Author: voice

一六三　

有位作家请大师一语道出现代世界的面貌。

大师毫不迟疑地说：「人们对于宇宙的知识愈来愈丰富，对于自我的认识却愈来愈浅。」

有个天文学家，他简直被近代发现的天文奇观震慑迷住了，大师立即说：「宇宙内充满了亿万奇妙的东西，恒星也好，电波球体也好，即使是黑洞也好，最神奇的，莫过于自己了。」

SHALLOWNESS

A journalist one day asked the Master to name one thing that characterises the Modern
World.

The Master unhesitatingly replied, “People every day know more and more about the
Cosmos and less and less about themselves.”

And to an astronomer who held him spellbound with the wonders of modern
astronomy, the Master suddenly said, “Of all the millions of strange objects in the
universe — the black holes and quasars and pulsars — the strangest, unquestionably, is the
self!”

一六二　成　长

有个人常抱怨自己能力不足。大师说：「你的能力确实有限，可是你是否发现你今天已经能做十五年前你认为不可能做到的事情？究竟是什么改变了？」

「我的才能改变了。」

「不对，是你改变了。」

「这不是同一囘事吗？」

「不同，若你认定自己如此这般，你就是如此这般。当你的想法改变，你也就改变了。」

DEVELOPMENT

To a disciple who complained of his limitations, the Master said, “You are limited
indeed. But have you noticed you can do things today that you would have thought
impossible fifteen years ago? What changed?”

“My talents changed.”

“No. You changed.”

‘Isn’t that the same thing?”

“No. You are what you think you are. When your thinking changed, you changed.”

一六一　愚　昧

每当有人问起大师的开悟经验，他总是沉默不语。但弟子们仍挖空心思想问出个名堂来。

他们所打听出来的资料，只有一次：当大师的幼子问起他父亲开悟时的感受，大师的答复是：「一个笨蛋。」

当这孩子探问原因，大师答道：「这就好比一个人攀上梯子，捣烂窗户，费九牛二虎之力爬进屋子之后－－才发现屋子的大门正敞着。」

INSANITY

On the question of his own enlightenment the Master always remained reticent, even
though the disciples tried every means to get him to talk.

All the information they had on this subject was what the Master once said to his
youngest son who wanted to know what his father felt when he became enlightened. The
answer was, “A fool.”

When the boy asked why the Master had replied. “Well, son, it was like going to great
pains to break into a house by climbing a ladder and smashing a window — and realizing
later that the door of the house was open.”

一六０　莽　撞

大师一向主张人必须向自己学习－－自我教育，而不应一味听信他人的权威。这话有时也会出纰漏。有一位弟子因而坚持试用迷幻药进入神秘境界，甚至说：「人应该冒险，因为人只能在尝试及错误中学习。」

大师不能不再告诉他另一个故事－－钉子与螺丝：

「当你不知道在这木板上该用钉子或是螺丝时，有一个方法，就是钉个钉子进去。如果木板裂了，你就知道应该用螺丝才对。」

RECKLESSNESS

The Master always insisted that we must Seam by ourselves — teach ourselves — rather
than depend on other people’s authority. This had its limits, of course, as when a bright
young fellow was convinced he ought to try drugs as a means to mysticism — and “take
the risk, for one can only learn by trial and error.”

That moved the Master to tell the old story of the nail and the screw:

“Here is one way to find out whether what you need in a plank is a nail or a screw:
Drive the nail in. If it splits the plank — you kn ow you needed the screw.”

一五九　沉　着

「有没有方法测出自己的定力？」

「有许多方式。」

「试擧一例。」

「只要省察一下，你在一天之内心灵激荡起伏了多少次。」

SERENITY

“Are there ways for gauging one‘s spiritual strength?”

“Many.”

“Give us one.”

“Find out how often you become disturbed in the course of a single day.”

　一五八　判　断

「我该如何宽恕别人？」

「如果你不曾定罪，你也无须宽恕。」

UDGEMENT

“How Shall I forgive others?”

“If you never condemned you would never need to forgive.”

一五七　避重就轻

有个访客向大师叙述一位圣人的事蹟。这位圣人想去拜访一位病危的朋友，却害怕赶夜路，所以命令太阳：「因上主之名，请你暂时驻留于天际，直到我赶到临危的朋友住处，才准西落。」太阳真的停止西沉，直到这位圣人抵达那村庄。

大师不禁失声而笑：「那位圣人如果能克服他对赶夜的恐惧，不是省事多了？」

EVASION

A visitor narrated the story of a saint who wanting to visit a dying friend and fearing to
travel by night, said to the sun. “In the Name of God stay on in the sky till I reach the
village where my friend lies dying.” And the sun stopped dead in the sky till the holy man
reached the village.

The Master smiled. “Would it not have been better for the holy man to overcome his
fear of travelling by night?” he said.

一五六　自　欺

「我们该如何分辨真假神秘家？」这位弟子特别热中于神祕宗教仪式。

「你怎么分辨一个人正在真睡或假寐？」大师反问。

「没有办法，只有假睡的人自己心里有数。」弟子说。

大师莞尔一笑。

然后大师又补充一句：「假寐者骗得了别人，却骗不了自己。不幸的是，假神秘家会连自己都蒙在鼓里。」

ECEPTION

“How shall we distinguish the true mystic from the false?” asked the disciples who
had an inordinate interest in the occult.

“How do you distinguish the true sleeper from the one who is feigning sleep?” asked
the Master.

“There’s no way. Only the sleeper knows when he is feigning.” said the disciples.

The Master smiled.

Later he said, “The feigning sleeper can delude others — he cannot delude himself.
The false mystic, unfortunately, can delude both others and himself.”

一五五　敬　畏

小镇边上住着一位瑜珈师，传说他能施行奇蹟。所以他的住处成为朝圣之地，挤满了求助的病患。

大师对这些奇蹟反应相当冷淡，从不答复有关瑜珈的问题。

当有人当面质询他，为何反对这些奇蹟，他答复道：「一个人怎会对眼前时时刻刻所发生的事，心怀敌对呢？」

WONDER

The Haji who lived at the outskirts of the town was said to perform miracles, so his
home was a centre of pilgrimage for large crowds of sick people.

The Master who was known to be quite uninterested in the miraculous, would never
reply to questions on the Haji.

When asked point blank why he was opposed to miracles, he replied, “How can one be
opposed to what is taking place before one’ s eyes each moment of the day?”

一五四　天　机

大师曾说过一个碗的故事。这是个价值连城的古董，成为拍卖会上的抢手货，然而谁知这个古董的主人原是一个飘泊街头的流浪汉，曾用此碗向人乞讨个几分钱度日，最后潦倒而终。

弟子问大师：这碗究竟象征什么？大师答道：「你自己。」

弟子等候着大师的解释。大师说：「你们的注意力总是放在由书本或是老师那儿收集来的不值几文的知识。如果你们能多注意自己手里所握的那只碗，你们才会真正进步。」

CONCEALMENT

The Master once told the story of a priceless antique bowl that fetched a fortune at a
public auction. It had been used by a tramp who ended his days in poverty, quite unaware
of the value of the bowl with which he begged for pennies.

When a disciple asked the Master what the bowl stood for, the Master said, “Your
self!”

Asked to elaborate, he said, “AH your attention is focussed on the penny-knowledge
you collect from books and teachers. You would do better to pay attention to the bowl in
which you hold it,”