--Concentration--
After winning several archery contests, the
young and rather boastful champion challenged a Zen master who was renowned for
his skill as an archer. The young man demonstrated remarkable technical
proficiency when he hit a distant bull's eye on his first try, and then split
that arrow with his second shot. "There," he said to the old man,
"see if you can match that!" Undisturbed, the master did not draw his
bow, but rather motioned for the young archer to follow him up the mountain.
Curious about the old fellow's intentions, the champion followed him high into
the mountain until they reached a deep chasm spanned by a rather flimsy and
shaky log. Calmly stepping out onto the middle of the unsteady and certainly
perilous bridge, the old master picked a far away tree as a target, drew his
bow, and fired a clean, direct hit. "Now it is your turn," he said as
he gracefully stepped back onto the safe ground. Staring with terror into the
seemingly bottomless and beckoning abyss, the young man could not force himself
to step out onto the log, no less shoot at a target. "You have much skill
with your bow," the master said, sensing his challenger's predicament,
"but you have little skill with the mind that lets loose the shot."
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