The first true swordsman on record, meaning the first adept (not the first man to swing a sword, obviously, but only the first to reveal himself as invulnerable in battle) was a drunkard reeling from cheap wineshop to sordid wineshop. His drunkenness had relieved him of the burden of thinking, and also suppressed most other forms of consciousness, leaving only a crazed thirst for wine, therefore (says Zuhangzi) he could become, an did become, a perfect vessel for the dark De of the mysterious Dao. One day as he staggered from the door of a particularly unpleasant little wine shop he was set upon by ten brigands, intent on beating him to a pulp and taking his purse. Already senseless with drink though it was still early in the day, he snatched up a willow broom that was standing beside the door and knocked down the first brigand with a single crude blow that split open his skull. The others drew swords and rushed at him. Having no conception of danger, of what he was doing, or even of himself or "others," this man effortlessly overcame and beat down every furious attack, like a blind temple prostitute putting out fires in the middle of the night with her own sleeping robe. Sensing a blow coming at him, the drunkard reacted to it instantly, without thinking or conceiving any idea or plan. In this way he knocked down every one of the sword-weilding brigands, just like a child armed with a stick knocking puppets off of a shelf. Then, still weaving back and forth a little in the effort to stay on his feet, he set the broom upright again beside the door and staggered home to his hut, where he fell into a drunken, snorting sleep that lasted well into the next day. By the time he woke, his fame had spread to all the nearby villages, and he was being celebrated in songs as The Willow Broom Hero.
The Willow Broom Hero
from Legends of the Taoist Swordsmen
The first true swordsman on record, meaning the first adept (not the first man to swing a sword, obviously, but only the first to reveal himself as invulnerable in battle) was a drunkard reeling from cheap wineshop to sordid wineshop. His drunkenness had relieved him of the burden of thinking, and also suppressed most other forms of consciousness, leaving only a crazed thirst for wine, therefore (says Zuhangzi) he could become, an did become, a perfect vessel for the dark De of the mysterious Dao. One day as he staggered from the door of a particularly unpleasant little wine shop he was set upon by ten brigands, intent on beating him to a pulp and taking his purse. Already senseless with drink though it was still early in the day, he snatched up a willow broom that was standing beside the door and knocked down the first brigand with a single crude blow that split open his skull. The others drew swords and rushed at him. Having no conception of danger, of what he was doing, or even of himself or "others," this man effortlessly overcame and beat down every furious attack, like a blind temple prostitute putting out fires in the middle of the night with her own sleeping robe. Sensing a blow coming at him, the drunkard reacted to it instantly, without thinking or conceiving any idea or plan. In this way he knocked down every one of the sword-weilding brigands, just like a child armed with a stick knocking puppets off of a shelf. Then, still weaving back and forth a little in the effort to stay on his feet, he set the broom upright again beside the door and staggered home to his hut, where he fell into a drunken, snorting sleep that lasted well into the next day. By the time he woke, his fame had spread to all the nearby villages, and he was being celebrated in songs as The Willow Broom Hero.
The first true swordsman on record, meaning the first adept (not the first man to swing a sword, obviously, but only the first to reveal himself as invulnerable in battle) was a drunkard reeling from cheap wineshop to sordid wineshop. His drunkenness had relieved him of the burden of thinking, and also suppressed most other forms of consciousness, leaving only a crazed thirst for wine, therefore (says Zuhangzi) he could become, an did become, a perfect vessel for the dark De of the mysterious Dao. One day as he staggered from the door of a particularly unpleasant little wine shop he was set upon by ten brigands, intent on beating him to a pulp and taking his purse. Already senseless with drink though it was still early in the day, he snatched up a willow broom that was standing beside the door and knocked down the first brigand with a single crude blow that split open his skull. The others drew swords and rushed at him. Having no conception of danger, of what he was doing, or even of himself or "others," this man effortlessly overcame and beat down every furious attack, like a blind temple prostitute putting out fires in the middle of the night with her own sleeping robe. Sensing a blow coming at him, the drunkard reacted to it instantly, without thinking or conceiving any idea or plan. In this way he knocked down every one of the sword-weilding brigands, just like a child armed with a stick knocking puppets off of a shelf. Then, still weaving back and forth a little in the effort to stay on his feet, he set the broom upright again beside the door and staggered home to his hut, where he fell into a drunken, snorting sleep that lasted well into the next day. By the time he woke, his fame had spread to all the nearby villages, and he was being celebrated in songs as The Willow Broom Hero.
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