对生活的评注 3-49

TWO CROWS WERE fighting, and they meant business. They were flopping about on the ground with their wings locked, and their sharp, black beaks were tearing at each other. One or two of their companions were cawing at them from a nearby tree, and suddenly the whole neighbourhood of crows was there, making an awful noise and trying to stop the fight. There must have been dozens of them, but in spite of their anxious and angry calls, the fight went on. A shout didn’t stop it; then a loud clap of the hands scared them all away, even the fighters, who continued to fly at each other in and out among the branches of the surrounding trees. But it was all over. A black cow tied to a stake had placidly looked in the direction of the fight, and then gone on with her feeding. She was a small animal, as cows go, and very friendly, with big, limpid eyes.

两只乌鸦在战斗，那是他们谈生意的方式。他们锁紧翅膀在地上翻来覆去，锋利的黑色喙互相撕扯。他们的一两个同伴在附近的一棵树上对他们呐喊，突然间，整个乌鸦社区都在那里，发出可怕的声音，试图阻止战斗。他们一定有几十只，但尽管他们发出了焦虑和愤怒的呼叫，但战斗仍在继续。喊叫声没有使它停止；接着，一声响亮的拍手声吓跑了他们，甚至连战士们也吓跑了，他们继续在周围树木的树枝之间进进出出、飞来飞去。但一切都结束了。一头被绑在木桩上的黑牛平静地看着战斗的方向，然后继续她的进餐。她是一只小动物，就像奶牛一样，非常友好，有一双又大又清澈的眼睛。

A procession came along the road. It was a funeral. Half a dozen cars were led by a hearse, in which could be seen the coffin, a highly polished affair with many silver fittings. Arriving at the cemetery, all the people got out of their cars, and the coffin was carried slowly to the grave, which had been dug earlier that morning. Twice around the grave they went, and then carefully laid the coffin on two solid planks which spanned the open trench. All knelt as the priest pronounced his blessing, and the coffin was gently lowered into its final resting place. There was a long pause; then each one threw in a handful of the freshly dug soil, and the diggers, in their bright loincloths, began shovelling it into the grave, which was soon filled. A wreath of white flowers, already withering in the hot sun, was placed upon the grave, and the people then solemnly departed.

一支游行队伍沿着路走来。那是一场葬礼。六辆汽车由灵车带领，从中可以看到棺材，这是一件非常光滑的东西，有许多银色配件。到达墓地后，所有人都下了车，棺材被慢慢地抬向那天早上早些时候挖好的坟墓。他们绕着坟墓走了两圈，然后小心翼翼地把棺材放在两块实心木板上，木板横跨在开口的坑里。当祭司宣布他的祝福时，所有人都跪了下来，棺材被轻轻地放到最后的安息之地。停顿了很久。然后每个人都扔一把新挖的土，挖掘者穿着他们明亮的腰布，开始把它铲进坟墓里，很快就被填满了。一圈白色的花环，已经在烈日下枯萎，被放在坟墓上，然后人们庄严地离开了。

It had been raining recently, and the grass in the cemetery was dazzlingly green. All around it were palm and banana trees, and flowering bushes. It was a pleasant place, and children would come to play on the grass under the trees, where there were no graves. Early in the morning, long before the sun was up, there was heavy dew on the grass and the tall palms stood out against the starlit sky. The breeze from the north was fresh and it brought with it the long moan of a distant train. Otherwise it was very quiet; there were no lights in the surrounding houses, and the rattle of lorries on the road had not yet begun.

最近一直在下雨，墓园的草地是令人眼花缭乱的绿色。周围都是棕榈树和香蕉树，还有开花的灌木丛。这是一个令人愉快的地方，孩子们会来树下的草地上玩耍，那儿没有坟墓。清晨，在太阳升起之前，草地上有厚厚的露水，高大的棕榈树在星空下显得格外醒目。来自北方的微风很清新，它带来了远处火车的长长的呻吟声。否则非常安静；周围的房屋里没有灯光，路上的卡车嘎嘎声还没有开始。

Meditation is the flowering of goodness; it is not the cultivation of goodness. What is cultivated never endures; it passes away, and has to be started again. Meditation is not for the meditator. The meditator knows how to meditate; he practises, controls, shapes, struggles, but this activity of the mind is not the light of meditation. Meditation is not put together by the mind; it’s the total silence of the mind in which the centre of experience, of knowledge, of thought, is not. Meditation is complete attention without an object in which thought is absorbed. The meditator can never know the goodness of meditation.

冥想是善的绽放；它不是对善的培养。培养的东西不可能活下去；它错过了，必须重新开始。冥想不是为冥想者准备的。冥想者知道如何冥想；他练习，控制，塑造，挣扎，但头脑的这种活动不是冥想的光。冥想不是由头脑拼凑起来的；它是头脑的完全静止，其中不存在经验、知识、思想的点。冥想是完全的注意，没有一个吸引思想的对象。冥想者永远无法知道冥想的善。

No longer young, he was a man well-known for his political idealism and his good works. Deep in his heart there was the hope of finding something far greater than these, but he was one of those to whom righteous action had always been the indication of goodness. He was constantly embroiled in reform, which he regarded as the means to an ultimate end: the goodness of society. An odd mixture of piety and activity, he lived in the shell of his own well-reasoned thought; yet he had heard a whisper of something beyond it. He had come with a friend, who was active with him in social reform. The friend was a short, wiry man, and there was about him an air of aggression held in check. He must have seen that aggression is not the right way to proceed, but he couldn’t quite cover it up; it was behind his eyes, and it showed unknowingly when he smiled. As we sat down together in that room, neither of them seemed to notice the delicate blossom that a passing breeze had brought in through the window. It was lying on the floor, and the sun was upon it.

不再年轻的他，是一个以政治理想主义和善行而闻名的人。在他内心深处，希望找到比这更伟大的东西，但他属于那些正义的行动者，并一直是善良的标志。他不断卷入改革，他认为这些手段能抵达最终目的：社会的善良。他奇怪地混合了虔诚和活动，生活在自己理性思想的外壳上；然而，他听到了一声悄悄话，说着超越它的东西。他和一个朋友一起来，他和他一起积极参与社会改革。这位朋友是一个矮小、狡猾的人，他身上有一种侵略的气息控制着他。他一定已经看到侵略不是正确的前进方式，但他不能完全掩盖它；它就在他的眼睛后面，当他微笑时，它不知不觉地显露出来。当我们在那个房间里一起坐下时，他们似乎都没有注意到娇嫩的花瓣。它被一阵微风从窗户吹了进来，躺在地板上，阳光照在它上面。

“My friend and I have not come here to discuss political action,” the first one began. “We are well aware of what you think about it. To you, action is not political reformatory or religious; there is only action, a total action. But most of us do not think like that. We think in compartments, which are sometimes watertight, and sometimes pliable, yielding; but our action is always fragmentary. We just don’t know what total action is. We know only the activities of the part, and we hope by putting these various parts together to make the whole.”

“我和我的朋友不是来这里讨论政治行动的，” 第一个人开始说。 “我们很清楚你对此的看法。对你来说，行动不是政治上的改革或宗教上的。只有行动，一个完整的行动。但我们大多数人都不是这样想的。我们在包间中思考，这些包间，有时是密封的，有时是柔韧的、柔顺的；但我们的行动总是支离破碎的。我们只是不知道完整的行动是什么。我们只知道部分的活动，我们希望通过将这些不同的部分放在一起来形成整体。”

Is it ever possible to make the whole by assembling the parts, except in mechanical things? There you have a blueprint, a design to help you to put the parts together. Have you a similar design by which to bring about the perfection of society? “We have,” the friend replied.

除了机械部件之外，是否有可能通过组装零部件来制造整体？在那里，你有一个蓝图，一个设计，帮助你把零件放在一起。你有没有类似的设计，通过它来实现社会的完美？ “我们有，” 朋友回答说。

Then you already know what the future will be for man? “We are not so conceited as all that, but we do want certain obvious reforms brought about, to which no one can object.”

那么你已经知道人类的未来会是什么样子了吗？ “我们并没有那么自负，但我们确实希望进行一些明显的改革，没有人可以反对。”

Surely, reform will always be fragmentary. To be active in doing ‘good’ without understanding total action is in the long run to do harm, isn’t it? “What is total action?”

当然，改革将永远是零碎的。从长远来看，积极地做‘善事’而不理解完整的行动，就是在搞破坏，不是吗？ “什么是完整的行动？”

It is certainly not a putting together of various separate activities. To understand total action, fragmentary activity must cease. It’s impossible to see at one sweep the whole expanse of the heavens by going from one small window to another. One must abandon all windows, mustn’t one?

它当然不是各种单独活动的组合体。为了理解完整的行动，碎片化活动必须停止。不可能通过从一个小窗户到另一个小窗户来扫视整个天空。一个人必须放弃所有的窗户，不是吗？

“That sounds fine intellectually, but when you see the hungry the miserably poor, you boil inside and want to do something.”

“那在理智上听起来不错，但是当你看到饥饿的人，可怜的穷人时，你会内心沸腾，想做点什么。”

Which is most natural. But mere reform is always in need of further reform, and to carry on these various fragmentary activities, without understanding total action, seems so mischievous and destructive. “How are we to understand this total action of which you speak?” asked the other.

这是最自然的。但是，仅仅改革总是需要进一步的改革，而进行这些各种零碎的活动，而不理解完整的行动，似乎如此的有害和破坏性。 “我们如何理解你所说的这个完整的行动？”另一个人问道。

Obviously, one has first to abandon the part, the fragmentary, which is the group, the nation, the ideology. Holding on to these, one hopes to understand the whole, which is impossible. It is like an ambitious man trying to love. To love, the desire for success, for power and position, must cease. One can’t have both. Similarly, the mind, whose very thinking is fragmentary, is incapable of discovering this total action.

显然，人首先必须放弃部分、这种碎片，即群体、国家、意识形态。抓住这些，人希望理解整体，是不可能的。这就像一个雄心勃勃的男人试图去爱。去爱，对成功、对权力和地位的渴望，必须停止。一个人不能两者兼得。同样地，这个头脑，它的思考是零碎的，没有能力发现这个完整的行动。

“Then how can one ever discover it at all?” demanded the friend.

“那怎么能发现呢？” 朋友问道。

There is no formula for its discovery. The feeling of being whole, complete, is very different from the intellectual description of it. We don’t feel this total being, and we try to bring together the fragments, hoping thereby to have the whole. Sir, if one may ask, why do you do anything? “I feel and think, and action flows from it.”

没有发现它的公式。处在完整的、彻底的感觉与它的智力描述是非常不一样的。我们感觉不到这种完全的存在，而我们试图将碎片拼凑在一起，希望这样能拥有完整。先生，如果有人可以问，你为什么做任何事情？ “我感觉到并思考，行动从中流出。”

Doesn’t this lead to contradiction in your various activities?

这难道不会导致你在各种活动的矛盾吗？

“Often it does, but one can avoid that contradiction by sticking to a definite course of action.”

“通常确实如此，但人可以通过坚持明确的行动方案来避免这种矛盾。”

In other words, you shut out all activities which have no relation to the one you have chosen. Sooner or later, won’t this create confusion? “Perhaps. But what is one to do?” he asked rather irritably.

换句话说，你关闭了所有与你所选择的活动无关的活动。迟早，这难道不会造成混乱吗？ “也许吧。但是人该怎么办呢？” 他相当烦躁地问道。

Is that merely a verbal question, or do you begin to feel that sticking to a chosen pattern of action is exclusive and harmful? It is because you don’t feel the necessity for total action that you play around with activities which are contradictory. But to feel the necessity for total action, you must inquire deeply within yourself. There’s no inquiry if there’s no humility. To learn there must be humility; but you already know, and how can a man who knows be humble? When there’s humility you can’t be a reformer, or a politician.

那仅仅是一个口头问题，还是你开始觉得，坚持一种选择性的行动模式是排外的和有害的？因为你没有感觉到采取完整的行动的必要性，你才玩弄那些相互矛盾的活动。但是，要感觉到采取完整的行动的必要性，你必须深入调查你自己。如果没有谦卑，就没有调查。要学习，必须谦卑；但是你已经知道了，一个知道的人怎么能谦虚呢？当有谦卑时，你就不能成为一个改革者，或者一个政治家。

“Then we can’t do anything, and we shall be driven into slavery by those of the extreme left whose ideology promises a paradise on earth! They will take power and liquidate us. But such an eventuality can definitely be avoided through intelligent legislation, through reform, and through the gradual socialization of industry. This is what we are after.” “But what about humility?” asked the first one. “I see its importance, but how is one to come by it?”

“那我们什么也做不了，我们将被那些极左派的人驱赶，成为奴隶，他们的意识形态承诺在地球上有一个天堂！他们将夺取权力并清算我们。但通过理智的立法、通过改革、通过逐步的工业社会化，这种可能性是绝对可以避免的。这就是我们所追求的。” “但是谦卑呢？” 第一个人问道。 “我看到了它的重要性，但是它是如何获得的？”

Surely, not through a method. To practise humility is to cultivate pride. A method implies success, and success is arrogance. The difficulty is that most of us want to be somebody, and this partial, reformatory activity gives us an opportunity to satisfy that urge. Economic or political revolution is still partial, fragmentary, leading to further tyranny and misery, as has recently been shown. There’s only one total revolution, the religious, and it has nothing to do with organized religion, which is another form of tyranny. But why is there no humility?

当然，不是通过一种方法。实践谦卑就是培养骄傲。方法意味着成功，成功就是傲慢。困难在于，我们大多数人都想成为某个人物，而这种片面的、管束性的活动，给了我们一个满足这种冲动的机会。经济或政治革命仍然是片面的、零碎的，导致进一步的暴政和苦难，正如最近所表明的那样。只有一次完全的革命，宗教革命，它与有组织的宗教无关，那是另一种形式的暴政。但为什么没有谦卑呢？

“For the simple reason that if one were humble, one would not be able to do anything,” asserted the friend. “Humility is for the recluse, not for the man of action.”

“原因很简单，如果一个人谦虚，他就无能为力，” 这位朋友断言。 “谦卑是给隐士的，而不是给行动的人。”

You haven’t moved away from your conclusions, have you? You came with them, and you will leave with them; and to think from conclusions is obviously not to think at all. “What prevents humility?” asked the first one.

你没有远离你的各种结论，对吧？你和它们一起来，你将和它们一起离开。从结论中思考，显然根本不是思考。 “是什么阻止了谦卑？” 第一个人问道。

Fear. Fear of saying “I don’t know; fear of not being a leader, of not being important; fear of not being in the show, whether it be the traditional show, or the latest ideology.

恐惧。恐惧说“我不知道；恐怕不成为领导者，害怕不受重视；害怕不参加节目，无论是传统的节目，还是最新的意识形态。

“Am I afraid?” he asked musingly.

“我恐惧吗？” 他沉思地问道。

Can another answer that question? Mustn’t one discover the truth of the matter for oneself? “I suppose I have been in the limelight for so long that I have taken it for granted that the activities in which I am engaged are the good and the true. You are perfectly right. There’s a certain amount of modification and adjustment on our part, but we dare not think too deeply, because we want to be among the leaders, or at least with the leaders; we don’t want to be the forgotten men.”

另一个人能回答这个问题吗？难道不能自己发现事情的真相吗？ “我想，我在聚光灯下的时间太长了，以至于我理所当然地认为我所从事的活动是善良的、真实的。你是完全正确的。我们有一定的修改和调整，但我们不敢想得太深，因为我们想成为领导者中的一员，或者至少与领导者一起；我们不想成为被遗忘的人。”

Surely, all this indicates that you are really not interested in the people, but in ideologies, schemes and Utopias. You do not love the people, or feel sympathy for them; you love yourself, through your personal identification with certain theories, ideals and reformatory activities. You remain, clothed in a different respectability. You help the people in the name of something, for the good of something. You are actually concerned, not with helping the people, but with advancing the plan or the organization which you assert will help the people. Isn’t this where your real interest lies?

当然，所有这些都表明，你真的对人民不感兴趣，而是对意识形态、阴谋和乌托邦感兴趣。你不爱人民，也不同情他们；你爱自己，通过你对某些理论、理想和改革活动的个人认同。你留了下来，扛着不同的高尚的旗帜。你以某个名义、某种利益帮助人民。你实际上关心的，不是帮助人民，而是推进计划或这个你断言会帮助人民的机构。这难道不是你真正感兴趣的吗？