"Kung Fu": TV Series, King of the Mountain

#20 (Prod #166205) "The Spirit-Helper"
Teleplay By:: John T. Dugan (also #29, 34, 40, 45-46 & 57)
Directed By:: Walter Doniger (also #7 & 24)
First Broadcast: ABC, November 1 or November 8, 1973 (Kung Fu Book & Epi-log)
Guest Stars: Bo Svenson, Scott Hylands, James A. Watson, Jr., Khigh Dheigh (also #10 & 50 & 51)
Special Guest Star: Don Johnson
Regular Cast: David Carradine, Philip Ahn, Keye Luke, Radames Pera

Caine helps Nashebo who thinks Caine is a spirit-helper sent to guide him in becoming a man. When they discover that Nashebo's mother has been kidnapped and his father killed, the young man expects his guide to help him with rescue and revenge.

"I am not a spirit.... I am a man." - Caine

"To be a man is to be one with the universe." - Master Kan

"'What is the universe?' - Young Caine
'Rather ask what is not the universe.' - Master Kan
'Then it is everywhere.' - Young Caine
'It is in your eye and in your heart. As a seed of the peach contains the fragrance of the flower and the substance of the fruit.' - Master Kan
'And the bitter pit at it's core?' - Young Caine
'Even that.'" - Master Kan

"It could not be otherwise." - Caine

"Is it not more important that you find yourself than a killer of men? Would your parents not wish you to go forward to life and light rather than backwards to death and darkness?" - Master Po

"'How do I find myself and the light?' - Young Caine
'By taking the path that leads to the truth.' - Master Po
'Will you help me walk the path?' - Young Caine
'I can only point the way, Grasshopper. You must walk the path yourself.'" - Master Po

"It will not be easy. It may not be possible." - Caine

"Does a man ask another to show him what to do?" - Caine

"I do not want to eat game.... It is a personal thing not to take life." - Caine

"It was only a scalp wound." - Caine

"May I add this to my medicine pouch?" - Caine

"What man has a right to take from another, the gift (of life) given by the great one?" - Caine

"Revenge is a double-edged sword. It cuts both ways. Either Chung's soldiers will kill you or you will destroy yourself by the certain suicide of your spirit." - Master Po, on Caine's desire for revenge on the man who killed his parents

"...the wheel of life is turned inexorably by the infinite stars." - Master Po

"...the truth will not be cheated." - Master Po

"It is now." - Caine

"'They cannot kill you.'
'I hope not.'" - Caine

"I, too, am only a man." - Caine

"Is the spirit of a man sustained by food or warmed by outer garments?" - Caine

"They are only symbols." - Caine, on the marks of the dragon and tiger on his arms

"'Hundreds of pounds of burning coal and iron.' - Caine on the urn he must some day move with his forearms.
'As the softest clay in time becomes the hardest brick - a fragile leaf, a diamond. As a stream of fiery ore freezes into unbending iron. So, too, may a man ascend to himself.... By slowly forging the Ch'i within yourself, the bond between the finite and the infinite, the inner essence of your spirit and the limitless power of the universe.... You will have found your strength and the source of your survival. You will be free.'" - Master Po

"Like any other: a man." - Caine, when asked what kind of man he is

"'Master, I am troubled.' - Caine
'Why?' - Master Kan
'My parents are long dead. General Chung is tumbled from his arrogance and power. Yet within me, anger boils as water in a heated pot.' - Caine
'Observe the daisy. Each morning with the warmth of the sun it opens in lovely blossom. Each night it closes.' - Master Kan
'I do not understand. What has a flower to do with my anger.' - Caine
'Once your anger warmed you and like the flower, you opened to it. That is long past. It is night.' - Master Kan
'Am I then to do nothing? Feel nothing? Be still?' - Caine
'Still water is like glass. It is a perfect level. A carpenter could use it. The heart of a wise man is tranquil and still. Thus it is the mirror of heaven and earth. The glass of everything. Be like still water. You look into it and see yourself.'" - Master Kan (part of this refers to CHUANG TZU Chapter 13, #1)

"I cannot lead you.... I can lead no one." - Caine (connects to "I seek to rule nothing but myself" which he says in #23 "The Tong")

"Is it not better to embrace the living than to avenge the dead?" - Caine

"Which of you will kill me?" - Caine

"Here we must part." - Caine

"Goodbye, my friend." - Caine

Anderson's KF Book^*2* claims that Caine "orders" Nashebo not to kill but all Caine shouts is the boy's name and then asks a question.