The Sage

One of the more favorite of the stories told is the one about the martial artist who reaches a level that makes them wise, i.e. wise as in the ancient wise men who have flowing robes, long grey hair and beard and who sit atop huge mountains the the every day person climbs to talk with for wise advice for their lives and living. It is the proverbial sage like Asian wise man derived from the bodhidharma figure or the Buddha. 

This creates an atmosphere of philosophical discussions as to what makes a person wise. Is it merely age? Is it knowledge? Is it a combination of both? What makes one wise. It can be perceived as one who lived a long life with a wide variety of experiences and thus knowledge, both academic and reality based. The sage or wise man or woman then relies on that experience to provide advice. 

It has come to my mind that this type of sage must have this one quality that allows them to reach sage-hood. The ability to recognize and correct mistakes. It is this model of experience that has the greatest value in life and the wise man can achieve this in time simply by the breadth of experiences and the innate ability to see all mistakes and correct them. 

Han Fei-tzu said, "The wise are not wise because they make no mistakes. They are wise because they correct their mistakes as soon as they recognize them."