IN THE NARROW, shady lane between two gardens, a young boy was playing a flute; it was a cheap wooden thing and he was playing a popular cinema tune, but the purity of the notes filled the space in that lane. The white walls of the houses had been washed by the recent rains, and on those walls the shadows were dancing to the music of the flute. It was a sunny morning, there were scattered white clouds in the blue sky, and a pleasant breeze was blowing from the north. Beyond the houses and the gardens was the village, with huge trees towering over the thatched huts. Under those trees, women were selling fish, a few vegetables and some fried things. Little children were playing in the narrow road, and still smaller children were using the ditch as their toilet, unmindful of the grown-ups and the passing cars. There were many goats, and their small black and white kids were cleaner and even more spirited than the children. They were so soft to the touch, and they loved being petted. passing under the barbed wire of their enclosure, they would run across the road into a small open space, nibble the grass, romp about, butt each other, jump up in the air with abandon, and then race back to their mothers. Cars slowed down to avoid them, and not one was run over. They seemed to have divine protection – only to be killed and eaten.
在两个花园之间狭窄阴凉的小巷里，一个小男孩正在吹笛子； 它是一个廉价的木制品，他正在演奏一首流行的电影曲， 但音符的纯净充满了那条小巷的空间。 房屋的白色墙壁刚被最近的雨水冲洗， 在这些墙壁上，阴影随着长笛的音符而舞蹈。 它是一个阳光明媚的早晨，蓝天下散落着白云， 一阵宜人的微风从北面吹来。 在房屋和花园之外是村庄， 巨大的树木高耸于茅草屋旁。 在那些树下，妇女们在卖鱼、一些蔬菜和一些油炸物。 小孩子们在狭窄的道路上玩耍， 还有一些更小的娃娃们把沟渠当作他们的厕所， 不注意大人和过往的车辆。 有很多山羊，它们黑色、白色的小仔子们比那些孩子们更干净、甚至更精神。 它们摸起来非常柔软，它们喜欢被抚摸。 穿过它们的围栏的铁丝网， 它们会跑过马路，进入一小块空地， 啃草、嬉戏、互相抵触、在空中放任地跳跃， 然后跑回它们的母亲身边。 汽车减速以避开它们，没有一只被碾到。 它们似乎得到了神圣的保护 —— 只是被杀死和吃掉。
But the flute player was there among the green foliage, and the clear notes called one out of doors. The boy was dirty, his clothes torn and unwashed, his face aggressively sharp and complaining. No one had taught him to play the flute, and no one ever would; he had picked it up by himself, and as the cinema tune rolled out, the purity of the notes was extraordinary. It was strange for the mind to float on that purity. Moving a few paces away, it continued through the trees, over the houses and towards the sea. It movement was not in time and space, but in purity. The word ‘purity’ is not purity; the word is tied to memory, and to the association of many things. This purity was not an invention of the mind; it was not a thing put together, only to be undone, through remembrance and comparison. The flute player was there, but the mind was infinitely far away – not in distance, nor in terms of memory. It was far away within itself, clear, untouched, alone, beyond the measure of time and recognition.
但长笛吹奏者在绿色的枝叶间， 清晰的音符呼唤着人走出门外。 男孩很脏， 他的衣服破烂而没有洗，表情尖厉而抱怨。 没有人教他吹笛子，也没有人会教他吹。 他得自己动手学， 随着电影曲调的蹦出，音符的纯净是非凡的。 对于头脑来说，漂浮在那纯洁上，是很奇怪的。 移动了几步，继续穿过树木，越过房屋，走向大海。 它的运动不在时间和空间上，而是在纯洁中。 ‘纯洁’这个词不是纯洁； 这个词与记忆有关，与许多事物的联系有关。 这种纯洁不是头脑的发明。 它不是一个捏造在一起的， 可通过记忆和比较来撤销的东西。 长笛吹奏者在那里，但这个头脑无限的遥远 —— 不是在距离上，也不是在记忆中。 它本身是遥远的、清晰的、无法触及的、自在的， 超越了时间和识别的衡量。
The small room overlooked a tiny garden full of flowers, with a spot of lawn. There was just enough room for the five of us, and for the small boy whom one had brought along. The boy would sit quietly for a while, and then get up and walk out of the door. He wanted to play, and the grown-up conversation was beyond him; but he had a serious air. Each time he came in, he would sit next to one of the men, who turned out to be his father, and their hands would touch; and presently he fell asleep, holding on to a finger.
这个小房间俯看着一个小花园，那里开满了鲜花，有一片草坪。 刚好能够容纳我们五个人 和那个跟来的小孩子。 孩子静静地坐了一会儿，然后起身走出门。 他想去玩，大人的谈话超出了他的范围；但他有一种严肃的氛围。 每次他进来，他都会坐在其中一个男人旁边， 原来那就是他的父亲，他们的手会相互握着。 现在他睡着了，握着一根手指。
They were all active men, obviously capable and energetic. Their respective professions as a lawyer, a government official, an engineer and a social worker were, except for that of the last, only a means of livelihood. Their real interest lay elsewhere, and they all seemed to reflect the culture of many generations. “I am only concerned with myself,” said the lawyer, “but not in the narrow, personal sense of self-improvement. The point is, I alone can break through the barrier of centuries and set my mind free. I am willing to listen, reason, discuss, but I abominate all influence. Influence, after all, is propaganda, and propaganda is the most stupid form of compulsion. I read a great deal, but I am constantly watching myself to see that I don’t fall under the influence of the author’s thought. I have attended many of your talks and discussions, sir, and I agree with you that any form of compulsion prevents understanding. Anyone who is persuaded, consciously or unconsciously, to think along a particular line, however apparently beneficial, is bound to end up in some form of frustration, because his fulfilment is according to the way of another, and so he can never really fulfil himself at all.”
他们都是活跃的人，显然有能力，精力充沛。 他们有各自的职业， 有律师、政府官员、工程师和社会工作者， 除了最后一种职业外，都只是一种谋生手段。 他们真正的兴趣在别的地方， 他们似乎都反射出许多代人的文化。 “我只关心我自己，” 律师说， “但不是狭隘的、个人的自我提升感。 关键在于，只有我自身才能突破几个世纪的障碍，解放我的思想。 我愿意倾听、推理、讨论，但我憎恶所有的影响。 毕竟，影响是宣传，而宣传是最愚蠢的强迫形式。 我读了很多书，但我一直在观察自己， 看看我没有受到作者思想的影响。 先生，我参加了你们的许多会谈和讨论， 我同意你的看法，即任何形式的强迫都会妨碍理解。 任何有意或无意地服从，并沿着某一条特定路线思考的人， 无论表面上多么有益，都必然会以某种形式的挫折而告终， 因为他的成就是按照另一个人的方式进行的， 所以他根本无法真正成就自己。”
Are we not being influenced by something or other, most of the time? One may be unconscious of influence, but isn’t it always present in many subtle forms? Is not thought itself the product of influence? “The four of us have often talked this matter over,” responded the official, “and we are still not very clear about it, otherwise we wouldn’t be here, Personally, I have visited many teachers at their ashramas all over the country; but before meeting the master, I first try to meet the disciples to see how far they have merely been influenced to a better life. Some of the disciples are scandalized by this approach, and they can’t understand why I don’t want to see the guru first. They are almost entirely under the heel of authority; and the ashramas, particularly the larger ones, are sometimes very efficiently run, like any office or factory. People turn over all their property and possessions to the central authority, and then remain in the ashrama, under guidance, for the rest of their lives. You would be surprised at the kind of people one finds there, a whole cross-section of society: retired government administrators, business men who have made their pile, a professor or two, and so on. And they are all dominated by the so-called spiritual influence of the guru. It’s pathetic, but there it is!”
大多数时间，我们没有受到某些事情或其他事情的影响吗？ 一个人可能没有意识到影响，但它不总是以许多微妙的形式而存在吗？ 思想本身不就是影响的产物吗？ “我们四个人经常谈论这件事，”官员回答说， “我们对此还不是很清楚，否则我们就不会在这里了， 就我个人而言，我在全国各地的静修处拜访了许多大师； 但在与大师见面之前， 我首先尝试与弟子们见面， 看看他们究竟在多大程度上被影响，是否过上了更好的生活。 有些弟子被这种方法弄得很恼火， 他们不明白为什么我不想先见上师。 他们几乎完全处于权威之下。 静修处，特别是较大的静修室， 有时运转得非常有效，就像任何办公室或工厂一样。 人们把他们所有的财产和物品交给中央机构， 然后被指导留，在静修处度过余生。 你会惊讶于人在那里发现的那些人， 整个社会的横截面： 退休的政府行政人员、商人、一两个教授，等等。 他们都受到了所谓上师的精神影响的支配。 这很可悲，但事实就是如此！”
Is influence or compulsion restricted to the ashrama? The hero, the ideal, the political Utopia, the future as a symbol of achieving or becoming something – do not these things exert their subtle influence on each one of us? And must not the mind also be free of this kind of compulsion? “We don’t go that far,” said the social worker. “We stay wisely within certain limits, otherwise there might be utter chaos.”
影响或强迫是否仅限于静修处吗？ 英雄、理想、政治乌托邦、 作为象征着成就或成为某种人物的未来 —— 这些东西不会对我们每个人施加它们微妙的影响吗？ 难道头脑不必摆脱了这种强迫吗？ “我们不会走那么远，” 社会工作者说。 “我们明智地保持在一定的界限内，否则可能会出现巨大的混乱。”
To discard compulsion in one form, only to accept it in a more subtle form, seems a futile endeavour, does it not?
抛弃一种形式的强迫，只以一种更微妙的形式接受它， 似乎是徒劳的，不是吗？
“We want to go step by step, systematically and thoroughly understanding one form of compulsion after another,” said the engineer.
“我们希望一步一步地走， 系统地、彻底地理解一种又一种形式的强迫，” 工程师说。
Is such a thing ever possible? Mustn’t compulsion or influence be tackled as a whole, not bit by bit? In trying to discard one pressure after another, is there not in this very process the maintenance of that which you are trying to discard, perhaps at a different level? Can envy be got rid of little by little? Does not the very effort sustain envy? “To build anything takes time. One can’t put up a bridge all at once. Time is needed for everything – for the seed to bear fruit, and for man to mature.”
那种事情有可能吗？ 难道不能把强迫或影响作为一个整体来处理，而不去一点一点地解决？ 在试图丢弃一个又一个的压力的过程中， 难道不是在维护那个你试图丢弃的东西吗？它或许位于不同的层面。 嫉妒可以一点一点地摆脱吗？ 难道这种努力本身没有让嫉妒持续吗？ “建造任何东西都需要时间。一个人不能一下子架起一座桥。 一切都需要时间 —— 使种子结出果实，使人长大成人。”
In certain things, time is obviously necessary. To perform a series of actions, or to move in space from here to there, takes time. But apart from chronology, time is a plaything of the mind, is it not? Time is used as a means to achieve, to become something, positively or negatively; time exists in comparison. The thought “I am this, and I shall become that” is the way of time. The future is the modified past, and the present becomes merely a movement or passage from the past to the future, and so is of little importance. Time as a means of achievement has tremendous influence, it exerts the pressure of centuries of tradition. Is this process of attraction and compulsion, which is both negative and positive, to be understood bit by bit, or must it be seen as a whole?
在某些事物上，时间显然是必要的。 执行一系列动作，或在空间中从这里移动到那里，需要时间。 但排除这种顺序，时间就是头脑的玩具，不是吗？ 时间被用来作获取的一种手段，成为某种人物，无论是主动的还是被动的； 时间存在于比较之中。 这个想法：“我是这个，我会成为那个”，是一种称之为‘时间’的手段。 未来是被修改的过去， 而现在只是从过去到未来的一个运动或通道， 因此并不重要。 时间作为获取的手段具有巨大的影响， 它挟裹着几个世纪的传统，施以重压。 这个吸引和强迫过程，无论是被动的还是主动的， 要一点一点地被理解，还是必须把它作为一个整体来看？
“If I may interrupt, I would like to go on with what I was saying at the beginning,” protested the lawyer. “To be influenced is not to think at all, and that’s why I am only concerned with myself – but not in a self-centred way. If I may be personal, I have read some of the things you have said about authority, and I am working on the same lines. It is for this reason that I no longer go anywhere near the various teachers. Authority – not in the civil or legal sense – is to be avoided by an intelligent man.”
“如果我可以打断，我想继续我一开始说的话，” 律师抗议道。“被影响根本不是思考， 这就是为什么我只关心自身 —— 而并非是在以自我为中心。 就我个人而言，我已经读过你所说的关于权威的一些事情， 我正在做同样的事情。 正是出于这个原因，我不再靠近各种老师们。 权威 —— 不是民事或法律意义上的权威 —— 是一个智者要避免的。”
Are you merely concerned with freedom from outward authority, from the influence of newspapers, books, teachers, and so on? Must you not also be free from every form of inward compulsion, from the pressures of the mind itself, not merely the surface mind, but the deep unconscious? And is this possible? “That’s one of the things I have been wanting to talk over with you. If one is somewhat aware, it’s comparatively easy to observe and be free of the imprint made on the conscious mind by passing influences and pressures from without; but the conditioning and influence of the unconscious is a problem quite difficult to understand.”
你是否只关心摆脱外在权威的自由， 不受报纸、书籍、教师等影响的自由？ 难道你不能从各种形式的内在强迫中解脱， 从头脑本身的压力中解脱， 不仅在表面的头脑，而是从深层的无意识中解脱吗？ 这可能吗？ “这是我一直想和你谈的事情之一。 如果一个人有某种觉知，那么在意识层面上， 就能相对容易地观察和摆脱 通过来自外部的影响和压力而传递过来的压痕； 但是，无意识中的约束和影响 是一个很难理解的问题。”
The unconscious is a result – is it not? – of innumerable influences and compulsions, both self-imposed and imposed by society. “It is most definitely influenced by the culture or society in which one has been brought up; but whether this conditioning is total, or only segmentary, I am not at all sure.” Do you want to find out? “Of course I do, that’s why I am here.”
无意识是一个结果 —— 它不是吗？ —— 无数的影响和强迫，无论是自我强加的还是由社会强加的。 “它绝对受到一个人所成长的文化或社会的影响； 但这种局限性是完全的，还是只是片面的，我完全不确定。” 您想去找出吗？“我当然想，这就是我在这儿的原因。”
How is one to find out? The ‘how’ is the process of inquiry, it is not the search for a method. If one is seeking a method, then inquiry has stopped. It’s fairly obvious that the mind is influenced, educated, shaped, not only by the present culture, but by centuries of culture What we are attempting to find out is whether only part of the mind, or the whole of consciousness, is thus influenced, conditioned.
人如何寻找？ ‘如何’是这种调查过程，不是去搜索某个方法。 如果一个人正在寻找一种方法，那么调查就停止了。 很明显， 头脑所受到的影响、教育和塑造，不仅来自于当前的文化， 而且来自于几个世纪的文化传统， 我们试图找出的是， 是否只有头脑的一部分，或者整个意识，受到了影响和约束。
“Yes, that is the question.”
“是的，那就是问题所在。”
What do we mean by consciousness? Motive and action; desire, fulfilment and frustration; fear and envy; tradition, racial inheritance and the experiences of the individual based upon the collective past; time as past and future – all this is the essence of consciousness the very centre of it, is it not? “Yes; and I quite perceive the vast complexity of it.”
我们所说的意识是什么意思？ 动机和行动；欲望、满足和挫折；恐惧和嫉妒； 传统、种族的遗传 和基于集体性传承的个人体验； 作为过去和未来的时间 —— 所有这些都是意识的本质，是它的中心，不是吗？ “是的；我完全感觉到它巨大的复杂性。”
Does one feel the nature of consciousness for oneself, or is one influenced by another’s description of it?
一个人亲身感受到了意识的本性， 还是受到另一个人对它进行的描述的影响？
“To be quite honest, both; I feel the nature of my own consciousness, but it helps to have a description of it.”
“说实话，两者兼而有之。 我感受到了自己意识的本性，但受到了描述的帮助。”
How arduous it is to be free of influence! putting aside the description, can one feel out the nature of consciousness and not merely theorize about it, or indulge in explanations? It is important to do this, isn’t it? “I suppose it is,” put in the official hesitantly. The lawyer was absorbed in his own thoughts.
摆脱影响，是多么地艰巨！ 撇开描述不谈， 一个人能感觉到意识的本性， 而不只是去理论化它，或者沉迷于解释吗？ 这样做很重要，不是吗？“我想是的，” 官员犹豫不决地说。 律师被自己的思想所吸收。
To feel out for oneself the nature of consciousness is an entirely different experience from recognizing its nature through a description.
感受自身意识的本性 与通过描述而认出它的本性， 两者是完全不同的体验。
“Of course it is,” replied the lawyer, back on the scene again. “One is the influence of words, and the other is the direct experiencing of what’s taking place.”
“当然是的，” 律师回答说，他回过神来。 “一个是文字的影响， 另一个是直接体验正在发生的事情。”
The state of direct experiencing is attention without motive. When there is the desire to achieve a result, there is experiencing with a motive, which only leads to the further conditioning of the mind. To learn, and to learn with a motive, are contradictory processes, are they not? Is one learning when there’s a motive to learn? The accumulation of knowledge, or the acquisition of technique, is not the movement of learning. Learning is a movement which is not away from or towards something; it ceases when there is the accumulation of knowledge in order to gain, to achieve, to arrive. Feeling out the nature of consciousness, learning about it, is without motive; there is no experiencing, or being taught, in order to be or not to be something. To have a motive, a cause, ever brings about pressure, compulsion.
直接体验的状态是毫无动机的注意。 当有获取结果的欲望时， 就有了带着动机的体验， 就只会导致头脑的进一步的约束。 学习和带着动机去学习，两者是相互矛盾的，不是吗？ 当有一个学习的动机时，这个人在学习吗？ 知识的积累，或技术的获得， 不是学习。 学习是一个动作，它不是远离或走向某个东西； 当出现了知识的积累，以便于收获、取得、到达时， 学习就停止了。 感受意识的本性，学习它，是没有动机的； 没有体验，也没有被教导，没有是或不是某种人物。 一个动机、一个原因，总是会带来压力、强迫。
“Are you implying, sir, that true freedom is without a cause?”
“先生，你是在暗示，那真正的自由是没有原由的吗？”
Of course. Freedom is not a reaction to bondage; when it is, then that freedom becomes another bondage. That’s why it’s very important to find out if one has a motive to be free. If one has, then the result is not freedom, but merely the opposite of what is. “Then to feel out the nature of consciousness, which is the direct experiencing of it without any motive, is already a freeing of the mind from influence. Is that it?”
当然。自由不是对束缚的反应； 如果它是，那么，那种自由就变成了另一种束缚。 那就是为什么‘找出一个人是否有一个想要自由的动机’是非常重要的。 如果一个人有，那么结果就不是自由，而只是与现状相抵触的对立面。 “那么，感受意识的本性， 在没有任何动机的情况下直接体验它， 即是一个从影响中解放出来的头脑。是那样吗？”
Isn’t that so? Haven’t you found that a motive invites influence, coercion, conformity? For the mind to be free from pressure, pleasant or unpleasant, all motive, however subtle or noble, must wither away – but not through any form of compulsion, discipline or suppression, which will only bring about another kind of bondage. “I see,” went on the lawyer. “Consciousness is a whole complex of interrelated motives. To understand this complex, one must feel it out, learn about it, without any further motive; for all motives inevitably bring about some kind of influence, pressure. Where there’s a motive of any kind, there’s no freedom. I am beginning to understand this very clearly.”
难道不是吗？ 难道你没有发现动机会招致影响、胁迫、顺从吗？ 为了使头脑摆脱压力，无论是愉快的还是不愉快的， 所有的动机，无论多么地微妙或高贵，都必须枯萎 —— 却不能通过任何形式的强迫、纪律或压制， 那样只会带来另一种束缚。 “我明白了，” 律师继续说。“意识是那些所有的相互缠结的动机的复合体。 要理解这个缠结，人必须感受它，学习它，没有任何进一步的动机； 因为所有的动机都不可避免地会带来某种影响、压力。 哪里有动机，哪里就没有自由。 我开始非常清楚地理解这一点。”
“But is it possible to act without a motive?” asked the social worker. “It seems to me that motive is inseparable from action.”
“但是，有可能毫无动机地行动吗？” 社会工作者问道。 “在我看来，动机与行动密不可分。
What do you mean by action? “The village needs cleaning up, the children must be educated, the law must be enforced, reforms must be carried out, and so on. All this is action, and behind it there’s definitely some kind of motive. If action with a motive is wrong, then what’s right action?”
你说的‘行动’是什么意思？ “乡村要打扫清洁，孩子必须要教育， 法规要实行，要改革，等等。 所有这些都是行动，背后肯定有某种动机。 如果带有动机的行动是错误的，那么，什么是正确的行动？”
The Communist thinks his is the right way of life; so does the capitalist, and the so-called religious man. Governments have five or ten-year plans, and impose certain legislation to carry them out. The social reformer conceives of a way of life, which he insists upon as being right action. Every parent, every school teacher, enforces tradition and attention. There are innumerable political and religious organizations, each with its leader, and each with power, gross or subtle, to enforce what it calls right action.
共产党人认为：他的生活方式是正确的； 资本家和所谓的宗教人士也是这么认为的。 政府有五年或十年计划，并实施某些立法来执行这些计划。 社会改革者设想了一种生活方式， 他坚持认为这是正确的行动。 每个家长，每个学校的老师，都执行惯例，并关注它。 有无数的政治和宗教组织， 每个组织都有它的领导者，都有权力，无论是粗暴的还是微妙的， 来执行它所谓的正确行动。
“Without all this, there would be chaos, anarchy.”
“没有这一切，就会处于混乱、无政府状态。”
We are not condemning or defending any way of life, any leader or teacher; we are trying to understand, through this maze, what right action is. All these individuals and organizations, with their proposals and counter-proposals, are trying to influence thought in this or that direction, and what is called right action by some, is considered by others to be wrong action. This is so, isn’t it? “Yes, to a certain extent,” agreed the social worker. “But though it’s obviously incomplete, fragmentary, no one thinks of political action, for example, as being either right or wrong in itself; it’s just a necessity. Then what is right action?”
我们不是在谴责或捍卫任何生活方式、任何领袖或老师； 我们正试图理解，穿越这团迷雾，什么是正确的行动。 所有这些个人和组织机构，以及他们的提议和反对的提议， 都试图在这个或那个方向上影响思想， 而某些人所谓的正确行动，被其他人认为是错误的行动。 就是这样，不是吗？ “是的，在某种程度上，” 社会工作者同意。 “可是，尽管它明显是不完整的、零碎的， 比如说政治行为， 没有人会考虑行动本身的对错；它只是一种必需品。 那么，什么是正确的行动呢？”
Trying to bring together all these conflicting notions does not make for right action, does it? “Of course not.”
试图将所有这些相互冲突的观念结合在一起 并不能形成正确的行动，不是吗？ “当然不能。”
Seeing the mess the world is in, the individual reacts to it in different ways; he maintains that he must understand himself first, that he must cleanse his own being, and so on; or else he becomes a reformer, a doctrinaire, a politician seeking to influence the minds of others to conform to a particular pattern. But the individual who thus reacts to the social confusion and disorder is still part of it; his action, being really a reaction, can only bring about confusion in another form. None of this is right action. Right action, surely, is total action, it is not fragmentary or contradictory; and it is total action alone that can respond adequately to all political and social demands.
看到世界所处的混乱，个人以不同的方式对它做出反应； 他坚持认为，他必须首先理解自己， 他必须净化自己的存在，等等； 否则，他就会成为一个改革者、一个教条主义者、 一个试图影响他人头脑以符合特定模式的政治家。 但是，这个人， 对社会的困惑和无序作出反应的这个人，仍然是其中的一部分； 他的行动，实际上是一种反应，只会导致另一种形式的困惑。 所有这些，都不是正确的行动。 正确的行动，当然是完整的行动，它不是零碎的或矛盾的； 而完整的行动是自在的，能充分地满足所有的政治和社会要求。
“What is this total action?”
“这个完整的行为到底是什么？”
Haven’t you to find that out for yourself? If you are told what it is, and you agree or disagree, it will only lead to another fragmentary action, won’t it? Reformatory activity within society, and activity on the part of the individual as opposed to or apart from society, is incomplete action. Total action lies beyond these two, and that total action is love.
你自己没有发现吗？ 如果你被告知它是什么，而你的同意或不同意， 只会导致另一个零碎的行动，不是吗？ 社会内部的改革活动， 以及相对于社会或与社会分离的个人活动， 是不完整的行动。 完整的行动超越了这两者，而那整体的行动，是爱。