Idiom Explanation:
It describes that as long as one has perseverance and is not afraid of suffering, one is sure to succeed.
Pronunciation:
纪昌学射
dāng wù zhī jí
Origin:
甘蝇，古之善射者，彀弓而兽伏鸟下。弟子名飞卫，学射于甘蝇，而巧过其师。纪昌者，又学射于飞卫。飞卫曰：“尔先学不瞬，而后可言射矣。”纪昌归，偃卧其妻之机下，以目承牵挺。
Story:
One day, a man named Ji Chang came to learn archery from Feiwei as his teacher. After Feiwei accepted Ji Chang as his disciple, he was really strict with him in learning archery!
When he first started to learn archery, Feiwei said to Ji Chang, “Do you really want to learn archery with me? You know you can’t learn the real skill without hard work.” Ji Chang said, “As long as I can learn archery, I am not afraid of suffering and I am willing to listen to my teacher’s instruction.” Then Feiwei said to Ji Chang, “You must first learn to look at the target without blinking, and only after you have done so can you talk about learning to shoot arrows.”
In order to learn archery, Ji Chang went home, lay on his back under his wife’s loom, and watched the shuttle go through and through with his eyes wide open. After two years of practice, his eyes would not blink even if someone pierced his eyelids with the tip of an awl. Kichang then packed his clothes, left his wife, and went to Feiwei to report.
After hearing about Ji Chang’s academic performance, Feiwei said to him, “You haven’t learned anything yet. To learn archery well, you must also practice your eyesight, until you can see very small things very big, and see vague and blurred things very clearly. When you have practiced until that time, come back to me.”
Ji Chang once again returned home, from the tail of the yak selected the thinnest hair, tied a small louse on one end of the hair, the other end of the hair hanging in the window of their own home, every day without turning his eyes to watch the small louse. After a hundred days, the louse became gradually larger; three years later, the louse tied to the lower end of the yak hair was as big as a wheel. When Ji Chang looked at the other things, they all became bigger, so big that they looked like a small mountain.
The arrow passed through the center of the louse, and the yak hair from which the louse was hanging was intact.
Ji Chang happily told Feiwei about this achievement. Feiwei danced with joy and said, “You have learned the mystery of archery!” Later, Ji Chang became a master archer.
