A father was worried about his son, who was sixteen years old but had no courage at all. So the father decided to call on a Buddhist monk to train his boy.
一位父亲很为儿子担心，虽然儿子已经16岁了，却一点儿勇气都没有。于是，父亲决定去拜访一位禅师，请他训练自己的儿子。
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：“你应该把你儿子单独留在这里。不出三个月，我会让他成为一个真正的男子汉。不过，在这段时间，你不能来看他。”
Three months later, the boy's father returned. The Buddhist monk arranged a boxing match between the boy and an experienced boxer.
三个月后，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术比赛。
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？”
拳师每次一出手，男孩都被击倒在地上，但男孩又马上站起来；每次被击倒，他就又站起来。几个回合后，禅师问道：“你认为你的孩子怎么样？”
“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，“我根本没想到他是这样的不堪一击。我不让他再留在这里了。”
“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是重新站起来，而不是哭泣吗？这才是你想要他拥有的那种勇气。”