Chinese Classic Wisdom Stories

During the Northern and Southern Dynasties (420-589 AC), once lived a famous painter named Zhang Seng-Zuong. He was highly praised for his fine art by Emperor Liang Wu.

One year, Zhang Seng-Zuong was asked to paint on the wall of the temple of Andong. He almost finished the painting of four dragons, in which they were breaking into a gallop in clouds. Everybody appreciated the vivid dragons on the wall. "But," asked one man," why didn't you put in the pupils of their eyes?" "Well, they will fly away if the pupils are put in." answered Zhang Seng-Zuong. But nobody believed him. They took what he said for jokes, so they still appealed to him to paint the pupils in the eyes.

At their request, Zhang Seng-Zuong had to take up his paintbrush to begin his troublesome work. After a moment of hesitation, Zhang dotted the key part of the dragons resolutely. Two of the dragons suddenly precipitated into a cloud of rolls of thunder and lightning before he could drop the paintbrush. The crowd was disordered into a mess; some lay themselves on the stomach, and some hid themselves behind pillars. A loud crash was heard and the wall toppled into pieces in the middle. The dragons writhed for a while and flew away high in the sky. Fortunately the two without pupils still remained there on the wall peacefully.

The proverb, 'Bring the painted dragons to life, by putting pupils in their eyes' now is usually adopted to indicate the case that a person can make his speech or composition smartly lively just with only a few pointed key words or expressions.

Ada Cerita tentang seorang pemarah yang bertubuh pendek di Dinasti Song (960-1279)
dia seorang petani, setia hari seringkali duduk memandangi hamparan padinya, dalam pikirannya dia sangat berharap tanaman padi nya tumbuh dengan cepat. Tetapi padinya tumbuh lambat. itulah yang membuatnya cemas tak menentu. Ia memikirkannya terus siang dan malam, ia juga memperhatikan terus setiap harinya
Dia merasa tanaman tumbuh jauh lebih lambat daripada yang diharapkan.

Suatu hari, karena tidak sabar , dan muncul ide, kemudian Ia mencabut semua tanaman-nya naik beberapa inci.

Meskipun ia sangat lelah setelah melakukan hal ini selama seharian, tapi ia merasa sangat bahagia karena tanaman itu dapat 'tumbuh' lebih tinggi.
Ketika pulang ke rumah, Putranya yang mendengar tentang hal ini segera pergi untuk melihat tanaman. Sayangnya semua tanamannya sudah layu dan hilang kerja keras berbulan bulan sebelumnya.

*Pepatah ini mengatakan kita harus membiarkan sesuatu pergi dalam alami. Terlalu cemas untuk membantu sebuah acara untuk mengembangkan hasil yang sering bertentangan dengan maksud kita.