Month: December 2023

一六七　活於真實

大師似乎非常珍惜自己的生命，活得極其充實；同時，當他責斥政府的暴虐，或率領弟子照顧蔓延傳染病的村民時，人人都看得出，他是在玩命。

「真正的智者對死亡一無所懼。」他曾說。

有囘，弟子問他：「一個人怎能如此輕易地交付自己的生命呢？」

「當天色已經破曉，有誰會躭心燭光將逝呢？」

REALITY

While the Master seemed to relish life and live it to the full he was also known to take
great risks, as when he condemned the tyranny of the government, thereby courting arrest
and death; and when he led a group of his disciples to serve a plague-stricken village.

“The wise have no fear of death.” he would say.

“Why would a man risk his life so easily?” he was once asked.

“Why would a person care so little about a candle being extinguished when day has
dawned?”

一六六　自我空虛

有個弟子為明心見性鍥而不捨，終致病倒床榻。大師說：「光明可以捕捉，但不是用手；見性也可以獲得，但不是用你的蠻力。」

弟子大惑不解：「你不是教我們應專致於自我空虛之道嗎？我正是照你的指示做啊！」

「所以你就拚着老命地空虛自己？！」大師大笑不止。

DISAPPEARANCE

To a disciple who strained after enlightenment till he became physically weak, the
Master said, “A ray of light can be grasped — but not with your hands. Enlightenment can
be attained — but not by your efforts.”

The puzzled disciple said. “But did you not tell me to strive to become empty? That is
what I am attempting to do.”

“So now you are full of effort to be empty!” said the Master through his laughter.

一六五　鳶飛魚躍

「什麼是一個人最高明的作為？」

「靜坐冥思。」

「可是我們很少看見大師自己靜坐冥思。他常在家務事及田裏來囘奔波，或是接待訪客，從事寫作等等。他甚至還負責整理寺內圖書這類瑣事呢！」

「你為什麼把所有時間都耗在工作上呢？」

「當一個人工作時，他未必不在靜坐冥思啊！」

CREATIVITY

“What is the highest act a person can perform?”

“Sitting in meditation.”

“But the Master himself was rarely seen to sit in meditation. He was ceaselessly
engaged in housework and fieldwork, in meeting people and writing books. He even took
up the book-keeping chores of the monastery.

“Why then do you spend all your time in work?”

“When one works one need not cease to sit in meditation.”

　一六四　回　歸

「一個人最高明的行動是什麼？」

「是靜坐冥思。」

「這不是導向無為嗎？」

「它是無為。」

「那麼無為勝有為囉？」

「無為是有為之動能。離開這源頭，所有的行為都是死的。」

SURRENDER

“What is the highest act a person can perform?”

“Sitting in meditation.”

‘’Wouldn’t that lead to inaction?”

“It is inaction.”

“Is action then inferior?”

“Inaction gives life to actions. Without it they are dead.”

一六三　

有位作家請大師一語道出現代世界的面貌。

大師毫不遲疑地說：「人們對於宇宙的知識愈來愈豐富，對於自我的認識却愈來愈淺。」

有個天文學家，他簡直被近代發現的天文奇觀震懾迷住了，大師立卽說：「宇宙內充滿了億萬奇妙的東西，恒星也好，電波球體也好，卽使是黑洞也好，最神奇的，莫過於自己了。」

SHALLOWNESS

A journalist one day asked the Master to name one thing that characterises the Modern
World.

The Master unhesitatingly replied, “People every day know more and more about the
Cosmos and less and less about themselves.”

And to an astronomer who held him spellbound with the wonders of modern
astronomy, the Master suddenly said, “Of all the millions of strange objects in the
universe — the black holes and quasars and pulsars — the strangest, unquestionably, is the
self!”

一六二　成　長

有個人常抱怨自己能力不足。大師說：「你的能力確實有限，可是你是否發現你今天已經能做十五年前你認為不可能做到的事情？究竟是什麼改變了？」

「我的才能改變了。」

「不對，是你改變了。」

「這不是同一囘事嗎？」

「不同，若你認定自己如此這般，你就是如此這般。當你的想法改變，你也就改變了。」

DEVELOPMENT

To a disciple who complained of his limitations, the Master said, “You are limited
indeed. But have you noticed you can do things today that you would have thought
impossible fifteen years ago? What changed?”

“My talents changed.”

“No. You changed.”

‘Isn’t that the same thing?”

“No. You are what you think you are. When your thinking changed, you changed.”

一六一　愚　昧

每當有人問起大師的開悟經驗，他總是沉默不語。但弟子們仍挖空心思想問出個名堂來。

他們所打聽出來的資料，只有一次：當大師的幼子問起他父親開悟時的感受，大師的答覆是：「一個笨蛋。」

當這孩子探問原因，大師答道：「這就好比一個人攀上梯子，搗爛窗戶，費九牛二虎之力爬進屋子之後－－才發現屋子的大門正敞着。」

INSANITY

On the question of his own enlightenment the Master always remained reticent, even
though the disciples tried every means to get him to talk.

All the information they had on this subject was what the Master once said to his
youngest son who wanted to know what his father felt when he became enlightened. The
answer was, “A fool.”

When the boy asked why the Master had replied. “Well, son, it was like going to great
pains to break into a house by climbing a ladder and smashing a window — and realizing
later that the door of the house was open.”

一六０　莽　撞

大師一向主張人必須向自己學習－－自我教育，而不應一味聽信他人的權威。這話有時也會出紕漏。有一位弟子因而堅持試用迷幻藥進入神秘境界，甚至說：「人應該冒險，因為人只能在嘗試及錯誤中學習。」

大師不能不再告訴他另一個故事－－釘子與螺絲：

「當你不知道在這木板上該用釘子或是螺絲時，有一個方法，就是釘個釘子進去。如果木板裂了，你就知道應該用螺絲才對。」

RECKLESSNESS

The Master always insisted that we must Seam by ourselves — teach ourselves — rather
than depend on other people’s authority. This had its limits, of course, as when a bright
young fellow was convinced he ought to try drugs as a means to mysticism — and “take
the risk, for one can only learn by trial and error.”

That moved the Master to tell the old story of the nail and the screw:

“Here is one way to find out whether what you need in a plank is a nail or a screw:
Drive the nail in. If it splits the plank — you kn ow you needed the screw.”

一五九　沉　着

「有沒有方法測出自己的定力？」

「有許多方式。」

「試擧一例。」

「只要省察一下，你在一天之內心靈激蕩起伏了多少次。」

SERENITY

“Are there ways for gauging one‘s spiritual strength?”

“Many.”

“Give us one.”

“Find out how often you become disturbed in the course of a single day.”

　一五八　判　斷

「我該如何寬恕別人？」

「如果你不曾定罪，你也無須寬恕。」

UDGEMENT

“How Shall I forgive others?”

“If you never condemned you would never need to forgive.”