18. The Deeper Side of Life
18. 生命的深層面向

When we consider life deeply, we can divide it into two parts and call one the lighter side of life and the other the deeper. The importance of both these sides may at times seem equally great. When a person is thinking of the lighter side of life, at that moment that side is more important, while the other side, of which the person is not conscious, seems to have no great importance. But then there are other moments which come in life, perhaps after suffering, or after a loss or some other experience, when a person suddenly awakens to a different realization of life; and when one is awakened to that the deeper side of life seems to have more importance than the lighter side.

當我們深入思考生命，可以將它分為兩個面向：一個是生命的表層，另一個是生命的深層。有時，這兩個面向看來同樣重要。當我們想著生命的表層時，那一刻，這一面便顯得更重要；而另一個尚未被我們察覺的面向，似乎沒有那麼重要。然而，生命中也會有另一些時刻，或許是在經歷苦痛、失落或其他遭遇之後，我們忽然醒悟，對生命有了不同的體認。當這份體認甦醒時，生命的深層便顯得比表層更為重要。

No one, neither clergyman nor mystic nor any authority, can say which side is more important. It depends upon how we look at it. If we raise its value, though it may be a small thing, yet we shall attach a greater value to it. There is nothing in this world which has a permanent value attached to it. If there seems to be such a thing, it does not stay in the same position always. If something like money is subject to change, then what is there in this world which does not change in importance?

無論是神職人員、祕士，還是任何權威，都無法斷言哪一面更重要。這取決於我們如何看待它。若我們提高了對某件事物的評價，即使它只是小事，也會被我們賦予更大的價值。世上沒有任何事物的價值是永遠固定的。即使某件事物看似如此，也不會始終處於同樣的位置。連金錢這樣的事物都會變動，那麼，世上還有什麼事物的重要性不會改變呢？

As it is necessary to have repose after action so it is necessary to have a glimpse of the deeper side of life after having performed one’s everyday duties. That is why religions have taught prayers, and why churches were built where people could go every day to be in a right atmosphere and to be silent. Now religion has become a secondary thing and man’s life has developed with more struggles; naturally a man has hardly time to go to a solitary place or into a church to sit down in silence. Those few who have the time and who care to continue with their religion go once a week to a service.

正如活動之後需要休息，完成日常職責之後，我們也需要稍稍望見生命的深層。這就是宗教教導祈禱的原因，也是興建教堂的原因：讓我們每天都能前往，在適宜的氛圍中安靜下來。如今，宗教已退居次要的位置，而生活中的奮鬥與掙扎愈來愈多；我們自然很難有時間到僻靜之處，或走進教堂，靜靜坐下。少數有時間、也願意持續宗教生活的人，則每週參加一次禮拜。

Therefore if I would suggest a way at the present time, it is the way of esotericism, which means on the one hand studying, on the other hand practicing, and also meditating: doing these three things.

因此，若要我為當今提出一條道路，我會建議內修之道，也就是一方面學習，一方面修習，並且冥想；這三者都要進行。

1. One may ask, what should one study? There are two kinds of studies. One kind is by reading the teachings of the great thinkers and keeping them in mind, the study of metaphysics, psychology, and mysticism. And the other kind of study is the study of life.
   
   我們或許會問：應該學習什麼？學習有兩種。一種是閱讀偉大思想家的教導，將它們銘記於心，研習形上學、心理學與祕學；另一種則是探究生命。
   
   Every day one has an opportunity for studying; but it should be a correct study. When a person travels in a tramcar, in the train, with a newspaper in his hand, he wants to read the sensational news which is worth nothing. He should read human nature which is before him, people coming and going. If he would continue to do this, he would begin to read human beings as though they were letters written by the divine pen, which speak of their past and future. He should look deeply at the heavens and at nature and at all the things to be seen in everyday life, and reflect upon them with the desire to understand. This kind of study is much superior, incomparably superior, to the study of books.
   
   每天，我們都有探究的機會，但必須以正確的方式進行。搭乘電車或火車時，我們手裡拿著報紙，想看的往往是那些毫無價值的聳動新聞。其實，我們應該讀的是眼前的人性，是那些來來往往的人。若能持續如此，我們便會開始讀懂每一個人，彷彿他們是神性之筆寫下的書信，訴說著各自的過去與未來。我們應當深入凝視天空、自然，以及日常生活中所見的一切，懷著理解的渴望去思索。這樣的探究，遠勝於研讀書籍，兩者實在無法相比。

2. Then there is practice, the practices which the Yogis and Sufis in the East have performed for many, many years; and they have transmitted their thousands of years of experience as a tradition from teacher to pupil: ways of sitting, ways of standing, of breathing properly, of being in silence, ways of relaxing, of concentrating, of feeling inspired, joyful, or more peaceful. Of course for such practices the help of a teacher is necessary.
   
   接著是修習，也就是東方的瑜伽行者與蘇菲行者多年來所實行的練習。他們將數千年的經驗化為傳統，由老師傳授給學生：如何坐、如何站、如何正確呼吸、如何保持靜默，以及如何放鬆、專注，如何感受到靈感、喜悅，或更深的安寧。當然，這些修習需要老師的協助。

3. And the third thing is the practice in everyday life; to practice the principles one has esteemed in life, to uphold the ideal one has always held in one’s heart. These things and many others besides, such as one’s attitude to others, one’s manner with others, everything one does from morning fill evening, all these things help one’s development, till one arrives at a stage when one can see the deeper side of life naturally. There are numberless people, unhappy, depressed, or in great despair, perhaps wanting to commit suicide, who after having done this have eventually realized that life is worth living after all.
   
   第三項則是在日常生活中實踐：實踐自己所珍視的原則，持守心中一直懷抱的理想。這些事，以及其他許多事情，像是對待他人的態度、與他人相處的方式，從早到晚的一切作為，都有助於我們的成長，直到某個階段，我們自然就能看見生命的深層。無數原本不快樂、意志消沉或深陷絕望，甚至想要自殺的人，在如此實踐之後，終於體認到，生命終究仍值得活下去。

We can picture the lighter and the deeper sides of life in our present experience. We are travelling together, some from one country, some from another country, coming from different parts of the world. Yet we are gathered together. By what? By God who brings us together for a few days in this ship.

我們可以從此刻的經驗，看見生命表層與深層的樣貌。我們正一同旅行，有些來自這個國家，有些來自另一個國家，來自世界不同的地方。然而，我們卻聚在一起。是什麼使我們相聚？是神，讓我們在這艘船上相聚幾天。

It is our happy disposition, our favorable attitude to one another, our desire to be kind, friendly, and sociable, which alone makes us understand one another and which will help us to make one another happy; it brings us still closer together than destiny did. It is a little picture of life. When we consider the life of a community a nation, a race, even of the whole world, what is it? Is it not like a large ship on which all are travelling, whether knowingly or unknowingly, all moving, all changing?

唯有我們愉快的心情、彼此懷抱的善意，以及願意親切、友善、與他人交往的心，才能使我們相互理解，也幫助我們帶給彼此快樂。這些使我們比命運所促成的相聚更加親近。這便是生命的一幅小小縮影。當我們想想一個社群、一個國家、一個民族，乃至整個世界的生活，那是什麼呢？不就像一艘大船，所有人都在船上旅行，無論是否察覺，都在前行，都在改變嗎？

There are two types of traveller. Those who know where they are travelling to, and those who do not know where they are coming from or where they are going. When these open their eyes, they only realize that they are in this ship, that they come from somewhere and that they are in a ship which is moving and is going somewhere. There are many people like this living in the world today. They are so absorbed in their everyday activity that they are ignorant of where they come from and where they are going.

旅客有兩種：一種知道自己要往哪裡去；另一種既不知道自己從何而來，也不知道將往何處。後者睜開眼睛時，只知道自己身在這艘船上，知道自己從某個地方而來，而這艘船正在航行，駛向某個地方。今日世上有許多人正是如此。他們全心投入日常活動，卻不知道自己從何而來，也不知道將往何處。

Imagine the difference between these two travellers: the one who knows where he comes from and what his goal is, and the one who only knows where he is, what his present activity is, what the things in his immediate surroundings are. The one who does not know where he is going is not prepared to arrange, to face his destination; he does not know what is in store for him, and that is why he is not prepared for it.

想想這兩種旅客之間的差別：一種知道自己從何而來，也知道自己的目標；另一種只知道自己身在何處、此刻正在做什麼，以及眼前周遭有哪些事物。不知道自己將往何處的人，便無從為抵達目的地預作安排，也無從準備好面對它。他不知道等待自己的是什麼，因此也就沒有為此做好準備。

Buddha was asked one day by his disciples what he meant by ignorance. And he answered by describing how a person was once clinging in distress to the branch of a tree in the utter darkness of the night, not knowing whether there was earth or a ditch or water beneath him. All night long he trembled and wept and was clinging fast to that branch. And with the break of day he found he was not one foot away from the earth beneath his feet.

有一天，弟子問佛陀，他所說的無明是什麼意思。佛陀便講了一個故事：曾有一個人，在漆黑的夜裡驚慌地攀住樹枝，不知道下方是地面、溝壑，還是水。他整夜顫抖、哭泣，緊緊抓住那根樹枝。直到天亮，他才發現，腳下的地面距離自己還不到一英尺。

Ignorance can be defined as fear, doubt, passion, confusion. Where do all these come from? They all come from our ignorance of one side of life, its deeper side. We may be clever in making the best of what we call the lighter side of life, but that is not all.

無明可以表現為恐懼、懷疑、激情與迷惘。這些從何而來？都來自我們對生命某個面向的無知，也就是對其深層的無知。我們或許很善於經營所謂生命的表層，但生命並不止於此。

Notwithstanding all our efforts from morning till evening we do not know what we shall arrive at, what we gain by it. If we consider wealth, position, fame, name, or anything else, it only confuses us, for life is moving; it is all moving. We cannot hold it. A person may have riches one day and the next be poor; he may be successful one day and yet perhaps sooner or later he will meet with failure.

儘管我們從早到晚付出種種努力，仍不知道自己最終會走到哪裡，又會從中得到什麼。若我們想的是財富、地位、名聲、聲望或其他任何事物，只會更加迷惘，因為生命在流動，一切都在流動，我們無法將它留住。今天富有，明天可能貧窮；今天成功，卻也可能遲早遭遇失敗。

Such powerful nations as Russia and Germany, who could ever have thought that they would fall down in a moment; nations which took hundreds of years to become strong and to build themselves up? But when their time came their downfall did not take long. If such great powers are subject to falling in a moment and their whole construction can be broken, if that is the nature and character of life, no thoughtful person will deny the fact that there must be some mystery behind it, some secret of which he would like to find the key. At least he would want to know what life is and what is behind it.

像俄羅斯與德國這樣強大的國家，誰曾想過，它們竟會在頃刻之間衰敗？它們花費數百年才建立起自身，變得強盛；然而，當那個時刻來臨，衰敗卻不需要很久。若如此強大的國家也可能轉眼衰敗，整個建構都可能瓦解；若這就是生命的本性與特徵，那麼，任何願意思考的人都不會否認，這背後必然存在某種奧祕、某個令他渴望找到解答的祕密。至少，他會想知道生命是什麼，以及生命背後究竟有什麼。

Those who have studied life and thought long enough about this subject, have arrived at the same point as the thinkers who lived as much as eight thousand years ago. Buddha has said and has realized the same things that a really wise man would realize and say today. This shows us that wisdom is the same in all ages. We may be evolving or going backward, but wisdom never changes and will always be the same. The same realization will come to all those who think deeply and try to realize what life is. In order to realize life it is not necessary for us to follow a certain religion. It is not necessary for us to be great or good, pious or spiritual. The first and most necessary thing is that we become observant. We should look at life more keenly than we do instead of living superficially. It would cost us nothing. It only takes us away from our everyday occupation for a few minutes. Life always gives an opportunity of thinking, however busy we may be.

那些探究生命、對這個問題思考得足夠長久的人，所抵達的地方，與早在八千年前生活的思想家相同。佛陀所體認、所說出的，也正是今日真正有智慧的人會體認、會說出的。這讓我們看見，智慧在所有時代都是相同的。我們可能進步，也可能退步，但智慧從不改變，始終如一。所有深入思考、試著體認生命究竟是什麼的人，都會獲得同樣的體認。要體認生命，我們不必信奉某個特定宗教，也不必成為偉大、良善、虔誠或具有靈性的人。首要而最必要的，是讓自己善於觀察。我們應當比現在更敏銳地看待生命，而不是浮泛地生活。這無須付出任何代價，只需要從日常事務中抽出幾分鐘。無論多麼忙碌，生命總會給我們思考的機會。

It is not necessary for us to leave our occupation, our work in life, and go into the forest and sit in silence and meditate upon life. We can meditate upon life in the midst of life if only we want to. What happens is that a man begins his life by action and the more active he becomes, the less he thinks. Then his action becomes his thought. But if he considered what exists besides the action and thoughts which are connected with everyday life, if he also gave thought to the deeper side of life, he would have more benefit.

我們不必離開自己的職業與生活中的工作，走進森林，靜坐冥想生命。只要願意，我們就能在生活之中冥想生命。然而，我們往往從行動開始生活，愈忙於行動，思考就愈少，最後，所做的事便成了所想的事。但若我們願意思索，除了與日常生活有關的行動和念頭之外，還有什麼存在；若我們也願意思考生命的深層，便能獲得更多益處。

The ideal life is at least to try to live up to one’s ideal. But in order to have an ideal one must first awaken to an ideal. Not everyone possesses an ideal; many people do not know of it. It is no exaggeration to say that the wars and disasters we have gone through, the unrest that all feel, and the disagreement among the people which is sometimes seen and sometimes not seen, are all caused by one thing and that is the lack of an ideal. We are progressing commercially, industrially. But in all walks of life progress will be stopped one day or another if the ideal is destroyed. If there is anything which can be said to be the means of saving the world, it is the awakening of idealism. It is the first task that is worth considering.

理想的生活，至少是努力活出自己的理想。然而，要擁有理想，首先必須醒覺到理想。並非每個人都有理想，許多人甚至不知道它的存在。毫不誇張地說，我們經歷過的戰爭與災難、所有人感受到的不安，以及彼此之間那些有時可見、有時隱而不見的分歧，都出於同一個原因：缺乏理想。我們在商業與工業上不斷進步，但若理想被摧毀，各行各業的進步遲早都會停滯。若有什麼可以稱為拯救世界的方法，那便是喚醒對理想的追求。這是首先值得我們思考的工作。

Besides for the average man to consider even one thing, that he must live a life of balance, would already be of great importance, and it is not very difficult. When a person is working he should realize that recreation is also necessary. When a person tires himself it is necessary to take repose; when a person thinks too much it is necessary to rest the mind at certain times, during which he must try not to think. But life is an intoxication, it is like drink, whatever be man’s motive, whether he is compelled and thrown into it or not. It is all an intoxication, going at his object with all his might and thought and feeling, till either he has accomplished what he wants, or he is destroyed. If he used balance in everything he did, he would find the key to a life of greater happiness.

此外，對一般人而言，即使只想到一件事——自己必須過平衡的生活——也已十分重要，而這並不太困難。工作時，我們應當明白，休閒也同樣必要。疲倦時需要休息；思考太多時，也需要在某些時候讓頭腦休息，在那段時間裡試著不去思考。但生活會使我們沉醉，如同飲酒一般。無論我們抱著什麼動機，無論是否被迫投入其中，都是如此。我們傾盡力量、思想與情感追逐目標，直到如願以償，或直到自己被摧毀。若能在所做的每一件事中保持平衡，我們便會找到通往更幸福生活的鑰匙。

People often fight and argue and discuss. Over what? Over a reason. When two persons dispute, each has a reason. Each thinks his reason the right one. They may dispute for years and yet will arrive nowhere because the reason of each is different. Therefore to think more is to see behind the reason. And the moment we have begun to see behind the reason, we will look at life quite differently. Then we find that behind what we blame the other for there is perhaps something to praise; and where there is something to praise there is perhaps a reason for blame. We shall begin to see what is beyond all appearances and that will give us the proof that the whole of life is a kind of unfoldment.

我們經常爭鬥、爭辯、議論。為了什麼？為了一個理由。兩個人爭執時，各自都有理由，也各自認為自己的理由才是對的。他們可能爭上許多年，卻仍毫無結果，因為雙方所持的理由不同。因此，更深入地思考，就是看見理由背後的東西。一旦我們開始看見理由背後的東西，看待生命的方式便會大不相同。我們會發現，自己責備對方的事情背後，或許有值得讚許之處；而值得讚許的地方，或許也有可責備的理由。我們將開始看見一切表象之外的事物，由此確知，整個生命都在逐漸展開。

The deeper we look into life the more it unfolds itself, allowing us to see more keenly. Life is revealing. It is not only human beings who speak; if only the ears can hear even plants and trees and all nature speak, in the sense that nature reveals itself, reveals its secret. In this way we communicate with the whole of life. Then we are never alone, then life becomes worth living.

我們愈深入凝視生命，生命就愈向我們展開，使我們看得更加敏銳。生命不斷揭示自己。說話的並不只有人類；只要耳朵能聽見，連植物、樹木與整個自然都在說話，因為自然正在顯露自己，顯露它的祕密。如此，我們便與整個生命相通。那時，我們不再孤單，生命也變得值得活下去。

The thoughtful of all ages have considered the source of creation to be one and the same. A scientist will tell us today that the cause behind creation is motion, vibration. So far he will go. But if from motion and vibration this manifestation has come into our view then that motion is not lifeless. If that motion is life itself, then it is intelligent. It is of course not intelligent in the sense we understand this word. We know the limited side of it; we call the function of the brain intelligence.

歷代深思的人，都認為萬物的創造源自同一個源頭。今日的科學家會告訴我們，創造背後的原因是運動、振動。他的說明到此為止。然而，若這個顯化世界是由運動與振動形成，呈現在我們眼前，那麼，這運動便不是沒有生命的。若這運動就是生命本身，它便具有覺知。當然，這裡的覺知，並不是我們通常理解的意思。我們只知道它受限的一面，將大腦的功能稱為覺知。

We say that one thing is intelligent because it is living, and another thing where we do not distinguish life we call unintelligent. But an Indian scientist has pointed out that even trees breathe. If that is true, then the trees are living. And if today it is proved that trees are living, it will also be found that stones are living.

我們說某個事物具有覺知，因為它是活的；而在另一個事物中，若我們辨認不出生命，便稱它沒有覺知。但一位印度科學家指出，連樹木也會呼吸。若這是真的，樹木便是活的。而若今日證實了樹木是活的，也將會發現，石頭同樣是活的。

Then one will realize that all life comes from one source which is the very life of all things, and not only life but intelligence also; this is what religion calls God. Whatever we call it, it is the same. The difference is only in name.

那時，我們便會體認到，一切生命都來自同一個源頭；這個源頭就是萬物的生命本身，不只是生命，也是覺知。宗教稱之為神。無論我們如何稱呼，它始終是同一個，差別只在名稱。

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