Newsletter 786
Revenge…Martial Arts Style

Good Evening!
Feel tired after a long day’s work?
Go stand in the ready stance.
Don’t burst into motion,
just wait.
Let your body fall into the first move.
then the second.
Soon you will be working out full bore,
and feeling tremendous amounts of energy.
Just don’t push it…
let it happen.

Okey dokey!
I was talking with a fellow this past week end,
and an interesting subject came up.
Revenge.

I don’t know why.
We were just talking,
and then…revenge.

Now revenge is very over rated.
if you want revenge,
then you have already lost.
Already been beaten.
So get over it.

But,
that said,
if you are the kind of fellow
who dwells obsessively
on all the things that people have done to you…
the best cure is hard work,
attention to details,
and dedicating yourself to the goal.
In this case,
the goal of revenge.
Of beating him.
Of teaching him a lesson.

And that brings us to an interesting saying.

‘Revenge is a dish best served cold.’

You probably heard it in a Steven Seagal movie,
‘Hard to Kill,’
I believe is the name.
The one where he goes through a seven year coma
only to wake up and kick ass,
and have revenge.

So this old saying an oriental saying and…
except it is not oriental.
Do a google,
and you’ll find it is French!

That’s right.
French.
And,
there is some argument
as to which novel it appeared in first.

But,
it sounds oriental.
It sounds like them evil slant eyes
with their insidious plots,
said it.

I mean,
it even sounds sort of…zen!

But…
French.

But here is the trick,
it doesn’t really mean what you think it means.

Everybody think it means you take twenty years
craft a glorious payback,
and laugh evilly over the dying foe.

Nope.
That’s downright silly.
It’s silly because
in 20 years a lot can happen.
The guy might die.
Your plan might fail.
You might evolve and realize that he was right to win,
and he isn’t such a bad guy.

But assuming he is a villain of Darth Vader’s stature…
why would you want him to enjoy himself for 20 years?
I mean,
get your revenge and get it while the getting is good!
Right?

So here is what the saying REALLY means.
Mind you,
this really is going to be zen.

Served cold refers to having a calm state of mind.

If you laugh maniacally
as he lays dying,
then you have become him.
You have become the evil.
And where is the enjoyment,
when the mind is fevered?
You aren’t enjoying,
you are giving in to your own base urges.
But,
if you can have a calm mind,
then you have beaten him,
not just with your revenge,
but you have ‘out-evolved’ him.

So,
don’t wait,
get your revenge as quick as you can,
but cool your mind down
so you can actually enjoy yourself.

Of course,
as for myself,
I think I would rather dedicate myself to training
before I lost,
before I ever needed a revenge.
Win the first time.
That’s the real key.

Have a great work out
and
HanaKwanMass!

Al

BTW
here’s a course that will help you take control
of your hot to trot,
fevered,
out of control mind.

http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/2ba-matrix-tai-chi-chuan/

Or you can get the whole package.

http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/tai-chi-chuan-package/

http://www.amazon.com/Matrixing-Tong-Bei-Internal-Gung/dp/1507869290/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1423678613&sr=8-1&keywords=tong+bei