Tao Te Ching

Coyote Radio Tujunga album cover

Daily Taoist 1_47 – Buddha Zhen Explains TAO #27 Friends, Love, Family and Path of Success with Tao

YouTube Video TRANSCRIPT: Daily Taoist 47

Alright. I’m gonna do one for of these before I take a break and have lunch… Get these done.

I need to get all these done right now and then I’ll be able to release them on a regular basis. But I’ve gotta. Unfortunately, I got messed up and backed up and coverered up one of my classes. I lost a class. I can fix my mistakes. But I made a mistake. i can fix it and know what to do. And I’m gonna fix it by finishing this project: I’m gonna go all the way to the end of the book.

So if you’re here. Feel good that I’m going to go all the way to the end. [laughs] Here we go.

#27

Proper performance of any task
is obvious by the lack of need to repeat the task.

See? And that’s why me as a musician I always try to record it–I mean I could sloppily record and then say, “I’ll fix it up some day.” But that’ll never happen. Especially for me. So I’ve got to make everything good the first time. Leave it and then know it’s good. Same with my books. And there might be a typo or something in it. But I get them as good as I can. Feel good about it, and then I’ve gotta move on. I’ve actually found I think three typos in this book already. “AHHHH.” [LAUGHS]

Okay. Here we go #27: Yeah, this is a good one. Proper performance– (They’re all good. Learn every one of these here because they’re worthy of consideration.) [sigh]

Daily Taoist here. Let’s blast!

Proper performance of any task
is obvious by the lack of need to repeat the task.
Each person’s methods are recognized by the balanced observer to be correct and efficient
in terms of the path or way of the individual.

Ooh. There’s a few cool words in there. Alright. So… You ready? Last sentence.

An unbalanced person can learn
from the successes of balanced persons.
And a balanced person can learn
from the mistakes of an unbalanced person.

Yeah. That’s kind of my friend Oscar. He tried so hard to help me. But he was out of balance–and it was just nice to have a friend. A friend is someone– My definition of a friend is: someone who is trying to improve your life.

My definition of love: is somehe sone who is working to improve your life. Love and friendship. Almost the same. Love just seems a little more committed. Friend’s just one step away. But that’s it. If they’re not trying to improve your life they’re not your friend. You’ve got lots of acquaintances. You can know a thousand people who think you’re wonderful. Say nice things. they’ll take you out to dinner. Send you Christmas presents. They’re not your friend and they’re not your lovers. Or someone that loves you. If they loved you they’d make sure that something improves in your life. They could not leave you just like that. Like a field. Like a plantation. If you love those plants, you’re not gonna just say, “Oh they look nice.” And then come back a year later. You have to water them and take care of them. Love requires effort. That used to be one of my slogans. It’s in a couple of poems I’ve written. I’m trying to teach people that LOVE is not a word. In fact that’s tht name of the poem I think, “Love Is Not A Word.” Love is effort. If somebody’s not putting effort into making your life better–then they’re not giving you any love. And they do not love you.

Alright. Here we go.

Are you generally satisfied with the work you do?

Yeah. Oh, I’m sorry. I’m not supposed to answer for you. [laughs]

Are you generally satisfied with your work that you do?

Explain your work standards of excellence.

Ah. You see now, that’s what defines sometimes– That’s why it’s so important to differentiate between the WOMAN soul and the WORKER soul. The WORKER soul is willing to accept whatever you say are the terms of excellence. But a WOMAN’s only going to agree to what she’s gonna agree to and that’s it. You can’t force her to agree to something she doesn’t want to agree to. A WORKER will agree to whatever you say. Whatever your terms are. Okay? Your standards of excellence.

You want that shiny? He’ll make it shiny. A WOMAN soul’s gonna say, “Ah that’s shiny enough.” Okay.

How do your standards relate to your goals?

So, your standards of excellence and your goals.

If people judge you by your work–what is their judgement of you?

So when people see you. Let’s say you’re a cashier, in the store. And they see you. What’s their judgement of you as a worker? And, as a person? I

If people judge you by your work–what is their judgement of you?

What do they think of you based on the way you handle the cash register?

There’s a wide variety of people there, in terms of… Check that out. Rate people. Judge them. Then try to figure what the quality of their life is. And what they’re like when they’re not working. Based on what they’re like when they’re working.

What are you artistic standards of excellence?

Artistic standards of excellence???

I think I’m trying too hard for you guys. Well, remember I wrote this for my Kung Fu students. So yes, they’re supposed to have artistic standards of excellence. They’re doing Kung Fu. I forgot. [LAUGHS] This was actually written remember for my Kung Fu students. So when i wrote this I was writing for a certain type of audience. Not everybody. This probably doesn’t interest most people. Most people don’t care about their standards of excellence. I thisepnk right there I just [SNIP SNIP] I just separated off about 50% of the planet. 50% of the planet does not operate on standards of excellence. It’s just meeting your standards enough to get paid and that’s it.

They don’t operate under any particular standards other than whatever it takes to get paid. Okay? So that’s half the population. So that’s why this book probably only has a limited audience. Okay.

How do your work standards–

WELL ACTUALLY I WANT EVERYBODY TO READ IT THOUGH. Remember, if I’m gonna stop wars–I’ll make some other books that are easier. I have hope for them. You tell me hard this book is.

How do your work stands relate to your goals?

So in other words, you’ve got these standards of excellence and how does that relate to any of your other goals?

Obviously, they should all tie together. That’s what we’re working to: is to tie all this together. But sometimes we’re fractionalized. Sometimes you just know how to be a good student and you don’t know how to be a good worker–that doesn’t make sense. They’re both the same. So we’ve got to make everything fit together–and then you’re in harmony and then you can be as successful as you can be.

How do you determine the quality of your work? In other words, usually your parents–or your father determines your standards of quality. In the Confucian family the Father tells the Mother that these are his rules. And then the Mother exacts those rules and plays the rule. So the Mother is the enforcer and the Dad is the legislator. He’s like the Senator: he makes the rules. And then Mom, she is the school teacher who teaches the kids and like I said… it’s that triumvirate, that pyramid.

Let’s see. How reluctant are you to repeat a job if it’s okay–not great.

Boy, that’s one I bump into every day. So many times. So many times I hit that… and sometimes I just have to say: And there’s a slogan I use. And I still use it. Still echoes in my head. Maybe it will help you. “A JOB WORTH DOING ONCE IS WORTH DOING TWICE.” That echoes in my head… so many times. I’ll look at it and go, “Oh…. If it’s worth doing once–I’ll do it twice.” In fact that happened with my bed. When I got it out and I was trying to find a leak. My airbed. And I couldn’t. And I put it in there and it still leaked… And it’s like, “AHHHHHH.” I wanted to pretend it’s okay, but it wasn’t. There was still a leak. So I thought, “It’s worth doing twice.”

So I took all the covers off, took out here in the living room. Soaked it down where I had more room to work around it. Found two more holes. [LAUGHS] But there’s still another hole. I’ve gotta do it again.

Alright. Here we go.

Does it seem that life repeats its hardships?

Is that a perspective? I’ll have to evaluate the question more.

Does life seem to repeat its hardships

Does it seem impossible to get ahead?

Whew! Living on the street for six years… it almost seemed impossible… but look. I’m here. But I had to develop an alternate strategy. Couldn’t figure out how to make money. Couldn’t do it through fundraisers. And I couldn’t do it through family. I couldn’t do it through friends. I couldn’t do it through selling books. I couldn’t do it through selling Kung Fu classes. I couldn’t do it through selling music. I couldn’t do it through performing. I couldn’t–I mean I tried everything I could to make some money but I couldn’t do it.

And so finally I had to play the system. I had to play the long game and I had to get Section 8. And I was hospitalized. And I did that. I was in Martin Luther King for six months. And then I was in a homeless shelter for a year. Man, I had to play a long game to end up in this situation where I’m settled. This is not the way I wanted to do it though. I tried to just make money. My thing. But I had to form an alternate strategy and play the system.

Where were we?

What slows down the progress of your dreams?

Not having family support. No money. If I had money I might–I’d-I’d… SHEESH! [LAUGHS] I’m like thirty years behind in all my projects. Because I don’t have enough money to finish them and do everything I want with the projects I started thirty years ago. I’d just reach a dead-end because I couldn’t put any money into them.

But yeah. So money is my big impediment. I don’t have family. Family won’t give me money. No friends. No sales. No fans. No customers. [SIGH] That’s why I say. I don’t know if I want to come back to this world for another life. This is just too frustrating. It’s just not really– I could’ve accomplished so much more.

I’m actually– Should I tell you? Ah, Ill tell you. What the heck. I’ve actually–the Vedic Scriptures— I kind of got goose bumps the other day when I realized I’d already figured out the answer to my problems. In the Vedic Scriptures they talk about different Heavens. Different afterlifes. Different worlds your soul can live on. And I think that’s what it is–I just got on the wrong planet. I’m on the cow planet. And I’ve really got to find an art planet. Find a place where there’s creative thinkers, and artistic thinkers, and scientists. And that’s the planet I need to be on.. This is a terrible planet to be on if you’re an artist. Absolutely the worst planet to be on. Your own family! I’m disowned and disinherited by my own mother because I’m an artist. So you don’t want to be on this planet. Earth is a horrible planet to be on.

So if I am gonna have another life–and I don’t want to just give up–Maybe I should just be a ghost forever. Maybe that’d be more fun. If I am gonna be alive again it’s gonna have to be on another planet. Because this planet sucks! It really sucks.

Okay. Where are we? And that’s fine. You know. All the cows are as happy as they can be. [LAUGHS] And I’m not trying to say, “Ah you cows! It’s your fault!” No. It’s my fault. I came here and decided to live with a bunch of cows. That was MY mistake.

Okay. But I’m learning. I’m getting smarter. I’m getting smarter see? I’m getting my new strategy. My next strategy is: get a better planet to live on.

Do you really seek advice, or prefer to do it yourself?

I’M ALWAYS LOOKING FOR ADVICE! Like Oscar. He couldn’t even give me good advice. But I was still asking questions. We would argue. But even when he was giving me bad advice– I could at least–like–argue with him. It was good–that way I was kinda still figure out what the advice was. Poor Oscar. He tried so hard to help me. But he couldn’t. He was–just not equipped. [LAUGHS] He didn’t have what he needed to help me. And I think that broke his heart when he realized that.

He was always my friend to the end though. Yeah, I’ve gotta give him that. He was my friend.

How do you enjoy helping other people do better?

Hey, my picture froze [camera image freezes].

Alright. It looks like we’re jammed up. Ooop my picture froze. I’m gonna have to quit. Maybe I ran out of memory.

Do you enjoy reading autobiographies of successful persons and do you enjoy reading ‘how-to’ books?

The counter’s rolling. I’m gonna quit here. And this was #27 of the TAO OF TAOISM, which says,

The proper performance of any task
is obvious by the lack of need to repeat the task.

=========================================

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

BOOKS by Buddha Zhen

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)

Instagram of Buddha Zhen

Twitter of Buddha Zhen

Facebook of Buddha Zhen

Facebook of Shaolin Zen

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

Copyright 1984-2021 Shaolin Communications

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

Daily Taoist 1_46 – Buddha Zhen Reads TAO #25 Strategy Harmonizing Nature’s Patterns into Goals

Daily Taoist 46

YouTube Video TRANSCRIPT: Daily Taoist 46 Tao #25

Alright. Welcome back to the Daily Tao. Buddha Zhen here. And I’m on TAO NUMBER 25. And this is a big one.

And… I also… I think I improved my lighting. I did add something up there. Washed my face. Pinched a little bit. Hopefully it doesn’t look like I got stung by a bee. [LAUGHS] And combed my hair. So, anyway… Those are my efforts– In other words… Remember we talked about the self-discipline? That’s my self-discipline is that little extra effort to look nice and everything. A lot of people just spend all their time looking nice. But they’re not doing anything for themselves on the inside. But, you know, I need to spend a little more work on the outside.

I’m not faulting anybody. We’ve just got to see where our balance is and see if we want to shift it.

Okay, if I was an actor I’d need to spend a lot more time on the outside than the inside.

Okay. Here we go. Each per– Well, that’s what I’m trying to change. I’m trying to help actors be a lot more that tools.

Okay, #25.

Each person can exemplify
the ultimate powers of Nature
by intelligent and natural actions.

That’s only the first sentence. There’s a whole bunch. Let’s read that one sentence again because that’s important. So in other words that’s saying if you’re smart and natural, that’s better than being stupid and unnatural. Right? Why when I say things like that do I picture Mr. Trump?

Each person can exemplify the ultimate powers of Nature by intelligent and natural actions.

As each goal is planned, initiated, incorporates ideals, and is completed: so are the seasons of life imitated.

I’m gonna read that one sentence again.

As each goal is planned, initiated, incorporates ideals, and is completed: — (That’s the four seasons there.) —so are the seasons of life imitated.

Intelligent goals must be natural and within Nature’s patterns so that the ultimate powers can be utilized and harmonized with. Not opposed. In this way goals that are also Nature’s goals are natural goals that enhance life.

Wow! There’s a lot there but, kind of simple thoancugh. It’s basically saying that you can develop your life to have goals, processes, and beginnings and endings that… kind of flow like Nature. And you and yourself are a natural Nature. You have your own Tao. The Tao has its Tao. And now your Tao and the Bigger Tao are in harmony with each other. And so now you’re kind of–It’s kind of like swimming. Swimming in water. Okay?

So, here we go. Real fast. This is two pages long so let’s see what i can do. Um, this has got a lot of blanks to fill-in so this may go really fast.

List your current goals in terms of the four seasons of Nature.

So first of all, come up with all your goals. Now figure out how they fit into the seasons of Nature. Which ones–you know… Where are they at? Are they at their Autumn? Are they dying? Are they old, and something you did ten years ago? Or is it the winter: Is it something you’re planning but it’s not ready because you don’t have resources like the sunlight? Is it the spring? Where now you’ve got everything together and you’re really putting all your effort into making it happen? Or is it the summer when everything’s flowing along and you’re starting to pump the product out and building the business? See?

So you’ve got these seasons you can work with.

So you want to take your goals and then start looking at them in terms of how they fit into a seasonal structure.

So let me go along. Because, like I said, I broke this down into the four seasons. And then I gave you some kind of clues for the four seasons to help you understand them a little better.

So in this case, AUTUMN. So I’m summarizing this because remember our goal is to figure out how to make this work for us. In our lives. So that’s why I’m kind of superimposing these human concepts on this book.

AUTUMN: Clean up and prepare for the future, fertilize and planning.

Okay. So once again. The… goals that are at this stage of the operation. Which are your AUTUMN GOALS. You’re cleaning them up. You’re preparing them for the future. You’re fertilizing them. Maybe… they’re like I said, might be dead stuff. So you’ve gotta fertilize them. And you’re in your planning phase.

Okay. So you’re in kind of a [SCRUNCH] mulch situation.

Okay. So what are the goals? You list them out. And then you put down–you’ve got a column to put down these goals.

The IDEALS that are incorporated. So if one of your goals has the of maybe pleasing your wife. That’s the whole reason you’re doing it.

Maybe another one is because it satisfies this long term thing you wanted to do since you were a little kid.

Maybe this other one is because you’ve–you’re doing it for somebody else. And when you’re done they’re gonna pay you a whole bunch of money. [LAUGHS]

Your ideals.

We’ve got to be more idealistic.

As one of your ideals–how does it satisfy your ideals… Your Nature… as far as being a better person?

“Well this is going to improve my ability to do this. Or maybe it’s gonna make me understand this better.”

I don’t know. Try to put some ideals in there. I’ll have to think about that more myself.

Okay. And then it’s got two other columns. So you’ve got the goal.

What IDEALS are incorporated in this goal?

Like for me it might be philosophy, or Buddhism, or something like that. You might have something specific in there.

Now, then there’s two more lines. The first– It says, “FIRST STEP.” In other words, what’s your next step? What’s the thing you’ve gotta do? And what’s your OVERALL STRATEGY? Gave you a teeny little line to do it. But what’s your Strategy? “Oh, I’m gonna do this and then… (your Strategy)… then I’ll do this and this.

Okay. You’ve got four goals and you do all that.

Next one is WINTER GOALS.

This is where you’re organizing and PROTECTING. And you’re establishing TERRITORIES and BOUNDARIES. In the case of a farmer you’d be laying out your fields and this is where you’d be deciding where to put the crops and everything. So you’re establishing– you’re building the future. You’re building the house. You’re gonna build a business. The first thing you’ve got to build is build the building.

Okay? So what are your goals?

What are the IDEALS incorporated in those goals?

The ideals. Once again we can expand on this. I’ll give that more thought too.

And the our FIRST STEP in your STRATEGY. So each of these goals: SEE what the next big steps are. I not only made you just put it out there: I made you think, “What should I really be– Where am I GOING NEXT?” Okay?

SPRING: Your Spring goals.

This is where you’re planting the seeds. And you’re beginning to work on your project on a daily basis. You’re out there tending the field. You’re watering and you’re pulling the weeds. Now you’re working specifically. If you’re like me as a musician this is where you’re recording in the studio. Editing and overdubbing, mixing… and all this type stuff. So this would be the Spring. This is the Springtime. The CREATION of the product.

Then comes SUMMER.

That’s when you harvest and sell. You complete your projects and you end the work. In the case of the record you package it up and sell it up BOOM and start the advertising and go on tour or go to thenext record. So in your case, if you’ve got your IDEALS, your FIRST STEP, and your STRATEGY… But your SUMMER? What things are you finishing right now? What’s this thing you’ve been working on? The car in your garage you’ve been working on. So it’s done… That’s done… You’re in your SUMMER. Okay?

So here’s some questions to ask to illuminate all of this stuff. But this is for you. I want you to make this work for you. You lay out your goals. You kind of try to figure this out. You sort it out and in the process you’re going to learn something. You’re gonna see something. Or… You can’t know everything. [LAUGHS] Or you wouldn’t be here. [LAUGHS] You’re gonna lay it out. See if you can’t learn something from your own stuff. Okay. Here’s what–

How do all your goals fit together and what is their combined result?

What’s an overall perspective if Iwas to look and this and say, “Okay. What does it look like this guy’s trying to do?”

How does this combined result of your goals fit on YOUR PATH?

How does this COMBINED RESULT fit on your path?

How to define your path. I don’t think we’ve talked about that enough.

But anyway YOUR PATH and that’s gonna change and should always change. But from where you can see it right now, this section of your path: Where you are you going.

Hopefully you are on the right path.

Which goals do not really fit on your life path? And why?

It’s not like you have time for everything, but you better come up with a better excuse than that. Because everybody has a limited amount of time. So you’ve gotta figure out what–Why is that not deserved? (For you to put time into it?)

Okay. So putting everything in perspective there.

Lastly: List your methods and techniques for planning the strategies of each goal listed above.

Ahh. So if you do look at all those things–How do you determine–What’s your strategy for getting anything done? Okay? Alright! Probably didn’t say anything. Probably didn’t think of anything. Probably when, “I dunno.”

But you’ve got to get a list. Get a list. Get a “TO DO LIST” for every single project you’re doing.

So if your project is to…even mow the lawn once a week on Saturday: Put up a list on the month whatever– and– You can do this so many different ways… But anyway you’ve got your Saturday mowing list. Well, I wouldn’t make a list just for my mowing, but on the calendar–You just go ahead and on every–All through your calendar you WRITE, “MOW THE LAWN.” on every Saturday of your calendar. And then as you come to that you say, “Ah, yeah, I’ve gotta mow the lawn today.” (or the next day — before…) You say, “Oh yeah, I’m gonna mow the lawn tomorrow.” You see? So that helps you get it done.

So there’s all kinds of methods and techniques you you use to make your strategies happen. Planning and “To Do Lists,” “Goal Lists,” updating your “Weekly List,” calendars… These are all important things.

So just look at life as one of those things you’re going to always kind of– you’re revitalizing. Well that’s why we’re here. We’re looking at it from lots of different ways. Okay?

Here we go. Did I make it? Eleven minutes….

Okay. Tao of Taoism. I’ve got time to read the beginning again. This is a tough one. A big one.

This is #25 of TAO OF TAOISM. Actually, my verson of it. The Tao of Taoism.

Here we go.

Each person can exemplify
the ultimate powers of Nature
by intelligent and natural actions.

(I’d sure lie to think Nature is intelligent and natural.) [LAUGHS]

As each goal is planned, initiated, incorporates ideals–

(That’s the part we need to work on.)

–and is completed: so are the seasons of life imitated.

Intelligent goals must be natural
and within Nature’s patterns
so that the ultimate powers
can be utilized and harmonized with.
Not opposed.

In this way: goals that are also Nature’s goals–

(You know Nature might want you to have that farm. Saying, “Yeah. Go ahead and have that farm and feed all those people. That’s a good idea!)

–This way, goals that are also Nature’s goals are natural goals that enhance life.

Yeah! So let’s all enhance life. Let’s all be individuals, personally driven. Have our own ambitions. Have our own desires, our own likes, our own wants. But still all harmonize and work together.

Alright. Buddha Zhen here, saying the world can be a nice place. Just need to have nice people in it.

Nice people are in harmony with The Tao.

====================================================

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

BOOKS by Buddha Zhen

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)

Instagram of Buddha Zhen

Twitter of Buddha Zhen

Facebook of Buddha Zhen

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

Copyright 1984-2021 Shaolin Communications

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

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

YouTube TRANSCRIPT: Daily Taoist 43

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Oh, I want that hundred bucks.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Okay. #19b.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Here we go.

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

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

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

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

Lao Tzu says,

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

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

Are you a stickler for details and fine print?

Are you one of those baseball hitters?

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

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

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

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

Which laws do your enforce?

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

Which laws do you enforce you don’t obey.

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

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

So–but you should be able to answer that.

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

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

Can you trust someone who has cheated? Why?

I’ll read each question twice.

Do you trust someone who has cheated you? Why?

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

Oooh. That you made yourself.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

===============================================

Zen Buddhist Podcast WEBSITE:
http://www.ZenBuddhistPodcast.com

Buddha Z BLOG:
http://www.BuddhaZ.com

Online Kwoon (school) of Shaolin Chi Mantis:
http://www.ShaolinInteractive.com

Copyright 2020 Shaolin Music. All rights reserved.

Daily Taoist 1_32 – Buddha Zhen Discusses TAO #18d of Political Corruption, Trump and Republicans

YouTube TRANSCRIPT: Daily Taoist 32:

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.

TAO #18d
When oaths and promises are required of workers,

government officials, and members: deceit and corruption are already out of control.

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.

Lao Tzu said,
When oaths and promises are required of workers, government officials, and members:
deceit and corruption are already out of control.

Daily Taoist here.

=============================================

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

BOOKS by Buddha Zhen

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)

Instagram of Buddha Zhen

Twitter of Buddha Zhen

Facebook of Buddha Zhen

Facebook of Shaolin Zen

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

Copyright 1984-2021 Shaolin Communications

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

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

YouTube Video TRANSCIPT Daily Taoist 30

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

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

Ouch. That was a big one.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I gave you four lines to do it.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Simple as that.

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

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

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

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

But, which afterlife would I prefer?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Eight minutes here. Daily Taoist getting out of here.

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

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

So how can I use slogans to be more positive.

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

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

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

So be careful. Slogans END CONVERSATIONS.

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

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

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

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

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

==================================================

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

BOOKS by Buddha Zhen

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)

Instagram of Buddha Zhen

Twitter of Buddha Zhen

Facebook of Buddha Zhen

Facebook of Shaolin Zen

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

Copyright 1984-2021 Shaolin Communications

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

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

YouTube TRANSCRIPT: Daily Taoist 29

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

There’s a real simple example.

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

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

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

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

Codes of Conduct of YOU

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Anyway.

What is your Nature?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

See you tomorrow.

=================================================

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

BOOKS by Buddha Zhen

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)

Instagram of Buddha Zhen

Twitter of Buddha Zhen

Facebook of Buddha Zhen

Facebook of Shaolin Zen

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

Copyright 1984-2021 Shaolin Communications

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

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

YouTube Video TRANSCIPT: Daily Taoist 27

This is a– Daily Taoist here. Hello everybody.

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

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

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

And so here we go. #16.

I’m Richard Del Connor. Buddha Zhen.

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

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

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

Here we go. NUMBER 16.

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

but also the declines of success.

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

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

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

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

…is to decline with them.

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

“Yeah, you already told us.”

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

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

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

“Oh. Okay. Good.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

But in order to WIN you work harder.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Okay. So where are we?

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

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

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

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

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

What organizations are you a member of and why?

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

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

Sorry. I digress. Where are we?

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

I just answered that one for me. You personally.

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

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

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

What achievements pertain to your new goals?

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

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

Summaries by Buddha Zhen

Gee that was a complicated question.

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

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

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

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

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

==============================================

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 

BOOKS by Buddha Zhen

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

Instagram of Buddha Zhen

Twitter of Buddha Zhen

Facebook of Buddha Zhen

Facebook of Shaolin Zen

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

Copyright 1984-2021 Shaolin Communications

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

Daily Taoist 1_26 – Buddha Zhen Studies TAO#15 Four Levels of Influence and Tao of Corruption

https://youtu.be/HeKMSjAvAhQ

Hey. Daily Taoist here. Buddha Zhen.

Hey by the way, I’m doing everything here for free. You should go to my ShaolinInteractive.com website. And sign up for my Kung Fu classes. Yeah. That’s my advertisement.

Okay. This is– I’m reading from the Dao Te Ching by Lao Tzu. Written 2,000 or some years ago. 2,500 years ago. 2,200. And I made my own version of it called– you can see back here over my shoulder: The Tao of Taoism – Using the Dao Te Ching to Improve Your Daily Life.

Here we go. I’m on page 26 and this is NUMBER 15. Now in this case. What we’re talking about, he’s got — I’m looking at it. It says, FOUR LEVELS OF INFLUENCE. And there’s four numbers here and four things.

Number 1: These are “Four Levels of Influence.” Condemnation of Conduct.

In other words, “condemn.” We’re telling someone they’re doing something bad. That’s how you can influence somebody. That’s one. You condemn their conduct.

Number 2: Fear of punishment or denied rewards.

Now he’s saying, “If this is bad–This is gonna happen.”

Number 3: Motivate by loyalty, honor, self-interest, money, rewards and flattery.

That’s a positive, but you’re bribing.

First one is you condemn them. You make them feel bad.

The second one is you actually make them fear something that makes you disliked.

Third one is to be bribed.

And the fourth one is to influence without those being influenced being aware of it.

So, can you just communicate with people and get them to kind of go along with you without effort. So in that way, you’re influencing them without them realizing you are influencing them. So through slogans, and emotions, or– There’s lots of ways you can do that.

I’m watching our President do this– It’s amazing watching politics 2020. I never realized how corrupt and evil and whatever it is–and can so easily be. It’s going to be interesting to see how in the future people can use politics to create good things for the purpose of good. Because we’re really seeing it used for the powers of corruption. Those wheels in power could be changed to where corruption isn’t making all the final decisions. I’m in an interesting world. So the future has some interesting possibilities. See what happens.

So anyway, FOUR LEVELS OF INFLUENCE.

So regarding those now under your influence or that you influence: students, children, your employees: How do you use condemnation of conduct to influence and control them?

So how do you condemn. Like, make a rule: “No spitting on the sidewalk.” You’ve condemned it. How do you condemn their conduct?

Number 2 or next: How do you use fear of punishment or denied reward: “Spit on the sidewalk is a $50 fine.” Okay answer that. Take it up a notch.

How do you use fear of punishment or denied reward?

How do motivate by loyalty, honor, money, rewards and flattery?

Hey! Those who don’t spit on the sidewalk can join my special club and have free pizza. [laughs]

How do use motivate by loyalty, honor, money, rewards or flattery to get people to do what you want?

And fourth: How do you influence without those being influenced being aware of it? So how do you influence people without them being aware of it?

That’s more subtle. Like by good example. Nicest one is set a good example and that influences people’s behavior.

I’ve caused a lot of trouble over the years by picking up trash. When I’d walk my kids to school, I just couldn’t ignore it. So me and my kids started picking up the trash. When we moved to Tujunga there was a lot of trash. So little by little cars started honking at me. As they went by. They’d see what we were doing. And then next thing I know the neighbors of course are talking about it. The whole street all the way up to the school was not one single piece of trash. [laughs] And so we kind of got a reputation. I started to see other people do it.

Similar thing happened at an apartment complex where I was living. Most of the people there– The landlord was getting subsidized by the government for bringing people from South America and Central America. That type for some reason. That’s what he told me. In fact he said he’d previously been getting subsidies for another race, but I won’t get into that. He was just picking any way he could make a profit. So anyway, he had all these immigrants in this part of the building I moved into and, boy: I learned a lot about knife fighting and women fighting I saw. I saw more violent face shredding than I’d ever seen in my life during that time I lived there at the apartments.

Anyway, it turns out that in Central America one of the ways you lower a woman in marriage and families. Really the only business for a woman down there. If you can scar a woman and scratch her face, then not only do you win that fight– but now within the local pool of marriageable women–you’ve now become the better choice than the woman who’s got a scarred face. So I saw that. That was weird. I could have gone my whole life without imagining that kind of thing.

But anyway.

Which of these four techniques do you use most?

So of those four things, which do you use the most? Everybody has a tendency to use one more than the other. So which one of those?

Which of the four techniques are you best at?

Which obviously means you’ve used it the most too. So of all those four techniques–which are you best at? Bribing. Giving honor. Humiliating. Or punishing? Which are you best at?

And punishing can just be denying something too. Just not giving that something. Or not giving them your love. That’s punishment.

How can you improve your–

Oh, Which of these four techniques SHOULD you use more?

Which of these four techniques should you use more?

Maybe your life has changed. So reconsider. You’re dealing with a different type of people. Maybe they’re not kids–they’re adults. So you have to change you have to change your mode of operation here.

How can you improve your ability to motivate others?

Yeah, reconsider. Reconsider which modes to use. And use the right one. I’m not saying what’s right or wrong. I’m just saying, know what you’re doing and make sure you’re using the right one.

— Which of these techniques work best on YOU? And why?

Now there’s a very good question. Are you better if someone threatens you? If they flatter you? Or whether they punish you. Or you’re bribed. Which do you work best under.

What is the basis of your self-discipline and motivation?

So everyone has some amount of self-discipline and motivation. Some people have very little. Bu push youut still, what is the basis of it. How come you have whatever you have? What is it? What are you self-motivated to do? What can you push yourself to do. And if you can push yourself to do something, beyond just wanting to eat or take a shower when you start to smell– How do you do it on a regular basis.

How do you do something that’s disciplined, regulated?

And what is the basis of that training?

How can you be motivated without any external rewards?

So, in other words: what does it take for YOU to be motivated to do something?

If I want you to do something for me–wash my car. [laughs] How could I get you to do it? Without bribing you? How could I get you to do it without bribing you? Might be pretty hard but-

How willingly do you sacrifice your spare time for money? Spare time for money.

So that’s time you don’t have to work. So you’re working and maybe you’ve got extra time. You’re not married and you don’t have kids. You could watch football. Or maybe you could actually take on a part-time job.

So, how willingly do your sacrifice your spare time for money? That’s specific.

Next. Last one: What is the least amount per hour you’ll work for and why? That’s an interesting question of course.

What’s the least amount you’ll work for, per hour, and why that particular amount.

Okay. Daily Daoist here. And that was NUMBER 15: “4 Levels of Influence

How are you influenced?

So this is yuour relationship with your Tao. The Tao. Remember the Tao includes people with jobs and stuff too. It’s part of the Nature you live in. If it’s a little unnatural it’s still part of your Tao. Your Nature you live in. So all those things affect you .

So your relationship with your job, your money, your work…

Anyway, if you’re HERE, you must be interested in understanding yourself.

The Daily Taoist out.

Daily Taoist 1_25 – Buddha Zhen Explains TAO #14 Tao of Taoism – Using the Dao Te Ching for Actors

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.

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?

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?

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_22 – Buddha Zhen Illuminates TAO #11 the Yin / Yang of Nature from Tao of Taoism book

YouTube Transcript for VIDEO: Daily Taoist 22:

Alright. When I started that last one I said I’d do these two. Let’s finish this one. I don’t know if I’ll do any more today. If the background changes, that means it’s another day. Let’s see. Actually, this thing doesn’t move behind me.

NUMBER 11:
The incorporation of opposites creates usable efforts.
Walls have doors. Containers are hollow.
And success requires expense.

This is cool. That yin and yang. Giving and taking. And things flowing and spinning.

Here we go.

Again. NUMBER 11: of the Tao Te Ching.

The incorporation of opposites.

Incorporating. That means utilizing them.

Creates usable efforts.

Magnetism. Chi.

Walls have doors. Containers are hollow.

Ying and yang again.

And success requires expense.

Always at least in time and effort. Which has a value in money.

Okay. So here we go. Ahhhhh. I’m probably not gonna talk much. There’s too much to talk about. And like I said, I’d have to hit this with different angles depending on which business of mine we’re talking about.

Here we go.

What opposites within you are utilized for your efficiency?

What opposites within you are utilized for your efficiency?

What opposites of others are utilized for your work?

What opposites of others are utilized for your work?

I don’t know if you got that. What opposites of others. Other people have opposites too, remember. They have a yin and a yang. Happy and a sad.

And so sometimes if you can play one, offer a carrot to make the other one–you can get them of course to move. With a carrot. Anyway.

What persons that are opposite of you do you harmonize with?

That are opposite of you. Like, way different, but you harmonize with them. And why? I’m not saying you’re going to get the right answer but give it a try.

How are opposites used in your career?

How are opposites used in your career?

I’m thinking of a bunch of answers. I don’t know if I want to misguide you. You might be inspired to come up with something interesting. So, I’ll try to say as little as possible.

How do you treat persons that you don’t like?

How do you treat persons that you don’t like?

How do you control those aspects of yourself that slow you down?

How do you control those aspects of yourself that slow you down?

How do you utilize the night as opposed to the daytime?

How do you use the night time as opposed to the daytime?

How do you utilize yin yang energies in your Tai Chi Chuan practice?

That’s kind of cool. That’s a lot of fun.

How do you utilize yin yang energies in your Tai Chi Chuan practice?

Well, you wouldn’t know that but a lot of it’s yin and yang. As I was explaining in yesterday’s class… it was today’s class. It was this morning. I was explaining how this is the only Kung Fu I know that you can use with breathing. We do the whole thing, “Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale.” See. So they’re kind of yin and yang see. “Inhale–” That’s a yin and then yang. Boom. Exhale you know.

These are positive / negatives in the Tai Chi form.

Here we go.

How can opposites be more useful in your career?

How can opposites be more useful in your career?

How can opposites be more useful in your homelife?

These are cool questions.

How can opposites be more useful in your homelife?

They could also be turning light switches on and off couldn’t they?

How can opposites be more useful in your lovelife?

How can opposites be more useful in your lovelife?

How can your emotions be better controlled by reversing them?

That’s not a good one for me. [laughs] Well, actually it shouldn’t make that much difference. I try to keep my polarity at zero. So you reverse them it doesn’t make that big a difference. Sorry. I wasn’t supposed to talk was I?

Here we go. So… The question was, How can your emotions be better controlled by reversing them?

How easily can you change your emotions?

How easily can you change your emotions?

How quickly can you stop being mad?

How quickly can you stop being mad?

How quickly can you stop being sad?

I will say something there.

Back in the eighties, because I’ve been thinking about this the last few days because I lost my best friend on Friday. Really sad. I shed some tears. But I didn’t sob. Kind of realizing today, my mourning period’s still not really over…. Lost a good, good friend. But anyway, but there still is something. I’m sensitized. The um… When I was in the eighties I had a lot of emotional breakups. I remember, but anyway, I can’t tell a lot of the details. I had a lot of girlfriends. Lots of breakups. Lots of emotions. Lots of relationships. Lots of falling in love. Lots of falling out of love. And somewhere in that mix: And I can’t– I have no specific memories– I remember being sad a couple times. In my life. Actually maybe I went back even farther when I was a teenager, But anyway, I can remember at some point, a couple points–maybe two, three at the most: when I was sobbing so much that i could tell the crying was making the crying more powerful. The sadder I got… the sadder I got.

It was like wohhh… In fact I remember in the eighties. in the mid eighties I developed a hypothesis when i was in UCLA. It had something to do with ions in the universe. It’s like a ‘like’ attracts ‘like.’ In other words, if you get that negative energy going–they’re just there, and they cling to you. And make you feel like you’re weighted down. And they’re sticking to you. Other people might say they were ghosts and spirits or whatever. But the point is that it attracts more. It doesn’t make you feel better. In other words, you feel like you want to get that sadness out of you–but you start to realize, “Hey. It’s starting to generate itself and I can’t control it. What the heck’s going on here?” You don’t want to do it. It’s pointless to do something that’s self-destructive. And that’s what it is. It’s like a feedback loop.

Sorry. Told you I wasn’t gonna but I thought that was kind of interesting because I was noticing that: during all this sadness that I have felt, I didn’t get close to that desperate loss. I mean close. But I did get to that point where I could’ve gone further at least once. I got really sad. It hit me. I just let it hit me. I thought, “okay, I’m fortunately alone” [laughs] So I allowed myself to be sad for a minute, and let it go. That was it. The worst one. The worst one. I let it happen. But I didn’t just dwell on it go, “Nyeh, nyeh, nyeh.” I’d just kind of agree with it. Just let it happen. It was kind of like a burp. I didn’t want to keep like burping. I just let it out.

Here we go. I wasn’t gonna talk. Remember?

How easily can you change your emotions?

How quickly can you stop being sad?

That was the question: How quickly can you stop being sad?

How much time of each day are you having– and in capital letters: FUN? F-U-N. Fun.

How much time of each day are you having fun?

Look at the smile on my face. I’m having fun right now. Yep. This is fun to me.

Last question: What inhibits your having fun?

For me it’s been a house. Not having an iphone. Not having a computer. Not having a place for Bear.

That’s what’s been inhibiting me. I’m having fun now.

I always have fun, no matter what. If I could have more money I could even have more fun. Expand our fun-ness. Buy him some more food.


————————————————————————————–

BOOKS by Buddha Z:

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

SFA1025a-TCbegCOVfront999-768x994.jpg
jade09.jpg

Buddha Kung Fu

www.BuddhaKungFu.com/books

Tao-COVER-Front-1a250.jpg
jade09.jpg

INSTAGRAM Page

www.Instagram.com/BuddhaZhen

IMG_4551photo-473x1024.png
jade09.jpg

FACEBOOK Page

https://www.facebook.com/spiritwolfoftruth/Buddha Zhen

Cover-BKFbook600.jpg
jade09.jpg

LINKED-IN Page

https://www.linkedin.com/company/shaolin-records

IMG_7513-576x1024.png

Rich Connor Singing Webmaster of Shaolin Digital

jade09.jpg

OFFICIAL Artist Website: Shaolin Records: Buddha Z

www.BuddhaZ.com

IMG_4143photo-768x355.png
jade09.jpg

Buddha Z BOOKS Publisher: Shaolin Communications

http://www.ShaolinCommunications.com

loSHA01h.gif
jade09.jpg

Buddha Z RECORD Label: Shaolin Records

www.ShaolinRecords.com

IMG_1092-768x576.jpg
jade09.jpg

Buddha Z KUNG FU School: Shaolin Chi Mantis

www.ShaolinChiMantis.com

SCMlogo1200-2COLOR-300dpi-600.png
jade09.jpg

Shaolin Chi Mantis ONLINE KWOON

www.ShaolinInteractive.com

SCMlogo1200-bug300dpi-480.png
jade09.jpg
Scroll to Top