After winning several archery（箭术） 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（技术熟练） 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（危险的） 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."

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