An explanation for those who didn't get it

Rating: Null/10 (17 February 2001)

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is based not only on Chinese Mythology, but of Zen as well. Zen is a philosophy that professes that in truth everything is substance, but substance is nothingness, therefore everything is nothingness, and nothingness is everything (This is EXTREMELY basic, but that's the main idea). As such, our goals in this life should be centering the spirit and discovering our nature within the universe. Once we have done this, thus are we enlightened, and we discover how everything before that moment was empty and nothing, and can now move on to purifying the spirit and working towards the next stage of enlightenment.
It's a deep and dense philosophy that takes many people a lifetime to understand and master, and I guarantee a bunch of people who read this will think it's stupid because they weren't raised to think beyond themselves. However, if you do understand it, go back to Crouching Tiger, and try watching it one more time. It might make more sense.