It was Saturday. Always a great day to train. He decided to take the morning class and relax the rest of the day. It was a hot day. One of those days when you see the heat on the sidewalk. The school was in the basement of an old, worn-down building. There were no signs indicating a kung fu school.
The student walked through the door. The building seemed deserted. It was quiet and eerie. To his left was a flight of stairs that led to the basement. The student brought the book with him.
At the bottom of the steps was an old wooden door. He entered the school and looked for the Master, but didn’t see him on the training floor. He said hello to his classmates and went to the locker room to change so he could practice with the other students. After changing, he decided not to leave the book in his gym bag, fearing someone might take it. He walked back onto the training floor but still didn’t see the Master.
The student decided to look in the office, although the Master never called it an office, but rather referred to it as their resting place. When the student arrived at the office, the door was slightly ajar, and he saw the Master with his feet on the desk, eyes closed. The student chuckled to himself, knowing why the Master had referred to the office as his resting place. It was fifteen minutes before class, and the Master was snoozing. He thought, “I can’t wait until I’m that good that I can sleep, wake up, and then just walk out and teach a class or start doing Kung Fu.”
He never really saw the other Master practice. It just seemed the Master was always ready, unlike him. He always had to warm up for thirty minutes and do a bunch of stretching exercises before he felt even half ready to perform Kung Fu. Of course, that was the best approach according to all the health experts. But still, why didn’t the Master ever have to warm up? He had seen the Master perform some unbelievable things without hesitation.
One day, the Master was sitting in a chair, yelling at some students about their jumping while doing the jumping inside moon kicks. They were too slow, and their jumping was not very energetic. The Master suddenly jumped from the chair into the air, did a 360 inside crescent moon kick, and landed back in the chair before one could blink. Then the Master yelled, “Like that!”
He got the book from his gym bag and walked over to the office. The student slowly pushed the door open so he could sneak in and lay the book on the Master’s desk.
As he approached the desk, the Master opened his eyes and said, “Are you done already?”
“No,” replied the student. “I started the book last night, but I got tired, so I thought I’d return the book today, in case you needed it or wanted it back. I wasn’t sure.”
The Master looked irritated and replied, “Keep the book until you finish it.”
“But Master, it’s just a nice story, and with my job and training and everything, I just don’t have time to read fairy tales.”
“Fairy tales,” shouted the Master. “This book was handed down to my teacher’s teacher to me. This book represents the very essence of what you are studying. Read and learn from your ancestors’ experiences, and maybe someday you’ll be good.”
“Yes, yes, of course,” the student said quickly. “May I leave the book here until after class?” The Master nodded his head in affirmation and closed his eyes again.