the meaning. And then if you do have the meaning– How do you take that wonderful saying and implement it into your life? Like: “The most beautiful tree gets cut first.” Or “The strongest tree gets cut first.”

“Oh that makes sense.”

No. No. How do you get that into your daily life?

That’s why some people get fat and ugly. So they don’t get chopped down. They don’t want to be first chosen.

Or some people get extra dressed up and super fancy beca use they want to be first pick.

So you’ve gotta look at– There’s a Tao in everything.

So if you look at Taoism, then try to figure out how you’re– how that plays into your life, or your reality– Then it’s useful.

And that’s my goal: is to make it useful.

So we’re on NUMBER 17. On page 28 of my book, the Tao Of Taoism. T-A-O I’m spelling it, even though in Mandarin in China they say D-A-O. But to kind of compromise I’ve got, “Using the Dao Te Ching to Improve Your daily Life–to Improve Your Daily Life. I’ve got D-A-O in the subtitle. So it’s both. It’s actually D-A-O is more–the correct way now. T-A-O is the outdated way. But in America we don’t know better.

Here we go. NUMBER 17 page 28.

Tao #17
Employees / students must be as satisfied with their work
as employers / teachers are with the results.

That’s an interesting harmony.

So the employees must be as satisfied with their work as their employers are with the results?

And the students should be satisfied with their work as the teachers are. With the results.

See that balance there? There’s a balance going on. A harmony.

So remember Taoism is about harmony, or finding disharmony. So you can go back to harmony. Because harmony always works better. You can use disharmony for certain purposes– like friction. Or like pain. Something you don’t want to really have.

Here we go.

Do you enjoy being productive? And how?

Is your current job your career?

Explain how it is part of your path.

Remember, your path is your long-term–life plan. Or at least the next ten-year plan.

We should really plan our life in ten year chunks. By the time you get to the end of that ten years. What you wanted to do in 20 years, which is only ten years ahead–might be totally different. So ten years is a better way to plan. Think 20, 30, 40. Like me, fortunately I’ve done Kung Fu since 1980 and 2020. So forty years of Shaolin Kung Fu is kind of made me a healthier, happier guy than most people my age. So think ahead a little bit. Even then I wasn’t thinking ahead to that extent. I was really lucky. I was just thinking, “This is my path.” I put it in my path and it’s always felt right. So by being a Taoist. By being in harmony I knew I was making the right decisions and sure enough: I can say forty years later, “Yeah. I was making the right decison.” Made a lot of other right decisions too.

And I made wrong decisions. And I knew it. Not at the time. But I can tell you now I– anyway explain more later.

Here we go.

Do you enjoy satisfying your employers? And how?

When I say employers and going to mean teachers. Just interject teachers where I use employers. And if I say worker, it could be student.

Do you enjoy satisfying your employers? And how?

How are you maturing in your current job?

I don’t know how much i should be interjecting here. The “5 Souls Theory” has totally messed up my perspective of reality. Because I’ve come to realize that women– Remember my ‘5 Soul Concept?’ If you’ve been following along here. Hopefully you didn’t just jump in here at this point.

According to my ‘5 Soul Concept’ 80% of all people or more are just the WOMAN soul and the WORKER soul. You can kind of think of it as male, female. But they’re not distributed sexually. Where as a woman can be born with the WORKER soul in the first position and a WOMAN soul in the second. So in her case, she’s gonna be happier working than hanging out with the kids. Now another woman might be born with the WOMAN soul in the first position and WORKER soul here, and she’d be happy working in a day care center, working with kids. The other one wants a real job. Sorry. Not a real job but a normal job like you’d think of to make a lot of money. That doesn’t have anything to do with the family.

Now a man can be born with a WOMAN soul in the first position and a WORKER in the second. So the man who’s a WORKER soul– he’s never gonna be happy about his job. Always be complaining. So he should find the kind of job where nobody minds if he complains and he’s gonna happily complain for the rest of his life and get a paycheck. That’s fine. And he’s got a WORKER soul to keep him going. “Yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah…”complaining, but goes to work. So that’s fine. Now what if it’s a WORKER soul, then a WOMAN soul. Well, in this case the WORKER’s not going to complain. He might have a little bit more ambition. Be able to go a little farther.

He cannot be a MANAGER though. This is what I didn’t know until just the last few years. I thought that a WORKER could just be educated and mental conditioned… trained into being a MANAGER. No. I’ve worked with all kinds of people in my nonprofit and come to realize that is not true. Some people, if they don’t have that– Even with the WORKER soul, they’re still a WORKER. And even if you give them a management position–they just want to be paid and go home. But not worry about the job. They don’t have the management attitude which is the owners–taking responsibility for like a child. Adopting the business. They still just want to work. Just a higher capacity. So that’s still a worker. Not a management pereson. They can be a foreman, but not a manager.

So when I look at these questions, I have a whole different perspective on them. So when you answer them, I have a different way of analyzing them. Let’s just go with this, because I wrote this–what, thirty years ago.

Here we go.

What jobs do you do that waste your time and talents?

So what jobs are you doing that–you’re just wasting your time? Or your talents?

Maybe there’s none.

What are your reasons for keeping the job that you do have?

So whatever job you have now–Why are you going to keep it? Why would you keep it rather than quit?

What are your reasons to quit the job you have?

So if you were to quit it– What would be your reasons?

Besides a job– How else could you earn a living?

Marry well. I’d recommend that. I came from a generation threw marriage out so that option wasn’t really conditioned into me. But when I was an artist, and even when I w weras a Freemason: a lot of the Freemasons said, “You just need to marry well.” They were trying to hook me up with some Freemason widows. [laughs] Freemasons all take care of their widows. If you’re a Freemason and you die: the Freemasons will always watch out for your ex-wife. Make sure she’s fed. They’ll check on her. They have weekly things. And they have annual things where they call in all the widows and give them a chance to socialize and maybe find a new husband or something. Things like that.

Anyway. That’s an old thing that goes back for thousands of years. And then the Freemasons kind of in 1717 kind of codified all this stuff. And made it a standardized process. All masons would be good to widows.

So just saying, marrying is a good–

Sorry. See. I said I’m said, “I’m sorry.” I’m gonna interrupt again.

Besides a job. How else could you earn a living?

If you could be paid to do anything that you want to do– What would you do?

I’ve got a bunch of answers for that. What’s your answer.

If you could be paid to do anything—

If I said, “I’ll pay you $200 a day. $300 as day.” That’s not a real lot of money. But maybe a lot more than you’re used to. More than I’m used to. If I could give you $300 a day to work for me for eight hours– What would you do? How would I get my money’s worth out of you?

Do you feel guilty when you don’t have a job?

So if you’re not working. Want to be working. But you can’t seem to be working. Do you feel guilty because you’re not working?

What talents do you possess or desire to develop which could possibly be profitable?

Remember I wrote this for my students. So in a way I’m trying to nurture and look for any artists out there.

I’ve since learned that I don’t want to push people into art. Not even my own kids. I pushed them to be artists but they weren’t artists.

It was good that they got that art training. I’m never going to regret giving it to them. But I didn’t realize that it wouldn’t stick. That was an interesting thing to learn.

But if some of your talents did stick– What are they?

What talents do you possess or desire to develop that could possibly be profitable?

And maybe you’re wrong. Go ahead and dream. Answer that question.

Hey. It’s been nine minutes. I’m going to get out of here before the ten minute mark.

See ya. Daily Taoist here. Buddha Zhen

Go to ShaolinInteractive.com and sign up for $998 I think. It’s actually cheaper than these guys sell computer courses for. $1,000 is their starting price.

So anyway, for a thousand bucks and you’re going to get one year of training. You send me videos and I– It’s going to be the next best thing to being with me. It might even be better than being with me. You get that video and you can do the class over and over… Rather than trying to remember what I taught you.

So, anyway: ShaolinInteractive.com Buddha Zhen: The Daily Taoist.

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Daily Taoist 1_27 – Buddha Zhen Discusess TAO #16 about Success, Goals, Self-Promotion and Ego

October 4, 2023 / Daily Taoist, Tao of Taoism, Taoism / By Richard

YouTube Video TRANSCIPT: Daily Taoist 27

This is a– Daily Taoist here. Hello everybody.

This one I’ve got right here today is– I’m not sure how much to say. But here we go.

Daily Taoist 27 is Buddha Zhen reading Tao #16 of the book Tao of Taoism based on the writings of Lao Tzu.

NUMBER 16 of Lao Tzu’s DAO TE CHING. And… we’re reading my book. My version of it called TAO OF TAOISM – USING THE DAO TE CHING TO IMPROVE YOUR LIFE.

And so here we go. #16.

I’m Richard Del Connor. Buddha Zhen.

Oh yeah. I should be doing a commercial. Go to ShaolinInteractive.com and for a thousand bucks sign up for one whole belt rank. I don’t know how many videos per each one. A lot. 80 videos per each belt rank. So 80 videos and… We actually give you uniforms and all kinds of stuff under that price. So the actual cost of the class comes out to $5 a class I think. Something like that. [laughs] So that’s a good deal. Each video, they start at about 45 minutes and go up to like two hours so–

But anyway. ShaolinInteractive.com My commercial. Alright. Buddha Zhen here.

Let’s back to #16. This is a tough one. I was kind of perplexed. All these things I was thinking. Let’s get this out of my system. That’s why I’m here. Getting this book out of my system. I’m learning. I’m learning a lot with you. I wrote this book years ago. But the idea here is to learn how to use it to shape your life. Look. It’s all blanks. More blanks than words.

Here we go. NUMBER 16.

Being aware of the Nature of events–
(Remember I use ‘Nature’ wherever you’d use ‘Tao.’ The Tao of events. The Nature. The Mother Nature of events.)
–is to accept not only the completion of events,
but also the declines of success.

Let’s finish this. This is one to unpack. There’s a lot here.

To be absorbed by achievements, or cling to rewards: is to decline with them.

That’s like– I dunno. Off the top of my head: a boat. If you built a boat. So to be absorbed by your achievements: “I built a boat. I want to tell everybody I built that boat.” Ten years later, “I built a boat…”

Okay. Maybe you even won an award in a race ten years ago. “I built a boat that won a race twenty years ago.”

…is to decline with them.

Well maybe that year that was great. The next year it’s like, “Yeah. That was last year. What are doing this year?” I’m talking about last year… “Two years ago…”

“Yeah, you already told us.”

Three years later: “Hey, I built that boat that won three years ago.”

Then, “Yeah, I know. You already told us.”

Then he’d meet somebody ten years later. “Hey I built a boat that won a race ten years ago.”

“Oh. Okay. Good.”

So once again you can kind of see the decline of appreciation of clinging to that event. And in the martial arts world I’ve been very impressed, or unimpressed… disappointed to see how people have clung to their rewards or their awards they received thirty, forty, fifty years ago. [laughs] What have they done since?

So, anyway… It’s kind of sad. You’ve gotta move on. Getting new awards. New rewards… like an actor. So what if you won an award in 1989. It’s 2020 now. What are you going to do now.

Well, you’re retired. Okay. That’s fine. Okay–if you’re not going to do anything– then that’s the time to look backwards.

But if you’re still moving forwards then let’s keep looking at you today and forwards… Okay?

Okay. So let’s read that one more time.

Being aware of the Nature of events is not only accept the completion of events–
(Okay. Building the boat. And maybe winning a race.)
–but also the declines of success.

Okay. To win is great. But if you’re not going to keep winning then– the new winners.

To be absorbed by achievements, or cling to rewards– (or awards– as I put it) –is to decline with them.

Even a reward. “Yeah, I made a thousand bucks off that–that race.”

Okay. Well what’s that worth now? …don’t get corny. [laughs] Alright? All the bucks is gone. You spent it.

Questions in the Tao of Taoism to be answered by THE READER.

So let’s go. Here we go real fast. It’s already been four minutes. I’m trying to figure out how long it takes to make this show. Because I’m going to record a real audiobook.

Do you appreciate a third place winning as much as a first place winning and why?
Do you appreciate, a third place winning as much as a first place winning… and why?

Do you work harder to win something that you normally work at similar things? And why?
Whoops. Let me read that again.
Do you work harder to win something THAN you normally work at similar things? And why?

Oh okay. So you see if you want to WIN something–do you work harder at it than something else you do very similar?

But in order to WIN you work harder.

How quickly do move on to another goal when one goal is completed?
How quickly do move on to another goal when one goal is completed?

How do you know when one goal is completed?
How do you know when one goal is completed?

How do you decide–How do you decide what your next goal is?
How do you decide what your next goal is?

How obligated do you feel about continuing what you’re already successful at?
Remember I told you about people who ride that old success.
How obligated do you feel aout continuing what you’ve already been successful at?

That was one of the things I was explaining in a previous podcast. I didn’t want to be successful at being a television repairman. Because that success was going to hold me back. Wouldn’t propel me forward. Not where I wanted to go.

How do you feel about other people. How do you feel about how people view you after winning or achieving something?

When you win or achieve something–like you run a race. And then you win. How do you think people look at you? And talk about you. And think about you.

Do you feel required to continue a success for family or friends.

So if you did win that race: then your family and friends are going to expect you keep winning it over and over… Right? How are you going to satisfy them? Whatever that that you’ve done successfully? Maybe it’s making a bunch of money in a business deal.

Must you display your trophies prominently?
Do you feel compelled? Do you have all your stuff out?

I do have some of my stuff out, but it was kind of interesting as I was putting it out. I was kind of realizing how I was kind of saving certain things for when I was a senior and retired… Then I thought, “HEY. I’m a senior.” I’m not retired yet. [laughs] I’m 66 years old. I was planning on unpacking this stuff ten years ago because I thought I was gonna retire at 55. I thought that was going to be over the hill.

Here I am 66 years old starting a Kung Fu program. ShaolinInterative.com

I’ve also some free website. A free–the first five classes. You can go to ShaolinKungFuBeginner.com and take those. And then retake them at ShaolinInterative.com Keep going for 190 videos.

Okay. So where are we?

And you only get like three a week. It’s gonna take you along time. Think of it as a lifestyle.

That my heater? I think I turned it down to 75. So it wouldn’t turn on.

Do you feel you must meet standards represented by your rewards or successes?

And how long do you discuss your winnings and achievements after they’ve occurred?

Remember we’re talking about how you deal with it and connect to the past. Okay?

What organizations are you a member of and why?

And I gave like four lines, so, I mean, you don’t have time to–maybe you’re driving or something… so don’t get in a car accident. Anyway. Think of the organizations you’re a member of and WHY are you a member of those organizations? A couple I’ve dropped out of over the years. Like SMPTE. Society of Motion Picture Television Engineers. Or “AND” Television Engineers. Motion Pictures and Television Enginners. Because when I went to UCLA and graduated I had to choose between television and motion pictures. There were two of them. Totally separate: video and film. Now they’ve kind of merged. [laughs] Everything’s digital now. But you had to go one way or the other. SMPTE. The Society of Motion Picture Television–Motion Picture AND Television Engineers. I used to be a member of them when I graduated UCLA–I was a part of that.

And I thought, “Well, I’m not really working in the industry any more.” 90s you know. And I had to pay annual dues. It was only like thirty bucks but when you really get poor that can seem like a lot of money.

Sorry. I digress. Where are we?

What organizations of–Okay. Which of these organizations no longer serve a useful purpose for you?

I just answered that one for me. You personally.

What organizations would serve you better–that you’re not a member of?

So rethink that. Things have changed. I do Kung Fu, so I’ve been looking for Kung Fu organizations to join.

And I found a few of them. But most Kung Fu people are kind of poor like me because they’re not putting out a lot of members. It takes a lot of money to run an organization. And throw those banquets–you gotta pay like fifty bucks and– fifty bucks for a dinner is a lot for me. And then you’ve gotta contribute to the organization so they can do some paperwork and letterhead. I don’t have any money to help them after that. So I don’t begrudge them for wanting membership fees and paying for these annual banquets. I’m just looking forward to being able to afford them. And then I was going to join some.

What achievements pertain to your new goals?

My new goals. Well if I was to say that goal of joining those organiztions and attending more of their events and tournaments. Then, just … yeah. The achievements I need are selling the classes and getting recognized as a COOL online Shaolin Kung Fu Kwoon. Which means school.

Lastly: What new goals would benefit from which new achievements to be attained?
What new goals would benefit– So what of your new goals would benefit from these new achievements that you want to attain?

Summaries by Buddha Zhen

Gee that was a complicated question.

So in other words you’ve gotta look at that. You start thinking of the next one. You’ve gotta look at them snowballing. You finish one movie as an actor and you’ve gotta get started on the next one. You don’t just start talking to everybody about that movie you made ten years ago. Not talking about it. You’ve got to go on to the next goal.

So if you can you want to leverage each achievement to kind of springboard you into the next one.

So, “HEY this movie I’m in–is like this movie…” So you’re already pitching for your next movie before you even finish it. And then when its done, hopefully you did a good job and you want to hurry up and get a job while everybody’s excited about it. Because a year later, “You made that move a year ago. Do anything since then?”

So you want to kind of keep moving forward. There’s my suggestion. That’s how you want to be with the Tao. The Tao of an actor is actually to keep moving. Not just keep talking about that one movie you made. You know you just want to keep moving. No matter how good a movie you make or you get an Oscar–You can’t look at that as a peak. It’s just another movie. Going on down the line.. But you obviously leverage them. Use the Tao to play with them.

Here I go. The Daily Taoist, Buddha Zhen here. See ya on our next Daily Tao.

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Tao of Taoism — Using the Dao Te Ching to Improve Your Life by Buddha Zhen (Richard Del Connor)

AUDIOBOOKS and PAPERBACKS and Kindle eBOOKS by Buddha Zhen from Amazon .com

Buddha Zhen (Shifu Zhen Shen-Lang: Zen Kung Fu Master and Chinese Music Composer)