THIS LANE WENT down to the sea from the wide, well-lit road, passing between the garden walls of many rich houses. It was quiet there, for the walls seemed to shut out the noise of the town. The lane curved in and out a great deal, and on the white walls the shadows danced when the breeze stirred in the trees. The breeze was laden with many odors: the tang of the sea, the smell of the evening meal, the perfume of jasmine, and the fumes of exhaust. Now it was coming from the sea, and there was a strange intensity. A large white flower was growing in the dark soil beside the path, and the evening was full of its fragrance. The path continued downward, and it wasn’t long before it met another road which ran along the sea. A young man was sitting beside the road, and he had a dog on a leash. They were both resting. It was a large, powerful dog, sleek and well-fed. Its owner must have considered the dog more important than the man, for the man was wearing soiled clothes and had a frightened, dejected look. It was the dog who was important, not the man and the dog seemed to know it. Dogs of good breed are snobbish, anyway. Two people came along, talking and laughing, and the dog growled threateningly as they passed; but they paid no attention, for the dog was on a leash and firmly held. A small boy was carrying something very heavy, and he could only just manage it; but he was surprisingly cheerful, and he smiled as he went by.
这条小巷从宽阔的、光线充足的主道一直延伸到大海， 穿行于许多富豪房屋的花园的围墙之间。 它很安静，因为墙似乎挡住了镇上的噪音。 小巷进进出出地弯曲， 在白色的墙壁上，当微风搅动树枝时，阴影会跳舞。 微风中弥漫着许多气味：大海的气味、 晚餐的气味、茉莉花香和废气的排烟。 现在它从大海而来，有一种奇怪的烈度。 一朵大白花在路边的黑土中生长， 傍晚的气息内，充盈着它的芬芳。 继续往这条路走下走， 没过多久，它就遇到了另一条沿着大海延伸的路。 一个年轻人坐在路边，他的旁边是一只拴着皮带的狗。 他们都在休息。这是一只又大又有力的狗，圆胖，吃得饱饱的。 它的主人一定认为狗比那个人更重要， 因为那人穿着脏衣服，有一种忧惧、沮丧的表情。 重要的是狗，而不是人，狗似乎知道。 无论如何，好品种的狗是势利的。 有两个人走了过来，又说又笑， 当他们经过时，狗威胁性地咆哮着； 但是他们没有注意，因为狗被皮带拴住，牢牢地控制着。 一个小男孩背着很重的东西，他竭力地承受着。 但他出奇地开朗，他路过时，带着微笑。
It was now fairly quiet; no cars were passing, and there was no one on the road. Gradually the intensity grew. It was not induced by the quietness of the evening, or the starlit sky, or the dancing shadows, or the dog on a leash, or the fragrance of the passing breeze; but all these things were within that intensity. There was only intensity, simple and clear, without a cause without a god without the whisper of a promise. It was so strong that the body was momentarily incapable of any movement. All the senses had a heightened sensitivity. The mind that strange and complex thing, was drained of all thought and so was completely awake; it was a light in which there was no shadow. One’s whole being was aflame with an intensity that consumed the movement of time. The symbol of time is thought, and in that flame the noise of a passing bus and the perfume of the white flower were consumed. Sound and fragrance wove into each other, but were two distinct, separate flames. Without a tremor, and without the watcher, the mind was aware of this timeless intensity; it was itself the flame, clear, intense, innocent.
现在相当安静。没有汽车经过，路上也没人。 渐渐地，烈度增加了。 它不是由傍晚的宁静，或星光灿烂的天空， 或跳舞的阴影，或拴着皮带的狗，或微风的芬芳所诱发的； 但所有的这些都在那个烈度之内。 只有烈度，简单而清明， 没有一个原因，没有一个神，没有一个允诺的低语。 它是如此强大，以至于身体暂时无法进行任何移动。 所有的感官都有一个更高的灵敏度。 那个被称之为‘头脑’的奇怪而复杂的东西， 排尽了所有的思想，因而完全地苏醒； 它是没有影的光。 一个人的整个存在，被一种吞噬时间运动的烈度点燃了。 时间的符号是思想，在那火焰中， 一辆路过的公交车的噪音和白色花朵的芬芳被吞噬了。 声音和芬香交织，但却是两种截然不同的、分离的火苗。 没有一丝震颤，没有观察者，头脑意识到这种非时间的烈度； 它自身即是这火焰，清晰，强烈，纯粹。
He and his wife were there in the small room, whose only window gave upon a blank wall in front of which stood the brown trunk of a large tree. You saw only the massive trunk and not the spreading branches. He was a big, well-built man, and rather heavy. His smile was quick and friendly, but his keen eyes could show anger, and his tongue could be very sharp. He had evidently read a great deal, and wag now trying to go beyond knowledge. His wife was clear-eyed, with a pleasant face; she too was large, but not flabby. She took little part in the conversation, but listened with apparent interest. They had no children.
他和他的妻子在小房间里， 唯一的窗户朝向一堵白墙， 墙的前方站立着一棵棕色树干的大树。 你只看到巨大的树干，没有看到蔓延的树枝。 他是一个身材高大、健壮的人，而且相当沉稳。 他的笑容又快又友好， 但他敏锐的眼睛可能表现出愤怒，他的舌头可以非常锋利。 他显然读了很多书，现在正试图超越知识。 他的妻子眼神清亮，带着愉快的表情。 她也很高大，却并不软弱。 她很少参与谈话，但显然很感兴趣地听着。 他们没有孩子。
“Is it ever possible to free the mind from memory?” he began. “Is not memory the very substance of the mind – memory being the knowledge and experience of centuries? Does not every experience strengthen memory? In any case, I have never been able to understand why one should be free from the past as you seem to maintain. The past is rich with pleasant associations and remembrances. Fortunately one can often forget the unpleasant or sorrowful incidents, but the pleasant memories remain. There would be great poverty of being if all the experience and knowledge one has gained were to be put aside. It would be a poor mind indeed that had no depth of knowledge and experience. It would be a primitive mind.”
“有没有可能把头脑从记忆中解放出来？”他开始说。 “记忆作为几个世纪的知识和经验， 它难道不是头脑的材质吗？ 难道不是每一次体验都能增强记忆力吗？ 无论如何，我一直无法理解 为什么一个人应该从过去中解脱，你似乎坚持这一点。 过去充满了愉快的联想和回忆。 幸运的是，人经常可以忘记不愉快或悲伤的事件， 但愉快的回忆仍然存在。 如果把所获得的所有体验和知识都放在一边， 那将非常的贫穷。 它可能是一个没有深厚的知识和体验的可怜的头脑。 它可能是一个原始的头脑。”
If you do not feel the necessity of being free from the past, then it is not a problem, is it? Then the richness of the past, with all its sufferings and joys, will be maintained. But is the past a living thing? Or does the movement of the present give life to the past? The present, with its demanding intensity and changeful swiftness, is a constant challenge to the mind. The present and the past are always in conflict unless the mind is capable of meeting wholly the swift present. Conflict arises only when the mind, burdened with the past, the known, the experienced, responds incompletely to the challenge of the present, which is always new, changing.
如果你没有觉得有必要从过去中解脱， 那么，它没有问题，有吗？ 然后，过去的丰富性，以及它所有的痛苦和喜悦，将得到维持。 但过去是活的吗， 或者，是现在的运动把生机带给了它？ 现在，以其苛刻的烈度和多变的迅速性， 是对头脑的一个持续性的挑战。 现在和过去总是在冲突之中， 除非头脑能够完全地面对迅速的现在。 只有当头脑背负着过去、已知、体验， 对现在的挑战作出不充分的回应时，冲突才会产生， 而现在，总是新的、不断变化的。
“Can the mind ever respond completely to the present? It seems to me that one’s mind is always coloured by the past; and is it ever possible to be wholly free of this coloration?”
“头脑能对现在做出充分的回应吗？ 在我看来，一个人的头脑总是被过去染色。 它有没有可能完全摆脱这种浸染呢？”
Let us go into it and find out. The past is time is it not? – time as experience, knowledge; and all further experience strengthens the past. “How?”
让我们深入研究并寻找。过去是时间，不是吗？ —— 作为体验、知识的时间； 所有进一步的体验都强化了过去。 “如何？”
When an event takes place in one’s life and one has what we call an experience, this experience is immediately translated in terms of the past. If one has a particular religious belief that belief may bring about certain experiences which in turn strengthen the belief. The superficial mind may adjust itself to the pressures and demands of its immediate environment; but the hidden part of the mind is heavily conditioned by the past, and it is this conditioning, this background that dictates the experience. The whole movement of consciousness is the response of the past, is it not? The past is essentially static, dormant, it has no action of its own; but it comes to life when any challenge is offered to it; it responds. All thinking is the response of the past, of accumulated experience, knowledge. So all thinking is conditioned; freedom is beyond the power of thought.
当一个事件发生在一个人的生活中， 并且一个人拥有我们所说的体验时， 这个体验立即被翻译成过去。 如果一个人有特定的宗教信仰， 这种信仰可能会带来某些体验，从而强化了信仰。 这个肤浅的头脑可能会适应它周围环境的压力和要求； 但头脑的隐藏部分受到过去的严重制约， 正是这种制约，这种背景，描述了体验。 意识的整个运动都是过去的回响，它不是吗？ 在本质上，过去是静态的、休眠的，它没有它自己的行动； 但是当任何的挑战召唤它时，它出来应战了。 所有的思考都是过去、积累的经验、知识的回应。 所以，所有的思考都是局限性的； 自由超越了思想的权力。
“Then how is the mind ever to be free of its own limitations?”
“那，头脑怎么会摆脱自己的局限呢？”
If one may ask, why should the mind – which is itself the past, the result of time – be free? What is the motive behind your question? Why does it arise at all? Is it a theoretical or an actual problem? “I think it is both. There is the speculative curiosity to know, as one might want to know about the structure of matter, and it’s also a personal problem. It’s a problem to me in the sense that there seems to be no way out of my conditioning. I may break out of one pattern of thought, but in that very process another pattern is formed. Does the breaking up of the old ever bring the new into being?”
如果有人可以问，为什么头脑 —— 它本身就是过去，是时间的结果 —— 应该解放呢？ 你这个问题背后的动机是什么？ 为什么它会出现？ 它是一个理论问题还是一个实际问题？ “我认为两者兼而有之。 有一种推测性的好奇心，想要知道， 因为人可能想知道事件的结构，它也是一个个人问题。 它对我来说是一个问题，因为似乎没有出路来摆脱我的局限性。 我可能会打破一种思考模式， 但在那个过程中，形成了另一种模式。 打破旧的，会带来新的存在吗？”
If it is recognizable as the new, is it the new? Surely that which is recognized as the new is still the outcome of the past. Recognition is born of memory. It is only when the past ceases that the new can be. “But is it possible for the mind to break through the curtain of the past?”
如果它是可识别的新事物，那么它是新的吗？ 当然，那被认为是新的东西，仍然是过去的产物。 识别源于记忆。只有当过去停止时，新的才能存在。 “但是，头脑有可能冲破过去的窗帘吗？”
Again, why are you asking this question? “As I said, one is curious to know; and there is also the desire to be free of certain unpleasant and painful memories.”
再说一遍，你为什么要问这个问题？ “正如我所说，人很好奇； 还有某种想要摆脱不愉快和痛苦的记忆的欲望。”
Mere curiosity does not lead very far. And to hold on to the pleasant while trying to get rid of the unpleasant, only makes the mind dull, superficial; it does not bring freedom. The mind must be free from both, not just from the unpleasant. Enslavement to pleasant memories is obviously not freedom. The desire to hold on to what is pleasant breeds conflict in life; this conflict further conditions the mind, and such a mind can never be free. As long as the mind is caught in the stream of memory, pleasant or unpleasant; as long as it is held in the chain of cause-effect; as long as it is using the present as a passage from the past to the future, it can never be free. Freedom is then merely an idea, not an actuality. The truth of this must be seen, and then your question will have quite a different significance.
仅仅好奇，并不能走得很远。 而紧抓愉快，同时又试图摆脱不愉快， 只会使头脑变得沉闷、肤浅；它不会带来自由。 头脑必须从两者中解脱，而不只是从不愉快中。 被美好的回忆奴役，显然不是自由。 抓握愉快的欲望，滋生出生命的冲突； 这种冲突进一步制约头脑，而这样的头脑永远不可能自由。 只要头脑掉进记忆的洪流中，愉快或不愉快； 只要它被栓在因果链上； 只要它把现在当作从过去到未来的通道， 它就永无自由。 那么，自由只是一种想法，而不是一个事实。 必须看到这一点的真实性， 然后你的问题将具有完全不同的意义。
“If I see the truth of it, will there be freedom?”
“如果我看到它的真实性，会有自由吗？”
Speculation is vain. The truth must be seen, the actual fact that there’s no freedom as long as the mind is a prisoner of the past must be experienced. “Has a man who is free in this ultimate sense any relationship to the stream of causation and time? If not, then what is the good of this freedom? What value or significance has such a man in this world of joy and pain?”
推测是徒劳的。 必须看到真实，感受这个事实： 只要头脑是过去的囚徒，就没有自由。 “一个在这种终极意义上自由的人， 与因果链的洪流有任何关系吗？ 如果没有，那么这种自由有什么好处呢？ 在这个充满欢乐和痛苦的世界里，这样的人有什么价值或意义？”
It’s strange how we nearly always think in terms of utility. Are you not asking this question from the boat adrift on the stream of time? And from there you want to know what significance a free man has for the people in the boat. probably none at all. Most people are not interested in freedom; and when they meet a man who is free, they either make of him a deity and place him in a shrine or they put him away in stone or in words – which is to destroy him. But surely your concern is not with such a man. Your concern is with freeing the mind of the past – the mind that is you.
奇怪的是，我们几乎总是从功利的角度来思考。 你站在时间的洪流中漂流的船上，问这个问题，难道不是吗？ 从那里你想知道：一个自由的人对船上的人有什么意义。 可能根本没有。 大多数人对自由不感兴趣； 当他们遇到一个自由的人时， 他们要么把他变成神，把他放在神龛里， 要么把他放在石头里或文字里 —— 也就是毁灭他。 但是，你肯定不关心这样的人。 你所关心的是解放那个过去的头脑 —— 那个头脑就是你。
“When once the mind is free, then what is its responsibility?”
“当头脑一旦自由时，那么，它的责任是什么？”
The word ‘responsibility’ is not applicable to such a mind. Its very existence has an explosive action on time, on the past. It is this explosive action that is of the highest importance. The man who remains in the boat and asks for help wants it in the pattern of the past, in the field of recognition, and to this the free mind has no reply; but that explosive freedom acts on the bondage of time. “I don’t know what I can say to all this. I really came with my wife out of curiosity and I find myself becoming deeply serious. At some depth of myself I am serious, and I am discovering it for the first time. Many of my generation have turned away from the recognized religions, but deep down there is the religious feeling, with very little opportunity for it to come out. One must avail oneself of the present opportunity.”
‘责任’这个词并不适用于这样的头脑。 它存在的本身，就对时间、对过去具有爆炸性的动作。 正是这种爆炸性动作，才是最重要的。 留在船上并寻求帮助的人 希望它在过去的模式，在识别的领域内， 对这个自由的头脑没有回复； 但那种爆炸性的自由，作用于时间的束缚。 “我不知道我能对这一切说些什么。 我真地是出于好奇和妻子一起过来，我发现自己变得非常严肃。 在我自己的某个深度，我是严肃的， 我第一次发现它。 我们这一代人中的许多人都背弃了公认的宗教， 但在内心深处有这种宗教情感， 几乎没有机会让它出现。 一个人必须利用目前的机会。”