2-5

MOST OF US do not seem to give sufficient importance to meditation. For most it is a passing thing in which some kind of experience is expected, some transcendental attainment, a fulfilment after all other attempts at fulfilment have failed. Meditation becomes a self-hypnotic movement in which appear various projections and symbols. But these are a continuity of what has been, perhaps modified or enlarged, but always within the area of some achievement. All this is rather immature and childish without great significance, and without breaking away from the established order - or disorder - of past events. These happenings become extraordinarily significant to a mind that is concerned with its own advancement, improvement and self determined expectations. When the mind breaks through all this rubbish, which can only happen with self-knowing, then what happens can never be told to another. Even in the telling things have already changed. It is like describing a storm. It is already over the hills, the valleys, and gone beyond. And so the telling of it becomes something of the past and therefore no longer what is actually taking place.

我们大多数人似乎并没有足够地重视冥想。 对大多数人来说，它是一种流逝的东西，期盼着某种体验， 某种超然的成就，当所有其它的尝试都失败之后的实现。 冥想变成了一种自我催眠运动，其中出现了各种投影和象征。 但这些都是对已经发生过的东西的延续，也许对它的内容有修改或扩展， 但始终在某些成就的范围内。 这一切都是相当不成熟和幼稚，没有太大的意义， 也没有脱离的既定秩序 —— 或失序 —— 都从属于过去。 对于那个注重它自己的进步、改进和总在期盼的头脑来说， 这种发生显得格外重要。 当这颗头脑冲破所有这些垃圾，这种情况只能发生在自我认识中， 那么，所发生的，永远无法告诉另一个人。 甚至在告知的时候，它就已经改变了。 它就像描述一场风暴。 它已经越过山丘、山谷，远远地离开了。 因此，对它的讲述变成了过去， 因此，不再是真实发生的事情。

One can describe something accurately - an event - but the very accuracy of it becomes inaccurate when the thing has moved away. The accuracy of memory is a fact but memory is the result of something that has already happened. If the mind is following the flow of a river it has no time for description, nor for memory to gather itself. When this kind of meditation is going on a great many things take place which are not the projection of thought. Each event is totally new in the sense that memory cannot recognize it; and as it cannot recognize it, it cannot be gathered into words and memories. It is a thing that has never happened before. This is not an experience. Experience implies recognition, association and accumulation as knowledge. Obviously certain powers are released but these become a great danger as long as the self-centred activity goes on, whether these activities are identified with religious concepts or with personal tendencies.

一个人可以准确地描述某个东西 —— 一个事件 —— 但当这件事离开时，它的准确性就会变得不准确。 记忆的准确性是事实，但记忆是已经发生过的事情的结果。 如果头脑在追随河水的流动， 它就没有时间去描述，也没有时间去收集记忆。 当这种冥想在进行的时候， 发生的很多事物，都是思想不能投射出来的。 每个事件都是全新的，因为记忆无法识别它； 由于它无法识别，它无法被收集，变成文字和记忆。 它是以前从未发生过的。 这不是一次体验。 体验意味着认识、关联和积累，也就是知识。 显然，某些能量被释放了， 然而，只要以自我为中心的活动在继续，这些活动就会变成一个巨大的危险， 无论这些活动被认定为宗教的或个人倾向的。

Freedom from the self is absolutely necessary for the real thing to be. But thought is very cunning, extraordinarily subtle in its activities and unless one is tremendously aware, without any choice, of all these subtleties and cunning pursuits, meditation becomes the gaining of powers beyond the mere physical ones. Any sense of importance of any action of the self must lead inevitably to confusion and sorrow. That is why, before you consider meditation, begin with the understanding of yourself, the structure and the nature of thought. Otherwise you will get lost and your energies will be wasted. So to go far you must begin very near: and the first step is the last step.

为了使真实的事物显现，解放自我是绝对必要的。 但是思想非常狡猾，在它的活动中，极其地微妙， 除非一个人极大的警觉，无选择地，觉察到这一切的微妙和狡猾的追逐， 否则，冥想就变成了获得某种超越自身能量的工具。 对自我的任何一种行为的重视，都不可避免地导致困惑和悲伤。 那就是为什么在你考虑冥想之前， 首先要理解你自己、思想的结构和本质。 否则你会迷失方向，你的能量也会被浪费。 所以要走得远，你必须从很近的地方开始：第一步即是最后一步。

The big room overlooked the blue Pacific. It was high on a cliff and from there you could see the waves breaking on the shore, white and spreading. It was very quiet though there were several young people there. We were all feeling rather shy. There were short-haired ones and long-haired, the bearded and the casual. "First of all, if I may start out," said a young man with clean long hair and beard, "why should I earn my livelihood? Why should I make a career, knowing where it leads - property, bank account, a wife and children, and the utter middle-classness of it all? I don't want to be caught in that trap. If others want to, it is for them, but not for me. I don't mind being a beggar or asking people for a handout. I sleep in somebody's house and I have enough clothes to get along with. I have been all over the State for the past few years living this way and I like it. Let them all work if they wish and if they feel like supporting me - let them. I don't want to belong to any commune, to any group. I am free and I want to remain free. And I'm not against anyone - black or white. But I'm told this is exploitation: that while I'm young it is all right but when I'm in my thirties I'll begin to see I can't go on like this. I don't know what the future holds but I'm living from day to day and that's good enough. I would like your opinion on this."

这个大房间俯瞰着蓝色的太平洋。 它在悬崖上，很高，从那里你可以看到白色的海浪拍打着岸边，并且在蔓延。 虽然那里有几个年轻人，但很安静。我们都觉得很害羞。 有短发的和长发的，有留胡子的和休闲的。 “首先，如果我可以开始，” 一个留着长发和胡子的年轻人说， “我为什么要谋生？我为什么要从事职业， 知道它的方向 —— 财产、银行账户、妻子和孩子们， 以及这一切完全平庸的阶级？我不想陷入那个陷阱。 如果其他人愿意，那是给他们准备的，不是给我的。 我不介意当乞丐或问人要施舍。 我睡在别人家里，我有足够的衣服可以相处。 在过去的几年里，我一直在全州生活，我喜欢它。 如果他们愿意，如果他们愿意支持我，让他们都工作 —— 留给他们。 我不想属于任何公社，任何团体。 我是自由的，我想保持自由。我不反对任何人 —— 黑人或白人。 但有人告诉我这是剥削：虽然我还年轻， 但我三十多岁的时候我会开始发现 我不能再这样下去了。 我不知道未来会怎样， 但我每天都在生活，那已经足够了。 对于这，我想听听你的意见。”

Only fools offer opinions. You know the monks in Asia live this way: not in organized communities but as individuals going from village to village begging and being protected. In return they preach the good life: not the physical good life but a life of goodness. That is what they offer, unless they are criminals or exploiters. So what are you offering in return to those who feed you?

只有傻子才会给出意见。你知道亚洲的僧侣是这样生活的： 不是在有组织的社区中， 而是作为一个人，从一个村庄到另一个村庄乞讨并受到保护。 作为回报，他们宣扬美好的生命：不是物质上的美好生命，而是善良的生命。 这就是他们所提供的，除非他们是罪犯或剥削者。 那么，你提供什么来回报那些喂养你的人？

"Why should I offer anything in return? I have nothing to give them. I don't want to tell them how to live. Any sensible man knows when the way he is living is bourgeois, square, and it is up to them to break away from it. I have tried talking to people but they don't care. I don't want to offer anything in return for their food and clothes. Basically I have nothing to offer. I don't paint, I don't play a guitar. I don't do any of the things they like. I am entirely outside their circle. If I had something basic I would offer it without caring whether they took it. But I've nothing. I am just as confused as the rest of the world and probably just as miserable. I'm not a drop-out. I've been through college and I'm disgusted with the whole thing; with their hypocrisies and with their pretensions. But what bothers me a little is, I want to find - not God, that is a bourgeois concept - but something that is real. I've read some Eastern books about this but they all take off on theories and ideas. I want to feel something real in my guts which they can't touch or take away. I want to get to the heart of it as quickly as possible. I see the absurdity of instant illumination but I haven't the patience to go through the rigmarole of discipline, fasting, following some system. I want to go straight to it on the shortest road possible."

“我为什么要回报你呢？我没有什么可以给他们的。 我不想告诉他们该如何生活。 任何一个有理智的人都知道，他的生活方式是资产阶级的、守旧的， 要摆脱这种生活方式，得靠他自己。 我试过和人们交谈，但他们不关心。 我不想用任何东西来交换他们的食物和衣服。 基本上，我没什么可提供的。 我不会画画，也不会弹吉他。他们喜欢的事我都不做。 我完全不在他们的圈子里。 如果我有一些基本的东西，我会提供给他们，而不在乎他们是否接受它。但是我什么都没有。 我和世界上其他人一样困惑，也许和他们一样痛苦。 我不是辍学生。我念完了大学，对整件事都感到厌恶； 他们的虚伪和装腔作势。 但让我有点困扰的是，我想找到 —— 不是上帝，那是资产阶级的概念 —— 而是某些真实的东西。 我读过一些关于这方面的东方书籍，但它们都在理论和思想上起飞。 我想在我的内心深处感受到他们无法触摸或带走的真实事物。 我想尽快触及它的核心。 我看到即时觉悟的荒谬之处， 但我没有耐心去经历纪律、禁食、遵循某些系统的繁琐。 我想在最短的道路上直奔它。”

Surely this is possible: to see clearly 'what is' without any distortion, without any motive, and go beyond it. If you see very clearly what is, you are already beyond it. And can you see very clearly what is? See not only the outward, the environment, the social morality, the bureaucratic sanctions, religious and worldly, but also inwardly? To see what is going on actually, without any choice, without any reservation. If you can, then the door is open. That is the shortest way and the most direct. Then you don't follow anybody. All systems are useless and the guru becomes a mischief maker. Can you do this? If you can, then the mind is free and the heart is full. Then you are a light to yourself.

当然，这是可能的： 清楚地看到什么是，没有任何扭曲，没有任何动机，并走出它。 如果你非常清楚地看到什么是，你就已经脱离了它。 你能很清楚地看到什么是吗？ 不仅看外在、环境、社会道德、政府机构的专制、宗教和世俗，还有内在的？ 看实际在发生什么，没有任何选择，没有任何保留。 如果你能，那么，门是敞开的。 那是最短的路，也是最直接的。 那么，你就不用追随任何人了。所有的系统都是无用的，大师变成了灾难的制造者。 你能做这个吗？如果你能，那么这颗头脑是自由的，心灵是充实的。 那样，你是你自己的光。

Another spoke. "I am a drop-out. I dropped out of college. I took economics as my major and just before graduation I left.

另一个说话了。“我是一个辍学生。我从大学辍学。 我主修经济学，毕业前我离开了。

I saw what the professors were like, intriguing among themselves, playing politics for better positions. I saw their utter indifference to anything as long as they were secure in their professors' world. I didn't want to become like them. A few of us here in this room want to form a community. Most of us don't belong to anything. We have no sympathy with the battle that goes on between black and white; we welcome black and white, as you can see. We want to get a piece of land to live on, and we will. We can do things with our hands, we will cultivate it and sell things. But our question is, is it possible to live together without any conflict amongst ourselves, without any authority, and in great affection?"

我看到了教授们的样子， 他们之间很有趣，为了更好的职位而玩弄政治。 我看到他们对任何事情都漠不关心，只要他们在教授的世界里安然无恙。 我不想变得和他们一样。我们这个房间里的一些人想要组建一个社区。 我们大多数人都不属于任何东西。 对黑人和白人之间的战斗，我们不支持； 正如你所看到的，我们欢迎黑色和白色。 我们想要一块土地来居住，我们会的。 我们可以用手做事，我们会种植它，我们会卖东西。 但我们的问题是， 我们是否有可能在没有任何冲突、没有任何权威的情况下，亲密地一起生活？”

A community is generally formed around an idea, a belief, or around someone who embodies that belief. The ideal or the Utopia becomes the authority and gradually some individual takes charge of it: guides, threatens and excommunicates. In this there is no co-operation at all; there is obedience which of course leads to disaster. Have you - if one may ask - considered this question of co-operation? If you have not, your community will inevitably fail. To live together and work together is one of the most difficult things. Each one wants to fulfil himself, become this or that, and therein lies the disruption of any co-operation. To work together implies the abnegation of the self without any motive. It is like learning together in which there is only function without any status. If you have this real understanding of the spirit of co-operation then it is bound to work. It isn't each one contributing something to the welfare of the community, but rather each one having this vital spark of understanding. Any personal motive or profit puts an end to the true quality of co-operation. Do you think that you and your friends have this? Or is it just that you want to start a community? That is like starting out on a boat, hoping to find an island, not knowing in what direction you are going, where you are going, but hoping to find somewhere somehow a happy land with a group of people who have no idea what to do with the land or themselves.

一个社区通常围绕一个想法、一个信念，或围绕着体现这个信念的某个人而形成。 这种理想或乌托邦成为了权威， 渐渐地，有人掌管它：引导、威胁和逐出教会。 在这种情况下，根本没有合作；服从当然会导致灾难。 你 —— 如果有人会问 —— 考虑过合作这个问题吗？ 如果你没有，你的社区将不可避免地失败。 一起生活和一起工作是一件最困难的事情。 每个人都想实现他自己，成为这个或那个，任何合作的中断都在于此。 一起工作意味着没有任何动机的放弃自我。 就好像在一起学习，只有职责而没有地位。 如果你对合作精神有这种真正的理解，那么它一定会奏效。 并不是每个人都为社区的福利做出贡献， 而是每个人都拥有这种重要的‘理解’的火花。 任何个人的动机或利益，都会终结这种合作的真正品质。 你觉得你和你的朋友有这个吗？ 或者，只是你想建立一个社区？ 这就像一群人乘船出发，希望找到一个岛屿， 在不知道要走哪个方向，要去哪里的情况下， 却希望找到一片乐土， 而这一群人，都不曾想过自己要在上面做什么。

A young man with a sensitive face and hands said, "I am one of those who take drugs. I've taken them regularly for four or five years; not too much; probably every month or so. I am well aware what it is doing to me. I am not quite as sharp as I was. When I'm high I think I can do anything. I seem to have tremendous energy and there is no confusion. I see things sharply. I feel like a god on earth, perfect, without any problems, without any regrets. But I can't maintain that state all the time and I'm back on this mad earth. Now I need a stronger dose and where it is leading me I really don't know. I'm uneasy about it now. I can see myself gradually ending up in a mental hospital, and yet the pull of the other state is so strong that I seem to have no resistance. I'm young. I'm not a drop-out. I live with my parents. They know what I'm doing and want to help me stop it. I see a slow deterioration in myself. I experimented with it in the beginning because the others did. It was fun then, but now it has become a danger. You see how clearly I can explain all this? But yet there is part of me that has become slow, lethargic and ineffectual. It is these drug-gurus that have hooked me on it, promising an experience that is the real thing. I see now how easily we are deceived by these intellectuals. I don't want to end up in a mental hospital or prison, or lose my mind altogether."

一个面容和手都很敏感的年轻人说： “我是一个吸毒的人。 我已经定期服用了四五年；不是太多；大概每个月都有。 我很清楚它对我的影响。我不像以前那么机灵了。 当我很嗨的时候，我觉得我什么都能做。 我似乎有巨大的能量，没有困惑。我看东西很敏锐。 我觉得自己像人间的神，完美无缺，没有任何问题，没有任何遗憾。 但我不能一直保持那种状态，我又回到了这个疯狂的地球。 现在，我需要更强的剂量，我真的不知道它会把我引向哪里。 我现在对此感到不安。 我可以看到我自己逐渐地通向精神病院， 但另一种状态的吸引力是如此强烈，我似乎没有抵抗。 我还年轻、没有辍学。我和我的父母住在一起。 他们知道我在做什么，并想帮助我阻止它。 我看到我自己在慢慢地恶化。 我一开始就尝试过它，因为其他人这样做了。 那时很有趣，但现在却变成了危险。 你看，我能把这一切解释得多么清楚？ 但是，我的一部分已经变得缓慢、昏昏欲睡和无效。 正是这些药物大师们让我着迷，承诺真正的体验。 我现在看到我们是多么容易被这些知识分子所欺骗。 我不想最终进入精神病院或监狱，或者完全失去理智。”

If you see this so clearly, how it is damaging your brain and sensibilities and the subtleties of your life, why don't you drop it? Not for a day or two, but drop it completely? If you really see the danger of it, not verbally or romantically, the very seeing is the action that will put an end to it. But you must see it, not theorize about seeing. You must completely negate it. In this you will have the strength to do it, the vitality and energy. Then you will stop it without any resistance. It is this resistance that is the core of the matter. Don't build a resistance against it. Then you will be in conflict with the drug on one side and you on the other, with a wall of decision which only separates and increases conflict. Whereas if you really see it, see the tremendous danger of it as you would see the tremendous danger of a shark, or a rattlesnake, then you would drop it completely, instantly.

如果你看得如此清楚， 它是如何损害你的大脑和情感以及你生命的微妙之处， 你为什么不放弃它？不是一两天，而是完全地放弃？ 如果你真的看到了它的危险，不是口头上的或浪漫的， 这种看的行为就会结束它。 但是你必须看到它，而不是把‘所看到的’理论化。 你必须完全拒绝它。 这样，你就有能力去做，拥有活力和能量。 然后，你会毫无抵抗地停止它。 而这种抵抗才是问题的核心。 不要对它产生抵抗。 否则，你会一边与药物发生冲突，而在另一边与你自己发生冲突， 你所下定的决心如同一面墙，只会导致分离，增强冲突。 然而，如果你真实地看到它，看到它的巨大危险， 如同你看到鲨鱼的巨大危险一样。

So, if we may suggest, don't decide not to take drugs, for decision is based on will, which is resistance with all its contradictions and conflicts. Being aware of this, you will then say it is impossible to give it up. Don't fight it but see actually the immense danger to the brain, to the whole nervous system, to the clarity of perception. That is all you have to do and nothing else: seeing is doing.

因此，如果我们可以建议， 不要下决心不吸毒，因为决心源于意志， 意志就是抵抗，是它引发了所有的矛盾和冲突。 觉察到这一点，你会说，放弃它是不可能的。 不要与它打架，而是真正看到它的巨大危险， 对大脑、整个神经系统和感知的清晰度的危险。 那就是你必须做的，而再也没别的了：看即是做。

"May we all come back another day, Sir?"

“我们可以改天再来吗，先生？”

Of course, as often as you like.

当然，只要你喜欢。