TV: Kung Fu (1972 TV series)

Season #1, Episode #1 “King of the Mountain” 

2024-02-04 - Kung Fu

9:40 Master Kan – “All creatures are one with nature. None is insignificant. From the crane we learn grace and self-control. The snake teaches us suppleness and rhythmic endurance. The praying mantis teaches us speed and patience, and from the tiger we learn tenacity and power. From the dragon we learn to ride the wind. Life sustains life. Through wisdom the body learns to sustain so that all may live”.

Two prospectors come upon Kain and a young boy. The young boy had just killed a rabbit and has cooked it over a fire. They want food, and Kain gives them some of the rabbit against the wishes of the boy.

13:19 Grasshopper asks “Master, do we seek victory in contention”? Master Kan – “Seek not to contend. Where there is no contention there is neither defeat nor victory. The willow does not contend against the storm, yet it survives”.

One of the prospectors gives the boy a half dollar for his trouble, and the boy offers it to Kain, but he is really disgusted with Kain for not fighting back. Kain replies in 15:57 “From a single action you draw an entire universe. Do you not see that I have nothing to protect”.

22:35 Cain fights back from the boy’s relatives.

24:52 Master Kan – “Weakness prevails over strength. Gentleness conquers. Become the calm and restful breeze that rains the violent sea”. 

29:36 Master Kan – “In one lifetime a man knows many pleasures. A mother’s smile, a young woman’s touch, and the laughter of grandchildren in twilight years. To deny these is to deny that which makes us one with nature. Acknowledge them and satisfaction will follow. To suppress a truth is to give it a force beyond endurance”.

32:22 Grasshopper says, “I am alone”. Master Kan – “Do you hear the flock of birds flying overhead? Do you hear the fish? Do you hear the beetle? In this crowded place you feel alone… Which of us is more blind?”.

36:55 Master Po “The taking of a life does no one honor”.