名著精讀:《悉達多》 兒子(3)

Vasudeva's smile flourished more warmly. "Oh yes, he too is called upon, he too is of the eternal life. But do we, you and me, know what he is called upon to do, what path to take, what actions to perform, what pain to endure? Not a small one, his pain will be; after all, his heart is proud and hard, people like this have to suffer a lot, err a lot, do much injustice, burden themselves with much sin. Tell me, my dear: you're not taking control of your son's upBringing? You don't force him? You don't beat him? You don't punish him?"
"No, Vasudeva, I don't do anything of this."
"I knew it. You don't force him, don't beat him, don't give him orders, because you know that "soft" is stronger than "hard", Water stronger than rocks, love stronger than force. Very good, I praise you. But aren't you mistaken in thinking that you wouldn't force him, wouldn't punish him? Don't you shackle him with your love? Don't you make him feel inferior every day, and don't you make it even harder on him with your kindness and patience? Don't you force him, the arrogant and pampered boy, to live in a hut with two old banana-eaters, to whom even rice is a delicacy, whose thoughts can't be his, whose hearts are old and quiet and beats in a different pace than his? Isn't forced, isn't he punished by all this?"
Troubled, Siddhartha looked to the ground. Quietly, he asked: "What do you think should I do?"
Quoth Vasudeva: "Bring him into the city, bring him into his mother's house, there'll still be servants around, give him to them. And when there aren't any around any more, bring him to a teacher, not for the teachings' sake, but so that he shall be among other boys, and among girls, and in the world which is his own. Have you never thought of this?"

瓦蘇代瓦的笑容更加溫和了。“哦，是的，他也是應召而來的。他也屬於永恆的生命。可是我們，你和我，知道他的使命是什麼嗎？他該走什麼路，該做什麼事，該受什麼苦？他的痛苦小不了，他的心高傲而堅硬，這種人會吃很多苦，走很多彎路，做很多錯事，擔很多罪孽。告訴我吧，親愛的：你不調教你的兒子吧？你不強迫他吧？你不打他吧？你不責罰他吧？”
“不，瓦蘇代瓦，這些我都不會去幹。”
“我知道。你不強迫他，不打他，不命令他，因爲你知道柔能克剛。水勝過岩石。。愛心勝過暴力。很好，我讚美你。可是，你主張不強迫他，不責罰他，這難道不是你的一個失誤麼？這豈不是用愛心來捆綁他麼？這豈不是每天都在用好心和耐心來減壓他，使得他更加苦惱麼？你難道沒有強迫他，這個高傲和嬌慣的孩子，強迫他跟兩個老人擠住在一間茅屋裏？兩個老人把米飯當作美食，他們的想法不可能跟他一樣，他們的心衰老而平靜，連走路的姿勢都跟也不同。難道這一切還不是對他的強迫，還不是對他的責罰嗎？”
席特哈爾塔感到震驚地望着地面。他小聲問：“你說我該做什麼呢？”
瓦蘇代瓦說：“送他回城去，送他回他母親的房子去吧，那兒還會有樸人，把他交給他們吧。要是那兒沒人了，就給他找個教師，不是爲了讓他受教育，而是讓他跟其他男孩、女孩在一起，回到他的世界中去。這些難道你從來沒想過麼？”