个人特质
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AI-translated. May contain errors. For accurate text, refer to the original English.
中文
个人风采
（《评论家》，1893年10月7日）
……这是宗教议会的产物。宗教议会使我们认识到，古代信仰的哲学对于现代人而言蕴含着无尽的美。一旦我们清晰地认识到这一点，便对其阐释者产生了浓厚的兴趣，并以一贯的热忱踏上求知之路。议会闭幕之后，获取此类知识最便捷的途径，便是通过仍在这座城市（芝加哥）逗留的辨喜法师的演讲与授课。他最初来到美国，是为了唤起美国人对在印度兴办新兴产业的热情，但他目前已暂时搁置这一计划——因为他发现，"美国人是世界上最富慈善之心的民族"，每一位怀有目的之人都会来此寻求援助。当被问及印度贫民与美国贫民的境况差异时，他回答道：我们这里的穷人在那里可算得上王公贵族，而且他被人带去参观这座城市最糟糕的街区，却从他所了解的角度来看，那里依然舒适宜人，甚至令人心旷神怡。
辨喜是婆罗门中的婆罗门，然而他放弃了自己的地位，加入了僧侣兄弟会——在那里，一切种姓的骄傲皆被自愿舍弃。即便如此，种族的烙印仍清晰地印刻在他身上。他的修养、他的雄辩、他摄人心魄的人格，给我们带来了对印度文明的全新认知。他是一个令人印象深刻的人物：那张聪慧灵动的面孔在明黄色的衬托下格外耀眼，那深沉而富有乐感的声音令人甫一接触便心生好感。因此，他被各文学俱乐部争相邀请，在教堂讲道布教，直至佛陀的生平与其信仰的教义已为我们所熟悉，也就不足为奇了。他发言从不依靠稿纸，以最精湛的艺术呈现事实与结论，以最令人信服的真诚娓娓道来，有时更升腾为丰富而鼓舞人心的雄辩。他学识渊博、修养深厚，俨然与最杰出的耶稣会士不相上下，其思维方式中亦带有几分耶稣会士的色彩；然而，尽管他在演讲中穿插的小小讽刺如剑之锋利，却又如此精妙，以至于许多听众未能察觉。尽管如此，他的礼貌始终如一，这些刺也从未直接指向我们的风俗习惯，以至于令人不快。目前，他满足于向我们阐明他的宗教及其哲学家的思想。他期待着这样一个时代的到来——届时我们将超越偶像崇拜（在他看来，偶像崇拜目前对无知阶层而言尚属必要），超越礼拜本身，抵达对自然中神之存在的认知，以及对人之神性与责任的认识。"求你自己的解脱，"他随垂死的佛陀而言道，"我无法助你。任何人都无法助你。自助者，天助之。"
English
PERSONAL TRAITS
(Critic, October 7, 1893)
. . . It was an outgrowth of the Parliament of Religions, which opened our eyes to the fact that the philosophy of the ancient creeds contains much beauty for the moderns. When we had once clearly perceived this, our interest in their exponents quickened, and with characteristic eagerness we set out in pursuit of knowledge. The most available means of obtaining it, after the close of the Parliament, was through the addresses and lectures of Swami Vivekananda, who is still in this city [Chicago]. His original purpose in coming to this country was to interest Americans in the starting of new industries among the Hindoos, but he has abandoned this for the present, because he finds that, as "the Americans are the most charitable people in the world," every man with a purpose comes here for assistance in carrying it out. When asked about the relative condition of the poor here and in India, he replied that our poor would be princes there, and that he had been taken through the worst quarter of the city only to find it, from the standpoint of his knowledge, comfortable and even pleasant.
A Brahmin of the Brahmins, Vivekananda gave up his rank to join the brotherhood of monks, where all pride of caste is voluntarily relinquished. And yet he bears the mark of race upon his person. His culture, his eloquence, and his fascinating personality have given us a new idea of Hindoo civilization. He is an interesting figure, his fine, intelligent, mobile face in its setting of yellows, and his deep, musical voice prepossessing one at once in his favor. So it is not strange that he has been taken up by the literary clubs, has preached and lectured in churches, until the life of Buddha and the doctrines of his faith have grown familiar to us. He speaks without notes, presenting his facts and his conclusions with the greatest art, the most convincing sincerity; and rising at times to a rich, inspiring eloquence. As learned and cultivated, apparently, as the most accomplished Jesuit, he has also something Jesuitical in the character of his mind; but though the little sarcasms thrown into his discourses are as keen as a rapier, they are so delicate as to be lost on many of his hearers. Nevertheless his courtesy is unfailing, for these thrusts are never pointed so directly at our customs as to be rude. At present he contents himself with enlightening us in regard to his religion and the words of its philosophers. He looks forward to the time when we shall pass beyond idolatry — now necessary in his opinion to the ignorant classes — beyond worship, even, to a knowledge of the presence of God in nature, of the divinity and responsibility of man. "Work out your own salvation," he says with the dying Buddha; "I cannot help you. No man can help you. Help yourself."
文本来自Wikisource公共领域。原版由阿德瓦伊塔修道院出版。