对生活的评注 1-18

THE LONG EVENING shadows were over the still waters, and the river was becoming quiet after the day. Fish were jumping out of the water, and the heavy birds were coming to roost among the big trees. There was not a cloud in the sky, which was silver-blue. A boat full of people came down the river; they were singing and clapping, and a cow called in the distance. There was the scent of evening. A garland of marigold was moving with the water, which sparkled in the setting sun. How beautiful and alive it all was – the river, the birds, the trees and the villagers.

傍晚长长的阴影倒映在平静的水面上，白天过后，河水变得安静。鱼儿从水里跃出，沉重的鸟儿在大树中栖息。一朵云都没有的天空，呈现出银蓝色。一艘载满了人的船顺流而下；他们唱歌拍掌，远处传来一头牛的叫声。这里有傍晚的气息。一簇金盏花随流水移动，在夕阳下闪耀。这一切是多么美丽和生动 —— 河流、鸟儿、树林和村民们。

We were sitting under a tree, overlooking the river. Near the tree was a small temple, and a few lean cows wandered about. The temple was clean and well swept, and the flowering bush was watered and cared for. A man was performing his evening rituals, and his voice was patient and sorrowful. Under the last rays of the sun, the water was the colour of newborn flowers. Presently someone joined us and began to talk of his experiences. He said he had devoted many years of his life to the search for God, had practised many austerities and renounced many things that were dear. He had also helped considerably in social work, in building a school, and so on. He was interested in many things, but his consuming interest was the finding of God; and now, after many years, His voice was being heard, and it guided him in little as well as big things. He had no will of his own, but followed the inner voice of God. It never failed him, though he often corrupted its clarity; his prayer was ever for the purification of the vessel, that it might be worthy to receive.

我们坐在一棵树下，俯瞰河流。树边有一座小庙和几头闲逛的瘦牛。寺庙干净，打扫得很整洁，开花的灌木丛得到了浇灌和关照。一个男人在进行他的晚间仪式，他的嗓音是耐心和悲伤的。在最后一缕阳光下，水呈新生的花朵的颜色。现在有人加入了我们，开始谈论他的经历。他说，他一生中的许多年都致力于寻找上帝，实践了许多苦行戒律，并放弃了许多珍贵的东西。他还为社会工作、创办学校等方面提供了很大的帮助。他对许多事情感兴趣，但他的吞噬性的兴趣是寻找上帝。现在，多年以后，他的声音被听到了，它引导他做小事和大事。他没有自己的意志，却跟随上帝内心的声音。它从未让他失望，尽管他经常污染它的清晰度；他的祈祷永远是为了净化器皿，使它可能值得接受。

Can that which is immeasurable be found by you and me? Can that which is not of time be searched out by that thing which is fashioned of time? Can a diligently practised discipline lead us to the unknown? Is there a means to that which has no beginning and no end? Can that reality be caught in the net of our desires? What we can capture is the projection of the known; but the unknown cannot be captured by the known. That which is named is not the unnameable, and by naming we only awaken the conditioned responses. These responses, however noble and pleasant, are not of the real. We respond to stimulants, but reality offers no stimulant: it is.

你我能找到那无量的吗？那与时间无关的，能被那个被时间塑造的东西所搜索出来吗？一种勤奋的践行戒律能把我们引向未知吗？有没有一种手段能找到那没有开始和没有结束的东西？那种真实，能被我们的欲望之网抓住吗？我们捕捉到的，是已知事物的投影；但未知无法被已知所俘获。能被称呼的，不是那没有名字的东西，通过名称，我们只会唤醒受局限的回忆。这些回忆，无论多么高尚和愉快，都不是真实。我们对兴奋剂有回应，但真实没有提供兴奋剂：它只是。

The mind moves from the known to the known, and it cannot reach out into the unknown. You cannot think of something you do not know; it is impossible. What you think about comes out of the known, the past, whether that past be remote, or the second that has just gone by. This past is thought, shaped and conditioned by many influences, modifying itself according to circumstances and pressures, but ever remaining a process of time. Thought can only deny or assert it cannot discover or search out the new. Thought cannot come upon the new. but when thought is silent, then there may be the new – which is immediately transformed into the old, into the experienced, by thought. Thought is ever shaping, modifying, colouring according to a pattern of experience. The function of thought is to communicate but not to be in the state of experiencing. When experiencing ceases, then thought takes over and terms it within the category of the known. Thought cannot penetrate into the unknown, and so it can never discover or experience reality.

头脑从已知到已知，它无法触到未知。你不能思考你不知道的东西；这是不可能的。你所想到的都源于已知、过去 —— 无论是遥远的过去，还是刚才过去的那一秒。这个过去就是思想，受多种影响的塑造和制约，根据环境和压力改变自己，却永远还是一个时间的过程。思想只能拒绝或维护它所不能发现或探索新。思想不能碰见新。但是当思想安静下来，那么可能会有新的 —— 它立即被思想转化为旧的，变成体验。思想总是根据体验的模式，去塑造、修改、染色。思想的功能是交流，而不是用于体验。当体验停下，思想就接管，并将其归入已知的类别。思想无法穿透未知，因此，它永远无法发现或体验真实。

Disciplines, renunciations, detachment, rituals, the practice of virtue – all these, however noble, are the process of thought; and thought can only work towards an end, towards an achievement, which is ever the known. Achievement is security, the self-protective certainty of the known. To seek security in that which is nameless is to deny it. The security that may be found is only in the projection of the past, of the known. For this reason the mind must be entirely and deeply silent; but this silence cannot be purchased through sacrifice, sublimation or suppression. This silence comes when the mind is no longer seeking, no longer caught in the process of becoming. This silence is not cumulative, it may not be built up through practice. The silence must be as unknown to the mind as the timeless; for if the mind experiences the silence, then there is the experiencer who is the result of past experiences, who is cognizant of a past silence; and what is experienced by the experiencer is merely a self-projected repetition. The mind can never experience the new, and so the mind must be utterly still.

纪律、放弃、超脱、仪式、美德的实践 —— 所有这些，无论多么高尚，都从属于思想过程；而思想只能朝着一个目的，朝着一个永远已知的成就而努力。成就是安全，是已知的、自我防御性的确定。在无名中寻求安全，就是拒绝它。可以找到的安全，仅存于过去、已知，是已知投射出的阴影。因此，头脑必须完全地、深入地静；但这种静不能通过牺牲、升华或压制来追求。当头脑不再寻求，不再陷入成为的挣扎中，这种静会来。这种静是不可累积的，也许不能通过实践而建立。静必然是‘非时间’的，如同未知之于头脑；因为如果头脑体验到静，那么就出现了这个体验者，这个谁，是过去体验的产物，他认出了曾经的静；因而，体验者所经历的场景，只不过是在重复自我投射出来的影像。头脑永远无法体验新，所以头脑必须完全地静止。

The mind can be still only when it is not experiencing, that is, when it is not terming or naming, recording or storing up in memory. This naming and recording is a constant process of the different layers of consciousness, not merely of the upper mind. But when the superficial mind is quiet, the deeper mind can offer up its intimations. When the whole consciousness is silent and tranquil, free from all becoming, which is spontaneity then only does the immeasurable come into being. The desire to maintain this freedom gives continuity to the memory of the becomer, which is a hindrance to reality. Reality has no continuity; it is from moment to moment, ever new, ever fresh. What has continuity can never be creative.

只有当头脑没有体验的时候，那就是，当它没有去打招呼或取名字、没有做记录或积累记忆的时候，它才处在静止状态。这种取名字和记录的行为，在意识的不同层次上，持续地进行着，而不仅仅在意识的浅表层上。但是，当浅表的头脑安静下来，深处的头脑可以提供它的某些线索。当整个意识安宁下来，从一切成为的努力中解脱 —— 自发地，那么只有如此，无量呈现。想要保持这种自由的欲望，为成为者的记忆提供了延续性，阻拦了真实。真实没有延续性；它每时每刻永远在创造、更新。具有延续性的东西，永远不可能是创造性的。