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

March 7, 2024 / 5 Soul Theory, Daily Taoist, Tao of Taoism, Taoism / By Richard

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?

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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Tao of Taoism — Using the Dao Te Ching to Improve Your Life by Buddha Zhen (Richard Del Connor)
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Daily Taoist 1_47 – Buddha Zhen Explains TAO #27 Friends, Love, Family and Path of Success with Tao

February 21, 2024 / Daily Taoist, Tao of Taoism, Taoism / By Richard

YouTube Video TRANSCRIPT: Daily Taoist 47

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

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

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

#27

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

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

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

Daily Taoist here. Let’s blast!

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

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

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

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

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

Alright. Here we go.

Are you generally satisfied with the work you do?

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

Are you generally satisfied with your work that you do?

Explain your work standards of excellence.

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

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

How do your standards relate to your goals?

So, your standards of excellence and your goals.

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

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

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

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

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

What are you artistic standards of excellence?

Artistic standards of excellence???

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

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

How do your work standards–

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

How do your work stands relate to your goals?

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

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

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

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

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

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

Alright. Here we go.

Does it seem that life repeats its hardships?

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

Does life seem to repeat its hardships

Does it seem impossible to get ahead?

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

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

Where were we?

What slows down the progress of your dreams?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

How do you enjoy helping other people do better?

Hey, my picture froze [camera image freezes].

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

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

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

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

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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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AUDIOBOOKS and PAPERBACKS and Kindle eBOOKS by Buddha Zhen from Amazon .com

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

February 14, 2024 / Daily Taoist, Tao of Taoism, Taoism / By Richard

Daily Taoist 46

YouTube Video TRANSCRIPT: Daily Taoist 46 Tao #25

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

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

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

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

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

Okay, #25.

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

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

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

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

I’m gonna read that one sentence again.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Your ideals.

We’ve got to be more idealistic.

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

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

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

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

What IDEALS are incorporated in this goal?

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

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

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

Next one is WINTER GOALS.

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

Okay? So what are your goals?

What are the IDEALS incorporated in those goals?

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

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

SPRING: Your Spring goals.

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

Then comes SUMMER.

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

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

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

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

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

How does this COMBINED RESULT fit on your path?

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

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

Hopefully you are on the right path.

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

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

Okay. So putting everything in perspective there.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Here we go.

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

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

As each goal is planned, initiated, incorporates ideals–

(That’s the part we need to work on.)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Nice people are in harmony with The Tao.

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Daily Taoist 1_44 – Buddha Z Reads TAO#21 of Tao of Taoism – Using the Dao Te Ching to Improve Life

January 31, 2024 / Daily Taoist, Tao of Taoism, Taoism / By Richard

Daily Taoist 44

YouTube Video TRANSCRIPT: Daily Taoist 44

Oh, by the way, on that marriage thing. I wish I’d known a lot of this. I come from what SHOULD HAVE been a traditional family. They’re just Republicans. And there’s no tradition in Republicans at all. Greed. Power. Republicans: that’s why they have to cling to religion. Otherwise they’d have no structure and no spiritual basis whatsoever. They just use religion as a stick. They’re not really into it. They just use it as a stick, so it looks like they’re good people. It’s a ruse. R-U-S-E… I think. I’ve never written that word.

Alright. # 21.

The unseen forces of Nature are known to all who feel them within their own self.

Okay. That’s just kind of a nice little thing about being natural and feeling Nature.

The unseen forces of Nature– (with a capital ‘N’) –are known to all– (Remember he says, “The Tao.” And sometimes I use “Nature” instead of “The Tao.”) –The unseen forces of The Tao are known to all who feel them within their own self.

I feel The Tao. I feel Nature. I’m a little more comfortable saying, “Nature,” than thinking of “The Tao” running around.

Here we go. Okay. #21.

Describe these unseen forces as you know them.

What lurks inside your wallet– I mean, your body. [laughs]

Describe these unseen forces as you know them.

What is your soul?

Ah. You know me. If you would’ve asked me five years ago, I would have said we have two souls. We have our soul and we have the Supersoul. The soul of God. So when we die they split. One goes back to God and one has maybe some identity to it. So that was my concept up to a few years ago. In the last few years I’ve come to realize that, Ahh, maybe there still is this Supersoul, but this one over here is actually four souls stuck together. See? Oh that’s interesting. Because that still makes up five doesn’t it? Remember, I told you there’s five souls.

But I still think this one. I don’t know how this– I haven’t actually questioned this, so I don’t know how to fit in this fifth soul. But there are five souls and we have four. Maybe that is why we only have four. Because the fifth one is this one taking that place.

I only figured that out while I was talking to you.

Okay. Here we go.

Describe these unseen forces as you know them?

What is your soul– What is your life force?

Well I describe that as Chi. And I use the Tai Chi and the Qigong and everything to find it and move it around. I CAN FEEL IT. It’s kind of like buzzing. It’s kind of like a balloon. A soft balloon, and I can push it on myself. Or think of it as a big foam ball. A big foam ball. I can take that big foam ball and I can push it. And I can feel the foam as I push closer I can feel it more.

So that’s how I feel and see it.

What happens to your body when you die?

Wow. Well your body–I guess you just rot. So… there’s not big deal there. Although, a lot of people cremate. BUt the difference between cremation and burying–I’m not sure. Because I’m still, even as a physicist, I’m not totally under this “Matter is never destroyed.” You know, when you’re cremated. What’s the difference between cremating and going into the earth? I still haven’t resolved some of those issues. So I’m not the person to give you answers. I’ve got questions on that. [laughs]

What happens to your soul when you die?

This is interesting. Remember I told you that story. I think it was in August. Two Augusts ago when one of my best friends and mentor. That was my Taoist mentor, Ru Zhing Shi died and passed away in Vegas. But I didn’t know it until like a week later. Somebody called me up and said, “Ru Zhing Shi is dead.” “Wow. When’d he die?” And they said it was like that Sunday. And I thought, that Sunday I had a conversation with him in my brain. Well I thought it was me. I go through conversations and things. Scenarios in books and stuff… So I tend to– If God’s talking to me, I probably thought it was me inventing a screenplay. [laughs] So anyway. I had this conversation with Steve. And he asked me a couple questions about this and that, and I said. I actually said some harsh words to him. I’m not gonna tell you what I said. I wouldn’t take them back. I meant every word, every syllable of it. I told him some things that were true. And I actually told him what his Buddhis master told me.

So anyway. It was kinda weird. It was weird. But the point is I had this little conversation in my head. I didn’t think anything of it. And then a week later I find out, “Oh he died right then.” “What!?” So I don’t know. Did I have a conversation with my Taoist master. He really believed in the afterlife and was kind of into ghosts so I wouldn’t put it past him.

So… the other experience I had was just recently when my best friend died. And I searched around for him to see, “Okay Oscar? You got a message for me?” He died at like five in the morning and I didn’t find out until about eleven. So I was fishing around trying to find out if there was any message or anything he’d left for me. So I meditated for a while and I got one image. I did get something. If it was Oscar its gonna haunt me the rest of my life. I can see it right now. Darn tootin’ clear. But I got this image. And it was all black and there were four squares and they were fading back… and they were like little white rectangles. This is weird. Because you remember that see the light thing…When I had a reincarnation experience, several years ago, the light was the key. Like one of those rectangles… You could see the light and you’d pass through the rectangle. That would put you back into reality. And so anyway, that was the only thing I knew about the rectangles. But I didn’t see it as an outline this time as much as a window and I could see through it. But in this case, maybe because they were farther away– I saw it as the white windows and then one of them–Oscar was stuck in it. But the weird thing was–three of them were horizontal but the one he was stuck in was kind of vertical. Like our vertical format. Anyway, I’ll leave it at that for now.

So I don’t know about this thing. These are the images I’ve got. I work with them. I think about them… And they inspire me to live my life and be a better person. I’m here trying to help you be smarter. [laughs]

Here we go.

What happens to your soul when you die?

I do not know. But I will tell you this: When I was on the–When I did my Hanblechia, my Vision Quest on the Pineridge Reservation with the Lakota Sioux, back in the nineties: I had some experiences on the mountain, my Vision Quest and in the sweat lodge with the Chief, Richard Sparrow Eagle. A whole bunch of visions. A whole bunch of visions. And during that time Richard approached me, “I’ve been told you’re trying to go somewhere you’re not supposed to go.” [laughs] I was banging around in the spirit world. “I’ve been told you need to stay put.” That was like a weird thing you know that… I, I couldn’t take his advice. And so… I think he knew it. Yeah. He was told to tell me this or something. Anyway, uh… I had some amazing experiences… and stories about them– I wrote them down.The point being is– when I did that– I took off. And I almost died I think. I might have gotten stuck. I actually… I found this vortex of souls. I found all these souls that were all kind of merging from all over. I don’t know if there’s other planets or what the deal is… But anyway, all these souls were merging and I was getting kind of like a tractor-beam and getting sucked into this thing. And so he had to pull me back. And it was a very interesting story. I got pulled back by a bug. A bug had to attack me to bring me back from there. Yeah, that was a very interesting experience.

Let’s get back to this thing. Eight minutes.

NUMBER 21.
The unseen forces of Nature
are known to all who feel them within their own self.

Well I gotta tell you… The unseen forces of Nature.

Explain your concepts of reincarnation.

Mine change every few years. So, WHAT’S YOURS?

What lives have you already lived? Pretend if you don’t believe.

In other words, do you think you’ve had other lives?

I do. In fact it turns out I’ve had several that I can remember quite clearly now. Because I went back there a couple times.

And let’s see:
What will your next life be? Pretend if you don’t believe.

So let’s say you don’t. Maybe you’re going to Heaven. Or you’re going to Hell. Maybe you’re going to Limbo. I don’t know. Whatever your concept is. Just, you put it down. We’re probably ALL wrong. So there’s not a right answer. [laughs] But what’s your answer. That’s all.

Should you be buried or cremated? Explain.

Remember? I can’t–I don’t have an answer for this one, een myself. Well I’ve decided for myslelf. I take that back. For me I’ve got a whole different thing. I’m hoping that people are going to actually see me as some kind of guru. Some sort of a person who’s got wisdom that other gnerations go, “Oh, that guy was so smart… or So cool… or something. Or creative. I’ll inspire artists or musicians or poets. And they’ll want to somehow feel like, “Oh well, this is all I’ve got…” If I could have a kind of monument to myself. A monument? Have a burial ground. The way I picture it is: I would have like a little area about half the size of my living room here. I’m here, and I want hedges all the way around, so people could sit here in privacy. People are going around the cemetary… You’d still have some privacy. You’ve gota private little bak yard that people could sit on some stone things. ANd I could be there. And maybe they could read or talk aabout my books or something right there. Over my dead body. [laughs] Never thought I’d be happy to say that.

Okay. Where were we?

What will you leave behind to show you were here for the benefit of mankind?

For most people that’s just reproducing and having children– so do a good job youknow. With those children. I took great pride in my children for a long time and felt like they represented me. Which was — wrong. [laughs] Because I thought they represent me as an artist. Then I found out, “Hey. My kids arent’ artists. Uh-oh.

So anyway.

What is the relationship between your God and Nature?

Well that was an intersting question. I’d love to hear some of thos answers. Differrent religions have different relationships with Nature. Anyway. Just put it on paper and look at it. I don’t know what the answer is there.

How do you utilize the forces of Nature within you?

How aware are you? If you’re an athlete or something like that then obviously you definitelyknow your inner Nature and forces.

How do you use the forces of nature around you?

Okay, and that’s important. And I’m creating my own little Nature. My own little world. My little studio environmentof studios and backdrops and lights. So I’m crating my own little world.My own little Heaven here. My own little Nature. But I’m having to use electricity and all these things that are acutually part of the real Nature.

How do you relate to the forces of Nature in other persons?

I used to a lot. Back when I was into the Native American thing–people would bring me tobacco and I would heal them and do all kinds of things. But this century, now that I’ve gotten away from my kids–I’m trying to separate more from Nature. I’m going back to being more mentally oriented. Spiritually oriented, as opposed to physically grounded, Earth oriented like an animal. I’m kinda like raising up from the Earth and trying to be– trying to be less grounded? I do my Kung Fu. I’ve got a Yin Yang. I guess the Yin and the yang is I do my Kung Fu and everything so I’m very grounded with the Earth and my body and physics and everything. And then I’m spending the other half of my life Trying to be spiritual, intellectual andcreative, and musical?

Okay. So in terms of relating to the forces in other persons–what I was getting at is I used to be a healer. It was very distracting because I could feel other people’s forces. It was kinda like being able to tune into their television station brain–I’d get images and stuff. Random. Not necessarily what they were thinking. Something that was maybe stuck in their thoughts. Something that imposed itself, like a stress. Something theyd do really bad to their shoulder. “AHHH–I got hit with a baseball.” “AHHH– I got hit with a baseball. “AHHH–I got hit with a baseball.” And then when I’d kind of see the person, I kind of see this person and some sort of baseball thing. Like a white ball and a flash.. I’d see these kind of like… [huff] So that’s why I don’t like being in touch with people. It’s just too confusing. I

I could tell you that one story. I did– There’s a few I’m real proud of. I did really heal some people really well. In ways that without me maybe wouldn’t have happened. But one of the ladies, but maybe would’ve happened without me. She was my therapist. I had a foot injury. The broken foot. No, it was something else. But anyway I was in for therapy, physical therapy and she said she had these problems. At the time I was still doing a lot of the healing. So I said, “Well, if you want I could give you a n energy reading. See if I notice anything.” She went, “Sure.” We were close enough. Because i don’t like doing it–especially to girls you know. But i don’t touch them. I just have my hand near. But I’d go down her back and I found a– I told her, “I don’t know what I’m doing, and I don’t know what I’m telling you but i’ll tell you what I saw.” I said, “I was coming down and I found this one spot that seemed cold and black to me. And that’s all I can tell you. And it seems to me it was right there.” I could just, I could feel this one black spot. In other words I could feel her Tao, her energy, but I could also feel this one spot that was not right. But later in the therapy, I of course went for more sessions and she said: She said, “I went in for an MRI and they found a tumor or cyst on my ovary or something, exactly where you pointed.” I don’t know if I helped lead her to that or not but I was glad she told me. But she was really appreciative. She was like, “Oh that was so helpful! I’m so thankful to you!” I might have led her–like I said, I don’t know how much credit to take– but we HAVE THAT ABILITY is what I’m saying. To read energy. This is not a special ability of mine. It’s just an ability you can have too when you get really good at feeling energy. You can feel good, or different, or bad… You can just feel the difference.

Hey. How’d I do? 14:50? Outta here.

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Daily Taoist 1_33 – Buddha Zhen Discusses TAO #18e about Rules, Responsibilites, and Corruption

November 15, 2023 / Daily Taoist, Tao of Taoism, Taoism / By Richard

YouTube Video TRANSCRIPT: Daily Taoist 33

Alright. Well I talked to Bear. He said we’ve gotta keep going. We’re just gonna finish this last one. He’s not gonna get off my lap. He’s purring away here.

So okay. Here we go. #18e

“Bear. Hello my buddy. Hello my friend.”

Okay. Here we go. #18e

Tao #18e
Artificial natures equal artificial rules.
Abstract realities equal abstract definitions.
Enforced responsibilities equal corrupt rule makers.
Duty / obligation equals unnatural conduct. Promises equal distrust.

Alright. Let’s read those again. That’s a lot of information there. I kind of go slowly. I’ll pause after each sentence. Think of them.

Artificial natures equal artificial rules.

‘Natures’ can be like a ‘Tao’ is too. But I’m. I edited it in the lower case, so when I’m saying, “artificial natures,” I think I’m thinking of artificial ways of thinking and behaving and living. Lifestyles. Not Mother Nature, but our nature, individually.

Artificial natures of people equal artificial rules.

Abstract realities equal abstract definitions.

Enforced responsibilities equal corrupt rule makers.

Duty / obligation equals unnatural conduct,

Promises equal distrust.

Alright. Here we go. Let’s blast through this page and then I can go hang out with my kitty cat.

“Okay? Does that sound good Bear? We’ll go hang out.”

What abstract realities are you involved in? Why, and how do they affect you?

Let’s ask that question again. I’m not going to elaborate. Hurry a little bit more.

What abstract realities are you involved in? Why, and how do they affect you?

Once again, Lao Tzu seems to be differing from Confucius. How can this be utilized WITH the concepts of Confucius?

Cuz remember, these abstract realities, natures and rules and things like being a government official… Having to wear a tie. And having to talk nicely… These are all artificial. These are enforced natures.

So Lao Tzu is maybe complaining about it and saying, “Ahhh. I’m done being a court official. And having to kiss that guy’s butt all the time.” So he didn’t like those artificial natures. So he’s right. Those are artificial and some of them were not nice and that’s why we’re asking, how many of them are you involved in. But that doesn’t mean that the concept of being nice, and wearing a tie, or being civil to people is bad. It might just be bad in a certain environment.

How are you living by rules that you plan to escape?

Read this again. How are you living by rules, you plan to escape?

Do you allow people to be corrupt? Relatives, employees, your friends?

Corruption is everywhere. All over the place. You see it all the time. You might even be participating. But anyway–What’s your influence? What do you do when you notice it? What do you say?

Do you allow people to be corrupt? Your relatives, employee or friends?

Are you 100% honest? [LAUGHS]

It’s tough. I’d like to think I am. I’m kinda– rather than be honest I kind of do what Jordan Peterson says, which is– I– I’m not like Pence. Our Vice President who’s a professional liar. He skirts around the issues so beautifully. He’s the most amazing liar. You want to learn how to lie? Watch Mike Pence. He does it with… such a poker face. He’s a professional. He’s one of the best– I mean there’s a lot of good liars in the Senate. There’s some amazingly good liars. But some of them don’t have to lie. They’re just corrupt. They say as little as possible. Probably the best for them. The more they talk the more you can see how dishonest they are. But Mike Pence: Oh my goodness!

[BLOWING NOISE] Hairs everywhere.

Anyway, that guy just lies through his– He’s amazing. I mea like nh, I kind of thought he was nice and I tried to like him but now that we’ve seen him in some controversies and cover-ups… Man, he is, like I said, He’s a really, really, really proficient liar.

And if he doesn’t it. I’ll talk to him face to face about it. We’ll talk. If he wants to talk to me and say–and prove that that he’s wrong. We’ll go over the videotapes and I’ll show you where he’s a liar.

Okay, here we go. Where were we. Let’s get out of this.

Do you work differently when your boss is watching?

Last question: What does it take for you to do your best work?

What does it take for YOU to do your best work?

Hey, The Daily Taoist here. Richard Del Connor. Better known as Buddha Zhen. Or… I don’t know. Maybe I’m not better known by any name. [laughs]

But I’d like to be known by something. And I want it to be good. And I want it to be positive of an influence on the world.

So let’s read what Lao Tzu said and end this.

Artificial natures equal artificial rules.

Abstract realities equal abstract definitions.

Yeah, like, “Make America great.”

Enforced responsibilities equal corrupt rule makers.

Like telling people how to vote. That is so corrupt! No party should ever tell people how to vote. Everyone should be voting for the right person.

We shouldn’t be hiring people to play football with our governement. And our Constitution. That’s all theyre doing. They’re playing games. It’s team games. It’s team sports. They’re playing team sports with our democracy.

Duty / obligation equals unnnatural conduct.

Yes. But do it for the right reason. Maybe it is unnatural t owear a tie and be polite and sit there for a long time. And be quiet–because that’s your job.

Okay. Promises equal distrust.

And that’s what I tell my friends. In fact somebody asked me about a movie I’ve been trying to make for five years. Kung Fu Cowboy movie which I wrote. It got a first place in a contest at one of those film festivals. He was calling me saying, “Hey I still want to pert of your movie.

And I say, “Yeah. My word’s good. You’re in there.” And we wer talking and I said, “I don’t make promises because my word is a promise. If I had to make a promise that means my words’ no good. I don’t make a promise–I just keep my word

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

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

AUDIOBOOKS and PAPERBACKS and Kindle eBOOKS by Buddha Zhen from Amazon .com

Buddha Z Official Blog (Heavy Metal “Buddhist Rapper,” Buddhist Poet, Shaolin Flutist)

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Shaolin Chi Mantis traditional Shaolin Kung Fu and Tai Chi Chuan classes

YouTube Channel of Shaolin Chi Mantis Traditional Buddhist Kung Fu (“Daily Taoist” EPISODES)

Produced by Richard Del Connor for Shaolin Records

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

Daily 1_31 – Buddha Zhen Discusses TAO #18c about Rules, Nature and Obedience to Society

November 1, 2023 / Daily Taoist, Tao of Taoism, Taoism / By Richard

Alright. Daily Taoist here. I told you I was gonna try to finish these 18s, and I’m on #18c. And I’ve g5 mileote ined a ‘d’ and an ‘e’ to do. Let’s see if I can blast you.

I’m reading from my book, TAO OF TAOISM – USING THE DAO TE CHING TO IMPROVE YOUR LIFE based on Lao Tzu’s book, The DAO TE CHING.

Okay, let’s see. Where are we? We’re on #18c page 31 of my book.
And I’m claiming Lao Tzu said,

Tao #18c
When families are organized and maintained by following rules:
Nature is ignored.

Ah darnit. This is where people put that battle between Confucius and Lao Tzu out there. Because this seems like its at all odds with him. Most of the translations were of course like this. But I’ve come to have a broad understanding and realize the two were completely in harmony.

Okay. Here we go. But it’s the same as like a speed limit. It’s obeying the speed limits on the freeway. You can say, “Well I don’t want a speed limit. I want to go 100 miles per hour.) Well, it doesn’t matter. You’ve got to realize that organization is important. Rules, and following and maintaining those rules is important. Okay? And that’s all that Confucius is saying is that rules are better than not having any rules.

And it’s saying that Nature is ignored. And that’s true. We’re ignoring Nature when we go 65 miles an hour. You should be walking. [laughs] You’re defying Nature in that car. But anyway the Nature of that car is to only go so fast. And the Nature of the turns is to only go so fast. And the Nature of the traffic is to not go too fast and run into the car in front of you. l

So there’s all these Natures. All these Taos going on all the time. So even when we can change and create a mechanical Nature we’re still creating a mechanical Tao. A new Nature withing the real big natural Tao. Building a city on this planet is an unnatural environment but it’s still connected to the Tao. And within the environment of the city there’s a different kind of Tao when you are in the city, and sleep in the forest as opposed to sleep between two buidlings. It’s a little different, I mean two trees and two buildings. There’s all– but anyway.

So.. this is not the battle between Confucianism and Taoism everybody makes it out to be. They are in harmony.

When families are organized and contained by following rules Nature is ignored. That’s not all true. Because Nature requires harmony. If you go to a pack of wolves there’s certain rules that they have to keep the cubs from wandering off and getting eaten by another animal. So all Nature has rules. And this translation needs– Well you can see how it misleads people.

We’ll say Nature is ignored. Okay, so in that sense we’ll say it’s kind of right. So, I’m not gonna have to rewrite this but– We’re saying we’re ignorning the Nature that says we’re supposed to be walking. We’re saying we’re in a car going 65 miles an hour. When you born I don’t think that was predicted. You know, saying oh this guy’s gonna be cruising at 65 miles an hour in a machine sometime. So anyway, you define Nature. That’s something you created and imposed on Nature.

So you’re ignoring Nature when you’re in that car. You’re ignoring the wind. You’re rolling up the windows so you don’t even feel the air that’s outside. You are ignoring Nature.

So in that sense you’re right. But it’s not saying that it’s a problem–it’s a bad thing…

Just remember that some people– Don’t react to this information. Try to figure out how to use it. See, that’s why I’m here. Okay? I’ll show you how to use it.

Here we go.

What rules were you raised by that seemed unfair but simplified your parent’s control?

I’ve been a parent. I know this. You made rules that the kids don’t like but it makes your life simpler. Like, keep them in the house. Don’t let them run out where you can’t see where they’re at. So you make all kinds of rules that keep life simpler for YOU. That the kids may not appreciate at all. [laughs]

What rules do you employ that simplify life?

That’s a bit general. I didn’t say whose. I guess I’m saying the whole life around you.

What rules do you employ that simplify life?

I know of one woman who liked to simplify her life by having the kids watch TV. So that’s how she simplified here life was by having the kids watch TV.

Although a contemporary of Confucius, why does it appear he conflicts [LAUGHS] just remember I was already talking about this with Confucius and Lao Tzu.

What does it take to keep a family organized?

Rules. You can’t do it without rules.

I’m sorry. I shouldn’t answer your questions.

What does it take to keep a family organized?

There’s all kinds of answers.

I said, “I’m sorry.” I’ll interject again.

When should parents get a divorce?

I got scolded a year ago. Sommadebody actually doesn’t like me and got mad at me about that I’ve been divorced. A fellow Catholic. Weird. That anybody’d get mad at you for being divorced. But anyway, he was saying, “You should get back!” She’s already remarried somebody else.

The whole concept of getting ge a divorce. When SHOULD parents get a divorce?

What is an ideal family in your opinion?

What is an ideal– You should write that down on a piece of paper and say, “Oh, when I get up in the morning my family does this… My wife does this…My kids or dogs are…Maybe you family doesn’t have any– it’s all pets. I don’t know. But whour at is your ideal family? YOUR ideal family.

Not the one– well actually, if you start writing it–you’ll realize, “Hey, this is my parent’s idea of an ideal family. But I don’t know if I buy into this.”

That might be good for you to realize. So anyway, just write it douuu’ve bwn right now and see what it is. Okay? Because you might actually realize you’ve been fooling yourself.

What is an ideal family? (In your opinion.) I put that in parentheses. So I guess I was trying to lead you to your own answer.

What do you know about filial piety?

Huh? Americans don’t know anything about that. It’s so embarrassing how Americans… Filial piety is one of the most ikmportant things you can learn in family structure. That’ll answer one of your questions from earlier.

What do you know about filial piety?

Filial piety is the one thing in the Eurd aop– In the Asian cultures: has proven to provide success–and huge success. it’s the filial– Filial piety I think has created has created an amazing amount of success. Obviously, there’s a down side to it too

If you’re– When I was– Like I said, I’ve been buying Kung Fu weapons since the seventies in Chinatown. I got to know a lot of store owners. Really personal over the years going there on a regular basis. And their kids grew up. I watched their kids in the store. Then they grow up, go to college and then they leave. And, I haven’t seen them– well, ten years ago, the last times I was visiting there buying weapons with my students–I was talking to them and they were like–these people are old and older than me and, they’re retired and their kids don’t want to have anything to do with the stores. They’ve gone on to their own businesses or other careers… whatever it is. But by filial piety their kids would run that store and take it over but– See, that would be more like a prison to put them in that position to take over that store. And they don’t want to. “I want to go to college. I want to go to Europe.” Don’t want to run a Chinese merchandise store.

So filial piety can unfortunately go astray In my own kids. I was– I pushed that on my own kids. I wanted them to run the school but realized, No, this wasn’t right for them, to take over my Kung Fu school. But that’s the normal thing in Chinese and even the martial arts thing is: your kids grow up and take it over. KIn fact a lot of martial artists who’ve passed away, have died and they say, “Where are their kids? ” And they didn’t do their martial arts. Like Bruce Lee’s daughter never did any Kung Fu. And she’s running the orgainzation. And Parker. I think Ed Parker maybe. I think he’s very famous as a martial artist. But his kid didn’t graduate the system. So since then I think they’ve tried to beef him up so he could kind of keep that thing going to represent the lineage of these other people who followed him

There’s all these things about propping people up into that filial piety thing that didn’t even exist. So it’s kind of an interesting thing.

How would your family be structured the same as your parents’ family?

Oh I’m gonna hurry and see if I can make my ten minute mark.

How would your family be structured the same as your parent’s family?

In other words, are you following– And if your parents have a good family and it’s going good and you follow it–That’s great.

See, that’s the problem with President Trump. He followed into the soup but he wasn’t suited for it. He didn’t have the acumen, the talent, the ability, or the honesty to do real estate business. He’s a crook. He’s a liar and a cheat. That’s not the kind of person you want to do business when you’re doing real estate. Especially big money like that. Cheating people out of little money’s bad, horrible… But cheating people out of millions of– well, it’s the same thing.

Okay. Here we go. Describe someone’s family that you envy or respect.

There you go. So you can start over. Maybe you were born in the wrong family. “Oh, I wish I was born in that family.”

Look at that and structure that. Just decide what your reality–your Tao.

Remember? This is the TAO of TAOISM.

There’s always different realities. And none of them are wrong. Unless you’re in the wrong place, at the wrong time, in the wrong Tao. They can’t be right.

That’s what your goal is: to make the RIGHT TAO.

Should a wife obey her husband?

There’s a question that will open up a lot of understandings for you because this is very important.

Should a wife obey her husband?

Remember I wrote this thirty years ago. Before i actually learned Confucianism and everything.

If you’re a Methodist, they took it out of the vows. A wife never says she will obey her husband.

Should a husband obey his wife?

I’m not sure what your other answer was but what’s your answer to this one?

Should a husband obey his wife?

Who should the children obey?

The mother? The father? Nobody?

Who should the children obey?

How do you teach children to be obedient?

Ooops. Ten minutes.

How do you teach children to be obedient?

Or do you? Should you? Some people think you shouldn’t.

So okay, there’s your questions.

And now let’s go back to the very beginning of it and see what Lao Tzu said. See if I kind of led you to integrate that into your life.

When families are organized and maintained by following rules. Nature is ignored.

Ah! Let’s look at that as a positive. If people’s Nature is to be selfish and greedy and do terrible things and run out in the street and get run over–

Then we want to basically ignore their Nature and say, “No. This is the new Tao and this is what you should do. Forget your Nature and your wants and your desires to fit into this Tao. Artificial Nature I’m creating– which is my Tao.”

Okay. So hey. There’s the positive of this. IS that sometimes you need to ignore Nature. You need to ignore your desire in order to get something accomplished correctly.

Daily Taoist outta here. In 10:59.

Whoops. I missed the button.

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

AUDIOBOOKS and PAPERBACKS and Kindle eBOOKS by Buddha Zhen from Amazon .com

Buddha Z Official Blog (Heavy Metal “Buddhist Rapper,” Buddhist Poet, Shaolin Flutist)

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Shaolin Chi Mantis traditional Shaolin Kung Fu and Tai Chi Chuan classes

YouTube Channel of Shaolin Chi Mantis Traditional Buddhist Kung Fu (“Daily Taoist” EPISODES)

Produced by Richard Del Connor for Shaolin Records

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

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

October 18, 2023 / Daily Taoist, Tao of Taoism, Taoism / By Richard

YouTube TRANSCRIPT: Daily Taoist 29

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

There’s a real simple example.

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

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

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

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

Codes of Conduct of YOU

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Anyway.

What is your Nature?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

See you tomorrow.

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

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

AUDIOBOOKS and PAPERBACKS and Kindle eBOOKS by Buddha Zhen from Amazon .com

Buddha Z Official Blog (Heavy Metal “Buddhist Rapper,” Buddhist Poet, Shaolin Flutist)

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

Shaolin Chi Mantis traditional Shaolin Kung Fu and Tai Chi Chuan classes

YouTube Channel of Shaolin Chi Mantis Traditional Buddhist Kung Fu (“Daily Taoist” EPISODES)

Produced by Richard Del Connor for Shaolin Records

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

Daily Taoist 1_28 – Buddha Zhen Explains TAO #17 with his new 5 Soul Theory to Help People’s Careers

October 11, 2023 / Daily Taoist, Tao of Taoism, Taoism / By Richard

YouTube Video TRANSCRIPT: Daily Taoist 28

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?

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?

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.

So, anyway: ShaolinInteractive.com Buddha Zhen: The Daily Taoist.

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