Dialogue
A LECTURE GENERALLY MEANS telling or explaining a certain subject, for you to be instructed, to learn. This is not a lecture. Here, we are having a conversation together like two friends, perhaps walking in a quiet lane, full of trees and beauty of flowers, the singing of many birds, sitting down on a bench unfrequented, solitary and having a dialogue, because we are concerned, both you and the speaker, with our daily life, not with something beyond, romantic and fantastic. Because if we don't make our own lives clear, unruffled, nonchaotic, whatever we may do, it will have no meaning.
演讲，通常意味着就某个主题进行讲述或解释，目的是让你接受指导，或学到知识。现在我不是做演讲。此时此地，我们一起对话，如同两个老朋友，漫步在安静的小路上，两边长满了绿树和美丽的鲜花，小鸟在歌唱，找一条冷落孤独的长凳，我们坐下来交谈……你我所关心的是日常生活，而不是某些缥缈、浪漫、虚幻的东西。如果我们不能过上清明、安静、有序的生活，那么我们的任何作为都是毫无意义的。
So we must begin very near to go far. The near is what we are. Please, if one may point out, it is your responsibility to think together, not to accept; because one must have a great deal of skepticism, a skepticism that is not trammeled by fear, a doubt so that one begins to question not only what the speaker is saying but also what you think, what you believe, your faith, your conclusions, your religion. One must have tremendous questioning, doubt, inquiry, through deep exploration, not accepting, because throughout the world, religion has played an extraordinary part in narrowing the mind, in narrowing investigation. We are together going to look at many things that confront our daily life. We are not going to talk about any philosophy, any dogma, or encourage any faith, but with a mind that is questioning, doubting, demanding, find out for ourselves what is true, what is illusory, what is fantastic, and what is false.
千里之行，始于足下。所谓足下，就是当下我们的如是状况。如果有人指出了问题，那么你就有责任一同思考，而不是全盘接受，因为人必须具有充分的怀疑精神，不被恐惧、疑惑所束缚，这样你才会开始质疑我所讲的话，而且质疑你自己的思维、信仰、信念、定论、宗教。你必须具有巨大的发问、怀疑、探究精神，深入地探索，而不是照单接受。放眼世界，宗教在桎梏心灵、束缚求索方面发挥着异乎寻常的作用。现在，我们一起来检讨日常生活中所面对的诸多问题。我们不是探讨任何哲学、信条，也不鼓励任何信念，而是用发问、怀疑、探询之心，亲自发现什么是真实，什么是虚幻，什么是荒诞，什么是谬误。
（选自1983年1月29日孟买第三次公开谈话）
