THE SEA WAS very calm and there was hardly a ripple on the white sands. Around the wide bay, to the north, was the town, and to the south were palm trees,almost touching the water. Just visible beyond the bar were the first of the sharks, and beyond them the fishermen’s boats, a few logs tied together with stout rope. They were making for a little village south of the palm trees. The sunset was brilliant, not where one would expect it, but in the east; it was a counter-sunset, and the clouds, massive and shapely, were lit with all the colours of the spectrum. It was really quite fantastic, and almost painful to bear. The waters caught the brilliant colours and made a path of exquisite light to the horizon.

大海非常平静，白色的沙滩上几乎没有一丝细浪。 在宽阔的海湾周围，北面是城镇， 南边是棕榈树林，几乎碰到了海水。 从围栏外，刚好可以看到鲨鱼群的头一只， 在它们之外是渔民的船，几根原木用粗壮的绳子绑在一起。 他们在棕榈树南面的一个小村庄谋生。 日落很壮观，不是一个人所期望的地方，而是在东方。 这是一个反方向的日落， 云层庞大而形态生动，被光谱中的所有色彩所点燃。 它真的太炫了，几乎使人难以忍受。 海水捕捉到了绚丽的色彩，并形成了一条通往地平线的精美的光之路。

There were a few fishermen walking back to their villages from the town, but the beach was almost deserted and silent. A single star was above the clouds. On our way back, a woman joined us and began to talk of serious things. She said she belonged to a certain society whose members meditated and cultivated the essential virtues. Each month a particular virtue was chosen, and during the days that followed it was cultivated and put into practice. From her attitude and speech it appeared that she was well grounded in self-discipline and somewhat impatient with those who were not of her mood and purpose.

有几个渔民从镇上走回他们的村庄， 但海滩几乎荒无人烟，很安静。一颗孤星在层云之上。 在我们回去的路上，一位女士加入了我们，开始谈论严肃的事情。 她说，她属于某个社团， 社员们冥想并培养了基本的美德。 每个月都会选择一种特定的美德， 在随后的日子里，它被培养并付诸实践。 从她的态度和言语来看，她似乎在自律方面上，基础打得很好， 而对那些不关心她心情和目标的人，则有些不耐烦。

Virtue is of the heart and not of the mind, When the mind cultivates virtue, it is cunning calculation; it is a self-defence, a clever adjustment to environment. Self-perfection is the very denial of virtue. How can there be virtue if there is fear? Fear is of the mind and not of the heart. Fear hides itself under different forms: virtue, respectability, adjustment, service and so on. Fear will always exist in the relationships and activities of the mind. The mind is not separate from its activities; but it separates itself, thus giving itself continuity and permanence. As a child practises the piano, so the mind cunningly practises virtue to make itself more permanent and dominant in meeting life, or to attain what it considers to be the highest. There must be vulnerability to meet life, and not the respectable wall of self-enclosing virtue. The highest cannot be attained; there is no path, no mathematically progressive growth to it. Truth must come, you cannot go to truth, and your cultivated virtue will not carry you to it. What you attain is not truth, but your own self-projected desire; and in truth alone is there happiness.

美德与心灵相关，与头脑无关， 当头脑培养美德的时候，它是在狡猾地算计； 那是一种自卫，一种对环境的巧妙调整。 自我完善是对美德的拒绝。 如果有恐惧，怎么会有美德？恐惧与头脑相关，与心灵无关。 恐惧以不同的形式隐藏自己：美德、尊严、调整、服务等等。 恐惧永远存在于头脑的关系和活动中。 头脑与它的活动分不开； 但它把自己分开了，从而使它自己具有延续性和持久性。 如同一个孩子练习钢琴，头脑狡猾地练习美德， 以便于自己在面对生活的时候，更加的持久和强大， 或者达到它所认为的至尊。 必须处于柔脆，才能面对生活， 而不是用自我封闭的美德所建立的景仰之墙。 至尊是无法获取；它没有路，没有数学上的持续性的累加。 真理必须到来，你不能走向真理，你培养的美德不会载你去见真理。 你所抵达的不是真理，而是你的自我投影出来的欲望； 在真实的自在中，有至乐。

The cunning adaptability of the mind in its own self-perpetuation sustains fear. It is this fear that must be deeply understood, not how to be virtuous. A petty mind may practise virtue, but it will still remain petty. Virtue is then an escape from its own pettiness, and the virtue it gathers will also be petty. If this pettiness is not understood, how can there be the experiencing of reality? How can a petty, virtuous mind be open to the immeasurable?

头脑在自我的硬核里，用狡猾的适应性维持着恐惧。 这种恐惧必须得到深刻的理解，而不是如何变得有美德。 一个琐碎的头脑可能会实践美德，但它仍然会维持琐碎。 因此，美德就是逃避自己的琐碎，它所收集的美德也会是琐碎的。 如果不理解这种琐碎，怎么会有真实的体验呢？ 一个琐碎的、有美德的头脑怎么能够对那不可估量的，敞开心扉呢？

In comprehending the process of the mind, which is the self, virtue comes into being. Virtue is not accumulated resistance; it is the spontaneous awareness and the understanding of what is. Mind cannot understand; it may translate what is understood into action, but it is not capable of understanding. To understand, there must be the warmth of recognition and reception, which only the heart can give when the mind is silent. But the silence of the mind is not the result of cunning calculation. The desire for silence is the curse of achievement, with its endless conflicts and pains. The craving to be, negatively or positively, is the denial of virtue of the heart. Virtue is not conflict and achievement, prolonged practice and result, but a state of being which is not the outcome of self-projected desire. There is no being if there is a struggle to be. In the struggle to be there is resistance and denial, mortification and renunciation; but the overcoming of these is not virtue. Virtue is the tranquillity of freedom from the craving to be, and this tranquillity is of the heart, not of the mind. Through practice, compulsion, resistance, the mind may make itself quiet, but such a discipline destroys virtue of the heart, without which there is no peace, no blessing; for virtue of the heart is understanding.

理解头脑的运作，也就是自我，在这理解中，美德应运而生。 美德不是积攒出来的抵抗力； 它是自发的意识并理解现状。 头脑无法理解； 它可以将理解的内容转化为行动，但它没有能力理解。 要理解，必须有承载和接受的温暖， 这种温暖只有当头脑安静下来的时候，心灵才能给予。 但头脑的安静不是狡猾的计算结果。 对安静的渴望，就是‘成就’的诅咒，伴生出无休止的冲突和痛苦。 对生命的渴望，无论是消极的还是积极的，都是对心灵美德的拒绝。 美德不是冲突和成就，不是长期的实践和结果， 而是一种生命的状态，它不是自我投射出的欲望的产物。 如果去争取，就不存在。 在为之而争取的过程中，有着抵抗和拒绝、死亡和放弃； 但克服掉这些，也不是美德。 美德是摆脱了渴望的宁静， 这种宁静是心灵的，而不是头脑的。 通过修行、强迫、反抗，头脑可以使自己安静， 但这样的修炼破坏了心灵的美德， 没有那，就没有和平，没有至乐； 因为心灵的美德就是理解。