从《菜根谭》品当下之味 Savoring the Flavor of the Present 【中文/English】

《菜根谭》， “嚼得菜根，百事可做”，传统成功的定义：有，有房有车有事业，现实内心的向往:无，无忧无虑无病无灾

年纪还小的时候，困于经济拮据，想做的事只能搁置；年岁渐长有了条件，却发现食欲淡了、兴致减了，生活热情悄悄消退。我们总以为养老是答案，盼着那时能拥有丰富多彩的日子，可细想便知，若现在总在纠结徘徊，老来大概率还是重复无聊 —— 就像此刻羡慕公园跳舞的大爷大妈，自己的周末却只剩赖床；每天穿梭在 2 公里的生活圈，从未真正认识这座城市。

其实幸福从不是未来的馈赠，而是当下每一个微小愿望的落地：是想骑行就即刻出发，去看街角的树、巷尾的花；是不羡慕别人的生活，认真享受自己拥有的平凡。正如《菜根谭》教我们的，行入世之事，怀出世之心，把对未来的期待，变成今天每一秒的鲜活，才不算辜负时光。

From Caigen Tan comes the wisdom: "If one can chew the roots of vegetables, one can accomplish anything." The traditional definition of success focuses on "having"—a house, a car, a career. Yet what our hearts truly yearn for is "not having"—no worries, no illnesses, no troubles.
When we were young, financial constraints forced us to put aside the things we wanted to do. As we grow older and gain the means, we find our appetite fading, our enthusiasm dwindling, and our passion for life quietly ebbing away. We always think retirement holds the answer, hoping to live a rich and colorful life then. But on second thought, if we spend today tangled in hesitation, old age will likely be just as dull—much like how we now envy the elderly dancing in the park, while our own weekends are spent lying in bed; how we shuttle between places within a 2-kilometer radius every day, never truly getting to know the city we live in.
In fact, happiness is never a gift from the future, but the fulfillment of every small wish in the present: setting off immediately when you want to cycle, to see the trees on the street corner and the flowers at the lane’s end; not envying others’ lives, but earnestly enjoying the ordinariness you have. Just as Caigen Tan teaches us: engage in worldly affairs with a mind detached from material pursuits. Turn the expectations we hold for the future into the vibrancy of every second today—that is how we live up to time.

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