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.

Continue reading “(1 min vid) Kung Fu: Who Has a Right to Revenge?” →

Continue reading “(video) Kung Fu: Master Po on Vengeance” →

Continue reading “(vid) Kung Fu: The Blind Can Still See” →

I love this show! It affected my life deeply during my high school years. I’m really disappointed that TalmudVision doesn’t ever seem to replay it. People deserve the chance to see this no-hate series, which I’m highlighting here by posting many short clips.

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Continue reading “(vid) The Tao of Caine: Producing “Kung Fu” — My favorite TV series — no hate!” →

Continue reading “(4 min vid) Kung Fu: Seek Not to Contend — “The supple willow does not contend against the storm, yet it survives”” →

Continue reading “(vid) Kung Fu: Young Caine’s Shaolin Tea and Pebble Tests” →

Continue reading “(2 min video) Kung Fu: The Garments of Rage” →

Continue reading “(2 min video) Kung Fu: Lesson From a Silk Worm” →

“He betrayed us. Yet we feed and clothe him.” – Young Caine
“And you disapprove. . . I am aware of his unsavory adventures. I am aware also of his hunger and cold. . . . Will the earth fall away from under his feet? Will the sun, shining on all else, refuse him light? If sun and earth and water refrain from judgment, who am I to withhold a blanket and a bowl of rice?” – Master Kan

• • •

Unlike most of these clips in which the young Caine is older, David Carradine’s brother, Keith takes David’s place.

– –

Master Po: 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.

Young Caine: The rat steals. Yet for him the cat is evil.

Master Po: And to the cat, the rat.

Young Caine: Yet master, surely one of them is evil.

Master Po: The rat does not steal. The cat does not murder. Rain falls, the stream flows, a hill remains. Each acts according to its nature.

Young Caine: Then is there no evil for men? Each man tells himself that what he does is good. At least for himself.

Master Po: Grasshopper. A man may tell himself many things. But is a man’s universe made only of himself?

Young Caine: If a man hurts me, and I punish him – perhaps he will not hurt another.

Master Po: And if you do nothing?

Young Caine: He will believe he may do as he wishes.

Master Po: Perhaps. Or perhaps he will learn that some men receive injury, but return kindness.

• • •

Related:

All of my “Kung Fu – No Hate ’70s Series” posts at my personal blog

 

Master Kan: Had you good cause to risk this danger?

Caine: My purpose was to prove my agility and my courage.

Master Kan: I had hoped such qualities were already yours.

Caine: I sought to test them.

Master Kan: For yourself or them? Is it not better to see yourself truly than care about how others see you?

Caine: Yes, Master. If I look truly, will I see truly?

Master Kan: It can be done.

• • •

Young Caine: He fights with such power. He is the strongest and surely the best.

Master Kan: He is the strongest… and the weakest. He will soon be dismissed.

Young Caine: You confuse me, master.

Master Kan: What is gained by using one’s strength in violence and anger?

Young Caine: A victory that is swift.

Master Kan: Yet to be violent is to be weak. Violence has no mind. Is it not wiser to seek a man’s love than to desire his swift defeat?

• • •

I like this, but would probably word it a little differently.

– –

Young Caine: Master how may I walk a peaceful path when the world is seldom peaceful?

Master Po: Peace lies not in the world, Grasshopper, but in the man who walks the path.

Young Caine: But in my path may be men not filled with peace.

Master Po: Then seek a different path.

Young Caine: And if at each turn appear those who would be violent and do not love peace?

Master Po: To reach perfection, a man must develop equally compassion and wisdom.

Young Caine: But master, how do I not contend with the man that would contend with me?

Master Po: In a heart that is one with nature [I would say ‘the Creator’], though the body contends, there is no violence. And in the heart that is not one with nature, though the body be at rest, there is always violence. Be, therefore, like the prow of a boat, it cleaves the water yet it leaves in its wake water unbroken.

• • •

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.

Related:

All of my Kung Fu – No Hate ’70s Series posts at my personal blog

Caine (David Carradine): They laugh at me, master.

Master Po (Keye Luke): Good. To bring joy to others honours the giver.

Caine: But their laughter is not joyful, for it derides me.

Master Po: Are you hurt by it?

Caine: Yes.

Master Po: Because you gave comfort where comfort is needed?

Caine: Was this not unmanly?

Master Po: There is a strength in us that can shatter an invisible object with a hand, which comes from a strong and disciplined body. There is another strength that allows us to feel the pain of others, and give comfort where comfort is needed. This comes from a compassionate heart. True strength must combine both, for that is in harmony with the duality of our natures. For what you have done, you may indeed take comfort in their laughter.

• • •

KCC: “If one’s words are not better than silence, one should keep silent.”

• • •

Disciple Caine: ‘Master Tae, What is the best way to deal with force?’
-Master Tae: ‘As we prize peace and quiet above victory, there is a simple and preferred method…. Run away.’

---

Kan: 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.

• • •

KCC: Master, we are taught that a good man’s heart is not shut within itself, but is open to the hearts of others.
Po: 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?
Po: Do you seek love or barter?
KCC: But if I love others, and they do not love me, I shall feel great pain.
Po: That is what you risk, Grasshopper. Great pain, or great joy.

• • •

Po: 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?
Po: Is it not better that the female act as a female?
KCC: She seeks only to confuse. The truth is not within her.
Po: Perhaps you only fail to perceive it.
KCC: I do not know that I wish to perceive it
Po: (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.
Po: What if the coal is not touched be the flame?
KCC: The heat is not felt.
Po: Are not male and female, coal and flame? If the coal does not seek to know the flame, can either fulfill their destiny?

• • •

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.
Kan: 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?
Kan: Ignore the insulting tongue, duck the provoking blow, run from the assault of the strong.
KCC: Are these not the actions of a coward?
Kan: 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.

– –

Po: I have three treasures which I hold and keep. The first is mercy. For from mercy comes courage. The second is frugality. From which comes generosity to others. The third is humility. For from it comes leadership.

KCC: Strange treasures. How shall I keep them?
Po: Keep them in your deeds, Grasshopper.

• • •