THERE IS A cabin high among the hills, somewhat isolated although there are other cabins there. The cabin was among those gigantic marvellous old trees, the sequoias. Some of them are said to have existed from the time of the ancient Egyptians, perhaps from Rameses the Second. They are really marvellous trees. Their bark is rose-coloured and bright in the morning sunlight. These trees cannot be burnt; their bark resists fire and I you can see where the old Indians built a fire round the tree; the dark mark of fire is still there. They are really quite gigantic in size, their trunks are enormous and if you sit very still under them in the morning light, with the sun among the tree tops, all the squirrels there will come up quite close to you. They are very inquisitive like the blue-jays, for there are jays too, blue, blue birds, always ready to scold you, asking why you are there, telling you that you are disturbing their area and should go away as quickly as possible. But if you remain quiet, watching, looking at the beauty of the sunlight among the leaves in the still air, then they will leave you alone, accept you as the squirrels do.
在山上有一个高高的小屋，尽管那里还有其他小屋，但它显得有些偏僻。 小屋在那些巨大的、奇妙的、古老的红杉林之中。 据说其中一些从古埃及时代就已经存在了，也许来自拉美西斯二世。 它们真的是奇妙的树。它们的树皮呈玫瑰色，在早晨的阳光下明亮起来。 这些树不会被烧毁，他们的树皮能防火，你能看到古老的印第安人在树旁生火的痕迹; 火留下的暗黑痕印仍然还在。 它们真的很大，它们的树干是巨大的，如果你在晨光下静静地坐在它们下面， 太阳在树梢之间，这儿所有的松鼠都会靠近你。 他们像蓝鸦一样非常好奇，这里也有鸟儿，蓝色的，蓝鸟，总是准备责骂你， 问你为什么在那里，告诉你你在打扰他们的地盘，应尽快离开。 但是，如果你依然安静，观看静止的空气中，树叶间阳光的美丽， 那么它们就会让你独自一人，像松鼠一样接受你。
It was not the season, so the cabins were empty and you were alone, and at night it was so silent. And occasionally the bears would come and you could hear their heavy bodies against the cabin. It could have been quite a savage place, for modern civilization had not quite destroyed it. You have to climb from the planes, in and out, up and up and up, until you reach this sequoia forest. There were streams rushing down the slope. It was so extraordinarily beautiful to be alone among these vast, very tall great trees, ancient beyond the memory and so utterly unconcerned with what was going on in the world, silent in their ancient dignity and strength. And in this cabin, surrounded by these old ageless trees, you were alone day after day, watching, taking long walks, hardly meeting anyone. From such a height you could see the planes, sunlit, busy; you could see the cars like small insects chasing one another. And up here only the real insects were busy about their day. There were a great many ants. The red ones crawled over your legs but they never seemed to pay much attention to you.
现在还没到季节，所以小屋是空的，你独自一人，夜里，如此的寂静。 偶尔熊会来，你可以听到他们沉重的身体撞击小屋。 这可能是一个相当野蛮的地方，因为现代文明并没有完全摧毁它。 你必须从平地开始爬，进进出出，往上，往上，再往上爬，直到你到达这片红杉林。 有溪流冲下斜坡。 独自一人置身于这些广阔而又高大的丛林中，古老无比，超越了记忆。 完全不关心世界上正在发生的事情，在它们那古老的尊严和气氛下，寂寥无声。 在这个小屋里，被这些古老的不老树包围着， 你日复一日地独自一人，观察，散步，几乎没有遇到任何人。 从这样的高度，你可以看到平地，阳光，繁忙; 你可以看到汽车像小昆虫一样互相追逐。 在这里，只有真正的昆虫忙于日常的生计。这里很多蚂蚁。 那些红色的蚂蚁们爬过你的腿，但它们似乎从来没有关注过你。
From this cabin you fed the squirrels. There was one particular squirrel that would come every morning and you had a bag of peanuts and you would give them to it one by one: it would stuff it in its mouth, cross over the window-sill and come to the table with its bushy tail curled up, almost touching its head. It would take many of these shelled peanuts, or sometimes even the unshelled ones, and jump back across the window-sill down to the veranda and along the open space into a dead tree with a hollow in it which was its home. It would come perhaps for an hour or more wanting these peanuts, back and forth, back and forth. And it was quite tame by then, you could stroke it, it was so soft, so gentle, it looked with eyes of surprise and then friendship. It knew you wouldn't hurt it. One day, closing all the windows when it was inside and the bag of peanuts was on the table, it took the usual mouthful and then went to the windows and the door, which were all closed, and realized it was a prisoner. It came hopping along to the table, jumped on to it, looked at one and began to scold. After all, you couldn't keep that lively beautiful thing as a prisoner, so you opened the windows. It jumped down to the floor, climbed over the window-sill, went back to the dead trunk and came right back asking for more. From then on we were really great friends. After it had stuffed that hole full of peanuts, probably for the winter, it would go along up the trunks of the trees chasing other squirrels and would always come back to its dead trunk. Then sometimes of an evening it would come to the window-sill and sit there and would chatter, looking at me, telling me something of the day's work, and as it grew darker it said goodnight and jumped back to its home in the hole in the dead old tree. And the next morning early it would be there on the window-sill calling, chattering, and the day would begin.
从这个小屋里，你喂松鼠。 每天早上都会有一只特别的松鼠来，你有一袋花生，你会把花生一颗一颗地给它： 它会把它塞进嘴里，穿过窗台，来到桌子上，它浓密的尾巴蜷曲着，几乎碰到它的头。 它会拿走许多这些带壳的花生，有的甚至是没带壳的花生， 然后穿过窗台跳下阳台， 沿着空旷之处，跳到一棵枯树，里面有一个空心，那是它的家。 它可能会来一个小时或更长时间，想要这些花生，来来回回，来来回回。 那时它已经很温驯了，你可以抚摸它，它是如此柔软，如此温柔， 它看起来带着惊讶的眼睛，然后是友谊。它知道你不会伤害它。 有一天，当它在里面时，所有的窗户都关上了，桌子上有一袋花生， 它像往常一样，然后走到窗户和门前，它们都关上了，并意识到它是一个囚犯。 它跳到桌子旁，跳上了桌子，看着一个人，开始责骂。 毕竟，你不愿意扣留那个活泼的美丽的小家伙，使它成了囚犯，所以你打开了窗户。 它跳下地板，爬过窗台，回到枯树之内，接着马上又回来了，要求更多。 从那时起，我们成了真正的好朋友。 在它把洞内塞满了花生之后，大概是为了过冬， 它会沿着树干追逐其他松鼠，并且总是会回到它那枯树洞中。 然后，有时在一个晚上，它会来到窗台，坐在那里聊天，瞧着我， 告诉我一天的工作，天越来越黑，它说声晚安，跳回到家中，那个老树洞里。 第二天一大早，它就会在窗台上打招呼，聊天，一天就开始了。
Every animal in that forest, every little thing, was doing the same - gathering food, chasing others in fun and in anger, and the big animals like the deer were curious and looked at you. And as you climbed to a moderate height and went along a rocky path, you turned and there was a big bear, black with four cubs, as large as large cats. It pushed them up a tree, the four of them, and they climbed up to safety, and then the mother turned round and looked at me. Strangely we weren't afraid. We looked at each other for perhaps two or three seconds or more and then you turned your back and went down the same path. Only then, when you were safe in your cabin, did you realize how dangerous had been this encounter with a mother bear with four cubs.
森林里的每一只动物，每一个小家伙，都在做同样的事情 —— 收集食物，在欢乐和愤怒中追逐别人，像鹿这样的大动物都很好奇，看着你。 当你爬到山腰的高度，沿着一条岩石小径走， 你转过身来，有一只大熊，黑色的，有四只幼崽，像猫一样大。 它把他们推上了一棵树，那四个小家伙，他们爬到安全的地方，然后母亲转过身来，看着我。 奇怪的是，我们并不害怕。我们互相看了大概两三秒钟或更长时间， 然后你转过身来，沿着同一条小径走下去。 直到那时，当你在小屋里安全的时候，你才意识到与一只带着四只幼崽的母熊相遇是多么的危险。
Life is an endless process of becoming and ending. This great country was still unsophisticated in those days; it was not so terribly advanced technologically and there was not too much vulgarity, as there is now. Sitting on the steps of that cabin you watched and everything was active - the trees, the ants, the rabbits, the deer, the bear and the squirrel. Life is action. Life is a series of continuous, endless action until you die. Action born of desire is distorted, is limited, and this limited action must invariably, do what you will, bring about endless conflict. Anything that is limited must in its very nature breed many problems, crises. It is like a man, like a human being, who is all the time thinking about himself, his problems, his experiences, his joys and pleasures, his business affairs - completely self-centred. The activity of such a person is naturally very limited. One never realizes the limitation of this self-centredness. They call it fulfilment, expressing oneself, achieving success, the pursuit of pleasure and becoming something inwardly, the urge, the desire to be. All such activity must not only be limited and distorted but its successive actions in whatever direction must inevitably breed fragmentation, as is seen in this world. Desire is very strong; the monks and the sannyasis of the world have tried to suppress it, tried to identify that burning flame with some noble symbols or some image - identifying the desire with something greater - but it is still desire. Whatever action comes out of desire, may it be called noble or ignoble, is still limited, distorted.
生命是一个无休止的成为和结束的过程。这个伟大的国家在那些日子里还不成熟。 它在技术上不是那么先进，也没有像现在这样太多的庸俗。 坐在那个小屋的台阶上，你观看，一切都是活的 —— 树、蚂蚁、兔子、鹿、熊和松鼠。 生命就是行动。生命是一系列连续的、无休止的行动，直到你死去。 欲望所生的行动是扭曲的，受限的， 而这种受限的行动必然无一例外地催生出：做你自己想做的事，带来无休止的冲突。 任何有限的东西在其本质上，都必定滋生出许多问题和危机。 它就像一个人，就像人类， 他一直在思考自己：他的问题、他的经历、他的欢欣和快乐、他的业务 —— 完全以自我为中心。 这种人的活动，自然是非常有限的。 一个人永远不会意识到这种自我中心的局限性。 他们称之为满足、表达自己、获得成功、 追求快乐和内在的成长、那种冲动、那些达成的欲望。 所有这些活动必定受到了限制和扭曲，不仅如此， 而且它在任何方向上所引发的行动都不可避免地滋长了分裂，正如在这个世界上所看到的那样。 欲望很强烈；世界上的僧侣和桑雅士试图压制它， 试图用一些高贵的象征或一些形象来认同那种燃烧的火焰 —— 用更伟大的东西来认同欲望 —— 但它仍然是欲望。 不管把它称之为高尚的欲望还是卑鄙的欲望，源于欲望的所有行动仍然是有限的、扭曲的。
Now the blue-jay has come back; it is there after its morning meal, scolding to be noticed. And you threw it a few peanuts. It scolded first, then hopped down to the ground, caught a few of them in its beak, flew back on to the branch, flew off, came back scolding. And it too, day by day, became gradually tame. It came quite close with bright eyes, its tail up, the blue shining with such brightness and clarity - a blue that no painter can catch. And it scolded other birds. Probably that was its domain and it didn't want any intruders. But there are always intruders. Other birds soon came. They all seemed to like raisins and peanuts. The whole activity of existence was there.
现在蓝鸦回来了；它早餐后就在那里，责骂着，以引起别人的注意。 你扔了几颗花生给它。它先是骂，然后跳到地上，用喙抓住了其中的几颗， 飞回树枝上，飞走了，又飞回来了骂人。这么日复一日，它也逐渐地变得温驯。 非常地接近它，它有着明亮的眼睛，尾巴上翘， 闪亮的蓝光如此的明亮和清晰 —— 这是任何画家都无法捕捉到的蓝。 它骂其他鸟。可能这是它的领地，它不想要任何入侵者。但总有入侵者。 其他鸟很快就来了。他们似乎都喜欢葡萄干和花生。存在的整个活动就在那里。
The sun now was high in the heaven and there were very few shadows, but towards the evening there will be long shadows, shapely, sculptured, dark with a smile.
太阳高悬在天空，地面的阴影很小， 但到了傍晚，影子拉长、成形、被雕刻，那阴暗中含着微笑。
Is there an action not of desire? If we ask such a question, and we rarely do, one can probe, without any motive, to find an action which is of intelligence. The action of desire is not intelligent; it leads to all kinds of problems and issues. Is there an action of intelligence? One must always be somewhat sceptical in these matters; doubt is an extraordinary factor of purification of the brain, of the heart. Doubt, carefully measured out, brings great clarity, freedom. In the Eastern religions, to doubt, to question, is one of the necessities for finding truth, but in the religious culture of Western civilization, doubt is an abomination of the devil. But in freedom, in an action that is not of desire, there must be the sparkle of doubt. When one actually sees, not theoretically nor verbally, that the action of desire is corrupt, distorted, the very perception is the beginning of that intelligence from which action is totally different. That is, to see the false as the false, the truth in the false, and truth as truth. Such perception is that quality of intelligence which is neither yours nor mine, which then acts. That action has no distortion, no remorse. It doesn't leave a mark, a footprint on the sands of time. That intelligence cannot be unless there is great compassion, love, if you will. There cannot be compassion if the activities of thought are anchored in any one particular ideology or faith, or attached to a symbol or to a person. There must be freedom to be compassionate. And where there is that flame, that very flame is the movement of intelligence.
有没有一个不属于欲望的行为？ 如果我们问这样的问题，而我们很少这样做，一个人可以探寻，不带任何动机，去找出一个行动，一个属于智慧的行动。 欲望的行动不是智慧的；它会引发各种各样的问题和事情。 有没有一个智慧的行动？在这些问题上，一个人必须始终持某种怀疑态度。 怀疑是净化大脑，心灵的一个非凡因素。 怀疑，仔细测量出来，带来极大的清晰和自由。 在东方宗教中，怀疑、质疑是寻找真理的必要条件之一， 但在西方文明的宗教文化中，怀疑是魔鬼的可憎之物。 但是在自由中，在一个没有欲望的行动中，必须有怀疑的火花。 当一个人真正看见，不是在理论上，也不是口头上，欲望的行动是腐败的，扭曲的， 正是那个看见本身，就是这种智慧的开端，其中有完全不同的行动。 也就是说，看见假就是假，看见其中的真相，而真相就是真。 这种感知是智慧的品质，它既不是你的，也不是我的，那时，出现了行动。 那个行为没有歪曲，没有悔恨。它不会在时间的沙滩上留下痕迹，留下足迹。 除非有伟大的全然的激情，或者称之为爱，如果你愿意用这个词，否则这种智慧就不可能存在。 不可能有全然的激情 —— 如果思想活动植根于任何一种特定的意识形态或信仰，或者附着在某个符号或某个人身上。 必须有全然的激情，那虚无中有火焰，火焰就是智慧的运动。