Power of the Mind

In his youth, Master Moo Kwang was returning home one night after practicing with his bow and arrow. When he approached the entrance to the village at the South Mountain, he saw a huge tiger waiting to attack him and his horse. The Master thought, "The tiger is hungry and will kill us. Even if I run, the tiger will chase us down. The only alternative is to shoot the tiger with my bow and arrow before he attacks." He quickly pulled out an arrow and, taking careful aim, shot straight towards the tiger. After shooting, he turned and rushed towards his home. He arrived there safely and concluded that because he didn’t hear the tiger chase him home he must have killed it with his arrow.

The next morning, at sunrise, the Master went to South Mountain where he had shot the tiger the night before. There he saw a large rock shaped like a tiger with his arrow embedded in it. At first he was surprised that his arrow had penetrated a hard rock, and then his mind became arrogant and he believed that no one could match his strength and skill with a bow and arrow. The Master tried to shoot an arrow into the rock a second time, but it struck the rock and bounced off to the ground.

Last night, the Master was shooting from the level of the mind. In the life or death situation, he determined that his arrow should penetrate into the tiger’s bone, no matter how hard it was. The power of the mind was what put the arrow into the rock. If the mind is in original mind, we can display the whole power of our techniques. The ultimate aim of the martial artist is to reach this level of the mind-world. When this level is reached, we can truly be called Masters.