THE RAINS HAD washed away the dust and heat of many months, and the leaves were sparklingly clean, with new leaves beginning to show. All through the night the frogs filled the air with their deep croaking; they would take a rest, and start again. The river was swift-flowing, and there was softness in the air. The rains were not over by any means. Dark clouds were gathering, and the sun was hidden. The earth, the trees and the whole of Nature seemed to be waiting for another purification. The road was dark brown, and the children were playing in the puddles; they were making mud-pies, or building castles and houses with surrounding walls. There was joy in the air after months of heat, and green grass was beginning to cover the earth. Everything was renewing itself.
雨水冲走了数月的尘土和炎热， 树叶清新闪亮，新叶开始露出。 整个晚上，青蛙们用它们深沉的呱呱声填满了空气。 它们会休息一下，然后又开始。 河水飞逝，空气柔软。 雨丝毫没有结束。乌云在聚拢，太阳被遮蔽了。 大地、树木和整个大自然似乎都在等待另一次净化。 道路是深棕色的，孩子们在水坑里玩耍。 他们制作泥馅饼，或建造城堡和被墙围住的房屋。 经过几个月的高温，空气中弥漫着喜悦， 绿草开始覆盖大地。一切都在更新自己。
This renewal is innocence.
The man considered himself vastly learned, and to him knowledge was the very essence of life. Life without knowledge was worse than death. His knowledge was not about one or two things, but covered a great many phases of life; he could talk with assurance about the atom and Communism, about astronomy and the yearly flow of water in the river, about diet and overpopulation. He was strangely proud of his knowledge and, like a clever showman, he brought it to impress; it made the others silent and respectful. How frightened we are of knowledge, what awesome respect we show to the knower! His English was sometimes rather difficult to understand. He had never been outside of his own country, but he had books from other countries. He was addicted to knowledge as another might be to drink or to some other appetite.
这个人认为他自己学识渊博， 对他来说，知识就是生命的本质。 没有知识的生命比死亡更糟糕。 他的知识不是关于一两样东西，而是涵盖了生命的许多阶段。 他可以确切地谈论原子和共产主义， 谈论天文学和河中每年的水流，谈论饮食和人口过剩。 他对自己的知识有一种奇特的自豪， 就像一个聪明的表演者一样，他用他的知识来感染人； 使别人沉默和尊敬他。 我们对知识多么地恐惧！我们对知道者是多么地敬畏！ 他的英语有时难以理解。 他从未离开过自己的国家，他却拥有其他国家的书籍。 他沉迷于知识，就像另一个人可能沉迷于喝酒或其它嗜好一样。
“What is wisdom, if it is not knowledge? Why do you say that one must suppress all knowledge? Is not knowledge essential? Without knowledge, where would we be? We would still be as the primitives, knowing nothing of the extraordinary world we live in. Without knowledge, existence at any level would be impossible. Why are you so insistent in saying that knowledge is an impediment to understanding?”
“如果智慧不是知识，那么什么是智慧？ 为什么你说一个人必须抑制一切知识？知识不是必需的吗？ 没有知识，我们会在哪里？ 我们将会像原始人一样，对我们所居住的非凡的世界一无所知。 没有知识，任何层面上的存在都是不可能的。 你为什么如此地坚持说：知识是理解的障碍？”
Knowledge is conditioning. Knowledge does not give freedom. One may know how to build an airplane and fly to the other end of the world in a few hours, but this is not freedom. Knowledge is not the creative factor, for knowledge is continuous, and that which has continuity can never lead to the implicit, the imponderable, the unknown. Knowledge is a hindrance to the open, to the unknown. The unknown can never be clothed in the known; the known is always moving to the past; the past is ever overshadowing the present, the unknown. Without freedom, without the open mind, there can be no understanding. Understanding does not come with knowledge. In the interval between words, between thoughts, comes understanding; this interval is silence unbroken by knowledge, it is the open, the imponderable, the implicit.
知识就是限制。知识没有给人自由。 人可能知道如何制造一架飞机，并在几个小时内飞向世界的另一端， 但这不是自由。 知识不是具有创造性的因素，因为知识是延续性的， 具有延续性的东西永远不会导向那含蓄的、不可思议的、未知的。 对于那敞开的、未知的来说，知识是一种障碍。 未知永远不能披上已知的衣服； 已知总是奔向过去； 过去永远覆盖现在、未知。 没有自由，没有敞开的头脑，就不能理解。 理解不是伴随着知识而来。 在言语之间的间隔，思想之间的空隙中，冒出了理解； 这个间隙，是没有被知识打破的寂静， 它是敞开的、不可思议的、含蓄的。
“Is not knowledge useful, essential? Without knowledge, how can there be discovery?”
“知识难道不是有用的、必不可少的吗？ 没有知识，怎么能发现呢？”
Discovery takes place, not when the mind is crowded with knowledge, but when knowledge is absent; only then is there stillness and space, and in this state understanding or discovery comes into being. Knowledge is undoubtedly useful at one level, but at another it is positively harmful. When knowledge is used as a means of self-aggrandizement, to puff oneself up, then it is mischievous, breeding separation and enmity. Self-expansion is disintegration, whether in the name of God, of the State, or of an ideology. Knowledge at one level, though conditioning, is necessary: language, technique, and so on. This conditioning is a safeguard, an essential for outer living; but when this conditioning is used psychologically, when knowledge becomes a means of psychological comfort, gratification, then it inevitably breeds conflict and confusion. Besides, what do we mean by knowing? What actually do you know?
发现的产生，不是在头脑中充斥着知识的时候， 而是在知识缺席的时候；只有那样，才有寂静和空无， 在这种状态下，理解或发现才会来到。 知识在一个层面上无疑是有用的， 但在其余的层面上，它是有害的。 当知识被用作自我膨胀的手段，把自己吹捧起来， 那么它就是有害的，滋生出分裂和敌意。 不论举着上帝、政府或某种意识形态的旗帜，自我的扩张就是裂解。 尽管思想有限制性，但在一个层面上，这种限制是必要的：语言、技术，等等。 这种限制是一种保障，是外在生活的必需品。 但是，当这种限制被用在心理层面上的时候， 当知识成为一种获取心理上的舒服、满意的手段时， 它就不可避免地滋生出冲突与困惑。 此外，我们所说的‘知道’意味着什么？ 你到底知道什么？
“I know about a great many things.”
You mean you have lots of information, data about many things. You have gathered certain facts; and then what? Does information about the disaster of war prevent wars? You have, I am sure, plenty of data about the effects of anger and violence within oneself and in society; but has this information put an end to hate and antagonism? ‘Knowledge about the effects of war may not put an immediate end to wars, but it will eventually bring about peace. People must be educated, they must be shown the effects of war, of conflict.”
你是指，你有大量的信息，有关于很多事物的数据。 你已经收集了相当多的事实；然后呢？ 关于战争灾难的信息可以阻止战争吗？ 你有，我确信， 你有大量关于愤怒和暴力在自身和社会中所产生的影响的数据。 但是这些信息终结了仇恨和敌对吗？ “有关战争的影响的知识可能不会立即结束战争， 但它最终会带来和平。 人们必须被教育，必须向他们展示战争和冲突所带来的影响。”
People are yourself and another. You have this vast information, and are you any less ambitious, less violent, less self-centred? Because you have studied revolutions, the history of inequality, are you free from feeling superior, giving importance to yourself? Because you have extensive knowledge of the world’s miseries and disasters, do you love? Besides, what is it that we know, of what have we knowledge?
‘人们’就是你自己和他人。 你拥有这么丰富的信息， 你是否不那么野心勃勃，不那么暴力，不那么以自我为中心？ 因为你研究过革命，研究过不平等的历史， 你是否摆脱了优越感，摆脱了自私？ 因为你对这个世界的悲惨和灾难有广大的数据，你有爱吗？ 此外，我们所知道的是什么，我们的知识是什么？
“Knowledge is experience accumulated through the ages. In one form it is tradition, and in another it is instinct, both conscious and unconscious. The hidden memories and experiences, whether handed down or acquired, act as a guide and shape our action; these memories, both racial and individual, are essential, because they help and protect man. Would you do away with such knowledge?”
“知识是历代积累的经验。 从某种形式上说，它是传统；从另一种形式上说，它是本能，包涵了意识和无意识。 隐藏的记忆和经验，无论是流传下来的还是获得的， 都如同导游一样，引导并塑造我们的行动； 这些记忆，无论是种族的还是个人的，都是基本的，因为它们帮助和保护人类。 你会放弃这样的知识吗？”
Action shaped and guided by fear is no action at all. Action which is the outcome of racial prejudices, fears, hopes, illusions, is conditioned; and all conditioning, as we said, only breeds further conflict and sorrow. You are conditioned as a Brahmin in accordance with a tradition which has been going on for centuries; and you respond to stimuli, to social changes and conflicts, as a Brahmin. You respond according to your conditioning, according to your past experiences, knowledge, so new experience only conditions further. Experience according to a belief, according to an ideology, is merely the continuation of that belief, the perpetuation of an idea. Such experience only strengthens belief. Idea separates, and your experience according to an idea, a pattern, makes you more separative. Experience as knowledge, as a psychological accumulation, only conditions, and experience is then another way of self-aggrandizement Knowledge as experience at the psychological level is a hindrance to understanding.
由恐惧塑造和引导的行动，根本不是行动。 出于种族偏见、恐惧、希望、幻想的产物的行动，是受限的； 而所有的限制，正如我们所说，只会滋生进一步的冲突与悲伤。 作为一个婆罗门，你受它限制，遵循已经持续了几个世纪的传统； 你作为一个婆罗门，对刺激、社会变革和冲突做出回应。 你根据你受到的限制，根据你过去的体验、知识做出回应， 所以，新的体验只会产生进一步的限制。 遵循一种信念、一种意识形态的体验， 只不过使得那种信念延续，使一个想法永存。 这样的体验只会强化信念。 想法就是割裂， 而你遵从一个想法、一种准则而形成的体验，使你更加的破碎。 体验作为知识，作为一种心理上的积累，只会限制人， 体验就是自我膨胀的另一个方式 体验，作为心理层面上的知识，是理解的一个障碍。
“Do we experience according to our belief?”
“我们根据我们自己的信念来体验吗？”
That is obvious, is it not? You are conditioned by a particular society – which is yourself at a different level – to believe in God, in social divisions; and another is conditioned to believe that there is no God, to follow quite a different ideology. Both of you will experience according to your beliefs, but such experience is a hindrance to the unknown. Experience, knowledge, which is memory, is useful at certain levels; but experience as a means of strengthening the psychological “me,” the ego, only leads to illusion and sorrow. And what can we know if the mind is filled with experiences, memories, knowledge? Can there be experiencing if we know? Does not the known prevent experiencing? You may know the name of that flower, but do you thereby experience the flower? Experiencing comes fist, and the naming only gives strength to the experience. The naming prevents further experiencing. For the state of experiencing, must there not be freedom from naming, from association, from the process of memory?
那是显而易见的，不是吗？ 你受限于某个特定的社会 —— 也就是你自己处在一个不同的层面上 —— 相信上帝，相信社会的等级划分； 而另一个人习惯于相信没有上帝，遵循一种完全不同的意识形态。 你们俩都会根据自己的信念来体验， 但这种体验阻挡着未知。 体验、知识，也就是记忆，在某些层面上是有用的； 但体验作为一种强化心理层面上的‘我’的手段， 只会导向幻觉与悲伤。 如果头脑充斥着体验、记忆和知识，我们能知道什么？ 如果我们知道，体验的行动在哪里？ 难道不是已知阻挡着真实地体验吗？ 你可能知道那朵花的名字，但你因此而体验到了那朵花吗？ 体验的行动在前，随后被命名，命名只会给这个曾经的体验带来力量。 命名阻止了进一步地体验。 要处于体验的状态， 难道不应该摆脱命名、联想、回忆吗？
Knowledge is superficial, and can the superficial lead to the deep? Can the mind, which is the result of the known, of the past, ever go above and beyond its own projection? To discover, it must stop projecting. Without its projections, mind is not. Knowledge, the past, can project only that which is the known. The instrument of the known can never be the discoverer. The known must cease for discovery; the experience must cease for experiencing. Knowledge is a hindrance to understanding.
知识是肤浅的，肤浅的能导向深邃吗？ 这个头脑，作为已知、过去的产物，能够走出并超越它自己的投影吗？ 要去发现，它必须停止投射。没有了它的投影，头脑就什么都不是。 知识，过去，只能投射出已知的东西。 已知的仪器永远不可能是发现者。 已知的东西必须消退，才能发现； 体验必须消逝，才能处于体验的状态。 知识是理解的一个障碍。
“What have we left if we are without knowledge, experience, memory? We are then nothing.”
“如果我们没有知识、体验、记忆，我们还剩下什么？ 那我们什么都没了。”
Are you anything more than that now? When you say, “Without knowledge we are nothing,” you are merely making a verbal assertion without experiencing that state, are you not? When you make that statement there is a sense of fear, the fear of being naked. Without these accretions you are nothing – which is the truth. And why not be that? Why all these pretensions and conceits? We have clothed this nothingness with fancies, with hopes, with various comforting ideas; but beneath these coverings we are nothing, not as some philosophical abstraction, but actually nothing. The experiencing of that nothingness is the beginning of wisdom.
你有比现在更多的东西吗？ 当你说，“没有知识，我们什么都没了”， 你只是在口头上断言而没有体验到那个状态，不是吗？ 当你作出这个陈述时，有一种恐惧感，害怕被剥光。 没有这些堆积物，你什么都没有 —— 这就是现实。 为什么不是那样？为什么会有这些炫耀与自负？ 我们用幻想、希望、各种令人欣慰的想法来装饰这个空无。 但在这些覆盖物之下，我们什么都没有， 不是某种哲学上的抽象，而是真正地没有。 体验那个空无，就是智慧的开始。
How ashamed we are to say we do not know! We cover the fact of not knowing with words and information. Actually, you do not know your wife, your neighbour; how can you when you do not know yourself? You have a lot of information, conclusions, explanations about yourself, but you are not aware of that which is, the implicit. Explanations, conclusions, called knowledge, prevent the experiencing of what is. Without being innocent, how can there be wisdom? Without dying to the past how can there be the renewing of innocence? Dying is from moment to moment; to die is not to accumulate; the experiencer must die to the experience. Without experience, without knowledge, the experiencer is not. To know is to be ignorant; not to know is the beginning of wisdom.
当我们说‘不知道’的时候，我们多么羞愧！ 我们用文字和信息去掩饰这个不知道的事实。 实际上，你不知道你的妻子、你的邻居； 当你不知道你自己的时候，你怎么能知道他们？ 你有很多关于你自己的信息、结论、解释， 但你没有意识到那活着的、隐含的。 解释、结论，被称之为‘知识’，阻碍着对现状的体验。 没有纯真，怎会有智慧？ 过去不死，怎会有纯真的更新？ 每时每刻死亡；死亡就是不积累； 体验者必须死于这个体验。 没有体验，没有知识，体验者也就没了。 知道就是无知；不知道，是智慧的开端。