The Dragon Scroll

So I was sick yesterday, which meant we didn't go outside... which means we watched Kung fu Panda.
I don't know if it was because I didn't eat anything and drank very little all day long, but I got really emotional watching this movie for the umpteenth time. I cried when Master Shifu told Po not to cry. Now Kung Fu Panda 2 was tear jerking for me the first time I watched it. And I am sorry to say I couldn't find that DVD yesterday.
So are there really Dragon scrolls and secret Kung Fu books? There are. We have a story about one at our school. My Sifu had read one at one point. Then he had to burn it because that sort of thing was counter-revolutionary and he probably could have been shot for just owning something that was beyond bourgeious. Sifu survived that time in history but not unscathed. Anyway, a lot of these Dragon Scroll secrets are part of an oral tradition rather than being written down.
Of course nowadays you can by many such secret Kung Fu books on the internet and what not.
A lot of times these Kung Fu secrets seem to be common sense when they are finally revealed to you. Let's take the Dragon Scroll for example. If you are watching Kung Fu Panda, and you don't do Kung Fu, it is a nice story, a moral a fable. If you practice really hard, like Master Shifu, or Tai Lung (as I wrote this I just realized his name means big dragon) if you got the scroll, ceremoniously or unceremoniously you will look at it and think, "What the hell it's blank!" or maybe, "Yeah okay so I'm special I already knew that. This is not what I was expecting or what I worked so hard for."
Another example of blank scrolls is in the Journey to the West. The Tripitaka and his monkey kind crew finally get there finally get the scrolls and then somehow the scrolls fall in the river so they have to dry them out and find that they are blank. They go back to the Western Paradise and Monkey king berates them for cheating them. The Buddhist guards laugh and say that actually the true sutras are blank, but here are some ones with writing anyway if it will make you feel better.
Does mean the dragon scroll is fake? No. Po doesn't understand the scroll as is, because he is still a kung fu beginner (though well trained and full of awesomeness.) However, he is a noodle master. So when he here's the same secret revealed by his father. He gets it. That's right. It is only because Po spend so much time making noodles that he s able to understand the Kung Fu secret.
There is a Kung Fu novel like that too, where inside a cave is written a kung fu secret. All these master's go in and come out and learn nothing from what they read. Except one guy who comes out and becomes super powerful. How did he understand the secret? He didn't know how to read, so he just followed the movements he saw in the strokes.
At the end of Kung Fu Panda, there is a still scene with Po showing the dragon scroll to all these rabbit children he is teaching Kung Fu. Basically sharing the secret with everyone.
I have had exposure to my share of secrets. Some of them were just confirming what I already knew. Some of them were so obvious, and yet I never practiced that way before learning it. And I'm sorry to say, just because I learned something secret doesn't mean I necessarily achieved what the secret was supposed to help me achieve, definitely not to its full potential. Watching Kung Fu Panda yesterday made me realize something. I have been behaving as a business Sifu. Focusing on teaching and trying to get more students etc. Which has become too difficult with my two kids.
But when I first wanted to learn Kung Fu, it was not to teach. I was Po. I wanted to be full of awesomeness.
The training scenes inspired me and so did the Dragon scroll scenes. They made me, in my sickened, vomiting fasting state want to start taking Kung Fu seriously again. For myself. Not for some kids who didn't care or who just were doing it for fun. Sure I could show them the dragon scroll like Po too and inspire them to practice and all that. Then if they did or not was there business. But what I should be focusing on, is my own practice. My own horse stance forms, gung, and maybe even more physical stuff. Maybe I should really try to achieve stuff like finger pushups and pull ups. I already know Kung Fu. So why don't I start making myself a whole new level of awesome.