Punky Fu

By way of explanation, a large smile spread across Thunderer’s face. “Well done, Little Spirit. Had this board been a person, your blow would have been a compound fracture.” Shao was still in denial. It had to be a trick. Thunderer handed her the boards. “Take these back to the temple as a souvenir.”

“It has to be a trick! You tricked me! The board was already broken!” protested Shao, reflexively reluctant to believe in her own power. “You broke the board,” she continued searching for some other explanation. Thunderer only laughed and suggested they pack up their belongings for the journey home. Shao would not desist, however.

With a roll of his eyes, Thunderer went back into the storeroom to produce another plank. He handed it to Shao for inspection. “Look at this. Does it look fake? Rap it with your knuckles. Does it not hurt?” Shao did as she was told. And yes, it did hurt. She nodded her agreement. “Now break it. Use your elbow this time.”

Having had time to inspect the board and to think about how it would hurt had given Shao pause. She reluctantly approached the second plank the Thunderer gripped for her. Shao drew back her arm, and with trepidation, threw her elbow into the board.

*Plonk*

“Ouch!” said Shao. The second board had confirmed it; it was a trick. She was not capable of penetrating wood. Shao began to rub her now throbbing elbow.

“Do it again!” bellowed Thunderer (earning his title once more). “Focus!” he commanded, not giving Shao a chance to think.

The training kicked in. Without another moment for hesitation, Shao Chi lined up her heavy, tired and now throbbing arm, wound backward and struck. This time, however, she didn’t think at all or seek to break the board, so much as sail completely through it - which is precisely what her elbow did.

Shao’s mouth hung open. Lei Kung merely handed the pieces back to Shao to add to the growing pile of lumber, and reached for his shoes. “How did you know, Sifu?” asked Shao.

“I know how much force it takes to break a plank. I know hard you hit,” replied Lei Kung. They would repeat this question and this answer several times on the journey home, although with each iteration, a bigger grin would grow on Shao Chi’s cherubic face.

Lei Kung smiled only inwardly and kept his thoughts to himself knowing that this particular lesson was best learned if the student came to the conclusions on her own: Limitations are but boundaries created inside our minds. Sometimes we just need proof of our abilities just to see how far we’ve come.

In time, as the Little Spirit (“Shao Chi”) became a might oaken Big Spirit, (“Da Chi”) Shao would begin to trust in her abilities, and more over, when the time comes, not-think, but act and BELIEVE. For with belief, no evidence is necessary; without belief, no evidence will suffice. For now, Shao had some evidence with which she could break free from her acorn.

Back at the temple, Shao placed the board fragments reverently on her study table. “Would you sign these?” she asked Lei Kung, producing a brush. Lei diligently numbered the board fragments, added the lunar year date, and proudly wrote Shao’s name beneath it.

Thunderer was very proud of his Little Spirit. Like a fist through wood, Shao Chi’s spirit had penetrated a seemingly impossible obstacle.

The breakthrough was of mind, body and essence.