THE SEA WAS very blue, and the setting sun was just touching the tops of the low-lying clouds. A boy of thirteen or fourteen, in a wet cloth, was standing by a car, shivering and pretending to be dumb; he was begging, and was putting on a very good act. Having got a few coins, he was off, sprinting across the sands. The waves were coming in very gently, and they didn’t completely obliterate the footprints in passing over them. The crabs were racing with the waves, and dodging one’s feet; they would let themselves be caught by a wave, and by the shifting sands, but they would come up again, ready for the next wave. Seated on a few logs tied together, a man had been right out to sea, and he was now coming in with two large fish; he was dark, burnt by many suns. Coming ashore with skill and ease, he drew his raft far up onto the dry sands, out of reach of the waves. Further along there was a grove of palm trees, bending towards the sea, and beyond them the town. A steamer on the horizon stood as if motionless, and a gentle breeze was blowing from the north. It was an hour of great beauty and stillness, in which the earth and the heavens met. You could sit on the sand and watch the waves come in and go out, endlessly, and their rhythmic movement seemed to pass over the land. Your mind was alive, but not as the restless sea; it was alive, and it reached from one horizon to the other. It had no height or depth, it was neither far nor near; there was no centre from which to measure or encircle the whole. The sea, the sky and the land were all there, but there was no observer. It was vast space and measureless light. The light of the setting sun was on the trees, it bathed the village and could be seen beyond the river; but this was a light that never set, a light that was ever shining. And strangely, there were no shadows in it; you did not cast your shadow across any part of it. You were not asleep, you had not closed your eyes, for now the stars were becoming visible; but whether you closed your eyes or kept them open, the light was always there. It was not to be caught and put in a shrine.
大海湛蓝， 夕阳正好触及低垂的云层的顶部。 一个十三四岁的男孩，衣服打湿了， 站在一辆车旁，颤抖着，假装哑巴； 他在乞讨，并且表演得非常好。 拿到几枚硬币后，他离开了，冲向沙滩上。 海浪非常温柔地走来， 它们并没有完全抹去在沙滩上经过的脚印。 螃蟹们与海浪赛跑，躲闪各自的脚。 他们会让自己被海浪和流沙抓住， 但他们会再次上岸，预备着下一次的海浪。 坐在捆绑在一起的几根原木上，一个人已经出海了， 现在他带着两条大鱼回来了；他很黑，被很多日子的太阳晒成的。 他以娴熟而轻松的方式上岸， 将木筏远远地拖到干燥的沙滩上，远离了海浪。 再往前走，有一片棕榈树林， 朝大海弯曲，在它们之外是城镇。 地平线上的一艘蒸汽船仿佛一动不动， 一阵微风从北面吹来。 这是一个充满美丽和寂静的时刻，大地与天空相遇。 你可以坐在沙滩上，观看海浪无休止地来来回回， 它们有节奏的运动似乎席卷着大地。 它是活的，它从一条地平线延伸到另一条地平线。 它没有高度或深度，它既不远也不近； 没有一个中心可以衡量或包围这个整体。 大海、天空和陆地都在那里，但没有观察者。 它是广阔的空和无量的光。 夕阳的光芒照在树上， 它沐浴着村庄，可以看到远处河面的流光； 但这是一种永不熄灭的光，一种永远闪耀的光。 奇怪的是，里面没有阴影； 你没有把你的影子投射到它的任何部分。 你没有睡着，你没有闭上眼睛， 因为现在星星变得可见了。 但无论你是闭上眼睛还是睁开眼睛，光总是在那里。 它不能被抓住并放在圣坛里。
A mother of three children, she seemed simple, quiet and unassuming, but her eyes were alive and observant; they took in many things. As she talked, her rather nervous shyness disappeared, but she remained quietly watchful. Her eldest son had been educated abroad and was now working as an electronic engineer; the second one had a good job in a textile factory, and the youngest was just finishing college. They were all good boys, she said, and you could see she was proud of them. They had lost their father some years ago, but he had seen to it that they would have a good education and be self-supporting. What little else he had, he had left to her, and she was not in need of anything, for her wants were few. At this point she stopped talking, and was evidently finding it difficult to come out with something that was on her mind. Sensing what she wanted to talk about, I hesitantly questioned her.
作为三个孩子的母亲，她看起来很简单、安静、谦逊， 但她的眼睛是活泼和具有观察力的；他们接受了很多东西。 当她说话时，她相当紧张的害羞消失了，但她仍然安静地保持警惕。 她的大儿子在国外接受教育，现在是一名电子工程师。 第二个在纺织厂有一份好工作， 最小的刚刚完成大学学业。 她说，他们都是好孩子，你可以看到她为他们感到骄傲。 几年前，他们失去了父亲， 但他确保了他们接受良好的教育并自给自足。 他没有留下多少东西给她， 她什么都不需要，因为她的欲望很少。 这时，她停止了说话， 显然发现很难说出她脑海中的想法。 感觉到她想说什么，我犹豫不决地问她。
Do you love your children? “Of course I do,” she answered quickly, glad of the opening. “Who doesn’t love their children? I have brought them up with loving care, and have been occupied all these years with their comings and goings, their sorrows and joys, and with all the other things that a mother cares about. They have been very good children, and have been very good to me. They all did well in their studies, and they will make their way in life; they may not leave their mark upon the world, but after all, so few do. We are all now living together, and when they get married I shall stay, if I am wanted, with one or other of them. Of course, I have my own house too, and I am not economically dependent on them. But it is strange that you should ask me that question.”
你爱你的孩子们吗？ “我当然爱他们，” 她很快回答，很高兴地开场。 “谁不爱自己的孩子呢？这些年来，我一直以爱心的关怀抚养他们， 一直忙于他们的进进出出， 他们的悲伤和喜悦，以及一个母亲关心的所有其他事情。 他们一直是非常好的孩子，对我很好。 他们都在学业中做得很好，他们将在生活中走自己的路； 他们可能不会在世界上留下自己的印记，但毕竟，很少有人能这样做。 我们现在都住在一起， 当他们结婚时，如果我愿意，我会和他们中的一个或另一个人待在一起。 当然，我也有自己的房子，我在经济上不依赖他们。 但奇怪的是，你问了我这个问题。”
Is it? “Well, I have never before talked about myself to anyone, not even to my sister, or to my late husband, and suddenly to be asked that question seemed rather strange – though I do want to talk it over with you. It took a lot of courage to come to see you, but now I am glad I came, and that you have made it so easy for me to talk. I have always been a listener, but not in your sense of the word. I used to listen to my husband, and to his business associates whenever they dropped in. I have listened to my children and to my friends. But no one ever seemed to care to listen to me, and for the most part I was silent. In listening to others, one learns, but most of what one hears is nothing that one doesn’t already know. The men gossiped as much as the women, besides complaining about their jobs and their bad pay; some talked about their hoped-for promotion, others about social reform, village work or what the guru had said. I listened to them all, and never opened my heart to anybody. Some were more clever, and others more stupid than I, but in most things they were not very different from me. I enjoy music, but I listen to it with a different ear. I seem to be listening to somebody or other most of the time; but there is also something else to which I listen, something which always eludes me. May I talk about it?”
是吗？ “嗯，我从来没有和任何人谈论过我自己， 甚至没有和我的妹妹，也没有和我已故的丈夫谈论过， 突然被问到这个问题似乎很奇怪 —— 尽管我确实想和你谈谈。 来见你，花了很多勇气，但现在我很高兴我来了， 你让我说话变得如此容易。 我一直是一个听者，但不是你说的意义上的听者。 我曾经听我丈夫的话，听他的商业伙伴的话，每当他们进来的时候。 我听我的孩子们和我的朋友们。 但似乎没有人在乎听我说话，而且在大多数情况下，我都是沉默的。 在听他人时，一个人会学习， 但听到的大部分内容都不是一个人不知道的。 男人和女人一样八卦， 除了抱怨他们的工作和糟糕的薪水； 有些人谈到了他们所希望的晋升， 另一些人谈到了社会改革、乡村工作或上师所说的话。 我听了他们所有人的话，却从来没有向任何人敞开心扉。 有些人比我更聪明，有些人比我更愚蠢， 但在大多数情况下，他们与我并没有太大的不同。 我喜欢音乐，但我用不同的耳朵听它。 我似乎大部分时间都在听别人或其他人说话。 但我还听到一些东西，一些我总是逃避的东西。 我可以谈谈吗？”
Isn’t that why you are here? “Yes, I suppose it is. You see, I am approaching forty-five, and most of those years I have been occupied with others; I have been busy with a thousand and one things, all day and every day. My husband died five years ago, and since then I have been more than occupied with the children; and now, in a strange way, I am coming upon myself all the time. With my sister-in-law I attended your talk the other day, and something stirred in my heart, something which I always knew was there. I can’t express it very well, and I hope you will understand what it is I want to say.”
这难道不是你来这里的原因吗？ “是的，我想是的。你看，我快四十五岁了， 那些年的大部分时间里，我都被别人占据了。 我整天忙于一千零一件事，一天又一天。 我的丈夫五年前去世了， 从那时起，我一直忙于孩子们。 而现在，以一种奇怪的方式，我无时无刻不在向自己走来。 前几天我和嫂子一起参加了你的讲话， 有些东西在我心中激荡，我一直都知道有些东西在那里。 我不能很好地表达出来，我希望你能理解我想说什么。”
May I help you? “I wish you would.”
我可以帮你吗？“我希望你能。”
It is difficult to be simple right to the end of anything, isn’t it? We experience something that is simple in itself, but it soon becomes complicated; it is hard to keep it within the bounds of its original simplicity. Don’t you feel this is so? “In a way, yes. There is a simple thing in my heart, but I don’t know what it all means.”
处于简单，直到事情的结束，是很难做到的，不是吗？ 我们体验某些本身简单的东西，但它很快就会变得复杂； 很难将其保持在原始的简单性的范围内。 你不觉得是这样吗？ “在某个方式上，是的。 我心里有一种简单的东西，但我不知道这一切意味着什么。”
You said that you loved your children. What is the meaning of that word ‘love’? “I told you what it means. To love one’s children is to look after them, to see that they don’t get hurt, that they don’t make too many mistakes; it is to help them prepare for a good job, to see them happily married, and so on.”
你说你爱你的孩子。 ‘爱’这个词的含义是什么？“我告诉过你这意味着什么。 爱自己的孩子就是照顾他们， 照看他们不会受到伤害，他们不会犯太多错误； 就是帮助他们为一份好工作做准备，看到他们幸福地结婚，等等。”
Is that all? “What more can a mother do?”
仅此而已吗？ “一个母亲还能做什么？”
If one may ask, does your love for your children fill your whole life, and not just a part of it? “No,” she admitted. “I love them, but it has never filled my whole life. The relationship with my husband was different. He might have filled my life, but not the children; and now that they have grown to young men, they have their own lives to live. They love me, and I love them; but the relationship between a man and his wife is different, and they will find their fullness of life in marrying the right woman.”
如果人可以问， 你对孩子的爱是否填满了你的整个生活，而不仅仅是其中的一部分？ “不，” 她承认。“我爱他们，但它从未填满我的一生。 和我丈夫的关系是不同的。 他可能填满了我的生命，但不是孩子们。 现在他们已经成长为年轻人，他们有自己的生活要过。 他们爱我，我也爱他们。 但与一个男人和妻子的关系是不同的， 当他们娶到合适的女人时，会找到充实的生活。”
Have you never wanted your children to be rightly educated, so that they would help to prevent wars, and not be killed for some idea or to satisfy some politician’s craving for power? Doesn’t your love make you want to help them to bring about a different kind of society, a society in which hatred, antagonism, envy, will have ceased to exist? “But what can I do about it? I myself haven’t been properly educated, so how can I possibly help to create a new social order?”
难道你从来没有想过 让你的孩子接受到正确的教育，这样他们就能有助于防止战争， 而不是因为某些观念或满足一些政治家对权力的渴望而被杀害吗？ 难道你的爱没有让你想去帮助他们带来一个不同的社会， 一个仇恨、敌对、嫉妒将不复存在的社会吗？ “但是我能为它做些什么呢？我自己没有接受过适当的教育， 所以我怎么可能帮助建立一个新的社会秩序呢？”
Don’t you feel strongly about it?
你对它没有强烈的感觉吗？
“I’m afraid not. Do we feel strongly about anything?”
“恐怕我没有。我们对任何事物都有强烈的感觉吗？”
Then is love not something strong, vital, urgent? “It should be, but with most of us it is not. I love my sons, and pray that nothing bad will happen to them. If it does, what can I do but shed bitter tears over it? ” If you have love, isn’t it strong enough to make you act? Jealousy, like hate, is strong and it does bring about forceful, vigorous action; but jealousy is not love. Then do we really know what love is?
那么，爱难道不是一种强大、重要、紧迫的东西吗？ “它应该是，但对于我们大多数人来说，它却不是。 我爱我的儿子们，并祈祷他们不会发生任何不好的事情。 如果发生了，我能做些什么，除了为它流下苦涩的眼泪？” 如果你有爱，难道它还不够强大，让你采取行动吗？ 嫉妒和仇恨一样，是强烈的，它确实带来了有力的、活跃的行动； 但嫉妒不是爱。 那么我们真的知道什么是爱吗？
“I have always thought that I loved my children, even though it hasn’t been the greatest thing in my life.”
“我一直认为我爱我的孩子们， 尽管它不是我一生中最伟大的事情。”
Is there then a greater love in your life than your love for your children?
那么，在你的生命中，有没有比你对孩子们的爱更大的爱呢？
It had not been easy to come to this point, and she felt awkward and embarrassed as we came to it. For some time she wouldn’t talk, and we sat there without saying a word. “I have never really loved,” she began gently. “I have never felt very deeply about anything. I used to be very jealous, and it was a very strong feeling. It bit into my heart and made me violent; I cried, made scenes, and once, God forgive me, I struck. But that’s all over and gone. Sexual desire was also very strong, but with each baby it diminished, and now it has completely disappeared. My feeling for my children isn’t what it should be. I have never felt anything very strongly except jealousy and sex; and that doesn’t go very far, does it?”
走到这一步并不容易， 当我们走到这一步时，她感到笨拙和尴尬。 有一段时间她不说话，我们坐在那里一言不发。 “我从来没有真正爱过，” 她轻轻地开始。 “我从来没有对任何事情有很深的感受。 我曾经非常嫉妒，它是一种非常强烈的感觉。 它咬进了我的心，使我变得暴力； 我哭了，犯了罪，有一次，上帝原谅了我，我晕倒了。 但那一切都结束了，消失了。 性欲尽管也很强烈，但随着每个婴儿的出现，它都会减少， 现在它已经完全消失了。 我对孩子们的感觉不是它应有的。 除了嫉妒和性之外，我从来没有强烈地感受过任何东西。 那种感受不会走得太远，不是吗？”
Not very far. “Then what is love? Attachment, jealousy, even hate, is what I used to consider to be love; and of course sexual relationship. But I see now that sexual relationship is only a very small part of a much greater thing. The greater thing I have never known, and that is why sex became so consumingly important, at least for a time. When that faded away, I thought I loved my sons; but the fact is that I have loved them, if I may use that word at all, only in a very small way; and although they are good boys, they are just like thousands of others. I suppose we are all mediocre, satisfied with petty things: with ambition, prosperity, envy. Our lives are small, whether we live in palaces or huts. This is all very clear to me now, which it has never been before; but as you must know, I am not an educated person.”
不是很远。 “那什么是爱呢？ 依恋、嫉妒、甚至仇恨，是我过去认为是爱的东西； 当然还有性关系。 但我现在看到，性关系只是一件更伟大的东西中的一小部分。 我从来不知道更伟大的东西， 这就是为什么性变得如此重要，至少在一段时间内是这样。 当这一切消失时，我以为我爱我的儿子们； 但事实是，我爱过他们，如果我可以用这个词的话， 只是以很小的方式； 虽然他们是好孩子，但他们就像成千上万的其他人一样。 我想我们都很平庸，满足于琐碎的事情：野心、发达、嫉妒。 我们的生活很琐碎，无论我们住在宫殿还是小屋里。 现在，这一切对我来说都非常清楚，这是以前从未有过的。 但你肯定知道，我不是一个受过教育的人。”
Education has nothing to do with it; mediocrity is not a monopoly of the uneducated, The scholar, the scientist, the very clever, may also be mediocre. Freedom from mediocrity, from pettiness, is not a matter of class or learning. “But I have not thought much, I have not felt much; my life has been a sorry thing.”
教育与此无关； 平庸不是没受过教育的人的专用品， 学者、科学家、非常聪明的人，也可能是平庸的。 从平庸中解脱，从琐碎中解脱，不是一件有关等级或博学的事情。 “但是我没有想太多，我没有感觉到太多；我的生活是一件令人遗憾的事情。”
Even when we do feel strongly, it’s generally about such petty things: about personal and family security, about the flag, about some religious or political leader. Our feeling is always for or against something; it isn’t like a fire that burns brightly, without smoke.
即使我们确实有强烈的感觉，它通常也是关于这些琐碎的事情： 关于个人和家庭安全，关于旗帜，关于一些宗教或政治领袖。 我们的感觉总是支持或反对某些事物； 它不像一团火，燃烧得很明亮，没有烟雾。
“But who is to give us that fire?”
“但是谁来给我们那把火呢？”
To depend on another, to look to a guru, a leader, is to take away the aloneness, the purity of the fire; it makes for smoke. “Then, if we are not to ask for help, we must have the fire to begin with.”
倚靠另一个人，仰望一位上师、一位领袖， 就是带走了火的独立和纯粹；它制造出烟雾。 “那么，如果我们不寻求帮助，我们必须从一开始就拥有这团火。”
Not at all. At the beginning, the fire is not there. It has to be nurtured; there must be care, a wise putting away, with understanding, of those things that dampen the fire, that destroy the clarity of the flame. Then only is there the fire that nothing can extinguish.
一点也不是。一开始，火是不存在的。 它必须得到培养；必须有关怀，明智地放下， 对那些抑制火焰，破坏火焰清晰度的东西， 怀揣着理解。 那么，在这种情景中，就有一种没有任何东西可以扑灭的火。
“But that needs intelligence, which I haven’t got.”
“但那需要智慧，而我却没有得到。”
Yes you have. In seeing for yourself how little your life is, how little you love; in perceiving the nature of jealousy; in beginning to be aware of yourself in everyday relationship, there is already the movement of intelligence. Intelligence is a matter of hard work, quick perception of the subtle tricks of the mind, facing the fact, and clear thinking, without assumptions or conclusions. To kindle the fire of intelligence, and to keep it alive, demands alertness and great simplicity.
是的，你有。 在亲眼看见你的生活是多么的渺小、你的爱是多么的渺小的时候； 在感知嫉妒的性质的时候； 在开始发觉你自己在日常生活中的关系时， 就已经有了智慧的移动。 智慧是一件艰苦工作、快速地感知头脑微妙的诡计， 正视事实，清晰地思考，而不带有假设或结论的事情。 点燃智慧之火，并保持其活泼， 需要警觉和巨大的简单。
“It is kind of you to say that I have intelligence; but have I?” she insisted.
“你说我有智慧，这有点像你。但是我有吗？” 她坚持说。
It’s good to inquire, but not to assert that you have or have not. To inquire rightly is in itself the beginning of intelligence. You hinder intelligence in yourself by your own convictions, opinions, assertions and denials. Simplicity is the way of intelligence – not the mere show of simplicity in outward things and behaviour, but the simplicity of inward non-being. When you say “I know”, you are on the path of non-intelligence; but when you say “I don’t know”, and really mean it, you have already started on the path of intelligence. When a man doesn’t know, he looks, listens, inquires. ‘To know’ is to accumulate, and he who accumulates will never know; he is not intelligent.
去询问是一件好事，但不要断言你有或没有。 正确地询问本身就是智慧的开始。 通过自己的信念、观点、断言和满足，你就阻碍了你的智慧。 简单是智慧的方式 —— 不仅仅是在外在的事物和行为中表现出简单， 在内心的不存在的事物中，也得有简单。 当你说‘我知道’时，你正走在非智慧的道路上； 但当你说‘我不知道’，而且是真地是那样， 你已经开始走上智慧之路了。 当一个人不知道时，他会看、听、问。 ‘知道’就是积累，积累的人永远不会知道；他没智慧。
“If I am on the path of intelligence because I am simple and don’t know much...”
“如果我走在智慧的道路上，因为我很简单，知道的不多…….”
To think in terms of ‘much’ is to be unintelligent. ‘Much’ is a comparative word, and comparison is based on accumulation. “Yes, I see that. But, as I was saying, if one is on the path of intelligence because one is simple and really doesn’t know anything then intelligence would seem to be tantamount to ignorance.”
从‘多’的角度思考，是非智慧的。 ‘多’是一个比较词，比较是建立在积累的基础上的。 “是的，我看到了。但是，正如我所说， 如果一个人走上智慧的道路， 因为人很简单，真的什么都不知道， 那么智慧似乎就等于无知。”
Ignorance is one thing, and the state of not knowing is quite another; the two are in no way connected. You may be very learned, clever, efficient, talented, and yet be ignorant. There is ignorance when there is no self-knowledge. The ignorant man is he who is unaware of himself, who does not know his own deceits, vanities, envies, and so on. Self-knowledge is freedom. You may know all about the wonders of the earth and of the heavens, and still not be free from envy, sorrow. But when you say “I don’t know”, you are learning. To learn is not to accumulate, either knowledge, things or relationships. To be intelligent is to be simple; but to be simple is extraordinarily arduous.
无知是一回事，不知道的状态是另一回事。 这两者没有任何联系。 你可能很有学问、聪明、高效、有才华，但却无知。 当没有自我认识时，就是无知。 无知的人是意识不到自己， 不知道自己的欺诈、虚荣、嫉妒等等。 自我认识就是自由。 你可能知道地上和天空的奇观， 但仍然不能摆脱嫉妒和悲伤。 但当你说‘我不知道’时，你正在学习。 学习不是积累，无论它是知识、事物还是关系。 处于智慧就是处于简单；但处于简单，是非常艰巨的。