对生活的评注 2-47

THE PLANE WAS crowded. It was flying at twenty-odd thousand feet over the Atlantic and there was a thick carpet of clouds below. The sky above was intensely blue, the sun was behind us, and we were flying due west. The children had been playing, running up and down the aisle and now tired out, they were sleeping. After the long night everyone else was awake, smoking and drinking. A man in front was telling another about his business, and a woman in the seat behind was describing in a pleased voice the things she had bought and speculating on the amount of duty she would have to pay. At that altitude the flight was smooth, there wasn't a bump, though there were rough winds below us. The wings of the plane were bright in the clear sunlight and the propellers were turning over smoothly, biting into the air at fantastic speed; the wind was behind us and we were doing over three hundred miles an hour.

飞机上很拥挤。它在大西洋上空两万多英尺的高空上飞行，下面有一层厚厚的云。上面的天空是深蓝色的，太阳在我们身后，我们向西飞去。孩子们一直在玩耍，在过道上跑来跑去，现在累了，他们正在睡觉。经过漫长的夜晚，其他人都醒了，有的在抽烟，有的在喝。前面的一个男人正在对另一个人讲他的生意，后面座位上的一个女人用高兴的声音描述了她购买的东西，并猜测她必须支付多少关税。在那个高度，飞行很平顺，没有颠簸，尽管我们下面有粗暴的风。飞机的机翼在晴朗的阳光下很明亮，螺旋桨平稳地翻转，以惊人的速度刺穿空气；风在我们身后，我们每小时跑了三百多英里。

Two men just across the narrow aisle were talking rather loudly, and it was difficult not to overhear what they were saying. They were big men, and one had a red, weather-beaten face. He was explaining the business of killing whales, how risky it was, what profits there were in it, and how frightfully rough the seas were. Some whales weighed hundreds of tons. The mothers with calves were not supposed to be killed, nor were they permitted to kill more than a certain number of whales within a specified time. Killing these great monsters had apparently been worked out most scientifically, each group having a special job to do for which it was technically trained. The smell of the factory ship was almost unbearable, but one got used to it, as one can to almost anything. But there was lots of money in it if all went well. He began to explain the strange fascination of killing, but at that moment drinks were brought and the subject of conversation changed.

狭窄过道的对面，有两个人说话的声音相当大，很难不偷听到他们在说什么。他们是大个子，其中一个有着红色的、饱经风霜的脸。他正在解释杀鲸鱼的生意，它有多么危险，有多大利润，以及大海是多么恐怖的凶险。一些鲸鱼重达数百吨。带有小仔的母亲不应该被杀死，也不允许他们在规定的时间内杀死超过一定数量的鲸鱼。杀死这些大怪物显然是最科学的，每个小组都有一个特殊的工作要做，是经过技术训练的。工作船的气味几乎无法忍受，但人们已经习惯了它，就像人几乎可以做任何事情一样。但是，如果一切顺利，就会有很多钱。他开始解释杀戮中的奇怪的美妙之处，但那一刻，酒水被送来了，谈话的主题发生了变化。

Human beings like to kill, whether it be each other, or a harmless, bright-eyed deer in the deep forest, or a tiger that has preyed upon cattle. A snake is deliberately run over on the road; a trap is set and a wolf or a coyote is caught. Well dressed, laughing people go out with their precious guns and kill birds that were lately calling to each other. A boy kills a chattering blue jay with his air gun, and the elders around him say never a word of pity, or scold him; on the contrary, they say what a good shot he is. Killing for so-called sport, for food, for one's country, for peace - there is not much difference in all this. Justification is not the answer. There is only: do not kill. In the West we think that animals exist for the sake of our stomachs, or for the pleasure of killing, or for their fur. In the East it has been taught for centuries and repeated by every parent: do not kill be pitiful, be compassionate. Here animals have no souls, so they can be killed with impunity; there animals have souls, so consider and let your heart know love. To eat animals, birds, is regarded here as a normal natural thing, sanctioned by church and advertisements; there it is not, and the thoughtful, the religious, by tradition and culture, never do. But this too is rapidly breaking down. Here we have always killed in the name of God and country, and now it is everywhere. Killing is spreading; almost overnight the ancient cultures are being swept aside, and efficiency, ruthlessness and the means of destruction are being carefully nurtured and strengthened.

人类喜欢杀戮，无论是在彼此之间，还是对深林中无害的、眼睛明亮的鹿，或者捕食牛的老虎。一条蛇在路上被故意碾压；设置陷阱，捕获狼或郊狼。衣着楚楚、笑着的人们带着他们珍贵的枪出去，杀死附近互相呼唤的鸟儿。一个男孩用他的气枪杀死了一只喋喋不休的蓝鸦，他周围的长辈从不说一句怜悯的话，或者责骂他；相反，他们说，他做一个多么好的射击。为了所谓的体育运动，为了食物，为了自己的国家，为了和平而杀戮 —— 在这一切中，并没有太大的区别。理由不是答案。只有：不要杀戮。在西方，我们认为动物的存在是为了我们的胃口，或者为了杀戮的乐趣，或者为了它们的皮毛。在东方，这个教导已经被教导了好几个世纪，并被每个父母都重申：不要杀人，要怜悯，要有同情心。在这里，动物没有灵魂，所以它们可以不受惩罚地被杀死；那里的动物有灵魂，所以考虑并让你的心知道爱。吃动物，鸟类，在这里被视为一种正常的自然的事情，受到教堂和宣传的认可；在那里，它不是，而深思熟虑的，宗教的，通过传统和文化，永远别这样做。但这种情况也在迅速瓦解。在这里，我们总是以上帝和国家的名义杀戮，而现在，它无处不在。杀戮正在蔓延；几乎在一夜之间，古代文化被一扫而空，效率、无情和破坏手段正在得到精心培育和强化。

Peace is not with the politician or the priest, neither is it with the lawyer or the policeman. Peace is a state of mind when there is love.

和平与政治家或牧师无关，也与律师或警察无关。当有了爱，和平就是头脑的一种状态。

He was a man of small business, struggling but able to make ends meet. "I haven't come to talk about my work," he said. "It gives me what I need, and as my needs are few, I get along. Not being over ambitious, I am not in the game of dog eat dog. One day, as I was passing by, I saw a crowd under the trees, and I stopped to listen to you. That was a couple of years ago and what you said set something stirring in me. I am not too well educated, but I now read your talks, and here I am. I used to be content with my life, with my thoughts, and with the few scattered beliefs which lay lightly on my mind. But ever since that Sunday morning when I wandered into this valley in my car and came by chance to hear you, I have been discontented. It is not so much with my work that I am discontented, but discontent has taken hold of my whole being. I used to pity the people who were discontented. They were so miserable, nothing satisfied them - and now I have joined their ranks. I was once satisfied with my life, with my friends, and with the things I was doing, but now I am discontented and unhappy."

他是一个做小生意的人，挣扎着，但能够维持生计。 “我不是来谈论我的工作，”他说。 “它给了我需要的东西，因为我的需求很少，所以我过得很好。不是过于雄心勃勃，我没有在玩狗吃狗的游戏。有一天，当我路过时，我看到树下有一群人，我停下来听你说话。那是几年前的事了，你所说的，让我心激荡。我受教育的程度不太好，但我现在读了你的讲话，我在这里。我曾经对我的生活，我的思想，以及那些悄悄落在我脑海中的少数零散的信仰感到满意。但自从那个星期天早上，当我开着车走进这个山谷，偶然听到你的声音时，我就一直很不满。与其说我对工作感到不满，不如说不满已经占据了我的整个存在。我曾经怜悯那些不满的人。他们是如此悲惨，没有什么能让他们满意 —— 而现在，我已经加入了他们的行列。我曾对自己的生活，我的朋友和正在做的事情感到满意，但现在，我却不满和不快乐。”

If one may ask, what do you mean by that word 'discontent'? "Before that Sunday morning when I heard you, I was a contented person, and I suppose rather a bore to others; now I see how stupid I was, and I am trying to be intelligent and alert to everything about me. I want to amount to something, get somewhere, and this urge naturally makes for discontent. I used to be asleep if I may put it that way, but now I am waking up."

如果有人可能会问，你所说的“不满”是什么意思？ “在那个星期天早上，当我听到你的声音时，我是一个知足的人，我想对别人来说相当无聊。现在我看到我是多么地愚蠢，我正在努力变得智慧，并警惕关于我的一切。我想做点什么，到达某个地方，这种冲动自然会引起不满。如果我可以这样说的话，我曾经睡着了，现在却醒了。”

Are you waking up, or are you trying to put yourself to sleep again through the desire to become something? You say you were asleep, and that now you are awake; but this awakened state makes you discontented, which displeases you, gives you pain, and to escape from this pain you are attempting to become something, to follow an ideal, and so on. This imitation is putting you back to sleep again, is it not?

你是在醒来，还是在试图通过成为某种人物的欲望让自己再次入睡？你说你睡着了，现在你醒了。但这种清醒的状态让你不知所措，这让你不高兴，给你带来痛苦，为了逃避这种痛苦，你正试图成为某种人物，追随一种理想，等等。这种模仿，使你再次沉睡，不是吗？

"But I don't want to go back to my old state, and I do want to be awake."

“但我不想回到以前的状态，我确实想保持清醒。”

Isn't it very strange how the mind deceives itself? The mind doesn't like to be disturbed, it doesn't like to be shaken out of its old patterns, its comfortable habits of thought and action; being disturbed, it seeks ways and means to establish new boundaries and pastures in which it can live safely. It is this zone of safety that most of us are seeking, and it is the desire to be safe, to be secure, that puts us to sleep. Circumstances, a word, a gesture, an experience, may awaken us, disturb us, but we want to be put to sleep again. This is happening to most of us all the time, and it is not an awakened state. What we have to understand are the ways in which the mind puts itself to sleep. This is so, is it not?

看看头脑是如何欺骗自己的，难道不是很奇怪吗？头脑不喜欢被打扰，它不喜欢摆脱它那老旧的、舒服的思想和行为习惯；当受到了干扰，它就寻求出路和手段，以建立新的领域和牧场，它就可以在那儿安全地生活。这正是我们大多数人正在寻求的安全区，而正是对安全、对保险的渴望，使得我们瞌睡。环境、一句话、一个手势、一种体验，可能会唤醒我们，打扰到我们，但我们希望再次入睡。这种情景，一直发生在我们大多数人的身上，而它不是一种醒来的状态。我们必须理解的是：头脑让自己入睡的方式。就是这样，不是吗？

"But there must be a great many ways in which the mind puts itself to sleep. Is it possible to know and avoid them all?"

“但是，头脑必然有很多种方式让自己入睡。有可能完全地知道并避免它们吗？”

Several could be pointed out; but this would not solve the problem, would it? "Why not?"

有几种方式是可以指出的；但这并不能解决问题，不是吗？“为什么不能？”

Merely to learn the ways in which the mind puts itself to sleep is again to find a means, perhaps different, of being undisturbed, secure. The important thing is to keep awake, and not ask how to keep awake; the pursuit of the 'how' is the urge to be safe.

仅仅学习头脑让自己入睡的方式，就是再次寻找一种不受干扰、安全的方法，它也许是不同的方式。重要的是保持清醒，而不是去问如何保持清醒；对“如何”的追求，就是对安全感的冲动。

"Then what is one to do?"

“那人该怎么办呢？”

Stay with discontent without desiring to pacify it. It is the desire to be undisturbed that must be understood. This desire, which takes many forms, is the urge to escape from what is. When this urge drops away - but not through any form of compulsion, either conscious or unconscious - only then does the pain of discontent cease. Comparison of what is with what should be brings pain. The cessation of comparison is not a state of contentment; it is a state of wakefulness without the activities of the self.

待在不满之中，不去安抚它。必须理解‘不愿被打扰’的欲望。这种欲望，会呈现出多种形式，就是逃避现实的冲动。当这种冲动消失时 —— 但不是通过任何形式的强迫，无论是有意识的还是无意识的 —— 只有这样，不满的痛苦才会停止。现实与理想之间的比较，带来了痛苦。比较的停止，不是一种满足的状态；它是一种没有自我活动的清醒状态。