One day, Confucius led his disciples to the State of Chu. When crossing a stretch of forest, they saw a hunchbacked old man standing under a tree, catching cicadas with a bamboo stick. With each stroke he caught one cicada, just as easily as picking it up at will. Confucius asked: "You are very skillful at catching cicadas. You must have followed some pattern."
"That's right!”the old man answered. "The cicada is a clever little insect. It would fly away at themere rustling of leaves in the wind. Therefore, to catch cicadas, one must, first of all, train one's hand to hold the bamboo stick without shaking. When 2 pellets are put on the top of the bamboo stick and do not fall off, one has certain assurance in catching cicadas; when 3 pellets are put there and do not fall off, only one cicada out of ten can manage to escape; when 5 pellets are put there and do not fall off, then catching cicadas is as easy as picking them up at will."
He then added: "But that is not enough. One must be good at hiding oneself. Now I am standing under a tree, just like half of a tree stump, with my arm stretching out like part of awithered twig. Last of all, one must be attentive. When I am catching cicadas, I don't think at all of the vastness of the universe, nor do I look at the numerous things around. I only see the two wings of the cicada. No matter what happens, nothing will distract my attention. As I manage to accomplish all these, I can be so skillful at catching cicadas."
Hearing this, Confucius turned to his disciples and said: "Whatever you do, only when youpersevere with concentrated attention and devotion, can you achieve the acme of perfection. This is the truth that this hunchbacked old man has taught us."
According to legend, there was a kind of birds called "dais" (swallow) on the East China Sea.
The Yidais were slow in reaction. They could not fly very high and seemed clumsy andincapable.
But when they moved about, they always moved in groups, depended on one another for survival, and flew and landed together.
When they advanced, no one dared to advance rashly. When they retreated, no one dared to fall behind at will. When they fed, no one dared to scramble to be the first. All their activities were orderly.
When they went into action,万 dais always acted uniformly without any disorder. They depended upon the collective efforts to avoid any harm from the outside world.
Zhuang Zhou's family was poor. Once, he went to the official who supervised rivers to borrow some grain. The official said: "Well, wait until the end of the year when I collect the taxes from the people, then I will lend you 300 gold pieces. All right?"
When Zhuang Zhou heard this, he was so angry that the colow of his face changed. But he told the official this story: When I came here yesterday, on the way I heard a voice calling 'Help!' I turned my head and saw a small crucian carp in the dried-up carriage ditch."
I went over and asked: "Little crucian carp, why are you calling for help?"
The little crucian carp answered: "I am a subject of the Dragon King of the East China Sea. Unfortunately I fell down here. Can you give me a little water to save my life?"
I said: "All right, I am just going to the south to sell ideas to the kings of the States of Wu and Yue. I will ask them to stir up the water of the Xijiang River to welcome you. Will that do?"
When the crucian carp heard this, it got angry and said: "When I lose the water which is always with me, I cannot survive. Now, I want only a little bit of water so that I can survive.Yet you say such things. Then you'd better go to the salt-fish shop to look for me."