The Tao of Kung Fu #13

Not many things.....One

This short video is from the 1970's TV series "Kung Fu". "Kung Fu" tells of the adventures of a fictional Shaolin priest named Caine, played by David Carradine. Caine wanders the American "Wild West" with nothing more than compassion, moderation, humility and a little Shaolin magic. The teachings of the Shaolin was meticulously researched for the "Kung Fu" series, making it one of the most authentic interpretations of the Taoist philosophy in popular culture. I recently decided to present selected scenes from "Kung Fu", to illustrate this extremely insightful ancient Chinese philosophy. This clip is from the episode called "The Praying Mantis Kills". This title comes from Caine's comments as he watched two men kneeling to pray prior to a gun fight. Caine observed that praying under these circumstances was as hollow and worthless as that of a praying mantis readying to kill. In this scene, Caine is explaining to Martin (Wendell Burton) the subtleties of meditation. Caine explains that he is able to hit a target by considering himself, the bow, the arrow and the target as one action in Nature. This is an archery technique commonly practiced in Zen. (Zen is the union of Buddhism and Taoism.) We often consider meditation as some type of mysterious process, but this really isn't the case. Meditation is simply anytime one becomes distracted from their usual thinking of time and self. Everyone has experienced this phenomena, but since it is extremely subtle, it is most often disregarded. Think of the last time you were surprised at how 'time flew'; or when you were so engaged in something, that you were unaware of anything else. Caine meditates using archery. However fishing, reading, knitting, writing, solving puzzles, playing music or any other activity you find enjoyable can be just as effective as a meditation. We often emerge from meditation feeling refreshed. This is because in this time we have briefly transcended our ego and have become an action of Nature. Again, this feeling of harmony is extremely subtle and often goes unnoticed. It is often only after we have evaluated the experience that we understand and appreciate the value of the meditative state.