Inspriration from all walks of life
一三八 友 善
「我该如何学习『爱邻人』？」
「不再恨自己。」
这位弟子反复认真的囘味此话，然后囘来禀告大师：「但是我发觉我过于爱护自己，因为我相当自私，且自我意识甚强。我该如何除去这些缺点？」
「对自己友善一点。当自我感到舒畅时，你就能自在地去『爱邻人』了。」
FRIENDLINESS
“What shall I do to love my neighbour?” “Stop hating yourself.”
The disciple pondered those words long and seriously and came back to say, “But I
love myself too much, for I am selfish and self-centred. How do I get rid of that?”
“Be friendly to yourself and your self will be contented and it will set you free to love
your neighbour.”
一三七 神 圣
有位传道人一再强调：「我们应当把天主放在我们的生活里。」
大师却说：「祂早就在那儿了，我们的责任只是认出这真相而已。」
HOLINESS
To a preacher who kept saying, “We must put God in our lives,” the Master said. “He
is already there. Our business is to recognize this.”
一三六 表 象
大师对任何新奇譁众之事都不屑一顾。他一再声明：真正的圣德常隐在平常心中。
听说大师曾向一位苦修近乎怪异的孩子说过这番话：「神圣是件奥秘，它愈伟大，却愈少受到人的注意。」
APPEARANCES
The Master always frowned on anything that seemed sensational. The divine, he
claimed, is only found in the ordinary.
To a disciple who was attempting forms of asceticism that bordered on the bizarre the
Master was heard to say, “Holiness is a mysterious thing: the greater it is the less it is
noticed.”
一三五 陶然自乐
「灵修能带给我什么好处？」一位酗酒者请教大师。
答复是：「不需醉酒，即能飘飘似神仙。」
CELEBRATION
“What would spirituality give me?” said an alcoholic to the Master
“Non-alcoholic intoxication.” was the answer.
一三四 根 器
「我该如何才能成圣？」一位访客前来探问。
「顺从你的心灵。」大师说。
访客听了满心喜悦。
但是在他离开前，大师却悄悄对他说：「要顺从心灵以前，你先得有一副健康硬朗的体质。」
BEING
“What must I do to attain holiness?” said a traveller.
“Follow your heart,” said the Master.
That seemed to please the traveller.
Before he left, however, the Master said to him in a whisper. “To follow your heart
you are going to need a strong constitution. 1 ”
一三三 服 务
大家都知道大师一向偏爱行动甚于退隐。但大师所强调的却是「悟境中」的行动。
弟子们探问「悟境」是何意，它是否即指「动机纯正」？
「绝不是。」大师道：「试想，当一只猴子把一尾鱼从溪流中救出来时，牠的动机何等纯正。」
SERVICE
The Master was known to favour action over withdrawal. But he always insisted on
“enlightened” action.
The disciples wanted to kn ow what “enlightened” meant. Did it mean “right-
intentioned”?
“Oh no.” said the Master, “Think how right-intentioned the monkey is when he lifts a
fish from the river to save it from a watery grave.”
一三二 虚 静
寺院里访客络绎不绝，难免人声喧扰，破坏了寺院的宁静。
弟子们为此闷闷不乐，大师仍然自得其乐，似无视于宁静或喧哗。
有一天，他告诉那羣满腹牢骚的弟子：「宁静并不是寂静无声，而是无我之境。」
EMPTINESS
Sometimes there would be a rush of noisy visitors and the silence of the monastery
would be shattered.
This would upset the disciples; not the Master who seemed just as content with the
noise as with the silence.
To his protesting disciples he said one day, “Silence is not the absence of sound, but
the absence of self.”
一三一 真 谛
一位云游者向弟子说：「我跋涉千里来听大师的训诲，可是我发觉他的言论相当稀松寻常嘛！」
「不要死盯着他的言词，注意他的言外之意。」
「怎样才能做到这点？」
「把他所说的，仔细用筛子筛去所有的字，所剩下的那一点，即足以点燃你的心灵。」
MEANING
Said a traveller to one of the disciples, “I have travelled a great distance to listen to the
Master but I find his words quite ordinary.”
“Don’t listen to his words. Listen to his message.”
‘How does one do that?”
“Take hold of a sentence that he says. Shake it well till all the words drop off. What is
left will set your heart on fire.”
一三０ 言语道断
「我们用来描述天主的每一个字或每幅图像，常扭曲了真相。」
「那么我们该如何谈论天主？」
「藉沉默来表达。」
「那你为什么还用言语？」
大师闻此，开怀大笑地说：「我说话时，千万不能注意我的言词。孩子，应注意聆听那无言的寂静啊！」
COMPREHENSION
“Every word, every image used for God is a distortion more than a description.”
“Then how does one speak of God?”
“Through silence.”
“Why then do you speak in words?”
At that the Master laughed uproariously. He said. “When I speak, you mustn’t listen to
the words, my dear. Listen to the silence.”
一二九 「我是」
「我希望看见天主。」
「你现在就在看祂了。」大师说。
「可是我为什么看不见？」
「你的眼睛可曾看见它自己？」大师问。
事后，大师解释道：「当我们要求天主显示自己，就好比要求一把刀子切开割自身，或要求一颗牙齿咬住自己一样。」
IDENTIFICATION
“I wish to see God.”
“You are looking at him right now,” said the Master.
“Then why do I not see him?”
“Why does the eye not see itself?” said the Master.
Later the Master explained: “As well ask a knife to cut itself or a tooth to bite itself as
ask that God reveal himself-”