but it is the
center hole
that makes the
wagon move.
We shape clay into
a pot,
but it is the
emptiness inside
that holds whatever
we want.
We hammer wood for
a house,
but it is the inner
space
that makes it
livable.
We work with being,
but non-being is
what we use.
Chapter 11, Tao Te
Ching
Translation by Stephen Mitchell
Po and Shifu understand now that to take on the unconventional challenge, they must transform from the conventional to the unconventional. They train, and succeed, accordingly. Po is becoming a Kung Fu warrior, but he is not yet the Dragon Warrior.
Meanwhile, the Furious Five take matters into their own hands and take the fight directly to Tai Lung. They are the best warriors in China. They will defeat this powerful foe.
They meet. They fight. They lose. The conventional
warriors lose to the unconventional foe.
The Five limp back home and announce their
defeat. Tai Lung is on his way. Terror strikes the valley. Again, Po is struck
with fear and doubt. If the Furious Five cannot defeat Tai Lung together, how
can he defeat him alone?
Shifu, too, is struck with doubt, but
believes Oogway’s teaching has manifest as truthful and wise. In his true
Confucian way, he sticks with the program. It is now time, he believes, to
reveal the Dragon Scroll to Po and transform him into the Dragon Warrior.
Po asks, “What happens when I read it?”
“No one knows,” Shifu replies, “but legend says you will be able to hear a butterfly’s wing beat.
“Whoa! Really? That’s cool,” says Po.
“Yes. And see light in the deepest cave. You
will feel the universe in motion around you,” says Shifu.
“Wow!” Po exclaims. “Can I punch through walls? Do a quadruple back flip?”
“Focus,” deadpans Shifu. “Read it and fulfill
your destiny. Read it and become the Dragon Warrior.”
“Whoa!” says Po as we unscrolls it… revealing… nothing. It is blank. The shiny surface of the scroll only reflects Po’s image. There is nothing there. No secrets revealed.
Shifu, the Five and Po immediately lose faith as doubt casts over them. They’re incapable of fighting the unconventional foe in in an unconventional way. They are all scared.
When the unconventional seemingly failed them
in the face of imminent danger, they fell back on convention. Shifu volunteered
to fight Tai Lung knowing that he would die trying. The Five prepared for
battle. Po ran home.
Po is deflated, depressed, and demoralized. Everything he loved –Kung Fu – and his dream of becoming the greatest warrior in China were, it would seem, all a farce.
The gentlest thing in the world
overcomes the hardest thing in the world.
That which has no substance
enters where there is no space.
This shows the value of non-action.
Teaching without words,
performing without actions:
that is the Master’s way.
Tao Te Ching, Chapter 43
Translation by Stephen Mitchell
He reunites with his duck dad as they prepare
to evacuate from the village. His father is glad to see him, and even as they
evacuate to save the village their lives, he is still talking about noodles and
the family business. In this tender moment, Po’s duck dad feels it is time for
him to pass along the most cherished family secret: the secret ingredient to
his very popular Secret Ingredient Soup.
 |
| Unlike theMcDonald's Big Mac, Dragon Scroll is a mystery containing no secret ingredient |
“Huh?” Po replies.
“You heard me. Nothing! There is no secret ingredient!” says his father.
“Wait, wait, it’s just plain old noodle Soup?” Po asks. “You don’t add some kind of special sauce or something?”
“Don’t have to. To make something special, you just have to believe it’s special.”
Po opens the Dragon Scroll again and looks
upon his reflection in the golden paper. The power of the Dragon Scroll is
revealed in Po’s reflection. With metaphysical awareness, Po looks up from the
Dragon Scroll and repeats, “There is no secret ingredient.” Po realizes the
mystery of the peach. He learns that the secret to limitless power is believing
in yourself.
Po now believes he is the Dragon Warrior. In
fact, he knows now that he has been the Dragon Warrior all along. Bold and
empowered he sets off to challenge Tai Lung.
The two engage in mortal combat. Using all
his extraordinary Kung Fu skills, Tai Lung is flummoxed by Po’s resilience and
strength. Po sits on Tai Lung, bounces off a tree, takes a comical beating,
launches off fireworks, and imagines the Dragon Scroll as a bowl of noodles,
all of which unleash Po’s extraordinary Dragon Warrior powers, which of course
he possessed all along.
“The scroll has given him power!” shouts Tai
Lung.
Yet Tai Lung is physically overwhelming. When it appears Po has lost the battle to Tai Lung, Tai Lung opens the scroll. He knows the legend of the Dragon Scroll and the Dragon Warrior. He will look upon the scroll and become more powerful than ever.
He opens the scroll and sees nothing. He is
confused and flustered.
“It’s OK.” says Po. “I didn’t get it either
the first time. There is no secret ingredient. It’s just you.”
It is too much for Tail Lung and he will not
tolerate this mysterious change of events. In anger in anger launches a
powerful death blow into Po that is absorbed and returned by Po’s gelatinous
fat. He lays Tai Lung flat. Po bounces Tai Lung down the street with a giant
panda butt blow and launches him into the sky with a belly bump.
Tai Lung is confused and delirious from the
Dragon Warrior beating.
“You can’t beat me,” he pleads, nearly
breathless. “Why, you’re just a big… fat… panda.”
“I’m not a big fat panda. I’m THE big fat panda,” Po declares. He captures Tai Lung in the fabled Wushi Finger Hold and destroys his enemy once and for all.
Shifu, likewise uplifted by Taoist
metaphysical certitude, whispers to Po “Wow. It is as Oogway foretold. You are
the Dragon Warrior.”
There is no secret ingredient. You just have to believe you are special. The Big Thing is your path to enlightenment, power and self-awareness.
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