"POKER RULE #36: Don't take the game personally. The poker gods are not out to destroy you personally (although it may somtimes seem that way). The game itself is as neutral and mechanical as a roulette wheel, a church raffle, or a lottery ball drawing... To repeat: players often think that elaborate steps are needed - great straining, striving steps, complex steps. The ordinary way of Zen dispels this. In modern life, as in poker, we often find ourselves tangled in frantic activity, trying to force events to our will, to make them happen. The actual answer is much simpler and involves a more natural approach. This sort of simplicity has been described in Zen literature in the following way: "When hungry, eat, when tired, sleep... The ordinary way is the way." Simplify the trading plan and focus only on what works most consistently over the long run.
"POKER RULE#37: Nonattachment. The idea of attachment, in Buddhistic terms, means the linking of our emotions with something that we want - some desired object or outcome. The stronger this connection, the more discontent when we fail to achieve our ends (as well as desperate steps taken trying to achieve them)... Emotions have no place in poker... To play in an ego-less state means simply to not let the ego and emotions get involved." When we look at a Buddha statue, he is always majestic, serene. His hand touching the earth as his witness represents honesty. His begging bowl represents his renunciation of his throne to the kingdom (he was a prince) and worldly desires. Although that was the SIMPLE path he took to manifest a life example, he elaborated and taught progressively the three vehicles or yana (Hinayana, Mahayana, and Vajrayana) of Buddhism which emphasizes on detachment, compassion, and wisdom respectively. The teachings of Mahayana is built on the foundations of Hinayana and the teachings of Vajrayana is built on the foundations of Mahayana. The more "speedy" vehicles are actually taught for sentient beings with weaker minds (more confused) as the teachings approach the degenerated time and eventually extinct (there will be books but no actual transmission from person to person) until the next historical Buddha Maitreya appears to bring back the lineages (that's all they do, they only teach and you have to liberate yourself by realizing the teachings). The Hinayana teachings emphasized on detachment and the eight-fold path. Theravada schools are representatives of the core teachings of Buddha. In Mahayana teachings, there is the practice of compassion by putting emphasis on others rather than yourself. A representative meditation practice is "tonglen" (exchanging with others). You can visualized a loved one (e.g. one's mother). You breathe in all her suffering, bad karma, disease, and emotional poisons which is visualized as black smoke. You breathe out all your good health, happiness, wealth, merits etc as white light and send it to her. As time goes on, you become more comfortable with the practice. Slowly you add more loved ones, your dog, your friends to the mix. Then you add neutral neighbors. Then you add your enemies to group. Your limitless compassion eventually left no room for your ego. In Vajrayana teachings, the emphasis is on the wisdom aspect. The ancient king Indrabodhi attained Enlightenment while relished in all kind of pleasures and enjoyments. Like a peacock feeds on posions, a yogi or yogini transforms emotional poisons into wisdom. With powerful awareness and clarity, he or she can look directly at the emotions and simultaneously liberated them by realizing their true nature as wisdom. There is a whole song and dance in dealing with the problems of overestimating our emotions and the ego. It really takes constant practice to fix this on a fundamental level. One must realize there is no quick fix if one wants a real fix. But there should be temporary steps we can take to protect ourselves while working on a real fix. First of all, the problems always come from not seeing reality clearly. By bringing in more awareness and keeping perspectives, one begin to have the proper "space" to work on. Next we have to weed out the possible psychological and statistical traps we set for ourselves. At the same time, adjust our expectations so that we can minimize the number of instances we have to confront our emotions. Just like Cook Ding never wrestled with the Way (Dao) while butchering the cows. Don't be a hero.
Was I writing about trading or was I writing about life? Statistical traps can screw people up in trading and in life. For example, taking marginal trades can be compared to taking drugs. Both may make one feel good for a while but they will destroy the person over a long run. Some people are seemingly getting what they want by doing bad things but it could be a statistical trap.
"POKER RULE#38: Don't accept your opponents' idea of nervousness. Sometimes you are in possession of calm and composure but your opponents unwittingly suggest - or project - a kind of nervousness upon you. This odd condition, which might be called "sympathetic nervousness," falls under the peculiar category of getting nervous because your opponents tink you ought to be... Solution: Realize the detachment of your inner calm. Maintain your true indifference." Don't let the outside influence and CNBC spin your imagination and join the crowd. We react similarly to the same stimuli so crowd forms. This leads to extreme conditions and eventually exhaustion. For me, all I have are the charts and numbers and I have no choice but depend on them.
"POKER RULE#39: When you take your emotions out of the game, other players' emotions become visible. When we are focused exclusively on our own emotions (as we often are), the emotion of others tend to be obscured. When we make ourselves neutral, however, we find that the canvas suddenly becomes blank and the emotions of others begin to appear." Our emotions tend to cloud our mind when we have a position on. Sometimes it helps to scratch the trade, and rethink but don't get too skittish.
"POKER RULE#40: Play "within yourself." Like an Olympic runner who learns to run "within himself," you will eventually become comfortable inside your knowledge of the game. You will cease striving; the clouds will disperse, the sun comes out... But your goal as a player is to reach the point where a great many things will have to go wrong for you to lose badly..." I think eventually one will find comfort with one's own trading. The comfort comes from knowing what the risks and pitfalls are unless one crosses the boundary set by oneself. There is no striving to conquer beyond the boundary either because one is content.
"POKER RULE#41: Master yourself, not the game... In many poker games you will play in, the skill level of all the players will be approximately equal... Therefore, the main edge that you have will be the mastery of yourself... Occasionally players who play well and who are generally in harmony with what is going on (and who, we might add, know bettter), fall off the Zen, and when they do, they sometimes fall hard. This is what is known in the poker world as tilt... What is needed is a return to Zen. All methods of forcing, striving, and straining must be rejected - naturalness embraced... Zen always reminds us of the need for patience, not forcing things." When Buddhism was introduced into China, many native Taoism concepts were similated for the new religion to gain understanding and acceptance. This is especially evident in Zen Buddhism. However these concepts are not new but in harmony with the intent of Buddhist teaching. The idea of non-striving and not forcing things are the keys to survival both in life and trading. As in the Taoist example, when the strong wind blows, it might uproot the trees but not the grass. Or when we reach the old age, our teeth fall apart but our tongue remains in tact. Be flexible.
"POKER RULE #42: Your biggest opponent, and worst enemy, is always yourself. Years of experience eventually teach you that your main battle, always, is with yourself - your propensity for errors, for rationalizing marginal hands into good hands, lack of concentration, misreading other players, emotional eruptions, impatience, and so on..." If you have followed the thread this far, you should know what I think are important in my own trading. I can tell you it is different just knowing the principles and internalizing them. I talk about using the meditation format following the practice of "four thoughts turning the mind from samsara" (precious human life, impermanence, karma, suffering of samsara). For example when meditating on impermanence, a meditator would focus and reflect on the fact that we are like animals in a slaughter house being fed, fat and happy while waiting to be butchered (our eventual end). One also reflects on how life is like an arrow shooting to the target and never stop advancing. One reflects on where we will be a hundred years from now. After coming to an honest decisive conclusion, then drop all concepts and let the mind rest naturally in its own awareness. For anyone struggling with emotional pain in trading, I would recommend doing such meditation on individual trading principles. I found it quite helpful. I even stop using my hypnosis CD because I think this is much better. I also went back to do some traditional Buddhist practices to balance myself overall. The goal of these meditations is not so much to become some kind of Zen trader but to really really really understand WHY to protect oneself from doing stupid things - things that are mathematically wrong! I might know the WHY in my head but not in my heart of heart.
One of my teachers said, "When you do your Buddhist practice, bad things and situations can happen. Just like in the cold winter, you put on more clothes. You don't give up but practice even more diligently."
"POKER RULE#43: Be wary of pushing forward aggressively when encountering resistance." This goes along with the concept of non-coercive trading. You don't fight the situation. The cheetah waits only for the weak prey even though it is capable of catching any animal. Besides external conditions, it is also important to be aware of the internal conditions such as H.A.L.T (Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired). So why does one press it? Because one want perfection and perfection lost. One got to let go of one's agenda and listen to the market. You should know by now that I believe a "natural" trader is the best trader and in order to be a "natural" trader, one CANNOT be the "perfect" trader. For all beginner traders like me, if one truly truly thinks it through and gets this point, it will stop the bleeding. The number of trades (including marginal trades) will go straight down significantly and the whole profit/loss equation will turn around. Only then one has a fighting chance.