Daily Daoist

Daily Taoist 1_43 – Buddha Zhen Discusses TAO #19b about Evil, Letter of the Law, and Goodie Goodies

January 24, 2024 / Daily Taoist, Tao of Taoism, Taoism / By Richard

YouTube TRANSCRIPT: Daily Taoist 43

I’m a musician so of course I see this one very clearly. But this goes back to something in the translations. I’m not sure what to call them in this current world. In this century. But some people when they translate Lao Tzu: he refers to the “Goody Goodies” or the “Goody Two Shoes.” These are the people who feel good when they can take a rule and then hit somebody with it like a baseball bat and make them bleed. “Well it’s legal. This is the law. You broke the law and now I’m gonna use the law to hurt you.” [evil snicker] And they feel good about it. ua

Those are– They’re actually evil people. But they think they’re good people. That’s the irony. They think they’re the best people in the world but they’re actually very evil.

So we have to go to Buddha for understanding here. And this is one thing– I only rediscovered this a few years ago actually. That guy’s so enlightening!

Buddha said there’s only two things to create an evil person: ignorance and desire.

What? Just two things? Two things and that person is an evil person. Yes. That’s it. All you need is desire and ignorance.

Okay. All you can say is, “I’ll give you a hundred bucks.”

“Oh, I want that hundred bucks.”

“But you have to go over there and kick that dog.”

“Oh. Alright then. I guess it’ll be okay.” He’s ignorant. He goes, “Well I guess you’re not a bad man.” So he kicks the dog. Get’s a hundred bucks. He’s done something evil. It’s that easy. [laughs]

So that’s all evil is. If ignorance: somebody doing something they shouldn’t do if they were smarter–and not kick the dog. Which is dumb. You just don’t do it for a thousand dollars. Don’t do it for a million dollars. Don’t kick the dog. But unfortunately, evil is, “Well, I’m not evil for a hundred. But for a thousand dollars I’ll be evil.”

Evil is evil. All it takes is ignorance and desire. [laughs] It’s terrible. It’s terrible. Ever since I’ve known that I’ve realized, Man! How much evil is in the world. Most people are committing all kinds of little evil acts. So then at some point you create a big evil act and somebody catches you, “You’re evil!” “No I’m not. I’ve never done big evil. Just little evil…” And they don’t think they’re evil. They can’t see it.

So unfortunately the whole world has become blind to the fact we might be doing little evil things. Poisoning a little river. “Oh, It’s just a little bit of poison in the river. It’s not gonna hurt anybody.” That’s ignorance. And the desire was to get rid of it. So out of our ignorance and desires we are evil.

So watch yourself. We’re evil all the time. We justify it.

So back that. So those are the “Goody 2-Shoes.” There’s a lot of those in government. They love to get into government where they can use the government to hurt people. And say, “It’s legal. It’s legal you know. He stepped on that line. And the law says, you step on that line and I can… hit you with a baseball bat. Okay? So he stepped on that line. It’s legal. It’s the law. So.” WHAM. They go and they love to hit people. Anyway these sadistic people are running our government. There’s a lot of evil, evil, evil people who enjoy being evil–running our government. Like Mitch McConnell. He LOVES to jam up the government. For forty years he takes the greatest pride in hurting our country. But he’s getting paid for it. He’s ignorant. He thinks he’s doing something good because somebody’s paying him big money and other people are agreeing with him. So he thinks it’s okay. He’s ignorant. Ignorant–he really is. He’s got that desire for the money and the power. So you put those two together and you have one of the most evil persons in the entire planet running our country.

So anyway, let’s get back to this real quick. And see, I’ll come back to that.

Those are the “goody-goodies.” The people who think they’re the best people in the world and they’re actually doing the most evil in the world. Starting wars and–
“We did this war for your own good.”

Okay. #19b.

Tao #19b
Avoid adherence or blind observance of the
“letter of the laws.”

The “letter of the laws” was in quotation marks. That’s an important thing. Like I was saying, “He stepped on the line.”

Well maybe he tripped. Extenuating circumstances. But this person doesn’t care. They’re only interested in the “letter of the law.” Not the ‘reality of the law.’ You know, maybe he wasn’t going to step on that line. Maybe like I said, he tripped. Or maybe he would’ve stepped on somebody’s foot, so he stepped over their foot so he wouldn’t hurt them, and he did that. And now he’s gonna get punished.

See… if you… “So you still stepped on the line! I’m gonna hit you with this bat.” WHACK. WHACK. WHACK. That’s adhering to the letter of the law. And that’s where our whole world has gone screwy. Because of people trying to hurt people. You know, because they can legally do it.

So I call “The nature of the rule…” The “Nature of the Rule” is if you step on that line–I’m gonna have to make it again. It’s made out of chalk. We’re playing a sport and I’m just getting ready to play so “Don’t step on that line” because then I’m gonna have to back and the chalk roller and make it all nice… We’re playing baseball here.” Or something like that.

You see, so the “letter of the law” is “DON’T STEP ON THAT LINE” before the game because then it’s gonna look ugly and people are gonna show up and somebody’s gonna have to come out and fix it. Okay? So that’s the letter of the law: “Don’t step on the lines before the game.” The chalk lines on the baseball field. But the NATURE of it is because it’ll look good and if somebody trips or falls that doesn’t mean they have to go to jail. You know, you’ve got to fix it. And hopefully that person won’t do it again. Maybe they knew they weren’t supposed to do it. They don’t need to be punished, you know, for stepping on it. And… You get the point–you get the concept. And if you’re smart enough to be listening to me–hopefully you understand what I’m saying. If you’re not smart enough to understand what I’m saying then I lost you a long time ago. I’m not that far here…

Here we go.

Like a musician, do you think about the notes, or do not think about the notes, play the song.

You see, that was a tricky thing last night. I didn’t know what key I was in when I was writing that song. I could hear it in my head. And then I was… I was playing my bass. Doing it like a guitar… And I come back to this thing… “What was that rhythm?” You know, I had to find it. And it wasn’t a matter of seeing it or reading it… it was like, “What was the way I played it?” And then BOOM I’d feel it. “Ah. There it is.” And that was the riff. I was playing THE SONG. Not the notes. I could know what was right. And then when I was playing the chords it was, “No… It’s supposed to go down there. That wasn’t quite right.” And I’m screwing around, “What was it?” And then I’d have to find it. Look for that thing that felt right.

Sometimes I have to explore. Literally have to explore and try, “No let’s go to this…” “THERE we go.” [bass impersonation] And then it felt like it with the progression. Worked for what I was trying to accomplish.

Okay. Here we go. So let’s read the whole thing again.

Lao Tzu says,

Avoid adherence or blind observance to the
“letter of the laws.”
And be always aware of the Nature of the rule.
Like a musician do not think about the notes.
Play the song.

Alright. So let’s see what I have to inspire you on that. That message that to me means a heck of a lot. [LAUGHS] That’s like one of my– Just like a Motto of my life.

Are you a stickler for details and fine print?

Are you one of those baseball hitters?

What laws do you obey so efficiently that you don’t evaluate all information before deciding what’s right or wrong?

And we do that with our kids, as parents you know. They do something. They break the rules–maybe for a good reason. They break the rules and our first reaction is [growl growl]. [LAUGHS] Maybe there’s a good explanation. Anyway, as a parent listen… and look for the real truth. Don’t just always make–

It simplifies our lives to have rules, and say, “You stay here in this area. You stay here in this area.” It just simplifies it. As a parent I know what it’s like to make rules. But at the same time don’t make so many that– anyway. That’s probably coming up in another one.

Like a soldier or a policeman are you bound to serve laws whether you agree with them or not?

Which laws do your enforce?

Like… now. Our politics… we have terrible laws. Make illegal things we…

Which laws do you enforce you don’t obey.

In other words what laws do you make other people do that you don’t obey?

Especially when you have kids. You make them obey laws that you don’t obey.

So–but you should be able to answer that.

Do you get mad when someone lies to you? Why?

There’s a lot to unpack buried in that which we can’t unpack right now. But that’s very important.

Can you trust someone who has cheated? Why?

I’ll read each question twice.

Do you trust someone who has cheated you? Why?

Do you feel guilt, shame, or frustration when you break a self-imposed rule?

Oooh. That you made yourself.

Do you feel guilt, shame, or frustration when you break a self-imposed rule?

Next, last one:
Do you rely on rules to keep you in line?

Like Alcoholics Anonymous? Or religion? Family? Employers? The military? The police? Explain.

One more time:
Do you rely on rules to keep you inline?

Alcoholics Anonymous, religion, family, emploers , the military, or police? Explain.

Now yeah. Remember I told you. Yes. I rely on lot you ts of– I don’t know if I’d even call them rules. Like I told you yesterday. I’m making these structures and when I go to a website. What are the rules? What am I going to do when I get there? Okay? Which websites am I going to get and ignore all the rest? Prioritizing. Trying to find a list so I can go down the list and– “Ah. Done.”

That’s it. Because I’ve got so many thousands of things to do. I can never define that. So I’m trying to make things so I can tell when I’ve actually gotten something done. Or at least the most important things. a least

That was #19b of the TAO OF TAOISM – USING THE DAO TE CHING TO IMPROVE YOUR LIFE. That’s what we’re using. We’er going to improve our life with all of this.

So anyway, Buddha Zhen Shen-Lang here. Glad to have you along. And yeah, keep thinking. And if you’re thinking then you’re learning. And even if you’re disagreeing with me–at least I got you thinking. It’s okay. You can disagree.

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Daily Taoist 1_39 – Buddha Zhen Discusses TAO #19a about WHO You Decide to Be and Acting Naturally

December 27, 2023 / Daily Taoist, Tao of Taoism, Taoism / By Richard

YouTube Video TRANSCRIPT: Daily Taoist 39

Hello. Your Daily Taoist here. Buddha Zhen. Richard Del Connor.

And I’m reading to you from my book, TAO OF TAOISM – USING THE TAO TE CHING TO IMPROVE YOUR LIFE. Written by Lao Tzu. Now this book is of course written by me. This is my version of it. I’m trying to read one whole paragraph, piece of wisdom by him per class or per session. I’m trying to keep them under six minutes. Now I’m trying to keep them under ten.

So real fast. This is #19a. Page 34.

And it says,

Be yourself naturally.
Decide to do what will not require uncomfortable self-discipline.

Now remember, what makes each person uncomfortable is kind of dependent upon your training, your training, who you are, what you are, what you want…

So this thing– you’ve gotta kind of take your time on it.

First one: Be yourself naturally.

Remember, I’ve got that book, ACT ZEN. Act Naturally. Acting Naturally.

Be yourself naturally.

Well the only way you can know you’re doing that is if you know who you are. And know what you’re acting. So there’s a certain amount of information and research that has to happen before you can understand that sentence.

Be yourself naturally. “Okay.” What is it?

So that’s what we’re doing right now. We’re trying to decide what your Natural is. Your Tao.

Okay, now the next one is a huge big thing. Let’s see if I can unpack it with these questions.

Decide to do what will not require uncomfortable self-discipline.

So in other words you want a job that’s not going to require a lot of extra effort… you know, to make yourself feel comfortable to do it. You want something you can do naturally that won’t require a lot of extra effort. Not necessarily less work, but less mental effort to do it. If you don’t want to do it it’s going to get harder and harder to do it over and over again.

Okay, so here we go.

How much extra effort does it require for you to be healthy and organized?

Those are two different questions: healthy and organized. But maybe they’re also kind of the same. And yeah. That’s an interesting concept to realize: the more organized you are–the healthier you could be. Because being healthy is a matter of organizing your intake of food supplies and keeping track of it and keeping it fresh. So if you cannot be organized with your food, you may not be able to be organized with your health.

Okay, so let’s see…

What are your weaknesses that require extra effort?

What are your weaknesses that require extra effort for you to overcome them or get something done. What slows you down?

What promises or responsibilities do you have that require extra effort?

Extra effort–not meaning more work, but motivation for you to do it. Maybe you just don’t want to do it.

Like, I know of this– I won’t say names– okay, so: there’s a man and his sister. And his sister’s kind of supporting her brother. Okay? She’s kind of helping him out. And in her Will, not in her Will, but in her–before she dies she tells both her sons, “Hey. I want you guys to keep helping my brother.” You know. Subsidize him a little bit. In fact she specified how much money to give each month. And then she passed away. The sons inherit all her money… And then there’s two sons. Now one son fulfills the promise. He gives him money. The other son doesn’t.

Okay. So they both have their reasonings and their logic on that.

So what promises or responsibilities do you have that require extra effort?

So for the one who did keep it–was it extra effort? Was he just willing to put in that extra effort because maybe he still didn’t want to really do it.

So anyway. These are things you want to bring up. What is the truth? What is YOUR truth? (Is all we’re really concerned with here.)

How do you waste time?

Okay? Don’t react to it. Just answer it.

When playing games, how do you know when to stop?

When playing games– (Well nowadays. I wrote this in the eighties. So this is before video games. And so, when you’re playing games…) –how do you know when to stop?

That’s a great question to ask the millennials. I’d love to hear their answers. I really would.

Well, no I wouldn’t. [laughs] No, I don’t want to hear those answers. In the office, you don’t work…

Here we go: How often do you think you’ve wasted time?

Now that’s the thing see? If you’ve a lifestyle of wasting time–you might not think you’re wasting time. You know, “Oh, I’m gonna be a professional video game tester… That’s why I keep playing games.”

Do you realize how many times I’ve heard that? And not one. Not one of t shose people who ever said that ever even came close to…

We can fool ourselves.

So hopefully, if you’re smart enough to be doing this course–listening to me. Hopefully you’re smart enough to stop fooling yourself if you are accidentally. Never do it on purpose. Fool yourself on purpose. You’re probably not gonna be here…

Here we go: How could you be more efficient?

Okay you: How could you be more efficient in general? How could you be more efficient?

How could you waste less time?

Okay. Everybody’s going to waste time somehow. A little bit. Somewhere. How could you waste less of it? Some other way? Whatever. Put these in your own words.

Sorry. Sometimes I feel like I might be preventing an answer of yours by getting into mine. So I apologize. There was another “sorry.”

How could you get more accomplished?

Get more things accomplished? Done. Achieved.

How could you get more accomplished?

Hey. There you are. At six minutes! This is what I was originally trying to think, what I was trying to go for the TAO OF TAOISM.

So anyway, I told you I was supposed to wrap it up. But we’ve got to go back to the beginning.

Be yourself naturally. Decide to do what will not require uncomfortable self-discipline.

I like that. In other words, choose a job you’re going to want to do.

Decide to do what will not require– So you want to make that decision.

It requires some exploration. You’ll make some mistakes. You might get in one of those jobs that caught you when– you don’t want to do. That’s an important lesson to learn. Because a lot of people spend a lot of years in the same mistake every day.

Alright. Buddha Zhen out here. Your Daily Taoist in seven minutes.

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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

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

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Daily Taoist 1_16 – Buddha Zhen Reads TAO #6 PART 2 of Tao of Taoism self-help inspired by Lao Tzu

July 19, 2023 / Daily Taoist, Tao of Taoism, Taoism / By Richard

Buddha Zhen starts over on TAO #6 after killing a mosquito hawk with his Tao Te Ching notebook he reads from. In Daily Taoist 16 Buddha Z discusses the yin and yang of character: the positive and negative character. Can you face the truth and see how your negative and positive characters balance each other?

YouTube Transcript for video of the Daily Taoist 16.

Alright. I don’t know if I’ll post that last one if there was anything there.

Anyway, #6:

Distinguishing between opposites creates the illusory value of each one.

In other words, that’s creating prejudice.

Okay, so real quickly because we already covered this in case I post that last one.

How do you value or rate the strengths of your positive character?

Okay. The part of you that positive things presumably.

How do you value or rate the strengths of your negative character?

That part of you that is maybe self-destructive, angry, emotional, bitter… and something.

How does your positive character control your negative character?

Hopefully– I don’t know. Is the next question going to be the opposite? [laughs] Probably. So how does your positive character influence your negative character?

You know. If you’re emotional or anger. If you have anger issues. How do you– What is the positive– What is your way of dealing with it. Even if it’s not working well. What is it?

And how does your negative character control your positieve character? Maybe… that’s definitely the case with some people. I mean, somebody’s gonna be more one than the other. So is it gonna be negative or positive?

How can your positive character be better utilized?

Okay… not think about the negative. What about the positive? What can you do with that positive character? Just get more done. Or do something. What does it want to do? Okay.

How can your negative character be better utilized?

Now there you go. Now if you do have some sort of negative issues or qualities perhaps you can channel them into something. I don’t know. If you’re really angry you might get a job digging ditches and swinging a sledge hammer. [laughs] Might make you feel real good. I did that.

So anyway, how can your positive and negative characters be better balanced?

Okay. Now you can’t get anywhere until you admit the truth.

Mosquito hawk came in with Bear a minute ago. I got distracted. Pardon me. “Kill the spider.”

Okay so anyway that’s NUMBER 6. We made it. Two minutes! There’s a record.

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Daily Taoist 1_15 – Buddha Zhen Reads Tao #6 PART 1 of Tao of Taoism based upon Dao Te Ching

July 12, 2023 / Daily Taoist, Tao of Taoism, Taoism / By Richard

Buddha Zhen reads TAO #6 of the TAO OF TAOISM – Using the Dao Te Ching to Improve Your Life.

This Tao is still dealing with opposites and good and bad and right and wrong and up and down and prejudice.

This Daily Taoist episode is interrupted by a mosquito hawk that enters with his cat, Bear. Buddha Z ends abruptly to deal with this pest.

The transcript of this short episode is included below.

YouTube TRANSCRIPT of the DAILY TAOIST 15 reading of TAO #6

Hello. I’m back, and… we’re on page 15 of 62 or something? Yeah, 62. Yeah. Let’s get another one of these out.

Just want to blaze ahead here for some reason. I guess I just wanna– I’m excited about getting some of this stuff out.

Here we go. NUMBER 6:

Oh, remember? We didn’t summarize on the end of that last one. Remember we were talking about, “Describe your overall balance of opposites and some things?” And so remember then, we go back to the original Lao Tzu and in particular, the first line,

“THE VALUE OF OPPOSITES AMOUNTS TO NOTHING.”

Okay, so I said, “Don’t take it so literally. Try to look for the meaning: something more substantial in there.” Find a pearl of wisdom. Maybe Lao Tzu didn’t think of that. If you can find something even bigger and better… Like I said, “Like a mathematical equation.”

Here we go. NUMBER 6:

Distinguishing between opposites creates the illusory value of each one.

That’s what we’re doing in America right now. As we separate– As soon as we say one side is great, we’ve separated them more. You can’t– Anyway.

Distinguishing between opposites creates the illusory value of each one.

Or lack of value. Value isn’t always a plus. It can be a minus. So by distinguishing sometimes — it’s prejudice. You’re picking them out. You’re lowering the value. Trump purposely tries to do that. He actually tries to demean and devalue people. See. So at one time he might be pumping somebody up. But he spends as much time– If he does that he spends a lot of time cutting people down and trying to devalue them. So you shouldn’t do that. That’s wrong to pick those people out and make them special because that means your picking other people out and making them un-special.

So distinguishing between opposites creates the illusory value of each one.

Here we go.

How do you value or rate the strengths of your positive character?

Everybody thinks they have a positive character. Well they do. [laughs] Some of these positive characters seem very negative to me. But their negative character to me is a monster. So I guess it’s just a– You take the extremes and you move them on the scale. Right across the middle here is a content happy cow in the field. And down here is the angry badger type of thing. And then up here is the happy crane type of thing you know.

Well, the higher you get up here means the farther you fall when you get upset.

And the more you’re down here, then when something happens you get really excited, you see.

But if you just kind of stay here in the middle, “Oh, that was nice.” “Oh, that was kinda bad.” “Oh that was nice.”

But anyway, like I said, don’t try to separate the opposites. The more you do–the more, the more it goes wrong.

How do you value or rate the strengths of your negative character?

So that goes for you. How far off that middle do you go? How far are you willing to stretch the truth? How far do you go to keep the truth?

“Hello Bear.” He was outside. “Hello adventurer.”

Actually I kicked him outside. He hadn’t been out today so I like pushed him out the front door. So he’d go out there and do some–

Ooops! Somebody came in with you. Hold on. We’ve got some creature came in. I’ve got to deal with.

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Daily Taoist 1_15 – Buddha Zhen Reads Tao #6 PART 1 of Tao of Taoism based upon Dao Te Ching Read More »

Daily Taoist 1_14 – Buddha Zhen reads TAO #5 of Tao of Taoism based upon Dao Te Ching by Lao Tzu

July 5, 2023 / Daily Taoist, Tao of Taoism, Taoism / By Richard

Buddha Zhen reads TAO #5 of TAO OF TAOISM he wrote for his Kung Fu and Tai Chi Chuan students in 1993 in his Shaolin Chi Mantis Traditional Buddhist Kung Fu and Taoist Tai Chi Chuan schools. This self-help book is revealing now the ‘dark side’ of Buddha Zhen as he answers the questions from his Tao of Taoism book with candor and honesty. He reveals more about his 5 SOUL THEORY or Five Souls of God book he wants to release when he can find a large book publisher brave enough to publish this revolutionary concept that every person contains four souls of five possible souls to choose from.

One of his revelations includes the fact that comedians are all WOMAN souls in their first top position. Also boxers may be WOMAN souls in the first position. Buddha Z is perplexed himself by the riddle of this truth or wisdom from the BOOK OF CHANGES or Tao Te Ching written by Lao Tzu over 2,200 years ago.

Below in this web post is the transcript from the video “DAILY TAOIST 14” reading Tao #5 of the Tao of Taoism written by Buddha Zhen Shen-lang / Richard Del Connor.

YouTube Transcript of TAO #5 in the video “DAILY TAOIST 14” read and performed by the author, Buddha Zhen Shen-Lang.

Ah man. I couldn’t get up. I looked ahead at the next one. It’s really got me excited.

Buddha Zhen here.

This is the TAO OF TAOISM written by me. And I’m on #5. And this one’s got me all– Look at me. I’m all excited.

#5: The value of opposites amounts to nothing.

That’s so cute. We’ll come back on that.

To separate, glorify or deny something in protection of its opposite creates a weakness by the loss. All things are of value despite our preference.

How that describes America’s situation so dramatically and I don’t wanna get carried away talking about it– But I’ve just got to show you that’s why- that America is in conflict because we are totally out of the Tao.

Okay, first of all: The value of opposites amounts to nothing. Now that’s a misleading statement but it’s actually 100% accurate. ‘Amounts’ means adds up. So one PLUS and one MINUS. You add them together equals zero. So NEGATIVE plus POSITIVE equals ZERO. That’s a beautiful thing.

Lao Tzu was intending to mean something. And I think we’re missing the boat by not delving into that further and further. But let’s just leave it at that for now.

But he’s saying you take a negative and a positive and you end up with nothing.

Now let’s look at a wife and a husband. And you end up with a nothing. Is it really a nothing? Or is it really a new something? See. You’ve got them put together here. It’s not this. And it’s maybe not this. But it’s this. So it’s nothing that existing previously. See. Maybe we got something shaved off in the original translation. So maybe… Anyway, let’s open our minds. I’m always looking for some way to make these things real.

Okay, and the next part is all of the chaos in America right now.

To separate, glorify– Remember that’s bad. When you’re separating something out, you better have a GOOD reason. Or you’re just capturing something.

Glorifying something is another way of capturing something. And saying, “You’re not good. But this is.” See. So this is– Gotta remember when you create a positive you create a negative.

Or deny something. So now we’re gonna deny– I don’t know how to put this in perspective yet. Deny something in protection of its’ opposite creates a weakness by the loss.

So if we’re saying this guy we’re gonna glorify, and we’re gonna give you something special. But we’re gonna deny you– Creates a weakness, by the loss. By the denial: That’s a weakness. That’s not a strength. When you raise this guy up and glorify him and say to him, “You’re not worthy.” That is not a good balance. That’s not a good plus or minus.

This one’s way off of balance. It’s gonna fall down. And this guy’s down, so far down here… he’s going to get buried. They’re both gonna, ‘boom.’ Bad situation.

So, one more time. Let’s read what I wrote on this. It’s interesting. I’ve got all kinds of things going through my head. Your perspective may be different.

The Value of Opposites

One more time. Lao Tzu says– I love this first line. It’s just cute, and clever. But I think it means so much more than any of us are probably grasping right off-hand.

The value of opposites amounts to nothing. To glorify, separate or deny something in protection of its opposite creates a weakness by the loss. All things are of value despite our preference.

Gotta remember that too: We always think in terms of ourselves. Everybody. It’s just the first way we think. Just gotta accept that so you can deal with it. Okay so you have to realize that we all have our preferences. If you can become more Zen and–

I look bald with this light shining here. And look at that bump on my head. Cover it in– Sheesh. I bumped myself pretty bad last night. [laughing] Oh I should say something, “Oh I was in a fight and somebody hit me with a…” Boom.

Okay… here we go… Okay. Here we go.

What is the opposite of you?

Well… Me, that’s just about everybody. So, that’s not you. That’s me.

So, what’s the opposite of you?

So, in other words, if you’re a good worker–then maybe a bad worker. If you’re an honest person–then a dishonest person. If you’re a happy person–then a sad person. Or maybe the other way around. Who’s the opposite of you? Let’s work with that.

Your Relationship with your Dark Side

Explain your character polarities. Good side / dark side.

That’s tricky here. You’re gonna have to like open up to the fact that–

Explain your character polarities. Your good side and your dark side.

Now I remember Oscar. If I can talk about him. He’s kind of a good example of somebody to talk about. He, when I met him– He always wore military fatigues. And he wanted to be a soldier. But he was not a WARRIOR. But he wanted to be a soldier. And he actually had a dark side. And he enjoyed playing the video games and stuff. He loved shooting and killing. He said the reason he wanted to be a soldier was: he actually wanted to–you know–shoot something. [LAUGHING] So anyway. You’ve just got to own up to it. And accept it. Even if you don’t like the way it sounds to you. I can’t even say it for other people. But anyway. You’ve got to own up to your own dark side. Umm, umm… Anyway–

Next one. How do you control your dark side?

Well let’s say you have a dark side. You think, “Gosh. I’d like to beat that person up.” Let’s deal with that instead of murder. Okay. You’ve got this desire to beat other people up. And I’ve known one person. Actually… a couple. I have two… people whose fathers were boxers. I’m not really a boxer. I teach martial arts but I don’t box. Who were boxers. Their parents were boxers. As a result, they beat and hit their kids. See, a boxer hits people. That’s just the way they communicate. So both cases, these boxer fathers hit their kids. And they didn’t, they didn’t think they were evil. Probably didn’t. Because they were just communicating with their kids the same with all their professional allies, and competitors or whatever. And you know, that’s just the way they communicate. So in both cases these kids had gotten pummeled by their parents. Or their fathers excessively.

I also know cases where women have been very sadistic and whipped and beat– and done terrible things to their kids too. So anyway, I’m not saying it’s all men. Don’t get me wrong here.

In fact, my theory is actually that anytime you do see a man who is being sadistic and mean like that– Like those boxers. Those boxers must have been WOMEN in the first position. And then a WARRIOR in the second position. That’s what Joe Rogan is. He’s a WOMAN in the first position, and a WARRIOR in the second. That way he can be mean and hurt people and have a sense of humor about it. That’s how you can do it. A WORKER can’t do that. A WORKER can’t have satisfaction about doing something wrong or breaking something, or hurting someone. Because that doesn’t get along well in the work place. You’ve gotta be more compassionate. So compassion ironically comes from the WORKER. Not the WOMAN. A WOMAN soul is the one without the compassion. They’re the ones that make comedians. All comedians are WOMEN souls in the first position. Every one of them as far as I can tell. Shocked me because I’d been studying them for two years.

It’s really obvious in some like Russel Brand. But, Seth Myers, Stephen Colbert, Joe Rogan– I mean a lot of it is just so obvious. And you talk to them about their neuroses and their emotions and their– I mean, it’s the WOMAN spirit. Not the female. They’re not female. They’re WOMAN souls. Okay. So anyway.

I found that a negative. It did make sense when you know that. It just makes sense. So you know this person needs a little more ethics and tends to beat people up because they’re going to enjoy it.

Okay. So here we go. Um, where were we?

What do you dislike the most in others? Okay. Now that’s an interesting question. So think about that. You should have some things pop into your head.

One more time: What do you dislike the most in others?

Okay, next: How do you control these dislikes in yourself.

I just kind of like jump several steps. And these things you dislike in other people are almost always going to be something you dislike in yourself.

Like in my case I would say, “Dishonesty.” I’m way into the truth. So the one thing I dislike the most in myself is dishonesty. And any time I’ve been dishonest it still haunts me. It’s something I can’t do. It’s like so, that’s what I dislike the most. It prevents me from doing it.

See? So when you understand these things: it’s not a negative, it’s a positive. Like, “Alright. I’ve got– I’ve got this bumper that’s gonna keep me away from lying. I shouldn’t get in a job where I have to lie. I can’t be a salesman. I could only sell something to someone I thought could afford it and it was the right time and the place and the thing for them and– I just can’t be a salesman. I’m too considerate.

So that’s why a salesman is good. You’ve got a WOMAN in the first position every time. A man, with a WOMAN in the first postion has a good chance of being a salesman.

Now a WORKER, like my dad– Actually, is my dad a WOMAN or a WORKER in the first position. He may be a WOMAN in the first position… but anyway, let’s keep going.

What are you Fighting For?

Let’s see. Where were we?

What are you fighting to control for the sake of some rule that is difficult to follow?

Ahhhh. This is a good one. Everybody’s gonna have different answers for this one. But here we go.

What are fighting to control for the sake of some rule that is difficult to follow?

Like maybe eating. It’s difficult for you follow that rule. I shouldn’t have given you any clues. It comes from you first.

Nature is seasons of opposites. Summer and Winter. Spring and Fall.

Nature is seasons of opposites. Winter has its time as does Summer. How are your opposites regulated, controlled, or allowed their own release?

Or as I’m saying, Nature has opposites. So I’m allowing you to like give yourself some leeway. How you do this or that– Or you want this–

So what are your opposites? Find your polarity. How far are you going from one extreme to the other so we can find out maybe what your happy medium is– and make it easier for you. Cuz you may have one thing pulling this way, and one thing pulling this way. But if we can find some way to satisfy both of them–then that’s good without maybe going all the way that way, or all the way that way. I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t if the middle is always the best way.

Here we go. Describe your overall balance of opposites.

If you’re driving in your car you’re going, “What the heck is he talking about?”

Like what would be my opposites? My opposites would be my ability to just watching YouTube. And then I say, “Man, I’ve been sitting here for a little while. I didn’t move.” You know, I should be doing some Kung Fu or cleaning the kitchen. [laugh]

Okay. So that’s one opposite is I feel guilty for not doing that and the other opposite is I work as hard as I can. I’m doing these Kung Fu classes. Teaching and building and writing things and work on the websites… So ONE: I go from the opposite of working REALLY HARD too long to maybe relaxing too long. That’s my answer.

Okay. Let’s see. Nature is a season– Okay.

Describe your overall balance of weaknesses.

Um. Like I said, I’ve got a good balance. I’m putting my life together. I’m working out. Studying myself like under a microscope so I better be good.

Anyway. I think 12 minutes here. Thanks for hangin’ around. Hopefully this is interesting to listen to.