David Carradine is a renowned actor most known for the television series, Kung Fu, or as Bill from Kill Bill, depending on what decade you were born in. His career trajectory ebbed and flowed, as so is the nature of the path, lasting up until his death because wanderers in pursuit of fulfillment never retire.
In 2009, Carradine was filming a small-budget French movie called “Stretch” in Bangkok, about the underground horse racing industry in China. Dear reader, we assume you have never heard of it.
Carradine wouldn’t live to see its 2011 release.
Carradine was found dead in his Bangkok hotel room on June third, 2009, 5 years after the release of Kill Bill 2 in 2004.
He hung himself.
But he wasn’t trying to kill himself.
Carradine hung himself by accident.
He was pursuing pleasure via autoerotic asphyxiation, touching himself while hanging himself with his belt in the closet.
He chased the horizon of pleasure that cannot be reached a few steps too far and lost his life for it.
David Carradine died in pursuit of pleasure, which cannot be fulfilled.
Pleasure does not fulfill a wanderer; all wanderers who pursue pleasure die unfulfilled by it. All wanderers die, but those who pursue mastery die fulfilled, having travelled far down the path.
David Carradine’s final lesson
David Carradine was a movie martial artist. He was not a competitor, nor was he pursuing mastery in martial arts; he trained to appear competent in martial arts, straddling the line between the pursuit of mastery, to be, and the pursuit of pleasure, to appear.
The pursuit of pleasure cannot be fulfilled.
This is David Carradine’s final lesson.
In all domains of mankind: Body, Mind, and Spirit(BMS), a wanderer must pursue mastery, lest they become corrupted by the pursuit of pleasure, which cannot be fulfilled.
A path to mastery in body.
A path to mastery in mind.
A path to mastery in spirit.
Each domain needs a pursuit of mastery. Three paths to mastery equal one complete wanderer. Body, Mind, Spirit – BMS.
Hell is the pursuit of pleasure.
Pursuing mastery in martial arts within the body domain is pursuing a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
Pursuing pleasure in martial arts within the body domain is pursuing the appearance of knowing how to fight; the perception of the mastery, without earning the mastery.
Carradine had a mental pursuit of mastery with acting, but did not have a pursuit of mastery in the body domain that could overcome his desire for bodily pleasure. So he died for the pursuit of pleasure.
Pleasure cannot be fulfilled, so it must never be pursued.
If you do not have a pursuit of mastery in the body domain, you will pursue pleasures of the body domain, which cannot be fulfilled.
Examples of body domain pleasures:
- Food that tastes good but does not fulfill(Gluttony and obesity)
- Self-stimulation and other inauthentic intimate experiences
- The appearance or facade of being a warrior without warrior abilities
- Laziness and the pursuit of entertainment instead of using entertainment to rest from your pursuits
Miyamoto Musashi Precept 13 | Do not pursue the taste of good food
Self-stimulation is endemic because the world is dominated in the mental domain and severely undeserved in the domains of body and spirit.
When you neglect pursuing mastery in the body domain, you default to pursuing bodily pleasure. In a culture that does not pursue bodily mastery, or worse, rejects it, the people become obese, sick, and eventually suffocate from their overconsumption and pursuit of pleasure. They pursue adult content and self-stimulation instead of a fulfilling relationship with a path to mastery.
This is true with all domains. Without a path to mastery in the domains of mind and spirit, wanderers will pursue pleasure in these respective domains, which cannot provide fulfillment for the wanderer.
Pleasure begets pleasure and mastery begets mastery. Whatever we do compounds. We become habitual. We develop patterns.
Patterns of mastery create fulfillment.
Patterns of pleasure create pain.
Carradine inspires millions to pursue martial arts, even if he himself did not. He lived a good life that was corrupted by the pursuit of pleasure.
Admire his life and his work, but learn from his mistakes.
Pleasure cannot be fulfilled.
