Month: December 2023

　一二七　方生方死

今天是一位弟子的生日。

「你想要什麼做為生日禮物？」大師說。

「能促成我開悟的任何東西。」她說。

大師莞爾一笑：「想想看，我的孩子，當你誕生於世時，你好比穹蒼的一顆星子翩然降臨，還是如一片葉子由樹梢萎落？」

弟子冥思終日這奇怪的問題。終於，她豁然開朗而明心見性了。

ORIGINS

It was the disciple’s birthday.

“What do you want for a birthday gift?” said the Master.

“Something that would bring me enlightenment,” she said.

The Master smiled. “Tell me, my dear.” he said, “when you were born, did you come
into the world like a star from the sky or out of it like a leaf from a tree?”

All day long she pondered that strange question of the Master. Then she suddenly saw
the answer and fell into Enlightenment.

一二六　無言之教

「你的師父傳授你們什麼？」一位訪客前來探問。

「什麼也沒傳。」

「那麼他為什麼還給這許多開示？」

「他只點出方向，却不傳什麼。」

這位訪客聽了，百思莫解。於是此徒為他解析一番：「如果大師傳授我們某事，則我們就應努力去信解這些內容。但大師根本不在意我們信什麼－－他只關心我們真正認識了多少。」

NON - INSTRUCTION

“What does your Master teach?” asked a visitor.

“Nothing,” said the disciple.

“Then why does he give discourses?”

“He only points the way he teaches nothing.”

The visitor couldn’t make sense out of this, so the disciple made it clearer. “If the
Master were to teach we would make beliefs out of his teachings. The Master is not
concerned with what we believe — only with what we see.”

一二五　信　仰

大師引用亞里斯多德的名句訓誨弟子：「在追尋真理的途中，首要之務卽是捨棄自己所熟悉的一切。」他把「真理」二字改為「天主」。

不久，一位弟子稟告大師：「為追尋天主，我已決心放棄一切：財富、朋友、家人、國家，甚至犧牲生命，也在所不惜。除此之外，一個人還能捨棄什麼？」

大師平靜地答道：「他對天主的信念。」

這位弟子悲傷地離去。因他需要信念，他害怕無知甚於死亡。

BELIEF

The Master had quoted Aristotle; “in the quest of truth it would seem better and indeed
necessary to give up what is dearest to us.” And he substituted the word “God” for
“truth.”

Later a disciple said to him, “I am ready, in the quest for God, to give up anything:
wealth, friends, family, country, life itself. What else can a person give up?”

The Master calmly replied, “One’s beliefs about God.”

The disciple went away sad for he clung to his convictions. He feared “ignorance”
more than death.

一二四　信　理

有位訪客自稱，他已無庸追尋真理，因為他在自己的宗教信條裏已經找到了真理。大師說：

「從前有個學生，一直無法如願成為數學家，只因他一味相信數學課本後面所附的標準答案－－氣人的是，那些標準答案，竟然都正確無誤。」

DOCTRINE

To a visitor who claimed he had no need to search for Truth because he found it in the
beliefs of his religion, the Master said;

“There was once a student who never became a mathematician because he blindly
believed the answers he found at the back of his maths text book — and, ironically, the
answers were correct.”

一二三　痊　癒

有位失意的人前來大師處求助。大師問他：「你真的願意康復？」

「當然，要不然我怎會來找您？」

「你知道，大多數的人都不是真心求癒。」

「為什麼？」

「因為那要付出相當痛苦的代價。他們並不想康復，只想暫時解脫一下而已。」

大師藉此告訴弟子：「人們只想要一個由天而降，無須受苦的痊癒，就好像一般人只期待進步，却絲毫不願改變自己一樣。」

HEALING

To a distressed person who came to him for help, the Master said. “Do you really want
a cure?”

“If I did not would I bother to come to you?”

“Oh yes. Most people do.” “What for?”

“Not for a cure. That’s painful. For relief.”

To his disciples the Master said, “People who want a cure provided they can have it
without pain are like those who favour progress provided they can have it without
change.”

一二二　罪

大師的教誨中，最令人不安却又寬慰的一條，莫甚於此言了：天主離罪人遠比聖人要近得多。

他的解釋如下：高居天廷的天主以一條線與每個人聯繫。當你犯罪時，自斬此線，於是天主得打一個結，重新把線接好。如此，你自然被拖近祂一些。你每次犯罪，斬斷一次線，天主就需要多打一個結，使你愈來愈靠近祂。

SIN

One of the disconcerting — and delightful — teachings of the Master was: God is
closer to sinners than to saints.

This is how he explained it: God in heaven holds each person by a string. When you
sin you cut the string. Then God ties it up again, making a knot — and thereby bringing
you a little closer to him. Again and again your sins cut the string — and with each further
knot God keeps drawing you closer and closer.

一二一　祝　福

一個小雜貨商極其沮喪地到大師前訴苦，他的雜貨舖對面新開了一家龐大的連鎖商店，卽將壓垮他的生意。他們家世代經營這小舖子，已有百年的歷史，一旦失去它，就是絕路一條了，因為除了開店以外，他什麼也不會做。

大師說：「如果你對這連鎖店的老板心存畏懼，你就會仇視他，仇恨便成了你真正的絕路。」

「那麼我該怎麼辦？」這位雜貨商真是心慌意亂到極點。

「每天早上走出你的商店，在人行道上祝福你的商店生意興榮。然後轉過身去，也同樣地祝福那家連鎖商店。」

「什麼！祝福我的對手，那劊子手？」

「你所施予的任何祝福都會變成福氣，囘歸於你。你所給的任何詛咒，也同樣會將你自己導上絕路。」

六個月以後，這位雜貨商前來報告近況：正如他最初擔心的，他必須關門大吉；然而，他目前正負責經營那家連鎖店，而且生意比以前更好。

BENEVOLENCE

A grocer came to the Master in great distress to say that across the way from his shop
they had opened a large chain store that would drive him out of business. His family had
owned his shop for a century — and to lose it now would be his undoing, for there was
nothing else he was skilled at.

Said the Master, “If you fear the owner of the chain store, you will hate him. And
hatred will be your undoing.”

“What shall I do?” said the distraught grocer?

“Each morning walk out of your shop onto the sidewalk and bless your shop, wishing
it prosperity. Then turn to face the chain store and bless it too.”

“What? Bless my competitor and destroyer?”

“Any blessing you give him will rebound to your good. Any evil you wish him will
destroy you.”

After six months the grocer returned to report that he had had to close down his shop
as he had feared, but he was now in charge of the chain store and his affairs were in better
shape than ever before.

一二０　啟　示

鄰近寺院的僧侶們起內鬨，故前來大師處求請解紛。他們聽說大師有一絕招，能使任何團體保持和諧及互愛。

於是大師趁此機會揭示這個祕訣：「不論何時，當你和他人共處，或念及他人時，一定向自己說：我卽將死去，這人也快死了。然後利用最後的機會去體會一下自己口中之言的真實性。如果在座的每一位都願意修練這個方法，人際的尖酸刻薄就會消失，和諧慈悲自然興起。」

大師說完這番話，就離去了。

REVELATION

The monks of a neighbouring monastery asked the Master’s help in a quarrel that had
arisen among them. They had heard the Master say he had a technique that was
guaranteed to bring love and harmony to any group.

On this occasion he revealed it: “Any time you are with anyone or think of anyone you
must say to yourself I am dying and this person too is dying, attempting the while to
experience the truth of the words you are saying. If every one of you agrees to practise
this, bitterness will die out, harmony will arise.”

Having said that, he was gone.

一一九　思　想

一位哲學家問大師：「你為什麼這麼不信任人類的思想能力？思想是我們建造世界的工具。」

「不錯，正因為思想能有效地建造世界，以致於你再也無法見到真正的世界。」

大師事後告訴弟子：「思想好比一個螢幕，却非一面鏡子，所以你們才會被思想封閉在某個世界裏，而看不見真相。」

THOUGHT

“Why are you so wary of thought?” said the philosopher. “Thought is the only way we
have for organizing the world.”

“True. But thought can organize the world so well that you are no longer able to see
it.”

To his disciples he later said. “A thought is a screen, not a mirror; that is why you live
in a thought envelope, untouched by Reality.”

一一八　喧　擾

每天弟子們都以各種問題旁敲側擊地向大師請益，大師有時很嚴肅地答覆他們，有時很輕鬆地談笑。

有個弟子總是沉默不語地坐着聽完每個討論會。

當別人問她的感受，她說：「我幾乎一個字也沒聽進去，他的沉默讓我很分心。」

NOISE

Each day the Master would be inundated with questions that he would reply to
seriously, playfully, gently, firmly.

One disciple always sat through each session in silence.

When someone questioned her about it, she said, “I hardly hear a word he says. I am
too distracted by his silence.”