“Why did I spend my life denying death? Death is the key to truth!”

「為什麼我在生活中要否認死亡？死亡是通往真裡的關鍵！」

As regards feeling pain, like a hand cut in battle, consider the body a robe you wear. When you meet someone you love, do you kiss their clothes? Search out who’s inside. Union with God is sweeter than body comforts.

關於感覺到疼痛，就像戰鬥中一隻手被砍傷了，可以把身體看作是你穿在身上的一件袍子。當你遇到你所愛的人時，你吻他的衣服嗎？要找出是誰在裡面。與神結合比身體的舒服甜美多了。

有幾個印度人帶了一隻大象來展示，他們將牠放在一間黑暗的房子裡。人們進進出出卻什麼都看不到。

They felt with their hands. One person touched the trunk. “It’s like a downspout.” One, an ear. “More like a fan.” The leg. “I find it round and solid like a column on a temple.” One touches the back. “An enormous throne.” One says, “Straight,” another, “Crooked.”

他們用手去感覺。有人摸到象鼻子說：「像漏斗管。」另一個人摸到一片耳朵說：「更像一片風扇。」摸到腿的人說：「我發現它像一座寺廟的圓柱，既圓又堅固。」有個摸到背部的人說：「一個巨大的王座。」一個說：「直的，」另一個說：「彎曲的。」

If each had a candle and if they went in together, the differences would disappear.

Sense knowledge is the way the palm knows the elephant in the total pitch-dark. A single hand cannot know the whole animal at once. The ocean has an eye. The foam bubbles of phenomena see separately: we bump against each other, asleep in the bottom of our body-boats. We should wake and look with the clear eye of water we float on.

如果每個人都有一根蠟燭且他們一起進去，所有的差異就會消失。感覺的知識就是手掌在完全漆黑的情況下認知大象的方式，一隻手無法立即知道動物的整體。海洋有一隻眼，現象的泡沫分別地看：我們彼此碰撞，睡在我們身體船的底部。我們應該清醒並用我們漂浮其上的清澈的水之眼來看。

Those who have reached their arms into emptiness

are no longer concerned with lies and truth,

with mind and soul, or which side of the bed they rose from.

If you are still struggling to understand, you are not there.

You offer your soul to one who says,

“Take it to the other side.”

You are on neither side,

yet those who love you see you on one side or the other.

You say Illa, “Only God”;

then your hungry eyes see you’re in “nothing,” La.

You’re an artist who paints both with existence and non.

Shams could help you see who you are,

but remember, You are not your eyes.

這是賈米的一則故事，關於渴望自由的歌聲的力量。

A sufi was on the path of clarity. Every day he walked the desert, and every night he walked and slept in the emptiness of God’s custody.

有位蘇非在他覺醒的旅途上，白天他走在沙漠裡，晚上他夜行並睡在神保護的天空下。

One night he came upon a merchant’s tent and felt the need for conversation.

He lifted the tent flap and saw a black slave in chains, unable to move, but shining with intelligence like the moon.

有一天晚上他遇到一頂商人的帳棚而感覺到有交談的需要。他掀開營帳的門簾看見一個被鏈子綑綁的黑奴，無法動彈，但閃現出的智慧像月亮一樣。

“Help me,” the slave whispered. “My master will not refuse a guest. Ask him to set me free.”

「幫幫我，」奴隸耳語著說：「我的主人不會拒絕一位客人，請求他放我自由。」

The merchant welcomed the sufi to his tent and brought food.

“I cannot accept your generosity until you release this poor man.”

商人歡迎蘇非進入他的帳棚並準備了食物。

「在你釋放這個可憐人之前我無法接受你的慷慨。」

“I will. But first listen to what I have suffered because of him! I used to have many purebred camels, beautiful animals with humps like mountains, swift as the wind over steep and flat, powerful as rhinoceri, tall and dignified as elephants. Their crossing and recrossing this desolation were the source of my existence, their bells my most wished-for sound. As they traveled, this camel driver sang songs. The camels heard and carried their loads with courage and discipline. This time, though, when we unloaded them, they fled in every direction, vanished in the desert, all but the one still tied outside my tent.”

「我會的。但請先聽聽這個人所帶給我的痛苦！我原本擁有許多純種的駱駝，美麗的動物，有著像山丘一樣的駝峰，高大威嚴如大象。牠們在這荒漠上來來回回是我存在的來源，牠們的鈴聲是我最想望的聲音。當牠們行進時，這個趕駱駝的人唱著歌，背著重擔的駱駝聽著歌聲變得非常聽話而勇往直前。可是這回，當我們卸下重擔之後，牠們逃向四面八方，消失在沙漠裡，除了還綁在帳棚外面那匹之外全都不見了。」

The sufi said, “Let me hear the camel driver’s song.”

蘇非說：「讓我聽聽趕駱駝的人的歌吧。」

The master gestured, and the slave began. The visitor sat politely watching the tethered animal, but as longing deepened in the song, the night walker tore his clothes and fell on the ground, while the last camel snapped its rope and escaped into the darkness.

主人打了手勢，奴隸便開始唱歌。訪客禮貌地坐著並看著拴著繩子的駱駝，但當歌聲裡的渴望加深之後，這位夜行者撕裂他的衣服而跌落在地上，在這時候，最後一匹駱駝咬斷牠的繩子而逃進黑暗當中。

我們對當下（內在自由）的渴望如果能像故事中黑奴對自由的渴望一樣強烈…

Reader! Did you think you could read these Masnavi words for free?

You must give something back!

This mystery does not come easily;

it’s more like a lover with a veil,

or a difficult text.

Some claim the Shahnama and the Kalilah are like the Qur’an.

Let a holy collyrium open their eyes.

When the nose is congested,

one can’t tell dung from musk.

Sometimes you read books because you’re bored

or you want relief from worry

or from the desires you feel.

讀者！你認為你可以免費閱讀《瑪斯拿維》中的這些詩詞嗎？

你一定得做些回報！

這神秘可來得不容易；

它更像一個蒙著面紗的愛人，

或一本難解的經文。

有人聲稱Shahnama和Kalilah就像古蘭經一樣。

讓一劑眼藥水打開他們的眼睛。

當鼻子被塞住時，人分辨不出糞臭和麝香。

有時你讀書是因為覺得無聊

或想要減輕你的煩惱

或想滿足你的慾望。

A man caught a bird in a trap. The bird said, “Sir, you have eaten many cows and sheep in your life, and you are still hungry. This little bit of meat on my bones won’t satisfy you either, but if you let me go, I’ll give you three pieces of wisdom. One I’ll say on your hand. One on your roof, and one I’ll speak from the limb of that tree.”

有一個人用陷阱捉到一隻鳥。那隻鳥說：「先生，你這一生已經吃了許多牛與羊，而你依然感覺到飢餓。在我骨頭上的這一點肉也無法滿足你，但如果你讓我走，我將給你三項智慧。一項我會在你的手上說。一項在你的屋頂，另一項會在那棵樹枝上說。」

The man was interested. He freed the bird and let it stand on his hand.

“Number one: do not believe an absurdity no matter who says it.”

The bird flew and lit on the man’s roof.

“Number two: do not grieve over what is past. Never regret what has happened.”

“And by the way, in my body there’s a huge pearl weighing as much as ten copper coins. It was meant to be the inheritance for you and your children, but now you’ve lost it. You might have owned the largest pearl in existence, but evidently it was not meant to be.”

那人感興趣，他放了那隻鳥讓牠站在他的手上。

「第一：不要相信謬論，不管是誰說的。」

那隻鳥飛到那人的屋頂上春風滿面。

「第二：不要為過去的事感到悲傷，對已經發生過的事不要後悔。」

「順便一提，在我的身體裡面有一顆重達十個銅幣的超大珍珠，那將會是你和你的子女的有價值的遺產，但現在你已經錯過了。你有可能擁有世界上最大的珍珠，但事實證明不是這樣。」

The man started wailing like a woman in childbirth.

The bird, “Didn’t I just say ‘Don’t grieve for what’s in the past,’ and ‘Don’t believe an absurdity’? My entire body doesn’t weigh as much as ten copper coins. How could I have a pearl that heavy inside me?!”

那人開始像個女人生孩子一樣哀嚎。

那隻鳥說：「我不是才說『不要為過去的事悲傷，』以及『不要相信謬論』？我整個身體的重量都不到十個銅幣，怎麼可能還會有那麼重的珍珠在我裡面？」

The man came to his senses.

“All right. Tell me number three.”

那人頓時清醒過來。

「好吧，那就告訴我第三項。」

“Yes, you’ve made such good use of the other two.”

“Don’t give advice to someone who’s groggy and falling asleep. Don’t throw seeds on the sand. Some torn places cannot be patched.”

「是的，你已經善用了前面兩項了。」

「第三項：不要將忠告給那軟弱以及睡著的人，不要把種子撒在沙地上。有些撕裂的地方是無法修補的。」

Always check your inner state

with the lord of your heart.

魯米：

要常常檢視你的內在狀態

用你的心的主人。

Copper doesn’t know it’s copper,

until it’s changing to gold.

銅不知道它是銅，

直到它變成金。

Your loving doesn’t know majesty,

until it knows its helplessness.

你的愛不知道王權，

直到它明了它的無助。

In the slaughterhouse of love they kill only

the best, none of the weak or deformed.

Don’t run away from this dying.

Whoever’s not killed for love is dead meat.

在愛的屠宰場裡他們只殺

最好的，沒有一個是軟弱或醜陋的。

不要逃避這死亡。

任何不為愛而被殺的人都是死肉。

I always keep a secret.

All my words

Are sung outside Her window,

For when She lets me in

I take a thousand oaths of silence.

                            --Hafiz

真愛

我總是秘而不宣。

我所有的話

都在她的窗外唱完，

因為當她讓我進去

我發一千個誓保持沈默。

                            -哈非茲