Born for life and death (high-probability perspective)

Born Through Life, Face Death[TaoGuba]

**Those who live are divided into thirteen parts; those who die are divided into thirteen parts,
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**And the people live because they give rise to life; all movements end in the same death-ground, and that is also thirteen parts.
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**What reason is there for this? Because they are giving birth to life itself.
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**It is said—I also heard—those who truly nurture life: whether they walk on trails, they do not evade the rhinoceros or tiger; when they enter the army, they are not hindered by armor and weapons. The rhinoceros has nothing to make use of its horns on them, the tiger has nothing to make use of its claws on them, and weapons have nothing to make use of their blades against them.
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**What reason is there for this? Because there is no death-ground for them. **

This article in the De Jing—I only understood it recently too. Actually, the content of this passage should be the earliest exposition of probability.

Entering understanding:

Born Through Life, Face Death
In modern times it is often used like this. Interpreted now: it describes risking one’s life, not caring about life or death, and going through countless dangers and trials together. The focus is: fighting side by side, braving peril together, sharing the same life-and-death crisis.
But Laozi’s original intention is nowhere near the modern usage—it’s totally different.

The Dao De Jing is saying: life-giving is precisely for the purpose of rushing toward annihilation.

Those who live are divided into thirteen parts; those who die are divided into thirteen parts; and the people live because they give rise to life; all movements end in the same death-ground, and that is also thirteen parts.
My De Jing interpretation:
Divide people into 10 categories. The three-tenths with naturally long-lived innate constitution are, from the start, more likely to live longer. Another three-tenths have a naturally weaker innate vitality; their fate is to be short-lived from the start as well.
And the remaining three-tenths end up with short lifespans and die because of over-nurturing their health, or overindulging in desires—turning what should have been long-life innate constitution into the outcome of early death.

One-tenth of people, Laozi did not spell out—leaving imagination space for later generations. Such people are outside life-and-death.

① The metaphysical view believes that these people attain the Dao and become immortals, not within the cycle of life and death or reincarnation.

② Few desires and few private motives, keeping it pure and inactive. Not being born and not perishing. This is our inference, by common-sense reasoning, since we don’t assume fairies/ghosts.

③ This is a blank question: “successful people,” “a happy life,” etc. Everyone can expand their imagination.

If we apply the probability of this type of person to the stock market—then it means that 1/10 people can foresee the market in advance and treat the stock market like a cash machine.

This probability tells us that the general view is wrong; there are only two kinds of people.
One kind is ambiguous or steadfast,
One kind is seeing the finer essence of the Dao of Heaven. (The tiny, xi, yi—the Dao’s original substance; they have different names but come from the same source.)

Goodness, in hearing and in protecting life: when walking in the hills and fields, one does not have to avoid the rhinoceros and tiger; when entering the army, one is not impeded by armor and weapons. The rhinoceros has nowhere to calculate its horns on them; the tiger has nowhere to place its claws; weapons have nowhere to accommodate its blade.

Original explanation: I heard that those who truly excel at nurturing and protecting one’s life—when walking in mountains and wilderness, they don’t need to deliberately avoid rhinoceroses and tigers; when being on the battlefield, they don’t need to wear armor and weapons for protection. The rhinoceros has no place to use its horns to ram them; the tiger has no place to reach with its claws to injure them; and weapons have no way to wound them with blades.

My understanding: a person who truly understands how to nurture life knows their own weaknesses. They扬长避短—play to strengths and avoid weaknesses—then patch the weak points, so they can turn danger into ease amid countless realms that were originally hazardous.
So here are two methods:

① First, take care of the inner self—know yourself. It’s not scary to have short boards; the key is how to leverage the contradictory relationships and turn danger into ease.

② Break all complicated matters into something extremely simple, turning change into non-change. My understanding is: turn the surface into a kind of strong/weak body-sense; when you finally buy or sell stocks, you can’t explain the reason. It’s just a “feeling.” This is also the highest state: unity of knowledge and action.

What does the state of unity of knowledge and action look like? Many people get stuck circling around the question of knowledge and action, again and again. They never arrive at the solution.

In fact, once you’ve read Wang Yangming, you’ll know: unity of knowledge and action means you have fused cognition into your subconscious. Nothing you do is fundamentally triggered by forming any thoughts first. For example, when you enter your home, you simply won’t think about whether you should lift your right foot or your left. In martial arts, you don’t have time to think about which technique to use next—you just have muscle memory. Even down to milliseconds, you make the correct choice. This is unity of knowledge and action.
Break things down to the most subtle details; to outsiders, it looks like metaphysics. You feel like you’re a god. But actually, you’re only having to do with the Dao of Heaven’s workings. Hahahahaha.

As long as you cherish yourself and achieve “attain the utmost emptiness” by understanding the operating rules of the Dao of Heaven (you can do that by reading my articles), and you reach unity of knowledge and action, with speed and without conscious thought—this is the highest state. Then you will become that 1/10.

This article comes from what I learned about the Dao De Jing—there is a kind of person who is outside life and death. Extending my thoughts, I ask how we can become such people, and how to do it. I’m only stating my interpretations and viewpoints. These articles are inherently open-ended. Leave them for later; if any fellow stock friends have questions, you can quote them.