When we got to Nanjing, a friend showed us around and we stayed for a day. The next morning I had to take the ferry to Pukou so that I could catch the afternoon train to Beijing. My father had business to attended to so we had decided that there was no need for him to see me off. Yet he still asked a waiter he knew from the teahouse to go with me. He gave his detailed instructions to the waiter again and again. Yet, he still felt uneasy, worried that the waiter wouldn't do the job properly. He mulled over the situation, still unsure of what to do. I was actually already twenty that year, and I'd already travelled back and forth to Beijing quite few time, there really wasn't anything to worry about. Yet, he was still hesitating over what to do. Finally, he decided that he would see me off himself. I tried to tell him several times that he didn't need to come. He just kept saying: "no bother, it's no good them going".

The master said, 'At first, you were smug and you had too many goals. You were just like this kettle with too much water in it. Also, you didn't have enough firewood, so you couldn't bring your water to a boil. If you want to bring your water to a boil, you have to either pour out some of your water, or first prepare more firewood.'