Thorough Comprehension of Life (4)

1 Yan Yuan came to school after months of travel. Confucius asked him, “Do you see something interesting on the way?”

2 Yan Yuan answered, “On the way, I noticed a boatman operated his boat on a surging river where it was full of submerged rock. The boat in rushing current swept past the submerged rock. We were frightened very much, but the boatman seemed easy as if a god helped him. I ever asked him, if other people could learn such skillful operation.

3 The boatman said, “Surely.”

4 He added, “He who can swim learns it in a short time. He, who can dive, can operate immediately by himself, once he is on the pilot panel without learning. Operating a boat is easier to him.

5 After heard his explanation, I still not fully understood. When I asked him to further explaining; however, the boatman ignored me and operated the boat devotedly.

6 Sir. What did he mean?”

7 Nodding, Confucius seemed to comprehend something. “He who can swim learns it in a short time, because the surging river can’t threaten him. He only operates the boat devotedly and doesn’t consider the threat of water. He who can dive is at ease to operate because river is like a flat ground to him and the most surging wave can’t injure him. The accident of boat capsizing is nothing but as common as back a car on the road.

8 Due to he is capable of diving, boat capsizing can’t threaten him and can’t affect his judgment. In this mood, he surely can operate it easily.

9 It is like slinging practice. When we use a stone or tile to practice, we give our skill a full play; when we use a common weapon, we are afraid that it may hurt people or destroy the weapon or miss the weapon owing to sling it too far. These factors affect our concentration, which make our skill out of the mark.

10 When we use a chunk of gold to practice, we are surely full of worries. The slinging must be far from the mark.

11 A man with a certain level of skill, his perform, however, may be very different in the differed moods. The reason is that, once the subjective condition is restricted by the objective conditions, the exerting degree of a man’s skill will be influenced.

12 For example, in a major competition, the inexperienced player is always unable to exert his usual ability, and the common advice a coach gives to him is that-- to keep a normal heart to compete--.”