Our problems - social, environmental, political, religious - are so complex that we can solve them only by being simple, not by becoming extraordinarily erudite and clever. A simple person sees much more directly, has a more direct experience, than the complex person. Our minds are so crowded with an infinite knowledge of facts, of what others have said, that we have become incapable of being simple and having direct experience ourselves. These problems demand a new approach; and they can be so approached only when we are simple, inwardly really simple.

我們的問題——社會的、環(huán)境的、政治的、宗教的——都實在太復(fù)雜，變得學(xué)識淵博、聰明絕頂是沒有用的，只有變得簡單才能解決這些問題。一個簡單的人比一個復(fù)雜的人看得更直接，有著更直接的經(jīng)驗。我們的頭腦塞滿知識，滿腦子別人說過的話，我們已經(jīng)無法簡單，無法親自獲取直接的經(jīng)驗。這些問題需要新的方法，只有當(dāng)我們的內(nèi)心真正簡單的時候，問題才能解決。

That simplicity comes only through self-knowledge, through understanding ourselves; the ways of our thinking and feeling; the movements of our thoughts; our responses; how we conform, through fear, to public opinion, to what others say, what the Buddha, the Christ, the great saints have said - all of which indicates our nature to conform, to be safe, to be secure. When one is seeking security, one is obviously in a state of fear and therefore there is no simplicity.

只有認(rèn)識自我，了解我們自身，了解我們的思考方式、感受方式，了解我們思想的活動、我們的反應(yīng)，了解我們怎樣因為恐懼而隨波逐流、人云亦云，怎樣對佛陀、基督、偉人圣者們的言教遵行不?！且磺卸急砻髁宋覀兊谋举|(zhì)：循規(guī)蹈矩，一心只想安全和穩(wěn)定——只有了解那一切，才會有那樣的簡單。追求安全時，我們顯然處于恐懼之中，因此就沒有簡單可言。

Without being simple, one cannot be sensitive - to the trees, to the birds, to the mountains, to the wind, to all the things which are going on about us in the world; if one is not simple one cannot be sensitive to the inward intimation of things. Most of us live so superficially, on the upper level of our consciousness; there we try to be thoughtful or intelligent, which is synonymous with being religious; there we try to make our minds simple, through compulsion, through discipline. But that is not simplicity.

沒有簡單，就無法敏感——無法對樹木、飛鳥、山巒和風(fēng)敏感，無法對這世上圍繞著我們的萬事萬物敏感；如果我們不簡單，就無法敏銳地覺察萬物在向你吐露著什么。我們大多數(shù)人活得非常膚淺，活在我們意識的表層；在那個層面上，我們試圖變得有思想有智慧，即變得具有宗教性；在那個層面上，我們試圖通過強(qiáng)迫、通過持戒讓頭腦簡單起來。但那并不是簡單。

When we force the upper mind to be simple, such compulsion only hardens the mind, does not make the mind supple, clear, quick. To be simple in the whole, total process of our consciousness is extremely arduous; because there must be no inward reservation, there must be an eagerness to find out, to inquire into the process of our being, which means to be awake to every intimation, to every hint; to be aware of our fears, of our hopes, and to investigate and to be free of them more and more and more. Only then, when the mind and the heart are really simple, not encrusted, are we able to solve the many problems that confront us.

如果我們強(qiáng)迫表層的頭腦簡單，這樣的強(qiáng)迫只會僵化頭腦，而不會讓它變得柔韌、清晰、敏銳。要在意識的整個過程中都保持簡單，是相當(dāng)艱難的；因為你的內(nèi)心需要沒有任何保留，你必須非常熱切地想要弄清楚、想要探究我們的存在過程，這意味著清醒地覺察每一個提示、每一個暗示；要去覺察我們的恐懼、我們的希望，去探究它們，去一點一點地從中解脫。只有那時，只有當(dāng)頭腦和心靈真正簡單，不再結(jié)繭生殼時，才能解決我們面臨的諸多問題。

The First and Last Freedom, 'Simplicity'

《最初和最終的自由》之“簡單”