To: soc.religion.eastern
From: tyagi uzt (tyagi@houseofkaos.abyss.com)
Subj: Mondo with Master Po (mondowithpo.tn)
Date: 49930811
Quoting: |Amit Shah's version of the 'Kung Fu' (tv) Master Po


Wow!  An opportunity to mondo with MASTER PO!
I can't thank you enough for taking the time to transcribe
and post this, Amit.  'Kung Fu' (tv) was some of the most
inspirational material for me in my earlier years, laying
the foundations for my current lazy attitude.  What a wanderer!

All the same, the producers of the show may have made a few errors
in their teachings.  We'll have to review to be sure. ;>
____________________________________________________________


Amit Shah prefaces it with this statement, and then quotes the show:

|...One thing I've noticed is that
|when they talk about 'himself' or 'I'....its almost seems
|as they're talking about the Self...which is strange..cause
|I've always thought that there is no self (in terms of a Soul)
|in Buddhism.

This is a VERY good point.  I am struck by the very likeness of
the text to taoism and wonder from where the minds who put this text
drew their inspiration.


|You must prepare yourself for what lies ahead.
|The nature of wind, fire and ice - the frailty of the human
|  condition in hunger and thirst and fatigue.
|The predatory instincts of living things - the greed and villainy
|  buried in the hearts of men.
|You must be prepared to survive through all of these.
|These graceful movements that you now perform - (along with all the
|  rigors that your masters impose on you) - will help you to
|  develop your inner strength, that which we call Chi, and when
|  you come to meet your greatest test, your highest challenges
|  when you call upon your Chi it will not desert you.

Great words!  Do the movements *enable* the development of inner strength,
or are they *actually* the inner strength, manifested through discipline?


|-----
|MP:  What do you look for beyond the sea, grasshopper?
|QC:  That part of me which I know little of, the past of which I
|     was born.
|MP:  Then someday you must seek it.
|QC:  Is it good to seek the past, Master Po?  Does it not rob the
|     present?
|MP:  If a man dwells on the past then he robs the present but if a
|     man ignores the past [he] may rob the future.  The seeds of our
|     destiny are nurtured by the roots of our past.

And in all three resides the emptiness of time.


|-----
|It is often said that to be effective one must act with [for
|  brightness] and great force.
|But what is to be gained from such a course?
|If the [end one] is [embarked] upon is a [righteous] action?
|It flows the way of the Tao.
|Forces are in motion to which we can not add to which we can not
|subtract.
|If our path is right, there is only one course to follow.
|The correct action is to do nothing - and all will be done

This seems to begin in obscurity and end in perfection.


|-----
|QC:  What is it to be a man?
|MP:  To be a man is to be One with the Universe.
|QC:  But what is the Universe?
|MP:  Rather ask, what is not the Universe.
|QC:  Then it is everywhere.
|MP:  It is in your eye and in your heart.  As the seed of the peach
|     contains the fragrance of the flower and the substance  of the
|     fruit..
|QC:  And the bitter pit at its core...?
|MP:  Even that.

How sublime!  How sweet and bitter and sour are Master Po's words!


|-----
|MP:  What is in your thoughts Grasshopper?
|QC:  That is the man who killed my mother and my father.
|MP:  Revenge is a double edge sword, it cuts both ways.  Either
|     Jung Su just will kill you or you will destroy yourself by
|     certain suicide of your spirit.  Grasshopper, the wheel of
|     life is turned inexorably by the infinite stars, so it is, the
|     truth will not be cheated.  Consider General Jung reduced to
|     stealing some few packs of rice.  Is the wheel not crushing
|     him?  Is not an abyss opening at his feet?  Is not his path
|     which he threads with his own feet leading to an eternal
|     grave?

Is not Master Po the veritable source of wisdom here?
Why does the US government not listen to his wisdom?


|-----
|MP:  What is he making, Grasshopper?
|QC:  An animal, I can not yet tell what kind.
|MP:  It was just a piece of wood, and now it will become an animal
|     and this will feed the fire in the kitchen.  And yet they are
|     the same in this that each as been diverted from its true
|     nature.  Time is carving you Grasshopper.  Let yourself be
|     shaped according to your true nature.

Goodness, that sounds like laziness!


| MP:  Had you good cause to risk this danger?
|QC:  My purpose was to prove my agility and my courage.
|MP:  I had hoped such qualities were already yours.
|QC:  I sought to test it.
|MP:  For yourself, or them?  Is it not better to see yourself
|     truly, then care about how others see you?
|QC:  Yes, Master. If I look truly, will I see truly?
|MP:  It can be done.

Master Po is the Master again!


|-----
|MP:  I am glad that you are wiser than the money and know when to
|     let go of things which do not serve you, or force you to serve
|     them.

Like business and discipline!  Or laziness and sloth!


|-----
|MP:  Evil can not be conquered in the world, it can only be
|     resisted in one's self.

For 'evil' is 'that which I do not like'.


|-----
|QC:  Master, I look deep into myself and I saw something which
|     frightened me.
|MP:  What did you see, Grasshopper?
|QC:  I saw dark and fearful shadows in motion.  Shadows which shun
|     the light.
|MP:  Did you a put a name to these shadows?
|QC:  I call them evil.
|MP:  And what is the nature of evil?
|QC:  I do not know.

How swift is the mondo of Po.  How barefaced is the innocence of Qai Chang.


|MP:  Do you sometimes feel love, Grasshopper? and joy? Do you feel
|     pride in what you have accomplished?
|QC:  Often, Master.
|MP:  And you do sometimes feel good?
|QC:  I try.
|MP:  But the threads that make up our human nature are two ended. 
|     There is no capacity for feeling pride without an equal
|     capacity for feeling shame.  One can not feel joy unless one
|     can also feel despair.  We have no capacity for good without
|     an equal capacity for evil.

Is this not taoism's finest?  Are not all the ten-thousand things two-ended?


|QC:  Must we then not fear evil?
|MP:  Shall we fear our own humanity.
|QC:  Must we not fight evil?
|MP:  Who can defeat himself?  For what is evil but the self seeking
|     to fulfill its own secret needs.  All that is necessary is
|     that we face it an choose.

Isn't this the answer to evil and laziness??  Can we defeat ourselves?
And what if there is no self to defeat?


|QC:  Do such things exist?
|MP:  Do wars, famine, disease and death exist? Do lust, greed and
|     hate exist?
|QC:  They do, but how?  Where do they come from?
|MP:  They are man's creations, brought to be by the dark side of
|     their nature.
|QC:  How can man rid himself of such terrible things?
|MP:  Each man must start with himself within himself, by slowing
|     forging his Chi - the bond between the finite and the infinite
|     - the inner essence of his spirit and the limitless power of
|     the Universe.  Only thus can you conquer the power and
|     presence of evil.

At first I balked at these words.  Yet Po here does not say we shall
ever rid ourselves of evil.  He says we shall conquer the POWER and
the PRESENCE of evil.  These are important distinctions.


|-----
|MP:  Your final test, the urn of the two symbols, the dragon and
|     the tiger.  When you can walk in this corridor - the inner
|     path to the outer world and can push the urn aside with your
|     forearms you will bear its markings with you for the rest of
|     your life.
|QC:  How can I, the pot burning with coal and fire, how can I
|     Master?  Having only the strength of a man, and the weakness.
|MP:  It is because you are a man you can do this, Grasshopper.

In our weakness we discover our strength.  In my laziness I discover
my discipline.


|QC:  I do not understand.
|MP:  As the softest clay in time becomes the hardest brick, a
|     fragile leaf a diamond.  As a stream of firey ore freezes into
|     unbending iron - so too can a man ascend to himself.
|QC:  How?
|MP:  By slowing forging the Chi within yourself.  The bond between
|     the finite and the infinite the inner essence of  your spirit
|     and the limitless power of the Universe.
|QC:  How can I do this?
|MP:  You will have found your strength and the source of your
|     survival.  You will be free.

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law!


|-----
|MP:  [throwing stars at a target] To hit a target in this manner
|     is to exercise the inner strength.  Indeed there are two
|     kinds of strengths.  The outer strength is obvious, it fades
|     with age and succumb to sickness, then there is the Chi, the
|     inner strength.  Everyone processes it too, but it is indeed
|     much more difficult to develop.  The inner strength last
|     through every heat and every cold.  Through old age and
|     beyond.
|-----
|MP:  In the Sholin Temple there are three kinds of men -
|     students, disciples, and masters.  Development of the mind
|     can be achieved only when the body has been disciplined.  To
|     accomplish this the ancients have taught us to imitate gods
|     creatures.  From the crane we learned grace and self
|     control.  The snake teaches us suppleness and rhythmic
|     endurance.  The praying mantis teaches us speed and
|     patients.  And from the Tiger we learned tenacity and power. 
|     And from the dragon we learned to ride the wind.  All
|     creatures, the low and the high are one with nature.  If we
|     have the wisdom to learn all may teach us their virtues. 

These days I take for my meditation the lowly slug, lying about in
the sun, doing nothing, being useless, slowly living and dying on a
diet of the forest decay.


|     Between the fragile beauty of the praying mantis and the
|     fire and passion of the winged dragon - there is no
|     discourse.  Between the supple silence of the snake and the
|     eagle claws there only harmony.  As no two elements of
|     nature are in conflict, so, when we perceive the ways of
|     nature we remove conflict within ourselves and discover a
|     harmony of body and mind in accord with the flow of the
|     universe.

Perfect laziness!


|-----
|QC:  What the best way to deal with force?
|MP:  As we prize peace and quiet above victory, there is a simple
|     and preferred method - run away.  Perceive the way of nature
|     and no force of man can harm you.  Do not meet a wave head
|     on - avoid it.  You do not have to stop force, it is easier
|     to redirect it.  Learn more ways to preserve rather than
|     destroy, avoid rather than check, check rather than hurt,
|     hurt rather than [maim], [maim] rather than kill.  For all life
|     is precious nor can any be replaced.

Thus diversion and preservation through ambiguity is preferred to
direct confrontation and assault.  Thus affirmation and support
of the contrary is preferred to emphasizing the error.  Thus humor
and peaceful concord is preferred to heated and angry exchange.

Does not this sound like the Way of Ahimsa?  The Wiccan Rede?
When we must kill to eat we do not harm.
When we must assault to defend we do not harm.
When we must interfere to protect we do not harm.
When we can walk through the field without disturbing the grass,
 then we tread the Path of the Laze.


Tyagi uzT