【原文】
Seeing beauty in a flower can awaken you, however briefly, to the beauty that is an essential part of your own innermost being, your true nature. Joy and love are intrinsically connected to that recognition. Flowers can become for us an expression in form of that which is most high, most sacred, and ultimately formless within ourselves,. Flowers, more fleeting, more ethereal, and more delicate than the plants out of which they emerge, are like messengers from another realm, like a bridge between the world of physical forms and the formless. They not only have a scent that is delicate and pleasing, but also bring a fragrance from the realm of spirit.
When you are alert and contemplate a flower with out naming it mentally, it becomes a window for you in to the formless. There is an inner opening , however slight, into the spiritual dimension.
【译文】
看到花之美丽,哪怕只有片刻,就能使你苏醒,并意识到美乃是你自己的内在本质,是你的天性。愉悦与爱与这种美的认识内在相通。花朵成为一种表达,代表我们内在的高级,神圣,终极之无形之物。比起枝干,花朵转瞬即逝,空灵飘渺且娇嫩纤细。如同域外的使者,如同物质世界与无形世界间的桥梁。它们不仅有轻柔爽心的清香,更能带来心灵世界的芬芳。
当你清醒的注视花朵,不在心中给她冠名,她就会为你开启一扇窗,通向无形。心灵维度轻轻向你敞开。
【心得】
想到了王阳明“庭前格竹”的故事。这种藉由观察外物而通达内心的方式,很类似于王阳明的学说。这种格物,也就是对世上万物的探究,其目的乃是明白自己的内心。万物都有其美。万物都因此相同。通过观察发现眼前是物的美,使自己的内心与之共鸣。心灵之窗的洞开,全在者微不足道的一草一花一目。人们所需要的,只是慢下来,甚至驻足一会儿,让心灵有机会释放。
俗话说,一把钥匙开一把锁。这开心的钥匙,却是数不清的。只是,看你愿不愿西慢下来,去开心锁了。
【原文】
How do you let go of attachment to things? Don't even try. It's impossible. Attachment to things drops away by itself when you no longer seek to find yourself in them. In the meantime, just be aware of your attachment to things.Sometimes you may not know that you are attached to something, which is to say, identified, until you lose it or there is the threat of loss. If you then become upset, anxious, and so on, it means you are attached. If you are aware that you are identified with a thing, the identification is no longer total. "I am the awareness that is aware that there is attachment." That's the beginning of the transformation of consciousness.
When you contemplate the unfathomable depth of space or listen to the silence in the early hours just before sunrise, something within you resonates with it as if in recognition. You then sense the vast depth of space as your own depth, and you know that precious stillness that has no form to be more deeply who you are than any of the things that make up the content of your life.
The twofold reality of the universe, which consists of things and space -- thingness and no-thingness-- is also your own. A sane, balanced, and fruitful human life is a dance between the two dimensions that make up reality: form and space. Most people are so identified with the dimension of form, with sense perceptions, thoughts, and emotions, that the vital hidden half is missing from their lives. Their identification with form keeps them trapped in ego.
Just as space enables all things to exist and just as without silence there could be no sound, you would not exist without the vital formless dimension that is the essence of who you are. We could say "God" if the word had not been so misused. I prefer to call it Being. Being is prior to existence. Existence is form, content, "what happens." Existence is the foreground of life; Being is the background, as it were.
The collective disease of humanity is that people are so engrossed in what happens, so hypnotized by the world of fluctuating forms, so absorbed in the content of their lives, they have forgotten the essence, that which is beyond content, beyond form, beyond thought. They are so consumed by time that they have forgotten eternity, which is their origin, their home, their destiny. Eternity is the living reality of who you are.
【译文】
如何才能与物质分离,获得解脱?不可强求,因为强求也不可得。只有当你不再是同从事物中寻找自我时,对于事物的依赖才能自行消亡。停止寻找自我的同时,仍要持续关注你对事物的依赖。有时,你依赖于某些事物而不自知,只有当你失去或将要失去这种依赖时,才会有所觉察。如果这是你感到失落,焦虑等等,就意味着你存在着依赖。当你意识到某事某物代表着你时,这种代表性就不再是完整的了。“我是注意到这种依赖关系的觉知。”这就是意识转变的开始。
当你审视空间的浩淼或者倾听日出前的几个小时的静寂,你自身的某些部分就像是与其相识似的与之共鸣。你会感觉那空间的广阔深远就是你的深度,你会知道那宝贵且无形的寂静比做成你生命的所有有形之物更能代表深层次的你。
宇宙的真实具有两面性:事物与空间,有形与无形。你也如此。健全,平衡,富有成果的人生是在现实的形态与空间这两个维度之间的舞蹈。大多数人附着于形态这一维度,附着于直觉,思维,情绪。那重要的无形的一半在他们的生活中确实了。附着于形态使得他们深陷与自我之中。
就如同空间使万物得以生存其中,又如同没有寂静便没有声音,失去了无形的那一维度,你便不能生存。无形的那一维度才是你存在的核心。如果“上帝”一词不是被乱用做了其他的意思,我们大可以将这无形之维度成为“上帝”。而我,更乐于称其为“存在”(Being)。“存在”高于实存(existence)。实存是指形态,内容,“发生的事”。实存是生活前台;而“存在”则是生活的背景,历来如此。①
人类有一个通病:人们总是全神贯注于正在发生的事情,被这个变动不居的有形世界所催眠,被他们生活的内容而吸引而忘记了生活的本质。超越内容,超越形态,超越思维的本质。 人们被时间所消耗而忘记了永恒。忘记了永恒乃是人们的起源,家园和宿命。永恒是“我是谁”的鲜活现实。
【心得】
①对于Being 与Existence的辨析,请参考这里 http://www.cctv.com/lm/131/61/85949.html 。简单来说,这两个词的中文翻译,都是存在。这其实是对后者的错误翻译。Being翻译成存在,意指一切的本源。这一切包含了时间,空间,事物在内的所有范畴。existence则只适用于事物之一范畴,是指事物作为实体而存在。这里我采用何光沪的说法,使用“实存”作为existence的中译。
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【原文】
You are human being. What does that mean? Mastery of life is not a question of control, but of finding a balance between human and Being. Mother, father, husband, wife, young, old, the roles you play, the functions you fulfill, whatever you do——all that belongs to the human dimension. It has its place and needs to be honored, but in itself it is not enough for a fulfilled, truly meaningful relationship or life. Human alone is never enough, no matter how hard you try or what you achieve. Then there is Being. It is found in the still, alert presence of Consciousness itself, the Consciousness that you are. Human is form. Being is formless. Human and Being are not separate but interwoven.
【译文】
你作为人而存在。这是什么意思?这意味这对生命的掌握不在于能否操控它,而是找到“人”与“存在”之间的平衡。你或许是个母亲,父亲,丈夫,妻子。无论你青春年少或是垂垂老矣,也无论你扮演怎样的角色,身肩何种职责,你的所作所为,都属于你为“人”的这个维度。当然,这些值得赞扬,但却不足以代表完整真实且有意义的关系或者生活。只是做“人”是不够的,无论你在这一方面如何努力如何成功。
“存在”必不可少。
“存在”只在静止的警醒的当下的意识之中。这意识就是“你存在”。“人”是有形的,“存在”是无形的,这二者互相交织,密不可分。
【心得】
英语真有趣啊。我是谁这个问题有两个关键词,“我”与“是”。这个问题的答案是“Human Being”,对应的翻译就是人与存在。问题也就是答案。“Who am I”或者“What am I” 答案,都是以“I am” 开头的。“我”“是”或者我“存在”。而这两个词后面跟着什么,并不是最重要的。
我可以作为这个或者那个存在,但是只有一点是关键。我存在。
【原文】
Equating the physical sense-perceived body with "I", the body that is destined to grow old, wither, and die, always leads to suffering sooner or later. To refrain from identifying with body doesn't mean that you neglect, despise, or no longer care for it. If it is strong, beautiful, or vigorous, you can enjoy and appreciate those attributes——while they last. You can also improve the body's condition through right nutrition and exercise. If you don't equate the body with who you are, when beauty fades, vigor diminishes or the body becomes incapacitated, this will not affect your sense of worth or identity in any way. In fact, as the body begins to weaken, the formless dimension, the light of consciousness, can shine more easily through the fading form.
【译文】
将感觉/知觉到的肉身等同於“我”,迟早会给人打来痛苦。肉身注定会衰老,枯萎,凋零。不将肉身当作我,并非是教你忽视,鄙视乃至于不再关心身体。若有强壮身体,充沛精力或俊美面容,我们不但该趁着它们逝去之前尽情享受并感激它们,更应加强营养与锻炼以增强与改善它们。只是,如果我们不将身体与“我”等同起来,就不会在容颜老去,精力减退,身体衰弱时,受到它们对个人的价值的判断和身份认同的影响。实际上,当身体开始衰老时,那不依赖于形体的意识之光便能更容易穿透正在腐朽逝去的形态,散发出耀眼的光彩。
【心得】
《我是谁 之一》中提到了,“我是谁”这个问题的答案,并不能“以我是某某”这样的形式来回答。这里强调的是,我不是我的身体。身体这一物质形态,注定了将在世间承受苦痛。它将在某些时刻强大无比,充满活力,也将会衰老,变弱,最终消失。虽然”我“最终也会伴随身体消失,但身体并不能等同与“我”。 “我”完全可以不受身体痛苦的限制,自由的探索与生活。
【原文】
The ultimate truth of who you are is not I am this or I am that, but I AM.
【译文】
我是谁?
这个问题的终极答案,不是我是这个我是那个,而是我存在。
【心得】
我们几乎每天都在回答“我是谁”这个问题,尤其是在遇到新朋友的做自我介绍时。而答案,无非是,我是清阳,我是学生,我是心理学专业的学生,我是中国人,我是留学生,我跑步,我是父母的儿子,母亲的哥哥,女友的男友... 仔细想想,这些无非是在给自己贴一个标签了事。这些标签无非是为了简化自己,以图让别人(或别人的思维)认识其我来更加容易些。
这些答案都没有错,但没有一个是完全描述自己的。它们只能算部分真实,因为它们有可能是变化的。比如,在未来的某些时候,我可以不再是学生,也可能不再搞心理学,也可能成为其他国家的公民,也会从男友变成丈夫... 这些变动不居的标签,只适合某一时间和空间.
如果要用高度概括的话来涵盖所有的事实,除了这一句“我存在”更合适的了。这句话看似没有任何具体信息,其实却传达了一个非常重要的观点:我是什么并非十分重要,而是在这一刻,我存在着,作为学生,跑者,男性,儿子,哥哥,男友...等等这一切存在着。这才是根本,才是最真实也最重要的。
I have to say Oct. 2nd was a nice day, sunny and calm. It was a little bit chilly but not bad at all. Not bad for a morning run. Actually, Freya did her 12 miles long run and I participated The 7th Annual S.P.A.C.E. Race 5K.
It was my second 5K race this year. The first one was the Athens Twilight 5K in April. It took me 20:04 to finish the 5K last time. This time I wanted something under 20 to set a new PR.
Freya’s long run ended at the start of my 5K. We planed her long run route the night before so she could finish her training and meet me at the start of the 5K to cheer for me. And of course, she took some photos. This is me before the race.
My labmates John and Lauren also ran the race. Cindy participated as a volunteer. Actually it was Cindy who informed us about the Nuci’s SPACE run.
The race started in some traditional way which I had no idea what it was. I just started running when I sensed others
were moving.
Yes, I was at the front line.
The whole run was OK. I did not feel very well. It was like lack of energy. I had the feeling that I wanted to go faster but I couldn’t because there was no fuel in the tank. Maybe I was too excited, I don’t know. All that I could do was to keep my pace, and keep going. that’s it…
This is me towards the finish. Freya took this photo and then the battery of the camera died. There was no video when I was passing the finish this time. We planned it, but did not check the battery.
I finished the third overall. The final results were not posted yet as of now, but I finished under 20 minutes for sure. I am happy with the result.
After the race, a mild pancreatitis episode attacked me. I had to take pain medicine and stay in bed. The pain lasted about 8 hours. I don’t think the race is the cause of the attack. It probably would happen no matter what. It might have affected my performance. Yeah, I believe I could have done better.
Anyway, what has been done has been done. Training will continue. Looking forward to my next race, the Athens Half Marathon!
update: I found more photos here.