IT HAD RAINED during the night, and the perfumed earth was still damp. The path led away from the river among ancient trees and mango groves. It was a path of pilgrimage trodden by thousands, for it had been the tradition for over twenty centuries that all good pilgrims must tread that path. But it was not the right time of the year for pilgrims, and on this particular morning only the villagers were walking there. In their gaily-coloured clothes, with the sun behind them and with loads of hay, vegetables and firewood on their heads, they were a beautiful sight; they walked with grace and dignity, laughing and talking over village affairs. On both sides of the path, stretching as far as the eye could see, there were green, cultivated fields of winter wheat, with wide patches of peas and other vegetables for the market. It was a lovely morning, with clear blue skies, and there was a blessing on the land. The earth was a living thing, bountiful rich and sacred. It was not the sacredness of man-made things, of temples, priests and books; it was the beauty of complete peace and complete silence. One was bathed in it; the trees, the grass, and the big bull, were part of it; the children playing in the dust were aware of it, though they knew it not. It was not a passing thing; it was there without a beginning without an ending.
夜里下雨了，芬香的泥土依然潮湿。 这条小径远离了河流，在古树和芒果树林之间。 这是一条千万人踩踏过的朝圣之路， 因为二十多个世纪以来， 所有优秀的朝圣者都必定踏上这条路径。 但对于朝圣者来说，这不是一年中的正确时间， 在这个特殊的早晨，只有村民们在那里散步。 他们穿着色彩鲜艳的衣服，身后是太阳， 头上顶着大量的干草、蔬菜和木柴，这是一幅美丽的景象。 他们优雅而有尊严地行走，笑着谈论村里的事情。 在路的两侧，一直延伸到眼睛所能看到的地方， 是绿色的、种植的冬小麦田， 还有大片豌豆和其他蔬菜，以供应市场。 这是一个美好的早晨，湛蓝的天空，在这片土地上有一种祝福。 地球是一个活生生的东西，丰富而神圣。 它不是人造物、寺庙、祭司和书籍的神圣性； 而是完整的和平、彻底的寂静的美。 人沐浴在其中；树木、草地和大公牛是其中的一部分； 在尘土中玩耍的孩子们意识到了它，尽管他们不知道。 它不是一件飞逝的东西；它在那里，没有开始，没有结束。
He was a politician and he wanted to do good. He felt himself to be unlike other politicians, he said, for he really was concerned with the welfare of the people, with their needs, their health, and their growth. Of course he was ambitious, but who was not? Ambition helped him to be more active, and without it he would be lazy, incapable of doing much good to others. He wanted to become a member of the cabinet, and was well on his way to it, and when he got there he would see that his ideas were carried out. He had travelled the world over, visiting various countries and studying the schemes of different governments, and after careful thought he had been able to work out a plan that would really benefit his country.
他是一个政治家，他想做好事。 他说，他觉得自己与其他政治家不同， 因为他真正关心人民的利益， 他们的需求、他们的健康和他们的成长。 当然，他雄心勃勃，但谁又不是呢？ 雄心促使他变得更加活跃， 没有它，他就会懒惰，无法对别人做很多好事。 他想成为内阁成员，并且正在前往内阁的路上， 当他到达那里时，他会看到他的想法得到实现。 他走遍了世界各地， 访问了各个国家，研究了不同政府的计划， 经过深思熟虑，他能够制定出一个真正有利于他的国家的计划。
"But now I don't know if I can put it through," he said with evident pain. "You see, I have not been at all well lately. The doctors say that I must take it easy, and I may have to undergo a very serious operation; but I cannot bring myself to accept this situation."
“但现在我不知道我是否能使它通过，” 他带着明显的痛苦说。 “你看，我最近一点也不好。 医生说我必须放松， 我可能不得不接受非常严重的手术； 但我无法让自己接受这种情况。”
If one may ask, what is preventing you from taking it easy? "I refuse to accept the prospect of being an invalid for the rest of my life and not being able to do what I want to do. I know, verbally at least, that I cannot keep up indefinitely the pace I have been used to, but if I am laid up my plan may never go through. Naturally there are other ambitious people, and it is a matter of dog eat dog. I was at several of your meetings, so I thought I would come and talk things over with you."
如果有人可以问，是什么阻止你放松？ “我拒绝接受在我的余生中成为残疾人的前景， 也拒绝不能做我想做的事情。 我知道，至少在口头上， 我不能无限期地跟上我曾经的步伐， 但如果我被拖垮，我的计划可能永远不会通过。 自然还有其他雄心勃勃的人，这是狗吃狗的问题。 我参加了你的几次会谈， 所以我想，我会来和你谈谈。”
Is your problem, sir, that of frustration? There is a possibility of long illness, with a decline of usefulness and popularity, and you find that you cannot accept this, because life would be utterly barren without the fulfilment of your schemes; is that it? "As I said, I am as ambitious as the next man, but I also want to do good. On the other hand, I am really quite ill, and I simply can't accept this illness, so there is a bitter conflict going on within me, which I am quite aware is making me still more ill. There is another fear too, not for my family, who are all well provided for, but the fear of something that I have never been able to put into words, even to myself."
先生，你的问题是挫折吗？ 有一种长期患病的可能性，使用性和受欢迎的程度在下降， 你发现你无法接受这个， 因为，如果你的计划没有被实现，生命将会完全的贫瘠；是这样吗？ “正如我所说，我和旁人一样，都雄心勃勃，但我也想做好事。 另一方面，我真的病得很重，我根本无法接受这种疾病， 所以我内心发生了一场激烈的冲突， 我很清楚这让我病得更重。 还有另一种恐惧，不是对我的家人，他们都得到了很好的满足， 而是对一些我永远无法用言语表达的东西的恐惧，甚至我自己也不清楚。”
You mean the fear of death? "Yes, I think that is it; or rather, of coming to an end without fulfilling what I have set out to do. probably this is my greatest fear, and I do not know how to assuage it."
你是说对死亡的恐惧？ “是的，我认为就是它。 或者更确切地说，就是在没有实现我打算做的事情的情况下结束， 也许，这是我最大的恐惧，我不知道如何缓解它。”
Will this illness totally prevent your political activities? "You know what it is like. Unless I am in the centre of things, I shall be forgotten and my schemes will have no chance. It will virtually mean a withdrawal from politics, and I am loath to do that."
这种疾病会完全阻止你的政治活动吗？ “你知道它是什么样子的。除非我处于事物的中心， 否则我将被遗忘，我的计划将没有机会。 这实际上意味着退出政治，我不愿意这样做。”
So, you can either voluntarily and easily accept the fact that you must withdraw, or equally happily go on doing your political work, knowing the serious nature of your illness. Either way, disease may thwart your ambitions. Life is very strange is it not? If I may suggest, why not accept the inevitable without bitterness? If there is cynicism or bitterness, your mind will make the illness worse.
所以，当知道你的病情的严重性时， 你可以自愿地、轻松地接受你必须退出的事实， 或者，同样愉快地继续做你的政治工作。 无论哪种方式，疾病都可能挫败你的雄心壮志。 生命很奇怪，不是吗？ 如果我可以建议，为什么不去不带着苦涩而接受这个无法避免的事情呢？ 如果有愤世嫉俗或苦涩，你的头脑会使疾病变得更糟。
"I am fully aware of all this, and yet I cannot accept - least of all happily, as you suggest - my physical condition. I could perhaps carry on with a bit of my political work, but that is not enough."
“我完全意识到这一切，但我无法接受 —— 正如你所建议的那样，最重要的是快乐地 —— 我的身体状况。 我也许可以继续我的一些政治工作，但那还不够。”
Do you think that the fulfilment of your ambition to do good is the only way of life for you, and that only through you and your schemes will your country be saved? You are the centre of all this supposedly good work, are you not? You are really not deeply concerned with the good of the people, but with good as manifested through you. You are important, and not the good of the people. You have so identified yourself with your schemes and with the so-called good of the people, that you take your own fulfilment to be their happiness. Your schemes may be excellent, and they may, by some happy chance, bring good to the people; but you want your name to be identified with that good. Life is strange; disease has come upon you, and you are thwarted in furthering your name and your importance. This is what is causing conflict in you, and not anxiety lest the people should not be helped. If you loved the people and did not indulge in mere lip service, it would have its own spontaneous effect which would be of significant help; but you do not love the people they are merely the tools of your ambition and your vanity. Doing good is on the way to your own glory. I hope you don't mind my saying all this?
你认为 实现你行善的雄心是你唯一的生活方式， 只有通过你和你的计划才能拯救你的国家吗？ 你是所有这些所谓的好工作的中心，不是吗？ 你真的没有深切地关心人民的利益， 而是在关心通过你而表现出来的利益。 你才是重心，而不是人民的利益。 你已经如此认同你的计划和所谓的人民利益， 以至于你把自己的成就当作他们的快乐。 你的计划可能是优秀的，通过某种好运，它们可能给人民带来好处； 但你希望你的名字与那件好事相提并论。 生命是奇怪的；疾病已经降临到你身上， 在进一步提升你的名誉和你的重要性方面，你遭遇了挫折。 这就是在你身上引起冲突的原因， 而不是在焦虑人民恐怕得不到帮助。 如果你爱人民，不沉溺于口头上的服务， 它就会有其自发的效果，这将有很大的帮助； 但你不爱那些人民，他们只是你的野心和虚荣心的工具。 做好事，是通往你自己的荣耀之路。 我希望你不介意我说出这些，好吗？
"I am really happy that you have expressed so openly the things that are deeply concealed in my heart, and it has done me good. I have somehow felt all this, but have never allowed my self to face it directly. It is a great relief to hear it so plainly stated, and I hope I shall now understand and calm my conflict. I shall see how things turn out, but already I feel a little more detached from my anxieties and hopes. But sir, what of death?"
“我真的很高兴 你如此公开地表达了深藏在我心的事情， 这对我有益。我以某种方式感受到了这一切， 但从未让我自己直接地面对它。 听到如此直白地陈述，我感到非常欣慰， 我希望我现在能够理解并平息我的冲突。 我会看事情的结果如何， 但我已经从我的焦虑和希望中感到更加超脱。 但是，先生，死亡的问题呢？”
This problem is more complex and it demands deep insight, does it not? You can rationalize death away, saying that all things die, that the fresh green leaf of spring is blown away in the autumn, and so on. You can reason and find explanations for death, or try to conquer by will the fear of death, or find a belief as a substitute for that fear; but all this is still the action of the mind. And the so-called intuition concerning the truth of reincarnation, or life after death, may be merely a wish for survival. All these reasonings, intuitions, explanations, are within the field of the mind, are they not? They are all activities of thought to overcome the fear of death; but the fear of death is not to be so tamely conquered. The individual's desire to survive through the nation, through the family, through name and idea, or through beliefs, is still the craving for his own continuity is it not? It is this craving, with its complex resistances and hopes, that must voluntarily, effortlessly and happily come to an end. One must die each day to all one's memories, experiences, knowledge and hopes; the accumulations of pleasure and repentance the gathering of virtue, must cease from moment to moment. These are not just words, but the statement of an actuality. What continues can never know the bliss of the unknown. Not to gather, but to die each day, each minute, is timeless being. As long as there is the urge to fulfil, with its conflicts, there will always be the fear of death.
这个问题更复杂，需要深刻的洞察力，不是吗？ 你可以把死亡合理化， 说万物都有死， 春天的新鲜绿叶在秋天被吹走了，等等。 你可以推理并找到死亡的解释， 或者试图通过意志来征服对死亡的恐惧， 或者找到一种信仰来代替这种恐惧； 但这一切，还是头脑的动作。 而所谓关于转世或死后生命的真理的直觉， 可能只是一种求生的愿望。 所有这些推理、直觉、解释，都在头脑的领域之内，不是吗？ 它们都是为了克服对死亡的恐惧，而出现的思想活动； 但是，对死亡的恐惧，不能那么温顺地征服。 个人通过国家，通过家庭， 通过名声和观念，或通过信仰而想要活下去的欲望， 仍然是对自己的延续性的渴望，不是吗？ 正是这种渴望及其复杂的抵抗和希望， 必须自愿地、毫不费力地和愉快地结束。 一个人每天都必须让自己所有的记忆、体验、知识和希望而死； 快乐的积累和忏悔的美德的聚集， 必须每时每刻消逝。 这些不仅仅是文字，而是对真实的陈述。 延续的东西，永远无法知晓未知的快乐。 不去收集，而是每一天，每一分钟都死亡，即是非时间的存在。 只要有达成的冲动，以及它引发的冲突， 就永远有对死亡的恐惧。