对生活的评注 3-50

IT WAS A very clear, starry night. There was not a cloud in the sky. The dull roar of the neighbouring city had subsided, and there was a great stillness, unbroken even by the hoot of an owl. The waning moon was just above the tall palms, which were very still, bewitched by the silence. Orion was well up in the western sky, and the Southern Cross was over the hills. Not a house had a light in it, and the narrow road was deserted and dark.

一个非常晴朗的星空之夜。天空中没有一朵云。附近城市的沉闷的咆哮已经平息，出现了一种巨大的静，甚至连猫头鹰的嘶吼声都没有打破它。苍白的月亮就在高大的棕榈树上方，它们非常静止，被寂静所迷惑。猎户座在西垂的天空，南十字星在山上。没有一所房子里有光亮，狭窄的道路荒凉而黑暗。

Suddenly, from somewhere among the trees, there came the sound of wailing. At first it was muted, and produced a strange impression of mystery and fear. As it drew nearer, the wailing became sharp and noisy, and it sounded artificial; the sadness didn’t ring quite true. Into the open at last came a procession of people with lamps, and the wailing went on louder than ever. They were carrying on their shoulders what appeared, in the pale moonlight to be a dead body. Going slowly along a path that crossed the open ground and turned to the right, the procession disappeared again among the trees. The wailing grew fainter, and finally stopped. Again there was complete silence – that strange silence which comes when the world is asleep, and which has a quality of its own. It wasn’t the silence of the forest, of the desert, of far, isolated places; nor was it the silence of a fully awakened mind. It was the silence of toil and weariness, of sorrow and the surface flutter of joy. This silence would pass with the coming dawn, and would return with the coming again of the night.

突然，从树林中间的某个地方传来哀嚎声。起初，它是无声的，并产生了一种神秘和恐惧的奇怪印象。当它靠近时，哭声变得尖锐而嘈杂，听起来像是人造的；悲伤听起来并不完全真实。终于，在开阔的旷野上，一列游行的队伍带着灯进入了，哭声比以往任何时候都要响亮。他们肩上扛着，在苍白的月光下，看起来像是一具尸体的东西。穿过旷野，沿着一条转向右边的小路缓慢前进，游行的队伍再次消失在树林中。哀嚎声越来越微弱，终于停止了。又一次完全的静 —— 那种奇怪的静，当世界睡着了就会出现，它有自己的特质。它不是森林的、沙漠的、遥远的、与世隔绝的静；也不是一个完全苏醒的头脑的静。它是辛劳、疲惫、悲伤、喜悦肤浅颤动的静止。这种静，会随着黎明的到来而过去，也会随着夜晚的再次降临而回归。

The next morning our host inquired, “Did that procession last night disturb you?”

第二天早上，我们的主人问道：“昨晚的游行打扰到你了吗？”

What was it? “When someone is seriously ill, they call an M.D., but to be on the safe side, they also bring in a man who is supposed to be able to drive away the evil of death. After chanting over the sick man and doing all kinds of fantastic things, the exorcist himself lies down and gives every appearance of going through the pangs of death. Then he is tied on a litter, carried in a procession with much wailing to the burial or burning place, and left there. presently his assistant unties the cords and he comes back to life; the chanting over the sick man is resumed, and then they all quietly go back to their homes. If the patient recovers, the magic has worked; if he does not, then the evil has been too strong.”

它是什么？ “当有人病重时，他们会打电话给医生，但为了安全起见，他们还带来了一个应该能够驱赶死亡邪恶的人。在对着病人吟诵并做了各种奇妙的事情之后，驱魔师自己躺了下来，并给出了经历死亡痛苦的每一个表象。然后他被绑在小担架上，带着许多哭泣的游行队伍到埋葬或焚烧的地方，然后留在那里。现在，他的助手解开了绳索，他复活了；对病人的吟唱恢复了，然后他们都悄悄地回到了自己的家。如果病人康复，魔法已经起作用；如果他没有，那么邪恶就太强大了。”

The elderly man who had come was a sannyasi, a religious ascetic who had given up the world. His head was shaven, his only garment a newly-washed loincloth of saffron, and he carried a long staff, which he laid beside him as he sat on the floor with the ease of long practice. His body was slim and well-disciplined, and he leaned slightly forward as though he were listening, but his back was perfectly straight. He was very clean, his face was clear and fresh, and he had about him the dignity of otherworldliness. When he spoke he looked up, but otherwise he kept his eyes down. There was something very pleasant and friendly about him. He had travelled on foot all over the land going from village to village and from town to town. He walked only in the mornings, and towards evening, not when the sun was hot. Being a sannyasi and a member of the highest caste he had no trouble in getting food, for he was received with respect and fed with care. When, on rare occasions, he travelled by train, it was always without a ticket, for he was a holy man, and he had the air of one whose thoughts were not of this world.

来访的老人是一个桑雅生，一个放弃了世俗的宗教苦行僧。他的头被剃光了，他唯一的衣服是新洗过的藏红花腰布，他拿着一根长长的法杖，他把它放在旁边，当他坐在地板上时间训练时。他的身体廋削，戒律严明，他微微前倾，好像在听，但他的背部是完全挺直的。他很干净，脸干净清新，身上有超凡脱俗的尊严。当他说话时，他抬起头，但在其他时间，他一直低着眼睛。他身上有一些非常愉快和友好的东西。他徒步走遍了整个大陆，从一个村庄到另一个村庄，从一个城镇到另一个城镇。他只在早晨走路，一直到傍晚，当太阳很热的时候不走。作为一个桑雅生和最高种姓的一员，他在获得食物方面没有遇到任何麻烦，因为他受到尊重和照顾。在极少数情况下，他乘火车旅行时，总是没有车票，因为他是一个圣人，他有一种思想不属于这个世界的人的气息。

“From one’s youth the world has had little attraction, and when one left the family, the house, the property, it was for always. One has never returned. It has been an arduous life, and the mind is now well-disciplined. One has listened to spiritual teachers in the north and in the south; one has gone on pilgrimages to different shrines and temples, where there was holiness and right teaching. One has searched in the silence of secluded places, far from the haunts of men, and one knows the beneficial effects of solitude and meditation. One has witnessed the upheavals this country has passed through in recent years – the turning of man against man, of sect against sect, the killing, and the coming and going of the political leaders, with their schemes and promised benefits. The cunning and the innocent the powerful and the weak, the wealthy and the poor – they have always coexisted, and always will; for that is the way of the world.”

“从一个人的年轻时代起，这个世界就没有什么吸引力，当一个人离开家庭、房子、财产时，它总是如此。一个人再也没有回来。这是一段艰苦的人生，现在头脑已经井井有条。一个人听了北方和南方的灵性导师；一个人去朝圣不同的神社和寺庙，那里有圣洁和正确的教导。一个人在僻静的地方寻找，远离人的出没，一个人知道孤寂和冥想的有益效果。人目睹了这个国家近年来经历的动荡 —— 人与人，教派与教派的转向，政治领导人的杀戮，以及他们的计划和承诺的利益的来来去去。狡猾的人和无辜的人、强者和弱者、富人和穷人 —— 他们总是共存，而且永远都会共存。因为那是世界的道路。”

He was silent for a minute or two, and then continued. “In the talk of the other evening, it was said that the mind must be free from ideas, formulations, conclusions. Why?”

他沉默了一两分钟，然后继续说下去。 “在前几天晚上的谈话中，说到，头脑必须摆脱思想观念、公式、结论。为什么？”

Can search begin from a conclusion, from that which is already known? Must not search begin in freedom? “When there’s freedom, is there any need to search? Freedom is the end of search.”

探索可以从一个结论开始，从已经知道的东西开始吗？难道探索不必从自由开始吗？ “当有自由时，有必要探索吗？自由是探索的终点。”

Surely freedom from the known is only the beginning of search. Unless the mind is free from knowledge as experience and conclusion, there is no discovery, but only a continuance, however modified, of what has been. The past dictates and interprets further experience, thereby strengthening itself. To think from a conclusion, from a belief, is not to think at all.

当然，从已知中解脱，只是探索的开始。除非头脑从作为体验和结论的知识中解脱，否则不存在发现，只有对已经发生的东西的延续，不论怎样去修改它。过去决定并解释更多的体验，从而强化自身。从结论、从信念中思考，根本不是思考。

“The past is what one is now and it is made up of the things that one has put together through desire and its activities. Is there a possibility of being free of the past?”

“过去就是人现在的样子，它由一个人通过欲望及其活动而收集的东西所组装出来的。有可能摆脱过去吗？”

Isn’t there? Neither the past nor the present is ever static, fixed, finally determined. The past is the result of many pressures, influences and conflicting experiences, and it becomes the moving present, which is also changing, being transformed under the ceaseless pressure of many different influences. The mind is the result of the past, it is put together by time, by circumstances, by incidents and experiences based on the past. But everything that happens to it, outwardly and inwardly, affects it. It does not continue as it was, nor will it be as it is.

难道不可能吗？过去和现在都不是静止的、固定的、最终确定的。过去是由许多压力、影响和相互冲突的体验而产生的，它变成正在移动的现在，现在也在变化，在许多不同影响的持续压力下变形。头脑是过去的产物，它由时间、环境、基于过去的事件和体验拼凑而成。但是，发生在它身上的一切，无论是外在的还是内在的，都影响着它。它不会像以前那样继续，也不会停留于现状。

“Is this always so?”

“总是这样吗？”

Only a specialized thing is set forever in a mould. The seed of rice will never, under any circumstances, become wheat, and the rose can never become the palm. But fortunately the human mind is not specialized, and it can always break away from what has been; it needn’t be a slave to tradition. “But karma is not so easily disposed of; that which has been built up through many lives cannot quickly be broken.”

只有特定的东西，才能永远放在模具里。在任何情况下，水稻的种子都不会变成小麦，玫瑰也永远不可能变成棕榈树。但幸运的是，人类的头脑不是特定的，它总是可以脱离过去的东西。它不必成为传统的奴隶。 “但是业力没有那么容易处理；通过许多世建立起来的东西不能很快被打破。”

Why not? What has been put together through centuries or only yesterday, can be undone immediately.

为什么不呢？几个世纪以来或仅在昨天所收集的东西，可以立即销毁。

“In what manner?”

“以什么方式？”

Through the understanding of this chain of cause-effect. Neither cause nor effect is ever final, unchangeable – that would be everlasting enslavement and decay. Each effect of a cause is undergoing many influences from within and from without, it is constantly changing, and it becomes in its turn the cause of still another effect. Through the understanding of what is actually taking place, this process can be stopped instantaneously, and there is freedom from that which has been. Karma is not an ever-enduring chain; it’s a chain that can be broken at any time. What was done yesterday can be undone today; there’s no permanent continuance of anything. Continuance can and must be dissipated through the understanding of its process.

通过理解这个因果链。无论是因，还是果，都不是最终的，不可改变的 —— 否则，那将是永恒的奴役和腐朽。一个原因的每一个结果都在经历着来自内部和外部的许多影响，它不断变化，反过来又成为另一个结果的原因。通过理解实际发生的，这个过程可以立即停止，那么，就能从现状中解放。业力不是一条永恒的锁链；它是一条可以随时可打破的链条。昨天所做的工作今天可以撤销；任何东西都没有永久的延续性。可以而且必须通过理解其过程来消除延续性。

“All this is clearly seen, but there’s another problem which must be clarified. It is this. Attachment to family and to property ceased long ago; but the mind is still attached to ideas, to beliefs, to visions.” “It was easy to shake off attachment to worldly things, but with the things of the mind, it’s a different matter. The mind is made up of thought, and thought exists in the form of ideas and beliefs. The mind dare not be empty, for if it were empty, it would cease to be; therefore it is attached to ideas, to hopes, and to its belief in the things that lie beyond itself.”

“所有这些都是显而易见的，但还有另一个问题必须澄清。那就是：对家庭和财产的依恋早已停止。但头脑仍然依附于思想、信仰、异象。” “摆脱对世俗事物的依恋很容易，但对于头脑的事物，又是另一回事。头脑是由思想组成的，思想以观念和信仰的形式存在。头脑不敢空虚，因为如果空虚，它就不复存在了。因此，它依附于想法、希望，依附于超越它自身的事物的信仰。”

You say it was easy to shake off attachment to family and property. Why then is it not easy to be free of attachment to ideas and beliefs? Are not the same factors involved in each case? A man clings to family and property because without them he feels lost, empty, alone; and it is for the same reason that the mind is attached to ideas, visions, beliefs. “That is so. Being physically alone, in solitary places, causes one no concern, for one is alone even among the multitude; but the mind shrinks from being without the things of the mind.”

你说很容易摆脱对家庭和财产的依恋。那么，为什么摆脱对观念和信仰的执着并不容易呢？每个案例中，所涉及的因素不是相同的吗？一个人紧紧抓住家庭和财产，因为没有它们，他感到迷失、空虚、孤独；正是出于同样的原因，头脑依附于观念、异象、信仰。 “就是那样。独自待在孤寂的地方，不会引起人的关心，因为即使在众人中，一个人也是单独的。但是头脑从它的空虚中退缩了。”

This shrinking is fear, is it not? Fear is caused, not by the fact of being outwardly or inwardly alone, but by anticipation of the feeling of being alone. We are afraid not of the fact, but of the anticipated effect of the fact. The mind foresees and is afraid of what might be.

这种退缩是恐惧，不是吗？恐惧的产生，不是因为外在或内在的单独，而是因为对‘单独’这种感觉的预判。我们害怕的不是事实，而是事实的预期效果。头脑预见并恐惧可能发生的事。

“Then is fear always of the anticipated future and never of the fact?”

“那么，恐惧总是对未来的预期，而不是对事实的恐惧吗？”

Isn’t it? When there is fear of what has been, that fear is not of the fact itself, but of its being discovered, shown up, which again is in the future. The mind is afraid, not of the unknown, but of losing the known. There is no fear of the past; but fear is caused by the thought of what the effects of that past might be. One is afraid of the inner aloneness, the sense of emptiness, that might arise if the mind no longer had something to cling to; so there is attachment to an ideology, a belief, which prevents the understanding of what is.

难道不是吗？当对已经发生的事情感到恐惧时，这种恐惧不是对事实本身的恐惧，而是对被发现的、显现出来的情景，可能在未来出现的预期。头脑恐惧，不是恐惧未知，而是害怕失去已知。过去没有恐惧；但恐惧源于‘过去可能产生的影响’的思考。一个人害怕内在的单独、空虚的感觉，如果头脑不再有东西可以依附，就可能出现这种感觉。因此，产生了对一种意识形态，一种信仰的执着，这样一来，就阻碍了对现状的理解。