For years I've been feeling frustrated, because as a religious historian, I've become acutely aware of the centrality of compassion in all the major world faiths. Every single one of them has evolved their own version of what's been called the Golden Rule. Sometimes it comes in a positive version -- "Always treat all others as you'd like to be treated yourself." And equally important is the negative version -- "Don't do to others what you would not like them to do to you." Look into your own heart, discover what it is that gives you pain and then refuse, under any circumstance whatsoever, to inflict that pain on anybody else.
多年來我一直感到困惑不解, 因為,身為宗教歷史學家, 我非常清楚地知道, 憐憫是世界主要宗教中 一貫的中心思想。 每一個宗教, 對於所謂的「恕道」 都衍伸出了自己的解讀。 有的版本是正面的,例如: 「推己及人。」 同等重要的,還有 相反的版本 「己所不欲,勿施於人。」 省視你的內心, 了解痛苦從何而來, 然後不管在什麼情況下 都拒絕把這樣的痛苦加諸於別人身上。
And people have emphasized the importance of compassion, not just because it sounds good, but because it works. People have found that when they have implemented the Golden Rule as Confucius said, "all day and every day," not just a question of doing your good deed for the day and then returning to a life of greed and egotism, but to do it all day and every day, you dethrone yourself from the center of your world, put another there, and you transcend yourself. And it brings you into the presence of what's been called God, Nirvana, Rama, Tao. Something that goes beyond what we know in our ego-bound existence.
人們總是強調憐憫的重要, 不是因為它很好聽, 而是因為它很有效。 人們發現,一旦將恕道的意涵 發揮出來, 像孔子說的「不捨晝夜」, 而不是偶爾行善, 然後又回到貪婪且自私 的生活中。 然而如果持續不懈地實行, 自私的你將不再佔據世界的中心, 另一個你將會降臨,這時候你便超越了自我。 它會引領你到一個名為 「神」、「涅槃」、「完人」(印度教)、「道」的境界。 那是超越 我們有限的存在的境界。
But you know you'd never know it a lot of the time, that this was so central to the religious life. Because with a few wonderful exceptions, very often when religious people come together, religious leaders come together, they're arguing about abstruse doctrines or uttering a council of hatred or inveighing against homosexuality or something of that sort. Often people don't really want to be compassionate. I sometimes see when I'm speaking to a congregation of religious people a sort of mutinous expression crossing their faces because people often want to be right instead. And that of course defeats the object of the exercise.
但很多時候,你並不知道 慈悲關懷是信仰生活的中心。 除了某些美妙的例外, 宗教人士聚在一起時, 經常在爭論深奧的教義, 或是說出一連串充滿仇恨的字句 敵視同性戀或其它「罪行」。 人們通常不太願意憐憫。 我時常看到, 當我對虔誠的信徒演說時, 他們臉上會閃過反抗的表情 因為人總是覺得自己有理。 這當然是違反了宗教的真諦。
Now why was I so grateful to TED? Because they took me very gently from my book-lined study and brought me into the 21st century, enabling me to speak to a much, much wider audience than I could have ever conceived. Because I feel an urgency about this. If we don't manage to implement the Golden Rule globally, so that we treat all peoples, wherever and whoever they may be, as though they were as important as ourselves, I doubt that we'll have a viable world to hand on to the next generation.
為什麼我感謝TED? 因為他們溫和地帶領我 離開汗牛充棟的書房 到21世紀。 讓我能夠在更為廣大的觀眾面前演說, 這遠遠超乎我的想像。 因為我覺得這件事非常急迫: 如果我們不想辦法 在全世界實行恕道的教誨, 如果我們不能對所有人-不管在哪裡,不管他們是誰- 不能把他們看得跟自己一樣重要的話, 我懷疑我們還能不能 把這個生機盎然的世界傳給下一代。
The task of our time, one of the great tasks of our time, is to build a global society, as I said, where people can live together in peace. And the religions that should be making a major contribution are instead seen as part of the problem. And of course it's not just religious people who believe in the Golden Rule. This is the source of all morality, this imaginative act of empathy, putting yourself in the place of another.
我們這個時代的任務, 這個時代最大的一個任務, 就是建立全球化的社會,如同我之前所提, 讓人們可以和平共處。 至於宗教,理應對這任務有所貢獻, 但現在卻反而成為問題的一部分。 當然,不是只有虔誠的人才信奉恕道。 這是所有道德的源頭。 悲憫可以是一種想像: 把自己放在他人的處境中設身處地。
And so we have a choice, it seems to me. We can either go on bringing out or emphasizing the dogmatic and intolerant aspects of our faith, or we can go back to the rabbis. Rabbi Hillel, the older contemporary of Jesus, who, when asked by a pagan to sum up the whole of Jewish teaching while he stood on one leg, said, "That which is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor. That is the Torah and everything else is only commentary."
如此我們便會有所選擇,在我看來是這樣。 我們可以繼續宣揚及強調 宗教的教條或是不寬容的一面, 或者也可以反璞歸真, 回到比耶穌更久遠的猶太長老西勒爾(Rabbi Hillel)時代。 一位異教徒曾要他 單腳站立並歸納總結猶太教義, 他回道:「你不願做的事,別加在你的鄰居身上。」 「這就是教義,其他都只是論述而已。」
And the rabbis and the early fathers of the church who said that any interpretation of scripture that bred hatred and disdain was illegitimate. And we need to revive that spirit. And it's not just going to happen because a spirit of love wafts us down. We have to make this happen, and we can do it with the modern communications that TED has introduced. Already I've been tremendously heartened at the response of all our partners.
猶太教各長老以及早期基督教的奠基者也曾說 任何對聖經的解讀 只要帶有仇恨或輕視的意味,都是不正統的。 而我們必須復興這樣的精神。 它不只是因為 慈愛的精神喚醒我們而發生, 我們必須要「讓它發生」, 我們有能力, 因為有TED介紹給世界的 各種現代傳播管道。 我已經感到無比振奮, 看見各位參與者所做出的回應。
In Singapore, we have a group going to use the Charter to heal divisions recently that have sprung up in Singaporean society, and some members of the parliament want to implement it politically. In Malaysia, there is going to be an art exhibition in which leading artists are going to be taking people, young people, and showing them that compassion also lies at the root of all art. Throughout Europe, the Muslim communities are holding events and discussions, are discussing the centrality of compassion in Islam and in all faiths.
我們在新加坡有一組人 準備用《慈悲憲章》消弭 新加坡社會最近出現的許多分歧。 議會的某些成員也希望 可以將憲章提昇到政治層面。 在馬來西亞,我們準備辦一場美術展覽 讓有名的藝術家 帶領人們,尤其是年輕人, 向他們展示,慈悲 其實是各種藝術的源頭。 在整個歐洲,各個穆斯林社群 舉辦了多場活動跟討論會, 討論以悲憫為中心的思想 在回教以及其他宗教的重要性。
But it can't stop there. It can't stop with the launch. Religious teaching, this is where we've gone so wrong, concentrating solely on believing abstruse doctrines. Religious teaching must always lead to action. And I intend to work on this till my dying day. And I want to continue with our partners to do two things -- educate and stimulate compassionate thinking. Education because we've so dropped out of compassion. People often think it simply means feeling sorry for somebody. But of course you don't understand compassion if you're just going to think about it. You also have to do it.
然而《慈悲憲章》的開始並不是句點。 對於宗教的教誨,我們長久以來都走錯了路, 所以僅止於相信深奧的教義。 宗教教誨應該要付諸行動。 而我決定貫徹到生命的盡頭。 而我想繼續與各位分享的是 請繼續貫徹這兩件事- 教育群眾,以及激發慈悲的心。 我們需要教育是因為我們 已經失去憐憫的心太久了。 人們常覺得憐憫的心只是 對某些人感到愧疚而已。 然而,如果你只是這樣想, 那麼你並不懂得憐憫的真義。 你還必須去實行。
I want them to get the media involved because the media are crucial in helping to dissolve some of the stereotypical views we have of other people, which are dividing us from one another. The same applies to educators. I'd like youth to get a sense of the dynamism, the dynamic and challenge of a compassionate lifestyle. And also see that it demands acute intelligence, not just a gooey feeling.
我希望媒體也可以參與這一部分。 因為媒體的角色不可或缺 幫助我們破除對於社會上其他人 根深蒂固的成見, 防止我們疏遠彼此。 教育人士的責任也同等重要。 我希望年輕人了解 慈悲生活的力量、精神 與挑戰, 並且發覺這需要同等靈敏的智慧, 而不是濫情感傷。
I'd like to call upon scholars to explore the compassionate theme in their own and in other people's traditions. And perhaps above all, to encourage a sensitivity about uncompassionate speaking, so that because people have this Charter, whatever their beliefs or lack of them, they feel empowered to challenge uncompassionate speech, disdainful remarks from their religious leaders, their political leaders, from the captains of industry. Because we can change the world, we have the ability.
我也呼籲學者勇於探索 自身以及其他文化中 關於慈悲的部分。 而最重要的也許是 培養對於缺乏同情心的言論 的敏銳感覺。 這麼一來,因為有《慈悲憲章》, 不管人們的信仰為何,沒有也沒關係, 他們會感覺自身的力量 足以挑戰不夠悲憫關懷的言論, 那些鄙視的字句 發自於他們的信仰或政治領袖, 或是產業界的大老。 因為我們可以改變世界, 我們有這個能力。
I would never have thought of putting the Charter online. I was still stuck in the old world of a whole bunch of boffins sitting together in a room and issuing yet another arcane statement. And TED introduced me to a whole new way of thinking and presenting ideas. Because that is what is so wonderful about TED. In this room, all this expertise, if we joined it all together, we could change the world. And of course the problems sometimes seem insuperable.
我以前從沒想過憲章可以放上網路。 我還困在舊世界裡, 認為研究就是一群人坐在室內 發表一條又一條晦澀難解的理論。 而TED為我提供了一種全新的方法 來思考以及發表構想。 這就是TED美妙的地方。 在這裡聚集了這麼多專家, 如果我們可以集結力量 我們就能改變世界。 當然,有些時候,這些問題看似沒有解答。
But I'd just like to quote, finish at the end with a reference to a British author, an Oxford author whom I don't quote very often, C.S. Lewis. But he wrote one thing that stuck in my mind ever since I read it when I was a schoolgirl. It's in his book "The Four Loves." He said that he distinguished between erotic love, when two people gaze, spellbound, into each other's eyes. And then he compared that to friendship, when two people stand side by side, as it were, shoulder to shoulder, with their eyes fixed on a common goal.
不過在演說的最後我想引用 一位英國學者,牛津學者的話, 我不太常提到他, C.S.路易斯。 不過他寫過的一句話震撼了我, 從我的學生時期一直到現在。 這句話出自於他的《四種愛》。 他說,他感覺到情愛, 就在兩個人凝望彼此,為對方的眼神著迷的時候。 他把這種感情與友情比較: 友情是兩個人併肩在一起 眼睛望向一個共同的目標。
We don't have to fall in love with each other, but we can become friends. And I am convinced. I felt it very strongly during our little deliberations at Vevey, that when people of all different persuasions come together, working side by side for a common goal, differences melt away. And we learn amity. And we learn to live together and to get to know one another. Thank you very much. (Applause)
我們不需要愛上彼此, 但我們可以成為朋友。 我是如此相信的。 我有非常強烈的感覺 當我們還在瑞士的薇威商討時, 我認為如果追求不同目標的人們 可以集結在一起,並肩努力 朝著共同的夢想前進, 我們的差異將會消融。 我們會懂得和睦。 然後我們會學到如何共處,以及了解彼此。 非常感謝各位。 (鼓掌)