Inspriration from all walks of life
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-”
一二八 本来面目
一天，大师问：「你们认为，什么是最重要的宗教课题？」
他得到不少答案：
「天主存在吗？」
「天主是谁？」
「与天主沟通的途径？」
「人死后真得有永恒的生命吗？」
大师却说：「都不是，最重要的问题是：『我是谁？』」
直到有一天，弟子们在座听见大师与一位传道者的对话，才恍然了悟那番言论的深义：
大师：「那么，据你所说：你死后，你的灵魂会升天？」
传道者：「是的。」
大师：「你的身体葬在坟墓里？」
传道者：「是的。」
大师：「朋友，容我问一声：那么你在那里？」
EXPOSURE
One day the Master asked, “What, in your opinion, is the most important of all
religious questions?”
He got many answers: “Does God exist?” “Who is God?” “What is the path to God?”
“Is there a life after death?”
“No,” said the Master, “The most important question is: “Who am I?”
The disciples got some idea of what he was hinting at when they overheard him
talking to a preacher:
Master: “So then, according to you, when you die your soul will be in heaven?”
Preacher: “Yes.”
Master: “And your body will be in the grave?”
Preacher: “Yes.”
Master: “And where, may I ask, will you be?”
一二七 方生方死
今天是一位弟子的生日。
「你想要什么做为生日礼物？」大师说。
「能促成我开悟的任何东西。」她说。
大师莞尔一笑：「想想看，我的孩子，当你诞生于世时，你好比穹苍的一颗星子翩然降临，还是如一片叶子由树梢萎落？」
弟子冥思终日这奇怪的问题。终于，她豁然开朗而明心见性了。
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 无言之教
「你的师父传授你们什么？」一位访客前来探问。
「什么也没传。」
「那么他为什么还给这许多开示？」
「他只点出方向，却不传什么。」
这位访客听了，百思莫解。于是此徒为他解析一番：「如果大师传授我们某事，则我们就应努力去信解这些内容。但大师根本不在意我们信什么－－他只关心我们真正认识了多少。」
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
大师引用亚里斯多德的名句训诲弟子：「在追寻真理的途中，首要之务即是舍弃自己所熟悉的一切。」他把「真理」二字改为「天主」。
不久，一位弟子禀告大师：「为追寻天主，我已决心放弃一切：财富、朋友、家人、国家，甚至牺牲生命，也在所不惜。除此之外，一个人还能舍弃什么？」
大师平静地答道：「他对天主的信念。」
这位弟子悲伤地离去。因他需要信念，他害怕无知甚于死亡。
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
有位访客自称，他已无庸追寻真理，因为他在自己的宗教信条里已经找到了真理。大师说：
「从前有个学生，一直无法如愿成为数学家，只因他一味相信数学课本后面所附的标准答案－－气人的是，那些标准答案，竟然都正确无误。」
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.”