对生活的评注 2-2

HE WAS VERY concerned with helping humanity, with doing good works, and was active in various social-welfare organizations. He said he had literally never taken a long holiday, and that since his graduation from college he had worked constantly for the betterment of man. Of course he wasn’t taking any money for the work he was doing. His work had always been very important to him, and he was greatly attached to what he did. He had become a first-class social worker, and he loved it. But he had heard something in one of the talks about the various kinds of escape which condition the mind, and he wanted to talk things over.

他非常关心帮助人类，做善事，并积极参与各种社会福利组织。他说，他实际上从未休过长假，自从大学毕业后，他一直在为改善人类的生活而努力。当然，他没有为他正在做的工作拿任何钱。他的工作对他来说一直非常重要，他非常执着于他所做的事情。他已经成为一名一流的社会工作者，他很喜欢。但是他在一次谈话中听到了一些关于各种各样的逃避方式，这种逃避是束缚了头脑，他想把这件事情弄懂。

“Do you think being a social worker is conditioning? Does it only bring about further conflict?”

“你认为成为一名社会工作者是一种束缚吗？它只会带来进一步的冲突吗？”

Let us find out what we mean by conditioning. When are we aware that we are conditioned? Are we ever aware of it? Are you aware that you are conditioned, or are you only aware of conflict, of struggle at various levels of your being? Surely, we are aware, not of our conditioning, but only of conflict, of pain and pleasure. “What do you mean by conflict?”

让我们找出我们所说的束缚是什么意思。我们什么时候意识到我们是被绑架的？我们是否意识到了这一点？你是否意识到你被捆了，或者你只是意识到冲突，意识到你现存的各个层面上的挣扎？当然，我们意识到的不是我们的束缚，而仅仅是冲突、痛苦和快乐。 “你说的冲突是什么意思？”

Every kind of conflict: the conflict between nations, between various social groups, between individuals, and the conflict within oneself. Is not conflict inevitable as long as there is no integration between the actor and his action, between challenge and response? Conflict is our problem, is it not? Not any one particular conflict, but all conflict: the struggle between ideas, beliefs, ideologies, between the opposites. If there were no conflict there would be no problems.

每一种冲突：国家之间的冲突，各种社会群体之间的冲突，个人之间的冲突，以及自己内部的冲突。只要行动者与其行动之间、挑战与回应之间没有融合，冲突不就是不可避免的吗？冲突是我们的问题，不是吗？不是任何一个特定的冲突，而是所有的冲突：观点、信仰、意识形态、对立面之间的斗争。如果没冲突，就不存在问题。

“Are you suggesting that we should all seek a life of isolation, of contemplation?”

“你是在暗示我们都应该寻求一种与世隔绝、沉思的生活吗？”

Contemplation is arduous, it is one of the most difficult things to understand. Isolation, though each one is consciously or unconsciously seeking it in his own way, does not solve our problems; on the contrary, it increases them. We are trying to understand what are the factors of conditioning which bring further conflict. We are only aware of conflict, of pain and pleasure, and we are not aware of our conditioning. What makes for conditioning?

沉思是艰巨的，它是最难理解的事情之一。隔绝，尽管每个人都有意或无意地以自己的方式追寻它，却并不能解决我们的问题；相反，它增添了问题。我们正试图理解产生束缚的因素是什么，是束缚导致了进一步的冲突。我们只意识到冲突、痛苦和快乐，而没有意识到我们被捆绑。是什么在缠缚？

“Social or environmental influences: the society in which we were born, the culture in which we have been raised, economic and political pressures, and so on.”

“社会或环境影响：我们出生的社会，我们成长的文化，经济和政治压力，等等。”

That is so; but is that all? These influences are our own product, are they not? Society is the outcome of man’s relationship with man, which is fairly obvious. This relationship is one of use, of need, of comfort, of gratification, and it creates influences, values that bind us. The binding is our conditioning. By our own thoughts and actions we are bound; but we are not aware that we are bound, we are only aware of the conflict of pleasure and pain. We never seem to go beyond this; and if we do, it is only into further conflict. We are not aware of our conditioning, and until we are, we can only produce further conflict and confusion.

事实就是如此。但仅此而已吗？这些影响是我们自己的产物，它们不是吗？社会是人与人关系的结果，这是相当明显的。这种关系是一种利用、需要、舒适、满足的关系，它创造出的影响和价值，即是束缚我们的缰绳。这种束缚即是我们的限制。我们被我们自己的思想和行动所缠缚；但是我们没有意识到我们被束缚了，我们只是意识到快乐和痛苦的冲突。我们似乎从未超越这些；如果我们去做，只会陷入进一步的冲突。我们没有意识到我们的限制，除非我们意识到，否者我们只能产生进一步的冲突和困惑。

“How is one to be aware of one’s conditioning?”

“一个人如何意识到自己的束缚？”

It is possible only by understanding another process, the process of attachment. If we can understand why we are attached, then perhaps we can be aware of our conditioning. “Isn’t that rather a long way round to come to a direct question?”

只有通过理解另一个过程，即依恋的过程，才有可能。如果我们能理解我们为什么执着，那么也许我们可以意识到绑我们的绳子。 “那不是有很长的路要走，才能遇到一个直接的问题吗？”

Is it? just try to be aware of your conditioning. You can only know it indirectly, in relation to something else. You cannot be aware of your conditioning as an abstraction, for then it is merely verbal, without much significance. We are only aware of conflict. Conflict exists when there is no integration between challenge and response. This conflict is the result of our conditioning. Conditioning is attachment: attachment to work, to tradition, to property, to people, to ideas, and so on. If there were no attachment, would there be conditioning? Of course not. So why are we attached? I am attached to my country because through identification with it I become somebody. I identify myself with my work, and the work becomes important. I am my family, my property; I am attached to them. The object of attachment offers me the means of escape from my own emptiness. Attachment is escape, and it is escape that strengthens conditioning. If I am attached to you, it is because you have become the means of escape from myself; therefore you are very important to me and I must possess you, hold on to you. You become the conditioning factor, and escape is the conditioning. If we can be aware of our escapes, we can then perceive the factors, the influences that make for conditioning.

是吗？先试着感受你的束缚。你只能通过与它相关联的东西间接地感知到它。你不可能感知一种抽象的束缚，因为那它只是言语，没有太大的意义。我们只能感受到冲突。当挑战和反应之间没有融合时，冲突就存在。这种冲突是我们受限的结果。束缚就是依恋：依恋工作、传统、财产、人、观念等等。如果没有执着，会被束缚吗？当然不会。那么，我们为什么要依恋呢？我依附于我的国家，因为通过认同它，我成为了某个人物。我认同自己的工作，工作变得很重要。我属于我的家，我的财产；我依附于他们。执着的对象为我提供了逃离自己的空虚的手段。执着是一种逃避，正是逃避增强了限制。如果我依附于你，那是因为你已经成为我逃避自己的手段; 因此，你对我非常重要，我必须占有你，抓住你。你变成束缚的缰绳，而逃避就是束缚。如果我们能意识到我们的逃避，我们就可以感知到那条缰绳，那些导致束缚的影响力。

“Am I escaping from myself through social work?”

“我是在通过社会工作逃避自我吗？”

Are you attached to it, bound to it? Would you feel lost, empty, bored, if you did not do social work? “I am sure I would.”

你是否依附于它，与它捆绑在一起？如果你不做社会工作，你会感到迷茫、空虚、无聊吗？“我相信我会的。”

Attachment to your work is your escape. There are escapes at all the levels of our being. You escape through work, another through drink, another through religious ceremonies, another through knowledge, another through God, and still another is addicted to amusement. All escapes are the same, there is no superior or inferior escape. God and drink are on the same level as long as they are escapes from what we are. When we are aware of our escapes, only then can we know of our conditioning.

对工作的执着是你逃避的手段。在我们存在的每个层面上有各种逃避手段。你通过工作逃脱，另一个通过喝酒，另一个通过宗教仪式，另一个通过知识，另一个通过上帝，还有一个人沉迷于娱乐。所有的逃跑都是一样的，没有优越或劣等的逃避。上帝和酒在同一个级别上，只要它们是我们逃避自身的手段。当我们意识到我们的逃避时，只有这样我们才能知道我们所受到的限制。

“What shall I do if I cease to escape through social work? Can I do anything without escaping? Is not all my action a form of escape from what I am?”

“如果我不再通过社会工作逃脱，我该怎么办？我可以做任何事情而不逃跑吗？难道我所有的行为都是在逃避我本来的样子吗？”

Is this question merely verbal, or does it reflect an actuality, a fact which you are experiencing? If you did not escape, what would happen? Have you ever tried it? “What you are saying is so negative, if I may say so. You don’t offer any substitute for work.”

这个问题仅仅是口头上的，还是反映了一种现实，一个你正在经历的事实？如果你不逃，会发生什么？你试过吗？ “你说的太消极了，如果我可以这么说的话。你没有提供任何替代工作的东西。”

Is not all substitution another form of escape? When one particular form of activity is not satisfactory or brings further conflict, we turn to another. To replace one activity by another without understanding escape is rather futile, is it not? It is these escapes and our attachment to them that make for conditioning. Conditioning brings problems, conflict. It is conditioning that prevents our understanding of the challenge; being conditioned, our response must inevitably create conflict.

难道不是所有的替代品都是另一种形式的逃避吗？当一种特定形式的活动不能令人满意或带来进一步的冲突时，我们转向另一种形式的活动。在不理解逃避的情况下用另一种活动取代某个活动是相当徒劳的，不是吗？正是这些逃避和我们对它们的依恋构成了限制。限制带来了问题、冲突。是限制阻碍了我们对挑战的理解；由于受限，我们的反应必然会产生冲突。

“How can one be free from conditioning?”

“一个人怎么能摆脱限制？”

Only by understanding, being aware of our escapes. Our attachment to a person, to work, to an ideology, is the conditioning factor; this is the thing we have to understand, and not seek a better or more intelligent escape. All escapes are unintelligent, as they inevitably bring about conflict. To cultivate detachment is another form of escape, of isolation; it is attachment to an abstraction, to an ideal called detachment. The ideal is fictitious, ego-made, and becoming the ideal is an escape from what is. There is the understanding of what is, an adequate action towards what is, only when the mind is no longer seeking any escape. The very thinking about what is is an escape from what is. Thinking about the problem is escape from the problem; for thinking is the problem, and the only problem. The mind, unwilling to be what it is, fearful of what it is, seeks these various escapes; and the way of escape is thought. As long as there is thinking, there must be escapes, attachments, which only strengthen conditioning.

只有通过理解，意识到我们的逃避。我们对一个人、对工作、对一种意识形态的依恋，即是制约的因素；这是我们必须理解的东西，而不是寻求更好或更聪明的逃避。所有的逃跑都是不明智的，因为它们不可避免地会带来冲突。培养超脱是另一种形式的逃避和孤立；它是对抽象的执着，对一种称为‘超脱’的理想的执着。理想是虚构的，自我创造的，成为理想是对现有事物的逃避。只有当头脑不再寻求任何逃避时，才能理解真实，随之产生充分的行动。思考真实，即是逃避真实。思考相关的问题即是逃避问题；因为思考本身即是问题，并且是唯一的问题。头脑，不愿意承认它本来的样子，害怕它的样子，寻求这些不同的逃避；逃避之道即是思想。只要在思考，就必定在逃避，执着，而这些只会增强束缚。