David Carradine: Kwai Chang Caine
King Fu remains an inspiration to me despite all the hype around Carradine's death. I got the series on DVD for Christmas of 2007 and I still haven't watched them all from that because I only fit it in when I am in a nostalgic mood and sitting by the TV. It seems to be like having something to look forward to for special occasions.
For me, Carradine's (and Lee's) character Kwai Change Caine portrayed an excellent balance between the Buddhist commitment to compassion and the fundamental principles of self-defence common to all living organisms. What I saw was a man who dedicated his life to a thinking philosophy and to behaving according to that philosophy. Unlike most humans who seem to try to balance contradictory positions between high ideals and material pleasures or fears, Kwai Chang faced the moral challenge head-on and so walked the talk.
Carradine's death was tragic. I don't use that word lightly and I realize the use represents a subjective viewpoint. Many have not even heard of him and, if shown an episode of Kung Fu, would likely see only an outdated soap opera filled with staged martial arts. I have no problem with that - this is a personal interpretation. For me, though, Carradine was an artist and his work inspired me.
Kwai Chang stayed in the background of my thoughts after the show ended in 1975 and his philosophy was likely a factor in my own decision to change some major parts of my life around 1990, which set me on a new course where I am still going strong today. Years later, as I practice Aikido, work out with Hatha Yoga, sit in zazen and study Buddhist psychology, that quiet Shaolin monk still walks beside me with his worn working man's clothing and simple possessions, lending me his smile to share with people I pass.
Actors have the opportunity to touch many lives in their work. It is easy to forget that they are not their characters. Carradine was a human being with his own life to live and he died the death he did, which is simple reality and neither good nor bad. If, during my own time here, I can touch one life in the way he touched mine, I will be blessed.
Sorry - didn't mean this to turn into a eulogy! At least one person has seemed to think that the circumstances of his death may ruin the previous impact he had on me. Guess it weighed on my mind!
D
For me, Carradine's (and Lee's) character Kwai Change Caine portrayed an excellent balance between the Buddhist commitment to compassion and the fundamental principles of self-defence common to all living organisms. What I saw was a man who dedicated his life to a thinking philosophy and to behaving according to that philosophy. Unlike most humans who seem to try to balance contradictory positions between high ideals and material pleasures or fears, Kwai Chang faced the moral challenge head-on and so walked the talk.
Carradine's death was tragic. I don't use that word lightly and I realize the use represents a subjective viewpoint. Many have not even heard of him and, if shown an episode of Kung Fu, would likely see only an outdated soap opera filled with staged martial arts. I have no problem with that - this is a personal interpretation. For me, though, Carradine was an artist and his work inspired me.
Kwai Chang stayed in the background of my thoughts after the show ended in 1975 and his philosophy was likely a factor in my own decision to change some major parts of my life around 1990, which set me on a new course where I am still going strong today. Years later, as I practice Aikido, work out with Hatha Yoga, sit in zazen and study Buddhist psychology, that quiet Shaolin monk still walks beside me with his worn working man's clothing and simple possessions, lending me his smile to share with people I pass.
Actors have the opportunity to touch many lives in their work. It is easy to forget that they are not their characters. Carradine was a human being with his own life to live and he died the death he did, which is simple reality and neither good nor bad. If, during my own time here, I can touch one life in the way he touched mine, I will be blessed.
Sorry - didn't mean this to turn into a eulogy! At least one person has seemed to think that the circumstances of his death may ruin the previous impact he had on me. Guess it weighed on my mind!
D
posted by Darrell G. King
| 8:50 AM
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