对生活的评注 1-68

HE BELONGED TO various and widely different organizations, and was active in them all. He wrote and talked, collected money, organized. He was aggressive, insistent and effective. He was a very useful person, much in demand, and was forever going up and down the land. He had been through the political agitations, had gone to prison, followed the leaders, and now he was becoming an important person in his own right. He was all for the immediate carrying out of great schemes; and like all these educated people, he was versed in philosophy. He said he was a man of action, and not a contemplative; he used a Sanskrit phrase which was intended to convey a whole philosophy of action. The very assertion that he was a man of action implied that he was one of the essential elements of life – perhaps not he personally, but the type. He had classified himself and thereby blocked the understanding of himself.

他曾经属于各种不同的组织，在里面很积极。他写作、演讲、收钱、组织。他进取、坚定、高效。他是一个非常有用的人，需求很大，并且永远在这片土地上起起伏伏。他经历过政治骚动、坐牢、追随领导人，现在，凭着自己的力量，他成为一个重要人物。他完全赞成立即执行伟大的计划；像所有这些受过教育的人们一样，他精通哲学。他说他是一个行动者，而不是一个沉思者。他使用了一个梵语短语，旨在传达整个行动哲学。这个断言 —— 他是一个行动者 —— 意味着他是生活的基本要素之一 —— 也许不是指他一个人，而是那一类人。他把自己划分到这个类别中，从而阻碍了对他自己的理解。

Labels seem to give satisfaction. We kept the category to which we are supposed to belong as a satisfying explanation of life. We are worshippers of words and labels; we never seem to go beyond the symbol, to comprehend the worth of the symbol. By calling ourselves this or that, we ensure ourselves against further disturbance, and settle back. One of the curses of ideologies and organized beliefs is the comfort, the deadly gratification they offer. They put us to sleep, and in the sleep we dream, and the dream becomes action. How easily we are distracted! And most of us want to be distracted; most of us are tired out with incessant conflict, and distractions become a necessity, they become more important than what is. We can play with distractions, but not with what is; distractions are illusions, and there is a perverse delight in them.

花样翻新的标签，似乎让人满意。我们属于我们所认同的类别，以展示对生活的满意。我们是文字和标签的崇拜者；我们似乎从未超越符号，理解符号的价值。通过称呼自己为这个或那个，我们确保自己免受进一步的干扰，并安定下来。意识形态和组织化的信仰的诅咒之一：就是舒适，它们提供了致命的满意。它们使我们入睡，在睡眠中我们梦想，梦想变成了行动。我们是多么容易分心！我们大多数人都喜欢分心；我们大多数人都厌倦了无休止的冲突，而各式各样的分心，成为一种必需品，它们变得比现实更为重要。我们可以在分心的时候玩耍，却不能玩弄现实；分心就是幻觉，里面有一种乖张的欢悦。

What is action? What is the process of action? Why do we act? Mere activity is not action, surely; to keep busy is not action, is it? The housewife is busy, and would you call that action? “No, of course not. She is only concerned with everyday, petty affairs. A man of action is occupied with larger problems and responsibilities. Occupation with wider and deeper issues may be called action, not only political but spiritual. It demands capacity, efficiency, organized efforts a sustained drive towards a purpose. Such a man is not a contemplative, a mystic, a hermit, he is a man of action.”

什么是行动？什么是行动的过程？我们为什么要行动？只参与活动，不是行动；保持忙碌不是行动，它是吗？家庭主妇很忙，你会这么称那是行动吗？ “不，当然不是。她只关心日常的琐碎事务。一个行动的人被更大的问题和责任所占据。被更广泛和更深层次问题的占据，就可以称之为行动，不仅是政治上的，而且是灵性上的。它需要能力、效率、有组织的努力，以及朝着目标的持续推进。这样的人不是一个沉思的人、神秘主义者、隐士，他是一个行动者。”

Occupation with wider issues you would call action. What are wider issues? Are they separate from everyday existence? Is action apart from the total process of life? Is there action when there is no integration of all the many layers of existence? Without understanding and so integrating the total process of life, is not action mere destructive activity? Man is a total process, and action must be the outcome of this totality.

被更广泛的问题所占据，你会称之为行动。什么是更广泛的问题？它们与日常生活是分开的吗？行动脱离了生活的整个过程吗？当没有融合一切存在的各个层次时，会有行动吗？没有理解，没有整合生活的全部进程，行动难道不就是毁灭性的活动吗？人是一个完整的进程，行动必须发祥于这种完整性。

“But that would imply not only inaction, but indefinite postponement. There is an urgency of action, and it is no good philosophizing about it.”

“但那就意味着不仅无所作为，而且还是无限期的推迟。行动是紧迫的，对它进行哲学思考并不好。”

We are not philosophizing, but only wondering if your so-called action is not doing infinite harm. Reform always needs further reform. Partial action is no action at all, it brings about disintegration. If you will have the patience, we can find now, not in the future, that action which is total, integrated.

我们不是在哲学化，而只是在思索：你所说的行动没有造成无限的伤害吗？改革总是需要进一步的改革。局部的行动根本不是行动，它带来了整体的崩塌。如果你有耐心，我们现在可以找到，而不是在将来，那完全的、完整的行动。

Can purposive action be called action? To have a purpose, an ideal, and work towards it – is that action? When action is for a result, is it action?

有意图的行动可以称之为行动吗？有一个意图，一个理念，并朝着它努力 —— 那是行动吗？当行动是为了一个结果时，它是行动吗？

“How else can you act?”

You call action that which has a result, an end in view, do you not? You plan the end, or you have an idea, a belief, and work towards it. Working towards an object, an end, a goal, factual or psychological, is what is generally called action. This process can be understood in relation to some physical fact, such as building a bridge; but is it as easily understood with regard to psychological purposes? Surely, we are talking of the psychological purpose, the ideology, the ideal, or the belief towards which you are working. Would you call action this working towards a psychological purpose?

你说的那种行动中，有一个结果、一个期待的愿景，不是吗？你规划这个目的，或者你有一个观念，一个信仰，并为之而奋斗。奔向一个对象、一个目的、一个目标，不论它是物质上的，还是心理上的，通常被称之为行动。从某些物质层面上来看，这种过程可以被理解，例如建造桥梁；但是，就心理上的意图而言，它是否能被轻易地理解？当然，我们谈论的是心理上的意图 —— 你正在为之奋斗的意识形态、理想或信仰。你会把朝着心理意图而奋斗的过程称之为行动吗？

“Action without a purpose is no action at all, it is death. Inaction is death.”

不是行动，而是死亡。无所作为就是死亡。”

Inaction is not the opposite of action, it is quite a different state, but for the moment that is irrelevant; we may discuss that later, but let us come back to our point. Working towards an end, an ideal, is generally called action, is it not? But how does the ideal come into being?, Is it entirely different from what is). Is antithesis different and apart from thesis? Is the ideal of non-violence wholly other than violence? Is not the ideal self-projected? Is it not homemade? In acting towards a purpose, an ideal, you are pursuing a self-projection, are you not?

无所作为不是行动的反面，它是一种完全不同的状态，但就目前而言，那是无关紧要的；我们稍后可能会讨论那个问题，但让我们回到我们的谈论的点上。朝着一个目的、一个理想而工作，通常被称之为行动，不是吗？但是这个理想是如何形成的？它与现状完全不同吗？对立面是否不同，是否与主题相分离？非暴力的理想是否与暴力完全地不同？理想不就是自我的投影吗？它不是被捏造出来的吗？在朝着一个意图、一个理想而行动的过程中，你在追求一个自我的投影，你不是吗？

“Is the ideal a self-projection?”

You are this, and you want to become that. Surely, that is the outcome of your thought. It may not be the outcome of your own thought, but it is born of thought, is it not? Thought projects the ideal; the ideal is part of thought. The ideal is not something beyond thought; it is thought itself. “What’s wrong with thought? Why shouldn’t thought create the ideal?”

你是这样，你想成为那样。当然了，‘那样’就是你的思想加工品。它可能不是出于你自己的思想，但它从思想中诞生，它不是吗？思想投射出理想；理想是思想的一部分。理想不是某个超越思想的东西；它就是思想。 “思想有什么错？为什么思想不能创造理想？”

You are this, which does not satisfy, so you want to be that. If there were an understanding of this, would that come into being? Because you do not understand this, you create that, hoping through that to understand or to escape from this. Thought creates the ideal as well as the problem; the ideal is a self-projection, and your working towards that self-projection is what you call action, action with a purpose. So your action is within the limits of your own projection, whether God or the State. This movement within your own bounds is the activity of the dog chasing its tail; and is that action?

你是这样，这个样子不够好，所以你想成为那个。如果理解这个，那个会出现吗？因为你不理解这个，所以你创造了那个，盼望着通过那个影子去理解或逃避这个。思想创造了理想，也创造了这个问题；理想是一种自我的投影，而你朝着自我的影子而奋斗，就是你所说的行动，带有一个意图的行动。因此，你的行动在你自己的投影范围之内，无论这个影子是上帝还是政府。这种在你自己的范围之内的运动，就是狗追逐尾巴的活动；那是行动吗？

“But is it possible to act without a purpose?”

没有意图的情况下采取行动？”

Of course it is. If you see the truth of action with a purpose, then there is just action. Such action is the only effective action, it is the only radical revolution. “You mean action without the self, don’t you?”

当然可以。如果你看清了带有一个意图的行动，那么就只有行动。这样的行动，是唯一有效的行动，它是唯一的根本性的革命。 “你的意思是没有自我的行动，不是吗？”

Yes, action without the idea. The idea is the self identified with God or with the State. Such identified action only creates more conflict, more confusion and misery. But it is hard for the man of so-called action to put aside the idea. Without the ideology he feels lost, and he is; so he is not a man of action, but a man caught in his own self-projections whose activities are the glorification of himself. His activities contribute to separation, to disintegration.

是的，没有想法的行动。这个想法是自我对上帝或政府的认同。这种认同的行动，只会造成更多的冲突、更多的困惑与悲伤。但是，所谓的行动者很难把这个想法放在一边。没有意识形态，他就感到迷茫，他本来就迷茫；所以他不是一个行动者，而是一个陷入他自己的阴影之下的人，他的活动就为他自己增光添彩。他的活动助长了分裂，导致了崩溃。