March 2024

Daily Taoist 1_52 – Buddha Zhen Reads TAO #31a – Love of Weapons are Vile Lusting for Death

/ Daily Taoist, Tao of Taoism, Taoism / By

YouTube Video TRANSCIPTION: Daily Taoist 52

Alright. Hey, I’m back.

This is great stuff to talk about. I’m just wondering how much to say sometimes.

But here we are. The Daily Taoist back. Buddha Zhen here. And we’re reading from my TAO OF TAOISM. How to improve your life using the DAO TE CHING. The BOOK OF CHANGES by Lao Tzu about 2,200 years ago.

Anyway, we’re on #31a. And #31a of the Tao of Taoism, my interpretation of the Dao Te Ching.

Now I love Confucianism. Now you’ve gotta remember I’ve gone from being a Hippie– I’m still a hippie. An enlightened hippy.

Us hippies were just kids. Kids rebelling against our parents. Yeah. [LAUGHS] We were a bunch of kids rebelling against our parents. But we were doing it with art. We were looking at a lot of things we disagreed with. And I still disagree with. We had some great core values to being a hippie. In terms of wanting to do music and stop the war. The free love thing got a little out of control. But it was about marriage. Because marriage was required–and all this type stuff. And for women who had sex before marriage–they were “ruined.” They were like soiled goods. So they were lowered in society so we needed to kind of change the way society thought. So that’s what the hippies did. We changed all that. Before that, a woman couldn’t have sex before marriage or she was called all kinds of things forever.

Obviously, that’s not the case anymore. So we changed that.

So anyway, “Thank you hippies!”

But anyway, as a hippy I’ve come to realize that a lot of the structure and the rules… We burned down the R.O.T.C. buildings because that was basically where they were trying to sign up kids to go kill them over in Vietnam. And I totally agree with that and the fact that we pushed so hard. I mean we shouldn’t have to push so hard. And you push hard like that and then you should get a response. The response we got from our government was horrible.

You’d think that if you had a revolution and you revolt, then the government should go, “Oh. These people have something important to say.” No. The louder you scream about things being wrong the more the government is often times going to turn around and actually look at you as being a foreign enemy and start killing and shooting your kids. Just because you’re making too much noise. That’s what they did.

Kent State Murder Day is coming up and–I started that last year. I got booked for that accidentally and then realized what it was and made that the focus of my whole show. And every year I’d like to do a show. And this year, I’ll try to do an online show. I mean, I’ve got to plan it. I… think.. I would… I feel kind of obligated to.

So anyway. Getting back to this. I’m a hippy, but I’m an enlightened hippy. I see things from a bigger picture than I did when I was a kid.

So here we go. #31a.

The celebration of victory and love of weapons– ‘kay.

The celebration of victory and the love of weapons–

(tanks, rockets, stealth bombers)

–are vile lusting for death.

Is it “A vile lusting for death?” or is it just, “vile lusting for death?”

So in other words, every one of those things you’re saying is beautiful–was designed to kill people.

That’s it. Not even for hunting. Not even for animals. Not where you could actually use the carcass of whatever you kill. No. It’s to obliterate. It’s just destruction. The buildings. Not like, “Oh let’s just kill the people, and not hurt the buildings…” No. It’s destruction. Totally. So as we worship these things we’re worshipping total destruction. So that’s why “VILE LUSTING FOR DEATH.”

“Those people gotta die!” You can’t just take away their buildings and bodies and not have them die. That’s why death is so important.

So when you celebrate victory and the love of weapons you’re celebrating your desire to kill something. Wow!

Let’s– one more sentence. This is Lao Tzu. This is why him and Confucius may not have gotten along. They SAY they didn’t. But that’s because most people can’t harmonize these things. But you can. You can totally. I’m totally into Lao Tzu, I’m a hunter and totally into Confucianism. You can balance all these things. If you can get the proper perspective and proper intentions.

Military parades are funeral processions in advance.

This is written by Lao Tzu. Remember? Over two thousand years ago. The Emperor would have little parades you know. All his soldiers and their weapons…

Military parades are funeral processions in advance.

In other words whenever you put those things out there, it’s always because you’re showing, “Hey! This is what we’re going to use to kill some people with.” And everybody goes [gasp and clapping]. “Oh great! I can’t wait for you to dispose of them.” And in people’s backyards–you know, and kill them.

But that’s what we do. That’s what the world is. And that’s what the government tells all the people. To all the people it’s like a football team. “Yeah! I’m rooting for that team.” Even though that team’s carrying a nuclear bomb–they’re going to blow it up and kill you in the arena. “It’s my team though! And…” It’s just stupid.

Anyway. Like I said, we’re all cattle and so the cattle are excited by these parades. “Oh yeah! Let’s go kill some people!” “Who we gonna kill?” “Uh– We’ll find somebody.” [SIGH]

Okay. Let’s go down this page. Ready?

What sports do you enjoy most and why?

What sports do you enjoy most and why?

How do you celebrate victory?

How do YOU celebrate victory?

How do you feel or disregard the loser?

If you’ve ever played any game there’s always a loser. From soccer to chess.

How do you feel or disregard the loser?

Interesting. If I was to reword that– I don’t know. I haven’t read down this whole page.

How do you feel or disregard yourself?

If you were the loser– that would be an important question to ask here.

How much effort is expended to befriend the loser after the competition?

So after the competition you’ve won, how much effort do you spend to be friends with the person you just conquered? (Won, defeated… whatever.)

Explain the importance of winning.

Explain the importance of winning.

Remember, these are your words. Don’t try to answer the question the way that I want or your teachers taught, or your parents taught… Well, it might be what your parents taught, but anyway these are hopefully– These are supposedly your words. So make them your words. This whole thing. Okay? That’s important.

If you put other people’s words in you’re just fooling yourself, lying to yourself, cheating, creating a false image. Looking in a mirror that’s not reflecting your true image back. You’re lying to yourself. You’re cheating. You’re hiding… Okay… You’re a normal person.

But hopefully, by reading this book you’re going to able to not be a normal person. You can stop hiding from yourself. Start seeing the truth.

How–okay. What do you do with your winnings and trophies?

Okay, so if you’re in a competition: and you win something, and you get a trophy or whatever: What do you do with it? Where are they? All your winnings and trophies. What have you done. Explain your thing in your life. Where are they?

Do you celebrate with liquor? And what else?

Do you celebrate with liquor? And what else?

Do you take time off after a contest and rest from training?

Do you take time off after a contest and rest from training?

Shifu suggestions:

That last one was a setup too. It was to see if actually, when you have a contest, if it’s unnatural. You were having to push yourself into an unnatural reality. Compete. Because in our Kung Fu school our goal is to just always have you ready to compete all the time. Anytime. That’s it.

Explain your interest in weapons.

Explain your interest in weapons.

Can you guys see my weapons?

I don’t know if this may really jack off–make the camera go wonky, but let me see– I’ll try to move the whole stand. If we move down here and we turn–There’s a couple. There’s some more. Whoops. See that wall down there. There’s swords down below. See some whip chains, rope darts and meteor hammers. Way down there towards the end near the top there’s a couple of tiger hook swords, and there’s a whole bunch of swords there. Oh, at the very end looking at us down there is some certificates and flags of mine.

As you can see, there’s some weapons on the wall. And if you come over here there’s actually another weapon over here. Yeah, a couple. In fact way on the very top of this thing, which you can’t see, if you were to go up here, across here hanging… Is one of my first staffs I ever got. And I’ve got it in a black sash. Make it kind of sacred or whatever. Didn’t like people to touch it. It’s weird because it’s slick. It looks like it’s varnished but it’s all my sweat and oil that’s like built this varnish onto it. So I don’t like people to touch it. I pick it up– and pick it up it’s like glass. It’s amazing.

But that’s what happens when you use these staffs for a long time. They become a personal thing. Because you wear them down and they actually–I’ll show you later. But yeah, that’s the Chinese style. We’re much different.

When I was in Utah and the’d never even seen them, the Karate guys. Quite a few of them bought them from me. Because I was buying them for my students because I teach staff. In fact, a couple of them wanted me to teach a staff class at their school. But I just couldn’t coordinate between all my classes and Mr. Mom and everything else I was doing. I couldn’t fit it in. But I did work out the program to do it. I came real close.

But yeah, they were amazed at those staffs. They thought they were–the whole concept–because mostly you get a piece of wood, it’s a dowel. Just a little spinter from a big tree. But this is the whole tree. When you look at my staffs there. The whole tree and the branches come out all the sides. It’s really amazing. It’s called White Waxwood. Look it up on the internet.

Here we go. How many minutes we got. Ten? Let’s finish this thing. How we doing.

Explain your interest in weapons.

Oh, that’s what I did.

How do these weapons portray you?

Well for me they represent all the different things I was exploring. Exploring the body and possibilities. So these weapons–I don’t think there’s anything else you can do.

How do these weapons portray you?

They portray me because all of these weapons require mastery and a certain kind of focus. Like musical instruments, each one requires a certain kind of relationship. You have to understand that in its own terms. In an intimate way. Each of these weapons. That kind of represents how I am. I tend to be very intimate in each of my projects. And each of my weapons. And each of my musical instruments. So I get a relationship with it. So that I’m not forcing it to just do what I want it to do–I’m figuring out how to — from what its Tao is, its’ Nature — how I can extract of harmonize with it. To create this other third thing. The instrument plus me creates the third thing.

Okay. How do you feel when using your weapons?

I get out here at night when its all dark . I need more room. And I’d just spin them around a little more. The chains kind of rattle a lot. [LAUGHS] In the dark’s cool too. Just come out here in the dark. It’s two in the morning. “Can’t sleep.” [swish swish] Alright. Then I go back to bed.

Okay. Explain how you imagine using these weapons?

That was a long time ago. But that’s gory. That’s why I enjoy playing with them so much now. That’s because I’ve gotten past that. But no, you’ve got to imagine lopping off arms and legs and stabbing… You’ve got to go through that phase. You have to learn the weapon. What they were designed for. And then I can play with them and use imaginary monsters…

But yeah, you’ve got to get past that gory stuff. I had nightmares for a few years. That was back in the mid-eighties. But I did. I’d have nightmares about them–actually using these weapons. Hurting, killing people. Death. So I had to get past that. Now I realize how dangerous they are. Like shooting a gun. You’ve got to realize this gun can shoot somebody. You’ve gotta, you’ve gottta accept that fact. You cannot like say, “Oh that’s not gonna hurt somebody because I’m not gonna touch it.” The moment you touch it–it can kill somebody. You’ve gotta come to grips with that. And then you’ve got to decide never to do it. See? So you’ve gotta go past that part. You know, I think that’s the problem with a lot of young people. They haven’t gotten past that. They haven’t learned the weapon. They haven’t learned to shoot it. They haven’t felt the power of the weapon. And then the respect for the weapon. It’s kind of got to go in that order.

A motorcycle. Well the first thing you’ve got to do is learn how to drive it without killing yourself. Then you get cocky on it. Then you’ve gotta get past cocky and get safe. And that’s the same with a gun. Just like a motorcycle. It’s got those LEVELS OF LEARNING. That’s what I call them. And I do. I teach the “8 LEVELS OF LEARNING.” And that does it.

Okay. Here we go.Are we going to finish? I’ve got thirteen minutes. I’ve got a make it in fifteen.

Explain how you imagine using these weapons.

I already did.

Explain your peer group and circle of friends.

Wooow. I’m not sure…Well, because we’re talking about celebrations. So your peer group are all the people you celebrate with. And do things together.

Explain your peer group and circle of friends and then think of them in terms of military and processions and I don’t know. Plug them into this. You’re in the army, those are your fellow soldiers. If you’re not in the army they’re still your fellow warriors and citizens who believe in war and see the parade and think of bombing people.

Describe any membership requirements and dress codes you enjoy.

This is where people say Confucius and Lao Tzu– Lao Tzu says kind of like a hippie, “I don’t want to dress in all these things…” But if you’re in the court and you’ve got to do this. And you’ve got people coming from other countries–you’ve gotta impress them. You can’t go in there in a T-shirt. You know, you’ve got to look like–anyway.

So there’s a harmony. There’s a natural Tao to being in government. Different than when you’re working in the field. You wouldn’t wear a tuxedo when you’re out there working in the rice paddies. So you’ve gotta harmonize with each of these situations. And that’s what people got confused with when they read this stuff.

Oh, real fast: Explain your loyalties.

And like we said earlier, when Trump asked for loyalties in the government–that meant that they were already corrupt. Because no government would ever give loyalties to its ruler when he asked for it. So that means that all those people who bowed to him were already the people who were corrupt. So everyone who liked Trump in the beginning–that’s your swamp. Those are the people you’ve got to get rid of if you ever want to end the war.

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

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Philosopher Poet

Daily Taoist 1_51 – Buddha Zhen Reads TAO #30 Cruelty, Destruction, Arrogance are Evil Persons

/ Daily Taoist, Tao of Taoism, Taoism / By

YouTube Video TRANSCRIPT: Daily Taoist 51

My Tao was saying, “Let’s go take a break.”

Then my other Tao was saying, “Hey! Let’s keep going!”

So it’s like, alright… Let’s compromise. We’ll do one more and then we’ll take a break. [LAUGHS]

You’ve gotta work with yourself. You know you can’t just push yourself all the time. You’ve gotta–You’ve gotta find your own Yin and Yang. So here it is: I’m going to do this #30 and take a break.

#30 of the TAO OF TAOISM. Written by me, Buddha Zhen, Richard Del Connor, Zhen Shen-Lang. Based on the book by Lao Tzu which I call THE BOOK OF CHANGES. Okay? Dao Te Ching. The Book of Changes.

It’s about basically the book of all the– everything changes. The book–Or you could even call THE TAO nothing but “Changes.” Because THE TAO doesn’t exist. It’s just your way of trying to understand: what was–what is now–what it’s becoming… It’s just a constant flow of change. All reality is a constant flow of change.

Okay. Here we go. #30.

Cruelty, destruction, and arrogance
are unnatural evil forces.

Man! Should mail a copy of this to– Well, Trump’s not gonna– He doesn’t read. You see? That’s the problem. Trump could never do this book. Trump is never going to be a better person. He’s always going to be a terrible, terrible person. Because he’s not capable of reading this book. That’s a shame. Because I would like to at least improve him. It’s not like I want to– hurt him. He deserves to be hurt. He’s hurt lots of people. Even killed–anyway, inadvertently perhaps killed people. Yeah, what to do with that guy? Put him in prison. Make him read my book the rest of his life. Heck–

Okay, #30.

Cruelty, destruction, and arrogance are unnatural evil forces.

Remember, I define evil as anything that works against the good of the person. In other words, anything I don’t want you to do to me is evil. I don’t want you to take my car. That’s evil. I don’t want you to take my house. That’s evil. I don’t want you to shoot me. That’s evil. I don’t want to go without food. I don’t want you to take my food and make me hungry. That’d be evil. Anything that hurts me is evil. Anything that helps me is good. Hey, you’re gonna give me some more food. That’s nice. That’s a good thing to do. You’re gonna give me some more money. Hey, that’s a good thing. Gonna give me a better car. That’s a good thing to do. Thank you, I could use it. See? All these things are good.

See? You can see the difference between good and evil. One helps the person. And one hurts the person. So–

Do you enforce laws, rules, and punishments for disobeying those laws and rules you dislike?

Alright. Let’s read that again. I’ll read it maybe twice. Make sure we get it right.

Do you enforce laws– (Okay, so do you like a parent) –enforce laws rules and punishments for disobeying rules and laws you dislike?

Like what about smoking pot? Now what if a policeman smokes pot. They probably test him so much he couldn’t. Anyway, if he could, but he wanted to smoke pot, but he’s gotta arrest other people and put them in handcuffs for doing it. Even though it’s something he wants to do. See thats… So he’s enforcing a law that he dislikes.

Do you believe that when a person breaks a law they should “pay the consequences?”

Ah. Should people suffer? Should you make them atone for it. Okay? There’s a whole bunch of answers to that but I’m just looking for yours right now. I’m not sure if this is the place to go into all the psychology and everything of what’s going on here.

So let’s just go through this and I’ll try to influence you as little as possible. [LAUGHS] Because if you’re seductive [sadistic] evil qualities–You need to see them. You need to let them out. So I don’t mean to– I’ll probably. You’ll probably be hiding them, “Oh, I’m not gonna say that. He’s not gonna like–” So don’t write it for me. Write it for you. Write the truth in this book and then look at it, and then that’s the only way you can get better. You can’t hide from yourself. Well YOU CAN. In fact, that’s probably what you’ve been doing your whole life. Everybody who’s looking at this has probably hid from themselves to some extent.

Me? I mean, I wasn’t trying to. I was trying to be something I wasn’t. So I was trying to hide my artistic Nature. I was trying to be a Carpenter when I wanted to be a Musician. So I was kind of hiding a little bit.

So, yeah. We all do it in our own way. How do you– Okay.

Do you believe that a person who breaks a law should “pay the consequences?”

Do you believe the rule, “Spare the rod–and you’ll spoil the child?”

Do you believe in that rule? That it’s correct? Spare the rod and you’ll spoil the child?”

Do you believe that too much patience or affection will “spoil the child?”

So in other words, if you don’t punish them enough they’re not going to be good. And if you’re too good to them, they’re not gonna turn out good.

“Spoil the child.” Do you ever say, “spoil the child?” “You’re spoiling him.” Do you ever say that? Have you ever used the word, “spoil?” (In regards to other people.) Have you ever said it?

Can you kick or hurt a dog, cat or other small animal when they misbehave?

In other words, when they’ve done something bad. They’ve pee-ed on the floor. Or something that really just makes you mad. They’ve done it before. Do you kick them? Punish them?

Do you enjoy hunting animals?

I guess, “enjoy.” Now I used to– I’m a hunter. Was a hunter? I’ll always be a hunter. If I had to I’d be a hunter now. But if I don’t have to I don’t really want to. I’ve got other things more important. [LAUGHS]

But anyway, as a hunter do you ENJOY hunting animals?

Let me tell you, because you probably aren’t a hunter. There aren’t many hunters around. Last twenty years they’ve kind of disappeared. Everybody’s afraid of guns.

The point being: as a hunter I don’t enjoy killing animals. But I do enjoy hunting. So I don’t care if I ever even catch–if I’m successful. I always enjoyed every hunting expedition I’ve been on whether or not I bagged anything. Seriously. I’ve always enjoyed them equally. The one’s where we did actually kill something were actually more problematic and had more stuff. And you gotta gut ’em, and hang ’em, and bleed ’em and drag ’em back in the snow. It’s a lot of work actually killing an animal and bringing it back. So I wouldn’t call that more fun. I wouldn’t say I enjoyed that part. So I enjoy hunting, and maybe I enjoy hunting less [more] when I’m unsuccessful.

Do you enjoy killing people?

And then in parentheses I put, “in games.” [LAUGHS]

I remember this one little kid I was talking to and he was all proud of himself because he’d had 29,000 kills in one year. So in one year he was proud he had killed 29,000 individuals. Of course they were supposed to all be bad, but you know they were still ranging from probably elves, fairies and dwarves and demons and humans and soldiers and whatever. 29,000 people killed. Because you were aiming at them and trying to kill them. So that’s 29,000 to actually go, “I want you to die. Die. I want you to die. Die. Die.”

Even when I was hunting, I wasn’t really saying, “I want you to die.” It was more like a contest of trying to–of anyway… You’re just–

Okay. Where are we?

So, do you enjoy killing people? (In games.)

Low battery. Sheesh. I told you I’d have to take a break right after this.

Here we go.

Explain your viewpoint on guns.

I keep mentioning this. So lay out yours. Say it to yourself. What’s your viewpoint on guns. “They’re all evil…” Say whatever you believe. Okay?

Which sports do you enjoy? And why?

Which sports do you enjoy? And why?

Everybody’s got certain sports. But why not the other ones? Why this one over that…? Think about it. Maybe you don’t even know. But think about it. Why didn’t you choose football instead of soccer? Why didn’t you choose badminton instead of tennis? Probably can’t find badminton on TV. [LAUGHS]

Alright. Here we go.

What should be done with homeless persons?

Oooh. Remember. I wrote this book back in the eighties. Rewrote it in the nineties. Last rewrite was ten years ago before I ever knew I was going to be a homeless person. Although I had lived out of my van a couple times in the eighties. I started my record company that way. I was a union carpenter working at the airport at LAX for a year and a half or something. And I lived out of my car. I got the job and realized it was one of those like long haul jobs and I was the Steward and so I was going to be one of the last people fired on the job. Which is kind of cool. Sometimes you’re just hired and you go for a couple of weeks. And then you’re gone. But in this case I was the Union Steward so that was a long term job. So I would just work. Go to my Kung Fu school. And then I’d go park at the beach. And do my Kung Fu and play music in my car or go to band rehearsal. That was in the mid-eightes. Mid-eighties.

Where were we? Yeah. Maybe 1982, ’84. It was before the ’84 Olympics. So it would have ben ’83 before the Olympics. Maybe I was working when it started. I’m not sure.

Explain your viewpoint on– Okay– Oh– Explain your viewpoint on guns.

Explain your viewpoint on gun laws.

Okay. So you said guns. Tell what you think on gun laws. I never thought this was going to be an issue. But it was a long long time ago I wrote this. Before this became this hotbed thing.

Explain your viewpoint on other weapons.

So me, I’d bring up nunchuks. You don’t even know what they are probably. They had a big heyday because of Bruce Lee. He made nunchuks famous. For like ten years every criminal and every person in the world carried nunchuks. And that’s why they had to make all these laws against nunchuks. It’s because of Bruce Lee. If he would’ve never made nunchuks famous they would have never had to make laws that they were illegal. So that’s the one thing he did. He made nunchuks famous. And now nunchuks are dead. Kung Fu is dead. Bruce Lee is dead.

What are your favorite wars and why?

What are your favorite wars and why?

Remember. A lot of people just love World War II things. I’ve actually got a World War 2 book. And as soon as I wrote it I get all this advice: “You’ve gotta put World War II on here. There’s all kinds of people–that’s all that they look for is World War II stories and World War this… So, yes…A lot of people have favorite wars. They just love to keep them alive in their minds and their worlds and their books and their videos. They… anyway–

So WHY do you like those wars?

Put the whole answer there. You might be surprised, or hopefully you might learn something about yourself.

What are your favorite violent movies? And why?

Violent movies… and why.

Me personlly, I have BOOM Desperado. Desperado One, the scene in the bar. Where his gun case opens real slowly and they can see– “I’m just looking for the man named, Bucho.” Anyway, that scene. That movie, Desperado., I love it. Very, very violent. Ugly sometimes. I’m not trying to be the total– Goody 2-Shoes. I’m just– Let’s all be honest. But I love that battle scene. That’s one of my favorites. I just watched it. I found it on YouTube. I saw it just recently. [LAUGHS] A month ago or something. I was like, “Yeah!” I had to play that scene. I just enjoyed it.

And okay. And that’s killing, horrible sadistic things.

Okay. Where were we? Where are we? Oh we’re over here on this page.

What are your favorite horror movies? Books? Or Stories?

So Horror movies, books and stories. What are your favorites? ‘kay?

I don’t even know if the “WHY” even matters because you wouldn’t want to say, “Well I like this movie where they cut up…” You don’t want to try to come up with a reason. So don’t try.

But maybe–I don’t know. Maybe if you could look at the influence why–or who got you to start looking at them or liking them. Look at maybe a few things like that. Okay?

If you were given a Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde potion– (Remember? You drink it and then you turn into your alter character? They used to call it the evil or whatever it is–that other ego–the animal ego or whatever. ) –What monster would you become?

So if you were this other monster–as opposed to the civilized animal: you know: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde- Dr. Jekyll I guess was the nice guy. And then Mr. Hyde was the really evil… Anyway, what monster would you– Describe the evil you. What would be the evil you?

And describe your car, clothes, status and social image.

I was thinking of the evil one of you. But do both of them. Do your Dr. Jekyll images of you: how you’d dress. Your car clothes and status. How they’d be different. Dr. Jekyll would maybe drive a Ferrari. Maybe, or– You figure it out. Anyway. This is for you to look at yourself. That’s what this is for.

Alright. Buddh Zhen here in thirteen minutes and this is your Daily Tao #30 and we were talking:
Lao Tzu says,

Cruelty, destruction, and arrogance
are unnatural evil forces.

And that’s what I say to you.

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Daily Taoist 1_49 – Buddha Zhen Reads TAO#28 Virtues Determine Rewards of Path to Goals

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YouTube Video TRANSCRIPT: Daily Taoist 49

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.

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