But the man had not been submerged or swept away by the current.
Instead he was half swimming half walking over the surface with no difficulty at all.
He climbed out of the water, sat on the bank, and calmly began to sing as the water dripped from his hair.
Confucius rushed over to the man and said, 'I thought you must be a ghost, but I see you are human.
So how did you manage to stay on top of the water like that? Do you have a special technique?'
'No,' replied the man.
'I did as I always do.
I let the current have its way and did not think about myself at all. First the whirlpool pulled me down to the bottom, and then the water lifted me up to the surface again.
And suddenly I found that I could stay on the surface as if I was walking.'
Now why did I want to tell you this story?
I think it was because of a question that is continually perplexing us; whether there is a way to stop fighting with life and achieve serenity.