Sometimes Silence is the Best Answer
“And so, the great Hung Gar master Wong Fei Hung looked around him on the dock in Guangdong and saw that he was surrounded by at least thirty mean-looking gangsters. Having no way to escape, he held his staff at the ready position and prepared to fight for his life. As the first wave of attackers came at him, he delivered his famous Shadowless Kick and quickly knocked two of the thugs down while striking the head of a third with his staff. Spinning, he noticed five more of the men coming at him and…”
“Do you think this story is real?” Samuel the snake hissed to Bonaparte the little dragon. “It sounds too incredible to be real. Master Monkey wouldn’t lie to us, though, right? I mean, he…”
Samuel trailed off as he noticed that Master Monkey had stopped telling his story. Everyone was looking at him… and not in a kind way. Samuel gulped loudly and his scaled head burned bright red as he blushed.
“Is this story not interesting to you, Samuel?” asked Master Monkey, a frown creasing his face and his eyebrows drawn down.
“It is, Master.”
“Then why do you interrupt me? Is it not rude to speak while I am telling the story?”
“Yes, Master. I was just wondering if the story was real and was asking Bonaparte about it,” Samuel answered weakly.
Master Monkey looked at Samuel meaningfully for a time and then said:
“The book of the great sage Chuang Tzu states:
A dog is not considered a good dog
Because he is a good barker.
A man is not considered a good man
Because he is a good talker.
“Do you understand what he was trying to say, Samuel? Anyone?” Master Monkey looked around the campfire at the young kung fu students. Noticing a small claw raising slightly behind the other students, Master Monkey said: “Yes, Eleanor. You are our newest student, but maybe you see more clearly than your brothers and sisters. Do you have the answer?”
The tiny eagle ruffled her fluffy feathers and cleared her throat.
“Ahem. I think it means that silence is important.” As she spoke and noticed the other students watching her, she shyly hunched her small head down until only her beak was visible outside her ruffled golden feathers.
“Yes, that is exactly right,” Master Monkey smiled at her. "Very good. And why is silence so important. Who has ideas? Bonaparte?”
Bonaparte curled his long scaly tail around him. “Because it shows humility. If we are silent while others are speaking, we are showing them respect and letting them know that we do not believe what we have to say is more important or that we are better than them.”
Master Monkey’s smile beamed at the little dragon. “Absolutely correct. What else? Cassandra, do you have anything to add?”
“ I do, Sifu. When we allow others to speak and do not interrupt them, we show them honor. We are showing them that what they are saying is important to us and we are giving it our full attention.”
“Correct again,” Master Monkey said as he hopped up onto an old tree stump and scratched his furry chin. “Very good. I see that you have listened to your other lessons. More than showing humility, respect, and honor, there are two other important reasons to be silent. First, when we practice being silent, we learn to calm our minds and to be part of our surroundings. This helps us to become better at practicing our other virtues because we are not busy making noise.” As Master Monkey spoke, he looked at the faces of his students, seeing that they were thinking about what he said. All of them were silent.
“Second, when we are busy talking, we do not listen as carefully, so we do not learn as much. If we are concentrating on talking, or on what we will say next, we may miss important lessons, or exciting stories. Now, speaking of stories, who would like to demonstrate their virtue of silence and listen to the rest of the story about Wong Fei Hung and the gang members of Guangdong?”
All the young kung fu students looked at Samuel and then nodded their heads to Master Monkey, saying: “Yes, Master, please finish the story. We will be silent!”
And so, Master Monkey finished the story while they remained silent. When he finished the story, all the students cheered at the adventures of their hero, having heard all the exciting details because they had remained silent and listened.