给学校的信,1982年12月15日- 愿望
我们强烈的愿望是培养一个自由的人Intent is far more important than to achieve a goal, an end. Intent is not just an intellectual and ideologic conclusion but rather an active, living present. It is the wick that is burning in a bowl of oil. It cannot be extinguished, no breeze can blow it out. The wick is stout and the oil is not fed by any external influence or source. It has no cause and so the flame, the wick and the oil are everenduring. This is my intent as a dedicated teacher and it should be yours too as parents and of all humanity, for we are all concerned. The vital flame of intent is to bring about a good, intelligent, extremely capable, free human being. You cannot escape from this intention. You are involved in it as much as I am. You may shy away from it, disregard it, neglect it, but you are as much responsible as I am.
我们的愿望远比达到一个目标、一个结果要重要得多,它不只是指向一个理智和意识形态上的结论,同时也是一个此时此刻的活跃而生动的东西。它就像正在燃烧的灯芯。它无法被熄灭,没有风能吹灭它,灯芯相当粗壮,而燃油不是来自外部的影响或源泉。它没有原因,所以那个火焰、灯芯和燃油是永不枯竭的。我们生机勃勃的愿望之火是培养一个善良、智慧、极有能力的和自由的人。作为一名全心投入的教师,这是我的愿望。作为家长,它也应该是你们的愿望。它应该是所有人的愿望,因为这和我们都是有关的。你不能逃避这个愿望,你和我一样同它密切相关。你可以躲避它,无视它,忽略它,但是你和我负有相同的责任。
The future is our responsibility so this is our immediate problem. My problem and yours is to cultivate the comprehensive intelligence from which all other things flow. I can see this in my mind's eye as the central factor, for no intelligent person, in the sense we are using that word, would ever want to hurt another intentionally. Such a person would treat all humanity as he would treat himself, without this terrible destructive division. I can also feel in some vague way, not sentimentally, that this intelligence is totally impersonal, neither yours nor mine. I can feel its tremendous attraction and its truth.
未来是我们的责任,因此这是我们很紧迫的问题。我们的问题是培养全面的智慧,其它的一切会从它里面流出。在我的心目中,这是核心的要素,因为智慧的人(在我们这里的意义上)不会去故意伤害别人的。这样的人会像对待自己一样对待所有人类,而没有这些可怕的、导致破坏的分别性。我也能模糊地感觉到——不是感情用事——这种智慧完全不是个人性的,它既不是你的也不是我的。我能感到它巨大的吸引力和真实性。
Now in what manner can I cultivate this in my students and myself? I am using the wrong word cultivate: cultivation implies the activity of thought, it implies an achievement, a labour. So I am beginning to perceive that intelligence is totally different from the activity of thought. Thought has no relation to it. It cannot be born out of thought, for thought is always limited.
那么,我能用什么方式在我和我的学生身上培养它呢?我正在用“培养”这个错误的词,“培养”意味着思想的活动,它意味着一种成就,一种辛劳。于是我开始看到,智慧和思想的活动完全不同。思想跟它完全无关。它不可能从思想中产生,因为思想总是有限的。
Now having stated this, which is not a vague apprehension but a burning intention, I ask myself is it possible for me to convey to the student the quality of this intention? Can I do this through mathematics or biology, or any other subject?
这不是一种模糊的理解,而是一个燃烧的愿望。叙述完这些之后,我问自己:明知学生的头脑是制约的、受限的、顺从的,那么对我来说,有没有可能将这个愿望传达给学生?我能够通过教授数学、生物或其他课程来做这件事吗?
Knowing the students' brains are conditioned, limited, conforming, let us say I am a teacher of mathematics. Mathematics is order, infinite order. Order is the universe, is intelligence. Order is not static; it is a living movement. Our life is movement but we have brought about disorder in our life. So I am going to talk to the students not just about mathematics but about order in their and my life. Negation of disorder is order. A human being confused, disorderly, uncertain, in trying to establish order only creates more disorder. I see this very, very clearly so I am going to help them and in helping them I am helping myself. That order cannot be pursued as you can pursue mathematics step by step. So the first thing to realize is that thought can never bring about order, do what it will, through legislation, administration or compulsion. Mathematics is not disorder. Mathematics in itself is basically order. Order is independent of thought. Thought cannot put together order: the more it attempts it the greater the confusion. Thought is capable of seeing the order of mathematics but this order is not the product of thought. One can see the great majesty and beauty of a mountain but the human being who sees it may have no dignity, no majesty, no beauty.
假设我是一个数学老师。数学是秩序,无限的秩序,而秩序是整体,是智慧。秩序不是静止的,它是活生生的运动。我们的生活也是运动,我们却让它变得混乱。因此我想和学生谈论的不只是数学,还有我们生活中的秩序。对混乱的否定就是秩序。一个困惑、混乱、不确定的人试图建立秩序,只会引起更多的混乱。我对这一点看得非常非常清楚,因此我打算帮助学生,通过帮助他们我也在帮助自己。秩序无法被追求,像你按部就班地追求数学那样。因此首先需要认识到,思想无论做什么,通过立法、管理或强制性,都绝不会带来秩序。秩序与思想无关。思想无法制造秩序,它尝试得越多,困惑就越多。数学不是混乱的,数学本身是最基本的秩序。思想能够看到数学的秩序,但是这种秩序不是思想的产物。人能够看到山峦的巨大庄严和美,但是看到它的人可能并不具备高贵、庄严和美的品质。
Now with all this I myself must study this order and disorder before I can convey it to my pupils. The study of a book on any particular subject is very different from the study of myself, who is disorderly, confused. The book reveals phrase by phrase, chapter by chapter, coming to some conclusion or other. The book is visible and one can spend perhaps years on the subject of the book. But I am not studying a book, I am studying a book that has not print on it, which cannot be read through another's eye. So I must find out how to study it.
在和学生讨论秩序和混乱之前,我必须学习它们。学习书本和学习自己是完全不同的,自己是混乱的、不清晰的,书本的内容是一句一句、一篇一篇来展现的,最终形成某个结论。书本是可见的,一个人可以花费也许多年的时间在书本上。但我并不是在学习任何书本,我是在学习一本没有字的书,一本不能用别人的眼睛来读的书。因此我必须找到学习它的方法。
You are doing this with me too, so don't step aside. I am studying for my own interest and also to convey it to the student. It is not that I am studying for myself only. The book and the subject in itself are palpable, tangible. The words convey a certain definite meaning but to study this tenuous, living, changing subject which is my own quality of brain, which has lived and still lives in disorder, confusion and fear is far more difficult than reading a book. It requires swiftness, subtlety, moving without leaving an imprint. Do I have such a quality? In asking that question of myself I am not only studying who puts that question but also the intent behind the question?
你是在和我一起做这件事,所以不要走开。我是在为自己的兴趣学习,还要把它传达给学生们,并不只是为了自己。书本和课程是看得见、摸得着的,而文字传达着某种确切的含义,但是要学习那微妙的、鲜活的、变化莫测的主题,那就是我们这个活在混乱、困惑和恐惧中的头脑的品质,这远比读一本书要困难得多。它需要机敏、巧妙、不留痕迹地运动,我有这样的巧妙吗?在对自己提问的过程中,我不但要考察是谁提出了问题,还要考察那个问题背后的愿望。
So I am studying the whole phenomenon very cautiously, never coming to a definite conclusion. This constant watchfulness, never allowing any shadow to slip by without careful observation, is making the brain, the whole activity of thought, quieten down without becoming dull. I take a rest and pick it up again. The rest is as important as the renewal of observation. I am capturing the perfume of that intelligence, the extraordinary subtlety of it, and so the whole physical organism is becoming more alive, aware, and is beginning to have a different rhythm. It is creating its own atmosphere.
因此我是在非常谨慎地学习整个现象,而从不进入一个确定的结论。这种持续的警觉,绝不允许没有仔细观察而放过任何影子,这种观察正在让头脑,即思想的整个活动安静下来,而同时又不会变得迟钝。我也会休息一阵,然后再继续观察,休息和重新观察是同样重要的。我在捕捉那个智慧的芬芳以及它非同寻常的微妙,于是整个有机体变得越来越活跃和觉知,并开始拥有一种不同的韵律。它在创造着自己的氛围。
I can go to the class under a tree or in a room where I am supposed to teach mathematics, knowing that the students have to qualify in it, and for the first five or ten minutes I talk to them explaining very clearly what I have been studying how it is possible for them to study it too. I am teaching them the art of studying. I am really deeply interested in conveying to them my deep intention and they are enveloped in my ardour. I explain to them how I approach this question of intelligence step by step. I point out to them the order and beauty of a tree, which is not put together by thought. I insist that they see this clearly that nature and the heavens and the wild animals of the forest are not the product of thought, though thought may use them for its own convenience or destruction. Thought in its activity has brought about great destruction and also great passing beauty.
这样我就可以到一棵树下或教室里去上课了。我要教数学,因为我知道学生必须掌握数学知识。在最初的五到十分钟,我会和他们谈话,非常清楚地解释我一直在学习的东西,以及他们怎么才能学习它。我在教他们学习的艺术。我确实有着浓厚的兴趣把自己深切的愿望传达给他们,他们被我的热情包围了。而我向他们解释我是如何一步一步地进入这个关于智慧的问题的。我向他们指出一棵树的秩序和美,那不是由思想制造出来的。我坚持让他们清楚地看到大自然、天空和森林里的野兽,那并不是思想的产物,尽管思想利用它们来达到自身的便利或破坏。思想的活动造成了巨大的破坏,也带来了巨大而短暂的美。
During every opportunity, without boring myself and the students, I talk about these matters with humour and seriousness. This is my life for this intelligence is supreme. Order has no cause, therefore it is everlasting; but disorder has a cause and that which has a cause can end.
我利用每一个机会,以不会让自己和学生感到厌烦的方式,带着幽默和严肃谈论这些事情。这就是我的生活,因为这个智慧是至高无上的。
秩序没有原因,因而是永恒的。但混乱是有原因的,而有原因的东西也是可以结束的。
绿草园翻译工作室
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