The father said to his son, “Leaving a fortune to one's son is not as good as teaching him a trade. The reason I'm so successful now is because of my skill in business. You ought to learn how to do business from me.” The son studied with his father, following in his footsteps and doing exactly as he was instructed, but without meddling in any matter that his father did not mention. Everyone praised them, saying, “Now that you have a son to carry on your trade, you, the father, can relax and enjoy yourself.” The father smiled and said, “Is that so? Then I'll let him try his hand at business.”

Lying on his sick bed , the father summoned his son and instructed, “I want you to go on a business trip for me. Since the weather is starting to get cold, you can sell the fur coats we bought in summertime for a good price. Then buy some paper fans and summer clothing at a low price and go south, and when the warm summer comes you'll be able to sell them for a good price. Remember to come back before next autumn, and buy some tea leaves on the way in Lingnan. Tea is cheaper in Lingnan because it's grown there. When the price of tea is high in wintertime, we can make a good sum.”

The son sold the fur coats and headed south. Where could he purchase paper fans and summer clothes? His father hadn't said. Along the way he passed through several cities and felt indecisive, but didn't stop. When he finally reached Lingnan, the place his father had mentioned, although it was in the middle of winter, it was still warmer than springtime in Jiangbei (north of the Yangzi River). Although people weren't wearing summer shirts or using paper fans, their price was not cheap. Nevertheless, the son went ahead and bought a large quantity of fans and summer cloth, which he planned to sell in the summer. But the weather in Lingnan turned warm even before the summer came, and soon all the people were wearing summer shirts and using paper fans. But the son followed his father's instructions and waited until summer to sell those things. By that time there was hardly any demand for them, and so when the weather started getting cold again he could only sell them to another merchant at a lower price than he had paid for them, and, following his father's instructions, quickly buy some tea leaves and head home.

His father, seeing that his son had lost a substantial amount of money, sighed and said, “You aren't cut out to be a businessman. Why don't you go and study with the carpenter.”

The carpenter showed him how to make a straight line with the ink cord. He showed him how to draw a circle with a ball of thread whose one end was fastened to a nail. He taught him how to saw wood, how to polish the surface, and how to make beautiful and useful cart wheels. Then the carpenter said, “Your work is pretty fine. Why don't you try your hand at making a large round table?” So the young man took the T-square and the compass and measured out the wood. When he reached a hard knot in the wood, he thought, “My teacher didn't tell me to work around knots; I'll just saw it off.” So although the table was round, that edge was not very smooth. When the master carpenter examined his work, he said, “Although I told you to make a round table, that's not an inflexible rule. Since you insisted on chopping off that knot, the pattern of the wood is not good and it's not possible to put nails there, so that part juts out.”

“But teacher, you didn't tell me about this…”

His teacher said, “If you knew how to reason, even if I didn't say anything, you should be able to figure out what to do from my instructions. If you don't use your own mind, then no matter what I say I wouldn't be able to teach you. I think you'd better go home.”

When the father found out why his son had returned, he said, “Even if your teacher could teach you everything, it's not for sure that an outstanding teacher could produce an outstanding student. Mencius said, ‘The carpenter and the cartwright can teach people how to use the compass and T-square, but they cannot give people their creative skill.' What your teacher said was right. In everything you do, you have to contemplate and understand with your own mind. Your teacher can only give you the tools and guidelines; he cannot teach you how to be clever and skillful. Haven't you heard the saying, ‘The teacher leads you in the door; you yourself have to do the practice'? How can you expect someone to tell you how to walk at every step in your life?”

Morals:
1. The basics can be taught verbally, but genuine understanding must be achieved in the mind.
2. Stubbornly sticking to the rules and not following the rules at all are both extremes. Going too far is just as bad as not going far enough.