Tao of Joy
THE ULTIMATE WARRIOR
The Tao is all about peace, and yet it is not the same as pacifism. One can follow the martial path and still be perfectly in tune with the Tao. Indeed, many famous warriors from Chinese history were Tao cultivators.
These great warriors understood that the real purpose of martial arts was not to inflict damage. Rather, they wished to improve themselves, contribute to the general welfare and promote peace. It was their ideal to defeat opponents without fighting, so they would never seek out opportunities to fight. They actively managed their lives to minimize the possibility of violence.
When they had to fight, they did so with devastating effectiveness, but they felt no glory in winning because they understood the cycles of revenge and retribution. To them, the only true victory was in turning foes into friends, thereby “destroying” an enemy so completely that absolutely no trace remained.
The Tao Today
You may or may not think of yourself as a warrior, but in a sense, we all are in the battlefield of life and can benefit from the teachings about the martial path. Like the warriors of ancient China, you are not here to succeed in doing that, you will have mastered the Tao of the ultimate warrior.
