YouTube Video TRANSCRIPT: Daily Taoist 64 AD: “Fill-in for Variety Shows”
Pardon my cat crunching over here.
Hey. Buddha Zhen Shen-Lang.
The Daily Taoist? I just thought of that as I was sitting down.
I came to realize that I’m kind of addicted to a lot of these daily comedians I look to provide me news. Believe it or not.
Anyway, they’re off the air right now because of this corona virus thing. And it’s kind of like a VOID. [LAUGHS] Which is kind of nice. Maybe a lot of people are getting a lot more done.
But at the same time: Is that something I should FILL-IN or maybe that’s something that I could provide a–like I said, “Fill-In?”
THE DAILY TAOIST. I’ve actually been pumping out a lots of these videos a day–half a dozen a day. So I could put them out five days a week or so if I really wanted to. I’ve gotten ahead a little bit.
Anyway, just considering that possibility. The Daily Taoist.
I’m really determined. I want to get these done tonight. I’ve got about five more or so. I don’t know that I should ask Bear’s permisssion. But he’s repositioning. I was on this page. I guess he knows I’m going to work over here so he’s kind of moving over here. [LAUGHS]
This is #34a I’m Buddha Zhen Shen-Lang. Zhen Shen-Lang by the way translates as Spirit Wolf of Truth. Truth being my last name. So yeah. I’m kind of obliged to give you the truth. It’s my name.
Okay. So this is #34a of the TAO OF TAOISM based on the BOOK OF CHANGES by Lao Tzu.
And so #34a says:
Ultimate reality–
(I’ve got hairs all of the place. In your own ears.)
Ultimate reality does not compete for recognition. Though other realitites may shout their identities, eventually all perspectives will merge into the ultimate reality.
Okay. I don’t think i want to get too carried away with the spiritual implications here. But let’s stick with the material world. The real world. Ultimate reality does not compete for recognition. Ultimate reality does not compete for recognition.
In other words… Okay. So let say– So let’s take the Congress [Senate] Okay. The Congress of the United States. What do we got? Like a hundred guys there? Well 105 or 110.Any way I’ve got a hundred. So those guys. Okay? So their ultimate reality is they’re not there to compete for recognition. That’s not the job that they’re in. Their ultimate reality is to work as a team to get something done. Now unfortunately, obviously when things go wrong, we’ll notice that people are competing for recognition, and doing things– So they’re jamming up the ultimate reality. They’re ruining, they are destroying The Tao. They’re going against Nature.
Though other realities may shout their identities–
You know, like Cruz, and some of these guys. Gosh, they’re amazing! Amazing!
Eventually, all perpectives will merge into the ultimate reality.
So a lot of these guys– Well actually, this… has several things to say. This is actually not all good. This is not all good. This is actually saying– Because the ultimate reality of The Senate is that Mitch McConnell is the ultimate reality. He has decided this is the ultimate reality: “We’re not gonna let the President appoint any Justices or Supreme Court things… We’re gonna jam up the government. So HE decided what the ultimate reality was going to be for The Senate. Not the Constitution. Not the people of this country. Not just the general whatever it is of our government that’s supposed to always just outlive us. No. He decided. He decided I don’t care what the people want. I don’t care what the President wants. I don’t care what the government wants. THIS is the ultimate reality of The Senate. And… Mitch McConnell has hijacked our country for thirty years or something. I’m not an expert. I haven’t been paying attention to politics. But now that I am I’m amazed at how much YOU GUYS– “You Guys.” Anybody. Any of you who’ve paid attention to politics– How much you’ve really screwed up this country. This country is like totally screwed up by you. You guys. I’d…well, I’ll take responsibility for being ignorant and not being a part of it and even voting for Reagan once. So, I mean… I’m an idiot. But I’m getting smarter. I’m actually much, much smarter now. I would not make so many mistakes. Now that I know what’s going on better. I could be a much better voter now.
So let’s read this again.
Ultimate reality does not compete for recognition.
See. And he’s not actually competing for recognition either. See, that actually supports this concept. He [Mitch McConnell] is the ultimate reality. But he’s not even competing. There’s no competition. He’s just there. That makes him the ultimate reality. Wow! I’ve just learned something. So the ultimate reality: you can find because they’re no longer competing. See? He’s not competing. He’s totally in control. So he’s the ultimate reality. Kind of like Trump. There’s nobody competing against Trump. He’s totally in control. He is the ultimate reality. Okay? And he’s trying to get recognition. So he’s totally like the opposite. Mitch McConnell is like the QUIET EVIL. And this guy’s the LOUD EVIL. These guys are the Yin and Yang of evil. The QUIET EVIL that’s been working behind the scenes and causing all these problems. But you don’t know it. Can’t see him. And then Trump who’s out here doing all this evil RIGHT IN YOUR FACE. But this guy down here’s supporting him. See? This guy can’t get away with it without this guy. If this guy [McConnell] was right here saying, “No you can’t do that.” You know. It wouldn’t work. But no this guy’s back here saying, “You can do it.” [McConnell] “Go ahead. Go ahead and do it. I’ve got all these guys lined up. We’re gonna profit from this stupid stuff you’re doing.”
Okay. Here we go. #34a
Are you shy or bold and why?
Shy or bold. Okay? One or the other. You’re either shy or bold. Do you go introduce yourself? Or do you wait for other people to introduce themselves? Those are the two people– You have to choose from one of those two.
Are you reserved or outspoken? And why?
The ‘WHY’s’ important. I don’t have time for it because I can’t hear it. Okay, but get this book and write your ‘WHY.’ That’s very important.
Are you reserved or outspoken?
In other words, “It’s none of my business.” You hold your thing.
Or are you outspoken: “I think people should know about that!” Are you the person who lets people know what your think they should know?
Or do you hold it back? “It’s none of my business.”
If you ever say, “It’s none of my business,” then you know which one you are.
Okay.
Is your appearance subtle or bold? And why?
See, mine’s changed. I told you: I used to be a hippie. And I was doing it to make a statement. I don’t belong to this… I belong to the counterculture. I’m not part of this culture and I’m against these values. And I’m making a statement. I’m not making that statement anymore.
Um… Do you ever argue? And why?
Arguing. Yeah–that’s a good question. We’ll get into that another time. But are you versus discussion, versus debating. But arguing is where you’re basically where you’re just–there’s never a solution. And arguing never wins. If you do win it’s because the other person gave up. Or you forced them to shut up. Or you said– anyway– Arguing always ends up in a false ending.
How do you know when to stop arguing?
There you go. See? It’s never gonna end. You can argue forever. And you can stop anytime. Same place.
But anyway. How do you know when to stop arguing?
Are you competitive or passive?
What about Bear? He’s not competitive. He’s actually passive. Now if I had another pet he’d have to be competitive. And that would throw out our harmony entirely. That’s why you should never have more than one pet. You should only have one pet. That way he’s part of the family. If he’s not–he’s just another rodent that you’re feeding. He’s a lower animal. And they’ll know that because they have to deal with each other. Dealing with your as totally separate reality. But if you take the other animals out of the picture and they only relate to you– You elevate their consciousness. So that’s why this guy’s consciousness is elevated. He knows he’s a cat. There’s no question about that. And he knows the other cats. But his relationship with me is something he can’t have with anybody else. He crawls and gets in my underarm. And talks to me and stuff. We have a special relationship, and it’s a– Anyway.
Seriously. I honestly believe — in fact I’ve heard that from people too, who get two cats. “The cats just play with each other. They won’t do this… and they won’t give me any attention.” Yes. Of course. They’re going to play with each other first. You know… So– Anyway. Learn from other people’s mistakes.
Here we go. Next one.
Are you competitive or passive?
Why is winning important to you?
Everybody should want to win. But why is it important TO YOU? What does winning mean? Define it. That’s very important.
Uh… Do you prefer to talk or listen? And why?
Talk, or listen, and why? You’ve got to do all three. You’ve got to prefer one or the other. You either talk more or listen more. Okay? Some people don’t do either. They don’t talk. They don’t listen. They’re really a mushroom.
Okay. Here we go.
Do you usually try to win or compromise?
Ah… Get your own answer.
But my answer is unfortunately compromising. Now I actually– Well, that’s not entirely true. You see I actually– Bear — I can actually, because I’m a strategist, I kind of like intermix them. I’ve learned how to compromise now to win later. You know… And I don’t know about win now to compromise later. That doesn’t seem likey a— a useful thing. [laughs] But it could be. I can actually see how that could possibly be. But no. I’ve mostly been compromising as part of my winning strategy. And that’s not good. I should’ve been– even as a — even in my failed marriage I should’ve pushed harder to be me instead of compromising as much as I did. But I did. I compromised. I went for the easy soft road. I could’ve divorced. Run off with the kid. So there’s lots of things I could’ve done. And maybe should’ve done. You know, to be more successful. Maybe, the kids would be more happy. And the exwife might be more happy. So i’m not even saying I made the right choice. But the choice I did make was to play the long game. Compromise. Be in there as long as I could. I never paid child support. And I was there with my son, helping him graduate high school when he turned eighteen. He would not have graduated high school without my help. So I was right there. Right to the very end. And then they’re gone.
I played the long game. My goal was to raise my kids. So even when it totally turned bad… I spent the last five years really being unappreciated and insulted. And cussed at by my own kids. But I hung in there just because that was the plan i made and I stuck it out. So arguably it wasn’t necessarily the right way to do it but it is the way I did do it. I’m here– So there we are. I made my choices and now I’m going to live by them.
So… And I’m happy. Like i said, I’m very, very happy. So everything’s gonna work out fine.
Where are we? And I’m hoping my kids will get whatever they want in life. Because it’s obviously not what I’m offereing. So whatever they need, they need to find somewhere else. Because they know what I’ve got and they don’t want to come back for any of what I’ve got. So appreciate that. Although it’s alway gonna hurt my feelings because I always wanted them to be with me.
Where are we?
Um….oh… Are you jealous?
That’s a very important question. Everybody could say we have felt jealousy. But are you a jealous person? And we can probably define that somehow. I didn’t think this through ahead of time. But I could think of ways in girls I used to find that–And I used to realize that any girl who’s jealous–you can’t trust. And I would… the more a girl is jealous–the more there’s something you can’t trust. That’s a real imbalance. But I shouldn’t have given you any clues.
Explain your possessiveness of loved ones.
Possessiveness of loved ones. You’ve gotta explain it. In other words, if you love someone… We all have certain possessions or restrictions. Or we think we are behooven to each other. So explain your concepts. Because if you’re gonna have a mate you might want to make sure she has the same concepts. Because you might find you have two different concepts of what marriage and the vows mean.
How much freedom to do you allow your mates? And why?
So are they allowed to have sex with other people? If they did, would you forgive them? Is it okay? Do you breakup? Or get back together? Tell me what’s in your wallet?
How quickly can you understand the perspectives of others?
You make think you do. But think about it. Ask other people if they think you “GET” what they’re saying?
How does this influence your motives or goals?
In other words, if you do understand their perspectives, does that change yours at all?
How much do you enjoy compromising?
Remember that? Once you know what they want– You can’t compromise until you know what somebody else wants. So, most people might think they compromise. But maybe you don’t. You’re just giving in to something to make it easier. You’re not really compromising. How do you know that? Answer the questions here.
How do you feel about accepting the blame for other people’s mistakes?
I have a certain pride in that actually. It’s kind of a shame. I don’t shame anybody. I don’t like to use that word, “shame.” But yeah, I… In my life I have a kind of honor code, street code. Or the police think certain things– Well, I wouldn’t turn people in. Or I took responsibility. Or if I had something, and it was somebody else’s… it doesn’t matter. I didn’t– I never ever turned anybody else in. So anyway, that means something to me. That’s my “street cred”– My “Street Cred” as I think they call it. My street credibility. I’ve never narced on anybody.They use to call people, “a narc” because of “Narcotics Officer.”
Okay. Are you a good negotiator in tough arguments?
Maybe. Maybe. I look for different answers. I get people to pursue different paths of inquiry. So maybe that helps come to a better answer or just an answer they would have never come to on their own… arguing. So I have some ability. As a mediator and a negotiator.
And are you capable of being unemotional? Ant any time? No matter what?
Yeah. But it does seem practical. You’ve got to learn how to shut it off. We all have emotions. So I get emotional. But I can shut them off. I’m real good at it now.
But some people can’t. People literally can’t. Some people say, “I’ve gotta take a break.” “I’ve gotta do something because I’m having an emotional…” “I can’t control my emotions!” It’s pretty pathetic but people believe that’s acceptible. And like I said, if you’re in that lower part of the herd you know… emotions become logic. Then people start saying they think with their gut. I mean they just start saying things that are totally illogical or stupid. And they’re using them as their reasoning.
So… when you start mixing down there at the bottom… it gets pretty muddy.
Okay. So, what upsets you most?
Think about that for a minute before i say what I say.
What upsets YOU most?
Okay. Hopefully you got your answer out there. Because what upsets you most is often what upsets you most that you do yourself. In other words something that would bother you the most if you did it. Like for me: lieing. It would bother me so much if I lied. I’ve told a couple lies and they haunt me forever. So when other people lie it really really bothers me. But I’m very gullible because I never lie. So I always want to think everybody’s telling the truth. But lies get in. But I don’t like them. So when they lie– “POOF” The person’s out. [laughs] I’m very very much into the truth. If you lie to me– If you don’t want to be my friend just tell me a– Don’t tell me lie. Just don’t talk to me. People don’t want to be my friend? But an’t be my friend if they lie.
Gotta get out of here before that fifteen minutes.
Man! This is a great book! That’s what I like about– Oftentimes I’m writing books, I’m writing for myself. And then I just make them so they’ll work for other people. A lot of these books like this one– This one was written 100% for me in the beginning. Then whe I formed my Kung Fu school I said, “Well, let’s change this over for my students.” And then about ten years ago I thought, “Well, maybe let’s see if I can change it over for the world.” And so, yeah. So you’re getting a kind of presentation of it. And then I’m gonna go in and record the audio book. So I recommend you go get the audio book. It’ll be recorded nicer, and you can listen to it. It o there wa pwon’t be so distracting. And hopefully I won’t ramble so much. [laughs] I’m not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing.
Alright. Let’s see. Okay, and by the way: the last question– I hurried off on the last video. Was, Do you enjoy reading how-to books? This is a how-to book: How-to put yourself together.
And by the way, I think I mentioned there was a pausing in on one of the videos. Maybe it was the last one and it kind of shut down. I think– did I do it? I think I did. You go into your SETTINGS and you put it on AIRPLANE MODE. Okay? So now you won’t get phone calls and stuff that actually shut down my recording program. But the program sends NOTICES. So I’ve told most of my programs, “DON’T SEND ME NOTICES.” My bank apps and all these different apps. I turned all the notices off on almost every single one. With a couple exceptions, including my phone which tells me when there’s something on my calendars or something. So the only way I can shut that down is tell them, “I’m asleep.” I still have to go into NIGHT MODE. So that’s AIRPLANE MODE plus NIGHT MODE and I think I can shoot without interruption. And I think that’s why it jammed up: I was getting a couple of notices. From the SETTINGS of my phone.
Okay. So here we go. #28 of the DAO TE CHING, or my version of it. The TAO OF TAOISM by me, Buddha Zhen. And this is THE DAILY TAOIST coming to you. And if this HAPPENS I’d love to be The Daily Taoist man. It’d be good for me. I’m enjoying this– maybe more than you are. [LAUGHS] It’s something that I would enjoy doing for ME. Let alone for you. Because I can’t really afford to be doing things for other people that aren’t of any benefit to what I’ve got to do now. I’ve got to focus my life. Remember? We’ve been talking about that in previous lessons. And that’s what I’m doing. I’m deciding who I am. What I am. What I’ve got to do. What’s important to me. And, kind of putting my life back in a new focus. In a new path.
# 28: Life’s lessons are learned by aggressive awareness that watches patiently.
Wow. How much of that’s me? And how much of that’s Lao Tzu? I don’t know right off hand. [LAUGHS] That’s a great line. It sounds like ME a lot. But remember this is Lao Tzu and my interpretation. So I definitely flavored this.
But here we go.
Life’s lessons are learned by aggressive awareness that watches patiently.
There’s a bunch of noise going on out there. Sorry about that. Sounds like the trash can.
Wholesome values create pathways to goals as rewards unfold naturally according to the virtues of the person who also realizes that the path rewards are not the goals.
WOW! This is great stuff! This is great stuff. We should all review this on a monthly basis. Read this book every month.
Life’s lessons are learned by aggressive awareness that watches patiently.
Say, that’s very good. And most people don’t pay attention. I mean, tell me the colors of the houses down your street when you walk to the bus stop or whatever. What are the colors? Pay attention! But in order to really pay attention that means you’ve gotta aggressively pay attention. Okay? Look at that. “Hey, I didn’t even know that house had a white porch,” you know. And then there’s a grey house, you know… You’ll start to notice.
It takes awareness. It takes an effort. Cows, no matter if they’re all looking at the same thing… They ain’t seein’ nothin’. [LAUGHS] Their–their heads just pointed that way. So that’s how most people are. Their head’s just pointed a certain direction. They don’t see nothin.’ THEY DON’T SEE NOTHIN’. What am I? Talking very educated.
Now. Let me read it one more time and we’ll continue.
Wholesome values create pathways to goals.–
(I like that. There’s always a path to the goal but let’s do it with wholesome values.)
–As rewards unfold naturally–
(In other words, you’re gonna get some rewards as you’re headed towards your goal.)
–according to the virtues of the person–
(Okay, so your values now are going to determine the rewards that are going to happen along your path. Like Trump’s rewards are scorn and scandal. And he’s gonna be– I mean, to be honest with you he’s gonna try to pardon himself. But he needs to go to court and go to jail for all of the stuff he’s done as Presideent. I’m serious. He should go to jail. Yeah. We’ve gotta. We’ve gotta let people know in the future that they can’t just hijack our government and get away with it. He needs to go to jail. But anyway, those are his rewards that should unfold naturally.)
–according to the virtues of the person–
(His virtues are very very illegal.)
–who also realizes that the path rewards are not the goals. —
(And he realizes that these– Well actually, that’s one of the reasons he’s so screwed up. He thinks that all these rewards that he’s getting: these payolas and everything… He thinks these are his goals. That’s why he’s gonna pay the price for that. His goal should’ve just been: to be a good President. Do the best for our country and all this. But no. He’s just picking all the fruit off the tree. And it’s like, “We want you to help us run this farm.” And he says, “Oh sure!” And then he goes in and slaughters all the animals… and eats all the stuff… He’s just making a mess of the whole place. He’s not taking care of it. He’s not making it better than when he got there. He’s just pillaging. So that’s our President: pillaging our country. Pillaging our democracy.)
Okay. Here we go. What time is it? Five minutes? Okay. I’ve got a fifteen minute limit to get this on IGTV.
How much effort do you put into learning something new every day? [LAUGHS]
Every day! What do you put into learning something new? It’s so frustrating.
I’ve got a friend I’m trying to get to work with — I don’t want to say names, but a fellow producer. I’m just trying to get him to work on one of movie projects. “I don’t have time. I can’t even put in an hour a week.” You know, he’s just– So anyway, he doesn’t learn anything new every day. I’ve known him for quite a few years, I couldn’t tell you what he’s learned. I couldn’t tell you what he’s learned in the last few years. Nothing as far as I can tell.
But anyway–
Describe your patience.
Describe your impatience.
How much does it bother you when people are late?
How much does it bother you when people are late?
Are you good at ‘killing time’ — when you have to wait?
Are you good at killing time when you have to wait?
How do you do it? So what are the ways you do kill time if you have to? See what… anyway–
Do you squeeze Kung Fu– (Remember I told you I wrote this for my students.) –Do you squeeze Kung Fu practice in when unexpected gaps appear in your day?
When I was in Salt Lake City I was going to mix down, well I did. I paid a mastering engineer. I had to get it mastered so I could make a CD. And then I didn’t have enough money to make CDs. It was two or three years later I ended up getting a CD made. Sheesh. Being poor sucks!
Being poor has always hindered the production of my life and my ability to even help my family.
But as far as my stepfather was concerned: That’s okay. He didn’t care how much my family or me suffers or that I’m homeless. He’s just my FATHER.
I’ve got to go to a different planet. This planet sucks! Sorry I said that. This is a horrible planet to live on. [LAUGHS] Unless you want to be a cow. If you like working it’s a great planet. It’s a slave planet. If you want to just work and get paid–this is where you go. The planet to come and have a job.
Alright. Where were we?
Um, How much does it bother you– Oh, anyway. When I was waiting, the guy was almost an hour late. But when I was waiting for him I was doing all my Kung Fu practice. It was a morning thing. So he was supposed to be there like 9:30 or 10:00… He got there at like 11:30. I forget but he was an hour, almost an hour late. And I don’t even care what his excuse was. But the point is that while I was waiting I was doing all my Kung Fu workouts. So by the time he got there, I’d done them all. I’d done my Tantuis, some stretching and all that stuff so I was like, “Yeah. I got my daily workout routine totally done.” And I went in there and mastered in the studio.
So in a way, his being late–If he would’ve been on time, I wouldn’t have done that. I wouldn’t have got that workout in before the session. But having got the workout in I was in I was even– in my prime.
So you can make the day better by taking advantage of other people’s mistakes. Work with the Tao. Don’t fight against it.
Anyway. But anyway, there’s lots of advice I could give you. But it’s not gonna do any good if you don’t have that Nature. We’ve got to build in your Nature. Otherwise my advice isn’t going to fit into your Nature.
So let’s just figure out who you are. Don’t worry about what I’m telling you is good advice. Just figure out who you are and then you can figure how to take the advice that you like, and make yourself a person who can actually utilize that advice. Okay?
So, do you squeeze Kung Fu practice in when unexpected gaps appear in your day?
Summarize your values.
That’s all it says. They’re very vague questions to me but anyway:
Summarize your values.
We all have a value system. “Yeah. I go to work and I get paid. And I expect my wife to be there and kids to be clean…” You’ve got a value system. Or I expect to be treated well at work. And have a safe place. I need a parking spot. What are your values?
Who influenced your values and how did they devleop?
So if you’re back to the worker thing and you want to work, you want to have a place for your car and stuff… Are you imitating the role model of your dad or your mom? It’s one of those types of relationships and scenarios that your trying to fit into it. And feel omfortable… taking over that cog in the wheel.
Remember, I’m not making value judgments. I mean, you can probably tell that I don’t ascribe to some of these things…
Here we go. Fast. These are not– My value is to make you happy. Don’t try to be an artist like me. And I shouldn’t try to be a worker like you. See? We’ve just gotta play in our– We’ve got to find our Tao. Our Natures.
How many of your values were developed by you as opposed to the ones your parents may have taught you?
And remember that later– like fifteen years later, 20 years later I wrote the ACT ZEN book. Act Zen to Be Zen. And that’s based a lot on this book, and Buddhism, and a lot on my UCLA script writing classes. I learned about character development. So I put all that together: that’s ACT ZEN. Great book. Great book. Another one of those books you’d like to read at least once a year.
How many of your values are your parents and your religion’s teachings?
So look at– Where are your values coming from? Okay. So you said a minute ago that you have values: “I will not lie. I will not cheat. I will not steal. I will not kill.” Not everybody makes that value. Hopefully you do. Put that value down on–If you can write down, “I do not– I will not kill.” Really. I’d like to see you write that down.
Let’s see. So how many of your values are from your parents? And how many are from your religion?
Kind of separate them out and know where you’re coming from. And then you can say, “Oh what about all these other values I’ve got?”
Well, where’d those come from?
Kind of put yourself together. That ‘s what ACT ZEN does. It figures out where you learned everything. And where everything you do came from.
As an actor you need to know all your motivations. We’re not going into the spiritual thing. I didn’t even mention the spiritual thing back then. I’m just looking at your psychology of how you react and act. Which is mostly programmed, environmental.
But as we of course have always noticed whenever we do character program. A lot of people seem to be born in with certain traits. And now my SOUL THEORY explains them.
Here we go.
Despite all your values, how do you determine right from wrong?
You’ve got all these values working for you , but what do you really– How do you choose right from wrong?
“Well, it’s whether I like it or not.” “Smells good or it doesn’t smell good.”
What is it? How do you determine it?
What’s my time. Twelve minutes. Okay.
Explain the– It says, Oh–
List your virtues.
How are you a virtuous person? How are you a role model? How are you better than average?
How are you virtuous? How are you better than the average person?
Got any virtues? Hope so.
Explain the significance of money to you.
Okay? How significant? My relatives all call it, “My money.” “That’s my money.” “I don’t want the government taking it.” “Less government is less money…” They’ve got all these weird perspectives. Their money. Their money. They’ve all been bankrupt with their money. They’ve taken their money and they’ve all been bankrupt. All my relatives, they’ve all gone through at least one bankruptcy. I think every single one of them. They’re all Republican. It’s a normal thing I think.
Gotta hurry up. Thirteen minutes.
Explain the significance of money to you.
Like I said, my parents they get theirs. My mom said she’s gonna die with it. Remember I told you, my step father died and won’t give any. My mom says they’re taking it to the grave. They don’t think it’s right to even give it to me when they’re dead. I have no idea what he did with all his money. He’s a millionaire. Well he probably gave everything to her. But it, yeah. So I guess she’s got everything. So she’s a double millionaire.
But anyway, she said when she dies I’m not gonna get any. My parents! Like I said, I’ve got to find a better planet. I’ve gotta find a planet with good parents on it.
What rewards have come to you recently?
And be thankful. We’ve gotta be thankful. Because I actually did get a few rewards from my parents. Even my horrible realtives. They actually bailed me out a couple of times. One of my cousins without– I told him I’d make it a donation to Tai Chi Youth, but it was really to me. He gave me a thousand bucks. And without that I couldn’t have been able to rent the truck and everything to escape. I would’ve been stuck in Vegas even longer. So I give thanks to my cousin for that. One of my brothers gave me his old car when he replaced it. So I do get little things. And I do remember every one of these little things… I appreciate them. But overall… you know…
I’ve gotta hurry real fast.
What rewards have come to you recently?
What rewards are near?
What rewards do you have coming up here?
What goals were completed recently of yours?
And what goals are near?
Real fast.
So remember these rewards and goals may tie together and that’s what we’re kind of looking for.
I’ve gotta hurry and end this here.
But look at your goals and then look at the rewards you’re getting and try to figure out the relation and put your virtues–look at the whole thing and see if Lao Tzu is right.
Alright. Welcome back to the Daily Tao. Buddha Zhen here. And I’m on TAONUMBER 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.
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.
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…
