How often hath the human heart, which is the recipient of the light of God and the seat of the revelation of the All-Merciful, erred from Him Who is the Source of that light and the Well Spring of that revelation. (Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh 93)

人的心是上帝之光的接收者，為滿懷慈悲者啟示的宅地，然而，人心卻往往迷失了方向而遠離祂那靈光之源和啟示之泉。(巴哈歐拉聖文選粹93)

Although I have read this verse many times, one day the phrase “the human heart, which is the recipient of the light of God and the seat of the revelation of the All-Merciful” caught my eye strongly. That night while I meditated I reflected on this sentence. In the meditation I saw my mind as still and my heart as only an instrument for reflection of whatever it receives. I feel like my heart is at the center of some kind of power. It is surrounded by mercy and love, which are attributes (names) of God. I feel the power from those attributes. I told myself “if I can put my heart in this state of calmness, I can reflect something good from God and find the strength to love others.” I let myself be submerged in the power of the spirit for a while, I can feel my heart is opened and there is an energy from the top of my head. I ask myself again, “if the heart is an instrument for reflection, then what is in my mind?” I begin to understand that when the mind is talking it is not from my heart, but may be idle fancy and vain imagination.

儘管這段經文以讀了好多次，一天「人的心是上帝之光的接收者，為滿懷慈悲者啟示的宅地」，這句話特別抓住了我的心，那晚我就拿這句話默思。在打坐中，我看見我的(意識)心是專注的，而我的心僅僅像是一個接受的器皿，我感覺到我的心像一種力量的中心，被神的愛與憐憫(神的名號)所環繞，我的心也似乎有了那想愛人與憐憫人的力量。那時我告訴自己: 「若平時我的心能進入這種狀態，我就會有從神來的力向去愛人。」我讓自己沉浸在那力量中一段時間，在那期間，我可以感覺到頭頂有一股能量進到我的心，我的心彷彿是被打開著的。在那時，我又問了另一個問題: 「若心只是接收與映射實相的器皿，那麼我的意識心是什麼?」我彷彿理解了，當我有心念時，一種對話狀態的心念，那不是來自我的心，那是意識心，也許那就是神所說的妄想與妄念。

In my experience, a lot of time when my heart reflects something, and I start use my mind to express it, I feel that I never express it well. I know our mind and language has its limits to express what is in our heart. This is why it is frustrating when I expect someone to understand me, to know what is in my heart. In the same way, I realize I can’t know what is reflected in people’s hearts, because they have the same limitation to express it.

在我的經驗中， 很多時候當我的心映射著什麼的，而我試著用我的意識心去表達時，常常會有困難把那從心來的認知表達清楚，我知道意識心與語言在表達時都有極限，這也是為什麼有時當我試著表達時卻又表達不清楚時會感到沮喪。同樣的，我也理解到我無法了解人的心，因為人們也會受到同樣想清楚表達自己的限制。

“The heart knows, the body has no awareness. Whatever we learn through our body, doesn’t teach us about the heart”, according to the Buddha. If we try to approach a person’s heart with our mind, we never can touch it. If we try to approach God’s desire for us with our mind, we can’t understand it either. The meaning of the Words of God can only be reflected through our heart.

佛陀在楞嚴經說過，「心所知，身不能覺；覺在身際，心不知。」我們心知道的，別人是無法用五蘊身心(意識心)去察覺的，若我們以為五蘊身心所覺知的就是真心，那我們就永遠找不到真心了。言下之意告訴我們，若我們用揣測的心想去了解人的真心那會是有困難的。同樣地，若我們用自己的揣測想去了解上帝的心意或是去理解神的話，這也是無法達成的，神的話與心意，只能映射在真誠的心與洞察之眼而被看見。

“Contemplation for an hour is better than formal worship for sixty years.” (Muhammad)

默思一個小時會比六十年的崇拜更蒙神悅納。(穆罕默德)

The next day while I walked in the park with my son, I asked “what is your heart reflecting now?”
He said “breeze, birds singing… “
And then I ask “how do you feel in your heart?”
He said “joy, happy… “
I ask, “and ….Do you feel appreciation?”
He said “yes”.

隔天當我在公園散步時我問兒子: 「你的心現在映射著什麼?」

他說:「微風與鳥叫聲…」

我又問:「你心的感受是什麼?」

他說: 「愉悅與快樂…」

我問:「還有…有感恩嗎?」

他答:「是的。」

If I store a lot of memories and feelings of appreciation in my soul, gifts from God, then I have enough to be content, but only if I reflect on the spiritual meaning of things, not just the things themselves. If I look into the feelings in my heart, I start to have questions for myself, and those questions lead me to a meaning to connect with that event. When I look deeper, I find that the feelings show me what I am attached to and help me to see the spiritual meaning hidden in the reflection. To me, daily events are like a lamp, the spiritual meaning within them is like the light that shines in the lamp. I truly live my life when I discover the spiritual meaning hidden in my feelings. Now I more capable to understand the love of Abdu’l-Baha, which is the love reflected from his heart and from the light of God. His story help me to see what it looks like when a man turns his heart completely toward Sun of Truth.

我知道，若我在靈魂的記憶中儲存許多讓人感激的事與感覺，也儲存有神賜給的恩惠，那麼我的人生就有足夠讓我滿足的了。若事情只是事情而沒有被賦予靈性意義，那麼感恩的心是不容易升起來的。常常當我去注意心的感受時，我會開始問自己問題，那些問題彷彿在引導我進入心的深層去探就那隱藏的靈性意義。當我往深層去看，我常常發現不好的感受中隱藏著執著。對我來說，日常的事情彷彿是燈罩，而那事情的靈性意義才是燈光，那精神會賦予無生命的事情一個生命的價值。當我去了解事情的靈性意義時，事情彷彿就被賦予的生命與光明，當我用心的感受去生活時，我的生活就鮮活了起來。現在我也就更能瞭解阿博都巴哈的愛，他聖者的愛是來自於上帝愛的光輝在他心的映射，他的故事幫助我看見一個聖潔的心完全轉向上帝之光的樣子，讓我有很好的學習目標。

“I looked for God. I went to a temple and I didn’t find him there. Then I went to a church and I didn’t find home there. Then I went to a mosque and I didn’t find him there. Then finally I looked in my heart and there he was.” (Rumi)

我到廟堂去，想尋找上帝，我沒能找到祂。後來我去教堂想尋找上帝，我也沒在那兒找著。然後我去了清真寺，我也沒找到祂。直到我進入心去找，在那兒我看見了祂。(魯米)

When man does not open his mind and heart to the blessing of the spirit, but turns his soul towards the material side, towards the bodily part of his nature, then is he fallen from his high place and he becomes inferior to the inhabitants of the lower animal kingdom. …If, on the contrary, the spiritual nature of the soul has been so strengthened that it holds the material side in subjection, then does the man approach the Divine; his humanity becomes so glorified that the virtues of the Celestial Assembly are manifested in him; he radiates the Mercy of God, he stimulates the spiritual progress of mankind, for he becomes a lamp to show light on their path. (‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Paris Talks 31)

如果人不向靈性恩賜敞開心扉，而是將靈魂轉向物質方面，轉向其肉體本性，那麼他就會從高貴的地位墮落，變得比低等動物還不如。…… 相反，如果靈魂的精神品性得到加強，控制了其物慾方面，人就會接近神；他的人格就會變得如此高尚榮耀，以至所有神圣美德都在他身上顯現。他會表現出上帝的慈悲，促進人類的精神進步，因為他變成了一盞照耀人類前進道路的明燈。 (阿博都巴哈，巴黎談話31)

What is the dust which obscures the mirror? It is attachment to the world, avarice, envy, love of luxury and comfort, haughtiness and self-desire; this is the dust which prevents reflection of the rays of the Sun of Reality in the mirror. The natural emotions are blameworthy and are like rust which deprives the heart of the bounties of God. ……There is a power which purifies the mirror from dust and transforms its reflection into intense brilliancy and radiance so that spiritual susceptibilities may chasten the hearts and heavenly bestowals sanctify them. Which is sincerity, justice, humility, severance, and love for the believers of God. These will purify the mirror and make it radiant with reflected rays from the Sun of Truth. (‘Abdu’l-Bahá, The Promulgation of Universal Peach, 25 July1912 Talk at Hotel Victoria, Boston, MA)

蒙住心靈之鏡的塵埃是什麼呢？是對塵世的依戀、貪婪、嫉妒、愛慕奢華舒適、傲慢和私慾。這些便是阻礙“實質之陽” 映照在心靈之鏡中的塵埃。這些自然的情感是應受譴責的，它們就像鏽斑一樣，剝奪了人心獲得神恩的福分。……然而有一種力量可為心靈之鏡洗去塵埃，把它的映像變得光輝璀璨，以便靈性的情感能夠淨化人心，天國的賜福能夠聖潔心靈。那就是真誠、公正、謙卑、超脫以及對歸信上帝者的關愛等靈性的情感，它們能將心靈之鏡淨化，並讓它璀璨地反射出“真理之陽”的光芒。 (阿博都巴哈，弘揚世界和平 7/25/1912 演講）

As I understand it, our mind exercises free will, it is where we make choices. We can choose to turn our heart toward God or turn it toward our ego. Our mind also can bring up a lot of ideas from our old experiences that disturb the water, if we see our heart as a water body which reflects reality. The mind can distort the reality of what the water reflects. The more turbulence on the water, the feelings of our heart will change. Natural emotions, as described by Abdu’l-Baha, are feelings of the disturbed heart. It may be a sign of too many stray thoughts in our mind. Those thoughts create the unbalance.

就我的認識，我們的意識心是自由意志的所在，藉由不斷的選擇中我們操練它，使其漸漸合乎於神對我們的期許，行在神的旨意中。我們的意識心(自由意志)可以選擇把心轉向神，或轉向自我，我們的意識心也可以從過往的經驗中不斷左右我們的決定。心就像水體，它只是用來映射實境，而意識心就像使水面起漣漪的風或其他動力，它可以使水面起漣漪而影響我們看見水中所映射的；它也可以使水面起大波浪，澎湃洶湧，讓人完全看不清楚水體所要映射的實相。如阿博都巴哈所說，自然的情感(情緒)就是心受波動的，所以情緒是警訊，它在告訴我們有太多不必要的妄想，那是有所執著的徵象，也是意識心失衡的現象。

To me, our soul is like a canvas that we paint in our life. The heart reflects the image for us to paint on it. Our mind can decide if we turn our heart toward God to reflect what He has ordained for us, or turn our heart to ourselves to paint what we desire. If we follow the will of God, “That the heart is the throne, in which the Revelation of God the All-Merciful is centered.(Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh 93)” The canvas will become an art work we finish with God, our soul (canvas) will become a work of the Revelation of God. The mind will become the fruit of the spiritual tree like ‘Abdu’l-Bahá said:

對我來說，靈魂就像我們一生要畫的畫板，我們看著心所映射的「影像」去畫。我們的意識心可以決定轉向上帝，依著映射在心上的上帝意志去畫；或我們可以將意識心轉向自己，依著自己的意思去畫。若我們的心轉向神，「心即寶座，為滿懷慈悲者上帝啟示所環繞的中心。(巴哈歐拉聖文選粹93)」我們所畫的就是我們與神共同完成的藝術生活，在靈魂所記錄的書簡就是上帝的天啟之作，這樣的心智就是阿博都巴哈所說的靈性生命之樹的果實。

The mind is the perfection of the spirit and a necessary attribute thereof, even as the rays of the sun are an essential requirement of the sun itself. (‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Some Answered Questions, 55)

心智是人的精神力量。精神是燈，心智則是燈發出的光。精神是樹，心智則是果。心智是精神的結晶，是精神的基本品質，如同陽光是太陽的精神基本要素。(阿博都巴哈，已答之問55)

Be the master of self. This means to use our mind well. Exercise our mind with free will, but only when our will is aligned with God’s will. This is what it is to be a true master of one’s self.

做自己心的主人，就是有正念，時時做適當的選擇，在自由意志下鍛鍊心念。練習使自己的意志愈來愈符合於上帝的意旨，那麼，我們就是在學習做自己心的主人。