13. The Path of Attainment
13. 成就之路

Journey on this path
此路上的旅程

August 11, 1925

1925 年 8 月 11 日

My Blessed Mureeds,

我蒙受祝福的門徒們：

I would like to speak this evening on the subject of the path of attainment. The path of attainment is likened to a narrow path, to a steep path, that one finds on the mountain, to climb to the top. And therefore the path of attainment is difficult, because it is going uphill. And there is another path which leads to the goal that follows after the attainment. It cannot be very well called downhill, but at the same time the journey on this path is as easy as it is to come down from the top of the mountain.

今晚我想談談成就之路。成就之路就像山上一條狹窄而陡峭、通往山頂的小徑。因此，成就之路是艱難的，因為它一路向上。而在成就之後，還有另一條通往目標的道路。這條路不能真正說是下坡路，但走在這條路上的旅程，卻如同從山頂下來一般容易。

Sacrifice
犧牲

The path that goes uphill towards attainment requires continual sacrifice. The one who is not ready to sacrifice must stand at the foot of the mountain, or the place he is standing on the way. He cannot go further, because he cannot sacrifice. And the path that is after the attainment requires renunciation to arrive at the goal. But to mix these two words is like confusing the words such as pleasure and happiness, such as intellect and wisdom. These are two different things. The one who has not made sacrifice in life, the one who has not yet gone through the path of sacrifice, must not take the name of renunciation, for it is quite a different thing. Everything is good in its own time. When a sacrifice is needed and one makes a renunciation, one goes backwards. When a renunciation is necessary and one makes a sacrifice, he goes backwards, too. For these are two distinct and different things.

向上通往成就的道路，需要持續不斷的犧牲。一個尚未準備好犧牲的人，只能停在山腳下，或停在途中自己所在之處。他無法再往前走，因為他無法犧牲。而成就之後的道路，則需要捨離，才能抵達目標。但若把這兩個詞混為一談，就像把「愉悅」與「幸福」、「智力」與「智慧」混淆了一樣。它們是兩件不同的事。。它們是兩件不同的事。一個在生命中尚未有所犧牲、尚未走過犧牲之路的人，不應談捨離，因為那是完全不同的事。每一件事都只有在適當的時候才是好的。需要犧牲時，若一個人選擇捨離，他便會倒退；需要捨離時，若一個人仍在作犧牲，他同樣會倒退。因為這兩者是彼此分明、截然不同的事。

Spiritual path apart, even in the things of worldly life such as starting a new business, going in a new profession, making one’s career, treading the path of love and friendship, working for name and fame, whatever be the nature or character of the object one wishes to attain, what it asks is a sacrifice, from the beginning to the end. We are apt to forget it, and therefore we each think that our life asks for so many sacrifices. “Look how this professional man is happy, how that businessman is enjoying life, how that man who is making a career in the government is going on in his life!” Only we do not see the sacrifice that each one of them has had to make in order to arrive at that object which he wishes to attain.

即使撇開靈性道路不談，在世俗生活的事情上也是如此：開創一門新的事業、投入新的專業、建立自己的生涯、走上愛與友誼的道路、追求名聲與聲望——無論我們想要達成的目標具有什麼性質或特徵，從頭到尾，它所要求的都是犧牲。我們很容易忘記這一點，因此每個人都覺得，自己的生命要求了如此之多的犧牲。「看看這位專業人士多麼幸福，那位商人多麼享受人生，那個在政府裡發展事業的人，他的人生多麼順遂！」只是，我們沒有看見，他們每一個人為了抵達自己想要達成的目標，曾經作過什麼樣的犧牲。

A lazy man is preferred to a man who is unwilling to make sacrifices. By laziness a man shows that he does not care enough to attain to something. He enjoys his comfort, his convenience; he is quite content in his life. But the man who wishes to attain something and is not willing to make sacrifices, that man will have a difficult time, for he wants to purchase things without coins.

比起不願犧牲的人，一個懶惰的人反而還更可取。因為一個人的懶惰，顯示他並沒有那麼在意一定要得到什麼。他享受自己的舒適與便利；他對自己的生活十分滿足。但一個想要得到某樣東西，卻又不願作出犧牲的人，他的日子就會很難過，因為他想買東西，卻不願付錢。

The sacrifice one has to make is of different characters, of different natures according to the object we have in view. The greater the object of attainment, the greater the sacrifice asked for it. But sacrifice must be understood rightly. It is not always that one has to sacrifice what one possesses; but one has to sacrifice what one is. That is a great difficulty. As a miser holds to his last penny, so man, disinclined to sacrifice, holds himself tight. “Anything be stolen, but not myself.” It is a natural inclination in man. And what does the spiritual path ask of you? That very thing: “self.” Give false self, and get the real self. If the mystery is understood, then attainment is at the next step. But man is not easily inclined to give up himself; anything else, but not himself. What do I mean by this?

我們必須作出的犧牲，會隨著眼前的目標而具有不同的性質、不同的形式。所追求的成就愈大，它所要求的犧牲也愈大。然而，我們必須正確理解犧牲。人所必須犧牲的，並不總是自己所擁有的東西；人必須犧牲的，是自己所是的。這才是最大的困難。就像守財奴緊抓著最後一分錢不放，不願犧牲的人也緊緊抓住自己。「什麼都可以被拿走，就是不能拿走我自己。」這是人很自然的傾向。而靈性道路向你要求的是什麼？正是這一樣東西：「自我。」交出虛假的自我，得到真實的自我。若能明白其中的奧祕，那麼下一步就是成就。然而，人並不容易願意放下自己；其他什麼都可以，就是自己不行。我的意思是什麼呢？

One says, “My idea is my idea, my wish is my wish. It is mine. My thought is my thought, my inclination is my inclination, my point of view is my point of view.” He makes all these things greater possessions than the possessions he has outwardly, and therefore it becomes easier to give what one possesses than to give up what one thinks and feels. If you say to a person, “But this is a wrong thing to do,” he says, “Yes, but I am that way, I think like this. I know that it is wrong. I feel like it, although it is wrong. I cannot do otherwise.” In other words, he holds his possessions, thinking that it is himself. But it is not himself. It is his false self.

一個人會說：「我的想法就是我的想法，我的願望就是我的願望。那是我的。我的思想就是我的思想，我的傾向就是我的傾向，我的觀點就是我的觀點。」他把這一切看得比自己外在擁有的財物還更加珍貴。因此，送出自己擁有的東西，反而比放下自己的思想與感受更容易。若你對一個人說：「可是，這樣做是不對的。」他會說：「是的，但我就是這樣，我就是這麼想。我知道這是不對的；雖然不對，我卻就是這麼覺得。我沒有辦法不這樣。」換句話說，他緊抓著這些所有物，以為它們就是他自己。然而，那並不是他自己。那是他虛假的自我。

However small be the object of your attainment, it matters little. However great a sacrifice it asks from you, it does not matter. By paying a greater cost if you have attained a small object, even then you have attained something.

無論你所追求的目標多麼微小，都沒有太大關係。無論它要求你付出多大的犧牲，也沒有關係。即使你付出了較大的代價，只得到了一個小小的目標，你終究仍有所成就。

Renunciation
捨離

And now coming to renunciation. Very often a person sees renunciation in a wrong light. A person thinks that he is not willing to make the sacrifice, therefore he renounces the object of attainment. It is a wrong conception of renunciation. Many renounce an object very often in their lives, only because they are unwilling to make enough sacrifices. They value themselves or they value the sacrifice that it asks, more than the object they wish to attain. And because they cannot attain it, they say, “I renounce it.” It is very easy to renounce.

現在我們來談捨離。一個人常常會錯誤地理解捨離。他想，自己既然不願作出犧牲，因此就捨棄所追求的目標。這是對捨離錯誤的理解。許多人在生命中一次又一次地捨棄某個目標，只因為他們不願作出足夠的犧牲。他們看重自己，或看重那個目標所要求的犧牲，勝過自己想要達成的目標。於是，因為自己無法達成它，他們便說：「我捨離它。」捨離是很容易的。

The great heroes and the souls who have really done something worthwhile in the world have begun their life with sacrifices. Sacrifice of comfort, sacrifice of convenience, sacrifice of pleasure, of merriment, of joy. There is hardly one among them that you find who did not have to pay a great price to have arrived to that attainment. The higher the attainment the greater the sacrifice it asks. But the one who understands keeps his object always higher than the sacrifice he makes.

偉大的英雄，以及那些真正在世上成就了某些有價值之事的靈魂，都是以犧牲開始他們的人生。犧牲舒適、犧牲便利、犧牲享樂、歡娛與樂趣。在他們之中，你幾乎找不到任何一個人，不曾為了抵達那項成就而付出巨大的代價。成就愈高，它所要求的犧牲也愈大。然而，真正明白的人，總是把自己的目標看得比所付出的犧牲更高。

The one who does not understand wishes to see the object of attainment much less than the sacrifice it asks for. And in it he thinks that it is practical. It is a common sense. No doubt it is practical, and it is a common sense when the object is material to only pay the price of the object.

不明白的人，則希望自己所追求的目標，其價值遠低於它所要求的犧牲；而他認為這才叫實際，這才叫常識。毫無疑問，當目標只是物質上的東西時，只付出相當於那件東西的價錢，確實是實際，也確實符合常識。

But the high-minded person who has ideal in him will show that idealistic tendency; even if you called him unpractical he does not mind, even in material things. The diamond ring that he likes, he will pay any price for it. Others will mock at him, call him unpractical, but he does not mind. The pleasure he gets out of the thing that he has bought is greater than the money if he had it in the bank. After all, life is but “four days” [an Eastern imagery].

但是，一個心志高遠、心中懷有理想的人，自然會有這種理想主義的傾向；即使你說他不切實際，他也不在意，甚至在物質的事情上也是如此。他若喜歡一枚鑽石戒指，便願意為它付出任何價錢。別人也許嘲笑他，說他不切實際，但他並不在意。他從所購得之物得到的喜悅，比把那筆錢留在銀行裡更大。畢竟，人生不過「四天」而已〔東方的比喻，意指人生短暫〕。

〔校勘譯註〕 部分底本此處作 idyllic tendency，但 idyllic 意為「田園詩般的、恬靜美好的」，與本段語義不合。依前文 the high-minded person who has ideal in him、後文 unpractical 的語義脈絡，以及 Hazrat Inayat Khan 其他文本中可見 idealistic tendency 的實際用例，此處校訂為 idealistic tendency，譯作「理想主義的傾向」。

As Sa’adi, the great poet, says, “Who has earned and who has spent, and who has lived is greater than the one who has earned and who has collected at the sacrifice of joy that one gains by sacrifice.”

正如偉大的詩人薩迪所說：「那賺取了、花用了，也真正活過的人，勝過那賺取了卻只是積聚的人；後者為了積聚，而犧牲了人藉由付出所能得到的喜悅。」

But when it comes to higher things, such as friendship, such as love, such as kindness, there you can never make enough sacrifice. He who had the ideal in his heart, for him always sacrifice is small. What sacrifice he does is always small. It is the one who has no ideal who will weigh and measure and see if it is even or uneven. “What I give is even with what I take, or there is no balance in it.” There is his practicality; he calls it wisdom. It is not wisdom, it is cleverness. Wisdom stands higher, above it all. Wisdom does not come by practicality. When a person says, “I will guard my interest against every attempt made by others,” he is a different person. That person is greater who trusts, who risks, and who can make sacrifices.

但是，當我們談到更高的事物，例如友誼、愛與仁慈時，無論作多少犧牲，都不會太多。一個心中懷有理想的人，總覺得犧牲是小的；無論他作出什麼犧牲，在他看來總是很小。只有沒有理想的人，才會斤斤計較、衡量比較，看雙方是否相等。「我所給出的，是否正好等於我所得到的？否則其中便不平衡。」這就是他的實際；他把這稱作智慧。但這不是智慧，而是精明。智慧站得更高，超越這一切。智慧並不是從實際算計中產生的。當一個人說：「無論別人作出什麼企圖，我都要保護自己的利益不受損失」，那是一種人。而另一種人——願意信任、願意冒險，也能夠犧牲的人——則更加偉大。

When we come to the spiritual path, it needs a greater sacrifice than anything else. It asks one for one’s time, for one’s thought; when you are concentrating even it does not allow you to think of anything else. You must think on the object you concentrate on. The further you go, the greater sacrifice is wanted. And the difference between those who go quicker in this path or who go slower is in the capability of sacrifice. Sacrifice teaches renunciation. And there is no other way of self-effacement than sacrifice. The one who knows the path of friendship, the one who knows what real friendship means, he need not be told what sacrifice means; he knows it. For friendship does not mean a good time, a pastime. Friendship means sacrifice. And when once by friendship sacrifice is learned, then one begins to know what sacrifice is necessary on the path of spiritual attainment.

當我們來到靈性道路上，它所需要的犧牲，比其他任何事情都更大。它要求我們付出自己的時間、自己的思想；甚至當你在專注時，它也不允許你去想其他事情。你必須把思想放在自己所專注的對象上。走得愈遠，所要求的犧牲也愈大。而在這條道路上，有些人走得較快、有些人走得較慢，其中的差別就在於犧牲的能力。犧牲教導人捨離。而除了犧牲之外，沒有其他通往消抹自我的道路。一個懂得友誼之道的人，一個知道真正的友誼意味著什麼的人，不需要別人告訴他犧牲是什麼；他自己知道。因為友誼並不是一起享樂，也不是一種消遣。友誼意味著犧牲。而一旦我們透過友誼學會了犧牲，便開始明白，在靈性成就的道路上，需要的是什麼樣的犧牲。

God Bless You.

願神祝福你們。

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