The following story is a favorite of mine because it teaches us about perseverance and a proper attitude in regards to training.

WATER BUCKET TRAINING

A teacher who had no heirs wanted to decide which of his students would best succeed him. He finally narrowed it down to three students, but the decision was still a difficult one to make. He finally asked all three of these students to come to the backyard of his home early the next morning. He explained to them that they were about to undergo an unusual form of training and the one who succeeded would eventually become his heir. The students were, of course, rather pleased and excited about his prospect.

Each of the three students was handed a water bucket, and a huge water barrel was placed in front of each of them. The teacher explained that the first one to fill up his barrel with water from a nearby well would win. On the order to start, all three ran to the well to draw water to fill up his barrel. Much to their surprise, however, when they poured the water into the barrels, they found the water rushing out of the bottom. When they looked inside, they discovered, much to their shock and anger, the barrels had no bottoms! “What a hopeless test,” they thought. Still, each student decided to humor the teacher, so they all exhausted themselves throughout the day and night pouring water into the bottomless barrels. At dawn of the next day, the teacher came out to inspect the results and declared that each one failed because not one barrel had been filled to the top with water.

The students protested angrily and finally the teacher conceded, saying “I am willing to give each one of you, one more chance. Everyone come tomorrow morning.” They arrived early the next day. As before the huge water barrels were brought before them. They immediately checked the barrels and found that they had been fixed with bottoms. They all felt assured. They were shocked, however, when they were handed buckets which had no bottoms. It was humiliating enough to try to fill a barrel with no bottom, but now they had to use bottomless buckets! How can anyone carry water in a bucket with no bottom? Two students threw down the buckets and left in disappointment. The third student decided to follow his teacher’s instructions and began to lower the bucket into the well and carry it over to the barrel. Although a bottomless bucket can’t carry much water, a few drops remained on the side and went into the barrel. After great effort, a few drops at a time, the barrel was filled with water. He was chosen as the successor and. Indeed he was the best choice after-all.

Nowadays, teachers normally judge the results of training. In ancient days, I think teachers judged the students capacity for training. A student without the proper attitude for training is like the bottomless barrel. He retains nothing. A student with the proper attitude toward training, even if he is nourished with a bottomless bucket, retains the tiniest bit of knowledge, a few drops at a time, and eventually attains mastery. Years ago, teachers did not train many students and sometimes put everything at stake on one special student. Because of this, the teachers of old continued to test the characters of the students so critically.

Each Student achieves a mastery and understanding of the art which is always slightly different from his teacher. Eventually, the student may go his own way, but, at the same time, it is important to maintain the age old traditions which helped cultivate the proper environment for learning and the fertile fields in which

the student grows and matures.

This is how it was done in the old days.