THE CABIN WAS high up in the mountains, and to get there one had to cross the wide desert by car, passing through may towns, and through luxuriant orchards and rich farms that had been reclaimed from the desert by irrigation and hard work. One town was especially pleasant with green lawns and big shady trees, for nearby was a river that came down from the distant mountains into the very heart of the desert. Beyond this town, following the cascading river, the road led on towards the snowy peaks. The earth was now rocky, bare and sunburnt, but there were many trees along the river’s banks. The road curved in and out, rising higher and higher, and passing through forests of ancient pines with the scent of the sun among them. The air had become cool and fresh, and soon we arrived at the cabin.
那所小木屋在山上， 要抵达那儿，一个人必须开车穿越广阔的沙漠，穿过五个城镇， 穿过茂密的果园和丰富的农场， 这些果园和农场，是通过灌溉和辛勤劳作，从沙漠中开垦出来的。 有一个城镇特别宜人，有好多绿色的草坪和浓密的大树， 因为附近有一条从远方的高山流下来的、进入沙漠中心的河流。 越过这个城镇，沿着倾泻的河流，这条路通向白雪皑皑的山峰。 大地现在岩石嶙峋、光秃秃的，被晒伤了，但河边有许多树。 山路曲折，越升越高， 穿过古老的松树林，其间有太阳的香味。 空气变得凉爽清新，很快，我们抵达了这所小木屋。
After a couple of days, when it had got used to us, a red-and-black squirrel would come and sit on the window-sill and somewhat scold us. It wanted nuts. Every visitor must have fed it; but now visitors were few, and it was eager to store up for the coming winter. It was a very active, cheerful squirrel, and it was always ready to gather what it could for the many cold and snowy months ahead. Its home was in the hollow of a tree that must have been dead for many years. It would grab a nut, race across to the huge trunk, climb up it noisily, scolding and threatening, disappear into a hole, and then come down again with such speed that one thought it would fall; but it never did. We spent a morning giving it a whole bag of nuts; it became very friendly and would come right into the room, its fur shining and its large beady eyes sparkling. Its claws were sharp, and its tail very bushy. It was a gay, responsible little animal, and it seemed to own the whole neighbourhood, for it kept off all the other squirrels.
过了几天， 当它习惯了我们的时候，一只红黑相间的松鼠会过来， 坐在窗台上，有点责备我们。它想要坚果。 每个游客都必须喂它； 但现在游客很少，它渴望为即将到来的冬天做好准备。 它是一只非常活泼、开朗的松鼠， 它随时准备为未来的许多寒冷和下雪的月份，收集它所能收集的东西。 它的家在一棵树的空洞里，这棵树一定已经死了很多年了。 它会抓住一个坚果，冲到巨大的树干上， 吵吵嚷嚷地爬上去，责骂和威胁，消失在一个洞里， 然后以如此之快的速度再次下降，以至于一个人以为它会摔下来；但它从未失手。 我们花了一个上午，给了它一整袋的坚果； 它变得非常友好，会直接进入房间， 它的皮毛闪闪发光，它的大珠子眼睛闪亮，爪子很锋利，尾巴很粗。 它是一只开朗的、负责任的小动物，它似乎拥有整片社区， 因为它远离了所有其他的松鼠。
He was a pleasant man, and eager for wisdom. He wanted to collect it as that squirrel gathered nuts. Though he was not too well-to-do, he must have travelled a good bit, for he seemed to have met many people in many countries. He had apparently read very extensively also, for he would bring out a phrase or two from some philosopher or saint. He said he could read Greek easily and had a smattering of Sanskrit. He was getting old and was eager to gather wisdom.
他是一个和蔼可亲的人，渴望智慧。 他想收集它，如同那只松鼠收集坚果。 虽然他不太富裕， 但他一定去过很多地方，因为他似乎在许多国家见过很多人。 他显然也读过很多书， 因为他会从某个哲学家或圣人那里拿出一两句话。 他说他可以很容易地读懂希腊语，并且会一些梵语。 他老了，渴望收集智慧。
Can one gather wisdom? “Why not? It is experience that makes a man wise, and knowledge is essential for wisdom.”
一个人能收集智慧吗？ “为什么不能？是经验使人有智慧，而知识对智慧至关重要。”
Can a man who has accumulated be wise? “Life is a process of accumulation, the gradual building up of character, a slow unfoldment. Experience, after all, is the storing up of knowledge. Knowledge is essential for all understanding.”
一个在积攒的人，是明智的吗？ “生命是一个积累的过程，是性格的逐渐建立、缓慢的舒展。 毕竟，经验是对知识的储存。对于所有理解来说，知识是基础。”
Does understanding come with knowledge, with experience? Knowledge is the residue of experience, the gathering of the past. Knowledge, consciousness, is always the past; and can the past ever understand? Does not understanding come in those intervals when thought is silent? And can the effort to lengthen or accumulate those silent spaces bring understanding?
理解是伴随着知识、经验而来的吗？ 知识是体验的残余，是过去的聚集。 知识，意识，总是属于过去；那过时的东西能理解什么？ 难道理解不是在思想沉寂的间隙中出现的吗？ 努力去延长或积攒那沉寂的空白，能带来理解吗？
“Without accumulation, we would not be; there would be no continuity of thought, of action. Accumulation is character, accumulation is virtue. We cannot exist without gathering. If I did not know the structure of that motor, I would be unable to understand it; if I did not know the structure of music, I would be unable to appreciate it deeply. Only the shallow enjoy music. To appreciate music, you must know how it is made, put together. Knowing is accumulation. There is no appreciation without knowing the facts. Accumulation of some kind is necessary for understanding, which is wisdom.”
“不去积攒，我们就不会存在； 思想和行动都不会有延续性。 积累是品格，积累是美德。 不去收集，我们就不能存在。 如果我不知道那个电机的结构，我就无法理解它； 如果我不知道音乐的结构，我就无法深刻地欣赏它。 只能浅薄地享受音乐。 要欣赏音乐，你必须知道它是如何创作的，如何构建的。 认识就是积累。不了解事实，就无法欣赏。 要有理解，某种积累是必要的，这也就是智慧。”
To discover, there must be freedom, must there not? If you are bound, weighed down, you cannot go far. How can there be freedom if there is accumulation of any kind? The man who accumulates, whether money or knowledge, can never be free. You may be free from the acquisitiveness of things, but the greed for knowledge is still bondage, it holds you. If a mind that is tethered to any form of acquisition capable of wandering far and discovering? Is virtue accumulation? Can a mind that is accumulating virtue ever be virtuous? Is not virtue the freedom from becoming? Character may be a bondage too. Virtue can never be a bondage, but all accumulation is.
要去发现，必定得自由，不是吗？ 如果你被拴住，压弯了腰，你就走不了多远。 如果有任何形式的积累，怎么自由？ 那个在积攒的，无论是金钱还是知识，绝不能自由。 你可能从物质的贪婪中解脱， 但对知识的贪婪仍然是锁链，它铐住你。 如果一个头脑被任何一种形式所捆绑，它能逍遥于远方，并去发现吗？ 美德是积累吗？一个正在积攒美德的头脑是高尚的吗？ 美德不就是从‘成为’的锁链中解脱吗？品格也可能是一条锁链。 美德永远不可能是锁链，但积累的一切就是。
“How can there be wisdom without experience?”
智慧？”
Wisdom is one thing, and knowledge another. Knowledge is the accumulation of experience; it is the continuation of experience, which is memory. Memory can be cultivated, strengthened, shaped, conditioned; but is wisdom the extension of memory? Is wisdom that which has continuance? We have knowledge, the accumulation of ages; and why are we not wise, happy, creative? Will knowledge make for bliss? Knowing, which is the accumulation of experience, is not experiencing. Knowing prevents experiencing. The accumulation of experience is a continuous process, and each experience strengthens this process; each experience strengthens memory, gives life to it. Without this constant reaction of memory, memory would soon fade away. Thought is memory, the word, the accumulation of experience. Memory is the past, as consciousness is. This whole burden of the past is the mind, is thought. Thought is the accumulated; and how can thought ever be free to discover the new? It must end for the new to be.
智慧是一个东西，而知识是另一个东西。 知识是经验的积累；它是经验的延续，也就是记忆。 记忆可以被培养、加强、塑造、调节； 但智慧是记忆的延展吗？ 智慧有延续性吗？ 我们拥有知识，这些长年累月的积累物； 为什么我们不明智、不快乐、没有创造力？知识会带来至乐吗？ 知道，就是经验的积累物，不是真实地体验。 知道，阻碍真实地体验。 体验的积累，就是延续， 每一次体验都加强这个延续物；每一次体验都会增强记忆，赋予它生命。 如果没有这种记忆的钩沉，记忆很快就会褪色。 思想是记忆，是这些文字，是体验的积累。 记忆是过去，就像意识一样。 过去的一切行囊，就是头脑，就是思想。 思想是被积攒的物什；思想怎么能自由去发现新的呢？ 新的要出来，它就必须死。
“I can comprehend this up to a point; but without thought, how can there be understanding?”
但思想都没了，怎么去理解？”
Is understanding a process of the past, or is it always in the present? Understanding means action in the present. Have you not noticed that understanding is in the instant, that it is not of time? Do you understand gradually? Understanding is always immediate, now, is it not? Thought is the outcome of the past; it is founded on the past, it is a response of the past. The past is the accumulated, and thought is the response of the accumulation. How, then, can thought ever understand? Is understanding a conscious process? Do you deliberately set out to understand? Do you choose to enjoy the beauty of an evening?
理解是在过去，还是总在当下？ 理解意味着现在的行动。 你有没有注意到，理解在刹那之间，与时间无关？ 你在理解的时候，是逐渐理解的吗？ 理解总是瞬间的，现在，它不是吗？ 思想是过去的产物；它是建立在过去之上的，它是过去的回应。 过去即是积攒的，思想是积累物的回响。 那么，思想怎么能理解呢？理解是一种意识吗？ 你是刻意去理解的吗？你选择了享受一个夜晚的美丽吗？
“But is not understanding a conscious effort?”
“但理解不是一种有意识的努力吗？”
What do we mean by consciousness? When are you conscious? Is consciousness not the response to challenge, to stimulus, pleasant or painful? This response to challenge is experience. Experience is naming, terming, association. Without naming, there would be no experience, would there? This whole process of challenge, response, naming, experience, is consciousness, is it not? Consciousness is always a process of the past. Conscious effort, the will to understand, to gather, the will to be, is a continuation of the past, perhaps modified, but still of the past. When we make an effort to be or to become something, that something is the projection of ourselves. When we make a conscious effort to understand, we are hearing the noise of our own accumulations. It is this noise that prevents understanding.
我们所说的‘意识’是什么意思？ 你什么时候有意识？ 意识难道不是对挑战、刺激、愉快或痛苦的回应吗？ 这种对挑战的回应是体验。体验是命名，称呼，联想。 没有命名，就没有体验，不是吗？ 挑战的整个流程：回应、命名、体验，即是意识，不是它吗？ 意识总是过去的回响。 有意识的努力， 想去理解、收集、达成的意愿，是过去的延续， 也许被调整过，但依然属于过去。 当我们在努力达成或成为某个人物的时候，那个目标就是我们自己的投影。 当我们有意识的努力理解时，我们听见我们拥有的积累物的噪音。 正是这噪音，阻碍着理解。
‘Then what is wisdom?”
Wisdom is when knowledge ends. Knowledge has continuity; without continuity there is no knowledge. That which has continuity can never be free, the new. There is freedom only to that which has an ending. Knowledge can never be new, it is always becoming the old. The old is ever absorbing the new and thereby gaining strength. The old must cease for the new to be. “You are saying, in other words, that thought must end for wisdom to be. But how is thought to end?”
当知识结束的时候，智慧即至。 知识具有延续性；没有延续性，就没有知识。 那具有延续性的东西，永远不是自由的、新的。 那具有结束性的东西，才有自由。 知识永远不可能是新的，它总在变成旧的。 旧的总在啃噬新的，以获取力气。 旧的必须消退，新的才能存在。 “换句话说，你是在说，思想必须结束，智慧才能出现。但是， 思想如何结束？"
There is no ending to thought through any kind of discipline, practice, compulsion. The thinker is the thought, and he cannot operate upon himself; when he does, it is only a self-deception. He is thought, he is not separate from thought; he may assume that he is different, pretend to be dissimilar, but that is only the craftiness of thought to give itself permanency. When thought attempts to end thought it only strengthens itself. Do what it will, thought cannot end itself. It is only when the truth of this is seen that thought comes to an end. There is freedom only in seeing the truth of what is, and wisdom is the perception of that truth. The what is is never static, and to be passively watchful of it there must be freedom from all accumulation.
通过任何一种纪律、实践、强迫，思想都不会结束。 这个思想者就是思想，他不能给自己动手术； 他要是这么做，就在自欺。 他是思想，他与思想分不开； 他可能认为自己是不同的，假装自己是不一样的， 但那只是思想的狡诈，想使它自己长生。 当思想尝试结束思想时，它只是在强化它自己。 不管它怎么折腾，思想都无法结束它自己。 只有看到这一点，那个思想才会走到尽头。 只有观察此刻的真实，才有自由， 而智慧即是那真实的感知。 现实，绝不是静态的， 被动地观察它，必须从所有的积累中解放。