Chapter 12 The Law of Religion - 草稿

在宗教里，lamb的释义;

　　一、羔羊指的是耶稣，耶稣代表羔羊，替人民承受罪恶，他为拯救世人而舍命，显出他何等的大爱。

　　歌中唱道：

　　磐石磐石耶稣基督！除你之外别无救赎，

　　天下人间没有别的名，唯有你是救赎主。

　　你是人子，你是中保，你是神子，你是羔羊，

　　二、迷途的羔羊指的是迷途的人。可以被用来描述物理上的迷路，但是更可以指精神上的迷路。迷路的羊经常被用来被描述未被拯救的人的状态。

　　《圣经》中有这么一句话说：你们中间谁有一百只羊，失去其中的一只，不把这九十九只撇在旷野，去找那失去的，直到找着么？

Today religion is often considered a source of discrimination, disagreement and disunion. Yet, in fact, religion has been the third great unifier of humankind, alongside money and empires. Since all social orders and hierarchies are imagined, they are all fragiles, and the larger the society, the more fragile it is. The crucial historical role of religion has been to give superhuman legitimacy to these fragile structure. Religions assert that our laws are not the result of human caprice, but are ordained by an absolute and supreme authority. This helps place at least some fundamental laws beyond challenge, thereby ensuring social stability.

对于宗教，第一次接触这个角度的观点，别有洞天~ the imagined social orders and hierarchies are fragile and thereby religion plays an essential role againsting those fragile structure to maintain social stability.

some fundamental laws beyond challenge,这种法则有一种迷之魔力，切实到生活中也有很多这样的使用，比如从小给人灌输某种观念，然后他就生活在观念之网里，无论好的或坏的，逐渐地循序渐进地灌输或培养，就能达到灌输者想要其达到的状态

说到social stability,中国大概是因为有孔孟这样的传统加之被统治者广泛传播和使用，而孔孟之类的主要思想则是maintain social stability,这大概也是为什么中国没有宗教的原因之一吧。作者在后文有提到; Many Westerners today believe in ghosts, fairies and reincarnation, 先不说这个conclusion的正确与否单从内容上看，religion里相信神相信鬼怪，但孔子的观念网里则认为“务民之义，敬鬼神而远之，可谓知矣”，“子不语怪，力，乱，神。怪异、勇力、悖乱之事，非理之正，固圣人所不语;鬼神，造化之迹，虽非不正，然非穷理之至，有未易明者，故亦不轻以语人也"，“子曰：未能事人，焉能事鬼？”

Religion can thus be defined as a system of human norms and values that is founded on a belief in a superhuman order.

a religion must possess two further qualities. First, it must espouse a universal superhuman order that is true always and everywhere. Second, it must insist on spreading this belief to everyone. In other words, it must be universal and missionary.

创造出religion的人类真的厉害，感觉除了地球毁灭没有什么能阻挡人类的前进的步伐…（摊手状…(๑`･ᴗ･´๑)）人类未来又将会创造出什么样的惊奇~

These religion understood the world to be controlled by a group of powerful gods, such as the fertility goddess, the rain god and the war god. Human could appeal to these gods and the gods might, if they received devotions and sacrifices, deign to bring rain,victory and health.

对于我们无神论者来说，god果然是神一样的存在*罒罒*，果然“法力无边”(｡ᴗ｡)

Our prayers, our sacrifices, our sins and our good deeds determined the fate of the entire ecosystem. A terrible flood might wipe out billions of ants, grasshoppers, turtles, antelope, giraffes and elephants, just because a few stupid Sapiens made the gods angry.

（对于无神论者说这像一个冷笑话，对于信仰者来说这是真理，没有对错，只有不同。）

He saw that men and women, children and old people, all suffer not just from occasional calamities such as war and plague, but also from anxiety, frustration and discontent, all of which seem to be an inseparable part of the human condition. People purse wealth and power, acquire knowledge and possessions ,beget sons and daughters, and build houses and palaces. Yet no matter what they achieve, they are never content. Those who live in poverty dream of riches. Those who have a million want two million. Those who have two million want 10million. Even the rich and famous are rarely satisfied. They too are haunted by ceaseless cares and worries, until sickness, old age and death put a bitter end to them. Everything that one has accumulated vanishes like smoke. Life is a pointless rat race. But how to escape it？

（我想用作者的原话来缓解这个疑惑; when we break down our prison wall and run toward freedom, we are in fact running into the more spacious exercise yard of a bigger prison.啊啊啊~突然又觉得这是个没有答案的问题…）

When the mind experiences something distasteful it craves to be rid of the irritation. When the mind experiences something pleasant, it craves that pleasure will remain and will intensify. Therefor, the mind is always dissatisfied and restless. This is very clear when we experience unpleasant things, such as pain. As long as the pain continues, we are dissatisfied and do all we can to avoid it. Yet even when we experience pleasant things we are never content. We neither fear that the pleasure might disappear, or we hope that it will intensify. People dream for years about finding love but are rarely satisfied when they find it. Some become anxious that their partner will leave; others feel that they have settled cheaply, and could have found someone better. And we all know people who manage to do sth.

简直是真实的内心写照，作者果然犀利一针见血戳中要点。 Anyway, what we should do and how to escape it?

Great gods can send us rain, social institutions can provide justic and good health care, and lucky coincidences can turn us into millionaires, but none of them can change our basic mental patterns. Hence even the greatest kings are doomed to live in angst, constantly fleeing grief and anguish, forever chasing after greater pleasures.

啊~愚蠢的自己~生而为人~

以下，作者为我们提供了一些解决的方法论;

Gautama found that there was a way to exit this vicious circle. If , when the mind experiences something pleasant or unpleasant, it simply understands things as they are, then there is no suffering. If you experience sadness without craving that the sadness go away, you continue to feel sadness but you do not suffer from it. There can actually be riches in the sadness. If you experience joy without craving that the joy linger and intensify, you continue to feel joy without losing your peace of mind.

Gautama developed a set of meditation techniques that train the mind to experience reality as it is, without craving. These practices train the mind to focus all its attention on the question,"what am I experiencing now?" rather than on"what would I rather be experiencing?" It is difficult to achieve this state of mind, but not impossible.……He instructed his followers to avoid killing, promiscuous sex and theft, since such acts necessarily stoke the fire of craving（for power, for sensual pleasure, or for wealth）, When the flames are completely extinguished, craving is replaced by a state of perfect contentment and serenity, known as nirvana, Those who have attained nirvana are fully liberated from all suffering.……A person who does not crave cannot suffer.

这怎么做得到…既然做不到就必定有suffer…所以也怨不得任何人。要想liberate from suffering,就得修身养性~如果做到了简直就是超脱了尘世…正如超脱了的Buddha;He encapsulated his teachings in a single law: suffering arises from craving; the only way to be fully liberated from suffering is to be fully liberated from craving; and the only way to be liberated from craving is to train the mind to experience reality as it is.