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埃克哈特談業力
問:你談到臨在和本體是我們享受有形、創造積極的環境，或使周圍的環境變得更溫和的關鍵。那麼業力是如何融入這一切的呢？
埃克哈特：每個人都會出生在一個特定的外在環境裡。同時，每個人天生就攜帶著某些特質 – 這些特質也許部分是遺傳的，也可能源自其它。換句話說，一個人天生就有著某些既定模式。我們不需要去研究這些模式從哪兒來，但事實就是一個人會出生在一個特定的環境裡。也許是一個充滿暴力的環境，也許是一個相對平和的環境。一個人生來就繼承了某種內在模式。即使痛苦之身也有一部分是繼承的。
當你進入一個環境，你會遇到一整套的限制。而那個環境會進一步限制你，在這其中沒有‘選擇’的餘地 – 有的只是‘影響’。你發現自己身處在這個攜帶著某些無意識模式的世界裡，這些模式限定了這個人會成為什麼樣。業力，在我看來，就是那些掌控著你的生活的無意識的習性。業力，一部分是屬於集體的，一部分是屬於個人的。如果你將業力看作是在你之外的某個抽象的東西，你就無法瞭解它，只有藉著觀察你自己，你才能夠明白什麼是業力，然後，你會瞭解很多其他的事情。如果你想要弄懂業力，你需要去看你自己。
當某種完全不屬於業力的東西在我的內在升起時，我才開始瞭解什麼是業力。關鍵就是：揚升的意識，或者說臨在，或者說靈性的覺醒，並不是業力的一部分。它是在另外一個層面的，它打破了因果循環。你並不是靠積累，在東方人們所謂的“善業”，來使自己覺醒。當然，對這個層面來說這沒什麼不好，你可以在你的監獄之中搭建一些圍牆或設施，以使這監獄更加舒適一些，但是，還有一個東西，來自於完全超越業力的地方，它可以隨時進入你的生命。
再一次出生當然是業力的一部分。再一次出生更深層的含義是與形式認同。我們甚至不需要去相信輪迴轉世或其它說法，你只需要在你自己的生活中去觀察再一次出生。每一次，當你與腦海中升起的念頭認同，也就是與形式認同，你就降生在思維之中。你的身份，你的關於自己的感覺就是在念頭裡面。這就是業。你的業力就是對你所繼承下來的，那些受限制的模式的無意識認同。這是將意識完全與那些受限的反應模式等同起來。有人會說，意識就是夢。這就是為什麼在很多靈性的傳統中，我們使用“覺醒”這個詞的原因。意識其實是覺醒，但是當你將它與無意識的模式混為一談，意識就會是在一種做夢般的狀態。一天中有很多次，你都在情緒或思維的習性反應中再一次出生，在腦海裡升起的念頭中再一次出生。
在外在，業力會創造出情境來證明自己是對的。所以，如果你相信這世界充滿了壞人，你就會遇到很多壞人 – 或者說，無意識的人。即使如果有人是介於有意識和無意識之間，你的信念也會將他們拽入無意識之中。業，就是有意識的臨在的完全缺席。它是機械的。業力自動演繹著它自己。
時間無法將你從業力之中釋放出來。“只有當你花費了足夠的時間，才能從業力之中解脫出來”，這是一個誤解。業力會不斷更新它自己，不斷重複它自己。唯一可以使你從業力之中解脫出來的是臨在的揚升。在業力之輪轉動的任何一個點，臨在都可以進來。它可以發生在一個已經被判處死刑的身處監獄的罪犯身上。它可以發生在一個從未聽說過任何與靈性有關的事情的人身上。它可以發生在一個已經靜心冥想三十年的人身上。
臨在將你從業力之中解脫。不是一瞬之間完全解脫。業力有一個巨大的動能。思維模式、情緒模式、習性反應模式。隨著臨在的升起，慢慢地業力漸漸削弱，你會感到自己逐步地從這些模式裡退出。它們變得不再那麼重要，因為一旦你是臨在的，這些思維模式可能依舊會升起，但是它們不再是問題重重。它們不再像從前那樣製造痛苦，因為它們已經在覺知之光中被看見。在這覺知之光中，這些模式不再掌控著你的人生。
痛苦之身是業力的一部分，在有的人身上，痛苦之身可能很強烈，在其他人身上也許不那麼強。當臨在升起，你就從業力中被釋放。然後，有另一種完全不同的因素進入你的生活。比如，一個人需要相當程度的臨在的支持，才能從集體的業力中被釋放出來。然後，這業力會將你刪除，也許在你的內在，你感到不再受這業力影響，或者你可能會發現自己搬遷到其他的地方生活。
對一個出生在巨大的集體業力之中的人來說，要想不被這業力之流捲入，需要很大程度的臨在。當希特勒上台，很少有人能夠使自己抽離出來。有的人做到了，他們離開了。他們可以看清楚正在發生的事，他們足夠強大，可以使自己不與這集體認同。要將自己從集體業力之中脫離出來需要很多臨在 – 有的人擁有這能力。於是，這成了我們的命定之路：藉著成為臨在的接收器，去超越業力。
每一個正在覺醒的人遲早會發現他們成為了別人的老師。一位靈性導師所做的就是指出我們可以不再認同這些無意識的模式，指出從中覺醒的可能性。靈性導師教導你超越業力。這就是你的作用，這作用會日益增強，於是，你要麼成為一位正式的導師，要麼成為一位非正式的導師。
靈性的覺醒與走出業力是同一件事。很多人會被你吸引。任何正在經歷覺醒過程的人都已經是一位老師。教導的意思是當某人提到或問到某個問題，或是告訴你關於他們的苦惱時，你發現自己在空間中聆聽。你可能會發現那個答案從你聆聽的寧靜場域之中出現。你並沒有感到“我現在要來教導這個人”。你會發現這教導是自發的。你將幫助人們走出與無意識的認同，也就是超越業力。這適用於每一位正在覺醒的人。
當你教導的時候，意識與你的頭腦和諧一致。你的頭腦與更深的意識對頻，頭腦被作為一個管道使用。然後詞語自然從你的口中流淌而出。歸根結底，真正的老師只有一位：那覺醒的意識就是這位老師。它只能教導那些在一定程度上準備好了的人。這個教導需要被接收。如果只有頭腦的密度的話，這個教導不會發生。
當人們被你吸引而來 – 那些準備好了的人 – 你會感到吃驚不已，因為你發現自己在說一些甚至你自己都不知道的東西。只有當問題被提出，那個意識才會回應。你教導的時候，你也在學習。很多了悟會出現。教與學是同一個過程。當你教導的時候，你加深了你的了悟。你在這裡是為了幫助人們超越業力。
重要的是要瞭解時間不會將你從業力中釋放出來。小我的頭腦會說“我需要更多的時間才能解脫”。人們需要更多時間的唯一理由是“他們需要時間來意識到他們並不需要時間”。也許需要再經歷二十年的痛苦，他們才能發現，其實他們並不需要時間。在他們意識到那個永恆的力量之前，他們也許需要再多遭受一些痛苦。當然，這個永恆，就是業力的終結。
Eckhart on Karma
Q: You talk about Presence and Being as the keys to enjoying form, and creating positive circumstances, or softening circumstances. How does karma fit into all of that?
ET: Everybody is born into a certain external environment. Also, everyone is born with certain predispositions – they may be partly genetic, they may be other things. A person is born with certain patterns, in other words. We don’t need to examine where they come from, but the fact is that a human being is born into a certain environment. It may be violent, or it may be relatively peaceful. A person is born with inner patterns that you inherit. Even painbody is partly inherited.
There’s a whole set of conditioning that happens when you come into an environment. The environment conditions you further, and there’s no choice involved – it’s just influences. You find yourself in this world with certain unconscious patterns that have become the conditioning of who the person is. Karma, as I see it, is the unconscious conditioning that runs your life. Karma is partly collective, and partly personal. You can only understand karma not as an abstract subject external to yourself, you can only understand it by observing yourself, and then you know many other things. If you want to understand karma, you need to look at yourself.
I began to understand what karma is when something arose that was not part of karma at all. Here is the key – the arising of consciousness, or Presence, or spiritual awakening, is not part of karma. It is another dimension that breaks into the karmic realm. You do not become awakened by accumulating, as they sometimes say in the East, “good karma”. That’s fine on this level, you can make the walls or furniture in your prison a little more comfortable, but there’s something totally from beyond karma, that can come into your life at any point.
Re-birth is of course part of karma. The deeper meaning of re-birth is identification with form. We don’t need to even believe in transmigration, or whatever, you can look at re-birth in your own life. Every time you identify with a thought that arises, which is form, you are born into that thought. Your identity, your sense of self is in it. That’s karma. Your karma is the unconscious identification with these patterns that you have inherited – the conditioned. It is complete identification of consciousness with the conditioned patterns. Consciousness is dreaming, one could say. That is why we use the word “awakening” in many spiritual traditions. Consciousness is awakening, consciousness is in a dream-like state, when you are identified with the unconscious patterns. Many times a day, you are re-born into an emotional or mental reaction, into thoughts that arise.
Karma creates, in the external, confirmation that it is correct. So if you think the world is full of evil people, you will meet many evil people – in other words, unconscious people. Even people who are halfway between being conscious and unconscious, your belief will pull them into unconsciousness. Karma is the complete absence of conscious Presence. It is automatic. It plays itself out.
Time does not free you of karma. That is a misperception, that if you only spend enough time, eventually you can become free of karma. Karma renews itself and repeats itself. The only thing that can free you of karma is the arising of Presence. At any point in the wheel of karma, Presence can come in. It can happen to a criminal in prison, condemned to death. It can happen to somebody who’s never heard of anything spiritual. It can happen to somebody who’s been meditating for thirty years.
Presence frees you from karma. Not all at once. Karma has an enormous momentum. The thought patterns, the emotional patterns, the reactive patterns. As Presence arises, gradually karma diminishes and you will experience a fading out of those patterns. Not that it matters that much anymore, because once you are present, those thought patterns may still arise, but it is no longer problematic. They no longer cause the suffering that they would have caused before, because they are seen in the light of awareness. In the light of awareness, the patterns no longer dominate your life.
Painbody is part of karma, which may be strong in some and not so in others. As Presence arises, you are freed from karma. Then you have another completely different factor coming into your life. For example, for a person to become free of collective karma, you need a considerable amount of Presence for that to come in. It then will remove you, either internally or you may find yourself somewhere else.
For a person who is born into vast collective karma, it requires considerable Presence for one not to be drawn into that. When Hitler came into power, not many people were able to remove themselves. Some were, and they left. They could see what was happening and they were strong enough not to be identified with the collective. To take yourself out of that collective karma requires considerable Presence – and some people had it. It is our destiny, then, to go beyond karma by being the receptacles for Presence.
Everyone who is awakening will find that sooner or later that they become a kind of teacher to others. What a spiritual teacher does is point out the possibility of awakening out of identification with unconscious patterns. The spiritual teacher teaches you to go beyond karma. That is your function, and will become increasingly so, whether you become a formal teacher, or an informal teacher.
Spiritual awakening and stepping out of karma are the same thing. Many people will be drawn to you. Anybody who is going through the awakening process is already a teacher. Teaching means you find yourself listening from spaciousness, when somebody speaks or asks a question, or tells you about their problems. You may find that the answer comes out from that Stillness in which you listen. You don’t have a sense that “I’m going to teach this person now”. You will find that teaching is spontaneous. You will help people to step out of identification with unconsciousness, which means going beyond karma. This applies to everybody who is awakening.
As you teach, Consciousness is becoming aligned with your mind. Your mind is able to tune in to the deeper Consciousness and can be used as an instrument. Then the words come out of your mouth. There is ultimately really only one teacher, the awakened Consciousness is the teacher. It can only teach those in whom there is a degree of readiness. The teaching needs to be received. If there is only a density of mind, the teaching won’t happen.
You will be amazed when people are drawn to you – people who are ready – and you find yourself saying something that you didn’t even know yourself. It’s only when the question was asked, that the Consciousness responded. As you teach, you learn. Realizations come. Teaching and learning is the same process. A deepening happens, as you teach. You are here to help people go beyond karma.
The important thing to know is that time does not free you of karma. The egoic mind says “I need more time to become free”. The only thing that people may need more time for is that they need time to realize that they do not need time”. It may be another twenty years of suffering for them to realize that they do not need time. They may need to suffer a bit more before they realize the power of the timeless. The timeless is of course the end of karma.
