After winning several archery contests,the young and rather boastful champion challenged a Zen master who was renowned² for his skill as an archer¹.

The young man demonstrated remarkable³ technical proficiency⁴ 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 chasm⁵ spanned by a rather flimsy and shaky log.

Calmly stepping out onto the middle of the unsteady and certainly perilous⁶ bridge ,the old maser 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 gracefully⁷ stepped back onto the safe ground.Staring with terror into the seemingly bottomless and beckoning⁸ 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.”

[参考译文]

在赢得几场射箭比赛后，一位年轻而又极为自负的冠军向一位以精湛的箭术而闻名的禅师提出了挑战。

这位年轻人展示了异常娴熟的技艺，他一箭射中了远处的靶心，接着第二枝箭将第一枝箭射劈。

“喂”，他对老者说，“看看你是否有得一比!”

禅师不以为然，并没有拉弓射箭，而是示意年轻的射手跟着他往山上走去。

射箭冠军对老人的意图感到很好奇，于是紧随其后爬上山，来到一个峡谷前，连接两岸的圆木极不牢固且摇摇欲坠。

老禅师沉着地迈步走到那座摇摇晃晃、十分危险的独木桥中央，选了远处的一棵树做靶子，拉开弓箭，一箭射中，动作干净利落。

“现在该你了，”他说着，从容而优雅地走回到安全的地面。年轻人满眼恐惧，望着那看似令人心惊肉跳的无尽深渊，他连向独木桥上迈一步的勇气都没有，更别说射靶了。觉察到这位挑战者的窘境，禅师说道：“你拥有高超的弓箭术，但你缺乏自如射箭的心境。”