Once upon a time in ancient China, there was a young man who studied hard to be the best kung fu fighter possible. He entered a tournament to test his skills. He felt good about his chances and told his friends: "No one is perfect, and all fighters have shortcomings. They are either lacking in speed, strength or technique. All I have to do is discover my opponent's weakness, and that will be the key to my victory."

He followed this strategy as he went into his match. He went all-out, looking everywhere for his opponent's weaknesses. To his surprise, he was not able to find any. His opponent, on the other hand, found openings in his defense and landed one successful hit after another. After several rounds, he found himself thoroughly defeated.

Depressed and discouraged, he went to his master. He described the match in detail and then asked: "What was wrong with my strategy, Master? It seemed to make perfect sense—look for an opening where my opponent comes up short, and then use that to achieve victory. Why did it not work?"

His master did not answer immediately, but drew a line in the sand. Then, his master said with a smile: "Here is a puzzle for you. Make this line shorter without touching it or covering it up in any way. If you can figure out how to do that, you will also understand why your strategy did not work."

The young man considered the line for a moment, and then asked: "Master, is this one of those impossible puzzles with no real solutions?"

"No, most impossible puzzles are given by charlatans who like to pretend they know more than they actually do." His master laughed: "You can rest assured that this is a real puzzle of the Tao. As such, it has a real and simple solution."

The young man stared at the line for hours, thinking hard of many different ways to solve the puzzle. Finally, he had to give up. He reported his failure to the master: "There is no way for me to make the line shorter without erasing part of it or making some kind of change to it. Master, I feel I have wasted a lot of time contemplating something that cannot be done."

"Do you? Now watch carefully." The master drew another line in the sand next to the first one. He kept drawing until the new line was much longer than the first one. "This is how easy it is to make the first line shorter without doing anything to it."

The young man's jaw dropped. His master was right. The puzzle had an actual solution that really was the essence of elegant simplicity. He nodded slowly, "I begin to see why I failed, Master."

The master nodded also: "Looking for your opponent's weakness is like trying to make the first line shorter without touching it. It is a waste of time, just as you said. What you should be doing instead is to draw yourself the longer line by becoming faster, stronger and more proficient. When your line is much longer than it is right now, you will make your opponent's line shorter without doing anything to him. What happens then is that you will suddenly discover all of his shortcomings naturally and effortlessly. This is the real key to victory."

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This story is about the Tao of competition. Not just the competition of martial arts contests, but competition in general, in every aspect of life. It is applicable in our lives when we compare ourselves against others. It is also applicable in the world of business when a company enters the marketplace. In all cases, this story teaches us how to compete with confidence, dispatch rivals with ease, and claim the honor of victory.

Some may find it strange that the sages would talk about being competitive at all. Shouldn’t one be non-contentious in the Tao? Instead of trying to dominate other people, shouldn’t one seek harmony? Instead of striving against opponents, shouldn’t one withdraw into tranquility?

There is more to the Tao than this simplistic sort of passive mindset. Since ancient times, Tao practitioners have observed competition in nature. Animals compete against one another for sustenance and survival, so we certainly cannot call competition unnatural. Humans also compete against one another, not just for the basics of life, but also for beliefs, ideals, honor, love, and much more. There is no denying that competition is, and has always been, a part of existence.

The Tao of competition says there are better and worse ways to compete. The better way is in accordance with the Tao. It is simple yet extremely effective, but most people, like the young man in the story, do not know it. They resort to methods that require much more effort, but lead only to failure.

Their approach is similar to the young man’s first match in the tournament. The emphasis is external in that the focus is on finding weaknesses, vulnerabilities and openings in others. When we do so, we find that no matter how much we focus on opponents, and no matter how much we wish they would fail, we simply cannot change anything about them. This corresponds to the impossibility of shortening a line without touching it.

The approach of the Tao is the opposite. Its emphasis is internal in that the focus is on developing, maximizing and utilizing one’s strengths. When we do so, we find that our minds are peaceful, not contentious, because the goal is improving the self rather than dominating others. We find that we can never change others no matter how hard we try, but we can always change ourselves by willing it, and then following through with action. We can always draw a line that is as long as we want it to be.

Although the master’s solution seems simple in hindsight, it is not at all apparent to the young man at first. In a similar way, even though the Tao of competition is not difficult or complex, it may not be so obvious before we spend some time with it to study and apply. Without this teaching, we tend to pay too much attention on other people and too little on ourselves. This results in a lot of wasted time and effort - just like the young man spending hours contemplating the puzzle.

Real understanding makes all the difference in the world. We can see that the better you become, the more effortless everything will be. It won’t matter what the opponents’ weaknesses are, because everything about them becomes a weakness compared to your strengths.

Thus, the real challenge in life is internal, not external. It is not about defeating someone else, but about overcoming our own inertia against change. Cultivators who master this Tao are the ones who possess authentic power. Or, as the Tao Te Ching says in chapter 33:

Those who overcome others have strength

Those who overcome themselves are powerful

In self cultivation, this teaching is even more powerful. When you apply it correctly, you will find that you no longer worry about what others do or what they think. You work on yourself to become more composed, more at ease in dealing with the various challenges of life. Others take notice of this and look to you as an example for themselves. You begin to realize that when you are better, you raise the level of the game and make everyone else better. This is the highest level of this teaching - the Tao of competition that benefits all.
 

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