IT WAS A VERY hot and humid day. In the park many people were stretched out on the grass or sitting on benches in the shade of the heavy trees; they were taking cool drinks and gasping for clean, fresh air. The sky was grey, there was not the slightest breeze, and the fumes of this vast mechanized city filled the air. In the country it must have been lovely, for spring was just turning into summer. Some trees would just be putting forth their leaves, and along the road which ran beside the wide, sparkling river, every kind of flower would be out. Deep in the woods there would be that peculiar silence in which you can almost hear things being born, and the mountains, with their deep valleys, would be blue and fragrant. But here in the city...!
在一个非常炎热和潮湿的日子。 公园里，有许多人在草坪上伸展， 或者坐在浓密的树荫下的长凳上； 他们喝着清凉的饮料，呼吸着干净、清新的空气。 天空灰蒙蒙的，没有一丝微风， 巨大的机械化城市的烟雾弥漫在空气中。 此刻的乡村，一定很可爱，因为春天刚刚变成夏天。 有些树木会伸出叶子， 沿着那条宽阔而波光粼粼的河流旁的道路， 每一种花朵都会绽放。 在树林深处，会有一种奇特的寂静， 你几乎可以听到东西正在诞生， 而山脉，以及它们深邃的山谷，将会是蓝色和芬芳的。 但这里是在城市中……！
Imagination perverts the perception of what is; and yet how proud we are of our imagination and speculation. The speculative mind, with its intricate thoughts, is not capable of fundamental transformation; it is not a revolutionary mind. It has clothed itself with what should be and follows the pattern of its own limited and enclosing projections. The good is not in what should be, it lies in the understanding of what is. Imagination prevents the perception of what is, as does comparison. The mind must put aside all imagination and speculation for the real to be.
想象扭曲了对现状的感知； 然而，我们对自己的想象和猜测感到多么地自豪。 这种思辨的头脑，具有错综复杂的思想， 没有能力去进行根本性的转变；它不是一个革命性的头脑。 它给自己披上了‘应该是什么’的外衣， 并遵循了自己有限的、封闭的、投射出来的模式。 美好的事物不是‘应该是什么’，而是在理解‘什么是现在’的行为中。 想象阻止了对‘什么是现在’的感知，如同比较一样。 头脑必须抛开所有的想象和猜测，才能让真理出现。
He was quite young, but he had a family and was a businessman of some repute. He looked very worried and miserable, and was eager to say something. "Some time ago I had a most remarkable experience, and as I have never before talked about it to anyone I wonder if I am capable of explaining it to you; I hope so, for I cannot go to anybody else. It was an experience which completely ravished my heart; but it has gone, and now I have only the empty memory of it. perhaps you can help me to get it back. I will tell you, as fully as I can, what that blessing was. I have read of these things, but they were always empty words and appealed only to my senses; but what happened to me was beyond all thought, beyond imagination and desire, and now I have lost it. Please do help me to get it back." He paused for a moment, and then continued.
他很年轻，但他有一个家庭，是一个有名望的商人。 他看起来非常担忧和悲伤，并急切地想说些什么。 “前段时间，我有一次最了不起的经历， 由于我以前从未向任何人谈论过它， 我在想我是否有能力向你解释它； 我希望如此，因为我不能去找任何人。 它是一次完全让人心醉的经历。但它已经消失了， 现在我只剩下关于它的空洞的记忆。也许你可以帮我把它拿回来。 我会尽可能完整地告诉你，那个祝福是什么。 我读过这些东西，但它们总是空洞的话语，只吸引了我的感觉； 但发生在我身上的事情超出了所有人的想象， 超出了想象和欲望，现在我已经失去了它。请帮我把它拿回来。” 他停顿了一会儿，然后继续说下去。
"I woke up one morning very early; the city was still asleep, and its murmur had not yet begun. I felt I had to get out, so I dressed quickly and went down to the street. Even the milk truck was not yet on its rounds. It was early spring, and the sky was pale blue. I had a strong feeling that I should go to the park, a mile or so away. From the moment I came out of my front door I had a strange feeling of lightness, as though I were walking on air. The building opposite, a drab block of flats, had lost all its ugliness; the very bricks were alive and clear. Every little object which ordinarily I would never have noticed seemed to have an extraordinary quality of its own, and strangely, everything seemed to be a part of me. Nothing was separate from me; in fact, the 'me' as the observer, the perceiver, was absent, if you know what I mean. There was no 'me' separate from that tree, or from that paper in the gutter, or from the birds that were calling to each other. It was a state of consciousness that I had never known. "On the way to the park," he went on, "there is a flower shop. I have passed it hundreds of times, and I used to glance at the flowers as I went by. But on this particular morning I stopped in front of it. The plate glass window was slightly frosted with the heat and damp from inside, but this did not prevent me from seeing the many varieties of flowers. As I stood looking at them, I found myself smiling and laughing with a joy I had never before experienced. Those flowers were speaking to me, and I was speaking to them; I was among them, and they were part of me. In saying this, I may give you the impression that I was hysterical, slightly off my head; but it was not so.
“有一天早上，我很早就醒了。 这个城市还在睡觉，它的噪音还没有开始。 我觉得我必须出去，所以我迅速地穿好衣服，走到街上。 就连牛奶车也还没有上路。 那是一个早春，天空淡蓝。 我有一种强烈的感觉，我应该去了公园，一英里左右。 我从前门迈出的那一刻起，我就有一种奇怪的轻盈感， 仿佛我在空中行走。 对面的建筑物，一幢单调的公寓楼，已经失去了所有的丑陋。 砖块是活生生的，清晰的。 每一个我平常没有注意到的小物体 似乎都有着自己的非凡品质， 奇怪的是，一切似乎都是我的一部分。没有什么是与我分开的。 事实上，作为观察者、感知者的“我”是不存在的，如果你知道我的意思的话。 没有与那棵树分离的“我”，没有与排水沟里的那张纸分离的那个“我”， 也没有与互相呼唤的鸟儿分离。这是一种我从不知道的意识状态。 “在去公园的路上，” 他接着说，“有一家花店。 我已经经过它几百次了，我曾经在经过时瞥了一眼花朵。 但在这个特别的早晨，我停在了它前面。 平滑玻璃窗受屋内的热量和潮气影响，看起来略带磨砂， 但这并不妨碍我看到许多品种的花朵。 当我站着看它们的时候， 我发现自己露出了笑容，笑着，带着一种我从未体验过的喜悦。 那些花在对我说话，我在对它们说话。 我就是其中的一员，它们是我的一部分。 在这样说的时候，我可能会给你一种印象，即我是歇斯底里的，有点偏离我的头。 但事实并非如此。
I had dressed very carefully, and had been aware of putting on clean things, looking at my watch, seeing the names of the shops, including that of my tailor, and reading the titles of the books in a book shop window. Everything was alive, and I loved everything. I was the scent of those flowers, but there was no 'me' to smell the flowers, if you know what I mean. There was no separation between them and me. That flower shop was fantastically alive with colours, and the beauty of it all must have been stunning, for time and its measurement had ceased. I must have stood there for over twenty minutes, but I assure you there was no sense of time. I could hardly tear myself away from those flowers. The world of struggle, pain and sorrow was there, and yet it was not. You see, in that state, words have no meaning.
我穿着整洁，意识到把东西放好， 瞧着手表，看着商店的名字， 包括那家我定制过衣服的商店，以及书店的橱窗里的书名。 一切都是活的，我爱一切。 我是那些花的香味， 但是如果你知道我的意思，就没有“我”闻到花的味道。 它们与我之间没有分离。 那家花店色彩斑斓， 这一切的美丽一定令人惊叹， 因为时间，它的测量已经停止了。 我一定站在那里二十多分钟，但我向你保证，没有时间的流逝感。 我几乎无法把自己从那些花朵中剥离出来。 斗争、痛苦和悲伤的世界是存在的，但它又不存在。 你看，在这种状态下，词语没有任何意义。
Words are descriptive, separative, comparative, but in that state there were no words; 'I' was not experiencing, there was only that state, that experience. Time had stopped; there was no past, present or future. There was only - oh, I don't know how to put it into words, but it doesn't matter. There was a presence - no, not that word. It was as though the earth, with everything in it and on it, were in a state of benediction, and I, walking towards the park, were part of it. As I drew near the park I was absolutely spellbound by the beauty of those familiar trees. From the pale yellow to the almost black-green, the leaves were dancing with life; every leaf stood out separate, and the whole richness of the earth was in a single leaf. I was conscious that my heart was beating fast; I have a very good heart, but I could hardly breathe as I entered the park and I thought I was going to faint. I sat down on a bench, and tears were rolling down my cheeks. There was a silence that was utterly unbearable, but that silence was cleansing all things of pain and sorrow. As I went deeper into the park, there was music in the air. I was surprised, as there was no house nearby, and no one would have a radio in the park at that hour of the morning. The music was part of the whole thing. All the goodness, all the compassion of the world was in that park, and God was there."
词语是描述性的，分离的，比较的，但在那种状态下，词语没有用； “我”不是在经历，只有那种状态，那种体验。 时间已经停止了。没有过去，现在或未来。 只有 —— 哦，我不知道如何用语言表达，但这并不重要。 有一个存在 —— 不，不是那个词。 就好像大地，里面有一切，上面有一切，都处于一种祝福的状态， 而我走向公园，是它的一部分。 当我靠近公园时，我完全被那些熟悉的树木的美丽所吸引。 从淡黄色到几乎黑绿色，树叶与生命共舞； 每一片叶子都在，大地的全部丰盈都在每一片叶子里。 我意识到我的心脏跳得很快。 我有一颗非常好的心脏，但当我进入公园时，我几乎无法呼吸， 我以为我会晕倒。 我坐在长凳上，泪水顺着我的脸颊滚落。 有一种完全无法忍受的寂静， 但这种寂静正在净化所有的痛苦与悲伤。 当我深入公园时，空气中弥漫着音乐。 我很惊讶，因为附近没有房子， 在早上的那个时候，公园里也没有人会放音乐。 音乐是整体的一部分。 世上所有的良善，所有的慈悲都在那个公园里，上帝就在那里。”
"I am not a theologian, nor much of a religious person," he continued. "I have been a dozen times or so inside a church, but it has never meant anything to me. I cannot stomach all that nonsense that goes on in churches. But in that park there was Being, if one may use such a word, in whom all things lived and had their being. My legs were shaking and I was forced to sit down again, with my back against a tree. The trunk was a living thing, as I was, and I was part of that tree, part of that Being, part of the world. I must have fainted. It had all been too much for me: the vivid, living colours, the leaves, the rocks, the flowers, the incredible beauty of everything. And over all was the benediction of...
“我不是神学家，也不是一个宗教人士，” 他继续说道。 “我在教堂里去过十几次，但这对我来说，从来没有任何意义。 我无法忍受教会里发生的所有无稽之谈。 但是在那个公园里，有生命，如果人可以用这个词的话， 所有事物都活在其中，并拥有它们的自在。 我的腿在颤抖，我被迫再次坐下，背靠着一棵树。 树干是一个活生生的东西，就像我一样， 我是那棵树的一部分，是那个生命的一部分，是世界的一部分。 我一定是晕倒了。对我来说，这一切都太强烈了： 生动活泼的色彩、树叶、岩石、花朵， 一切不可思议的美。这一切都在祝福……
"When I came to, the sun was up. It generally takes me about twenty minutes to walk to the park, but it was nearly two hours since I had left my house. physically I seemed to have no strength to walk back; so I sat there, gathering strength and not daring to think. As I slowly walked back home, the whole of that experience was with me; it lasted two days, and faded away as suddenly as it had come. Then my torture began. I didn't go near my office for a week. I wanted that strange living experience back again, I wanted to live once again and forever in that beatific world. All this happened two years ago. I have seriously thought of giving up everything and going away into some lonely corner of the world, but I know in my heart that I cannot get it back that way. No monastery can offer me that experience, nor can any candle lit church, which only deals with death and darkness. I considered making my way to India, but that too I put aside. Then I tried a certain drug; it made things more vivid, and so on, but an opiate is not what I want. That is a cheap way of experiencing, it is a trick but not the real thing."
“当我走来的时候，太阳升起了。 我一般需要大约二十分钟才能走到公园， 但离开家已经快两个小时了。 身体上，我似乎没有力气走回去。 所以我坐在那里，积聚力量，不敢思考。 当我慢慢地走回家时，整个经历都伴随着我。 它持续了两天，然后，突然地消失了，就像它来时一样。 然后我的折磨开始了。我有一个星期没有去我的办公室。 我想要那种奇怪的、鲜活的体验再次回来， 我想再次活在那个快乐的世界里，永远活着。 所有这一切都发生在两年前。 我曾认真考虑过放弃一切， 走向世界上某个孤独的角落， 但我心里知道，我不能以这种方式找回它。 没有一个修道院能为我提供这样的体验， 任何烛光教堂也不能为我提供这种体验，那里只处理死亡和黑暗。 我考虑过去印度，但我也把它放在一边。 然后我尝试了某种药物； 它使事物变得更加生动，等等，但药片不是我想要的。 这是一种欺骗的体验方式，是一种诡计，却不是真实的东西。”
"So here I am," he concluded. "I would give everything, my life and all my possessions, to live again in that world. What am I to do?"
“所以我来这里，” 他总结道。 “我会付出一切，我的生命和我所有的财产， 在那个世界里重新生活。我该怎么办？”
It came to you, sir, uninvited. You never sought it. As long as you are seeking it, you will never have it. The very desire to live again in that ecstatic state is preventing the new, the fresh experience of bliss. You see what has happened: you have had that experience, and now you are living with the dead memory of yesterday. What has been is preventing the new. "Do you mean to say that I must put away and forget all that has been, and carry on with my petty life, inwardly starving from day to day?"
先生，它来到你面前，不请自来。 你从来没有寻求过它。只要你寻求它，你永远不会拥有它。 想要再次活在这种极乐的状态下的欲望 正在阻止新的、鲜活的祝福的体验。 你看看发生了什么： 你有过这样的经历，现在的你，生活在昨天，生活在消逝的记忆中。 正是它，一直在阻止新的。 “你的意思是说，我必须放下，忘记过去的一切， 继续我的琐碎生活，每天内心挨饿？”
If you do not look back and ask for more, which is quite a task, then perhaps that very thing over which you have no control may act as it will. Greed, even for the sublime, breeds sorrow; the urge for the more opens the door to time. That bliss cannot be bought through any sacrifice, through any virtue, through any drug. It is not a reward, a result. It comes when it will; do not seek it. "But was that experience real, was it of the highest?"
如果你不回头看，不去要求更多，这是一项艰巨的任务， 那么，也许你无法控制的那件事情可能会像它那样发生。 贪婪，即使是崇高的贪婪，也会滋生悲伤； 对更多的渴望，打开了时间的大门。 那种祝福不能通过任何牺牲、任何美德、任何药物来购买。 它不是一种奖励，一种结果。 当它愿意时，它就会到来；不要寻求它。 “但那次经历是真的吗，是最高的吗？”
We want another to confirm, to make us certain of what has been, and so we find shelter in it. To be made certain or secure in that which has been, even if it were the real, is to strengthen the unreal and breed illusion. To bring over to the present what is past, pleasurable or painful is to prevent the real. Reality has no continuity. It is from moment to moment, timeless and measureless.
我们希望另一个人来确认，使我们确定已经发生了什么， 所以，我们在里面寻找避难所。 在已经存在的东西中得到确定或安全，即使它是真实的， 就是强化虚幻和滋养幻觉。 把过去、愉快或痛苦的东西带到现在，就是阻止真实。 真实没有延续性。它每时每刻，永恒而无量。