Dao Te Ching

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 T-A-O is the outdated way.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_25 – Buddha Zhen Explains TAO #14 Tao of Taoism – Using the Dao Te Ching for Actors

September 20, 2023 / Daily Taoist, Tao of Taoism, Taoism / By Richard

YouTube Video TRANSCRIPT Daily Taoist 25

Hey. Buddha Zhen back. I’m enjoying being THE DAILY TAOIST. This is totally cool. I’m pumping out a whole bunch of these– Here’s my author copy of this book, TAO OF TAOISM – Using the Dao Te Ching to Improve Your Life. Written by Lao Tzu. I just took a bunch of translations of and said, “I don’t this guy’s got it… And I don’t think this guy’s got it…” Because I don’t translate Chinese. So I had to like take the translations, and what I knew of it, and from being part of the religion and the lifestyle for years and years. And try to see what makes sense. What was he really saying that I would say, “Harmonizes with the truth.” You know, the reality of using it in life.

I’ve been using Taoism since the eighties. Since… yeah… So if anybody could tell you what it is– [laughs] It should be somebody who’s been using it on a daily basis and teaching it to people. Inserting it in people and seeing how it affects them. Same with Buddhism. I called myself a “BUDDHIST SCIENTIST” for about twenty years. Because I considered myself, and all my students, and everything, were–I’m being facetious: I thought “lab rats” you know. But they’re– But they’re my test subjects in a way. They’re my children. And I’m constantly seeing the effects. I’m concerned. I don’t just throw stuff at them. “Hey, here’s some old wisdom.” SPLAT. “Here’s some more wisdom.” SPLAT. No, I like, look at it. Flavor it, and shape it. And say, “Okay. Can you understand that?” Then I come back, “How’s it working?” “How’d you like it?” “How’d it come out?” So anyway, I’ve kind of been able to see the effects of the Taoism and the Buddhism over the years. Confucianism too.

Actually no, the Confucianism– I wish. I didn’t start into that until about 2011. Sorry. Well I couldn’t tell you the affects of that. Because if I did I could’ve saved all kinds of marriages and businesses because that’s what that’s for. Marriages, businesses and politics. That’s what Confucius is for. Teaching. Oh that’s what I heard. I thought somebody was at my front door. Light’s falling down. And uh– I hope it’s going to stay there.

“Is that going to stay there Bear?” If that thing goes it’s gonna really pop. It’s a 150W bulb. Let me go and move it real quick.

Anyway, Daily Taoist here. No– I’m just– “Hang on…”

“Bear. Why did that move?” It wants to keep moving. Alright.

Okay. So I’m back. I don’t know. Maybe I’ll edit that out. As much as I’m an iPhoneographer. I’m getting all the software in my phone and everything–I don’t know how to use it. I don’t know what I’m doing yet. But I’m figuring it out. You can actually go to my other channel: Richard Del Connor at YouTube: You can see music videos and things that I’m making. So I’m learning how to use a gimbal. I’m learning how to use my iPhone. I’m learning how to use LumaFusion. I’m shooting in Filmic Pro. And then I’m learning how to actually then– well, just getting it off my phone and then getting it onto a hard drive. And then backing it up is a lot of work. I’m just figuring this out. So anyway.

Here we go. The Daily Taoist.

And we’re on NUMBER 14. What’d I do? I took two minutes and forty-two seconds of your time just getting started here? Sorry about that.

Oh! By the way. Never say you’re sorry unless you’re gonna do it again.

That’s one my slogans. And here I am–an anti-slogan person. But that’s actually something that I want everybody to realize. Look! It’s 100% true.

Everybody I tell people they always come back and go, “Yeah, you’re right about that.”

Never say you’re “sorry” unless you’re gonna do it again.

And if anybody ever says they’re “sorry” you can expect them to do it again.

So don’t say you’re “sorry.”

You can say you won’t do it again though. That’s different.

Here we go. NUMBER 14.

Watch it. Check– Watch yourself. When you say you’re sorry for something. It’ll be something you’ve done before. You’ll catch yourself. I said, “I’m sorry,” for that. And I did it to that guy. You know he’s stubbing his toe or–whatever it is. But yeah. Watch.

So don’t say you’re “sorry” and you’ll stop making mistakes.

The Daily Taoist here. Confusing you. [laughs] The truth is cool.

NUMBER 14. This is written by Lao Tzu supposed– well, originally. And then translated by other people and then me–synthesized into this book to make it more useful. But Lao Tzu’s book, Dao Te Ching is being presented to you in my Tao of Taoism by me, Buddha Zhen. I’m actually Richard Del Connor. If you want to look at my license.

Here we go, NUMBER 14:
Nature (and this is with a capital ‘N’ despite it being at the first–start of the paragraph).
Nature cannot be measured or controlled.
Yet, the operations of Nature (with a capital ‘N’) can be understood.

I’m using ‘Nature’ for ‘The Tao.’ Because there’s different versions. You could just call it, “The Tao.” I’m going to call “Nature” and “Tao” are the same thing. Okay?

Understanding the forces in motion creates an awareness of Nature. (The Tao).

This awareness comes from an inner harmony of each person that mirrors the outer workings of Nature.

Oops. Let’s read it. I’ve got to read it again.

So only by living naturally can one understand or be aware of Nature.

This is where people get all messed up. This is one of the ones that confuses people. They think they all the sudden have to become a plant to understand what a plant is. And you gotta act like a monkey to be a– to understand what a monkey is.

I’m not saying that but– He’s– Let’s just break it down real fast.

I really want to take the mumbo jumbo and the mystical godliness out of this. Cuz this is not a godly thing. Remember, this is science. This is science. It’s not God.

Here we go: Nature cannot be measured or controlled.

The Earth, its rotation, the seasons, the up and down things… The clouds. The moving. Whatever. Or gravity– Cannot be measure or controlled. That’s kind of what it’s saying. Everything. The reality– Okay? Nature… I’ve got that.

It’s beyond our control. We’re popped in here. Splat. We exist in it. I was comparing it to a big bowl of soup we’re in… we’re in the middle of you know. Moving around in this bowl of soup. We’re here for a little while and then we’re gone. The soup’s still here. Still going on. But we just come and go… within the soup. (Nature.)

Okay. So: Yet the = operations of Nature can be understood. So in other words they can’t really be measured or controlled because they change all the time. Even measuring what the temperature is on a certain day is going to be different that the next day. You can measure it, but you can’t really predict that it’s going to be the same. It’s always in flux, or– So anyway, that’s what we’re trying to say.

But you can understand it. You can understand it’s colder in the winter. You may not know exactly what temperature it is. You can’t measure it and predict in the next year in the same day it’s going to be the same temperature. And the same clouds… But you can understand in a broader sense. That’s what he’s trying to say.

Yet the operations of Nature– (The seasons and such. The day versus night.) –Can be understood.

Okay. So there’s our first two. The simple pragmatic science. Don’t get caught up in mystical mumbo jumbo again.

I don’t mind mystical mumbo jumbo. This isn’t the place for it. It’s not intended.

Ready?

Understanding the forces in motion creates an awareness of Nature.

Forces in motion: the seasons, the winds… The wind that comes before the storm. The kind of clouds that come to bring rain. The clouds that come that don’t bring rain. Understanding all these forces in motion. If you understand–you have an awareness of Nature. See? So you can start to understand–to recognize things. An awareness of Nature.

That’s good. So we’ve got the first three sentences. To be a scientist you’ve just gotta study things. Go take a meteorology class. One of my regrets: I never got one.

Here we go.

This awareness comes from an inner harmony of each person that mirrors the outer workings of Nature.

Aaaaaahhh. This is where it gets more complicated. And this is where people– If you’re really, like President Trump. He’s very out of harmony with Nature. I mean anybody I think–even his fans and supporters agree with that. This guy’s totally out of balance. [laughs] He’s miserable. He’s unhappy. He looks unhappy. He gives off negative energy. Hes an ugly creature. Anyway. Poor guy. You know, he’s just all messed up. His thinking’s wrong. He’s never gonna be happy because he’s working in a system that can never exist. His view of reality doesn’t exist. So he’s just all day long fighting to try to trick everybody to what reality is. And he’s not in any reality at all. He’s just living in this made up world in his brain that can never exist. Because even if it does it’s a crime and he’s gonna get in trouble. He’s gotta– Even if it exists he’s gotta get the money and run. [laughs] He never wants to be anywhere where he’s gonna be stuck. That’s his dilemma. He can never hold still. And if he does hold still he’s gonna get handcuffed. So he’s gotta keep moving. So that’s out of harmony with Nature.

Sorry to use him as a radical example. He just came to mind first. But he doesn’t understand the forces of Nature. He has no concern about Nature. He lives in his big city and…

Here we go.

Okay. So why’d I even point him out? Because his lack of awareness– he’s the opposite of what the next sentence is.

This awareness comes from an inner harmony.

Now, his inner harmony–

Of each person that mirrors the outer workings of Nature.

He does not mirror the outer workings of Nature. That’s why he makes people so unhappy. Nobody would want him for their babysitter. Nobody’d want him for their mother. He does not mirror Nature. If he does he mirrors the kind of Nature you shouldn’t be around like a crocodile. He’s just gonna eat you and drag you underwater. Doesn’t care. So anyway, maybe he does kind of mirror a part of Nature. Wow. Actually. Maybe Lao Tzu’s more right than I think. He’s saying even when you’r wrong–

This awareness–

Well he’s trying to talk in the positive. He’s saying that if you have an understanding that comes from your inner understanding which is in balance. Okay.

So what happens when you have an inner harmony that’s not in balance. That means you can never understand Nature. Or appreciate Nature. Never appreciate the other people in Nature. Keeps you completely separate from everyone. Because you have no balance that anyone should actually be attracted to. Which is the other problem. The people that are attracted to that imbalance are the people with the same imbalance. Kind of creates a– Yeah.

Okay. Now. So, last sentence: Only by living naturally. In other words, ‘naturally’ means in harmony with Nature. Not opposed to it. But comfortably living in harmony with it. Where there’s peace, accord and contentment… Can you understand or be aware of Nature.

See. That’s why he can’t be aware of it. He doesn’t have inner harmony. Doesn’t have that balance. He can’t sense it. He can’t feel it. It’s beyond him.

So I’m using him as an example. Hopefully he doesn’t represent you. Um, my family is…There’s all kinds of people like this. Let’s put it that way… that are not in balance with Nature.

And the ones that are in balance with Nature. That’s a step forward. But that doesn’t make you a complete person. That just means that you– at least physically can be a successful animal. So that’s all this is doing… is helping you to be a better animal…

Okay? That was NUMBER 14. What? I spent eleven minutes just explaining it? [laughs] I got carried away. That’s why I’m doing this. So I can get a lot of this out of my system. When I do the audiobook version of this I hope I won’t talk so much. The book’s gonna be too long for anyone to read or listen to.

Here we go.

But that’s why I like this as The Daily Taoist though. I was thinking of trying to keep this at five or six minutes. I’m already at eleven, thirty-three.

Let me just blast down. Let’s see how far we get. Maybe it’s gonna be a 20-minute thing today.

Ready? You on board? Because I’m gonna need a few minutes to unpack all this. There’s a bunch of questions here.

Explain your–

In fact, I’ll go fast. Because these are so vague and I’m not gonna elaborate on them. If I do it’ll take a long time. So let’s just see how fast I can go. It’s twelve minutes now. See how fast I can go.

Explain your understanding of Nature.

Right now. I’ve changed. I was a Native American for some years. Following those traditions. I was a pipe carrier. Doing smudge… Anyway.

How do the forces of Nature influence your life?

They used to influence mine alot.

And again. I’m in a different situation now.

You. How do the forces of Nature influence your life?

Okay? Explain your inner harmony?

Remember that inner harmony we were talking. Here it says, “The awareness comes from an inner harmony of each person that mirrors the outer workings of Nature.”

So let’s look at your inner harmony and see how thatnat’s somehow a mirror of Nature.

So in other words if you live in a very cold igloo then you’re gonna mirror– your harmony of Nature is gonna be a little different than some guy one who lives next to the beach. So you’ll have a different inner harmony maybe. I don’t know. That would be intersting to find out. I’d like to talk to both you guys: Igloo and the guy on the beach. Compare your perspectives of reality.

Here we go.

Oh. How does your inner harmony mirror the forces of Nature?

See? Once agin. The igloo versus the beach. How are you mirroring Nature?

Once again: How does your inner harmony mirror the forces of Nature?

Explain how your life is natural.

So somebody in Arizona might have a different natural life than somebody in Washington state.

Explain how your life is natural.

Explain why your life is natural.

You know obviously like some people we know in presidential positions you can be very unnatural. So explain why you decided to make your life natural. How it came to be natural. Maybe somebody just trained you that way.

Explain how your life is mechanical or unnatural.

Ooh. Mechanical and unnatural. So you’re a machine. You’re doing something that’s contrary to Nature. But it’s your job. Maybe youre chopping down trees. That would be kind of unnatural.

Okay… What do you do out of obligation or necessity rather than by desire.

That’s probably 50% of the people on the planet there.

They just have a job. There just happy to get the paycheck. They don’t have any interst in that business or product line.

So what do you do out of obligation or necessity rather than by desire.

Own up to it. If you can’t be honest with yourself–You’ll never be smart.

Here we go: What do you do to satisfy others that does not satisfy you?

Ooh. That’s a good question. I’m quite the giver. But– Anyway.

One more time: What do you do to satisfy others that does not satisfy you?

What expectations of others are you currently satisfying?

Hey. Each of us is going to have a very different answer to that one.

What expectations of others are you currently satisfying?

How much time do you spend each day doing nothing?

Once again: How much time do you spend each day doing nothing?

If you had all the money you could need or spend–what would you do with your time?

Why aren’t you doing these things now anyway?

When I was homeless that was a question I was asking all the time.

Sorry to interject. See! I said I’m sorry. I’m gonna do it again. [laughs]

Why arent you doing these things now anyway?

Do you believe that to not work or to not have a job is wrong?

Do you beleive that to not work or to not have a job is wrong?

Do you believe that you should have children and a family?

Do you believe that you should have a children– have a children–a bunch– anyway. Have children and a family?

How many kids do you intend to have? And why?

When you don’t have to go to work– there’s actually a typo here. Sheesh. Second one I’ve found. What time do you wake up and go to bed?

When you don’t have time to go to work–what time do you wake up and go to bed?

Interesting question.

How is this different than when you are working?

Okay. So when you don’t have a job. That’s why I didn’t– That’s why that was one of things I did.

So when you don’t have job–what time do you wake up and go to bed. Okay. So that changes your schedule. You don’t have to get up at any time.

How is this different than when you’re working?

So does it change? When you’re working in your normal occupation.

Okay. So there’s NUMBER 14.

And in 17-minutes.

Daily Taoist out of here.

Daily Taoist 1_21 – Buddha Zhen Discusses TAO #10 — the Tao of Leadership from the Tao of Taoism

August 23, 2023 / Daily Taoist, Tao of Taoism, Taoism / By Richard

YouTube VIDEO TRANSCRIPT for Daily Taoist 21:

Alright. How far will I go? I don’t know. I’m still enjoying myself. I think that’s a good sign. So– Let’s do– Let’s do two more.

We’re on NUMBER 10 now. (of the Tao Teh Ching)

Natural leadership is by example and balanced patterns.
Resisting natural progress creates conflicts which are revealed as internal or external disturbances.
More is accomplished by directing natural patterns than by forcefully changing the course of a river.

Unpacking this is a lot of work. Hearing me and not reading it probably makes it a lot harder. Let me just read the whole thing again.

Natural leadership is by example and balanced patterns. Let’s read that one line again.

Natural leadership is by example and balanced patterns. Okay? That makes sense. A parent animal.

Resisting natural progress— What the heck’s this? Like learning to walk maybe?

Resisting natural progress creates conflicts which are revealed as internal or external disturbances.

Ugh. If you were trying not to walk then it would seem like you had mental problems on the inside or whether there was an external problem like your legs are broken. So that’s resisting natural progress. You’ve got to look for what’s wrong. Maybe there isn’t anything wrong. Interesting.

More is accomplished by directing natural patterns.

Directing. Not creating. Directing natural patterns–that you’re kind of urging somewhere.

Than by forcefully changing the course of a river.

Yeah, that’s not urging. Gotta build a dam.

So yes. Okay. So more is accomplished by just gentle, I guess. Gentle pushes than– Same with teaching people characters. And that’s so true of– I was trying to help somebody the other day who’s got a very bad mental problem. He– I teach the mind like in psychology– Let’s get away from the soul thing entirely

I see that in your mind we have a– This goes back to San Diego State University days. I believe that the mind has a– it’s kind of like the subconscious and the conscious. I think we can all agree on that. But I believe there are actually two characters or IDs or egos there. The subconscious is very childlike, and trusting, and non-judgmental. It just believes everything. And then the conscious mind is scrutinizing and can be everything from trusting to not trusting. But it still makes the decisions like a soldier or a policeman. So it’s protecting the subconscious too.

So when a person watches horror movies, the conscious mind has decided, “Oh okay. I’ll get out of the way and let you watch this because it makes you excited… or gives you some emotion. Just creates chemical hormones you know. Transmit when you have fear. So unfortunately that’s not a wise decision for this guy to let the kid watch the horror movies and get scared. Feel those emotions and get those adrenaline rushes.

So anyway, I believe the mind has two different points. That was one of my examples. But anyway.

This person has a real problem with that because the little guy runs the ship. And the conscious person has almost no say in anything. It’s very, it’s really amazing. It’s– That’s why some people think this person is maybe retarded because it’s the kid mind that talks. And the kid mind talks like a little kid and says really five-year old type of things. So some people think this guy must be retarded. But he’s not. The conscious mind is very smart. Very smart. He can do– But for some reason he shut down to let this little kid take over. And his… overall life– we see that from backing up and looking at it: and we see that he’s totally like– his parents just like gave up trying to teach him. And he became a total drug addict and has no… ability to control– control himself.

So the little issue in the brain became the bigger issue in life. And you’ve got somebody whose– Yeah. So, anyway, so you can see how some people are homeless. But he really doesn’t have mental problems. He just– Well he does have a very bad mental problem, but he actually could fix it if he’d just learn how to govern himself. If he could be more self-governing: he’d be a decent person. But he’s given up and let the little kid take over.

Wow. Did I get off course there.

So here we go. I’m gonna read this thing again and then I’m gonna blast down the page and I’m not going to answer any of these questions. Because these would actually– It would depend on what business I’m talking about. How I would answer these questions.

Okay. NUMBER 10: of my book. Which is called Tao of Taoism based on Lao Tzu, the original author, a couple hundred years before Christ, writing his book the Tao Te Ching or Book of Changes. Or Book of All Changes. Or the book of How Everything is Always Changing.

Here we go: NUMBER 10: Natural Leadership is by example and balanced patterns.

That’s the natural kind.

Resisting natural progress creates conflicts which are revealed as internal or external disturbances.

So that’s that guy.

More is accomplished by directing natural patterns than by forcefully changing the course of a river.

And unfortunately the little kid screaming seemed like the river. But it wasn’t.

Okay. Here we go.

Do you enjoy leadership responsibilities?

Remember, these are your answers. Don’t answer what you think you’re supposed to answer. Forget that. Don’t forget: this is not about the right answer. Nobody else is even supposed to see this. Okay? Unless you want to share it–which is fine. But this is only for you. So you can look at you.

Here we go: Do you enjoy leadership responsibilities?

What are your basic rules when being a leader?

If you’re a bad leader, you may have really bad rules. Fact is, if you are, you’re going to make rules. The bad leaders make the most rules.

Here we go: What are your basic rules when being a leader?

How do you enforce your rules?

What examples do you set for others to follow?

What example do you set for others to follow

When do people tend NOT to follow you or disagree with you?

When do people tend not to follow your or disagree with you?

What are your balanced patterns that aid leading others?

That’s a little more interesting.

What are your balanced patterns– (your balanced patterns) that aid in leading other?

What problems do you consistently find in others?

How do you influence other people to follow?

How do you reward those who do follow you?

When people or jobs create difficulty or tension for you– How do you handle stress?

When people or jobs create difficulties, or tension– How do you handle the stress?

How patient are you with those who take advantage of you? Or don’t appreciate you?

Then you can talk about how impatient you are. You get the topic.

Do you enjoy caring for other persons?

I’m not saying ‘will you.’ Remember, think of the truth. Answer truthfully. That’s the most important thing. If you lie to yourself– Gosh. How can you ever get smart?

Do you enjoy caring for other persons?

Do you inquire as to other people’s problems and try to help on a daily basis?

Do you inquire as to other people’s problems and try to help them on a daily basis?

How do you help people?

Do you mind your own business and stay out of other people’s affairs?

Do you prefer to stay out of your affairs and private matters?

People are like “AAAAHHHH.” I don’t like my private affairs. I read that wrong.

Do you prefer OTHER people stay out of your private affairs?

Do you have privacy issues? What are they?

Are you usually reluctant to discuss your personal problems? And why?

That’s a big answer. You might not get it. You might be, “Oh. My dad was that way.” Maybe actually you can go farther back than that.

Do you believe your privacy is very important and why?

There you go. That’s the last question here, other than: My Shifu’s suggestions. Which I can’t give you.

So anyway, Do you believe your privacy is very important and why?

This is an interesting concept. I wonder if I could use this as a counseling book. I’ve never thought of making money off it that way.

I’d give it to my students and talk to them about it for free.

But what if I did use this on the internet. People somehow respond to these pages. Charge something. I can’t work for free forever.

I’ve been working for fee for thirty years.

Okay. Oh. I’ve got to stop. Alright, eleven minutes?

————————————————————————————–

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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.

—————————————————————————————–

BOOKS by Buddha Z:

http://actzen.com/BooksMusic-1.html

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Buddha Z BOOKS Publisher: Shaolin Communications

http://www.ShaolinCommunications.com

Buddha Z RECORD Label: Shaolin Records

www.ShaolinRecords.com

Buddha Z KUNG FU School: Shaolin Chi Mantis

www.ShaolinChiMantis.com

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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.