970709 天地一沙鸥（二）

第二部 自觉

中华妹

一世成佛非梦事，只要找对方法。

1.神变。

So this is heaven…As he came from Earth now, above the clouds and in close formation with the two brilliant gulls, he saw that his own body was growing as bright as theirs.True, the same young Jonathan Seagull was there that had always lived behind his golden eyes, but the outer form had changed.（「这就是『天堂』了吧？」……当他紧随着那两只卓越的海鸥，自地球顶上的云端翱翔之际，发现自己的身体，也逐渐变得跟他们一样晶莹了！真的！内心虽然还是那个年轻的岳纳珊，但外表着实「神变」了！）

It felt like a seagull body, but already it flew far better than his old one had ever flown.Why, with half the effort, he thought, I’ll get twice the speed, twice the performance of my best days on earth!...（感觉上，仍是海鸥之躯，但飞得比以前更快了。「为什么，现在只要花一半的力气，」他想，「就可以比在地球上快还一倍呢？」……）

2.不断「悟后起修」，方得「自觉圆满」。

At two hundred seventy-three he thought that he was flying as fast as he could fly, and he was ever so faintly disappointed.There was a limit to how much the new body could do, and though it was much faster than his old level-flight record, it was still a limit that would take great effort to crack.In heaven, he thought, there should be no limits.（两百七十三英哩，这个时速，已打破了所有的记录。但他还是有些失望，因为「新身体」，还有「速限」，而他必须十分努力，才能再次突破。「在天堂，应该是没有『速限』的才对！」他认为。）

3.众圣来迎，有志一同，精勤修行。

The clouds broke apart, his escorts called, “Happy landing, Jonathan,” and vanished into thin air…（云层分开来了，两名引导者高喊了一声：「岳纳珊，祝你飞行愉快！」随即消失在空中……）

The dozen gulls by the shoreline came to meet him, none saying a word.He felt only that he was welcome and that this was home.It had been a big day for him, a day whose sunrise he no longer remembered…（十来只海鸥，从海岸线那头默默地飞了过来，他觉得自己是受欢迎的；此处，就是「家」了！多值得庆贺呀！他欢喜得连这天的日出，都几乎无法想起了……）

In the days that followed, Jonathan saw that there was as much to learn about flight in this place as there had been in the life behind him.But with a difference.Here were gulls who thought as he thought.For each of them, the most important thing in living was to reach out and touch perfection in that which they most loved to do, and that was to fly.They were magnificent birds, all of them, and they spent hour after hour everyday practicing flight, testing advanced aeronautics…（接下来的几天里，岳纳珊发现，就像在地球一样，他要学的新东西太多了！但跟过去不同的是，这儿的海鸥，个个杰出，都跟他一样志同道合。他们酷爱「飞行」，认为生活中最要紧的事，就是「学习如何达到完速」，每天都花好几小时练习「飞行」，尝试更高深的「技术」……）

4.心心相印，不历僧劫证法身。

He rememered it one morning when he was out with his instructor, while they rested on the beach after a session of folded-wing snap rolls.（一天早晨，他跟教练外出飞行，一连串的摺翅疾翻后，停留在沙滩上休息，他忽然想起了一件事。）

“Where is everybody, Sullivan?” he asked silently, guite at home now with the easy telepathy that these gulls used instead of screes and gracks.“Why aren’t there more of us here?Why, where I came from there were…”（「苏利文，其他的人呢？」在此，他已娴熟用「心电感应」来和人交谈了，这比「叽叽嘎嘎」地说话方便太多了！「为什么只有我们两个？我来自的地球，有……」）

“…thousands and thousands of gulls.I know.” Sullivan skook his head.“ The only answer I can see, Jonathan, is that you are pretty well a one-in-a-million bird.Most of us came along ever so slowly.We went from one world into another that was almost exactly like it, forgetting right away where we had come from, not caring where we were headed, living for the moment.Do you have any idea how many lives we must have gone through before we even got the first idea that there is more to life than eating, or fighting, or power in the Flock? A thousand lives, Jon, ten thousand! And then another hundred lives until we began to learn that there is such a thing as perfection, and another hundred again to get the idea that our purpose for living is to find that perfection and show it forth.The same rule holds for us now, of course: we choose our next world through what we learn in this one, all the same limitations and lead weights to overcome.”（「成千上万的海鸥，我知道。」苏利文接口后摇着头说，「唯一的原因是，岳纳珊，我想你是那百万中之一的佼佼者！知道吗？我们须历经多少次的『生』与『死』，才会『首次』知道，生命不只是吃饭、争权和夺势而已？一千世！小岳，一万世！然后，再经过一百世，才会觉悟：生活的目的在『臻至完速』，并将『解脱的自在』展示出来，与人共享？我们不断地轮回，从一个世界，到另一个几乎一样的世界，立刻忘了从前。生生死死，死死生生，从不在乎『生从何来，死往何去』，过一天算一天，还振振有词地以为，这就是『活在当下』了！可悲呀！同样的法则，现在仍然束缚着我们。我们将以这世所学的，选择来生。如果这一世没有进步，同样的『限制』和如铅重的『负担』，来生依然等着我们去克服！」）

He streched his wings and turned to face the wind.“But you, Jon,” he said, “learned so much at one time that you didn’t have to go through a thousand lives to reach this one.”…（他张开双翅，迎风而立，赞叹道：「但小岳，你一世就学了这么多，不需再经千生万死了！」……）

5.即将入灭。

One evening the gulls that were not night-flying stood together on the sand, thinking.Jonathan took all his courage in hand and walked to the Elder Gull, who, it was said, was soon to be moving beyond this world.（一晚，不做夜间飞行的鸥群们站在沙滩上沉思，岳纳珊鼓足了勇气，走向一位即将「入灭」的长者。）

6.三身一体，超越时空，无边无际，天堂即心。

“Chiang…” he said, a little nervously.（「姜老……」他有点儿紧张地启齿。）

The old seagull looked at him kindly.“Yes, my son?” Instead of being enfeebled by age, the Elder had been empowered by it; he could outfly any gull in the Flock, and he had learned skills that the others were only gradually coming to know.（「什么事，孩子？」长者慈爱地看着他。岁月未使长者变得衰老；相反地，还添增了力量。他可以飞得超越任何海鸥，也学得了其他海鸥只能按部就班才获得的技巧。）

“Chiang, this world isn’t heaven at all, is it?”（「姜老，这里根本不是『天堂』，对吗？」）

The Elder smiled in the moonlight.“You are learning again, Jonathan Seagull,” he said.（长老映着皎洁的月光，微笑地回答：「你『又学到』新东西了，岳纳珊。」）

“Well, what happens from here? Where are we going? Is there no such place as heaven?”（「那么，离开这里后会怎么样？我们将来会到哪里去？究竟有没有『天堂』呢？」）

“No, Jonathan, there is no such place.Heaven is not a place, and it is not a time.Heaven is being prfect.” …（「没有，岳纳珊，根本没有『天堂』！如果你只认为，『天堂』是『一个地方』或『一段时间』的话。其实，觉悟『圆满、自在』，才是『天堂』」……）

“You will begin to touch heaven, Jonathan, in the monent that you touch perfect speed.And that isn’t flying at a speed of a thousand miles per hour, or a million, or flying at the speed of light.Because any number is a limit, and perfection doesn’t have limits.Perfect speed, my son, is being there.”（「当你进步到『完速』时，岳纳珊，就触及到『天堂』了。而那并不是指你能飞多快，甚至超过『光速』。因为任何『数字』都是『有限』的，『心』才是『无限』的。『完速』就是『发现无限的自心』，是『无限的时间，也是无限空间』，无时不在，无所不包！」）

7.心至身到，如意穿梭。

Without warning, Chiang vanished and appeared at the water’s edge fifty feet away, all in the flicker of an instant.Then he vanished again and stood, in the same millisecond, at Jonathan’s shoulder…（不动声色地，姜老倏然消失，一眨眼的功夫，出现在五十呎外的海边；而千分之一秒的时间，又再回到岳纳珊的身旁……）

8.知一切即心自性，因陀罗网。

“You can go to any place and to any time that you wish to go,” the Elder said.“I’ve gone everywhere and everywhen I can think of.” He looked across the sea.“It’s strange.The gulls who scorn perfection for the sake of travel go nowhere, slowly.Those who put aside travel for the sake of perfection go anywhere, instantly.Remember, Jonathan, heaven isn’t a place or a time, because place and time are so very meaningless.Heaven is…”（「你可以随心所欲地突破时空，我曾如此做过。」长者望着海边说道，「但奇怪的是，那些光游历却不屑追求『完速』的海鸥们，速度奇慢，也无法立即到达任何一个地方！岳纳珊，你千万要记得，『天堂』并不是『一段时间』或『一个空间』，因为『时间』和『空间』，对已发现『一』的海鸥而言，是没有意义的……」）

…Chiang spoke slowly and watched the younger gull ever so carefully.“To fly as fast as thought, to anywhere that is,” he said, “you must begin by knowing that you have already arrived…” （「一切即心，心至身到。」姜老仔细打量眼前的这位年轻海鸥，和缓地说着，「要发现这个真理，你必须从『自己已经无所不在了』的认知开始」。）

9.法身大无穷，寿无量。

 The trick, according to Chiang, was for Jonathan to stop seeing himself as trapped inside a limited body that had a forty-two-inch wingspan and performance that could be plotted on a chart.The trick was to know that his true nature lived, as perfect as an unwritten number, everywhere at once across space and time…（根据姜老的说法，秘诀在于，岳纳珊不再把它自己跼限在那展翼后，四十二英吋宽的躯体内，依照着可以规划出的航图飞行。真正的秘诀是，发现自己的「本性」，就是一个圆满无尽、超越时空，无法说写出来的「数字」！……）

10.重重无尽法界观。仁慈与真爱，是发现时空归一。

“We can start working with time if you wish,” Chiang said, “till you can fly the past and the future.And then you will be ready to begin the most difficult, the most powerful, the most fun of all.You will be ready to begin to fly up and know the meaning of kindness and of love.’’…（「如果你愿意的话，我们可以从突破『时间』开始。」姜老说，「等你学会了在『过去』和『未来』飞翔，就可以准备学习那最困难、作用最大，也最有趣的事情了。那就是『高飞』，了解『仁慈』与『真爱』的意义！」……）

11.安住法身净土。

But then the day came that Chiang vanished.He had been talking quietly with them all, exhorting them never to stop their learning and their practicing and their striving to understand more of the perfect invisible principle of all life.Then, as he spoke, his feathers went brighter and brighter and at last turned so brilliant that no gulls could look upon him.（姜老「羽化」的时刻终于到来了，他平静地鼓励大伙儿，永远不断地学习、练飞，努力深入了解「一切生命完美、无形」的原则。随即，他变得越来越灿烂，终至耀眼夺目，无法再直视了！）

“Jonathan” he said, and thses were the last words that he spoke, “keep workimg on love.”…（「岳纳珊，」最后他说，「继续为『真爱』努力吧！」……）

12.爱的真谛：无缘大慈，同体大悲。

As the days went past, Jonathan found himself thinking time and again of the Earth from which he had come.If he had known there just a tenth, just a hundredth, of what he knew here, how much more life would have meant! He stood on the sand and fell to wondering if there was a gull back there who might be struggling to break out of his limits, to see the meaning of flight beyond a way of travel to get a breadcrumb from a rowboat.Perhaps there might even have been one made Outcast for speaking his truth in the face of the Flock.（日子一天天地过去了，岳纳珊发现自己竟然又有了「时间」的观念，并且思念起故乡「地球」来了。「如果当时，我能了解到现在所知道的十分之一、甚至百分之一，日子将变得多有意义呀！」他矗立在沙滩上，陷入了沉思，「那儿是不是也有只海鸥，锲而不舍地试着『冲破极限』，想知道除了为取得一块面包屑外，『飞行』是否还有别的深义？或许，也有只像我一样的海鸥，当着大伙儿的面说了真话，即被残酷地『放逐』了？我能为他们做什么呢？」）

And the more Jonathan pracitced his kindness lessons, and the more he worked to know the nature of love, the more he wanted to go back to Earth.For inspite of his lonely past, Jonathan Seagull was born to be an instructor, and his own way of demonstrating love was to give something of the truth that he had seen to a gull who asked only a chance to see truth for himself.（岳纳珊越在「仁慈」上下功夫、越清楚「真爱」的本质，就越想回「地球」。尽管有着孤寂不堪的过去，但天生就是个好教练的他，唯一展现「真爱」的方式，就是把自己发现的真理，与亦渴求真理的海鸥们分享！）

13.「佛眼」方知一切。

Sullivan, adept now at thought-speed flight and helping the others to learn, was doubtful.（而熟稔「神形合一」，并教其他海鸥此「念速」飞行技巧的苏利文，却对岳纳珊的「还乡念头」颇不以为然！）

“Jon, you were Outcast once.Why do you think that any of the gulls in your old time would listen to you now? You know the proverb, and it’s true: The gull sees farthest who flies highest.Those gulls where you came from are standing on the ground, squawking and fighting among themselves.They’re a thousand miles from heaven－and you say you want to show them heaven from where they stand! Jon, they can’t see their own wingtips! Stay here.Help the new gulls here, the ones who are high enough to see what you have to tell them.” He was quiet for a moment, and then he said, “What if Chiang had gone back to his old worlds? Where would you have been today?”（「小岳，可别忘了，你是被『放逐』的！你凭什么认为过去那些背弃你的海鸥，现在就会相信你？知道吗？俗语说得好：『飞得最高，看得最远！』这是千真万确的！那些与你绝裂的海鸥们，站在『地上』，成天粗鄙聒嘎地彼此厮杀争食，视野所及，连自己的翼膀都无法超越！你却天真地想让他们见到千哩之外的『天堂』，是否太『天方夜谭』了点？醒醒吧！留在这里！这里的学生，才是你要寻找的『千里马』，他们已经站得够高，能理解你准备教他们的东西了。」苏利文沉默了一会儿后，继续阻止他，「小岳，你想想看，若姜老也像你样回『老家』去了，结果会怎样？你还会有今天的成就吗？」

The last point was the telling one, and Sullivan was right.The gull sees farthest who flies highest.（「最后这句话最有道理！苏利文是对的，『能飞得高，才看得远！』岳纳珊想。）

14.地狱不空，誓不成佛。

Jonathan stayed and worked with the new birds coming in, who were all very bright and quick with their lessons.But the old feeling came back, and he couldn’t help but think that there might be one or two gulls back on Earth who would be able to learn, too.How much more he would have known by now if Chiang had come to him on the day that he was Outcast!（岳纳珊留了下来，帮助那些新来的海鸥，他们全都是聪明过人、一点即通的好学生。然「返乡奉献」之心，一再涌起，他情不自禁地想：「在老家地球，很可能有那么一、两只有学习能力的海鸥。若当初自己被『放逐』时，即能得遇如姜老般的明师，现在的成就将不知凡几？」）

“Sully, I must go back,” he said at last.“Your students are doing well.They can help you bring the newcomers along.（「老苏，我必须回去！」他还是下了决心，「你的学生都很优秀，可以帮你扶掖新进。」）

Sullivan sighed, but he did not argue.“I think I’ll miss you, Jonathan,” was all he said.（苏利文未再争辩，只深深地叹了口气说：「岳纳珊，我会想念你的！」）

15.佛人、天人不永隔。

“Sully, for shame!” Jonathan said in reproach,” and don’t be foolish! What are we trying to practice every day? If our friendship depends on things like space and time, then when we finally overcome space and time, we’ve destroyed our own brotherhood! But overcome space, and all we have left is Here.Overcome time, and all we have left is Now.And in the middle of Here and Now, don’t you think that we might see each other once or twice?”…（「别丢脸了！老苏，」岳纳珊责备地说，「怎么那么傻呢？我们每天『练习』的是什么？如果我们的友谊，只建立在『一个空间』和『一段时间』上，当我们终于突破了『时空』时，我们的『兄弟之情』，也就随之而毁了。实际上不然！突破了『空间』，我们所剩的，是『无尽的此处』；突破了『时间』，我们所剩的，则是『无尽的此刻』。在『无尽的此刻』和『无尽的此处』间，我们不会再见才怪咧！」……）

“Good-bye, Sully.We’ll meet again.”…（「再见了！老苏，后会有期！」……）

16.尚不知「你是我，我是你」。

Fletcher Lynd Seagull was still quite young, but already he knew that no bird had ever been so harshly treated by any Flock, or with so much injustice.（福莱齐儿．林德还是只极年轻的海鸥，但已尝尽了族人最严苛、最不公的待遇。）

“I don’t care what they say,” he thought fiercely, and his vision blurred as he flew out toward the Far Cliffs.“There’s so much more to flying than just flapping around from place to place! A…a…mosquito does that! One little barrel-roll around the Elder Gull, just for fun, and I’m Outcast! Are they blind? Can’t they see? Can’t they think of the glory that it’ll be when we really learn to fly?（「我才不在乎他们怎么说呢！」在被放逐到「远巖」的途中，他的视线因忿恨、冤屈变得模糊了，「啪啪啪地飞来飞去，连……连一只蚊子都会！这算哪门子『飞行』呀？我不过是闹着玩地，在长老身旁作了一次微不足道的『桶滚』，就被『放逐』了！哼，什么玩意儿嘛！瞎了狗眼！他们不能想象到真正飞行时的『荣耀』吗？」）

“I don’t care what they think.I’ll show them what flying is! I’ll be pure Outlaw, if that’s the way they want it.And I’ll make them so sorry…”（「我才不在乎他们的想法呢！我要让他们知道『真正的飞行』！要『放逐』就『放逐』吧，随便！谁怕谁？有天，我会让你们感到遗憾、抱歉的……」）

17.用「觉他」来宽恕。

…“Don’t be harsh on them, Fletcher Seagull.In casting you out, the other gulls have only hurt themselves, and one day they will know this, and one day they will see what you see.Forgive them, and help them to understand.’’…（ ……「不要对他们这样无情！海鸥福莱齐儿，驱逐你的鸥群只会伤害到他们自己。有一天，他们会明白这个道理；有一天，他们也会了解你所了解的。原谅他们，帮助他们了解吧！」……）

18.「自觉」的目的在「觉他」。

“Fletcher Lynd Seagull, do you want to fly so much that you will forgive the Flock, and learn, and go back to them one day and work to help them know?”…（「海鸥福莱齐儿，你能原谅鸥群，专心学习，学成后再回来，努力不懈地也帮助他们了解你所了解的，你的学习意志有这么坚强吗？」……）

“I do.” he said softly.（「我真的愿意！」他低声下气地回答。）

时空无尽。法界归一。极至喜乐。一世成就。