樂悲

　　Optimism vs. Pessimism

　　一位居士打電話說：“堪布，我最近一直感覺情緒低落，十分悲觀，我想換一個好點的環境，可能對我的情緒會有所幫助的。”

　　A layperson recently called me and said: “Khenpo, I am feeling quite low these days. Everything looks downright gloomy to me. I am thinking of moving to a better place; perhaps it will help ease my pessimistic mood.”

　　聽了他的話，我想起一個故事：一位父親爲自己的兩個兒子分別起名樂觀和悲觀，樂觀和悲觀從小在同一個環境中長大，卻分別擁有兩種不同的情緒。樂觀不論遭遇何種艱難都十分快樂，悲觀即使一帆風順也時刻心緒沈重。父親因自己爲兒子起名的不公而自責，爲了補償悲觀，他將樂觀放在了一堆牛糞當中，而將悲觀放在了一堆珍寶玩具當中。

　　What he said reminded me of a story: Once a father gave names to his two sons; one was called Optimism and the other Pessimism. The two sons grew up in the same environment, yet their temperaments were very different. Optimism was always merry under whatever difficult circumstances; Pessimism, on the other hand, always carried a heavy heart, even when everything was going smoothly. The father blamed himself for having unjustly named his sons and, in an attempt to make up with Pessimism, put Optimism in a pile of cow dung while placing Pessimism among many delightful things and fancy toys.

　　過了一段時間，父親去觀察自己的兩個兒子，樂觀出人意料地在牛糞中玩得十分開心，他告訴父親：“既然您讓我在這裏，牛糞中一定有什麼寶貝，我正在想辦法把它找出來。”令父親大失所望的是，可憐的悲觀卻傷心地坐在一堆珍寶中，很多玩具因爲他的憤懑而被摔壞。

　　After a while the father went to check on his two sons. To his utter surprise, Optimism was having a fun time playing among the cow dung. He told his father: “Since you sent me here, I figured there must be something precious hiding among the dung, and I have been trying ways to find it.” Whereas to the father”s grave disappointment, he found Pessimism was sitting sadly among the collection of fancy items and had smashed many toys in bitter frustration.

　　父親終于明白了，想扭轉人的情緒，依靠外境是于事無補的，要從悲觀轉爲樂觀，只有調整自己的內心。

　　The father finally came to see that there is no way to turn around someone”s mood by relying on external circumstances. The only way to change pessimism into optimism is by tuning one”s own mind.

　　世間不如意事十有八九，叔本華曾說：“人生幸福的事情很少，痛苦的事情卻很多。”如果我們不能正視這些痛苦，將之轉爲道用，而一味地責怨外境，妄想通過改變外境而改變自己的心態，簡直是癡人說夢。

　　Life is never perfect. According to Schopenhauer, happiness is simply a rare thing in the world, while suffering is real and plentiful. We”d better learn to look at miseries squarely and transform them into ways to achieve spiritual growth. Otherwise, we will forever blame external conditions and fantasize that by changing them, we can bring changes to our mood also. That is nothing short of an idiot”s daydream.

　　哲學家愛默生也說過：“生活的樂趣取決于生活者本身，而不是取決于工作或地點。”快樂和悲哀並不會隨外境而轉，如果您遭遇到痛苦，靜下來調服內心比改變外境會更有意義。

　　The philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson says: “The pleasure of life is according to the man who lives it, and not according to the work or the place.” External circumstances have no power to shift happiness or sadness. When we are confronted with misery, it is more meaningful to reflect on our own mind than to try to manipulate our surroundings.

　　壬午年六月二十四日　

　　2002年8月2日　　

　　24th of June, Year of RenWu

　　ugust 2, 2002