Kung Fucius

So reading the Confucius Analects brought back my child hood memories. The story is essentially the master teaching the student. This brought me right back to the mats and sweat of my Tae Kwon Do days. Master Chung was nuts. My cousin used to say in Korea he would abuse the kids by hitting them but when he moved to the US he realized it was against the law and converted to verbal abuse. Anyways I learned so much from him. He was my master I was his student. It was all essentially about leading a good life style like in the Analects. Goodness and might for right was what he taught. Now that I think of it my whole Tae Kwon Do days I remember in one big dialogue. Every day was another thing to fix and learn, just like the analects.

I really like the teachings in the Analects. They are confusing and hard to understand but that is what is cool about it. I love it when I can finally make a valid connection with my own life and the text.

"The Master said, 'People are true to type with regard to what sort of mistakes they make. Observe closely the sort of mistakes a person makes-then you will know his character.'"
This quote was the one that stood out the most to me. It’s interesting because my brain is immediately lead you to think it is the quote learn from your mistakes but when you go deeper into the text it has a completely different meaning. The quote is saying to study people based on their actions because their actions will reflect on their previous mistakes. For example if someone has regretted a certain thing thye did, they will refrain from doing it again thus reflecting in their actions. I believe this is what the quote means. It is the same in Tae Kwon Do once Mr. Chung would tell me to correct a stance I would refrain from doing the same mistakes and sometimes commit another one instead.