I watched the 2010 version of ‘The Karate Kid’ on the plane to India. It’s better than I expected. (It’s not about Karate; but Kungfu. I guess they wanted to bank on the well-known brand.) The most powerful one-liner in the film is when Mr Han (acted by Jackie Chan) tells the titular kid that ‘Everything is kungfu’ when he trains him to pick up and wear a jacket repeatedly, eventually integrating the otherwise mundane moves into Kungfu techniques to the kid’s surprise.
The wider implications of the one-liner are many. Beyond Kungfu-fighting in terms of martial arts and pugilistic techniques, Kungfu is also about how we eat, speak, think, live… Kungfu actually means ‘skill’ in Chinese, and skill is needed in everything we do, though we do various things with varying extents of skilfulness. The depth of Dharma practice in Chinese Buddhism is also called Kungfu! How well one can share the Dharma or help another in general on the Bodhisattva path also requires Kungfu! Yes, ‘skilful means’ or ‘upaya’ in Buddhism is essentially skilfulness – Kungfu too!
There is another silent liner at the tao guan (in wudang mountain) where the kid witness a wudang pugilist and a snake… the snake only see itself (a mirror)…
In the last part of the movie, when the kid is limping with just one good leg, the opponent only sees a mirror… the kid being the “mirror” is able to use the same fight tactics as its opponent… beat him… gain the opponent’s respect…
This is a fictitious story but there is a faint glimpse of PrajÃ±Ä just like a mirror… of course there is no mirror in the first place…
PS: Kung-Fu implies you practice it while sleeping, when walking, while standing, when sitting, every breath you take…