THE SUN WAS behind the hills, the town was afire with the evening glow, and the sky was full of light and splendour. In the lingering twilight, the children were shouting and playing; there was still plenty of time before their dinner. A discordant temple bell was ringing in the distance, and from the nearby mosque a voice was calling for evening prayers. The parrots were coming back from the outlying woods and fields to the dense trees with their heavy foliage, all along the road. They were making an awful noise before settling down for the night. The crows joined them, with their raucous calling and there were other birds, all scolding and noisy. It was a secluded part of the town, and the sound of the traffic was drowned by the loud chatter of the birds; but with the coming of darkness they became quieter, and within a few minutes they were silent and ready for the night.
太阳下山了， 城镇被夕阳点亮，天上充满了光彩和灿烂。 在挥之不去的暮色中，孩子们在大喊大叫、玩耍着； 晚餐前还有很多时间。 远处响起了一阵不和谐的寺庙的钟声， 从附近的清真寺传来一种语气，要求晚上祷告。 鹦鹉从远外的树林和田野里回到马路边的树上， 上面的树叶茂密而厚实。 他们在安顿下来过夜之前，发出了可怕的噪音。 乌鸦加入了他们，带着他们喧闹的叫声， 还有其他鸟儿们，都在争吵、喧哗。 这是镇上一个僻静的地方， 交通的声音被鸟儿的巨大的喧哗声淹没了。 但随着黑暗的到来，他们变得更加安静， 几分钟之内，他们就沉默了，为入夜做好了准备。
A man came along with what looked like a thick rope around his neck. He was holding one end of it. A group of people were chatting and laughing under a tree, where there were patches of light from an electric lamp above; and the man, walking up to the group, put his rope on the ground. There were frightened screams as everyone started running; for the ‘rope’ was a big cobra, hissing and swaying its hood. Laughing, the man pushed it with his naked toes, and presently picked it up again, holding it just behind the head. Of course, its fangs had been removed; it was really harmless, but frightening. The man offered to put the snake around my neck, but he was satisfied when I stroked it. It was scaly and cold, with strong rippling muscles, and eyes that were black and staring – for snakes have no eyelids. We walked a few steps together, and the cobra around his neck was never still, but all movement.
一个男人带着脖子上看起来像一根粗绳子的东西走了过来。 他握着它的一端。一群人在树下聊天和大笑， 树上有电灯的光斑； 那个男人走到那群人面前，把他的绳子放在地上。 当每个人都开始奔跑时，有惊恐的尖叫声； 因为“绳子”是一条大眼镜蛇，嘶嘶作响，摇晃着它的脑袋。 那个男人笑着用赤裸的脚趾推了推它， 现在又把它捡起来，把它放在脑后。 当然，它的尖牙已经被拔掉了；它真的很无害，但很可怕。 那个男人提出把蛇放在我的脖子上，但当我抚摸它时，他很满意。 它干涩而冰冷，肌肉强壮，眼睛是黑色的，在盯着看 —— 因为蛇没有眼睑。我们一起走了几步， 他脖子上的眼镜蛇从来没有静止，而总是在动。
The street-lights made the stars seem dim and far away, but Mars was red and clear. A beggar was walking along with slow, weary steps, hardly moving; he was covered with rags, and his feet were wrapped in torn pieces of canvas, tied together with heavy string. He had a long stick, and was muttering to himself, and he did not look up as we passed. Further along the street there was a smart and expensive hotel, with cars of almost every make drawn up in front of it.
路灯使星星显得昏暗而遥远，但火星是红色和清晰的。 一个乞丐以缓慢而疲惫的步子走着，几乎很难移动。 他身上覆盖着破布， 双脚被撕碎的帆布包裹着，用粗绳子绑在一起。 他有一根长棍子，在喃喃自语，当我们经过时，他没有抬头。 沿着街道再往前走，有一家精致而昂贵的酒店， 它的门前几乎停满了各式各样的汽车。
A young professor from one of the universities, rather nervous and with a high-pitched voice and bright eyes, said that he had come a long way to ask a question which was most important to him. “I have known various joys: the joy of conjugal love, the joy of health, of interest, and of good companionship. Being a professor of literature, I have read widely, and delight in books. But I have found that every joy is fleeting in nature; from the smallest to the greatest, they all pass away in time. Nothing I touch seems to have any permanency, and even literature, the greatest love of my life, is beginning to lose its perennial joy. I feel there must be a permanent source of all joy, but though I have sought for it intensely, I have not found it.”
一个来自大学的年轻教授，相当地紧张， 声音尖锐，眼睛明亮， 他说，他走了很长一段路，过来问一个对他来说最为重要的问题。 “我知道各种各样的快乐： 夫妻之爱的快乐、健康的快乐、兴趣的快乐，以及良好的陪伴。 作为一名文学教授，我广泛地阅读，并喜欢书籍。 但我发现，每一种快乐在本质上都是转瞬即逝的。 从最小的到最大的，它们都会瞬间消失。 我所接触到的任何东西似乎都没有任何的永久性， 甚至文学，我一生中最大的爱，也开始失去它永恒的快乐。 我觉得所有欢乐一定有一个永恒的源头， 尽管我热切地寻求它，但我还没有找到它。”
Search is an extraordinarily deceptive phenomenon is it not? Being dissatisfied with the present, we seek something beyond it. Aching with the present, we probe into the future or the past; and even that which we find is consumed in the present. We never stop to inquire into the full content of the present, but are always pursuing the dreams of the future; or from among the dead memories of the past we select the richest, and give life to it. We cling to that which has been, or reject it in the light of tomorrow, and so the present is slurred over; it is merely a passage to be gone through as quickly as possible.
搜索是一种非常具有欺骗性的现象，不是吗？ 对现在不满意，我们寻求超越它的东西。 对现在感到痛苦，我们探索未来或过去； 甚至我们所找到的东西，现在也被浪费了。 我们从不停下，去调查现在的整个内容， 却始终在追求未来的梦想； 或者在过去的、死亡的记忆中，我们挑选出最丰富的，并给予它生命。 我们紧紧抓住已有的东西，或者用明天的光辉来拒绝它， 所以，现在变得模糊不清了。 它只是一个需要尽快驶离的过道。
“Whether it’s in the past or in the future, I want to find the source of joy,” he went on. “You know what I mean, sir. I no longer seek the objects from which joy is derived – ideas, books, people, nature – but the source of joy itself, beyond all transiency. If one doesn’t find that source, one is everlastingly caught in the sorrow of the impermanent.”
“无论是过去还是将来，我都想找到快乐的源泉，” 他继续说道。“你知道我的意思，先生。 我不再寻找从中产生欢乐的物体 —— 思想、书籍、人、自然 —— 而是欢乐本身的源泉，超越所有瞬间的东西。 如果一个人没有找到那个源头，他就会永远陷入无常的悲伤中。”
Don’t you think, sir, that we must understand the significance of that word ‘search’? Otherwise we shall be talking at cross purposes. Why is there this urge to seek, this anxiety to find, this compulsion to attain? perhaps if we can uncover the motive and see its implications, we shall be able to understand the significance of search.
先生，你不认为我们必须理解“搜索”这个词的意义吗？ 否则，我们将以不同的目的进行交谈。 为什么会有这种寻求的冲动，这种寻找的焦虑，这种追求的冲动？ 也许，如果我们能够发现这个动机，并看到它的含义， 我们将能够理解搜索的意义。
“My motive is simple and direct: I want to find the permanent source of joy, for every joy I have known has been a passing thing. The urge that is making me seek is the misery of not having anything enduring. I want to get away from this sorrow of uncertainty, and I don’t think there’s anything abnormal about it. Anyone who is at all thoughtful must be seeking the joy I am seeking. Others may call it by a different name – God, truth, bliss, freedom, Moksha, and so on – but it’s essentially the same thing.”
“我的动机简单而直接：我想找到欢乐的永久源泉， 因为我所知道的每一个快乐都是一种短暂的事情。 促使我去寻求的冲动是没有任何持久性的东西的痛苦。 我想摆脱这种不确定性所引发的悲伤， 我不认为这有什么不正常。 任何有思想的人都必须寻求我所寻求的欢乐。 其他人可能会用不同的名字来称呼它 —— 上帝、真理、幸福、自由、莫克沙等等 —— 但本质上，都是一回事。”
Being caught in the pain of impermanency, the mind is driven to seek the permanent, under whatever name; and its very craving for the permanent creates the permanent, which is the opposite of what is. So really there is no search, but only the desire to find the comforting satisfaction of the permanent. When the mind becomes aware of being in a constant state of flux, it proceeds to build the opposite of that state, thereby getting caught in the conflict of duality; and then, wanting to escape from this conflict, it pursues still another opposite. So the mind is bound to the wheel of opposites.
陷入无常的痛苦中， 头脑被驱使着以任何一种名义去寻求永久； 它对永久的渴望，创造出永久，这种永久与现状对立。 因此，根本就没有寻找，有的只是欲望 ——想找到永久性的舒适的满足感。 当头脑意识到自己处于不断变化的状态时， 它就会继续建立与该状态相反的事物，从而陷入二元性的冲突中； 然后，为了逃避这场冲突，它追求另一个对立面。 因此，头脑被束缚在互相矛盾的车轮上。
“I am aware of this reactionary process of the mind, as you explain it; but should one not seek at all? Life would be a pretty poor thing if there were no discovering.”
“我意识到头脑的这种反应过程，正如你所解释的那样； 但是一个人根本不应该寻求吗？ 如果没有发现，生活将是一件非常糟糕的事情。”
Do we discover anything new through search? The new is not the opposite of the old, it is not the antithesis of what is. If the new is a projection of the old, then it is only a modified continuation of the old.
我们通过搜索，能发现任何新的东西吗？ 新的不是旧的对立面，它不是现状的对立面。 如果新是旧的投影，那么它只是被修改后的旧的延续。
All recognition is based on the past, and what is recognizable is not the new. Search arises from the pain of the present, therefore what is sought is already known. You are seeking comfort, and probably you will find it; but that also will be transient, for the very urge to find is impermanent. All desire for something – for joy for God, or whatever it be – is transient.
所有的认知都是基于过去，可识别的并不是新的。 搜索产生于现在的痛苦，因此所寻求的东西是已知的。 你正在寻求安慰，也许你会找到它； 但那也将是短暂的，因为这个寻找的冲动，本身就是无常的。 对某个东西的一切欲望 —— 对上帝的欢乐，或者不管它是什么 —— 都是短暂的。
“Do I understand you to mean that, since my search is the outcome of desire, and desire is transient, therefore my search is in vain?”
“我理解你的意思， 既然我的搜索是欲望的产物，而欲望是短暂的， 那么我的搜索是徒劳的吗？”
If you realize the truth of this, then transience itself is joy. “How am I to realize the truth of it?”
如果你意识到这一点的真相，那么短暂本身就是欢乐。 “我如何才能体会到它的真相呢？”
There is no ‘how’, no method. The method breeds the idea of the permanent. As long as the mind desires to arrive, to gain, to attain it will be in conflict. Conflict is insensitivity. It is only the sensitive mind that realizes the true. Search is born of conflict, and with the cessation of conflict there is no need to seek. Then there is bliss.
没有“如何”，没有方法。 这种方法滋生出‘永久’的观念。 只要头脑渴望到达、获得、抓取，它就会处于冲突之中。 冲突是不敏感的。只有敏感的头脑才能意识到真理。 搜索源于冲突，随着冲突的停止，就没有必要寻求。 那么，就有至乐。