BBC：古代圣贤（2015）（1）

（沉思的音乐）
(pensive music)
从人类文明开始 chenym
Since the dawn of civilization,
自然的力量和神的虚妄
the forces of nature and the whims of gods
就一直支配着人类
held sway over humanity.
但是到了2500年前，
But two and a half thousand years ago,
人类经历了深刻的变革
humankind experienced a profound transformation.
突然，出现了新的可能性
Suddenly, there were new possibilities.
这是一个理性战胜迷信信仰的时代
This is a time when rationality overrode superstition and belief.
这是一种不依赖神的伦理标准
This is an ethic which does not rely on the gods.
人们用自然的力量来解释世界
The world is now explained in terms of natural forces.
我们现在要为自己的命运负责
We’re now responsible for our own destiny.
全球的剧变，激发了一个关于人类可以实现什么的雄心勃勃的愿景
Upheavals across the globe sparked an ambitious vision
of what humans could achieve
由三个开拓者带头
spearheaded by three trailblazers.
苏格拉底、孔子和佛陀
Socrates, Confucius, and the Buddha.
古代伟大的思想家，
Great thinkers from the ancient world,
他们的思想仍然影响着我们的生活
whose ideas still shape our own lives.
财富是好事吗？
Is wealth a good thing?
你如何创造一个公正的社会？
How do you create a just society?
我如何过上好生活？
How do I live a good life?
敢于思考不可想象的事情，
By daring to think the unthinkable,
它们奠定了我们现代世界的思想基础
they laid the foundations of our modern world.
我一直很好奇这些人，
I’ve always been intrigued by the fact that these men,
他们相隔数千英里，
who lived many thousands of miles apart, seemed,
几乎是自发的，彼此相隔100年，
almost spontaneously, within 100 years of one another,
想出如此全新的思维方式
to come up with such radical ways of thinking.
发生了什么事？
So what was going on?
我想调查他们的变革思想
I want to investigate their revolutionary ideas.
去理解是什么让他们行动起来的
To understand what set them in motion.
在这一集里，我正在追寻最神秘的故事
In this episode, I’m on the trail of that most enigmatic
哲学家：佛陀
of philosophers: the Buddha.
寻找真理的漫游者，
The wandering seeker of truth,
挑战宗教正统的人
who challenged religious orthodoxy.
你的种姓不是障碍
Your caste was not a barrier.
祭司是不需要的
Priests were not required.
分♥析♥他的想法
Analyzing his thoughts
愿望激发了改变游戏规则的洞察力
and desires sparked game-changing insights.
这是佛陀的教导
This is the teaching of Buddha.
一切都可能发生变化
Everything is subject to change.
让佛陀走上启蒙之路，
Setting the Buddha on his path to enlightenment,
一种全新的生活方式，
a whole new way of being,
逃离生活的痛苦
and an escape from the suffering of life.
在科技上，世界取得了巨大的进步，
Technologically, the world has progressed immensely,
但在心理学上，我认为我们并没有走得太远
but psychologically, I don’t think we’ve moved very far.
佛陀
古代圣贤
大约2500年前，
Around two and a half thousand years ago,
一个年轻人做出了改变一生的决定
a young man made a life-changing decision.
他在深夜离家出走了
We’re told that in the dead of night, he left home.
停顿了一下，最后看了他妻子一眼
Pausing just once to take a last look at his wife
还有刚出生的儿子，他悄悄走了出去，
and newborn son, he then slipped out silently,
进入黑暗
into the darkness.
这是他旅程的开始
It was the start of a journey that would take him
从喜马拉雅山的山麓，
from the foothills of the Himalayas,
最后到北印度的计划
and end here on the plans of northern India.
他的使命是理解人类的生活。
His mission was to make sense of human life.
对我来说，这真的很令人兴奋，佛陀
For me, it’s genuinely exciting that what the Buddha
25个世纪前的发现，继续影响着我们
discovered 25 centuries ago continues to inspire
全球数亿人
hundreds of millions of people across the globe.
佛教作为一种宗教或信仰体系，
As a religion or belief system, Buddhism has evolved,
在不同的文化中采取不同的形式
taking diverse forms within different cultures.
作为一种哲学，它的相关性不受时间的影响
And as a philosophy, its relevance is undiminished by time.
事实上，它仍在进步，这表明
The fact it’s still on the rise shows
这是一个强有力的方法来引导我们的现代，并传承自
it’s a potent way to navigate our modern times, passed down
佛陀居住的古代世界
from the ancient world that the Buddha inhabited.
我们对佛陀的了解大多基于
Most of what we know about the Buddha is based
他死后几个世纪，记录下来的口头陈述
on oral accounts that were written down
a few centuries after his death.
他出生在大约在
They tell us he was born sometime between the sixth
公元前六到五世纪，在现在的尼泊尔南部
and the fifth centuries BC, in what’s now southern Nepal.
他是一位王子：悉达多·乔达摩
We’re told he was a prince: Siddhartha Gautama.
长相好，武器熟练，
Good-looking, skilled in weaponry,
被预言要取得伟大的成就
and prophesied to achieve great things.
但是他的父亲国王很担心，
But his father the king was worried,
因为有人预测他的儿子会做两件事中的一件
because it was predicted his son would do one of two things.
或者待在王宫里当皇帝，
Stay in the king’s palace and become an emperor,
或者离开家，成为伟大的宗教领袖
or leave home and become a great religious leader.
国王更喜欢他的儿子做一个更加
The king, preferring his son to be a more
传统的皇帝，于是，国王用奢华包围王子，
conventional emperor, surrounded the prince with luxury,
把他和世俗生活紧密联♥系♥。
to attach him to a worldly life.
在街道上清除了所有令人不快的地方，
The streets were cleared of all unpleasant sites,
所以他很幸福，没有想到世界上还有苦难
so he was blissfully unaware of the suffering in the world.
但国王的做法适得其反
But the plan backfired.
有一天，王子坐在马车里巡游，
One day, whilst out in his carriage,
他意外地看到一位年老的人
he unexpectedly saw an old man.
后来，他看到一个生病的人
Later, he saw a sick man.
然后是一具尸体
And then a corpse.
观察到了人类生存的痛苦和脆弱
Witnessing the pain and frailty of human existence
这些动摇了他的内心
shook him to the core.
当王子看到一位神职人员时，他受到了启发
When the prince saw a holy man, he was inspired.
他的命运这时已经注定
And his destiny was sealed.
这是佛陀的故事
I have to say, this colorful account of the Buddha’s
早期的宫廷生活并不仅仅是一个寓言
early palace life does have more than a ring of fable to it.
这感觉像是教科书上的英雄故事
It feels like a kind of textbook heroic story.
但它似乎也反映了一场真正的存在危机
But it does also seem to reflect a real, existential crisis.
佛陀观察到，我们的生命
The Buddha observed that our lives
充满了苦难
were permeated by suffering.
他的任务是找出，是否有克服它的办法
His quest was to find out if there was a way to overcome it.
他离开遥远的喜马拉雅山麓，向南走，
He left the remote Himalayan foothills, and headed south,
放弃了一切：他的特权，他的家庭
abandoning everything: his privilege, his family.
他的祖国
His homeland.
它是一个小部落国家，由一个委员会管理
A small tribal state, it was run by a council
来自一个叫释迦族的显赫人物
of prominent men from one clan, called the Sakits.
现在看来，他的父亲可能
Now, it looked as though his father was probably
是富裕家庭的族长，
a clan leader from a prosperous family,
不是我们经常听到的伟大国王
not the great king that we always hear about.
当佛陀南下时，他第一次体验了周边国家的文化
As the Buddha headed south, he experienced the cultures
of neighboring states for the first time.
到了这里，他用一个好奇的陌生人的眼睛观察一切
Arriving here, he’d have seen everything
with the eyes of a curious stranger.
就像其他开创性的哲学家一样
Just like those other groundbreaking philosophers
在他那个时代，希腊的苏格拉底和中国的孔子，
of his day, Socrates in Greece and Confucius in China,
他正是这一切的定义
he was the very definition of what it is
成为一个质疑的人
to be a questioning human.
他拒绝受习俗的约束，以及自满的信念
He refused to be constrained by convention
and by complacent belief.
无论他的疑问和结果如何，他都会跟着
He would follow wherever his inquiry led him.
佛陀最先遇到的事情之一
One of the first things the Buddha would have encountered
是婆罗门的宗教，
was the religion of the Brahmins,
主导文化景观的印度世界的祭司阶层
a priestly caste who dominated the cultural landscape
of the Indian world.
（吟诵）
(chanting recitation)
他们提供大米和鲜花
They’re going to offer rice and flowers to,
唤起众神的召唤
evoking the gods now.
婆罗门负责任地
Brahmins were responsible
背诵吠陀经，一个古老的体系
for reciting the Vedas, an ancient body
神圣的教诲和赞美诗，在神圣的空间
of divine teachings and hymns, in sacred spaces
在人们的家里，就像今天一样
and in people’s homes, just as they do today.
（吟诵）
(chanting recitation)
另一个关键角色是做出牺牲
Another key role was to perform sacrifices.
说服众神维持宇宙秩序
To persuade the gods to sustain the order of the cosmos
带来繁荣
and deliver prosperity.
（吟诵）
(chanting recitation)
他们背诵了所有古老的经♥文♥
They memorized all the old scriptures.