Thorough Comprehension of Life (3)

1 On the way to the State of Chu, Confucius saw an old man catching cicada in the woods.

2 The old man bent to catch cicada on branches one by one with a bamboo pole as easy and accurate as he picked up something on the ground.

3 Charmed, Confucius asked the old man, “Hey! Well done! So accurate is your catching. How can you make it?”

4 Putting down the pole, the old man looked at Confucius and said, “It owes to accumulated experiences by daily training. Usually in training you put two pebbles on the top of a pole and then hold up. Keep the pebbles on the top of the pole as long as possible. After training in this way for five or six months, you will seldom miss in cicada catching.

5 If in this way you put three pebbles on the top of the pole and keep them, your missing rate of cicada catching will be around one out of ten only.

6 If you can keep five pebbles on the top of the pole, your catching skill will be as accurate as picked up something on the ground, just as what I have done.

7 In catching my body is as stable and composed as a wooden post. My arm is like a dry branch. Ignoring everything around me, I devote my mind to the wings of cicada, and even the most precious things before me can’t distract me from catching. My devotion to catching endows me with this super skill.”

8 Confucius was very impressive on the old man’s explanation. He turned his head to his disciples and said, “Devotion to doing something or studying means success. This is the lesson we have learnt from this old man.”