The story: a farmer in Song saw a rabbit die after running into a stump, took it home free, and then gave up his plough to wait by the stump every day. No more rabbits came, his fields went to waste, and he became a laughing stock.
Moral: mistaking luck for law, hoping for gains without effort; the idiom mocks those who wait for windfalls and cling to old experience.
Example: there is no shortcut to success; do not wait by the stump - go after opportunities.
Related: getting something for nothing, reaping without sowing, and marking the boat to find a lost sword (another "rigid thinking" idiom).
In English: wishful thinking / waiting for manna from heaven.
Source: from Han Feizi, arguing against ruling the present by the ways of the ancient kings.
The tale: a Song farmer working his field sees a rabbit die hitting a tree; he gains cheaply.
From then on he puts down his hoe, waiting daily by the stump. No rabbit comes; the field wastes.
From Han Feizi, a small tale with a big truth: the accidental is not the inevitable; luck is not ability.
"Shǒu zhū dài tù" means: treating accidental luck as a law, wanting gain without effort; or clinging to old experience without adapting.
Today it criticises "lying-flat" mentality - no effort, only waiting for chances; and empiricism - times change, old ways remain.
It reminds us: opportunity favours the prepared. Rather than guarding a stump, till your own field.
For learners it reminds: language has no shortcut; daily accumulation is the "inevitable".
Remember: a rabbit hitting a tree is accidental; diligent farming is the inevitable. Want harvest? Pay first.
In the internet age it has a new version: some turn "waiting" into a habit - waiting for chances, for helpers, for pie.
But every success story says the same: luck visits those who keep moving. If you do not move, chances pass you by.
So from today, be a "mover": learn something new, try something hard, walk an untrodden path. When you take initiative, luck comes.
It also describes those with many ideas and few actions. Many write dreams in notebooks, paste plans on walls, then go "stump-waiting". Those who realise dreams start the same day. A poem: "a thousand-mile journey begins with one step." So do not be the rabbit-waiter - take the first step now. Your first step is the shortest distance between you and your dream.
The greatest regret is not "no rabbit" but "no start". From today, replace "wait" with "do" - you will find your life a hundred times more wonderful than that farmer.
One-sentence summary: rather than wait for the wind, chase it. An active life is always more brilliant than a waiting one.
Set out now - your "field" awaits your till.
