Inspriration from all walks of life
一八八 無 心
他們師徒一行在外野餐。大師說：「你們想要知道開悟的生活像什麼嗎？看看那些鳥兒飛過湖面。」
每個人都定睛瞧時，大師發言了：
「牠們投影在水面上，却是如此無心，而湖水也不會戀戀不捨這份際遇。」
INNOCENCE
When out on a picnic the Master said. “Do you want to kn ow what the enlightened life
is like? Look at those birds flying over the lake.”
While everyone watched, the Master exclaimed:
“They cast a reflection on the water that they have no awareness of — and the lake has
no attachment to.”
一八七 默 觀
大師常說，唯有沉默能使人潛移默化。
但他從不解釋這沉默是什麼。若有人問他，他只是笑笑，然後豎起食指緊貼在他緊閉的嘴唇上，使弟子們更是丈二和尚摸不着頭腦。
某天，有人問：「人如何才能達到你所說的沉默境界呢？」他才洩漏了一點兒天機。
大師說的這般簡單，令弟子們不得不察看他的臉色，看看他是否開玩笑。他却一本正經地說：「不論你在何處，仔細地看，雖然外界並無一物；仔細地聽，雖然外界寂靜無聲。」
CONTEMPLATION
The Master would often say that Silence alone brought transformation.
But no one could get him to define what Silence was. When asked he would laugh,
then hold his forefinger up against his tightened lips — which only increased the
bewilderment of his disciples.
One day there was a breakthrough when someone asked. “And how is one to arrive at
this Silence that you speak of?”
The Master said something so simple that his disciples studied his face for a sign that
he might be joking. He wasn’t. He said. “Wherever you may be, look when there is
apparently nothing to see; listen when all is seemingly quiet.”
一八六 顯 露
每有新來弟子投入門下，大師的初步教義總不外乎：
「你可知道有一個人，他永不摒棄你直至你嚥下最後一口氣？」
「他是誰？」
「就是你。」
「你可知道你所有的問題的答案嗎？」
「是什麼？」
「就是你。」
「你能猜出你所有的困難的解決辦法嗎？」
「我不猜了！」
「就是你。」
MANIFESTATION
When a new disciple carne to the Master, this is the catechism he was usually
subjected to:
“Do you know the one person who will never abandon you in the whole of your
lifetime?”
“Who is it?” “You.”
“And do you know the answer to every question you may have?”
“What is it?” “You.”
“And can you guess the solution to every one of your problems?”
“I give up.” “You.”
一八五 明心見性
大師同時強調知識及智慧二者。
他曾如此答覆：「知識是來自讀書或聆聽演說。」
「智慧呢？」
「是來自閱讀你自己這本書。」
他又加上一句妙言：「這可不是一件容易的工作呵！因為這本書每分鐘都在增訂當中。」
ENLIGHTENMENT
The Master was an advocate both of learning and of Wisdom.
“Learning.” he said when asked, “is got by reading books or listening to lectures.”
“And Wisdom?”
“By reading the book that is you.”
He added as an afterthought: “Not an easy task at all, for every minute of the day
brings a new edition of the book!”
一八四 偉 大
大師感嘆地說：「這世界的問題都是出自於人類不肯長大。」
「如何才算長大了呢？」弟子問。
「直到有一天他不必為任何原因說謊。」
GREATNESS
“The trouble with the world.” said the Master with a sigh, “is that human beings refuse
to grow up.”
“When can a person be said to have grown up?” asked a disciple.
“On the day he does not need to be lied to about anything.”
一八三 琴瑟合鳴
有個人的婚姻發生問題，前來請益，大師說：「你應該學習聽從你的妻子。」
這人老實地遵照指示行事。一個月後他囘覆大師：他已學會聽從他老婆的每一句話了。
大師微笑着說：「現在，你囘去聽從你老婆沒有說出來的每個字。」
AT-ONE-MENT
When a man whose marriage was in trouble sought his advice, the Master said. “You
must leam to listen to your wife.”
The man took this advice to heart and returned after a month to say that he had learnt
to listen to every word his wife was saying.
Said the Master with a smile, “Now go home and listen to every word she isn’t
saying.”
一八二 宗教制裁
有天，一位門徒提到釋迦、耶穌及默罕穆德在世時，都被當代人列為強盜或異端之輩。
大師說：「除非有上千個忠誠信徒同聲指認他為褻聖者，否則他還不配自視得到至高的真理。」
PERSECUTION
A disciple was one day recalling how Buddha. Jesus, Mohammed were branded as
rebels and heretics by their contemporaries.
Said the Master, “Nobody can be said to have attained the pinnacle of Truth until a
thousand sincere people have denounced him for blasphemy.”
一八一 無 限
大師幾乎絕口不論天主或是神聖的事情。他說：「對於天主，我們只知道，我們所知道的一切簡直微不足道。」
有一天，他提到一位想盡辦法要拜他為師的人：「他來到我門下學習，結果他什麼也沒學到。」
只有少數門徒明瞭：大師所要教的，是無法學的，也無法教。所以人們確實無法從他那裏學到什麼。
INFINITY
It was impossible to get the Master to speak of God or of things divine. “About God.”
he said, “we can only know that what we know is nothing.”
One day he told of a man who deliberated long and anxiously before embarking on
discipleship. “He came to study under me; with the result that he leamt nothing.”
Only a few of the disciples understood: What the Master had to teach could not be
leamt. Nor taught. So all one could really learn from him was nothing.
一八０ 反 對
開創風氣者常飽經他人評論而受盡挫折。大師說：「仔細聽取批評的內容，那可能正是你的朋友難以啟齒的。」
他又說：「不要被那些批評打垮。你要知道，自古沒有人為批評家雕塑銅像的。被塑像的常是那些飽受批評的人。」
OPPOSITION
To a pioneering spirit who was discouraged by frequent criticism the Master said,
“Listen to the words of the critic. He reveals what your friends hide from you.”
But he also said. “Do not be weighed down by what the critic says. No statue was ever
erected to honour a critic. Statues are for the criticized.”
一七九 人性弱點
大師教給那些爭吵不休的夫妻一個無爭之道。
他說：「你只能向對方要求他施予恩惠，不能視此為你應有的權益。」
紛爭立卽中止。