我说了这么一大通，自己想想，还是因为自己挺“在乎”。

“壹基金”的未来，对李连杰本人意义重大：自生自灭还是脱颖而出，永远呆在红十字会的伞下添砖加瓦还是成为与众不同的大慈善家，终究是一介武夫还是善用这辈子的福报真正参透人生道理并有效传播之（同时停止令人浑身不自在的、以《霍元甲》为代表的说教）？步入中年的他，估计每天都在思考。

我对他的期许不言而喻。

Hang on there... who am I? 一笑。

1996年，亚特兰大奥运会。英国双人划艇国手Steve Redgrave第四次冲金成功之后，记者跑过去拿着麦克风对着他，问他感受如何。他喘着粗气，上身累得往直前趴，然后说出了一句后来成为名言的话：Anyone sees me go anywhere near a boat again, you have my permission to shoot me.
这句话版本很多，但这个版本跟我记忆的完全符合，因此应该是原话。到youtube上一搜，能听到大半句：http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G28AiTJU42o
看来只要把“again”刨掉，have改成 've got，就是一字不差的transcript了。我为自己的记忆力得意了一番（年纪大了，能拿来boost自己ego的，都要尽量使用）。

李连杰拍霍元甲之前，就表示这将是他的最后一部武打片了，就差说这么一句：After that, anyone sees me in a kung-fu movie again, you have my permission to shoot me.

亚特兰大之后，Sir Steve 食言了，拖着疲惫、衰老、遗传糖尿病的身子备战悉尼，2000年参加四人划艇，再次夺金，成为英国历史上最伟大的奥运选手。也是奥运史上耐力项目连续五届夺金的第二人。

李连杰呢？也食言了。霍元甲的DVD封面上写的是：李连杰最重要的电影！

换言之，“我接下来要拍不重要的电影了。”

这一点他做到了。区别在于：人家食言之后，再创新高；李连杰食言之后屡创新低。

To repay what Jet Li had given me, through movies like 少林寺、少林小子（but not 南北少林, which was rubbish)、黄飞鸿、太极张三丰、精武英雄等等，I always made a point of paying for exorbitantly priced tickets and watching all his new movies in a proper cinema.

对我的而言，致命的一击就是功夫之王和木乃伊III。

我连评点的兴趣都没有。我觉得简直是道德的问题了：骗钱。

有人可能要问了，姜文用《太阳照常升起》来骗观众的钱，自己跟新宠老婆、黄秋生、陈冲、房祖名着实玩得开心，爽了一把，你干嘛不去谴责，而对李连杰这个只是想make a difference in his own life的一介武夫，却有这么高的要求呢？

答案：正因为李连杰是宗教代言人、正在崛起的慈善家，而姜文不是！！！

就说“壹基金”，这个帐是怎么算的？一人一块钱？现在分布在960万平方公里上的一亿人每人捐一块钱，加在一起给你一亿块钱，你去收收看。就像从前有不少人认为：我发明一样东西，每人都需要，而且只要五毛钱，这样六万万同胞都买了，我就腰缠三亿了。那时候的人没有商业头脑，可以原谅，而且愚昧得可爱。

我知道“壹基金”的实际操作肯定不可能是这样，既然不可能是这样（不过“一块钱”这种额度显然是针对普通老百姓甚至小孩的，让他们网上划帐，设立standing instruction，现实吗？），那为何要用这种疑似哗众取宠的噱头呢？如果真的这样操作了，那么最佳从业员就是乞丐了。不如叫“丐帮基金”还比较贴切。在每个城市交通要道布点，打出基金会的旗号，人们就往麻袋里扔硬币，然后雇专人扛到银行过磅，入帐。每月给他们发点工资。这可能是效率最高的方式了。但人们怎么能信任这个基金会呢？当然需要宣传和教育，李连杰自己抛头露面、明星捧场、上电视、上海报，转场推广，国内外游说......，且慢，那几麻袋钢蹦儿够不够用啊？

再说《木乃伊III》，有没有发现：除了几个主角，群众演员一打就死的肯定是中国人，而且一死死一片，连多少有点民族和文化符号价值的秦俑也不放过；就像前面两集，一打就死的肯定是埃及人，而且一死死一片，连多少有点民族和文化符号价值的木乃伊也不放过。

这很正常，因为这部电影的目标观众是欧美人，他们看东方异族的人，感情上是有距离的。就像中国人看非洲人，感情上也是有距离的。这是现实，是部落本能，不能说应该提倡，但也无法彻底改变。

但是李连杰呢？ Do you really know what you are doing?!!

我只能说一句：Anyone sees me watching a Jet Li movie again, you've got my permission to shoot me!

I've written nothing since 3rd Aug. The reason is obvious: I took an Olympic break. And then it took me a good while to wake up from the obsession.

This morning, I found three messages in my junk mail inbox.

The first one tries to sell me Rolex watches, fake ones;
The second, viagra pills, at reduced price;
The third, university degrees, for people who can't EARN a degree, but NEED one.

My first thought: Okay, each of the three appeals to a disparate range of needs and wants of potential customers, but there's a common denominator to all three.

What is it?

Then I found the answer: EGO.

And it's a perfect illustration of how insubstantial EGO is.

I don't know who the author of this cartoon is, but I want to apologise to him/her before I start. I'm only using it to make a point and it's not a proper "reproduction" per se. Kudos to the artist and the agent.

奥运快到了，而北京早就开始进行公共场所的英文纠错运动，媒体大书特书，举了很多令人喷饭的例子。

几年前，一位朋友告诉我，北京一些“付费公共厕所”的牌子上写的英文是：Pay Money Toilet，让外国人笑死了。

其实，Pay Toilet 比 Pay-Money Toilet 好多少？难说。（窃以为，用 Pay-As-You-S**T Toilet 最贴切。还可以简称为 PAYS Toilet。）

母语的霸道，没办法。如果外国人先发明“好不热闹”、“不要太幸福哟”，早就被国人笑死了。道理是一样的。

仔细想想，Baby Changing Room 不可笑吗？

Female Toilet 呢？

This notice was found under the staircase of an old residential building in Hong Kong.

Literally, it says:

Warning

He who dumps garbage here shall meet the retributive misfortune of dropping dead, of dragging his entire family to its tragic demise and, should he beget a child, of having an anus-less baby!!

So, show some self-respect, please!!

事件引起中央和省领导的高度重视

乍一看，没什么名堂，但其实这里有两层意思，一是“引起（注意）”(it made them sit up and take notice)，二是“高度重视”(they decided not to treat it lightly)。

The incident caught the attention of central and provincial leaders, who took it very seriously.

“规模以上企业”
要翻成英语很麻烦。若是给出规模的定量标准，由于针对工业企业和商业企业的“分数线”不一，翻出来会惨不忍睹。
既然原文略去了定量的指标，那对不起，英语就依样画葫芦：

enterprises with turnover at or above the sizable-volume threshold

还是好啰嗦。

许
...时许
怎么翻？
例如：7时许
直觉判断，意思是some time after 7.
但词典的定义很窄，是approximately的意思。
用法律文件中常用的一个介词组合就可以解决（在大多数情况下）：at or around
例：at or around 7 o'clock

By the way, this is what a standard room in The Venetian looks like.

I'm not a fan of The Venetian, the one in Macau. The rooms are very luxurious, yes, but I can never get a good night's sleep there. I know the reason, but I don't intend to discuss it here.

This dessert, however, did tickle my fancy. It is as beautifully "crafted" as the rooms are stunningly "appointed".

But it's more nourishing to the body than the rooms are salubrious to the sleeper.

Dine with a view so fine...

More details, inside the coffeeshop of a conference centre

The devil is in the details. In Thailand, very often, the beauty is in the details. Curtains on a bus/coach are a nuisance in most cases and afford no viewing pleasure. But that doesn't have to be the case. Oh, BTW, this is on one of the Safe-and-Save airport buses.

I'm pretty sure the originator of this strapline, "Safe and Save Bus Service", is quite proud: proximate rhyme, alliteration, consonance... and it is punchy and effective.

On second thoughts, however, I wonder if it's a good advertisement for the city of Bangkok, although it certainly is for this particular service (as evidenced by the thronging crowds, mostly backpackers, who try to get on). It is, after all, one of the first things you see as you step out of the airport terminal building!

If this service is SAFE and I can SAVE, what is the alternative then?

跟之前翻的幾首歌不同的是，這次翻得比較鬆散，而且不押韻（否則好彆扭）。試一試吧。

驛動的心

曾經以為我的家
是一張張的票根
撕開以後展開旅程
投入另外一個陌生
這樣飄蕩多少天
這樣孤獨多少年
終點又回到起點
到現在我才發現
哦…………
路過的人我早已忘記
經過的事已隨風而去
驛動的心已漸漸平息
疲憊的我是否有緣和你相依

Throbbing Away

Once upon a time, I had many a home
Each printed on a ticket
You tear off one, you hit the road
Off to the never-never land

So I drifted afar
So I roamed alone
For many a day
For many a year
Until, alas, I did a full circle

Now I know, if you care to know,
Those who crossed my path
Have faded from my mind
Things that happened to me
Are gone with the wind
As ebb follows throb
What's written in the stars?
Can my heart, fatigued, lean on you?

Headache remedy:

......的重要讲话，站在时代发展的高度，着眼国际国内两个大局，深入阐述了新闻宣传工作的重要地位，深刻分析了新闻宣传工作面临的形势和任务，系统总结了改革开放以来新闻宣传工作的理论成果和实践经验，明确提出了新闻宣传工作的根本要求和重大理论观点，充分体现了马克思主义新闻观，丰富和发展了中国特色社会主义理论体系关于新闻宣传的重要思想。

The important speech by..., from the high-level perspective of the development of our times in the context of the overall international situation and domestic situation, provides: an in-depth exposition on the important standing of press and propaganda work; a profound analysis of the state of affairs and the tasks facing press and propaganda work; a systematic summary of what has been achieved at the theoretical level and what has been experienced at the practical level in press and propaganda work since the reform and opening up began; an explicit articulation of the fundamental requirements and major theoretical viewpoints concerning press and propaganda work; a full expression of the Marxist concept of journalism; and a contribution to the enrichment and development of the important thinking on press and propaganda within the body of theories on socialism with Chinese characteristics.

这次住在某个youth hostel，洗手间和淋浴房是公用的，厨房也是。
第一晚很不习惯。洗手间一个门进去，两个间隔是女厕所，两个间隔是男厕所；同楼层还有一个小洗手间，里面就两个间隔，男女各一。进去时经常要跟女同胞打招呼，浑身不自在。
厨房不大，吃饭时间很拥挤，那么多陌生人，跟你一起做同样的事情，而且都很客气，大家都努力在极短的时间内培养默契。脸上挂着微笑，一直挂着，因为你转向任何方向都有人。
奇怪的是，到了第二晚，那股别扭劲儿荡然无存，甚至可以说如鱼得水，无论是厨房还是洗手间，无论里面有没有人，自己感觉如入无人之境，做想做的事，做完了事。That's it.
惊叹人的适应能力 -- social adaptability。生存技能之一。

在电影Annie Hall里面，Woody Allen一开场就说了一个笑话：
Two elderly women are at a Catskill mountain resort, and one of 'em says, "Boy, the food at this place is really terrible." The other one says, "Yeah, I know; and such small portions."
（请看Youtube上的片段：http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrxlfvI17oY）

我一直忘不了这个笑话。

前阵子读到另一个笑话，跟这个有异曲同工之妙（大意）：
A girl confides in her mother that she has had sex with her boyfriend. The mother tells the dad, who is very conservative.
He decides to intervene. He calls the boy and says to him, "You are a dirty, unworthy and irresponsible piece of scum of the worst order. Now, marry my daughter!"

刚才贴的“欠雅照片”，拍摄时间距今已一个月了，我为何迟迟未贴呢？

其实是不好意思。

人家花了那么多钱，建了五号航厦，我居然如此糟蹋人家，说那照片是在五号航厦拍的，然后就没下文了。

我想：总得strike a balance。

所以，今天又拍了一张正经的，现在贴上，算是有个交代。

不过我取景的角度，让机场的候机去看上去有点像牲口市场。这是detractors可能会用来攻击新航厦设计的一种形容。

拥护者可能会说：这是一幅动态的全景油画。跟外面的停机坪结合起来，煞是好看。

我倾向于后者的意见。

结论：五号航厦还是不错的。

伦敦Heathrow机场五号航厦，刚启用就发生了行李处理大混乱的著名事件，我是在此24小时之后勇敢抵达这个新设施的。当时做好了拼上数小时等行李的心理准备，结果是anti-climax，等了大约40分钟就拿到了。

不过在那40分钟里，闲得慌，拿出手机准备拍拍五号航厦的“新貌”，却瞅见了这个引人入胜的一幕，于是不由自主地拍了下来。

香港有家鱼汤米线店

菜单上有道“小食”，叫“川香吊片”

就是鲜鱿鱼片，裹上薄薄的面粉，炸一炸，撒上胡椒为主的作料

我让服务员给我来一份，尝尝

于是，她用自创的速记法写下了菜名

请看照片，仔细看，看仔细......

一个多月，没写文章。

Not because there was nothing to write about.

But what motivated me to reopen this blog account and start composing a new post was an encounter with a special human being. 这个special，有“异人”之意，也有“了不起的人”之意。

如果张鸿基先生没有搭错车；如果他搭错车了，但没有发牢骚；如果他发牢骚了，但不是一口苏北口音；如果他是苏北口音，但没有理睬我...... 那么，他的故事，我就永远不知道了。

这里只想贴一张他的行色匆匆的侧影照片，记下有关他的一些facts and figures，以帮助我记忆，让我永远记住这位我打算记住一辈子的老人。

张鸿基

江苏盐城阜宁人

1929年生

小时候没有读过书、识过字

家里属于“富农”

十几岁参军，后来撤到台湾

复员后在林务局谋到一份工作

在部队上，同乡（地主出身的、因此读过私塾）帮他写信（他的连队，有12个阜宁人）

复员后，这个support system没了

开始自学国文，后来把《三国演义》读了两遍（第一遍其实没有读完，因为难度太大）、《水浒》读了一遍

刚到林务局，学会了几个字，给所有的战友、朋友们发了一封“通函”：“张鸿基现在单位是林务局”（收到通函的人纷纷复信，“士别三日”云云）

退休后，每年起码到大陆旅游一次（每次十几天到25天不等）、大陆以外的地方（特指东南亚）旅游一次

最不喜欢的地方：菲律宾（可以不用去，他说）

最喜欢的地方：中国的每一寸土地（尤其是江西三清山，“不亚于黄山”，他说）

昨天是赶着经香港去九寨沟

这是他第三次去九寨沟

全中国，就剩宁夏还没去过；东南亚，就剩寮国（老挝）没去过

凡是著名的景点，他都去过不止一次

去年，在内蒙古、山西玩了17天（我说：您快80，在山西内蒙玩，不累吗？吃得习惯吗？他说：有米饭、面条、烧饼，还有烤羊肉，你还要什么？）

前年在云贵高原玩了25天

青藏铁路一通车，他就搭上了第一列

手头一有钱，马上去大陆玩掉

偶尔需要女儿接济一下...... “我问她要1万（台币），她会给我2万！”

每年必有一次经江都（侄子在江都）回阜宁老家

我说：从江都经高邮去盐城方向，穿过兴化时，就是在当年我家门前的公路上驶过

他说：那早已变成高速公路了！（然后详细向我介绍整条通道的具体情况以及经停的地点）

他曾在黄桥镇吃上正宗的黄桥烧饼，并带了一批回台湾给左邻右舍，大家都说好吃

我一说我的祖籍崇明岛，他马上如数家珍，告诉我，新隧道是哪里到哪里，新桥是哪里到哪里

这些都不重要......

重要的是：

15年前，他因大肠癌动了手术

5年前，他因肝癌动了手术

他说：我早就应该死了，我这辈子过得很值。

他从宜兰来台北，下了车，看到“大有巴士”的牌子，鬼使神差就被忽悠着上了车，因为他以前总是搭乘“国光巴士”的车去机场，时间可以掐得很准。上了车就知道上当，因为发车时间一拖再拖，而且走的路线比较兜，但无法补救了，只好发发牢骚。

与此同时，我在始发站的下一站，正在雨中候车。计程车司机从一千多元主动降到900元，动员我坐他的车去机场，我一想：坐大巴只要90元，悬殊太大，而且节省下来的800元，可以买一罐相当不错的茶！但看着计程车司机挺可怜，正要动心，大有巴士来了......

上了车，听见发牢骚的老人一口苏北话，就跟他搭讪

于是，有了这个故事

Knowing is pleasurable on the moment.

Once you've known, you suffer.

The suffering cannot end, as the knowing cannot be turned off.

To mitigate the suffering, you are compelled to know more...

Hence the perpetuation and aggravation of the suffering.

This is what I cooked for the Chinese New Year's eve. Basically, what's in the earthenware pot becomes the chicken dish (braised with chestnuts). The rest are: steamed fish, sweet and sour radish salad and wokked cabbage.

万众一心、众志成城，团结互助、和衷共济，迎难而上、敢于胜利
All the people are joined by a single purpose and a common will as strong as city wall, unite with and help one another, pull together in times of difficulty, rise against all odds, and bravely embrace victory

在上一篇，我对《美国传统词典》(AHD)有微词，这里举个例子：
roundabout
释义：indirect; circuitous
好，那咱就来看看circuitous的释义：being or taking a roundabout, lengthy course

这种释义法，称为circular definition（嘻嘻，用跟circuitous同词根的词来批评AHD对此词的定义缺陷，很爽）。甲是什么？甲就是乙；乙是什么？乙就是甲。最多再从侧面给一点点提示：甲就是乙，或者小丙；乙就是甲，或者小丁。不懂？不懂就再去查查丙是什么，再琢磨小丙是什么； 或者查查丁是什么，再琢磨小丁是什么。然后综合起来想想，明白了吧？

犯了大忌呀！Enough said.

I rest my case.

But before I rest my case, let's find out what OALD (6th Edition) says about these two words.
roundabout:
adj. [usually before noun] not done or said using the shortest, simplest or most direct way possible (然后是两个例句，一为done，一为said)
circuitous:
adj. (formal) (of a route or journey) long and not direct

可以用两个字来形容：crystal clear!

有人会说，Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary嘛，顾名思义，是给学生用的，是学习用的。人家AHD肯定是给专家看的，不必这么啰嗦。

其实，把Learner's这个词放在词典的名字里，marketing的嫌疑很大，充其量只是对其收词量之小做一个此地无银的解释。

试问：哪个人查词典不是为了学习？

即使是读词典、背词典上瘾的人，也是对“学习”上瘾哪！

Whenever I want to check the quality of a dictionary, I look up the word "discard".
很准。
如果义项中有get rid of，那说明这部词典很有希望；如果只有throw away，那就有大问题了。
如果不是英英或双解，看中文义项也一样。恕我直言，在这一点上，英汉词典几乎是全军覆没。
牛津双解第四版，我负责D字母词条的翻译，所以特别熟。
discard词条中有个例句：discard winter clothes in spring。
我花了两个星期，斟酌怎么翻。当然不是废寝忘食，只是这个问题在我脑际挥之不去。
最后，将一部分译稿拿给李北达时，很不好意思地告诉他，在这个例句中跟discard对应的动词，我实在想不出来。
我说：显然不是丢弃或扔掉，因为下一个冬天很可能要再穿（假定衣服只穿一冬的富人或怪人是少数）；也不能说收起来，因为此人可能是邋遢的单身汉，各个季节的衣物都团一团，堆在一起；“放在一边”？也不行，说不定此人有洁癖，冬装要拿去干洗，然后小心折叠，放进可以抽真空的“收纳袋”，再井井有条地储存在衣柜中。
当然，我当时没有这么啰嗦。我只是说：“丢弃”不对，其他词儿找不到..... 话音未落，李老师说：
“换下”。
什么叫“一字师”？这就是一字师，又何止是一字师？
为什么我把李北达称为“恩师”？这只是其中一例。
按下不表。
回过头来接着说discard。
美国传统词典：to throw away; reject （不怎么样，而且reject往往是被动的，有人把什么东西塞给我，我不要，退/推回去，这叫reject，用来解释discard我认为是很不贴切的；而且没有例句，我真不知道AHD好在哪里，金山词霸把它用作主打的双解词典，让我痛苦了许多年，何况其中的汉译差得...不说也罢）
韦氏词典：to get rid of especially as useless or unwanted （值得竖起大拇指）
剑桥Advanced Learner's Dictionary：to throw something away or get rid of it because you no longer want or need it: Discarded food containers and bottles littered the streets. （定义很全面，“扔”和“不要”都有了，但可惜例句只有一个，第二层意思没出来）
牛津高阶第六版：to get rid of sth that you no longer want or need （跟剑桥大同小异），且看例句，有四则：
(1) The room was littered with discarded newspapers.
(2) He had discarded his jacket because of the heat.
(3) 10% of the data was discarded as unreliable.
(4) (Figurative) She could now discard all thought of promotion.
厉害吧？（这绝对不是王婆卖瓜，因为第六版跟我无关，且与第四版恍若隔世，之间的差异可用revolutionary形容，是跨越式的；第四版则是对前三版的否定，而且否定得好，否定得有理；至于头三版相互之间的关系，是继承大于跨越）
结论：例句是王！
补充一点：get rid of 这个动词短语is worth a revisit。它的定义很宽泛。
再补充一点：我开篇时说，看discard就可以见微知著，这绝对不是夸大其辞。试想：一部词典，连discard都没有处理好，靠得住吗？

“上千人”
怎么翻？
痛苦吧？
将数字模糊化的典范。
看上下文呗：如果有线索显示，这里说的是一千多人，那就说 over/more than a thousand。如果是千人左右，就用around、approximately，或者a thousand or so，如果是大几百，接近千人，就翻成up to a thousand.
再看这个例子：
如果前面说男的约三四百，女的约五六百，接下来的一段提及“总共上千人”，那么显然用up to a thousand比较合适。可是，到了最后一段，作者大笔一挥，写道：这千余人......
惨了。
我可以怪作者不负责任，信口开河，但凭良心说，他这么写的合理性不是不存在：本来就很模糊，让他怎么办？“千”这个数字是心理关口，上还是下有时差别很大，如果把它压在一千“楼下”（广东话），对不起超出一千的那些人；如果抬到“楼上”，到时候算清了，就七百人，那这位作者就有耸人听闻之嫌。所以搅拌一下，让读者看完了有个模糊的概念：天哪，有“上千人”呐。但具体是上还是下，不清楚。
假定我需要帮作者把这话给说圆了，“上千人”怎么处理？
早上醒来，还在思考这个问题。突然想到了一个表达法，得，就这么翻：
in the order of a thousand
如果看in the order of的定义，它跟approximately是近义词，但在使用时还是有细微的差别，这细微的差别正好把“上”的妙处给带出来了。“达到”、“左右”、“大数是...”、“可能超过可能不足可能正好”全有了。在这里，order应该是“数量级”之意，因此是一个“关口”。QED。
补充一点，in the order of又作of the order of，美国英语：on the order of。
再补充一点，我如此锱铢必较，正是“吃饱了撑的”的最佳脚注（不过我今天早饭还没吃呢）。

另类
注意，不要一看到“另类”就翻译成 alternative。
例如：这位歌手比较另类。
这里的“另类”就绝对不是alternative，而是unorthodox或offbeat之类。
As a singer, he is an offbeat type.
冷（面）幽默是dry humour；另类的幽默就是offbeat humour。
让我想起老同学阿佽，他为人很另类（unorthodox, eccentric, bordering on wackiness），幽默则非常offbeat。
有一次，他在床上睡觉（他睡下铺、我睡上铺）。进来一个化学系的博士生跟我聊天。他姓贾。我坐在自己的椅子上，他就坐在阿佽的床沿。我俩都以为阿佽睡着了。贾博士说他毕业后要去深圳，有个大老板相中了他，要雇他当总裁。
突然，阿佽坐起来，神情诡秘、面露x笑，对贾博士说：“嘻嘻，以后你一按电钮，女秘书就会进来喽！”
唉，现在想想，阿佽的幽默何止是offbeat，简直是off-colour!
另外补充一点：化学系那一届的三位博士生，一个姓贾，一个姓庄，一个姓胡。
他们自己说：咱一个个都是假冒伪劣！

“反而会（怎么怎么样）”也是一个令人头疼的翻译难题。
可以考虑在适当的地方塞入counterproductive一词。
例如：动作过大反而会损害经济增长
可以译为：an immoderate move would be counterproductive (and do a disservice) to economic growth

关于禅修，我的老师前阵子说到，由于人脑的镜像神经元具有“相印”的功能，因此许多人扎成一堆的 meditation assembly不可能是高级禅修的好方法。这时有个其他宗派的什么人读了老师的文章，不以为然，扔下这两句：
愈是人多念雜的地方,愈能突顯出清淨的妙
愈是沉在紅塵載浮中,對岸離我近眼前

哦哟，乖乖隆地冬！老师呢，简单作了一个回应，表示连静修时脑部的活跃区都不知道，没有资格插嘴。我觉得不能就这么算了，于是写了一大段，粘帖如下：

吴医师在这个系列的第一篇里就写得很清楚：释迦牟尼是怎么开悟的？达摩又是如何开悟的？是靠集体禅修吗？
这两个问题避而不答，只是凭着自己有限的体会和空洞的理论，奢谈似是而非的道理，正是汗牛充栋的“著述”的通病。
集体禅修的初衷，在某种意义上是为了“先进带后进”，尤其是为了“好习惯”的养成，因为自己孤零零地打坐，大多数人都做不到，所以是一种善巧方便而已，不可能是高级修炼的首选模式。但“先进”未得究竟，可能会误人子弟。不过“究竟”又是什么？这个问题是大话题，暂且不谈。但起码在每个阶段，领路人在这个层面上必须已得究竟，否则没有资格做领路人。
因为无论是佛“教”还是道“教”，它们的基础是“法”（佛法和道家法门），是实证所得的科学结晶，本着慈悲心怀，加以理论化，并设定一个框架和一套程序（仪轨），在不愿实证或没有条件进行实证的大众当中传播，告诉你，这么做就可以离苦得乐。
就像我们的日常生活中的种种“好习惯”都是科学家告诉我们的，科学家有了科学发现，用大众语言做个简单的解释，我们相信他们，就照办了，效果还不错，信的人于是越来越多，但我们是否真的懂这些道理呢？不太可能，因为科学家是通过多年的“修炼”才获得他们的知识，再通过多年的“实证”才得出他们的实验结果。普通人只能相信他们，然后照办，有的再凭自己一知半解的理解、用自己层面的认识讲给他人听，如果此人有一定的人格魅力或社会地位，他也就莫名其妙地被界定为“科学家”或科学发言人了。
宗教的起源有些类似。不过到了一定阶段，宗教的问题开始出现，而原始理论也就开始走形了，因为一些跟“真理”无关的因素和考量进入了方程式，其中不乏政治和经济因素。全世界没有一个宗教能幸免。
另外，我发现一个规律，凡是庙宇富丽堂皇的教派，其信徒一定非常强调修习这个教派的世间“福报”效果，说得通俗（庸俗）一点，就是你好好修，我保你发财。想象一下，这种教派会吸引什么样的人？然后众多弟子中有个人发了大财，他就成为榜样。其实这是一个概率的问题。当年我的同班同学45人，到今天已经有两人成为亿万富翁，而他们都跟修炼无缘。一般的教派一定不止45人，出几个亿万富翁根本不是奇迹，但要利用他们做宣传，太容易了。

后来再读自己的回应，发现最后一段跟前面脱节，好像没什么关联，显然是借题发挥:) sorry!

《懂你》
I Read You

你，静静的离去
一步一步孤独的背影
多想伴着你
告诉你我其实多么的爱你
You walked away, without a word
I saw the back of you, shuffling along
In solitude
How I wish to be with you
And tell you how my heart yearns for you

花静静的绽放
在我忽然想你的夜里
多想告诉你
其实你一直都是我的奇迹
Flowers opened in silence
On the night I was overcome
With thoughts of you
How I wish to tell you
What a miracle you have been to me

一年一年
风霜遮盖了笑脸
你寂寞的心有谁还能够体会
是不是
春花秋月无情
春去秋来你的爱已无声
In wind and frost, year in, year out
Your smile wears off
Your heart grows more lonesome
Unbeknown to the world
Is it the ravages of time
Through spring bloom and autumn chill
That render your love voiceless

把爱全给了我
把世界给了我
从此不知你心中苦与乐
多想靠近你
告诉你我其实一直都懂你
All your heart can hold
You have given me
All your world can contain
I now have
That was the moment
When your feelings eluded me
How I wish to be near you
And tell you
Actually I always read you

把爱全给了我
把世界给了我
从此不知你心中苦与乐
多想靠近你
依偎在你温暖寂寞的怀里
All your heart can hold
You have given me
All your world can contain
I now have
That was the moment
When your feelings eluded me
How I wish to be near you
Snuggling to the warmth of your lonely fold

花静静的绽放
在我忽然想你的夜里
多想靠近你
告诉你其实我一直都懂你
Flowers opened in silence
On the night I was overcome
With thoughts of you
How I wish to tell you
Actually I always read you

一年一年
风霜遮盖了笑脸
你寂寞的心有谁还能够体会
是不是春花秋月无情
春去秋来你的爱已无声
In wind and frost, year in, year out
Your smile wears off
Your heart grows more lonesome
Unbeknown to the world
Is it the ravages of time
Through spring bloom and autumn chill
That render your love voiceless

把爱全给了我
把世界给了我
从此不知你心中苦与乐
多想靠近你
告诉你其实我一直都懂你
All your heart can hold
You have given me
All your world can contain
I now have
That was the moment
When your feelings eluded me
How I wish to be near you
And tell you
Actually I always read you

把爱全给了我
把世界给了我
从此不知你心中苦与乐
多想靠近你
依偎在你温暖寂寞的怀里
All your heart can hold
You have given me
All your world can contain
I now have
That was the moment
When your feelings eluded me
How I wish to be near you
Snuggling to the warmth of your lonely fold

多想告诉你
你的寂寞我的心
痛在一起
How I wish to tell you
Your lonesomeness
Is married
To the ache of my heart

In English, if someone is admirably patient and good-natured, you say, "You have the patience of a saint!"

但如果你要进行人体能量的修炼，这是基本要求，因为修炼过程中在某个阶段，你的能量会放大，不良情绪也水涨船高，自伤伤人。

And the most difficult part is 放下，放下，放下，and not just "letting go"... you must make a habit of letting go even when you KNOW you are right.

而且不是“忍”。“忍”是低级的，它可能是第一步，但不具有可持续性，因为忍的结果，对自己的伤害可能不亚于怒气发作。Seething with anger，肚子里面翻江倒海，直冒泡，脸上还笑嘻嘻，能好吗？

要“化”。化到最后，心无芥蒂，no hard feelings, rather than "no articulation of hard feelings".
别人不讲理，你必须先对自己“不讲理”(i.e. not following your usual logic of right and wrong)，难吧？

Easier said than done.

圣人不好做。

但是，没有圣人般的脾性，就无法修炼。如果没有决心养成圣人般的脾性，还是不要修炼的好。

“吃亏是福”-- 对普通人是似是而非的的箴言，对修炼人却是最低要求。

今后打算用一种新的体裁写我的博文：雨夹雪--既中且英，不中不英。其中的道理以后慢慢自现。
今天要谈的是 anger management.
有人问我：“我老是生气，如何对治？”
I didn't have a ready answer at the time... 恰恰是因为我的答案太多了。
“生气”跟 anger不能完全对应，因为生气伤的一定是自己，because you "generate" this "energy (of blame and irritation)" within yourself. You might (want to) direct it to another person, but it's not certain that the intended target will receive it. However, it is certain that you yourself will bear the brunt of this self-inflicted energy outburst.
但是, for all practical purposes and to simplify the argument, let's draw a parallel between 生气 and anger.
对不起，看看时间不早，我要睡觉了，所以长话短说。But once I cut a long story short, this blog post becomes top-heavy....
But who cares?
三个问题，很要命的三个问题：
(1) Admit it... there's pleasure to be derived from being angry, isn't there? Sense it. Go deeper and sense it. There you have it. Why? It's energy. You feel more ALIVE when you are angry and you get a "kick" out of it.
如果生气伤了自己、伤了他人，你决心“戒掉”它。那么再问这两个问题：
(2) Can you live without this pleasure?
(3) Can you find a substitute for this pleasure?

这样一来，开头的那个问题就几乎等于以下这些问题了：
我有烟瘾，该如何对治？
我爱喝酒，该如何对治
我性欲很强，该如何对治？

这都跟能量有关。首先想清楚：有必要戒掉吗？
所以在 问Can I live without this pleasure之前，先问问自己：Can I live with it?

关于非常令人头痛的“思路”这个词，如果上下文允许，可以考虑用：
logic
或
vision
不妨试一试，看看感觉如何。 当然，这是假定你已经试过mental approach, thought process, thinking, philosophy等等，都不合适，那不妨再试试这两个。
另外，我刚刚下载了“谷歌拼音输入法”，连网上的新名词儿都有，而且还在不断增补中，好用到极点！！！（谁用谁知道，跟蚁力神差不多--天呐，这个拼音输入法连“蚁力神”都有，看看“我晕”有没有，哇，也有！）
今后我的博客上如果有文章的话，那么中文内容的占比一定会因此而有所增加。
顺便说一下，上面的“不断”一词，在英语中对应的是continual，而不是continuous。这还要感谢Longman词典，用图示的方式作了辨析，一看就明白，而且印象很深。
不过在这个语境中，还是用regularly要比on a continual basis更好。

Received a big surprise from one of my clients yesterday... a deluxe Christmas hamper! Here's a photo to prove it.

“......曾经经历了一些风雨”
可以译为：
... has gone through some stormy episodes.
如果读者是英国人，这里的episodes可以用patches取代。

也许我是南京人，对叶兆言的《一九三七年的爱情》情有独钟，其他看过这本书的人至多表示：嗯，叶兆言嘛，叶至诚的儿子、叶圣陶的孙子，将门出虎子，文笔还是不错的。

这本书自从在1996年《收获》杂志第四期上发表以来，在中国似乎没有多少人关注，读过的就更少了。与此同时，在意大利某个名牌大学，凭着研究叶兆言（当然少不了论述一下《一九三七年的爱情》），就可以拿到硕士学位。

与此同时，英文版也出来了（2004年出版），英文书名是：Nanjing 1937: A Love Story，完全符合我心目中这个书名的英译。该书的英文简介还可以（虽然有用畅销书封底的那些公式化表述匆匆草就交差之嫌），摘录如下：

A masterpiece by one of China's bestselling contemporary novelists, Nanjing 1937 tells the epic story of a passionate courtship played out against the backdrop of one of the century's most harrowing scenes of war.

Ding Wenyu is a philandering professor famous for storming out of class if there aren't enough pretty girls to teach. When he attends the wedding of the beautiful Ren Yuyuan, he falls hopelessly in love with her. Embarking with single-minded resolve to win her heart, he writes daily love letters and makes unabashed overtures to no avail, all the while blissfully unaware of the mounting threat of the Japanese, whose siege of the historic capital city will result in the rape of thousands and murder on an unimaginable scale. A love story devastatingly linked to a nation's inexorable fate, this swirling tempest of a novel moves us from antic heights to tragic depths while vividly evoking a prosperous China on the brink of political upheaval.

好了，废话少说，想看的就请光临：http://book.kanunu.cn/html/2007/0110/4783.html

Caught on camera, ages ago. I guess the chance of this guy visiting my blog and seeing this clip is pretty slim... so I don't risk having my face bashed in!

Night scene at Hongdong Cliff, Chongqing. Hard to beat.

One of the famous uphill (literally) challenges of Chongqing.

China is known the world over as the Land of Bicycles. Chongqing is probably THE exception to the rule, among large cities. That also explains why this city is home to not one, but several, motorbike manufacturers.

You either walk, or use a powered vehicle.

This is a photo I took inside the "thumbs-down" hotpot restaurant in Chongqing. It would have been alright, if these people had been friendlier... you know, the warm and comfy ambience inside an old-fashioned eatery with laid-back but friendly waiters and waitresses. But it wasn't the case with this one.

This is about Chongqing... or, specifically, about the famous, perhaps overrated, Chongqing speciality - Hotpot a la Chongqing.
Overall impression: It leaves much to be desired in the department of hygiene. If you go for the original "Red Stock" (reddened by chilli, of course), then you must accept that the stock (including the oil, grease, chilli, garlic, other people's saliva and what-have-you in it) is recycled... what do you get in return for this level of hygiene, or lack of it? Apparently, it tastes better, hence the name Lao Huoguo (Time-Honoured Hotpot), and you pay nothing for the stock.
If, however, you are willing to fork out 20 yuan for the stock, you can have fresh ingredients for the broth and it normally comes in the form of "Mandarin Duck" hotpot - with compartmentalised spicy-and-tame flavours: There is a free-standing cylindrical container in the centre of the chafing dish, completely insulated from the rest of the container. The rest of the pot looks mean and menacing, but this oasis in the centre, pristine and gentle, brings comfort to the chilli-phobes.
Thumbs up: Um, I am not sure.
Thumbs down: Definitely the Wangpai Zhengzong Dongzi Lao Huoguo (literally, Ace-Grade Authentic Cave Old Hotpot), in the vicinity of Jiefangbei (Liberation Monument). I will upload a photo of the staff and you can kind of suss out the ambience and decide if it's your cup of tea.

這位老婆婆，專門收集紙箱。她的“地界”就在我家附近一帶，其中包括兩家糕餅店，所以每天斬獲頗豐。尤其在中秋節之前，月餅箱子很多。
有天我下班回家，途經這一帶，看她端坐在一堆紙箱中，端著飯盒正在吃飯。她使勁兒往嘴裏扒著飯，時而環顧自己的戰利品，臉上漾著無比的滿足和歡樂。

前阵子，一位同事告诉我，大陆现在有一句流行语：“你太有才了！”出处是赵本山和宋丹丹的春晚小品。
这句话可以是挖苦，也可以是绝对真诚，表达滔滔江水般的敬佩...
她问我该怎么翻。我想了一下，觉得这个词比较贴切：
Awesome!
正说反说都可以。
这让我想起英国灰色喜剧 Extras（其实挺黑色，但又不能算黑色，我就把它定性为灰色），香港译为《摄位人》，就是跑龙套的。其中不得志的男主角，身边有位女同事，头脑简单、为人纯朴、菩萨心肠，但成天帮倒忙，等到男主角告诉她，她又无意之中破坏了他的计划之后，她还不明白是怎么回事，对方只好将里面的玄机解释给她听，她听完总是佩服得不得了，说：That's really clever! 男主角听了这句，啼笑皆非，只能 ---- 晕！
她的这句话可以译为：你太有才了！

我的翻譯工作是從1985年開始的，當時是在母校用手工方式編譯詞典：以一本大部頭的詞典為藍本，然後參照七本其他的權威詞典（包括韋氏、牛津等），用卡片的形式，將每一個詞條的每一個義項寫下來，然後逐一對照其他七部詞典的同一個詞條下的對應義項，工作量驚人自不待言，而且整個詞典編譯組只有一台機械打字機，根本幫不上忙。若干年後，在香港一家翻譯機構供職，每天（一周五天）翻譯兩千多字，連續五年；然後在英國八年，每年翻譯60萬到80萬字，我的客戶可以從A字母一直排到Z字母。有朋友來玩，走在街上，一輛卡車開過去，我說：這輛車裏面裝的是Perkins引擎，説明書是我翻譯的。天上飛機飛過去，我說：這飛機的起落架，説明書是我翻譯的。就口譯而言，從偷渡客被遣送回國前的上訴案到白金漢宮的國宴，什麽都做過，但真正困難的是那日復一日埋頭電腦前的耕耘，例如：對於詞典中某個字曠日持久的推敲（有一個例句曾經推敲了兩個星期）、精算師考卷翻譯的責任之重大，以及那些技術性極強的一個個會議（例如：納米/奈米技術、中醫中藥現代化、集成/積體電路板研討會），等等。
而這一切全部築基於翻譯的幾條基本原則：中文、英文基本功要扎實扎實再扎實；博聞強記；帶著興趣拓展知識面；以及我的恩師李北達先生的一句話：看到原文，第一步是用目標語言中的近似語法和結構盡量往上靠，靠不上去再考慮拐個小彎，小彎也沒有，再考慮拐個大彎。
有很多年輕人（嗯，我也不老），問我學好英文的訣竅。我說：我先問你兩個問題。 （1）你認爲你需要英文嗎？（2）你熱愛英文嗎？
如果兩個問題的答案都是肯定的，我再教你secrets!
我在這裡賣了一個關子，其實訣竅很簡單...... 也就是這兩個問題的答案哪！

面朝大海，春暖花开
Facing the Sea, in the Vernal Warmth and Floral Spree
作者：海子
Author: Hai Zi

从明天起，做一个幸福的人
喂马，劈柴，周游世界
从明天起，关心粮食和蔬菜
我有一所房子，面朝大海，春暖花开
Tomorrow and beyond, I shall BE a happy man
Firewood I shall chop, my steed I shall feed,
And the world, I shall cover with my feet
Tomorrow and beyond, I shall take more interest
In what I chew and what I eat
I have a house, facing the sea
In the vernal warmth and floral spree
从明天起，和每一个亲人通信
告诉他们我的幸福
那幸福的闪电告诉我的
我将告诉每一个人
Tomorrow and beyond, I shall correspond with
Each and every person I miss
To speak to them of my bliss
What the lightning of joy has whispered in my ear
I shall relay to all who are dear
给每一条河每一座山
取一个温暖的名字
陌生人，我也为你祝福
愿你有一个灿烂的前程
愿你有情人终成眷属
愿你在尘世获得幸福
我也愿面朝大海，春暖花开
I shall give every river, every mountain
A feel-good pet name
Stranger, I also wish you well
I wish you a bright future
I wish you success in courting the one you love
I wish you happiness in this mortal world
I, also, wish to face the sea
In the vernal warmth
And floral spree

After much humming and hawing, I decided to get the Samsung Q1 UMPC when the price gave me a pleasant surprise. Now I must justify this purchase. Since UM stands for ultra mobile, I think it's a good idea to load it up with all the mainstream applications for remaining connected while on the go, such as Skype! And this is the first blog composed on the new gadget... bloody exhausting! Signing off!

Today is significant because my son and I discovered that on this day, 15th August 2007, we were of the same height and same weight. To mark this occasion, we have decided to co-author a blog now.

We have been told by many people that drinking one's own urine is very conducive to one's health. We started wondering today: If urine becomes a commercially available product, like beer, what should the label actually say?

These are some of our thoughts (in random, illogical order):

Fresh Human Urine
(Obtained from strictly screened healthy individuals, with vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and live enzymes)
I'm Lovin' It
Finger Lickin' Good!
It's a Whopper!
Some Say It's Heaven!
(1) Best served cold;
(2) Shake well before consumption;
(3) Always read the label;
(4) Keep it out of reach of children;
(5) For oral consumption only;
(6) 30% prepared from concentrate, 70% freshly squeezed;
(7) Sedimentation may occur, but will not compromise the quality or efficacy of product;
(8) All natural, no added flavourings or colours;
(9) Recommended by all dentists;
(10) Add sugar to taste;
(11) In the unlikely event of adverse reaction, consult a doctor;
(12) For each dose, drink a generous amount;
(13) May cause sting if in contact with eye; douche with copious amount of clean water;
(14) Close lid after use;
(15) Store under refrigeration, or fermentation may occur.

Warning: May contain nuts. May stain fabrics.

不知为什么，对自己的这句翻译感到挺自豪的：

美国对华投资的行业结构

Distribution of US investment in China by sector

Take Two... as follow-up to the previous post, in my second message to the same friend on the same topic:

Indian historians are indebted to Xuang Zang and, before him, Fa Xian (法显). Apparently, the record of Indian history would have been more fragmented without those two.

My study was also motivated by curiosity. I noticed certain phenomena that I wanted to make sense of. So many sects of Buddhism speak of scriptures, mantras, icons, other "realities", to which so many believers are attached. This seems to me contradictory to the fundamental tenets of Buddhist philosophy, although the argument is that you are first attached to something good, or more desirable, or less injurious, before becoming detached, because this something has some built-in mechanism of paradox, whereby you will be detached of it when you are attached to it. I have found that it's only partly true and very much depends on the aptitude of the student. So, inevitably, those without such aptitude who continue to hold on to it for dear life till the end of their lives are comforted with the theory that they are bound for heaven nevertheless because of their faith. And, inevitably, the issue of "Ultimate Reality" and substantiality comes up and indeed, all leading religions in the world are agreed on this principle - the ultimate reality of god, allah, some powerful buddha or bodhisattva who IS, or is in tune with, the ultimate reality and therefore has infinite power to save the worthy ones, and the worthy ones only.

Hence my decision to get to the bottom of it. I have been told that this "bottom" doesn't exist. But I want to find out for myself.

给朋友的电邮，粘贴如下：
Thanks for the encouragement and the reminder... I knew I could tell you and get a positive response. Most people would, I imagine, be "scared" when topics of consciousness and life and death come up in a conversation. That's why I keep it to myself. The good thing is, because of my experience with Qigong, I can temper my meditation with daily Qigong practice, so it's more fun.

According to Bertrand Russell's reasoning, people like the Buddha are perpectually faced with an insurmountable dilemma when attempting to explain their experience in one state to an audience who are in another state, because to do the explanation, they have to necessarily come out of the first state and once they are out of that state, their experience ceases. It's very much like waking up to recount a dream - much is lost and much is distorted. You know what the Buddha did? He resorted to similes, anecdotes and repetitions, over and over again. Such similes, anecdotes and repetitions abound in Buddhist scriptures and if you are to read them, you will be bored to tears and driven crazy.

The gist, actually, is very straightforward - impermanence of all phenomena (and laws governing such phenomena), unsatisfactoriness (of being, of life, because of the aforementioned impermanence, as it's human nature to aspire towards perpetuality, which is an illusion or a conjured-up reality) and nonsubstantiality (which is in the same strain as impermanence, except that it's more personal - it's the nonsubstantiality of "self", including the individual self, "Atman" in Sankrit, and the universal self, "Brahma" in Sanskrit).

In Chinese, they are 无常，苦，无我.

Being literate in English and being exposed to related literature in a language other than Chinese is a blessing, isn't it?

In the original Buddhist philosophy, there's only one "ultimate" rule, namely, causality [因果法则 or, if you want to sound cool, 缘生法/缘起法]. That's all. It's atheism, through and through. But its later ramifications turned it into a religion. It started off as a philosophy (in theory) and an "order" (in practice). But human beings need faith more than they need truth. Buddhism, as a religion, came into being. The Pureland Sect (净土宗), for example, is very much a Chinese version of Christianity. As I have not come to any conclusion about Christianity, I can't say I have formed a definitive opinion of the Pureland Sect. But between the lines, you can suss out what I might be thinking: Release/nirvana comes when you truly understand impermanence, unsatisfactoriness and nonsubstantiality. You live like a normal person and may react to and interact with the world like anyone else, but there is a core in you that is no longer affected/shaken by external stimuli, so you have the ultimate peace in your inner world and that is pureland, bathed in infinite light. It never was, never is, and never will be outside our "mind". But Mahayana (大乘佛教) would immediately denounce my argument as attachment to causality (执于缘生法). That might be so, but one must not jump the gun... It's a process of thesis, antithesis and synthesis (正题、反题、合题）as in Hegelian philosophy and I'll get there one day. Somehow, I sense that Chan Buddhism may be the gateway to the true essence of Buddhism and the real essence may lie in 唯识宗, aka 法相宗, founded by 玄奘 himself. You wonder why he bothered to set up his own sect, which soon lapsed into oblivion because no one could get it. However, my reservation is about the "ultimate reality" that 法相宗 talks about. The Buddha was reticent about the ultimate reality, for a good reason definitely. The ultimate reality runs the risk of becoming a de-personified god or divinity. The Buddha said - regarding ultimate "self", if all experiences are absent (i.e. there's no frame of reference), can you sense that self? No. If not, how do you know it exists? He posed it as a question. He did not answer it. Clever guy!

In a nutshell, the Buddha reached enlightenment by three means: (1) ESP (extrasensory perception, 神通), (2) reasoning and inferences based on ESP-derived experiences, and (3) predecessors' accounts of their experiences, for reference only. With ESP, he saw the causal links between phenomena, which proved the law of causality; through reasoning, the law of causality was elaborated upon; and by referring to sages' experiences, he was able to confirm, refute or modify them and improve his own system.

The importance of ESP to the Buddha's enlightenment may come as a surprise, because we often hear that Buddhism discourages pursuit of 神通. But the fact is that without ESP, there's no Buddha. But this is no average ESP, it's ESP of a higher order, attained at the end of 四禅定. At lower levels, ESP is tainted with human instincts, namely, death instinct and pleasure instinct (both the Buddha and Freud were agreed on this point), and illusions will cloud the seer. Interestingly, God was created because of these instincts.

That'll lead to another topic...

I must sign off here... I'm hungry. I'll finish off the watermelon first.

《南怀瑾与彼得·圣吉》，共一百八十五页。
一边看，一边等待
我知道，在彼得一行人临走之前，南师必定要抖一点“猛料”。而一路说的东西，是为了让听众作好准备，将思想和思维朝某个方向引。
果不其然，在倒数第四页，来了。
“现在我们不谈梦了，因为讲思想而讲到梦。我们的思想那么多，自己看不清楚。其实大家静坐下来，是不是知道自己思想那么多啊？譬如诸位坐在这里听的时候，是不是知道有一个很清楚的在听讲话的，有没有？一定有吧！当然有个知道的，那个是知性，不是思想。
“现在我讲话，你们听到，同时你们自己也在分析这个话的道理，对不对？ 起了很多作用，对不对？可是你有一个知道自己在分析、知道自己在听话、知道自己在思想的这个东西，它没有动过，这个东西很清楚。
“所以这个东西不需要你去用力的，不需要你去找的，你自然知道自己思想。搞清楚了吗？起码有一两个搞清楚的吧？假如全体搞清楚，那不得了啦。
“我们知道自己有思想有感觉的，这个是知性，它没有动过。当我们睡觉一醒过来，第一个是这个东西，那个叫‘睡醒了’，很快的，第二个东西--思想来了。是不是这样？
“对，就是那个东西，你把握住。
“自己的思想为什么那么多？这个叫妄想，也可以叫浮想。我们知道的这个妄想，可以分成三个阶段：过去、现在、未来。过去就没有了，未来还没有来，讲现在，现在已经没有了。
“所以你静下来的时候，不要怕妄想多，你那个知性看到妄想，就把握这个。前念已过去，未来还没有来，就看着现在。分成三段。常常这样反省、体会，时间一长，你就会很空灵了。
“如果你把握这个空灵，假如盘腿打坐，越把握得久越好。这个把握久了以后，你的身心、脑力、体力什么都转变了。”
（摘自《南怀瑾与彼得·圣吉--关于禅、生命和认知的对话》，上海人民出版社，ISBN 978-7-208-06790-5/B·561）

This is IT!

明白了
人生的真相是
苦、
无常、
无我

并从
贪嗔痴
入手，
破解不快乐

通过“短”而“恒”的
定时冥想
从根部开始
由本及末
由里及表
清理每日的污染

无需很多仪式
亦无需大声忏悔
只要自己对自己
真正负起责任

不奢望、追求奇迹
以沙门瞿昙终身精进为榜样
凡事认真
不取巧
表里如一
不自欺
终日乾乾
不怠惰

疾病自然远离
烦恼自然剥落
快乐自然降临

这，就是我的修佛观

Two notes on “impress” or “impressive”:

举世瞩目：… has impressed the rest of the world

让我眼前一亮：I find… very impressive

A very good equivalent of “following” (as in “the pop star has a cult following”) is zhui1 peng3. “He has a large following” can be rendered as “zhui1 peng3 ta1 de ren2 hen3 duo1”. It’s a perfect match in such a context… zhui1 and peng3. I suspect that this Chinese phrase was originally coined as a quasi-equivalent of the English word “following”. But this doesn’t apply to “mei2 ti3 de zhui1 peng3” – “media following”? Sounds awkward. “He is very popular with the media”… “he is the darling of the media”.

情不自禁鼓起掌来
Could not contain their feelings any more, so they started clapping their hands/applauding.
Could not help but start applauding.
Etc.

But this version is the shortest and probably the best:
They broke into spontaneous applause.

"My nephew wore a blue jean sunhat that day. When the General Secretary noticed the peak of his hat turned to one side, he asked in passing why he was wearing it askew. I answered on behalf of the child: 'That is to get a clearer view of you.' (是为了把您看得清楚一些) The General Secretary and everyone else laughed knowingly, as if by prior agreement."

When I came to “that is to get a clearer view of you”, I was very tempted to say “that is only to see you better with” (from Little Red Riding Hood), but I resisted the temptation. I hope the person who said it wasn’t referring to the Little Red Riding Hood story.

奶奶，你的耳朵怎么这样大呀？”小红帽说。“为了更好地听你说话呀，乖乖。”“可是奶奶，你的眼睛怎么这样大呀？”小红帽又问。“为了更清楚地看你呀，乖乖。”“奶奶，你的手怎么这样大呀？”“可以更好地抱着你呀。”“奶奶，你的嘴巴怎么大得很吓人呀？”“可以一口把你吃掉呀！”狼刚把话说完，就从床上跳起来，把小红帽吞进了肚子，狼满足了食欲之后便重新躺到床上睡觉，而且鼾声震天。

We come across this phrase 'a hard act to follow' now and again, especially when there are several people taking turns to speak at a conference.

For example, 'thank you, Mr. Chairman. I was mesmerized by Professor Powell's brilliant presentation. That was a hard act to follow, I must say. Of course I won't be so stupid as to try and repeat what Professor Powell said, in my own, less effective words. Instead, I will pick up a few points from his presentation and make an attempt to elaborate on them…'

Here, 'that was a hard act to follow' can be rendered as follows:

刚才鲍教授的发言太精彩了，我的发言充其量只能算是鼠尾续貂罢了。

原来是“狗尾续貂”，但好像不太好听，老鼠可爱一点。

I'm poring over, whenever I have time, Ji Xianlin's book on Buddhism (the linguistic dimension of the evolution of this region) and also one of the Buddhist sutras you gave me (the Long Agama Sutra, chang2 a1 han2 jing1), while I keep up my meditation practice. I have had some questions answered, but many more unanswered. There has been a rather radical 'perspective change' in me and the end result of that is a 'sustainable' sense of peace.

Ji Xianlin's book is a safety valve for me, so I don't get lost in the irrelevant, but luring ramifications of the religion and my reading of the Agama Sutra is confirming Ji's theory. One of his arguments is the evolution of Buddhism from xiao3 sheng4 you3 zong1 (the 'Being' Sect of Hinayana) to da sheng kong zong (the 'Void' Sect of Mahayana) and then to da sheng you zong (the 'Being' Sect of Mahayana), which matches the process of negation, and negation of negation.

If you first read the Agama Sutra and then the Diamond Sutra, they are so contradictory that one gets totally confused.

One thing I've discovered is that unlike Qigong, Buddhism requires a leap of faith first, then takes you from the unreal (fantasy in this realm) to the real (reality in the other realm). It's the first hurdle that is the hardest to step over. I wonder if one can use Taoist meditation to help one get over the first hurdle. From my experience with Qigong, the meditator can get a taste of the energy in the other realm within a very short time. Buddhism has to use imagery, of all the goodies that you crave in this realm, to lure you in. To an intellectual mind, that can't be very effective. But then, Qigong is considered a pagan practice by Buddhism.

I fully understand your to-be-or-not-to-be quandary. It's positive, as it means you are alive. When you are alive, you experience life and are fully in touch with life. When something is amiss or missing in life, you instantly become aware of it.

That's where the appeal of "Love Is in the Air, in a Village" lies.

We, living in the cities, are too far removed from the reality of life, the life that our ancestors lived for millions of years. Urbanisation is a very young process. So, when you see what goes on in a village, when you feel the "earthiness" of the people portrayed in the drama, some memory, in both the conscious mind and the subconscious mind, is brought back, and it chimes with the yearning in your heart.

There's some sort of "completeness" about that life, which is missing in today's urban life. It's self-contained and comforting.

Now, if you watch Jia Zhangke's "Still Life" (San1 Xia2 Hao3 Ren2, or Good People of the Three Gorges), you'll find out how that life in the village becomes the life we are unfamiliar with, in cities.

But don't worry, we, as a race, are evolving still and the city life is a testing ground for each of us. If we can find warmth in a cold place, find solace in an emotional desert, and find purpose in a pointless reality, we triumph. When we triumph, we become "whole". We will never own what is external to us; we must never lose what is inherent in us.

I've also had some quiet weeks, devoted to translation and meditation. This has been a precious few weeks for me.

In some contexts, "画蛇添足" can be rendered as "trying to re-invent the wheel". Of course that only applies to some limited contexts and we shall never use it at international conferences where some smart speaker may then go off on a tangent and start discussing the taxonomy of snakes: Speaking of snakes, there are southern snakes and there are northern snakes. The northern snakes tend to go into deep hibernation in winter, whereas the southern species only take short naps in that season… So, if you add legs to the northern variety in winter, they can't find much use for them; but if you do the southerners, they may decide to crawl out on their newfound limbs now and again when the sun is out. But whoever sees them will scream – look, some novel species of lizard! (Sorry if you find this article perplexing. It refers to an anecdote that you might not know.)

醒来时痛哭一场。

想起了我的父亲。他临终前半年左右，突然迷上了香功，而且进步神速，经常给我写很长的信，里面讲的道理非常深刻，完全超出了我练功十几年的心得。现在看来，香功恐怕属于旁门左道，但田师傅好歹打的是非常明确的佛教的旗号，所以我爸可能在潜意识当中寻找半年后解脱的道路（当时还不知道自己患有绝症）。而且到了后期，喜欢双手合十，口中念阿弥陀佛，对人都这样打招呼，我妈觉得特奇怪，因为田师傅也没有教过这一招。

他脑癌手术之后，在病床上弥留了一个多星期。

有一天，他的一位同事萧老师（练气功很多年，估计实际上是修法的），在打坐时突然看见我父亲“身披金色袈裟，冲天而起”。第二天试探性地问了我母亲，我母亲告诉他，我爸还活着。不过萧老师心里明白，我爸的灵魂已经走了。

我父亲去世后，几个人一交流便有些明白了。就在那一天，我母亲在我爸床边，他突然伸出手来抓住我妈的手，用力捏了捏。我妈好高兴，以为他有希望了。其实他是在跟我妈告别，要我妈坚强一点。

就在那一天，我在香港做了一个梦，梦里我爸来看我们（当时我儿子六个月大），没说什么，用毛笔在卧室的墙上写了“永葆平安”四个字。而且“葆”字是他喜欢用的，有别于别人用的“保”字。

第二天，我前妻告诉我，她在打扫卫生时莫名其妙从墙上抹下黑色的东西，而墙壁却是白的。

就在那一天，我前妻遥遥地感觉到我爸的病床冷掉了。就在那一天，她远在英国的母亲，感觉到我爸到她那里告别（他们从来没见过面）。

也就在那一天，我们一家三口在一个商店里，突然有个衣衫褴褛的独眼老人盯着我怀里的儿子，直直地走过来，握住他的小手，连说：Good boy, good boy。然后声音很响地说了一句：Good-bye!

前妻在一旁已经明白了，不敢告诉我。

就这样，两天后，我爸走了。53岁。

我爸是个非常善良的人。善良到什么程度？看到狗咬不动骨头，他会用榔头一块一块敲碎；我中学时班上出了个小偷，回家告诉爸妈，我爸的第一反应是：哎呀，真可怜，一定是家里太穷了。

但我爸是水产工程师，一辈子繁殖了无数的鱼，也杀了无数的鱼。他那么善良、敏感的性格，是不适合那样的工作的。他第一次杀鸭子是在崇明老家，全家几代人在那里看，等鸭子下锅，他不忍心下手，磨蹭了半天，随后还是没杀死，全家人说他没用。后来我们家下放到农村，他需要经常性地杀鸡，非常痛苦，总是手抖抖地去做，而且很笨拙，村里的农民都会笑他，成为长效笑柄。

但他还是杀了，杀了鱼，杀了鸡。从此，这个业他就背上了。

现在我明白了。

可能就是因为他临终前经常念佛号，使得他走得很干净，连前妻那么敏感的人都感觉不到任何残留的拖挂。这是我最大的安慰。他一辈子挺苦。

他去世后，骨灰一半撒在他奋斗了一辈子的地方、也就是他最心爱的一片湖泊--江苏兴化的“乌金荡”。另外一半埋在他的故乡--上海崇明岛。第一次给他上坟的时候，旁边有几棵非常直挺的树，就在我默祷的时候，来了一阵很强的风，将树叶搅得哗哗响，我抬头一看，一片片叶子在阳光中舞动，正面的绿和反面的白，不断翻转，似笑似歌。

我明白了。

此后，每当我想起父亲（起初有八年时间根本不敢想，一想就落泪），就想起那几棵树、那些舞动的树叶......

The following is my reply to my uncle's email, with a photo of his design attached. The design is of the gate to the technical school where he teaches. He mentioned his intention to move to another working environment, in another city.

非常喜欢你的设计，可以解读出很多含义，而且大气。颜色搭配也是你设计的吗？我觉得恰到好处。
人生一个阶段一个阶段地走，而且往往不是直线，有时有些回归，动极生静，静极生动。我正好在翻译有关歼-10飞机的一篇文章，讲到了一个设计概念，就是“静不安定性”鸭式布局。鸭式布局指的是尾翼在前面，反而不是在尾部，这样将前端水平翼（传统的尾翼）翼尖产生的涡流，吸到主翼上方，增加升力，所以是双升力，而本来尾翼产生的向下升力的平衡性就丧失了。这样一来，飞机飞行灵活了，但操纵容易失稳，所以必须要靠大量的计算机帮助。
我的生涯中有过几个类似的反复，就是将尾翼安装在哪里的选择，是不变求稳，还是求变而失稳？

This is his reply:

我对校门设计的主导创意是那个圆弧顶，象征半本翻开的书，现在大学招生多了，容易进了，稍微有点可能读书的人都想进高中然后进哪怕三流四流大学，象我们这种学校就是一些实在不愿意读书的人或者从小没有好好读书的人来的，那些学生前半部的书没有读好，我希望他们后半本书读读好。还好，我们学校每年倒也有不少学生以同等学历的资格考上了大专，“学一技之长，走技师之路”是校训。

网络基本恢复正常了。除夕也到了。

一上午都在整理账单。平时一忙二懒，账单来了，在到期前交掉，完了随手一扔。不知不觉，积了一大堆。

看着看着，心里开始发毛：天哪，我怎么花这么多钱？

这是第一反应。随之而来的是第二个念头：钱挣了，就是要花的，不花干哈？

接着，第三个念头渐渐浮现：

我过日子反正要花这么多钱，不活得开心点，对不起自己的辛苦钱！

一句话点题：I've spent a fortune on my life, so why not enjoy it?

前天在百货公司买保温杯，要买几个，送人用的。在专柜区流连了40分钟有余，恐怕打破了阿季自己一人单趟购物耗用时间的纪录。

选择太多，国产的、日本的、韩国的、美国的、欧洲的、东南亚的，质地、款式、科技含量、保温效果的差别更不用说了，有的有滤茶筛，有的没有，而滤茶筛的设计有优有劣，有的“轻薄”但易变形，有的扎实但难清洗。我逐一抚摸、端详，打开盖子塞子看里面，询问售货员，再比较价格，再想象哪一种更适合接受礼物的那个人。

最后买了四个。回家再一一试验，一天后试验报告出来了：Thermos最新款轻盈型保温效果最佳，24小时后水温还有50度左右；其次是 Zojirushi有塞有盖的一款，24小时后水温有40多度，而且造型最简单却最漂亮；Thermos茶筛型适合喝茶的人，所以对保温效果要求不高，4 小时后有40多度，喝的时候略有些烫嘴（我耐热性较差），但10小时后就接近室温了；Buffalo标致型的保温效果跟第三种差不多，杯盖上有一个“子杯”，可以贮存少量的茶叶或枸杞或几片西洋参之类，外形线条很美，手感也超好。

回家折腾这些东西的时候，一个念头闪过：如果是在网上购物，怎么可能像我刚才在店里那样手眼并用，用有形的感官触角与有形世界里的有形的东西产生交集，从而获得全方位的购物体验呢？

一句话点题： The real world is, ultimately, more comforting.

台湾海域地震之后，大中华及东南亚地区的网络被孤岛化。我突然意识到，Google已成为我的大脑的延伸。没有谷歌，我恐怕要坐在一个巨型的图书馆里，有一个加强排的助手帮我查找资料，我才能勉强达到目前的翻译效率。

再想到有多少人，每天有可观的时间是在网络上度过的，为工作、为学习、为生活，探讨、寻觅、闲聊、争吵。在探讨、寻觅、闲聊、争吵的时候，参与者已经忘记自己身处虚拟空间......直到咔嚓一声，海底光缆被拉断了，直到MSN吭哧吭哧了老半天，最后还是苦着个脸败下阵来。

原来，这虚拟的底下，还垫着一块实实在在、有形的基础设施。这时，探讨、寻觅、闲聊、争吵都戛然而止，人们对光缆何时修好充满了兴趣，并积极寻找替代的方法，让QQ莫名其妙捞了一把。

皮之不存，毛将焉附？

不过，这不是点题之句。我要说的是：

当我们在精神和感情层面上忙得不亦乐乎的时候，当我们哭哭笑笑、高高低低的时候，当我们指点江山、海阔天空的时候，我们常常忘了“我们”的载体：身体，忘了我们最要感谢的，不是老板、不是客户、不是配偶、不是孩子，也不是神佛，而是我们的父母和他们赐予的身体。

我们的身体，就是埋在那海底的基础设施。

一句话点题： The only luxury that we can afford and enjoy till we die is our health.

新年健康！

（在现代都市，健康的大敌不是空气污染、噪音污染、苏丹红、孔雀石绿或生境压力，而是“心散”，这样就回归了身心一如的道理。又及）

Old stuff that I wanted to keep... Redated.

I vaguely remember that there's a friendly python at Xishuangbanna (somewhere in the tourist area). You pay the owner 10 yuan and can have the python wrapped around your neck for some photos. I did. But of all the people who did it, I was the only one that the python was scared of. As soon as I put it on my shoulders, it tried to run away. I pulled so hard at its neck that it turned out to be a tug of war between me and my serpentine pal (or foe). I don't know why. Even the owner grinned. It was like something out of a comedy show. You should try it. It's fun.

I also had an elephant massaging my stomach. But I was too tall, so when the tamer lined us up on the ground, I was misaligned. I was slightly worried, but nobody else noticed.

The elephant went from person to person, walking gingerly and hesitantly, heeding each and every signal its tamer was sending. When it was my turn, the giant paw of the elephant's right front leg landed, not on my tummy, but somewhere perilously close to one of the more delicate parts of my anatomy. Then the massage began. The audience started to giggle.

When it was over, I jumped up, ran across the court and disappeared into the crowd.

It's Boxing Day today. It was Christmas Day yesterday. I observed a "Day of Silence" yesterday, for a change.

Year in and year out, I've been asking myself this question: When non-Christians celebrate Christmas Day, do they really make a distinction between this occasion and the New Year's Day? If they do, what exactly is the distinction? If they don't, what is the point of celebrating it other than "going along" with everybody else (and this everybody else includes many more non-Christians in the same state of mind)?

In fact, the Christmas festivity points to the need for silence.
In silence, we hear nature; in silence, we see nature; in silence, we witness miracles.
It was on a Silent Night that a miracle was born.

Miracles are born more often than we think. Sages that we know of have come and gone throughout history, but many more have graced this planet and left their marks, but we are oblivious to them, because what they have left behind are neither soundbytes nor iconic images.

It takes silence to experience their presence.

The commercial machinery has exploited, and worked in collusion with, laziness of the mind and has made the occasion "noisy", noisy with high decibels that hit the eardrum and noisy with loud hues that excite our sight.

People need this noise to feel they are alive. And it's important to feel VERY alive on an occasion like this, so we need a lot more noise.

But silence is uncomfortable, and increasingly so as we delve into it. Once we've passed a threshold, however, the discomfort disappears and we feel infinitely more alive than in any other state, because we ARE alive.

Good heavens, it's been a year, plus two days, since I last updated my blog. A couple o f friends did urge me, through the year, to keep it up, but I ignored them. A wild goose chase, after something called life, and here I am again, treading on the tail of yet another year.

It hasn't been a particularly exciting year, but all is well and I've learned to appreciate every moment of my life. It comes with age, I suppose. Right now, I feel quite rough, as my body system is unwinding in the absence of adrenalin-pumping SI assignments, typical of the year-end lull. I find it hard to keep my eyes open, let alone work! So be it. All my life, I've been telling people the wonderful feeling, and the benefits, of being in tune with one's body. I shall practise what I preach now...

Saw something in David's blog space this morning. Here's the link:

http://same-difference.blogspot.com/2005/04/on-my-way.html

An apt note to end the year on...

The same is true of this piece:

You see, I'm a sceptic when it comes to mooncakes! Most of the time, they are bloody awful. At best, they are "okay".

What type of mooncakes are you reminiscing about, from the olden days? Our indigenous version was the Suzhou-style, with crumby crusts. When we finally got to taste the Guangdong style (the "wet" version as we called it, as opposed to the dry version with crumbs falling off as you bite), we thought they were heavenly. I was always averse to the Five-Nut variety, as they invariably contained ham (I was a quasi-vegetarian from a young age, but I eat much more meat nowadays). I think my instinct was correct – most of the nuts in there were probably beyond their shelf life and the ham had gone stale, so they were deadly poisonous (carcinogenic). Red bean paste is a much better option. By the way, the worst filling was the kind with red and green strips, of a sweet taste but of unknown ingredient (they can be called UFOs – unidentified filling objects). Incidentally, UFO is better translated in Taiwan: 幽浮。

I wrote this last year, just after the Mid-Autumn Festival. I have changed the date of publishing to the day on which it was actually written...

其实，中秋跟其他节日不太一样，大家在地上热热闹闹的同时，举头所见恰恰是孤寂、郁悒的象征。这也就是为什么，思乡、思亲在这个日子尤甚。

我三岁的时候，正碰上文革如火如荼，父母在各自单位忙得不可开交。例如母亲的单位规定每人每天必须抄出一百张大字报。她练就了用钢笔的握法写毛笔字的绝活儿，目的是赶快写完，以便赶回去照顾我。

在我大病一场之后，父母认识到问题的严重性，于是商量了一下，决定把我送到老家奶奶那里，当时奶奶正在替我的伯父、姑姑“放养“我的堂姐姐们，有一大群，所以多我一个也无所谓。

我在老家一呆就是两年。这期间，父母来看过我两三次。第一次我还抱着幻想：他们是来接我的。后来，我意识到，这是持久战。

有一次，父亲出差，拢一下老家看看我。只呆一夜，第二天就要走。 当天晚上，父亲带我去澡堂洗澡。那可能是一个月圆夜。也可能不是。 奶奶家在一个类似于四合院的大院子里。从院子到马路是一条很窄、很短的巷子。

走到巷子里的时候，我抬头看到天上有一个很大的月亮。 我对爸爸说：“爸爸，今朝夜里厢咯月亮，穷大！”

看到今年的中秋月，想到了童年的这段往事。当时，我四岁，但直到今天，那段路、那个月亮，还深深印在我脑子里。还有父亲回应我的眼神：我的苦中作乐，他的痛和无奈。 现在回想起来，那个瞬间其实是一个永恒，就在那一瞬间，我周围的世界活起来了，包括那个月亮。

这是刚给一位朋友发的邮件，转抄如下（其中第二部分是去年写给另外一位朋友的）：

近来可好？
时而收到你的来信，经常让我捧腹或深思。谢谢。
你偶尔转发的讯息属于chain mail，其中不乏有意义者，我深知你是好意，但是我提醒一句，如果那些讯息的后面带了一条尾巴，说如果（在某个时限之前）不转发出去，就会遭报应，那么这种讯息就是恶意的。
我凡是看到这样的讯息，无论号称是达赖喇嘛的圣言，还是一些小资味儿十足的无病呻吟，我一律删除。
原因很简单：
心中有佛，百毒不侵。
我一般不会告诉转发者这其中的奥秘，因为对于大多数人来说，这只是玩玩，事实上也无大碍，反正既不会给转发者带来好运、也不会给删除者带来厄运，我也没这个精力，就这事儿一而再再而三地跟人较/叫真。
但你既然是我的朋友，我想也许你想知道我的想法，所以跟你提一下。
另外，我曾经在去年给我的一位同事发了一封回信，现摘录如下。如果你同意我的观点，而转发者是好朋友（因此不会冒犯他/她），你不妨将我写的东西给他/她看看。

是的，一个人的运气是可以改变的，但靠的是心，靠的是摒除贪嗔痴（greed, resentment, delusion），而好笑的是，如果将这些连环邮件的内容分析一下，里面是贪嗔痴三味俱全！

新年快乐！下次来香港告诉我哟，放心，我不会板着脸跟你说大道理的！

________________________________________

If you come across similar chain mails in the future, especially if they are malicious (e.g. telling you that you'll go to hell or have bad luck if you cut the chain), just send them back to the senders with the following message:

For English, you can say:

My destiny is determined by my oneness with God, not by a set of man-made symbols strung together by some ill-intending, pathetic losers. By cutting this chain, I'm doing a service for the Good and for God, so my luck will only get better.

For Chinese, you can say:

自性本空，因念成体，念正身直，来去无碍。心理阴暗的小人，躲在网络的角落里，玩一些幼稚愚蠢的小把戏，想通过这种手段来平衡自己在现实生活中的不如意和失败，是自欺欺人，最终只能给自己带来厄运，因为别人多传一次，原创者的业障就增强一次。所以我来斩断这条链，是为了原创者的好，你应该谢我！切切！

You see, if we keep sending the message back, it'll eventually reach the original author and wake him/her up!

前几天做一个关于医学教育的研讨会，与会者当中有一位来自广西医学院的教授，名叫冷静，是一位女士。

午餐时，她告诉我她爷爷叫冷自然，姐姐叫冷相宜，最绝的是她爹，叫冷耐寒。

太好玩了。

另外，这几天香港主办世贸部长级会议，闹事者以韩农为主，从开幕前夕直至昨晚闭幕，日日有“节目”（香港人把“活动”叫做“节目”）、晚晚有新招。

从报纸的头版标题就可以看出来了：

第一天：世贸开幕，警民肉搏

第三天：三步一叩首，韩农很温柔

昨天的红字标题就四个字：

湾仔沦陷

上个星期天，我将以前翻的那段顺口溜贴到我们的校友网站上，让大家乐一乐。引来以下这段对话：

姚：
阿季的译法无懈可击，只是略嫌文雅，特别是“身体不好”一句，是不是可以改成”我的什么什么不是一根好枪“一类的，意思也出来了，也顾了押韵。

我连忙改了一下：
Till I got to Beijing, I'd never realized my position was so lowly
Till I got to Dalian, I'd never realized I had married too early
Till I got to Hainan, I'd never realized my you-know-what was not such a great gun
Till I got to Hong Kong, I'd never realized my life of poverty was sealed and done

And, alas,
Till I got to Taiwan, I'd never realized that the Cultural Revolution was still raging, with all the fun

姚：
果不其然，第二版本看了让人神清气爽！人生郁闷为本，段子是乱世中国（也有人说是盛世中国）特定产物，译法不可太过文雅。很象过去的军阀张宗昌写诗，一句“大炮开兮轰他娘”让人痛快淋漓。电视剧《亮剑》大行其道正是这个原因。

这时来了一位“陈博士”，根据内容，估计就是老同学当中的首富、现居德国慕尼黑的那一位，他说：
我说点题外话:
目前中国的国情跟xx所描述得大致相同.顺口流的绝妙之处正是夸张之中蕴含真理.我认为中国目前并没有意识形态的争斗, 安定团结发展经济的党纲似乎只讲金钱物质, 没有精神境界的安慰.人的灵魂没有寄托,也就是没有意识形态,更谈不上斗争. 中国是我所认识的国家中最最金钱万能的国家.
谁在关心自己的灵魂?
谁还在关心人们意识的健康?
有谁能站出来跟金钱万能的假意识形态作斗争?

错觉1:
意识形态并不都是"阶级斗争"的文革意识. 国家和民族一定需要超物质的意识形态来规范自己的行为.传统美德的召回,古典伦理道德品质时间意义上的现代化, 这也许是中国目前精神文明的本质内容.
错觉2:
只有在物质的极大丰富的基础上才能生出精神文明. 典型的马列主义物质决定意识生产力决定生产关系的教条主义!德国是一个没有资产阶级革命的资本主义国家,徳意志的文明来源于教育和修养.是GOETHE和SCHILLER时代的有关美的哲学修养了整整一代新人,塑造了一个现代文明的国家.这正是意识形态救国论的典范. (你们千万别把HITLER与德意志划等号!)
错觉3:
精神的贫困,智慧的孤独,唯我独醒的痛苦并不都是物质匮乏的结果.我更相信有钱人并不都幸福的真知灼见.

照顾好你的意识,教育好你的小孩.

我看到之后回了以下一贴：
精湛，耳东博士！真是醍醐灌顶。扑面而来的是德意志文化的那种“脑筋的认真”和“道德的认真”。

这两者做到了，才能真正对得起自己。这是我个人的体会。最近像发现新大陆似的意识到，一个非常简单而艰巨的入门修为就是：

慎独

这两个字，分量有千钧。

在这个时代生活的我们，脑袋里有不少嗡嗡的杂音：Oh, just relax; loosen up; pamper yourself; 别跟自己过不去；与时俱进吧；云云。

这些话在特定的语境中，都没错。

但在其他语境中，它们就是慎独的障碍。

它们就是北京的乌纱香港的票、大连的模特海南的妞在我们耳边的娓娓细语......

就此打住。只是借着陈博士的话题发挥一下。

未成君子却终日乾乾的xx

今天的会议太有意思了，非写下来不可。为Negroponte教授又做同传又做交传，既荣幸又过瘾。

Nicholas Negroponte是麻省理工学院媒体实验室（Media Lab）的创办人。他是信息数字化（digitization of information）和媒体交集/融合（convergence of media）的理论先驱和实践大师。两个星期前为他在突尼斯翻过一次，印象很深。这次是机缘巧合。

如今他奔走在世界各地，向政府推销他的“一童一电脑”（One Laptop Per Child）计划，并展示这个计划的关键产品：成本一百美元的笔记本电脑。今天是继突尼斯之后首次在亚洲展示。他和另外一位教授详细解释了他们如何将成本压得这么低，一言以蔽之：创新。

一项一项地说，恐怕要写到深夜。举几个例子吧。趁我还记得一些内容。

这种电脑只比课本大一圈，但既有彩显又有标准键盘、手写板，电源来自四节一号充电电池，内置发电机，用曲柄将机械能转化成电能，曲柄效率为1比10，即摇上一分钟可供普通使用10分钟（例如文字处理、上网、电邮收发、画画等），如果只是看书，可以看上半小时到一小时。看书时，将键盘部分折到屏幕后面，就像书一样拿着，而有些键这时就可以用其余四指操纵，翻页、移动光标均可。

最绝的是彩显。它其实是有色彩的黑白屏：用的是廉价的黑白液晶显示器，但在里面夹了一层折射片，黑白就变成彩色的了。将DVD反过来，放在强光下晃一晃就能看到斑斓的彩虹。原理就是这个。太厉害了。成本节约简直令人瞠目，降到了30至40美元。

更绝的是网络功能，每台内置WiFi芯片，同村可以在没有基础设施的条件下联网，只要学校有一个网络接入站即可。有话筒有扬声器，可用作本村范围内的移动电话，进行Skype之类的长途通话更不用说了。如果被盗，拿出该村，机子里的一种软件立即将硬件锁死，变成废机。

不用硬盘，用闪存，省钱，空间为0.5吉兆，内存128MB，成本各为7美元。CPU由AMD提供，260MHz左右，成本不到1美元。操作系统为Linux，免费提供。

整机成本价：100美元。卖给政府后，由政府统一向贫困乡村的儿童提供，最终实现一童一机。他们设想，政府在这个过程中产生的开支，可以从中小学课本经费和全国的普世网络接入（universal access）预算中支取，因为纸质课本可以淘汰了。

中国和印度还在犹豫，巴西、泰国、尼日利亚已经一头扎进去了。一旦承诺了要买，就要开信用证了，不是闹着玩儿的。

Negroponte给教育部的人施加了一点压力：We hope China will be able to deploy this, so we are trying to convince the Chinese Government, but if China is not interested, we'll have to move on, cos there's so much demand out there. 我当时心想，哎呀，您别那么咄咄逼人嘛，于是行使了翻译的“酌情处理权”，把那个“恁要是不稀罕，俺就走人”的意思给“漏”了。

他在正式演讲时提到了他在柬埔寨的经历。几年前他自己掏腰包在Ebay网上买了50台笔记本电脑，送给柬埔寨的一个村庄，让他们发给村里的儿童。孩子拿回家，过了一夜，拿回学校，老师一看，根本都没打开过。一问，原来是家长不许他们碰，怕弄坏了。于是，老师就给写了条儿，让学生带回家，告诉家长，这些电脑是送给他们子女的，就是属于他们的了，尽管用。第二天晚上，家家户户都把电脑打开了，结果最感兴趣的是大人们。

为什么？因为，电脑成了家里最亮的光源！

这几年为数不过来的会议提供翻译服务，学到了不少东西，因为许多会议的内容都是某个行业或专业的精华浓缩。

也听到了不少至理名言。

印象最深的、最具震撼力的一个故事，现转述如下：

This is an old Red Indian tale.

On a starry night, in a mountain valley, a group of young children sit down around a bonfire, waiting eagerly to hear another story from their beloved Grandpa.

"Tonight, let me tell you a story of two wolves." So begins Grandpa.

"Yeah, we love wolf stories," cheer the children.

"You know, there are two wolves inside each one of us."

One of his grandchildren is puzzled, "Really, two wolves, in me? Where are they, Grandpa?"

"They are in your heart. They are in my heart. They are in your papa's heart and your mama's heart. They are in his, and his," Grandpa continues, "One wolf is kindness, patience, generosity, forgiveness. The other wolf is resentment, greed, selfishness, cruelty.

"These two wolves are always fighting, inside each one of us."

"Which one wins in the end, Grandpa?"

Silence.

Then comes Grandpa's reply,

"The one you feed!"

等待
等待

一位老汉，九十五岁了。坐在河沿，叼着烟斗，眯缝着眼看着远方。

这是我在电视系列片《巴蜀古镇》中看到的一幕。就在那一瞬间，我意识到了：

人生是一场长短不一的等待。

等什么？

表面的答案可能有很多。

但深一层的答案似乎跟“人生意义何在”这个问题的答案同样难以捉摸。

隐约之间，我却在这两个问题之间看到了一丝联系：

Maybe, just maybe, we are waiting, with lifelong patience (or impatience), for that very moment...

the moment when all things fall into place and we can MAKE SENSE of what LIFE is all about.

《两只蝴蝶》的歌词，试译如下：
亲爱的你慢慢飞
小心前面带刺的玫瑰
亲爱的你张张嘴
风中花香会让你沉醉
Mavourneen, fly slow
Mind the thorny roses as you go
Mavourneen, open your lips
Savour the wind-borne scent
Intoxicating in just a few sips
亲爱的你跟我飞
穿过丛林去看小溪水
亲爱的来跳个舞
爱的春天不会有天黑
Mavourneen, fly with me
Visit the gurgling brooks through many a tree
Mavourneen, let us dance
In the love-filled spring, darkness as no chance
我和你缠缠绵绵翩翩飞
飞越这红尘永相随
追逐你一生
爱你无情悔
不辜负我的柔情你的美
Flutter as love-birds, you and I
Beyond this mortal world, low and high
Chasing you on my wings that never slack
In the name of love, I never look back
(For I'm as amorous as you are gorgeous)
我和你缠缠绵绵翩翩飞
飞越这红尘永相随
等到秋风起秋叶落成堆
能陪你一起枯萎也无悔
Flutter as love-birds, you and I
Beyond this mortal world, low and high
When leaves fall to oblivion
In the autumn blast
Comes the bliss of withering with you
Breathing our last

Spiritual development.

Two questions, frequently asked.

(1) Why do I have to worry about my next life, my after life? I don't really know who my "predecessor" (previous incarnation) was and it doesn't seem to matter, does it?

(2) Why are we the way we are?

This is how I approach the first question.

I think my life is quite good. According to the theory of transmigration, this is the sum total of what my past lives did. Obviously, my previous incarnations didn't do too bad a job. I'm grateful to them.

Incidentally, could ancestral worship be a veiled form of worshiping one's former incarnations? Just a thought, but an interesting one, I believe.

I know my life can be "better" (however one interprets it), but I don't really strive for a "better" life. Maintaining and enjoying this life I have is more important (call me unambitious). Out of basic human decency and empathy, I would like my next incarnation to enjoy at least the same level of "goodness" that my current life seems to be blessed with. And, hopefully, with a little effort on my part, that being will have a "better" life. After all, that being will be a continuation of "me" and if I'm nice to my family and friends, I have no reason not to be "nice" to the future "me".

As for the second question, I believe it all boils down to "scale". We have five to six senses, out of many senses that we possibly can develop and employ. But for each sense, we have to allocate some resources. Therefore, we need to strike a balance, between maximising the number of senses that we possess to safeguard our survival, security and well-being and minimising the amount of energy we consume in order to mobilise those senses.

In other words, it's almost certain that the senses we KNOW we have are essential to our survival. But are they enough for our spiritual well-being? This is an open-ended question. Through meditation, we seem to be able to sharpen these "normal" senses and develop some extra ones. It's easy to assume that those extra senses are essential to our spiritual well-being, without which we are mere "living" organisms, not enlightened beings.

Imagine - the totality of this cosmos (including all dimensions, spiritual and physical) is projected onto a spectrum. We as average human beings have access only to the middle section of the spectrum (we can sense the vibrations occurring across a certain stretch of frequencies on that spectrum, which are palpable to us). Being aware of vibrations beyond this bracket is not essential to our physical survival. We have those senses so we can sense and avoid danger, and sense and find sustenance. That's why we are the way we are.

I don't want to discuss the "necessity" of spiritual pursuit here, as that's too personal.

Let's say you decide to make a foray into the spiritual realm by taking up a religion and/or following a spiritual master and/or practising meditation. Then you are exposing yourself to the rules of another realm, which presumably are rather different from those governing this reality. In this reality, most of us have from birth a complete set of senses tailor-made for this physical world. But when you embark on a spiritual path, it's unlikely that you are fully equipped with all the senses necessary to steer you clear of lurking perils in that other realm. In this reality, if you lost sight and hearing, you couldn't walk without aid. It would be life-threatening.

Maybe the same applies to the other realm? If that's the case, then it's clear why we have to be very particular about the path we choose to follow.

Your heart is your lodestar, they say. But how do you know your heart is not clouded?

My answer is: Meditation.

How do you know you are on the right path? My answer is: Don't choose a path yet, as long as you still have that question. Just be "watchful". Watch out, in particular, against two things:

Greed
Ego

Religion is attractive to many for two reasons:

(1) It offers an attractive proposition/deal.
(2) It fills a vacuum

By the same token, people go to religion for two reasons: either seeking to change their 'rotten' life (it's a transaction, with tangible benefits expected) or looking for something to eliminate a void in their life (once that void is gone, the believer will go back to being a non-believer, although he/she will never admit it). Or both.

Adopting a religious faith is not as easy as it sounds. One has to be very, very careful, if one is serious about one's spiritual well-being. If you are not serious about it, then why go to religion in the first place? Family heritage? Peer pressure? Fashion? Force of habit?

That's frivolity, if you ask me, and frivolity is an even graver danger, because you render yourself vulnerable to misguiding influences. Because you don't REALLY care.

Meditation should be made very simple. Strip it down to basics only and remember:

惟灭动心，不灭照心
但凝空心，不凝住心

The first line is an antidote for GREED and the second line, for EGO.

Through meditation, questions start to emerge. The right spiritual guide for you is the one who can answer those PARTICULAR questions of yours convincingly. Don't go for the "famed" grand master at the very beginning. If you do, it'll be little more than blind faith. In time, different guides will present themselves to you, when you are ready. As you stay the course, by bearing the two-line "mantra" in mind, your heart, and therefore your vision, will remain unclouded and you can see more and more of the "truth".

听说，在过去一个月里，余秋雨、余华这样的大作家都纷纷建立了自己的博客。掐指一算，咦，跟我建博客的时间差不多。看来有种能量漩涡正在兴风作浪，把许多人吸进去了，我也未能幸免。

那我就随波逐流吧。

这几天，针对精神的修为，有很多想法，正在梳理，成熟了再付诸笔墨。

前几天写的帖子给几位老同学看了之后，其中一位建议如下：

Jim asks:
"各显神通" 可否简单译为"..., each using his own theurgy."?

My reply:
谢谢Jim教我这个单词。原来是 "godly art/skill"之意... 要好好地翻译这句成语，显然应首选这个词。估计汉英辞典的编撰者也没想到这个词，是不是？

... like the legendary Eight Immortals who ferry themselves across the sea by invoking the unique theurgies they each possess -- i.e. people rise up to challenges in their own ways, as if wielding some unique magic power they each have.

这样如何？很罗嗦，但没有背景知识的人听了也能明白。