Most Americans' introduction to eastern thought was via the TV show KUNG FU starring David Carradine. The lanky actor played a Eurasian Shaolin monk, Kwai Chang Caine wandering the Old West. Wisdom was dispensed through flashbacks to the young man's studies with his tutor, Master Po.
Master Po: Close your eyes. What do you hear?
Young Caine: I hear the water, I hear the birds.
Po: Do you hear your own heartbeat?
Caine: No.
Po: Do you hear the grasshopper that is at your feet?
Caine: Old man, how is it that you hear these things?
Po: Young man, how is it that you do not?
The show concluded with Caine's union with his younger brother.
David Carradine's life ended this week in Bangkok at a hotel off Sukhumvit Road. His body was found by hotel staff in the closet of his room. He was naked and restrained with ropes. Hands tied behind his back. A shoelace around his penis. CCTV cameras showed no one entering the room, so local police were quick to assume that the cause of death was suicide. The family begged to differ, since there was no suicide note, he had bought a new car, and 2008 had been a banner year for the 72 year-old actor. Police changed their assumption and declared that the deceased may have met his demise after a session of auto-erotic asphyxiation went bad. Death via strangulation can come within seconds. Thailand's leading forensic expert commented on his bondage, "In some cases it can suggest murder, too. But sometimes when the victim is naked and in bondage, it can suggest that the victim is doing it to himself. If you hang yourself by the neck, you don't need so much pressure to kill yourself. Those who get highly sexually aroused tend to forget this fact."
The thrill was too much for the actor.
Still how did he tie his hands behind his back?
Questions remain a mystery for the moment.
Poor grasshopper.
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