TEDxRainier
Lesley Hazleton: On reading the Koran
莱斯利.黑泽尔顿：读可兰经
Filmed:
Readability: 4.9
2,252,412 views
一天，莱斯利.黑泽尔顿坐下来读可兰经。作为一位非穆斯林，在从"游客"的角度参观了伊斯兰教圣经后，她有了意外的发现。带着严谨的治学态度和温暖人心的幽默，黑泽尔顿在TEDxRainier的演讲中揭秘神话，与大家分享她发现的优雅，变通与神秘。
Lesley Hazleton - Writer, psychologist
Writer, psychologist and former Middle East reporter Lesley Hazleton explores the vast and often terrifying arena in which politics and religion intersect. Full bio
Writer, psychologist and former Middle East reporter Lesley Hazleton explores the vast and often terrifying arena in which politics and religion intersect. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:15
You may have heard
0
0
2000
你可能听过
00:17
about the Koran's idea of paradise
1
2000
2000
可兰经里对天堂的描述，
00:19
being 72 virgins,
2
4000
2000
那里有72个处女。
00:21
and I promise I will come back to those virgins.
3
6000
3000
我保证待会儿会回到处女这个话题。
00:24
But in fact, here in the northwest,
4
9000
2000
事实上，在我们（美国的）东北部，
00:26
we're living very close
5
11000
2000
我们生活在
00:28
to the real Koranic idea of paradise,
6
13000
2000
跟真正可兰经里的天堂极为相似的地方，
00:30
defined 36 times
7
15000
2000
（在书中）它的定义出现过36次，
00:32
as "gardens watered by running streams."
8
17000
4000
即“流水灌溉的花园”。
00:37
Since I live on a houseboat on the running stream of Lake Union,
9
22000
3000
因为我恰好住在同盟湖水流经的船房里，
00:40
this makes perfect sense to me.
10
25000
3000
所以说我太理解这个定义了。
00:43
But the thing is, how come it's news to most people?
11
28000
3000
但问题是，为什么绝大多数人对这一点却很陌生？
00:47
I know many well-intentioned non-Muslims
12
32000
3000
我知道很多怀着善意的非穆斯林
00:50
who've begun reading the Koran, but given up,
13
35000
2000
试着开始读可兰经，但最后还是放弃了，
00:52
disconcerted by its "otherness."
14
37000
3000
因为它的另类而不安。
00:55
The historian Thomas Carlyle
15
40000
2000
史学家托马斯.卡莱尔
00:57
considered Muhammad one of the world's greatest heroes,
16
42000
3000
认为穆哈默德是世界上最伟大的英雄之一，
01:00
yet even he called the Koran
17
45000
2000
可即便是他也认为可兰经，
01:02
"as toilsome reading as I ever undertook,
18
47000
3000
“是我有生以来读得最费劲的读物，
01:05
a wearisome, confused jumble."
19
50000
3000
叫人厌烦，而且含糊不清。”
01:08
(Laughter)
20
53000
2000
（笑声）
01:10
Part of the problem, I think,
21
55000
2000
部分原因，我认为，
01:12
is that we imagine that the Koran can be read
22
57000
3000
是我们把可兰经想象成一本像
01:15
as we usually read a book --
23
60000
2000
我们平时信手拈来就可以读的书 --
01:17
as though we can curl up with it on a rainy afternoon
24
62000
3000
仿佛我们可以在一个细雨蒙蒙的下午，蜷缩在椅子里悠闲品读，
01:20
with a bowl of popcorn within reach,
25
65000
2000
手边还放着一碗爆米花，
01:22
as though God --
26
67000
2000
仿佛上帝 --
01:24
and the Koran is entirely in the voice of God speaking to Muhammad --
27
69000
3000
可兰经完整记录了上帝对穆哈默德的话语 --
01:27
were just another author on the bestseller list.
28
72000
3000
仅仅是另一本畅销书榜单上的作者。
01:32
Yet the fact that so few people
29
77000
2000
然而事实上，只有极少数人
01:34
do actually read the Koran
30
79000
2000
真正研读可兰经，
01:36
is precisely why it's so easy to quote --
31
81000
3000
这就是为什么可兰经这么容易被引用 --
01:39
that is, to misquote.
32
84000
3000
或者说，错误地被引用。
01:42
Phrases and snippets taken out of context
33
87000
3000
人们断章取义
01:45
in what I call the "highlighter version,"
34
90000
2000
截出我称之为“划重点版”的章节，
01:47
which is the one favored by both Muslim fundamentalists
35
92000
3000
穆斯林原教旨主义者和
01:50
and anti-Muslim Islamophobes.
36
95000
3000
反穆斯林的恐伊斯兰教者都乐衷于此。
01:53
So this past spring,
37
98000
2000
所以在过去的这个春天，
01:55
as I was gearing up
38
100000
2000
当我正筹备着
01:57
to begin writing a biography of Muhammad,
39
102000
3000
开始撰写穆哈默德传记的时候，
02:00
I realized I needed to read the Koran properly --
40
105000
3000
我意识到我必须好好地读一读可兰经 --
02:03
as properly as I could, that is.
41
108000
3000
当然，尽可能好地。
02:06
My Arabic's reduced by now
42
111000
2000
我的阿拉伯语已经退化到
02:08
to wielding a dictionary,
43
113000
2000
要靠翻字典才能过活的地步，
02:10
so I took four well-known translations
44
115000
2000
所以我找了四本著名的（可兰经）译本，
02:12
and decided to read them side-by-side,
45
117000
2000
决定把它们并排并放一起读，
02:14
verse-by-verse
46
119000
2000
一行一行地读，
02:16
along with a transliteration
47
121000
3000
同时参考一本音译本和
02:19
and the original seventh-century Arabic.
48
124000
3000
一本七世纪阿拉伯语的原版。
02:23
Now I did have an advantage.
49
128000
3000
我的确有个优势。
02:27
My last book
50
132000
2000
我最近的一本书
02:29
was about the story behind the Shi'a-Sunni split,
51
134000
3000
讲的是关于叶什和逊尼两派（伊斯兰教的两个分支）纷争的故事，
02:32
and for that I'd worked closely with the earliest Islamic histories,
52
137000
3000
因为它，我跟伊斯兰的早期历史打过交道，
02:35
so I knew the events
53
140000
2000
所以我很熟悉那些历史事件，
02:37
to which the Koran constantly refers,
54
142000
2000
可兰经里反复提及的事件，
02:39
its frame of reference.
55
144000
2000
即它的历史背景。
02:41
I knew enough, that is, to know
56
146000
2000
我知道足够多，或者说会知道
02:43
that I'd be a tourist in the Koran --
57
148000
3000
我会像一个游客，游历可兰经 --
02:46
an informed one,
58
151000
2000
我至少是一个见识过的游客，
02:48
an experienced one even,
59
153000
2000
甚至是一个有经验的游客，
02:50
but still an outsider,
60
155000
2000
但无论如何始终是一个局外人，
02:52
an agnostic Jew
61
157000
2000
一个不知可论（哲学观点）的犹太人，
02:54
reading some else's holy book.
62
159000
2000
阅读其他宗教的神圣经文。
02:56
(Laughter)
63
161000
2000
（笑声）
02:58
So I read slowly.
64
163000
2000
所以我读得很慢。
03:00
(Laughter)
65
165000
4000
（笑声）
03:04
I'd set aside three weeks for this project,
66
169000
3000
我打算用三个星期完成这个计划，
03:07
and that, I think, is what is meant by "hubris" --
67
172000
2000
而这，就是所谓的自大。
03:09
(Laughter)
68
174000
4000
（笑声）
03:13
-- because it turned out to be three months.
69
178000
3000
因为最后我花了三个月的时间才完成。
03:18
I did resist the temptation to skip to the back
70
183000
2000
我有抵制住翻到最后看结局的诱惑，
03:20
where the shorter and more clearly mystical chapters are.
71
185000
3000
在读到那些较短的，但明显更神秘的章节时。
03:23
But every time I thought I was beginning
72
188000
2000
但每次我以为我开始
03:25
to get a handle on the Koran --
73
190000
2000
要对可兰经开窍的时候 --
03:27
that feeling of "I get it now" --
74
192000
2000
那个“我终于明白了”的感觉 --
03:29
it would slip away overnight,
75
194000
2000
在一夜之间又会悄然而逝。
03:31
and I'd come back in the morning
76
196000
2000
第二天早晨醒来，
03:33
wondering if I wasn't lost in a strange land,
77
198000
3000
我会纳闷我是否曾在一个陌生的领地迷了路。
03:36
and yet the terrain was very familiar.
78
201000
3000
而那个地带却又很熟悉。
03:40
The Koran declares that it comes
79
205000
2000
可兰经声明了它是来
03:42
to renew the message of the Torah and the Gospels.
80
207000
2000
更新律法和福音的（基督教经文）。
03:44
So one-third of it
81
209000
2000
所以它的三分之一
03:46
reprises the stories of Biblical figures
82
211000
2000
都在重新叙述圣经里人物的故事，
03:48
like Abraham, Moses,
83
213000
2000
像阿伯拉罕，摩西，
03:50
Joseph, Mary, Jesus.
84
215000
3000
约瑟夫，玛利，耶稣。
03:53
God himself was utterly familiar
85
218000
3000
上帝本身是绝对的熟悉，
03:56
from his earlier manifestation as Yahweh --
86
221000
3000
从一开始以雅威为化身 --
03:59
jealously insisting on no other gods.
87
224000
3000
心存嫉妒，坚持世上除他之外再没有其他神明。
04:03
The presence of camels, mountains,
88
228000
3000
书中出现的骆驼和高山，
04:06
desert wells and springs
89
231000
2000
绿洲和泉水
04:08
took me back to the year I spent
90
233000
2000
都把我带回了我在
04:10
wandering the Sinai Desert.
91
235000
2000
西奈沙漠游走的那年。
04:12
And then there was the language,
92
237000
2000
还有语言，
04:14
the rhythmic cadence of it,
93
239000
2000
那带着韵律的抑扬顿挫，
04:16
reminding me of evenings spent listening to Bedouin elders
94
241000
3000
让我回想起那些夜晚，倾听贝都因老人
04:19
recite hours-long narrative poems
95
244000
3000
背诵几小时的长篇叙事诗
04:22
entirely from memory.
96
247000
3000
完全凭记忆。
04:25
And I began to grasp
97
250000
2000
然后我开始明白
04:27
why it's said
98
252000
3000
为什么说
04:30
that the Koran is really the Koran
99
255000
3000
只有阿拉伯语的可兰经
04:33
only in Arabic.
100
258000
2000
才是真正的可兰经。
04:35
Take the Fatihah,
101
260000
2000
拿Faatihah来说，
04:37
the seven-verse opening chapter
102
262000
2000
七行的开篇，
04:39
that is the Lord's Prayer and the Shema Yisrael of Islam combined.
103
264000
4000
由主祷文和伊斯兰的施玛篇组成。
04:44
It's just 29 words in Arabic,
104
269000
2000
它只是29个阿拉伯语单词，
04:46
but anywhere from 65 to 72 in translation.
105
271000
4000
但翻译都至少要用到65至72个单词。
04:50
And yet the more you add,
106
275000
2000
然而添加的越多，
04:52
the more seems to go missing.
107
277000
3000
本意似乎也丧失得越多。
04:55
The Arabic has an incantatory,
108
280000
3000
阿拉伯语有一种咒语般的，
04:58
almost hypnotic, quality
109
283000
2000
近乎于催眠的特质，
05:00
that begs to be heard rather than read,
110
285000
3000
它祈求被聆听，而非阅读，
05:03
felt more than analyzed.
111
288000
3000
被感受，多于解析。
05:06
It wants to be chanted out loud,
112
291000
2000
它希望被大声吟咏，
05:08
to sound its music in the ear and on the tongue.
113
293000
3000
让它的旋律传出舌尖，传进耳朵。
05:11
So the Koran in English
114
296000
2000
所以英文版的可兰经
05:13
is a kind of shadow of itself,
115
298000
3000
只不过是它的影子，
05:16
or as Arthur Arberry called his version,
116
301000
3000
或者如亚瑟.阿伯里所说，
05:19
"an interpretation."
117
304000
2000
“一种释义”。
05:22
But all is not lost in translation.
118
307000
3000
但不是所有都会在翻译中被丢失。
05:25
As the Koran promises, patience is rewarded,
119
310000
3000
正如可兰经承诺的那样，耐心会得到回报，
05:28
and there are many surprises --
120
313000
2000
（读可兰经）会带来很多惊喜 --
05:30
a degree of environmental awareness, for instance,
121
315000
3000
譬如一定程度上对环境的认知，
05:33
and of humans as mere stewards of God's creation,
122
318000
3000
人类仅仅是上帝创造的副手，
05:36
unmatched in the Bible.
123
321000
3000
这些都是圣经无法比拟的。
05:39
And where the Bible is addressed exclusively to men,
124
324000
3000
相对于圣经里那些仅仅是对男同胞的讲解，
05:42
using the second and third person masculine,
125
327000
2000
即以第二和第三男性人称的叙述部分，
05:44
the Koran includes women --
126
329000
3000
可兰经顾及到了女同胞 --
05:47
talking, for instance,
127
332000
2000
例如，
05:49
of believing men and believing women,
128
334000
2000
信男和信女 --
05:51
honorable men and honorable women.
129
336000
3000
可敬的男人和可敬的女人。
05:56
Or take the infamous verse
130
341000
2000
再比如那句臭名昭著的，
05:58
about killing the unbelievers.
131
343000
2000
关于杀死异教徒的句子。
06:00
Yes, it does say that,
132
345000
2000
是的，可兰经里有这么说，
06:02
but in a very specific context:
133
347000
3000
但是是在一个非常特定的情况下才被允许的：
06:05
the anticipated conquest
134
350000
2000
即将来临的
06:07
of the sanctuary city of Mecca
135
352000
2000
对圣城麦迦的入侵
06:09
where fighting was usually forbidden,
136
354000
3000
在这座禁止打斗的城市里。
06:12
and the permission comes hedged about with qualifiers.
137
357000
3000
而且这许可是带有限制的。
06:15
Not "You must kill unbelievers in Mecca,"
138
360000
3000
不是说，你一定要杀死麦迦城的异教徒，
06:18
but you can, you are allowed to,
139
363000
3000
而是说，你可以，你被允许这么做，
06:21
but only after a grace period is over
140
366000
3000
但只有等到宽限期结束之后，
06:25
and only if there's no other pact in place
141
370000
3000
只有当没有其他条约存在的时候，
06:28
and only if they try to stop you getting to the Kaaba,
142
373000
3000
只有当他们企图阻止你到达克尔白天房，
06:31
and only if they attack you first.
143
376000
3000
只有当他们先攻击你。
06:34
And even then -- God is merciful;
144
379000
3000
就算到了那个时候 -- 上帝还是仁慈的，
06:37
forgiveness is supreme --
145
382000
3000
宽恕至上 --
06:40
and so, essentially,
146
385000
2000
所以，本质上，
06:42
better if you don't.
147
387000
2000
最好不杀。
06:44
(Laughter)
148
389000
3000
（笑声）
06:47
This was perhaps the biggest surprise --
149
392000
3000
这也许是最大的惊喜 --
06:50
how flexible the Koran is,
150
395000
2000
可兰经是多么变通啊，
06:52
at least in minds that are not
151
397000
2000
至少对那些
06:54
fundamentally inflexible.
152
399000
3000
不是完全固不可化的人来说是这样的。
06:57
"Some of these verses are definite in meaning," it says,
153
402000
3000
“有些语句很明了”，它说，
07:00
"and others are ambiguous."
154
405000
3000
“而另一些则有歧义。
07:03
The perverse at heart
155
408000
2000
心术不正的
07:05
will seek out the ambiguities,
156
410000
2000
会去寻找有歧义的部分，
07:07
trying to create discord
157
412000
2000
用他们自己扭曲了的解释，
07:09
by pinning down meanings of their own.
158
414000
3000
企图制造不和。
07:12
Only God knows the true meaning.
159
417000
3000
只有上帝才知道真正的意义。”
07:16
The phrase "God is subtle"
160
421000
2000
“上帝是不可捉摸的”这句话
07:18
appears again and again,
161
423000
2000
出现了一次又一次。
07:20
and indeed, the whole of the Koran is far more subtle
162
425000
2000
事实上，整个可兰经
07:22
than most of us have been led to believe.
163
427000
2000
比我们中大多数所相信的要难以琢磨得多。
07:24
As in, for instance,
164
429000
2000
譬如，
07:26
that little matter
165
431000
2000
在
07:28
of virgins and paradise.
166
433000
3000
处女和天堂的那个小议题中。
07:31
Old-fashioned Orientalism comes into play here.
167
436000
3000
老式的东方主义发挥了它的作用。
07:35
The word used four times
168
440000
2000
有个词被用了四次
07:37
is Houris,
169
442000
2000
那就是Houris，
07:39
rendered as
170
444000
2000
意为
07:41
dark-eyed maidens with swelling breasts,
171
446000
3000
有着深色眼睛、丰盈乳房的少女，
07:44
or as fair, high-bosomed virgins.
172
449000
3000
或者是白皙而又胸部高挺的处女。
07:48
Yet all there is in the original Arabic
173
453000
2000
然而在阿拉伯语原版中，有的仅仅是
07:50
is that one word: Houris.
174
455000
3000
那一个词：Houris
07:54
Not a swelling breast nor a high bosom in sight.
175
459000
3000
根本没有任何暗示，提及丰盈的乳房或高挺的胸部。
07:57
(Laughter)
176
462000
2000
（笑声）
07:59
Now this may be a way of saying
177
464000
2000
它也许是用来描述
08:01
"pure beings" -- like in angels --
178
466000
2000
纯洁生物 -- 如天使 -- 的一种方式，
08:03
or it may be like the Greek Kouros or Kórē,
179
468000
3000
或者它是类似于希腊语中的Kouros，亦写作Kórē，
08:06
an eternal youth.
180
471000
2000
即长生不老的青年。
08:08
But the truth is nobody really knows,
181
473000
3000
但它真正的释义没人知道，
08:11
and that's the point.
182
476000
2000
那就是它的本质。
08:13
Because the Koran is quite clear
183
478000
2000
因为可兰经很明确地说
08:15
when it says that you'll be
184
480000
2000
你将会成为
08:17
"a new creation in paradise"
185
482000
3000
“一个新的生命体出现在天堂”，
08:20
and that you will be "recreated
186
485000
2000
你将被”重新创造成
08:22
in a form unknown to you,"
187
487000
3000
一种未知的形式“，
08:25
which seems to me a far more appealing prospect
188
490000
3000
在我看来比成为一个处女
08:28
than a virgin.
189
493000
2000
更具有吸引力。
08:30
(Laughter)
190
495000
8000
（笑声）
08:38
And that number 72 never appears.
191
503000
3000
还有，72这个数字从未出现过。
08:41
There are no 72 virgins
192
506000
2000
在可兰经里，没有72个处女
08:43
in the Koran.
193
508000
2000
这么一说。
08:45
That idea only came into being 300 years later,
194
510000
3000
这种说法是在可兰经写成后过了300年才出现的，
08:48
and most Islamic scholars see it as the equivalent
195
513000
3000
大多数伊斯兰教学者把它等同于
08:51
of people with wings sitting on clouds
196
516000
2000
那些坐在云上，弹着竖琴
08:53
and strumming harps.
197
518000
2000
带着翅膀的人儿。
08:56
Paradise is quite the opposite.
198
521000
3000
天堂其实恰恰相反。
08:59
It's not virginity;
199
524000
2000
它不是童贞，
09:01
it's fecundity.
200
526000
2000
它是富饶，
09:03
It's plenty.
201
528000
2000
是丰盛，
09:05
It's gardens watered
202
530000
2000
是流水灌溉的
09:07
by running streams.
203
532000
3000
花园。
09:10
Thank you.
204
535000
2000
谢谢。
09:12
(Applause)
205
537000
15000
（掌声）
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Lesley Hazleton - Writer, psychologistWriter, psychologist and former Middle East reporter Lesley Hazleton explores the vast and often terrifying arena in which politics and religion intersect.
Why you should listen
Lesley Hazleton has traced the roots of conflict in several books, including compelling 'flesh-and-blood' biographies of Muhammad and Mary, and casts "an agnostic eye on politics, religion, and existence" on her blog, AccidentalTheologist.com.
Her newest book, Agnostic: A Spirited Manifesto, celebrates the agnostic stance as "rising above the flat two-dimensional line of belief/unbelief, creating new possibilities for how we think about being in the world." In it, she explores what we mean by the search for meaning, invokes the humbling perspective of infinity and reconsiders what we talk about when we talk about soul.
Hazleton's approach has been praised as "vital and mischievous" by the New York Times, and as "a positive orientation to life, one that embraces both science and mystery ... while remaining intimately grounded and engaged."
Lesley Hazleton | Speaker | TED.com