Father Zao's teacher was called Great Bean. When Father Zao came to him to learn how to drive a chariot, as usual he behaved very modestly. Great Bob didn’t explain anything to him for three whole years. Father Zao treated the teacher more and more respectfully, and he finally spoke to him:
— The old song says:
“The son of a good archer must first weave baskets. The son of a good foundry worker must first sew fur coats.” First of all, watch me run. If you start running like me, then you will be able to take hold of six pairs of reins and control six horses.
“I will only obey orders,” Father Zao replied.
Here Great Bob made a road: at a distance of a step from one another he installed pillars on which only a foot could fit. He began to walk on them, run back and forth, without slipping or falling.
Father Zao began to learn this and in three days mastered its art.
- How understanding you are! How quickly I learned everything! - Great Bob said with a sigh. - This is what the Charioteer does. When you walked, you mastered the skill with your feet, and responded to it with your heart. Extend this to driving a chariot. Keep the reins in order where they are connected to the bits, tighten them or loosen them in accordance with the angles of the horses' lips. Correctly measure the thought in your chest, feel the rhythm with your hands. You will internally master the will, and externally you will learn to guess the desire of horses. Then you will be able to send the horses forward or pull them back, as if on a stretched cord, make turns or circle, as if using a protractor and a compass, and the strength of the horses will be abundant enough for any, even the longest, journey. This is true skill. Having mastered the skill of controlling the bit, adjust the reins; Having mastered the skill of controlling the reins, bring your hands into line; When your hands master the skill, bring your thoughts into line. And then you can no longer follow with your eyes and no longer whip up with a whip. You will stand straight with a light heart, and six pairs of reins will not get tangled up, and the clatter of twenty-four hooves will be uniform, and your movements will be completely accurate when riding forward, backward, around and when turning. And then your chariot will travel wherever the wheels can fit, wherever there is enough room for horse hooves. And then driving in any area will become the same for you, you will not notice any steep mountains, no narrow gorges, no swamps, no plains. This is where my art ends, and you have mastered it.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru