To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover the prisoner was you.
原谅就是释放囚徒,然后发现那囚徒不是别人,正是自己。
Once upon a time there lived a woman who had a bad temper. She screamed at and scolded everyone around her. For most of her life she believed the fiery rage inside her was everyone else’s fault.
从前有个脾气很坏的女人,她总是对着身边的人大嚷大叫,认为她生气都是因为别人的错。
She went to see a well respected Buddhist monk to ask for advice. The monk told her to take a large clay jug from his kitchen, fill it with water, and stand outside on the sidewalk in front of his house. “It’s hot outside, and that’s a busy sidewalk with lots of pedestrians,” the monk told her as he pointed out the front window of his house. “When a pedestrian passes, you must offer them a glass of water. Do this until there is no rage left inside you.”
于是,她去向一个德高望重的高僧寻求建议。高僧让她从厨房取了一个很大的装满水的陶壶,提着站在外面的人行道上。“外面很热,行人很多。”高僧指着窗户外说,“每一个行人经过你身边时,你都要给他们一杯水,直到你心中没有怒火为止。”
So she stood outside with a water jug and served water to pedestrians every day for the next several weeks. And every morning she asked herself if rage still pulsed through her veins. And every morning the answer was, “yes.” So she continued serving water. Until this afternoon when a burly man walked up, snatched the water jug out of her hand, drank directly out of it, and then tossed the jug on the ground as he continued on his way.
所以在接下来的几周里,她都拿着陶壶站在外面,给过往行人提供水。每天,她都问自己:自己是否还有怒气,而每天她的回答都是肯定的。于是她继续这样做着,直到有一天下午,一个粗鲁的男人走过来,一把从她手里抢过陶壶,一口气喝完了里面的水,把壶扔再地上,径直离开。