1. The Smiling Forehead
1. 微笑的額頭（喜悅的神情）
By “forehead” is meant man’s expression. The smiling forehead is the pleasant expression; it depends solely upon man’s attitude to life. Life is the same for the saint and for Satan, and if men are different it is because of their outlook on life. The same life is turned by the one into heaven and by the other into hell. There are two attitudes: to one all is wrong, to the other all is right. Our life in the world from morning to evening is full of experiences, good and bad, which can be distinguished according to their degree. And the more we study the mystery of good and bad the more we see that there really is no such thing as good and bad. It is because of our attitude and the conditions that things seem good or bad. It is easy for an ordinary person to say what is good or bad, just or unjust-it is very difficult for a wise man.
這裡所說的「額頭」，指的是人的表情。所謂「微笑的額頭」，就是喜悅的神情；它完全取決於一個人對生命的態度。生命對聖者與對魔鬼都是一樣的；人對生命的感受之所以不同，是因為他們看待生命的眼光不同。同樣的生命，被一個人轉化成天堂，被另一個人轉化成地獄。態度有兩種：對一個人而言，凡事都錯；對另一個人而言，凡事都對。我們在世間從早到晚的生活充滿各種經驗，有好壞善惡，並且還能去分辨其善惡程度。然而，我們越研究善與惡的奧祕，就越會看見：其實並沒有什麼真正的善與惡。正因為我們的態度與所處的條件，事物才顯得是好或壞。一般人要判斷什麼是好或壞、公正或不公正並不難；但對智者而言，卻非常不容易。
Although everyone, according to his outlook on life, turns things from bad to good and from good to bad, everyone has his own grade of evolution and reasons accordingly. Sometimes one thing is subtler than others and then it is difficult to judge. There was a time when Wagner’s music was not understood, and another time when he was considered the greatest of musicians. Sometimes things are good, but our own evolution makes them less good for us. What we considered good a few years ago may not seem good at a later degree of evolution. At one time a child appreciates a doll most, later it will prefer the work of great sculptors. This proves that at every step and degree of evolution man’s idea of good and bad changes. Therefore a thinker will understand that there is no such thing as right or wrong. If there is wrong, all is wrong; if there is right, all is right.
雖然每個人都會依其對生命的看法，把壞變成好、把好變成壞，但每個人各有其進化的程度，也就各有其相應的理由。有時某件事比其他事更為細微，便難以判斷。曾有一段時期，華格納的音樂不被理解；也曾有另一段時期，他卻被視為最偉大的音樂家。有時某些事本來是好的，但我們自身的進化程度，會使它對我們而言不再那麼好。幾年前我們認為好的，在較後的進化階段，可能就不再顯得好。孩子一度最珍愛的是洋娃娃；之後卻會更喜歡偉大雕塑家的作品。這證明：在人進化的每一步、每一個程度上，對善惡好壞的觀念都在變化。因此，一位思索者會明白：並沒有什麼所謂的對或錯。若有錯，則一切皆錯；若有對，則一切皆對。
No doubt there is a phase when man is a slave of what he has himself made right or wrong, and there is another phase in which he is master. This mastery comes from his realization of the fact that right and wrong are made by his own attitude to life, and then right and wrong, good and bad, will be his slaves, because he knows that it is in his power to turn the one into the other. It is this attitude that the ancient Sufis called mantiq.
毫無疑問，人有一個階段，會成為自己所界定的對與錯的奴隸；也有另一個階段，他成為其主人。這種主宰力，來自他領悟到：對與錯，是由他自己對生命的態度所造就；此時對與錯、善與惡，便能被他掌握決定，因為他知道：把此轉為彼，掌握在他自己的力量之中。古代蘇菲所稱的 mantiq，正是這種態度。
This opens the door to another mystery of life which shows that as there is duality in each thing so there is duality in every action: in everything that is just something unjust is hidden, in everything that is bad something good. Then one begins to see how the world takes all men’s actions: one person sees only the good, another only the bad. In Sufi terms this particular attitude is called hairat, bewilderment. And just as to the average man moving pictures, theatres, bazaars are interesting, so to the Sufi the whole of life is interesting, a constant vision of bewilderment. He cannot explain this to the world because there are no words to explain it.
這也打開了另一道生命的奧祕之門：如同每一件事物都具有二元性，每一個行動也都具有二元性——在一切看似公正之中，隱藏著某種不公；在一切看似不好之中，也藏著某種好。於是人開始看見：世人如何看待所有人的行為——有人只看見好，有人只看見壞。以蘇菲的術語來說，這種特定的態度稱為 hairat，也就是驚惑（bewilderment）。就像對一般人而言，電影、劇院、市集引人入勝；對蘇菲而言，整個生命都引人入勝——那是一種持續不斷的、關於驚惑的觀照。他無法向世人解釋，因為沒有語言能把它說清楚。
Can one compare any joy to that of taking things quietly, patiently and easily? All other joys come from outward sources, but this happiness is one’s own property. When a Person arrives at this feeling it expresses itself not in words, but in the “smiling forehead.”
有哪一種喜悅，能與「靜定、耐心、自在地對待一切」的喜悅相比呢？其他的喜悅都來自外在的來源；但這種幸福，卻是屬於自己、為自己所擁有的財產。當一個人抵達這樣的感受，它並不以言語表達，而是呈現在「微笑的額頭」之中。
There is another side to this subject: man is pleased to see the one he loves, admires and respects, and if he frowns at someone it is because it is someone he does not admire or respect. Love is the divine essence in man and is due to God alone. Love for man is a lesson, it is a first step forward to the love of God. In human love one begins to see the way to divine love, as the lesson of domestic life is learned by a little girl playing with her dolls. One learns this lesson by loving one person, a friend, a beloved, a father, mother, brother, sister, or teacher, but the use of love becomes wrong when that love is constantly developing for one only and not spreading. The water of a pond may turn bad, but the water of a river remains pure because it is progressing. By sincerely loving one person therefore one rears the plant of love and makes it grow and spread. Love has done its work when man has become all love-his atmosphere, his expression, every movement he makes. And how can such a man love one and refuse another? Such a countenance, such a presence becomes a blessing.
這個主題還有另一面：人看見自己所愛、所欽佩、所尊敬的人，就會感到歡喜；若他對某人皺眉，那是因為那人並非他所欽佩或尊敬之人。愛是人內在的神聖本質，而愛本應只歸於神。對人的愛是一門功課，是走向愛神的第一步。在人間之愛裡，人開始看見通往神聖之愛的道路，就像小女孩透過玩洋娃娃而學習家庭生活的課題。人藉由愛一個人——朋友、摯愛者、父親、母親、兄弟、姊妹或老師——來學習這一課；但當愛只是不斷地只為某一個人增長，卻不向外擴展時，愛的運用就變得不正確。池塘的水可能會腐臭；河流的水卻能保持清澈，因為它持續流動。因此，真誠地愛一個人，就等於培育愛的植物，使它生長並擴展。當一個人整個成為愛——他的氛圍、他的表情、他的一舉一動——愛才算完成了它的工作。那樣的人又怎能愛這一個、拒絕那一個呢？那樣的容顏、那樣的臨在，本身就成為祝福。
In the East, when we speak of saints or sages, it is not because of their miracles, it is because of their presence and their countenance, which radiate vibrations of love. How does this love express itself? In tolerance, in forgiveness, in respect, in overlooking the faults of others. Their sympathy covers the defects of others as if they were their own; they forget their own interest in the interest of others. They do not mind what conditions they are in; be they high or humble, their foreheads are smiling. To their eyes everyone is the expression of the Beloved, whose name they repeat. They see the divine in all forms and in all beings.
在東方，我們談到聖者或賢者，並不是因為他們行了奇蹟，而是因為他們的臨在與容顏——那會放射出愛的振動。這樣的愛如何表達祂自身？在寬容、寬恕、尊重，以及不去計較他人的過失。他們的同理心覆蓋他人的缺點，彷彿那些缺點是自己的；他們在他人的利益中忘卻自己的利益。他們不在意自己處於何種境遇；無論高位或卑微，他們的額頭都是微笑的。在他們眼中，每個人都是摯愛者的表達，他們不斷誦念著那位摯愛者的名字。他們在一切形相、在一切眾生之中，都看見神性。
Just as the religious person has a religious attitude in a temple, so the Sufi has that attitude before every being, for to him every being is the temple of the divine. Therefore the Sufi is always before his Lord. Whether a servant, a master, a friend, or a foe is before him, he is in the presence of God. For the one whose God is in the high heavens there is a vast gulf between him and God, but the one who has God always before him-he is always in God’s presence, and there is no end to his happiness.
正如虔誠的宗教人士在寺廟中懷抱宗教的態度，蘇菲在每一位存有面前也都保持同樣的態度，因為在他看來，每一位存有都是神的殿堂。因此，蘇菲一直在他的神面前。無論站在他面前的是僕人、主人、朋友或仇敵，他都處於神的臨在之中。對那位把神放在高天之上的人而言，他與神之間隔著深深的鴻溝；但對那位總把神置於眼前的人——他始終活在神的臨在裡，他的幸福沒有止境。
The idea of the Sufi is that however religious a person may be, without love he is nothing. It is the same with one who has studied thousands of books; without love he has learned nothing. Love is not in a claim of love; when love is born one hears its voice louder than the voice of man. Love needs no words; they are too inadequate to express it. In what little way love can express itself, it is in what the Persians call “the laughing forehead.”
蘇菲的觀念是：一個人再怎麼宗教虔誠，若沒有愛，他就什麼也不是。讀了上千本書的人也是如此；若沒有愛，他其實什麼也沒學到。愛不在於自稱自己有愛；當愛真正誕生時，它的聲音比他人的聲音更響亮。愛不需要言語；言語根本不足以表達它。愛若能以什麼方式顯露一點點出來，那便是波斯人所說的「微笑的額頭」。