A LIVING WEAPON

 by Phillip Starr

My teacher once admonished my classmates and me, telling us that we must become “weapons.” I was a little confused at first and then he went on to explain himself. Picking up a sword, he said, “Sword by itself is just a piece of steel. A gun on the table is harmless and cannot hurt you.”

Okay...so where are we going with this?, I thought.

Sifu Chen continued. “IF you practice hard, your body can become a weapon. But it is different and more dangerous than a sword or a gun.”

I wondered, “Just how is that?” But I knew better than to open my big mouth and ask.

“It is more dangerous”, he continued. “because it is a thinking, feeling weapon!”

I'd never looked at it that way...If a sword could think and feel (and move around), it would be a terribly dangerous weapon! How much moreso for a human who can strike in any number of ways (many more than those to which a sword is limited)! By developing real “weapon nature”, we do, in fact, beome very, very dangerous weapons.

Of course, developing genuine “weapon nature” requires considerable training but when that has been achieved, we have acquired a great treasure. But we must train regularly to keep our weapon (our bodies) sharp and maintain the ability to wield this multi-faceted weapon effectively. Not only must we keep our bodies “sharp”, but our minds as well....especially the mind, because it controls the weapon. In fact, it can be argued that it IS the weapon!

Just something more to ponder...