Daily Taoist 1_67: Buddha Zhen Explains his ALBUM: Tai Chi Magic 1
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NOTE: Missing # 40 and #41 (May have been The Daily Taoist advertisement videos)
Hello there. Daily Taoist here. And Buddha Zhen Shen-Lang… Richard Del Connor actually. And I’m going to be continuing on with our TAO OF TAOISM. I’m actually very motivated to get this done. It’s kind of jamming up my system. Because I record these in my iphone, and then I’ve gotta get them off and gotta upload them and waiting… And in that transition–I won’t tell you, but it’s gotten too complicated trying to intermix this with my school things so I’m gonna continue forth and see if we can’t get a nice little–get all the way through these–so I can get back to a couple other projects I’m doing.
So I’m on #19a. Alright? Now we’ve got like twenty. I don’t know how many we have. Because there’s eighty, normally, of the Lao Tzu words of wisdom. Little quotations… paragraphs. There’s about forty–I’ve got about half of them in this book.
So let’s see. #19a
Let’s see what we can do here.
Lao Tzu says,
And this is really resonating for me. And as I just told you, my self-discipline has become complicated. I have– I’m exceeding… I can do it, but it’s creating risk. And that’s what I’ve got to avoid now. Is I’ve got to make my life function with less risk and possible error. [LAUGHS] You start trying to mix too many functions together and they bump into each other. I’m kind of trying to simplify a little bit. See if I can’t get things to work better.
So anyway, yes, I’m taking this to heart. When I read this the other day, I thought, “Ah man. I’ve got to take that to heart in a big way.” So that’s what I’m trying to do. I’m trying to be myself naturally. I’m not doing things for other people now. It’s really nice. I’m able to devote myself to my projects. My writings and my studies. My web design and my Kung Fu and my philosophy.
I haven’t even gotten to my philosophy and my poetry although I did finally write a song yesterday. I’ve been trying so hard not to. I don’t think I’ve written a song- oh yeah I did. I wrote, “My Birthday Song.” On February 4th I just started playing and I wrote a song. I just couldn’t help it. [LAUGHS] It was an accident. In fact, I wrote it on camera. I kind of had the idea. I thought, “Ah this is kind of cute. Let’s record it and see what happens.” Boom. A song came out. Just like that. So that was an accidental song. So that’s the only song I’ve written this year.
And yesterday I wrote a song. And it’s just a– there’s a couple of songs that are bubbling inside of me. It’s like bugging me. They’re bugging me. But I don’t want to take the time to do them. Then I’ve gotta write them. Gotta catalog them. And do this– It’s a lot of work to write a song. It’s like having a child. Register them and then you’ve got to feed them. Find a place for them. [LAUGHS] So my songs are my children. So in a way I’m trying not to have children. I’m actually trying not to write songs. But yesterday I wrote a song. And I wrote it on my bass. I was jamming away having a good time. In fact I was actually playing to one of my old records. Playing a bunch of my favorite songs I love to play my bass to. One was “HOUSE OF REJECTION.” On the American Zen LEVEL 3 album. Listen to that song. Listen to the bass on it. [bass impersonation] It’s really a nice little– It’s got some really neat stuff in it. Fun song to play bass to.
So I was hearing it.. And I was playing along… and pretty soon my bass just wanted to just keep playing… WHAMMO. I found myself writing a song. “This is really cool. This has a great vibe! And I wanna record this.” And so kind of like what I did with the other song, I just started recording it… and I kind of stumbled. And I thought, “Let me try again.” And so I stopped it. And then I tried it again and WHAMMO. This time I came out with the whole song with like one mistake right there, in the first third and I said, “Is that really a song?” I played it through and I wrote out a little chord chart and thought, “Yeah! That’s a cool little song.” You know, it’s got the verse, choruses… and I’m happy with it. I could turn that into–definitely. So without making a real dynamic song I rewound it again. Went and got my flute. Came back in, played it and go, “Oh man! I could jam…” But it was just an accident. I didn’t even know what key it was in. I was actually in the key of “G.” [LAUGHS] Which I normally never write in. It’s not that I don’t write in the key of G but I take that back it was “D.” I don’t know. I don’t really write in any keys. I just write where it sounds good, and then say, “Well what is it?” And it was actually I think in the key of “D.” But actually not really because it’s in the blues “D” so really it’s in the key of “B-major” I think. I don’t know.
I learned music fifty years ago. I just know how to use it. [LAUGHS] I couldn’t teach it. Anyway. But it came out really neat. I had a name it to give it a song. I couldn’t help it. The song name was in my mind when I wrote it. Then it was in my, my– I apologize… It’s a little sensational… But I could think of a better name, but no I couldn’t. I really couldn’t. If I came up with any other name, it would be a fake name. [laughs] I’d be like forcing it on. “This is your name.” “I don’t want that name.”
Anyway, the name of the song is, “My Corona.” I know, that’s just…[laughs] I have a song called. “The Reason Why” which I recorded back in ’79. Or 78. ’79. ’80. Right around that time. 1978? I’m not sure. ’78 or ’79. Anyway I actually think I wrote it in San Diego. I was going back and forth for a love affair. So it was about– No, it wasn’t about her. Sheesh. Had all these love affairs going at the same time.
No. This is the song about the girl I met at Canter’s Deli. I was standing in line at Canter’s Deli and there was some really attractive Jewish girl. Standing in line with this attractive Jewish girl, we hit it off. Her sister was there and we ended up having a relationship. Deanna Rubenstein I think was her name. And a wonderful girl. She was talented. She actually had musical talent. I don’t know what happened to her. Deanna Rubenstein: say, “Hi,” if you’re out there! I’ve always had good thoughts about you.
And anyway, where were we?
I think I’m gonna have to start this over. Maybe not.
This is be yourself naturally.
Anyway, in terms of being myself naturally–I’ve… if this works — oh here’s what– I’ll tell you this: If this works. If this Instgram thing works I’ll continue it.
But I’m cutting I think my Patreon accounts. I’ve got two Patreon accounts. Zero dollars. Gotta stop asking. I’ve got a couple GO FUND ME accounts. Gotta trash those. I’ve got a– I mean I’ve been reaching out for help and trying to expand my network–it hasn’t worked. And now that I’m being natural I don’t want all these tasks and chores that are none productive.
So anyway, this is your chance INSTAGRAM. If you like this and you want to keep going I’ll keep going on it. Otherwise SNIP I’ll cut my Instagram channel.
You know. What’s happening? I’ve got like a dozen people here. And I’ve been here five years. So that’s not working.
Okay. Here we go.
#19a:
Ah man. I’m right in the middle of this one now. So I’m working on it.
So real quickly. Let’s go down the page and see if I can get out of here fast enough, and still make the IGTV threshold.
How much effort does it require for you to stay healthy and organized?
That’s an important question. A friend of mine passed away recently. And he was only 44 years old. And he said it was his fault. He lived an unhealthy life for awhile. The result is he ended up paying the price and dying at 44 years old.
And he used to tell me, “It’s my fault.” And I’d say, “Don’t say that.” It hurt me. But after, I realized that it was his fault. And anyway.
How much effort does it require for you to stay healthy and organized?
Yeah. Think about that. Make more effort–whatever it is. But make it so it’s not so much effort. Make it a lifestyle. See, that’s what I’m in. I’m in a lifestyle. So it’s easier to stay healthy. I’ve got routines. A rhythm. I can tell when I’m not being healthy or I’m not living a healthy lifestyle. When I’m not eating regularly–it’s all obvious.
What are your weaknesses that require extra effort?
What are your WEAKNESSES that require extra effort?
We all have them, to overcome. Like me. I’m too busy. I’ve got too many things. My weakness is that I tend to get too many things going at the same time.
What promises or responsibilities do you have that require extra effort?
Alright. Here it is to YOU.
What promises or responsibilities do YOU have that require EXTRA effort?
Well I used to have kids. That required a lot of extra effort. I had to cook for them. Clean and take them to school.
What promises or responsibilities do you have that require extra effort?
Whoops. I have the same question here. A typo. I was probably supposed to change it up some way. I don’t know what happened there.
How do you waste time?
Everybody does. We all have our little ‘sways. You know, sometimes it’s not a matter of wasting time–we need to give ourselves a certain amount of free time. You have to be able to have that ice cdream break or something, once a day. You know but, you need to have your extra time. That’s– so wasting time, that’s different. Wasting time means you know you haven’t gotten anything done. You…maybe didn’t even need to rest. Resting is not wasting time. You’re wasting time if you don’t need to rest.
When playing games, how do you know when to stop.
Hey. There’s a tough one. [LAUGHS]
When you start playing a videogame, how do you know when to stop?
How often do you THINK you’ve wasted time?
So do you feel guilty about it. Or are you oblivious to the concept?
How could you be more efficient?
I’m not saying how or what.
How could you be more efficient?
Everybody could be more efficient. How can you?
How could you waste less time?
I used to get to the point where I was so haggard from raising my– not haggard– pressed for time to work on my books and my business–that I got to the point where I was brushing my teeth as fast as I could. I was tieing my shoes in a way I could slip my shoes on. Every minute counted because I was on these little deadlines to get to school, to do this… I started cutting down little things to make my time more efficient and–Wow! I don’t want to do that again! But I did. I was working with all these time constraints throughout the day. So I had to really work withing those time constraints. Waste less time.
How could you get more accomplished?
Yeah. That’s my goal now.
How do I get more accomplished?
So I’m scheduling myself in certain days, times andspending a lot of time organizing my notebooks. Trying to put these schedules… What do I do as a webmaster? What’s my schedule? So that I know when I’m a webmaster I’m getting everything done?
So I’ve got this one thing I do. And I go and I check on these websites… And I go to this website and I’ve got a little four point or five point checklist…
And so I’m trying to make little lists to force myself to be more efficient. But to be more efficient takes a lot of work. So efficiency and work actually go together. You can’t get away from the work. Sometimes you have to put the extra work into planning how to be more efficient. And then you spend less work, you know, working more efficiently. But you’ve got to put that extra effort in to create that concept and structure. So the work is always there. If you’re hiding from the work, you’ve lost already. You’ve got to always be investing the work. Feel good about always doing what’s required.
Let’s get out of here before I hit my IGTV threshold.
This was #19a in the TAO OF TAOISM by yours truly, the author, Richard Del Connor, Buddha Zhen.
And yeah. Be more efficient. And get more done. That’s it. [LAUGHS]
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Tao of Taoism — Using the Dao Te Ching to Improve Your Life by Buddha Zhen (Richard Del Connor)
AUDIOBOOKS and PAPERBACKS and Kindle eBOOKS by Buddha Zhen from Amazon .com
Buddha Zhen (Shifu Zhen Shen-Lang: Zen Kung Fu Master and Chinese Music Composer)
YouTube Channel of Shaolin Chi Mantis Traditional Buddhist Kung Fu (“Daily Taoist” EPISODES)
Shaolin Chi Mantis traditional Shaolin Kung Fu and Tai Chi Chuan classes
Produced by Richard Del Connor for Shaolin Records
Okay. I’m blasting along. I’ve got two more to do. ‘d’ and ‘e.’ #18d and #18e. I’m on page 32. And then 33.
Okay, the TAO OF TAOISM – USING THE DAO TE CHING TO IMPROVE YOUR LIFE. Lao Tzu wrote the original. Buddha Zhen here. I wrote the — this weird variation of it, in which I use his quote and then we answer all these questions that integrate that wisdom into our life.
Here we go. #18d.
Oh my goodness! The first thing Trump did was a landmark. He was asking for people to kiss his ring and swear loyalty and things to him. And you see: deceipt and corruption were already out of control the moment he entered there. When he was trying to do that–it was already out of control. It’s not that we had to see it. That, that… WOW!
When oaths and promises are required of workers, government officials– (Remember, that’s what Trump did. He wanted oaths from government officials.) –and members: then deceit and corruption are are already out of control.
Wow. That’s beautiful Lao Tzu. 2,200 years ago, and he predicted what we are so stupid–we put in power. We put in power exactly what he said to never do.
Okay. Here we go.
What oaths and promises have you made or required of others?
One more time: What oaths and promises have you made or required of others?
Well I can tell you one oath. I have taken that many oaths, but I swore an oath. And I remember all my oaths. And I remember all my Freemason oaths. Any oath I’ve made is an important oath. Those are like, in threat of life and death. An oath is.
So anyway, one of the oaths I made was that I would never ever support the Communist Party. And I had to swear that oath in order to become a Union Carpenter back in 1972 I think. So back in 1972 when I was sworn into the Carpenter’s Brotherhood. It’s the Union. It’s called actually, the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners. Joiners are the people who work in wood shops. So, when I joined them I had to swear not only an oath of allegiance–some sort of whatever it was… But the only thing that stood out to me was: I had to swear that I would never support or be a Communist.
Now I don’t like to make promises that I’m not gonna guarantee, but I just kind of went along with it. Because I’d been conditioned through the Cold War and everything to not be a Communist. But I still had to think twice. But what if I decide it’s a good idea or something. I swore an oath that I would never do that.
So that’s why it really kind of irritates me to see that we’ve elected a Communist into–as our President. Our President is doing everything that I was told that a Communist would do if they took power… or could influence our government. We never actually thought of a Communist actually running our country. We always thought that a Communist would just merely kind of influence our government. Influence it to be corrupt. Influence it to be just evil, deceitful, or do something bad.
So that’s what I was raised to think Communism was. It was somethiyng that was trying to influence our government to not work properly. Wow! And then we elect somebody in there whose–he’s the most incredible Communist we’ve ever had in our government. He has disrupted our government and caused it to not function and fired more people and created more vacancies in our government than Communists have ever ever been able to do since I was born. As far as I know. I’ve never seen anything close to this. He has caused more damage that the CoImmunists would have applauded than any other human that I know of.
Anyway, that’s kind of interesting.
So, where was I? I got distracted because that was so poignant.
When do you make agreements you do not intend to keep?
When do you make agreements you do not intend to keep?
When do you require agreements from others you don’t expect them to keep?
When do you reequire agreements from others that you don’t expect them to keep?
Now Bear, you’re making it hard to read here. You’re gonna get your butt in the picture. [laughs] Okay.
How do you know you can trust someone?
How do you know that you can trust someone?
Well somebody wanted my attention. Hello Bear. Hello my little buddy. If I raise you up, can I get your head in the camera a little? Okay. Hello my buddhy. Purring away here.
He needed my attention. I guess he thought I was giving you too much attention. Hello my little friend. Okay. I’ve gotta kind of scoot him aside so I can read the next one.
When you say, “I promise,” is that different from when you say, “I will.”
Or, “I will do that.” “I promise I will do that.” So, how are those different to you?
When is it okay to break a promise?
When is it okay to break a promise?
Remember, marriage is supposed to be a promise. People break marriages.
When is it okay to break a marriage promise?
Hairs all over the place. [blowing noises]
Do you obey your father?
Do you obey your father?
Bear, do you obey me?
I have to create– Remember I was talking about rules? And ways to influence him, so that he’ll… avoid danger or… I have to sometimes NOT let him do what he wants to do or he’ll get run over. So I have to stop him from doing things. Was that a cat fart?
Okay. Here we go.
Do you obey your mother?
Okay. There’s two questions there. Do you obey your father? Do you obey your mother?
Okay. So answer both those and compare those answers. Now there’s another question to ask: Why is there a difference if there is one?
Do you obey your big brother?
Now we’re getting into Confucius. Now according to Confucius you should obey you should obey your mother as you’d obey your father. And you’d obey your big brother as you’d obey your mother. See. It’s a kind of chain of command.
But your brother, your older brother actually represents your father.
And your mother’s job is to put your older brother in his position. So she wants to train him to be the father that you’ll always have. So if ‘gone, there’s still a father in the family and the kids will still look at him–up to him as the father. When there’s no longer a father, the older brother takes over.
Okay? That’s the Confucian system.
Do you obey your employer or your boss? (That’s a good question.)
Do you obey your employere or your boss?
If your boss says, “Go do that.” Do you obey him? If he says, Idon’t know, “Go get me a cup of coffee.” Whatever’s within your job description. But if he says something, do you obey him? If he tells you what to do– Do you obey him?
Do you obey your spouse?
So if you’re a husband or a wife– Do you obey your parnter?
Do you obey ourself?
When you make rules for yourself, or tell yourself you’re going to do something– Do you obey yourself?
Hello there Bear. My little love bug. Just down here in my lap. [whispers to cat] Kind of putting his head up where you can see it. Ears at least. Yeah. Hello my little buddy. Yeah, he really just wants my attention right now. I think everyday we spend some time and I cuddle with him and hug him and play with him a little bit. I think maybe we didn’t do as much today as we usually do.
So he just came in and demanded his love. I’ve gotta appreciate that.
So he’s right here in the middle of my notebook. He’s got those binder rings here. He sleeps in uncomfortable positions. Bear. Let me see if I can get you more comfortable.
See you guys. Daily Taoist out of here. This was, oh, this was the one that is very poignant. This represents thte failing in our government and our America. America. America needs to learn #18d by Lao Tzu.
Daily Taoist here.
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Tao of Taoism — Using the Dao Te Ching to Improve Your Life by Buddha Zhen (Richard Del Connor)
AUDIOBOOKS and PAPERBACKS and Kindle eBOOKS by Buddha Zhen from Amazon .com
Buddha Z Official Blog (Heavy Metal “Buddhist Rapper,” Buddhist Poet, Shaolin Flutist)
Buddha Zhen (Shifu Zhen Shen-Lang: Zen Kung Fu Master and Chinese Music Composer)
YouTube Channel of Shaolin Chi Mantis Traditional Buddhist Kung Fu (“Daily Taoist” EPISODES)
Shaolin Chi Mantis traditional Shaolin Kung Fu and Tai Chi Chuan classes
Produced by Richard Del Connor for Shaolin Records
Alright. Daily Taoist here. I told you I was gonna try to finish these 18s, and I’m on #18c. And I’ve g5 mileote ined a ‘d’ and an ‘e’ to do. Let’s see if I can blast you.
I’m reading from my book, TAO OF TAOISM – USING THE DAO TE CHING TO IMPROVE YOUR LIFE based on Lao Tzu’s book, The DAO TE CHING.
Okay, let’s see. Where are we? We’re on #18c page 31 of my book.
And I’m claiming Lao Tzu said,
Ah darnit. This is where people put that battle between Confucius and Lao Tzu out there. Because this seems like its at all odds with him. Most of the translations were of course like this. But I’ve come to have a broad understanding and realize the two were completely in harmony.
Okay. Here we go. But it’s the same as like a speed limit. It’s obeying the speed limits on the freeway. You can say, “Well I don’t want a speed limit. I want to go 100 miles per hour.) Well, it doesn’t matter. You’ve got to realize that organization is important. Rules, and following and maintaining those rules is important. Okay? And that’s all that Confucius is saying is that rules are better than not having any rules.
And it’s saying that Nature is ignored. And that’s true. We’re ignoring Nature when we go 65 miles an hour. You should be walking. [laughs] You’re defying Nature in that car. But anyway the Nature of that car is to only go so fast. And the Nature of the turns is to only go so fast. And the Nature of the traffic is to not go too fast and run into the car in front of you. l
So there’s all these Natures. All these Taos going on all the time. So even when we can change and create a mechanical Nature we’re still creating a mechanical Tao. A new Nature withing the real big natural Tao. Building a city on this planet is an unnatural environment but it’s still connected to the Tao. And within the environment of the city there’s a different kind of Tao when you are in the city, and sleep in the forest as opposed to sleep between two buidlings. It’s a little different, I mean two trees and two buildings. There’s all– but anyway.
So.. this is not the battle between Confucianism and Taoism everybody makes it out to be. They are in harmony.
When families are organized and contained by following rules Nature is ignored. That’s not all true. Because Nature requires harmony. If you go to a pack of wolves there’s certain rules that they have to keep the cubs from wandering off and getting eaten by another animal. So all Nature has rules. And this translation needs– Well you can see how it misleads people.
We’ll say Nature is ignored. Okay, so in that sense we’ll say it’s kind of right. So, I’m not gonna have to rewrite this but– We’re saying we’re ignorning the Nature that says we’re supposed to be walking. We’re saying we’re in a car going 65 miles an hour. When you born I don’t think that was predicted. You know, saying oh this guy’s gonna be cruising at 65 miles an hour in a machine sometime. So anyway, you define Nature. That’s something you created and imposed on Nature.
So you’re ignoring Nature when you’re in that car. You’re ignoring the wind. You’re rolling up the windows so you don’t even feel the air that’s outside. You are ignoring Nature.
So in that sense you’re right. But it’s not saying that it’s a problem–it’s a bad thing…
Just remember that some people– Don’t react to this information. Try to figure out how to use it. See, that’s why I’m here. Okay? I’ll show you how to use it.
Here we go.
What rules were you raised by that seemed unfair but simplified your parent’s control?
I’ve been a parent. I know this. You made rules that the kids don’t like but it makes your life simpler. Like, keep them in the house. Don’t let them run out where you can’t see where they’re at. So you make all kinds of rules that keep life simpler for YOU. That the kids may not appreciate at all. [laughs]
What rules do you employ that simplify life?
That’s a bit general. I didn’t say whose. I guess I’m saying the whole life around you.
What rules do you employ that simplify life?
I know of one woman who liked to simplify her life by having the kids watch TV. So that’s how she simplified here life was by having the kids watch TV.
Although a contemporary of Confucius, why does it appear he conflicts [LAUGHS] just remember I was already talking about this with Confucius and Lao Tzu.
What does it take to keep a family organized?
Rules. You can’t do it without rules.
I’m sorry. I shouldn’t answer your questions.
What does it take to keep a family organized?
There’s all kinds of answers.
I said, “I’m sorry.” I’ll interject again.
When should parents get a divorce?
When should parents get a divorce?
I got scolded a year ago. Sommadebody actually doesn’t like me and got mad at me about that I’ve been divorced. A fellow Catholic. Weird. That anybody’d get mad at you for being divorced. But anyway, he was saying, “You should get back!” She’s already remarried somebody else.
The whole concept of getting ge a divorce. When SHOULD parents get a divorce?
What is an ideal family in your opinion?
What is an ideal– You should write that down on a piece of paper and say, “Oh, when I get up in the morning my family does this… My wife does this…My kids or dogs are…Maybe you family doesn’t have any– it’s all pets. I don’t know. But whour at is your ideal family? YOUR ideal family.
Not the one– well actually, if you start writing it–you’ll realize, “Hey, this is my parent’s idea of an ideal family. But I don’t know if I buy into this.”
That might be good for you to realize. So anyway, just write it douuu’ve bwn right now and see what it is. Okay? Because you might actually realize you’ve been fooling yourself.
What is an ideal family? (In your opinion.) I put that in parentheses. So I guess I was trying to lead you to your own answer.
What do you know about filial piety?
Huh? Americans don’t know anything about that. It’s so embarrassing how Americans… Filial piety is one of the most ikmportant things you can learn in family structure. That’ll answer one of your questions from earlier.
What do you know about filial piety?
Filial piety is the one thing in the Eurd aop– In the Asian cultures: has proven to provide success–and huge success. it’s the filial– Filial piety I think has created has created an amazing amount of success. Obviously, there’s a down side to it too
If you’re– When I was– Like I said, I’ve been buying Kung Fu weapons since the seventies in Chinatown. I got to know a lot of store owners. Really personal over the years going there on a regular basis. And their kids grew up. I watched their kids in the store. Then they grow up, go to college and then they leave. And, I haven’t seen them– well, ten years ago, the last times I was visiting there buying weapons with my students–I was talking to them and they were like–these people are old and older than me and, they’re retired and their kids don’t want to have anything to do with the stores. They’ve gone on to their own businesses or other careers… whatever it is. But by filial piety their kids would run that store and take it over but– See, that would be more like a prison to put them in that position to take over that store. And they don’t want to. “I want to go to college. I want to go to Europe.” Don’t want to run a Chinese merchandise store.
So filial piety can unfortunately go astray In my own kids. I was– I pushed that on my own kids. I wanted them to run the school but realized, No, this wasn’t right for them, to take over my Kung Fu school. But that’s the normal thing in Chinese and even the martial arts thing is: your kids grow up and take it over. KIn fact a lot of martial artists who’ve passed away, have died and they say, “Where are their kids? ” And they didn’t do their martial arts. Like Bruce Lee’s daughter never did any Kung Fu. And she’s running the orgainzation. And Parker. I think Ed Parker maybe. I think he’s very famous as a martial artist. But his kid didn’t graduate the system. So since then I think they’ve tried to beef him up so he could kind of keep that thing going to represent the lineage of these other people who followed him
There’s all these things about propping people up into that filial piety thing that didn’t even exist. So it’s kind of an interesting thing.
How would your family be structured the same as your parents’ family?
Oh I’m gonna hurry and see if I can make my ten minute mark.
How would your family be structured the same as your parent’s family?
In other words, are you following– And if your parents have a good family and it’s going good and you follow it–That’s great.
See, that’s the problem with President Trump. He followed into the soup but he wasn’t suited for it. He didn’t have the acumen, the talent, the ability, or the honesty to do real estate business. He’s a crook. He’s a liar and a cheat. That’s not the kind of person you want to do business when you’re doing real estate. Especially big money like that. Cheating people out of little money’s bad, horrible… But cheating people out of millions of– well, it’s the same thing.
Okay. Here we go. Describe someone’s family that you envy or respect.
There you go. So you can start over. Maybe you were born in the wrong family. “Oh, I wish I was born in that family.”
Look at that and structure that. Just decide what your reality–your Tao.
Remember? This is the TAO of TAOISM.
There’s always different realities. And none of them are wrong. Unless you’re in the wrong place, at the wrong time, in the wrong Tao. They can’t be right.
That’s what your goal is: to make the RIGHT TAO.
Should a wife obey her husband?
There’s a question that will open up a lot of understandings for you because this is very important.
Should a wife obey her husband?
Remember I wrote this thirty years ago. Before i actually learned Confucianism and everything.
If you’re a Methodist, they took it out of the vows. A wife never says she will obey her husband.
Should a husband obey his wife?
I’m not sure what your other answer was but what’s your answer to this one?
Should a husband obey his wife?
Who should the children obey?
The mother? The father? Nobody?
Who should the children obey?
How do you teach children to be obedient?
Ooops. Ten minutes.
How do you teach children to be obedient?
Or do you? Should you? Some people think you shouldn’t.
So okay, there’s your questions.
And now let’s go back to the very beginning of it and see what Lao Tzu said. See if I kind of led you to integrate that into your life.
When families are organized and maintained by following rules. Nature is ignored.
Ah! Let’s look at that as a positive. If people’s Nature is to be selfish and greedy and do terrible things and run out in the street and get run over–
Then we want to basically ignore their Nature and say, “No. This is the new Tao and this is what you should do. Forget your Nature and your wants and your desires to fit into this Tao. Artificial Nature I’m creating– which is my Tao.”
Okay. So hey. There’s the positive of this. IS that sometimes you need to ignore Nature. You need to ignore your desire in order to get something accomplished correctly.
Daily Taoist outta here. In 10:59.
Whoops. I missed the button.
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Tao of Taoism — Using the Dao Te Ching to Improve Your Life by Buddha Zhen (Richard Del Connor)
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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,
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:
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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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.
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.
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.
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.
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Buddha Z reads “Explanation” page of his book. It starts with an explanation of, “This ebook version of Tao of Taoism uses both “Tao”, which is Cantonese, and also, “Dao,” which is the current Mandarin Chinese language of China. They are the same word with the same meaning,” (“Tao and Dao”).
“Self-discovery is the last frontier for the smartest of men and women.. This book is a journey down your own very unique “Last Frontier.””
“How much time do you spend exploring your inner you?”
“Why are you you?”
“What makes you you?”
“I wrote this book for her [his daughter]. It’s called Act Zen to Be Zen.“
“It’s about Zen Buddhism teaching you how to find yourself–And then you can reshape yourself into other people.”
“Zen Buddhism is about understanding other people from as many perspectives as possible. And view yourself from as many perspectives as possible.”
Buddha Z talks about his poetry class in San Diego State University.
Buddha Zhen talks about how Lao Tzu may not be translated accurately by anyone because they may not understand the colloquial meanings of his statements 2,200 years ago.
Buddha Zhen also explains how only the disciples of Bodhidharma can perform the One-handed Bow of the Shaolin Temple because it signifies the relationship between the FIRST disciple of Bodhidharma and of those who continue this lineage of disciples of Buddhism to the first disciple, Hui Ke. If you aren’t ready to teach Shaolin Kung Fu or you don’t belong to a Shaolin master… you should not deceive people with this spiritual gesture.
“So what happened was–his Disciple Hui Ke–he tricked him. He tricked Bodhidharma to become the first Shaolin Disciple… He cut his arm. He went to his [Bodhidharma’s] cave and outside the cave he cut his arm and it bled into the snow. And he said, “Look, it’s raining red–in the snow. So Bodhidharm said, “Alright–you win.””
Buddha Z gets a little teary eyed. “So that’s what we’re doing. We’re honoring his sacrifice.” Buddha Z pauses. “I got a little choked up there.”
He continues, “I originally wrote this book for myself, then realized it was useful for other people. Then I rewrote it again when I created my Shaolin Chi Mantis schools in 1993 into a student manual for psychoanalyzing yourself, to help students develop a dialogue with their own inner minds.”
“It’s interesting I put that in the plural. It’s only in the last two years I discovered that we actually are four… souls is what I’m calling theem. Four different identities that all stack and work together.”
Buddha Z elaborates on his 5 SOUL THEORY. “You can only have four of them. Most people only have two.”
Buddha Zhen holds the book up to camera to show his Chinese ‘chop’ which is the red ‘dragon blood’ stamp on the page with his Chinese name. He explains which characters represent:
Spirit Wolf of Truth = Buddha Z’s Buddhist name: Shen-Lang Zhen.
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The Daily Taoist series begins with this EPISODE #1. Buddha Zhen is also Richard Del Connor, a record producer and founder of Shaolin Records and Shaolin Pictures. Richard has spent the last six years of homeless life as a Shaolin monk teaching traditional Northern Shaolin Kung Fu from the original Buddhist temple on Mr. Songshan in China. From 2013 to 2019 Buddha Zhen taught Yang Tai Chi Chuan and his Shaolin Chi Mantis Traditional Buddhist Kung Fu, Taoist Tai Chi Chuan & Confucian Strategy at North hollywood Park. The public library there is where he published several books including the TAO OF TAOISM.
TAO OF TAOISM available at Shaolin Records.
http://shaolinrecords.com/RecordStore-R/TaoOfTaoism-R.html
The Tao of Taoism EBOOK is also available from Amazon.com
This EBOOK of Tai Chi Beginner may be removed from Amazon.com also. It does not appear to ranking well because it was created as a STUDENT MANUAL while learning Tai Chi Chuan. Perhaps I will sell the PAPERBACK when I complete the original edition with 444 photos.
This book, Tao of Taoism, was written while Richard Del Connor was at UCLA film school in 1985. Richard wrote this book for himself so he could utlize the wisdom of Lao Tzu’s book Tao Te Ching, or Book of Changes. That book is the foundation of the Taoist religion. It’s actually a philosophy book but the Chinese added some Ghosts and Gods to make it more exciting.
In 1993 Richard was teaching Shaolin Kung Fu and Tai Chi Chuan classes in a prison, several rehabs, and a couple churches. He created two books for his students:
This is episode one, before Buddha Z realized he was creating a series or show…
The Dao Te Ching (Tao Teh King, Dao De Qing…) by Lao Tzu, has inspired oriental readers for over 2,000 years to become better people, get along with other people, and coexist with Nature in harmony.
Buddha Zhen Shen-Lang, (Richard Del Connor), has adapted these ancient teachings and wisdoms into useful lessons for his Kung Fu and Tai Chi students of Shaolin Chi Mantis Traditional Buddhist Gongfu and Taijiquan, Buddha Kung Fu schools, and the nonprofit education organization, Tai Chi Youth.
Since 1993, Buddha Zhen has seen his students improve their lives and ways of living through the questions he formulated based upon this ancient book by the sage, Lao Tzu (Lao Tzi…).
Now Buddha Zhen has reduced the size of the book, Tao of Daoism, (formerly titled: The Dao – Coming To Terms), so that students and a worldwide audience can access these teachings on smaller Ebook reading devices.
Learn to be in harmony with your past.
Learn to be in harmony with your present.
Learn to be in harmony with your future.
Learn to be in harmony with other people.
Learn to be in harmony with your self.
Learn to be in harmony with your family.
Learn to be in harmony with society.
And of course, learn to be in harmony with Nature.
Tao of Taoism transforms the thoughts and wisdoms of Lao Tzu into questions of self-discovery that each reader can pursue and ponder for their own self-development, enlightenment, and lifestyle improvement. Write down the answers to these questions to further illuminate yourself and focus your personal thoughts and self-awareness.