厭恥 · 寵辱若驚

Yàn Chǐ

Classical Chinese Text

宠辱若惊，贵大患若身。何谓宠辱若惊？宠为下，得之若惊，失之若惊，是谓宠辱若惊。
何谓贵大患若身？吾所以有大患者，为吾有身，及吾无身，吾有何患④？故贵以身为天下，若可寄天下；爱以身为天下，若可托天下。

Translation & Meaning

無論受到榮寵還是屈辱都惶恐不安，重視大患就像愛惜自身性命一樣。 什麼叫寵辱若驚？其實受寵本就處於被動低下的境地——得到榮寵時提心弔膽，失去榮寵時驚惶失措，這就叫寵辱若驚。 什麼叫重視大患如同自身？我們之所以會有深重憂患，是因為執著於私我之身；倘若放下對小我的執念，又還有什麼禍患可言？ 因此，懂得珍重生命而不以天下供奉私我的人，才可以把天下寄託給他；懂得愛惜身心而與天下融為一體的人，才能夠把天下交付給他。

Commentary

青禾散人評注：把自身價值繫於他人評價之上，得讚亦驚、受毀亦驚，終生皆為外境奴僕。唯有勘破「吾有身」的我執，方能立於寵辱不驚的自在之境。

Linguistic & Character Analysis

  • 宠 (chǒng): classical character (chǒng)
  • 辱 (rǔ): classical character (rǔ)
  • 若 (ruò): classical character (ruò)
  • 惊 (jīng): classical character (jīng)
  • 贵 (guì): prize / cherish / valuable
  • 大 (dà): classical character (dà)
  • 患 (huàn): classical character (huàn)
  • 身 (shēn): classical character (shēn)
  • 何 (hé): classical character (hé)
  • 谓 (wèi): called / named / designated
  • 为 (wèi): act / deem / become
  • 下 (xià): under / earthly realm / humble
  • 得 (dé): obtain / acquire / gain
  • 之 (zhī): particle: of / possessive / it
  • 失 (shī): classical character (shī)
  • 是 (shì): this / therefore
  • 吾 (wú): I / myself
  • 所 (suǒ): place / frontier / that which
  • 以 (yǐ): in order to / by means of
  • 有 (yǒu): manifest being / cosmos / to possess
  • 者 (zhě): aspects / those who / things
  • 及 (jí): classical character (jí)
  • 无 (wú): formless void / non-being / without
  • 故 (gù): therefore / thus / consequence
  • 天 (tiān): heaven / nature / cosmos
  • 可 (kě): can / capable of being
  • 寄 (jì): classical character (jì)
  • 爱 (ài): classical character (ài)
  • 托 (tuō): classical character (tuō)