화룡점정 (Hwa Ryong Jum Jung) – 畵 그림 화 (painting). 龍 용 룡 (dragon). 點 점 찍을 점 (spot). 睛 눈동자 정 (pupil).
During the Liang Dynasty (modern day China), there lived a famous painter called Zhang Sengyao. It is said that he was such a skilled artist that his paintings were lifelike and almost like a photograph.
One day, a monk asked him to paint a mural of dragons on the wall of his temple. Zhang accepted and proceeded to draw four dragons rising through black clouds. The fluid motion of the body, armour-like scales, the ferocious and vivacious look of the dragons… the sheer scale and detail of the painting astounded everyone who gazed upon the painting. However, people noted that none of the dragons had eyes drawn in.
When asked why, Zhang simply replied: “If I draw in the eyes, the dragon will immediately burst out of the wall and fly off.” No one believed him and laughed at such an insane comment. After constant pressure from the people to do it, Zhang reluctantly lifted his brush and plotted a single black dot where the eye was to be.
Suddenly, lightning flashed and thunderclaps boomed out of the painting, from where a dragon emerged and proceeded to flash off into the sky. The people were speechless. The painting (minus the one dragon) still exists to this day.
To seek perfection is arrogance. This is a common mistake found in modern society, where people are too obsessed with becoming perfect and not see the beauty of imperfection.
