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给学校的信,1979年1月1日 - 勤奋

从自我占据中解脱会带来充分的能量

     It appears that as we are concerned with education, there are two factors we must bear in mind at all times. One is diligence and the other is negligence. Most religions have talked about the activity of the mind, to be controlled, shaped by the will of God, or by some exterior agency; and devotion to some deity, made by the hand or by the mind, needs a certain quality of attention in which emotion, sentiment and romantic imagination are involved. This is the activity of the mind which is thought. The word diligence implies care, watchfulness, observation and a deep sense of freedom. Devotion to an object a person or a principle denies this freedom. Diligence is attention which brings about naturally infinite care, concern and the freshness of affection. All this demands great sensitivity. One is sensitive to one's own desires or psychological wounds, or one is sensitive to a particular person, watching his desires and responding quickly to his needs; but this kind of sensitivity is limited and can hardly be called sensitive. The quality of sensitivity of which we are talking comes about naturally when there is total responsibility which is love. Diligence has this quality.

我们在从事教育工作时,有两个要素需要记住:一个是勤奋,另一个是懈怠。大多数宗教都谈到过,心的活动需要被“上帝的意志”或某个外在力量所控制。敬奉神(手或头脑制造的)需要某种专注的品质,其中牵涉了感情、情绪和浪漫的想象。这是心的活动,也就是思想的活动。勤奋这个词意味着细心、警觉、观察和一种深刻的自由感。敬奉一个物体、一个人或一个原则就否定了这种自由。勤奋就是注意,它会自然产生无限的关怀、关注与爱的清新。这一切需要巨大的敏感性。你对自己的欲望或心理创伤敏感,或对某个特定的人敏感,关注他的欲望,对他的需求迅速回应。但是这种敏感是有限的,很难把它称为敏感。当具有完全的责任感——爱——时,我们所说的敏感就会自然地产生。勤奋就具有这种品质。

     Negligence is indifference, sloth; indifference towards the physical organism, towards the psychological state and indifference to others. In indifference there is callousness. In this stage the mind becomes sluggish, the activity of thought slows down, quickness of perception is denied and sensitivity is a thing that is incomprehensible. Most of us are sometimes diligent but most often negligent. They are not really opposites. If they were, diligence would still be negligence.

懈怠是不关心、懒散,不关心自己的身体和心理状态,也不关心别人。不关心里面有一种冷漠。在这种状态中,心变得无精打采,思维的活力变得迟钝,感受的敏锐被否定了,敏感成了一件难以理解的事情。我们多数人都有勤奋的时候,但更为经常的是懈怠。勤奋并不是懈怠的反面。如果是的话,勤奋依然还是懈怠。

Is diligence the outcome of negligence? If it is, it is still part of negligence and therefore not truly diligent. Most people are diligent in their own self-interest, whether that self-interest is identified with the family, with a particular group, sect, or nation. In this self-interest there is the seed of negligence although there is constant preoccupation with oneself. This preoccupation is limited and so it is negligence This preoccupation is energy held within a narrow boundary. Diligence is the freedom from self-occupation and brings an abundance of energy. When one understands the nature of negligence the other comes into being without any struggle. When this is fully understood - not just the verbal definitions of negligence and diligence - then the highest excellence in our thought, action, behaviour will manifest itself.

大多数人在自己的个人利益上是“勤奋”的,不管这种个人利益是否附属于家庭、团体、宗派、国家。在这种个人利益中有懈怠的种子,尽管其中存在对自身持续不断的专注。这种专注是有限的,因此它是懈怠。这种专注是被束缚在一个狭小范围内的能量。勤奋是从个人利益中解脱出来,它会带来充足的能量。当你理解了懈怠的本质,勤奋就会毫不费力地到来。当我们完全地理解了这一点,而不只是对懈怠和勤奋进行文字说明,那么我们的思想、行动、行为就会清晰地展现出最卓越的品质。

But unfortunately we never demand of ourselves the highest quality of thought, action and behaviour. We hardly ever challenge ourselves and if we ever do, we have various excuses for not responding fully. This indicates does it not, an indolence of mind, the feeble activity of thought? The body can be lazy but never the mind with its quickness of thought and subtlety. Laziness of the body can easily be understood. This laziness may be because one is overworked or over-indulged, or has played games too hard. So the body requires rest which may be considered laziness though it is not. The watchful mind, being alert, sensitive, knows when the organism needs rest and care.

但是很不幸,我们从来不要求自己的思想、行动和行为达到最卓越的品质。我们几乎从不挑战自己,即使这样做了,我们也会有各种各样的借口不作出完全的响应。这不正表明内心的懒惰和思想的无力吗?身体可以懒惰,但是心灵伴随着敏锐而微细地思考,它永远都不可以懒惰。身体的懒惰很容易理解,这种懒惰可能是因为劳累过度,或纵欲,或沉溺于游戏,所以身体想要休息——这可能被认为是懒惰,但它不是。觉察的心机警而敏感,知道身体什么时候需要休息和照顾。

     In our schools it is important to understand that the quality of energy which is diligence requires the right kind of food, the right kind of exercise,and enough sleep. Habit, routine, is the enemy of diligence - the habit of thought,of action, of conduct. Thought itself creates its own pattern and lives within it. When that pattern is challenged either it is disregarded or thought creates another pattern of security. This is the movement of thought - from one pattern to another, from one conclusion, one belief, to another. This is the very negligence of thought. The mind that is diligent has no habit; it has no pattern of response. It is endless movement, never coalescing into habit, never caught in conclusions. Movement has great depth and volume when it has no boundary brought about by the negligence of thought.

那个被称为勤奋的能量品质,需要合理的食物、适当的运动和充足的睡眠。在我们的学校里,理解这一点是很重要的。习惯、常规是勤奋的敌人——包括思想的习惯,行为的习惯,举止的习惯。思想创造了自己的模式,并在里面存活。当这个模式受到挑战时,要么是忽略这个挑战,要么是思想制造出另一个安全模式。这就是思想的运动——从一个模式到另一个模式,从一个结论到另一个结论、从一个信仰到另一个信仰。这正是思想的懈怠。勤奋的心没有习惯,它不存在反应模式。它是无止境的运动,永远不会被习惯阻挡,永远不会被结论束缚。当这种运动不被思想的懈怠限制,它就会有巨大的深度和力量。

     As we are now concerned with education, in what manner can the teacher convey this diligence with its sensitivity, with its abundant care in which laziness of the spirit has no place? Of course it is understood that the educator concerned with this question and sees the importance of diligence throughout the days of his life. If he is, then how will he set about cultivating this flower of diligence? Is he deeply concerned with the student? Does he really take the total responsibility for these young people who are in his charge? Or is he merely there to earn a livelihood, caught in the misery of having little? As we pointed out in previous letters, teaching is the highest capacity of man. You are there and you have the students before you. Is it that you are indifferent? Is it that your own personal troubles at home are wasting your energy?

在从事教育工作时,教师如何将这份勤奋以及它的敏感、它充分的关怀(其中不存在心灵的懒惰)传达出去?当然我们都理解,教师要关心这个问题,并且在他的整个生命中看到勤奋的重要性。如果真是这样,那么他将如何着手培育勤奋之花呢?他有没有深切地关爱学生?对这些由他照看的年轻人,他是否真正负起了全部的责任?还是说他只是在那里赚钱谋生?我们曾经指出过,教育是人类最崇高的职业。你就在那里,面前是你的学生们,你漠不关心吗?你家里的麻烦消耗了你的精力吗?

     To carry psychological problems from day to day is an utter waste of time and energy, indicating negligence. A diligent mind meets the problem as it arises, observes the nature of it and resolves it immediately. The carrying over of a psychological problem does not resolve the problem. It is a wastage of energy and the spirit. When you solve the problems as they arise, then you will find there are no problems at all.

日复一日地背负心理上的问题是对时间和精力的彻底浪费,这标志着懈怠。一颗勤奋的心会在问题出现时面对它,观察它的本质并立即解决它。拖延不会解决心理问题,那是能量和精神的浪费。当你在问题出现时就解决它们,你就会发现,根本就不存在问题。

     So we must come back to the question: as an educator in these or any other schools, can you cultivate this diligence? It is only in this that the flowering of goodness comes into being. It is your total, irrevocable responsibility, and in it is this love which will naturally find a way of helping the student.

因此,作为这些学校或任何其它学校的教师,你能不能培养这种勤奋?只有这样,善的绽放才会发生。这样做是你完全的、不可推卸的责任,其中有爱,而爱会自然地找到帮助学生的方式。

                                                            绿草园翻译工作室

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