【菩提好聲音 #33】欲望就是我們的永動機 Desire: Our Perpetual Motion Machine

The reason desire possesses such immense "energy" is that it is always in a state of continuous expansion. Unless we uproot it from the core, it will endlessly drive us to serve it.欲望之所以會有如此的「能量」，就在於它永遠都處在發展的進程中，如果不從根本上對治它，剷除它，它就會無休止地驅使我們為之效力。Modern people deeply value personal freedom, often complaining about the constraints of environment or family. In reality, even without external pressure, our minds may still lack true freedom.現代人非常重視個人的自由，我們總是在抱怨環境的束縛，抱怨家庭的束縛，事實上，即使外在環境沒有給我們製造任何壓力，我們的心靈也未必能夠獲得真正的自由。Because desire is omnipresent, we are often controlled by it unconsciously, surrendering our own sovereignty. It is also endless—the moment one desire is temporarily satisfied, a new one follows with higher demands.因為欲望是無所不在的，我們往往在不知不覺中就會被它控制，將自己的主權拱手相讓。欲望又是永無止境的，一個欲望得到了暫時的滿足，新的欲望又會接踵而至，向我們提出更多的要求。When we have a thousand dollars, we want ten thousand, and we must toil for the remaining nine thousand. When we have ten thousand, we want a hundred thousand, and we slave away for the ninety thousand.當我們有一千塊的時候，就希望得到一萬塊，然後我們就必須為完成這九千塊的目標努力；當我們有一萬塊的時候，就會希望得到十萬塊，然後我們又必須為完成這九萬塊的目標努力。Strangely, the more we possess, the more we feel we lack. A person with a thousand dollars feels they only lack nine thousand; but a person with ten thousand feels they lack ninety thousand.常常是我們擁有得越多，反而感覺自己缺少得越多。一個只有一千塊的人，認為自己只缺九千塊；可一個有一萬塊的人，就會認為自己還缺九萬塊。Humanity once dreamed of inventing a perpetual motion machine. In truth, desire is our perpetual motion machine.人類曾經夢想製造出永動機，其實，欲望就是我們的永動機。For an individual, this lifelong desire ends with the death of the physical body. But for human society as a whole, individual desires are skyrocketing with economic growth, fueled further by a massive, increasing population.具體到每個人，這一生的欲望會隨著色身的消亡而結束。但對於整個人類社會來說，一方面，個人欲望正隨著經濟發展而飛速增長；一方面，人口遞增又製造出了龐大的基數。Therefore, this machine driven by desire will never stop; instead, it runs at an even more powerful wattage.所以，這台以欲望作為動力的機器，非但永遠不會停止，還會以更強勁的功率運轉。In modern society, we quantify everything with numbers: per capita income, GDP, and so on. If desire could be measured by similar indicators, I believe our world's total desire today would far exceed any other era in history.在現代社會中，習慣以數字來總結一切：人均收入、國民生產總值等等。如果欲望也能以相應的量化指標進行衡量，我相信，不論是人均欲望還是世界欲望總值，都遠遠超過了以往各個時代。And what corresponds to this rapidly growing desire? It is the depletion of Earth’s resources and an ecosystem that has already lost its balance.而和這急劇增長的欲望所對應的又是什麼呢？是地球上日益貧乏的資源儲備，是業已失去平衡的生態環境。Even the most numb individual cannot fail to see the polluted rivers or feel the toxic air. If this continues, our wealth will become water without a source, and our daily lives will be fatally impacted. What will be left for us to drink? What will be left for us to breathe?但即使再麻木的人，附近河流的污染、空氣的污染也是感同身受的。長此以往，不僅我們所嚮往的財富會成為無本之木，即使我們的日常生活，也會受到致命的影響。我們還能喝什麼？我們還能呼吸什麼?The Earth is our only home. If we cannot effectively moderate our desires and blindly extract from nature, we are only digging our own graves.地球是我們賴以生存的唯一家園，皮之不存，毛將焉附？如果我們不能對欲望進行有效的節制，一味地向自然索取，只能落得自掘墳墓的下場。