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| The legendary warrior of legend |
knowing yourself is true wisdom.
Mastering others is strength;
mastering yourself is true power.
If you realize that you have enough,
you are truly rich.If you stay in the center
and embrace death with your whole heart,
you will endure forever.
Tao Te Ching, Chapter 33
Translation by Stephen Mitchell
Legend tells of a legendary warrior whose Kung Fu skills were the stuff of legend, begins Po’s early morning fantasy in which he imagines himself the fearless warrior defending peaceable furry little Chinese creatures against the banditry and ne’er do wellington of bad guys throughout the countryside.
Po slays his enemies by the thousands. His admirers swoon and cheer gratefully with each victory.
They shout, “He’s so awesome!”
“… and attractive.”
“How can we repay you?”
“There is no charge for awesomeness or attractiveness,” is his modest reply.
Po is a dreamer. He lives in a King Fu fantasy world where he is the awesome, attractive hero of all China. To say that Kung Fu is his passion is an understatement. It is his religion, his life, and his being.
Po is like a little boy who loves professional football and idolizes the greatest players. In this image the little boy sleeps with his football and wears a helmet to breakfast. He dreams of one day becoming a great football player himself. Except in this case, Po is a grown Panda/man.
Po shares this similar longing for Kung Fu and he idolizes his Kung Fu heroes, the Furious Five, the greatest warriors in China.
But Po is a big, fat panda. He is a glutton and an oaf. He serves noodles in his father’s restaurant, who is, by the way, a duck. Po is clearly, in his estimation and in others’, no Kung Fu hero.
Yet, Po’s longing for Kung Fu greatness will manifest soon in harsh brutality when he will be chosen as the legendary Dragon Warrior by the great martial arts teacher Master Oogway. The prospect of this lifelong honor juxtaposed against the pressures of being himself are often times too much for him to bear. It tears at his heart.
To say that Po is experiencing an identity crisis is an understatement. And it is exacerbated as he struggles to reconcile who he is, who is father thinks he is, what others think of him, and what he must become to fulfill the role of Dragon Warrior.
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| We all have a place in the world... |
Po asks his father if he ever had dreams and aspirations. His father replies that he once had a dream of running away from the family noodle business to make tofu; a dream he abandoned in his youth. Sighing, he says to Po, “We all have a place in the world, and yours is table 2, 5, 7 and 12.”
Despite his dreams to the contrary, Po’s destiny and identity are being shaped by that most influential person: the parent.
Part of discovering the Big Thing is understanding what’s important to you in life and striving to be contented. Part of pursuing the Big Thing is striving for purpose, meaning and fulfillment in life.
The foundation of it all is knowing who you are and establishing your identity. This is really, really hard. For some it comes easy, for others it is unattainable. For me, it was a struggle that ended only after years of severe depression.
I hate to quote Whitney Houston (and believe me, I really do hate to quote Whitney Houston), but she really said something in her song “Greatest Love of All” when she belted out,
I found the greatest love of all
Inside of me
The greatest love of all
Is easy to achieve
Learning to love yourself
It is the greatest love of all
Inside of me
The greatest love of all
Is easy to achieve
Learning to love yourself
It is the greatest love of all
All human identity emerges from our genetics. You have heard the phrase “nurture and nature,” meaning some influences in human development are based on external factors while others are come from our DNA.
We are who we are because of the DNA bequeathed to us by our parents (thanks for the double chin!) and the external forces and environment that influence our behavior, values and beliefs.
Every day there is a competition around us by others who tell us how to think and feel, what to believe, what to do, and who to be. Yes, who to be.
People often influence what you are and what you become because of their opinions of your abilities and powers. Such people are influential over us because we empower their opinions – right or wrong – by accepting them and allowing ourselves to be shaped by them. You say I am handsome, I will quickly believe it. You say I am a toad, and alas, eventually I will own it.
For Po, he was predestined to be a noodle vendor, not because he wanted but because to his father it was so. And he accepted.
Po’s teacher and heroes dismissed him as a joke, questioning his abilities, let alone his place on earth. And he accepted it.
At his weakest moment, when Po had given up on himself, he tried desperately to escape. He was convinced he could never be the Dragon Warrior and that he could not face arch villain Tai Lung. He was intercepted by his teacher, Master Shiefu.
“C’mon! How am I supposed to beat Tai Lung? I can’t even beat you to the stairs” shouts Po.”
You will beat him because you are the Dragon Warrior,” says Shiefu.
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| I will make you the Dragon Warrior |
“You don’t believe that,” cries Po. “You never believed that. From the first moment I got here, you’ve been trying to get rid of me.”
“Yes, I was… Yes! But now I ask you to trust in your master the way I have come to trust in mine,” replies Shiefu.
“You’re not my master, and I’m not the Dragon Warrior,” says Po.
“Then why didn’t you quit?” shouts Shiefu. ” You know I was trying to get rid of you, yet you stayed!”
“Yeah, I stayed,” said Po. “I stayed because every time you threw a brick at my head or said I smelled, it hurt, but it could never hurt more than it did every day of my life just being me.
“I stayed because I thought that if anyone could change me… could make me… not me… it was you: the greatest Kung Fu teacher in all of China.”
Here Po admits that he too was trying to become something he is not. Just like Shiefu was trying to make him into something he is not.
“But I can change you!” pleaded Shiefu. “I can turn you into the Dragon Warrior! And I will!”
Po laughs, “Come on. Tai Lung is on his way here right now. And even if it takes him 100 years to get here, how are you going to change this [his fat body] into the Dragon Warrior? Huh? How? How? How!”
Shiefu pauses introspectively, realizing Po is right, “I don’t know. I don’t know.”
“That’s what I thought,” said Po.
The problem with many people is that they are subjected to external stimuli such as this and accept it, even assimilate it. Individuals with strong personalities are usually pretty good about establishing their own identities, but others, like me, have to work hard for.
Somewhere underneath it all is you, your brain and your heart. God and DNA ensure that humans and snowflakes are individually unique. Most of us can think for ourselves and those of us with a conscience feel emotions and embrace beliefs based on how we feel and what we think.
Despondent, Po sought refuge at the Peach Tree of Heavenly Wisdom where he gorged himself on fruit to help sooth his pain. He was approached by the wise Master Oogway.
“I pretty much sucked today more than anyone in the history of Kung Fu. In the history of China! In the history of sucking!” said Po.
“Probably,” replied Oogway.
“The [Furious] Five! You should’ve seen them. They totally hate me!” said Po.
“Totally,” said Oogway.
“How’s Shiefu going to turn me into the Dragon Warrior?” said Po. “I’m not like the Five. I’ve got no claws. No wings. No venom. Even Mantis has those… thingies. (sigh). Maybe I should just quit and go back to making noodles.”
“Quit. Don’t quit. Noodles. Don’t noodles,” said Oogway. You are too concerned about what’s what and what will be. There is a saying, ‘Yesterday’s history. Tomorrow’s a mystery. But today is a gift. That’s why it is called the present.”
Another of life’s Big Things is discovering who you are.
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| Quit. Don't Quit. Noodles. Don't Noodles |
Another of life’s Big Things is discovering who you are.
Lao-Tse stated,
The ancient Masters were profound and subtle.
Their wisdom was unfathomable.There is no way to describe it;
all we can describe is their appearance.
They were careful
as someone crossing an iced-covered stream.
Alert as a warrior in enemy territory.
Courteous as a guest.
Fluid as melting ice.
Shapeable as a block of wood.
Receptive as a valley.
Clear as a glass of water.
Do you have the patience to wait
till your mud settles and the water is clear?
Can you remain unmoving
till the right action arises by itself>
The Master doesn’t seek fulfillment.
Not seeking, not expecting,
she is present, and can welcome all things.
Tao Te Ching, Chapter 15
Translation by Stephen Mitchell
The translator’s Zen Master Seung Sahn elaborates on this piece by further stating, “Our mind is like a glass of water. If we put salt into the water it becomes salt water; sugar, it becomes sugar water; shit, it becomes shit water. But originally the water is clear. No thinking, no mind. No mind, no problem.”
Lao-tse’s Chapter 15 applies more broadly than this, but I say resist the influences of others to shape your beliefs and values. And don’t let others define who you are.
And don’t be afraid to explore – your whole life – your identity and capabilities. You won’t know you can fight until you throw a punch… or take a punch.
Others may think they know who you are – until you prove them differently.
You may think you know who you are, until you test and stretch your limits.
You never know, underneath all that fat and fur is a Dragon Warrior.
