From the book, The Master Speaks

By Garth Fisher:

The young warrior came to the master asking, “How can I be a great warrior, with success in battle?

The master looked at the young man with kindness and asked, “What will the success give you?”, the warrior answered, “Power, possessions, fame, admiration”. The master asked, “When you have these desired filled, how will you hold on to them?” The warrior answered, “I will protect them with my life and the lives of those who are under my command”. The master asked, “If you lose those precious items then what?’’

The warrior replied, “I will be nothing of value and empty shell”.

 “Is that your greatest fear?”, “Yes”.

The master replied, “It has been said of the old warriors, those who were the most successful, that they understood, at the time of death, all possessions are passed on to others, that one brought no possessions into life and take no possessions into the afterlife”.

 “They knew that a ‘desire’ would distract them at a critical moment”. “They knew that the fear of losing, would blind them from seeing a critical movement”. “They knew that a fear of death would cause them a moment of distraction, so that they would miss the opponent’s intention”.

“For you to be a successful warrior, you must release your desires and your fears and go into battle with an open and free mind, unbound by attachments, so that your movements are smooth and your awareness reads the oncoming opponent’s moves before he advances towards you”.

 “Go to the mountain and meditate on these wisdoms and when you are an empty shell, return to me and we will talk about the deeper meanings of what the old warriors have learned”.

The young warrior left in a confused state of mind, contemplating whether or not he would go to the mountain, or simply go back to camp and train to be a mighty warrior as he had always done.

 (What Would You Do?)