1. Poe: We have a good collection this month, Lee-You?

_Lee-You_: A fine one Master Poe. Already, I have found two

pieces of rare beauty. I am most grateful.
_Poe_: We are grateful to you, for rewarding our carelessness.
_CONTINUED
_
_Poe_: Will you walk with me, Grasshopper?
_Young KCC_: Yes, Master. Master? The man to whom you spoke,
Lee-You? Is he a confused one?
_Poe_: What is your view?
_Young KCC_: He is a beggar, like the rest. I can see he is
greatly in need of food. But he does not eat.
_Poe_: He seeks to satisfy a stronger hunger.
_Young KCC_: He values what is worthless. (/Broken pieces of
pottery, which Lee-You uses to decorate a monument he is
making for a public area/)
_Poe_: To you, to me, perhaps. Not worthless to him.
_Young KCC_: Bits and pieces that cannot be put back together.
_Poe_: Not to understand a man?s purpose does not make him
confused.
_CONTINUED
_
_Lee-You_: Why are you following me? What do you want? AH! You
are from the temple. Have you nothing better to do?
_Young KCC_: I was instructed to follow you.
_Lee-You_: Come now. You can think of a better story than that.
_Young KCC_: It is the truth, Lee-You. I am doing what Master
Poe told me to do.
_Lee-You_: So wise a man, said to follow me. Why?
_Young KCC_: He said you could teach me a great knowledge.
_Lee-You_: (Laughs) But I cannot read or write. What can I
teach anyone?
_Young KCC_: Master Poe said you had found both great wisdom
and great happiness. And if I observed you, I might learn what
they are.
_Lee-You_: (Laughs again) Such a fine joke Master Poe has
played on you. Sending you to tramp on the dusty roads, after
an old man, who does the only thing he can do. He lives every
day from its start, to its end, and hopes there may be another
to follow.
_Young KCC_: There must be more?
_Lee-You_: Nothing more, my son. But if you choose to think
there may be more, you are welcome to follow.
_CONTINUED
_
_Lee-You_: You are the only helper I have ever had. How long
have you been with me now?
_Young KCC_: I cannot remember.
_Lee-You_: You are not paid. The work is hard. Why do you
continue?
_Young KCC_: I have not learned what Master Poe wishes me to
learn.
_Lee-You_: AH. That Master Poe. To play such a cruel game on a
good boy. Hey, go swim in the river. I will not tell.
_Young KCC_: I am here to learn.
_Lee-You_: Ahhh. Will it ever be done?
_Young KCC_: You do not know?

_Lee-You_: I grow old. Everyday weariness takes a little a

more of me. Would you finish my work?
_Poe_: Will you, Grasshopper? If needed, would you finish
Lee-You?s work?
_Young KCC_: I hesitate, Master. For it is Lee-You?s work. And
only he knows its purpose.
_Poe_: Ahhhhh. Then you no longer think him confused?
_Young KCC_: No Master. I now see the great clarity that
instructs his efforts.
_Poe_: Clarity?! When he treasures what is worthless?
_Young KCC_: Each piece of porcelain finds a new value in
Lee-You?s work (/building a statue/).
_Poe_: You have begun to learn.
_Young KCC_: But, this is not the great knowledge of which you
spoke?
_Poe_: Take heart. From the accomplishment of Lee-You, the
work of many years. One small piece. Now another, and another,
and another.
(/Lee-You dies/)
_Poe_: You have said farewell?
_Young KCC_: As best I could.
_Poe_: Death has had no victory, Grasshopper.
_Young KCC_: But Lee-You is gone.
_Poe_: Is he not still here, labor upon labor, piece by piece,
beauty upon beauty. Is it but a monument, or is it the man
himself??KF*
2. ___KCC_: If you worry, will the future change??KF
(*/REFERENCE/*/: _KCC_ will stand for Kwai Chang Caine when he
was a young adult. _Young KCC_ will stand for when the
character was young/)*
3. ___Man_: All because I was a rascal and a fool. I gambled away
all the months rent from my tenants. I Bought wine for
everyone and paid the flower girls for their song. There was
nothing left. At last they goaded me into it. I bet my finger.
Mao threw the dice. And I lost!! It hurts, Master?it hurts!
_Master Won-Que_: And what would you have won if the dice had
been otherwise?
_Man_: Four pieces of silver. As many as I have fingers left.
_Master Won-Que_: And with the four pieces of silver, you
would have bought more wine and the flower girls, would you not?
_Man_: (/Nods acknowledgment/).
_Master Won-Que_: Then perhaps with the finger, you have
bought wisdom. And that would be well worth the price.
*_Continued
_*_Man_: (/Cries in pain/). I have lost too much already!
_Master Won-Que_: The fire (/infection/) has entered the hand
through the wound. And the hand is dead already. And if we do
not remove the fire, you too might die. Did you hear me? Leu,
I?ve done all I could, but the spirit of the finger is calling
to the hand. And if we do not give it , the spirit will be
anger, and may even demand more.
_Man_: Spirit. Have you seen the spirit? (/A crow lands on the
nearby window ledge/).
_Young KCC_: It is here at the window!
_Man_: (/Screams/).

*_Continued_*
_Kahn_: What must we say of a mirror that receives
tranquillity, yet reflects a troubled brow? The mirror I spoke
of was you, student Caine.
_Young KCC_: It is not with myself I am troubled with, Master.
But for the sick man Leu. If he does not accept the loss of
his hand, he will die.
_Kahn_: did not Won-Que, make this clear to him?
_Young KCC_: Yes, Master, but..
_Kahn_: Yes?
_Young KCC_: Shall we not act in spite of the obstinacy of the
sick man? When inaction may destroy him?
_Kahn_: Is it your feeling that Won-Que is not forceful enough?
_Young KCC_: I have asked myself that question.
_Kahn_: Look to the water at your feet. Does not the sage say:
"What is more yielding than water? Yet, back it comes again,
wearing down the ridged strength, which cannot stand to its
strength. What is more forceful than quite water?"
*_Continued_*
_Man_: Master Que? I was so much trouble for you.
_Master Won-Que_: You were much more trouble for yourself, Leu.
_Man?s Wife_: I see nothing to give thanks for. I brought you
my husband, who had a hand! And an arm!! And you return to me
a man who is half himself.
_Man_: Woman! Be still! And you boy. Thanks for keeping vigil
so long with me (Master bows). Come woman.
_Young KCC_: Master. Why was the spirit not satisfied with
Leus?s hand?
_Master Won-Que_: The spirit might have been. But Leu himself
had not been done with gambling. He refused, as you recall, to
let me help him.
_Young KCC_: I do not understand. What did the spirit want?
_Master Won-Que_: That we may not know. Only what they do. But
it seems clear that the finger was lost foolishly. And that
angered the spirit of the finger. To be ripped, unwantingly
off. With so many good years left of work left in it. That
appeased the spirit for it was a good loss. The spirit decided
to let Leu live. Sometimes we must lose part of a gamble, in
order to win in the end.
_Young KCC_: Master. Leu might not have consented to the loss
of his arm except for the appearance of the crow.
_Master Won-Que_: Yet the crow did appear.
_Young KCC_: And on the floor of the sick room, I found this
(/rice/).
_Master Won-Que_: Leu believed in demons by his own choice.
Not by ours. If the appearance of one of his demons helped him
make the right choice, then we can only be grateful by the way
of providence.?KF*
4. ___Poe_: What is it Grasshopper?
_Young KCC_: A man in need (/bandit/).
_Man_: Whatever you have - valuables, money - throw them on
the ground (/they throw their rice bowls/). What about you old
man?
_Poe_: How many bowls do you need to eat from?
_Man_: I can sell it. Throw it down!! (/Poe does so, and
accidentally a small book, and he picks it back up/). What?s that?
_Poe_: It is of value to no one but myself. Some poems that I

5.

6.
7.

8.

9.

wrote.
_Man_: Throw it down!
_Poe_: No one would buy it.
_Man_: Then I?ll use it to start my fire. What have you
priests got to worry about. You live content behind your
walls, with plenty of rice and wine. While others work for a
living. We starve. Give me the book (/they fight and the
bandit is driven off/).
_Young KCC_: Master? Do you not know the poems in that book by
memory?
_Poe_: Yes, Grasshopper. But can any man afford such
arrogance??KF*
___Young KCC_: He betrayed us, yet we feed and cloth him.
_Kahn_: And you disapprove?
_Young KCC_: It is said he swore an oath, as one of us, never
to reveal our secrets. It is said that when he left us, he
taught farmers to be soldiers. And led them to their deaths in
foolish rebellion.
_Kahn_: I am aware of his unsavory adventures. I know also his
hunger and cold.
_Young KCC_: But, master. Will not food and new clothing
strengthen him to go out and cause more suffering?
_Kahn_: It may. But when he leaves us in the morning, will the
earth fall away from under his feet? Will the sun, shining on
all else, withhold light and warmth from him? Will water turn
to mud when he stops to drink? If sun, and earth, and water
refrain from judgment, who am I to withhold a blanket and a
bowl of rice??KF*
___KCC_: It is said "Honor dies, where interest lies."?KF*
___Kahn_: (/He mentions the strange name of a plant/) Mixed
with the white of an egg, it is effective for relieving pain
in bruises and swelling. Taken internally it quiets the heart
and lungs, or causes death.
_Young KCC_: You mean it is a poison?
_Kahn_: A very powerful one. It?s essence is Aconite.
_Young KCC_: Then it can be used to heal?
_Kahn_: Yes. But only when combined with other substances in
the most exact proportions. As with all things of nature. It
can be used by man for good or evil. Study this herb
carefully, for the difference of life and death, in it, can be
measured in the blinking of an eye.?KF*
___KCC_: A man can be broken.
_Man_: How?
_KCC_: By a strength outside, greater than himself. Or a
weakness inside, which he cannot understand.?KF*
___Ho_: Master I cannot win this match.
_Kahn_: In saying so have you not already lost?
_Ho_: This man seems to be driven by a force I do not know. He
has a strength I have never seen.
_Kahn_: There is more to this combat than physical strength.
_Ho_: It has been said that the lance can never give way, but
that a man can give way.
_Kahn_: How?
_Ho_: By a strength outside that is greater than himself. Buy
a weakness inside him, which he cannot interpret.
_Kahn_: Do you forget that your spirit is stronger than the
flesh? It can defeat the power of another, no matter how
great. There is no failure, no defeat, no weakness within you.
Only that which you allow to settle in your own mind. Draw
upon the strength of your spirit.?KF*

10. ___KCC_: Master. I do not understand all that happened.

_Kahn_: No one knows all. We were challenged by a festering
anger. The challenge was accepted. And in the end, the seeds
of hatred destroyed themselves. As they always do. As they
always will.
_Poe_: Battles are waged on the earth and in the heavens.
Within the mind and within the soul. This battle has been won.?KF*
11. ___Man_: Humility may lead to meanness, But vanity may lead to
violence. Therefore it is better to be humble.?KF*
12. ___Chan-Ye_: Pismire. Pismire. Come over here. I want you to
go to the village for me.
_KCC_: On what errand?
_Chen-Ye_: This (/hands him a note/). Deliver it to the Pale
Blossom Road. The 3^rd house on the left.
_KCC_: I shall ask master Kahn for permission.
_Chen-Ye_: NO! You will do as I tell you. You are bound. Give
it to the girl Sue-Ling (/KCC takes the note from him/).
_Kahn_: Chen-Ye!! Let me have that [note]. You may leave (to
KCC. Kahn reads it and tears it up). Come with me. Why have
you broken your vows, and betrayed the trust put on you as a
disciple of this priesthood?
_Chen-Ye_: I have broken only one vow.
_Kahn_: That is the power fought by all men. You allowed it to
take hold, and drive you to disobedience.
_Chen-Ye_: Master, I have struggled long. Torn between my
desire to be a Shaolin Priest, and my desire for Sue-Ling.
_Kahn_: We?ve watched your torment Chen-Ye. Always hoping that
you would come to us.
_Chen-Ye_: Perhaps I feared to borrow the strength which you
could give. Perhaps I did not wish to be helped.
_Kahn_: The Yin and the Yang are opposite forces. Yet they
exist together. In the harmony of the perfect orb.
_Chen-Ye_: I could not find that harmony, Master.
_Kahn_: And because you could not, you must leave the temple
forever.?KF*
13. ___Kahn_: When you leave these walls, you will come upon the
many pillars of violence.
_KCC_: May not a man, one with nature, seeing such pillars avoid them?
_Kahn_: Other men stumble in the way. They go in idle-less
search for peace.
_KCC_: Must I then tumble down these pillars?
_Kahn_: Seek always peace. Wear no paths for the footsteps of
others, unless the soul is endangered. We are all linked by
our souls. To endanger one, endangers all.
_KCC_: And if thus endangered?
_Kahn_: In such times, the soul must be the warrior.?KF*
14. ___Kahn_: What the eye sees disappears with a blink, or a
wandering puff of breath. Where there was light, the eye
denied sees nothing (/he blows out a candle/).
_KCC_: My eye is denied (/Kahn leads KCC to another room with
a candle in it/).
_Kahn_: That is what the eye sees. What the souls sees cannot
be denied.
_KCC_: Will not the soul, too, be denied when death blinks its
eye?
_Kahn_: No. The soul sees always.
_KCC_: Yet the body dies.
_Kahn_: Does the sun die?
_KCC_: It does not shine at night.

_Kahn_: It shines, somewhere, you do not see it.?KF*

15. ___Poe_: Discipline your body, that your mind may find a
greater power.
_KCC_: What greater power is there, Master Poe?
_Poe_: Those who surrender themselves, find inner strength.
_KCC_: Will this protect more that could my arms and legs?
_Poe_: When the heart knows no danger, no danger exists. When
the soul becomes the warrior, all fear melts, as the snowflake
that falls upon your hand.?KF*
16. ___Poe_: GRASSHOPPER, BE YOUR SELF. AND NEVER FEAR THUS TO BE
NAKED TO THE EYES OF OTHERS. YET, KNOW THAT MAN SO OFTEN MASKS
HIMSELF. THAT WHAT IS SIMPLE IS RARELY UNDERSTOOD. THE DUST OF
TRUTH SWIRLS, AND SEEKS ITS OWN CRACKS OF ENTRY. AND A TREE
FALLING IN THE FOREST, WITHOUT EARS TO HEAR, MAKES NO SOUND.
YET IT FALLS.?KF*
17. ___KCC_: When you cease to strive to understand, then you will
know without understanding.?KF*
18. ___KCC_: I do not get lonesome, I belong to myself.?KF*
19. ___Kahn_: Strike each flame, within the width of a hand from
the wick [candle]. In this way the flame is snuffed out, yet
the candle is not touched.
_KCC_: What is the purpose of so difficult a blow?
_Kahn_: Discipline. That you may strike with such strength,
yet in one place, and no more.
_KCC_: Master, I am troubled. We learn to make powerful the
force of out bodies. Yet we are taught to reverence all
against whom we may use such force.
_Kahn_: When your life is threatened, or the innocent life of
another, you will be prepared to defend them.
_KCC_: Being thus prepared better than others, should I not
always stand and fight?
_Kahn_: Ignore the insulting tongue, duck the provoking blow,
run from the assault of the strong.
_KCC_: Are these not the actions of a coward?
_Kahn_: The wild boar runs from the tiger. Knowing that each
being well armed by nature with deadly strength, may kill the
other. Running, he saves his own life, and that of the tiger.
This is not cowardice. It is the love of life.?KF*
20. ___Poe_: You wish no longer to savor the memory of your
father, through that which was close to him?
_KCC_: Master, you have taught me to claim no possessions,
that none may claim me.
_Poe_: The sextant was only a memory. Which you could keep not
only in your heart, but in your hands.
_KCC_: I am now of age, I must put away such memories.
_Poe_: Between father and son there is a bridge which neither
time nor death can shatter. Each stands at one end, needing to
cross and meet.
_KCC_: But he is dead.
_Poe_: The bridge which I speak of is your love for him.?KF*
21. ___Young KCC_: Master, are you lonely?
_Kahn_: Do you feel loneliness?
_Young KCC_: No. But I do not understand, why denied the
experience of so many things that other men desire, I do not?
_Kahn_: Do you remember the day that you first came here? You
stood in the rain, you did not play games with the others.
_Young KCC_: My parents were dead. I was alone.
_Kahn_: Is that why you waited so long? So patiently to join us?
_Young KCC_: Yes, it was.
_Kahn_: We to, were alone.

22.

23.

24.
25.

_Young KCC_: But you lived here together.

_Kahn_: Man, like the animals, is meant to live together, with
others like himself. But the meaning of belonging to such a
group is found in the comfort of silence, and the
companionship of solitude.
_Young KCC_: Is that why you let me enter, and taught me?
_Kahn_: We taught you young man, because you already knew.?KF*
___Kahn_: Man against man. It is a contest that may have an
end. He who is most skilled will prevail. You are both
enjoined by your vows to do your utmost. Disciple Caine, you
will attack. Disciple Han, you will defend (/they
spar/fight/). Disciple Han you have done well [lost]. He who
attacks must vanquish. He who defends must merely survive.
_KCC_: We swore an oath of friendship, master.
_Kahn_: You are speaking of disciple Han?
_KCC_: Yes, master.
_Kahn_: And he no longer feels bound by this oath?
_KCC_: Because of the contest yesterday, between us, in which
he was defeated.
_Kahn_: And you feel as though you have lost something?
_KCC_: I do.
_Kahn_: What will you do now with your oath?
_KCC_: Is not an oath eternal?
_Kahn_: But how can you control such a thing as a friendship?
Which requires the assent of two persons. It is well to
consider deeply, before binding yourself to an ideal, cause,
or a man. But what is an oath worth that binds a man to an
unachievable task?
_KCC_: He is still angry, it troubles me. I do not know how to
answer to his hatred.
_Kahn_: How else, but with love. One cannot always keep a
friend. When that friend believes that one has wronged him.
_KCC_: But, I have not wronged him. He is mistaken.
_Kahn_: Each man has the right to choose his enemies and his
friends. He may choose unwisely, but the decision is his
alone, to make. Then he must live with the consequences. And
so must his enemies, and his friends.?KF*
___KCC_: Your eyes saw a gun in my hand, and a man shot. For
all you truly know, your lie has freed a murderer.
_Girl_: But you said you were innocent.
_KCC_: Must I always tell the truth?
_Girl_: But you couldn?t lie. You hate lying as much as I do.
If I never lie again, can I be the same as I was before?
_KCC_: /_Each waking moment is as a rung on an endless ladder.
Each step we take is built on what has gone before_/.
_Girl_: Then I will always be as liar.
_KCC_: Yes. But I can take your lie from you.
_Girl_: How?
_KCC_: I will show you that your lie was indeed the truth.
Trust me.?KF*
___KCC_: It was the truth. To say less would dishonor the
respect for truth, which she has won at such great cost.?KF*
___KCC_: Master, as I walk these roads, are there none I may
call on for help, when I need help?
_Poe_: None.
_KCC_: Will this not be useful?
_Poe_: To those who would destroy us. In the past, when we
have relied on our great teachers to lead us, our enemies in
high and low places, could deal us a mortal blow by simply
lopping off our heads. Now in our oneness, we are not like a

26.

27.

28.

29.

30.

great beast which may be destroyed by a single well planned

stoke to the brain. Rather, we are like an ocean of many
waves, or a field of flowers. Though one or more may be
uprooted, the others still live, with a life of our own.
_KCC_: As a wave upon an ocean, a single flower in a field of
many, what will the people ask of me?
_Poe_: To lead them against their enemies: the despots, the
tyrants, wickedness, iniquities, ignorance, persecution,
superstition, dishonor.?KF*
___KCC_: May I ask, master? When I leave the temple, what will
be expected of me?
_Poe_: To walk the roads of the land, and use what you have
learned for the needs and benefit of the people.
_KCC_: Will I always know when to act and when to stand off?
_Poe_: That which you do not know, the doing will quickly
teach you.?KF*
___KCC_: Well master?
_Poe_: Tell me.
_KCC_: The body and mind are one, working in unison.
_Poe_: They are one.
_KCC_: It is as though the unity made by itself, are necessary.
_Poe_: And all those years of rigor and discipline?
_KCC_: What else could a man seek, but this unity.
_Poe_: As the wise farmer puts back, into the land, at least
as much as he has taken out of it. So soon you must give back
to others what you have taken for yourself.?KF*
___KCC_: Master, what endures?
_Poe_: The sun endures, the moon endures, life endures.
_KCC_: Yet, the life of this young man has ended. He was
younger than I am. No daughter will weep for him. No son
remains to sow his seed.
_Poe_: It is said the leaf honors the tree. Yet when the leaf
falls, the tree trembles.
_KCC_: You speak of the past.
_Poe_: The present is rooted in the past. It is through these
roots we draw nourishment and strength.
_KCC_: And I am a man standing on one leg.
_Poe_: Do you know nothing about him, Grasshopper, you father?
_KCC_: I remember a troubled, quiet young man. It was as
though he could not rest in this new country, yet remained for
my mothers sake.
_Poe_: Nothing else?
_KCC_: He was an American. He once told me of the place he was
born. I have never forgotten the name - Lordsville.?KF*
___KCC_: Master, of mans roots, which is the stronger?
_Kahn_: It is a Shaolin belief that the paternal line controls.
_KCC_: What is a man without roots?
_Kahn_: What is a tree without roots? The deeper into the
earth the roots reach, the stronger the tree.
_KCC_: A name. A face in my mind. A place. It is all I know of
my father. One half of myself, an emptiness, a mystery.
_Kahn_: Seek to discover it then. For it is this thread which
holds you to the past and binds you to the future. To fix your
place for all time and eternity.?KF*
___Poe_: What? Sad Grasshopper?
_KCC_: My sadness is for you.
_Poe_: Is it?
_KCC_: Never to see the clouds, never to see the sun on the
water, or the plumage of a bird.
_Poe_: Yet it is sometimes eyes that blind a man.

31.

32.

33.
34.

35.

36.
37.

_KCC_: How can this be?

_Poe_: Because he can see, he does not look. Is the bird only
the color of his plumage?
_KCC_: None should think so.
_Poe_: To be at one with the universe, is to know bird, sun,
cloud. How much shall a man lose if he then loses his eyes??KF*
___Kahn_: The rabbit feels rage. The tiger, pity. The dragon,
pain. All creatures, the low and the high, are one with
nature. No life is insignificant. If we have the wisdom to
learn, all may teach us their virtues. This is Shun, master of
the White Crane system. From the crane we learn grace and self
control. The snake teaches us suppleness and rhythmic
endurance. The praying mantis teaches us speed and patience.
And from the tiger we learn tenacity and power. And from the
dragon we learn to ride the wind. Life sustains life, and all
living creatures need nourishment. Yet with wisdom, the body
learns to sustain in ways that all may live.?KF*
___KCC_: Mater, do we seek victory in contention?
_Kahn_: Seek rather not to contend.
_KCC_: Then, will we not then be defeated?
_Kahn_: We know that where there is no contention, there is
neither defeat nor victory. The supple willow does not contend
against the storm, yet it survives.?KF*
___Kahn_: Weakness prevails over strength. Gentleness
conquers. Become the calm and restful breeze that tames the
violent sea.?KF*
___KCC_: Master, our bodies are pray to many needs. Hunger,
trust, the need for love.
_Kahn_: In one lifetime a man knows may pleasures. A mothers
smile in waking hours. A young woman?s searing intimate touch.
And the laughter of grandchildren in the twilight years. To
deny these in ourselves is to deny that which makes us one
with nature.
_KCC_: Shall we seek to satisfy these needs?
_Kahn_: Only acknowledge them, and satisfaction will follow.
To suppress a truth is to give it force beyond endurance.?KF*
___Poe_: You sit by yourself, Grasshopper. What do you think of?
_Young KCC_: My mother, my father, both gone. I am alone.
_Poe_: Do you hear the flock of birds overhead? Do you hear
the fish? The beetle? In this crowded place you feel alone.
Which of us is the most blind??KF*
___KCC_: To know nature is to put oneself in perfect harmony
with the universe. Heaven and earth are one. So must we seek a
discipline of mind and body within ourselves.?KF*
___KCC_: The cobra seeks to fix the eye of the bird, before it
strikes. In that moment of looking at each other, each accepts
their role - predator and prey. Fear creates the victim. Yet,
something in the bird makes it seek the eye of the cobra.
_Man_: I?ve seen it.
_KCC_: A wish to die.
_Man_: Yes. Tell me how it feels.
_KCC_: But you know how it feels. I will survive if I can. But
you. It is you who feels the fear.
_Man_: I?m the one who?s got the finger on the trigger.
_KCC_: Facing death yet one more time. Yours. Mine. It?s the
death that fascinates you. Looking into its eyes. You are the
bird, the cobra is death.
_NOTE_: Bounty hunter risking life because something happened
in life to depress him. He does not care about life. He takes
chances.?KF*

38. ___Young KCC_: Master?

_Kahn_: Yes, student Caine. What is it? An infant. Where did
you find it?
_Young KCC_: Left to die, by the river.
_Kahn_: You wonder, how can this be?
_Young KCC_: Is it better to let the infant die, than to force
it to live?
_Kahn_: All life is sacred. Thus the joining together of man
and woman, is always honored. Apart, there is no life. But
from such union, life may proceed.
_Young KCC_: Then life must always be defended.
_Kahn_: The thorn defends the rose. It harms only those who
would steal the blossom from the plant.?KF*
39. ___Man_: Mister, I?m in your debt.
_KCC_: No more than the leaf owes the root. With water and
sunlight, both grow together.?KF*
40. ___Young KCC_: Is injury wrought by oneself?
_Poe_: No.
_Young KCC_: Then by another?
_Poe_: No.
_Young KCC_: Then by oneself and another?
_Poe_: Did your eye meet your own fist?
_Young KCC_: Then shall I seek ways to repay?
_Poe_: What is the debt?
_Young KCC_: My suffering.
_Poe_: Vengeance is a water vessel with a hole. It carries
nothing but the promise of emptiness.
_Young KCC_: Shall I then repay injury always with kindness?
_Poe_: Repay injury with justice and forgiveness. But kindness
always with kindness.?KF*
41. ___Woman_: I?m scared, help me.
_KCC_: Be in touch with what you feel. From these actions you
will bring forth a new life. Feel the sand. Once mighty waters
hurled themselves against rock. And from these two harsh
trinks, came this most gentle sand.
_Woman_: I?m scared. I don?t know what to do.
_KCC_: See the graceful things around you. Hear the peaceful
sounds.
_Woman_: I hear my own heart beating. And the pains.
_KCC_: The butterfly, floating in the sunlight. The incense of
sage. The laughter of the wind. Think of these.
_Woman_: Ohhhhhh!!! I feel pain.
_KCC_: Trust. [pause] See. The sheath which held the seed has
opened. And from within, this bursting growth reaches out. As
simply, and with more beauty, your seed will find its own
accord with nature. Seeking air and sunlight in its own free life.
_Woman_: But, I?m scared of it, of what will happen.
*FLASHBACK:*
_Poe_: Fear is the enemy, trust is the armor.
_Young KCC_: But not knowing what will happen, am I not wise
to be afraid?
_Poe_: He who conquers himself is the greatest warrior. Do
what must be done with a docile heart.
_Young KCC_: Master. How can I know if this is possible for me?
_Poe_: Listen for the color of the sky. Look for the sound of
the hummingbirds wings. Search the air for the perfume of ice,
on a hot summer?s day. If you have found these things, you
will know.?KF*

42. ___Poe_: Grasshopper, what troubles you?

_Young KCC_: I am ashamed.
_Poe_: To feel shame for no cause is a waste. To feel shame
for a cause is also a waste. For you must rather spend time
correcting that for which you are ashamed.
_Young KCC_: Master. I woke last night, and seeing nothing,
hearing nothing, yet I was afraid.
_Poe_: Of what?
_Young KCC_: Death.
_Poe_: He who knows how to live need not fear death. He can
walk without fear of rhino or tiger. He will not be wounded in
battle.
_Young KCC_: How can this be?
_Poe_: In him the rhino can find no place to thrust his horn.
The tiger, no place to use his claws. And weapons, no place to
pierce.
_Young KCC_: Why is this so?
_Poe_: Because a man who knows how to live, has no place for
death to enter.?KF*
43. ___KCC_: Before we wake, we cannot know that what we dreamed
does not exist. Before we die, we cannot know that death is
not the greatest joy.?KF*
44. ___KCC_: I must leave soon.
_Woman_: What should I do?
_KCC_: What do you feel?
_Woman_: Hate. Fills the emptiness where my child grew.
_KCC_: To hate is like drinking salt water. Your thirst grows
worse.
_Woman_: Don?t you understand what I feel?
_KCC_: I have seen the silkworm. It spins a thread, thinking
itself to be safe. It has spun a tomb. Hate is the tomb you
weave. It will not save you from your suffering.
_Woman_: That?s what I feel. What can I do with it?
_KCC_: Perhaps there is room to bury your hate in that small
grave, where we have come from.?KF*
45. ___Old Man_: Leaving?
_KCC_: She is better.
_Old Man_: I have seen what you can do. All I have in this
world is this sword. It?s yours if you do what I want done. An
eye for an eye.
_KCC_: Keep your sword!
_Old Man_: You?re a man. You feel. Don?t you care about what
happened?!?! They raped my little girl!!
_KCC_: I am a man! I care!
_Old Man_: Then do something about it!!
_KCC_: (/He grabs the sword/) I will do something. I will
break the necklace?s beads of vengeance. There has been enough
killing (/He breaks the sword/). I will end it.
_Old Man_: If I don?t have a right to revenge, who does?!
_KCC_: No one.?KF*
46. ___Young KCC_: Thank you Master Poe, for what you have done
for me.
_Poe_: Not for you young Caine, for myself.
_Young KCC_: But I was the one. The foreign barbarian they
wanted to hurt.
_Poe_: Young Caine. When I was a boy, I fell into a hole in
the ground, and I was broken, and I could not climb out. I
might have died there. But a stranger came along and saved me.
He said it was his obligation. That for help he once received,
he must in return help 10 others. Each of whom must help 10

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others. So that good deeds would spread out like the ripples
from a pebble in a pond. I was one of his 10. And you are one
of my mine. And now I pass this obligation onto you.?KF*
___Kahn_: The best charioteers do not push ahead. The best
fighters do not make displays of anger. The wisest antagonist
is he who wins without engaging in battle.
_Young KCC_: But master, is this not a contradiction? To train
the body thus, yet shun anger in battle.
_Kahn_: This is the power of not contending. It is how the
weak overcome the strong.?KF*
___Poe_: The hands, Grasshopper, are the eyes and the tongue
of touch. Through them a man may reach out and see another's
feelings, or speak his own.
_KCC_: Is it not sad master, that the hands of a man may
strike a blow as well as caress?
_Poe_: Pain and pleasure are like two bells, side by side. And
the voice of each makes a trembling in the other.
_KCC_: Are pain and pleasure so alike?
_Poe_: Are the eyes and tongue alike? You see the butterfly,
and an ugly wound. And the same tongue which screams, also
laughs.?KF*
___Young KCC_: They took our money, our cart, our clothes,
everything we had of value.
_Khan_: Except that which is irreplaceable, your lives. How
did you come to leave the main road?
_Ho Fong_: Because we were fooled. We trusted a stranger.
_Young KCC_: He was an old man with a kind face and a gentle
manner.
_Kahn_: Ho Fong, what lesson did you learn from this?
_Ho Fong_: Never trust a stranger!
_Kahn_: Kwai Chang, what lesson did you learn from this?
_Young KCC_: To expect the unexpected.
_Kahn_: Ho Fong, in the morning when you are well and rested,
you will leave the temple.
_Ho Fong_: When shall I return, Master Kahn?
_Kahn_: To us, never. [Ho Fong leaves].
_Kahn_: You are troubled about your friend Ho Fong?
_Young KCC_: I do not understand why he was told to leave, and
not I. When I equally responsible for trusting the old man.
_Kahn_: We do not punish for trust. If while building a house,
a carpenter strikes a nail. It proved faulty by bending. Does
the carpenter lose faith in all nails, and stop building the
house?
_Young KCC_: Then we are required to trust. Even if we are
reminded of the existence of evil?
_Kahn_: Deal with evil through strength. But affirm the good
in man through trust. In this way we are prepared for evil,
but we encourage good.
_Young KCC_: And is good a great reward for trusting?
_Kahn_: In striving for an ideal, we do not seek rewards. Yet,
trust does sometimes bring with it a great reward, even
greater that good.
_Young KCC_: What is greater that good?
_Kahn_: Love.?KF*
___KF Quote_: To be alone _without_ one to love is a waste.
But to be _not_ alone, _without_ one to love is a waste of the
soul.?KF*
___KCC_: Master, may we speak further on the forces of destiny?
_Poe_: Speak.
_KCC_: As we stand with two roads before us, how shall we know

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whether the left road or the right road will lead us to our
destiny?
_Poe_: You spoke of chance, Grasshopper. As if such a thing
were certain to exist. In the matter you speak of, destiny,
there is no such thing as chance. For which ever way you
choose, right or left, it must lead to an end. And that end is
our destiny.?KF*
___KCC_: I follow the Tao. No one can say to what solitude
that might lead, My journey is endless, until it comes full
circle at my death.?KF*
___Kahn_: What do you feel? (/Kahn is watching Young KCC, and
he is watching a young girl perform a dance. And she smiles at
KCC/).
_Young KCC_: Nothing.
_Kahn_: What do you feel?!
_Young KCC_: Uncomfortable.
_Kahn_: The mind, the body, the spirit are one. When the body
expresses the desires of the mind and the spirit, then the
body is in tune with nature. The act is pure. And there is no
shame.
_Young KCC_: What is love?
_Kahn_: Love is harmony, even in discord.?KF*
___Kahn_: In the Shaolin 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 God?s
creatures. This is Shun. Master of the White Crane system.
From the crane we learn grace and self control. The snake
teaches us suppleness and rhythmic endurance. The praying
mantis teaches us speed and patience. And from the tiger we
learn tenacity and power. And from the dragon, we learn to
ride the wind. Life sustains life. And all living creatures
need nourishment. Yet, with wisdom, the body learns to sustain
in ways that all may live. (/ADD IN THE SECTION ABOUT VIRTUES,
TAKE OUT FROM GOD?S CREATURES TIL VIRTUES/), and the fire and
passion of the winged dragon, there is no discord. Between the
supple silence of the snake, and the eagle?s claws, there is
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. It may take half a lifetime to
master one system.?KF*
___Kahn_: 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, than to 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.?KF*
___KCC_: Long ago Jwang Joe dreamed that he was a butterfly.
He was very joyful as a butterfly. Well pleased with his lot.
His aims fulfilled. He knew nothing of Joe, the man. But
shortly, he awoke, and found himself again, to be Jwang Joe.
He could not tell whether as Joe he had dreamed he was a
butterfly, or as a butterfly he has dreamed he was Joe.
/(Young KCC read this from a valuable and sacred scroll/).
_Poe_: You are not afraid to travel?
_Young KCC_: I am afraid only of failure, venerable sir.
_Poe_: Then take pains that you do not fail.
_Young KCC_: Master, we are taught that the most important
gift of our nature is the reaching out to one another.

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_Poe_: To say and to listen. To teach what we know truly, to

those who do not know. To send peaceful thoughts over the
bridge of words.
_Young KCC_: Yet, I am only to speak when spoken to?
_Poe_: Reach out. Yet, weary of what you allow yourself to
grasp. Go now Grasshopper. Guard above all things, the purity
of your vision.?KF*
___Kahn_: Look at the world you live in, and this pool of
fish. There are 12 fish, 12 worlds.
_Young KCC_: But only one pool.
_Kahn_: Many. The one you see, the one I see, and the world of
each [fish]. The world you live in is mysterious, exciting,
unknown. And mine is older, familiar and calm. You will never
know my world, or I yours.
_Young KCC_: Never?
_Kahn_: Can you see with my eyes? Think with my brain?
_Young KCC_: But master, you are one with the universe. So am I.
_Kahn_: We are one. Yet we are not the same. Ten million
living things have as many different worlds. Do not see
yourself as the center of the universe: Wise and good and
beautiful. Seek rather wisdom, goodness, and beauty. That you
may honor them everywhere.?KF*
___Poe_: Where is evil? In the rat, whose nature it is to
steal grain. Or in the cat? Whose nature it is to kill the rat.
_KCC_: The rat steals. Yet for him the cat is evil.
_Poe_: And to the cat, the rat.
_KCC_: Yet master, surely one of them is evil.
_Poe_: The rat does not steal. The cat does not murder. Rain
falls, the stream flows, a hill remains. Each acts according
to its nature.
_KCC_: Then is there no evil for men? Each man tells himself
that what he does is good. At least for himself.
_Poe_: Grasshopper. A man may tell himself many things. But is
a man?s universe made only of himself?
_KCC_: If a man hurts me, and I punish him - perhaps he will
not hurt another.
_Poe_: And if you do nothing?
_KCC_: He will believe he may do as he wishes.
_Poe_: Perhaps. Or perhaps he will learn that some men receive
injury, but return kindness.?KF*
___KCC_: If you plant rice, rice will grow. If you plant fear,
fear will grow.?KF*
___Kahn_: The cobweb is made of silken thread so fine that a
puff of breath destroys it. Yet, to the spider it is a secure
haven.
_KCC_: Still to me only a cobweb.
_Kahn_: (Blows a cobweb): When the wind blows, a feather
dances in its wake.
_KCC_: But the feather, much weaker than the wind, can do no
other.
_Kahn_: Is this the way of man?
_KCC_: There are strong and weak.
_Kahn_: You do not see. Which is stronger, these boards, or
your arm?
_KCC_: The boards.
_Kahn_: Strike the boards, using your arm as a weapon (boards
break). Yet the boards resisting do not endure.
_KCC_: Can the weaker be the stronger?
_Kahn_: See the way of life as a stream. A man floats, and his
way is smooth. The same man turning to fight upstream,

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exhausts himself. To be one with the universe, each must find

his true path, and follow it.?KF*
___KCC_: Master. The silent one. He is not one of us, yet he
remains.
_Poe_: The river seeks its own level. It will not fight the
rock, it flows around it. The rock becomes a refuge in the river.
_KCC_: The fury is understood. What if he were outside?
_Poe_: Is there an outside? Who understands the silent one
more than a sparrow or a kid (child goat). Though nature has
clouded his mind and twisted his body, it gave a magic to his
hands. This the creatures know. Is it not a gift more precious
then fame, or beauty, or the riches of a king??KF*
___Poe_: Why do you hesitate, Grasshopper?
_Young KCC_: I am afraid.
_Poe_: What is it that you fear?
_Young KCC_: I do not know what lies beyond.
_Poe_: It is only a corridor, leading to a place that is no
longer used. Is that something to fear?
_Young KCC_: It is very dark, master.
_Poe_: And is it not also dark in your room?
_Young KCC_: Yes.
_Poe_: And do you have fear there too?
_Young KCC_: No master.
_Poe_: Perhaps then, there is a greater reason for your fear.
_Young KCC_: Master, before I came here a boy in the
marketplace whispered of the corridor of death. He said the
place at the end holds the bones of many who entered.
_Poe_: But Grasshopper, what is it that I have told you?
_Young KCC_: That life is a corridor. And death, merely a door.
_Poe_: Do you believe me?
_Young KCC_: Yes master, but I am still afraid.
_Poe_: In time you will learn to fear only your fear itself.?KF*
___KCC_: When a man has nothing, it is then he is most able to
raise himself up. When we dream the things we wish for happen
by magic. When we wake, we know without effort a man is less
than nothing.?KF*
Daily, KCC practices walking on a large beam of wood. It is
located on the ground. He is practicing to walk across a beam
suspended over, what appears to be a pool of acid.
_KCC_: Master, if a student should lose his balance and fall
into the pool, will he not be consumed?
_Poe_: It is essential, always, to keep ones balance. Is it not?
DAYS LATER:

_KCC_: I see where others have fallen.

_Poe_: Let your eyes see only the beam. In that way, you will
not fall. [/HE FALLS IN/].
_Poe_: (/Laughs/) Observe closely. Is not your flesh still
clinging to your bones?
_KCC_: The pool is filled with warm water, nothing else.
_Poe_: You believed it was acid.
_KCC_: But I saw skeletons.
_Poe_: Look again.(/Poe retrieves plastic skeleton/).
Superstition is like a magnet. It pulls you in the direction
of your belief.?KF*
65. ___KCC_: If I tell you, you are not within a prison. The
prison is within you. Can you believe that? Sit like me (/The
lotus position/). Let all effort flow out of your body. All
heat flow from your body. The weight of your body becomes less

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72.

and less. Until the body becomes one with the spirit. Which is
as light as a feather. As a breath???.a moment???.as nothing
at all.?KF
___KCC_: The power to claim life is not superstition, it is
destiny. Bow to superstition and you create a new , unhappy
destiny.?KF*
___Young KCC_: What is the value of truth, master?
_Kahn_: It binds one to the reality of oneself.
_Young KCC_: This is hard for me to understand.
_Kahn_: So is the truth - hard to understand. Accept/except
that which cannot be spoken.
_Young KCC_: But, should I not always speak the truth? No
matter what the consequence?
_Kahn_: Recognize that all words are part false, and part
truth. Limited by our imperfect understanding. But strive
always for honesty, within yourself.?KF*
___Poe_: Arise calmly Grasshopper. And brush the indignity off
your trousers. You fought blindly, Grasshopper. A sickly
maiden could have beaten you.
_Young KCC_: Yes, Master Poe. Forgive me.
_Poe_: Forgive yourself. You have suffered for it. What is the
cause of your anger?
_Young KCC_: It is anger at myself.
_Poe_: Yes, but what is the reason?
_Young KCC_: For being a coward.
_Poe_: Ahhhh. When did you discover this about yourself?
_Young KCC_: Yesterday. When Ho Fong and I were attacked by
five big bullies in the market place. He was struck first. And
I, out of fear, did nothing to help him.
_Poe_: You were two boys against five larger than yourself.
What do you think you should have done?
_Young KCC_: Fought back, and try to help my friend.
_Poe_: Ahhh, yes Grasshopper. That would have been heroic.
_Young KCC_: You agree, then. That I was a coward?
_Poe_: What is cowardice? But the bodies wisdom of its
weakness. What is bravery? But the bodies wisdom of its
strength. The coward and the hero march together within every
man. So to call one man coward, or another brave, merely
serves to indicate the possibilities of their achieving the
opposite.?KF*
___Kahn_: Those who speak convincingly of peace, cannot go
armed. Those who speak convincingly of peace, must not be
weak. So we make every finger a dagger, every arm a spear, and
every open hand an ax or sword.?KF*
___Kahn_: Training in the martial arts is for spiritual
reinforcement. But is based on self-defense. Disciple Caine.
When you were attacked by more than one person, the enemy
should be allowed to make the first move, and thus create the
beginning of his downfall.?KF*
___Young KCC_: My mother, my father. They were both dead. I
could not save them.
_Poe_: You were only a small boy.
_Young KCC_: But after that I could no longer be a small boy.
_Poe_: The mountain is beautiful with snow. But after it loses
its snow, green grows from underneath. In every loss there is
a gain, as in every gain there is loss. Grasshopper, do you
understand that?
_Young KCC_: I will try.?KF*
___Poe_: Self pity does not become you.
_Young KCC_: How do you know what I feel?

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_Poe_: Your response is anger, not at me, but at your parents

for dying and leaving you alone. Do not make me responsible
for that, or I shall become angry in return.
_Young KCC_: I don?t care about you.
_Poe_: Do you not, Grasshopper?
_Young KCC_: Master?!??KF*
___Woman_: They loved him.
_KCC_: So did you.
_Woman_: Not enough.
_KCC_: Love cannot measure itself until the hour of parting.
_Woman_: I am alone and frightened. I need to trust someone.
_KCC_: Trust comes within you.
_Woman_: Why didn?t you tell me where you got the money?
_KCC_: I was not able.
_Woman_: Do you know who killed Jim? You do, don?t you. Why
won?t you tell me? How can I trust you, until I know everything?
_KCC_: Is not trust to rely on someone of whom you know nothing.
_Woman_: I can?t do that.?KF*
___KCC_: If you worry, will the future change.?KF*
___KCC_: With each ending, comes a new beginning. You said
once, you needed someone to trust.
_Woman_: Walt? You?ve learned to trust people, but doesn?t it
hurt you?
_KCC_: And you, not trusting. Are you not hurt more?
_Woman_: How do you go through all that and not get twisted
out of shape by it?
_KCC_: I seek not to know all the answers??.but to understand
the questions.?KF*
___Poe_: Where does your pebble walk to Grasshopper? (/KCC had
thrown a pebble into a pond of water/)
_Young KCC_: It walks, its journey is to nowhere.
_Poe_: Each journey begins, and also ends.
_Young KCC_: Then the ending is the bottom of the pool.
_Poe_: Does not the pebble, entering the water, begin fresh
journeys?
_Young KCC_: It seems unceasing.
_Poe_: Such is the journey through life. It begins. It ends.
Yet, fresh journeys go forth. Father begets son. Who becomes
in turn father, who begets son.
_Young KCC_: Then the roots I have are me. And I am they.
_Poe_: Grasshopper, seek first to know your own journeys
beginning and end. Seek then the other journeys of which you
are a close part. But in this seeking, know patience. Wear
that travelers cloak, which shelters and permits you to
endure.?KF*
___KCC_: Master, what is the best way to meet the loss of one
we love?
_Kahn_: By knowing when we truly love, it is never lost. It is
only after death that the depth of the bond is truly felt. And
our loved one becomes more a part of us then was possible in life.
_KCC_: Are we only able to feel this toward those whom we have
known and loved a long time?
_Kahn_: Sometimes, a stranger known to us for moments can
spark our souls to kinship for eternity.
_KCC_: How can strangers take on such importance to our souls?
_Kahn_: Because our soul does not keep time. It merely records
growth.?KF*
___Poe_: Grasshopper, are you fishing in our lily pond?
_Young KCC_: No master. I see something which puzzles me.
_Poe_: Good. Tell me.

_Young KCC_: The stick is straight. Yet in the water it seems

to bend.
_Poe_: That is not a puzzle, Grasshopper. It is only something
you do not yet /know (Poe begins to walk away/).
_Young KCC_: Is what I see so unimportant?
_Poe_: Do you not know that what you see is made of
reflections, sent back to your eyes? Like a ball thrown
against a wall.
_Young KCC_: But why does the stick seem to bend?
_Poe_: The same ball is thrown against two different walls;
The water and the air. Your eye is deceived.
_Young KCC_: I am sorry master. I still do not understand.
_Poe_: Look closer. You will see some things clearer. Perhaps
you will see other things you do not know at all. But the
puzzle, Grasshopper, that is to find the way so that others
may see you.?KF*
79. ___Poe_: What have you found?
_Young KCC_: A spider, master. It has trapped a fly. Should I
destroy his web?
_Poe_: Why?
_Young KCC_: So it will not make a prison for other living
things that were free.
_Poe_: Look more closely, Grasshopper. Were you to destroy
this web, would not the spider, knowing no other way, build
another?
_Young KCC_: Yes. But I cannot kill the spider.
_Poe_: Look more closely still. Is not the spider also trapped
by its own web?
_Young KCC_: Yes, but if I do nothing, it will capture more
living things, make them prisoner, and kill them.
_Poe_: You are concerned then with the fly, to which nature
has given wings. That it may move about freely.
_Young KCC_: It is cruel to see it made a prisoner.
_Poe_: Still you do not see. Which is truly the prisoner? The
fly, which moving freely, enters unknown danger. Or the
spider? Which having spun its web, remains. Never knowing the
pleasure or the danger of the fly.?KF*
80. ___Poe_: A single blow to the base of the neck, can be a fatal
stroke.
_Young KCC_: Master, these things which we are taught. I
cannot do them.
_Poe_: You find the exercises too difficult?
_Young KCC_: No master. Too cruel.
_Poe_: And to be killed. What is that?
_Young KCC_: I must learn these exercises, to defend myself.
_Poe_: Learn _first_ how to live. Learn _second_, how not to
kill. Learn _third_, how to live with death. Learn _forth_,
how to die.?KF*
81. ___Poe_: What beautiful image have you made Grasshopper, to
please your eyes?
_KCC_: The branch of a tree.
_Poe_: Is not painting, the joyful reaching out of a man so
filled with beauty, that there is not enough room in him to
contain it?
_KCC_: Master, I do not know if I should speak of what it is
that troubles me (/pause/). I have seen a girl. Her hair, soft
and rich. Her voice, liquid. Her eyes bewitch me. My sleep is
filled with restless dreams. My wakefulness with longings. How
shall I know if this is love?
_Poe_:(/picks up a hour glass/): What do you see?

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87.

_KCC_: Two glasses, joined together. One filled with sand.

_Poe_: One only?
_KCC_: The other is empty.
_Poe_: Look! (/Poe turns it over/). To know love, be like a
running brook. Which deaf, yet sings its melody for others to
hear. Feel the pain of too much tenderness. Awake at dawn with
a winged heart, and give thanks for yet another day of loving.
Empty yourself, and yet be filled. An old man tells you, this
is how to know love.?KF*
___Kahn_: Tell me, what makes the shadow?
_Young KCC_: The arm of the sundial.
_Kahn_: But what of the sun?
_Young KCC_: Yes. The sun. Both help us. They tell us time.
_Kahn_: Yet, does not that sundial standing in the way of the
sun, defeat its light?
_Young KCC_: Master. I do not understand. Like many things you
teach me, it is a contradiction.
_Kahn_: Shoot the arrow. (/KCC does so/). Which brings it to
its target? The bow or the arrow? Launched, the arrow has not
choice but to seek its target. Yet without the arrow, the bow
is an empty promise of flight.
_Young KCC_: Still, I do not understand.
_Kahn_: When you must choose between one good and another. Or
one evil and another. Remember this. If men would contend with
you, seek not their death, but choose your own life.?KF*
___Kahn_: Remember always, that a wiseman walks with his head
bowed. Humble, like the dust.?KF*
___Kahn_: (/KCC is knelt, bowing/) Please get up. Why have you
come?
_KCC_: To confess my unworthiness, honorable sir. I have
disgraced my teachers and shamed this holy place.
_Kahn_: Tell me how.
_KCC_: I have senselessly taken a life.
_Kahn_: You speak of the nephew of the emperor. It was he was
it not, who killed our master Poe?
_KCC_: I have shamed my masters memory.
_Kahn_: Did you not think to run?
_KCC_: I thought to run. But I could not find it within me to
leave master Poe, dying.
_Kahn_: This is the grave of master Poe. This earth is honored
to receive him. May his bones find rest in this place. And may
his passing, in its violence, not wake the tigers of outrage,
the dragons of vengeance. May it rather, in its sadness, wake
nothing but the dove in us. The lamb in others. So that
together, in the bond of compassion, we may rejoice in the
memory of Master Poe. And wipe away forever the tears from the
eyes of the blind lion. The pursuit by the imperial police
will be relentless.
_KCC_: I understand, Master.
_Kahn_: Now go, for you may no longer stay here.?KF*
___Kahn_: It has been said. Be utterly humble, and you shall
hold to the foundation of peace. Be at one with all these
living things, which have arisen and flourished. Return to the
quiet whence they came.?KF*
___Kahn_: Do not ask for forgiveness from me, for it must come
from the one who has condemned you.?KF*
___KCC_: What you do not like is that your life depends on the
promise of an Apache, and the scruples of a china-man, which
you do not understand. It is not hard to understand. This is
not an Indian, or an Apache, but a man. Who?s name is Oh-Sky.

I am not a china-man, or a breed. I am a man. My name is Kwai

Chang Caine.?KF*
88. ___Poe_: (/A young boy lies dead on the alter/) What troubles
you, Grasshopper. That the boy was your own age?
_Young KCC_: He spoke of a curse.
_Poe_: Who was it that cursed him?
_Young KCC_: His master, the sorcerer Leu. Because he ran away.
_Poe_: The undiscerning mind is like the root of a tree. It
absorbs equally all that it touches. Even the poison that
would kill it.
_Young KCC_: But he took no poison. And he was not ill.
_Poe_: That is true.
_Young KCC_: Why did he die, Master? I do not understand.
_Poe_: Did the boy not believe that he was to die?
_Young KCC_: He did not believe otherwise.
_Poe_: And so, his life had no choice but to fly away. Learn
from him, Grasshopper.
*_CONTINUED
_*_Leu_: I am the sorcerer Leu. I am looking for my apprentice.
_Young KCC_: He is dead.
_Leu_: I am grieved to hear that. It was my desire to instruct
him in great secrets.
_Young KCC_: He said you put a curse upon him
_Leu_: It was his own foolishness which cursed him. And now
the same curses me. I am left with no one to instruct. What
will become of my great secrets?
_Young KCC_: Are not these secrets not known to my masters, in
the temple?
_Leu_: They are known only by me. They are the secrets of the
universe. I can cure any sickness. Converse with the dead. And
confound a thousand masters (/laughs/). But I must pass this
knowledge to one who is worthy. Will you come with me and
learn the secrets of the universe?
_Young KCC_: Yes.
*_CONTINUED_*
_Leu_: (/Back at Leu?s temple/) Be still. Stand silent. The
air is filled with a multitude of creatures. Some human, some
not. Bind them to yourself, and you will learn the secrets of
life. Creatures of light, burn bright. Creatures of earth,
hold true. Creatures of fire and smoke, incense and perfume,
cast away any phantoms of evil intent. Appear, come forth and
serve your master!!
*_CONTINUED
_*_Young KCC_: Master. I have been to the temple of the
sorcerer Leu. I followed him thinking to learn great secrets.
I ran away.
_Poe_: Before you learned his great secrets?
_Young KCC_: He cursed me. As he cursed the boy who died. Now
?I will die! (/Poe holds a candle up to a mirror/). Will this
lift the curse?
_Poe_: What do you see in the mirror?
_Young KCC_: The flame of the candle.
_Poe_: Is the mirror harmed by the flame?
_Young KCC_: No, Master. It only reflects it.

89.
90.

91.

92.

93.

94.

_Poe_: Be like the mirror.

_Young KCC_: How do I do that?
_Poe_: Allow no evil to pass through you. Reflect it to its
source.
_Young KCC_: Then shall I be safe.
_Poe_: Go to sleep, Grasshopper.?KF*
___Young KCC_: A threat cannot harm, unless you accept it.?KF*
___Quote at end of a KF show_: That we are possessed by what
we would posses; held in bondage to earth and vested things by
the attachments we form for them. Even so holy a thing as a
chalice, so slight a thing as a pebble."(/The reference to the
pebble is the one KCC has to extract from the masters hand in
order to leave the temple. The chalice reference is what was
stolen by several individuals, during the episode, and finally
retrieved by KCC/) ?KF*
___Young KCC_: And what is it to be a man?
_Kahn_: To be a man is to be one with the universe.
_Young KCC_: But what is the universe?
_Kahn_: Rather ask, what is not the universe.
_Young KCC_: Then it is everywhere?
_Kahn_: It is in your eye, and in your heart. As a seed of the
peach contains the fragrance of the flower, and the substance
of the fruit.
_Young KCC_: And the bitter pit at its core?
_Kahn_: Even that.?KF*
___KCC_: You are a good son.
_O-Sky_: What is a son, without a father or mother?
_KCC_: Is not a son the love of a mother and a father, and the
life they gave him? A design of the universe he must fulfill,
if he is to be a man.?KF*
___Poe_: What is it grasshopper?
_Young KCC_: I have been troubled.
_Poe_: I have sensed that in you these past days. While your
body has been healing, your spirit has sickened.
_Young KCC_: It is because I have done nothing about the
murder of my parents.
_Poe_: And what do you propose to do?
_Young KCC_: Find General Chung, kill him!!
_Poe_: You a boy, not yet a man. Against the ruthless warlord
and his soldiers.
_Young KCC_: If I can find him alone, it could be done.
_Poe_: And being done, what do you derive?
_Young KCC_: Satisfaction.
_Poe_: Huh?(/pause, he blows out one of many lit candles/). Is
there now more or less light in this chamber?
_Young KCC_: There is less.
_Poe_: Is it not more important that you find yourself, than a
killer of men? Would your parents not wish you to go forward
to life and light? Rather than backwards to death and darkness?
_Young KCC_: How do I find myself and the light?
_Poe_: By taking the path that leads to the truth.
_Young KCC_: Will you help me walk the path?
_Poe_: I can only point the way, Grasshopper. You must walk
the path yourself.?KF*
___Poe_: What is in your heart Grasshopper!?
_KCC_: That is the man who killed my mother and my father!
_Poe_: Revenge is a double edged sword. It cuts both ways.
Either Jung Sue just will kill you or you will destroy
yourself. A rather suicide of your spirit. Grasshopper, the
wheel of life has turned inexorably, by the infinite stars. So

95.
96.

97.

98.
99.

it is, the truth will not be cheated. Consider General Jung.

Reduced to stealing some few bags of rice. Is not the wheel
crushing him? Is it not his path which he treads with his own
feet, leading to an eternal grave??KF*
___KCC_: Is the spirit of a man sustained by food [or drugs,
alcohol, etc], or warmed by outer garments??KF*
___Poe_: Your final test. The urn of the two symbols. The
dragon and the tiger. When you can walk in this corridor, the
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.
_KCC_: Hundreds of pounds of burning coal and iron. How can I,
Master? Having only the strength of a man, and the weaknesses.
_Poe_: It is because you are a man that you can do this,
Grasshopper.
_KCC_: I do not understand.
_Poe_: As the softest clay, in time, becomes the hardest
brick. A fragile leaf - a diamond. As a stream of fiery ore
freezes into unbending iron. So too may a man ascend to himself.
_KCC_: How?
_Poe_: By slowly 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.
_KCC_: How can I do this?
_Poe_: You will have found your strength and the source of
your survival. You will be free.?KF*
___KCC_: Master, I am troubled.
_Kahn_: Why?
_KCC_: My parents are long dead. General Jung is tumbled from
his arrogance and power. Yet within me anger boils as water in
a heated pot.
_Kahn_: Observe the day lily. Each morning, with the warmth of
the sun it opens in lovely blossom. Each night it closes.
_KCC_: I do not understand. What has a flower have to do with
my anger?
_Kahn_: Once your anger warmed you, and like the flower you
opened to it. That is long past. It is night.
_KCC_: Am I then to do nothing, feel nothing, be still?
_Kahn_: Still water is like glass. It is the perfect level. A
carpenter can use it. The heart of a wise man is tranquil and
still. Thus, it?s the mirror of heaven and earth. The glass of
everything. Be like still water. You look into it, and see
yourself.?KF*
___KCC_: If I worry, will the future change??KF*
___Man_: What is this place?
_KCC_: It is a temple.
_Man_: A temple? How did I get here?
_KCC_: I saw you struggling in the river.
_Man_: You pulled me out?!
_KCC_: You were drowning.
_Man_: As I wanted to. Never before had the courage.
_KCC_: Cannot courage give you joy to live?
_Man_: Tell me the joy of an empty stomach.
LATER
_Man_: Do you want your blanket back?! It is not mine. I do
not deserve it.
_KCC_: You may keep the blanket.
_Man_: It is little enough. Too little. Where will I go, how

will I eat?
_KCC_: You are welcome to stay.
_Man_: No! I cannot fill my belly on your thin soup, and your
thinner pieties(/philosophies/)!!
_KCC_: We can give only what we have.
_Man_: I want what was in my hand, when you took it from me.
LATER
_Poe_: You gave him an unwelcome life.
_KCC_: He will do it again, what he tried to do. Tomorrow.
Next week. Next month.
_Poe_: If you found the flame of a candle struggling to
survive, what would you do?
_KCC_: Free it from its own wax.
_Poe_: How much?
_KCC_: As much as needed, to save the flame.
_Poe_: Does a man?s life deserve less?
LATER: Man is killed trying to steal a pig for meat.

100.
101.

102.
103.

_KCC_: He had no one to morn him.

_Poe_: You and I.
_KCC_: No one who loves him.
_Poe_: You knew him.
_KCC_: I did not love him.
_Poe_: The lack is in you.
_KCC_: I wanted to help him.
_Poe_: You gave him life.
_KCC_: I gave him a few days. What do they matter?
_Poe_: To him, or yourself? Do not see him and his life
through your own eyes.
_KCC_: I see his pain. Even through his eyes.
_Poe_: And his needs, Grasshopper. Do you also see them
through his eyes??KF*
___KCC_: Fear brings anger to the tongue. A friend speaks to
the heart.?KF*
___Young KCC_: I loved him.
_Kahn_: He was my master.
_Young KCC_: How did you know where he was?
_Kahn_: There could be only one place for him. His favorite
path in the foothills. We found master Sons body, in a
comfortable position. His back resting against the boulder.
Starring down at our valley. His face glistened in the frost.
But his lips were black, from the poison of the wild berries.
_Young KCC_: Everyone loved him. Why did he take his own life?
(Master clasps his hands together). Yin and Yang?!
_Kahn_: The yes and the no. In him the no conquered.
_Young KCC_: But I sensed that he was in harmony.
_Kahn_: Perhaps he looked into our valley, knowing that soon
he would have to leave it. But instead of the beauty we
observe, he saw ugliness.
_Young KCC_: How is that possible?
_Kahn_: He looked with his eyes. And we look with ours.?KF*
___KCC_: With plenty to eat, and work to do I am already rich.?KF*
___Kahn_: You did not fail (/KCC was sent to a clearing to
watch a skit performed by other masters/).
_Young KCC_: I did not see what you sent me to see.
_Kahn_: What you saw or did not see in the clearing is not
important.

104.

105.
106.

107.

_Young KCC_: Than why did you send me?

_Kahn_: When old master Son looked down into our valley, and
saw ugliness, he revealed something about himself, to himself.
He did not like what he revealed.
_Young KCC_: But I saw evil in the peacock. That it was the
robber. Yet the peacock contained no evil at all.
_Kahn_: You saw what your eyes told you.
_Young KCC_: But master, what I saw was not real.
_Kahn_: You made it so. As master Son saw ugliness, where
nothing exists but a valley.?KF*
___
KCC_: Master? Why do we morn for this man, who is a stranger?
Is he someone special?
_Poe_: You heard the circumstances of his death?
_KCC_: He was killed on the road, by bandits, of the Red
Turban Tong. This is what I was told.
_Poe_: There is more that you were not told. There is much
evil in the world, Grasshopper. It has always been thus. And
so, our ancestors built this monastery and developed the art
of Gung-Fu, so that they might cultivate virtue and protect
themselves from harm. But whatever one man possesses, another
will covet. The Manchu Emperor heard of our prowess. So he
sent an army of soldiers to burn the monastery to the ground.
Only five escaped. They made their way to Fu-Kyen. And founded
the Tong to overthrow the Manchu?s and restore the Ming
emperors to the throne. Violence became their tool for
combating violence. Thus the sage Jwang Tzu has said: "By
ethical argument and moral principle, the greatest crimes are
shown to have been necessary, and in fact a great benefit to
mankind." 200 years have passed. The Manchu?s are still
sitting upon the throne, The Tong still kill, no longer for a
noble cause. Yet they are the children of the five Shaolin
priests, who went to Fu-Kyen, long ago. And we are the
parents, so we morn this strangers death.
_KCC_: Master, must we not do more than morn this man. We must
right it.
_Poe_: How, Grasshopper?
_KCC_: Strike down this Tong. Take away from our children the
power to do wrong.
_Poe_: That is what they said in Fu-Kyen 200 years age. No,
Grasshopper. Evil cannot be conquered in the world. It can
only be resisted within oneself.?KF (Episode "The Tong")*
___KCC: _ What will happen will happen. Whether one is afraid
or not (this was a response when KCC was asked about being
afraid).?KF (Episode "The Tong")
___KCC_: I do not know your bible. But our sage Lao Tzu has
written: "A wise man does not contend, therefore no one can
contend against him. Yield and overcome." What will happen,
will happen. Whether one is afraid or not.?KF (Episode "The
Tong")*
___Poe_: Are you all right now?
_Young KCC_: Yes. My nose is bleeding.
_Poe_: That is because you fought in anger. It is a bad way to
fight.
_Young KCC_: I wanted to repay a hurt to Ho Fong.
_Poe_: And what was the hurt?
_Young KCC_: He calls me "Oil and Water." Because I have white
blood.
_Poe_: And this made you nose bleed?
_Young KCC_: It caused me pain.

108.

109.

110.

111.

_Poe_: Is it a lie then?

_Young KCC_: No. It is the truth.
_Poe_: And you wish it were not true? (/Near by a priest is
carving a piece of wood/) What is he making?
_Young KCC_: An animal, master. I cannot yet tell what kind.
_Poe_: It was just a piece of wood. And now it will become an
animal. And [the shaved off wood] will go feed the fires in
the kitchen. And yet, they are the same in this. That each has
been diverted from its true nature, Time is carving you,
Grasshopper. Let yourself be shaped, according to your true
nature.?KF*
___Young KCC_: Master, you have said we are to make ourselves
one with life.
_Poe_: As the leaf flows with the river. It does not hold it
back, it makes not even a ripple.
_Young KCC_: Should not the branch then be left as the wind
has left it?
_Poe_: If I do not help it to heal, it will wither, never to
bear fruit for the birds to eat. Would you have the birds go
hungry?
_Young KCC_: No, Master. But if we help, how then are we like
the leaf on the river?
_Poe_: Do what must be done.
_Young KCC_: But Master, how will I know when to be like the
leaf, and when to do what must be done?
_Poe_: What do you think?
_Young KCC_: I do not know.
_Poe_: The way to do, is to be.?KF*
___Student_: Master, I have gathered these for you.
_Poe_: Why?
_Student_: Because they are the most perfect flowers of all,
as you are the most perfect master.
_Poe_: I cannot accept them. (/Pause/) Grasshopper. Were you
not preparing me a gift of great beauty?
_Young KCC_: I was master.
_Poe_: What has become of it?
_Young KCC_: You do not want flowers.
_Poe_: Have you no love for me?
_Young KCC_: I have only love for you.
_Poe_: The other boy does not. His was a gift without love. It
was false.
_Young KCC_: I feared you would not accept them. I feared that
I would be hurt.
_Poe_: And now, have you not lost the joy we might have
shared.?KF*
___KCC_: Master, we are taught that a good man?s heart is not
shut within itself, but is open to the hearts of others.
_Poe_: The sage says "Find good people good, and bad people
good, because I am good enough. Trust men of their word, and
liars, if I am true enough." To be yourself, Grasshopper, feel
the heartbeats of others, above your own.
_KCC_: But if I shall love others how can I be sure that they,
in return, will love me?
_Poe_: Do you seek love or barter?
_KCC_: But if I love others, and they do not love me, I shall
feel great pain.
_Poe_: That is what you risk, Grasshopper. Great pain, or
great joy.?KF*
___Poe_: Do you marvel at the carvers skill?
_KCC_: Yes, Master. And it is mean. Each is free to move, and

each is held captive.

_Poe_: Are we not also?
_KCC_: The temple does not hold us, we have only to open the door.
_Poe_: Are we then free to go anywhere we choose, even up into
the heavens?
_KCC_: No, Master. We too are captive. Just as these.
_Poe_: Then why do I speak to you of freedom?
_KCC_: It puzzles me, Master.
_Poe_: Is your mind not free to seek its own course, to soar
even to the heavens. Though you turn and spin within a prison.
_KCC_: But, I wish to be truly free.
_Poe_: Bind yourself to nothing. Seek harmony with all. Then
you will be truly free.?KF*
112. ___Old Man_: Young man?Young man! I have these to sell. I made
them myself.
_KCC_: We have our own, and they are better. Can we offer you
food? You look hungry.
_Old Man_: I have eaten well today. I do everyday. I have no
need of your food.
*_CONTINUED_*
_KCC_: Master? That man suffers from want of food.
_Poe_: Did he not say he had eaten well?
_KCC_: He does not speak truly. He is weak, from hunger.
_Poe_: Perhaps his desire for dignity is greater than his need
for food.
_KCC_: He is poor. He should admit it. He is too proud.
_Poe_: Perhaps pride is the only crown he has left to wear.
Would you not truly help him by offering first respect, and
then food??KF*
113. ___Poe_: Grasshopper, do you find mystery in the fire?
_KCC_: My thoughts are of a girl I saw in the marketplace. She
as very pretty. She sought my friendship. And then when she
had it, she did not want it. Master, why can the female not be
direct and open as the man can?
_Poe_: Is it not better that the female act as a female?
_KCC_: She seeks only to confuse. The truth is not within her.
_Poe_: Perhaps you only fail to perceive it.
_KCC_: I do not know that I wish to perceive it
_Poe_: (/Pointing to a coal fire/) What is it that makes the
heat? The coal or the flame?
_KCC_: The coal. The heat is within the coal.
_Poe_: What if the coal is not touched be the flame?
_KCC_: The heat is not felt.
_Poe_: Are not male and female, coal and flame? If the coal
does not seek to know the flame, can either fulfill their
destiny??KF*
114. ___Kahn_: Why do we have laws? (/Kahn is speaking to KCC and
another boy monk/)
_Young KCC_: To help us live in harmony.
_Kahn_: The law of the fast (/Fasting/not eating/) seeks to
strengthen the spirit by purifying the body. A man may die
from the hunger of the body, but whole nations have fallen
from that of the spirit. Discipline. Discipline cures. The
fruit of this tree is delicious, but in the discipline of our
fast no one may touch it. Not even I.
_Young Student_: Then why show it to us Master? It is already
difficult for us to fast.
_Kahn_: To be certain that you know and understand the law. It

will test you. Do not break.

*_CONTINUED_*
_Young KCC_: (/He observes the boy take a fruit, he then walks
over to the tree when the boy leaves/)
_Kahn_: Admiring my tree Kwai-Chang?
_Young KCC_: Yes, Master. What is my duty to the law?
_Kahn_: You must assist the law. To serve justice.
_Young KCC_: I have seen a law broken. Would I serve justice
if I let it go unpunished?
_Kahn_: What is the purpose of the law?
_Young KCC_: Discipline.
_Kahn_: And who is served by this discipline?
_Young KCC_: Each one who obeys the law.
_Kahn_: Then to break a law of self-discipline denies justice
only to oneself.
_Young KCC_: Is it the same of all laws
_Kahn_: Consider. If you break, do you deny justice only to
yourself?
*_CONTINUED_*_
_
_Young Student_: You saw me take the plum?
_Young KCC_: Two times now.
_Young Student_: And you said nothing?
_Young KCC_: I said nothing.
_Young Student_: My young friend is almost strong enough to
fly away.
_Young KCC_: You broke the master?s law.
_Young Student_: I thought the fruit of a love tree would be
better for my little friend. Was I wrong to break the law?
*_CONTINUED_*
_Young Student_: I have broken the law master. I ask forgiveness.
_Young KCC_: As do I.
_Kahn_: Why did you not come and tell me of your injured dove?
_Young Student_: I?ve broken your law master, and you told me
?do not break.?
_Kahn_: Then the wrong that was done was to yourself. Young
Caine, when you observed Yet-San take the plums, you assumed
they were for himself?
_Young KCC_: I did Master.
_Kahn_: Then the wrong you did was to Yet-San.
_Young KCC_: And to you, Master. By not telling you.
_Kahn_: And I have done a greater wrong to you both.
_Young KCC_: How?
_Kahn_: By leading you to attend only to the letter of the
law. And not respect its meaning. I bow to you both.?KF*
115. ___Kahn_: You have both worthily shown your mastery of what
you have been taught.
_Priest_: Master Kahn? Which one of us has won?
_Kahn_: Won?
_KCC_: Must there not be one who is the victor?
_Priest_: And one the vanquished?
_Kahn_: When you were younger, did you not stand by the
fountain and watch the bubbles raise?
_KCC_: They were very beautiful to see.
_Kahn_: In a sense, a victory for the gasmier circles of

116.

117.

118.

119.

liquid, over the insubstantial air they imprisoned. When you

tried to grasp them, what became of them?
_Priest_: They were gone.
_KCC_: They were empty. Without substance.
_Kahn_: So too, can victory be.
_KCC_: And defeat?
_Kahn_: Does not the true value lie in what one does with
either??KF*
___Young KCC_: Ugly!
_Kahn_: And yet to another such creature, might not this one
appear beautiful?
_Young KCC_: So beauty differs from being to being?
_Kahn_: Beauty is constant. As is the truth. Seek and find
what is the truth.
_Young KCC_: What is the truth of man, Master?
_Kahn_: It has been said that a man is three things: What he
thinks he is; What others think he is; And what he really is.
Which one of these do you believe is the truth?
_Young KCC_: What he really is! But if a man is wrong about
himself, and others are wrong about him, who is left to say
what he really is?
_Kahn_: At what point in time can a man be fixed and frozen,
if he is to live and grow?
_Young KCC_: He must change.
_Kahn_: As the lowly caterpillar transforms itself into a
finer and more beautiful creature.?KF*
___Poe_: (/Master Poe wakes KCC from a restless sleep/) What
is it, Grasshopper?
_KCC_: Demons, DEAMONS!! Trying to kill me!
_Poe_: There are no demons here. See for yourself. Only a bad
dream.
_KCC_: Huh, Master. Why do I have such dreams?
_Poe_: All men have dreams of different types - good and bad.
There are the vain dreams. Futile, based on baseless hopes.
There are the dreams that spur and inspire. Based on
aspiration to a higher ideal. And there are the false dreams,
based on lies to oneself or others.
_KCC_: Which is mine?
_Poe_: The incense container was the catalyst of your dreams.
A fiction frozen to fact, that summoned forth the demons of
your dream.
_KCC_: My dream was false, then?
_Poe_: False to you, therefore a nightmare. And yet, to the
artist a good and true dream. For in that fabrication he
realized his inner ideal of ?the perfect dragon.?KF*
___Kahn_: Beware of judgments of others. In this imperfect
world in which we live, perfection is an illusion. And so the
standards by which we seek to measure it, are also, in
themselves, illusions. If perfection is measured by age, race,
color of skin, color of hair, physical or mental prowess, then
we are all lacking. It is well to remember that the harshest
judgments are reserved for ourselves.?KF*
___Kahn_: (/Munks are practicing forms/) Simple, controlled
movements to begin a harmony of mind and body. A movement
surely of grace and beauty, of serenity. Yet, strangely, some
choose this moment to weep. Tears.
_Young KCC_: Master, it is all too beautiful. I weep at my
good fortune.
_Kahn_: Tell me why.
_Young KCC_: I stood outside these gates, once. With many

other boys. Hoping to enter this place of peace. Only I was

chosen. What if it had not been so?
_Kahn_: But it was.
_Young KCC_: Yes. But it might not have been. Where would I
have been then?
_Kahn_: Who can say.
_Young KCC_: And what of the others. Where are they now?
_Kahn_: That too, is unknowable for us.
_Young KCC_: And what of those who may never come here, who
will never know this peace?
_Kahn_: Do you pity them?
_Young KCC_: Oh, yes!
_Kahn_: Please come with me?Consider a field of lilies in
seed. The wind which carries the seed plays no favorites. The
seeds fall where they will, according to the fortunes of wind
and weather. Those that fall in fertile soil, may be tended
and cared for. Grow strong and bloom. Those that fall in baron
soil will die. Yet some will cling to life in arid places. On
hillsides, in deep clefts. And so, the traveler, unsuspecting,
comes upon a sight of beauty. A single lily, growing amid the
rocks. The thoughtful traveler will water this lily in
passing. Grateful for its strength, its beauty, its tenacity
to life. And growing in the rocks, as it is, is it not, in its
essence, still a lily. And every bit as beautiful as these.?KF*
120. ___Young KCC_: Master?!
_Poe_: I am here.
_Young KCC_: I looked deep into myself. And I saw something
which frightened me.
_Poe_: What did you see, Grasshopper?
_Young KCC_: I saw dark and fearful shadows in motion. Shadows
that shunned the light.
_Poe_: Did you put a name to these shadows?
_Young KCC_: I called them evil.
_Poe_: And what is the nature of evil?
_Young KCC_: I do not know.
_Poe_: Do you sometimes feel love, Grasshopper, and joy? Do
you sometimes feel pride in what you have accomplished?
_Young KCC_: Often, Master.
_Poe_: And do you sometimes feel good?
_Young KCC_: Try.
_Poe_: 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 cannot feel joy, unless
one can feel despair. We have no capacity for good, without
and equal capacity for evil.
_Young KCC_: Must we not then fear evil?
_Poe_: Shall we fear our own humanity?
_Young KCC_: Must we not fight evil?
_Poe_: 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, and choose.?KF*
121. ___Man_: You think I do not know. I heard the scratching in
the wall. You sealed a priest in the wall behind my room. Now
they listen to me. They listen to me!! I, I, I can?t sleep,
thinking about it. I can?t sleep.
_Kahn_: I will help you to sleep (/Master Kahn produces a
sealed jar of liquid/).
_Man_: No, Poison!! (/Master Kahn opens it and drinks.
Satisfied, the man drinks/).
_Kahn_: When you have rested, we can talk.

122.

123.
124.

125.

_Young KCC_: Master, what besets that man?

_Kahn_: He has been marked to wander inward. Through and
beyond the dark and terrifying land. Where no road exists. And
no sign post points the way.
_Young KCC_: But why?
_Kahn_: Who can say?
_Young KCC_: Should he not be locked in his room?
_Kahn_: And prevent him from his journey? If he can pass
through the trackless land, he will find peace. His answer,
his cure. As far as we are able, we must travel with him. Help
him along the way.
_Young KCC_: But how? Where there are no roads or sign posts.
_Kahn_: There are steps. His and ours. We take them together.
This is our duty, to all who are marked as he is.
_Young KCC_: I should hope then, never to meet another like him.
_Kahn_: Very often, a wanderer in the trackless land finds
that which he sought, and more. Something of rare value, for
the one who shared his journey. Could you risk the loss of
such a benefit??KF*
___Young KCC_: Why do such fearsome statues stand at the
entrance to our peaceful place?
_Poe_: These are the threshold guardians, Grasshopper. Set
here to keep away those not ready for the silence within.
_Young KCC_: Must they be so horrible?
_Poe_: Those incapable of understanding the way, see things as
monsters. Better for them, never to enter here.
_Young KCC_: Yet if a man is unafraid of stone, he may pass
unhampered.
_Poe_: He may physically pass. But is his mind is in the outer
world, he will leave us, in time, to rejoin it.?KF*
___KCC_: When a fear becomes strong enough, like another being
within you who fights to stay alive, it is not you who will
die, it is your fear [that will die].?KF*
___Kahn_: Your heart beats too fast. You must quiet (/KCC was
meditating/). What frightened you?
_Young KCC_: I heard the silence, Master. I felt my whole
being diffuse, like a cloud. Then rain fell from the sky.
Through me. I was apart of everything. Yet I was myself.
_Kahn_: You have experienced oneness.
_Young KCC_: But in this great joy, I felt as if I was dying.
It frightened me.
_Kahn_: You know the lesson of the silk worm?
_Young KCC_: Silk worm dies. The moth lives. Yet they are not
two separate beings, but one in the same.
_Kahn_: It is the same with man. His false beliefs must die.
So that he may know the joy of the way. What you felt in the
silence was real. Something in you is dying. It is called
ignorance.?KF*
___Kahn_: Young Caine. Do I see a scar of anger on your face?
_Young KCC_: I do not like to be a servant.
_Kahn_: Oh, you consider it beneath you to serve another?
_Young KCC_: How am I to answer? I do not know what it is like
to be served.
_Kahn_: Do not the ancients say that rank and reward have no
appeal, for a man one with himself?
_Young KCC_: Yet, you Master are served, and therefore greater.
_Kahn_: Smaller. I have taken without true respect for what
you have given. We must both learn. Please, sit here. (/KCC
sits in the masters spot/)
_Young KCC_: It does not seem right.

_Kahn_: It is my joy, Master.?KF*

126. ___Kahn_: It was my pleasure to wash them for you /(Master
Kahn continues to serve KCC by washing his clothes/).
_Young KCC_: They were very dirty from my work in the garden.
_Kahn_: Yes, but no more.
_Young KCC_: I am very grateful (/he bows/).
_Kahn_: And I to you, for allowing me to be of service. If in
serving one is served. And in being served, one also serves.
Are these not the folds of the same garment?
_Young KCC_: I do not understand. I am pleased you have done
my wash. And ashamed that I have not done it myself.
_Kahn_: Again. You have taught me.
_Young KCC_: How?
_Kahn_: A man truly himself will not enrich his own interests,
and make a virtue of poverty. He goes his own way, without
depending on others. Yet is not arrogant that he needs no one.
The greatest man is nobody.?KF*
127. ___Kahn_: Do you see yourself (/Starring in a pool of water,
KCC still ponders the servitude issue/)?
_Young KCC_: Too clearly master. I feel shame for wanting to
be more than I am.
_Kahn_: The sage says "That which shrinks, must first expand.
That which fails, must first be strong. That which is cast
down, must first be raised. Before receiving, there must first
be giving."
_Young KCC_: It was pride that kept me bowing to you.
_Kahn_: Is it not easy to bow, and still honor oneself?
_Young KCC_: Can it truly be for you?
_Kahn_: Truly (/He bows/).
_Young KCC_: But you are important. I am not.
_Kahn_: Are we not equally important, and not important.
_Young KCC_: How is that possible, when you are my master?
_Kahn_: I am old. You are young. I am wrinkled. You are
smooth. Do these things change the nature that we share? Look
beyond the surface. See what is real. In yourself and others.?KF*
128. ___Poe_: I?m with you Grasshopper. Be calm. Perhaps you would
like to tell me of your dream.
_Young KCC_: There was an animal. A beast. A very strange beast.
_Poe_: Oh. Did he have more than one head?
_Young KCC_: No Master.
_Poe_: An excess of legs?
_Young KCC_: No.
_Poe_: You said he was strange.
_Young KCC_: His shoulders were like mounds. His head did not
rise above them. He was like an Ox, yet he was not an Ox.
_Poe_: Was he of great size?
_Young KCC_: No master. No higher than my chin. And most
gentle. I could tell he was very young. And he was frightened
of something.
_Poe_: And you were frightened for him?
_Young KCC_: Yes. This is not like other dreams I have had.
Even now, I feel as if it was real. And I was truly there.
_Poe_: Perhaps you were, Grasshopper. Or perhaps, you will be.
_Young KCC_: But I know it was a dream.
_Poe_: Do you? Have I been here at your side, and am I leaving
you now to drift back to sleep? Or has this too, been a dream?
_CONTINUED_
_Poe_: Grasshopper?

_Young KCC_: Yes, Master?

_Poe_: It is I, or a dream?
_Young KCC_: It is you Master, as it truly was last night.
_Poe_: I will accept your judgment.
_Young KCC_: After you left, I remembered more of the dream.
And of the strange beast, that was so frightened.
_Poe_: Yes?!
_Young KCC_: He tried to speak to me. He tried again and
again. But he was unable. Then he turned and was gone.
_Poe_: Did he simply disappear?
_Young KCC_: No. He passed through a red door.
_Poe_: Is it your wish to enter? (/They stand in front of a
room with a red door/)
_Young KCC_: Yes. I will then know what the gentle beast was
trying so hard to say.
_Poe_: Let?s see. I?ll follow you (/They enter/).
_Young KCC_: It is only an empty chamber. Has it no purpose?
_Poe_: Let us call it, the chamber of the answer. Tell me what
you see?
_Young KCC_: Only a red door (/The room is empty/).
_Poe_: Does it lie before you?
_Young KCC_: Yea.
_Poe_: Ahhh. Then that is where your answer must be waiting.
Behind the red door/ (Poe closed the door they just walked
through/).
_Young KCC_: But I?But I am behind it.
_Poe_: Are you?
_CONTINUED
Poe_: Do not fear. She will be taken care of. She is about to
bring forth a new life /(A woman is in labor/).
_Young KCC_: I know, Master. I heard her baby cry.
_Poe_: That is?most unusual.
_Young KCC_: Do I deceive myself? Could such a thing truly happen?
_Poe_: It was you who heard. Life calls to life.
_Young KCC_: A baby, not yet born, calls to me. I do not
understand.
_Poe_: Nor do I. But how beautiful.
_CONTINUED_
_Poe_: Grasshopper?
_Young KCC_: Yes, Master?
_Poe_: You sit very still.
_Young KCC_: I listen for the cry of new life.
_Poe_: Soon. The woman?s time approaches swiftly
_Young KCC_: The life she will bring forth will live.
_Poe_: That is our wish.
_Young KCC_: I know it master.
_Poe_: Yes, you do. Strange. A thing of wonderment. You and
this infant, not yet born. You are as candle and flame.
Separate, and not separate.
_Young KCC_: There must be others bound together in this fashion?
_Poe_: I would not disagree.
_Young KCC_: Perhaps then, there are couplings beyond couplings?
_Poe_: I would not disagree.
_Young KCC_: Do you think, could it be that all men are bound
together, and all things?
_Poe_: There is not reason to believe so. Nor reason not to

129.

130.

131.

132.

133.

believe so.
_Young KCC_: How can we learn the answer?
_Poe_: That is simple. Do not seek it.?KF*
___KCC_: You once told me my present is rooted in my past.
_Poe_: And it is through those roots we draw our nourishment
and strength.
_KCC_: Do not the roots then also, form the future?
_Poe_: Uprooted, can the tree flourish and bear fruit? Without
the fruit, what may bear the seeds of future generations? And
thus, fulfill the ordained cycle of eternity.
_KCC_: Then my future is rooted in my past. And half my roots
are across the sea, in America. How will I find my place?
_Poe_: Time and your Tao (/Dow/) will tell you that,
Grasshopper.?KF*
___Kahn_: Had you good cause to risk this danger? (/Older KCC
and older monk fought/sparred unsupervised/)
_KCC_: My purpose was to prove my agility, and my courage.
_Kahn_: I had hoped such qualities were already yours.
_KCC_: I sought to test them.
_Kahn_: For yourself, or them (/younger monks observed the
match/)? It is better to see yourself truly, then care about
how others see you.
_KCC_: If I look truly, will I see truly??KF*
___Kahn_: A picture of the world we live in. Now you will tear
your papers, thus. When you are finished, you will reassemble
the pieces in their proper /place (They are tearing up a map
of the world/).
_Young KCC_: Master Kahn? I have finished, Master.
_Kahn_: So swiftly? It is correct. In all respects. How did
you do it, my son?
_Young KCC_: It was not difficult, Master. On the other side
was a picture of a man. I put the man together, and the world
was remade at the same time.
_Kahn_: The man. The world. The wholeness of each, seems related.
_Young KCC_: And all men, added together. Do they not make up
the world we live in??KF*
(CUT OFF ON TAPE)
___Young KCC_: ROAR!!!!
_Kahn_: Happy New Year, honorable demon.
_Young KCC_: Why do you not tremble before me?
_Kahn_: Is the disciple Caine then so fearful?
_Young KCC_: How did you know?
_Kahn_: Your Chi is not that of a demon, Kwai Chang. Only a
mask. Thus while you appear to be a demon, your inner energies
betray who you really are.
_Young KCC_: I suppose the trouble is I don?t really want to
be a demon.
_Kahn_: You have hit on a profound truth. Can you not tell me
what it is?
_Young KCC_: I must first decide who and what I want to be.
_Kahn_: And then? In order to achieve that ideal?
_Young KCC_: I must become one with it.
_Kahn_: Posses and be possessed by it. Until you are what you
will to be, and not merely a mask. Attempting to deceive
yourself and others.?KF*
___Poe_: You are the new student. Come closer.
_Young KCC_: You cannot see.
_Poe_: You think I cannot see.
_Young KCC_: Of all things, to live in darkness must be the worst.
_Poe_: Fear is the only darkness. Take your broom and strike

134.

135.

136.

137.

138.

139.

me with it. Do as I tell you, STRIKE! (/Misses/). Again.

(/Misses again, and is disarmed/). Here, catch. (/Poe
laughs/). Never assume because a man has no eyes he cannot
see. Close your eyes. What do you hear?
_Young KCC_: I hear the water. I hear the birds.
_Poe_: Do you hear your own heart beat.
_Young KCC_: No.
_Poe_: Do you hear the grasshopper, which is at your feet.
_Young KCC_: Old man, how is it that you hear these things?
_Poe_: Young man, how is it that you do not??KF*
___Poe_: You have learned discipline and acquired many new
abilities. However, never forget that a priests life is a
simple one. And must remain free of ambition.
_KCC_: Have you no ambition, Master Poe?
_Poe_: Only one. Five years hence. It is my wish to make a
pilgrimage to the forbidden city. It is a place where even
priests receive no special status. There in the temple of
heaven, will be a festival. A full moon of May. It will be the
thirteenth day, of the fifth month, of the year of the dog.
_KCC_: That is not such a great ambition.
_Poe_: Who among us is without flaw!?KF*
___Kahn_: /You must prepare yourself, for what lies ahead in
your chosen role as priest. The nature of wind and fire and
ice. The frailty of the human condition in hunger, thirst, and
fatigue. The predatory instincts of living things. The greed
and the finality buried in the hearts of men. You must be
prepared to survive through all of this. These graceful
movements you now perform, along with the rigors of all those
disciplines, which your masters impose upon you, will help you
to develop the 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/.?KF*
___Poe_: What do you look for beyond the sea, Grasshopper?
_KCC_: That part of me which I know little of. The past out of
which I was born
_Poe_: Then someday you must seek it.
_KCC_: But is it good to seek the past, Master Poe? Does it
not rob the present?
_Poe_: 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 destiny are nurtured by the roots of our past.?KF*
___Young KCC_: Master, can these things be real? (/KCC watched
a prestidigitator conjure up a tree out of nowhere, and then
make it disappear, leaving behind fruit on the floor/)
_Poe_: Did you not see them with your own eyes?
_Young KCC_: Is it not possible the Lama put them into our
minds, to make us believe they were there?
_Poe_: We are taught that all things are possible.?KF*
___Kahn_: It is often said, that to be effective one must act
with forthrightness and great force. But what is to be gained
from such a course? If the end one (/won ?/) is embarked upon,
is a righteous action. It flows the way of the Tao (/Dao/).
Forces are in motion, to which we cannot add, from which we
cannot 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.?KF*
___Young KCC_: Do such things exist?
_Kahn_: Do wars, famine, disease, and death exist? Do lust,
greed, and hate exist?

_Young KCC_: They do, but how? Where do they come from?
_Kahn_: They are man?s creations. Brought to being by the dark
side of their nature.?KF*
_CONTINUED
Young KCC_: How can man rid himself of such terrible things?
_Kahn_: Each man, must start with himself, within himself, by
slowly forging his Chi. The inner essence of his spirit, and
the limitless power of the universe. Only thus, can you
conquer the power? and the presence of evil.?KF*
140. ___Kahn_: Communication between self and self; between self
and others, may take many forms. Dreams are a language which
we may learn to interpret. Our deeper self, talking to our
self. The needs, the sensations, the flights of fancy of
others, imprinting on our own. Take heed, not to disregard
these communications. But rather listen. And hear what they
have to say.?KF*
141. ___Poe_: A lady of peace and serenity. The man who carved it
felt that, and carved it into the bone.
_Young KCC_: It belonged to the man who saved my fathers life.
_Poe_: And may perhaps, one day, permit you to pay the debt
your father owed to this man.
_Young KCC_: How is that possible? When both he and my father
are dead.
_Poe_: But your father had a son, who lives. And this man,
too, might have a son. Or perhaps a grandson. As a son
inherits his fathers goods, so he inherits his debts.
_Young KCC_: And may pay in turn, to his son?
_Poe_: If such a one exists. And accepts the payment. This may
be the token which identifies it.
_Young KCC_: How?
_Poe_: It is the talisman by which you will recognize each other.
_CONTINUED
_
_Young KCC_: We spoke of debt, to the man who saved my fathers
life.
_Poe_: Ah, yes Grasshopper.
_Young KCC_: Must I indeed pay this debt?
_Poe_: Did your father acknowledge it?
_Young KCC_: Yes, Master.
_Poe_: And uh?do you acknowledge it?
_Young KCC_: Yes, Master.
_Poe_: Then if circumstances permit you, seek out the man who
can receive payment, or if he seeks you out, you must pay.
_Young KCC_: How can payment be made for the loss of life?
_Poe_: He must tell you.
_Young KCC_: And if he asks too much?
_Poe_: What is too much? This man gave everything he had,
unasked. In turn, his heir may demand from you anything he
wishes, short of your own life.
_Young KCC_: And I must pay it?
_Poe_: Are you, or will you be a man of honor??KF*
142. ___Poe_: We pay tribute to our beloved Nun-Chi. The sage says:
A man is born gentle and weak. At his death, he is hard and
cold. Green plants are tender and filled with sap. At their
death, they are withered and dry. Therefore the stiff and
unbending is the disciple of death. The gentle and unyielding
is the disciple of life. May our gentle and lovely Non-Chi be

consecrated to life, even in her death. And may she find

eternal peace.?KF*
143. ___Young KCC_: I stare at you and speak.. You stare back and
say nothing.
_Poe_: A piece of cloth upon a wall. Truly Grasshopper, do you
expect a reply.
_Young KCC_: I realize the tapestry cannot speak, Master.
_Poe_: Then who is it that you address? Yourself?
_Young KCC_: Yes.
_Poe_: And are you able to answer the question, the tapestry
cannot?
_Young KCC_: No, Master.
_Poe_: Is it not because the tapestry is mute, so are we, so
long as we are held immobile by the lightly woven threads of
fear.?
_Young KCC_: What must I do, Master?
_Poe_: You will know that once you have sought out your demon,
and confront him. Only then will you come face-to-face with
the thing you fear. That which you gave the shape of, this
demon.?KF
*_Continued
_*_Poe_: (/speaking in the background/) It is a time when the
body is at its weakest. And the mind, seeking to protect
itself, looks for something beyond itself. It creates in its
fear, a figure that exacts a more terrible price.?KF**_
Continued
_*_Poe_: Then your journey inward has begun?
_Young KCC_: Yes, Master. There is yet, I do not recall where
I have met this demon. Or what was said between us.
_Poe_: You must go deeper into this world.
_Young KCC_: I am afraid, Master.
_Poe_: Why?
_Young KCC_: I may lose my way within this strange world. And
never emerge.
_Poe_: It is a risk, Grasshopper.
_Young KCC_: Must I take this risk?
_Poe_: It is the only way to confront your demon.
_Young KCC_: I do not wish to confront him.
_Poe_: Let us sit here for a moment. To run from your demon is
to have him pursue you. Better to advance and meet him in his
world. Then to retreat and have him enter yours. The doorway
to another reality lies before you. You must step over the
threshold. You must enter this world. Meet your demon,
wherever you were in the past. When you created him. However
young you were at the time.
_Young KCC_: I have entered.
_Poe_: Do you see your demon now?
_Young KCC_: I begin to.
_Poe_: How does he appear, as the tapestry portrays him?
_Young KCC_: Much the same way, but more real.
_Poe_: What else do you see?
_Young KCC_: Nothing. I hear things.
_Poe_: Things?
_Young KCC_: Sounds. Voices, I think.
*_Continued

_*_Young KCC:_ (/He reflects to sometime in the future/).

_Poe_: Where are you, Grasshopper?
_Young KCC_: Master, I am trapped in this world.
_Poe_: You trapped yourself! You must fight!
_Young KCC_: There is no way out.
_Poe_: You seek to escape. Instead, you must go even deeper.
_Young KCC_: How?
_Poe_: This demon is your own creation. Search out when you
first created him. Search out when you were very young.?KF*

144.
145.
146.

147.

148.

149.

150.

/(NOTE: The plea of a frightened boy cannot change the will of

destiny)./
___Poe_: For at the right time, all may be reached.?KF*
___Poe_: The sage says: "Return good with good. Return evil
with justice.?KF*
___Poe_: Still troubled, Grasshopper?
_Young KCC_: Sometimes, Master. It seems as if a wall lies
between myself and others. A wall through which I may see, but
may not touch.
_Poe_: You feel the fault within you?
_Young KCC_: I do not know where the fault lies. But I feel apart.
_Poe_: In your conversation with this other, more is left
unsaid than is said?
_Young KCC_: It is so.
_Poe_: Who can know himself well enough to hear all. The sage
says "Shape clay into a vessel, cut doors and windows for a
room. It is the spaces within which make it useful. So we must
listen for the spaces between us. We must hear the silences.?KF*
___KCC_: Master, how can we find our way when all paths seem dark?
_Poe_: The way runs true through the darkness. Through shadow.
Neither is cause for despair. The sage has said: "The 5 colors
blind the eye. The five tones deafen the ear. The five flavors
dull the taste. Therefore, the wiseman is guided by what he
feels, not by what he sees." When our senses are confused and
overpowered, our deeper feelings may yet keep us on the way.?KF*
___KCC_: Master. I am puzzled.
_Poe_: That is the beginning of wisdom.
_KCC_: I have seen you laugh, and I have seen you cry.
_Poe_: And you do not?
_KCC_: We are taught discipline.
_Poe_: The purpose of discipline is to live more fully. Not less.
_KCC_: But how shall I know if my sorrow is only the echo of
self pity; or my laughter the preening of my own happiness?
_Poe_: The bird sings in the forest. Does it seek to be
admired for its song? Let tears come, when your heart tells
you of its sadness. Let joy come unasked, unplanned.?KF*
___Poe_: It is written: "Shape clay into a vessel, it is the
space within that gives it value. Place doors and windows in a
house. It is the opening that brings light within. Set spokes
within a wheel. It is the emptiness of the hub that makes them
useful." Therefore, be the space at the center. Be nothing.
And you will have everything to give to others.?KF*
___KCC_: (/He is shooting a bow and arrow at a target, in the
black of the night/). I do not do archery for killing.
_Man_: What do you use it as?
_KCC_: A form of meditation.
_Man_: Meditation? What do you think about?
_KCC_: I think of nothing. But to be one with the target.
_Man_: You think I?m going to believe that? How can you see

151.

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153.
154.

155.

what you are shootin at in the dark?

_KCC_: Watch my eyes (/He turns his eyes away before he
shoots, and hits the target/).
_Man_: How?d you do that?
_KCC_: I do not do it. It is not done.
_Man_: What do you mean ?It?s not done??
_KCC_: It is only experienced. It happens.
_Man_: Happens?
_KCC_: The pole (/target/), the arrow, the bow are one. Not
many things. Not different things. One.
_Man_: Well, I see it. But I sure don?t understand it.
_KCC_: That is good.
_Man_: Why is it good?
_KCC_: It remains a puzzle. When you cease to strive to
understand, then you will know without understanding.?KF*
___Man_: How come you know so much about bows and horses?
_KCC_: The horse lives. I live. We share this with all nature.
We are one.
_Man_: You know, you?re different from just about anyone I?ve
ever met.
_KCC_: That is good, I hope.
_Man_: Don?t you ever get lonesome, just drifting around? No
place to belong to.
_KCC_: I belong to myself.
_Man_: Yeah. Me too. Most the time I wish I didn?t, though.
_KCC_: You are young.
_Man_: Guess I?ll always be lonesome. Did you really mean what
you said about not being afraid of death?
_KCC_: Yes.
_Man_: Do you think you can teach me how not to be afraid of it?
_KCC_: It is too soon. It is not something one man may teach
another.
_Man_: Yeah. I think I know what you mean by not being able to
teach me that. It?s like a man has to teach it to himself,
sort of.
_KCC_: It is rare to ask your questions. It is more rare to
listen to the answers.?KF*
___Man_: Back there at the creek. Were you meditating again?
_KCC_: I was clearing my mind of impurities and disturbances.
_Man_: Well, how does that work?
_KCC_: It lets me see the nature of things, as they really are.
_Man_: Is that what keeps you from getting mad?
_KCC_: It is how I can encounter life?s many faces, with some
sense of peace.?KF*
___KCC_: Each moment that passes changes you. You do not and
cannot posses even yourself. How can you hope to posses anyone
else?"?KF*
___Poe_: It is written in the Tao Tae Ching: "Under heaven,
all can see beauty as beauty, only because there is ugliness.
All can know good as good, only because there is evil.
Therefore, having and not having a rise together, difficult
and easy compliment each other. High and low rest upon each
other. Front and back follow one another. Be like the sun, and
what is within you will warm the earth."?KF*
___KCC_: What greater power is there, Master?
_Poe_: Those who surrender themselves find inner strength.
_KCC_: Will this protect me more than my arms and legs?
_Poe_: When the heart knows no danger, no danger exists. When
the soul becomes the warrior, all fear melts. As the snowflake
that falls upon your hand.?KF*

156. ___Young KCC_: (/a monkey has caught its hand in a jar, while
trying to retrieve an apple in that jar. But he cannot take
his hand out with the apple in his hand/) I do not want to
harm him, only to play.
_Kahn_: He thinks you are as others, and would have him for
your supper.
_Young KCC_: I could never do that!! That is a foolish monkey.
The gardens are full of fruit, yet he chooses to hold onto the
one in the jar.
_Kahn_: I am pleased you are wiser than the monkey
_Young KCC_: I am much wiser, Master.
_Kahn_: I would hope you remain so, and will know when to let
go of those things which do not serve you, but force you to
serve them.?KF*