Inspriration from all walks of life
一九六 操 縱
大師坐在那兒聽一位婦女抱怨她的丈夫。
最後，大師說：「孩子，如果你能做一個好妻子的話，你的婚姻就可以算是相當幸福了。」
「那，我該如何做呢？」
「別在拚命想把你先生改造為一個好丈夫。」
MANIPULATION
The Master sat through the complaints a woman had against her husband.
Finally he said, “Your marriage would be a happier one my dear, if you were a better
wife.”
“And how could I be that?”
“By giving up your efforts to make him a better husband.”
一九五 豪氣干雲
有天，弟子們想知道，那一類的人才適合投入大師門下。
大師說：「有一種人，他只有兩件襯衫，卻賣了一件，用這錢買了一朶花。」
EXTRAVAGANCE
One day the disciples wanted to know what sort of person was best suited to
discipleship.
Said the Master, “The kind of person who, having only two shirts, sells one and with
the money buys a flower-”
一九四 祈 禱
大師總喜歡反駁一般人所接受的天主的槪念。
「當天主把你從困境中解救出來，你才會想到尋求真實的天主。」
弟子要求大師解釋此言之意。大師說了一個故事：
有個人上街購物，把一輛全新的腳踏車停放在市場邊。直到第二天，他才想起他的腳踏車。衝到市場時，以為那腳踏車一定被人偷走了。然而那腳踏車卻安然無恙地停在原處。
他高興地跑到附近聖堂內感謝天主保全了他的腳踏車。當他走出聖堂，卻發現腳踏車不見了。
PRAYER
The Master never ceased to attack the notions about God that people entertain.
“if your God comes to your rescue and gets you out of trouble,” he would say. “It is
time you started searching for the true God.
When asked to elaborate, this is the story he told: -
A man left a brand new bicycle unattended at the marketplace while he went about his
shopping.
He only remembered the bicycle the following day — and rushed to the marketplace
expecting it would have been stolen. The bicycle was exactly where he had left it.
Overwhelmed with joy he rushed to a nearby temple to thank God for having kept his
bicycle safe — only to find, when he got out of the temple, that the bicycle was gone!
一九三 過猶不及
一位充滿狂熱的弟子一心想去教導別人「真理」，前來徵求大師的意見。大師只說：「等一等。」
每年這位弟子都提出同樣的請求，而每年大師的答覆都是：「等一等。」
有一天，他終於忍不住質問大師：「究竟要等到什麼時候我才夠格去教導別人？」
大師說：「當你一心想為人師的狂熱消退以後。」
AGGRESSION
A zealous disciple expressed a desire to teach others the Truth and asked the Master
what he thought about this. The Master said, “Wait.”
Each year the disciple would return with the same request and each time the Master
would give him the same reply: “Wait.”
One day he said to the Master, “When will I be ready to teach?’
Said the Master, “When your excessive eagerness to teach has left you.”
一九二 隨機施教
有位訪客滿懷期待而來，卻對大師的一般陳腔老調頗感失望。
他向一位門人吐訴：「我不惜跋涉千里，只為一訪名師，卻發現他與凡人並無二致。」
這位門人答覆他說：「師父好比一個鞋匠，雖然擁有取之不盡的皮貨，但他的責任，只能按照你腳的尺寸，加以裁剪縫製而已。」
PROPORTION
A visitor who was full of expectations was unimpressed by the commonplace words
the Master addressed to him.
“I came here in quest of a Master.” he said to a disciple. “All I find is a human being
no different from the others.”
Said the disciple, “The Master is a shoemaker with an infinite supply of leather. But he
does the cutting and stitching in accordance with the dimension of your foot. “
一九一 猜 忌
有位訪客請教大師如何分辨師父的真偽。大師簡單地答覆說：「如果你自己是不可欺的，就沒有人能欺騙得了你。」
事後，大師向弟子說：「為什麼求道者總是假定自己正直無欺，而百般試探師父的正直與否？」
SUSPICION
To a traveller who asked how he could tell a true Master from a false one, the Master
said shortly, “If you are not yourself deceitful you will not be deceived.”
To his disciples the Master later said, “Why do seekers assume that they themselves
are honest and all they need is a test to detect deceit in Masters?”
一九０ 寂 滅
「我要在祈禱中與天主同在。」
「你所想要的實在荒謬。」
「為什麼？」
「因為每當你在時，天主就消失；每當天主臨在，你必然消失。所以你怎能與天主同在？」
大師接着又說：
「追尋孤獨吧！不論你與何人同在，你就不是獨處。當你與天主同在，你也不算獨處。想要與天主同在，唯一的方法卽是徹底的獨處。那麼，但願天主臨在而你消融於其中了。」
SOLITUDE
“I want to be with God in prayer.”
“What you want is an absurdity.”
“Why?”
“Because whenever you are, God is not: Whenever God is, you are not. So how could
you be with God?”
Later the Master said:
“Seek aloneness. When you are with someone else you are not alone. When you are
with God ‘you are not alone.
The only way to really be with God is to be utterly alone.
Then, hopefully, God will be and you will not.”
一八九 藝 術
「師父究竟有何用處？」有人問。
弟子答覆：「他教你一些你早已知道的事情，向你指示，你終日視而不見的現象。」
問道者不解其意。這位弟子又說了：
「一位藝術家用他的畫教我如何欣賞日落景色。大師以他的開示教我認識生活中每一剎那的真相。」
ART
“Of what use is a Master?” someone asked.
Said the disciple, “To teach you what you have always known, to show you what you
are always looking at.”
When this confused the visitor, the disciple exclaimed:
“An artist, by his paintings, taught me to see the sunset. The Master, by his teachings,
taught me to see the reality of every moment.”
一八八 無 心
他們師徒一行在外野餐。大師說：「你們想要知道開悟的生活像什麼嗎？看看那些鳥兒飛過湖面。」
每個人都定睛瞧時，大師發言了：
「牠們投影在水面上，卻是如此無心，而湖水也不會戀戀不捨這份際遇。」
INNOCENCE
When out on a picnic the Master said. “Do you want to kn ow what the enlightened life
is like? Look at those birds flying over the lake.”
While everyone watched, the Master exclaimed:
“They cast a reflection on the water that they have no awareness of — and the lake has
no attachment to.”
一八七 默 觀
大師常說，唯有沉默能使人潛移默化。
但他從不解釋這沉默是什麼。若有人問他，他只是笑笑，然後豎起食指緊貼在他緊閉的嘴唇上，使弟子們更是丈二和尚摸不着頭腦。
某天，有人問：「人如何才能達到你所說的沉默境界呢？」他才洩漏了一點兒天機。
大師說的這般簡單，令弟子們不得不察看他的臉色，看看他是否開玩笑。他卻一本正經地說：「不論你在何處，仔細地看，雖然外界並無一物；仔細地聽，雖然外界寂靜無聲。」
CONTEMPLATION
The Master would often say that Silence alone brought transformation.
But no one could get him to define what Silence was. When asked he would laugh,
then hold his forefinger up against his tightened lips — which only increased the
bewilderment of his disciples.
One day there was a breakthrough when someone asked. “And how is one to arrive at
this Silence that you speak of?”
The Master said something so simple that his disciples studied his face for a sign that
he might be joking. He wasn’t. He said. “Wherever you may be, look when there is
apparently nothing to see; listen when all is seemingly quiet.”