King Huan-gun was reading a book in his palace, and at the entrance to the palace the wheelwright Bian was cutting a wheel. Putting down his hammer and chisel, the wheelwright entered the hall and asked:
- Dare I ask what the Emperor is reading?
“The words of the sages,” answered Huan-gun.
“Are these sages still alive?” - asked the wheelwright.
- No, they died a long time ago.
“This means that what the sovereign is reading is just the husk of the souls of ancient people.”
“How dare you, insignificant charioteer, talk about a book that I, the highest of people, am reading?” If you have something to say, then say it, but if you don’t, you’ll instantly say goodbye to life!
“I judge this by my work,” the wheelwright answered. “If I work without haste, I don’t have any difficulties, but the wheel turns out to be fragile.” If I'm in too much of a hurry, I have a hard time and the wheel doesn't straighten out. If I’m not in a hurry, but I’m not slow either, then my hands seem to do everything themselves, and my heart responds to them. It's hard to put into words. There is some kind of secret here, and I cannot even pass it on to my own son, and my son could not take it over from me. That's why, after seven decades of work and living to a ripe old age, I'm still making wheels.
So the ancient people must have died without revealing their secret. It turns out that what the sovereign is reading is the husk of the souls of the ancient sages!
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru