THE VILLAGE WAS dirty, but there was tidiness around each hut. The front steps were washed and decorated daily, and inside the hut was clean though somewhat smoky from the cooking. The whole family was there, father, mother and children, and the old lady must have been the grandmother. They all seemed so cheerful and strangely contented. Verbal communication was impossible, as we did not know their language. We sat down, and there was no embarrassment. They went on with their work, but the children came near, a boy and a girl, and sat down, smiling. The evening meal was nearly ready, and there was not too much of it. As we left, they all came out and watched; the sun was over the river, behind a vast, solitary cloud. The cloud was on fire and made the waters glow like remembered forest fires.
村子很脏，但每个小屋周围都是整洁的。 屋前的台阶每天都被清洗和装点， 小屋里面很干净，虽然做饭时有一点烟熏味。 全家人都在那里，父亲、母亲和孩子，老太太一定是祖母。 他们看起来都那么开朗，奇怪的满足。 口头交流是不可能的，因为我们不懂他们的语言。 我们坐了下来，没有尴尬。 他们继续他们的工作，但孩子们靠得很近， 一个男孩和一个女孩，坐下来，微笑着。 晚餐快准备好了，不太多。 当我们离开时，他们都出来目送； 太阳在河的上空，在一朵巨大而孤独的云层后面。 云层着火了，水就像记忆中的森林大火一样燃烧着。
The long rows of huts were divided by a wide-ish path, and on each side of the path were open, filthy gutters where every imaginable horror was being bred. One could see white worms struggling in the black slime. Children were playing on the path, completely absorbed in their games, laughing and shouting, indifferent to every passer-by. Along the embankment of the river, palms stood out against the burning sky. Pigs, goats and cattle were wandering about the huts, and the children would push a goat or a withered cow out of the way. The village was settling down for the coming darkness, and the children too were becoming quiet as their mothers called them.
一排排很长的小屋被一条宽阔的路隔开， 路的每一边都有敞开的、肮脏的排水沟 —— 每一种可以想象的恐怖都在里面滋长。 一个人可以看到白色的蠕虫在黑黢黢的粘液中挣扎。 孩子们在路上玩耍，完全沉浸在他们的游戏里， 大笑和呼喊，对每个路人都漠不关心。 沿着河岸，棕榈树在燃烧的天空中脱颖而出。 猪们、山羊们和牛群在小屋之间游荡， 孩子们会把一只山羊或一只耷拉的奶牛推开。 村子正在为即将到来的黑暗而安顿下来， 孩子们也变得安静，在他们的母亲呼唤他们的时候。
The large house had a lovely garden with high, white walls all around it. The garden was full of colour and bloom, and a great deal of money and care must have gone into it. It was extraordinarily peaceful in that garden; everything was flourishing, and the beauty of the large tree seemed to protect all the other things that were growing. The fountain must have been a delight to the many birds, but how it was quietly singing to itself, undisturbed and alone. Everything was enclosing itself for the night.
这一栋大房子有一个可爱的花园，周围有高高的白色墙壁。 花园里充满了色彩和盛开的花朵， 它一定花了大量的金钱和看护。 花园非常安静；一切都很繁荣， 大树的美丽似乎保护了所有其他正在生长的生物。 喷泉一定是许多鸟儿的喜悦， 尽管它如此安静地自唱自咏，不被干扰而自在。 夜幕降临，每一个生物都把它自己封藏了起来。
She was a dancer, not by profession but by choice. She was considered by some to be a fairly good dancer. She must have felt proud of her art, for there was arrogance about her, not only the arrogance of achievement but also that of some inner recognition of her own spiritual worth. As another would be satisfied with outward success, she was gratified by her spiritual advancement. The advance of the spirit is a self-imposed deception, but it is very gratifying. She had jewels on, and her nails were red; her lips were painted the appropriate colour. She not only danced, but also gave talks on art, on beauty, and on spiritual achievement. Vanity and ambition were on her face; she wanted to be known both spiritually and as an artist, and now the spirit was gaining.
她是一名舞者，不是职业的，而是兴趣所致。 她被一些人认为是一个相当好的舞者。 她有某种傲慢，她一定为自己的艺术感到自豪， 不仅是成就的傲慢， 还有对自己灵性价值的某种内在认可。 就好像别人会对外在的成功感到满意时， 也会对自己的灵性进步感到满意。 灵性的进步，是自我玩弄的欺诈手段，却令人十分满意。 她身上戴着珠宝，指甲是红色的。她的嘴唇被涂上了适当的颜色。 她不仅跳舞，还讲艺术、美和灵性的成就。 虚荣和雄心表露在她的脸上； 她想在灵性上和艺术圈内出名，而现在，这种灵性正在提升。
She said she had no personal problems, but wanted to talk about beauty and the spirit. She did not care about personal problems, which were stupid anyhow, but was concerned with wider issues. What was beauty? Was it inner or outer? Was it subjective or objective, or a combination of both? She was so sure of her ground, and surety is the denial of the beautiful. To be certain is to be self-enclosed and invulnerable. Without being open, how can there be sensitivity?
她说她没有私人的问题，但想谈谈美和灵性。 她不关心私人的问题，无论如何，这些都是愚蠢的， 但她关心的是更宽广的问题。 什么是美？它是内在的还是外在的？ 它是主观的还是客观的，还是两者兼而有之？ 她对她自己的背景非常肯定，而肯定就是对美的拒绝。 肯定即是自我封闭和无懈可击。 没有开阔的胸襟，怎么可能灵敏？
“What is beauty?”
Are you waiting for a definition, for a formula, or do you desire to inquire? “But must one not have the instrument for inquiry? Without knowing, without explanations, how can one inquire? We must know where we are going before we can go.”
你是在等待一个定义、一个公式，还是你想去调查？ “但是，难道不需要一把调查的工具吗？ 没有知识，没有解释，人怎么去调查？ 我们必须首先知道要去哪里，然后才能出发。”
Does not knowledge prevent inquiry? When you know, how can there be inquiry? Does not the very word “knowing” indicate a state in which inquiry has ceased? To know is not to inquire; so you are merely a asking for a conclusion, a definition. Is there a measure for beauty? Is beauty the approximation to a known or an imaginary pattern? Is beauty an abstraction without a frame? Is beauty exclusive, and can the exclusive be the integrated? Can the outer be beautiful without inner freedom? Is beauty decoration, adornment? Is the outward show of beauty an indication of sensitivity? What is it that you are seeking? A combination of the outer and the inner? How can there be outer beauty without the inner? On which do you lay emphasis
不正是知识妨碍了调查吗？ 当你已经知道，何必去调查？ ‘知道’这个词本身，就指示出调查已经停止，难道不是吗？ 知道，就是不用调查；所以你只是在索求一个结论、一个定义。 有一把衡量美的尺子吗？ 美是与一种已知的或想象出的准则的近似吗？ 美是一种没有框架的抽象吗？ 美是排它性的吗，而这种排它性可以被整合吗？ 没有内在的自由，外在是美丽的吗？ 美是打扮，是装饰吗？ 美的外表是敏感度的指标吗？ 你在找什么？外在与内在的结合？ 没有内在，能有外在的美呢？ 你的侧重点在哪里
“I lay emphasis on both; without the perfect form, how can there be perfect life? Beauty is the combination of the outer and the inner.”
“我强调这两者；没有完美的形式，怎能有完美的生命？ 美是外在和内在的结合。”
So you have a formula for becoming beautiful. The formula is not beauty, but only a series of words. Being beautiful is not the process of becoming beautiful. What is it that you are seeking? “The beauty of both form and spirit. There must be a lovely vase for the perfect flower.”
所以你有一个变美的公式。 公式是不美的，只不过是一系列的言词。 美不是变美的过程。你在找什么？ “形式和灵性的美。必定有一个可爱的花瓶，以展示完美的花朵。”
Can there be inner harmony, and so perhaps outer harmony, without sensitivity? Is not sensitivity essential for perception either of the ugly or the beautiful? Is beauty the avoidance of the ugly?
没有敏感，会有内在的和谐，以及可能促成的外在的和谐吗？ 要感知丑或美，敏感不是必需的吗？ 美是对丑的避免吗？
“Of course it is.”
“它当然是。”
Is virtue avoidance, resistance? If there is resistance, can there be sensitivity? Must there not be freedom for sensitivity? Can the self-enclosed be sensitive? Can the ambitious be sensitive, aware of beauty? Sensitivity, vulnerability to what is, is essential, is it not? We want to identify ourselves with what we call the beautiful and avoid what we call the ugly. We want to be identified with the lovely garden and shut our eyes to the smelly village. We want to resist and yet receive. Is not all identification resistance? To be aware of the village and the garden without resistance, without comparison, is to be sensitive. You want to be sensitive only to beauty, to virtue, and resist evil, the ugly. Sensitivity, vulnerability is a total process, it cannot be cut off at a particular gratifying level.
美德是避免，抵抗吗？ 如果有抵抗，还能敏感吗？ 难道不必为敏感提供自由吗？封闭的自我能敏感吗？ 雄心勃勃的人能敏感吗、能意识到美吗？ 对现状的敏感性和易受伤性，是必不可少的，不是吗？ 我们想用我们称之为‘美’的事物来认同自己，并避免我们所说的‘丑’。 我们希望与美丽的花园相认同，而对臭气熏天的村庄视而不见。 我们想抵抗那，而接受这。所有的认同难道不都是抵抗吗？ 没有抵抗，没有比较，意识到村庄和花园，就是敏感。 你只想对美、对美德敏感，而去抵抗邪恶、丑陋。 敏感性、脆弱性是一个完整的过程， 它不能被切断，被放在一个特定的令人满意的层面上。
“But I am seeking beauty, sensitivity.”
。”
Is that really so? If it is, then all concern about beauty must cease. This consideration, this worship of beauty is an escape from what is, from yourself, is it not? How can you be sensitive if you are unaware of what you are, of what is? The ambitious, the crafty, the pursuers of beauty, are only worshipping their own self-projections. They are wholly self-enclosed, they have built a wall around themselves; and as nothing can live in isolation, there is misery. This search for beauty and the incessant talk of art are respectable and highly regarded escapes from life, which is oneself.
那是真的吗？如果是，那么对美的所有关心都必须停止。 这种考虑，这种对美的崇拜， 是对现状、对你自身的一种逃避，它不是吗？ 如果你没有意识到自己的样子，你自身的材质，你怎么能敏感呢？ 雄心勃勃、狡猾、追求美， 只不过是崇拜他们自己的自我投影。 他们完全是自我封闭的，他们在自己周围筑起了一堵墙； 由于没有什么生物可以孤立地生活，因此而痛苦。 这种对美的追求和对艺术的不停谈论 是受人尊敬的、备受推崇的逃避生命的方式，也就是‘我’。
“But music is not an escape.”
。”
It is when it replaces the understanding of oneself. Without the understanding of oneself, all activity leads to confusion and pain. There is sensitivity only when there is the freedom which understanding brings – the understanding of the ways of the self, of thought.
当它取代了理解自我时，它就是。 不理解自我，所有的活动都导致困惑与痛苦。 敏感的出现，前提是自由，而自由是理解带来的 —— 理解自我的方式、思考的方式。