THE SUN WAS beating down on the rough, pebbly road, and it was pleasant in the shade of the big mango tree. people from the villages came along that road carrying on their heads large baskets laden with vegetables, fruit, and other things for the town. They were mostly women, walking with bare-footed ease, chatting and laughing, their dark faces bare to the sun. They would put their burdens down along the edge of the road and rest in the cool shade of the mango tree, sitting on the ground and not talking so much. The baskets were rather heavy, and presently each woman would help another to place her basket on her head, the last one somehow managing by almost kneeling on the ground. Then they would be off, with steady pace and an extraordinary grace of movement that had come with years of toil. It wasn’t a thing that had been learnt through choice; it had come about through sheer necessity. There was a little girl among them, not more than ten or so, and she too had a basket on her head, though much smaller than the others. She was full of smiles and play, and wouldn’t look straight ahead, as the older women did, but would turn round to see if I were following, and we would smile at each other. She too was barefooted, and she too was on the long journey of life.
太阳打压着粗糙的鹅卵石路， 在大芒果树的树荫下，令人愉快。 从村里出来的人们沿着那条路走来， 头上顶着装满蔬菜、水果和其他东西的大篮子。 她们大多是女人，赤脚轻松地走路、聊天和欢笑， 她们的黑脸裸露在阳光下。 他们会把篮子放在路边， 在芒果树的阴凉处休息，坐在地上，不多说话。 篮子相当重， 现在每个女人都会帮助另一个女人把她的篮子放在她的头上， 最后一个女人以几乎跪在地上的方式来做到。 接着，她们就会离开， 带着稳定的步调和多年的辛劳练就的非凡的优雅姿态。 它不是通过选择学到的东西； 它是通过纯粹的必要性而出现的。 她们人数大概不超过十个人，中间有个小女孩， 她的头顶也有一个篮子，虽然比其他人小得多。 她充满了笑容和调皮，不会像年长的女人那样直视前方， 但会转过身来看看我是否跟着，我们会互相微笑。 她也光着脚，而她也在漫长的生命旅途中。
It was a lovely country, rich and enchanting. There were mango groves and rolling hills, and the water that was still running in the narrow, sandy beds made a pleasant noise as it wandered through the land. The palm trees seemed to tower over the mangoes which were in bloom and haunted by the murmuring of wild geese. Old banyan trees also grew on either side of the road, which was now busy with the movement of lazy bullock carts, and with chattering people who were walking from one village to another on some trifling business. They were not in a hurry, and would gather to talk of their doings wherever there was deep shade. Few had anything on their thin, worn feet, and fewer still had bicycles. Now and then they would eat a few nuts, or some fried grain. They had an air of gentle kindliness about them, and they had obviously not caught the contagion of the town. On that road there was peace, though an occasional lorry would pass, carrying, perhaps, sacks of charcoal so badly loaded that some seemed ready to fall off at any moment; but they never did. A bus full of people would come along, making threatening noises with its horn. But it too would soon pass by, leaving the road to the villagers – and to the brown monkeys, of which there were dozens, old and young. When a lorry or a bus came rattling along, the babies would cling to their mothers; they would hold on until everything was quiet again, and then scatter on the road, but never going very far away from their mothers. With their large heads, and their eyes bright with curiosity, they would sit scratching themselves and watching the others. The half-grown monkeys would be all over the place, chasing each other across the road and up the trees, always avoiding the older ones, but not wandering too far away from them either. There was a very large male, old but active, who would sit quietly by the road, keeping watch on things. The others kept their distance, but when he moved away, they all would leisurely follow, running and scattering, but always moving in the same general direction. It was a road of a thousand happenings.
这是一个可爱的乡村，富饶而迷人。 有芒果树林和连绵起伏的山丘， 溪水依然在狭窄的沙床上流淌 在这片土地上蜿蜒，发出令人愉快的声响。 棕榈树似乎耸立在芒果树上，正在盛开， 被野鹅的喃喃自语所困扰。 道路的两旁生长着古老的榕树， 现在路上忙碌起来了，有懒散的牛车的移动， 以及聊天的人们，他们从一个村庄走到另一个村庄，做一些零碎的小生意。 他们并不着急，只要有深暗的阴影，他们就会聚在一起谈论他们的生意。 很少有人在他们瘦小的、磨损的脚上穿任何东西，几乎没有人有自行车。 他们时不时会吃一些坚果，或者一些油炸谷物。 在他们中间，有一种温柔善良的气氛， 他们显然没有沾染上城镇的歪风邪气。 在那条路上，有和平，尽管偶尔会有一辆卡车经过， 也许载着装得非常糟糕的袋装木炭， 有些似乎随时准备掉下来；但却从来没有掉下来。 一辆满载着人的公共汽车要开过来了，用喇叭发出威胁性的声音。 但它也很快就会过去，把路留给村民 —— 还有棕色的猴儿们，其中有几十只，有老的和年幼的。 当一辆卡车或一辆公共汽车嘎嘎作响地开过来时，小猴儿会紧紧抓住他们的母亲； 他们紧抓不放，直到一切再次平静， 然后分散在路上，但永远不会离他们的母亲很远。 他们的脑袋大，眼里充满好奇心， 他们会坐在那里挠痒痒，瞧着其他人。 半成年的猴子到处都是， 在马路对面和树上互相追逐， 总是避开年长的猴子，但也不会离它们太远。 有一个非常大的雄猴，年老却活跃， 他会静静地坐在路边，监视着周围。 其他猴子与他保持一段距离， 但当他离开时，他们都会悠闲地跟着， 奔跑着，四处乱窜，但总是沿着相同的方向上移动。 这是一条有着数千种事物正在发生的路。
He was a young man, and had come accompanied by two others of about the same age. Rather nervous, with a large forehead and long, restless hands, he explained that he was only a clerk, with little pay and very little future. Even though he had passed his college examinations fairly well, he had found this job only with great difficulty, and was glad to have it. He wasn’t yet married, and didn’t know if he would ever be, for life was difficult, and you needed money to educate children. However, he was content with the little he earned, for he and his mother could live on it and buy the necessary things of life. In any case, he hadn’t come about that, he added, but for an entirely different reason. Both of his companions, one of whom was married, had a problem similar to his, and he had persuaded them to come along with him. They too had been to college, and like him, had minor office jobs. They were all clean, serious and somewhat cheerful, with bright eyes and expressive smiles.
他是一个年轻人，同另外两个年龄相仿的人一起来的。 他相当紧张，他的额头宽大，手臂修长而不知所措， 他解释说，他只是一个办事员，薪水很少，未来也很渺茫。 尽管他的大学考试成绩相当不错， 但他找这份工作却是非常困难的，并且很高兴能拥有它。 他还没有结婚，也不知道他是否会结婚， 因为生活很艰难，你需要钱来教育孩子。 然而，他对自己赚的一点点钱感到满足， 因为他和他的母亲可以靠它生活，购买生活中的必需品。 尽管如此，他到这里来并非谈论这些，他补充说，而是出于一个完全不同的原因。 他的两个同伴，其中一个已婚， 有一个与他类似的问题，他说服他们和他一起过来。 他们也上过大学，和他一样，也有一份收入微博的办公室工作。 他们都很整洁、认真、有些开朗，有明亮的眼睛和富有表现力的微笑。
“We have come to ask you a very simple question, hoping for a simple answer. Although we are college-educated, we are not yet very well prepared for deep reasoning and extensive analysis; but we shall listen to what you tell us. You see, sir, we don’t know what life is all about. We have messed around here and there, belonging to political parties, joining the social ‘do-gooders’, attending labour meetings, and all the rest of it; and as it happens, we are all passionately fond of music. We have been to temples, and have dipped into the sacred books, but not too deeply. I am venturing to tell you all this simply to give you some information about ourselves. We three get together practically every evening to talk things over, and the question we would like to ask you is this: what is the purpose of life, and how can we find it?”
“我们来问你一个非常简单的问题，希望得到一个简单的答案。 尽管我们受过大学教育， 我们却还是没有准备好：进行深入的推理和广泛的分析。 但我们会听你告诉我们的。 你看，先生，我们不知道生活是怎么一回事。 我们在这里和那里搞砸了，属于政党， 加入社会的‘行善者’，参加劳工会议，以及所有其他会议； 碰巧的是，我们都热衷于音乐。 我们去过寺庙，专研神圣的书籍，但不是太深。 我大胆地告诉你这一切，只是为了给你一些关于我们自己的信息。 我们三人几乎每天晚上都会聚在一起，讨论一些事情， 我们想问你的问题是： 生活的目的是什么，我们怎么能找到它？”
Why are you asking this question? And if someone were to tell you what the purpose of life is, would you accept it and guide your lives! by it? “We are asking this question,” explained the married one, “because we are confused; we don’t know what all this mess and misery is about. We would like to talk it over with someone who is not confused as we are, and who is not arrogant and authoritarian; someone who will talk to us normally, and not condescendingly, as though they knew everything and we were ignorant school boys who knew nothing. We have heard that you aren’t like that, and so we have come to ask you what life is all about.”
你为什么问这个问题呢？ 如果有人告诉你生活的目的是什么， 你会接受它并指导你的生活吗？靠它吗？ “我们问这个问题，” 已婚人士解释说， “因为我们感到困惑。我们不知道所有这些混乱和痛苦是什么。 我们想和一个不像我们这样困惑的人， 一个不傲慢和专制的人谈谈； 一个会正常地和我们说话的人， 而不是居高临下地，好像他们什么都知道， 而我们是无知的学童，什么都不知道。 我们听说你不是那样的人， 所以我们来问你生活是怎么一回事。”
“It’s not only that, sir,” added the first one. “We also want to lead a fruitful life, a life with some meaning to it; but at the same time, we don’t want to become ‘ists’, or belong to any particular ‘ism’. Some of our friends belong to various groups of religious and political double-talkers, but we have no desire to join them. The political ones are generally pursuing power for themselves in the name of the State; and as for the religious ones, they are for the most part gullible and superstitious. So here we are, and I don’t know if you can help us.”
“不仅是那样，先生，” 第一个补充道。 “我们也想过一种丰富的生活，一种具有某种意义的生活； 但与此同时，我们不想成为‘主义者’，也不想属于任何特定的‘主义’。 我们的一些朋友们属于各种宗教和政治团体，说着言不由衷的话， 但我们不想加入他们。 政党一般是以国家的名义，为自己谋求权力； 至于宗教人士，他们大多是被哄骗和迷信的。 所以我们在这儿，我不知道你能不能帮我们。”
Again, if anyone were foolish enough to tell you what is the purpose of life, would you accept it – provided, of course, it were reasonable, comforting and more or less satisfactory? “I suppose we would,” said the first one. “But he would want to make quite sure that it was true, and not just some clever invention,” put in one of his companions. “I doubt that we are capable of such discernment,” added the other.
再说一遍，如果有人愚蠢地告诉你生活的目的是什么， 你会接受它吗？ —— 当然，前提是它是合理的、令人欣慰的、或多或少令人满意的。 “我想我们会的，” 第一个人说。 “但他想完全确定这是真的，而不仅仅是一些聪明的发明，” 他的一个同伴说。 “我怀疑我们是否有这种分辨能力，” 另一个人补充道。
That’s the whole point, isn’t it? You have all admitted that you are rather confused. Now, do you think a confused mind can find out what the purpose of life is? “Why not, sir?” asked the first one. “We are confused, there’s no denying that; but if through our confusion we cannot perceive the purpose of life, then there’s no hope.”
那就是所有的重点，不是吗？ 你们都承认你们相当困惑。 现在，你认为一个困惑的头脑能找出生活的目的是什么吗？ “为什么不呢，先生？” 第一个人问。“我们感到困惑，是不可否认的； 但是，如果通过我们的困惑，我们不能知晓生活的目的， 那么，就没有希望了。”
However much it may grope and search, a confused mind can only find that which is further confusing; isn’t that so? “I don’t what you are getting at,” said the married one.
无论它怎样去摸索和探查， 一个迷茫的头脑只能找到进一步令人困惑的东西；难道不是那样吗？ “我不知道你想抓住什么，” 已婚人士说。
We are not trying to get at anything. We are proceeding step by step; and the first thing to find out, surely, is whether or not the mind can ever think clearly as long as it is confused. “Obviously it cannot,” replied the first one quickly. “If I am confused, as in fact I am I cannot think clearly. Clear thinking implies the absence of confusion. As I am confused, my thinking is not clear Then what?”
我们不是在试图抓取任何一个东西。 我们正在一步一步地前进；当然，首先要弄清楚的是， 只要头脑困惑，它是否可以清楚地思考。 “显然，它不能，” 第一个很快回答。 “如果我困惑，事实上我就是，我不能清楚地思考。 清晰的思考意味着没有困惑。 当我感到困惑时，我的思考是不清晰的，然后呢？”
The fact is that whatever a confused mind seeks and finds must also be confused; its leaders, its gurus, its ends, will reflect its own confusion. Isn’t that so?
这个事实：一个困惑的头脑，无论它去寻求和发现什么，也必定令人困惑； 它的领导者、它的上师、它的目的，将反映出它自己的困惑。难道不是那样吗？
“That’s hard to realize,” said the married one.
“那很难意识到，” 已婚人士说。
It’s hard to realize because of our conceit. We think we are so clever, so capable of solving human problems. Most of us are afraid to acknowledge to ourselves the fact that we are confused, for then we would have to admit our own utter insolvency, our defeat – which would mean either despair, or humility. Despair leads to bitterness, to cynicism, and to grotesque philosophies; but when there is true humility, then we can really begin to seek and to understand.
因为我们的自负，所以很难意识到。 我们认为我们是很聪明，很有能力解决人类问题。 我们大多数人都害怕向自己承认我们感到困惑的事实， 因为那样做，我们将不得不承认我们自己的彻底破产，我们的失败 —— 这意味着绝望或谦卑。 绝望导致苦涩，愤世嫉俗和怪诞的哲学； 但是当有真正的谦卑时，我们才能真正开始寻求和理解。
“I quite see the truth of what you are saying,” replied the married one.
“我看到你所说的是事实，” 已婚的那个回答。
Isn’t it also a fact that choice indicates confusion? “I don’t understand how that can be,” said the second one. “We must choose; without choice, there is no freedom.”
选择意味着困惑 —— 这难道不也是一个事实吗？ “我不明白，” 第二个说。 “我们必须作出选择；没有选择，就没有自由。”
When do you choose? Only out of confusion, when you are not quite ‘certain’. When there’s clarity, there’s no choice. “Quite right, sir,” put in the married one. “When you love and want to marry a person, there’s no choice involved. It is only when there’s no love that you shop around. In a way, love is clarity, isn’t it?”
你什么时候选择？ 只在有了疑惑，当你不太‘确定’的时候。 当存在清晰的时候，没有选择。“对的对的，先生，” 已婚人士插进来说。 “当你爱并想娶一个人的时候，没有任何选择。 只有当没有爱的时候，你才会货比三家。 从某种意义上说，爱是清晰的，不是吗？”
That depends on what we mean by love. If ‘love’ is hedged about by fear, jealousy, attachment, then it is not love, and there is no clarity. But for the present we are not talking about love. When the mind is in a state of confusion, its search for the purpose of life, and its choice of purposes, has no significance, has it? “What do you mean by ‘choice of purposes’?”
那取决于我们所说的爱是什么意思。 如果’爱‘被恐惧、嫉妒、执着所笼罩， 那么它就不是爱，就不是清晰的。 但就目前而言，我们不是在谈论爱。 当头脑处于迷惑的状态， 它对生活目的的寻找，以及它对目的的选择，就没有意义了，对吗？ “你说的'对目的的选择'是什么意思？”
When you all came here, asking what is the purpose of life, you were shopping for a purpose, a goal, were you not? Obviously you had asked others the same question, but their replies must have been unsatisfactory, and so you came here. You were choosing; and as we said, choice is born of confusion. Being confused, you wanted to be certain; and a mind that seeks to be certain when it’s confused only maintains confusion, doesn’t it? Certainty added to inward confusion only strengthens the confusion.
当你们都来到这里，询问生活的目的是什么， 你们是在逛商场，挑选一个目的、一个目标，你们不是吗？ 显然，你问了别人同样的问题， 但他们的回答一定不令人满意，所以你来到了这里。 你们在选择；正如我们所说，选择源于困惑。 感到困惑，你想确认； 而一个在迷茫中寻求确认的头脑，只会延续它的困惑，不是吗？ 给内在的困惑添加确定性，只会强化这个困惑。
“That is clear,” replied the first one. “I am beginning to see that a confused mind can only find confused answers to confused problems. Then what?”
“那很清楚，” 第一个回答。 “我开始看到， 用一个困惑的头脑，去解决困惑的问题，只能找到令人困惑的答案。然后呢？”
Let’s go into it slowly. Our minds are confused, and that is a fact. Then our minds are also shallow, petty, limited; that’s another fact, isn’t it? “But we are not entirely petty, there is a part of us which is not,” asserted the married one. “If we can find a way to go beyond this shallowness, we can break it up.”
让我们慢慢来。 我们的头脑是困惑的，那是一个事实。 那么我们的头脑也是肤浅的、琐碎的、有限的；那是另一个事实，它不是吗？ “但我们并是不完全琐碎的，我们中有一部分不是，” 已婚人士断言。 “如果我们能找到一种方法来超越这种肤浅，我们就可以突破它。”
That is a comforting hope, but will it actually so? You have the traditional notion that there is an entity – the Atman, the soul, the spiritual essence – beyond all this pettiness, an entity that can and does pierce through it. But when a petty mind thinks there is a part of itself which is not petty, it is only sustaining its pettiness. In asserting that there’s the Atman, the higher self, and so on, a confused, ignorant mind is still held in the bonds of its own confused thought, which is based mostly on tradition, on what it has been taught by others.
那是一个令人欣慰的希望，但它真的是那样吗？ 你有一个传统的观念，即有一个实体 —— 阿特曼、灵魂、精神的本质 —— 超越了所有这些琐碎，一个能够而且确实穿透它的实体。 但是，当一个琐碎的头脑认为自己有一部分不是琐碎的， 它只不过是在维持它的琐碎。 在断言存在阿特曼、更高的自我等等的时候， 一个困惑的、无知的头脑仍然被束缚在它自己困惑的思想中， 这种思想主要基于传统，基于别人所教导的东西。
“Then what are we to do?”
“那我们该怎么办？”
Isn’t this question rather premature? There may be no need to take any particular action. In the very process of understanding the whole issue, there may be a different kind of action altogether. “You mean that the action to be taken will reveal itself as we go along in our understanding of life,” explained the married one. “Now, what do you mean by life?”
这个问题是不是还为时过早？ 可能不需要采取任何特定的行动。 在理解整个问题的过程中， 可能会有一种完全不同的行动。 “你的意思是，当我们理解生活时， 要采取的行动将会显现出来，” 已婚人士解释说。 “现在，你说的生活是什么意思？”
Life is beauty sorrow, joy and confusion; it is the tree, the bird, and the light of the moon on the water; it is work, pain and hope; it is death, the search for immortality, the belief in and the denial of the Supreme; it is goodness, hate and envy; it is greed and ambition; it is love and the lack of it; it is inventiveness, and the power to exploit the machine; it is unfathomable ecstasy; it is the mind, the meditator, and the meditation. It is all things. But how do our petty, confused minds approach life? That is important, not the description of what life is. On our approach to life all questions and answers depend.
生活是美与悲伤、欢乐和困惑； 它是树、鸟、在水面上的月光； 它是工作、痛苦和希望； 它是死亡、对不朽的追求、对至高无上的信仰和否定； 它是善良、仇恨和嫉妒； 它是贪婪和野心； 它是爱和缺爱； 它是发明和利用机器的力量； 它是深不可测的至乐；它是头脑、冥想者和冥想。 它是一切。 但是，我们琐碎的、困惑的头脑如何着手于生活呢？ 那是重点，而不是对生活的描述。 所有的问题和答案都取决于，我们对生活的着手方式。
“I see that this mess which I call life is the outcome of my own mind,” said the first one. “I am of it, and it is of me. Can I separate myself from life, and ask myself how I approach it?”
“我看到：这种我称之为‘生活’的混乱，是我自己头脑的产物，” 第一个说。 “我属于它，它属于我。 我能把自己从生活中分离出来，并问我自己，我该如何着手它吗？”
You actually have separated yourself from life, have you not? You do not say, “I am the whole of life”, and remain still; you want to change this and improve that, you want to reject and to hold. You, the watcher, continue as an immovable, permanent centre in this vast movement, and so you are caught in conflict, in sorrow. Now, you who are separate, how do you approach the whole? How do you come to this vastness, to the beauty of the earth and the heavens?
实际上，你已经把自己与生活分开了，不是吗？ 你没有说，‘我是生活的全部’，并保持不动； 你想改变这个，改进那个，你想去拒绝和抓取。 在这个恢弘的移动中，你这位看官，作为一个固定的、永恒的中心而继续呆着， 所以你陷入了冲突与悲伤之中。 现在的你，是分离的，你怎么着手这个整体？ 你是怎么面对这个浩瀚，走进大地和天空的美丽？
“I come to it as I am,” replied the married man, “with my pettiness, asking for futile answers.”
“我以我现在的样子来面对，” 已婚男人回答说， “用我的琐碎，要求徒劳的答案。”
What we ask for, we receive. Our lives are petty, mean, quite shallow and bound to routine; and the gods of the trivial mind are as silly and stupid as their maker. Whether we live in a palace or a village, whether we are clerks in an office or sit in the seats of the mighty, the fact is that our minds are petty, narrow, ambitious, envious; and it is with such minds that we want to find out if there is God, what truth is, what the perfect government is, and seek answers to the innumerable other questions that pop up.
我们去要求，我们就能获得。 我们的生活是琐碎的、刻薄的、相当肤浅的，被惯例所束缚； 这个琐碎的头脑的神灵，像他们的制造者一样呆傻和愚蠢。 无论我们住在宫殿还是村庄里， 无论我们是办公室里的办事员，还是坐在强者的座位上， 这一个事实：我们的头脑琐碎、狭隘、野心勃勃、嫉妒； 而正是这样的头脑， 驱使我们想要找出‘有没有上帝，什么是真理，完美的政府是什么’， 并像广告一样，弹出其它无数的问题，使我们去寻求它们的答案。
“Yes, sir, that is our life,” acknowledged the first one sadly. “What can we do?”
“是的，先生，那就是我们的生活，” 第一个人悲伤地承认。“我们能做什么？”
Die to the whole of our existence not little by little, but totally! It’s the petty mind that tries, that struggles, that has ideals and systems, that’s everlastingly improving itself by cultivating virtues. Virtue ceases to be virtuous when it’s cultivated. “I can see that we should die to the past,” said the first one, “but if I die to the past, what is there then?”
死于我们的整个存在，不是一点一点地，而是完全地！ 那琐碎的头脑在尝试，在挣扎，在拥抱理想和制度， 在通过培养美德而不断地完善它自己。 美德被培养的时候，就不再是美德了。 “我看见，我们应该葬送过去，” 第一个人说， “但是如果我忘记过去，那么，还有什么？”
You are saying – aren’t you? – that you will die to the past only when you are guaranteed a satisfactory substitute for what you have renounced. That’s not renunciation, that’s only another gain. A petty mind wanting to know what there is after dying will find its own petty answer. You must die to all of the known for the unknown to be. “I put that question out of thoughtlessness. I do understand, sir, what you have been saying, and this is not just a polite or merely verbal statement. I think each one of us has felt deeply the truth of it all, and this feeling is the important thing. From this feeling, action can and will take place. May we come again?”
你是在说 —— 不是吗？ —— 当你确保有一个令人满意的替代品来取代你所放弃的东西时， 只有这样，你才会让过去死亡。 那就不是放弃，那只是另一种收获。 一个琐碎的头脑想知道死后有什么，想找到自己琐碎的答案。 你必须埋葬你所知道的一切，才能让那未知出现。 “我在不经意的情况下问了这个问题。先生，我确实理解你所说的话， 这不仅仅是一个礼貌的或仅仅是口头上的陈述。 我想我们每个人都深深地感受到这一切的真实性， 这种感觉才是最重要的。 从这种感觉出发，行动能够而且将会发生。 我们可以再来拜访吗？”