IT HAD BEEN raining continuously for a week; the earth was soggy, and there were large puddles all along the path. The water level had risen in the wells, and the frogs were having a splendid time, croaking tirelessly all night long. The swollen river was endangering the bridge; but the rains were welcome, even though great damage was being done. Now, however, it was slowly clearing up; there were patches of blue sky just overhead, and the morning sun was scattering the clouds. It would be months before the leaves of the newly-washed trees would again be covered with fine, red dust. The blue of the sky was so intense that it made you stop and wonder. The air had been purified, and in one short week the earth had suddenly become green. In that morning light, peace lay upon the land.
已经持续下了一个星期的雨。 大地湿漉漉的，沿途的小径上，到处都是大水坑。 井里的水位已经上升了， 青蛙们玩得很开心，整夜不知疲倦地呱呱叫。 汹涌的河流危及桥梁； 但雨水是受欢迎的，尽管正在造成巨大的破坏。 然而，现在，它正在慢慢放晴； 头顶上有一块块蓝天，清晨的阳光洒落在云层中。 或许几个月后， 新洗过的树叶才会再次被细小的红色灰尘覆盖。 天空的蓝色是如此强烈，以至于让你驻足流连。 空气被净化了，在短短的一周内，地球突然变成了绿色。 在那晨光中，和平降临在这片土地。
A single parrot was perched on a dead branch of a nearby tree; it wasn’t preening itself, and it sat very still, but its eyes were moving and alert. It was of a delicate green, with a brilliant red beak and a long tail of paler green. You wanted to touch it, to feel the colour of it; but if you moved, it would fly away. Though it was completely still, a frozen green light, you could feel it was intensely alive, and it seemed to give life to the dead branch on which it sat. It was so astonishingly beautiful, it took your breath away; you hardly dared take your eyes off it, lest in a flash it be gone. You had seen parrots by the dozen, moving in their crazy flight, sitting along the wires, or scattered over the red fields of young, green corn. But this single bird seemed to be the focus of all life, of all beauty and perfection. There was nothing but this vivid spot of green on a dark branch against the blue sky. There were no words, no thoughts in your mind; you weren’t even conscious that you weren’t thinking. The intensity of it brought tears to your eyes and made you blink – and the very blinking might frighten the bird away! But it remained there unmoving, so sleek, so slender, with every feather in place. Only a few minutes must have passed, but those few minutes covered the day, the year and all time; in those few minutes all life was, without an end or a beginning. It is not an experience to be stored up in memory, a dead thing to be kept alive by thought, which is also dying; it is totally alive, and so cannot be found among the dead.
一只鹦鹉栖息于附近一棵树的枯枝上； 它没有整理羽毛，它坐着不动，但它的眼睛在移动和警戒。 它有一种精致的绿色，有一个灿烂的红色喙和一条长长的淡绿色尾巴。 你想触摸它，感受它的色泽；但如果你一动，它就会飞走。 虽然它完全静止了，如一抹冰冻的绿光， 但你可以感觉到它非常活泼， 它似乎给它所坐的枯枝赋予了生命。 它是如此惊人的美丽，它让你叹为观止； 你几乎不敢把目光从它身上移开，以免在眨眼间它就消失了。 你见过十几只鹦鹉，在疯狂的飞行中移动， 坐在电线上，或者散落在红色的绿色玉米田上。 但这只鸟似乎是所有生命、所有的美丽和圆满的焦点。 在蓝天的映衬下，这里什么都没有，只有这片鲜活的绿点落在一根黑暗的树枝上。 你脑袋里没有言语，没有思想。 你甚至没有意识到你没在思考。 它的强烈让你的眼睛流泪，让你眨眼 —— 眨眼可能会吓跑鸟！ 但它仍然在那里一动不动、那么光滑、那么纤细、每一根羽毛都恰到好处。 一定只有几分钟过去了， 但这几分钟涵盖了一天、一年和所有的时间； 在那几分钟里，所有的生命都没有结束或开始。 它不是一种储存在记忆中的体验， 一种被思想保鲜的死物，而思想也正在死亡； 它完全是活生生的，所以无法在死物中找到。
Someone called from the house beyond the garden, and the dead branch was suddenly bare.
有人从花园外的房间里呼唤，枯枝突然光秃秃的。
There were three of them, a woman and two men, and they were all quite young, probably in their middle thirties. They had come early, freshly bathed and clothed, and were obviously not of those who have money. Their faces shone with thought; their eyes were clear and simple, without that veiled look that comes with much learning. The woman was a sister of the oldest of them, and the other man was her husband. We all sat on a mat with a red border at each end. The traffic made an awful noise, and one window had to be closed, but the other opened upon a secluded garden in which there was a wide-spreading tree. They were a bit shy, but soon would be talking freely.
他们三人，一个女人和两个男人， 都很年轻，大概三十多岁。 他们来得很早，刚洗过澡，穿好衣服， 显然不是那些有钱的人。 他们的脸上闪耀着思想的光芒。 他们的眼睛清晰而简单，没有那种隐蔽的表情，那种伴随着博学而出现的表情。 这个女人是他们中最大的一个人的妹妹，另一个男人是她的丈夫。 我们都坐在垫子上，两端都有红色镶边。 交通发出可怕的噪音，一扇窗户不得不关闭， 但另一扇窗户开着，朝向一个僻静的花园，里面有一棵宽阔的树。 他们有点害羞，但很快就会自由地交谈。
“Although our families are well-to-do, all three of us have chosen to lead a very simple life, without pretensions,” began the brother. “We live near a small village, read a little, and are given to meditation. We have no desire to be rich, and have just enough to get by. I know a certain amount of Sanskrit, but hesitate to quote the Scriptures authoritatively. My brother-in-law is more studious than I, but we are both too young to be learned. By itself, knowledge has very little meaning; it is helpful only in that it can guide us, keep us on the straight road.”
“虽然我们的家庭富裕， 但我们三个人都选择了非常俭朴的生活，没有自命不凡，” 哥哥开始说。“我们住在一个小村庄附近，读了一些书，然后被给予冥想。 我们没有致富的欲望，只想有足够的钱来过日子。 我知道一定数量的梵文，但不愿权威地引用圣经。 我的妹夫比我更勤奋，但我们俩都太年轻了，还没学会。 就其本身而言，知识几乎没有意义； 它之所以有用，是因为它能引导我们，让我们走在笔直的道路上。”
I wonder if knowledge is helpful; may it not be a hindrance? “How can knowledge ever be a hindrance?” he asked rather anxiously. “Surely, knowledge is always helpful.”
我想知道知识是否有帮助；它难道不可能是一个障碍吗？ “知识怎么会成为障碍？” 他相当焦虑地问道。 “当然，知识总是有帮助的。”
Helpful in what way? “Helpful in finding God, in leading a righteous life.”
在哪种方式上提供帮助？ “有助于找到上帝，过公义的生活。”
Is it? An engineer must have knowledge to build a bridge, to design machines, and so on. Knowledge is essential to those who are concerned with the order of things. The physicist must have knowledge, it’s part of his education, part of his very existence, and without it he cannot go forward. But does knowledge set the mind free to discover? Though knowledge is necessary to put to use what has already been discovered, surely the actual state of discovery is free from knowledge.
是吗？工程师必须具备建造桥梁、设计机器等知识。 知识对那些关心事物的秩序的人来说，是必不可少的。 物理学家必须拥有知识， 这是他教育的一部分，是他存在的一部分，没有它，他就无法前进。 但是，知识是否能让头脑自由地去发现？ 虽然知识对于利用已经发现的东西是必要的， 很显然，发现的真实状态，肯定与知识无关。
“Without knowledge, I might wander off the path that leads to God.”
“如果没有知识，我可能会偏离通往上帝的道路。”
Why shouldn’t you wander off the path? Is the path so clearly marked, and the end so definite? And what do you mean by knowledge? “By knowledge I mean all that one has experienced, read, or been taught of God, and of the things one must do, the virtues one must practise, and so on, in order to find Him. I am not, of course, referring to engineering knowledge.”
你为什么不能偏离道路？ 道路是否如此清晰，终点是否如此明确？ 你说的知识是什么意思？ “我所说的知识，是指一个人所经历、阅读或被教导的有关上帝的一切， 以及一个人必须做的事情，一个人必须实践的美德，等等， 以便于寻找他。 当然，我指的不是工程知识。”
Is there so much difference between the two? The engineer has been taught how to achieve certain physical results by the application of knowledge which man has gathered through the centuries; whereas, you have been taught how to achieve certain inner results by controlling your thoughts, cultivating virtue, doing good works, and so on, all of which is equally a matter of knowledge gathered through the centuries. The engineer has his books and teachers, as you have yours. Both of you have been taught a technique, and both of you desire to achieve an end, you in your way, and he in his. You are both after results. And is God, or truth, a result? If it is, then it’s put together by the mind; and what is put together can be rent asunder. So, is knowledge helpful in discovering reality?
两者之间有那么大的区别吗？ 工程师被教导 如何通过应用人类几个世纪以来积累的知识 来获得某些物理结果； 然而，你被教导 如何通过控制你的思想、培养美德、做善事等等 来获得某些内在的结果， 所有这些，都同样是几个世纪以来积累的知识。 工程师有他的书和老师，就像你有你的一样。 你们俩都被教授了一门技术，你们俩都渴望达到目的， 你以自己的方式，而他以他的方式。你们俩都在追求结果。 而上帝或真理是一个结果吗？ 如果是，那么它就是由头脑组装的；组装的东西可以出租。 那么，知识有助于发现真理吗？
“I’m not at all sure that it’s not sir, in spite of what you say,” replied the husband. “Without knowledge, how can the path be trodden?”
“我完全不确定它没有帮助，先生，不管你说什么，” 丈夫回答说。 “没有知识，怎么能踏上这条路呢？”
If the end is static, if it is a dead thing, without movement, then one or many paths can lead to it; but is reality, God, or whatever name you may give it, a fixed abode with a permanent address? “Of course not,” said the brother eagerly.
如果目的是静止的，如果它是一个死的东西，不会动， 那么一条或多条路径可以通向它； 但是，真实、上帝、或者你给它起的任何名字， 有一个固定的住所，有一个永久的地址吗？ “当然不是，” 哥哥急切地说。
Then how can there be a path to it? Surely, truth has no path.
那么，怎么会有一条通往它的路呢？显然，真理没有路径。
“In that case, what’s the function of knowledge?” asked the husband.
“那样一来，知识的作用是什么？” 丈夫问。
You are the result of what you have been taught, and on that conditioning your experiences are based; and your experiences, in turn, strengthen or modify your conditioning. You are like a gramophone, playing different records, perhaps, but still a gramophone; and the records you play are made up of what you have been taught, whether by others or by your own experiences. That is so, isn’t it?
你是你所被教导的结果， 你的体验是建立在这种受限的条件之上的； 反过来，你的体验会加强或改变限制你的条件。 你就像一台留声机，也许能播放不同的唱片，但依然是留声机； 你播放的唱片是由你所教导的， 无论是别人的还是你自己的体验。 就是那样，不是吗？
“Yes, sir,” replied the brother, “but is there not a part of me which has not been taught?”
“是的，先生，” 哥哥回答说， “可是，在我的某一部分，有没有可能不是被教导的吗？”
Is there? Surely, that which you call the Atman, the soul, the higher self, and so on, is still within the realm of what you have read or been taught. “Your statements are so clear and meaningful, one is convinced in spite of oneself,” said the brother.
有可能吗？ 显然，你称之为‘阿特曼’、‘灵魂’、‘更高的自我’等等的那个东西， 仍然在你所读过的或被教导的领域之内。 “你的陈述是如此清晰和有意义，一个人不顾自己的反对而被说服了，” 哥哥说。
If you are merely convinced, then you do not see the truth of it. Truth is not a matter of conviction or agreement. You can agree or disagree about opinions or conclusions, but a fact needs no agreement; it’s so. If once you see for yourself that what has been said is a fact, then you are not merely convinced: your mind has undergone a fundamental transformation. It no longer looks at the fact through a screen of conviction or belief; it approaches truth, or God, without knowledge, without any record. The record is the ‘me’, the ego, the conceited one, the one who knows, the one who has been taught, who has practised virtue – and who is in conflict with the fact.
如果你只是被说服，那么你就没看见它的真实性。 真理不是一个信念或赞同的问题。 您可以同意或不同意某些意见或结论， 但事实不需要赞同；它就是如此。 如果你一旦亲眼看到所说的话是一个事实， 那么你就不仅仅是被说服：你的头脑已经经历了根本性的转变。 它不再通过信念或信仰的屏幕来观看事实； 它接近真理或上帝，不用知识，不留任何记录。 记录片就是这位‘我’、这个自我、这位自负的人、这个知道的人、 这位被教导的，在实践美德的、也就是与事实相冲突的人。
“Then why do we struggle to acquire knowledge?” asked the husband. “Isn’t knowledge an essential part of our existence?”
“那么，我们为什么要努力获取知识呢？” 丈夫问道。 “知识难道不是我们存在的重要组成部分吗？”
When there’s an understanding of the self, then knowledge has its rightful place; but without this understanding, the pursuit of self-knowledge gives a feeling of achievement, of getting somewhere; it is as exciting and pleasurable as success in the world. One may renounce the outward things of existence, but in the struggle to acquire self-knowledge there is the sensation of accomplishment, of the hunter catching the hunted, which is similar to the satisfaction of worldly gain. There is no understanding of the self, of the ‘me’, the ego, through accumulating knowledge of what has been or what is. Accumulation distorts perception, and it is not possible to understand the self in its daily activities, its swift and cunning reactions, when the mind is weighed down by knowledge. As long as the mind is burdened with knowledge, and is itself the result of knowledge, it can never be new, uncorrupted.
当对自我有一种理解时，知识就有了它应有的位置； 但是没有这种理解， 对自我知识的追求会给人一种成就感，一种到达某种境界的感觉； 它就像世界上的成功一样，令人兴奋和愉快。 一个人可以放弃外在的东西， 但在获取自我知识的挣扎中，就有成就感， 猎人抓住猎物的感觉，类似于世俗获利的满意感。 通过积累过去的或现在的知识， 无法对这位自我、这个‘我’产生理解。 积累之物扭曲了感知， 在日常活动中，这位个性飞扬的自我，反应迅捷而狡猾 当头脑被知识压住时，是无法理解这个自我的。 只要头脑背负着知识的重担，而它本身就是知识的产物， 它就永远不可能是清新的、污染的。
“May I be permitted to ask a question?” inquired the lady, rather nervously. She had been quietly listening, hesitant to ask questions out of respect for her husband; but now that the other two were reluctantly silent, she spoke up. “I would like to ask, if I may, why it is that one person has insight, total perception, while others see only the various details and are incapable of grasping the whole. Why can’t we all have this insight, this capacity to see the whole, which you seem to have? Why is it that one has it, and another has not?”
“可以允许我问一个问题吗？” 这位女士相当紧张地问道。 她一直在静静地听，出于对丈夫的尊重，她犹豫不决地没有提问。 但现在另外两个人都勉强地沉默了，她说出来了。 “如果可以的话，我想问一下，为什么一个人有洞察力，有完整的感知， 而其他人只看到各种细节，无法把握整体。 为什么我们不能都有这种洞察力，这种看到整体的能力，这种你似乎拥有的能力？ 为什么一个人有，而另一个人没有呢？”
Do you think it’s a gift? “It would seem so,” she replied. “Yet that would mean that divinity, is partial, and then there would be very little chance for the rest of us. I hope it’s not like that.”
你认为它一种天赋吗？ “看起来是这样，” 她回答说。 “然而，这意味着神性是片面的， 然后我们其他人的机会就很小了。我希望不是那样。”
Let us inquire into it. Now why are you asking this question? “For the simple and obvious reason that I want that deep insight.”
让我们进去探查它。现在你为什么要问这个问题？ “出于简单而明显的原因，我想要这种深刻的洞察力。”
She had lost her shyness now, and was as eager to talk as the other two.
她现在已经失去了害羞，和另外两个人一样渴望说话。
So your inquiry is motivated by a desire to gain something. Gaining, achieving, or becoming something, implies a process of accumulation, and identification with what has been accumulated. Isn’t this true? “Yes, sir.”
因此，您的询问是出于获得某些东西的愿望。 获得、实现或成为某个人物，意味着一个积累的过程， 以及对已经收集的东西的认同。难道不是这样吗？ “是的，先生。”
Gaining also implies comparison, does it not? You, who have not that insight, are comparing yourself with someone who has. “That is so.”
获得也意味着比较，它不是吗？ 你，没有这种洞察力的人，正在将自己与有洞察力的人进行比较。 “就是那样。”
But all such comparison is obviously the outcome of envy; and is insight to be awakened through envy? “No, I suppose not.”
但是，所有的像这样的比较，显然是嫉妒的产物； 洞察力是通过嫉妒来唤醒的吗？ “不，我想不是。”
The world is full of envy, ambition, which can be seen in the everlasting pursuit of success, in the relation of the disciple to the Master, of the Master to the higher Master, and so on endlessly; and it does develop certain capacities. But is total perception, total awareness, such a capacity? Is it based on envy, ambition? Or does it come into being only when all desire to gain has ceased? Do you understand?
这个世界充满了嫉妒、野心， 这一点可以从对成功的持久性的追求中看出， 在弟子与师父的关系中，在师父与师爷的关系中，等等，无处不在； 它确实发展了某些能力。 但是，完全的感知，完全的意识，是这样的能力吗？ 是扎根于嫉妒、野心吗？ 还是只有当所有获取的欲望都停止时，它才会出现？你理解吗？
“I don’t think I do.”
“我不认为我理解了。”
The desire to gain is based on conceit, is it not?
获取的欲望是基于自负的，它不是吗？
She hesitated, and then said slowly, “Now that you point it out, I see that fundamentally it is.”
她犹豫了一下，然后慢慢地说： “现在你指出来了，我看到从根本上说，是的。”
So it is your conceit, in the large as well as in the petty sense, that is making you ask this question. “I’m afraid that’s also true.”
因此，正是你的自负，无论是巨大的，还是细微的， 都促使你问这个问题。 “恐怕这也是真的。”
In other words, you are asking this question out of the desire to be successful. Now, can this same question – Why is it that I have no deep insight? – be asked without envy, without giving any emphasis to the ‘I’? “I don’t know.”
换句话说，你提出这个问题，是出于对成功的欲望。 现在，同样的问题 —— 为什么我没有深刻的洞察力？ —— 问这个问题，不带着嫉妒、不带着对这位‘我’的强调。 “我不知道。”
Can there be any inquiry at all as long as the mind is tethered to a motive? As long as thought is centred in envy, in conceit, in the desire to be successful, can it wander far and freely? Really to inquire, must not the centre cease?
只要头脑被束缚在动机上，还有调查吗？ 只要思想以嫉妒、自负、想要成功为中心， 它能自由地漫步吗？ 要真正地调查，难道这个中心不必消除吗？
“Do you mean that envy, or ambition, which is the desire to be or to become something, must wholly disappear, if one is to have deep insight?”
“你的意思是，如果一个人有深刻的洞察力， 嫉妒，或者野心，这种占据或成为某种人物的欲望，必须完全地消失吗？”
Again, if it may be pointed out, you want to possess that capacity, so you will set about disciplining yourself in order to acquire it. You, the would-be possessor, are still important, not the capacity itself. This capacity arises only when the mind has no motive of any kind. “But you said earlier sir, that the mind is the result of time, of knowledge, of motive; and how can such a mind be without any motive whatsoever?”
再一次，如果可以指出的话， 你想要拥有这种能力， 所以你想去训练自己，来获得它。 你，这个潜在的拥有者，依然很重要，而不是这种能力本身。 只有当头脑没有任何动机时，这种能力才会产生。 “但是你刚才说过，先生，头脑是时间、知识、动机的产物。 这样的头脑怎么能没有任何动机呢？”
Put that question to yourself, not just verbally, superficially, but as seriously as a hungry man wants food. When you are asking, inquiring, it is important to find out for yourself the cause of your inquiry. You can ask out of envy, or you can ask without any motive. The state of the mind which is really inquiring into the capacity of total perception is one of complete humility, complete stillness; and this very humility, this stillness, is that capacity itself. It is not something to be gained.
拿这个问题问你自己，不仅仅是在口头上、表面上， 而是像一个饥饿的人想吃东西一样严峻。 当你在询问、调查时， 重要的是，要亲自找出你询问的原因。 你可以出于嫉妒而问，也可以毫无动机地问。 一个真正在询问这种完全的感知能力的头脑 是非常谦卑的、完全静止的，这种状态即是能力本身； 而不是某个可以获得的东西。