吠檀多作为文明的要素
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中文
吠檀多作为文明的推动力
（摘自在英国里奇威花园艾尔利居所所作演讲）
那些只能看到事物粗陋外表的人，在印度民族身上所能感知的，不过是一个被征服、饱受苦难的民族，一个梦想家与哲学家的族群。他们似乎无从体察，在精神领域，印度征服了整个世界。诚然，正如过于活跃的西方心智将因吸纳东方的内省习惯与冥想之道而获益，东方亦将从更为充沛的活力与进取精神中受益。然而，我们必须追问：究竟是何种力量，使这饱受苦难的民族——印度人，以及犹太人（世界上一切伟大宗教皆发源于此两族）——得以在其他民族湮灭之时依然存续？其根源只能是他们的精神力量。印度人至今尚存，虽默默无声；犹太人如今的数量比他们居于巴勒斯坦时更为众多。印度哲学渗透于整个文明世界，随着流传而不断修饰濡染、浸润各处。在远古时代，印度的贸易远达非洲海岸，彼时欧洲尚未为世界所知，由此开通了与世界其余部分的交流，从而驳斥了印度人从不踏出本国的说法。
同样值得注意的是，外族强权对印度的统治，历来是那一强权历史上的转折点，给其带来财富、繁荣、霸权与精神思想。西方人竭力衡量他所能占有与享用的极限，东方人却似乎走上了相反的道路，衡量他能以多么少的物质为生。在吠陀中，我们追寻那古老民族寻觅神的历程。在他们的探寻中，他们遭遇了不同的层面：从祖先崇拜出发，历经对火神阿耆尼（Agni）、雷神因陀罗（Indra）与众神之神伐楼拿（Varuna）的礼拜，逐步演进。我们在所有宗教中都能看到神之观念的生长——从多神走向一神；其实质含义是：神是部族诸神之首，创造世界、统治世界，洞悉每一颗心。这些成长的阶段，引领着人类从诸神的多元走向一神论。然而，这种拟人化的神观并未令印度人满意——对于正在追寻那神圣者的他们而言，这一观念过于人性化了。因此，他们最终放弃了在感官与物质的外部世界中寻觅神，将注意力转向内在的世界。内在世界是否存在？它是什么？它是真我（Atman）。它是自我，它是个体所能确定的唯一事物。若他认识了自己，他便能认识宇宙，否则便不能。同样的问题，在上古之时便已被提出，甚至在《梨俱吠陀》（Rig-Veda）中以另一形式出现："从太初起，存在者为何？"这一问题，由吠檀多哲学逐渐加以解答。真我（Atman）存在于太初。也就是说，我们所称的绝对、宇宙灵魂、自我，乃是那力量，凭借此力量，自太初至今，乃至将来，一切皆得以显化。
当吠檀多哲学家们解答了这一问题，他们同时也发现了伦理学的基础。诚然，一切宗教皆传授伦理戒律，诸如"勿杀生，勿伤害；爱邻如己"等等，然而它们皆未能给出其所以然的缘由。我为何不应伤害我的邻人？对于这一问题，始终没有令人满意或最终使人信服的回答——直到印度人的形而上学思辨将其阐明，因为印度人不甘于仅仅满足于教条。印度人由此指出：真我（Atman）是绝对的、遍一切处的，因而是无限的。不可能存在两个无限，因为它们将相互限制，从而变得有限。而且，每个个体灵魂皆是那无限的宇宙灵魂的部分与组成。因此，一个人在伤害邻人时，实际上是在伤害自己。这是所有伦理法典之下的形而上学基本真理。人们往往认为，一个人在通往圆满的进程中，是从谬误走向真理的；当他从一种思想跃进到另一种思想，便必然要摒弃前者。然而，谬误不能导向真理。灵魂经历不同阶段，是从真理走向真理，每一阶段皆为真实；它从较低的真理走向较高的真理。这一点可以如下方式加以说明：一个人正向着太阳行进，每走一步便拍下一张照片。第一张与第二张将何其不同，与第三张乃至最后那张——当他抵达真实的太阳时所拍的——相比更是大相径庭！然而所有这些，尽管彼此相差悬殊，皆为真实；它们之所以显得各异，只是因为时间与空间的变化条件所致。正是对这一真理的认识，使印度人能够感知一切宗教——从最低级到最高级——的普遍真理；这也使他们成为历史上唯一从未有过宗教迫害的民族。一座如今被穆斯林所忽视与遗忘的穆斯林圣人神龛，正被印度教徒礼拜！可以援引许多实例，都说明着同样的宽容精神。
东方心智无法停歇，直至找到那终极目标——亦即全人类所追寻的目标——统一（Unity）。西方科学家在原子或分子中寻求统一。当他找到它，便无可再探索；同样，当我们找到那灵魂或自我的统一——即真我（Atman）——我们便无处可以再进。于是清楚地显现出，感官世界中的一切，皆是那唯一本体的显化形态。此外，当科学家假定：既无广度亦无长度的原子，在组合之后却能成为广延、长度与宽度的成因时，他便被引向了承认形而上学的必要。当一个原子作用于另一个原子，必须有某种媒介。那媒介是什么？它将是第三个原子。如若如此，问题依然悬而未决，因为这两者又如何作用于第三者？这显然是一个明显的归谬。这一矛盾的词语组合，同样见于一切物理科学所必须预设的假说之中：一个点，是既无部分亦无大小之物；一条线，是有长度而无宽度之物。这些既不能被看见，也不能被设想。为什么？因为它们不在感官的范围之内。它们是形而上学的概念。由此我们看到，最终是心智赋予了一切感知以形式。当我见到一把椅子，我所感知的并非是眼睛之外客观存在的那把真实椅子，而是一个外在之物加上心智所形成的意象。如此看来，即便是唯物主义者，最终也被迫走向形而上学。
English
Vedanta As A Factor In Civilisation
(Extract from an address delivered at Airlie Lodge, Ridgeway Gardens, England)
People who are capable of seeing only the gross external aspect of things can perceive in the Indian nation only a conquered and suffering people, a race of dreamers and philosophers. They seem to be incapable of perceiving that in the spiritual realm India conquers the world. No doubt it is true that just as the too active Western mind would profit by an admixture of Eastern introspect ion and the meditative habit, so the Eastern would benefit by a somewhat greater activity and energy. Still we must ask: What may be that force which causes this afflicted and suffering people, the Hindu, and the Jewish too (the two races from which have originated all the great religions of the world) to survive, when other nations perish? The cause can only be their spiritual force. The Hindus are still living though silent, the Jews are more numerous today than when they lived in Palestine. The philosophy of India percolates throughout the whole civilised world, modifying and permeating as it goes. So also in ancient times, her trade reached the shores of Africa before Europe was known, and opened communication with the rest of the world, thus disproving the belief that Indians never went outside of their own country.
It is remarkable also that the possession of India by a foreign power has always been a turning-point in the history of that power, bringing to it wealth, prosperity, dominion, and spiritual ideas. While the Western man tries to measure how much it is possible for him to possess and to enjoy, the Eastern seems to take the opposite course, and to measure how little of material possessions he can do with. In the Vedas we trace the endeavour of that ancient people to find God. In their search for Him they came upon different strata; beginning with ancestor worship, they passed on to the worship of Agni, the fire-god, of Indra, the god of thunder, and of Varuna, the God of gods. We find the growth of this idea of God, from many gods to one God, in all religions; its real meaning is that He is the chief of the tribal gods, who creates the world, rules it, and sees into every heart; the stages of growth lead up from a multiplicity of gods to monotheism. This anthropomorphic conception, however, did not satisfy the Hindus, it was too human for them who were seeking the Divine. Therefore they finally gave up searching for God in the outer world of sense and matter, and turned their attention to the inner world. Is there an inner world? And what is it? It is Âtman. It is the Self, it is the only thing an individual can be sure of. If he knows himself, he can know the universe, and not otherwise. The same question was asked in the beginning of time, even in the Rig-Veda, in another form: "Who or what existed from the beginning?" That question was gradually solved by the Vedanta philosophy. The Atman existed. That is to say, what we call the Absolute, the Universal Soul, the Self, is the force by which from the beginning all things have been and are and will be manifested.
While the Vedanta philosophers solved that question, they at the same time discovered the basis of ethics. Though all religions have taught ethical precepts, such as, "Do not kill, do not injure; love your neighbour as yourself," etc., yet none of these has given the reason. Why should I not injure my neighbour? To this question there was no satisfactory or conclusive answer forthcoming, until it was evolved by the metaphysical speculations of the Hindus who could not rest satisfied with mere dogmas. So the Hindus say that this Atman is absolute and all-pervading, therefore infinite. There cannot be two infinites, for they would limit each other and would become finite. Also each individual soul is a part and parcel of that Universal Soul, which is infinite. Therefore in injuring his neighbour, the individual actually injures himself. This is the basic metaphysical truth underlying all ethical codes. It is too often believed that a person in his progress towards perfection passes from error to truth; that when he passes on from one thought to another, he must necessarily reject the first. But no error can lead to truth. The soul passing through its different stages goes from truth to truth, and each stage is true; it goes from lower truth to higher truth. This point may be illustrated in the following way. A man is journeying towards the sun and takes a photograph at each step. How different would be the first photograph from the second and still more from the third or the last, when he reaches the real sun! But all these, though differing so widely from each other, are true, only they are made to appear different by the changing conditions of time and space. It is the recognition of this truth, which has enabled the Hindus to perceive the universal truth of all religions, from the lowest to the highest; it has made of them the only people who never had religious persecutions. The shrine of a Mohammedan saint which is at the present day neglected and forgotten by Mohammedans, is worshipped by Hindus! Many instances may be quoted, illustrating the same spirit of tolerance.
The Eastern mind could not rest satisfied till it had found that goal, which is the end sought by all humanity, namely, Unity. The Western scientist seeks for unity in the atom or the molecule. When he finds it, there is nothing further for him to discover, and so when we find that Unity of Soul or Self, which is called Atman, we can go no further. It becomes clear that everything in the sense world is a manifestation of that One Substance. Further, the scientist is brought to the necessity of recognising metaphysics, when he supposes that atoms having neither breadth nor length yet become, when combined, the cause of extension, length, and breadth. When one atom acts upon another, some medium is necessary. What is that medium? It will be a third atom. If so, then the question still remains unanswered, for how do these two act on the third? A manifest reductio ad absurdum. This contradiction in terms is also found in the hypothesis necessary to all physical science that a point is that which has neither parts nor magnitude, and a line has length without breadth. These cannot be either seen or conceived. Why? Because they do not come within the range of the senses. They are metaphysical conceptions. So we see, it is finally the mind which gives the form to all perception. When I see a chair, it is not the real chair external to my eye which I perceive, but an external something plus the mental image formed. Thus even the materialist is driven to metaphysics in the last extremity.
文本来自Wikisource公共领域。原版由阿德瓦伊塔修道院出版。