昨晚剛從美國回來，這次過去，主要是參加正念減壓(MBSR)創始人卡巴金博士首次親授的全球正念師資深化靜修營，前後共八天，此活動採邀請制並有人數限制，有歐美亞非四洲共34位正念師資代表參加，如照片所示，其中一位舊金山的老師剛好先走沒拍到團體照，其他都在裡面了，包括美國、加拿大、哥倫比亞、德國、法國、義大利、西班牙、瑞士、丹麥、芬蘭、俄羅斯、日本、韓國、南非、南蘇丹，以及台灣、香港、大陸等代表老師，就連美國麻州正念中心(CFM)的資深老師Florence這次也變成我們的同學了，是非常有意思，也非常有歷史意義的一次聚會，我滿榮幸能參與其中的，所以也在這邊跟你們分享。

這次雖然名為retreat，但並非只是止語靜修，反而有很多的交流與分享，卡巴金博士更是傾囊相授，講了很多MBSR背後的義理，包括non-dual(非二元)、emptiness(空性)、Prajna (般若)、no-clinging (無執)、non-self(非我)…等之前麻州正念師資培訓並沒有完全教到的內容，雖然有點深奧，但我聽的大呼過癮，這次活動卡巴金老師把他五十年來深厚的修行學養發揮的淋漓盡致，即使很資深的正念老師都覺得收穫甚多。他還講了不少當年的歷史故事，包括最初創辦MBSR的的原因，就是他覺得the world will become a better place if more people meditate，沒有考慮收入沒有考慮頭銜（最初時醫院給他超低薪資也沒有固定職位），但他就是單純把他熱愛的、覺得值得做事情不斷弘揚出去，一路走來始終如一，真的讓我相當感佩！

時間有點晚了，之後有機會再繼續跟大家分享吧 (你們想再多聽聽些嗎？)

昨晚剛從美國回來，這次過去，主要是參加正念減壓(MBSR)創始人卡巴金博士首次親授的全球正念師資深化靜修營，前後共八天，此活動採邀請制並有人數限制，有歐美亞非四洲共34位正念師資代表參加，如照片所示，其中一位舊金山的老師剛好先走沒拍到團體照，其他都在裡面了，包括美國、加拿大、哥倫比亞、德國、法國、義大利、西班牙、瑞士、丹麥、芬蘭、俄羅斯、日本、韓國、南非、南蘇丹，以及台灣、香港、大陸等代表老師，就連美國麻州正念中心(CFM)的資深老師Florence這次也變成我們的同學了，是非常有意思，也非常有歷史意義的一次聚會，我滿榮幸能參與其中的，所以也在這邊跟你們分享。

這次雖然名為retreat，但並非只是止語靜修，反而有很多的交流與分享，卡巴金博士更是傾囊相授，講了很多MBSR背後的義理，包括non-dual(非二元)、emptiness(空性)、Prajna (般若)、no-clinging (無執)、non-self(非我)…等之前麻州正念師資培訓並沒有完全教到的內容，雖然有點深奧，但我聽的大呼過癮，這次活動卡巴金老師把他五十年來深厚的修行學養發揮的淋漓盡致，即使很資深的正念老師都覺得收穫甚多。他還講了不少當年的歷史故事，包括最初創辦MBSR的的原因，就是他覺得the world will become a better place if more people meditate，沒有考慮收入沒有考慮頭銜（最初時醫院給他超低薪資也沒有固定職位），但他就是單純把他熱愛的、覺得值得做事情不斷弘揚出去，一路走來始終如一，真的讓我相當感佩！

時間有點晚了，之後有機會再繼續跟大家分享吧 (你們想再多聽聽些嗎？)

[美國文化觀察]

川普前幾天說, 以後的移民要在移民美國時, 就要會說英文. 經濟學人這篇文章講的挺好: 其實移民移居美國後, 早晚都會說英文的.

在我身上其實也應證了這說法. 旅居美國十幾年, 雖然平常有跟此地的台灣同胞保持互動, 但因為身處在美語環境, 也為了生存下去, 所以我漸漸地習慣說英文, 聽英文歌, 看美國電視, 看原文書. 我也很清楚地意識到, 自己的母語(中文)能力在退化中. 所以我前幾年開始接英翻中的case, 而兩年前也開始藉著寫中文個股分析與開部落格來彌補這問題. 很多時候不是我故意在秀英文, 而是我真的不知道該用甚麼中文字來表達意思了, 或是我覺得用英文能夠更傳神地表達我的想法.

"Rather than refusing to learn English, today’s immigrants actually abandon their first language much more readily than previous generations. German, the language spoken by the president’s ancestors, is a case in point. Germans arrived in America in big waves in the middle of the 19th century. Generations later, they were still speaking German at home; a small number were even monolingual in German despite being born in America. Only with America’s entry into the first world war did German-speakers drop their suddenly unpopular language.

Today the typical pattern is that the arriving generation speaks little English, or learns it imperfectly; the first children born in America are bilingual, but English-dominant, and their children hardly speak the heritage language. This is as true of Hispanics as it is of speakers of smaller languages—and all without a lecture from the White House."

以下是全文:
DONALD TRUMP’s young administration is adept at one particular manoeuvre. Whenever the president is having a terrible time in the press, for some embarrassing statement, interview or imbroglio, the White House announces a far-reaching policy designed to stoke up his nationalist base while infuriating his opponents. In February it was the proposed ban on visitors from seven mainly Muslim countries. Last month it was the announcement on Twitter that he would not let transgender soldiers serve in the military.

In each case, the new policy tends to hurt people who can be portrayed as threatening outsiders to ordinary Americans who work hard and pay their taxes. Yesterday’s announcement to back a months-old plan to overhaul America’s immigration rules falls in the same category. If implemented, it would reward applicants with sought-after job skills who already speak English, at the expense of low-skilled workers without language skills.

This may seem perfectly sensible: after all, skilled immigrants are a good thing. But as an ongoing shortage of farm workers in California shows, unskilled immigrants are just as crucial. Equally, it is a good thing if immigrants speak English. But they need not speak it before arrival: as it is impossible to participate fully in American life without speaking English, the incentive to learn it quickly is overwhelming.

The administration’s emphasis on English skills therefore harks back to an old myth that the linguistic make-up of America, which has been an English-dominant country for a long time, is changing: that the status of English is somehow threatened, especially by Spanish, but more generally by the notion that English is no longer needed in the economy.

The myth goes something like this: today’s immigrants want to come to America to isolate themselves into communities that do not speak English. American policy tacitly encourages this by not being tough enough in requiring English. In the past, immigrants happily learned English quickly; “my grandpa came here from the old country but he refused to speak his old language; he insisted on getting by in his broken English until he was fluent.” But today’s immigrants no longer do so, as multiculturalism has replaced the melting pot.
All of this is wrong. America began as a thin band of English colonies clinging to the eastern coast, vastly outnumbered by speakers of other languages. The foreign-born percentage of the population peaked not last year—the administration likes to talk of “unprecedented” numbers—but in 1890, when the share of foreign-born residents was at an all-time high of 14.8%. This proportion has risen again after declining in the mid-20th century (it stood at 12.9% in the 2010 census). America today has multilingual big cities with their voting instructions in Korean, Chinese and Russian.

Historically, this is the norm rather than the exception: the years from 1925 to 1965, when immigration was almost completely cut off, were unusual. But those born from the 1940s to the 1960s became used to the low numbers of foreign-born residents, regarding this state as normal. That in turn supported a belief that America has always naturally belonged completely to English.
For most of its history, America was precisely the “polyglot boardinghouse” Teddy Roosevelt once worried it would become. That history has turned out very well not just for America, but for English—the most successful language in the history of the world. Along with American power, English has spread around the globe. At home, wave after wave after wave of immigrants to America have not only learned English but forgotten the languages their parents brought with them.

Rather than refusing to learn English, today’s immigrants actually abandon their first language much more readily than previous generations. German, the language spoken by the president’s ancestors, is a case in point. Germans arrived in America in big waves in the middle of the 19th century. Generations later, they were still speaking German at home; a small number were even monolingual in German despite being born in America. Only with America’s entry into the first world war did German-speakers drop their suddenly unpopular language.

Today the typical pattern is that the arriving generation speaks little English, or learns it imperfectly; the first children born in America are bilingual, but English-dominant, and their children hardly speak the heritage language. This is as true of Hispanics as it is of speakers of smaller languages—and all without a lecture from the White House.