詢樓捕蟬

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 the mere 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 a withered 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 you persevere with concentrated attention and devotion, can you achieve the acme of perfection. This is the truth that this hunchbacked old man has taught us."

一天，孔子帶著弟子去楚國。穿過一片樹林的時候，他們看到一位駝背老人站在樹下，手拿竹竿捕蟬，一粘一只，就像隨手拾來一樣容易。孔子問：“您捕蟬捕得這么熟練，一定掌握了什么規(guī)律吧?”

老人回答說：“是啊!蟬是一種非常乖巧的小蟲。一有風(fēng)吹草動，它就飛掉了，所以要捕蟬，首先要練得手拿竹竿不晃動。一直練到在竹竿頂端放兩顆彈丸不掉下來的時候，捕蟬就有了一定的把握;當(dāng)放三顆彈丸不掉下來的時候，捕十只蟬只會逃走一只;當(dāng)放五顆彈丸不掉下來的時候，捕蟬就像隨手拾取一樣容易了。”

又說：“不過，這還不夠，還必須善于隱蔽自己。我現(xiàn)在站在樹下，就像是半截子樹樁;伸出去的手臂，就像是一段枯萎的樹枝。最后，還必須用心專一。我捕蟬時，根本不想天地多么廣大，也不看眾多萬物，只看見蟬的兩只翅膀，不管發(fā)生什么情況，都不會分散我的注意力。因為我能夠做到這些，所以捕蟬才會這樣熟練。”

孔子聽了，回頭對他的弟子說：“無論做什么事情，只有鍥而不舍，專心致志，才能達到這樣出神人化的境界。這就是這位駝背老人告訴我們的道理。”