A Teacher's Trials
"And exactly why are you doing this?" Demi asked.
"Because I feel like I have to explain myself even though I know it's useless at this point. Besides, it is time to address something that has been going on for so long that no one really addresses."
"Uh huh."
I rolled my eyes.
******F*****
Green, red, and white darted around on city buildings big and small. The cold nibbled at the back of my neck as I walked down the lane to the next corner. A condensed city street with no room for more than two cars lined with vehicles parked on each side. The cold started to ease up.
Everything started to ease up as I turned the corner. The bright light of something piercing the night blinded my face and I shielded my eyes. I couldn't see. I couldn't feel the cold. I couldn't feel the concrete underneath me.
I couldn't feel anything. My eyes blinked open. The greenness of the sun absorbed everything around me. The sky disappeared from black to green. The walls collapsed into rock and mortar. Ruins of stony temples and steep mountains floated in a void.
"Wait, mountains?" I rubbed my eyes, though I immediately noticed that my hands were furry. "Awww come on! Can't a guy go home without being whisked away to another dimension?!" I grumbled in the floating space of the Spirit realm.
It's... weird. I can't say any more than that. Trying to move anywhere in there is like a 30-second delay on a video game. Like swimming, but harder. In the end, that's the only way I could get around. There was slight gravity around rocks and mountains, but other than that it was freefall. Or freerise. I honestly don't know how it works.
"Alright," I grumbled as I worked my way around another mountain. "Where is he?" Having been whisked away twice, I had a good idea of who I needed to interview. I finally found the tree in a center of a pool mirroring the Yin-Yang. I grabbed onto the boat that was at the edge of the pool and slowly made my way over to the meditating green creature on the island in the center.
And his counterpart.
"Huh?" I used my hands to push the boat forward and found two people there. I gingerly stepped onto the island, though I gave it up once I realized I had to put effort into just staying on the ground. Hovering to them, I slowly glided into a sitting position in front of the two creatures. "Master Oogway?"
"Ah, Lion, is it?" smiled the tortoise. "I've been expecting you." I nodded. The tortoise tilted his head. "You're not surprised?"
"Not really. Makes sense. I am surprised that you're here."
"What do you mean," said the creature beside Oogway.
"I just... didn't think you would-"
"Assumptions can be limiting. It's one of the reasons why I wasn't chosen... among others," he said.
I sighed, "Yeah, assumptions. I guess that's why I'm here." I took out my writing materials. A neat fact about the Spirit realm. You don't have to worry about picking up stuff. Ever! They just float there! I took a deep breath and looked at the two former warriors.
"So," I began. "Master Oogway and Tai Lung. How do you both know me?"
"We've seen your interviews with my students," Oogway smiled. "You ask very insightful questions."
"I thought questioning everything wasn't the way to enlightenment," I said. "Or so I've been told."
"Enlightenment isn't a definition that can be put into words," Tai Lung answered. The snow leopard is much more... compact than you might think. He's not short but his muscles and stature all seem... condensed. I expected him to be much bigger and bulkier than he was.
Oogway is the embodiment of a wise old grandpa that smacks his dry lips every five seconds. His humor is interesting, though a little weird at times. It's a major contrast between him and the serious-looking snow leopard.
I looked around. The floating space around me felt like such a dream in so many places. That floating hovering feeling of the real lookalike. Where gravity and rules do not apply. It felt airy and fragile like if I asked too many questions I would suddenly wake up.
Luckily, there are ways to maintain a dream.
"Why is Tai Lung here?" I suddenly asked.
"Po sent him here," Oogway replied.
"Why are you meditating with Master Oogway?"
The snow leopard frowned a bit. His eyes looked down. He was sad. I could tell that. But then a long-nailed hand rested on Tai Lung's crisscrossed leg and offered a small understanding smile.
The snow leopard sighed again, "To enjoy the way, rather than the destination."
"You've finally given up on your ambition," I said.
"That tends to happen when you've been absorbed by some Chi-hungry villain... and when you have enough time to think about your mistakes."
I blinked several times. "You're a slow learner." Tai Lung's head perked up and he glared. "What, am I not supposed to be truthful?"
"What makes you say that?" Tai Lung growled.
"It's just... you had all the chances on earth to come to that realization. Why now?"
"Different teacher?"
"Well, that's part of it."
"I know what you're saying," Tai Lung sighed, "And you're right. I have no excuse given the number of chances I had to change my attitude."
"Was it difficult to accept at first?" I asked, "Being in the Spirit Realm."
"Yes."
"Did you ever try to find a way back?"
"Naturally."
"How did that go?"
"It... was... fruitless," Tai Lung said.
"Why weren't you upset with Oogway?" I asked, "Because he's the one that actually denied you the Dragon Scroll, yet it seemed like you were wholly upset with Shifu and Shifu only."
Tai Lung grumbled though not maliciously, "Shifu was my father. Fathers are supposed to stand up for you. In the end, I possibly could deal with Oogway saying no, but the fact that Shifu made it seem like all those years and work could be thrown away just because Master Oogway said no? It made me feel like I was a machine for his bidding and he was done with me. He didn't think I would retaliate-"
"Tai Lung," Oogway said in a warning tone.
The snow leopard sighed, "But regardless of what Shifu did or didn't do, my actions don't justify my ends."
He seemed to be the kind of disillusioned old miser that kept pining for the old days. Reassuring pats from Oogway's hand(...er paw... or pads?) seemed to do the trick in helping his mood.
I needed to stop. The guy already admitted his faults and problems. What more could I need? Granted that that might be my own perspective, he was nonetheless guilty.
But his current teacher was a different story altogether. "I must ask," Oogway said, calling my attention from my paper. "Why you don't ask the question that is really on your mind?"
"Because you already know that question."
"Then why do you not ask it?"
"Because you have not provided an answer," I smirked.
The tortoise laughed while Tai Lung looked confused. Oogway finally asked, "What is your question?"
"Did you tell Shifu that Tai Lung wasn't the Dragon Warrior when Tai Lung was growing up?"
Incredibly, the tortoise's eyes widened. "Oh. Um..."
"Master Oogway?" Tai Lung said.
"It's... a very direct question."
"Because the other question is so obvious, right?" I smiled jovially. Being in the presence of Oogway, I knew there was a lot of wisdom to be gained from him. But the mark of an incredibly wise person is when they admit that they don't know something, and I knew that Oogway had that. "The obvious question," I continued, "is why didn't you tell Shifu that Tai Lung wasn't the Dragon Warrior earlier? The problem with that question is that... it assumes too much."
"What does it matter if he did or didn't?" Tai Lung asked.
"Everything in the world," I exaggerated, pointing my quill at the snow leopard. "It's a question of assigning blame, which to be honest doesn't matter in the whole scheme of things. Tai Lung is already in the Spirit Realm, Shifu is at peace, and Po is the Dragon Warrior. That's how things are. But the question is could Oogway have stopped this early?"
"Why should I stop it?" Oogway asked with a smile.
"Now that is a great question," I smiled back.
I could tell that Tai Lung was more than a little confused. He groaned and covered his face. "This is why I skipped meditation."
"You snored through meditation," Oogway chuckled. "You skipped it because you kept falling asleep." The snow leopard gave a small huff.
"Shouldn't Oogway have stopped it early?" Tai Lung asked.
"I don't know," I smiled eccentrically, "Because I don't know if that was the best thing to do."
"What?"
"There's a difference between what is right and what is best. Yes, it is right that Oogway should've stopped you early from going astray. Or at the very least redirected your ambition. But we don't know what new or greater problems that would've created. Telling you when Master Oogway did was probably the best thing to do. I mean, what if you were trained to be the best leader? You'd probably still go bad and then round up Shen and Kai. Then Po would've had a much bigger issue."
"Hehe," Oogway chuckled.
"But here's the thing that's a little confusing. Oogway doesn't know what is the best path because he doesn't know everything, right?" The tortoise nodded. "And this is where things get problematic. If he did tell Shifu, great. Shifu is mainly to blame for your character... half and half really. But if he didn't tell Shifu, Oogway shares the responsibility, because he could've told you or Shifu and this whole thing may have been prevented." I turned to Oogway. "Which is why I ask the question the way I did."
"Hmmm," the tortoise looked up for a moment in thought. Slowly closing his eyes and opening them again, he looked at me, saying, "What do you think the answer is?"
"Me, personally I think your answer is there is no answer," I joked. Oogway chuckled. "But seriously speaking... Logic tells me you did, but the experience is conflicting."
"How so?"
"Well, we can infer from Tigress's training that you were still an active part in Shifu's teaching. I... guess we can assume that you were involved with Tai Lung. And going off of Tigress's training, you probably tried to get it across to Tai Lung OR Shifu that he wasn't the Dragon Warrior. But the point is that we don't know for sure."
I leaned in. "But here's a real issue. It makes sense for Tai Lung to make that mistake. Not Shifu."
"Oh?"
"Shifu should've had the understanding at some point that the Dragon Warrior wasn't gonna be Tai Lung. But it seems like he didn't. So I think, you told him. My issue is that I don't know how you would've said it without being blunt."
"I'm creative."
"I...," I groaned with a small laugh. The tortoise got me there. "I don't doubt that. I mean, given the evidence that we do have? Was Tai Lung justified in his case? It's not clear. Did Tai Lung make himself the villain? Yes. We're not denying that the way he tried to get to his end wasn't justified."
"And how would you have done it?" Tai Lung asked me harshly.
I threw my hands up. "I would've asked Oogway to help you remove the darkness within you. I would've gone to Oogway asking what is my destination. Granted in Kung fu there is none, which is something I have issues with. But that's how it should've gone."
"I... I see," Tai Lung sighed softly. I couldn't tell whether or not he regretted his decisions more after that statement.
"What happened happened," I said, trying to comfort him. "You can't change the past or future. Only now." Tai Lung, who had been seriously frowning for the majority of the time, cracked a small smile. "But we don't know if Oogway did all he could. Po? Yes. Shifu? Ooookkay Shifu could've done a lot more, I'm not lying about that. But Oogway is ultimately the person who's giving the Dragon Warrior title away. And the worst part is that he KNEW who the Dragon Warrior would be."
"I did not," Oogway smiled.
"When Po was in the Spirit Realm, your exact words to Po were, 'That is why I chose you, Po.' For the longest, I thought the universe chose Po. I was willing to believe that the universe had bad timing in telling you who wasn't the Dragon Warrior. That would've made more sense," I pointed at the old tortoise. "But you threw that out the door when you said that. So while you may not have known who the Dragon Warrior was, you did know who the Dragon Warrior was not."
The tortoise took a moment. His mouth was slightly ajar and his eyes were wider than normal. Kind of like when Shifu told him that Tai Lung had escaped. "I did say that."
I laughed. Something about the way he said it reminded me not to take the whole thing so seriously. "To be quite honest, I do not think you're responsible for making Tai Lung a villain. I think you're responsible for letting Shifu be a bad teacher."
"How else would he learn?" Oogway smiled.
"Okay, but I would definitely be a lot closer in the training process in your shoes. I'm just saying, I know you definitely comforted Tigress and maybe tried to help Tai Lung, but at some point, especially by the time Po rolls around, you've got to admit that Shifu is learning much slower than necessary."
"And Po is a fast learner. People are different," Oogway said.
"I... can't deny that," I sighed in defeat.
"Now let's ask another question. If I did try to tell Shifu or Tai Lung, how do you think I would've done it?"
"Very unclearly as you usually do," I said in a deadpan voice. "You speak in riddles and parables, but I understand why."
"Oh?"
"Yeah. People don't get it until they need to get it," I sighed, "I've been having a problem with... some of my stories."
"You're... a storyteller?" Tai Lung asked. I nodded. "That's... not what Oogway told me."
"What did he tell you?"
"That you were a recorder from another realm."
I began to open my mouth but stopped. "I mean... basically?"
"This problem with your stories," Tai Lung asked. "What does it have to do with Oogway's riddles?"
I got up and stood a bit closer to them near the tree. I laid my back right against the wood and gave a loud roar-ish grunt. "Communicating is hard, and people don't understand anything."
"What do you mean?"
"Some stories I write have some lessons in them. What is strength, what is friendship, what is love. The problem is that sometimes people think I'm writing a lesson when I'm just writing a story, and then the reverse happens in another story where the lessons go right over everyone's head. It's like, I spend this much time and energy trying to teach a lesson or write an enjoyable story and people can't figure out which is which?!"
"When the student is ready," Oogway began, "The master will appear and the lesson will be taught."
"Yeah, I've come to realize that," I sighed. "It's still annoying."
"So what will you do now?"
"Keep telling stories. What else? I have to get better at communicating. Either way, it's not going to make a difference if the person isn't catching what I'm putting out," I grumbled. "That's why I just focus on trying to do a good job. If a story or a lesson comes out of what I write so be it. I'll just try my best to be as clear as possible. If they get the wrong lesson, that's not necessarily my fault. Teachers, masters, and experts can't be held accountable for how their students use their lessons. They can just try their best."
"Hmm, try by not trying," Oogway smiled. I slightly glared at the tortoise for a moment. I was pretty sure he was crossing over a religion or two by saying that, but I didn't know enough about Chinese religions or philosophies.
"Anyway, the riddles are kinda like giving a person a shovel at the start of their journey. They won't know what to do with it until they get to the gold mine."
"Hmm, very true," Oogway said, gazing into the green airy space. "Lion, you mentioned something about having issues with the way Kung Fu is taught. Why is that?"
I sat quietly for a moment. "Is there good news?"
"There is only news. There is no good or bad."
"Okay, let's say the news is that Tai Lung is back, got turned into a female, and is having a steady relationship with Tigress."
Both of them stared at me. I'm pretty sure the snow leopard held back a vomit, though I don't know what he could've possibly eaten.
"That's... just... weird," Tai Lung muttered.
"I think the masters," I spoke, "would say that there is just the universe, which is true. But then they go on about being balanced. Why does there need to be balance? Why not chaos?"
"Balance is the way to enlightenment, to freedom," Tai Lung answered.
"From what to where? A slave has gotta know where he's going otherwise he'll become someone else's slave. Is enlightenment good, bad, truth, falsehood, or just weird?"
"It... it just is," Tai Lung grumbled.
"But we haven't figured out why," I said. Tai Lung held his head in a groan. "Maybe I'm understanding the whole thing wrong, but it seems like enlightened masters are more nuance than they appear, and that is right. There's a lot more color in the world than just black and white. But to say that there is no black and white isn't correct. There are some things that fall into dualist thinking."
"Are you saying there is inherent good and evil we can see in the natural world?" Tai Lung asked.
"Maybe, I don't know."
"And this has to do with Kung Fu, how?"
"Kung Fu is about improving the mind, body, and soul. What I want to know is the goal."
"Kung Fu has no goal. It's only to improve the things you've said. It's a way of being," Oogway said.
"Being for what purpose?" I countered. "Being a warrior doesn't give me purpose; protecting the ones I believe I need to protect does. Having no goal is one thing, but that can't be true because Tai Lung and Tigress, the most determined people Shifu ever trained, never got to this point of never needing a goal. There's the aim or goal, which honestly can't always be reached, but then there's the purpose. So what is the purpose of Kung Fu?"
"Hmm, good question," Oogway smiled, "And I believe that is your mission to search."
"Is it to be enlightened?" I asked, "But that just puts us back on the wheel. We're going in a circle, not improving."
"I believe you know about the line between nature and anti-nature beliefs, correct?" Oogway smiled. My eyes widened. That was a Western idea of categorizing different ways of thinking a thousand years or two in the making. How did he know about it? "Time passes very... flowy here."
"Ah, that makes sense."
"Maybe that will help you with your question."
"I'll... meditate on that," I sighed with a smile, stretching my limbs. "Either way, I don't think Kung Fu can answer the subject. The line of thinking is just something I'm curious about."
"Curious or skeptical?" Tai Lung asked guardedly.
"Only curious. The skeptic is trying to prove something. The curious are trying to learn," I smirked, watching the snow leopard groan.
"So much to learn," Tai Lung grumbled, rubbing his head, "So much to know."
"It's nice to see my student is still growing," Oogway smiled.
"I'm guessing you're not giving me the answer to my original question?"
"It will come in time."
"I figured that was the answer," I sighed, packing my things. "By the way, Tigress."
"What about her?" Oogway asked.
"When she was fighting Kai, she had a bit of Chi in her strike similar to Po. What's up with that?"
"Hmmm. I don't know."
I huffed, "I thought wise people were supposed to know a lot more."
"I know that I know nothing," Oogway smiled.
"That line is DEFINITELY not from your culture. You claimed to know that Po was the chosen one from the universe even though you said you chose him."
"I did."
"And?"
"No one's perfect."
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" I burst out laughing. Whether he was serious or joking, I couldn't tell.
Nor did I really care. He was right about one thing. I didn't really need to know these things. They were just nice to know.
Sometimes knowing is a luxury of security that we often have to forgo to actually live an uncertain life. You must live to know but also know to live.
"Alright, I'll be going now."
"Where will your journey take you?" Oogway asked.
"Hmm. The destination is important, the journey is important, and the reason for walking is important. It's more important not to obsess about any of them."
The tortoise smiled, "Well said."
I wandered away, walking atop the still waters of the lake. A sudden wall of water stood in my way. I walked through it, feeling the coldness tingle my neck.
But my hands were still furry. "Huh? I'm still a lion? Then why am I-"
"Hello there?"
"WHAAAAH!" I jumped and spun around, seeing Tigress right behind me. Apparently, I found myself inside the Training Hall rather than my room.
"Hello Lion," she said with a smirk. I don't know whether she was smirking at my jumpiness or just the fact she scared me again. "What are you doing here?"
I sighed, tossing my head into my hands. "Trying to figure out who to complain about jumping from realm to realm," I muttered. "I need a dumpling."
Tigress just smiled.
The End
