YouTube Video TRANSCIPT: Daily Taoist 63 Tao #35 Take 2
Alright. I’m starting it over again because we took five minutes to wipe my cat’s butt. Yeah. But it was in that last video. We had a poo-poo break. And I raised kids. I wiped their butts for years every day all day long I was the only one wiping their butt for years. So butt wiping is very normal to me. In fact it’s one of those things you take seriously. It’s your job so you’ve really got to make sure you do it good and diaper rash is a nightmare. And she — my daughter had diaper rash two or three times. I’m not sure. Only a couple times. But we dealt with it. It was a nuisance. You’ve got to really work to prevent it. Once you get it — it’s horrible. So I just always worked hard to make sure she never got diaper rash. It means cleaning the diapers real real frequently.
Here we go.
Buddha Zhen Shen-Lang, former Mr. Mom. Reading from the DAO TE CHING. My version of it called the TAO OF TAOISM. I converted it and then I made all these questions and answers so you take the Lao Tzu thing and then you kind of figure out how to implement it. Because what good is wisdom unless you implement it. It’s not even wisdom. It’s just knowledge, or information. So the only time it becomes wisdom is when you use it.
Here we go. #35. The last one we’re gonna do here.
A person who is aware of ultimate realities attracts the confidence of others through security, contentment, and self-satisfaction.
And that’s where I fall short. Remember? That ultimate reality that I was telling you Mitch McConnell’s hijacked our– Yeah. The ultimate reality. When I had the ultimate– I didn’t have– I never ever had the ultimate reality. Even when I was the Mr. Mom, the mother was still paying some of the bills. She worked for Xerox. So even though she wasn’t with us, or staying with us, she would still pay the bills. The rent and give us grocery money. So I was still not the ultimate reality. I did not control the money. Because she controlled the money she thought she got last say and had more power over me than I had over her. And because that was her life– If it was the other way around. I’m sure she wouldn’t believe that. If I had the money, she wouldn’t have acquiesced to me having the control. But anyway. That’s the way she saw it. So that’s the way we worked with it. So I never had ultimate reality. This is the first time I’ve had my ultimate reality since I met her in 1989.
So since 1989, and it’s 2020. YIKES! I gave up my ultimate reality for thirty years. So I could kind of control my ultimate reality being homeless but that was a heck of a way to start having an ultimate reality. “Okay. We’re going to start your life from here. You get a car. And a cat. And that’s it. [laughs] That’s a bad start for an ultimate reality.
An ultimate reality like Mitch McConnell controls the Senate. He’s a millionaire. Or billionaire. And he’s got all these billionaires connected that he tells everybody, “Okay. I want you meet with him.” “And you’re gonna do this deal.” But he sets all the other Senators up with deals. So that they’re all doing illegal things. Every single one of those Republican Senators has taken lobby money from people they should’ve never taken it from and Mitch McConnell makes sure that they’re all in that web drinking that poison money. So that’s all they do is suck off that poison money and then they all have to play the same game. You know, they’re all in the same game getting that poison money. And they love it because there’s lots of it.
So anyway. But that’s the problem I guess. That’s why I can’t answer this question the way I did because I’ve never been able to provide that ultimate reality. To provide the ultimate reality you have to have enough money that people want to hang around you. You know, like somebody like Elon Musk. So what if he’s really smart? But he’s got a lot of money. So that’s why people like him. If he was just smart–nobody’d give a damn. [laughs] But if you’re smart and you’ve got money a lot of people care. In fact people don’t even care that he’s smart. In fact, people make fun of that or something. People don’t even appreciate it and respect it because they don’t know what being smart is. So, so most people think that, “Oh. It’s like having a third leg. Oh, you’ve got a third leg. Okay. Great.” You know so, “Glad I don’t have a third leg.” They don’t even–so they see it as a disadvantage.
Okay. Anyway… So I’ve never had the ultimate reality. That’s, that’s why I couldn’t answer this question. I was having trouble with these answers. So anyway. Now I’ve got the ultimate reality. But my ultimate reality is that I’m totally broke so nobody’s gonna come running to me… Watch what happens when I get a bunch of money. This is gonna be interesting. See, if my ultimate reality finally changes after thirty years of poverty: only because i have a whole bunch of money. That’s gonna be an interesting thing to see.
So. What about me gives people confidence in me? I mean my Kung Fu and my ability–my being smart and nice, happy. Those things have given people confidence in me. You know, so… A lot of my good qualities, my virtues: give people confidence in me. But not my finances, or my material life doesn’t interest most people. People are into bling. I got no bling.
What about you lessens people’s confidence in you?
Well, being homeless. Or poverty. That seems to shake everybody’s confidence right off the bat. [laughs] But YOU. I’m answering these questions too quickly. What about you lessens people’s confidence in you?
How could you gain more confidence from other people?
Alright?
When– How could I gain it? Here’s the irony for me. It’s like we were saying earlier. Is that I’ll gain– When other people like me. Then other people will like me. It’s like that decoy duck thing. Right now nobody likes me. So nobody likes me. But the moment a whole bunch of people like me–then a whole bunch more…It’s gotta be that like snowball thing. Hopefully. And uh- but yeah. I don’t have that snowball thing going yet.
Can you help me? If you get the snowball thing going. on these videos, The Daily Taoist. I’ll continue doing this. This’ll be fun.
But… When someone threatens you–what is your confidence?
Oooh. You answer that first.
If someone threatens you, what is your confidence?
I have two things. Number one, I talk my way out of most things. Okay. The second thing is I know that if I’m threatened… or if threatened: I’m not going to react. But the moment I think I might get killed: then I’ve got a whole bunch of stuff I could do and I hope I don’t do it. I just know that there’s something in there. It’s like having a knife in your pocket but you don’t want to use it. Because you don’t know where you’re gonna stab the person, but if you had to, you’re gonna pull it out. So I don’t want to ever use my self-defense. I don’t really think that way. I’ve always got other things. Talking and stuff. It’s never my first priority.
Where are we? So anyway. It gives me a little confidence. Knowing that knife is in my pocket makes me negotiate more because i don’t want to have to use my knife. So that makes me work harder to NOT get to my self-defense. Which is the opposite of the Karate people. Karate people go to class every time to beat people up and get beat up. So their first line of defense is to threaten and intimidate. So they don’t have the buffer zones that I do. For mree the fighting is way, way, way back there. For them it’s the first line of defense. They threaten. And intimidation. So I don’t agree with that.
Describe your fears of being mugged, robbed or molested.
Hey. I was just homeless for seven years. I was around all the muggers and molesters and robbers. [laughs] I was living with them. Living with them literally. I mean, in my room i had a guy who was in prison for murder mansalughter. A junkie over here. This guy, he was a drunk. But well he was a thief. He was definitely a thief. Anyway. So was that guy. This guy was a tweaker. The junkie was also a tweeker. And he was a dealer. That’s how he finally got kicked out of the place. He got caught dealing.
Anyway, um, So describe my fears. Not much. So like, they were my neighbors. It was… [laughs] I should have more fear.
What is your self-defense?
What’s YOUR self-defense. Everybody should have something. And don’t say, “That shotgun back in my closet.” [LAUGHS] Like I told you, mine’s talking. My being able to talk. And then there’s a few little tricks and things I know before I’d ever have to get to fighting I could do. In fact, even if I did get in a fight, a couple times I’ve disguised it. It wasn’t even a fight. Just a move here and there. Well, I’m not gonna get into that.
Where were we? Because we’re not half way through.
What in your home gives you security?
What in YOUR home gives YOU security?
Answer that in your own way.
What in your home gives you contentment?
So something in your home. What about the home? Gives you contentment? Your garage. I don’t know.
What gives you contentment?
What at out your represents your self-satisfaction?
I can finally make an answer: ME. Everything that I am and have is in this home. So this home is me. So this home is a place I can be me with me. And do things that are important to me.
Do you keep weapons readily positioned at home, and why?
Oh that’s a good question. And I was just asking myself this yesterday. I saw this video of people lining up at the gun store. Buying ammo and everything. I thought, “Wow.” If this does turn into an end of the world situation–youknow, and people are breaking into each others’ houses…for food and supplies and money and stuff… how do I defend my home? What’s my line of defense here. And so I started thinking. Do I put weapons around the place? Or whatever. And I was thinking last night if I was right here and somebody blew a hole in the door and came in… What would I do? The first thing. So I started playing out a few scenarios in my mind of what I would just take off the walls… and in that particular case I was standing over there and I picked up my monk spade and I said I’m just throwing it right through that opening… [BZ gets emotional] Dont’ wanna get into it. Yeah. Don’t attack me. Okay? I don’t want to hurt anybody. I really don’t. [pufffffff] Okay.
Um. Where were we?
What gives you contentment?
What satisfies your conscious self away from home?
What do you like when you’re away from home?
What satisfies you?
And what satisfies your subconscious when you’re away from home?
So when you’re away from home. That child in you misses your home. And the adult in you misses the home in two different ways.
You have two different relationships. I’m just trying to get you to identify with your home in a different way. You probably have whole different answers than me. Like I said. This is my whole little library. I live in my — in my stuff. you have your own perspective.
Okay. What about your home… Let’s see. Where were we? Ah. I’m just gonna read it because it’s here.
What backup weapon do you keep in your car? And why?
And I don’t encourage this. I don’t encourage this.
In fact, I’ve always had weapons in my car for practicing. But I never practiced much. I had a couple swords. But they’re not for self defense even. That’s just because I have to have a place to put them. And whenever I do somebody with a baseball bat in their car, or something like that: I think that person might be evil. So it actually makes me distrust people when I see a weapon in their car. So you should not have a weapon in your car. [swords have been removed from car] You shouldn’t have to think that way. And if you did have to have something in your car that you could do–in the front seat. I’d, to be honest with you, I’ve got a couple drum sticks. And threatening someone with a drumstick might almost seem funny. But If I hit you hard with the stick on your hands or knuckles or your head–poke your eye out… Definitely think that guy’s formidable. So maybe that’s it. You should just carry a pair of drumsticks. That’s what I’ve got in my front seat.
Okay. But they’re not there for weapons. What I’ve beat on… You can see all the worn-out cracks and everything on my dashboard where I beat on it.
How else have you planned for disaster, danger or self-defense?
Hey. We’re in a lockdown. We’re in a disaster situation. Like a war scenario. We’re all locked in our houses with whatever we’ve got. So the fact that i was slightly prepared and had canned food and dozen rolls of toilet paper was fortuitous. And normally, in a normal lifestyle. I’d normally have all kinds of stuff, a can of gasoline and life supplies. And we got into that in Utah. The Mormons want to be like the cockroaches and outlive everybody else. So they’re actually looking forward to the end of the world so the can emerge from their foxholes and bombshelters and take over the Earth. That’s one of their prophesies. So when I was there in Utah I learned all about how to– I really did. They taught me really well about how to provide for yourself. I feel like I saw videos. Yeah I did. I probably saw it on some television shows. Proably saw some television shows that– I’m remembering videos of it. Yeah, I’m very well educatied on how to have supplies for the Armegeddon.
They say keep three to six months which I don’t. I could last a month maybe. Maybe. I’m low on water. Water supply is something I didn’t plan for.
What gives you contentment as well as those around you?
Describe your self-contentment.
Without any weapons, what would be your first weapon?
With or without weapons, how do you negotiate out of a violent confrontation?
What do you say to someone who is threatening you?
What are intimidation or negotiation powers?
What are your other stragegies of non-violence?
How do you protect others?
Who do you protect?
What are your limits in protecting others?
That’s important. Even as a Freemason we’d have to say you’d only risk your life for another mason to a certain point. We’d actually draw the line even there.
What are your limits in protecting others?
How readily would you jump into a fight to protect a friend?
I’m a little too readily on that. I’m definitely the warrior. Done it many times. I’ve actually saved a few kids.
Here we go: How much abuse will you withstand or ignore before retaliating?
In other words, how much does someone have to rile you up enough to get a punch? What do they have to say? Is there some limit? If there is– you need to know what it is.
How can you avoid being threatened?
And I’ve almost made it here. Last one.
Explain our Shaolin Chi Mantis slogan: This is my school slogan. Invented back in 1992.
THE ULTIMATE SELF-DEFENSE is SELF-AWARENESS.
And I’m gonna leave you with that. That’s the end of the book.
The Ultimate self-defense is self-awareness.
And that’s what I teach. I’m Buddha Zhen Shen-Lang.
Alright. Daily Taoist here. And I’m on NUMBER 17 and then I’m gonna cut it for today.
This is of my book, the TAO OF TAOISM – USING THE DAO TE CHING TO IMPROVE YOUR DAILY LIFE. In which Lao Tzu wrote a bunch of stuff in Chinese two thousand and some hundred years ago. And then a bunch of people translated it. And I thoug.ht some of the people didn’t really understand it As accurate as they may think they’re translating it, they may not– I don’t think they have quite the meaning. And then if you do have the meaning– How do you take that wonderful saying and implement it into your life? Like: “The most beautiful tree gets cut first.” Or “The strongest tree gets cut first.”
“Oh that makes sense.”
No. No. How do you get that into your daily life?
That’s why some people get fat and ugly. So they don’t get chopped down. They don’t want to be first chosen.
Or some people get extra dressed up and super fancy beca use they want to be first pick.
So you’ve gotta look at– There’s a Tao in everything.
So if you look at Taoism, then try to figure out how you’re– how that plays into your life, or your reality– Then it’s useful.
And that’s my goal: is to make it useful.
So we’re on NUMBER 17. On page 28 of my book, the Tao Of Taoism. T-A-O I’m spelling it, even though in Mandarin in China they say D-A-O. But to kind of compromise I’ve got, “Using the Dao Te Ching to Improve Your daily Life–to Improve Your Daily Life. I’ve got D-A-O in the subtitle. So it’s both. It’s actually D-A-O is more–the correct way now. T-A-O is the outdated way. But in America we don’t know better.
Here we go. NUMBER 17 page 28.
Tao #17 Employees / students must be as satisfied with their work as employers / teachers are with the results.
That’s an interesting harmony.
So the employees must be as satisfied with their work as their employers are with the results?
And the students should be satisfied with their work as the teachers are. With the results.
See that balance there? There’s a balance going on. A harmony.
So remember Taoism is about harmony, or finding disharmony. So you can go back to harmony. Because harmony always works better. You can use disharmony for certain purposes– like friction. Or like pain. Something you don’t want to really have.
Here we go.
Do you enjoy being productive? And how?
Do you enjoy being productive? And how?
Is your current job your career?
Explain how it is part of your path.
Remember, your path is your long-term–life plan. Or at least the next ten-year plan.
We should really plan our life in ten year chunks. By the time you get to the end of that ten years. What you wanted to do in 20 years, which is only ten years ahead–might be totally different. So ten years is a better way to plan. Think 20, 30, 40. Like me, fortunately I’ve done Kung Fu since 1980 and 2020. So forty years of Shaolin Kung Fu is kind of made me a healthier, happier guy than most people my age. So think ahead a little bit. Even then I wasn’t thinking ahead to that extent. I was really lucky. I was just thinking, “This is my path.” I put it in my path and it’s always felt right. So by being a Taoist. By being in harmony I knew I was making the right decisions and sure enough: I can say forty years later, “Yeah. I was making the right decison.” Made a lot of other right decisions too.
And I made wrong decisions. And I knew it. Not at the time. But I can tell you now I– anyway explain more later.
Here we go.
Do you enjoy satisfying your employers? And how?
When I say employers and going to mean teachers. Just interject teachers where I use employers. And if I say worker, it could be student.
Do you enjoy satisfying your employers? And how?
How are you maturing in your current job?
How are you maturing in your current job?
I don’t know how much i should be interjecting here. The “5 Souls Theory” has totally messed up my perspective of reality. Because I’ve come to realize that women– Remember my ‘5 Soul Concept?’ If you’ve been following along here. Hopefully you didn’t just jump in here at this point.
According to my ‘5 Soul Concept’ 80% of all people or more are just the WOMAN soul and the WORKER soul. You can kind of think of it as male, female. But they’re not distributed sexually. Where as a woman can be born with the WORKER soul in the first position and a WOMAN soul in the second. So in her case, she’s gonna be happier working than hanging out with the kids. Now another woman might be born with the WOMAN soul in the first position and WORKER soul here, and she’d be happy working in a day care center, working with kids. The other one wants a real job. Sorry. Not a real job but a normal job like you’d think of to make a lot of money. That doesn’t have anything to do with the family.
Now a man can be born with a WOMAN soul in the first position and a WORKER in the second. So the man who’s a WORKER soul– he’s never gonna be happy about his job. Always be complaining. So he should find the kind of job where nobody minds if he complains and he’s gonna happily complain for the rest of his life and get a paycheck. That’s fine. And he’s got a WORKER soul to keep him going. “Yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah…”complaining, but goes to work. So that’s fine. Now what if it’s a WORKER soul, then a WOMAN soul. Well, in this case the WORKER’s not going to complain. He might have a little bit more ambition. Be able to go a little farther.
He cannot be a MANAGER though. This is what I didn’t know until just the last few years. I thought that a WORKER could just be educated and mental conditioned… trained into being a MANAGER. No. I’ve worked with all kinds of people in my nonprofit and come to realize that is not true. Some people, if they don’t have that– Even with the WORKER soul, they’re still a WORKER. And even if you give them a management position–they just want to be paid and go home. But not worry about the job. They don’t have the management attitude which is the owners–taking responsibility for like a child. Adopting the business. They still just want to work. Just a higher capacity. So that’s still a worker. Not a management pereson. They can be a foreman, but not a manager.
So when I look at these questions, I have a whole different perspective on them. So when you answer them, I have a different way of analyzing them. Let’s just go with this, because I wrote this–what, thirty years ago.
Here we go.
What jobs do you do that waste your time and talents?
So what jobs are you doing that–you’re just wasting your time? Or your talents?
Maybe there’s none.
What are your reasons for keeping the job that you do have?
So whatever job you have now–Why are you going to keep it? Why would you keep it rather than quit?
What are your reasons to quit the job you have?
So if you were to quit it– What would be your reasons?
Besides a job– How else could you earn a living?
Marry well. I’d recommend that. I came from a generation threw marriage out so that option wasn’t really conditioned into me. But when I was an artist, and even when I w weras a Freemason: a lot of the Freemasons said, “You just need to marry well.” They were trying to hook me up with some Freemason widows. [laughs] Freemasons all take care of their widows. If you’re a Freemason and you die: the Freemasons will always watch out for your ex-wife. Make sure she’s fed. They’ll check on her. They have weekly things. And they have annual things where they call in all the widows and give them a chance to socialize and maybe find a new husband or something. Things like that.
Anyway. That’s an old thing that goes back for thousands of years. And then the Freemasons kind of in 1717 kind of codified all this stuff. And made it a standardized process. All masons would be good to widows.
So just saying, marrying is a good–
Sorry. See. I said I’m said, “I’m sorry.” I’m gonna interrupt again.
Besides a job. How else could you earn a living?
If you could be paid to do anything that you want to do– What would you do?
I’ve got a bunch of answers for that. What’s your answer.
If you could be paid to do anything—
If I said, “I’ll pay you $200 a day. $300 as day.” That’s not a real lot of money. But maybe a lot more than you’re used to. More than I’m used to. If I could give you $300 a day to work for me for eight hours– What would you do? How would I get my money’s worth out of you?
Do you feel guilty when you don’t have a job?
So if you’re not working. Want to be working. But you can’t seem to be working. Do you feel guilty because you’re not working?
What talents do you possess or desire to develop which could possibly be profitable?
Remember I wrote this for my students. So in a way I’m trying to nurture and look for any artists out there.
I’ve since learned that I don’t want to push people into art. Not even my own kids. I pushed them to be artists but they weren’t artists.
It was good that they got that art training. I’m never going to regret giving it to them. But I didn’t realize that it wouldn’t stick. That was an interesting thing to learn.
But if some of your talents did stick– What are they?
What talents do you possess or desire to develop that could possibly be profitable?
And maybe you’re wrong. Go ahead and dream. Answer that question.
Hey. It’s been nine minutes. I’m going to get out of here before the ten minute mark.
See ya. Daily Taoist here. Buddha Zhen
Go to ShaolinInteractive.com and sign up for $998 I think. It’s actually cheaper than these guys sell computer courses for. $1,000 is their starting price.
So anyway, for a thousand bucks and you’re going to get one year of training. You send me videos and I– It’s going to be the next best thing to being with me. It might even be better than being with me. You get that video and you can do the class over and over… Rather than trying to remember what I taught you.
Alright. How far will I go? I don’t know. I’m still enjoying myself. I think that’s a good sign. So– Let’s do– Let’s do two more.
We’re on NUMBER 10 now. (of the Tao Teh Ching)
Natural leadership is by example and balanced patterns. Resisting natural progress creates conflicts which are revealed as internal or external disturbances. More is accomplished by directing natural patterns than by forcefully changing the course of a river.
Unpacking this is a lot of work. Hearing me and not reading it probably makes it a lot harder. Let me just read the whole thing again.
Natural leadership is by example and balanced patterns. Let’s read that one line again.
Natural leadership is by example and balanced patterns. Okay? That makes sense. A parent animal.
Resisting natural progress— What the heck’s this? Like learning to walk maybe?
Resisting natural progress creates conflicts which are revealed as internal or external disturbances.
Ugh. If you were trying not to walk then it would seem like you had mental problems on the inside or whether there was an external problem like your legs are broken. So that’s resisting natural progress. You’ve got to look for what’s wrong. Maybe there isn’t anything wrong. Interesting.
More is accomplished by directing natural patterns.
Directing. Not creating. Directing natural patterns–that you’re kind of urging somewhere.
Than by forcefully changing the course of a river.
Yeah, that’s not urging. Gotta build a dam.
So yes. Okay. So more is accomplished by just gentle, I guess. Gentle pushes than– Same with teaching people characters. And that’s so true of– I was trying to help somebody the other day who’s got a very bad mental problem. He– I teach the mind like in psychology– Let’s get away from the soul thing entirely
I see that in your mind we have a– This goes back to San Diego State University days. I believe that the mind has a– it’s kind of like the subconscious and the conscious. I think we can all agree on that. But I believe there are actually two characters or IDs or egos there. The subconscious is very childlike, and trusting, and non-judgmental. It just believes everything. And then the conscious mind is scrutinizing and can be everything from trusting to not trusting. But it still makes the decisions like a soldier or a policeman. So it’s protecting the subconscious too.
So when a person watches horror movies, the conscious mind has decided, “Oh okay. I’ll get out of the way and let you watch this because it makes you excited… or gives you some emotion. Just creates chemical hormones you know. Transmit when you have fear. So unfortunately that’s not a wise decision for this guy to let the kid watch the horror movies and get scared. Feel those emotions and get those adrenaline rushes.
So anyway, I believe the mind has two different points. That was one of my examples. But anyway.
This person has a real problem with that because the little guy runs the ship. And the conscious person has almost no say in anything. It’s very, it’s really amazing. It’s– That’s why some people think this person is maybe retarded because it’s the kid mind that talks. And the kid mind talks like a little kid and says really five-year old type of things. So some people think this guy must be retarded. But he’s not. The conscious mind is very smart. Very smart. He can do– But for some reason he shut down to let this little kid take over. And his… overall life– we see that from backing up and looking at it: and we see that he’s totally like– his parents just like gave up trying to teach him. And he became a total drug addict and has no… ability to control– control himself.
So the little issue in the brain became the bigger issue in life. And you’ve got somebody whose– Yeah. So, anyway, so you can see how some people are homeless. But he really doesn’t have mental problems. He just– Well he does have a very bad mental problem, but he actually could fix it if he’d just learn how to govern himself. If he could be more self-governing: he’d be a decent person. But he’s given up and let the little kid take over.
Wow. Did I get off course there.
So here we go. I’m gonna read this thing again and then I’m gonna blast down the page and I’m not going to answer any of these questions. Because these would actually– It would depend on what business I’m talking about. How I would answer these questions.
Okay. NUMBER 10: of my book. Which is called Tao of Taoism based on Lao Tzu, the original author, a couple hundred years before Christ, writing his book the Tao Te Ching or Book of Changes. Or Book of All Changes. Or the book of How Everything is Always Changing.
Here we go: NUMBER 10: Natural Leadership is by example and balanced patterns.
That’s the natural kind.
Resisting natural progress creates conflicts which are revealed as internal or external disturbances.
So that’s that guy.
More is accomplished by directing natural patterns than by forcefully changing the course of a river.
And unfortunately the little kid screaming seemed like the river. But it wasn’t.
Okay. Here we go.
Do you enjoy leadership responsibilities?
Do you enjoy leadership responsibilities?
Remember, these are your answers. Don’t answer what you think you’re supposed to answer. Forget that. Don’t forget: this is not about the right answer. Nobody else is even supposed to see this. Okay? Unless you want to share it–which is fine. But this is only for you. So you can look at you.
Here we go: Do you enjoy leadership responsibilities?
What are your basic rules when being a leader?
If you’re a bad leader, you may have really bad rules. Fact is, if you are, you’re going to make rules. The bad leaders make the most rules.
Here we go: What are your basic rules when being a leader?
How do you enforce your rules?
How do you enforce your rules?
What examples do you set for others to follow?
What example do you set for others to follow
When do people tend NOT to follow you or disagree with you?
When do people tend not to follow your or disagree with you?
What are your balanced patterns that aid leading others?
That’s a little more interesting.
What are your balanced patterns– (your balanced patterns) that aid in leading other?
What problems do you consistently find in others?
What problems do you consistently find in others?
How do you influence other people to follow?
How do you influence other people to follow?
How do you reward those who do follow you?
How do you reward those who do follow you?
When people or jobs create difficulty or tension for you– How do you handle stress?
When people or jobs create difficulties, or tension– How do you handle the stress?
How patient are you with those who take advantage of you? Or don’t appreciate you?
How patient are you with those who take advantage of you? Or don’t appreciate you?
Then you can talk about how impatient you are. You get the topic.
Do you enjoy caring for other persons?
I’m not saying ‘will you.’ Remember, think of the truth. Answer truthfully. That’s the most important thing. If you lie to yourself– Gosh. How can you ever get smart?
Do you enjoy caring for other persons?
Do you inquire as to other people’s problems and try to help on a daily basis?
Do you inquire as to other people’s problems and try to help them on a daily basis?
How do you help people?
How do you help people?
Do you mind your own business and stay out of other people’s affairs?
Do you mind your own business and stay out of other people’s affairs?
Do you prefer to stay out of your affairs and private matters?
People are like “AAAAHHHH.” I don’t like my private affairs. I read that wrong.
Do you prefer OTHER people stay out of your private affairs?
Do you have privacy issues? What are they?
Are you usually reluctant to discuss your personal problems? And why?
Are you usually reluctant to discuss your personal problems? And why?
That’s a big answer. You might not get it. You might be, “Oh. My dad was that way.” Maybe actually you can go farther back than that.
Do you believe your privacy is very important and why?
There you go. That’s the last question here, other than: My Shifu’s suggestions. Which I can’t give you.
So anyway, Do you believe your privacy is very important and why?
This is an interesting concept. I wonder if I could use this as a counseling book. I’ve never thought of making money off it that way.
I’d give it to my students and talk to them about it for free.
But what if I did use this on the internet. People somehow respond to these pages. Charge something. I can’t work for free forever.
I’ve been working for fee for thirty years.
Okay. Oh. I’ve got to stop. Alright, eleven minutes?
Buddha Zhen starts over on TAO #6 after killing a mosquito hawk with his Tao Te Ching notebook he reads from. In Daily Taoist 16 Buddha Z discusses the yin and yang of character: the positive and negative character. Can you face the truth and see how your negative and positive characters balance each other?
YouTube Transcript for video of the Daily Taoist 16.
Alright. I don’t know if I’ll post that last one if there was anything there.
Anyway, #6:
Distinguishing between opposites creates the illusory value of each one.
In other words, that’s creating prejudice.
Okay, so real quickly because we already covered this in case I post that last one.
How do you value or rate the strengths of your positive character?
Okay. The part of you that positive things presumably.
How do you value or rate the strengths of your negative character?
That part of you that is maybe self-destructive, angry, emotional, bitter… and something.
How does your positive character control your negative character?
Hopefully– I don’t know. Is the next question going to be the opposite? [laughs] Probably. So how does your positive character influence your negative character?
You know. If you’re emotional or anger. If you have anger issues. How do you– What is the positive– What is your way of dealing with it. Even if it’s not working well. What is it?
And how does your negative character control your positieve character? Maybe… that’s definitely the case with some people. I mean, somebody’s gonna be more one than the other. So is it gonna be negative or positive?
How can your positive character be better utilized?
Okay… not think about the negative. What about the positive? What can you do with that positive character? Just get more done. Or do something. What does it want to do? Okay.
How can your negative character be better utilized?
Now there you go. Now if you do have some sort of negative issues or qualities perhaps you can channel them into something. I don’t know. If you’re really angry you might get a job digging ditches and swinging a sledge hammer. [laughs] Might make you feel real good. I did that.
So anyway, how can your positive and negative characters be better balanced?
Okay. Now you can’t get anywhere until you admit the truth.
Mosquito hawk came in with Bear a minute ago. I got distracted. Pardon me. “Kill the spider.”
Okay so anyway that’s NUMBER 6. We made it. Two minutes! There’s a record.
Buddha Zhen reads TAO #6 of the TAO OF TAOISM – Using the Dao Te Ching to Improve Your Life.
This Tao is still dealing with opposites and good and bad and right and wrong and up and down and prejudice.
This Daily Taoist episode is interrupted by a mosquito hawk that enters with his cat, Bear. Buddha Z ends abruptly to deal with this pest.
The transcript of this short episode is included below.
YouTube TRANSCRIPT of the DAILY TAOIST 15 reading of TAO #6
Hello. I’m back, and… we’re on page 15 of 62 or something? Yeah, 62. Yeah. Let’s get another one of these out.
Just want to blaze ahead here for some reason. I guess I just wanna– I’m excited about getting some of this stuff out.
Here we go. NUMBER 6:
Oh, remember? We didn’t summarize on the end of that last one. Remember we were talking about, “Describe your overall balance of opposites and some things?” And so remember then, we go back to the original Lao Tzu and in particular, the first line,
“THE VALUE OF OPPOSITES AMOUNTS TO NOTHING.”
Okay, so I said, “Don’t take it so literally. Try to look for the meaning: something more substantial in there.” Find a pearl of wisdom. Maybe Lao Tzu didn’t think of that. If you can find something even bigger and better… Like I said, “Like a mathematical equation.”
Here we go. NUMBER 6:
Distinguishing between opposites creates the illusory value of each one.
That’s what we’re doing in America right now. As we separate– As soon as we say one side is great, we’ve separated them more. You can’t– Anyway.
Distinguishing between opposites creates the illusory value of each one.
Or lack of value. Value isn’t always a plus. It can be a minus. So by distinguishing sometimes — it’s prejudice. You’re picking them out. You’re lowering the value. Trump purposely tries to do that. He actually tries to demean and devalue people. See. So at one time he might be pumping somebody up. But he spends as much time– If he does that he spends a lot of time cutting people down and trying to devalue them. So you shouldn’t do that. That’s wrong to pick those people out and make them special because that means your picking other people out and making them un-special.
So distinguishing between opposites creates the illusory value of each one.
Here we go.
How do you value or rate the strengths of your positive character?
Everybody thinks they have a positive character. Well they do. [laughs] Some of these positive characters seem very negative to me. But their negative character to me is a monster. So I guess it’s just a– You take the extremes and you move them on the scale. Right across the middle here is a content happy cow in the field. And down here is the angry badger type of thing. And then up here is the happy crane type of thing you know.
Well, the higher you get up here means the farther you fall when you get upset.
And the more you’re down here, then when something happens you get really excited, you see.
But if you just kind of stay here in the middle, “Oh, that was nice.” “Oh, that was kinda bad.” “Oh that was nice.”
But anyway, like I said, don’t try to separate the opposites. The more you do–the more, the more it goes wrong.
How do you value or rate the strengths of your negative character?
So that goes for you. How far off that middle do you go? How far are you willing to stretch the truth? How far do you go to keep the truth?
“Hello Bear.” He was outside. “Hello adventurer.”
Actually I kicked him outside. He hadn’t been out today so I like pushed him out the front door. So he’d go out there and do some–
Ooops! Somebody came in with you. Hold on. We’ve got some creature came in. I’ve got to deal with.
Buddha Zhen reads TAO #5 of TAO OF TAOISM he wrote for his Kung Fu and Tai Chi Chuan students in 1993 in his Shaolin Chi Mantis Traditional Buddhist Kung Fu and Taoist Tai Chi Chuan schools. This self-help book is revealing now the ‘dark side’ of Buddha Zhen as he answers the questions from his Tao of Taoism book with candor and honesty. He reveals more about his 5 SOUL THEORY or Five Souls of God book he wants to release when he can find a large book publisher brave enough to publish this revolutionary concept that every person contains four souls of five possible souls to choose from.
One of his revelations includes the fact that comedians are all WOMAN souls in their first top position. Also boxers may be WOMAN souls in the first position. Buddha Z is perplexed himself by the riddle of this truth or wisdom from the BOOK OF CHANGES or Tao Te Ching written by Lao Tzu over 2,200 years ago.
Below in this web post is the transcript from the video “DAILY TAOIST 14” reading Tao #5 of the Tao of Taoism written by Buddha Zhen Shen-lang / Richard Del Connor.
YouTube Transcript of TAO #5 in the video “DAILY TAOIST 14” read and performed by the author, Buddha Zhen Shen-Lang.
Ah man. I couldn’t get up. I looked ahead at the next one. It’s really got me excited.
Buddha Zhen here.
This is the TAO OF TAOISM written by me. And I’m on #5. And this one’s got me all– Look at me. I’m all excited.
#5: The value of opposites amounts to nothing.
That’s so cute. We’ll come back on that.
To separate, glorify or deny something in protection of its opposite creates a weakness by the loss. All things are of value despite our preference.
How that describes America’s situation so dramatically and I don’t wanna get carried away talking about it– But I’ve just got to show you that’s why- that America is in conflict because we are totally out of the Tao.
Okay, first of all: The value of opposites amounts to nothing. Now that’s a misleading statement but it’s actually 100% accurate. ‘Amounts’ means adds up. So one PLUS and one MINUS. You add them together equals zero. So NEGATIVE plus POSITIVE equals ZERO. That’s a beautiful thing.
Lao Tzu was intending to mean something. And I think we’re missing the boat by not delving into that further and further. But let’s just leave it at that for now.
But he’s saying you take a negative and a positive and you end up with nothing.
Now let’s look at a wife and a husband. And you end up with a nothing. Is it really a nothing? Or is it really a new something? See. You’ve got them put together here. It’s not this. And it’s maybe not this. But it’s this. So it’s nothing that existing previously. See. Maybe we got something shaved off in the original translation. So maybe… Anyway, let’s open our minds. I’m always looking for some way to make these things real.
Okay, and the next part is all of the chaos in America right now.
To separate, glorify– Remember that’s bad. When you’re separating something out, you better have a GOOD reason. Or you’re just capturing something.
Glorifying something is another way of capturing something. And saying, “You’re not good. But this is.” See. So this is– Gotta remember when you create a positive you create a negative.
Or deny something. So now we’re gonna deny– I don’t know how to put this in perspective yet. Deny something in protection of its’ opposite creates a weakness by the loss.
So if we’re saying this guy we’re gonna glorify, and we’re gonna give you something special. But we’re gonna deny you– Creates a weakness, by the loss. By the denial: That’s a weakness. That’s not a strength. When you raise this guy up and glorify him and say to him, “You’re not worthy.” That is not a good balance. That’s not a good plus or minus.
This one’s way off of balance. It’s gonna fall down. And this guy’s down, so far down here… he’s going to get buried. They’re both gonna, ‘boom.’ Bad situation.
So, one more time. Let’s read what I wrote on this. It’s interesting. I’ve got all kinds of things going through my head. Your perspective may be different.
The Value of Opposites
One more time. Lao Tzu says– I love this first line. It’s just cute, and clever. But I think it means so much more than any of us are probably grasping right off-hand.
The value of opposites amounts to nothing. To glorify, separate or deny something in protection of its opposite creates a weakness by the loss. All things are of value despite our preference.
Gotta remember that too: We always think in terms of ourselves. Everybody. It’s just the first way we think. Just gotta accept that so you can deal with it. Okay so you have to realize that we all have our preferences. If you can become more Zen and–
I look bald with this light shining here. And look at that bump on my head. Cover it in– Sheesh. I bumped myself pretty bad last night. [laughing] Oh I should say something, “Oh I was in a fight and somebody hit me with a…” Boom.
Okay… here we go… Okay. Here we go.
What is the opposite of you?
Well… Me, that’s just about everybody. So, that’s not you. That’s me.
So, what’s the opposite of you?
So, in other words, if you’re a good worker–then maybe a bad worker. If you’re an honest person–then a dishonest person. If you’re a happy person–then a sad person. Or maybe the other way around. Who’s the opposite of you? Let’s work with that.
Your Relationship with your Dark Side
Explain your character polarities. Good side / dark side.
That’s tricky here. You’re gonna have to like open up to the fact that–
Explain your character polarities. Your good side and your dark side.
Now I remember Oscar. If I can talk about him. He’s kind of a good example of somebody to talk about. He, when I met him– He always wore military fatigues. And he wanted to be a soldier. But he was not a WARRIOR. But he wanted to be a soldier. And he actually had a dark side. And he enjoyed playing the video games and stuff. He loved shooting and killing. He said the reason he wanted to be a soldier was: he actually wanted to–you know–shoot something. [LAUGHING] So anyway. You’ve just got to own up to it. And accept it. Even if you don’t like the way it sounds to you. I can’t even say it for other people. But anyway. You’ve got to own up to your own dark side. Umm, umm… Anyway–
Next one. How do you control your dark side?
Well let’s say you have a dark side. You think, “Gosh. I’d like to beat that person up.” Let’s deal with that instead of murder. Okay. You’ve got this desire to beat other people up. And I’ve known one person. Actually… a couple. I have two… people whose fathers were boxers. I’m not really a boxer. I teach martial arts but I don’t box. Who were boxers. Their parents were boxers. As a result, they beat and hit their kids. See, a boxer hits people. That’s just the way they communicate. So both cases, these boxer fathers hit their kids. And they didn’t, they didn’t think they were evil. Probably didn’t. Because they were just communicating with their kids the same with all their professional allies, and competitors or whatever. And you know, that’s just the way they communicate. So in both cases these kids had gotten pummeled by their parents. Or their fathers excessively.
I also know cases where women have been very sadistic and whipped and beat– and done terrible things to their kids too. So anyway, I’m not saying it’s all men. Don’t get me wrong here.
In fact, my theory is actually that anytime you do see a man who is being sadistic and mean like that– Like those boxers. Those boxers must have been WOMEN in the first position. And then a WARRIOR in the second position. That’s what Joe Rogan is. He’s a WOMAN in the first position, and a WARRIOR in the second. That way he can be mean and hurt people and have a sense of humor about it. That’s how you can do it. A WORKER can’t do that. A WORKER can’t have satisfaction about doing something wrong or breaking something, or hurting someone. Because that doesn’t get along well in the work place. You’ve gotta be more compassionate. So compassion ironically comes from the WORKER. Not the WOMAN. A WOMAN soul is the one without the compassion. They’re the ones that make comedians. All comedians are WOMEN souls in the first position. Every one of them as far as I can tell. Shocked me because I’d been studying them for two years.
It’s really obvious in some like Russel Brand. But, Seth Myers, Stephen Colbert, Joe Rogan– I mean a lot of it is just so obvious. And you talk to them about their neuroses and their emotions and their– I mean, it’s the WOMAN spirit. Not the female. They’re not female. They’re WOMAN souls. Okay. So anyway.
I found that a negative. It did make sense when you know that. It just makes sense. So you know this person needs a little more ethics and tends to beat people up because they’re going to enjoy it.
Okay. So here we go. Um, where were we?
What do you dislike the most in others? Okay. Now that’s an interesting question. So think about that. You should have some things pop into your head.
One more time: What do you dislike the most in others?
Okay, next: How do you control these dislikes in yourself.
I just kind of like jump several steps. And these things you dislike in other people are almost always going to be something you dislike in yourself.
Like in my case I would say, “Dishonesty.” I’m way into the truth. So the one thing I dislike the most in myself is dishonesty. And any time I’ve been dishonest it still haunts me. It’s something I can’t do. It’s like so, that’s what I dislike the most. It prevents me from doing it.
See? So when you understand these things: it’s not a negative, it’s a positive. Like, “Alright. I’ve got– I’ve got this bumper that’s gonna keep me away from lying. I shouldn’t get in a job where I have to lie. I can’t be a salesman. I could only sell something to someone I thought could afford it and it was the right time and the place and the thing for them and– I just can’t be a salesman. I’m too considerate.
So that’s why a salesman is good. You’ve got a WOMAN in the first position every time. A man, with a WOMAN in the first postion has a good chance of being a salesman.
Now a WORKER, like my dad– Actually, is my dad a WOMAN or a WORKER in the first position. He may be a WOMAN in the first position… but anyway, let’s keep going.
What are you Fighting For?
Let’s see. Where were we?
What are you fighting to control for the sake of some rule that is difficult to follow?
Ahhhh. This is a good one. Everybody’s gonna have different answers for this one. But here we go.
What are fighting to control for the sake of some rule that is difficult to follow?
Like maybe eating. It’s difficult for you follow that rule. I shouldn’t have given you any clues. It comes from you first.
Nature is seasons of opposites. Summer and Winter. Spring and Fall.
Nature is seasons of opposites. Winter has its time as does Summer. How are your opposites regulated, controlled, or allowed their own release?
Or as I’m saying, Nature has opposites. So I’m allowing you to like give yourself some leeway. How you do this or that– Or you want this–
So what are your opposites? Find your polarity. How far are you going from one extreme to the other so we can find out maybe what your happy medium is– and make it easier for you. Cuz you may have one thing pulling this way, and one thing pulling this way. But if we can find some way to satisfy both of them–then that’s good without maybe going all the way that way, or all the way that way. I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t if the middle is always the best way.
Here we go. Describe your overall balance of opposites.
If you’re driving in your car you’re going, “What the heck is he talking about?”
Like what would be my opposites? My opposites would be my ability to just watching YouTube. And then I say, “Man, I’ve been sitting here for a little while. I didn’t move.” You know, I should be doing some Kung Fu or cleaning the kitchen. [laugh]
Okay. So that’s one opposite is I feel guilty for not doing that and the other opposite is I work as hard as I can. I’m doing these Kung Fu classes. Teaching and building and writing things and work on the websites… So ONE: I go from the opposite of working REALLY HARD too long to maybe relaxing too long. That’s my answer.
Okay. Let’s see. Nature is a season– Okay.
Describe your overall balance of weaknesses.
Um. Like I said, I’ve got a good balance. I’m putting my life together. I’m working out. Studying myself like under a microscope so I better be good.
Anyway. I think 12 minutes here. Thanks for hangin’ around. Hopefully this is interesting to listen to.
Buddha Z reads “Explanation” page of his book. It starts with an explanation of, “This ebook version of Tao of Taoism uses both “Tao”, which is Cantonese, and also, “Dao,” which is the current Mandarin Chinese language of China. They are the same word with the same meaning,” (“Tao and Dao”).
“Self-discovery is the last frontier for the smartest of men and women.. This book is a journey down your own very unique “Last Frontier.””
“How much time do you spend exploring your inner you?”
“Why are you you?”
“What makes you you?”
“I wrote this book for her [his daughter]. It’s called Act Zen to Be Zen.“
“It’s about Zen Buddhism teaching you how to find yourself–And then you can reshape yourself into other people.”
“Zen Buddhism is about understanding other people from as many perspectives as possible. And view yourself from as many perspectives as possible.”
Buddha Z talks about his poetry class in San Diego State University.
Buddha Zhen talks about how Lao Tzu may not be translated accurately by anyone because they may not understand the colloquial meanings of his statements 2,200 years ago.
Buddha Zhen also explains how only the disciples of Bodhidharma can perform the One-handed Bow of the Shaolin Temple because it signifies the relationship between the FIRST disciple of Bodhidharma and of those who continue this lineage of disciples of Buddhism to the first disciple, Hui Ke. If you aren’t ready to teach Shaolin Kung Fu or you don’t belong to a Shaolin master… you should not deceive people with this spiritual gesture.
Who is a Real Zen Buddhist?
“So what happened was–his Disciple Hui Ke–he tricked him. He tricked Bodhidharma to become the first Shaolin Disciple… He cut his arm. He went to his [Bodhidharma’s] cave and outside the cave he cut his arm and it bled into the snow. And he said, “Look, it’s raining red–in the snow. So Bodhidharm said, “Alright–you win.””
Buddha Z gets a little teary eyed. “So that’s what we’re doing. We’re honoring his sacrifice.” Buddha Z pauses. “I got a little choked up there.”
He continues, “I originally wrote this book for myself, then realized it was useful for other people. Then I rewrote it again when I created my Shaolin Chi Mantis schools in 1993 into a student manual for psychoanalyzing yourself, to help students develop a dialogue with their own inner minds.”
5 Soul Theory of Richard Del Connor
“It’s interesting I put that in the plural. It’s only in the last two years I discovered that we actually are four… souls is what I’m calling theem. Four different identities that all stack and work together.”
Buddha Z elaborates on his 5 SOUL THEORY. “You can only have four of them. Most people only have two.”
Buddha Zhen holds the book up to camera to show his Chinese ‘chop’ which is the red ‘dragon blood’ stamp on the page with his Chinese name. He explains which characters represent:
Zhen: family name = “Truth”
Shen: means “Spirit” or “Spiritual” but not ‘ghost’
Lang: “Wolf” (Master Chen explained to Richard Del Connor, “We don’t have Coyotes in China–only wolves.”)
Spirit Wolf of Truth = Buddha Z’s Buddhist name: Shen-Lang Zhen.
