Intrinsic Spirit 性灵
Master Wang Xianglu | 2018-06-23 | Download | AI assisted translation
| 宇宙间一切一切，由人类以至万物，无不各有其性，即无不各有其灵，灵是灵用，如铁有坚性，有坚的妙用，这是铁的灵；棉花有柔性，即有柔的灵用，这是棉的灵。 |
Everything in the universe, from human beings to all things, has its own nature; that is, nothing is without its own spirit. Spirit is spiritual function. Iron has the nature of hardness and the wondrous function of hardness; this is the spirit of iron. Cotton has the nature of softness and therefore the spiritual function of softness; this is the spirit of cotton. |
| 但棉和铁，不能自启其用，而人为万物之灵，其灵特异，故能发挥一切的灵用，造成这个世界，这是人为，不是神为、天为。所以人的性能，威力不可思议，我今单说人的性灵。 |
Yet cotton and iron cannot themselves bring their functions into play. Human beings are the most spiritually endowed of all things; their spirit is distinctive, and thus they can unfold every kind of spiritual function and create this world. This is the work of human beings, not the work of gods or Heaven. Therefore, the capacity and power of human nature are inconceivable. I shall now speak solely of the human spirit. |
| 人的本性是同体不二的，不因贫富贵贱，男女老幼而有区别。如吃糖，人人知是甜的，月亮人人见是白的，无一不同，但灵用却又不同，因为各有所长，习性不同，果地亦各不同，譬如糖，有爱吃有不爱吃。 |
Human nature is of one substance and nondual; it does not differ according to wealth or poverty, rank or lowliness, sex, or age. When people eat sugar, all know that it is sweet; when they see the moon, all see it as white. There is no difference in this. Yet the functioning of spirit differs, because each person has different strengths, different habitual tendencies, and different attainments. Take sugar, for example: some like it and some do not. |
| 人的能力启发于性以用之不尽，灵应亦无穷，但此灵用必由学而成，学成于习，习成于专，专成于恒，恒苦则巧思巧劲自然而生。孟子所说“天将降大任于斯人也，必先苦其心志，劳其筋骨”一段，正是磨练而出，再加补助品多，又所谓工欲善其事，必先利其器，发挥的灵用亦更大。 |
Human capacities are awakened from one’s nature, and their use is inexhaustible; spiritual responses too are limitless. Yet this spiritual functioning must be achieved through learning. Learning is accomplished through practice; practice through specialization; specialization through perseverance; and from persevering through hardship, ingenious thought and skillful effort naturally arise. The passage in Mencius—“When Heaven is about to confer a great responsibility upon a person, it must first distress his mind and will, and weary his sinews and bones”—speaks precisely of achievement through tempering. With more supplementary resources as well, and as the saying goes, “To do good work, one must first sharpen one’s tools,” the spiritual functions one can bring forth become still greater. |
| 人性有独具的本能，故可以凭空造成一个世界，而缘助又自然而来会，这还是人为，不是天授，世人不明三世因果之理，以为此人天然聪明，不知其夙世先有所学习性已成，所以今世随机启发与众不同，即其愚笨亦不是一时所成，就亦不必专指生前死后，即今世三十年亦可造成许多世界。 |
Human nature possesses innate capacities of its own; therefore, people can seemingly create a world from nothing, while supporting conditions naturally gather to assist them. This is still human endeavor, not a gift bestowed by Heaven. People do not understand the principle of karmic cause and effect across the three lives. They think that someone is naturally intelligent, not realizing that this person cultivated learning and formed habitual tendencies in previous lives; hence, in this life, those capacities are awakened according to circumstances in ways that differ from others. Even stupidity is not formed in a moment. Nor need we refer only to life before birth and after death: even thirty years in this life can create many worlds. |
| 性灵发挥的威力非常之大，超过原子弹，因为此是原子弹的主人，他的助缘亦非常之广，所以技能的发明亦无底止。 |
The power released by the spirit of one’s nature is immense, greater than that of an atomic bomb, for it is the master of the atomic bomb. Its supporting conditions are also extraordinarily extensive; thus, there is no end to the invention of skills and technologies. |
| 莫以为我是聪明有能力，这是人人有份的，他人的专成或过于我，如原子弹的配合构造，人人都有此能力，都有此缘助或且高过于我，只暂时的因缘不同罢了，所以有知识的人能用其技能，而有智慧的人呢，决不敢独恃其技能和骄人的心理，知道是靠不住的。 |
Do not suppose that intelligence and ability belong to me alone; everyone has a share in them. Others may have developed their specialization more fully than I have. In the design and construction of an atomic bomb, for example, everyone has such capacity and may possess supporting conditions equal to or even greater than mine; only their causes and conditions temporarily differ. Thus, a person of knowledge may employ his skills, but one with wisdom would never dare rely solely on such skills or indulge a prideful attitude toward others, knowing that these things are not dependable. |
| 因此，性灵有大有小，现在世界文化物质的进步，只是性灵的小作用，还不是大作为。因此，人类但得身体上的享受，却造成个精神上恐怖和疑忌，即是原子弹再有一年必有更新的发明去抵制他，便无用了，如是层出不穷，世界的恐怖就没有止境，必有追悔的一日。 |
Accordingly, spiritual capacities may be great or small. The present progress of the world in culture and material things is merely a minor function of the spirit; it is not its great work. Humanity gains physical enjoyments, yet creates spiritual terror and mutual suspicion. Even if an atomic bomb is countered within a year by a newer invention, it becomes useless; and so inventions emerge one after another without end. The terror of the world will then have no end, and a day of regret must come. |
| 性灵的大用是求究竟的、普利的，不在一时之快利，在永久的安乐，又是通盘计划的不肯造恶，因此自害的即如希特勒，是完全代表愚笨的结果，因为他的性灵和他的一切缘助都可惜小用了，追步他的日、意，也遭同样的命运，这是个大榜样，但世人真觉悟的究有几个？还登向他的坟墓上走，因为他们不知道性灵的大用。 |
The great function of the spirit seeks what is ultimate and universally beneficial. It does not seek temporary pleasure and profit, but lasting peace and happiness. It plans as a whole and refuses to create evil. One who harms himself, like Hitler, completely exemplifies the result of stupidity, for his spiritual capacity and all his supporting conditions were regrettably put to petty use. Japan and Italy, following in his footsteps, met the same fate. This is a great warning; but how many people in the world have truly awakened? They still walk toward his grave, because they do not know the great function of the spirit. |
| 杀人即是自杀，夺人便是自盗，人的性灵不但没光明，而且是迷黑了，但有个性灵，算不得灵用，因为天下至愚的人是自贼，所谓损人不利己。 |
To kill another is to kill oneself; to rob another is to rob oneself. Such a person’s spirit is not merely without light; it is lost in darkness. Though such a person has a spirit, it cannot be called spiritual functioning, for the most foolish person under heaven is one who plunders himself. As the saying goes, harming others does not benefit oneself. |
| 现在世界只是文而不明，物质是文彩了，人反而不明了，物质享受是进步了，人心的不安，经济的压迫更进步了，所以怪病也多了，寿命也短了，少数人快乐了，多数人痛苦了。人的知识技巧是进步了，害人的方法也精了，道德是消亡了，一提到道义人人笑你。这都是性灵的颠倒和罪恶。 |
The present world has culture without enlightenment. Material things have become refined and splendid, while people themselves have become less enlightened. Material enjoyment has advanced, but the unrest in human hearts and the pressures of the economy have advanced even further. Hence strange illnesses have multiplied and life spans have shortened. A few are happy, while the many suffer. Human knowledge and technical skill have advanced, and so too have the methods of harming others. Morality has perished; mention righteousness, and everyone laughs at you. All this is the inversion and evil of the spirit. |
| 性灵妙用是变化无穷的，普通人只拿心去参究人事，越参越精，但只是窄小的，他从不肯拿心去参心，所谓以心制心。虽亦有人参究心理学，又只是参究制人的心理，从不曾参究自己的心理。 |
The wondrous functioning of the spirit is infinitely variable. Ordinary people merely use the mind to investigate human affairs; the more they investigate, the more expert they become, but their scope remains narrow and small. They never willingly use the mind to investigate mind itself—what is called using the mind to regulate the mind. Some may study psychology, but they study only the psychology of controlling others; they have never investigated their own psychology. |
| 然也有两个人参问自己，警戒自己，何者是善，何者是恶，已是凤毛麟角，称为圣贤了，但又从不参究心灵究竟是什么，我的善恶是本有的呢，还是驱迫变化而出的呢，所谓我的智能是本有的呢，还是因磨练而成的呢？ |
Yet there are also a few people who question themselves and admonish themselves, asking what is good and what is evil. They are already as rare as phoenix feathers and qilin horns, and are called sages and worthies. But even they have never investigated what the mind and spirit ultimately are. Are my good and evil inherent, or do they arise through coercion and change? Is my intelligence innate, or is it formed through tempering? |
| 一面铜镜可以鉴照，但改铸了一只鼎，那光到那里去了？铜可以磨成镜，铜的光是本有的，但何以要磨，不磨则不有呢？人又是归功于磨，但何以砖虽磨，却不能成镜呢？可见性灵是本有的，但必磨练而出。 |
A bronze mirror can reflect, but if it is recast into a cauldron, where does its light go? Copper can be polished into a mirror, so the brightness of copper is inherent; but why must it be polished? If it is not polished, why does that brightness not appear? People then credit the polishing. But why can a brick be polished without becoming a mirror? This shows that spirit is inherent in one’s nature, yet it must emerge through tempering. |
| 人性本来是灵的，何以又有冥顽不灵的呢？即是铜可以有光而不磨，但又如何是磨呢？磨这个字，普通人只明得一半。 |
Human nature is originally spirit, so why are there also those who are dull and unresponsive? Copper may possess brightness, yet without polishing it does not shine. But what, then, is polishing? Ordinary people understand only half the meaning of the word “polish.” |
| 世人但知道用心思维即是磨，然只是半个磨，倘知道“无知之知，不灵的灵，无心之心”这三句的妙理，这个磨才是完全，才是大用。然而世人对于这三句连信心也没有，因为世人但能用已动心之心，不能明未动心前之心，这问题不是片言可决，当再论之。 |
People know only that using the mind to think is polishing, but that is merely half of polishing. If one understood the wondrous principle in these three phrases—“knowing without knowledge, spirit in what is unresponsive, mind in what is mindless”—then this polishing would be complete and would become its great function. Yet people have no faith even in these three phrases, because they can use only the mind that has already stirred, and cannot understand the mind before it has stirred. This question cannot be settled in a few words and must be discussed further. |
| 你问他，心是什么？他只说是思想，问思想从哪里来的，他至多说是脑海中出发的，又好比你问他，灯光是什么，他只说是电力，问电从那里来的，他只说是电灯泡中发出的。这两个简单答复能使人满意么？世人不明性灵的道理笼统一说，正是一样。 |
Ask someone, “What is mind?” and he will only say that it is thought. Ask where thought comes from, and at most he will say that it arises in the brain. It is like asking what lamplight is: he will only say that it is electricity; ask where electricity comes from, and he will say that it is emitted from the light bulb. Can these two simple answers satisfy anyone? When people fail to understand the principle of nature and spirit and speak of it in vague generalities, it is exactly the same. |
| 世上一切都是心造，心的数数便成习惯，习惯既久成为定例，这定例还不是第一个人假造的么？人既造成习惯，反而被习惯所左右，他自己的喜怒哀乐，完全不能自主，惟其各人的习性有同与不同，遂不能和同而有顺逆，不同的多争意气，同的多争利益，表面不能争的又不能各自制止。 |
Everything in the world is created by mind. When the mind repeatedly engages in something, it becomes a habit; when a habit endures, it becomes a fixed convention. But was not that convention itself originally fabricated by someone? Once people create habits, they are in turn controlled by them. They cannot master their own joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure. Since people’s habitual tendencies are both similar and different, they cannot live in harmony and thus encounter favorable and adverse conditions. Those who differ often contend over temper, while those who agree often contend over profit; even where open contention is impossible, they cannot restrain themselves. |
| 贪欲遂生，嫉忌阴谋而人事越烦，作弊越多，防止越严，疑忌亦越多而痛苦益大，转辗成习，迷而不觉。所以物质越进步，人的爱美贪欲日见膨胀，亲亲仁霭之义日见短少，残贼的心理亦日见炽盛，造成今日恐怖的世界。 |
Thus craving arises. Jealousy and intrigue make human affairs ever more complicated; cheating increases, preventive measures become stricter, suspicion increases still more, and suffering grows greater. This turns repeatedly into habit, and people remain deluded without awakening. Therefore, the more material things advance, the more human craving for beauty and pleasure expands day by day; the spirit of kinship, kindness, and compassion diminishes day by day; and the mentality of cruelty and plunder grows ever more intense, creating today’s terrifying world. |
| “自利”是人情所应该的，但如何是真自利呢？真自利是永久的、究竟的、没流弊的，是广大的。（一）求安心满足。 |
“Self-benefit” is only natural to human feeling, but what is genuine self-benefit? Genuine self-benefit is lasting, ultimate, free of harmful consequences, and expansive. (1) Seek peace and contentment of mind. |
| 要知世上一切是共同的、相互的、有影响的、有反动的，譬如德国希特勒，他的初意是不是求安心满足？但结果是自作自受，所以他的自利便不是真的。（二）求一切胜利。 |
One must know that everything in the world is shared and interdependent, mutually influential and reactive. Take Hitler in Germany: was not his original intention to seek peace and contentment? Yet in the end he brought the consequences upon himself. Therefore, his self-benefit was not genuine. (2) Seek every victory. |
| 不知胜利必始于相争，我即使胜利，根本也已受伤，何如彼此勿争。而胜利只是一时的机运，无形中已种后果。譬如原子弹是一时的胜利，难保没有更大的反动。这个自利是不究竟的，有流弊的。所以一年来国际间疑忌恐怖，双方都不得真自利，眼前即是事证，何以都不觉悟？ |
One does not understand that victory must begin in contention. Even if I win, I have already been injured at the root. How much better if neither side contended? Moreover, victory is only a temporary turn of fortune, and unseen consequences have already been planted. An atomic bomb, for example, may be a temporary victory, but there is no assurance that it will not provoke a still greater reaction. Such self-benefit is not ultimate and has harmful consequences. Thus, for the past year, international suspicion and terror have prevented both sides from attaining genuine self-benefit. The evidence lies plainly before our eyes; why do none awaken? |
| 我的利安寄托在他人的身上，能得大皆普利才是真利，真自利的决不损人以利己，因为专利的断没有不招反动的，无异于自选，恶因自受恶果，即所谓独夫。世人如真慧自利的，必得先明因果，求得彻底广大的自利又何尝是不好的名词呢？ |
My welfare and security are entrusted to others; only benefit that is broadly shared can be true benefit. A person who truly benefits himself will certainly not harm others for his own gain, for exclusive profit never fails to invite reaction. It is no different from choosing evil causes for oneself and receiving evil results oneself—what is called a despot. If people truly understand how to benefit themselves wisely, they must first understand cause and effect. And what could possibly be wrong with seeking self-benefit that is thorough and expansive? |
| 知足不是谨小畏缩，是适可而止的言思，譬如人的食量过少不饱，过多胀满，都不得舒服，但并不是不吃，亦不是畏缩不敢吃，调之知足，此正是求足到正足时，自己知道了，截然而止。不再过分反而丧失。 |
Contentment is not timid narrowness; it is knowing when enough is enough in speech and thought. For example, if one eats too little, one is not full; if one eats too much, one becomes bloated. In either case one is uncomfortable. Yet this does not mean not eating, nor does it mean shrinking back in fear of eating. This is called contentment: one seeks sufficiency until it is truly sufficient, knows it for oneself, and stops decisively. To go beyond it is instead to lose what one has gained. |
| 又如坏的事，如德国的侵略，如亦懂得截然而止，完全变更故策，不再与俄国树敌，亦何至于一蹶不振。所以贪不是好事，知足却不是消极，正是灵机的活泼，作用于奋斗中一种手腕，可怜世人又误解了。 |
Again, in harmful matters, such as Germany’s aggression, if it had understood how to stop decisively, completely changed its former policy, and ceased making an enemy of Russia, how could it have fallen so completely? Thus greed is not a good thing, but contentment is not passive; it is the lively responsiveness of spiritual intelligence, a means of action amid struggle. Sadly, people misunderstand this as well. |
| 我人走路力能行一百里，前进到五十里他不走了，旁人以为他知足笑他懦弱，不知他走回去还有五十里，何曾懦弱，你们前进到一百里，但不能回来了。所以人的见地不了死执，奋斗是要谋定而动，这就是性灵的作用。 |
Suppose a person has the strength to walk one hundred li. Having gone fifty li forward, he stops. Others think he is contented and laugh at him as cowardly, not knowing that he still has fifty li to walk back. How has he been cowardly? You proceed for one hundred li, but cannot return. Therefore, one should not be bound by fixed and incomplete views. Struggle requires deliberate planning before action. This is the functioning of the spirit. |
| 世上最漂亮的人不是浮滑的，而是圆通的、诚实的，圆通是双方各有好处，面面圆到，诚实是不欺于人，即是利己，性灵是非常的灵敏，眼光远大，执见不固，转风极快，处事简净，心量总是活泼泼地，因为能远观，观宇宙间一切一切本是虚妄不实，原本是空幻的，所以能为此、肯为此。 |
The most admirable people in the world are not frivolous but are adaptable and honest. Adaptability means that both sides gain some benefit and every aspect is brought into harmony. Honesty means not deceiving others, and that itself is self-benefit. The spirit is extremely keen, farsighted, not fixed in rigid views, quick to respond to changing circumstances, and simple and clear in handling affairs. Its capacity of mind is always lively and vital, because it can see from afar and see that everything in the universe is fundamentally false and unreal, originally empty and illusory. Therefore, it can do this and is willing to do this. |
| 世上一切是幻妄的，独有功夫不幻妄，要做到这个功夫自然先要除贪，但贪由认真而起，以为一切能见能闻，能捉摸的皆非虚妄，因此你贪我也贪，你求我也求，有得有不得，而你恼我也恼，天下扰乱，人生痛苦均由于此，所以佛家救世的精意在使自觉，先见到一切本空之相，而又不许落空入于断灭。 |
Everything in the world is illusory and unreal; only one’s cultivation is not illusory. To accomplish this cultivation, one must first eliminate greed. Yet greed arises from taking things as real: believing that all one can see, hear, and grasp are not unreal. Thus, what you crave, I too crave; what you seek, I too seek. There are gains and failures to gain; when you are troubled, I too am troubled. The disorder of the world and the suffering of human life both arise from this. Therefore, the essential intent of Buddhism in saving the world is to bring about self-awakening: first see that all things are intrinsically empty, yet do not fall into emptiness or annihilation. |
| 知心本是幻，此一切是幻心所造，非有实体，但就幻中心了幻事终不废于幻，亦不执于真，观世事为非真非假，过真则劳劳太苦，过假亦空泛乏味，只是随缘应付。 |
Knowing that the mind itself is illusory, one knows that all this is created by the illusory mind and has no substantial reality. Yet, while living amid illusion and understanding illusory affairs, one does not abandon illusion altogether, nor does one cling to truth. Regard worldly affairs as neither real nor unreal. If one takes them too much as real, one labors and suffers excessively; if one takes them too much as unreal, life becomes empty and insipid. One simply responds according to conditions. |
| 所谓：为无为，事无事，味无味，貌若无知，而实无所不知，状若不灵，而实大智若愚，所谓不灵之灵，此正是无心之心，如此贪心至少已打去六七成，人与人的磨擦，先已隔离，即使苟有误会冲突，亦易于解化。 |
As it is said: act without contrivance, attend to affairs without attachment to affairs, savor what is without flavor. One may appear not to know, yet in fact there is nothing one does not know; one may appear unresponsive, yet in fact possesses great wisdom that seems like foolishness. This is the responsiveness of seeming unresponsiveness; it is precisely the mind of no-mind. In this way, at least sixty or seventy percent of greedy thought has been removed. Friction between people is thereby forestalled; even if misunderstandings and conflicts should arise, they can readily be resolved. |
| 所以两个君子不会争，一个君子一个小人也不会争，因为君子肯让，亦使争不起来，只有两个小人，那非争不可，两个都是性不灵活，没有退转的余地。 |
Thus two gentlemen will not contend, nor will a gentleman contend with a petty person, for the gentleman is willing to yield and thereby leaves no contention to arise. Only two petty people must contend: neither is flexible in disposition, and neither has room to retreat. |
| 有人说退让是好事，但如日寇来侵略，我也退让么？不，这个性灵又不通了。譬如人身上何必定要生疮疖，最好不生，但既不幸而生了，只有开刀之一法，毒物不净受累更大，并且连好肉也得去一点。所以是贼害的东西，不得不去恶务尽，这正是性灵的作用。试问在疮疖未生之前，特意剜肉成疮，这又何苦。 |
Someone may say that yielding is a good thing, but if the Japanese invaders came to invade, should I yield then as well? No—then one’s spiritual responsiveness has again become obstructed. Why must sores and boils grow on the body? It is best if they do not arise; but once they unfortunately have arisen, incision is the only remedy. If the poison is not completely cleared away, the harm will be even greater, and some healthy flesh must also be removed. Thus, when something is harmful like a thief, one must eliminate the evil completely. This is precisely the function of spiritual responsiveness. But before sores and boils have arisen, why deliberately cut out flesh and make a wound? What suffering would that be for? |
| 世人苦恼颠倒或明知故犯，意气用事，枉自劳虑，都缘心有偏执，不知变通。有力的与有力的相争，皆是气分上用事，初是争利，后是争气，结果两丧，其苦已早伏，非一日也。虽然此又天然之势。花无百日红，人事赖此磨擦以自灭，否则永久不败，万无此理。 |
When worldly people suffer confusion and distress, knowingly commit wrongs, act out of emotion, and exhaust themselves with needless worry, it is all because their minds are biased and attached and they do not know how to adapt. When the strong contend with the strong, both act out of temper. At first they contend for profit; afterward, they contend merely for pride. In the end both are ruined, and their suffering was already latent long before—it did not arise in a single day. Yet this too is a natural tendency. No flower remains red for a hundred days; human affairs rely on such friction to bring about their own dissolution. Otherwise, they would remain forever undefeated, which could never be so. |
| 一切灵用即是心，一切心即是一切法，一切法皆是一切义。法无定法，义无定义。甲可以独制，乙可以自斥。在甲为是，在乙又为非是，此原无定义，姑相约公认，于不定中假立一个定，惟其不定，所以允则必变。要无非是性分中的灵用。 |
All spiritual functioning is mind; every mind is all dharmas; and all dharmas are all meanings. Dharma has no fixed dharma, and meaning has no fixed meaning. A may independently control something, while B may reject it on his own. For A it is right, while for B it is not right. Originally there is no fixed definition; people merely agree upon and provisionally establish a fixed standard amid what is unfixed. Precisely because it is unfixed, what is permitted must change. This is nothing other than the spiritual functioning inherent in one’s nature. |
| 成败、荣辱、得失、是非、贵贱、盛衰、起伏、生灭，在普通人观之总是有别，在通达人观之只是一场游戏，如昙花一现，正是不二以慧眼，同一是虚妄不实，目前非无，毕竟是幻，明此理者，才是真灵用，所以贫贱能不移，富贵能不淫，威武能不屈。 |
Success and failure, honor and disgrace, gain and loss, right and wrong, nobility and lowliness, flourishing and decline, rise and fall, arising and ceasing: ordinary people see distinctions in all these, but those with penetrating understanding see them only as a game, like an epiphyllum that appears for a single moment. This is nonduality seen with the eye of wisdom: all alike are illusory and insubstantial. They are not absent before one’s eyes, yet ultimately they are illusory. One who understands this principle possesses true spiritual functioning; thus, poverty and lowliness cannot shake them, wealth and rank cannot corrupt them, and power and force cannot subdue them. |
| 问耶稣为什么肯背十字架？当时并无沽名求利的心，是早已洞达一切至理，所以能如此，此即是圣灵的作用。 |
Why was Jesus willing to bear the cross? At the time, he had no thought of seeking fame or profit; he had long since penetrated all ultimate principles, and was therefore able to do so. This is the function of the Holy Spirit. |
| 小儿的灵智要他发育不可太拘束，但又不可放纵，必得有个范围，要他精明，不要他刻薄，要他浑厚，不要他呆板，思想要他圆，不要他滑，心量要他大，不要他小。 |
A child’s spiritual intelligence should be allowed to develop and should not be overly constrained, yet neither should it be indulged without restraint. There must be proper boundaries. Teach the child to be discerning, but not harsh; generous, but not rigid; broad in thought, but not slippery; and large in mind-capacity, but not narrow. |
| 人是有模仿性的，独立性就弱了，独立性是好的，但固执不是独立，依赖心不可有，借助性不可少，希望心不可少，但不可必成可，欲望是迷信了灵敏。人每不肯用功，用功人每涉于呆钝，所以用功还要灵活，必有所发明。 |
People have a tendency to imitate, and thus their independence is weak. Independence is good, but obstinacy is not independence. One must not have a dependent mind, though one cannot do without accepting assistance. Hope is indispensable, but one must not insist that it will certainly be fulfilled. Desire is merely a superstitious faith in cleverness. People are often unwilling to apply themselves, while those who do apply themselves often become rigid and dull. Therefore, diligent effort must also be flexible, and it must lead to some discovery. |
| 小儿的气要使他发扬，但要正直不可散漫，先要养成他个平等心，自然不骄于人，养成他个慈悲心，自然才能不作恶。父母有这等的教训，才是慈，才是真正社会服务，才是国家的光荣。 |
A child’s vital energy should be encouraged to develop, but it must be upright and not undisciplined. First cultivate in the child a mind of equanimity, and the child will naturally not be arrogant toward others; cultivate in the child a compassionate mind, and the child will naturally be able to refrain from wrongdoing. Only parents who offer such instruction are truly compassionate; this is genuine service to society and an honor to the nation. |
| 德国人但知功利，使人人有才，所以作世界的罪魁祸首，就缺少了慈悲的德性，所以必定灭亡，这是自杀，这是性灵的丧失。前车之鉴，大智应改变方针，莫贪功利，莫恃武力，脑筋不可太旧了。 |
The Germans know only utility and profit, seeking to make everyone capable; thus they became the chief culprit of the world. Lacking the virtue of compassion, they are bound to perish. This is self-destruction; it is the loss of spiritual intelligence. Taking the past as a warning, those of great wisdom should change their course: do not crave utility and profit, do not rely on military force, and do not let your thinking become too outdated. |
