...from Chapter 6: Red Rose

The Reflecting Pond was unusually calm and the sky was incredibly blue today. I got up, bent over and looked at my own image in the pond. Suddenly I felt as if it were speaking to me, "Why are you so harsh toward Lotus when you yourself have done the same irrational deeds? Hasn't she suffered enough for her act? Forgive her, forgive her."

"I don't know how to forgive her."

"If you truly love her, you will forgive her."

"It is not that I don't love her; but I have carried the same thorns all my life. How can I truly forgive her if I have not forgiven myself?"

"Can't you pluck those thorns out of your memory?"

"How?" I shook my head and looked beyond the pond. In the distant fields, there were some water buffalos grazing peacefully on the horizon. Suddenly I thought of Mr. Old Cripple and I looked down at my reflection again and asked, "Why should I pluck out my thorns when they might be blessings in disguise? Perhaps these thorns are just as useful as the thorns protecting the beautiful roses?"

"What then should you do?"

"I should love them all, both thorns and roses. Yet, just as when we look at roses we concentrate on their beautiful petals, not their thorns; when we look at our lives we concentrate on our blessings not our misgivings. Besides, aren't roses and thorns, blessings and misgivings examples of yin and yang, necessary for each other's existence?"

Then I remembered there was still one rose remaining in the rose garden. I ran to the garden to pick the rose for Lotus but it was gone.

"Looking for thorns?" someone asked. I turned around and found it was Lotus.

"No, I am looking for roses," I answered.

"Here," Lotus handed me a beautiful red rose. "But it comes with thorns," she warned.

"They only make me treat my precious rose with much tender loving care," I replied as I received the red rose from her.

As soon as I got hold of the rose, I had a wonderful feeling about it. I took a deep breath and filled my body with its sweet fragrance. Meanwhile Grandmaster called for Lotus and she left.

With the red rose still in my hand, I went to the Reflecting Pond alone. The pond surface had turned into a smooth mirror as it had done countless times before. Standing there alone, I was admiring the timelessness of this natural pond, for it was still proudly being itself while all its admirers had come and gone. As I looked deeply into the pond, I realized that it, too, was admiring me for my brief joyful moment on this earth with freedom to move and act on my dreams. Then when I looked at the beautiful rose in my hand again, it seemed to becoming bigger and brighter until it had turned into a large red lantern, illuminating my mind. Suddenly I felt delighted and a smile came to my face as I realized that this beautiful red rose itself was indeed, the Fifth Secret of the Tai Chi Circle.

Now I was more resolved to follow my dreams because failures did not frighten me anymore. For if I have acted on my dreams and failed, people may laugh at me, humiliate me, look down upon me, and even step on me; but after all, how can they be so sure that my failures are not my successes in disguise?

These words had finally found a place in my heart and they resonated through my soul:

Everything happens with a purpose; this, too, might be a blessing in disguise.

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