「寂靜」與「無為」的生命智慧：老子哲學對於靈性教育之啟發

The Life Wisdom of Stillness and Non-Action: Discussing Laozi’s Philosophy for Individual Spiritual Education

「靈性修養」是生命教育的重要一環，老子「寂靜」與「無為」的主張，對於靈性教育具有相當啟發性，它能超越當前人們看待自我的限制，引導個人活出更高的生命價值。藉由老子的思想，本文最終所要思考的是，個人生命如何與更廣大的宇宙生命接軌。本文主要研究目的有三：第一，詮釋老子《道德經》中「寂靜」與「無為」的意涵；第二，討論「寂靜」與「無為」與個人靈性發展之關係；第三，探究「寂靜」與「無為」在靈性教育層面的具體實踐方法。「寂靜」與「無為」實為一體之兩面，前者表徵宇宙本體的狀態，後者代表由本體衍生的實現性。根據「寂靜」與「無為」的智慧，個人靈性發展可以走向「以平等心『與道合一』」，以及「回歸人與萬物的一體關係」。最後，本文討論「寂靜」與「無為」的靈性教育實踐，主張藉由處在「當下」的「寂靜」跨越人類心智的限制，以及透過「無為」的「臣服」超越「有為」的小我意識。老子的「寂靜」與「無為」主要在提醒我們將生命的注意力由向外轉向內心，愈是進入寂靜的深度，愈能從小我的「有為」轉向擁抱天地的「無為」。

“Spiritual cultivation” is a vital part of life education. Laozi’s wisdom on stillness and non-action can offer inspiration for thinking about spiritual education. It transcends the limitations under which humans labor as they see themselves, and guides an individual to reach the paramount value of life. By means of unpacking Laozi’s thoughts, this study attempts to considers the approach to connectingan individual’s life with life conceptualized in a much broader sense that is infinitely cosmic in nature. The purpose of this article is threefold. First, the significance of stillness and non-action in the Dao De Jing are interpreted. Second, the relationships between stillness and non-action and individual spiritual development are discussed. Third, educational practices germane to stillness and non-action for enhancing spirituality are explored. Actually, Laozi’s notions of stillness and non-action are two sides to the same coin. The former presents to the status of cosmic substance, while the latter shows its actuality. According to the wisdom on stillness and non-action, the direction of individual spiritual development could be as follows. First, is integration into Dao with a mindset of equality; and second, is coming back to the oneness in which humans and the whole of creation are accommodated. In the end, this article points to two practical ideas for spiritual education; namely, returning to each constituent moment of the “now”, and simultaneously maintainingan attitude of surrender. By the power of “now”, stillness is able to break through the inherent limitations of the human intellect. Surrender, for its part, has the same function as non-action. The concept of surrenderrefers to an attitude of following the flow of life and accepting the suchness of all things. This approach can transcend human self-consciousness to span cosmic consciousness. To conclude, when it comes to individual spiritual education, stillness and non-action remind us that human attention has the potential to move from the outer world to the inner self. The deeper the level of stillness humans can delve into, the wider the scope of connection with the cosmos they can reach. It is conducted from the level of finite action with human purposes to the higher level of infinite non-action with cosmic consciousness.