寧靜在說話（第六章：接納與臣服）

第六章

接納與臣服

Acceptance and Surrender

 

Whenever you are able, have a “look” inside yourself to see
whether you are unconsciously creating conflict between the inner and the
outer, between your external circumstances at that moment–where you are, who
you are with, or what you are doing–and your thoughts and feelings. Can you
feel how painful it is to internally stand in opposition to what is? 

隻要你可以，請記得隨時往自己內心“看”一眼，看看自己是不是於無意識間，又在製造內與外的衝突--讓內心種種想法、感覺，與當時外在的情況（你在哪裏、你與誰在一起、你正在做什麽）起衝突；你可以感覺到當你與實際狀況對抗時是多麽痛苦嗎？

 

When you recognize this, you also realize that you are now
free to give up this futile conflict, this inner state of war.  

一旦你認知到這痛苦時，你同時也會明白，你可以自由地放下這徒然無益的衝突，放下這內在的戰爭。

 

How often each day, if you were to verbalize your inner
reality at that moment, would you have to say, “I don't want to be where I am?”
What does it feel like when you don't want to be where you are–the traffic jam,
your place of work, the airport lounge, the people you are with? 

如果讓你把內心真實的感受用話語說出來，那麽在一天當中，將有多少次你會說：“我不想待在這裏？”不想待在自己當下置身之處（車陣之中、工作場所、候機室，不想共處的人身旁），是什麽樣的感覺呢？

 

It is true, of course, that some places are good places to
walk out of–and sometimes that may well be the most appropriate thing for you
to do. In many cases, however, walking out is not an option. In all those
cases, the “I don't want to be here” is not only useless but also
dysfunctional. It makes you and others unhappy. 

It has been said: wherever you go, there you are. In other
words: you are here. Always. Is it so hard to accept that?

的確，有些地方直接離開是可以的，而且那樣做可能也是最適當的。然而，更多的時候，離開不見得是你可以選擇的，這時候，說出“我不想待在這裏”的念頭不僅毫無用處，更形成困擾，徒然使你與其他人都不快樂而已。俗諺說：“在你的所在之處”，也就是說，永遠要“身在哪裏，心就在哪裏”。這很難以接受嗎？

 

Do you really need to mentally label every sense perception
and experience? Do you really need to have a reactive like/dislike relationship
with life where you are in almost continuous conflict with situations and
people? Or is that just a deepseated mental habit that can be broken? Not by
doing anything, but by allowing this moment to be as it is.  

你非得在腦海中為每個感受與經驗貼標簽嗎?對你那不斷有人際或處境衝突的生命，你非得與它保存這種喜歡或不喜歡的互動關係嗎？也許，這根深蒂固的習性是可以破除的，而且你不需要特別做什麽，隻要如實地接納此時此刻的一切就行了。

 

The habitual and reactive “no” strengthens the ego. “Yes”
weakens it. Your form identity, the ego, cannot survive surrender.  

要強化小我，隻需要慣性地回應：“不”；反之，回應“是”則可以弱化它。臣服之後，你的表相認同--小我，是無法存活的。

 

 “I have
so much to do.” Yes, but what is the quality of your doing? Driving to work,
speaking to clients, working on the computer, running errands, dealing with the
countless things that make up your daily life–how total are you in what you do?
Is your doing surrendered or non-surrendered? This is what determines your
success in life, not how much effort you make. Effort implies stress and
strain, needing to reach a certain point in the future or accomplish a certain
result.

 “我有好多事要做。”是的，但你做事的品質如何呢？當你開車去上班，或與客戶談話，或在電腦前工作，或跑腿打雜，處理多如牛毛的日常事務時，你全心投入了嗎？你是心不甘情不願地去做它？還是臣服地去做它？決定人生成功與否的是臣服，而不是你付出多少努力。努力意味著壓力與緊張，意味著“必須”在未來達到一定的程度，或者完成一定的成果。

 

Can you detect even the slightest element within yourself
of not wanting to be doing what you are doing? That is a denial of life, and so
a truly successful outcome is not possible. 

你可以覺察到自己並不想做手上的事嗎？即使隻是絲毫的不願意。這可是對生命的一種否定，若真是如此，想真正成功是不可能的。

 

If you can detect this within yourself, can you also drop
it and be total in what you do?  

如果你可以偵知自己內在的這個不情願，你願意丟棄它，轉而全心投入你正在做的事情裏嗎？

 

“Doing
one thing at a time” is how one Zen Master defined the essence of Zen. 

一位禪師如此定義“禪”：“一次隻做一件事。”

 

Doing one thing at a time means to be total in what you do,
to give it your complete attention. This is surrendered action–empowered
action.  

“一次隻做一件事”意味著用上全部的心力，全然地投入所做的事情，這是臣服的行為，是能強化力量的行為。

 

Your acceptance of what is takes you to a deeper level
where your inner state as well as your sense of self no longer depend on the
mind's judgment of “good” or “bad.”  

如實地接受一切，將帶你進入一個更深刻的層次，在那裏，你的內在狀態與你的自我意識，將不再依賴心智所做出的好、壞判斷。

 

When you say “yes” to the “isness” of life, when you accept
this moment as it is, you can feel a sense of spaciousness within you that is
deeply peaceful.

當你對生命的“實際狀況”俯首稱“是”，當你依實際狀況全然地接納了此刻的一切，你將在心底感到無垠而深沉的平靜。

 

On the surface, you may still be happy when it's sunny and
not so happy when it's rainy; you may be happy at winning a million dollars and
unhappy at losing all your possessions. Neither happiness nor unhappiness,
however, go all that deep anymore. They are ripples on the surface of your
Being. The background peace within you remains undisturbed regardless of the
nature of the outside condition.

表麵上，你還是會為天晴而開心，為陰雨而悶悶不樂；你也會在贏得百萬元時歡欣，在輸光一切後難過。然而，無論快樂或不快樂，它們都不會太深，它們隻是生命本體表層掀動的漣漪。不論外在情境如何起伏，你內在如背景般的那片祥和依然文風不動。

 

The “yes” to what is reveals a dimension of depth within
you that is dependent neither on external conditions nor on the internal
conditions of constantly fluctuating thoughts and emotions.  

臣服於“事情的真實狀況”，將揭開你內在的一個深層境界：一個既不依賴外在情況，也不依賴內在念頭與情緒運作的世界。

 

 

Surrender becomes so much easier when you realize the
fleeting nature of all experiences and that the world cannot give you anything
of lasting value. You then continue to meet people, to be involved in
experiences and activities, but without the wants and fears of the egoic self.
That is to say, you no longer demand that a situation, person, place, or event
should satisfy you or make you happy. Its passing and imperfect nature is
allowed to be. 

當你明白所有的經驗本質上都是變動不居的，明白這世界無法給你恒定的價值時，臣服就變得容易多了。臣服之後，你依然與人們互動，依然參與各種體驗與活動，卻不再帶著小我諸多的欲望與恐懼。也就是說，你不再要求某個情境、某個人、某個地方或某事件，要讓你滿意或快樂。你接納了事物短暫與不完美的本質。

 

And the miracle is that when you are no longer placing an
impossible demand on it, every situation, person, place, or event becomes not
only satisfying but also more harmonious, more peaceful.  

當你不再對生活提出不可能的要求時，奇跡發生了，每個情境、每個人，甚至每件事不但都讓你滿意，同時彼此間也更和諧、更平靜。

 

When you completely accept this moment, when you no longer
argue with what is, the compulsion to think lessens and is replaced by an alert
stillness. You are fully conscious, yet the mind is not labeling this moment in
any way. This state of inner nonresistance opens you to the unconditioned
consciousness that is infinitely greater than the human mind. This vast
intelligence can then express itself through you and assist you, both from
within and from without. That is why, by letting go of inner resistance, you
often find circumstances change for the better.  

當你全然接納此刻，當你不再與真實狀況抗拒，思考的衝動就會降低，取而代之的是一種鮮活的靜觀寂照。你的意識全然清晰，然而你的心智卻沒有對此時此刻貼上任何的標簽。這種內在不再抗拒的狀態，將引你進入不受製約的覺識，那覺識遠比人類心智更加浩瀚無垠。這浩瀚的本智，將透過你表現它自己，並由內到外幫助你。這就是為什麽當你放下了內在的抗拒，你常發現一切變得更美好了。

 

Am I saying, “Enjoy this moment. Be happy”? No. Allow the “suchness” of this moment. That's
enough.  

我有說：“快樂地享受此時此刻”嗎？沒有。接納此時此刻“如其所是”，便已足夠。

 

Surrender is surrender to this moment, not to a story
through which you interpret this moment and then try to resign yourself to
it. 

臣服是臣服於此時此刻，而非臣服於那個用來“詮釋”此刻，然後試著把自己交托給它的故事。

 

For instance, you may have a disability and can't walk
anymore. The condition is as it is. 

譬如，你身有殘障，再也無法行走。實況就是如此。

 

Perhaps your mind is now creating a story that says, “This
is what my life has come to. I have ended up in a wheelchair. Life has treated
me harshly and unfairly. I don't deserve this.”

而你的心智卻在編造一個故事：“人生到此，我將在輪椅上終老一生。生命對我如此殘酷不公，我不該遭到如此待遇。”

 

Can you accept the isness of this moment and not confuse it
with a story the mind has created around it?  

你能如實地接納此時此刻，不把它與心智圍繞著它所編織的故事混為一談嗎？

 

Surrender comes when you no longer ask, “Why is this
happening to me?”  

當你不再問：“為什麽這事發生在我身上？”你，便臣服了。

 

Even within the seemingly most unacceptable and painful
situation is concealed a deeper good, and within every disaster is contained
the seed of grace. 

即使是看起來最難以接受以及最痛苦的惡境，也隱藏了一個更深層的善，而在每個災難的背後，也都包含了恩典的種子。

 

Throughout history, there have been women and men who, in
the face of great loss, illness, imprisonment, or impending death, accepted the
seemingly unacceptable and thus found “the peace that passeth all
understanding.” 

在曆史上，很多男人或女人在麵對巨大的損失、病痛、拘禁或即將臨至的死亡之際，他們選擇接受那看似難以接受的事情，進而找到那“不可思議的平靜”。

 

Acceptance of the unacceptable is the greatest source of
grace in this world.

接受那難以接受的，就是世上恩典的偉大源頭。

 

There are situations where all answers and explanations
fail. Life does not make sense anymore. Or someone in distress comes to you for
help, and you don't know what to do or say.  

有那麽些時候，所有的答案與解釋都失靈了，生命變得沒什麽道理。某個煩惱憂傷的人前來求助，而你卻不知該說些什麽或做些什麽。

 

When you fully accept that you don't know, you give up
struggling to find answers with the limited thinking mind, and that is when a
greater intelligence can operate through you. And even thought can then benefit
from that, since the greater intelligence can flow into it and inspire it. 

全然接納你自己的“不知道”，不再用力地以有限的思考去尋找答案，此時，一個更宏大的本智，將透過你開始運作。即使是你的思維也能從中受益，因為這更為宏大的本智，會注入思考中，給它啟發。

 

Sometimes surrender means giving up trying to understand
and becoming comfortable with not knowing.  

有時，“臣服”意味著“不再嚐試去理解”，而麵對“不知道”也能處之泰然。

 

Do you know of someone whose main function in life seems to
be to make themselves and others miserable, to spread unhappiness? Forgive them,
for they too are part of the awakening of humanity. The role they play
represents an intensification of the nightmare of egoic consciousness, the
state of non-surrender. There is nothing personal in all this. It is not who
they are.  

你認識那種一生就隻會為自己和別人帶來不幸、散播不愉快的人嗎？請原諒他們吧！因為他們也是人類覺醒的部分。他們所扮演的角色，代表著強化的小我意識夢魘，是拒絕臣服的必然狀態。這一切非關個人，因為那不是他們真正的本質。

 

Surrender, one could say, is the inner transition from
resistance to acceptance, from “no” to “yes.”

“臣服”是從抗拒到接納，從“不”到“是”的一種內在轉化。

 

When you surrender, your sense of self shifts from being
identified with a reaction or mental judgment to being the space around the
reaction or judgment. It is a shift from identification with form–the thought
or the emotion–to being and recognizing yourself as that which has no
form–spacious awareness. 

當你臣服了，你的自我感將從認同與判斷、分別與反應的狀態中，轉換成為包被著這些分別與反應的“空間”。這是從認同於有形（念頭與情緒），轉化到認出自己就是那無形的廣袤覺知本身。

 

Whatever you accept completely will take you to peace,
including the acceptance that you cannot accept, that you are in
resistance.  

任何你所對抗的、難以接受的，一旦被你全然接納，都將引領你進入平靜。

 

Leave Life alone. Let it be.  

別去幹擾生命，順其自然吧！