Yan Hui asked Confucius:
“Once I was crossing the deep Shanshen stream, and the ferryman was guiding the boat so skillfully that it seemed to me as if he was not a man, but an almighty God. I asked if it was possible to learn how to control a boat this way, and he replied: “It’s possible. If you are a good swimmer or diver, you will immediately master this art.” Could you explain what his words mean?
Confucius replied:
— Good swimmers quickly learn to control a boat because they are not afraid of water. As for divers, the sea is the same as dry land for them, and capsizing in a boat is like falling off a cart. The water raises and lowers them, they are obedient to the waves, are not afraid of them and know that no matter what happens, they will always float to the surface without effort.
Imagine that there is an archery competition. Everyone wants to show the best they can do. But if the reward is a silver cup, the archer can shoot half-heartedly, and if the reward is a golden statue, he will completely lose his head and begin to shoot like a blind man. Why does the same person behave differently? When he thinks about an expensive reward, his hands do not obey him. Art in all cases will be the same, but attention will shift to external things. The one who is attentive to the external is unskillful in the internal.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru