翻译敬业与乐业 (梁启超)

翻译：敬业与乐业梁启超

Translation: Respect and Love Your Job (Liang Qichao)

(translated by: alexcwlin; edited by: adam.L)

我这题目，是把礼记里头「敬业乐群」和老子里头「安其居乐其业」那两句话，断章取义造出来。My topic here is created, in taking out of context, from two phrases. The first one “Love your job and enjoy your friends’ company.” is recorded in the Book of Rites. The second one “Feel satisfied with your living and love your job.” was from Lao Zi.

我所说是否与礼记、老子原意相合，不必深求；

We don’t need to delve into whether what I say concurs with the original intention of those phrases in the Book of Rites and Lao Zi.

但我确信「敬业乐业」四个字，是人类生活的不二法门。

But I do firmly believe there is no two ways about the four words “Respect/Love Your Job” in conducting peoples’ lives.

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第一要敬业。敬字为古圣贤教人做人最简易、直捷的法门，

The first thing is you must respect your job. “Respect” is the most simple and direct way to conduct yourself in life according to the advice of sages in ancient times.

可惜被後来有些人说得太精微，倒变了不适实用了。

Unfortunately people afterwards get too fancy with its interpretation and it becomes impractical.

惟有朱子解得最好。他说：「主一无适便是敬。」用现在的话讲，凡做一件事，便忠於一件事，

将全副精力集中到这事上头，一点不旁骛，便是敬。

Only Zhu Zi explained it well. He said: “Respect is to focus without distraction.” In today’s terms, “respect” means in doing one thing, you must stay focused and dedicate your entire attention on this one thing without distraction.

业有什麽可敬呢？为什麽该敬呢？人类一面为生活而劳动，一面也是为劳动而生活。人类既不是

上帝特地制来充当消化面包的机器，

What needs to be respected about job? And why does job deserve to be respected? On one hand humans work to live, and on the other they live to work. Humans are not created by God as bread-consuming machines.

自然该各人因自己的地位和才力，认定一件事去做。凡可以名为一件事的，其性质都是可敬。

Of course each individual should identify a job to be done depending on his position and capability. Anything that can be called a job can be respected in nature.

当大总统是一件事，拉黄包车也是一件事。

Being a president is a job, and pulling a rickshaw is also a job.

事的名称，从俗人眼里看来，有高下；事的性质，从学理上解剖起来，并没有高下。

In the eyes of ordinary people, there is high and low in classification of jobs in accordance with their names. The nature of jobs, however, does not make a distinction between high and low pursuant to analysis under scientific principles.

只要当大总统的人，信得过我可以当大总统才去当，实实在在把总统当作一件正经事来做；拉黄

包车的人，信得过我可以拉黄包车才去拉，实实在在把拉车当作一件正经事来做，便是人生合理

的生活。

The person who assumes the position of a president must genuinely believe he can be a president before

he assumes that position, and then seriously performs his duties as one. The person pulling rickshaw must genuinely believe he can pull rickshaw before he assumes that position, and then seriously performs his duties as one. That would be a sensible way to live our lives.

这叫做职业的神圣。凡职业没有不是神圣的，所以凡职业没有不是可敬的。惟其如此，所以我们

对於各种职业，没有甚麽分别拣择。

Such would be called the sacredness of a job. There is no job that is not sacred, and so there is no job that should not be respected. Only in this manner that we would not make a distinction between jobs of different natures.

总之，人生在世，是要天天劳作的。劳作便是功德，不劳作便是罪恶。至於我该做哪一种劳作呢？全看我的才能何如、境地何如。

In any case, when we live in this world we must work every day. Working is a virtue and not working is a sin. Then what job should I do? That depends entirely on my ability and circumstances.

因自己的才能、境地，做一种劳作做到圆满，便是天地间第一等人。

A person being able to do a satisfactory job relative to his ability and circumstances would be a first class person in this world.

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第二要乐业。「做工好苦呀！」这种叹气的声音，无论何人都会常在口边流露出来。

The second thing is to love your job. “The job is a pain!” is the sort of whining which anyone would have uttered regularly.

但我要问他：「做工苦，难道不做工就不苦吗？」

But let me ask him: “Working is a pain. But really would stop working not a pain?”

今日大热天气，我在这里喊破喉咙来讲，诸君扯直耳朵来听，有些人看着我们好苦；

In today’s hot weather, I am preaching at the top of my voice, and you gentlemen are perking up your ears to listen. Other people watching us would think it is a pain for us.

翻过来，倘若我们去赌钱、去吃酒，还不是一样淘神、费力？难道又不苦？须知苦乐全在主观的心，不在客观的事。

Look at it in another way. If we go to gamble and drink, w ouldn’t that be just as brain-racking and

energy-draining? Wouldn’t you say that is not painful? You should know pain and pleasure only exists in the subjective mind and is not an objective matter.

人生从出胎的那一秒钟起到廔气的那一秒钟止，除了睡觉以外，总不能把四肢、五官都搁起不用。只要一用，不是淘神，便是费力，劳苦总是免不掉的。

From the moment a person is born to the moment he stops breathing, other than the time he is asleep, there isn’t a moment that he can put away his four limbs with five sense organs and not use them. Once he uses them, then he would be racking his brain and draining his energy. Working is inevitable.

会打算盘的人，只有从劳苦中找出快乐来。我想天下第一等苦人，莫过於无业游民，终日闲游浪荡，不知把自己的身子和心子摆在哪里才好，他们的日子真难过。

A calculated person knows he can only find happiness from working. I think the topmost class of painful persons in this world would be good-for-nothing vagabonds who wander around all day and don’t know where to place their bodies and minds. Time drags for them.

第二等苦人，便是厌恶自己本业的人，这件事分明不能不做，却满肚子里不愿意做。不愿意做逃

得了吗？到底不能。