9. Prayer
9. 祈禱

Why Pray?
為何祈禱？

Often mankind thinks, “Since God is the knower of the heart of every man, what does it matter if prayer is recited and gesture or action made? Would it not be sufficient if one sat in silence and thought of God?” And the answer is that it is according to the extent of your consciousness of prayer that your prayer reaches God. If your body is silent and only your mind working, part of your being is praying and part is not, for you are constituted of both mind and body. Therefore, when the mind is praying the body must pray too, to make it complete.

人常常會想：「既然神知道每一個人的心，那麼，是否誦出祈禱文、做出祈禱的姿勢或行動，又有什麼要緊？一個人若只是安靜地坐著想著神，難道還不夠嗎？」答案是：你的祈禱能抵達神，取決於你整個存在有多少投入祈禱之中。若你的身體靜止不動，只有頭腦在運作，那麼你的一部分正在祈禱，另一部分卻沒有，因為你的存在同時由頭腦與身體構成。因此，當頭腦祈禱時，身體也必須一起祈禱，祈禱才會完整。

In reality God is within you, and as He is within you, you are the instrument of God and through you God experiences the external world and you are the best instrument of conveying yourself to God. Therefore your thought, action and word makes prayer complete.

事實上，神就在你之內；正因祂在你之內，你就是神的工具，神透過你經驗外在世界，而你也是將自己傳達給神最好的工具。因此，你的思想、行動與言語，共同使祈禱完整。

Then there is another idea. The next question is, when God already knows what we want, what is good for us, what we need, why should we ask Him for it? He knows it. For this in the first place I would quote Christ’s words:

接著還有另一個問題：既然神早已知道我們想要什麼、什麼對我們有益、我們需要什麼，那麼我們為什麼還要向祂祈求？祂本來就知道。對此，我首先要引用基督的話：

“Knock, and it shall be opened unto you; ask, and ye shall receive.”

「叩門，就必為你們開門；祈求，就必領受。」

In other words God knows your need, He knows what you want, but your want becomes clear when it is expressed not by the mind, or the body only, but by your whole being. That is the secret.

換句話說，神知道你的需要，也知道你想要什麼；然而，唯有當這份渴望不只是由頭腦或身體單獨表達，而是由你的整個存在表達出來時，它才會變得清楚明確。這就是其中的祕密。

The question, “Why does God need praise from us? Who are we that we should praise God?” is answered thus: We can never praise Him enough, and our praise can never be sufficient, but at the same time our soul is blessed with the impression of the Glory of God whenever we praise Him. The soul could praise God every moment and yet be wanting to praise Him more. It is constantly hungering and thirsting to find the perfection of beauty. When to our utmost we praise the beauty of God, our soul is filled with bliss. Even to utter the name of God is a bliss which fills the soul with light and joy and happiness as nothing else can.

還有人會問：「神為什麼需要我們的讚美？我們算什麼，竟能讚美神？」答案是：我們永遠無法充分地讚美祂，我們的讚美永遠不可能足夠；然而，每當我們讚美祂時，神的榮耀便在我們的靈魂中留下印記，使靈魂蒙受祝福。靈魂即使時時刻刻都在讚美神，仍會渴望更多地讚美祂。它不斷飢渴地尋求美的圓滿。當我們竭盡所能讚美神的美時，我們的靈魂便充滿至福。甚至只是說出神的名，也是一種至福；它使靈魂充滿光、喜悅與幸福，沒有任何其他事物能與之相比。

1. Giving Thanks
感恩

The first aspect of prayer is giving thanks to God for all the numberless blessings that are bestowed upon us at every moment of the day and night, of which man is mostly unconscious.

祈禱的第一個面向，是為日夜每一刻賜予我們的無數恩福向神感恩，而我們對其中大多數往往毫無覺察。

2. Asking Forgiveness
祈求寬恕

The second aspect of prayer is laying one’s shortcomings before the unlimited Perfection of the Divine Being, and asking His forgiveness.

祈禱的第二個面向，是將自己的缺失帶到神聖存在那無限的圓滿之前，祈求祂的寬恕。

This makes man conscious of his smallness, of his limitedness, and therefore makes him humble before his God. And by humbling himself before God man does not lose any virtue. God alone has the right to demand complete humility. There is another side to this question: although humility is painful to the pride of man, the joy of humility is never known by the proud. The effect produced upon his own feeling is as if, by his very humility, he had opened the doors of the shrine of God which is in the heart of man. The one who asks forgiveness of his friend feels a joy that he of whom it is asked does not know. And it must not be forgotten that it is not pride that gives joy, but it is humility which gives a special joy.

這使人意識到自己的渺小與有限，因此在神前有了謙卑。人在神前保持謙卑，並不會因此失去任何德性。唯有神有權要求人完全的謙卑。這件事還有另一面：謙卑雖然會使人的驕傲感到痛苦，但驕傲的人永遠體會不到謙卑的喜悅。這種感受，就彷彿人因著這份謙卑，開啟了位於自己心中的神之聖殿。向朋友請求寬恕的人，會感受到一種被請求寬恕的一方所不知道的喜悅。我們不可忘記，帶來喜悅的不是驕傲，而是謙卑；謙卑本身有一種獨特的喜悅。

If we can only know the joy of asking pardon even of our fellow man, when we realize we are in fault, however little it may be! And when we ask the Father of all to forgive our fault, joy, beauty, happiness, spring up in the heart in a way unknown until it is experienced. And then to think we can ask pardon of Him Whose love is unlimited, while our errors are numberless and our ignorance limitless! Think of the joy of asking forgiveness from God! Every moment of our life, if we can see wisely, contains some fault or error, and asking pardon is just like purifying the heart and washing it white. Only think of the joy of humbling yourself before God!

當我們發現自己有錯時，哪怕只是很小的過失，如果我們能體會向身邊的人請求原諒所帶來的喜悅！而當我們祈求萬有之父寬恕我們的過失時，喜悅、美與幸福會從心中湧現；在真正經驗以前，我們無法知道那是怎樣的感受。再想想，我們竟能向那愛無限的祂請求寬恕，而我們的錯誤如此繁多、我們的無知又沒有止境！想想向神祈求寬恕的喜悅吧！若我們能以智慧觀看，生命中的每一刻都包含某種過失或錯誤；而祈求寬恕，就如同淨化心，使它重新潔白。想想在神前懷著謙卑所帶來的喜悅吧！

There is a story told of Akbar. He was mourning for the death of his mother and for a long time his grief was so great he could not overcome it. His ministers and friends tried to comfort him, telling him how fortunate he was, how great was his influence and power. He answered, “Yes, I know it, but one thing grieves me. I have everyone to bow before me, but there was one, when I came in the palace, before whom I could be humble. I could be as nothing before her and I cannot tell you the joy of that.”

有一個關於阿克巴（Akbar）的故事。他因母親去世而哀慟，長久以來悲傷如此深重，始終無法克服。他的大臣與朋友試著安慰他，告訴他自己是多麼幸運，又擁有多麼巨大的影響力與權勢。他回答：「是的，我知道。但有一件事使我悲傷。人人都要向我低頭；可是從前當我回到宮中時，還有一個人，在她面前，我可以不必成為任何了不起的人。我在她面前可以什麼都不是，而那其中的喜悅，我實在無法向你們形容。」

Think then of the greater joy of humbling yourself before that Spirit, that Ideal, who is the true Father and Mother, on Whose love you can always depend; it is a spark of His love which expresses itself in the earthly father and mother, and in whatever manner you humble yourself before Him, it can never be enough. To humble your limited self before His Perfection, that is to deny yourself. Self-denial is not renouncing things, it is denying the self, and its first lesson is humility.

那麼，想想在那靈、那至高理想之前，能夠放下自己的地位與重要感，會有何等更大的喜悅；祂才是真正的父與母，你永遠可以信賴祂的愛。塵世父母所表達的愛，只是祂的愛所迸發的一點火花；無論我們在祂面前有多麼謙卑，都不會太過。讓有限的自我在祂的圓滿之前退居其後，這就是對自我的否定。自我否定並不是放棄外在事物，而是不再把自我放在中心；而它的第一課，就是謙卑。

And the blessing one can receive by prayer becomes a thousandfold greater when that blessing is received by some few who are united in the same thought and are praying together.

而當幾個人同心於同一個念頭，一起祈禱時，從祈禱中所能領受的祝福，會增大千倍。

Humility has several forms, and these forms are observed according to the customs of different peoples. There are forms of respect known: towards parents, towards Teachers, Masters. But at the end of examination, and after studying life keenly, one finds that it is to God alone that all forms of respect are addressed. And it is this lesson that the different religions have given to different peoples according to their needs.

謙卑有許多不同的形式，而各個民族依照自己的習俗，以不同方式表達它。我們熟知許多表示敬意的形式：對父母、對老師、對大師皆是如此。然而，當我們深入觀察並仔細研究生命之後，最終會發現，一切形式的敬意真正所指向的，唯有神。這正是不同宗教依照不同民族的需要，分別教導他們的功課。

3. Asking for One’s Needs
為自己的需要祈求

And the third aspect of prayer is to tell to God one’s difficulties, the troubles of one’s life, and to ask God for what one needs and one wants. And who else deserves this trust but God? It is true that we have relations, friends who love us and wish to help us. But they are only human beings, traveling in the same boat on the same sea, subject to all the same difficulties, the same limitations. And man can be helped by man only to a certain extent. The more one studies human nature, the more one feels inclined to bring before God alone one’s troubles, one’s difficulties, and one’s sorrows. Therefore this is a part of what is taught in the form of prayer: it is called an aspect of prayer.

祈禱的第三個面向，是把自己的困難、生命中的煩惱告訴神，並向神祈求自己所需要、所渴望的。除了神，還有誰更值得我們如此信賴？的確，我們有親人、有愛我們並願意幫助我們的朋友；然而，他們也只是人，同乘一艘船、航行在同一片海上，同樣承受種種困難與限制。人所能給予人的幫助，終究有其限度。一個人愈深入了解人性，就愈會傾向於只將自己的煩惱、困難與悲傷帶到神面前。因此，這也包含在祈禱的教導之中，是祈禱的一個面向。

4. Calling the Beloved
呼喚摯愛者

The fourth aspect of prayer is the call of the lover to the beloved. No doubt this is a higher form; and to be able to pray in this manner man must rise above the ordinary level of life. As it is difficult for a human being to love man, whom he sees, so it is more difficult to love God, whom one has never seen. Loving one’s fellow man, yes; but not everyone is capable of loving the Formless, the God-Ideal, and to evolve by the lesson of love. For in this love there is no disappointment, and only the Love of God can fulfill the desire of the human soul, and all other forms of love are only as steps that lead to the Love of God.

祈禱的第四個面向，是愛者對摯愛者的呼喚。毫無疑問，這是更高的一種形式；而要能以這樣的方式祈禱，人必須超越生命平常的層次。一個人要愛眼前看得見的人已經不容易，那麼，要愛從未見過的神就更加困難。愛自己的同類，或許還做得到；然而，並不是每個人都有能力去愛那無形者、愛理想中的神，並透過愛的功課而成長。因為在這份愛中沒有失望；唯有對神的愛，才能滿足人類靈魂的渴望，而其他所有形式的愛，都只是一步步引領我們走向對神之愛的階梯。

But who can explain the Love of God to one who has never felt it? Because God is the perfect ideal, His Love is the perfect Love. There is the love of the mate, of parents, of friends, of children, but in the Love of God all is found combined. Therefore its joy is perfect. The Love of God is living and everlasting and the Love of the true Beloved.

然而，對一個從未感受過神之愛的人，又有誰能向他解釋這份愛？神是圓滿的至高理想，因此祂的愛也是圓滿的愛。我們有伴侶之愛、父母之愛、朋友之愛、子女之愛；而在神的愛之中，這一切全都融合其中。因此，其中的喜悅也是圓滿的。神的愛是活生生的、永恆不滅的愛，是對真正摯愛者的愛。

5. Union
合一

The fifth aspect of prayer is to know God, and by this means to draw nearer to God, which is the real meaning of the word “at-one-ment,” which means complete union. And this cannot be learned; it is a natural tendency: it is the attraction of the soul to God. It is as the negative pole of the electric wire is attracted to the positive. Which means that the happiness of man depends on his nearness to God. This has been taught in the form of prayer.

祈禱的第五個面向，是認識神，並藉此親近神；這正是「at-one-ment」真正的意義，也就是完全的合一。這不是可以學來的；它是一種自然的傾向，是靈魂受到神的吸引，就如電線的負極受到正極吸引一樣。也就是說，人的幸福取決於他與神有多麼親近。這一點，也以祈禱的形式受到教導。

[譯註]：原文特意將 atonement （贖罪、神與人的和好）拆寫為 at-one-ment，藉此凸顯「成為一體」之意。

Religious Worship
宗教敬拜

It is these five aspects of prayer which constitute the form of religious worship. Every religion, at whatever time and in whatever country it has been given, has given as its method, prayer. But man has always shown his childish nature. He has always fought with his neighbor because he does not pray as he himself does. Man has taken the outer form of prayer. He has used the outer form of prayer to satisfy his vanity, and the consequence has been that man, revolted by this state of things, has given up prayer. For instance, Protestantism is a sort of protest against the Catholic form of prayer. Many people, between the two, have given up prayer. And giving it up is not satisfactory, for nothing can take the place of what is called prayer.

正是祈禱的這五個面向，構成了宗教敬拜的形式。無論在什麼時代、什麼國家，每一個宗教在傳授給人們時，都以祈禱作為它的方法。然而，人總是顯露出孩子氣的一面；只因鄰人祈禱的方式與自己不同，就彼此爭鬥。人抓住了祈禱的外在形式，又利用這些外在形式來滿足自己的虛榮；結果，人因厭惡這樣的情形，反而放棄了祈禱。例如，新教在某種程度上就是對天主教祈禱形式的一種抗議；而夾在兩者之間，許多人乾脆放棄了祈禱。然而，放棄祈禱並不能真正令人滿足，因為沒有任何事物能取代我們所稱的祈禱。

The chaotic condition at the present time is caused by the lack of religion. Man’s soul needs religion: his mind fights against it. In history we find that most wars have been caused by disputes about religion. In the East no one dares to say that he does not believe in God. In the West there are people who are proud of not believing in God. They say: “Force, or forces, are the origin of life.” It is the greatest tragedy if one deprives oneself of God, because there cannot be any other means for man of rising to a higher consciousness.

當今世界的混亂，是由宗教的缺乏所造成的。人的靈魂需要宗教，頭腦卻與它抗爭。回顧歷史，我們會發現許多戰爭都由宗教爭端而起。在東方，沒有人敢說自己不相信神；在西方，卻有人以不相信神為傲。他們說：「某種力，或種種力量，才是生命的起源。」一個人若使自己失去神，這是最大的悲劇，因為除此之外，人再沒有其他方式能提升到更高的意識。

The question arises in the inquiring mind: If God is within man, all our troubles and difficulties, our feelings and our attitude towards Him, our faults, are known to Him — what need is there to express them in prayer?

善於探究的頭腦於是會產生疑問：既然神在人之內，我們所有的煩惱與困難、我們的感受、我們對祂的態度，以及我們的過失，祂全都知道，那麼，又有什麼必要在祈禱中把這些表達出來？

• It is like saying, “Because I love a certain person, why should I show it?” Expression is the nature of life. When every part of man’s mind and body expresses his feeling, his thought, his aspiration, then it produces its full effect.
  
  這就像是在說：「既然我愛一個人，為什麼還要把愛表達出來？」表達是生命的本性。當一個人的頭腦與身體每一部分，都在表達他的感受、思想與嚮往時，這些才會產生完整的作用。

• And no doubt, by the fact of being met together for prayer, the effect is greater. The blessing that one can receive through prayer becomes a thousand-fold greater when received by a few united in the same thought, and who are praying together.
  
  而毫無疑問，當人們聚在一起祈禱時，它的作用會更加強大。幾個人同心於同一個念頭，一同祈禱時，透過祈禱所領受的祝福會增大千倍。

• Besides, the psychological effect is another thing. The world is a dome, and in this dome, every word that is uttered resounds. And when the resonance is produced in this dome, its re-echo is produced, and what comes, comes as the answer of God.
  
  此外，還有另一層心理上的作用。世界就像一座穹頂，在這座穹頂之中，每一句說出的話都會迴響。當聲音在這座穹頂中產生共鳴，它便會再度迴響回來；而回到我們這裡的，便成為神的回答。

The question whether God has time to give attention to our prayer is answered, by the mystic, that it is through the medium of man himself that God hears his prayer. In the East the head of man is called the dome of God, which means “the greatest secret” and also “the highest place.” For outwardly, it is the head which represents the eternal abode. It is for this reason that it is said in the scriptures, “We have created man in Our own Image.”

至於「神是否有時間留意我們的祈禱」這個問題，祕士的回答是：神正是以人自身作為媒介，聽見人的祈禱。在東方，人的頭被稱為「神的穹頂」；這既意味著「最大的祕密」，也意味著「最高之處」。因為從外在形體來看，頭所代表的是永恆的居所。因此，經典中才會說：「我們依照自己的形象創造了人。」

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