THERE WERE FOUR who were chanting, and it was pure sound. They were quiet, elderly men, uninterested in worldly things, but not by way of renunciation; they were simply not drawn to the world. Wearing old but clean clothes, and with solemn faces, they would hardly have been noticed if they had passed you on the street. But the moment they began to chant, their faces were transformed and became radiant, ageless, and they created, with the sound of the words and the powerful intonation, that extraordinary atmosphere of a very ancient language. They were the words, the sound and the meaning. The sound of the words had great depth. It was not the depth of a stringed instrument, or of a drum, but the depth of a human voice alive to the significance of words made holy by time and usage. The chant was in the language that has been polished and made perfect, and its sound filled the big room, and penetrated the walls, the garden, the mind and the heart. It wasn’t the sound of a singer on the stage, but there was the silence that exists between two movements of sound. You felt your body being uncontrollably shaken by the sound of the words, which was in the marrow of your bones; you sat completely still, and it held you in its movement; it was living, dancing, vibrant, and your mind was of it. It wasn’t a sound that lulled you to sleep, but one that shook and almost hurt you. It was the depth and the beauty of pure tone, untouched by applause, by fame, and by the world; it was the tone from which all sound, all music comes.
四个人在吟诵，那是纯净的声音。 他们是安静的老人，对世俗的事物不感兴趣，却不是通过弃世的方式； 他们根本就没有被这个世界所吸引过。 他们穿着旧而干净的衣服，脸上有着庄严的表情， 如果他们在街上经过你，他们几乎不会被注意到。 但是，当他们开始吟唱的那一刻， 他们的脸就变了，变得容光焕发、岁月无痕， 他们用文字的发音和强大的语调创造出 一种属于非常古老的语言的非凡氛围。 他们就是文字、声音和意义。这些词语的发音有巨大的深度。 它不属于弦乐或鼓的深度， 而是人类嗓音的深度， 它活生生地体现了被时间和方法制作的神圣的文字的意义。 在这种语言里，圣歌经过已经被打磨而变得完善， 它的声音充满了大房间，穿透了墙壁、花园、头脑和心灵。 它不是舞台上歌手的声音， 而是存在于两个声音移动之间的沉默。 你感觉到你的身体不由自主地被这些文字的声音震动了， 这些声音在你的骨髓里； 你坐着，完全的静止，在它的移动中抱着你； 它是活泼的、跳动的、充沛的，你的头脑属于它。 它不是一个让你入睡的声音，而是一个震撼你、几乎伤害你的声音。 它是那纯粹音调中的深度和美丽， 没有被掌声、名誉和世界所沾染； 它是所有声音、所有音乐的音调。
A boy of three or so was sitting up in front without moving his back straight, his eyes closed; he wasn’t asleep. After an hour he quickly got up and went away, without any awkward shyness. He was equal to all, for the sound of the words was in his heart.
一个三岁左右的男孩坐在前面， 没有把后背伸直，闭着眼睛。他没有睡着。 一个小时后，他迅速起身离开，没有任何尴尬的害羞。 他和所有人一样，因为文字的声音在他心中。
You never got tired during those two hours; you didn’t want to move, and the world, with all its noise, didn’t exist. presently the chanting stopped, and the sound came to an end; but it went on inside you, and it would go on for many a day. The four bowed and saluted, and became once more the men of every day. They said they had practised that form of chanting for over ten years, and it had called for great patience and a dedicated life. It was a dying art, for there was hardly anyone nowadays willing to devote his life to that kind of chanting; there was no money in it, no fame, and who wanted to enter that kind of world? They were delighted, they said, to chant before people who really appreciated their effort. Then they went their way, poor and lost in a world of noise, cruelty and greed. But the river had listened, and was silent.
在那两个小时里，你从来没有感到疲倦； 你不想动，而这个世界，以及它所有的噪音，都不存在。 现在，吟唱停止了，声音结束了； 但它在你的内在继续，它会持续很多天。 四人鞠躬敬礼，再次成为常见的普通人。 他们说，这种形式的吟诵他们已经练习了十多年， 需要极大的耐心和一个奉献的生命。 这是一门快要灭亡的艺术， 因为现在几乎没有人愿意把自己的一生奉献给这种吟唱。 它里面没有钱，没有名声，谁想进入那种世界？ 他们说，他们很高兴能在真正欣赏他们的努力的人面前吟唱。 然后他们走上了自己的路，贫穷，迷失在一个充满噪音、残酷和贪婪的世界中。 但河流听到了，沉默了。
He was a well-known scholar, and had come with some of his friends and a disciple or two. He had a large head, and his small eyes peered through thick glasses. He knew Sanskrit as others know their own languages and spoke it as easily; and he also knew Greek and English. He was as familiar with the major oriental philosophies, including their various branches, as you are with addition and subtraction, and he had studied western philosophers as well, both the ancient and the modem. Rigorous in his self-discipline, he had days of silence and fasting, and had practised, he said, various forms of meditation. For all this, he was quite a youngish man, probably in his late forties, simply attired and eager. His friends and disciples sat around him and waited with that devout expectancy which precludes any questioning. They were all of that world of scholars who possess encyclopaedic knowledge, have visions and psychic experiences, and are certain of their own understanding. They took no part in the conversation, but listened, or rather heard what was going on. Later they would ardently discuss it among themselves, but now they must maintain a reverential silence in the presence of higher authority. There was a period of silence, and presently he began. There was no arrogance or pride of knowledge about him.
他是一位著名学者，和他的一些朋友和一两个弟子一起来的。 他有一个大脑袋，他的小眼睛透过厚厚的眼镜凝视着。 他懂梵语，如同别人知道自己的语言，说起来很流畅。 他还懂希腊语和英语。 他熟悉主要的东方哲学，包括它们的各个分支， 就像你对加法和减法一样， 他也研究过西方哲学家，包括古代哲学家和现代哲学家。 他严谨地自律， 有几天的沉默和禁食，并练习过，他说，各种形式的冥想。 尽管如此，他还是一个相当年轻的人， 大概四十多岁了，穿着得体，很热心。 他的朋友们和弟子们坐在他周围， 带着虔诚的期盼等待着，消除了任何质疑。 他们都属于学者们的世界，拥有百科全书上的知识， 拥有异象和心灵体验，并且对自己的理解相当有把握。 他们没有参与谈话，而是在听，或者确切地说，听发生的情况。 之后，他们会热切地互相讨论， 但现在他们必须在更高的权威面前保持虔诚的沉默。 沉默了一段时间，现在他开始了。 对他自己的知识，他没有任何的傲慢或骄傲。
“I have come as an inquirer, not to flaunt what I know. What do I know beyond what I have read and experienced? To learn is a great virtue, but to be content with what one knows is stupid. I have not come in the spirit of argumentation, though argument is necessary when doubt arises. I have come to seek, and not to refute. As I said, I have for many years practised meditation, not only the Hindu and Buddhist forms of it, but western types as well. I am saying this so that you may know to what extent I have sought to find that which transcends the mind.”
“我是作为一个询问者来的，不是为了炫耀我所知道的。 除了我所阅读和经历之外，我还知道什么？ 学习是一种伟大的美德，但满足于自己所知道的，是愚蠢的。 我不是本着争论精神来的， 尽管当怀疑出现时，争论是必要的。 我来这里是为了寻求，而不是为了反驳。 正如我所说，我练习冥想多年， 不仅是印度教和佛教的冥想形式，还有西方的各种形式。 我说这些，是为了让你知道 我在寻找超越头脑的东西的旅途中，已经走了多远。
Can a mind which practises a system ever discover that which is beyond the mind? Is a mind which is held within the framework of its own discipline capable of search? Must there not be freedom to discover? “Surely, to seek and to observe there must be a certain discipline; there must be the regular practice of some method if one is to find, and to understand that which one finds.”
一个实践一种系统的头脑，能发现超越头脑的东西吗？ 一个被限制在自己框架内的头脑，是否有能力去探索？ 难道不需要发现的自由吗？ “当然，要寻求和观察，必须有某种纪律； 如果一个人要寻找并理解他所寻找的东西， 就必须定期实践某种方法。”
Sir, we all seek a way out of our misery and trials; but search comes to an end when a method is adopted by means of which we hope to put an end to sorrow. Only in the understanding of sorrow is there an ending of it, and not in the practice of a method.
先生，我们都在寻找一条摆脱痛苦和琐碎的出路。 但是，当我们采用一种方法，希望通过这种方法来结束悲伤时， 探索就结束了。 只有在理解悲伤之时，它才能结束， 而不是在方法的实践中。
“But how can there be an ending of sorrow if the mind is not well-controlled, one-pointed and purposive? Do you mean to say that discipline is unnecessary for understanding?”
“但是，如果头脑没有得到很好的控制，没有一个指向和目标， 怎么能使悲伤结束呢？ 你的意思是说，戒律对于理解是不必要的吗？”
Does one understand when, through discipline, through various practices, one’s mind is shaped by desire? Must not the mind be free for understanding to take place? “Freedom, surely, comes at the end of the journey; at the beginning, one is a slave to desire and the things of desire. To free oneself from attachment to the pleasures of the senses, there must be discipline, the practice of various sadhanas; otherwise the mind yields to desire and is caught in its net. Unless the groundwork of righteousness is well laid, the house will tumble.”
一个人是否理解这点： 当通过戒律，通过各种实践的时候，人的头脑正在被欲望所塑造？ 要使理解发生，难道头脑不必处于自由的状态中吗？ “当然，自由是在旅程的终点； 一开始，一个人是欲望和理想的奴隶。 为了将自己从对感官乐趣的依恋中解放出来， 必须有戒律，各种修行； 否则，头脑屈服于欲望，陷入它的网中。 除非打好公义的基础，否则房子就会倒塌。”
Freedom is at the beginning, and not at the end. The understanding of greed, of the whole content of it – its nature, its implications, and its effects both pleasurable and painful – must be at the beginning. Then there is no need for the mind to build a wall to discipline itself against greed. When the totality of that which in enviably leads to misery and confusion is perceived, discipline against it has no meaning. If he who now spends much time and energy in the practice of a discipline, with all its conflicts, were to give the same thought and attention to the understanding of the total significance of sorrow, there would be a complete ending of sorrow. But we are caught in the tradition of resistance, discipline, and so there is no understanding of the ways of sorrow.
自由在一开始就得存在，而不是在终点。 对贪婪的理解，对贪婪的全部内容的理解 —— 它的本质、它的含义，以及它既令人愉快又使人痛苦的影响 —— 必须在一开始。 那么，头脑就没有必要建造一堵墙来约束自己对抗贪婪。 当人感知到‘贪婪导致痛苦和困惑’的全部性质时， 用戒律去反抗它，就没有了意义。 如果把花在实践戒律的时间和精力 用来理解悲伤的全部涵义， 那么悲伤就会完全地结束。 但是我们陷入了反抗、戒律的传统之中， 因此不能理解悲伤的方式。
“I am listening, but I do not understand.”
“我在听，但我不理解。”
Can there be listening as long as the mind clings to conclusions based on its assumptions and experiences? Surely, one listens only when the mind is not translating what it hears in terms of what it knows. Knowledge prevents listening. One may know a great deal; but to listen to something which may be totally different from what one knows, one must put aside one’s knowledge. Isn’t that so, sir? “Then how can one tell whether what’s being said is true or false?”
只要头脑坚持基于它的假设性的、经验性的结论， 它还能听吗？ 当然，‘听’这个动作 只有在头脑没有将它所听到的用它所知道的东西来翻译时。 知识阻断了听。 人可能知识渊博； 但是要听某些可能与自己所知道的完全不同的东西， 就必须把自己的知识放在一边。难道不是那样吗，先生？ “那么，如何分辨听到的东西的真假呢？”
The true and the false are not based on opinion or judgment, however wise and old. To perceive the true in the false, and the false in what is said to be true, and to see the truth as truth, demands a mind that is not held in its own conditioning. How can one see whether a statement is true or false, if one’s mind is prejudiced, caught in the framework of its own or another’s conclusions and experiences? For such a mind, what is important is to be aware of its own limitations.
真假不是基于观点或判断的，无论它有多么明智和古老。 在假中感知真， 而听到的假，即是真； 在真中看见真，需要一个不被它自己的条件所限制的头脑。 如果一个人的头脑有偏见，被困在它自己或别人的结论和经验的框架中， 他怎么能看出一个陈述是真还是假呢？ 对于那样一个头脑，重要的是要意识到它自身的局限性。
“How is a mind that’s enmeshed in the net of its own making to disentangle itself?”
“一个被自己制造的网缠绕在一起的头脑，如何解开它自己？”
Does this question reflect the search for a new method, or is it put to discover for oneself the whole significance of seeking and practising a method? After all, when one practises a method a discipline, the intention is to achieve a result, to gain certain qualities, and so on. Instead of worldly things, one hopes to gain so-called spiritual things; but gain is the purpose in both cases. There is no difference, except in words, between the man who meditates and practises a discipline in order to attain the other shore, and the man who works hard to fulfil his worldly ambition. Both are ambitious, both are greedy, both are concerned with themselves.
这个问题是出于寻找新的方法， 还是为了亲自发现 寻找和实践一个方法的全部意义？ 毕竟，当一个人练习一种方法，实践一种戒律时， 其意图就是要达到一个结果，获得某些品质，等等。 一个人希望收获所谓‘灵性的品质’，而不是世俗的东西； 但这两种情况下，收获的东西都是一种意图。 两者没有什么不同，除了称谓之外， 为了到达彼岸而冥想和实践戒律的人 和努力实现世俗野心的人之间，没有区别。 双方都雄心勃勃，两者都是贪婪的，都只关心他们自己。
“That being the fact, sir, how are envy, ambition, greed, and so on, to be put aside?”
“那既然如此，先生，嫉妒、野心、贪婪等等，如何放在一边呢？”
Again, if it may be pointed out, the ‘how’, the method that will seemingly bring about freedom, only puts an end to one’s inquiry into the problem, and arrests the understanding of it. To grasp fully the significance of the problem, one has to consider the whole question of effort. A petty mind making an effort not to be petty remains petty; a greedy mind disciplining itself to be generous is still greedy. Effort to be or not to be something is the continuance of the self. This effort may identify itself with the Atman, the soul, the indwelling God, and so on, but the core of it is still greed, ambition, which is the self, with all its conscious and unconscious attributes.
再一次，如果可以指出的话， 这个‘如何’，这个方式，似乎会带来自由， 只会结束一个人对问题的调查，并阻止对它的理解。 要完全抓住问题的意义， 人就必须考虑‘努力’的整个问题。 一个琐碎的头脑努力去争取不琐碎，仍然是琐碎的； 一个贪婪的头脑训练自己慷慨，仍然是贪婪的。 努力成为或不成为某种人物，就是自我的延续。 这种努力可能认同阿特曼、灵魂、内住的上帝等等， 但它的核心仍然是贪婪、野心，也就是自我， 以及所有的意识和无意识的特性。
“You are maintaining, then, that all effort to achieve an end, worldly or spiritual, is essentially the same, in that selfishness is the basis of it. Such effort only sustains the ego.”
“那么，你坚持认为， 所有为达到目的而作出的努力，无论是世俗的还是精神上的，本质上都是一样的， 因为自私是它的基础。这样的努力只能维持自我。”
That is so, isn’t it? The mind that practises virtue ceases to be virtuous. Humility cannot be cultivated; when it is, it is no longer humility. “That is clear and to the point. Now, since you cannot be advocating indolence, what is the nature of true effort?”
就是那样，不是吗？ 实践美德的头脑不再有美德。谦卑是无法培养的； 当它成为时，它就不再是谦卑。 “这很清楚，切中要害。 现在，既然你不能提倡懒惰， 那么真正的努力的本质是什么呢？”
When we are aware of the full significance of effort, with all its implications, is there then any effort at all of which we are conscious?
当我们意识到努力的全部意义及其所有含义时， 那么我们还能意识到任何的努力吗？
“You have pointed out that any becoming, positive or negative, is the perpetuation of this ‘me’, which is the result of identification with desire and the objects of desire. When once this fact is understood, you are asking, is there then any effort as we know it now? I can perceive the possibility of a state of being in which all such effort has ceased.”
“你指出，任何成为，无论是积极的还是消极的， 都是这个‘我’的延续， 它是对欲望和追逐对象的认同的结果。 当一旦理解了这个事实，你就会问， 我们现在所知道的努力是否存在？ 我能感觉到一种可能的状态，其中所有的这种努力都已停止。”
Merely to perceive the possibility of that state is not to understand the total meaning of effort in everyday existence. As long as there’s an observer who is trying to change, or to gain, or to put aside that which he observes, there must be effort; for after all, effort is the conflict between what is and what should be, the ideal. When this fact is understood, not merely verbally or intellectually, but deeply, then the mind has entered that state of being in which all effort, as we know it, is not.
仅仅感知这种状态的可能性， 并不能理解努力在日常生活中的全部意义。 只要有一个观察者试图改变，或获得， 或搁置他所观察到的，就必定存在努力； 毕竟，努力是现状和理想之间的冲突。 当这个事实被理解时，不仅仅是在口头上或智力上，而是深刻地， 那么头脑就进入了一种存在状态，正如我们所知，所有的努力都没有。
“To experience that state is the ardent desire of every seeker, including myself.”
“体验这种状态是每个寻求者热切的渴望，包括我自己。”
It cannot be sought; it comes uninvited. The desire for it drives the mind to gather knowledge and practise discipline as a means of gaining it – which is again to conform to a pattern in order to be successful. Knowledge is an impediment to the experiencing of that state. “How can knowledge be an impediment?” he asked in rather a shocked voice.
它不能被寻求；它是不请自来的。 对它的渴望驱使头脑收集知识并实践戒律， 以作为猎取它的手段 —— 这又是去服从一种模式以猎取成功。 知识是体验这种状态的障碍。 “知识怎么会成为了一种障碍？” 他用震惊的语气问道。
The problem of knowledge is complex, is it not? Knowledge is a movement of the past. To know is to assert that which has been. He who asserts that he knows ceases to understand reality. After all, sir, what is it that we know? “I know certain scientific and ethical facts. Without such knowledge, the civilized world would revert to savagery – and you are obviously not advocating that. Apart from these facts, what do I know? I know there is the infinitely compassionate, the Supreme.”
知识的问题很复杂，它不是吗？ 知识是过去的移动。知道就是断言已经存在的东西。 声称自己知道的人就不再理解现实。 毕竟，先生，我们知道的是什么呢？ “我知道某些科学和伦理事实。 没有这样的知识，文明世界将恢复野蛮 —— 而你显然不是在提倡这一点。 除了这些事实，我还知道什么？ 我知道有无限的慈悲、至尊。”
That’s not a fact, it is a psychological assumption on the part of a mind that has been conditioned to believe in the existence of the Supreme. One who has been conditioned differently will maintain that the Supreme is not. Both are bound by tradition, by knowledge, and so neither will discover the reality of it. Again, what is it that we know? We know only what we have read or experienced, what we have been taught by the ancient teachers and the modern gurus and interpreters.
那不是一个事实， 它是局限于相信至尊存在的头脑的一个心理假设。 一个被不同条件限制的人，会坚持认为至尊是不存在的。 两者都受到传统、知识的束缚，因此两者都不会发现它的真实性。 再说一遍，我们所知道的是什么？ 我们只知道我们读过或经历过的， 知道古代的老师和现代的导师和解释者教给我们的东西。
“Again I am forced to agree with you. We are the product of the past in conjunction with the present. The present is shaped by the past.”
“我又一次被迫同意你的话。 我们是过去与现在结合的产物。 现在是由过去塑造的。”
And the future is a modified continuity of the present. But this is not a matter of agreement, sir. Either one sees the fact, or one does not. When the fact is seen by both of us, agreement is unnecessary. Agreement exists only where there are opinions. “You are saying, sir, that we know only what we have been taught; that we are merely the repetition of what has been; that our experiences, visions and aspirations are the responses of our conditioning, and nothing more. But is this entirely so? Is the Atman of our own making? Can it be a mere projection of our own desires and hopes? It is not an invention, but a necessity.”
未来是现在经过修改后的延续。 但这不是一个同意的问题，先生。 要么看到事实，要么看不到。 当我们双方都看到这个事实时，就没必要去同意。 同意之所以存在，只有在有观念的地方。 “先生，你是说，我们只知道我们被教导的东西； 我们只是在重复过去的事物； 我们的体验、异象和愿望是我们限制条件的反射，仅此而已。 但这一切真是如此吗？阿特曼是我们自己创造的吗？ 它能仅仅是我们自己欲望和希望的投影吗？ 它不是一项发明，而是一种必需品。”
That which is necessary is soon fashioned by the mind, and the mind is then taught to accept what it has fashioned. The minds of a whole people can be trained to accept a given belief, or its contrary, and both are the outcome of necessity, of hope, of fear, of the desire for comfort or power. “By your very reasoning, you are forcing me to see certain facts, not the least of which is my own state of confusion. But there still remains the question, what is a mind to do that is caught in its own entangling net?”
那必需的东西很快就会被头脑塑造， 然后头脑被教导接受它所塑造的东西。 所有人的头脑可以被训练去接受一个特定的信仰，或者相反的信仰， 两者都是必需品、希望、恐惧、渴望舒适或权力的产物。 “根据你的推理，你迫使我看到某些事实， 其中最重要的是我拥有的困惑。 但仍然存在一个问题， 一个被困在自己纠缠不清的网中的头脑该怎么办？”
Let it just be choicelessly aware of the fact that it is confused; for any action born of that confusion can only lead to further confusion. Sir, must not the mind die to all knowledge if it is to discover the reality of the Supreme?
让它无选择地意识到它被迷惑的事实； 因为由此产生的任何行动都只会导致进一步的困惑。 先生，如果要发现至尊的真实性，这颗头脑难道不必葬送一切知识吗？
“That is a very hard thing you are asking. Can I die to everything I have learnt, read, experienced? I really don’t know.”
“那是你问的一件非常困难的事情。 我能把我所学到的、所读过的、所经历过的一切都葬送掉吗？我真的不知道。”
But is it not necessary for the mind – spontaneously, without any motive or compulsion – to die to the past? A mind that is the result of time, a mind that has read, studied, that has meditated upon what it has been taught, and is in itself a continuance of the past – how can such a mind experience reality, the timeless, the ever-new? How can it ever fathom the unknown? Surely, to know, to be certain, is the way of vanity, arrogance. As long as one knows, there is no dying, there is only continuity; and what has continuity can never be in that state of creation which is the timeless. When the past ceases to contaminate, reality is. There is then no need to seek it out.
但是，对于头脑来说，难道不是必要的吗 —— 自发地、没有任何动机或强迫 —— 死于过去？ 一个属于时间产物的头脑， 一个阅读、研究、在它所教授的东西上冥想的头脑， 本身就是过去的一种延续 —— 这样的头脑怎么能体验真实、非时间的、全新的呢？ 它怎么能理解未知呢？ 当然，想要去知道、去确定，就是虚荣的、傲慢的方式。 只要一个人知道，就没有死亡，只有延续； 而具有延续性的东西，永远不可能处于那种非时间的创造状态。 当过去不再玷污，真实就在。 那就没有必要寻找它了。
With one part of itself the mind knows that there is no permanency, no corner in which it can rest; but with another part, it is ever disciplining itself, seeking openly or surreptitiously to establish an abode of certainty, of permanence, a relationship beyond dispute. So there is an endless contradiction, a struggle to be and yet not to be and we spend our days in conflict and sorrow, prisoners within the walls of our own minds. The walls can be broken down, but knowledge and technique are not the instruments of that freedom.
头脑本身的一部分知道： 不存在永恒，它没有可以安息的角落； 而另一部分，却总是在约束自己，公开或秘密地寻找 以建立一个确定的、永恒的、一种没有吵闹的关系的住所。 因此，有一种无休止的矛盾，一场‘成为这样而不去成为那样’的挣扎， 而我们整天都在冲突和悲伤中度过，成为我们自己头脑围墙内的囚犯。 墙壁可以被打破， 但知识和技术不是那种解放的工具。