Dayananda Saraswati: The profound journey of compassion

翻译人员: Xinli Geng 校对人员: Chaoran Yu

A human child is born,

当一个新生命刚来到世间，

and for quite a long time

在很长一段时间内

is a consumer.

他只能是一位消费者。

It cannot be consciously a contributor.

他无法成为一名主动贡献者。

It is helpless.

他是无助的。

It doesn't know how to survive,

他甚至不知如何才能活下来，

even though it is endowed with an instinct to survive.

尽管人人都生而有生存的本能。

It needs the help of mother, or a foster mother, to survive.

他需要母亲或养母的帮助才能活下来。

It can't afford to doubt the person who tends the child.

他也没有能力质疑任何照顾他的人。

It has to totally surrender,

他必须完全顺从，

as one surrenders to an anesthesiologist.

就像病人必须屈服于麻醉师一样，

It has to totally surrender.

完全彻底地屈服。

That implies a lot of trust.

这样的屈服中也包含着无比的信任，

That implies the trusted person

意味着被信任的人

won't violate the trust.

永远不会背叛这种信任。

As the child grows,

当这个孩子逐渐长大，

it begins to discover

他开始意识到

that the person trusted is violating the trust.

他所信任的人在背叛他的信任。

It doesn't know even the word "violation."

但他此时还并不知道有“背叛”一词的存在，

Therefore, it has to blame itself,

因此他只能怪罪自己。

a wordless blame,

这种默默的自责，

which is more difficult to really resolve --

比责备他人更让人难受，

the wordless self-blame.

只是默默的自责。

As the child grows to become an adult:

有一天孩子终于长大成人了。

so far, it has been a consumer,

在这此前他一直是名消费者。

but the growth of a human being

但一个人的成长

lies in his or her capacity to contribute,

最终取决于他们贡献能力的大小，

to be a contributor.

也就是说成为一个贡献者。

One cannot contribute unless one feels secure,

但只有当一个人有安全感、

one feels big,

感觉到强大有力、

one feels: I have enough.

感觉到自己已足已之时[方能开始做贡献]。

To be compassionate is not a joke.

拥有同情心并非儿戏。

It's not that simple.

知之易，行却难。

One has to discover a certain bigness in oneself.

你必须能发现自身在某方面足够强大，

That bigness should be centered on oneself,

这种“强大”必存乎于心，

not in terms of money,

而非金钱，

not in terms of power you wield,

亦非权力，

not in terms of any status that you can command in the society,

也非你所拥有的社会地位。

but it should be centered on oneself.

它必是基于人自身的。

The self: you are self-aware.

自我，你要能认识到自我。

On that self, it should be centered -- a bigness, a wholeness.

正是这个“自我”拥有着一种强大，一种完整。

Otherwise, compassion is just a word and a dream.

否则，同情心只是一虚物而已。

You can be compassionate occasionally,

你可以时不时地感受到自己在同情别人，

more moved by empathy

但这更多的只是理解别人[或者站在对方的角度思考问题]

than by compassion.

而不是真正的同情。

Thank God we are empathetic.

感谢上帝让我们都懂得去同情别人，

When somebody's in pain, we pick up the pain.

让我们感同身受。

In a Wimbledon final match,

在温布尔登的决赛场上，

these two guys fight it out.

两位球员全力以赴，

Each one has got two games.

比赛打到2：2的时候，

It can be anybody's game.

谁都有可能赢得最后的胜利，

What they have sweated so far has no meaning.

似乎之前流的汗都毫无意义了。

One person wins.

最后其中的一位赢了。

The tennis etiquette is, both the players have to come to the net

根据比赛礼仪，结束后两个人都要走到球网前

and shake hands.

握手致意。

The winner boxes the air

胜者挥拳庆祝、

and kisses the ground,

亲吻大地、

throws his shirt as though somebody is waiting for it.

脱下衣服扔向空中，就好像有人在等着接那件衣服。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

And this guy has to come to the net.

但最终他必须走到网前。

When he comes to the net,

当他走近的时候，

you see, his whole face changes.

你可以看到他的表情来了个180度大转变。

It looks as though he's wishing that he didn't win.

他这时看起来就好像宁愿输掉比赛一样。

Why? Empathy.

为什么？因为同情。

That's human heart.

这是人的恻隐之心。

No human heart is denied of that empathy.

每个人都有这样的恻隐之心。

No religion can demolish that by indoctrination.

宗教无法改变这一事实，

No culture, no nation and nationalism --

任何文化、任何国家和民族都不能，

nothing can touch it

什么都不能带走人的恻隐之心。

because it is empathy.

因为这就是同情心。

And that capacity to empathize

这种同情别人的能力

is the window through which you reach out to people,

是你接近别人的一扇窗户，

you do something that makes a difference in somebody's life --

是你帮助别人改变生活的一个途径。

even words, even time.

哪怕只是几句话，或者一起度过的时光。

Compassion is not defined in one form.

同情心有很多种形式。

There's no Indian compassion.

但并没有印度同情心

There's no American compassion.

或者美国同情心一说。

It transcends nation, the gender, the age.

同情心是跨越国界、性别和年龄的。

Why? Because it is there in everybody.

为什么？因为它只存乎于心。

It's experienced by people occasionally.

它时不时地被我们感受到。

Then this occasional compassion,

但这种偶尔发生的同情心，

we are not talking about --

不是我们要说的。

it will never remain occasional.

同情心不可能是偶发的。

By mandate, you cannot make a person compassionate.

你无法强迫一个人拥有同情心。

You can't say, "Please love me."

你不能对他说：“请你一定要爱我”。

Love is something you discover.

爱是需要你去发现的。

It's not an action,

它并不是一个简单的动作。

but in the English language, it is also an action.

但在英语中，“爱”确实是一个动词。

I will come to it later.

这个容我压后再谈。

So one has got to discover a certain wholeness.

一个人必须要在自己身上发现一种“完整“。

I am going to cite the possibility of being whole,

现在我要说的就是达到这种“完整”状态的可能性。

which is within our experience, everybody's experience.

这种可能性存在于我们的经历，每个人过去所经历的事情。

In spite of a very tragic life,

即便一个人的生活极其苦难，

one is happy in moments which are very few and far between.

他时不时的还是会有少许快乐的时刻。

And the one who is happy,

经历快乐时刻的人，

even for a slapstick joke,

哪怕只是因为一个低级趣味的笑话，

accepts himself and also the scheme of things in which one finds oneself.

从心底里是接纳自己的，并同时接纳存在于他周围的一切。

That means the whole universe,

这“一切”意味着整个宇宙，

known things and unknown things.

已知的和未知的所有事物。

All of them are totally accepted

所有这一切都被完全接纳。

because you discover your wholeness in yourself.

因为他发现了自己的“完整”。

The subject -- "me" --

作为主体的“我”

and the object -- the scheme of things --

和作为客体的世间万物

fuse into oneness,

融为了一个整体。

an experience nobody can say, "I am denied of,"

这种体验没有人敢说自己没有过。

an experience common to all and sundry.

这是天下所有人的共同体验。

That experience confirms that, in spite of all your limitations --

这一体验给我们证明了一个道理：尽管人有各种各种的自身限制、

all your wants, desires, unfulfilled, and the credit cards

需求、欲望、未能实现的理想，信用卡的钱要还，

and layoffs

还有公司裁人的威胁，

and, finally, baldness --

再加上越来越严重的谢顶问题，

you can be happy.

但你还是可以快乐起来的。

But the extension of the logic is

这也就是说，

that you don't need to fulfill your desire to be happy.

你不需要非得满足什么欲望才能快乐。

You are the very happiness, the wholeness that you want to be.

你自己正是你快乐的源泉，你自己就是你所追求的“完整”。

There's no choice in this:

这并没有什么好选择的，

that only confirms the reality

它只说明了这样一个事实：

that the wholeness cannot be different from you,

你的完整性就是你自己，

cannot be minus you.

它不可能只是你的一部分，

It has got to be you.

它必须就是你；

You cannot be a part of wholeness

你也不可能只是你的完整性的一部分，

and still be whole.

而同时还能保持一个整体。

Your moment of happiness reveals that reality,

你经历的快乐时刻就是在向你揭示这样的一个事实、

that realization, that recognition:

一种顿悟和认识。

"Maybe I am the whole.

也许我就是完整的，

Maybe the swami is right.

也许尊者说的是对的，

Maybe the swami is right." You start your new life.

他说的是有道理的。你从此开始了一种新的生活，

Then everything becomes meaningful.

你发现一切都变得有意义起来。

I have no more reason to blame myself.

我不再有责怪自己的理由。

If one has to blame oneself, one has a million reasons plus many.

如果一个人想责怪自己，他总能想出几十万个理由来。

But if I say, in spite of my body being limited --

但如果我说，尽管我有诸多的自身限制，

if it is black it is not white, if it is white it is not black:

黑的就是黑的，白的就是白的。

body is limited any which way you look at it. Limited.

人的身体是有极限的，不管你从哪个角度去看它。

Your knowledge is limited, health is limited,

你的知识是有限的，健康也是有限的，

and power is therefore limited,

从而人的能力也是有限的，

and the cheerfulness is going to be limited.

快乐程度也是受限制的，

Compassion is going to be limited.

同情心也有限，

Everything is going to be limitless.

万事万物都是无限的。

You cannot command compassion

你不能强求同情心，

unless you become limitless, and nobody can become limitless,

除非你自己变得无限强大。然而没有人能“变得”无限强大。

either you are or you are not. Period.

你要么受限制要么无限强大。就是这样。

And there is no way of your being not limitless too.

然而另一方面，你也很难做到不“无限强大”。

Your own experience reveals, in spite of all limitations, you are the whole.

你自己的体验告诉你，尽管你受诸多限制，但你还是完整的你。

And the wholeness is the reality of you

这种完整性是你要面对的现实，

when you relate to the world.

当你与这个世界打交道的时候。

It is love first.

爱总是第一位的。

When you relate to the world,

当你生活在这个世界上，

the dynamic manifestation of the wholeness

你的完整性就体现在

is, what we say, love.

我们所说的爱。

And itself becomes compassion

然后这个爱就会自动转化成

if the object that you relate to evokes that emotion.

对激发起这种爱的事物的同情心，

Then that again transforms into giving, into sharing.

而同情心又能够转化成给予和分享。

You express yourself because you have compassion.

有了同情心，你就希望能表达出来。

To discover compassion, you need to be compassionate.

要发现自己的同情心，你需要试着去同情别人。

To discover the capacity to give and share,

要发现自己给予和分享的能力，

you need to be giving and sharing.

你需要试着去给予和分享。

There is no shortcut: it is like swimming by swimming.

这没有什么捷径，就像是你要想学会游泳，就必须到水里去实践。

You learn swimming by swimming.

想学游泳就得下水去游。

You cannot learn swimming on a foam mattress and enter into water.

不能指望着能在一块海绵垫子上学会游泳。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

You learn swimming by swimming. You learn cycling by cycling.

从游泳中学游泳，从骑车中学骑车。

You learn cooking by cooking,

从做饭中学做饭。

having some sympathetic people around you

找一些有同情心的人

to eat what you cook.

来品尝你做的食物。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

And, therefore, what I say,

所以，其实我说的意思就是，

you have to fake it and make it.

你必须假装会干一件事情，然后慢慢就真的会干了。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

You need to.

你的确需要这样做。

My predecessor meant that.

前人已经说过类似的话。

You have to act it out.

你必须去实践。

You have to act compassionately.

必须实践如何去同情别人。

There is no verb for compassion,

英语里没有表达“同情”这个意思的动词，

but you have an adverb for compassion.

但是有副词表达这个意思。

That's interesting to me.

我觉得这个很有意思。

You act compassionately.

你要很有同情心的去做事情，

But then, how to act compassionately if you don't have compassion?

但如果你没有同情心又如何达到这个目标？

That is where you fake.

这是你就需要去假装，

You fake it and make it. This is the mantra of the United States of America.

你先假装会干，然后再慢慢学。这就是美国人最推崇的。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

You fake it and make it.

假装会干，然后慢慢学。

You act compassionately as though you have compassion:

你假装有同情心的去做事情，就好像真的有一样。

grind your teeth,

努力的去做，

take all the support system.

用好一切你可以利用的资源，

If you know how to pray, pray.

如果你知道怎么祈祷，也不妨祈祷一下，

Ask for compassion.

祈求同情心的到来，

Let me act compassionately.

让我能真正有同情心的去做事情。

Do it.

一定要去做。

You'll discover compassion

这样你就一定会发现同情心，

and also slowly a relative compassion,

然后慢慢的发现一种相对的有比较的同情心。

and slowly, perhaps if you get the right teaching,

再然后，如果得到了正确的指点，

you'll discover compassion is a dynamic manifestation

你会发现同情心是

of the reality of yourself, which is oneness, wholeness,

你自身状态的一种动态体现，这种自身状态指的就是你的完整性和统一性，

and that's what you are.

这种自身状态同时定义了你究竟是谁。

With these words, thank you very much.

且到这里吧，谢谢！

(Applause)

（掌声）