BBC：古代圣贤（2015）（1）

你已经看到这里的婆罗门们是如何吟唱的，
You’ve seen how the Brahmins here have been just chanting,
一个接一个，他们可以持续三天，
one after the other, and they can go on like for three,
四个小时
four hours.
（吟诵）
(chanting recitation)
他们记住了所有的仪式
They memorized all the rituals.
他们知道什么是重燃生命，什么是食物，
They knew what vibrations, what food,
水应该是怎样的，地球应该是怎样的，
how the water should be, how the earth should be,
需要什么空间
what space is required.
他们完全明白
They had all the understanding
如何与神沟通
of how to communicate with the gods.
他们负责什么样的仪式？
What kind of ritual were they in charge of?
如果有人死了你需要做最后的仪式，
If somebody had died, and you need to do the last rites,
是由婆罗门来做的
it was the Brahmin who’d come to do it.
如果发生干旱，会由婆罗门
If there was a drought, you’d get the Brahmin
唤起 雨之神
to evoke the rain god.
整个生活 都取决于，
The whole life depended then on the priest,
有知识的婆罗门
the Brahmin, who had the knowledge.
这一定给了他们真正的权威
That must have given them real power.
不管你怎么说，他们一直主导着其他人
They’ve always dominated the rest, whether you call it
种姓制度或等级的不同
the caste system or the different levels.
但是他们有最高的在顶处的位置， (注：印度的第一等级婆罗门)
But they had the highest, top position,
然后是勇士社团 （第二等级刹帝利)
and then came the warrior community.
包括：拉吉普特人，战士，统治者
The Rajputs, the fighters, the rulers.
然后是商业界，也就是毗湿亚人 (第三等级吠舍)
Then came the business community, which is the Vaishyas.
最后是提供服务的社团 （第四等级首陀罗）
And then came the community that did the service.
鞋匠，铁匠，
The cobblers, the blacksmiths,
这就是婆罗门社会
and that was the Brahmanic society.
对佛陀来说，严格的等级制度
To the Buddha, the rigid hierarchy of the caste system
对神的祭祀依赖于盲目信仰
and the sacrifice to the gods relied on blind faith
接受智慧，而不是各种所谓的理性解释
and received wisdom, not any kind of rational explanation.
他满怀激♥情♥地想，一定会有一个更强大的，
He passionately thought that there must be a more robust,
更可信的理解方式
a more credible way to understand
解释我们在世界上所处的位置
and explain our place in the world.
佛陀的漫游还在继续，
The Buddha’s journey continued on,
一直到恒河平原
down to the Ganges plain.
这是一个处于快速变革中的世界
It was a world in the midst of rapid transformation.
新的城市和繁荣的中♥央♥集权王国出现了
New cities and prosperous centralized kingdoms had emerged.
佛陀进入了一个，
The Buddha is said to have entered one,
马加达王国，在这里度过了一段时间，
the Kingdom of Magadha and spent time here,
在皇家首都：拉贾格里哈
in the royal capital: Rajagriha.
沿着这些城墙，你仍然可以体验
Along these rampart walls, you can still experience
这座佛陀曾经来过的古城
the ancient city as the Buddha would have known it.
这座城市的街道很拥挤
The streets of the city here would have been crowded
有彩色的马车，
with brightly-painted carriages,
驼着金银、珍珠和蓝色琉青金石，
bringing gold and silver, pearls and blue lapis lazuli,
檀香木和华丽的布料
sandalwood and rich cloths.
在远处，你会看到很大的商队
And in the distance, you’d have seen great caravans
从孟加拉湾运来更多精彩的商品，
carrying in more fabulous goods from the Bay of Bengal,
在当今的阿富汗
in what is modern-day Afghanistan.
文献中有很多证据
There’s a lot of evidence in the literature
城市扩张时期，
for this time that cities were expanding,
但我们也能从考古学中得到证据吗？
but do we get evidence in archeology, too?
我们有很多证据
We get lots of evidence.
这是城市崛起的时期
This is the period when cities were emerging
并在全国范围内扩张
and expanding all over the country.
这些都是可爱的小东西
These are lovely little belongings here.
这些都来自城市吗？
Did these all come from cities?
他们都这么做了
All of them did.
你可以想象使用它们的人
You can imagine the people who used them.
看看这个，例如，这是一把剃须刀
Look at this, for instance, this is a razor.
太好了；我喜欢设计不变的感觉
That’s great; I love it when design doesn’t change.
这和今天的剃须刀一模一样
That is exactly the same as a razor today.
这是一个锈蚀的门钉，
That is one heck of a door-nail,
紧连一扇门的门板
so that’s quite some door that that’s holding together.
这些也很可爱
And these are lovely as well.
这看起来像是很好的餐具，不是吗？
Is this, it looks like very fine dining-ware, is it?
是的，这是一种非常特殊的陶器
It is, this is a very special kind of pottery
那肯定只有非常富有的人才会使用
that must have been used only by very rich people
在非常特殊的场合
for very special occasions.
你觉得呢，我是说，这种不同的方式
So do you think, I mean, this kind of different way
生活方式影响着人们对生活的看法？
of living is affecting how people feel about their lives?
是的，当然
Yes, absolutely.
这座城市一定让人很感兴趣
And the city must have been a very exciting
对某些人来说也是令人不安的经历
and also unsettling experience for somebody
他从一个村庄走进一个城市，
who’d walked into one of these cities from a village,
因为新事物正在出现，
because something new is emerging,
但是旧的生活方式和许多社会关系旧的种类，正在消失
but the old ways of life and the old kinds
of social relationships are dissolving.
这是一个前所未有的时刻
This is a time when you have unprecedented
也是前所未有的质疑
and I think unparalleled level of questioning
关于生活在这个世界上，意味着什么
about what it means to live in the world
以及如何生活，
and how one should live one’s life,
各种各样的问题都让我们非常关心
and all kinds of questions that concern us, very deeply.
城市是一个真正的悖论
Cities were a real paradox.
他们确实提供了令人眼花缭乱的新机会，
They did offer dazzling new opportunities,
但也让人们远离了他们所知道的一切。
but they also cut people loose
from everything that they knew.
从他们的部落，从他们的土地，
From their tribes, from their land,
从没有真正改变的生活方式
from ways of being that hadn’t really changed much
几千年来，他们都很棒，
for millennia, so they were wonderful,
但它们实际上也相当具有威胁性
but they were also actually quite threatening.
人们一定想知道生活是怎么回事，
People must have wondered what life was all about,
以及他们现在应该如何最好地生活在一起
and how they should now best live together.
这是一段激烈质疑的时期
It was a time of intense questioning.
我们能控制自己的欲望吗？
Can we control our desires?
佛陀在这场辩论中扮演了至关重要的角色
And the Buddha would play a vital role in that debate.
什么是正义？
What is justice?
现在他已经深入到自己的个人探索中，
By now deep into his own personal quest,
他正在处理最棘手的问题
he engaged with the most intractable question of all.
我们死后会发生什么？
What happens to us when we die?
受更新循环的启发
Inspired by the cycles of renewal
在自然环境中，
in the natural environment,
人们开始相信我们是无休止的出生、死亡和重生循环的一部分
people had come to believe we were part
of an endless cycle of birth, death, and rebirth,
称为轮回
known as Samsara.
轮回是一个非常流行的强大想法
Samsara is a powerful idea that was very current
在佛陀的时代，出生
to the time of the Buddha, the idea of a birth,
然后重生，然后再重生，
followed by rebirth, followed by rebirth,
在这个时间循环中
in this cycle of time.
但人类一直意识到生命的循环
But humanity’s always been aware of the cycle of life.
那么什么让轮回与众不同呢？
So what made Samsara different?
重生的循环，真的意味着你去
The cycle of rebirth really means that you go
从一种生活到另一种生活，你可以
from one life to another, and that you can be
在每个生命中以不同的形式表现出来
manifested in a different form in each life.
你可以被显化为神，或者你可以被显化
You could be manifested as a god, or you could manifested
作为一个人，可能有更高或更低的种姓
as a human being, maybe a higher or lower caste.
你甚至可以表现为动物或昆虫、
You could even manifest as an animal or insect,
或是一只蟑螂。这就是真正的循环
as a cockroach, and so that is really the cycle
从一个生命到另一个生命的重生，
of rebirth from life to life,
通过持续的时间流逝
through a continuous passage of time.
你觉得人们会被困在这里吗？
So do you think people felt trapped by this?
你可以想象有人会这样想，
You can imagine somebody thinking that,
每一次出生，都要经历人生的艰辛，
at each birth, he has to go through the travails of life,
疾病，衰老，死亡，然后重生，
of sickness, old age, death, and then rebirth,
整个循环还在继续
and the whole cycle goes on.
所以，这很乏味
And so, it’s tedious.
我是说，这是痛苦，因为存在的现实
I mean, it’s suffering, because the existential reality
他们并不觉得这是一种幸福
was not one that they felt was bliss.
那么人们有没有想办法
So did people try to work out a way
从这个陷阱中解脱出来？
to release themselves from this trap?
有，当时普遍的修行人都想找到方法
Yes, the great quest at that time was to find ways
走出重生和再死亡的循环