10
10
Chapter 10 THE MEANING OF SURRENDER
第十章 臣服的意义
ACCEPTANCE OF THE NOW
接纳当下
You mentioned "surrender" a few times. I don't like that idea. It sounds somewhat fatalistic. If we always accept the way things are, we are not going to make any effort to improve them. It seems to me what progress is all about, both in our personal lives and collectively, is not to accept the limitations of the present but to strive to go beyond them and create something better. If we hadn't done this, we would still be living in caves. How do you reconcile surrender with changing things and getting things done?
你屡次提到“臣服”。我不喜欢这个理念。它给人宿命的感觉。如果我们老是接受现状，就不会做任何改善的努力了。我总觉得个人生活和集体的进步不在于接受现状的局限，而是凭着奋斗超越它们，进而创造出更好的。人类若非如此，如今还会住在山顶洞里。我们要如何在臣服和改善之间取得折衷而有所做为？
To some people, surrender may have negative connotations, implying defeat, giving up, failing to rise to the challenges of life, becoming lethargic, and so on. True surrender, however, is something entirely different. It does not mean to passively put up with whatever situation you find yourself in and to do nothing about it. Nor does it mean to cease making plans or initiating positive action.
对某些人来说，臣服也许有负面的涵义。它暗示了失败、放弃、未能面对生命的挑战、变得灰心丧志等等。然而真正的臣服却截然不同。它不是要你对于你身处的情境做被动的忍受而无所做为。它也不意谓着要你不做计划或不采取积极的行动。
Surrender is the simple but profound wisdom of yielding to rather than opposing the flow of life. The only place where you can experience the flow of life is the Now, so to surrender is to accept the present moment unconditionally and without reservation. It is to relinquish inner resistance to what is. Inner resistance is to say "no" to what is, through mental judgment and emotional negativity. It becomes particularly pronounced when things "go wrong," which means that there is a gap between the demands or rigid expectations of your mind and what is. That is the pain gap. If you have lived long enough, you will know that things "go wrong" quite often. It is precisely at those times that surrender needs to be practiced if you want to eliminate pain and sorrow from your life. Acceptance of What is immediately frees you from mind identification and thus reconnects you with Being. Resistance is the mind.
臣服就是以随顺生命之流代替逆流而上，这个简单又深奥的智慧。当下是你唯一一个能体验生命之流的地方。因此，臣服就是无条件且毫无保留地接受当下这一刻。臣服就是弃绝对本然（what is）的内在抗拒。内在抗拒就是透过心理批判和情感否定对本然说“不。”当事情“出错了”，也就是心智的索求或严苛的期望与本然之间产生差距的时候，便特别会振振有词地喊出“不”。这就是痛苦差距。如果你有了足够的人生阅历，你就会知道事情时常是“出错”的。如果你想要断绝生命中的苦和悲，这正是你需要修习臣服之道的时机。接纳本然立刻把你从心智的认同里释放出来，进而重新与本体取得连系。抗拒是心智（头脑）。
Surrender is a purely inner phenomenon. It does not mean that on the outer level you cannot take action and change the situation. In fact, it is not the overall situation that you need to accept when you surrender, but just the tiny segment called the Now.
臣服是纯粹的内心现象。它并不意谓着你不能从外面的层面采取行动和改变情境。其实你臣服的时候，不需要对整体情境照单全收，你要接纳的仅仅只是那个叫做当下的微小片段而已。
For example, if you were stuck in the mud somewhere, you wouldn't say. "Okay, I resign myself to being stuck in the mud." Resignation is not surrender. You don't need to accept an undesirable or unpleasant life situation. Nor do you need to deceive yourself and say that there is nothing wrong with being stuck in the mud. No. You recognize fully that you want to get out of it. You then narrow your attention down to the present moment without mentally labeling it in any way. This means that there is no judgment of the Now. Therefore, there is no resistance, no emotional negativity. You accept the "isness" of this moment. Then you take action and do all that you can to get out of the mud. Such action I call positive action. It is far more effective than negative action, which arises out of anger, despair, or frustration. Until you achieve the desired result, you continue to practice surrender by refraining from labeling the Now.
举例来说，假设你身陷泥沼之中，你不会说：“算了，我甘心陷在这里。”认命不叫臣服。你不需要接受一个不愉快的或恼人的生命情境。你也不需要自欺欺人地说，身陷泥沼没有什么不对。不对。你全然地体认到自己想要脱困，然后就把你的专注缩小到当下这一刻，但是不用任何方式来给它贴上心理标签。这意谓着对当下没有批判，因而没有抗拒、没有情感否定。你接受了这一刻的“是然”（isness），随即采取行动，尽一切所能让自己从泥泞里脱身。我称这样的行动为积极行动。它比发自愤怒、绝望、或挫败的行动更具威力。你要拒绝为当下贴上任何标签，持续修练臣服之道，直到你达成你所期望的结果为止。
Let me give you a visual analogy to illustrate the point I am making. You are walking along a path at night, surrounded by a thick fog. But you have a powerful flashlight that cuts through the fog and creates a narrow, dear space in front of you. The fog is your life situation, which includes past and future; the flashlight is your conscious presence; the dear space is the Now.
我用一个观想式的比喻来阐述我主张的论点。你晚上走在一条小路上，浓雾伸手不见五指。不过你拿了一只强力的手电筒，在你前面切出一道狭窄、清楚的空间。浓雾就是包括你未来和过去的生命情境；手电筒是你有意识的临在；清楚的空间是当下。
Non-surrender hardens your psychological form, the shell of the ego, and so creates a strong sense of separateness. The world around you and people in particular come to be perceived as threatening. The unconscious compulsion to destroy others through judgment arises, as does the need to compete and dominate. Even nature becomes your enemy and your perceptions and interpretations are governed by fear. The mental disease that we call paranoia is only a slightly more acute form of this normal but dysfunctional state of consciousness.
不臣服硬化了你的心理形式——我执的甲壳，因而创造了一个强力的孤离感。你周遭的世界，特别是人，因而被你感知成具有威胁性。想要透过批判摧毁他人的无意识驱力，和竞争、掌控的需求就升起了。甚至于大自然都变成了你的敌人。你的感知和诠释也遭到恐惧的掌控。我们称为妄想症的心理疾病，只是这种正常却失能的意识状态略微严重的形式罢了。
Not only your psychological form but also your physical form — your body — becomes hard and rigid through resistance. Tension arises in different parts of the body, and the body as a whole contracts. The free flow of life energy through the body, which is essential for its healthy functioning, is greatly restricted. Bodywork and certain forms of physical therapy can be helpful in restoring this flow, but unless you practice surrender in your everyday life, those things can only give temporary symptom relief since the cause — the resistance pattern — has not been dissolved.
除了你的心理形式之外，连你的肉体形式——身体——都透过抗拒而变得僵硬了。张力在你身上不同的部位升起，你整个身体开始收缩。对身体健康至关重要的生命能因此大受局限，而无法自由流畅。身体理疗或某种形式的心理治疗，虽有助于生命能的恢复，可是除非你在生活中就修习臣服之道，否则这些身心疗法也只能带来一时的缓解。因为它的病源—抗拒模式—尚未根除。
There is something within you that remains unaffected by the transient circumstances that make up your life situation, and only through surrender do you have access to it. It is your life, your very Being — which exists eternally in the timeless realm of the present. Finding this life is "the one thing that is needed" that Jesus talked about.
你内在有个部分，是不会受到组成你生命情境的阶段性环境所影响的。你也只有透过臣服，才能打通这条督脉。它就是你的生命，你的本体——它就是永存于无时的当下之境。找到这个生命，就是耶稣所说的“必要的那件事”。
§
If you find your life situation unsatisfactory or even intolerable, it is only by surrendering first that you can break the unconscious resistance pattern that perpetuates that situation.
如果你不满意自己的生命情境，甚或忍无可忍，唯有先透过臣服之后，你才能打破那个使情境永续的无意识抗拒模式。
Surrender is perfectly compatible with taking action, initiating change or achieving goals. But in the surrendered state a totally different energy, a different quality, flows into your doing. Surrender reconnects you with the source-energy of Being, and if your doing is infused with Being, it becomes a joyful celebration of life energy that takes you more deeply into the Now. Through nonresistance, the quality of your consciousness and, therefore, the quality of whatever you are doing or creating is enhanced immeasurably. The results will then look after themselves and reflect that quality. We could call this "surrendered action." It is not work as we have known it for thousands of years. As more humans awaken, the word work is going to disappear from our vocabulary, and perhaps a new word will be created to replace it.
臣服和采取行动促成改变或达成目标是并行而不悖的。不过在臣服的状态里，一道完全不同的能量，一个截然不同的品质，流进了你的做为里。臣服让你重新连系起本体源头的能量。如果你的做为里注入了本体的能量和品质，它就会变成你生命能里一场喜悦的欢庆，并且导引你更深入当下。透过不抗拒，你的意识品质，连带着你所做或创造之事的品质，都获得了可观的提升。而其成果便会如水到渠成一般，反映出这样的品质。我们可以把它叫做“臣服后的行动”。它不再是我们沿袭自几千年来所惯称的工作。随着觉醒人类的增加，工作这个字将从我们的字典里消失，届时或许会有一个新创的字汇取而代之。
It is the quality of your consciousness at this moment that is the main determinant of what kind of future you will experience, so to surrender is the most important thing you can do to bring about positive change. Any action you take is secondary. No truly positive action can arise out of an unsurrendered state of consciousness.
你会经验什么样的未来，主要决定于你这一刻的意识品质。这么看来，臣服是引发正面改变最重要的一件事。你采取的任何行动都是次要的。真正的正面行动不会发自于一个不臣服的意识状态。
I can see that if I am in a situation that is unpleasant or unsatisfactory and I completely accept the moment as it is, there will be no suffering or unhappiness. I will have risen above it. But I still can't quite see where the energy or motivation for taking action and bringing about change would come from if there isn't a certain amount of dissatisfaction.
我能明白，置身于一个不愉快或不满意的情境里，只要完全接受这一刻的本然，就没有受苦或不快乐，这样我就会从情境里提升出来。不过有一点我还是不太明白，如果没有某种程度的不满，那么行动或改变的能量或动机将从何而来？
In the state of surrender, you see very clearly what needs to be done, and you take action, doing one thing at a time and focusing on one thing at a time. Learn from nature: See how everything gets accomplished and how the miracle of life unfolds without dissatisfaction or unhappiness. That's why Jesus said: "Look at the lilies, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin."
在臣服的状态下，你很清楚地看到需要做的是什么，然后采取行动，一次只做一件事，只专注在一件事上。受教于大自然：看万物如何成就；看生命如何在没有不满和不快乐的情况下展现奇迹。这就是耶稣之所以会说：“看那野地的百合，它们不耕不纺却长在地上。”这句话的原因。
If your overall situation is unsatisfactory or unpleasant, separate out this instant and surrender to what is. That's the flashlight cutting through the fog. Your state of consciousness then ceases to be controlled by external conditions. You are no longer coming from reaction and resistance.
如果你的整体情境令你不满意或者不快乐，立刻加以区隔，向本然臣服。这就是你手上切割浓雾的手电筒。然后你的意识状态就不受外境的控制了。你也不再从自动化反应和抗拒来做为了。
Then look at the specifics of the situation. Ask yourself, "Is there anything I can do to change the situation, improve it, or remove myself from it?" If so, you take appropriate action. Focus not on the 100 things that you will or may have to do at some future time but on the one thing that you can do now. This doesn't mean you should not do any planning. It may well be that planning is the one thing you can do now. But make sure you don't start to run "mental movies," project yourself into the future, and so lose the Now. Any action you take may not bear fruit immediately. Until it does — do not resist what is. If there is no action you can take, and you cannot remove yourself from the situation either, then use the situation to make you go more deeply into surrender, more deeply into the Now, more deeply into Being. When you enter this timeless dimension of the present, change often comes about in strange ways without the need for a great deal of doing on your part. Life becomes helpful and cooperative. If inner factors such as fear, guilt, or inertia prevented you from taking action, they will dissolve in the light of your conscious presence.
然后再逐项地检视情境。问自己，“我能做什么来改变或改善情境，或离开这个情境的？”如果有，就采取适当的行动。不要把注意力投注在未来要做，或也许要做的一百件事上，而是专注在你当下能做的一件事上。这不表示你不应该做任何规划。规划极可能就是你目前所能做的那一件事。不过千万不要播放心理电影，把自己投射到未来，因而失落了当下。你采取的任何行动也许不能立竿见影。在你见到成效之前——不要抗拒本然。如果你对情境既无能为力又无法脱身，那么就利用情境让你更深入臣服、更深入当下、更深入本体。当你进入当下这个无时间的向度里的时候，改变经常在不需要你费力做为的情况下，以奇异的方式来临。生命变成了你的助力而与你合作。如果恐惧、愧疚、或死沉之类的内在因素，阻止了你采取行动，它们就会在你意识的临在之光下瓦解。
Do not confuse surrender with an attitude of "I can't be bothered anymore" or "I just don't care anymore." If you look at it closely, you will find that such an attitude is tainted with negativity in the form of hidden resentment and so is not surrender at all but masked resistance. As you surrender, direct your attention inward to check if there is any trace of resistance left inside you. Be very alert when you do so; otherwise, a pocket of resistance may continue to hide in some dark corner in the form of a thought or an unacknowledged emotion.
不要把臣服和“管它的”或“我不在乎”的心态混为一谈。如果你细察的话，你会发觉这种心态感染了以怀怨为形式的负面情感，因此它根本不算臣服，而是伪装的臣服。所以，在臣服的同时，把你的专注向内导引，检查一下是否还有抗拒的残留。这么做的时候你要非常地警觉；否则，你可能错过藏匿在黑暗角落那些以思想或未被觉知到的情感为形式的抗拒。
FROM MIND ENERGY TO SPIRITUAL ENERGY
从心智能量到灵性能量
Letting go of resistance is easier said than done. I still don't see clearly how to let go. If you say it is by surrendering, the question remains: "How?"
放下抗拒知易行难。我对如何放下还是不太清楚。如果你的答案是臣服，那么我的问题仍然是“如何做？”
Start by acknowledging that there is resistance. Be there when it happens, when the resistance arises. Observe how your mind creates it, how it labels the situation, yourself, or others. Look at the thought process involved. Feel the energy of the emotion. By witnessing the resistance, you will see that it serves no purpose. By focusing all your attention on the Now, the unconscious resistance is made conscious, and that is the end of it. You cannot be conscious and unhappy, conscious and in negativity. Negativity, unhappiness, or suffering in whatever form means that there is resistance, and resistance is always unconscious.
先从承认有抗拒开始。当抗拒发生，抗拒生起的时候与它同在。观测你的心智是如何创造它，如何给情境、给自己、或别人贴上标签。观照涉及其中的思想过程。感觉情感的能量。藉着对抗拒的见证，你会明白它的一无是处。借着把所有的关注集中在当下，无意识的抗拒就被你化为意识，这就是它的末路。你无法既有意识又不快乐；既有意识又处在负面情感里。任何形式的负面情感、不快乐、或受苦都意谓着抗拒，而抗拒总是无意识的。
Surely I can be conscious of my unhappy feelings?
我当然能意识到不快乐的感觉了？
Would you choose unhappiness? If you did not choose it, how did it arise? What is its purpose? Who is keeping it alive? You say that you are conscious of your unhappy feelings, but the truth is that you are identified with them and keep the process alive through compulsive thinking. All that is unconscious. If you were conscious, that is to say totally present in the Now, all negativity would dissolve almost instantly. It could not survive in your presence. It can only survive in your absence. Even the pain-body cannot survive for long in your presence. You keep your unhappiness alive by giving it time. That is its lifeblood. Remove time through intense present-moment awareness and it dies. But do you want it to die? Have you truly had enough? Who would you be without it?
你会选择不快乐吗？如果你没有选择它，它怎么会生起的？它的目的何在？谁在豢养它？你说你意识到自己不快乐的感觉，可是事实是你和它认同，你还透过驱迫性思考维系了这个过程。这些全是无意识。如果你有意识的话，也就是说全然地临在当下，所有的负面情感几乎会在顷刻之间瓦解。它无法在你的临在下存活。只有在你缺席的时候它才能苟活。就算痛苦之身，也无法在你的临在下苟延续命。你把时间给了不快乐，让它保住了命。时间是它的鲜血。你透过对当下这一刻深刻的觉知把时间撤除，它便一命呜呼。可是你想要它死吗？你是不是真的受够了？没了它你又是谁？
Until you practice surrender, the spiritual dimension is something you read about, talk about, get excited about, write books about, think about, believe in — or don't, as the case may be. It makes no difference. Not until you surrender does it become a living reality in your life. When you do, the energy that you emanate and which then runs your life is of a much higher vibrational frequency than the mind energy that still runs our world — the energy that created the existing social, political, and economic structures of our civilization, and which also continuously perpetuates itself through our educational systems and the media. Through surrender, spiritual energy comes into this world. It creates no suffering for yourself, for other humans, or any other life form on the planet. Unlike mind energy, it does not pollute the earth, and it is not subject to the law of polarities, which dictates that nothing can exist without its opposite, that there can be no good without bad. Those who run on mind energy, which is still the vast majority of the Earth's population, remain unaware of the existence of spiritual energy. It belongs to a different order of reality and will create a different world when a sufficient number of humans enter the surrendered state and so become totally free of negativity. If the Earth is to survive, this will be the energy of those who inhabit it.
在你落实修习臣服之道以前，灵性的向度只是你阅读、谈论、为之兴奋、写书论著、深思熟虑、或信以为真、或是不相信的题材。除非你臣服，它才会变成你生命中的实相。否则它对你毫无差异。当你臣服的时候，你所散发的能量就会接管你的生命。而这个能量比那个掌控我们世界，创造文明里现存的社会、政治、和经济结构，并且透过教育体系和传媒自我延续的心智能量，拥有更高的能场。灵性能量透过臣服而进入这个世界。它不会为你自己、为其他人类、或地球上的任何生命形态创造受苦。与心智能量不同的是，它不会污染地球。它也不受制于以正反相成、善恶相生为定律的两极对立法则。那些占世界绝大多数人口，仍然以心智能运作的人，尚未觉察灵性能的存在。这股灵性能属于一个迥然不同的实相序列。当足够的人口进入了臣服的状态，而完全免于负面情感的时候，就会创造出一个崭新的世界。如果地球要存活，这就是地球的栖居者所该具有的能量。
Jesus referred to this energy when he made his famous prophetic statement in the Sermon on the Mount: "Blessed are the gentle; they shall have the earth for their possession." It is a silent but intense presence that dissolves the unconscious patterns of the mind. They may still remain active for a while, but they won't run your life anymore. The external conditions that were being resisted also tend to shift or dissolve quickly through surrender. It is a powerful transformer of situations and people. If conditions do not shift immediately, your acceptance of the Now enables you to rise above them. Either way, you are free.
耶稣在登山宝训中发表他震古烁今的预言时，指的就是这种能量。他说“温良的人有福了；因为世界将为他们所有。” 瓦解无意识心智模式的，正是那个宁静却深刻的临在。心智模式也许会活跃一时，不过却不能再掌控你的生命了。曾经受到抗拒的情状，也会透过臣服而快速地转换或崩溃瓦解。对情境和人来说，这是一个力道十足的转化剂。如果情状并未因此而即时转换，你对当下的接纳就会让你超越它们。任何一种方式之下，你都自由了。
SURRENDER IN PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS
人际关系中的臣服
What about people who want to use me, manipulate or control me? Am I to surrender to them?
对那些想利用我、操纵我、或控制我的人怎么办？我还是要向他们臣服吗？
They are cut off from Being, so they unconsciously attempt to get energy and power from you. It is true that only an unconscious person will try to use or manipulate others, but it is equally true that only an unconscious person can be used and manipulated. If you resist or fight unconscious behavior in others, you become unconscious yourself. But surrender doesn't mean that you allow yourself to be used by unconscious people. Not at all. It is perfectly possible to say "no" firmly and clearly to a person or to walk away from a situation and be in a state of complete inner nonresistance at the same time. When you say "no" to a person or a situation, let it come not from reaction but from insight, from a clear realization of what is right or not right for you at that moment. Let it be a nonreactive "no," a high-quality "no," a "no" that is free of all negativity and so creates no further suffering.
他们断绝了本体，所以才会无意识地谋取你的能量和权力。只有一个无意识的人，才会试图利用或操纵别人，这是实情。不过也只有一个无意识的人，才会被别人利用和操纵，这也是实情。如果你抗拒或反击别人无意识的行为，你也变成了无意识。不过臣服并不表示你容许自己被无意识的人利用。完全不是。你处于内在完全不抗拒状态下的同时，又坚决而明确地向对方说“不”，或者离开这个情境，这是完全可能的事。当你对人或情境说“不”的时候，让这个“不”来自你的洞见，而不是来自你的反应，来自你对那一刻是非对错的清楚体认。让它成为一个非反应式的“不”，一个高品质的“不”，一个免于所有的负面情感，因而不会创造进一步受苦的“不”。
I am in a situation at work that is unpleasant. I have tried to surrender to it, but I find it impossible. A lot of resistance keeps coming up.
我处在一个不愉快的工作环境。我曾经试着臣服于它，可是我发觉我做不到。大量的抗拒不断地冒出来。
If you cannot surrender, take action immediately. Speak up or do something to bring about a change in the situation — or remove yourself from it. Take responsibility for your life. Do not pollute your beautiful, radiant inner Being nor the Earth with negativity. Do not give unhappiness in any form whatsoever a dwelling place inside you.
无法臣服就即时行动。表明自己或者有所行动来促成情境的改变，再不然就把自己撤离。为你的生命负起责任。切勿用负面情感污染你美丽光明的内在本体和地球。不要容许不快乐在你的内在有任何落脚之地。
If you cannot take action, for example if you are in prison, then you have two choices left: resistance or surrender. Bondage or inner freedom from external conditions. Suffering or inner peace.
如果你无法采取行动，例如服刑中，那么你只剩下两个抉择：抗拒或臣服。接受外境的枷锁或者争取内在的自由。承受痛苦或者长养内在的和平。
Is nonresistance also to be practiced in the external conduct of our lives, such as nonresistance to violence, or is it something that just concerns our inner life?
不抗拒也可以落实于外在的行为上吗？比如不抗拒暴力，或者它只关系着我们的内在生命？
You only need to be concerned with the inner aspect. That is primary. Of course, that will also transform the conduct of your outer life, your relationships, and so on.
你需要的只是关切内在的面向。这才是首要之务。这当然也会转化你外在生命的举止、你的关系等等。
Your relationships will be changed profoundly by surrender. If you can never accept what is, by implication you will not be able to accept anybody the way they are. You will judge, criticize, label, reject, or attempt to change people. Furthermore, if you continuously make the Now into a means to an end in the future, you will also make every person you encounter or relate with into a means to an end. The relationship — the human being — is then of secondary importance to you, or of no importance at all. What you can get out of the relationship is primary — be it material gain, a sense of power, physical pleasure, or some form of ego gratification.
你的关系会因为臣服而产生深沉的转变。如果你永远不能接受本然，它的含义就是你不能接纳任何人的现状。你会批判、评论、标示、排斥、或者企图改变他们。更甚者，如果你一昧地把当下做为你通往未来的手段，你也会顺带地把你周遭或牵扯到的每一个人当成手段。关系——人类——对你而言变成了次要的或毫不重要。你把关系里的所取所得列为首要。无论是物质的获取、权力感、肉体的享乐、或者某种形式的我执满足。
Let me illustrate how surrender can work in relationships. When you become involved in an argument or some conflict situation, perhaps with a partner or someone close to you, start by observing how defensive you become as your own position is attacked, or feel the force of your own aggression as you attack the other person's position. Observe the attachment to your views and opinions. Feel the mental-emotional energy behind your need to be right and make the other person wrong. That's the energy of the egoic mind. You make it conscious by acknowledging it, by feeling it as fully as possible. Then one day, in the middle of an argument, you will suddenly realize that you have a choice, and you may decide to drop your own reaction — just to see what happens. You surrender. I don't mean dropping the reaction just verbally by saying "Okay, you are right," with a look on your face that says, "I am above all this childish unconsciousness." That's just displacing the resistance to another level, with the egoic mind still in charge, claiming superiority. I am speaking of letting go of the entire mental-emotional energy field inside you that was fighting for power.
让我就臣服在关系中的运作做个详述。当你涉入了一场争执或冲突的情境时，对方或许是你的伴侣或者是亲朋好友，当你的立场遭到攻击的时候，先观测你如何防卫，或者在你攻击对方的立场时，感觉你的攻击力。观测你对自己的观点和见解的执着。感觉你在抹黑对方和合理化自己背后的那股心理情感能量。这就是我执的心智能量。透过你的认知和尽可能全然地感觉，而把它变成意识。然后有一天，当你再陷入一场争执的时候，你会恍然大悟，原来你有选择，你也许决定丢掉你的反应——只为了静观其变。你臣服了。我指的不是嘴上讲，“好吧，你说的对。”脸上却写着，“我才不屑于这种幼稚的无意识之举。”这种口是心非式的丢掉反应，无异把抗拒误置于我执心智势力范围内另一个层面，同时高唱优越权。我指的是放下整个争权夺势的心理情感的内在能场。
The ego is cunning, so you have to be very alert, very present, and totally honest with yourself to see whether you have truly relinquished your identification with a mental position and so freed yourself from your mind. If you suddenly feel very light, clear and deeply at peace, that is an unmistakable sign that you have truly surrendered. Then observe what happens to the other person's mental position as you no longer energize it through resistance. When identification with mental positions is out of the way, true communication begins.
我执非常的机伶狡诈，所以你势必要非常机警、非常临在，并且对自己完全地坦诚才能看清自己是否真的拔除了你与心理地位认同的根，继而摆脱了你的心智。如果你突然有一种轻快、明畅、和深度的和平感，这就是你真正臣服后万无一失的象征。然后再观测对方在你不用抗拒给他蓄能之后的心理地位（mental position）。当心理地位的认同让路之后，真正的沟通就展开了。
What about nonresistance in the face of violence, aggression, and the like?
面对暴力、攻击之类的不抗拒又是如何呢？
Nonresistance doesn't necessarily mean doing nothing. All it means is that any "doing" becomes nonreactive. Remember the deep wisdom underlying the practice of Eastern martial arts: don't resist the opponent's force. Yield to overcome.
不抗拒不见得就是无所做为的意思。它的意思是，任何“做为”都变成了“非反应做为“。切记东方武术中奥秘的智慧：因势利导，以柔克刚。
Having said that, "doing nothing" when you are in a state of intense presence is a very powerful transformer and healer of situations and people. In Taoism, there is a term called wu wei, which is usually translated as "actionless activity" or "sitting quietly doing nothing." In ancient China, this was regarded as one of the highest achievements or virtues. It is radically different from inactivity in the ordinary state of consciousness, or rather unconsciousness, which stems from fear, inertia, or indecision. The real "doing nothing" implies inner nonresistance and intense alertness.
我们一直谈论的“无所做为”，就是处于深刻的临在状态里，那么你就是对情境和人的一帖最强效的转化剂和疗方。道家有一个名词叫做无为，通常被译做“无为而为”或“处静无为”的意思。中国古代把这个境界视为最高的成就或德行。它与一般意识或无意识状态下的死气沉沉有天壤之别。这种死沉的根源是恐惧、死寂、或优柔寡断。真正的“无所做为”暗示了内在的不抗拒和深刻的警觉度。
On the other hand, if action is required, you will no longer react from your conditioned mind, but you will respond to the situation out of your conscious presence. In that state, your mind is free of concepts, including the concept of nonviolence. So who can predict what you will do?
从另一方面来看，如果情境所需，你的行动不再是对制约了的心智所做的反应，而是从你有意识的临在对情境所做的回应。你的心智在这种状态下摆脱了概念，包括非暴力的概念在内。如此一来，谁能预料你下一步的行动？
The ego believes that in your resistance lies your strength, whereas in truth resistance cuts you off from Being, the only place of true power. Resistance is weakness and fear masquerading as strength. What the ego sees as weakness is your Being in its purity, innocence, and power. What it sees as strength is weakness. So the ego exists in a continuous resistance-mode and plays counterfeit roles to cover up your "weakness," which in truth is your power.
我执以为在抗拒之下才是你的力量之源。而事实上，抗拒反而断绝了你和唯一的真力之源——本体的连系。抗拒是披戴了力量面具的软弱和恐惧。我执把你纯净、天真和力量的本体视为软弱。我执视软弱为力量。因此我执便持续地存在于抗拒模式，大玩分身的角色游戏来掩饰其实是你力量的“软弱”。
Until there is surrender, unconscious role-playing constitutes a large part of human interaction. In surrender, you no longer need ego defenses and false masks. You become very simple, very real. "That's dangerous," says the ego. "You'll get hurt. You'll become vulnerable." What the ego doesn't know, of course, is that only through the letting go of resistance, through becoming "vulnerable," can you discover your true and essential invulnerability.
在臣服之前，无意识的角色扮演，构成了人类互动的大部分。在臣服里，你再也不需要我执的防卫和虚假的面具。你反而变得非常简单、非常真实。“这么做太危险了。”我执提出警告，“你会受伤，你会变得脆弱不堪。”而不为我执所知的事实却是，只有透过放下抗拒，透过变成“脆弱不堪”，你才能发现你真正的、本质的“无懈可击”。
TRANSFORMING ILLNESS INTO ENLIGHTENMENT
转疾病为开悟
If someone is seriously ill and completely accepts their condition and surrenders to the illness, would they not have given up their will to get back to health? The determination to fight the illness would not be there any more, would it?
如果有人患了重病，而且完全接受病情，向疾病臣服，他们不就是放弃了复原的意志吗？想与病魔对抗的毅力就不在了。对吗？
Surrender is inner acceptance of what is without any reservations. We are talking about your life — this instant — not the conditions or circumstances of your life, not what I call your life situation. We have spoken about this already.
臣服就是毫不保留地对本然做内在的接纳。我们现在谈的是你的生命这个当下——不是你生命的情状或环境，不是我所说的生命情境。这方面我们已经谈过了。
With regard to illness, this is what it means. Illness is part of your life situation. As such, it has a past and a future. Past and future form an uninterrupted continuum, unless the redeeming power of the Now is activated through your conscious presence. As you know, underneath the various conditions that make up your life situation, which exists in time, there is something deeper, more essential: your Life, your very Being in the timeless Now.
针对疾病来说，这就是它的意思。疾病是你生命情境的一部分。因此，它就有过去和未来。过去和未来构成了一个不间断的连续体。除非当下透过你有意识的临在，启动它救赎的力量。你已知的是组合了你生命不同情状——存在于时间里——的底层有一个更深层、更根本的：你的生命，你在无时间的当下里的本体。
As there are no problems in the Now, there is no illness either. The belief in a label that someone attaches to your condition keeps the condition in place, empowers it, and makes a seemingly solid reality out of a temporary imbalance. It gives it not only reality and solidity but also a continuity in time that it did not have before. By focusing on this instant and refraining from labeling it mentally, illness is reduced to one or several of these factors: physical pain, weakness, discomfort, or disability. That is what you surrender to — now. You do not surrender to the idea of "illness." Allow the suffering to force you into the present moment, into a state of intense conscious presence. Use it for enlightenment.
由于当下里没有问题，当下里也没有疾病。你由他人对你的情状所贴的标签而产生的信念，给情状定了位，也赋予它能量。因而把一时的失衡制造成一个似实如真的实相。它除了给了它实相和实体之外，也给了它一个前所未有的时间连续体。藉着对当下这一刻的专注，藉着戒绝心理标示，疾病便被你化约成下述几个因素：身体的疼痛、虚弱、不适、或官能的障碍。这就是你要臣服的对象——当下。你不是向“疾病”这个想法臣服。容许受苦迫使你进入当下这一刻，进入一个深刻的临在状态里。运用它达成开悟。
Surrender does not transform what is, at least not directly. Surrender transforms you. When you are transformed, your whole world is transformed, because the world is only a reflection. We spoke about this earlier.
臣服不会转化本然，至少不能直接转化。臣服转化的是你。当你转化的时候，整个世界都跟着转化了，因为世界只是一个反映。这方面之前谈过了。
If you looked in the mirror and did not like what you saw, you would have to be mad to attack the image in the mirror. That is precisely what you do when you are in a state of nonacceptance. And, of course, if you attack the image, it attacks you back. If you accept the image, no matter what it is, if you become friendly toward it, it cannot not become friendly toward you. This is how you change the world.
如果你揽镜自照却不喜欢镜中所见，你或许会飙起来攻击镜子里的影像。这正是你处在不接纳的状态下的所做所为。而且你攻击镜中影的时候，它当然也会反击你。如果你如实地接受镜中影，以友善的态度相待，那么它无法不对你友善。这就是你改变世界的方式。
Illness is not the problem. You are the problem — as long as the egoic mind is in control. When you are ill or disabled, do not feel that you have failed in some way, do not feel guilty. Do not blame life for treating you unfairly, but do not blame yourself either. All that is resistance. If you have a major illness, use it for enlightenment. Anything "bad" that happens in your life — use it for enlightenment. Withdraw time from the illness. Do not give it any past or future. Let it force you into intense present-moment awareness — and see what happens.
疾病不是问题。你才是问题，只要我执的心智仍处于掌控的地位。当你生病或者残障的时候，不要自觉这是你某方面的失败，不要感觉愧疚。不要埋怨生命待你不公，不过也不要自责。这些都是抗拒。如果你患了重病，运用它让自己开悟。发生在你生命中的任何“坏”事——都用它来开悟。把疾病里的时间撤除。不要给它任何过去或未来。让它迫使你进入当下深刻的觉知里——再静观其变。
Become an alchemist. Transmute base metal into gold, suffering into consciousness, disaster into enlightenment.
做一个把贱金属转化成黄金，把痛苦转化成意识，把灾难转化成开悟的炼金师。
Are you seriously ill and feeling angry now about what I have just said? Then that is a clear sign that the illness has become part of your sense of self and that you are now protecting your identity — as well as protecting the illness. The condition that is labeled "illness" has nothing to do with who you truly are.
你是否因为患了重病而对我这一番话忿忿不平？那么这就清楚地表示疾病已经变成了你自我感的一部分，而你正在袒护你的身份——也在保护着你的疾病。被贴上“疾病”的情状和你的真我完全无关。
WHEN DISASTER STRIKES
大难临头
As far as the still unconscious majority of the population is concerned, only a critical limit-situation has the potential to crack the hard shell of the ego and force them into surrender and so into the awakened state. A limit-situation arises when through some disaster, drastic upheaval, deep loss, or suffering your whole world is shattered and doesn't make sense anymore. It is an encounter with death, be it physical or psychological. The egoic mind, the creator of this world, collapses. Out of the ashes of the old world, a new world can then come into being.
至于占世界人口大多数，依然执迷于无意识的人来说，只有一个临界的极限情境才具有粉碎我执的硬壳，并逼使他们进入臣服，继而进入觉醒状态的潜力。当个人遭逢钜变、剧烈的混乱、深层的失落、或者受苦时，导致整个世界崩溃，生命的意义荡然无存的时候，就是极限情境应运而生的时机。这就是你与死神面面相亲的时候——无论是身体的或心理的死。我执、心智：——世界的创造者，因此分崩瓦解。在旧世界的废墟里，一个新世界于焉诞生。
There is no guarantee, of course, that even a limit-situation will do it, but the potential is always there. Some people's resistance to what is even intensifies in such a situation, and so it becomes a descent into hell. In others, there may only be partial surrender, but even that will give them a certain depth and serenity that were not there before. Parts of the ego shell break off, and this allows small amounts of the radiance and peace that lie beyond the mind to shine through.
极限情境能否成功虽然无法担保，不过它的潜力却停而不失。有些人对本然的抗拒，顽固到了一个宁入地狱而义无反顾的地步。也有些人也许做出局部的臣服，即便如此，这都会带给他们前所未有的深度和祥和。我执剥落了几片甲壳，容许了心智下层散发出微量的光明和和平。
Limit-situations have produced many miracles. There have been murderers in death row waiting for execution who, in the last few hours of their lives, experienced the egoless state and the deep joy and peace that come with it. The inner resistance to the situation they found themselves in became so intense as to produce unbearable suffering, and there was nowhere to run and nothing to do to escape it, not even a mind-projected future. So they were forced into complete acceptance of the unacceptable. They were forced into surrender. In this way, they were able to enter the state of grace with which comes redemption: complete release from the past. Of course, it is not really the limit-situation that makes room for the miracle of grace and redemption but the act of surrender.
极限情境产生过许多奇迹。曾经有静候枪决的杀人犯，在生命的最后几个小时内经验了无我的状态，和伴随而来的深度喜悦和和平。他们对处身的情境所产生的至深且钜的内在抗拒，为他们招致了不堪负荷的受苦，使他们无处可逃、无技可施。即便是一个可供投射的未来也没有了。因此迫使他们对不可承受的东西做出了全然的接纳。他们被逼入了臣服。他们在这种方式下，得以进入伴随着救赎而来的恩典状态：彻底自过去里解脱。当然为恩典和救赎开路，而让它们能够进驻的并不是极限情境，而是臣服这个动作。
So whenever any kind of disaster strikes, or something goes seriously "wrong" — illness, disability, loss of home or fortune or of a socially defined identity, break-up or a close relationship, death or suffering of a loved one, or your own impending death — know that there is another side to it, that you are just one step away from something incredible: a complete alchemical transmutation of the base metal of pain and suffering into gold. That one step is called surrender.
因此，每当灾祸临头的时候，或者是事情严重地出“错”了， 疾病、残障、家破、财尽、或社会定义的身份丧失、亲密关系的绝裂、爱人的死亡或受苦、或者你自己指日可待的死亡，你就要知道这一切还有它的另外一面。不可思议的炼金之旅与你只是寸步之遥：痛苦和受苦的贱金属彻底炼化成黄金。这一小步就叫做臣服。
I do not mean to say that you will become happy in such a situation. You will not. But fear and pain will become transmuted into an inner peace and serenity that come from a very deep place — from the Unmanifested itself. It is "the peace of God, which passes all understanding." Compared to that, happiness is quite a shallow thing. With this radiant peace comes the realization — not on the level of mind but within the depth of your Being — that you are indestructible, immortal. This is not a belief. It is absolute certainty that needs no external evidence or proof from some secondary source.
我的本意不是说你处身这个情境会变得快乐。你不会。不过恐惧和痛苦却会转化成来自一个极深之处隐含生命本身——的内在和平以及祥和。这是“超越一切理解的神的平安。” 快乐和这个比较之下， 只能算是地中之物。在光明的和平里产生了一份体悟，这不是来自心智层面，而是你本体的深处。你体悟了你的不灭和不朽。这不是一个信念。而是不需二手资料提供他证的绝对必然。
TRANSFORMING SUFFERING INTO PEACE
转受苦为和平
I read about a stoic philosopher in ancient Greece who, when he was told that his son had died in an accident, replied, "I knew he was not immortal." Is that surrender? If it is, I don't want it. There are some situations in which surrender seems unnatural and inhuman.
我读过一位古希腊斯多葛派哲人的轶事，他听说爱子死于非命的噩耗时，回道，“我早知道他不是不朽的。”这算臣服吗？如果算的话，我不要。有些情境里的臣服似乎违反自然和人性。
Being cut off from your feelings is not surrender. But we don't know what his inner state was when he said those words. In certain extreme situations, it may still be impossible for you to accept the Now. But you always get a second chance at surrender.
绝情绝义不是臣服。至于他当时说话时处于什么样的内在状态，我们不得而知。在某些极端的情境里，接纳当下仍然是不可能的。不过你随时都有第二次臣服的机会。
Your first chance is to surrender each moment to the reality of that moment. Knowing that what is cannot be undone — because it already is — you say yes to what is or accept what isn't. Then you do what you have to do, whatever the situation requires. If you abide in this state of acceptance, you create no more negativity, no more suffering, no more unhappiness. You then live in a state of nonresistance, a state of grace and lightness, free of struggle.
你的第一个机会是：臣服于每一刻的实相。知道什么是不可挽回的—因为它已经是了——你对“是“说yes，或者接受”不是“。然后就按情境所需，尽力而为。如果你进驻在这个接纳的状态里，你就不会再创造负面情感，不再创造受苦和不快乐了。然后你就会活在不抗拒、恩典、轻松，和免于挣扎的状态里了。
Whenever you are unable to do that, whenever you miss that chance — either because you are not generating enough conscious presence to prevent some habitual and unconscious resistance pattern from arising, or because the condition is so extreme as to be absolutely unacceptable to you — then you are creating some form of pain, some form of suffering. It may look as if the situation is creating the suffering, but ultimately this is not so — your resistance is.
每当你做不到或者错失机会的时候――若不是因为你无法产生足够的临在，以预阻习惯性和无意识的抗拒模式于未发，就是情状太过极端让你断然无法接纳——接着你就创造某种形式的痛苦和受苦。乍看之下是情境创造了受苦，其实不然：是你的抗拒创造的。
Now here is your second chance at surrender: If you cannot accept what is outside, then accept what is inside. If you cannot accept the external condition, accept the internal condition. This means: Do not resist the pain. Allow it to be there. Surrender to the grief, despair, fear, loneliness, or whatever form the suffering takes. Witness it without labeling it mentally. Embrace it. Then see how the miracle of surrender transmutes deep suffering into deep peace. This is your crucifixion. Let it become your resurrection and ascension.
现在再谈你的第二个机会：如果你无法接纳外界的本然，那就接纳内在的本然。如果你无法接纳外境，那就接纳内境。意思就是：不抗拒痛苦。容许它在那里。向悲伤、绝望、恐惧、孤单、或受苦所采取的任何形式臣服。见证它，却不在心理上标示它。拥抱它。然后再静观臣服的奇迹，如何把深沉的受苦转化成深沉的和平。这是你的受难。让它成为你的复活和升天。
I do not see how one can surrender to suffering. As you yourself pointed out, suffering is non-surrender. How could you surrender to non-surrender?
我不明白个人何以能向受苦臣服。正如你自己也指出的，受苦是不臣服。你如何向不臣服臣服？
Forget about surrender for a moment. When your pain is deep, all talk of surrender will probably seem futile and meaningless anyway.
暂时把臣服搁在一边。当你饱受创痛的时候，所有臣服的长篇大论都是徒费唇舌、了无意义的事。
When your pain is deep, you will likely have a strong urge to escape from it rather than surrender to it. You don't want to feel what you feel. What could be more normal? But there is no escape, no way out. There are many pseudo escapes — work, drink, drugs, anger, projection, suppression, and so on — but they don't free you from the pain. Suffering does not diminish in intensity when you make it unconscious. When you deny emotional pain, everything you do or think as well as your relationships become contaminated with it. You broadcast it, so to speak, as the energy you emanate, and others will pick it up subliminally. If they are unconscious, they may even feel compelled to attack or hurt you in some way, or you may hurt them in an unconscious projection of your pain. You attract and manifest whatever corresponds to your inner state.
当你的痛既深且钜的时候，你可能会有一股逃之夭夭的强烈驱力，而不会向它伏首称臣。你不要感觉你觉受到的，人之常情非此莫属。不过此路不通，你没有出口。冒牌的出口倒有几个：工作、喝酒、酗毒、发怒、投射、压抑等等——可是它们不会把你从痛苦中解脱出来。你把受苦变成无意识，并不会稍减于它的强度。你否定情感的痛苦时，你的所做所为再加上你的关系，都会受到它的污染。说你用散发出来的能量来传播它也不为过。别人会在潜意识里接收得到。如果对方无意识的话，也许会迫不及待地以某种方式攻击或伤害你。再者就是你在无意识地投射痛苦的时候伤害了别人。你招引并且显化任何与你内在状态相呼应的人事物。
When there is no way out, there is still always a way through. So don't turn away from the pain. Face it. Feel it fully. Feel it — don't think about it! Express it if necessary, but don't create a script in your mind around it. Give all your attention to the feeling, not to the person, event, or situation that seems to have caused it. Don't let the mind use the pain to create a victim identity for yourself out of it. Feeling sorry for yourself and telling others your story will keep you stuck in suffering. Since it is impossible to get away from the feeling, the only possibility of change is to move into it; otherwise, nothing will shift. So give your complete attention to what you feel, and refrain from mentally labeling it. As you go into the feeling, be intensely alert. At first, it may seem like a dark and terrifying place, and when the urge to turn away from it comes, observe it but don't act on it. Keep putting your attention on the pain, keep feeling the grief, the fear, the dread, the loneliness, whatever it is. Stay alert, stay present — present with your whole Being, with every cell of your body. As you do so, you are bringing a light into this darkness. This is the flame of your consciousness.
出口虽然没有，却不乏一条通道。因此不要弃痛苦于不顾。面对它。充分地感觉它。感受它——不要思考它！必要时表达它，不过切勿在你的心智里以它为主题编造剧情。把你所有的注意力交给感觉，而不要交给那些似乎是肇因的人、事或情境。不让你的心智利用痛苦为你自己打造出一个受害者的身份。伤怀自叹或者跟别人讲自己的故事，会把你卡在受苦里。既然远离感觉已不可能，进入它就成了唯一个改变的可能性；否则便毫无转换的余地。因此把你完全的关注交给你的所感所觉，并且摒绝心理的标示。当你进入感觉里的时候，要处于深刻的警觉里。也许你一开始好像闯进了一个幽黑恐怖的地方。想调头而去的冲动一上来就观测它，不过不要莽撞行事。继续把你的注意力贯注在痛苦上，继续感觉悲伤、恐惧、害怕、孤单或任何感觉上。保持警觉，保持临在和你整个本体，和你身体的每一个细胞临在。这么做的同时，你就把一道光带入了这个黑暗里。这就是你意识的火焰。
At this stage, you don't need to be concerned with surrender anymore. It has happened already. How? Full attention is full acceptance, is surrender. By giving full attention, you use the power of the Now, which is the power of your presence. No hidden pocket of resistance can survive in it. Presence removes time. Without time, no suffering, no negativity, can survive.
到了这个阶段，你便不需要再担心臣服的问题了。臣服已经发生了。怎么会？全然的专注就是全然的接纳，就是臣服。你藉着给出全然的关注，便汲用了当下的力量，也就是你临在的力量。任何隐匿的抗拒都不能在这里面存活。临在撤除了时间。没有了时间，受苦、负面情感就无法存活。
The acceptance of suffering is a journey into death. Facing deep pain, allowing it to be, taking your attention into it, is to enter death consciously. When you have died this death, you realize that there is no death — and there is nothing to fear. Only the ego dies. Imagine a ray of sunlight that has forgotten it is an inseparable part of the sun and deludes itself into believing it has to fight for survival and create and cling to an identity other than the sun. Would the death of this delusion not be incredibly liberating?
接纳受苦就是迈向一趟死亡之旅。面对剧痛。容许它存在，带着你的专注进入它，就是有意识地进入死亡。经历过这一次的死亡之后，你就会体会到没有死亡——也没有可畏惧之物。死去的只是我执。想像一道遗忘了自己是与太阳整体不分的光束，因此以幻为真地为了求存而战，再为自己另创了的一个自外于太阳的身份，然后紧抓着不放。这回幻相的死亡算不算是一次不可思议的解脱？
Do you want an easy death? Would you rather die without pain, without agony? Then die to the past every moment, and let the light of your presence shine away the heavy, time-bound self you thought of as "you."
你想要死得自在吗？你宁可在没有痛苦和挣扎之下死吗？那么就无时无刻地不死于过去。让你的临在之光驱走那个沉重且受时间囿限的自己，驱走那个你自认为是“你”的自己。
§
THE WAY OF THE CROSS
受难之路
There are many accounts of people who say they have found God through their deep suffering, and there is the Christian expression "the way of the cross, " which I suppose points to the same thing.
许多描述人们透过深沉的受苦而找到神的记载。基督徒也有“受难之路”的说法。我猜想指的是同一回事吧。
We are concerned with nothing else here.
这正是我们所探讨的主题。
Strictly speaking, they did not find God through their suffering, because suffering implies resistance. They found God through surrender, through total acceptance of what is, into which they were forced by their intense suffering. They must have realized on some level that their pain was self-created.
严格来说，他们不是透过受苦才找到神的，因为受苦暗示了抗拒。他们找到神是透过臣服和对本然的全然接纳，而臣服和接纳则是透过强烈的受苦所逼入的。他们必然是在某一个层面上，领悟了痛苦是自创的道理。
How do you equate surrender with finding God?
你如何把臣服和找到神相提并论？
Since resistance is inseparable from the mind, relinquishment of resistance — surrender — is the end of the mind as your master, the impostor pretending to be "you," the false god. All judgment and all negativity dissolve. The realm of Being, which had been obscured by the mind, then opens up. Suddenly, a great stillness arises within you, an unfathomable sense of peace. And within that peace, there is great joy. And within that joy, there is love. And at the innermost core, there is the sacred, the immeasurable, That which cannot be named.
由于抗拒和心智是密不可分的，所以抛弃抗拒——臣服——就是结束了做为你主宰的心智，结束了假装是“你”的冒牌假神。所有的批判和负面情感瓦解了。被心智遮蔽的本体领域因而敞开。你的内在顿时升起一股巨大的静默、一股不可蠡测的和平。和平之内有大量的喜悦。喜悦里有爱。而最内在的核心就是神性的、无量的、不可名状的那个（That）。
I don't call it finding God, because how can you find that which was never lost, the very life that you are? The word God is limiting not only because of thousands of years of misperception and misuse, but also because it implies an entity other than you. God is Being itself, not a being. There can be no subject-object relationship here, no duality, no you and God. God-realization is the most natural thing there is. The amazing and incomprehensible fact is not that you can become conscious of God but that you are not conscious of God.
我不用找到神这样的说法是因为你岂能找到那存而未失，且原本就是你的生命？神是一个囿限的文字相，这不仅导因于几千年来错误的知觉和滥用，也因为它暗示了一个自外于你的实体。神就是本体本身，神不是一个存在。这其中没有主、客体的关系、没有一个你和神的二元性。体现神是存在里最自然的一件事。一个令人诧异且难以理解的事实，不是你能够变成意识到神，而是你没有意识到神。
The way of the cross that you mentioned is the old way to enlightenment, and until recently it was the only way. But don't dismiss it or underestimate its efficacy. It still works.
你所提的受难之路是一个开悟的旧法门。不过直到晚近，它还是唯一的一个法门。不要驳斥或低估了它的效应。它还是管用。
The way of the cross is a complete reversal. It means that the worst thing in your life, your cross, turns into the best thing that ever happened to you, by forcing you into surrender, into "death," forcing you to become as nothing, to become as God — because God, too, is no-thing.
受难之路是全盘的逆转。它意谓着你生命中的最噩——你的十字架会否极泰来转而成为你有生以来的最喜。也就是迫使你进入臣服、进入“死亡”、迫使你成为无物、成为神，因为神也是无物。
At this time, as far as the unconscious majority of humans is concerned, the way of the cross is still the only way. They will only awaken through further suffering, and enlightenment as a collective phenomenon will be predictably preceded by vast upheavals. This process reflects the workings of certain universal laws that govern the growth of consciousness and thus was foreseen by some seers. It is described, among other places, in the Book of Revelation or Apocalypse, though cloaked in obscure and sometimes impenetrable symbology. This suffering is inflicted not by God but by humans on themselves and on each other as well as by certain defensive measures that the Earth, which is a living, intelligent organism, is going to take to protect herself from the onslaught of human madness.
观诸当前，对大多数无意识的人类来说，受难之路仍然是唯一的道路。他们只有透过进一步的受苦才会觉醒。而以一个集体现象出现的开悟，也将在意料之中历经重重钜变之后接踵而来。这个过程反映了主导意识成长的某些宇宙律的运作模式，也因此被诸先知所预见。这个过程的描述，散见各经典之中，然而圣经里的天启之书或启示录，却以隐暧和时而难解的象征法加以遮掩。人类的受苦并非神的施惩，而是人类自施或互施于彼此的，同时还有来自于地球的自保措施——地球是一个有生命、有智能的有机体，它势必要进行自保，以免沦为人类疯狂屠杀之下的牺牲品。
However, there is a growing number of humans alive today whose consciousness is sufficiently evolved not to need any more suffering before the realization of enlightenment. You may be one of them.
然而那些意识已充分地进化到不再需要受苦就体现开悟的现存人类，正在逐渐地累增。你也许就是其中的一份子。
Enlightenment through suffering — the way of the cross — means to be forced into the kingdom of heaven kicking and screaming. You finally surrender because you can't stand the pain anymore, but the pain could go on for a long time until this happens. Enlightenment consciously chosen means to relinquish your attachment to past and future and to make the Now the main focus of your life. It means choosing to dwell in the state of presence rather than in time. It means saying yes to what is. You then don't need pain anymore. How much more time do you think you will need before you are able to say "I will create no more pain, no more suffering?" How much more pain do you need before you can make that choice?
透过受苦的开悟——受难之路——意谓着在推拒嚎叫之下被逼进了天国。你在吃尽了苦头之后终于臣服了。不过在你臣服之前痛苦还有你受的。在意识下选择的开悟，意思是抛弃你对过去和未来的执着，而把当下当做你生命的焦聚。它的意思就是舍时间而选择进驻临在。它的意思是对本然说yes。你再也不需要痛苦了。你认为还要给你多久的时间，你才肯冲口说出，“我不再创造痛苦，我不再受苦了。”这句话？你还需要多久的时间，才能做出这个决定？
If you think that you need more time, you will get more time — and more pain. Time and pain are inseparable.
如果你认为还需要更多的时间，你就会得到更多的时间——还附带更多的痛苦。时间和痛苦是一体不分的。
THE POWER TO CHOOSE
选择的力量
What about all those people who, it seems, actually want to suffer? I have a friend whose partner is physically abusive toward her, and her previous relationship was of a similar kind. Why does she choose such men, and why is she refusing to get out of that situation now? Why do so many people actually choose pain?
对于那些似乎是执意要受苦的人呢？我一个朋友的伴侣对她施虐，而她之前的关系也是同样的情形。她为什么选择这种男人？又为什么拒绝走出这个情境？为什么有这么多人执意要选择痛苦？
I know that the word choose is a favorite New Age term, but it isn't entirely accurate in this context. It is misleading to say that somebody "chose" a dysfunctional relationship or any other negative situation in his or her life. Choice implies consciousness — a high degree of consciousness. Without it, you have no choice. Choice begins the moment you disidentify from the mind and its conditioned patterns, the moment you become present. Until you reach that point, you are unconscious, spiritually speaking. This means that you are compelled to think, feel, and act in certain ways according to the conditioning of your mind. That is why Jesus said: "Forgive them, for they know not what they do." This is not related to intelligence in the conventional sense of the word. I have met many' highly intelligent and educated people who were also completely unconscious, which is to say completely identified with their mind. In fact, if mental development and increased knowledge are not counterbalanced by a corresponding growth in consciousness, the potential for unhappiness and disaster is very great.
我知道选择是新时代偏爱的用词。不过在这个脉络里，它不是十分精确。说一个人在他或她的生命中“选择”了一个失能的关系，或者选择了任何负面的情境是一种误导。选择暗示了意识—一个高度的意识。没有意识就没有所谓的选择。选择开始于你撤离心智认同和撤离心智制约模式的那一刻。选择开始于你变成临在的那一刻。在你抵达这一点之前，就灵性而言，你是无意识的。意思就是你是在心智制约的驱使下，按照一定的方式思考、感觉、和行为。这也是耶稣之所以会说，“宽恕他们，因为他们不知所为。”这与传统意义上的智力不相干。我遇过许多具有高智力和受过高教育的人士，却完全无意识。也就是说完全与他们的心智认同。事实上，如果心理的成长和知识的累增，没有以相对应的意识成长来平衡的话，不快乐和灾祸便如危机四伏。
Your friend is stuck in a relationship with an abusive partner, and not for the first time. Why? No choice. The mind, conditioned as it is by the past, always seeks to re-create what it knows and is familiar with. Even if it is painful, at least it is familiar. The mind always adheres to the known. The unknown is dangerous because it has no control over it. That's why the mind dislikes and ignores the present moment. Present-moment awareness creates a gap not only in the stream of mind but also in the past-future continuum. Nothing truly new and creative can come into this world except through that gap, that clear space of infinite possibility.
你的朋友卡在一个施虐伴侣的关系里，而且已经不是第一次了。为什么？没有选择。受过去制约的心智随时在找机会重温它所知道和所熟悉的旧模式。只要是熟悉的就算痛苦也在所不计。心智亦步亦趋地攀附着已知，而未知则危机四伏，因为心智无法掌控它。这也是为什么心智看当下不顺眼，而且对它视若无睹的原因。当下这一刻不仅在心智流里创造一道间隙，它连过去未来的连续体也不放过。任伺真正的创新和真正的创意，如果不是来自这道间隙，不是来自这个蕴含无限可能性的清明空间，便不可能诞生于这个世界。
So your friend, being identified with her mind, may be re-creating a pattern learned in the past in which intimacy and abuse are inseparably linked. Alternatively, she may be acting out a mind pattern learned in early childhood according to which she is unworthy and deserves to be punished. It is possible, too, that she lives a large part of her life through the pain-body, which always seeks more pain on which to feed. Her partner has his own unconscious patterns, which complement hers. Of course her situation is self-created, but who or what is the self that is doing the creating? A mental-emotional pattern from the past, no more. Why make a self out of it? If you tell her that she has chosen her condition or situation, you are reinforcing her state of mind identification. But is her mind pattern who she is? Is it her self? Is her true identity derived from the past? Show your friend how to be the observing presence behind her thoughts and her emotions. Tell her about the pain-body and how to free herself from it. Teach her the art of inner-body awareness. Demonstrate to her the meaning of presence. As soon as she is able to access the power of the Now, and thereby break through her conditioned past, she will have a choice.
所以你的朋友在心智的认同下，也许在重创一个习染自过去的模式。这个模式以亲密关系和虐待是环环相扣的方式运作。另一个可能是，她在执行一个由童年所习得的心智模式。这个模式告诉她说，她不值得，活该被罚。她也可能透过痛苦之身活出她大部分的生命，而痛苦之身对于痛苦是饥不择食的。她的伴侣也有他的无意识模式，双方的模式正好互补。她的情境当然是自我创造的，可是这个从事创造的自我究竟是谁，或者究竟是什么？说穿了就是一个来自于过去的心理情感模式罢了。那么又何苦用它来编造出一个自我？如果你告诉她说，是她自己选择了她的情状或情境，你无异在巩固她的心智认同状态。可是她的心智认同是她的本来面目吗？是她的自我吗？她真正的身份是否汲取自过去？你不妨示范如何做思想和情感背后那个观测的临在给你朋友看。告诉她有关痛苦之身和如何摆脱它的事。教她修习内在身体觉知的艺术。向她示范临在的意义。当她能够汲取当下的力量，进而由过去的制约里破茧而出的时刻，她必定会拥有选择。
Nobody chooses dysfunction, conflict, pain. Nobody chooses insanity. They happen because there is not enough presence in you to dissolve the past, not enough light to dispel the darkness. You are not fully here. You have not quite woken up yet. In the meantime, the conditioned mind is running your life.
凡是人绝对不会选择失能、冲突、和痛苦。凡是人绝对不会选择丧心病狂。它们之所以会发生，是因为你里面没有足以瓦解过去的临在，没有足以驱散黑暗的光。你没有充分地在这里。你还没有很清醒。当你不在这里，当你还没清醒的时候，受制约的心智就操控着你的生命。
Similarly, if you are one of the many people who have an issue with their parents, if you still harbor resentment about something they did or did not do, then you still believe that they had a choice — that they could have acted differently. It always looks as if people had a choice, but that is an illusion. As long as your mind with its conditioned patterns runs your life, as long as you are your mind, what choice do you have? None. You are not even there. The mind-identified state is severely dysfunctional. It is a form of insanity. Almost everyone is suffering from this illness in varying degrees. The moment you realize this, there can be no more resentment. How can you resent someone's illness? The only appropriate response is compassion.
同样的道理，如果你也是许许多多和父母有过节的一份子，如果你也对他们所做或未做的事怀有憎怨，那么你就仍然相信以为他们当初拥有选择——信以为他们当初大可有不一样的做法。乍看起来人们拥有选择，不过这是一个幻相。只要你的心智挟持着它制约了的模式，对你的生命发号司令的一天，只要你依然是你的心智的一天，你能有什么选择？一无所有。你甚至不在那里。心智认同的状态是膏肓式的失能。它是一个丧心病狂的形式。几乎每一个人都以不同的程度罹患了这个病症。你体会到这一点的那一刻，你的憎怨便消失一空。你岂会对他人的疾病怀有怨憎？而慈悲就是你唯一一个最贴适的回应。
So that means nobody is responsible for what they do? I don't like that idea.
照你这么说，谁也不必为自己的所做所为负责咯？我不喜欢这个想法。
If you are run by your mind, although you have no choice you will still suffer the consequences of your unconsciousness, and you will create further suffering. You will bear the burden of fear, conflict, problems, and pain. The suffering thus created will eventually force you out of your unconscious state.
如果你在心智的掌控之下，你除了没有选择之外，还要继续承受无意识的果，而且你还会创造更多的痛苦。你要背起恐惧、冲突、问题、和痛苦的重担。到头来，这一切所创造出来的受苦，就会把你逼出无意识的状态。
What you say about choice also applies to forgiveness, I suppose. You need to be fully conscious and surrender before you can forgive.
依我的猜想，你对选择的说法也适用在宽恕上吧。你首先需要充分的意识和臣服才能宽恕别人。
"Forgiveness" is a term that has been in use for 2,000 years, but most people have a very limited view of what it means. You cannot truly forgive yourself or others as long as you derive your sense of self from the past. Only through accessing the power of the Now, which is your own power, can there be true forgiveness. This renders the past powerless, and you realize deeply that nothing you ever did or that was ever done to you could touch even in the slightest the radiant essence of who you are. The whole concept of forgiveness then becomes unnecessary.
“宽恕”这个词，被人们沿用了两千年了，不过多数人对它的意义却抱持着一个极其有限的观点。只要你还在从过去汲取你的自我感，你便无法真正地宽恕自己或别人。你只有汲取当下的力量——你的真力——才能有真正的宽恕。这一来，过去便失去了权位。你也因而体悟出你过去的所做所为，或他人所施加于你的，根本无法触及你本来面目的光明本质于毫发了。然后宽恕的整套概念就变成了多余。
And how do I get to that point of realization?
我如何才能达到那个体悟点上？
When you surrender to what is and so become fully present, the past ceases to have any power. You do not need it anymore. Presence is the key. The Now is the key.
当你向本然臣服，而因此变得充分地临在时，过去就失去了力量。你不再需要它了。临在是你的体悟之钥。当下是你的体悟之钥。
How will I know when I have surrendered?
我怎么知道我什么时候臣服了？
When you no longer need to ask the question.
当你不再需要发问的时候。
—— END ——