Inspriration from all walks of life
「我该怎么做，才能明心见性？」
「就如同你无法使旭日东升，对于至高的悟境，你也一无所能。」
「那您所教导的修持方法又有何用？」
「只是让你在旭日东升的那一刻，别睡着了。」
VIGILANCE
“Is there anything I can do to make myself Enlightened?”
“As little as you can do to make the sun rise in the morning.”
“Then of what use are the spiritual exercises you prescribe?”
“To make sure you are not asleep when the sun begins to rise.”
在大师的禁语日，一位过客来访，央求大师赐予智慧之言，作为他人生旅程的座右铭。
大师温煦地点点头，拿出一张纸，写上一个字：「觉。」
访客感到困惑。「这未免太简短了吧！能否请您再申述一下？」
大师取囘那张纸，再加上二字：「觉，觉，觉。」
「这些字究竟什么意思？」访客困窘地问。
大师再度俯身加上几个字：「觉，觉，觉，意思就是觉。」
SPIRITUALITY
Even though it was the Master’s Day of Silence a traveller begged for a word of
wisdom that would guide him through life’s journey.
The Master nodded affably, took a sheet of paper and wrote a single word on it:
“Awareness.
The visitor was perplexed. “That’s too brief. Would you please expand on it a bit?”
The Master took the paper back and wrote: “Awareness, awareness, awareness.”
“But what do these words mean?” said the stranger helplessly.
The Master reached out for the paper and wrote: “Awareness, awareness, awareness
means AWARENESS.”
一位足经此地的政府首长，前来向大师致敬。
「我政事繁忙，无暇听受长篇大论的开示。」他说：「你能为我这类忙人，把宗教的精髓浓缩成一句话吗？」
「为了满全大人的愿望，我将它浓缩成一个词。」
「不可思议！这玄妙的词是什么？」
「静默。」
「如何达到静默。」
「静观。」
「我能再问：什么是静观？」
「静默。」
RELIGION
The Governor on his travels stepped in to pay homage to the Master.
“Affairs of State leave me no time for lengthy dissertations,” he said. “Could you put
the essence of religion into a paragraph or two for a busy man like me?”
“I shall put it into a single word for the benefit of Your Highness.”
“Incredible! What is that unusual word?”
“Silence.”
“And what is the way to Silence?”
“Meditation.”
“And what, may I ask, is meditation?”
“Silence.”
当一位弟子正在静坐祈祷，大师拿着一块砖，死劲地在地上磨。
起初，这位弟子把它当作考验自己专心的试炼，而欣慰地接受。然而，噪音愈来愈尖锐，他终于耐不住性子，大吼：「老天，你究竟在干什么？难道你没看见我正在祈祷静坐吗？」
大师静静地说：「我想把这块砖磨成一面镜子。」
「你疯了！砖里怎能磨得出镜子来？」
「彼此彼此，在自我内心又怎能生出真正的静观者？」
ABSURDITY
The Master kept scraping a brick against the floor of the room where his disciple sat in
meditation.
At first the disciple was content, taking this to be a test of his powers of concentration.
But when the sound became unbearable he burst out, “What on earth are you doing?
Can’t you see I am in meditation?”
“I’m polishing this brick to make a mirror out of it,” said the Master.
“You’re crazy! How can you make a mirror out of a brick?”
“No crazier than you! How can you make a mediator out of the self?”
「如何才能经验到我与万物本是一体？」
「聆听。」大师道。
「我该如何聆听？」
「把自己化作一只耳朶，留神于一事一物中宇宙所通传的玄音。若你所听到的是你内心的独白，应立即中止它的喋喋不休。」
SENSITIVITY
“How shah I experience my oneness with creation?”
“By listening,” said the Master.
“And how am I to listen?”
“Become an ear that gives heed to every single thing the universe is saying. The
moment you hear something you yourself are saying, stop.”
有个弟子终日沉浸在祈祷中。大师对他说：「什么时候你才会自立，而不处处黏着天主不放？」
弟子闻之愕然：「您不常教导我们应仰赖天主如父一般？」
「你什么时候才会懂得：『父亲』并不是让你倚赖的一样东西，他只是帮助你驱除内心倚赖他物的习性而已。」
ADULTHOOD
To a disciple who was always at his prayers the Master said, “When will you stop
leaning on God and stand on your own two feet?”
The disciple was astonished. “But you are the one who taught us to look on God as
Father!”
“When will you learn that a father isn’t someone you can lean on but someone who
rids you of your tendency to lean?”
有一人，不惜翻山越岭，前来查证大师的显赫事蹟。
「你的师父曾行过什么奇蹟？」他像大师的一位弟子查询。
「嗯……世上有各式各样的奇蹟。只是在你的家乡，把天主满全某人的心愿视为奇蹟；在我们这里，当人们承行天主的旨意时，我们视为奇蹟。」
MIRACLES
A man traversed land and sea to check for himself the Master’s extraordinary fame.
“What miracles has your Master worked?” he said to a disciple.
“Well, there are miracles and miracles. In your land it is regarded as a miracle if God
does someone’s will. In our country it is regarded as a miracle if someone does the will of
God.”
大师常用比喻或故事来启发弟子，他们听得津津有味。有时却感到不满，因他们渴望更深的真理。
大师对他们的不满，充耳不闻，仅提醒他们：「孩子们，你们还不了解：人类与真理间最短的距离就是故事。」
他又曾说过：「不要低估了故事的作用。俗语说得好：『一分钱的蜡烛可以找到一个遗失的金币』；一个简单的故事常会道出最深的真理。」
MYTHS
The Master gave his teaching in parables and stories which his disciples listened to
with pleasure — and occasional frustration, for they longed for something deeper.
The Master was unmoved. To all their objections he would say, “You have yet to
understand, my dears, that the shortest distance between a human being and Truth is a
story.”
Another time he said. “Do not despise the story. A lost gold coin is found by means of
a penny candle; the deepest truth is found by means of a simple story.”