📖Thick face, black heart: the path to thriving, winning & succeeding

authors
Chu, Chin-Ning
year
1994

  • Thick Face, Black Heart → Thick Face, Black Heart

    • p.7

          When you conceal your will from others, that is Thick.
    When you impose your will on others, that is Black.
    —Lee Zhong Wu

    • Thick Face, Black Heart can be utilized for either good or evil purposes. → Thick Face, Black Heart is neither good nor evil

    • Thick Face = The Shield

      • An adept of Thick Face creates his own positive self-image regardless of criticism of others. (p.10)

        • can put self-doubt aside

      • Thick Face can be humble and submissive. It is the ability to adopt to situation without regard of what others think of you. (p.12)

    • Black Heart = The Spear

      • take action without regard how consequences will affect others (p.13)

        • ruthless, but not necessarily evil

      • has courage to fail (p.14)

    • Progression → Thick Face, Black Heart progression

      • Phase 1:

        • stage 1. thick as a castle wall, black as a charcoal

          • thick but still penetrable, obviously black for anyone

        • stage 2. thick and hard, black and shimmering

          • more pleasant, not obviously selfish

        • stage 3. so thick it’s formless, so black it’s colorless

      • Phase 2: Self-Inquiry

      • Phase 3: The Warrior (combination of phase 1 and 2)

        • dispassion and detachment

        • fit for greatness

        • the union of spiritual and material world

    • p.22

      a good man’s actions are not always gentle.

    • p.23

      The natural way of Thick Face, Black Heart is beyond human manipulation, beyond the petty standards of human judgment.

    • p.44 master the distinction between virtue and vanity

  • Follow Dharma

    • p.77

      […] nothing is hard or easy. Competition for survival is the condition of life.

    • (is startup a seek for instant gratification? it depends on the motives)

  • p.101

    For a truly spiritual individual, the path of spirituality is like walking on a razor’s edge; it as a diligent pursuit of one’s perfection. […] It is impossible to attain the spiritual perfection if you have avoided discovering the path by which you can contribute to society as an individual.

  • positive psychology critique and leveraging your negativity

    • p.107-108 you are good as you are. people who promote positive psychology make you inferior for not being positive as if something is wrong with you → Telling people what they should be focuses then on how they are not

    • p.109 success has no rules. it can come even for those with negative thinking (positive thinking skips this) → Success has no rules

      • this does not invalidate positive psychology. it’s just if you’re negative by nature, you don’t have to fix that

      • e.g. Mark Twain was pessimistic and sarcastic

      • Marilyn Monroe, Ernest Hemingway

    • p.115 pessimism sometimes is realism

    • _

      Only mediocre are always at their best. —Jean Giraudoux

    • p.122 If you’re inconsistent, that might be a part of your power. Some people need a period on inactivity to jump higher. Enjoy your non-productivity as that’s part of your productivity → Periods of non-productivity as a part of overall productivity

    • p.128 there is no universal negativity definition. it is created by humans and changes over time and place

    • (what are my “negativities?”)

  • p.143 Crisis is renovation, a test for your ability to endure

  • p.147 (what would I do if I was living someone else’s life)

  • Chinese symbol for money is gold + 2 spears:

    • first spear is outer battle

    • second spear is inner battle

  • 16 principles of work

    • p.200 3. work is not separate from your spiritual unfoldment

    • p.201 work does not need you, you need work.

      • “the world does not need any book, but I need to write one”

    • p.203 7. Life evolves through actions

    • p.204 (common saying)

      The dictionary is the only place where success comes before work.

    • p.206 using intuition as a business tool

      • (re: dreyfus model)

    • p.209 12. Discover your natural rhythm

    • _

          If you perform the sacrifice of doing your duty,
    you do not have to do anything else.
    Devoted to duty, man attains perfection.
    —Lord Krishna, Bhagavad Gita

    • provide for yourself and others

      • entrepreneurs provide work for self and others

  • §10 sometimes you need to submit

  • Tamas/Rajas/Sattva

    • Tamas—inactivity

    • Rajas—activity, struggle (red, orange?)

    • Sattva—knowledge, wisdom, expansion (yellow, turquoise?)

  • St. John of the Cross

  • St. Teresa of Avila: “Interior Castle” ↔ Chakras

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