The French say that to part is to die alittle. To be forgotten too is to die a little. Itis to lose some of the links that anchor us tothe rest of humanity. When I met Burmesemigrant workers and refugees during myrecent visit to Thailand， many cried out：“Dont forget us！” They meant： “Dontforget our plight， dont forget to do whatyou can to help us， and dont forget we alsobelong to your world.” When the NobelCommittee awarded the Peace Prize to methey were recognizing that the oppressedand the isolated in Burma were also a partof the world， they were recognizing theoneness of humanity. So for me receivingthe Nobel Peace Prize means personallyextending my concerns for democracy andhuman rights beyond national borders. TheNobel Peace Prize opened up a door in myheart.
法谚有云，分别意味着我们的一部分死亡了。被遗忘同样意味着我们的一部分死亡了。它意味着失去与周遭人类世界的联系。在我最近访问泰国的时候，许多在当地务工和避难的缅甸人对我大声呼喊：“不要忘记我们！”他们实际是在说：“不要忘记我们的苦难，不要忘记尽你所能帮助我们！不要忘记我们同样是这个世界的一部分！”诺委会授予我和平奖的时候，实际上他们是在向这个世界表明，那些遭受压迫和孤立的缅甸人民同样是这个世界的一部分，他们同样是在向这个世界宣称，我们拥有共同的人性。因此对我个人来说，获此殊荣意味着我对民主和人权的关注超越了国界。诺贝尔和平奖在我的内心打开了一扇门。
The Burmese concept of peace can beexplained as the happiness arising from thecessation of factors that militate againstthe harmonious and the wholesome. Theword nyein-chan translates literally as thebeneficial coolness that comes when a fireis extinguished. Fires of suffering and strifeare raging around the world. Inmy own country， hostilities havenot ceased in the far north； to thewest， communal violence resultingin arson and murder were takingplace just several days before Istarted out on the journey that hasbrought me here today. News ofatrocities in other reaches of theearth abound. Reports of hunger，disease， displacement， joblessness，poverty， injustice， discrimination，prejudice， bigotry； these are ourdaily fare. Everywhere there arenegative forces eating away at thefoundations of peace. Everywherecan be found thoughtlessdissipation of material and humanresources that are necessary forthe conservation of harmony andhappiness in our world.
缅甸文化中的和平概念，可以被解释为一种因为消除了那些会破坏和谐和有益事物的要素而带来的幸福感。“nyein-chan”这个词从字面上可以理解为紧随火焰熄灭之后而来的令人愉悦的清凉之感。苦难和冲突的火焰正肆虐整个世界。在我的祖国，仇恨在最北部地区远未停息；在西部地区，就在我此次出访前几天，导致纵火和谋杀的不同社区之间的暴力冲突仍在发生。关于其他地区暴行的新闻充斥着我们的世界。关于饥饿、疾病、流离失所、失业、贫困、不公正、歧视、偏见、压制异见的报道时有所闻，所有这些都是我们日常遭遇的一部分。一切地方都存在破坏和平基础的消极因素。一切地方都可以发现对创造世界和谐和福祉之对话必不可少的物质和人力资源的无谓浪费。
The First World War represented aterrifying waste of youth and potential， a cruelsquandering of the positive forces of our planet. The poetry of that era has a special significancefor me because I first read it at a time when Iwas the same age as many of those young menwho had to face the prospect of withering beforethey had barely blossomed. A young Americanfighting with the French Foreign Legion wrotebefore he was killed in action in 1916 thathe would meet his death： “At some disputedbarricade”； “on some scarred slope of batteredhill”； “at midnight in some flaming town.” Youthand love and life perishing forever in senselessattempts to capture nameless， unrememberedplaces. And for what？ Nearly a century on， wehave yet to find a satisfactory answer.
第一次世界大战带来了令人恐惧的对青春和才智的浪费，对我们这个世界的积极力量的残忍毁灭。那个时代的诗歌对我来说意义非凡，因为当我第一次读到这些诗歌的时候，我与那些面临含苞待放却即刻就要枯萎的人生前景的青年们处于相仿的年纪。一位参与法国外籍兵团作战的美国士兵，在1916年的一次战斗中牺牲之前，他这样写道，他即将面对自己的死亡，“在某个争斗的要塞”，“在某个瘢痕累累的激战的山坡上”，或是“在大火纷飞的小镇的午夜时分”。青春、爱和生命，为了夺取无名的、不会被人铭记的地方而作无谓的战斗，永远地凋谢、毁灭。这样的牺牲意义何在？一个世纪以来，我们依然需要为此找到令人满意的回答。
Are we not still guilty， if to a less violentdegree， of recklessness， of improvidence withregard to our future and our humanity？ Waris not the only arena where peace is done todeath. Wherever suffering is ignored， therewill be the seeds of conflict， for sufferingdegrades and embitters and enrages.
即便是在不那么暴力的层次上，难道我们就不应当为我们自己在关涉到我们的未来和人性的问题上所采取的轻率和无远见的立场和行为而感到罪恶吗？战争并不是唯一毁灭和平希望的方式。只要人类所遭受的苦难被漠视，那里就埋下了冲突的种子，因为苦难使人沮丧、积累仇恨和愤怒。
A positive aspect of livingin isolation was that I had ampletime in which to ruminate over themeaning of words and preceptsthat I had known and acceptedall my life. As a Buddhist， I hadheard about dukkha， generallytranslated as suffering， since Iwas a small child. Almost on adaily basis elderly， and sometimesnot so elderly， people around mewould murmur “dukkha， dukkha”when they suffered from achesand pains or when they met withsome small， annoying mishaps. However， it was only during myyears of house arrest that I gotaround to investigating the natureof the six great dukkha. Theseare： to be conceived， to age， tosicken， to die， to be parted fromthose one loves， to be forced tolive in propinquity with those onedoes not love. I examined each ofthe six great sufferings， not in areligious context but in the contextof our ordinary， everyday lives. If suffering were an unavoidablepart of our existence， we shouldtry to alleviate it as far as possible inpractical， earthly ways. I mulled overthe effectiveness of ante- and post-natalprogrammes and mother and childcare；of adequate facilities for the agingpopulation； of comprehensive healthservices； of compassionate nursing andhospices. I was particularly intriguedby the last two kinds of suffering： to beparted from those one loves and to beforced to live in propinquity with thoseone does not love. What experiencesmight our Lord Buddha haveundergone in his own life that he hadincluded these two states among thegreat sufferings？ I thought of prisonersand refugees， of migrant workersand victims of human trafficking， ofthat great mass of the uprooted of theearth who have been torn away fromtheir homes， parted from families andfriends， forced to live out their livesamong strangers who are not alwayswelcoming.
生活在与世隔绝状态中的一个积极方面，是我因此有非常充裕的时间来反复思考我这一生所知和所接受的一些词语和概念。作为一个佛教徒，我在自己还是个小孩子的时候就已经听说了“dukkha”(苦)这个概念，字面上可以理解为苦难、痛苦。在日常生活中，我们周围的人，无论是年老的还是不那么年老的，当他们遭受身体上的疼痛时，或遭遇一些人烦恼的小事时，他们大多会抱怨“痛苦，痛苦”。但是，只有在处于软禁状态的时候，我才开始真正地思考六种苦难的本质。这包括：被欺骗、衰老、生病、死亡、与所爱的人别离、被迫与所厌恶之人共存。我仔细考察了这六种痛苦，这种考察并不是宗教意义上的考察，而是日常生活意义上的考察。如果痛苦是我们的存在中不可避免的一部分，那么我们就应当以切实可行的、世俗的方式来尽最大可能地减轻这些痛苦。我仔细研究了产前和产后瑜伽练习项目的效果以及母亲和幼儿护理问题；为老年人提供的设施服务问题；内容广泛的保健服务；以及具有同情心的护理和收容所问题。我尤其对最后这两种痛苦具有好奇心：与所爱的人分离以及与所厌恶的人共存。是什么样的生活经历使得佛祖将这两种痛苦状况放入人类所遭受的最大痛苦之列呢？我所想到的是囚犯和难民、流动工人和人口贩卖的受害者，以及流离失所的无根的人民，所有这些人都被迫与他们的家园、家人和朋友分离，被迫生活在不总是那么友好的陌生人之中。
