Lesson from the Moon 月亮的啟示

By Vicki Baum

When the moon is fullest it begins to wane, When it is darkest it begins to grow.

月亮帶給我的啟示----「月盈則虧，晦則明」

-Chinese Proverb-中國諺語

THERE is a calm wisdom in this old saying that impressed me when I heard it first form a monk of a Buddhist monastery in China. It has often, helped me to retain a good measure of equanimity under stress and hardship as well as when some unexpected success or good luck might have made me to exuberant. There is hope and consolation in the sure knowledge that even the darkest hours of pains and troubles won’t last: but also a warning against overrating the passing glories of wealth, power and great fortune. A warning and a hope, not only for the individual, but for government, nations and their leaders, a brief summing up of all that history and human experience can tell us. And beyond all that we might hear in it an echo of the law and order that holds our universe in safe balance.

這句中國的古話，最初是由佛教寺院中的一位和尚告訴我的，當時給我的印象很深。這實在是一句至理名詞，蘊含著冷靜的慧智。從那時起，每當我遭逢坎坷困苦，或者遇到可能使我過于興奮的成功或好運的時候，這句話都曾幫助我保持鎮定，泰然處之。這句話提示我們，不論痛苦和憂患的時刻多么黑暗，也不會長久持續下去，因而使我們感到希望和安慰;同時也警告我們，財富、權力、和鴻運當頭的榮耀，都只是過眼煙云，不可過于重視。個人如此，國家和政府領袖亦然，這句話箴言所提供的希望和警告，實在是整個歷史和人類經驗的結晶。除此之外，我們還可以從這句話里面，聆聽到使宇宙保持平衡狀態的法律與秩序的回聲。