“大哉死乎！”——它不该出自子贡之口。是的，如果是老子这样说，那没问题。即使出自孔子之口，也不能证明死亡是伟大的，因为他的整个方式是错的。“君子在其中找到休息……”
记住这个词：君子。那是儒家行为准则的最高标准，君子。谁是君子？一个虚假的人。谁是君子？伪君子。谁是君子？戴着礼仪、礼节、品格面具的人，他们是传统的、守旧的。一个君子并非一个独立的个体，他只是社会的一份子。他不是独立的存在，他没有自己的生命。他只是以社会的一部分存在，所以，无论社会允许什么，那就是他的活法，无论社会否定什么他都会拒绝。他选择的是社会而非自然本性。那就是君子之所为：他选择人造的律法，反对自然的法则。君子就是背叛存在的人，君子就是选择社会的人。社会是紧张的，病态的，完全不正常。地球上还没有出现过正常的社会，只是极其稀有地出现过几个正常的个人。
社会是失常的——一大群疯狂的人。君子就是追随这个人群的人，君子是没有灵魂的。当然，社会会给他无比的尊敬，社会必须尊敬这样的人，社会称他们为mahatma，圣人，圣贤。社会尊敬他是因为他为了社会牺牲了自己的生命。
一个真正的人是叛逆的。一个真正的人不会关心尊敬，一个真正的人自然地活他的生命。他不在乎社会说什么或不说什么，社会不是一个真正之人的顾虑。如果你想要虚假，那么必须每一步都顾虑到社会：说什么，怎么说，什么时候说，什么时候不说，怎么活，怎么不活。社会决定每一件事，你只是适应，你只是轮子里的一个齿轮。一个真正的人是不受尊敬的，社会怎么会尊敬一个真正的人？正因如此椰酥才会被送上十字架，佛佗才会被丢石头，苏格拉底才会被毒死。
只有当他们死去社会才会接受他们。那么就没有问题，因为一个死去的椰酥无法叛逆，一个死去的苏格拉底不会离经叛道，一个死去的佛佗会变成阿凡达。活着的佛佗是危险的，但死去的佛佗可以放在庙里敬拜供奉。记住，每当这些伟大的真正的人死去，人们就开始崇拜他们。但他们活着时，人们会激烈地反对他们。把椰酥送上十字架的人和变成基嘟徒的人是同一些人——同一些，那些人是完全一样的。活着的椰酥被折磨，但死去的椰酥非常OK——他还能做什么？一个死去的椰酥掌握在你手里。你来解释他，以他之名创造理论，他无法自己说，你透过他来说。事情一直这样发生。
所以，如果你真的想成为一个真正的人，永远不要过于在意社会说什么。我并不是特指要反对社会，不——那不是叛逆，那是反动。你依据你的本性而活。如果它与社会相应，那非常好，没必要去反对它。如果与社会不相应，非常好，没必要跟随它。
叛逆与反动是有些不同的。反动是一个人可能以任何原因来反对社会，他下决心要和社会对着干，哪怕社会是对的。有时社会是对的，社会不可能绝对错误……即使是一个疯子也会偶尔正常。即使是一个疯狂的社会有时也是正确的，否则它无法存在。要存在，某些事必然是对的，否则生活是不可能的。
反动是同一些守旧的人移向了另一个极端，传统守旧的人不管对错都会追随社会。“对或错这都是我的国家，对或错这都是我的棕教，对或错这都是我的神父，对或错这都是我的经典。”这就是传统之人。那么有一天这些人转身站到另一个极端，他会说，“对或错我都不会追随社会。”这就是反动。他们是同一些人，不是不同。谁是叛逆的人呢？叛逆之人就是他根本不关心社会，只是透过他内在的最中心而活，他是一个遵循道的人。如果社会与内在的道相应，很好，他与社会同行，他不反动。如果社会与他内在的道不相应，他会独自前行。他不是墨守成规的，不会一条道走到黑。他的准则是他内在的灵魂。
“君子”意味着一个被社会说服出卖自己的灵魂又从社会借来一张虚假面具的人。
“大哉死乎！君子息焉……”那么，一个君子该如何对待休息与死亡？君子甚至无法在生命中找到休息！一个君子是非常压抑的，一个君子不允许他的整个存在自由玩耍。他拒绝一千零一件事，然后那些事就在他内在沸腾——他怎么能休息？如果你在生命中不能找到休息，你如何在死亡中找到休息？不要愚弄自己，那是鸦片。你希望某些从没发生在生命中的事情在死亡中发生，那是毒品的作用，你恍惚了。
君子从未如其所愿地爱过，君子从来不生气，君子从来不恨任何人——不是他不恨，而是他不表现出来。所有君子能做的就是换一种表现形式，内在从未改变。恨意在心中生起，但他不表现出来，把它压下去。就这样在心里继续继续地累积了一千零一件事，它们制造了内在的混乱和焦灼。他随时可能爆发——和一个君子一起生活是很危险的。永远不要和一个君子或一个淑女一起生活。女人是美好的，淑女是丑陋的。女人是自然的，淑女是虚假的。君子、淑女，都是虚假的人，只是教养出来的——涂涂抹抹，喷漆打腊，不真实，不诚实。当他们生气的时候他们会微笑，恨你的时候还在拥抱你。你永远不能信赖他们，你永远无法确定他们什么时候在笑什么时候在装。事实上，经过漫长的练习，连他们自己也不能确定什么时候是真笑什么时候是假笑，他们到底是真的爱这个女人还是逢场作戏。
很多人来到我这里说，“我们不确定那到底是不是爱。”人在谎言里生活了那么久，也许很多世了，使得他已经偏离了轨道。人甚至无法感觉到什么是对的什么是错的，什么是真实的什么是不真实的。这样的事每天都在发生，有人过来说，“我和这个女人相爱了，但我不确定我是不是真的爱她。”这说明什么？你和你的存在完全失去了连接，你与自己非常的疏离，你变成了自己的陌生人。这本应是一件简单的事，就像有人说，“我不能确定这朵玫瑰是真的玫瑰还是画的，我不能确定。”这是什么意思？“我不能确定到底是这些树绿还是有人在它们身上喷了绿漆。”但这些东西是你外在的，也许某些时候你能确定——也许树是假的，塑料做的——但你内在的感觉你无法确定？这表明什么？这只是表明你忘掉了真理的语言。你说谎太久太久了，那些谎言几乎变成了你的真理。
君子就是一个不真实的人。永远不要做一个君子，永远不要做一个淑女，做人。那些都是角色，演员。要真实——那是你的生命。真实，你才能成长，因为只有当你是真实的真正的你时，成长才会发生。也许你必须付出很多代价——那是必须要付的。也许会有痛苦——所有的成长都是透过痛苦而来，也许你总是困难重重，但没什么好担心的，它们值得。
苏格拉底死了，是被毒死的——你从没感觉到对他的嫉妒吗？你活着，难道你不想用你的活去换苏格拉底之死吗？他的死比你的活更真实。椰酥被送上了十字架，他只有33岁，知道的还不是很多——但你不想和他置换吗？难道你不觉得被送上十字架也好过你这赝品一样的生命吗？至少他是真实的——被绑在十字架上，但是真实的。你是不真实的。
不真实的生命比真实的死亡更糟糕：真实的死亡更好。不真实的快乐比真实的痛苦更糟糕——永远记住这一点。真实的眼泪比虚假的笑容好得多，因为成长透过真实而来。成长永远不会透过虚假而来，成为君子的想法就是成为假人的想法。
“Great is death!”–but not on the lips of Tzu Kung. Yes, if Lao Tzu were saying it, it would be okay. Not even on the lips of Confucius is death great, because the whole approach is wrong. “The gentleman finds rest in it…”
Remember this word gentleman. That is the highest value in Confucian ethics, the gentleman. And who is a gentleman? A phony person. Who is a gentleman? A hypocrite. Who is a gentleman? One who is masked in manners, etiquette, character, who is conventional, traditional. A gentleman is not an individual, he is just a member of a society.He does not exist on his own;he has no life of his own. He exists only as a part of a society, so whatsoever the society allows is his life, and whatsoever the society does not allow he denies himself. He chooses society instead of nature. That is what a gentleman does: he chooses man-made law against the laws of nature. A gentleman is one who has betrayed existence, a gentleman is one who has chosen society. And the society is neurotic, the society is ill, the society is not normal at all. No normal society has yet existed on the earth. Only rarely have a few individuals been normal.
Society is abnormal–a great crowd of mad people.The gentleman is one who follows this crowd. A gentleman has no soul. Of course, the society respects him tremendously. The society has to respect this man, the society calls him the mahatma, the saint, the sage. The society respects him because the man has sacrificed his life for society.
A real man is rebellious. A real man does not bother about respectability, a real man lives his life naturally. He does not bother about what the society says or does not say. Society is not a consideration for a real man.If you want to be phony,then society has to be considered at each step: what to say, how to say, when to say, when not to say; how to live, how not to live. The society has determined everything. You just have to fit, you just have to be a cog in the wheel. A real man is not respected. How can the society respect the real man? Hence Jesus is crucified;hence Buddha is stoned; hence Socrates is poisoned.
The society accepts these people only when they are dead.Then there is no problem because a dead Jesus cannot be rebellious. A dead Socrates cannot be rebellious, a dead Buddha becomes an avatar. An alive Buddha is dangetous, but a dead Buddha can be worshiped in a temple. Remember, whenever these great real people die, then people worship them. When they are alive, then people are very much against them. The same people who crucified Jesus have become Christians–the same people. The people are all the same.Jesus was intolerable,but a dead Jesus is perfectly okay–what can he do? A dead Jesus is in your hands. You interpret him, you put theories around him; he cannot have his own say, you speak through him. It always happens.
So if you really want to be an authentic person, never be bothered too much about what the society says about it.I am not saying to go specifically against society, no–that is not rebellion, that is reaction. You go according to your nature. If it fits with the society, perfectly good, there is no need to go against. If it does not fit with the society, perfectly good, there is no need to follow the society.
There is a difference between the rebellious person and the the reactionary. The reactionary is one who will go against society whatsoever the case may be. He has decided to go against the society even if the society is right. Sometimes the society is right, because the society cannot be absolutely wrong…even a mad person sometimes is right. Even this mad society sometimes is right, otherwise it would not exist. To exist, at least something must be right, otherwise life would become impossible.
A reactionary is just the same traditional person who has moved to the other extreme. The traditional person follows the society right or wrong.“Right or wrong this is my country. Right or wrong this is my religion. Right or wrong this is my priest.Right or wrong this is my scripture.”That is the traditional man. Then one day somebody turns to just the other extreme. He says,“Right or wrong I am not going to follow the society.”This is the reactionary. They are the same people, not different. Who is a rebellious person? The rebellious person is one who does not bother about the society at all. He simply lives through his innermost core; he is one who follows his Tao. If society fits with that inner Tao, good, he goes with the society; he is not reactionary. If the society does not fit with his inner Tao, he goes alone. He is not a traditional, conventional, straight person. His criterion is his inner soul.
“Gentleman” means one who has been persuaded by the society to sell his authentic being and to borrow a false mask from the society.
“Great is death! The gentleman finds rest in it…”Now what has a gentleman to do with rest and death? A gentleman cannot find rest even in life! A gentleman is very repressed; a gentleman has not allowed his whole being free play. He has denied a thousand and one things, and those are boiling within him–how can he find rest? And if you cannot find rest in life, how are you going to find it in death? Then don’t befool yourself, this is opium. You hope that something will happen in death that has never hapened in life, you are under the influence of a drug.
The gentleman has never loved as he wanted to love, the gentleman has never been angry, the gentleman has never hated anybody–not that he has not hated, but he has not shown it. All the gentleman can do is to change his expressions; the inner being is never changed. Anger arises in him but he does not show it, he represses it. So he goes on and on accumulating a thousand and one things inside him, which create chaos, which are boiling inside.He can burst any moment–a gentleman is a dangerous person to live with. Never live with a gentleman, or with a lady. A woman is beautiful, a lady is ugly. A woman is natural, a lady is fabricated. The gentleman, the lady, are fabricated people, just cultivated–painted, not true, not honest. When they feel anger they smile, when they hate you they embrace you. You can never depend on them, you can never decide when they are really smiling and when they are pretending. In fact, after long practice, even they cannot decide whether they were really laughing or just pretending to laugh, whether they really loved this woman or they were just pretending.
Many people come to me and they say,“We cannot decide whether there really is love or not.”One has lived in lies so long,maybe for so many lives,that one has lost track. One cannot even feel what is right and what is wrong, and what is true and what is untrue. Every day it happens. Somebody comes and he says, “I am in love with this woman but I cannot decide whether I really love her.”What does it show? You have lost all contact with your own being, you have become alienated from yourself. You have become a stranger to yourself. This should be a simple thing. It is as if somebody says, “I cannot decide whether this rose is a real rose or just painted. I cannot decide.” What does it mean? “I cannot decide whether these trees are green or somebody has just thrown green paint on them.”But these trees are outside you. Maybe sometimes you can be deceived–maybe the tree is false, is made of plastic–but about your own inner feelings you cannot decide?What does it show? It simply shows you have forgotten the language of truth. You have lied so long, so long, that lies have almost become your truth.
The gentleman is an inauthentic person. Never be a gentleman, never be a lady. Be human beings. These are roles, actings. Be true–it is your life. Be authentic so that it can grow, because all growth happens only when you are true and authentic. Maybe you will have to pay much–one has to pay; maybe there will be pain–all growth is through pain; maybe you will always be in difficulties, but nothing to be worried about; they are worth it. Socrates died, was poisoned–don’t you ever feel jealous of him? You are alive, would you not like to exchange your life for Socrates’ death? His death is truer than your life. Jesus was crucified. He was only thirty-three, he had not known much–but would you not like to exchange places? Would you not prefer to be on the cross instead of living your bogus life? At least he was true–on the cross, but true. You are untrue.
An untrue life is worse than a true death: a true death is better. An untrue happiness is worse than a true unhappiness–let this be remembered always. True tears are better than false smiles, because growth comes through being true. Growth never comes through falsity, and the ideal of gentleman is the ideal of the false man.
吾同翻译