THE SINGLE TREE on the wide green lawn was the centre of the little world which included the woods, the house and the small lake; the whole surrounding area seemed to flow towards the tree, which was high and spreading. It must have been very old, but there was a freshness about it, as though it had just come into being; there were hardly any dead branches, and its leaves were spotless, glistening in the morning sun. Because it was alone, all things seemed to come to it. Deer and pheasants, rabbits and cattle congregated in its shade, especially at midday. The symmetrical beauty of that tree gave a shape to the sky, and in the early morning light the tree appeared to be the only thing that was living. From the woods, the tree seemed far away; but from the tree, the woods, the house and even the sky seemed close – one often felt one could touch the passing clouds.
一棵孤树立在宽阔的绿色草坪上，是这个小世界的中心， 包揽了灌木丛、房屋和小湖； 周围的整片区域似乎都流向了这棵高耸、四处蔓延开来的树。 它一定非常的古老， 却有一种新鲜感，好像它刚刚诞生。 几乎没有任何的枯枝， 它的叶子一尘不染，在清晨的阳光下闪闪发光。 因为它是独立的，一切东西似乎都向它走来。 鹿和野鸡、兔子和牛聚集在它的阴凉处，特别是在中午。 那棵树的匀称之美，给天空塑造出一种形态， 而在清晨的阳光中，这棵树似乎是唯一鲜活的生物。 从灌木丛来看，这棵树似乎很遥远； 但从这棵树来看，灌木丛、房屋、甚至天空，似乎都很近 —— 常常感觉到，它能触摸路过的云朵。
We had been seated under the tree for some time, when he came to join us. He was seriously interested in meditation, and said that he had practiced it for many years. He did not belong to any particular school of thought, and though he had read many of the Christian mystics, he was more attracted to the meditations and disciplines of the Hindu and Buddhist saints. He had realized early, he continued, the immaturity of asceticism, with its peculiar fascination and cultivation of power through abstinence, and he had from the beginning avoided all extremes. He had, however, practised discipline, an unvarying self-control, and was determined to realize that which lay through and beyond meditation. He had led what was considered to be a strict moral life, but that was only a minor incident, nor was he attracted to the ways of the world. He had once played with worldly things, but the play was over some years ago. He had a job of sorts, but that too was quite incidental.
我们坐在树下已经有一段时间了，当他加入我们的时候。 他对冥想非常感兴趣，并说他已经练习了很多年。 他不属于任何特定的思想流派， 尽管他读过许多基督教的神秘主义， 但他对印度教和佛教圣徒的冥想和戒律更感兴趣。 他很早就意识到，他继续说，禁欲主义的不成熟， 以及通过禁欲，而培养权力的特殊魅力和力量， 他从一开始就避免了所有的极端。 然而，他已经实践了戒律，一种不变的自我控制， 并决心实现冥想和超越冥想。 他过着被认为是严格的道德生活， 但那只是一件小事，他也没有被世俗的方式所吸引。 他曾经玩弄过世俗的事物，但这些游戏已经是几年前的。 他有一份工作，但那也是次要的。
The end of meditation is meditation itself. The search for something through and beyond meditation is end-gaining; and that which is gained is again lost. Seeking a result is the continuation of self-projection; result, however lofty, is the projection of desire. Meditation as a means to arrive, to gain, to discover, only gives strength to the meditator. The meditator is the meditation; meditation is the understanding of the meditator.
冥想的终点，就是冥想本身。 通过冥想和超越冥想，以寻找某个东西，就是获取结果； 而获取的东西又会失去。 寻求一个结果，就是自我投影的延续； 结果，无论是多么的崇高，都是欲望的投影。 冥想作为一个到达、获取、发现的手段，只会给予冥想者以力量。 冥想者就是冥想；冥想，就是理解这个冥想者。
“I meditate to find ultimate reality, or to allow that reality to manifest itself. It is not exactly a result I am seeking, but that bliss which occasionally one senses. It is there; and as a thirsty man craves for water, I want that inexpressible happiness. That bliss is infinitely greater than all joy, and I pursue it as my most cherished desire.”
“我冥想是为了找到终极的真实，或者让这个真实自行显现。 它并不是我所追求的结果，而是一个人偶尔感受到的那种至乐。 它就在那里； 如同一个口渴的人渴望水，我想要那种无法形容的快乐。 那种至乐，比所有的欢乐都大得多， 我追求它，如同我最珍视的欲望。”
That is, you meditate to gain what you want. To attain what you desire, you strictly discipline yourself, follow certain rules and regulations; you lay out and follow a course in order to have that which is at the end of it. You hope to achieve certain results, certain well-marked stages, depending upon your persistence of effort, and progressively experience greater and greater joy. This well-laid-out course assures you of the final result. So your meditation is a very calculated affair, is it not?
也就是说，你通过冥想，以获得你想要的东西。 为了获得你的欲望， 你严格约束你自己，遵守一定的规矩和制度； 你布置并遵循一条线路，以便在抵达终点时拥有它。 你希望取得某些结果， 特定的标记良好的阶段，它们取决于你坚持不懈的努力， 并逐渐体验到越来越大的欢乐。 这条精心安排的线路，向你承诺了最终的结果。 所以，你的冥想是一件精心策划的事情，不是吗？
“When you put it that way, it does seem, in the superficial sense, rather absurd; but deeply, what is wrong with it? What is wrong essentially with seeking that bliss? I suppose I do want a result for all my efforts; but again, why shouldn’t one?”
“当你那样说时，从表面上看，它确实显得相当荒谬； 但在深处，它有什么问题吗？寻求这种至乐，本质上有什么错？ 我想我确实希望我的所有努力都有一个结果； 但是，为什么不应该有一个呢？”
This desire for bliss implies that bliss is something final, everlasting, does it not? All other results have been unsatisfactory; one has ardently pursued worldly goals and has seen their transient nature, and now one wants the everlasting state, an end that has no ending. The mind is seeking a final and imperishable refuge; so it disciplines and trains itself, practises certain virtues to gain what it wants. It may once have experienced that bliss, and now it is panting after it like other pursuers of results, you are pursuing yours, only you have placed it at a different level; you may call it higher, but that is irrelevant. A result means an ending; arrival implies another effort to become. The mind is never at rest, it is always striving, always achieving, always gaining – and, of course, always in fear of losing. This process is called meditation. Can a mind which is caught in endless becoming be aware of bliss? Can a mind that has imposed discipline upon itself ever be free to receive that bliss? Through effort and struggle, through resistance and denials, the mind makes itself insensitive; and can such a mind be open and vulnerable? Through the desire for that bliss, have you not built a wall around yourself which the imponderable, the unknown, cannot penetrate? Have you not effectively shut yourself off from the new? Out of the old, you have made a path for the new; and can the new be contained in the old?
对那至乐的欲望，意味着至乐是某种最终的、永恒的东西，不是吗？ 其余的所有结果都令人不满意。 一个人热切地追求世俗的目标，并看到了它们的短暂性， 现在他想要那种永恒的状态，一个不会结束的目的。 头脑正在寻求一个最终的、不朽的避难所； 因此，它自律和训练它自己，实践某些美德以获得它想要的东西。 它可能曾经体验过那种至乐， 现在，如同追求其他结果的人一样， 因追逐它而气喘吁吁， 你在追求你的结果，只是把它放在一个不同的层面上； 你可以称它在更高层的，但这无关紧要。 结果意味着一个终点；抵达意味着另一个‘成为’的努力。 这个头脑永不停歇，总在奋斗，总在抵达，总在获取 —— 当然，总处于害怕丧失的恐惧之中。 这个过程被称之为冥想。 一个陷入无常的头脑能意识到至乐吗？ 一个头脑把纪律强加给它自己，它还能自由地接纳那至乐吗？ 通过努力和挣扎，通过抵抗和拒绝，头脑使它自己变得麻木； 这样的头脑是敞开的、敏感的吗？ 通过对那至乐的欲望， 难道你没有在你自己的周围筑起一堵不可思议的、未知的、无法穿透的墙吗？ 难道你没有有效地将你自己与新的事物隔离吗？ 离开旧的事物，你已经为新的事物开辟了一条生路； 新的能被旧的包裹吗？
The mind can never create the new; the mind itself is a result, and all results are an outcome of the old. Results can never be new; the pursuit of a result can never be spontaneous; that which is free cannot pursue an end. The goal, the ideal, is always a projection of the mind, and surely that is not meditation. Meditation is the freeing of the meditator; in freedom alone is there discovery, sensitivity to receive. Without freedom, there can be no bliss; but freedom does not come through discipline. Discipline makes the pattern of freedom, but the pattern is not freedom. The pattern must be broken for freedom to be. The breaking of the mould is meditation. But this breaking of the mould is not a goal, a ideal. The mould is broken from moment to moment. The broken moment is the forgotten moment. It is the remembered moment that gives shape to the mould, and only then does the maker of the mould come into being, the creator of all problems, conflicts, miseries.
头脑永远不能创造新的； 头脑本身就是一个结果，一切结果都是旧的产物。 结果永远不会是新的；对结果的追求，永远不可能有自发性； 那自由的，不能被当作一个目的去追求。 目标、理想，总是头脑的投影，当然，那不是冥想。 冥想是冥想者的解放； 唯有自由，才有发现，敏锐地接纳。 没有自由，就没有至乐；但自由不是通过纪律而得来的。 纪律造就了自由的规则，但这规则不是自由。 规则必须打破，才有自由。 打破模具，就是冥想。 但模具的打破，不是一个目标，一个理想。 在每时每刻，模具都被摔碎。 破碎的瞬间，就是遗忘的刹那。 正是刹那间的记录，塑造出模具， 唯有那一瞬，模具的制造者才会出来， 制造出所有的问题、冲突、痛苦。
Meditation is freeing the mind of its own thoughts at all levels. Thought creates the thinker. The thinker is not separate from thought; they are a unitary process, and not two separate processes. The separate processes only lead to ignorance and illusion. The meditator is the meditation. Then the mind is alone, not made alone; it is silent, not made silent. Only to the alone can the causeless come, only to the alone is there bliss.
冥想是将头脑从各个层面的思想中解放出来。 思想创造出思想者。思想者与思想分不开； 它们是一个单一的进程，而不是两个分离的进程。 两个分离的进程，只会导致无知和幻想。 冥想者就是冥想。 那么，头脑是自在的，而不是被自在； 它是安静的，而不是被安静。 唯有这个自在，能无缘无故地来；唯有自在，至乐。