A father was worried about his son, who was sixteen years old but had no courage at all. So the father decided¹ to call on a Buddhist² monk³ to train his boy.

一位父亲为儿子担心。儿子16岁了，却没有一点勇气。于是，父亲决定去拜访一位禅师，请他训练儿子。

The Buddhist monk said to the boy’s father, “You should leave your son alone here. I’ll make him into a real man within three months. However, you can’t come to see him during this period. ” 禅师对男孩的父亲说：“你应该让他单独留在这里。不出3个月，我要让他成为一个真正的男子汉。不过，在这段时间，你不能来见他。”

Three months later, the boy’s father returned. The Buddhist monk arranged a boxing match between the boy and an experienced boxer⁴. Each time the fighter struck the boy, he fell down, but at once the boy stood up; and each time a punch knocked him down, the boy stood up again. Several times later, the Buddhist monk asked, “What do you think of your child?”

3个月后，男孩的父亲又来见禅师。禅师安排这个男孩和一位经验丰富的拳师进行拳击比赛。拳师每次一出手，男孩就倒在地上，但男孩又马上站起来；每次将他击倒，他就又站起来。几个回合后，禅师问道：“你认为自己的孩子怎么样？”

“What a shame!” the boy’s father said. “I never thought he would be so easily knocked down. I needn’t have him left here any longer.”

“真丢人！”男孩的父亲说，“我绝没想到他这样不堪一击。我不需要他再留在这里了。”

“I’m sorry that that’s all you see. Don’t you see that each time he falls down; he stands up again instead of crying? That’s the kind of courage you wanted him to have.”

“很遗憾，你只看到了这一点。难道你没看到他每次倒下后并没有哭泣，而是重新站起来了吗？这才是你想要他拥有的那种勇气。”