1.3 Is man free 人是自由的吗？

A man comes to a master to ask how much man is independent, free. Is he totally free, or is there a limitation? Is there something like fate, kismet, destiny, God who makes a limitation beyond which you cannot be free?

The master said, “Stand up.”

The man must have felt this was a stupid kind of answer, “I am asking a simple question and he is asking me to stand up.” But he stood. And the master said, “Now, raise one of your legs up.”

The man, by this time must have been thinking he had come to a madman; what has this to do with freedom, independence? But now that he has come…and the master was so respected; not follow him would be disrespectful, and there was no harm. So he lifted one of his legs from the earth, one foot was in the air and he was standing¹ on one foot.

And then the master said, “That’s perfectly² good. Just one more thing, now take the left foot up also.”

　　“That is impossible!” the man said, “You are asking something impossible. I have taken my right foot up. Now I cannot take my left foot up.”

The master said, “But you were free. In the beginning you could have taken the left foot up. There was no binding³ order. You were complete free to chose whether to take the left foot up or the right foot up. I had not said anything about it; you just decided⁴. You took the right foot up.

“You made it impossible for the left foot to be lifted up. Don’t bother about fate, kismet, God. Just think of simple things.”

　　一个人来到一位大师面前向其请教人到底有多独立，多自由。他是完全自由的还是受一定的限制呢？是不是有诸如天数、天命、定数和神的存在令人不自由呢？

　　大师说：“站起来。”

　　这个人一定觉得这是一个蠢透了的答案，“我问他一个简单的问题他却叫我站起来。”但是他还是站了起来。大师说：“现在，抬起一条腿。”

　　到这时，这个人一定认为他来到了一个疯子面前，这和自由、独立有什么关系吗？但是既然已经来了……而且这位大师如此地受人尊敬，不按照他的意思做会很无礼，况且这又没什么害处。所以，他从地上抬起了一条腿，一只脚悬在空中，另一只脚独立着。

　　然后这位大师说：“非常好。还有，现在把左脚也抬起来。”

　　“那不可能！”这个人说，“你在要求不可能办到的事。我已经抬起了右脚，现在我不可能再把左脚抬起来。”

　　大师说：“但是你是自由的。开始你可以抬起左脚，没有任何的限制。你完全有自由去决定是抬左脚还是右脚，关于这点我没有做任何要求，完全由你决定。但你抬起了右脚。

　　“是你令自己不可能抬起左脚的。不要烦心命运、定数和神，想些简单的事情。”

　反思：自由的枷锁是自己施加的，你原本就很自由……

1 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

2 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

3 binding   

有约束力的，有效的，应遵守的

参考例句：

• The contract was not signed and has no binding force. 合同没有签署因而没有约束力。
• Both sides have agreed that the arbitration will be binding. 双方都赞同仲裁具有约束力。

4 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。