| The essence of austerity is humility. To know humility is to deny it. You can know only vanity. You can be conscious of vanity but you cannot be conscious of humility. Austerity, the austerity of the monk or of the saint, is the harsh movement of becoming, which is illusion. This harshness is of violence, imitation, obedience, in which there is no anonymity. The monk and the saint may take a different name but this name is the cloak that covers the wounds of conflict. 简朴的核心是谦卑；若要懂得谦卑，就要摒弃对它的所有认识。你只能知道傲慢，你可以意识到傲慢，但你无法意识到谦卑。僧侣或者圣徒的简朴或苦行，是想成为什么的严苛行为，因而那种简朴是个错觉。这种严苛具有暴力、模仿和顺从的性质，其中没有那无名之物。僧侣和圣徒也许会赋予其别样的名称，但那名头只是用来掩盖冲突创伤的外衣。 And this is the same for every one of us, for we are all idealists. We know vanity, and cannot know humility. Our humility is the opposite of vanity, and all opposites contain each other. The 'becoming’, however secret, however anonymous, can never be of the nature of humility. Humility has no opposite, and only those that have opposites can know each other. 而在这个方面，我们每一个人都如出一辙，因为我们都是理想主义者。我们知道傲慢，但我们无法知道谦卑。我们的谦卑，是傲慢的反面，而所有的对立面里都包含着对方。“想变成什么”的行为，无论多么隐秘、多么不可名状，都永远无法具备谦卑这一品质。谦卑没有对立面，只有那些拥有对立面的事物才能知道对方。 Denying pride is not knowing humility. The dying to the known is the positive of the unknown. You can die to the known consciously, deliberately, with the full knowledge of all its implications, but there is no knowing of that which is not known. You cannot know the unknown, as humility. 若要摒弃傲慢，需要对谦卑一无所知。对已知死去，是对未知的肯定。你可以充分知晓已知的全部内涵，有意识地、故意地对已知死去，但对未知依然一无所知。就像你无法知道谦卑一样，你也无法了解未知。 In the field of becoming the movement is from the known to the known; when we die to this, something else comes into being which cannot be comprehended by a mind that is still within the limitations of the known, the memory, the experience, the knowledge. The 'being’ is not the end of 'becoming’. When it is recognized as 'being’ it is still part of the 'becoming’, in which effort, struggle, confusion and misery are involved. 在“想变成什么”的领域内，只有从已知到已知的活动；当我们对此死去，另一些东西就会新生；而这是局限在已知、记忆、经验和知识范围内的心灵所无法理解的。那“新生”并非“变成什么”的结局。如果它被认出是一种“新生”，那么它就依然是“变成什么”的一部分，其中会有努力、挣扎、困惑和痛苦。 Meditation is not a trick of the mind confronting itself with an insoluble problem and so forcing itself to be quiet. A stunned mind obviously has become insensitive, not responsive, and so incapable of seeing anything new. And the new is not the opposite of the old. 冥想不是抛给自己一个无解的问题，然后强迫自己保持安静。一颗茫然不知所措的心，显然已经变得不敏感，反应迟钝，因而无法看到任何崭新的东西。而崭新者并非陈旧者的反面。 Meditation is the uncovering of this whole process of becoming and being—the negation of becoming in order to be. All this can be seen by a meditative mind at a glance, and this glance doesn’t involve time at all. Seeing truth is not a matter of time; either you see or you don’t see. The incapacity to see cannot become capable of seeing. 冥想是对“变成什么”和“新生”这整个过程的揭示——否定了变成什么，才能新生。这一切，一颗冥想的心只需一瞥即可看到，而这一瞥根本不需要时间。看到真理，并非一个与时间有关的问题；你要么看到，要么没有看到。没有能力看到，并不能变成有能力看到。 So negation is the movement of meditation, and there is no way, no path, no system that can lead a chattering, shallow mind to the heights of bliss. The seeing of this instantly is the truth that frees the shallow mind from itself. 所以，否定是冥想的活动，没有任何方法、任何途径、任何体系，能够带领一颗喋喋不休而肤浅的心到达至高的福祉。即刻看到这一点，就是真理，它能将肤浅的心灵从自己的局限中解放出来。 And humility is always at the beginning—but there is no beginning and no end. And this is the bliss beyond measure. 而谦卑始终就在一开始——但它既无始也无终，这就是无法衡量的至福。 Meeting Life, 'The Nature of Humility' 《与生活相遇》之“谦卑的品质” |
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