BBC：古代圣贤（2015）（1）

out of that cycle of rebirth and re-death.
对于佛陀来说，婆罗门的仪式
For the Buddha, the rituals of the Brahmins
这并不是解决人生痛苦的答案
weren’t the answer to the perennial suffering of life.
他们似乎没有为轮回提供一个永久的解决方案
They didn’t seem to offer a permanent solution to Samsara.
但他确信，一种机制可以完全地
But he was convinced that a mechanism to completely
摆脱这种循环，是可以找到的
break free from the cycle altogether could be found.
他并不孤单
And he wasn’t alone.
一群寻求真♥相♥的人离开了他们的家庭
A wave of truth-seekers had left their families
在地球上漫游，寻找解决方案
and homes to wander the Earth in search of the solution.
放弃一切，有些人选择住在森林里，
Renouncing everything, some chose to live in forests,
这就是我们听说佛陀去寻找他们的地方
which is where we’re told the Buddha went looking for them.
对佛陀来说，自我发现来自于审视自己的个人经历，然后进行抽象
For the Buddha, self discovery came from examining
your own, individual experiences and then drawing
从中得出合乎逻辑的结论
logical conclusions from them.
所以为了评估这些
So in order to try to evaluate the ideas of these
对于新的思想家，他决定亲自尝试他们的方法
new thinkers, he decided to try out their methods firsthand.
其中一个流浪的真♥相♥寻求者名叫：
One of these wandering truth-seekers was a man named:
阿♥拉♥拉·卡拉马
Alara Kalama.
在他看来，轮回问题的解决方案，
Now, the solution to the problem of Samsara, as he saw it,
在于直接体验永恒，
lay in directly experiencing the permanence,
我们自己是永恒的一部分，
the eternal part of ourselves,
每一次重生中幸存下来的部分
the part that survived every rebirth.
为了做到这一点，他冥想以排除干扰
To do this, he meditated to block out the distractions
暂时的外部世界
of the temporary, external world.
没有身体和精神上的干扰，
Freed from physical and mental interference,
这些寻求者可以专注于他们的目标：
such seekers could focus on their goal:
完全融合他们永恒的灵魂
to fully merge their eternal soul
和它的宇宙相对应，一种宇宙灵魂，
with its cosmic counterpart, a kind of universal soul,
最高的现实
the highest reality.
这个观点似乎是通过在微观世界即个体的自我，
和宏观世界即世界的灵魂之间，建立联♥系♥，
The idea seems to have been that by creating union
between the microcosm, the individual self,and the macrocosm,
this world soul,
他们将获得解放
they would achieve liberation.
在阿♥拉♥拉的指导下，佛陀展示了
Under Alara’s tuition, we’re told the Buddha showed
如此非凡的能力，他能做到
such remarkable ability, he could achieve
一种深刻的心灵平静，如此之多
a profound stillness of mind, so much so
以致 阿♥拉♥拉让他担任该组织的领队
that Alara offered him joint leadership of the group.
但他没有接受
But he refused.
他发现，一旦他从冥想中走出来，
He found that once he came out of meditation,
他又回到了 开始阶段
he was just returned once again to the same fundamental
出生、疾病、衰老和死亡的问题
problems of birth, sickness, old age and death.
这并没有给他带来他所追求的改变人生的体验
It didn’t give him the transformative experience that he sought.
（沉思的音乐）
(pensive music)
佛陀没有放弃
But the Buddha didn’t give up.
他下一步就是用这些方法进行实验
It’s said he next experimented with the techniques
一种不同类型的弃绝者，
of a different type of renouncer,
他们专注于极端形式的自我否定
who focused on extreme forms of self-denial.
这些类型的弃绝者也相信
These types of renouncers also believed
我们周围的物质部分
that the material part of our being
是解放的障碍
is an obstacle to liberation.
他们的方法要极端得多
Theirs was a much more drastic solution.
与其专注于思想，
Instead of focusing on the mind,
他们竭尽全力制♥服♥自己的身体
they put all their efforts into subduing their bodies.
一些团体认为所有的人类行为
Some groups believed that all human action
给我们的灵魂留下了负面的灰尘，
left a negative dust on our soul,
把我们压在这辈子，
weighing us down in this life,
把我们困在未来的重生中
and trapping us in future rebirths.
于是，一些人禁食，一些人连续数月停滞不前
Some fasted, some stood stock-still for months on end.
还有一些人忍♥受着正午太阳的炙热，
Others endured the heat of the midday sun,
所有这些，都是为了烧掉他们之前行为的结果
all to burn off the results of their previous actions.
为永久灵魂留出空间
Extreme measures to allow space for the permanent soul
扩展到宇宙的广大，
to expand to the size of the universe,
最终把他们从轮回中解脱出来
eventually liberating them from Samsara.
佛陀花了六年时间
It seems the Buddha spent six years
尝试各种自我否定，
experimenting with all kinds of self-denying,
极端的忏悔
extreme penances.
他试着屏住呼吸
He tried a technique of holding his breath
时间越来越长
for longer and longer periods.
他光着身子到处走
He walked around naked.
他只吃少量食物，每天只吃一粒米饭
He ate tiny amounts of food, just one grain of rice a day.
他差点死了
We’re told that he almost died.
他的骨头就像废弃房♥屋的椽子，
His bones were like the rafters of a derelict house,
通过胃，他能感觉到自己的脊梁骨
and he could actually feel his backbone,
through his stomach.
但尽管如此，他没有取得任何进展
But despite all this, he wasn’t making any progress.
疼痛使他神志不清
The pain was clouding his mind.
苦行并没有提供解决痛苦的办法
The austerities weren’t providing a solution to suffering.
只是让他更加痛苦
They were just making him suffer even more.
因此，他放弃了自我否定的道路
So, he abandoned the path of self-denial
吃了一碗米粥，
by eating a bowl of rice porridge,
让跟随他的五个弃绝者感到失望和愤怒
disappointing and angering his five fellow renouncers.
六年的艰辛，尝试不同的方法，
Six years of hardship, experimenting with different methods,
结果一无所成
had come to nothing.
他要独自去寻找
Now he would go it alone in his quest
打破轮回的循环
to break the cycle of Samsara.
佛陀接下来的尝试是新的
What the Buddha attempted next was something new.
在自我放纵 与
A middle way, between the extremes of self-indulgence,
自我折磨的严酷的两个极端之间，
and the rigors of self-mortification.
从现在起，中道将是他全新的做法
Moderation would be his radical new approach from now on.
佛陀对人的深思的改变，越来越清晰
The Buddha’s change of tack would bring greater clarity
to his examination of the human condition.
佛陀相信我们所能确定的
The Buddha believed that all we can know for sure
是我们对世界的感受
is how we experience the world.
我们有什么样的感受，是由我们的思想决定的
And that it’s our minds that determine what kinds of experience we have.
他用自己的冥想，审视自己内心的活动
Using his meditation skills, he interrogated
the internal workings of his own mind.
佛陀发现，很多与设想相矛盾
And what the Buddha discovered contradicted the assumptions
他是对人们认为灵魂是永恒的持怀疑态度
people held about the permanence of the soul.
他意识到外部世界，
He realized that the external world,
正如我们所经历的，它在不断变化
as we experienced it, was constantly changing.
我们也在不断变化
And that we were constantly changing, too.
我们的物质形态，我们的感觉，
Our material form, our sensations,
我们的思想，我们的意识，我们的性格，
our mind, our consciousness, our character,
这一切，都在不断变化之中
all in perpetual flux.
这种认知，揭露了普遍想法的一个根本缺陷
This realization exposed a fundamental flaw in the Buddha’s thinking.
所有认定自我永恒的努力，都是徒劳的
All efforts to identify a permanent self were futile.
因为一个永久的或独♥立♥的自我，是不存在的
Because a permanent, or independent self, did not exist.
当佛陀看到痛苦正在发展的进程
When the Buddha is looking at
how the process of his suffering was developing,
他开始像医生一样看着它
he started looking at it very much like doctor.
开始寻找原因，
And he starts looking for the cause,
开始意识到，一切都是转瞬即逝的，
and he starts realizing that everything is fleeting,
它在变，他什么都做不到
it’s changing, there’s nothing that he can put his finger on
并开始意识到
as a cause, and starts realizing that actually
原因是强调了一个我
the cause is the identification with an I.
没有这样一种情况：你可以精确地指出在某个时间点说，看，就是这
There’s no such thing which you can just pinpoint
at a certain point in time and say, look, this is it.
但它会在下一刻发生变化
But it changes in the next moment.
所以我意识到，
So I think that realization,
一切都是无常的，
that everything is impermanent,
导致了灵魂永久存在的想法是一个观点
leads to the idea that the permanently existing entity of a soul is a concept.
跟我解释一下，因为我脑子不太清楚
Just explain to me, because I can’t quite get my head
围绕这一点，没有自我意味着什么？
around this, what does it mean to have no self?
这是什么意思？
What did he mean by that?
我给你举个例子，比如说，
I’ll give you an example, for example, let’s say,
好吧，Bettany，你什么时候出生的？
okay, Bettany, when were you born?
你说：我出生在某某日期，
And you say: I was born on so and so date,
一年又一年
and so and so year.
我会说：真的吗？
And I’d say: really?
你不是九个月前出生的吗？
Weren’t you born nine months before that?
你说可以
You say yes.
我说：你不是在你妈妈身边吗
And I say: weren’t you in your mother
在那之前父亲呢？
and father before that?
如果我把你妈妈从你身边带走，
If I took your mother out of you,