对生活的评注 2-14

ON THE RED earth in front of the house there were quantities of trumpet-like flowers with golden hearts. They had large, mauve petals and a delicate scent. They would be swept away during the day, but in the darkness of night they covered the red earth. The creeper was strong with serrated leaves which glistened in the morning sun. Some children carelessly trod on the flowers, and a man getting hurriedly into his car never even looked at them. A passer-by picked one, smelt it, and carried it away, to be dropped presently. A woman who must have been a servant came out of the house, picked a flower, and put it in her hair. How beautiful those flowers were, and how quickly they were withering in the sun!

在房子前面的红土地上，有一大堆像喇叭一样的花朵，上面有金黄色的心。它们有大而淡紫色的花瓣和微妙的香味。它们在白天会被扫走，但在黑暗的夜晚，它们覆盖了红色的大地。爬藤很强壮，有锯齿状的叶子，在清晨的阳光下闪闪发光。有些孩子不小心踩在花朵上，一个人匆匆忙忙地上车，甚至从来没有看过它们。一个路人挑了一个，闻了闻，然后把它带走了，现在就扔掉了。一个一定是仆人的女人从屋里出来，摘了一朵花，把它她的头发里。那些花是多么美丽，它们在阳光下凋零的速度是多么快！

“I have always been haunted by some kind of fear. As a child I was very timid, shy and sensitive, and now I am afraid of old age and death. I know we must all die but no amount of rationalizing seems to calm this fear. I have joined the Psychical Research Society, attended a few séances, and read what the great teachers have said about death; but fear of it is still there. I even tied psychoanalysis, but that was no good either. This fear has become quite a problem to me; I wake up in the middle of the night with frightful dreams, and all of them are in one way or another concerned with death. I am strangely frightened of violence and death. The war was a continual nightmare to me, and now I am really very disturbed. It is not a neurosis, but I can see that it might become one. I have done everything that I possibly can to control this fear; I have tried to run away from it, but at the end of my escape I have not been able to shake it off. I have listened to a few rather stupid lectures on reincarnation, and have somewhat studied the Hindu and Buddhist literature concerning it. But all this has been very unsatisfactory, at least to me. I am not just superficially afraid of death, but there is a very deep fear of it.”

“我一直被某种恐惧所困扰。小时候，我非常胆小、害羞和敏感，现在我害怕衰老和死亡。我知道我们都必须死去，但再多的理由似乎也无法平息这种恐惧。我加入了心理研究学会，参加了一些仪式，并阅读了伟大的老师们对死亡的看法。但对它的恐惧仍然存在。我甚至把精神分析联系在一起，但那也没有用。这种恐惧对我来说已经成为一个很大的问题。半夜梦见可怕的梦，我被吓醒，他们总是以这样或那样的方式关心死亡。我奇怪地害怕暴力和死亡。战争对我来说是一场噩梦，现在我真的非常不安。它不是神经症，但我可以看到它可能会导致一种神经症。我已经尽我所能来控制这种恐惧。我试图逃离它，但在我逃跑的尽头，我还是无法摆脱它。我听过一些关于转世的相当愚蠢的讲座，并且对有关转世的印度教和佛教文献进行了一些研究。但所有这一切都非常不令人满意，至少对我来说是这样。我不只是在表面上害怕死亡，而且对它有一种非常深的恐惧。”

How do you approach the future, the tomorrow death? Are you trying to find the truth of the matter, or are you seeking reassurance, a gratifying assertion of continuity or annihilation? Do you want the truth, or a comforting answer? “When you put it that way, I really do not know what I am afraid of; but the fear is both there and urgent.”

你如何应对未来，面对明天的死亡？你是去试图找到事情的真相，还是去寻求保证，一种令人满意的延续或毁灭的断言？你想要真相，还是一个令人欣慰的答案？ “当你这样说的时候，我真的不知道我害怕什么；但恐惧既存在又紧迫。”

What is your problem? Do you want to be free from fear, or are you seeking the truth regarding death? “What do you mean by the truth regarding death?”

您的问题是什么？你是想从恐惧中解脱出来，还是在寻求关于死亡的真相？ “你说的关于死亡的真相是什么意思？”

Death is an unavoidable fact; do what you will, it is irrevocable, final and true. But do you want to know the truth of what is beyond death? “From everything I have studied and from the few materializations I have seen at séances, there is obviously some kind of continuity after death. Thought in some form continues, which you yourself have asserted. Just as the broadcasting of songs, words and pictures requires a receiver at the other end, so thought which continues after death needs an instrument through which it can express itself. The instrument may be a medium, or thought may incarnate itself in another manner. This is all fairly clear and can be experimented with and understood; but even though I have gone into this matter fairly deeply, there is still an unfathomable fear which I think is definitely connected with death.”

死亡是不可避免的事实。做你想做的事，它是不可撤销的、最终的和真实的。但是你想知道超越死亡的真相吗？ “从我所研究的一切，从我在灵性主义者的交流会中，曾看到的为数不多的精神显化，死后显然存在某种连续性。某种形式的思想仍在继续，你自己也断言了这一点。正如歌曲、文字和图片的广播需要另一端的接收器一样，死后延续的思想也需要一种可以表达自己的仪器。仪器可以是一种媒介，或者思想可能以另一种方式化身。这一切都相当清楚，可以进行实验和理解；但即使我对这件事已经相当深入，仍然有一种深不可测的恐惧，我认为这绝对与死亡有关。”

Death is inevitable. Continuity can be ended, or it can be nourished and maintained. That which has continuity can never renew itself, it can never be the new, it can never understand the unknown. Continuity is duration, and that which is everlasting is not the timeless. Through time, duration, the timeless is not. There must be ending for the new to be. The new is not within the continuation of thought. Thought is continuous movement in time; this movement cannot enclose within itself a state of being which is not of time. Thought is founded on the past, its very being is of time. Time is not only chronological but it is thought as a movement of the past through the present to the future; it is the movement of memory, of the word, the picture, the symbol, the record, the repetition. Thought, memory, is continuous through word and repetition. The ending of thought is the beginning of the new; the death of thought is life eternal. There must be constant ending for the new to be. That which is new is not continuous; the new can never be within the field of time. The new is only in death from moment to moment. There must be death every day for the unknown to be. The ending is the beginning, but fear prevents the ending.

死亡是不可避免的。连续性可以被结束，也可以得到滋养和维持。具有连续性的东西永远不可能自我更新，它永远不可能是新的，它永远无法理解未知。连续性就是持续，而那持续的，不能超越时间。通过时间，是持续，而永恒并非持续。新的产生，必须有死亡。新的不在思想的延续之内。思想是时间内的连续运动；这种运动不能把自己装入一种不属于时间的存在状态。思想是建立在过去之上的，它的本质就是时间。时间不仅是按顺序排列的，而且被认为是过去通过现在到达未来的运动；它是一种回忆，是关于文字、图片、符号、记录的重复。思想，记忆，通过言词和重复，而具备了连续性。思想的终结是新生的开始；思想的死亡是生命的永恒。新生的存在，必须有持续不断的结束。新的是不连续的；新的永远不可能在时间的领域内。新的每时每刻都在死亡之中。每天都必须死亡，未知才会存在。结束即是开始，但恐惧阻止了结束。

“I know I have fear, and I don’t know what is beyond it.”

“我知道我有恐惧，我不知道超越它的东西。”

What do we mean by fear? What is fear? Fear is not an abstraction, it does not exist independently, in isolation. It comes into being only in relation to something. In the process of relationship, fear manifests itself; there is no fear apart from relationship. Now what is it that you are afraid of? You say you are afraid of death. What do we mean by death? Though we have theories, speculations, and there are certain observable facts, death is still the unknown. Whatever we may know about it, death itself cannot be brought into the field of the known; we stretch out a hand to grasp it, but it is not. Association is the known, and the unknown cannot be made familiar; habit cannot capture it, so there is fear.

我们所说的恐惧是什么意思？什么是恐惧？恐惧不是一种抽象，它不是独立的、孤立地存在。只有在与某种事物的关系之中，它才存在。在关系的过程中，恐惧表现了出来；离开关系，没有恐惧。现在你害怕的是什么？你说你害怕死亡。我们所说的死亡是什么意思？虽然我们有理论，有推测，也有某些可观察到的事实，但死亡仍然是未知的。无论我们对此知晓多少，死亡本身都不能被带入已知的领域。我们伸出一只手来抓住它，但它却不是。关联即是已知，未知是不熟悉的；习惯无法捕捉到它，所以存在恐惧。

Can the known, the mind, ever comprehend or contain the unknown? The hand that stretches out can receive only the knowable, it cannot hold the unknowable. To desire experience is to give continuity to thought; to desire experience is to give strength to the past; to desire experience is to further the known. You want to experience death, do you not? Though living, you want to know what death is. But do you know what living is? You know life only as conflict, confusion, antagonism, passing joy and pain. But is that life? Are struggle and sorrow life? In this state which we call life we want to experience something that is not in our own field of consciousness. This pain, this struggle, the hate that is enfolded in joy, is what we call living; and we want to experience something which is the opposite of what we call living. The opposite is the continuation of what is, perhaps modified. But death is not the opposite. It is the unknown. The knowable craves to experience death, the unknown; but, do what it will, it cannot experience death, therefore it is fearful. Is that it?

已知，头脑，能理解或包含未知吗？伸出的手只能接收可知的，它不能握住不可知的。渴望体验就是赋予思想连续性；渴望体验就是赋予过去以力量；渴望体验就是进一步扩充已知。你想体验死亡，不是吗？虽然活着，但你想知道死亡是什么。但是你知道活着有什么意思吗？你知道生活只是冲突，困惑，对抗，逝去的喜悦和痛苦。但那是生活吗？挣扎和悲伤是生活吗？在这种我们称之为生活的状态下，我们想要体验一些不属于我们自己意识领域的东西。这种痛苦，这种挣扎，这种被欢乐封装的仇恨，就是我们所说的生活。我们想要体验一些与我们所说的生活相反的东西。相反的东西，即是现状的延续，也许被修改过。但死亡并非是相反的东西。它是未知的。知道的人渴望体验死亡，体验未知；但是，做任何想做的事，仍不能体验死亡，因此它是可怕的。是这样吗？

“You have stated it clearly. If I could know or experience what death is while living, then surely fear would cease.”

“你已经说得很清楚了。如果我在活着的时候能知道或体验到死亡是什么，那么恐惧肯定会停止。”

Because you cannot experience death, you are afraid of it. Can the conscious experience that state which is not to be brought into being through the conscious? That which can be experienced is the projection of the conscious, the known. The known can only experience the known; experience is always within the field of the known; the known cannot experience what is beyond its field. Experiencing is utterly different from experience. Experiencing is not within the field of the experiencer; but as experiencing fades, the experiencer and the experience come into being, and then experiencing is brought into the field of the known. The knower, the experiencer, craves for the state of experiencing, the unknown; and as the experiencer, the knower, cannot enter into the state of experiencing, he is afraid. He is fear he is not separate from it. The experiencer of fear is not an observer of it; he is fear itself, the very instrument of fear.

因为你无法体验死亡，你就害怕它。有意识的人能体验到那种无法进入意识而存在的状态吗？可以体验到的，是意识的投射，是已知。知道的人只能体验已知；体验总是在已知领域；已知的人无法体验其领域之外的东西。经历(指体验动作本身)与体验完全不同。经历不在体验者的领域之内；但随着经历的消退，体验者和体验的形成，然后经历被带入了已知的领域。知者，体验者，渴望经历的状态，那种未知；而作为体验者，经历过的人无法进入经历状态时，他就害怕。他害怕他没有与它分开。恐惧的体验者不是恐惧的观察者;他就是恐惧本身，正是恐惧的工具。

“What do you mean by fear? I know I am afraid of death. I don’t feel that I am fear, but I am fearful of something. I fear and am separate from fear. Fear is a sensation distinct from the ‘I’ who is looking at it, analysing it. I am the observer, and fear is the observed. How can the observer and the observed be one?”

“你说的恐惧是什么意思？我知道我害怕死亡。我不觉得我是恐惧，但我恐惧某些事。我恐惧，与恐惧是分离的。恐惧是一种与‘我’截然不同的感觉，而‘我’正在看它，分析它。我是观察者，恐惧是被观察者。观察者和被观察者怎么可能是一体的呢？”

You say that you are the observer, and fear is the observed. But is that so? Are you an entity separate from your qualities? Are you not identical with your qualities? Are you not your thoughts, emotions, and so on? You are not separate from your qualities, thoughts. You are your thoughts. Thought creates the I ‘you’, the supposedly separate entity; without thought, the thinker is not. Seeing the impermanence of itself, thought creates the thinker as the permanent, the enduring; and the thinker then becomes the experiencer, the analyser, the observer separate from the transient. We all crave some kind of permanency, and seeing impermanence about us, thought creates the thinker who is supposed to be permanent. The thinker then proceeds to build up other and higher states of permanency: the soul, the atman, the higher self, and so on. Thought is the foundation of this whole structure. But that is another matter. We are concerned with fear. What is fear? Let us see what it is.

你说你是观察者，恐惧是被观察者。但事实果真如此吗？你是一个独立于你的品性的实体吗？你和你的品性不一样吗？你不是你的想法，情绪等等吗？你与你的品性、思想不是分开的。你是你的思想。思想创造了这个我 —— ‘你’，一个被认为是独立的实体；没有思想，思想者就不存在。看到自身的无常，思想创造了思想者，作为某种永久的，持久的存在；然后，思考者成为体验者，分析者，与瞬态分开的观察者。我们都渴望某种永恒，看见我们身上的无常，思想创造了被认为是永恒的思想者。然后，思想者继续建立其他和更高的永恒状态：灵魂，阿特曼，更高的自我，等等。思想是整个结构的基础。但这是另一回事。我们关心恐惧。什么是恐惧？让我们看看它是什么。

You say you are afraid of death. Since you cannot experience it, you are afraid of it. Death is the unknown, and you are afraid of the unknown. Is that it? Now, can you be afraid of that which you do not know? If something is unknown to you, how can you be afraid of it? You are really afraid not of the unknown, of death, but of loss of the known, because that might cause pain, or take away your pleasure, your gratification. It is the known that causes fear, not the unknown. How can the unknown cause fear?

你说你害怕死亡。既然你无法体验它，你就害怕它。死亡是未知的，你害怕未知。是吧？现在，你能害怕你不知道的事情吗？如果某件事对你来说是未知的，你怎么会害怕它呢？你真的不害怕未知，害怕死亡，而是害怕失去已知，因为那可能会导致痛苦，或者带走你的快乐、你的满足。引起恐惧的是已知，而不是未知。未知怎么会引起恐惧？

It is not measurable in terms of pleasure and pain: it is unknown.

它不能用快乐和痛苦来衡量：它是未知的。

Fear cannot exist by itself, it comes in relationship to something. You are actually afraid of the known in its relation to death, are you not? Because you cling to the known, to an experience, you are frightened of what the future might be. But the ‘what might be’, the future, is merely a reaction, a speculation, the opposite of what is. This is so, is it not? “Yes, that seems to be right.”

恐惧不能单独存在，它与某个事物有关。你实际上害怕已知与死亡的关系，不是吗？因为你依附于已知，依附于一种体验，你害怕未来可能是什么。但这个“可能是什么”，未来，只是一种反应，一种猜测，现在的反面。是这样，不是吗？ “是的，似乎就是这样的。”

And do you know what is? Do you understand it? Have you opened the cupboard of the known and looked into it? Are you not also frightened of what you might discover there? Have you ever inquired into the known, into what you possess? “No, I have not. I have always taken the known for granted. I have accepted the past as one accepts sunlight or rain. I have never considered it; one is almost unconscious of it, as one is of one’s shadow. Now that you mention it, I suppose I am also afraid to find out what might be there.”

你知道现在是什么吗？你明白它吗？你有没有打开已知的橱柜并寻找它？你不是也害怕你可能会在那里发现什么吗？你有没有探究过已知，你所拥有的东西？ “不，我没有。我一直认为已知是理所当然的。我接受过去，就像一个人接受阳光或雨水一样。我从未考虑过它；一个人几乎没有意识到它，就像一个人对自己的影子一样。既然你提到它，我想我也不敢找出可能有什么。”

Are not most of us afraid to look at ourselves? We might discover unpleasant things, so we would rather not look, we prefer to be ignorant of what is. We are not only afraid of what might be in the future, but also of what might be in the present. We are afraid to know ourselves as we are, and this avoidance of what is is making us afraid of what might be. We approach the so-called known with fear, and also the unknown, death. The avoidance of what is is the desire for gratification. We are seeking security, constantly demanding that there shall be no disturbance; and it is this desire not to be disturbed that makes us avoid what is and fear what might be. Fear is the ignorance of what is, and our life is spent in a constant state of fear.

我们大多数人不是害怕观看自己吗？我们可能会发现不愉快的事情，所以我们宁愿不看，我们宁愿忽视现状。我们不仅害怕未来可能发生的事情，而且害怕现在可能发生的事情。我们害怕知道自己的样子，而这种对现状的逃避，使我们害怕可能发生的事情。我们带着恐惧接近所谓的已知，也带着恐惧去靠近未知、死亡。逃避现状，即是对渴望满意。我们寻求安全，不停地要求不要发生任何干扰；正是这种不被打扰的欲望，使我们逃避现实，害怕可能发生的情况。恐惧是对当下的无知，而我们的生命，在持续的恐惧中花掉。

“But how is one to get rid of this fear?”

“但是，如何摆脱这种恐惧呢？”

To get rid of something you must understand it. Is there fear, or only the desire not to see? It is the desire not to see that brings on fear; and when you don’t want to understand the full significance of what is, fear acts as a preventive. You can lead a gratifying life by deliberately avoiding all inquiry into what is, and many do this; but they are not happy, nor are those who amuse themselves with a superficial study of what is. Only those who are earnest in their inquiry can be aware of happiness; to them alone is there freedom from fear.

要摆脱某些东西，你必须理解它。它到底是恐惧，还是不愿正视的欲望？正是这个不想看，带来了恐惧；而当你不想理解现状的全部意义时，恐惧可以作为一种逃避的借口。你可以通过故意逃避对现状的一切探究，过上令人满意的生活，而很多人就在这么做；但他们不快乐，那些用肤浅的研究来娱乐自己的人们也不快乐。只有那些认真调查的人，才能觉察到快乐；对于他们自身，就摆脱了恐惧。

“Then how is one to understand what is?”

“那一个人怎么能理解现状？”

The what is is to be seen in the mirror of relationship, relationship with all things. The what is cannot be understood in withdrawal, in isolation; it cannot be understood if there is the interpreter, the translator who denies or accepts. The what is can be understood only when the mind is utterly passive, when it is not operating on what is. “Is it not extremely difficult to be passively aware?”

在关系的镜子里，与万物的关联中，现状即被呈现。现状不能在退却中，在孤独中理解；如果有解释者，否定或接受的解释者，它就无法被理解。只有当头脑完全被动时，当它不再对现状动手脚时，才能理解它是什么。 “被动地意识，不是太难了吗？”