5Novemberноября · 5-е ноября
Мысль есть уяснение истины, и потому дурные мысли это только недодуманные мысли.
Thought is the making clear of truth, and so bad thoughts are only thoughts not thought through.
1. То, что еще спокойно, может быть удержано в покое. То, что еще не появилось, может быть легко предупреждено. То, что еще слабо, может быть легко сломано. То, чего еще мало, может быть легко рассеяно.
Заботьтесь о вещах прежде, чем они существуют. Учреждайте порядок прежде, чем начнутся беспорядки.
Толстое дерево началось с тонкого прута. Девятиэтажная башня началась с кладки малых кирпичей. Путешествие в тысячу верст начинается с одного шага. Будьте внимательны к своим мыслям — они начало поступков.
1. What is still at rest can be kept at rest. What has not yet appeared can easily be forestalled. What is still weak can easily be broken. What is still small can easily be scattered.
Take care of things before they exist. Set up order before disorder begins.
The thick tree began as a thin twig. The nine-story tower began with the laying of small bricks. A journey of a thousand versts begins with a single step. Be attentive to your thoughts — they are the beginning of deeds.
From Tao Te Ching · reworded by Tolstoy .
What changedAdds “Be attentive to your thoughts — they are the beginning of deeds.”
Original · Classical Chinese其安易持，其未兆易謀。
其脆易泮，其微易散。
為之於未有，
治之於未亂。
合抱之木，生於毫末；九層之臺，起於累土；千里之行，始於足下。
Source text: zh.wikisource.orgIn English · James Legge, 1891That which is at rest is easily kept hold of; before a thing has given indications of its presence, it is easy to take measures against it; that which is brittle is easily broken; that which is very small is easily dispersed. Action should be taken before a thing has made its appearance; order should be secured before disorder has begun.
The tree which fills the arms grew from the tiniest sprout; the tower of nine storeys rose from a (small) heap of earth; the journey of a thousand li commenced with a single step.
Source text: gutenberg.orgDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Tao Te Ching, ch. 64 (first half).
Signed 'after Lao-Tzu'. The first half of ch. 64 is followed closely (the 'heap of earth' becomes 'small bricks', 'a thousand li' 'a thousand versts'); the closing 'Be attentive to your thoughts: they are the beginning of deeds' is Tolstoy's own moral, not in the chapter.
Translation note. A verst is a Russian measure of about two-thirds of a mile; Tolstoy russifies the familiar “thousand li”.
2. С самого утра надо следить за собой и сказать себе: я могу сейчас прийти в столкновение с человеком дерзким, неблагодарным, наглым, лицемерным, докучливым или озлобленным, ибо такими пороками одержим всякий, не знающий, что хорошо и что дурно. Но если я сам твердо знаю, в чем добро и зло, понимаю, что зло для меня есть только то дурное дело, которое я сам делаю, то никакой обидчик не может повредить мне, ибо никто не может заставить меня, против воли моей, делать зло. Если же я вдобавок помню еще и то, как близок мне всякий человек, не по плоти и крови, а по духу, который в каждом из нас от бога и составляет ту сущность нашу, которая выше плоти, то я не могу сердиться или негодовать на столь близкое мне существо, ибо мы сотворены друг для друга, призваны помогать друг другу, как рука — руке, нога — ноге, как глаза и зубы, которые всегда заодно помогают друг другу. Поэтому отворачиваться от ближнего, оскорбившего нас, противно истинной природе нашей. Однако против этого грешит всякий человек, ненавидящий другого за обиду.
2. From early morning one must watch over oneself and say to oneself: I may soon come up against a man who is insolent, ungrateful, impudent, hypocritical, tiresome, or embittered, for everyone who does not know what is good and what is bad is possessed by such vices. But if I myself know firmly where good and evil lie, and understand that the only evil for me is the bad deed I do myself, then no offender can harm me, for no one can make me do evil against my will. And if, besides, I remember how close every man is to me, not by flesh and blood but by the spirit, which in each of us is from God and makes up that essence of ours which is higher than the flesh, then I cannot be angry or indignant with a being so close to me, for we were created for one another, called to help one another, as hand helps hand and foot helps foot, as the eyes and the teeth, which always work together to help each other. Therefore to turn away from a neighbor who has offended us is against our true nature. Yet every man who hates another for an injury sins against it.
From Meditations · reworded by Tolstoy .
What changedKinship in “intelligence” becomes kinship “by the spirit, which in each of us is from God.”
Original · Ancient GreekἝωθεν προλέγειν ἑαυτῷ· συντεύξομαι περιέργῳ, ἀχαρίστῳ, ὑβριστῇ, δολερῷ, βασκάνῳ, ἀκοινωνήτῳ· πάντα ταῦτα συμβέβηκεν ἐκείνοις παρὰ τὴν ἄγνοιαν τῶν ἀγαθῶν καὶ κακῶν.
… γεγόναμεν γὰρ πρὸς συνεργίαν ὡς πόδες, ὡς χεῖρες, ὡς βλέφαρα, ὡς οἱ στοῖχοι τῶν ἄνω καὶ κάτω ὀδόντων. τὸ οὖν ἀντιπράσσειν ἀλλήλοις παρὰ φύσιν· ἀντιπρακτικὸν δὲ τὸ ἀγανακτεῖν καὶ ἀποστρέφεσθαι.
Source text: raw.githubusercontent.comIn English · George Long, 1862Begin the morning by saying to thyself, I shall meet with the busybody, the ungrateful, arrogant, deceitful, envious, unsocial. All these things happen to them by reason of their ignorance of what is good and evil.
I can neither be injured by any of them, for no one can fix on me what is ugly, nor can I be angry with my kinsman, nor hate him. For we are made for co-operation, like feet, like hands, like eyelids, like the rows of the upper and lower teeth.
Source text: gutenberg.orgDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Meditations, II.1.
Close in structure, but Tolstoy reworks the theology: Marcus's kinship 'not of the same blood or seed, but participating in the same intelligence and portion of the divinity' becomes 'not by flesh and blood but by the spirit which in each of us is from God'; Marcus's ground for invulnerability (no one can involve me in what is base) becomes 'evil for me is only the bad deed I do myself; no one can force me to do evil'. Eyelids become eyes; the final sentence ('every man who hates another for an offence sins against this') is Tolstoy's addition.
3. О, ты, ищущий истины, владей своими мыслями, если ты хочешь достигнуть своей цели! Устреми взор своей души на тот единый чистый свет, который свободен от страсти.
3. O you who seek the truth, master your thoughts if you wish to reach your goal! Fix the gaze of your soul on that one pure light which is free of passion.
From The Voice of the Silence · close to the original .
Brahmin wisdom’s own wordsHave mastery o'er thy Soul, O seeker after truths undying, if thou would'st reach the goal.
Thy Soul-gaze centre on the One Pure Light, the Light that is free from affection, …
Source text: archive.orgDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. The Voice of the Silence (1889), Fragment III, The Seven Portals, Fragment III (the golden keys of the portals).
Faithful to Blavatsky's English, except 'Soul' becomes 'thoughts' (the preceding line, 'Have mastery o'er thy thoughts, O striver for perfection', is merged in) and 'affection' becomes 'passion'. The book presents itself as translated from the Tibetan 'Book of the Golden Precepts'; it is not Brahmin scripture.
4. Для того, чтобы пламя могло дать спокойный свет, нужно, чтобы светильник был поставлен в защищенное от ветра место. Ежели же пламя подвергнуто переменяющимся ветрам, то оно будет дрожать и кидать обманчивые тени, темные и странные. Такие же тени будут бросать дурные мысли на белую поверхность твоей души.
4. For a flame to give a steady light, the lamp must be set in a place sheltered from the wind. But if the flame is exposed to shifting winds, it will flicker and cast deceptive shadows, dark and strange. Just such shadows will bad thoughts cast on the white surface of your soul.
From The Voice of the Silence · close to the original .
Brahmin wisdom’s own wordsEre the gold flame can burn with steady light, the lamp must stand well guarded in a spot free from …
Exposed to shifting breeze, the jet will flicker and the quivering flame cast shades deceptive, dark and ever-changing, on the Soul's white shrine.
Source text: archive.orgDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. The Voice of the Silence (1889), Fragment III, The Seven Portals, Fragment III (p. 61-62).
Faithful to Blavatsky's English (whose image echoes Bhagavad Gita VI.19, the lamp in a windless place); Tolstoy adds that 'bad thoughts' cast the shadows. Not Brahmin scripture.
5. В суете мира и среди возбуждения соблазнов некогда искать средств противодействия нашим желаниям.
Установи свои цели тогда, когда ты один и отсутствуют соблазны. Только тогда ты будешь в силе бороться с искушающими тебя соблазнами.
5. In the bustle of the world and amid the excitement of temptations there is no time to seek means of resisting our desires.
Set your aims when you are alone and temptations are absent. Only then will you have the strength to fight the temptations that tempt you.
From Deontology, or the Science of Morality · close to the original .
What Tolstoy read · Stanton Coit, The Message of Man… the temptations are present, we shall find the motives at hand for resisting them.
Source text: archive.orgBentham’s own wordsIt is not amidst the hurly-burly of exciting temptations that we can safely look around us for motives to check their promptings.
Let the rules be gathered up, let the motives be fixed within us, while the temptations are absent, and it is thus, and thus only, that when the temptations are present, we shall find the arguments at hand for resisting them.
Source text: archive.orgDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Deontology, or the Science of Morality (ed. Bowring, 1834), vol. ii, ch. i, vol. ii, ch. i, p. 29; Coit, The Message of Man, vv. 5-6 of the chapter after 'Be not led into temptation' sequence.
Faithful, probably via Coit, who has 'motives at hand' for Bentham's 'arguments at hand'. Bentham's words read: 'It is not amidst the hurly-burly of exciting temptations that we can safely look around us for motives to check their promptings. Let the rules be gathered up, let the motives be fixed within us, while the temptations are absent, and it is thus, and thus only, that when the temptations are present, we shall find the arguments at hand for resisting them.'
6. Размышление — путь к бессмертию, легкомыслие — путь к смерти. Бодрствующие в размышлении не умирают никогда; легкомысленные, неведущие подобны мертвым.
Пробуждай сам себя, — тогда, защищенный собою и бодро внемлющий, ты будешь неизменен.
6. Reflection is the way to immortality; heedlessness is the way to death. Those who keep awake in reflection never die; the heedless and the unknowing are like the dead.
Rouse yourself, — then, guarded by yourself and listening keenly, you will be unchanging.
From Dhammapada · joined by Tolstoy from several places .
Original · PaliAppamādo amatapadaṁ, …
… pamādo maccuno padaṁ; …
Appamattā na mīyanti, …
… ye pamattā yathā matā.
Source text: raw.githubusercontent.comIn English · F. Max Müller, 1881Earnestness is the path of immortality (Nirvana), thoughtlessness the path of death. Those who are in earnest do not die, those who are thoughtless are as if dead already.
Rouse thyself by thyself, examine thyself by thyself, thus self-protected and attentive wilt thou live happily, O Bhikshu!
Source text: gutenberg.orgDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Dhammapada, vv. 21 + 379.
v. 21 faithful (appamāda 'earnestness' rendered 'размышление', reflection), joined to v. 379 (its Pali is not quoted here), whose 'live happily' becomes 'be unchanging'.
Нельзя отогнать дурную мысль, когда она появилась в уме, но можно понять, что появившаяся мысль дурная, и можно вызвать те мысли, которые ослабят или уничтожат ее. Появилась мысль о недостатках ближнего: я не могу отогнать ее, но, поняв, что мысль эта дурная, могу вызвать мысль о том, что осуждение дурно, что я сам плох, что в нем тот же бог, как и во мне, и что поэтому я не могу не любить его.
We cannot drive away a bad thought once it has appeared in the mind, but we can understand that the thought that has appeared is bad, and we can call up those thoughts that will weaken or destroy it. A thought of my neighbor’s failings has appeared: I cannot drive it away, but, understanding that this thought is bad, I can call up the thought that judging is bad, that I myself am bad, that the same God is in him as in me, and that therefore I cannot help loving him.
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