大约一千五百年前，有一位青年抛弃了世上的财物和光 明的前途，住在罗马东边几里外山上的一个洞穴中。 Around 1500 years ago, a young man who had left his worldly possessions behind and had abandoned a promising career took up residence in a cave on the side of a mountain some miles east of Rome.
在那里，他独自生活了三年，贫寒孤独，寻求神。 There he lived for three years, cold, destitute, alone, and seeking God.
我想，大多数路过的人都会怀疑他是否失去了理智。 I would imagine that most passers-by would have wondered whether he had lost his mind.
他们中有谁会想到，这洞中的青年正是西方文明将要成长的种子呢？ Would any one of them have guessed that the young man in the cave was, in fact, the seed from which Western civilization would eventually grow?
在许多方面，我们要谈论的这位人物是所有关键人物中最关键的。 In many ways, the figure we're about to consider is the most pivotal of all the pivotal players.
努西亚的圣本笃对拯救西方基督教文化的贡献，或许超过了任何人。 For perhaps more than anyone else, St. Benedict of Nursia contributed to the saving of Christian culture in the West.
在罗马秩序崩溃、蛮族入侵者在曾经伟大的文明废墟中搜寻时，本笃创立了一个宗 教团体，它保留了旧文明的精华，并促成了一种特别的基督徒生活方式的出现。 At a time when Roman order had collapsed and barbarian invaders were picking through the rubble of a once great civilization, Benedict founded the religious community that would, in time, preserve the best of the old and allow for the emergence of a particularly Christian way of life.
因此，毫不夸张地说，没有本笃，就没有阿奎那，没有锡耶纳的加 大肋纳，没有罗耀拉的依纳爵，没有米开朗基罗，也没有纽曼。 And so, it is absolutely no exaggeration to say without Benedict, there would be no Thomas Aquinas, no Catherine of Siena, no Ignatius of Loyola, no Michelangelo, and no John Henry Newman.
纽曼特别华丽地赞美了本笃和他的子孙重建文明的方式。 Newman paid particularly eloquent tribute to the manner in which Benedict and his sons rebuilt a civilization.
人们看到，乡间有沉默的人在挖掘、清理、建造。 Silent men were observed about the country, digging, clearing, and building.
还有一些沉默的人坐在寒冷的修道院中，辛苦地抄写他们所保存的手稿。 And other silent men were sitting in the cold cloister while they painfully copied and recopied the manuscripts which they had saved.
渐渐地，林中的沼泽变成了隐修院、宗教之家、农场、修道院、村庄、学府和城市。 By degrees, the woody swamp became a hermitage, a religious house, a farm, an abbey, a village, a school of learning, and a city.
我们的另一位关键人物，G.K.切斯特顿，回应他那个时代批评教会代 表黑暗时代回归的人，说：「在黑暗时代，唯一真正的光明就是教会。」 Another of our pivotal players, G.K. Chesterton, reacting to critics in his own time who claimed that the church represented a return to the dark ages, said, "The only real light during the dark ages was the church."
他指的是圣本笃的属灵后裔，他们不懈地保存了塞涅卡、西 塞罗、柏拉图、亚里士多德、阿里斯托芬和凯撒的作品。 His reference was to the spiritual descendants of Saint Benedict, who relentlessly preserved Seneca, Cicero, Plato, Aristotle, Aristophanes, and Caesar.
事实上，我们从古代世界继承的几乎所有有价值的东西。 In fact, practically everything of value that we have from the ancient world.
我们这个时代最引人注目的问题之一是，是否又一个本笃时刻正在临到我们。 One of the most compelling questions of our time is whether another Benedictine moment might be upon us.
也就是说，在文化危机中，古典文化的精华必须被保存的时刻。 That's to say, a time when the best of the classical culture must be preserved during a cultural crisis.
哲学家阿拉斯代尔·麦金太尔曾著名地表示：「我们等 待的不是戈多，而是另一个无疑大不相同的圣本笃。」 The philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre famously opined, "We are waiting not for a Godot, but for another doubtless very different Saint Benedict."
那么，如果没有本笃，天主教会会怎样呢？ So if there was no Benedict, what would have happened to Catholicism?
只有神知道。 God only knows.
我想到伟大的艺术史学家、文化史学家肯尼思·克拉克。 I think of Kenneth Clark, the great art historian, cultural historian.
他说：「你知道，我们是勉强渡过难关的。」 He said, "You know, we got by by the skin of our teeth."
正是因为本笃这样的人和一些爱尔兰修士，他们坚守西方文明 的遗产，保存了圣经和其他一切，才使西方文明成为可能。 It was because of people like Benedict and some of those Irish monks who clung to the remnants of Western civilization, who preserved the scriptures and all that, that made Western civilization possible.
如果没有他们，这些人在某些情况下几乎处于世界 的边缘，紧紧抓住文化的边缘，我们就无法成功。 If they weren't there, these people literally clinging to the edges, in some cases, of the world, but clinging to the edges of a culture, we wouldn't have made it.
因此，我确实认为，在神的护理中，本笃这样的人出现了。 And so I do think in God's providence, people like Benedict appeared.
我说，就像一粒小种子，这是芥菜种的原则。 I mean, like a little seed, it's the mustard seed principle.
从那微小的开始，产生了伟大的繁荣。 From that little beginning came this great flowering.
但没有他们，我不知道。 But without them, I don't know.
我的意思是，文明可以彻底崩溃。 I mean, civilizations can utterly collapse.
对此有许多证据。 There is a lot of evidence of that.
这事本可以发生在基督教中。 It could have happened in Christianity.
所以我认为像本笃这样的人至关重要。 So I think someone like Benedict is absolutely crucial.
与纽曼、圣依纳爵或圣奥古斯丁不同，这些人留下了详细的 属灵自传，而历史上的本笃仍是一个相对难以捉摸的人物。 Unlike John Henry Newman, Saint Ignatius, or Saint Augustine, who left us detailed spiritual autobiographies, the Benedict of history remains a relatively elusive figure.
关于他的主要资料来源是圣教宗额我略大帝的对话集，写于本笃去世约五十年后。 The principal source for his life is the dialogues of St. Pope Gregory the Great, written about 50 years after the death of Benedict.
按照当时的习惯，额我略的记述充满了传奇和神迹故事。 In line with the custom of the time, Gregory's account is massively hagiographical and filled with stories of the fantastic and the miraculous.
但从他的叙述中，我们可以提炼出一些历史上可靠的细节。 But from his narrative, we can cull a number of historically reliable details.
圣本笃约生于480年，努西亚地区，罗马以北 ，也就是说就在帝国灭亡公认日期的几年后。 St. Benedict was born in the region of Nursia, north of Rome, around the year 480, which is to say just a handful of years after the date generally accepted for the fall of the empire.
只能想象当时文化和政治的混乱。 One can only imagine the cultural and political chaos of that moment.
他的父母似乎很富裕，可能是贵族，因为他们有能力送他到罗马接受正规教育。 It appears his parents were well-to-do, perhaps nobility, for they had the means to send him to Rome for formal studies.
在永恒之城的大约六世纪初，年轻的本笃厌恶同学们的腐败和 放荡，便逃离了城市，按他自己的话说，是单单讨神喜悦。 While in the Eternal City, sometime at the beginning of the sixth century, the young Benedict became disgusted with the corruption and lasciviousness of his fellow students, and so he fled from the city and sought, in his own words, to please God alone.
他退到乡间，在罗马以东约四十五英里的苏比亚科小镇 附近的崖边洞穴中找到庇护，作为隐士生活了三年。 Retreating to the country and finding refuge in a cave on a cliffside near the little town of Subiaco, about 45 miles east of Rome, there he lived as a hermit for three years.
从四世纪到六世纪，东西方一些最优秀的人都真切地隐居 山中，过着禁欲、贫穷和祷告的生活，远离世俗的腐败。 From the fourth to the sixth centuries, some of the best and brightest in both the East and the West took quite literally to the hills to live lives of austerity, poverty, and prayer, far from the corruption of the world.
想想圣约翰·屈梭多模、圣耶柔米或圣尼撒的额我略，甚至圣奥古斯丁，他在被迫担 任主教之前，渴望建立一个修道院，他和几个朋友可以过简单的祷告和学习生活。 Think, for instance, of St. John Chrysostom or St. Jerome or St. Gregory of Nyssa, or even of St. Augustine, who, before he was pressed into service as a bishop, longed to establish a monastery where he and a handful of friends would live lives of simplicity in prayer and study.
这些伟大人物的属灵父亲是旷野的圣安东尼，他在三世纪抛弃了安 逸的生活，将所有财物分给穷人，自己在埃及旷野中成为隐士。 Now the spiritual father of all these great figures was St. Anthony of the desert, who in the third century abandoned the life of ease and comfort, gave all his goods to the poor, and set himself up as a hermit in the Egyptian desert.
是什么驱动这些人呢？ What was driving these men?
他们深信在当时普通的文化框架内，无法连贯地过真实的基督徒生活。 It was a deep conviction that the authentic Christian life could not be lived coherently within the ordinary cultural framework of their time.
政治混乱、蛮族入侵和经济不稳定对此有很大影响。 Political confusion, barbarian invasions, and economic instability had a good deal to do with it.
但这也是当时道德腐败的结果。 But it was also a function of the moral corruption of the period.
他们认为，必须通过隐居、保存和保护一种生活形式， 来为新文明创造条件，使其最终影响更广泛的文化。 They felt that they had to create the conditions for a new civilization precisely by hunkering down, preserving, and protecting a form of life which could in time influence the wider culture.
圣经对此的形象是挪亚方舟，我们在教会历史上常见这种节奏：退隐、保存、重申。 The biblical image for this is the Ark of Noah, and we've seen this rhythm often in the history of the church: retreat, preservation, reassertion.
也许我们时代最好的例子是年轻的卡罗尔·沃伊蒂瓦在大规模文明危机期间的 隐忍，随后若望保禄二世教宗在适当时机来临时，对天主教精神的宏伟重申。 Perhaps the best example in our time is the hunkering down of the young Karol Wojtyła during a period of massive civilizational crisis, followed by the magnificent reassertion of the Catholic ethos by Pope John Paul II when the propitious moment finally arrived.
本笃在苏比亚科洞穴中度过的三年是孕育和灵性深化的时期。 The three years that Benedict spent in the cave of Subiaco was a time of gestation and spiritual deepening.
多么像一千年后圣依纳爵在曼雷萨洞中度过的时期。 How like the period that St. Ignatius would spend in the cave of Manresa a thousand years later.
他圣洁的名声如此之高，很快其他修士前来寻求他的指导，最终跟随他的领导。 His reputation for sanctity was so great that soon other monks came to seek his advice and eventually his leadership.
额我略讲述了一群修士坚持不懈地请求本笃成为他们的院长。 Gregory tells the story of one group of monks who importuned the reluctant Benedict to become their abbot.
本笃勉强答应，但不久这个小团体被他严格的灵性生活方式激怒，企图毒死他。 The hermit gave in, but soon enough the little community was so annoyed by his demanding spiritual style that they tried to poison him.
但我们听说，当本笃为毒杯祈福时，杯子碎裂了。 But then we hear that when Benedict asked a blessing over the poisoned cup, it shattered.
后来，本笃在苏比亚科周围建立了十几个小修道 团体，并于530年创立了蒙特卡西诺大修院。 In time, Benedict established a dozen small monastic communities around Subiaco, and in 530, founded the great house of Monte Cassino.
蒙特卡西诺是一个本笃会修道院，至今仍存，作为全球本笃会的母院。 Monte Cassino is a Benedictine monastery that endures to the present day, functioning as the mother house of the worldwide Benedictine family.
在蒙特卡西诺的岁月中，本笃为他的团体制定了规章，这 些规章最终对西方修道主义的发展产生了决定性影响。 During his years at Monte Cassino, Benedict labored on the rule for his communities, which in time would exercise a decisive influence on the development of monasticism in the West.
圣额我略讲述了本笃生活中这一时期的一个动人故事。 St. Gregory tells a charming story from this period of Benedict's life.
这故事与他的孪生妹妹斯高拉斯提卡有关，她是一位深深敬虔于神的女子。 It had to do with his twin sister, Scholastica, a woman deeply devoted to God.
按照惯例，她来到修院外的一座小楼拜访她的兄长，两人谈论神学直到深夜。 As was her custom, she came to visit her brother in a small building outside the main monastery, and the two of them spoke of theological matters deep into the night.
当本笃表示该离开时，他的妹妹表示反对。 When Benedict announced it was time for him to leave, his sister protested.
他坚持时，她只是低头祷告。 When he insisted, she simply bowed her head in prayer.
立刻，狂风暴雨骤起，阻止了本笃离开。 Immediately, a terrific storm blew up, which prevented Benedict from leaving.
他微笑着望向妹妹，留下来，两人谈论神的事直到天明。 Smiling knowingly at his sister, he remained, and the two of them spoke of divine things until dawn.
不久之后，大约在540年，圣本笃去世。 Not long after this encounter, sometime around the year 540, Saint Benedict died.You
你提到我们可能正面临一个本笃时刻。 mentioned that a Benedict moment might be upon us.
你能详细说明吗？ Can you elaborate on that?
今天许多人在谈论这个，因为我们正经历一种文化危机，尤其是道德问题。 A lot of people today are talking about that because we're going through a kind of cultural crisis, especially around moral issues.
现在是否是时候重新组织，收缩，就像年轻的本笃所做的那样呢？ Is it a time to regroup, you know, to retrench and do what Benedict did himself as a young man?
他离开罗马。 He left Rome.
他说腐败如此严重，于是离开，经过长时间培养，形成了一种激进的基督徒生活方式。 He said that corruption is so great he left and then cultivated for a long period of time a radical form of the Christian life.
然后，他能够，若你愿意说，影响更广泛的文化。 And then he was able, if you want, to influence the wider culture.
所以，有人建议今天我们处在类似的时刻，需要稍微收缩。 So some are suggesting today we're in a similar moment, that we have to retrench a bit.
你知道，梵二大公会议后，非常强调与文化对话，这当然始终有其价值。 You know, after Vatican II, there was such a stress on dialogue with the culture, and there's certainly always value to that.
但有人建议，现在是否是稍微退隐，重新发现我们自身激进基督信仰的时刻。 But some are suggesting now is it the moment to withdraw a bit and to rediscover our own radical Christianity.
请注意，最终目的始终是改变世界。 Now, mind you, the ultimate purpose is always to change the world.
这绝不是要逃到山中退隐。 It's never meant to run to the hills and retreat.
而是可能暂时退隐，以恢复我们的身份。 It's to withdraw perhaps for a time to recover who we are.
因为如果我们只是走向世界，可能会失去作为基督徒的意义。 Because the danger is if we just go out into the world, we can lose a sense of what it means to be a Christian.
尤其是现在，当基督信仰如此衰弱、遭受攻击时，是否是收缩的时刻呢？ And especially now, when Christianity is so attenuated and so under attack, is it a time to retrench?
最终是为了返回，改变世界。 Ultimately to return for the transformation of the world.The
本笃能对教会和西方文化产生如此决定性影响的工 具是他制定的规章，指导修道院中弟兄们的生活。 vehicle by which Benedict was able to wield such decisive influence on the Church and on Western culture was the regula, the rule, that he crafted to guide the lives of his brothers in the monastery.
至今，全球本笃会仍遵循这规章，它显然与修道生活者相关，但 对于那些希望创建更人道、更有序社会的人，也曾并仍相关。 Followed to this day by Benedictines the world over, the rule obviously has relevance for those who adopt monastic life, but it also had, and has, relevance to those interested in creating a more humane and better ordered society.
我将尝试在讲解规章时牢记这两个参考点。 I will try to keep both of these points of reference in mind as I move through the rule.
它并非凭空而来，而是源于修道理论和实践的悠久传统。 It was not made up out of whole cloth, but rather emerged from a long tradition of monastic theory and practice.
旷野安东尼的个人榜样，奥古斯丁的规章，巴西尔的规 则，卡西安的著作，都深刻塑造了本笃所发展的规章。 The personal example of Anthony of the Desert, the rule of Augustine, the rule of Basil, the writings of Cassian, all profoundly shaped what Benedict developed.
但影响最大的是所谓的主教规章。 But by far the greatest influence was the so-called rule of the master.
大约写于500年的《主教规章》，作者名字已不可考，它汲取了所有这 些来源，重新思考，融入大量经文和教父的思想，产生了新的独特内容。 Written around the year 500 by an author whose name has been lost to us, they took all of these sources, thought them through afresh, blended them with ample amounts of scripture and the thinking of the church fathers, and produced something new and distinctive.
历史清楚证明，这规章具有极大的实际价值。 And as history has clearly proved, the rule is of enormous practical value.
它不仅在灵性上振奋人心，而且行之有效。 It's not just spiritually uplifting; it works.
这规章的开头词意义重大：Obsculta。 The opening word of the rule is of tremendous moment: Obsculta.
意思就是「聆听」。 It means simply listen.
这个词的使用在圣经传统中有深厚的根基。 The use of this term has very deep roots in the biblical tradition.
我们记得，原罪的核心是不愿遵守神的话。 We recall that at the heart of the original sin was a refusal to abide by the divine word.
亚当和夏娃擅自夺取神的特权，吃了分别善恶树的果子。 Assuming the prerogatives of God, Adam and Eve ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
他们以自己的意志为是非的标准。 They made their own egos the criterion of what is right and wrong.
因此，救恩历史始于一个愿意再次聆听主话的人，他名叫亚伯拉罕。 This is why the history of salvation commences with someone, Abraham by name, who was willing to listen once more to the word of the Lord.
以色列在最佳状态下，是一个聆听的民族。 At its best, Israel is a people who listen.
正如申命记六章的示玛祷文所说：「以色列啊，你要听。」 In the words of the Shema prayer from the 6th chapter of Deuteronomy, "Hear, O Israel."
圣保罗在罗马书中简单地说：「信道是从听道来的。」 In his letter to the Romans, St. Paul says simply enough, "Faith comes from hearing."
拿起顺服这强而高贵的武器。 And take up the strong and noble weapons of obedience.
从圣经的角度看，根本问题始终是自我意志。 From a biblical perspective, the fundamental problem is always self-will.
缺乏对在我们里面运行的能力的顺服，正如圣保罗 所说，那能力能成就一切，超过我们所求所想。 Lack of obedience to, as St. Paul puts it, a power already at work in us that can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine.
转换比喻，本笃说：「让我们向神的光明睁开眼睛。」 Shifting metaphors, Benedict says, "Let us open our eyes to the divine light."
他在对抗哲学家查尔斯·泰勒所称的「封闭的自我 」，即向内转的自我，拒绝与超越的现实接触。 He's fighting against what the philosopher Charles Taylor calls the buffered self, an ego that turns in on itself, refusing contact with a transcendent reality.
他对弟兄们说：「聆听声音， He's saying to his brothers, "Listen to the voice.
让光明进来。」 Let in the light."
如果他们与本笃一同进入这个计划，主教应许他们将共同组成一个事奉主的学堂。 If they enter into this project with Benedict, the master promises that they will constitute together a school of the Lord's service.
他将再次以师傅教导学徒的方式，教导他们主的道路。 Once again, he will be teaching them the ways of the Lord in the manner that a master teaches an apprentice.
但通过他们，他将把更广泛的文化引入这个伟大的课堂。 But through them, he will be introducing the wider culture into this great classroom.
个人和整个社会多么容易忘记如何聆听主，如何爱他。 How easy it is for individuals and entire societies to forget how to listen to the Lord and how to love him.
本笃的修道院将是一个训练场。 Benedict's monastery will be a training ground.
接下来，主教谈到各种类型的修士。 Next, the master speaks of the various types of monks.
这似乎有点技术性，也许只对修道史学者有兴趣。 This might seem a bit technical, perhaps of interest only to historians of monasticism.
但这里有一个强有力的属灵教导。 But a powerful spiritual teaching is on offer here.
本笃首先提到共住修士，即在团体中生活的修士。 Benedict mentions first the Cenobites, that is, monks who live in community.
这些是他显然偏爱的修士，也是规章主要处理的对象。 These are the monks that he rather clearly favors and of whom the rule will principally treat.
接下来是隐修士或隐士。 Next come the anchorites or hermits.
他们经过长时间的修道生活训练后，独自出发，进行本笃所说的旷野独修。 Those who, after a long training in the monastic life, set out on their own for what Benedict called the solitary combat of the desert.
有趣的是，这里的建议与他自己的生活方式相反。 It's intriguing that the recommendation here is the opposite of what he himself lived.
本笃从隐士转为共住修士，但他认为相反的过程更具属灵责任。 While Benedict went from hermit to Cenobite, he thinks the reverse movement is more spiritually responsible.
前两种修士完全可以接受，而后两种则绝对不可。 While the first two types of monks are altogether acceptable, the second two are decidedly not.
本笃提到萨拉比特修士和游荡修士。 Benedict speaks of the Sarabites and the Gyrovags.
萨拉比特修士三四人为一组，没有院长，也没有明确的修道规则或纪律。 Sarabites are monks living in groups of three or four, without an abbot, and free of any clear monastic rule or discipline.
他们从各种属灵传统中取自己喜欢的，按自己的喜好生活。 They take what they like from various spiritual traditions and live according to their own likes.
我们今天可能称他们为自助餐修士。 We might call them today cafeteria monks.
第二种令人反感的类型，也是最糟糕的修士，是游荡修士，他们在各团体间四处游荡。 The second objectionable type, and by far the worst kind of monks, are the Gyrovags, those who literally wander around from community to community.
按照规章，他们总在路上，从不稳定，是自己意志和感官享乐的奴隶。 In the language of the rule, they are always on the road, never stable, slaves to their own wills and sensual pleasure.
不难理解，一个六世纪初在意大利写作的属灵导 师所关注的是个人主义、不稳定和缺乏纪律。 It shouldn't be surprising that what concerns a spiritual teacher writing at the beginning of the 6th century in Italy is individualism, instability, and lack of discipline.
当时整个社会都不稳定。 An entire society was unstable at the time.
因此，需要的是明确的属灵中心和有序的团体生活。 Therefore, what was needed was a clear spiritual focus and an ordered community life.
到处流浪，挑选自己喜欢的，避开任何外在权威，既是文化崩溃的原因，也是结果。 Wandering about, picking and choosing what one likes, and eschewing any authority external to one's own will were both causes and effects of the cultural breakdown.
在我们这个时代的漂泊不定和猖獗的个人主义中，我们能否认出这种游荡修士的心态？ Can we recognize something of this Gyrovag mentality in the rootlessness and rampant individualism of our own time?
区分完各种修士后，本笃转向修道院院长的考量。 After distinguishing the various types of monks, Benedict turns to a consideration of the abbot of the monastery.
许多人指出，规章的这一部分相当于本笃的自画像，他不仅是 他亲自创立的修道院之父，也是整个西方修道家庭的父亲。 As many have pointed out, this section of the rule amounts to a self-portrait of Benedict, the father not only of the monasteries that he personally founded, but of the entire monastic family in the West.
重要的是，修道院的领袖被称为院长或女院长，这词源 自希伯来语「阿爸」，是耶稣对神使用的亲昵称呼。 It is crucial to note that the leader of the monastery is called an abbot or abbess, which is derived from the Hebrew Abba, the affectionate term for father that Jesus himself used of God.
院长主要不是行政官员或官僚主管；他是团体的父亲。 The abbot is not primarily an administrator or bureaucratic director; he is the father of the community.
因此，修士们彼此是兄弟。 Hence, the monks are brothers to one another.
这种家庭式的强调在整个规章中清晰展现。 This familial emphasis is on clear display throughout the rule.
本笃大大偏离了当时的社会惯例，坚决主张院长不应徇情面；不应偏 袒有地位、富有和受过教育的人，而应关心所有人在善行中的进步。 Departing dramatically from the social practice of the time, Benedict insists that the abbot should not be a respecter of persons; that he should not favor the landed, wealthy, and educated over the servile, but should rather be concerned only with the advancement of all in good works.
这是圣保罗原则的具体应用，即在基督里，并没 有犹太人和希利尼人，奴隶和自主的，男和女。 This is a concrete application of St. Paul's principle that, in Christ, there is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female.
我们能否在本笃的修道团体内，至少感受到一种基于平等和所有人权利的政体开始形成？ Can we sense, at least within the confines of Benedict's monastic community, the beginning of a polity based on equality and the rights of all?
此外，当考虑到整个修道院的重要事务时，院长必须与所有弟兄商议。 Further, when considering a matter of great moment for the entire monastery, the abbot is obliged to consult with all his brothers.
因为规章规定，神常向年幼者启示最好的。 For as the rule specifies, often God reveals to the youngest what is best.
此外，虽然他是修道院内的最高立法者，但院长在神的指引下立法。 Also, although he is the supreme legislator within the monastery, the abbot legislates under the direction of God.
因为规章又规定，他必须在神面前为自己的决定交账。 For again, the rule specifies he must render an account of his decisions before God.
关键是，院长的权力不是绝对的，而是处于制衡的环境中，完全受法治约束。 The point is, the monarchy of the abbot is not absolute, but it's situated within a context of checks and balances, and very much under the rule of law.
在详细阐明十诫、体行和属灵的仁爱行为，以及许多经典的道德美德后，本笃指 出，修道院的回廊是一个「美德的工场」——一个操练属灵艺术工具的地方。 After carefully delineating the Ten Commandments, the corporal and spiritual works of mercy, and many of the classical moral excellences, Benedict observes that the cloister of the monastery is, in his words, a workshop of the virtues—a place where one practices the instruments of the spiritual art.
正如学徒在师傅的监督下学习技艺的要求，修士在院长的指导下习得道德领域的技能。 Just as an apprentice learns the demands of his discipline under the supervision of his master, so the monk acquires skills in the moral arena under the tutelage of the abbot.
这种属灵教育的过程体现在本笃会的「生活方式更新」誓愿中。 This process of spiritual education is implied in the Benedictine vow of conversio morum, conversion of one's way of life.
哪一种美德对本笃最重要？ Which of the virtues was most important to Benedict?
即便粗略阅读规章也会发现答案：谦卑。 Even the most cursory reading of the rule would reveal the answer: humility.
事实上，他列出了谦卑的十二个层次——通向完全降服于神的步骤。 In fact, he delineates 12 degrees of humility—steps on the way toward a total surrender to God.
第一层是常常将敬畏神放在眼前。 The first degree is to have before one's eyes at all times the fear of God.
这意味着应始终以行神所愿、避神所禁为首要任务。 This means that one should always have as the top priority doing what God wants and avoiding what God prohibits.
第二层紧接着第一层：不爱自己的意志，只爱神的意志，效法耶稣所 说：「我不是要按自己的意思行，乃是要按那差我来者的意思行。」 The second degree follows immediately upon the first: not to love one's own will, but that of God, imitating Jesus who said, "I have come not to do my own will, but the Father's will."
这前两项建议通过谦卑的第三层具体化：总是顺服上级。 These first two recommendations become incarnate through the third degree of humility: always to submit to one's superior in obedience.
第四层更加深刻：在沉默中顺服，即便加在你身上的担子艰难不公。 The fourth makes this even more poignant: to obey in silence, even when the burden placed on you is hard and unjust.
第五层涉及内心生活：愿意向院长忏悔，甚至私存的恶念，免得谦卑只是一种外在表现。 The fifth degree has to do with one's interior life: the willingness to confess to one's abbot or abbess, even those wicked thoughts harbored privately, lest one's humility be but an external show.
第六层是本笃会士应满足于自己的境况，尽管可能卑微低贱。 The sixth degree is that Benedictines should be satisfied with their conditions and circumstances, though they may be base and vile.
想想我们花多少时间精力去使家居完美，这造成了多少内外的纷扰。 Think how much time and energy we spend on making our homes and apartments just so, and how much inner and outer turmoil this causes.
第七层是修士不仅口述自己是所有弟兄中最低微的，而且心里真正相信。 The seventh degree is that the monk not only says with his lips that he is the lowest of all the brothers, but that he actually believes it in his heart.
这并非虚假的谦卑，而是当人向神无尽的良善时自然产生的自我认知。 This is not false humility, but rather the perception of self that naturally arises when one is directed toward the infinite goodness of God.
这就是为何最伟大的圣徒倾向于称自己为罪魁。 This is why the greatest of the saints tend to refer to themselves as the worst of sinners.
第八层是本笃会士不应做任何规章未明示、院长未命令的事。 The eighth degree is that the Benedictine should never do anything unless it is explicitly prescribed by the rule and ordered by the abbot.
自我主张和追求个人计划是骄傲的果子。 Self-assertion and the pursuit of one's own projects and plans are fruits of pride.
第九层对我这样喜欢说话的人尤其困难。 The ninth degree of humility is particularly difficult for someone such as myself who likes to talk.
本笃建议修士少言，直到有人问他才开口。 Benedict recommends that the monk be reluctant to speak, keeping silent until someone asks him something.
这似乎有点严厉，但想想：言语造成了多少祸患？ This might seem a bit severe, but think for a moment: how much mischief has been caused by speech?
如果我们在言语上更加谨慎、少言，大家会多么快乐。 And how much happier we'd all be if we were more circumspect, more reticent in what we say.
第十层涉及规章中常出现的一个主题，即笑声。 The tenth degree touches on a theme that surfaces frequently in the rule, namely, laughter.
与我们今天的偏好相反，本笃对轻浮颇为反感。 In opposition to our predilection today, Benedict is rather down on levity.
他说：「不要倾向或急于笑，因为经上记着：愚人在笑声中扬声。」 He says, "Do not be inclined or prompt to laugh, for it is written, the fool in laughing lifts up his voice."
他在别处说，对于引人发笑的笑话和言语，「我们总是随时随地禁止」。 Elsewhere he says, in regard to jokes and words that bring others to laugh, "We banish them, always and everywhere."
那么，他只是个扫兴的人吗？ Well, was he just a killjoy?
我不这么认为。 I don't think so.
我们必须记住，本笃是在一个几乎前所未有的文明危机时期形成他的团体。 We have to keep in mind that Benedict was forming his community at a time of almost unprecedented civilizational crisis.
必须建立一种全新的文化。 A whole new culture had to be constructed.
必须塑造一种全新的人。 A whole new type of person had to be formed.
这不是开玩笑的时候。 It just wasn't a time for jokes.
不过，我很高兴在属灵传统中还有其他更乐于笑的伟大人物。 Now, having said that, I'm awfully glad there are other great figures in the spiritual tradition much more amenable to laughter.
我立刻想到亚西西的方济各、菲利浦·内里和G.K.切斯特顿。 Francis of Assisi, Philip Neri, and G.K. Chesterton come readily to mind.
第十一层谦卑很像第九层。 The eleventh degree of humility is much like the ninth.
他写道：「说话时，修士应当平静、庄重、理性地表达，不提高嗓音。」 He writes, "In speaking, the monk should express himself calmly, gravely, reasonably, and not raising his voice."
再想想，在帝国崩溃后的混乱中，必定常常听到多少高亢不节制的声音。 Again, think of how many raised and intemperate voices must regularly have been heard in the chaotic wake of a fallen empire.
取代自以为是的喧嚷者社会，本笃想要一个谦卑内敛的修道院。 In place of a society of self-important shouters, Benedict wanted a monastery of humble and recollected monks.
最后，我们来到谦卑的第十二层。 Finally, we come to the twelfth degree of humility.
无论做什么，无论工作、唱诗、劳作或旅行，修 士都应低头，眼望地面，时刻感受罪的重担。 In whatever he does, whether at work or in choir or in the fields or on a journey, the monk should keep his head down and his eyes fixed on the ground, feeling at all times the weight of his sins.
在几乎任何社会中，尤其在我们这个社会，骄傲的孔雀往往最有进展，最受关注。 In almost any society, but especially our own, it is usually the case that the proud peacock makes the most headway and gets the most attention.
但本笃对在世俗道路上的进展并不感兴趣。 But Benedict is not particularly interested in making headway on worldly paths.
他想要走向天堂的修士，而那始终是谦卑的道路。 He wants monks who walk the road to heaven, and that is always the way of humility.
在谈论修士类型、院长角色和修道院作为美德学 堂的基本操练后，本笃转向最重要的事：祷告。 Having considered the types of monks, the role of the abbot, and the fundamental disciplines of the school of virtue, which is the monastery, Benedict turns to what is most essential: prayer.
将心思意念向神举起。 The lifting of the mind and the heart to God.
本笃会士的生活以祷告为中心，并受其制约。 The life of a Benedictine revolves around and is conditioned by prayer.
效法诗篇作者说他每日七次赞美神，本笃命令会士每天正式祷告七次。 Following the example of the psalmist, who said that he chanted the praises of God seven times a day, Benedict commands his charges to pray formally seven times each day.
晨祷之后是初时祷、三时祷、午时祷和九时祷——即每天的第一、第 三、第六和第九小时的祷告——接着是晚祷，最后是就寝前的夜祷。 Laws or morning prayer followed by Prime, Terce, Sext, and None—that is to say, prayers at the first, third, sixth, and ninth hours of the day—followed by Vespers or evening prayer and finally Compline or night prayer before retiring.
本笃著名地告诉他的追随者，要将神的工作为首要，即这稳定的祷告节奏。 Famously, Benedict tells his followers to prefer nothing to the work of God, by which he means this steady rhythm of prayer.
他们被告知，无论在做什么，只要钟声召唤，就要立刻前往祷告之地。 They are told to drop whatever they are doing and head to the place of prayer whenever the bell summons them.
这七次神圣操练的核心是诗篇，神赞美的伟大歌集。 At the heart of these seven sacred exercises are the Psalms, the great songbook of God's praise.
诗篇表达了人类情感、思想和经验的全部。 The Psalms express the full range of human emotion, thought, and experience.
诗篇作者哀哭、歌唱、悲叹、欢呼、盼望、绝望、惊叹、向往、怀疑，并宣告信仰。 The psalmist cries, sings, laments, exalts, hopes, despairs, wonders, aspires, doubts, and professes faith.
本笃会士应如此深刻、规律地进入这些祷告，使之如呼吸般自然。 The Benedictine is meant to enter into these prayers in such a profound and regular way that they become as natural as breathing.
与祷告一起，本笃会生活的另一重要方面是工作。 Along with prayer, the other essential aspect of the Benedictine life is work.
因此有了那句著名的格言：「祷告与工作」。 Hence the famous adage, ora et labora.
当然，工作过去和现在都是修道院实际运作所必需的。 Now, to be sure, work was, and is, essential to the practical functioning of the monastery.
但在本笃看来，工作也有深刻的属灵目的。 But in the mind of Benedict, it had a profound spiritual purpose as well.
例如，在规章处理酒窖的部分，本笃说，应将修道院的物品视为祭坛的圣物。 In the section of the rule dealing with the cellar, for example, Benedict says that one should treat the objects and possessions of the monastery as the sacred objects of the altar.
关键在于，最普通的工作——耕种、收割、清洁、烹饪——都应被视为赞美主的方式。 The point is that the most ordinary work—farming and harvesting, cleaning, cooking—should be seen as a means of giving praise to the Lord.
正如修士每日进入诗篇的节奏，他也每日进入为弟兄们工作的节奏。 Just as a monk enters daily into the rhythm of the Psalms, so he enters daily into the rhythm of work on behalf of his brothers.
在规章第四十八章中，本笃指出懒惰是灵魂的敌人，因此 敦促他的会士每天将一定时间用于体力劳动和属灵阅读。 In chapter 48 of the rule, Benedict specifies that laziness is the enemy of the soul and so urges his charges to dedicate certain hours every day to manual labor and to spiritual reading.
我们注意到，修道院中每个人，从最有学问、最尊贵的到最简单、最低 贱的，都必须亲手劳作，而且本笃将属灵事物的学习视为一种工作。 We remark that everyone in the monastery, from the best educated and most noble to the simplest and most base, is required to work with his hands, and that the study of spiritual things is construed by Benedict as a type of work.
这多么奇妙地预示了本笃的子孙在世纪过程中， 在书写室和田野中所完成的拯救文明的工作。 And how wonderfully this anticipates the literally civilization-saving work, both in scriptoria and fields, that the sons of Benedict would accomplish in the course of the centuries.
我们已经看到本笃如何优先考虑共住的团体生活而非隐士的道路。 We have already seen how Benedict privileges the cenobitic or community life over the eremitic or hermit's path.
规章中反复强调团体生活：弟兄姊妹应学会彼此顺服；年轻的修士和修 女应尊重长者并寻求他们的祝福；伤害团体者应立即忏悔；缺席的弟兄 姊妹应被代祷；犯错的弟兄姊妹应被纠正；应向所有人表示尊重。 The stress on community can be found over and over again in the rule: brothers and sisters should learn to obey one another; younger monks and nuns should defer to their elders and seek their blessing; those who harm the community should immediately do penance; absent brothers and sisters should be prayed for; errant brothers and sisters should be corrected; respect should be shown to all.
对本笃而言，敬虔的生活是共同生活，他的神的家，经过适当的秩 序和纪律，最终会成为更广泛社区、村庄、城镇和城市的基础。 The godly life for Benedict is a life in common, and his family of God, properly ordered and disciplined, would in time become the foundation for wider communities, villages, towns, and cities.
规章的另一个关键特点是强调彻底的贫穷。 Another key feature of the rule is its stress upon radical poverty.
第三十三章讨论本笃会士是否应拥有任何私有财产，以这 种惊人的方式开始：必须彻底铲除修道院中财产的恶习。 Chapter 33, which considers the question of whether Benedictines ought to hold any private property, commences in this striking manner: this vice of property must be radically cut out of the monastery.
他具体规定，任何修士未经院长明确许可，不得擅自给与或接受任 何东西，也不得拥有任何属于自己的东西，规章说得很明确，既不 包括书籍、也不包括写字板或笔，总之，绝对没有任何东西。 He specifies that no monk should ever presume to give or receive anything without the explicit permission of the abbot, nor to possess anything as his own, as the rule has it, neither books, nor tablets, nor a stylus for writing, in a word, absolutely nothing.
确实，一切都必须公有。 Indeed, everything must be held in common.
规章说：「一切都应公有。」 "Omniaque omnium sint communia," says the rule.
托马斯·默顿在他生命的最后评论说，共产主义的共有 思想在政治层面上无法实现，但仍然是修道院的理想。 At the very end of his life, Thomas Merton commented that the communist idea of shared ownership is impossible to achieve at the political level and yet remains a monastic ideal.
圣本笃似乎在这里遵循新约的思想，即耶稣的早 期门徒将财物放在使徒脚前，按各人所需分配。 St. Benedict seems to be following here the New Testament idea that the first followers of Jesus placed their goods at the feet of the apostles to be distributed to each according to need.
除非一个文明建立在比赚钱和积累物质财富更坚实的基础上，否则它必然会崩溃。 Unless a civilization is grounded in something more substantial than money making and the accumulation of material goods, it will inevitably collapse.
通过如此彻底地强调贫穷，规章向西方心灵开启了那些唯有能维持文化的属灵价值。 In stressing poverty so radically, the rule was opening the Western mind to those spiritual values which would alone sustain a culture.
本笃会生活的一个显著特点是对接待客人的开放态度。 One of the most remarkable features of the Benedictine life is an openness to the welcoming of guests.
规章第五十三章以这句直截了当的话开始。 Chapter 53 of the rule begins with this straightforward remark.
「所有来访的客人都应如基督般接待。」 All the guests who arrive should be received as Christ.
本笃说，一旦有客人到来，院长和团体应立即迎接，并表示一切尊重。 Benedict says that the moment visitors are announced, the superior and the community should hasten to greet them and show every mark of respect.
在客人逗留期间，团体应通过点头或鞠躬，向他们表示他们在敬拜所见的基督。 Throughout the guests' day, the community should indicate to them by a nod of the head or a prostration of the body that they are adoring the Christ they see in them.
院长或指定的团体成员应陪同客人祷告，修士们应打破禁食，与客人共餐以示款待。 The superior or a designated member of the community should accompany visitors at prayer, and the monks should break their own fast so as to eat hospitably with the guests.
此外，院长应亲自为客人洗手。 Moreover, the abbot himself should wash the hands of any visitor.
此外，规章明确要求每个本笃会院都应有客座长，以确保有足够的住宿接待来访者。 Furthermore, the rule is clear that every Benedictine house should have a guest master so as to assure that there is adequate lodging for visitors.
我可以亲自证明，这些规定仍被遵守。 I can personally testify that these rules are still followed.
我在世界各地的本笃会院都受到极为热情的接待。 I've been received at Benedictine houses around the world with extraordinary hospitality.
当我到达法国熙笃大修院时，院长确实在全体团体面前为我洗手。 When I arrived at the great monastery of Citeaux in France, the abbot did indeed wash my hands in the presence of the entire community.
正如许多人指出的，这种近乎夸张的开放态度使 本笃会生活不至于自闭，变得退缩和宗派化。 As many have indicated, this almost exaggerated openness to visitors has prevented Benedictine life from turning in on itself, becoming withdrawn and sectarian.
即便他们培养了一种激进的独特基督教形式，本笃会士 从一开始就知道，他们的生活最终是为世界服务的。 Even as they have cultivated a radical distinctive form of Christianity, Benedictines have known from the beginning that their life is ultimately for the world.
因此，本笃会修道院成为文明中心，而不仅仅是退隐之所，绝非偶然。 It is absolutely no accident, therefore, that the Benedictine monasteries became, in time, centers of civilization and not simply places of retreat.
本笃视他的团体为一方面回顾，另一方面展望。 Benedict saw his brotherhood as, in one sense, looking backward and, in another sense, looking forward.
规章所鼓励的激进生活方式旨在呼应使徒行传中描述的生活方式。 The radical way of life encouraged by the rule was meant to echo the manner of life described in the Acts of the Apostles.
并预示将在天堂找到的完全团契。 And it was meant to anticipate the fullness of community that will be found in heaven.
贫穷、谦卑、顺服、祷告、接待、彻底奉献于神， 本笃会士过去和现在都是世上的光、神的使者。 Poor, humble, obedient, prayerful, welcoming, and radically devoted to God, the Benedictine was and is a light to the world and an ambassador of God.
规章的第一个词是「聆听」，这似乎与今天也有关联。 The first word in the rule is "listen," and that seems to have some relevance today, too.
哦，我认为意义重大。 Oh, enormous, I think.
许多人对此发表了评论。 And many have commented upon that.
「聆听。」 "Listen."
它呼应申命记中伟大的示玛祷文：「以色列啊，你要听，耶和华我们神是独一的主。」 And it echoes the great Shema prayer of the book of Deuteronomy: "Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God is God alone."
聆听。 Listen.
看，我们的问题是我们要主导一切。 See, our problem is we have to run the show.
我们掌控。 We're in charge.
我们说话。 We speak.
这是人类的基本问题。 That's a basic human problem.
但聆听更高的声音——有更高的声音在呼唤我们做大事。 But listening to a higher voice—there's a higher voice that's calling us to do great things.
如果我们聆听，那就会发生伟大的属灵事工。 And if we listen to that, then something great spiritually will happen.
尤其在今天，我认为我们都沉迷于机器、活动，四处奔波，我们是个注意力缺失的文化。 Especially today, I think, when we're all so addicted to, you know, our machines and our activity and going from here to there, we're kind of an ADD culture.
停下。 Stop.
聆听。 Listen.
花时间。 Take the time.
专注。 Attend.
这是今天极其重要的属灵教训。 It's a hugely important spiritual lesson today.
这个年轻人本笃出去在洞中坐了三年——他在做什么？ The fact that this young kid, Benedict, goes out and sits in a cave for three years—what's he doing?
很大程度上，他在聆听。 Well, to a large degree, he's listening.
他在聆听更高的声音。 He's listening to hear a higher voice.
我们中有多少人有这样的属灵操练，甚至心理操练，去做到这一点？ How many of us have the spiritual discipline, even the psychological discipline, to do that?
所以我认为这是我们时代的一个美好词语：聆听。 So I think that's a wonderful word for our time: listen.
正如我在开头所说，努西亚的本笃可以说是我们这一系列中最关键的人物。 As I said at the outset, Benedict of Nursia is arguably the most pivotal of all the figures we're considering in this series.
想想这个：圣保罗利用罗马道路传扬福音。 Think about this: St. Paul employed the Roman roads for the preaching of the gospel.
最初的教宗利用罗马帝国的法律和行政结构为教会提供稳定。 The first popes used the legal and administrative structure of the Roman Empire to give stability to the church.
耶柔米、特土良、奥古斯丁和许多人利用拉丁语和罗 马从古希腊继承的概念清晰性来思考基督教的奥秘。 Jerome, Tertullian, Augustine, and many others took advantage of the Latin language and the conceptual clarity that Rome had inherited from ancient Greece to think through the Christian mysteries.
因此，人们真正担心罗马秩序崩溃后，基督教会内爆。 There was therefore the real fear that with the collapse of Roman order, Christianity would simply implode.
本笃和他的门徒的卓越成就是保存罗马文化的精 华，并以此为基，进一步发展和传播基督信仰。 It was the signal accomplishment of Benedict and his disciples to preserve the best of the Roman culture and then to use it as a matrix for the further development and propagation of the Christian faith.
在历史上最关键的时刻之一，本笃保存了一种最终将塑造世界文明的生活方式。 At one of the most crucial moments in history, Benedict preserved a form of life that would eventually shape the civilization of the world.
毫无疑问，凡尊敬苏格拉底、德摩斯梯尼、毕达哥拉斯的人， 凡坦然呼求基督名的人，都对努西亚的圣本笃负有巨大恩情。 It is unquestionably true that anyone who reverences Socrates, Demosthenes, and Pythagoras, and anyone who calls with confidence on the name of Christ, owes an enormous debt to St. Benedict of Nursia.