Courage 勇气

A father was really worried about his son, who was sixteen years old but had no courage at all. So the father decided to call on a Buddhist1 monk2 to train his child.

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.”

Three months later, the boy’s father returned. The Buddhist monk arranged a boxing match between the child and an experienced boxer. 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 again, then the boy stood up again. Several times later, the Buddhist monk asked, “What do you think of your child?”

“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.”

“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.”

If each time you are knocked down you have the courage to stand up again, then you can be proud of yourself.