Peter Hunter and the Minions of Mara

Chapter 2 - Right View

A few days later, when Peter entered the dojo for his next private lesson, he stopped in his tracks. The place had been destroyed.

It was an absolute mess. The decorations, paddles, blocks, and freestanding punch bags were strewn about. There was a strong smell of incense and Peter could hear Sensei Rob in his office chanting, "OM MANI PADME HUM."

This wasn't the first time it had happened, but he still had no idea why or how it occurred.

As Peter started cleaning up, he thought of all the possible causes of the mess: a freak wind storm inside the studio; a group of mafia members came to demand extortion money; Sensei had some hidden personality, like the superhero, the Big Green Lug, that exploded in a rage.

None of those seemed likely.

"Hey, Pete. Didn't hear you come in," Sensei Rob said as he emerged from the office with a large bandage on his forehead.

"What happened here?" Peter asked.

Sensei shook his head and said, "You wouldn't believe me if I told you. Anyway, thanks for helping."

All that was left to clean was the Eastern paraphernalia Sensei kept on the shelves behind the front desk.

Peter handed Sensei a dull dagger and asked, "What are all these for, anyway?"

Sensei gave him a serious look. "They're not for fighting humans."

Peter snickered. Sensei Rob was the kind of person who picked up spiders in his hand to set them outside. Hurting people was the last thing Peter would expect from Sensei Rob.

"They're all for warding off evil," Sensei explained, as if that were a normal thing people usually talked about.

But Peter's skin prickled as if he felt a draft.

"Let's get started," Sensei Rob said cheerfully. He clapped Peter on the shoulder and pushed him toward the mats. "Today, I want to talk about the way of the martial artist. It's not only about physical training. It's also about the mind," he tapped his temple, "and the heart." He tapped his chest.

Peter thought that Sensei sounded a lot like a cartoon about magical ponies, but he obeyed and sat cross-legged on the dojo mats.

"So I'm going to teach you about Buddhism," Sensei Rob announced.

"Is this going to be boring?" he complained.

Sensei Rob chuckled. "Hopefully, it'll be enlightening."

Sensei Rob waited, as if he was expecting some response from Peter, but Peter just looked at him.

"Just to be clear, I have no plans to be a monk," Peter said.

"We're just learning about it," Sensei Rob assured him. "But there are many applications of Buddhism. And while Buddhist monks don't do a lot of things even other religions allow, the path of Buddhism offers true happiness in return. Buddhist monks are some of the happiest people on earth."

"Really?" Peter asked with a sideways look.

It seemed unbelievable that someone could be happy without the simple joys in life, like TV and junk food.

"Most people look to something outside themselves in order to be happy," Rob said. "How many times have you heard someone say that they'll be happy when they get enough money or when they get a girlfriend or boyfriend? How many of those people are actually happy when they get what they want?"

Peter considered that while he started drumming an absent-minded rhythm on the mats.

"See, the world of our senses, of physical things, is impermanent," Sensei continued. "It's constantly changing, so it can't bring us lasting joy. True, lasting satisfaction has to come from somewhere else."