寧靜在說話（第四章：當下）

第四章：當下

The Now

 

On the surface it seems that the present moment is only one
of many, many moments. Each day of your life appears to consist of thousands of
moments where different things happen. Yet if you look more deeply, is there
not only one moment, ever? Is life ever not “this moment”?  

表麵看來，“此時此刻”似乎僅是眾多片刻中的一刻。你生命中的每一天看似由無數的片刻所構成，在其間許許多多不同的事情發生了，但如果你更深入看來，始終不是隻有一個時刻嗎？生命中何時不是“此時此刻”呢？

 

This one moment – Now – is the only thing you can never
escape from. The one constant factor in your life. No matter what happens, no
matter how much your life changes, one thing is certain: it’s always Now.  

此時此刻--當下--是你永遠無法逃脫的唯一一刻。它是你生命中一個恒常不變的元素。不論發生任何事，不論你的人生如何改變，有件事是不變的：你麵對的永遠是當下。

 

Since there is no escape from the Now, why not welcome it,
become friendly with it?  

既然無法從當下逃脫，為何不張開雙臂歡迎它，與它友善相處呢？

 

When you make friends with the present moment, you feel at
home no matter where you are. When you don't feel at home in the now, no matter
where you go, you will carry unease with you.  

當你與當下為友，無論你身處何方，都會感覺像回家般自在。如果你在當下無法感受到這樣的自在，那無論你到哪裏，都不會感到心安。

 

The present moment is as it is, always. Can you let it
be?  

現前這一刻永遠都是如其實際情況，你能否順其自然呢？

 

The division of life into past, present and future is
mind-made, and ultimately illusory. Past and future are thought forms, mental
abstractions. The past can only be remembered Now. What you remember is an
event that took place in the Now and you remember it Now. The future, when it
comes, is the Now. So the only thing that is real, the only thing there ever
is, is the Now.  

將人生切割成過去、現在與未來是心智的把戲，而這最終還是虛幻不實的。過去與未來是思維意念，是心智上的抽象概念。過去隻能在當下被憶起。你所記起的種種是在過去的當下中發生的事情，隻是在現在這個當下你記起了它。而未來，當它來臨時，即是當下正在發生的事情。所以，唯一真實的，唯一真正存在的，即是當下正在發生的事情。

 

To have your attention in the Now is not a denial of what
is needed in your life. It is recognizing what is primary. Then you can deal
with what is secondary with great ease. It is not saying, “I’m not dealing with
things anymore because there is only the Now.” No. Find what is primary first,
and make the Now into your friend, not your enemy. Acknowledge it, honor it.
When the Now is the foundation

and primary focus of your life, then your life unfolds with
ease.

專注於當下，並不是全盤否認生命所需求的事物，而是要你認清什麽是最重要的，然後在麵對生命中次要的事物，便能怡然自得了。專注於當下，並非宣稱：“唯有當下，所以我將不再理會其他世事。”絕非如此。專注於當下是指專注於當下正在發生的種種，然後找出當下最需要關注與處理的事，並與當下結為盟友而非敵人，接納它、讚美它。一旦你的生命奠基於當下並聚焦其上，你的人生自然而然地就開展了。 

 

Putting away the dishes, drawing up a business strategy,
planning a trip–what is more important: the doing or the result that you want
to achieve through the doing? This moment or some future moment? 

收拾碗盤、草擬商業策略、策劃旅行......，什麽比較重要呢？是手上正在做的事情？還是你透過做這些事想達到的結果？是此時此刻？還是未來的某個時刻？

 

Do you treat this moment as if it were an obstacle to be
overcome? Do you feel you have a future moment to get to that is more
important? 

你是否將“此時此刻”視為一個得去克服的障礙？你是否覺得有個更重要的未來你得奔赴？

 

Almost everyone lives like this most of the time. Since the
future never arrives, except as the present, it is a dysfunctional way to live.
It generates a constant undercurrent of unease, tension, and discontent. It
does not honor life, which is Now and never not Now.  

幾乎每個人大半輩子都這樣活著，然而，未來永遠不會到來，除非臨至當下，所以如果一輩子這樣活著，豈不是無法良好運作嗎？活在未來會引發一股充滿不安、緊張與不滿的經常性暗流，這對生命並不尊重，因為生命就在當下，它從來沒有不在當下。

 

Feel the aliveness within your body. That anchors you in
the Now.  

感受內在的蓬勃生機，將使你定錨於當下。

 

Ultimately you are not taking responsibility for life until
you take responsibility for this moment–Now. This is because Now is the only
place where life can be found.

除非你對“此時此刻”負責，否則你終究無法對生命負責。這是因為當下是你唯一可以發現生命的地方。

 

Taking responsibility for this moment means not to oppose
internally the “suchness” of Now, not to argue with what is. It means to be in
alignment with life. 

對此時此刻負責，意味著內心不要抗拒當下的“就是這樣”，也不要與實際的狀況爭辯，而要與生命結為盟友。

 

The Now is as it is because it cannot be otherwise. What
Buddhists have always known, physicists now confirm: there are no isolated
things or events. Underneath the surface appearance, all things are
interconnected, are part of the totality of the cosmos that has brought about
the form that this moment takes. 

當下是什麽狀況就是什麽狀況，因為它不可能是其他狀況。佛弟子對此早有領悟，如今物理學家也一一證實：宇宙萬物間，沒有獨立存在的事或物。表相之下，萬事萬物互有關連，同屬宇宙整體的一部分，而正是從這宇宙裏緣生出此刻所顯現的所有形體物相。

 

When you say “yes” to what is, you become aligned with the
power and intelligence of Life itself. Only then can you become an agent for
positive change in the world.  

當你對事情的實際狀況俯首稱“是”時，你將與本智及生命本身的力量結為盟友。唯有如此，世界才能透過你，朝向正麵改變。

 

A simple but radical spiritual practice is to accept
whatever arises in the Now – within and without.  

一種簡單但根本的靈修練習方法，就是從內到外全然接納當下所生起的一切。

 

When your attention moves into the Now, there is an
alertness. It is as if you were waking up from a dream, the dream of thought,
the dream of past and future. Such clarity, such simplicity. No room for
problem making. Just this moment as it is.  

當你把專注力移轉到當下，警覺就會出現。就像從一場夢中醒來，一場思緒之夢，一場過去與未來的夢。它是如此地清晰，如此地單純，問題沒有可存身的空間，唯有此刻，如其本是。

 

The moment you enter the Now with your attention, you
realize that life is sacred. There is a sacredness to everything you perceive
when you are present. The more you live in the Now, the more you sense the
simple yet profound joy of Being and the sacredness of all life.  

當你將專注帶入當下的那一刻，你將了解生命是神聖的。當你臨於當下，你所感知的一切都將是聖潔純淨的。你越能活在當下，便越能感受到單純卻深刻的“本體的喜悅”，以及所有生命的聖潔。

 

Most people confuse the Now with what happens in the Now,
but that’s not what it is. The Now is deeper than what happens in it. It is the
space in which it happens. 

大多數人們分不清“當下”與“在當下裏所發生的事”，此兩者並不相同。“當下”是事情發生的空間，它要比其中“發生的事情”更深、更廣。

 

So do not confuse the content of this moment with the Now.
The Now is deeper than any content that arises in it.  

所以，不要將“此刻發生了什麽”與“當下”有所混淆，“當下”要比在其中發生的任何內容都更深、更廣。

 

When you step into the Now, you step out of the content of
your mind. The incessant stream of thinking slows down. Thoughts don’t absorb
all your attention anymore, don’t draw you in totally. Gaps arise in between
thoughts–spaciousness, stillness. You begin to realize how much vaster and
deeper you are than your thoughts.  

當你進入了當下，你便跨出了心智世界，奔流不息的思緒之流慢了下來。念頭不再占據你全部的注意，不再全然地吸引著你。念頭與念頭之間的空隙出現了--無垠寬廣、寂然靜止。你開始了解--你，遠比你的思緒更為浩瀚與深刻。

 

Thoughts, emotions, sense perceptions, and whatever you
experience make up the content of your life. “My life” is what you derive your
sense of self from, and “my life” is content, or so you believe. 

思維、情緒、感官覺受，以及任何你所經曆體驗的，構成了你的生命的內容。“我的生命”是自我感的來源，而你所謂的“我的生命”就是生活中的這些內容，或者你相信是如此。

 

You continuously overlook the most obvious fact: your
innermost sense of I Am has nothing to do with what happens in your life,
nothing to do with content. That sense of I Am is one with the Now. It always
remains the same. In childhood and old age, in health or sickness, in success
or failure, the I Am – the space of Now – remains unchanged at its deepest
level. It usually gets confused with content, and so you experience I Am or the
Now only faintly and indirectly, through the content of your life. In other
words: your sense of Being becomes obscured by circumstances, your stream of
thinking, and the many things of this world. The Now becomes obscured by time.

你一直忽略一件顯而易見的事實：你內心深處的“我本是”，與你生命中所“發生”的事情，與你所謂的生命內容，絲毫無關。“我本是”與當下是合一的，它始終不變，幼年如此，老年亦然，無論健康或生病、成功或失敗，“我本是”--當下的覺性空間，在最深層的意義上，它從來沒改變過。人們常以為生命的內容就是“我本是” ，而透過生命的內容，你也隻能隱約、間接地體驗到“我本是”或“當下”。換句話說：你的本體感因為受到如思維之流或俗事等各種情況的遮蔽，而變得朦朧不清。“當下”也因為有了過去與未來的時間概念，而變得隱晦不明。

And so you forget your rootedness in Being, your divine
reality, and lose yourself in the world. Confusion, anger, depression,
violence, and conflict arise when humans forget who they are. 

因此，你遺忘了你是根植於本體的，遺忘了你原有的神性，以致在這人世間迷失了自己。當人們遺忘了自己是誰，混亂、憤怒、沮喪、暴力與衝突便營運而生。

 

Yet how easy it is to remember the truth and thus return
home:

然而，憶起真理，回歸本性是多麽容易：

 

I am not my thoughts, emotions, sense perceptions, and
experiences. I am not the content of my life. I am Life. I am the space in
which all things happen. I am consciousness. I am the Now. I Am.  

我不是我的想法、情緒、感覺或種種經驗，我也不是我的生命內容，我就是生命。我就是萬事萬物發生的所在空間，我就是那覺識，我就是當下，我本是。