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一九二　随机施教

有位访客满怀期待而来，却对大师的一般陈腔老调颇感失望。

他向一位门人吐诉：「我不惜跋涉千里，只为一访名师，却发现他与凡人并无二致。」

这位门人答复他说：「师父好比一个鞋匠，虽然拥有取之不尽的皮货，但他的责任，只能按照你脚的尺寸，加以裁剪缝制而已。」

PROPORTION

A visitor who was full of expectations was unimpressed by the commonplace words
the Master addressed to him.

“I came here in quest of a Master.” he said to a disciple. “All I find is a human being
no different from the others.”

Said the disciple, “The Master is a shoemaker with an infinite supply of leather. But he
does the cutting and stitching in accordance with the dimension of your foot. “

　一九一　猜　忌

有位访客请教大师如何分辨师父的真伪。大师简单地答复说：「如果你自己是不可欺的，就没有人能欺骗得了你。」

事后，大师向弟子说：「为什么求道者总是假定自己正直无欺，而百般试探师父的正直与否？」

SUSPICION

To a traveller who asked how he could tell a true Master from a false one, the Master
said shortly, “If you are not yourself deceitful you will not be deceived.”

To his disciples the Master later said, “Why do seekers assume that they themselves
are honest and all they need is a test to detect deceit in Masters?”

一九０　寂　灭

「我要在祈祷中与天主同在。」

「你所想要的实在荒谬。」

「为什么？」

「因为每当你在时，天主就消失；每当天主临在，你必然消失。所以你怎能与天主同在？」

大师接着又说：

「追寻孤独吧！不论你与何人同在，你就不是独处。当你与天主同在，你也不算独处。想要与天主同在，唯一的方法即是彻底的独处。那么，但愿天主临在而你消融于其中了。」

SOLITUDE

“I want to be with God in prayer.”

“What you want is an absurdity.”

“Why?”

“Because whenever you are, God is not: Whenever God is, you are not. So how could
you be with God?”

Later the Master said:

“Seek aloneness. When you are with someone else you are not alone. When you are
with God ‘you are not alone.

The only way to really be with God is to be utterly alone.

Then, hopefully, God will be and you will not.”

一八九　艺　术

「师父究竟有何用处？」有人问。

弟子答复：「他教你一些你早已知道的事情，向你指示，你终日视而不见的现象。」

问道者不解其意。这位弟子又说了：

「一位艺术家用他的画教我如何欣赏日落景色。大师以他的开示教我认识生活中每一刹那的真相。」

ART

“Of what use is a Master?” someone asked.

Said the disciple, “To teach you what you have always known, to show you what you
are always looking at.”

When this confused the visitor, the disciple exclaimed:

“An artist, by his paintings, taught me to see the sunset. The Master, by his teachings,
taught me to see the reality of every moment.”

一八八　无　心

他们师徒一行在外野餐。大师说：「你们想要知道开悟的生活像什么吗？看看那些鸟儿飞过湖面。」

每个人都定睛瞧时，大师发言了：

「牠们投影在水面上，却是如此无心，而湖水也不会恋恋不舍这份际遇。」

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　观

大师常说，唯有沉默能使人潜移默化。

但他从不解释这沉默是什么。若有人问他，他只是笑笑，然后竖起食指紧贴在他紧闭的嘴唇上，使弟子们更是丈二和尚摸不着头脑。

某天，有人问：「人如何才能达到你所说的沉默境界呢？」他才泄漏了一点儿天机。

大师说的这般简单，令弟子们不得不察看他的脸色，看看他是否开玩笑。他却一本正经地说：「不论你在何处，仔细地看，虽然外界并无一物；仔细地听，虽然外界寂静无声。」

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　显　露

每有新来弟子投入门下，大师的初步教义总不外乎：

「你可知道有一个人，他永不摒弃你直至你咽下最后一口气？」

「他是谁？」

「就是你。」

「你可知道你所有的问题的答案吗？」

「是什么？」

「就是你。」

「你能猜出你所有的困难的解决办法吗？」
「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　明心见性

大师同时强调知识及智慧二者。

他曾如此答复：「知识是来自读书或聆听演说。」

「智慧呢？」

「是来自阅读你自己这本书。」

他又加上一句妙言：「这可不是一件容易的工作呵！因为这本书每分钟都在增订当中。」

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　伟　大

大师感叹地说：「这世界的问题都是出自于人类不肯长大。」

「如何才算长大了呢？」弟子问。

「直到有一天他不必为任何原因说谎。」

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　琴瑟合鸣

有个人的婚姻发生问题，前来请益，大师说：「你应该学习听从你的妻子。」

这人老实地遵照指示行事。一个月后他囘覆大师：他已学会听从他老婆的每一句话了。

大师微笑着说：「现在，你囘去听从你老婆没有说出来的每个字。」

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.”