IT WAS A powerful motor and well tuned; it took the hills easily, without a stutter, and the pick-up was excellent. The road climbed steeply out of the valley and ran between orchards of orange and tall, wide-spreading walnut trees. On both sides of the road the orchards stretched for fully forty miles, up to the very foot of the mountains. Becoming straight, the road passed through one or two small towns, and then continued into the open country, which was bright green with alfalfa. Again winding through many hills, the road finally came out on to the desert.

它有一个强劲的发动机，操控性好； 它轻易地爬上了山坡，没有停顿，加速能力卓越。 这条山路的坡度十分陡峭， 在橙树园和高大的核桃树林之间延伸。 道路的两旁， 果园绵延整整四十英里，一直延伸到山脚下。 路变得笔直，穿过一两个小镇， 然后继续进入开阔的乡村，那里，有鲜绿色的苜蓿。 再次蜿蜒穿过许多山丘，终于，伸向了沙漠。

It was a smooth road, the hum of the motor was steady, and the traffic was very light. There was an intense awareness of the country, of the occasional passing car, of the road signals, of the clear blue sky, of the body sitting in the car; but the mind was very still. It was not the quietness of exhaustion, or of relaxation, but a stillness that was very alert. There was no point from which the mind was still; there was no observer of this tranquillity; the experiencer was wholly absent. Though there was desultory conversation, there was no ripple in this silence. One heard the roar of the wind as the car sped along, yet this stillness was inseparable from the noise of the wind, from the sounds of the car, and from the spoken word. The mind had no recollection of previous stillnesses, of those silences it had known; it did not say, “This is tranquillity.” There was no verbalization, which is only the recognition and the affirmation of a somewhat similar experience. Because there was no verbalization, thought was absent. There was no recording, and therefore thought was not able to pick up the silence or to think about it; for the word “stillness” is not stillness. When the word is not, the mind cannot operate, and so the experiencer cannot store up as a means of further pleasure. There was no gathering process at work, nor was there approximation or assimilation. The movement of the mind was totally absent.

在这条平坦的道路上，电机的嗡嗡声稳定，来往的车辆非常少。 有一种对这个乡村、偶尔经过的汽车、 对道路的信号指示、晴朗的蓝天、坐在车里的身体有强烈的意识； 但头脑非常地静。 它不是一种疲倦或休息的安静， 而是一种非常警醒的静止。 在这静中，头脑里没有一丁点儿念头； 这宁静之中，没有观察者，体验者完全不在。 虽然有无聊的谈话，这宁静之中，却没有波澜。 当汽车加速行驶时，一个人听到了风的咆哮， 而这种宁静与风的噪音， 与汽车的声音，与人的声音没有分隔。 头脑不记得之前的静，不记得它曾经知道的那些静。 它没有说：‘这是宁静。’ 没有言语， 言语只是对某种类似体验的识别和确认。 因为没有言语，所以思想缺席。 没有记录，因此 思想无法拾起宁静，或去思考它； 因为‘静止’这个词，不是静止。 当这个词不存在，头脑就无法操作， 因此体验者无法储存它，把它作为进一步取悦自己的手段。 在这运转中，没有收集过程，也没有近似或同化。 头脑的动作，完全没了。

The car stopped at the houses The barking of the dog, the unpacking of the car and the general disturbance in no way affected this extraordinary silence. There was no disturbance, and the stillness went on. The wind was among the pines, the shadows were long, and a wildcat sneaked away among the bushes. In this silence there was movement, and the movement was not a distraction. There was no fixed attention from which to be distracted. There is distraction when the main interest shifts; but in this silence there was absence of interest, and so there was no wandering away. Movement was not away from the silence but was of it. It was the stillness, not of death, of decay, but of life in which there was a total absence of conflict. With most of us, the struggle of pain and pleasure, the urge of activity, gives us the sense of life; and if that urge were taken away, we should be lost and soon disintegrate. But this stillness and its movement was creation ever renewing itself. It was a movement that had no beginning and so had no ending; nor was it a continuity. Movement implies time; but here there was no time. Time is the more and the less, the near and the far, yesterday and tomorrow; but in this stillness all comparison ceased. It was not a silence that came to an end to begin again; there was no repetition. The many tricks of the cunning mind were wholly absent.

抵达房屋，汽车停了下来 狗的吠叫声、汽车的卸货声和日常的扰动 丝毫没有影响到这奇怪的宁静。 没有干扰，宁静还在继续。 风在松林中，树影长长， 一只野猫在灌木丛中偷偷溜走了。 在这个宁静中，有运动，运动不会导致分心。 不存在某个固定的注意点可以被分散。 只有当主要的兴趣点出现转移时，才会分心； 但在这种宁静中，兴趣缺席，所以不存在游移。 运动不是远离宁静，而是源于宁静。 这种静止，不是死亡，不是衰败， 而是生命处于完全没有冲突的状态。 对于我们大多数人来说， 在痛苦与快乐之间挣扎，有一个参与活动的冲动，而活动给了我们生命的感觉； 如果这个冲动被拿走了，我们就会迷失，很快就崩溃。 但这种静止和它的运动，是创造，总是在更新它自身。 这个运动没有起点，因而没有终点； 它也不是一种延续。 动作意味着时间；但这里没有时间。 时间意味着多与少、近与远、昨天与明天； 但这个静止之中，所有的比较都消退了。 它不是那种结束之后又重新开始的安静；它没有重复。 狡黠的头脑中的许多伎俩，完全地缺席。

If this silence were an illusion the mind would have some relationship to it, it would either reject it or cling to it, reason it away or with subtle satisfaction identify itself with it; but since it has no relationship to this silence, the mind cannot accept or deny it. The mind can operate only with its own projections, with the things which are of itself; but it has no relationship with the things that are not of its own origin. This silence is not of the mind, and so the mind cannot cultivate or become identified with it. The content of this silence is not to be measured by words.

如果这种宁静是一种幻觉，那么头脑就会与它有某种联系， 它要么拒绝它，要么抓紧它， 把它推理出来，或者带着微妙的满足感认同它。 但是，由于它与这种宁静无关，头脑无法去接受或拒绝它。 头脑只能操纵它自己的投影，使用它所拥有的东西。 但头脑和那些与它有不同起源的事物无关。 这种宁静不属于头脑， 所以头脑无法培养或认同它。 这个宁静的内容，是不能用言语来衡量的。