基督徒

《愛的四百句箴言》
St. Maximus the confessor著
251 - 275

《400 sayings about love》
by St. Maximus the confessor
251 - 275


51.如果 我們能夠長期的將自己完全奉獻給上帝，並且留心靈魂中敏感的部份，我們就不會再莽撞地陷入妄念的攻擊之中。進一步，如果我們能用心思考這 些念頭的起因，並且將這些原因根除，那麼我們洞察力就會變得越來越敏銳，並且在我們心中實踐「我親眼看到那窺伺我者遭報，我親耳聽見那起來攻擊我，的惡人 受罰。」（詩篇 92:11）這句話。
51. If we devote ourselves to God for a considerable period and give heed to the sensitive part of the soul, we no longer run headlong into the assaults of thoughts. Rather, in very carefully considering their causes and in eradicating them we become more perceptive and have the words fulfilled in us, "My eye also has looked down on my enemy, and my ear shall hear the malignant who rise up against me."

52. 如果你發現自己的心，處在這世界的表象裡，卻可以虔誠而公正的引導自己，那麼你就可以知道，自己的肉體依然是純淨無瑕的。當你發現自己的心，在思想上已經 將自己托付給罪惡，而且不肯加以克制，那麼，你就可以知道，不久之後，你的肉體就會與這些罪惡畫上等號。
52. When you see that your mind is conducting itself devoutly and justly in representations of the world, know then that your body, too, remains pure and sinless. But when you see that your mind is giving itself over to sins in thought and you do not resist, know that your body, too, will not be long in falling in with those sins.

53. 身體把物質的事物當成它的世界，而心靈則把形象當成它的世界；身體會與女人的身體犯下姦淫的罪，而心靈則會透過幻想，和女人身體的圖像犯下姦淫的罪。因為 在心靈的世界裡，它看見自己身體的形象和女人的形象結合在一起；它也會以同樣的方法，透過身體的形象，來抵擋那裡過去曾經攻擊過我們的人的形象；以及其它 種種相類似的罪。在物質的世界裡，身體可以透過行動來犯罪，心靈則會在形象的世界裡犯罪。
53. Just as the body has material things for its world, so does the mind have representations for its world, and just as the body commits fornication with a woman's body, so does the mind commit fornication with the representation of a woman's body through its own body's fantasies. For in its mind it sees the shape of its own body joined with that of a woman. In the same way the mind wards off the picture of the one who has offended us through the shape of its own body. And similarly for other sins. For what the body does through action in the world of material reality, the mind also does in the world of representations.

54. 沒有理由為了「聖父並不會審判任何人，而是把所有的審判交給了聖子」這個概念而不安、驚訝或感到震驚；聖子大聲的叫喊：「你們別論斷人了，免得你們被論 斷。因為你們怎樣論斷人，也必怎樣被論斷；」（馬太福音 7:1-2）宗徒也說：「定時未到以前，什麼都不要論斷了；只等主來」（歌林多前書 4:5）又說：「在什麼事上論斷人，就在什麼事上定你自己的罪。」（羅馬書 2:1）但是，當人們忘了哀悼自己的罪時，人們就奪去了聖子的審判，儘管自己有罪，自己然仍彼此互相的審判與論斷。為此，「天堂感到驚訝」，而塵世被擾 亂，而人們卻因為自己的遲鈍，而不知羞恥。
54. There is no reason to be disturbed, shocked, or astonished by the idea that God the Father judges no one but has given all judgment to the Son. The Son cries out, "Do not judge lest you be judged. Do not condemn lest you be condemned." And the Apostle likewise, "Judge not before the time until the Lord comes," and, "With the judgment that you judge another you condemn yourself." But in neglecting to lament their own sins, men take judgment away from the Son and they themselves, though sinful, judge and condemn each other. And "at this heaven is astonished," earth is disturbed, but they in their insensitivity are not ashamed.

55. 如果一個人喜好管他人的罪，或是以猜疑的方式來論斷他的兄弟，那麼他不但沒有為懺悔打基礎，也沒有試著去察覺自己擁有的罪（事實上，這些罪遠比沉重的鉛錘 還要重多了）。他也不知道一個熱愛虛榮與謊言的人，為何會變得心情沉重。因此，他就好像一個走進黑暗中的蠢蛋，不在意自己的罪，卻想像著他人的罪，無論他 人的罪是否真的存在，或者只是自己的猜測罷了。
55. The one who meddles in the sins of others or even judges his brother on a suspicion has not yet laid the foundation of repentance nor sought to know his own sins (which are truly heavier than an enormous weight of lead). Neither does he know how it comes about that the man who loves vanities and seeks after lies becomes heavy-hearted. Thus as a foolish person going about in the dark he takes no mind of his own sins and imagines those of others whether they actually exist or he only suspects them.

56. 就像我們經常談到的，「自私」是所有情欲思想的根源。它會產生三種主要欲望，這些欲望是與肉體有關的：暴食、貪心與虛榮。暴食，導致了姦淫的思想；貪心導 致了貪婪的欲望；虛榮則帶來了自大。其它的情欲，也會接踵而至，例如：忿怒、悲傷、怨恨、懶惰、忌妒、背地裡的攻擊…等。儘管我們的心，原本該是比火焰還 要明亮，比火焰還要生生不息。但這些情欲，將我們的心靈與物質的事物緊緊綁在一起，並使心靈墮落到塵世的境界，就好像一顆重重的石頭壓在上面一樣。
56. Self-love, as has frequently been said, is the cause of all passionate thoughts. From it are begotten the three capital thoughts of concupiscence : gluttony, greed, and vanity. From gluttony the thought of fornication arises; from greed, that of covetousness; and from vanity, that of arrogance. All the rest follow one or the other of these three: the thoughts of anger, grief, resentment, sloth, envy, back-biting, and the rest. These passions, then, bind the mind to material things and keep it down on the earth, weighing on it like a very heavy stone, though by nature it should be lighter and livelier than fire.

57. 所有情欲的開頭都是自私，發展到最後，就會變成自滿。自私是一種對肉體的不合理的愛，如果一個人可以克服它，就能夠克服一切由它引起的情欲。
57. The beginning of all passions is love of self, and the end is pride. Self-love is irrational love of the body, and if one eliminates this he eliminates along with it all the passions stemming from it.

58. 就好像父母對他們身體所繁衍出來的後代，都會擁有強烈的感情一樣，心靈也會留戀於它所推論出來的結果。這樣的心靈，就好像在情感上依戀著孩子的父母，儘管 這些孩子們有多麼的惡劣，在他們眼裡總是所有人中最清白、最漂亮的，這是一個愚蠢的心靈。無論這些推論的結果有多麼的卑鄙，在心靈的眼中，也都是最合情合 理的。然而，這卻不適用於一個有智慧的人與他所推論得出的結果。進一步說，當他所推論出的結果，看起來就像真的，而且正確無誤的時候，他就會懷疑自己的推 論，進而利用其他智者的論點來審視自己的推論（為了避徒勞無功），藉由他人的審視，他才能夠獲得保證。
58. Just as parents have affection for the offspring of their bodies, so also is the mind naturally attached to its own reasonings. And just as to their parents who are emotionally attached the children appear as the fairest and handsomest of all even though in every way they might be the most hideous of all, so it is with the foolish mind. Its reasonings, even though they might be the most depraved of all, still appear in its view as the most sensible of all. However, this is not the case with the wise man and his reasonings. Rather, when it seems convincing that they are true and correct, then especially does he distrust his own judgment but makes use of other wise men as judges of his own reasonings (so as not to run or have run in vain), and from them he receives assurance.

59. 當你克服了那些不太光彩的情欲，諸如：暴食、姦淫、忿怒、貪婪…等，突然之間，就會與自己的虛榮相遇。而當你又克服了虛榮之後，驕傲又會立刻跟著出現。
59. When you overcome any of the dishonorable passions, such as gluttony, fornication, anger, or covetousness, suddenly the thought of vanity lights upon you. But when you overcome this, that of pride follows in short order.

60. 那些無恥的情欲，會掌控我們的靈魂，使我們停止思考任何有關虛榮心的事，一旦這種反思的能力消失之後，它們在靈魂裡，就沒有任何的拘束了。
60. All the dishonorable passions that hold sway over the soul drive out the thought of vanity from it, and when all these have given way, they set it loose on the soul.

61. 虛榮，無論是它被剔除或存在，都會帶來驕傲。當它被剔除時，就會產生狂妄。當它存在之時，就會產生自大。
61. Vanity, whether it is eliminated or whether it remains, begets pride. When eliminated it produces conceit, when remaining it produces pretentiousness.

62. 謹言慎行可以去除虛榮；將我們正確的行為歸於上帝可以去除驕傲。
62. Discreet practice eliminates vainglory; ascribing our right actions to God removes pride.

63. 一個人若被授予上帝知識的榮譽，並從中得到豐富的喜樂，就會鄙視所有從貪欲獲得的喜樂。
63. A person who has been honored with the knowledge of God and is abundantly enjoying the pleasure it provides disdains all the pleasures begotten from lust.

64. 一個貪求塵世的人就會貪求食物，貪求供應情欲的事物，貪求人們的讚賞，貪求金錢，以及任何與塵世有關的事物。除非心靈能夠發現某個更好的東西，而這個東西 又可以轉換心靈的欲望，否則它是無法完全地信服，而去輕視它所貪求的東西的。顯然地，這個更好的東西，就是上帝的知識，以及神聖的事物。
64. The one who lusts after earthly things lusts after food, or what serves the lower passions, or human applause, or money, or something else associated with them. And unless the mind finds something better than these to which it can transfer its desire, it will not be completely persuaded to disdain them. And better than these by far is the knowledge of God and of divine things.

65. 那些可以輕視感官享樂的人之所以能夠這麼做，要不就是出於敬畏，要不就是出於盼望，要不就是出於上帝的知識和上帝的愛。
65. Those who disdain pleasures do so either out of fear or hope or knowledge and love of God.

66.完全脫離情欲的、關於神性事物的知識，無法說服我 們的心靈徹底看輕物質界的事物，這些知識只不過是一種對 事物的觀感和想法。因此，人們可以發 現許多有學識的人，並不會像在泥巴中的豬一樣，在肉體的情欲中打滾。這些人透過自己的努力，達到一定程度的淨化，獲得了知識，但卻漸漸變得愈來愈輕率，他 們就像撒羅（Saul）一樣，撒羅受神膏立為王之後，做了些不配的事，而受到嚴厲的天譴，使他撤去了王位。
66. Knowledge of divine things without passion does not persuade the mind to disdain material things completely, but rather resembles the mere thought of a thing of sense. Thus one finds many men with considerable knowledge who yet wallow in the passions of the flesh like pigs in mud. For in reaching through their diligence a certain degree of purification and in acquiring knowledge but in later growing careless they can be compared to Saul, who after being given the kingship conducted himself unworthily and was dismissed from it with terrible wrath.

67. 屬於人世的純真思想，並不會使人的心靈蔑視神聖的事物，而屬於神聖事物的純真知識，也無法說服人們的心靈，完全的看輕所處的塵世，是故真理蟄伏於陰影與形 象之中。因此，擁有聖愛這種神聖的欲望是不可缺的，它可以使得心靈與靈性真實的結合，說服心靈，使它熱愛精神更甚於物質，使它熱愛智力與神聖的事物更甚於 感官的事物。
67. Just as the simple thought of human realities does not oblige the mind to disdain the divine, so neither does the simple knowledge of divine things persuade it fully to disdain human things, for the reason that the truth exists now in shadows and figures. Hence there is a need for the blessed passion of holy love, which binds the mind to spiritual realities and persuades it to prefer the immaterial to the material and intelligible and divine things to those of sense.

68. 一個已經去除情欲，並產生單純思想的人，也是無法使這些思想完全轉變成神聖的。然而，他卻可以不受人類事物的誘惑，也不受到神聖事物的吸引。對於那些在現 實的生活中，尚未被賜予上帝的知識的人，以及那些出於敬畏，或是對天堂的盼望而除去情欲的人來說，就是這樣的情形。
68. The one who has eliminated the passions and produced simple thoughts has still not yet completely turned them into divine things but can be drawn neither to human nor to divine things. This is the case of those in the active life who have not yet been given knowledge and who abstain from the passions out of fear or out of hope of the kingdom.

69. 「我們是憑著信仰而行，而不是憑著眼見。」（歌林多後書 5:7）我們擁有知識只是反射出來的東西，只是一團謎。因此，我們必須專注於這些問題，以至於在長久的實踐和討論中，我們可以煅造出靜觀的習慣。
69. "We walk by faith, not by sight," and have knowledge in mirrors and riddles. Because of this we need to be very occupied with these so that through lengthy exercise and discussion we might forge a tenacious habit of contemplation.

70. 如果只是在某種程度上，去除了引起情欲的誘因，如果想要致力於靈性的靜觀，但卻無法持之以恆，這樣就很有可能會輕易地重返身體的情欲。在這種情形下，我們 可能會狂妄的想要獲得單純的知識。結果，我們就會漸漸的模糊靜觀的知識，並使我們的心靈，完全的轉向物質的事物。
70. If after eliminating only to some extent the causes of the passions we devote ourselves to spiritual contemplations but are not constantly occupied with them, we can while doing this easily revert once more to the body's passions. In this event we can expect to gather no other fruit except simple knowledge with conceit. The result of this is the gradual obscuring of this knowledge and the complete turning of the mind to material things.

71. 那些受譴責的情欲之愛，以物質的事物，佔據了心靈。而那些令人欽佩的情欲之愛，使心靈與神聖的事物結合。因為一般來說，心在那裡奉獻了時間，心也就跟著擴 展到那裡，心擴展到那裡時，也會跟著轉化自己的欲望與愛。無論那是它本身所擁有的神聖事物，或是屬於肉體與情欲的事物，都是如此。
71. The blameworthy passion of love engrosses the mind in material things. The praiseworthy passion of love binds it even to divine things. For generally where the mind devotes its time it also expands, and where it expands it also turns its desire and love, whether this be in divine and intelligible things which are its own or in the things of the flesh and the passions.

72. 上帝創造了無形和有形的世界，因此，很自然地，他也創造了靈魂和肉體。我們眼前的有形的世界，是如此的美麗，那麼，無形的世界將又是如何的呢？如果無形的 世界比有形的世界更好，那麼，它們的創造者又比會它們好多少倍呢？如果創造出美麗世界的造物主，比受造物都還要好，為什麼我們要捨棄最好的，而將心思放在 次等的事物上（這裡所說得次等事物，是指肉體的情欲）呢？我們從出生以來，就一直與肉體生活在一起，緊密相連，我們的心靈尚未領受過由至高至善的那一位帶 給我們的完美經歷。然而，如果我們的心靈能夠長時間以自律來制伏享樂，並且留意於神聖事物，就能逐漸與肉體脫離這樣的關係，在神性事物中漸漸提昇自我，並 且真正認識到自己的高貴性，最終獲得轉化，全心全意追求上帝。
72. God created the invisible world and the visible world, and naturally he made the soul and the body as well. Now if this visible world is so beautiful, what sort of world will the invisible be? If it is better than the former, how much better than both is the one who created them? If then the Maker of everything that is beautiful is better than all creatures, for what reason does the mind leave the best of all to be engrossed in the worst of all, by which I mean the passions of the flesh? Or is it not clear that having lived and associated with the flesh from birth, the mind has not yet received a perfect experience of the one who is best of all and who transcends all? Therefore if by a prolonged exercise of self-mastery over pleasure and of attention to divine things we gradually break it away from such a relationship, it expands and gradually advances in divine things and recognizes its own dignity and finally transfers its whole longing onto God.

73. 一個能以公正的態度來談論弟兄的錯誤的人，他之所以會這麼做，必定是為了兩個理由，要不就是為了改正這位弟兄的錯誤，要不就是為了幫助他人。如果他不是以 這種心態來告訴這位弟兄，或是其他的人，那麼他所做的就是一種侮辱與誹謗。他無法避免被上帝拋棄，他必定會陷入同樣或其它的失敗中，而後受到他人的不尊重 與侮辱，他會發現自己顏面盡失。
73. The one who speaks in a detached way of his brother's sins does so for two reasons, either to correct him or to help someone else. If he speaks apart from these either to him or to another, he does so with reproach and disparagement. He will not escape being forsaken by God but will surely fall into the same or another failure, and dishonored and reproached by others he will find disgrace.

74. 事實上，人之所以不斷犯下相同的罪，背後通常有很多的原因，不會只有單一因素。例如：因為習慣而犯罪，或是因為沒有自制力而犯罪。如果某人因為沒有自制力 而犯罪，不論是犯罪之前或之後，他都不會進行徹底審慎的思考，而是在犯罪之後，才感到萬分的懊悔。然而，如果某人是因為習慣而犯罪，情況就會大不相同。首 先，他在思想上不會停止犯罪，而且在犯了罪之後，他依然會維持著相同的犯罪傾向。
74. There is not just one reason why sinners commit the same sin in deed, but several. For instance, it is one thing to sin from habit and another to sin by being carried away. In this case the sinner did not fully reflect either before or after the sin but rather was deeply grieved over the incident. The one who sins from habit is quite the reverse, for first he does not cease sinning in thought and after the act he maintains the same disposition.

75. 一個出於虛榮心而追求美德的人，也會為了虛榮心而尋求知識。這樣的人，從不為了自己道德的提昇而有言行上的表現，他們時時刻刻都在尋求旁人的認可。一旦有 旁觀者強烈的指責他的言行，他的情欲就會浮現出來，並感受到強烈痛苦。這不是因為他不受教，因為這本來就不是他目的，他們之所以會感到痛苦，完全是因為自 己的顏面掃地。
75. The one who seeks after the virtues out of vainglory obviously seeks after knowledge as well out of vainglory. Clearly such a person neither does nor says anything for the sake of improvement but is in all circumstances pursuing the approval of the onlookers or hearers. The passion is detected when some of these people impose censure on his deeds or his words and he is enormously grieved thereby, not because he did not edify, for such was not his purpose, but because of his own disgrace.