萌發(fā)中的新覺識
多數(shù)古老宗教和靈性傳統(tǒng)都持有共同的洞見：我們“正?！钡男撵`狀態(tài)已被某種根本性的缺陷所污染。這是對人類狀態(tài)的本質(zhì)性洞察，也許我們會稱作壞消息，不過從這一洞中又衍生出第二個洞見，算個好消息：人類覺識的根本性轉(zhuǎn)化是可能的。在印度教教誨中（有時也見于佛教），這種轉(zhuǎn)化叫作覺悟；在基督的教誨中，叫作拯救；在佛教中，叫作滅苦。解脫、覺醒是另外用來描述這一轉(zhuǎn)化的術(shù)語。
人類最偉大的成就不是藝術(shù)、科學或技術(shù)的成果，而是認清人類自己的心障與瘋狂。在遙遠的過去，已經(jīng)有少數(shù)人產(chǎn)生了這樣的認識。2600年前，有一位叫喬達摩·悉達多的印度人，也許是第一個絕對清晰地悟見人類心障的人。后來，人們賦予他“佛陀”的名號，佛陀的意思是覺者。大約在同時，人類早期的另一位覺悟?qū)煶霈F(xiàn)在中國，他的名字叫老子，他留下了一部言教記錄，這是人類有文字以來最深刻的精神著作之一，名叫《道德經(jīng)》。
當然，認識到自心的瘋狂，就是清明理性的萌發(fā)，就是療愈和超越的肇始。一個全新的覺識空間，已經(jīng)在這座星球上顯現(xiàn)。那些稀有的覺悟者向同代人宣講，他們說到罪、苦、幻，他們說：“看看你如何生活吧，看看你在干什么吧，苦都是你自己造的。”然后，他們指出，人類從常態(tài)的集體夢魘中覺醒是可能的，并展示了覺醒之路。
The Arising New Consciousness
Most ancient religions and spiritual traditions share the common insight — that our “normal” state of mind is marred by a fundamental defect. However, out of this insight into the nature of the human condition — we may call it the bad news — arises a second insight: the good news of the possibility of a radical transformation of human consciousness. In Hindu teachings (and sometimes in Buddhism also), this transformation is called enlightenment. In the teachings of Jesus, it is salvation, and in Buddhism, it is the end of suffering. Liberation and awakening are other terms used to describe this transformation.
The greatest achievement of humanity is not its works of art, science, or technology, but the recognition of its own dysfunction, its own madness. In the distant past, this recognition already came to a few individuals. A man called Gautama Siddhartha, who lived 2,600 years ago in India, was perhaps the first who saw it with absolute clarity. Later, the title Buddha was conferred upon him. Buddha means “the awakened one.” At about the same time, another of humanity’s early awakened teachers emerged in China. His name was Lao Tzu. He left a record of his teaching in the form of one of the most profound spiritual books ever written, the Tao Te Ching.
To recognize one’s own insanity is, of course, the arising of sanity, the beginning of healing and transcendence. A new dimension of consciousness had begun to emerge on the planet, a first tentative flowering. Those rare individuals then spoke to their contemporaries. They spoke of sin, of suffering, of delusion. They said, “Look how you live. See what you are doing, the suffering you create.” They then pointed to the possibility of awakening from the collective nightmare of “normal” human existence. They showed the way.
