Inspriration from all walks of life
四九 荒 原
大师一向轻视学术论著，却称它们为「智慧之珠」。
「既然它们堪称为珍珠，为什么您还藐视它们？」弟子问。
答复是：「你可曾看过任何珍珠，种在土里，还能继续成长的？」
STERILITY
The Master had no use at all for scholarly discourses. He called them “pearls of
wisdom.”
“But if they are pearls why do you scorn them?” said the disciples.
“Have you ever known pearls to grow when planted in a field?” was the reply.
四八 反璞归真
「人的灵修生活可分三个阶段。」大师说：「物质的、精神的和神圣的。」
「什么是物质的阶段？」弟子们切切地问。
「这是看山是山，看水是水的阶段。」
「精神阶段呢？」
「当人观察事务鞭辟入里时，看山非山，看水非水。」
「神圣的阶段呢？」
「那是澈悟之境。」大师吃吃一笑：「当看山又是山，看水又是水之时。」
HOMECOMING
“There are three stages in one’s spiritual development,” said the Master. “The carnal,
the spiritual and the divine.”
“What is the carnal stage?” asked the eager disciples.”
“That’s the stage when trees are seen as trees and mountains as mountains.”
“And the spiritual?”
“That’s when one looks more deeply into things — then trees are no longer trees and
mountains no longer mountains.”
“And the divine?”
“Ah, that’s Enlightenment,” said the Master with a chuckle, “when trees become trees
again and mountains, mountains.”
四七 蒙 昧
弟子们正为何者是最难的事而激起热烈辩论：
是记录天主的启示（圣经）？
还是了解天主在圣经中的启示？
还是当人了解后，向他人解释圣经的启示？
他们问大师的意见。大师说：「我知道有比上述三件更难的事。」
「什么事？」
「想让一个死脑筋看出一件事的本来真相。」
DISTRACTION
A debate raged among the disciples as to which was the most difficult task of all: To
write down what God revealed as Scripture, to understand what God had revealed in
Scripture or to explain Scripture to others after One had understood it.
Said the Master, when asked his opinion, “I kn ow of a more difficult task than any of
those three.”
“What is it?”
“Trying to get you blockheads to see reality as it is.”
四六 和平手段
村里有条蛇，伤害了不少村民，以致村民都不敢下田。便到大师座前去祈求。听说大师驯服了这条蛇，还劝牠遵守和平规范。
没过多久，村民就发现这条蛇变温驯多了。他们拿石头丢牠，还抓着牠的尾巴到处跑。
有天晚上，蛇遍体鳞伤地爬到大师门口前怨叹不已。大师说：「朋友，你已经罩不住人类了－－那真遭！」
「那是你教我谨守和平规范的缘故啊！」
「我只是禁止你伤害人类，并没有禁止你张牙吐舌地吓唬他们啊！」
NON-VIOLENCE
A snake in the village had bitten so many people that few dared go into the fields.
Such was the Master’s holiness that he was said to have tamed the snake and persuaded it
to practise the discipline of non-violence.
It did not take long for the villagers to discover that the snake had become harmless.
They took to hurling stones at it and dragging it about by its tail.
The badly battered snake crawled into the Master’s house one night to complain. Said
the Master, “Friend, you’ve stopped frightening people — that’s bad!”
“But it was you who taught me to practise the discipline of non-violence!”
“I told you to stop hurting — not to stop hissing!”
四五 逃 避
大师生前即已成为传奇性人物。据说连天主都向他移樽就教：「我想和人类玩个躲迷藏的游戏。我问天使们：该藏在何处最为隐蔽？有些答说大海的深沟，有些则认为某个山顶，甚至还有建议我躲到其他星球上去的。你认为呢？」
大师说：「不必跑那么远了，就藏在人们的心里好了，那是他们最后才会想到的地方。」
ESCAPE
The Master became a legend in his lifetime. It was said that God once sought his
advice: “I want to play a game of hide-and-seek with humankind. I’ve asked my angels
what the best place is to hide in. Some say the depth of the ocean. Others the top of the
highest mountain. Others still the far side of the moon or a distant star. What do you
suggest?”
Said the Master, “Hide in the human heart. That’s the last place they will think of!”
四四 倚 赖
有个弟子过于信赖书本。大师告诉他：
「有个人到市场买菜，却把菜单掉了。后来又找到了，他欣喜若狂地读着菜单，直到买完菜前，他始终紧紧握着它－－然后就该像废纸一般把它丢到字纸篓去。」
DEPENDENCE
To a disciple who depended overmuch on books the Master said:
“A man came to the market with a shopping-list and lost it. When to his great joy he
found it again, he read it eagerly, held on to it till he had done his shopping — then threw
it away as a useless scrap of paper.”
四三 生死关头
有个弟子每天问同样的问题：「我怎样才能找到天主？」
每天他所得到的答复都是：「通过人的愿心。」
「我不是全心全意地渴望天主了吗？为什么我还没有找到？」
有天，大师正好和这位弟子在河里沐浴。他突然把弟子的头按进水里不放，任由这可怜的家伙在水里死命挣扎。
第二天，大师主动找他谈话：「当我把你的头按进水里，你为什么挣扎那么厉害？」
「因为我需要空气。」
「如果你渴求天主一如你寻找空气那般，你就会找到祂。」
SURVIVAL
Each day the disciple would ask the same question, “How shall I find God?”
And each day he would get the same mysterious answer, “Through desire.”
“But I desire God with all my heart, don’t I? Then why have I not found him?”
One day the Master happened to be bathing in the river with the disciple. He pushed
the man’s head under water and held it there while the poor fellow struggled desperately
to break loose
Next day it was the Master who began the conversation. “Why did you struggle so
when I held your head under water?”
“Because I was gasping for air.”
“When you are given the grace to gasp for God the way you gasped for air you will
have found him.”
四一 媒介
有人问一位弟子：「你为什么需要拜师？」
答复是：「如果水需要加温，在它与火之间总需要一个容器做为媒介吧！」
MEDIATION
“Why do you need a Master?” asked a visitor of one of the disciples.
“If water must be heated it needs a vessel as an intermediary between the fire and
itself,” was the answer.
四一 盲 从
「我能拜你为师吗？」
「若你闭着眼睛，永远只能当作别人的徒弟。直到有天你张开了眼睛，就会发觉，你不可能从我或任何人处学到任何东西。」
「那么师父又有何用？」
「只是让你明了：有个师父也无济于事。」
BLINDNESS
“May I become your disciple?”
“You are only a disciple because your eyes are closed. The day you open them you
will see there is nothing you can learn from me or anyone.”
“What then is a Master for?’
“To make you see the uselessness of having one.”
四０ 门 徒
有人前来拜师，大师说：「你不妨随我住下，但不要变成我的门徒。」
「那么我该跟随谁呢？」
「谁也别跟。一旦你跟随某人，就不再跟随那超然的真理了。」
DISCIPLESH1P
To a visitor who asked to become his disciple the Master said, “You may live with me
but don’t become my follower.”
‘Whom then shall I follow?”
“No one. The day you follow someone you cease to follow Truth.”