对生活的评注 1-25

WE WERE SITTING in the shade of a large tree, overlooking a green valley. The woodpeckers were busy and there were ants in a long line scurrying back and forth between two trees. The wind was from the sea, bringing the smell of a distant fog. The mountains were blue and dreamy; often they had seemed so close, but now they were far away. A small bird was drinking from the little pool made by a leaky pipe. Two grey squirrels with large bushy tails were chasing each other up and down a tree; they would climb to the top and come spinning down with mad speed almost to the ground, and then go up again.

我们坐在一棵大树的树荫下，俯瞰绿色的山谷。啄木鸟很忙，蚂蚁们排成长队，在两棵树之间来回奔波。风从海上吹来，带来远处海水的气味。山脉蔚蓝而梦幻；往常他们看起来很近，但现在他们却很远。一只小鸟正在从漏水的管道而形成的小水池里喝水。两只灰色的松鼠，尾巴粗壮，在一棵树上下追逐。他们会爬到树尖，接着以疯狂的速度旋转而下，几乎落到地上，然后再次上去。

He was once a very rich man and had renounced his riches. He had had a great many possessions and had enjoyed the burden of their responsibility, for he was charitable and not too hard of heart. He gave without stint and forgot what he gave. He was good to his helpers and saw to their benefits, and made money easily in a world that was bent on moneymaking. He was unlike those whose bank accounts and investments are bigger than themselves, who are lonely and afraid of people and their demands, who shut themselves off in the peculiar atmosphere of their wealth. He was not a threat to his family nor did he yield easily, and he had many friends, but not because he was rich. He was saying that he had given up his possessions because it had struck him one day, as he was reading something, how vastly stupid were his moneymaking and his wealth. Now he had but few things and was trying to lead a simple life to find out what it was all about and whether there was something beyond the appetites of the physical centres.

他曾经是一个非常富有的人，他放弃了他的财富。他曾拥有大量的财产，并享受了它们的负担，因为他慈善，心肠不太硬。他毫无节制地给予，忘记了他所给出去的东西。他善待他的助手们，看到他们的好处，在一个一心想赚钱的世界里，他很轻易地赚取到了。他不像那些银行账户和资产更大的人，那些人孤独，害怕人们和他们的要求，那些人把他们自己封闭在财富的特殊氛围中。他不威胁家人，也不轻易屈服，他有很多朋友，但不是因为他有钱。他说他已经放弃了自己的财产，因为有一天，他读到一些东西，触动了他，他赚钱的方法和他的钱财，是多么地愚蠢。现在他只有很少的东西，并试图过一种简单的生活，以找出它到底是什么，以及是否有某些超越身体口味的东西。

To be content with little is comparatively easy; to be free from the burden of many things is not difficult when one is on a journey looking for something else. The urgency of inward search clears away the confusion of many possessions, but being free from outer things does not mean a simple life. Outer simplicity and order do not necessarily mean inner tranquillity and innocence. It is good to be simple outwardly, for it does give a certain freedom, it is a gesture of integrity; but why is it that we invariably begin with the outer and not with the inner simplicity. Is it to convince ourselves and others of our intention? Why do we have to convince ourselves. Freedom from things needs intelligence, not gestures and convictions; and intelligence is not personal. If one is aware of all the implications of many possessions, that very awareness liberates, and then there is no need for dramatic assertions and gestures. It is when this intelligent awareness is not functioning that we resort to disciplines and detachments. The emphasis is not on much or little, but on intelligence; and the intelligent man, being content with little, is free from many possessions.

满足于少，是相对容易的；当一个人在寻找其它东西的旅程中，从许多东西的负担中解脱并不困难。内在寻找的紧迫性，消除了许多因财产而引发的困惑，但从外在的事物中解脱，并不意味着简单的生活。外在的简单和秩序并不一定意味着内在的安宁和天真。外在的简单是好的，因为它确实带来了一定的自由，它是一种正直的姿态；可是，为什么我们总是从外在开始，却不从内在的简单呢？难道是想要说服我们自己和他人，去相信自己的意图吗？为什么我们必须说服自己。从事物中解脱需要智慧，而不是姿态和信服；智慧不是私人的。如果一个人意识到大量财产的所有含义，那么这个意识就是自由，那么就不需要戏剧性的断言与姿态。当这个智慧的意识没有出现，我们才会求助于戒律和解脱。重点不在多少，而在智慧；而智慧的人，满足于少，即是从大量的财物中解放。

But contentment is one thing and simplicity is quite another. The desire for contentment or for simplicity is binding. Desire makes for complexity. Contentment comes with the awareness of what is, and simplicity with the freedom from what is. It is well to be outwardly simple, but it is far more important to be inwardly simple and clear. Clarity does not come through a determined and purposeful mind; the mind cannot create it. The mind can adjust itself, can arrange and put its thoughts in order; but this is not clarity or simplicity.

但满足是一回事，简单是另一回事。对满足或简单的欲望就是束缚。欲望制造出复杂。意识现状，满足即来，而简单呢，源自于从现状中解脱。外在的简单是好的，但内在的简单与清明，更为重要。清明，不是来自一个坚定的、有意图的头脑；头脑无法创造它。头脑可以调整它自己，可以安排和整理它自己的思想；但这不是清明或简单。

The action of will makes for confusion; because will, however sublimated, is still the instrument of desire. The will to be, to become, however worth while and noble, may have a directive, may clear a way amidst confusion; but such a process leads to isolation, and clarity cannot come through isolation. The action of will may temporarily light up the immediate foreground, necessary for mere activity, but it can never clear up the background; for will itself is the outcome of this very background. The background breeds and nourishes the will, and will may sharpen the background, heighten its potentialities; but it can never cleanse the background.

意志的行动，使人困惑；因为意志，无论怎么升华，仍然是欲望的工具。认同的意志，成为的意志，无论多么有价值和高尚，可能有指导性，可以在困惑中扫清道路；但这样的过程会导致孤立，而清明，不能通过孤立来实现。意志的行动可能会暂时照亮眼前的景象，它仅仅只是活动的必需品，却永远无法清除背景；因为意志本身就是这个背景的产物。背景滋生和养育意志，意志也许能使背景锐利，增强它的潜力；但它永远无法清理背景。

Simplicity is not of the mind. A planned simplicity is only a cunning adjustment, a defence against pain and pleasure; it is a self-enclosing activity which breeds various forms of conflict and confusion. It is conflict that brings darkness, within and without. Conflict and clarity cannot exist together; and it is freedom from conflict that gives simplicity, not the overcoming of conflict. What is conquered has to be conquered again and again, and so conflict is made endless. The understanding of conflict is the understanding of desire. Desire may abstract itself as the observer, the one who understands; but this sublimation of desire is only postponement and not understanding. The phenomenon of the observer and the observed is not a dual process, but a single one; and only in experiencing the fact of this unitary process is there freedom from desire, from conflict. The question of how to experience this fact should never arise. It must happen; and it happens only when there is alertness and passive awareness. You cannot know the actual experience of meeting a poisonous snake by imagining or speculating about it while sitting comfortably in your room. To meet the snake you must venture out beyond the paved streets and artificial lights.

简单与头脑无关。有计划的简单只是一种狡猾的调整，一种对痛苦和快乐的防御；它是一种自我封闭的活动，滋生各种形式的冲突与困惑。正是冲突带来了黑暗，无论是内在的还是外在的。冲突和清明不能共存；从冲突中解放出来，才有简单，而不是去征服冲突。被征服的东西必须一次又一次地被征服，如此一来，冲突永无休止。理解冲突，就是理解欲望。欲望可以把它自己抽象为观察者：一个理解的人；但这种欲望的升华只是拖延，不是理解。观察者和被观察者的现象，不是一个二元过程，而是一个单一过程；体验这个单一过程，这个事实，即是从欲望，从冲突中解脱。如何体验这个事实的问题，永远不应该出现。它必须发生；只有出现警觉和被动的意识，它才发生。你不能舒适地坐在你的房间里，通过想象或推测去认识与一条毒蛇相遇的实际体验。要遇到蛇，你必须外出冒险，走出铺砌的街道和人造的灯光。