the beginning of learning 学习入门
IT WAS AN old, vast Byzantine building which had become a mosque. It was immense. Inside they were chanting the Koran and one sat beside a beggar on a carpet under the huge dome. The chanting was magnificent, echoing in the great space. There was no difference here between the beggar and that well-dressed man, apparently well-to-do. There were no women here. The men had their heads bowed, muttering to themselves silently. Light came through the coloured glass and made patterns on the carpet. Outside were many beggars, so many people wanting things; and down there was the blue sea, dividing the East and the West.
这是一座古老的、巨大的拜占庭式建筑，现在已经变成了一座清真寺。它巨大。 在里面，他们正在念诵《古兰经》，一个人坐在一个乞丐旁边，在巨大圆顶下的地毯上。 吟唱声波澜壮阔，回荡在广阔的空间中。 在乞丐和那个衣冠楚楚的、显然是富裕的人之间，没有区别。 这里没有女人。男人们低着头，默默地喃喃自语。 光线透过彩色的玻璃，在地毯上形成图案。 外面有很多乞丐，很多人要东西； 下方是蓝色的大海，将东方和西方分开。
It was a very ancient temple. They really couldn't tell how old it was but they loved to exaggerate the antiquity of their temples. One came to it through dusty, dirty roads with palm trees and open gutters. They walked seven times around the sanctuary and prostrated themselves as they passed the door through which one saw the image. They were devotees, completely absorbed in their prayers; and here only the Brahmins were allowed. There were bats and the smell of incense. The image was covered with jewels and bright silk. Women stood there with hands raised and children were playing in the courtyard, shouting, laughing, running round the pillars. All the pillars were carved; there was a great sense of space and heavy dignity, and because it was so bright outside in the dazzling sun, here it was cool. Some sannyasis sat meditating, undisturbed by the passers-by.
它是一座非常古老的寺庙。 他们真的不知道它有多古老，但他们喜欢夸大他们寺庙的古老程度。 一个人穿过尘土飞扬、肮脏的道路，路旁有布满棕榈树和开阔排水沟，来到了这里。 他们在这个圣所的周围走了七圈， 并在路过人们所见的雕像的门前鞠躬。 他们是奉献者，全神贯注于祈祷； 这里只允许婆罗门进入。 有蝙蝠和香的气味。 雕像上覆盖着珠宝和明亮的丝绸。 妇女们举手站在那里， 孩子们在院子里玩耍，叫喊着，笑着，绕着柱子跑。 所有的柱子都有雕塑；有一种很大的空间感和厚重的威严感， 因为外面耀眼的阳光，所以这里很凉爽。 一些桑雅生坐下打坐，不受路人的打扰。
There was that peculiar quality of atmosphere that exists when many thousands through the centuries come to pray, worship and give offerings to the Gods. There was a tank of water and they were bathing in it. It was a sacred tank because it was within the walls of the temple. It was very quiet in the sanctuary but the rest of the place was used not only for worship, for children to play in, but also by the older generation as a meeting place where they sat and talked and chattered about their life. Young students chanted in Sanskrit and later that evening about a hundred priests gathered outside the sanctuary to chant, praising the glory of the Lord. The chanting shook the walls and was a marvellous sound. Outside there was the hard blue sky of the south and in the evening light the palm trees were beautiful.
这里存在某种特殊的气氛， 几个世纪以来，成千上万的人前来祈祷、敬拜和献祭于诸神。 有一个水池，他们正在里面洗澡。 这是一个神圣的水池，因为它在寺庙的墙壁内。 在这个圣所内，非常安静， 但其余的地方不仅用于礼拜，供孩子们玩耍， 而且还用作老一辈的聚会场所，他们坐下来交谈和聊聊他们的生活。 年轻的学生用梵文唱诵，那天晚上晚些时候， 大约一百名牧师聚集在圣所外唱诵，赞美主的荣耀。 歌声震动墙壁，一种奇妙的声音。 寺庙外面，南方的天空呈现出深蓝色，夜光下棕榈树很美。
There was the vast piazza with a curving colonnade of pillars and the huge basilica with its tremendous dome. People were pouring into it, tourists from all over the world, looking with great wonder at the mass being performed; but there was very little atmosphere here - too many inquisitive people, hushed voices. It had become a show place. There was great beauty in the rituals, in the priests' robes but it was all man-made - the image, the Latin and the structure of the ceremony. It was made by the hand and by the mind, cunningly put together to convince one of the greatness and the power of God.
那里有巨大的广场，有一个弯曲的柱廊， 还有巨大的大教堂和巨大的圆顶。 人们涌入其中， 来自世界各地的游客，惊奇地看着正在进行的弥撒； 但是这里的气氛却很淡 —— 好奇的人太多，安静无语。 它已经成为一个表演场所。 仪式和祭司的长袍非常美丽， 但都是人造的 —— 图像、拉丁文和仪式的排场。 它是由手工和头脑制成的，巧妙地组合在一起， 以便于使人信服上帝的伟大和力量。
We had been walking through the English countryside among the open fields: there were pheasants, a clear blue sky and the light of the early evening. The slow quiet autumn was coming in. Leaves were turning yellow and red and dropping from the huge trees. Everything was waiting for winter, silent, apprehensive, withdrawn. How very different nature was in the springtime. Then everything was bursting with life - every blade of grass and the new leaf. Then there was the song of birds and murmuring of many leaves. But now though there was not a breath of air, though everything was still, it felt the approach of winter, rainy stormy days, snow and violent gales.
我们走在开阔的田野中，穿过了英国的乡村： 这里有野鸡，湛蓝的天空和夕阳的霞光。 舒缓的秋天安静地走来。树叶变黄、变红，从高大的树上飘落。 一切都在等待冬天，沉默，敏锐，内敛。 春的天性是多么的不同。 那时，一切都充满了生机 —— 每一片草叶和新叶。 然后是鸟的歌唱和许多树叶的低语。 可现在，虽然没有一丝气息，虽然一切都静止了， 却能感觉到了冬天的临近，风雨交加，大雪纷飞和狂暴的飓风。
Walking along the fields and climbing over a stile you came to a grove of many trees and several redwoods. As you entered it you were suddenly aware of its absolute silence. There wasn't a leaf moving, it was as though a spell had been cast upon it. The grass was greener, brighter with the slanting sun upon it and you felt all of a sudden a great feeling of sacredness. You walked through it almost holding your breath, hesitating to step. There were great blooms of hydrangeas and rhododendrons which would flower in several months, but none of these things mattered, or rather they gave a benediction to this spot. You realized when you came out of the grove that your mind was completely empty without a single thought. There was only that and nothing else.
沿着田野走，翻过一道阶梯， 你来到一片树林和几棵红杉林。 当你进入它时，你突然意识到它的绝对寂静。 一片叶子都没有动，好像被施了魔法一般。 草地更绿了，在斜阳的照耀下更亮了， 你突然感受到一种神圣。 你几乎屏住呼吸穿过它，犹豫着要不要迈步。 绣球花和杜鹃花盛开，它们会持续开放，直到几个月之后， 但这些都无关紧要，或者说，它们是对这个地方的祝福。 当你从树林里出来，你意识到你的头脑完全虚无，没有一丝念头。 只存在那，没有别的。
When one loses the deep intimate relationship with nature, then temples, mosques and churches become important.
当一个人失去了与自然之间深切的亲密关系， 那么，寺庙、清真寺和教堂就变得重要了。
The teacher said, "How can one prevent, not only in the student but in ourselves, this competitive aggressive pursuit of one's own demand? I have taught now for many years in various schools and colleges, not only here but abroad, and I find throughout my teaching career this aggressive competitiveness. There is a reaction to this now. Young people want to live together in communes, feeling the warmth and comfort of companionship which they call love. They feel this way of living is much more real, full of meaning. But they also become exclusive. They gather together by the thousands for music festivals and in this living together they share not only the music but the enjoyment of it all. They seem so utterly promiscuous and to me it all seems childish and rather superficial. They may deny competitive aggression but it is still there in their blood. It shows itself in many ways of which they may not be aware. I have seen this same attitude among students. They are not learning for the sake of learning but for success, because of their desire to achieve. Some realize all this and reject it and drift. It is all right when they are young, under twenty, but soon they are caught and their drifting ways become the new routine.
这位老师说：“不仅在学生身上，而且在我们自己身上， 一个人如何才能防止这种为了自己的要求而采取竞争性的、侵略性的追逐？ 我已经在各种学校和学院任教多年，不仅在国内，而且在国外， 在我的教学生涯中，发现了这种侵略性的竞争。 现在有一种反抗。年轻人想住在公社里， 感受陪伴的温暖和舒适 —— 他们称之为爱。 他们觉得这种生活方式更真实，充满了意义。 但他们也变得排他性。 他们成千上万地聚集在一起，参加音乐节， 在这种生活中，他们不仅分享音乐，还分享这一切的乐趣。 他们看起来非常滥交，对我来说，这一切都显得幼稚和肤浅。 他们可能拒绝竞争性的侵略，但它仍然存在于他们的血液中。 它以许多他们可能不知道的方式表现出来。 在学生中，我看到了同样的态度。 他们不是为了学习而学习，而是为了成功，为了欲望的满足。 有些人意识到这一切，反抗它，漂泊。 年轻的时候还好，不到二十岁， 但很快就会被困住，漂泊的方式变成了新的牢笼。
"All this seems superficial and passing, but deep down man is against man. It shows in this terrible competition both in the communist world and in the so-called democracies. It is there. I find it in myself like a flame burning, driving me. I want to be better than somebody, not only for prestige and comfort, but for the feeling of superiority, the feeling of being. This feeling exists in the students though they may have a mild gentle face. They all want to be somebody. It shows in the class and every teacher is comparing A with B and urging B to be like A. In the family and in the school this goes on."
“这一切似乎都是表面的和转瞬即逝的，但在内心深处，人在反对人。 在共产主义世界和所谓的民主国家里，这场可怕的竞争都显露了出来。 它就在那里。在我自己的身上，我发现它就像燃烧的火焰，在驱使我。 我想要比某某人更好， 不仅仅是为了威望和舒适，而是为了优越感，存在感。 这种感觉存在于学生身上，尽管他们可能有一张温和的脸。 他们都想成为某个人物。 这在课堂上表现出来，每个老师都在把A和B进行比较，并敦促B像A一样。 在家庭和学校中，这种情况一直在继续。”
When you compare B with A, openly or secretly, you are destroying B. B is not important at all, for you have in your mind the image of A who is clever, bright, and you have given him a certain value. The essence of all this competitiveness is comparison: comparing one picture with another, one book with another, a person with another - the hero, the example, the principle, the ideal. This comparison is measurement between what is and what should be. You give marks to the student and so force him to compete with himself; and the final misery of all this comparison is the examinations. All your heroes, religious and worldly, exist because of this spirit of comparison. Every parent, the whole social structure in the worlds of religion, art, science and business is the same. This measurement between yourself and another, between those who know and the ignorant, has existed and continues in our daily life. Why do you compare? What is the need of measurement? Is it an escape from yourself, from your own shallowness, emptiness and insufficiency? This attachment to measurement of what you have been and what you will be divides life and thereby all conflict begins.
当你公开或秘密地将B与A进行比较时，你就是在毁灭B。 B根本不重要，因为你脑海中，A的印象是聪明、活泼的， 你肯定了A的价值。 竞争的本质是比较： 将一幅画与另一幅画、一本书与另一本书、 把一个人与另一个 —— 英雄、榜样、导师、理想者，进行比较。 这种比较，就是把“什么是”和“应该是”放在一起来衡量。 你给学生打分，迫使他与他自己竞争； 所有这些比较的最终痛苦，就是考试。 你所有的英雄，不论是宗教的，还是世俗的，都是因为这种比较精神而存在的。 每个父母，宗教、艺术、科学和商业世界中的整个社会结构都是一样的。 你和另一个人之间的这种衡量，知者与无知者之间， 在我们的日常生活中一直存在并继续着。 你为什么要比较？衡量的必要性是什么？ 是在逃避你自己，逃避你自己的浅薄、空虚和不足吗？ 对衡量的这种依恋，撕裂了生命， 因此，所有的冲突开始了。
"But surely, Sir, you must compare. You compare when you choose this or that house, this or that cloth. Choice is necessary."
“但是，当然了，先生，你必须比较。 当你选择这个或那个房子，这个或那个布料时你比较。选择是必要的。”
We are not talking about such superficial choice. That is inevitable. But we are concerned with the psychological, the inward comparative spirit which brings about competitiveness with its aggression and ruthlessness. You are asking why, as a teacher and human being, you have this spirit, why you compete, why you compare. If you do not understand this in yourself, you will be encouraging competition, consciously or unconsciously, in the student. You will set up the image of the hero - political, economic or moral. The saint wants to break records as much as the man who plays cricket. Really there is not much difference between them, for both have this comparative evaluation of life.
我们不是在谈论这种肤浅的选择。那是必然的。 但我们关心的是心理上的、内在的比较精神， 它以其侵略性和无情性带来了竞争。 你在问为什么，作为老师和人类，你有这种精神，为什么要竞争，为什么要比较？ 如果你自己不明白这一点， 你就会有意或无意地鼓励学生去竞争。 您将树立英雄的形象 —— 政治、经济或道德上的。 圣人和打板球的人一样，都想打破记录。 实际上，他们之间并没有太大的区别，因为两者都有这种对生命的比较性的评估。
If you seriously ask yourself why you compare and whether it is possible to live a life without comparison, if you seriously enquire into this, not merely intellectually but actually, and go into yourself deeply putting away this competitive aggression, would you not find that there is a deep fear of being nothing? By putting on different masks, according to the culture and society you live in, you cover the fear of not being and not becoming: the becoming as something better than what is - something greater, nobler. When you observe what actually is, it is also the result of previous conditioning, of measurement. When you understand the real significance of measurement and comparison then there is freedom from what is.
如果你严肃地问你自己：为什么要比较，是否有可能过一种没有比较的生活， 如果你严肃地调查这一点，不仅在智力上而是在实际中， 深入到自己的内心深处，摒弃这种竞争性的侵略， 你难道没有发现，对“自己什么都不是”，有一种非常深的恐惧吗？ 通过戴上不同的面具，根据你生活的文化和社会， 你掩盖了对“什么都不是”和“没有成为”的恐惧： 这种成为，好像是比现在更好的东西 —— 一种更伟大、更高尚的东西。 当你观察它的真实性，它也是过去的局限和衡量的结果。 当您理解了衡量和比较的真实含义， 那么，现在，就有自由。
After a moment the teacher said, "If there is not the encouragement of comparison the student will not study. He needs to be encouraged, to be goaded, to be cajoled, and also he wants to know how he is doing. When he takes an examination he has the right to know how many of his answers were correct and how close his knowledge is to what was taught."
过了一会儿，这位老师说： “如果没有比较性的鼓励，学生就不会学习。 他需要被鼓励，被唆使，被哄骗，他也想知道他有怎样的表现。 当他进行了一次考试，他有权知道他的答案有多少是正确的， 以及他的知识与所教内容的接近程度。”
If I may point out, Sirs, he is like you. He is conditioned by society and the culture in which he lives. One has to learn about this competitive aggression which comes through comparison and measurement. This may bring about an accumulation of great knowledge, you may achieve a great many things, but it denies love and it denies also the understanding of oneself. Understanding oneself is of far greater importance than becoming somebody. The very words we use are comparative--better, greater, nobler.
如果我可以指出，先生们，他和你一样。 他受到社会和他所生活的文化的制约。 一个人必须学习这种通过比较和衡量所产生的竞争性的侵略。 这可能会带来大知识的积累，你可能会取得很多成就， 但它拒绝了爱，也拒绝了对自身的理解。 理解自己远比成为某个人物重要得多。 我们使用的每个词语都是比较性的 —— 更好、更大、更高尚。
"But, Sir, I must ask - how does either student or teacher evaluate his factual knowledge of a subject without some kind of examination?"
“但是，先生，我必须问 —— 学生或老师如何在没有某种考试的情况下，评估他对一门学科的实际知识？”
Doesn't this imply that in everyday teaching and learning, through discussion, study, the teacher will become aware of how much factual knowledge the student has absorbed? This really means, doesn't it, that the teacher has to keep a close watch on the student, observe his capacity, what is going on in his head. That means you must care for the student. "There is so much to convey to the student."
这不就意味着在日常的教与学中，通过讨论、学习， 老师将会觉察到学生吸收了多少实际的知识吗？ 这就是真正的意义，它不是吗？老师必须密切地观察学生， 观察他的能力，他的头脑中在发生什么。 那意味着你必须关心学生。“有很多的东西需要传授给学生。”
What is it you want to convey to him? To live a non-competitive life? To explain to him the machinery of comparison and what it does? Tell him in words and convince him intellectually? You yourselves may see this intellectually or verbally understand it, but is it not possible to find a way of living in which all comparison ceases? You as teachers and human beings have to live that way. Only then can you convey it to the student and it will have truth behind it. But if you don't live that way you are only playing with words and hypocrisy follows. To live without measurement and comparison inwardly is only possible when you yourself are learning the whole implication of it - the aggression, the brutality, the division and its envies. Freedom means a life without comparison. But inevitably you will ask what is the condition of a life without any high or low, without an example, without division. You want a description of it so that through description you may capture it. This is another form of comparison and competition. The description is never the described. You have to live it and then you will know what it means.
你想传授给他什么？过着没有竞争的生活？ 向他解释比较机制及其作用？ 用语言告诉他，并在理智上说服他？ 你们自己可能会在理智上或口头上看到这一点， 可是，难道就不能找到一种消除所有比较的生活方式吗？ 你作为老师和人类，必须这样生活。 只有这样，你才能把它传达给学生，它的背后才是真理。 但如果你不那样生活，你就只是在玩弄文字，虚伪就会随之而来。 要在内心没有衡量和比较的情况下生活， 只有当你自己学习它的全部含义 —— 侵略、野蛮、分裂和嫉妒。 自由意味着没有比较的生活。 但你不可避免地会问， 没有高低、没有榜样、没有分裂的生活是什么状态。 您需要对其进行描述，以便通过描述来捕捉它。 这是比较和竞争的另一个形式。 描述出来的，永远不是描述之物。 你必须活在其中，那么，你就会知道它是什么意思。