A stoop old man captured cicadas 痀僂承蜩

Once when Confucius was in the state of Chu, he saw a stooped(彎腰) old man gluecicadas(蟬) with a pole. He did this as easily as pick up things on the ground.

Confucius asked him what the secret was. The old man said, "Five six months after I began practice, only a few could escape from my hands . later I began practice, only a few could escape from my hands. Later, even fewer, it eventually became as easy as picking up things on the ground. How I do it is like this. I watch absorbedly the cicada's wings, ignoring completely the things around me and not allowing anything to distract my attention. So how can I fail to capture it?"

Confucius sighed with a feeling and said, "If you bone up on something, you get absorbed in it. And your skill become marvelous. This should be the right thing to say about the stooped old man."

孔子在楚國時(shí)，見到一個(gè)駝背老人舉著粘蟬，如同從地上拾取東西那樣容易，便問他奧妙所在。

老人說：“我練習(xí)到5、6個(gè)月的時(shí)候，捉蟬時(shí)蟬跑掉的就已經(jīng)很少，這之后就更少了，到后來就像在地上取東西一樣的容易。我的方法是站穩(wěn)身子，全心注意蟬的翅膀，不去左顧右盼，不因紛雜的事物而分散我對蟬翅膀的注意力，怎么會捉不到呢?”

孔子感嘆道：“用心專一靜定，就能聚精會神，技藝自然神妙，這樣說這位駝背老人大概是可以的吧。”