《美食祈禱和戀愛》Chapter 87 (206):地獄的樣子

Karma is a notion I've always liked. Not so much literally. Not necessarily because I be-lieve that I used to be Cleopatra's bartender—but more metaphorically. The karmic philo-sophy appeals to me on a metaphorical level because even in one lifetime it's obvious how of-ten we must repeat our same mistakes, banging our heads against the same old addictions and compulsions, generating the same old miserable and often catastrophic consequences, until we can finally stop and fix it. This is the supreme lesson of karma (and also of Western psychology, by the way)—take care of the problems now, or else you'll just have to suffer again later when you screw everything up the next time. And that repetition of suffer-ing—that's hell. Moving out of that endless repetition to a new level of understanding—there's where you'll find heaven.

我向來喜歡因果循環這個概念。並非就字面而言，不見得因爲我相信自己從前是埃及豔后身邊的調酒師——而是就比喻而言。因果循環的哲學，在比喻層面上，受我青睞，是因爲即便在我們此生當中，我們顯然也經常重複相同的錯誤，執著於相同的癮頭與衝動，一再製造相同的悲慘後果，直到自己最終能加以阻止並解決。這是因果循環（同時也是西方心理學）的至高課程——立即解決問題，否則下回再搞砸一切，就得再痛苦一次。重複的痛苦，亦即地獄。脫離無止無盡的重複狀態，進入新層次的了結——始可找到天堂。

But here Ketut was talking about heaven and hell in a different way, as if they are real places in the universe which he has actually visited. At least I think that's what he meant. Trying to get clear on this, I asked, "You have been to hell, Ketut?"

然而賴爺對於天堂與地獄的說法並不一樣，彷彿他確實去過宇宙當中的這些地方。至少我認爲這是他的意思。由於想弄清楚，我問："賴爺，你去過地獄？"

He smiled. Of course he's been there.

他微笑。他當然去過。

"What's it like in hell?"

"地獄是什麼樣子？"

"Same like heaven," he said.

"和天堂沒有兩樣。"他說。

He saw my confusion and tried to explain. "Universe is a circle, Liss."

見我一臉茫然，他嘗試說明："宇宙是個圓，小莉。"

I still wasn't sure I understood.

我想我還是不清楚。

He said. "To up, to down—all same, at end."

他說："去上面，去下面——最後都一樣。"

I remembered an old Christian mystic notion: As above, so below. I asked. "Then how can you tell the difference between heaven and hell?"

我記得基督教有個古老神祕的概念："如其在上，如其在下"。我問："那你如何分辨天堂與地獄？"

"Because of how you go. Heaven, you go up, through seven happy places. Hell, you go down, through seven sad places. This is why it better for you to go up, Liss." He laughed.

"看你怎麼去。天堂，你往上去，通過七個快樂的地方。地獄，你往下去，通過七個哀傷之地。因此往上去比較好，小莉。"他笑道。

I asked, "You mean, you might as well spend your life going upward, through the happy places, since heaven and hell—the destinations—are the same thing anyway?"

我問："你是說，反正天堂和地獄這兩個目的地都一樣，你這輩子還不如往上去，通過快樂的地方？"

"Same-same," he said. "Same in end, so better to be happy on journey."

"都一樣、都一樣，"他說，"結果都一樣，因此最好有一趟快樂的旅途。"

I said, "So, if heaven is love, then hell is . . ."

我說："那麼，倘若天堂是愛，地獄就是……"

"Love, too," he said.

"也是愛。"他說。

I sat with that one for a while, trying to make the math work.

我坐在那兒思索了一會兒，想搞清楚答案。

Ketut laughed again, slapped my knee affectionately with his hand. "Always so difficult for young person to understand this!" Eat, Pray, Love

賴爺又笑了，親切地拍拍我的膝蓋。"年輕人老是很難理解這一層意義！"