Wisdom from the Master

By now the whole valley knew about the Master. Stories of him were being spread all around. The people who were healed kept exclaiming the Master's praises. However, up in the Jade Palace, it was nothing but worry. Master Tigress broke through the forest of wooden soldiers with blinding speed. Everyone knew she only did this when something upset her. In the middle of her punching the last one, Master Shifu stopped her. "Tigress!" He called. She, having learned to stop on command, froze. "That's enough training for one day. Now, you must clean up the mess you've made," Shifu said. Tigress bowed and grabbed the broom. She started sweeping the floors when Master Shifu rested his hand on her pants leg. "I miss him, too," Shifu sympathized. Tigress turned away from her master. She breathed in and sighed.

"I'm fine, Master Shifu," Tigress said, "Besides, Po should be coming back anytime today."

"Which would be right about now," said a voice. Shifu and Tigress turned to the door to see a great big smiling panda in the front door. Tigress smiled.

"Po," She simply said. The two came to him.

"It's good to see you back, Dragon Warrior," Shifu said, "I assume that your... punishment was easy to learn from."

"Oh, being in the desert wasn't punishment. It was great! It was learning time for me. I learned more about the Master than I ever could. The punishment was the sickness I had," Po explained. "There is one complaint that I had," Po replied.

"What's that?" Shifu asked. Then the earth seemed to shake as Po's stomach growled.

"I'm starving," Po groaned. Shifu smiled.

"I'll get the servants and your dad to get you something," Shifu said walking out of the door. Po looked at Tigress who still had a small smile on her face.

"How have you been doing? I heard from Crane and Monkey that you've been worried about me," Po questioned.

"I was," Tigress replied. "But now you're here," Po smiled and hugged her. Tigress instinctively tensed up.

"I missed you, too," Po said, as he released her. "But we have some work to do from the Master."

"Already? You haven't even eaten yet," Tigress commented.

"Oh, I don't have any intention of skipping lunch," Po chuckled, making Tigress smirk. "But the Master showed me a bunch of things he wants to be done."

"Can I help you with it?" Tigress asked.

"Of course," Po smiled.

Po's first job was teaching the people of the village about the Master. A huge amount of people lined up to see what Po had to say. Scribes came to write what Po would say. Tigress even kept a scroll as well. Po was a little nervous, but looked up at the clouds and felt calmer. Then he began to speak about the Master. "The Master is the chi of the world. He is the life-sustaining energy that is required for all living things. Merciful and just, ruler and redeemer, father and friend. He deserves the highest respect. No one is like the Master," Po said. Then Po started answering questions. It soon became obvious that some people thought Po was just a wise person and not just a servant of the Master.

"Dragon Warrior, what is the purpose of life?" Asked one pig.

"The purpose of life is to serve the Master and care for others. If we have no Master, then we have no purpose and life is meaningless," Po answered.

"Dragon Warrior, what is worth more; knowledge or wisdom?"

"Wisdom. Everyone can receive knowledge. It's what you choose to do with the knowledge that shows how wise you are. Wisdom is better than silver or gold because, with wisdom, you know how to GET silver AND gold."

"Dragon Warrior, what rules and standards should people keep?"

"Keep all the standards that help you love others and serve the Master. All standards that follow this pattern should be kept. If you love others, you won't hate them, steal from them, lie to them, want what they have, disrespect them, cheat them, or any other thing to hurt them. The same goes for the Master," Po answered.

"Dragon Warrior, what do you have to say for people looking for love?" asked one curious duck child. Po nervously rubbed the back of his head as Tigress smirked at his red face.

"Ah, well... um... men, when you look for a woman, date them with a blindfold. For the looks will fade and the figure will bend but the character will stay the same. If you can love the character and not the looks then you will be happier than most. Women, when you look for a man, make sure that your standards are high and that you are respectable. It is better to die alone than to live a miserable life with a person who doesn't respect you. And make sure you love the person. Love is not something you feel. It is something you know. So forget your feelings towards them and ask yourself if you truly love all parts of them, good and bad." Then Po stood up and addressed all of them. "Make sure you don't just hear the words the Master tells you. What good is saying words if you don't use them? Be doers and not hearers only." With that, Po dismissed the crowd and went back up the mountain.

"You said some pretty interesting things, Po," Tigress commented.

"Everything I said was from the Master. It wasn't from me. You know I'm not that smart," Po replied.

"I think you are," Tigress argued. Po stopped and looked at her.

"Really, why?"

"You're very smart. You chose to follow someone who is not only very powerful but very caring as well. Just like you," Tigress explained.

"Thank you, Tigress," Po replied. Just then, Monkey came up to them angry. "Whoa, buddy, what's wrong?"

"Ugh! It's some love problem," Monkey muttered. "I've been looking at this girl for a while and I really like her, but Crane and Mantis keep telling me it's a bad idea. But I feel that we're destined to be with each other."

"So because you like this girl, you feel you're destined to be in a relationship with each other?" Po asked. Monkey nodded. "Does the girl know you?"

"Of course, every girl knows about the Monkey charm," The simian smirked. Both Tigress and Po had a 'really' face on.

"What I mean is does she really know you?" Po asked.

"Well... no, but I can't shake this strong feeling that we're supposed to be together," Monkey said. Po was silent for a moment. He looked up at the sky then smiled at Monkey.

"Now that I've heard your story, let me tell you one. There were two men who both had a girlfriend. But an evil friend falsely gave them information that their girlfriends were cheating on them. The first man was furious and angry. He said, 'I will not trust her any longer and she will be out of my life.' So he broke up with the girlfriend and left her. He was still angry and bitter by the time the girlfriend found a new man and then happily married while the first man continued the rest of his life in mistrust. When the second man received the false information by the evil friend he calmly took it. He said, 'I will wisely go about this and investigate this matter further to see if my loved one is innocent or not.' When he found out she was innocent, the man continued loving his girlfriend, they got married, and the evil friend went about his life. Now, which man did the right thing?"

Monkey paused and thought for a moment. "The man who investigated."

"Feeling without reason is blind and dangerous. Reason without feelings is dull and brutal. You must love someone logically for love to be practical," Po warned. Monkey sadly looked at the ground and walked back to his room. Even though he had multiple warnings, Monkey still started dating the girl. Fortunately, however, Monkey quickly began to see why the others warned him about her. She was the kind of person who got by because of her beauty and did not care for others. With the infatuation gone, Monkey broke up with her within a month.

One day, Po got another message from the Master to go heal a group of people. This was during when Monkey was dating the girl. Po nodded but he couldn't help but laugh a bit as he and Tigress went to the people. Finally, Tigress's interest was peaked. "Why are you laughing?"

"The Master wants me to heal the people like the people on the outskirts. I'm laughing because I've done a complete circle," Po replied. Tigress was still confused. "This is a test to see if I will obey." A surprised Tigress couldn't believe that Po figured that out.

"How did you come to that?"

"It's a thing I've learned about the Master while being in the desert. He tends to bring people back to the same point to see if they've learned," Po replied. They finally came to the group of sick people. Po did as the Master told him to do despite the cheering crowd of people. With that, he left to go back to the Jade Palace when some people came to hear his wise words. Po sat down. He was tired and Tigress seemed to know that.

"Should I tell them to leave," Tigress asked compassionately.

"No, it's fine, really," Po yawned. "Now, what questions do you need to be answered?" Before anyone could say anything, a bunch of children came running to Po. The scribes and the adults started pulling the children away.

"Go away, the Dragon Warrior is busy now," they said. Po stopped them.

"Don't keep the children away from me," Po said, "Let them come to me." With that command, the children came rushing towards Po, hugging and squeezing him. Tigress was busying herself bringing stray children to him as well. One of the scribes asked,

"Don't these children annoy you?" Po was never annoyed by children even before he knew the Master. "Why do you care so much for these little ones?"

"Two reasons," Po answered. "It is by being a child that you become a servant of the Master. Until you learn to trust like children do, obey like children do, and love like children do, you will not be a servant. The second reason is important, too. The Master has a special place in his heart for those who are treated as insignificant, hated, or just plain young. It is the position of the mighty, rich, and stable to help the weak, poor, and lonely. If this is not followed, the Master will discipline the mighty and rich." Po continued to say wise words and stories until he was tired and dismissed the people. Po leaned on his staff now more than ever. Tigress offered to help him up. "Tigress, I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" Tigress asked. Po smiled.

"I really do appreciate your deep concern for me, Tigress, but I've been able to get up these steps before," Po said. He finally made it up the steps. "Whew! Made it," Po said taking a little break. Tigress sat down with him. "Tigress, you can go to sleep."

"I'd rather stay with you," Tigress said. Po blushed a bit as Tigress scooted closer to him.

"I appreciate you staying with me, Tigress," Po sighed.

"You're here to help people. My focus is to help you," Tigress smiled. Then a question came to her mind. "Po, why doesn't the Master choose other people to do his work instead of you? Why are you the one only doing it?"

"But you are doing it as well," Po answered. Tigress was confused. "By helping me and protecting others, you've been doing the Master's will. When people do good to care for others, they do the will of the Master. There are some people who are asked of the Master to do miracles and then some are called to simply be a friend to others. Each person has a gift that the Master has given us, and we're supposed to use it to help others." Po frowned. "However, some use the gifts they have to benefit themselves. Lord Shen could have made the cannon to protect China. Tai-Lung would have been the model of a great loving warrior. Kai would have been another teacher like Oogway. Evil is selfish and every selfish thing we do will hurt others," Po explained. Tigress nodded. "Go to sleep, Tigress. I want to speak with the Master for a while." Tigress bowed and went to sleep. Po didn't notice he was staring at her backside for a while. He quickly shook his head. "Ugh! Master!"

"Yes, Po?"

"Do you need me for something?" Po asked. He was just making sure there wasn't anything lingering. Po could practically feel the warm smile the Master had.

"No, Po," the Master answered almost in a humorous tone, "Rest and I will have something for you in the morning."

Continued...