English Original
One day, Confucius and his disciples were traveling through the State of Chu. While crossing a forest, they saw a hunchbacked old man standing under a tree, catching cicadas with a bamboo pole. With each deft stroke, he caught one, as easily as picking it up at will.
Intrigued, Confucius asked, "You are remarkably skillful. There must be a method to this."
"Indeed!" replied the old man. "Cicadas are alert insects; the slightest rustle of leaves will make them fly away. Therefore, the first step is to train your hand to hold the pole perfectly still. If you can balance two pellets on its tip without them falling, you gain some assurance in catching them. With three pellets steady, perhaps only one in ten cicadas escapes. When you can balance five pellets, catching cicadas becomes as effortless as gathering them by hand."
He continued, "But that alone is not enough. One must also master concealment. Here, I stand like half a tree stump, my outstretched arm resembling a withered twig. Finally, and most crucially, one must cultivate absolute focus. When I hunt, I think not of the vastness of the universe nor observe the myriad things around me. My world narrows to the cicada's wings. Nothing distracts my attention. By achieving all this, I attain such skill."
Hearing this, Confucius turned to his disciples and said, "In any endeavor, only through perseverance and single-minded devotion can one reach the acme of perfection. This is the truth the hunchbacked elder has shown us."
中文翻译
一天，孔子带着弟子前往楚国。穿过一片树林时，他们看见一位驼背老人站在树下，用竹竿捕捉蝉。他手法娴熟，每出手必能粘住一只，轻松得如同随手拾取一般。
孔子好奇地问道：“您技艺如此高超，想必掌握了一定的诀窍吧？”
老人回答：“正是！蝉是一种机警的小虫，稍有风吹草动便会飞走。因此，捕蝉首先要练习手持竹竿纹丝不动。当你能在竿顶放两颗弹丸而不掉落时，捕蝉便有了几分把握；放三颗弹丸而不掉时，十只蝉中大概只会逃走一只；当你能放五颗弹丸仍保持平衡时，捕蝉就会像随手拾取一样容易了。”
他接着说：“但这还不够。还必须善于隐藏自己。此刻我站在树下，就像半截树桩；伸出的手臂，宛如一段枯枝。最后，也是最重要的，必须心神专一。我捕蝉时，心中不想天地之广阔，眼中不看万物之纷繁，只专注于蝉的双翼。无论发生什么，都无法分散我的注意力。正因做到了这一切，我才能如此熟练。”
孔子听后，转身对弟子们说：“无论做什么事，只有锲而不舍、心无旁骛，才能达到出神入化的至高境界。这便是驼背老人教给我们的道理。”