One day he realized that though it was usually the same woman working there each time, he

有一天，他發現那裏每次都是同一位女士在值班

hardly ever noticed much about her. He had a slight impression that maybe she was kind

他很少注意到她。他對她只有一些些印象，或許她...

of grim, but he didn't really know. He felt shocked at himself and thought "for all I

有點酷酷的？但他並不是非常地確定。他對於自己的薄弱印象感到驚訝，想著：我

really pay attention to her, she might as well be a cash register with arms."

有去注意她，她也許也是個有著手的收銀機

So he went into the store, determined to actually pay full attention to her. The first thing

他走進了商店，決定要好好注意她。

he noticed was that she was sining along to something playing on the radio, and that she

他注意到的第一件事情是：她跟著收音機的聲音哼著歌，

had a beautiful voice. When he said that to her, she responded with a wide, radiant smile.

而且她有著美妙的聲音。當他對她這麼說時，她以一個陽光般的笑容回應他

As soon as he told me that story, I realized that I too often went into that same store.

他一說這個故事給我聽，我就明白到，我太常去同一間商店了

And also had hardly noticed that women, except for maybe a vague sense that perhaps she was

也太少注意到那位女士了，除了對於她有些冷漠

a little grim.

的感覺之外

I made a plan. I'm going to go into the store, say to her "I heard you have a really beautiful

我做了一個計劃。我要去那家商店，和她說：我聽說妳的聲音非常好聽

voice" and watch her get really happy and give me a beautiful smile. But when I went

然後看她非常開心並給我一抹微笑的樣子。但當我

into the store, actually paying full attention to her, the first thing I noticed was that

去商店，將注意全都上在她身上時，發現的第一件事情是

she was already smiling broadly. Wait? What happened to a little bit grim. I realized

她已經很常微笑了。等等，冷漠的印象是哪來的？我再次理解到

again how much of a person we miss when we don't pay attention. People are people, not

當我們沒注意到的時候，我們錯過了多少東西。人就是人，並不是

pieces of furniture. We each have a life, a story, changing moods, joys, sorrows. And

一件件的家具。我們都有生命、一段故事、會改變的情緒、喜悅和悲傷。

if we pay attention to one another, we recognize that, and our lives are enriched by a continuing

如果我們關注一下旁人，我們會知道，我們的生活會因為不斷地發現而感到富足

sense of discovery. That's the opening to true compassion. Sometimes we think of compassion

這就是同情心。有時我們會將同情心認為是

as a gift, which we've either gotten, or we haven't. If we haven't we're out of luck.

一個我們已經不是我們已經收到，就是還沒收到的禮物。如果我們還沒收到，那是我們的不幸

Or we think of compassion as some kind of emotional reaction that spontaneously erupts

或者，我們認為同情心是一種情緒反應，它是會自然流露出來的。

out of us. I think of compassion as a natural result that comes from actually paying attention.

我覺得同情心是一種以真實的注意，所換來的成果

That means we continue to cultivate it.

這代表著我們持續的在耕耘