A MOTHER WAS beating her child, and there were painful screams. The mother was very angry, and while she was beating she was talking to it violently. When presently we came back she was caressing the child, hugging as though she would squeeze the life out of it. She had tears in her eyes. The child was rather bewildered, but was smiling up at the mother.
一位母亲正在殴打她的孩子，发出了痛苦的尖叫声。 母亲非常生气，当她殴打时，她正在暴力地说话。 当我们回来的时候，她正在爱抚孩子， 拥抱孩子，好像她会把生命从中挤出来。她眼里含着泪水。 孩子相当困惑，但对着母亲微笑。
Love is a strange thing, and how easily we lose the warm flame of it! The flame is lost, and the smoke remains. The smoke fills our hearts and minds, and our days are spent in tears and bitterness. The song is forgotten, and the words have lost their meaning; the perfume has gone, and our hands are empty. We never know how to keep the flame clear of smoke, and the smoke always smothers the flame. But love is not of the mind, it is not in the net of thought, it cannot be sought out, cultivated, cherished; it is there when the mind is silent and the heart is empty of the things of the mind.
爱是一件奇怪的事情，我们是多么容易失去它那温暖的火焰！ 火焰消失了，烟雾仍然存在。 烟雾充满了我们的心灵和头脑， 我们的日子在眼泪和苦涩中度过。 这首歌被遗忘了，言词已经失去了它们的意义； 香味消逝了，而我们双手空空。 我们永远不知道如何保持火焰，清除烟雾，烟雾总会窒息火焰。 但爱不属于头脑，它不在思想的网络中， 它不能被寻找、培养、珍惜； 当头脑静止，心灵没有装载头脑的产物，它在。
The room overlooked the river, and the sun was upon its waters.
房间俯瞰着这条河，阳光照在它的水面上。
He was by no means foolish, but was full of emotion, an exuberant sentiment in which he must have taken delight, for it seemed to give him great pleasure. He was eager to talk; and when a green golden bird was pointed out to him, he turned on his sentiment and gushed over it. Then he talked of the beauty of the river, and sang a song about it. He had a pleasant voice, but the room was too small. The green-golden bird was joined by another, and the two sat very close together, preening themselves.
他绝不愚蠢，却充满了情感， 一种旺盛的情绪必定使他感到高兴，因为这似乎给了他极大的快乐。 他急于交谈。当一只金绿色的小鸟指向他时， 他泄开了情绪的闸门，滔滔不绝，扑面而来。 然后他谈到了这条河的美丽，并唱了一首关于它的歌。 他的声音很和蔼可亲，但房间太小了。 这只绿金色的鸟儿和另一个人又加入进来， 这两人坐得很近，都得意地唱着。
“Is not devotion a way to God? Is not the sacrifice of devotion the purification of the heart? Is not devotion an essential part of our life?”
“奉献不是通往上帝的一种方式吗？ 奉献的牺牲难道不是心灵的净化吗？ 奉献难道不是我们生命中必不可少的一部分吗？”
What do you mean by devotion? “Love of the highest; the offering of a flower before the image, the symbol of God. Devotion is complete absorption, it is a love that excels the love of the flesh. I have sat for many hours at a time, completely lost in the love of God. In that state I am nothing and I know nothing. In that state all life is a unity, the sweeper and the king are one. It is a wondrous state. Surely you must know it.”
你说的奉献是什么意思？ “最高的爱；在象征着上帝的图像之前献上一朵花。 奉献是完全的吸收，它是一种超越肉体之爱的爱。 我一次坐了很多个小时，完全迷失在上帝的爱中。 在那种状态下，我一无所有，我一无所知。 在那种状态下，所有的生命都是一体的，清扫工和国王是一体的。 这是一个奇妙的状态。你一定知道。”
Is devotion love? Is it something apart from our daily existence?
奉献是爱吗？它是我们日常生活之外的东西吗？
Is it an act of sacrifice to be devoted to an object, to knowledge, to service, or to action? Is it self-sacrifice when you are lost in your devotion? When you have completely identified yourself with the object of your devotion, is that self-abnegation? Is it selflessness to lose yourself in a book, in a chant, in an idea? Is devotion the worship of an image, of a person, of a symbol? Has reality any symbol? Can a symbol ever represent truth? Is not the symbol static, and can a static thing ever represent that which is living? Is your picture you?
献身于一个物体、知识、服务或行动，是一种牺牲行为吗？ 当你迷失在奉献中时，这就是自我牺牲吗？ 当你完全将自己与你的奉献对象联系起来时，这是自我否定吗？ 当你让自己迷失在一本书中，在一首歌里，在一个想法中，这是无私吗？ 奉献是对一张图像、一个人、一个符号的崇拜吗？真实有任何符号吗？ 一个符号能代表真理吗？ 符号不是静态的吗，静态的东西可以代表活着的东西吗？ 你的照片是你本人吗？
Let us see what we mean by devotion. You spend several hours a day in what you call the love, the contemplation of God. Is that devotion? The man who gives his life to social betterment is devoted to his work; and the general, whose job is to plan destruction, is also devoted to his work. Is that devotion? If I may say so, you spend your time being intoxicated by the image or idea of God, and others do the same thing in a different way. Is there a fundamental distinction between the two? Is it devotion that has an object?
让我们看看我们所说的‘奉献’是什么意思。 你每天花几个小时处在你所谓的‘爱’、‘对上帝的沉思’中。这是奉献吗？ 为改善社会献出生命的人奉献于他的工作； 而将军的工作是策划破坏，他也奉献给他的工作。这是奉献吗？ 如果我可以这么说的话，你把时间花在沉迷于上帝的形象或观念上， 而其他人则以不同的方式做同样的事情。 两者之间有根本的区别吗？奉献有目的吗？
“But this worship of God consumes my whole life. I am not aware of anything but God. He fills my heart.”
“但这种对上帝的崇拜消耗了我的一生。 除了上帝，我什么都意识不到。他充满了我的心。”
And the man who worships his work, his leader, his ideology, is also consumed by that with which he is occupied. You fill your heart with the word ‘God’, and another with activity; and is that devotion? You are happy with your image your symbol, and another with his books or music; and is that devotion? Is it devotion to lose oneself in something? A man is devoted to his wife for various gratifying reasons; and is gratification devotion? To identify oneself with one’s country is very intoxicating; and is identification devotion?
而崇拜他的工作，他的领袖，他的意识形态的人， 也被他所占据的东西所吞噬。 你用‘上帝’这个词填满你的心，而别人用活动填满了他的心。那是奉献吗？ 你对你的形象、你的符号感到满意，另一个对他的书或音乐感到满意；那是奉献吗？ 在某件事上迷失自我是奉献吗？ 一个男人出于各种令人满意的原因而献身于他的妻子；而满意是奉献吗？ 将自己与自己的国家相认同，是非常令人陶醉的；认同是奉献吗？
“But giving myself over to God does nobody any harm. On the contrary, I both keep out of harm’s way and do no harm to others.”
“但是把我自己交给上帝对任何人都没有伤害。 相反，我既避免伤害，也没有伤害他人。”
That at least is something; but though you may not do any outward harm, is not illusion harmful at a deeper level both to you and to society? “I am not interested in society. My needs are very few; I have controlled my passions and I spend my days in the shadow of God.”
那至少是有些意义； 虽然你可能不会做任何外在的伤害， 但是，幻觉在更深层次上对你和社会不都是有害的吗？ “我对社会不感兴趣。我的需求很少； 我控制了我的激情，我在上帝的阴影下度过了我的日子。”
Is it not important to find out if that shadow has any substance behind it? To worship illusion is to cling to one’s own gratification; to yield to appetite at any level is to be lustful.
找出阴影背后是否有任何物质难道不重要吗？ 崇拜幻觉就是执着于自己的满意； 在任何层面上屈就于口腹之欲，即是贪婪。
“You are very disturbing, and I am not at all sure that I want to go on with this conversation. You see, I came to worship at the same altar as yourself; but I find that your worship is entirely different, and what you say is beyond me. But I would like to know what is the beauty of your worship. You have no pictures, no images, and no rituals, but you must worship. Of what nature is your worship?”
“你很令人不安， 我完全不确定我是否想继续这次谈话。 你看，我来和你在同一个祭坛上敬拜； 但我发现你所崇拜的是完全不同的，你说的话超出了我的范围。 但我想知道你所崇拜的美妙之处是什么。 你没有照片，没有图像，没有仪式，但你必定崇拜。 你所崇拜的是什么性质的？
The worshipper is the worshipped. To worship another is to worship oneself; the image, the symbol, is a projection of oneself. After all, your idol, your book, your prayer, is the reflection of your background; it is your creation, though it be made by another. You choose according to your gratification; your choice is your prejudice. Your image is your intoxicant, and it is carved out of your own memory; you are worshipping yourself through the image created by your own thought. Your devotion is the love of yourself covered over by the chant of your mind. The picture is yourself, it is the reflection of your mind. Such devotion is a form of self-deception that only leads to sorrow and to isolation, which is death.
崇拜者是即被崇拜的人。 崇拜他人就是崇拜自我；这个图像、符号，是自我的投射。 毕竟，你的偶像，你的书，你的祷告，是你的背景的投影。 它是你的产物，就算它是由另一个人制造的。 您根据自己的满意度进行挑选；你所选择的，就是你的偏见。 你的图像是你的麻醉剂，它是你根据自己的记忆雕刻出来的； 通过你自己的思想创造出的图像，你正在崇拜你自己。 你的奉献是你自己的爱，被你头脑的吟唱所覆盖。 照片即是你自己，它是你头脑的倒影。 这种奉献是一种自欺欺人的形式， 只会导致悲伤和孤立，也就是死亡。
Is search devotion? To search after something is not to search; to seek truth is not to find it. We escape from ourselves through search, which is illusion; we try in every way to take flight from what we are. In ourselves we are so petty, so essentially nothing, and the worship of something greater than ourselves is as petty and stupid as we are. Identification with the great is still a projection of the small. The more is an extension of the less. The small in search of the large will find only what it is capable of finding. The escapes are many and various but the mind in escape is still fearful, narrow and ignorant.
探索是奉献吗？ 追寻某物不是探索；寻求真理不是去找它。 我们通过寻找逃离自己，这是幻觉； 我们试图以各种方式逃离我们的样子。 在我们自己身上，我们是如此的渺小，因此，从本质上讲，我们什么都不是， 而我们对某个比自己更伟大的东西的崇拜，和我们一样，同样是琐碎和愚蠢的。 与伟大的东西相认同，仍然是渺小的自我的投射。 更多是更少的延展。 渺小者寻找伟大，只能找到它能够找到的东西。 逃离是多方面的，但在逃的头脑仍然害怕、狭隘和无知。
The understanding of escape is the freedom from what is. The what is can be understood only when the mind is no longer in search of an answer. The search for an answer is an escape from what is. This search is called by various names, one of which is devotion; but to understand what is, the mind must be silent. “What do you mean by ‘what is’?”
对逃避的理解即是从现状中解放。 只有当头脑不再在寻找答案时，才能理解现状。 寻找答案是对答案的逃避。 这种搜索被称为各种名称，其中的一个称呼即是奉献； 但要理解现状，头脑必须保持静默。“你说的'现状'是什么意思？”
The what is is that which is from moment to moment. To understand the whole process of your worship, of your devotion to that which you call God, is the awareness of what is. But you do not desire to understand what is; for your escape from what is, which you call devotion, is a source of greater pleasure, and so illusion becomes of greater significance than reality. The understanding of what is does not depend upon thought, for thought itself is an escape. To think about the problem is not to understand it. It is only when the mind is silent that the truth of what is unfolds.
‘现状’处于每时每刻之中。 理解你崇拜的整个过程， 你对你称之为‘上帝’的奉献的整个过程，即是对现状的觉察。 但你并不渴望离解现状；因为你在逃避现状， 这个逃避方式被你称之为‘奉献’，它是更多愉快的源泉， 所以幻觉变得比真实更为重要。 对‘现在’的理解并不依靠于思想，因为思想本身就是一种逃避。 思考问题不是理解它。 只有当头脑静止时，真实才会显现。
“I am content with what I have. I am happy with my God, with my chant and my devotion. Devotion to God is the song of my heart, and my happiness is in that song. Your song may be more clear and open, but when I sing my heart is full. What more can a man ask than to have a full heart? We are brothers in my song, and I am not disturbed by your song.”
“我对我所拥有的感到满意。 我对我的上帝，对我的吟唱和我的奉献感到高兴。 对上帝的奉献是我心中的歌，我的快乐就在那首歌里。 你的歌可能更清晰，更开放，但当我唱歌时，我的心是满足的。 一个人除了拥有一颗满足的心灵之外，还有什么能要求呢？ 在我的歌中，我们都是兄弟，我不被你的歌声所打扰。”
When the song is real there is neither you nor I, but only the silence of the eternal. The song is not the sound but the silence. Do not let the sound of your song fill your heart.
当这首歌是真实的，既不存在你，也没有我，只有永恒的宁静。 这首歌不是声音，而是宁静。 别让你的歌声填满你的心灵。