Surely the artist is one who is skilled in action. This action is in life and not outside of life. Therefore if it is living skilfully that truly makes an artist. This skill can operate for a few hours in the day when he is playing an instrument, writing poems or painting pictures, or it can operate a bit more if he is skilled in many such fragments – like those great men of the Renaissance who worked in several different media. But the few hours of music or writing may contradict the rest of his living which is in disorder and confusion.
无疑，艺术家就是擅长行动的人。这行动是生活之中的，并不在生活之外。因此，如果娴熟地生活，那就真正地造就了一个艺术家。如果他演奏某种乐器，写诗，或者画画，这技艺就在一天中运作几个小时，如果他在很多这样的细分领域都很擅长，这种技艺就能多运作一会儿——就像文艺复兴时期的那些伟人，在很多媒质上都能创作。但是搞音乐或者写作的几个小时，也许会和他生活的其他方面相冲突，于是他生活在失序和混乱中。

So is such a man an artist at all? The man who plays the violin with artistry and keeps his eye on his fame isn’t interested in the violin, he is only exploiting it to be famous, the”me” is far more important than the music, and so it is with the writer or the painter with an eye on fame. The musician identifies his”me” with what he considers to be beautiful music, and the religious man identifies his “me” with what he considers to be the sublime. All these are skilled in their particular little fields but the rest of the vast field of life is disregarded.
那么这样的人究竟能算是艺术家吗？一个人技艺高超地演奏小提琴，同时眼睛紧盯自己的名声，他其实对小提琴并不感兴趣，他只是利用它来成名，“我”比音乐重要多了，而着眼于名声的作家或者画家也是一样。音乐家把他的“自我”与他认为的美妙音乐认同在一起，宗教人士把他的“自我”与他认为至高无上的东西认同在一起。所有这些人都在他们特定的小小领域很擅长，却无视生活其他方面的广阔领域。

So we have to find out what is skill in action, in living, not only in painting or in writing or in technology, but how one can live the whole of life with skill and beauty. Are skill and beauty the same? Can a human being – whether he be an artist or not – live the whole of his life with skill and beauty? Living is action and when that action breeds sorrow it ceases to be skilful.
所以我们得去发现行动中、生活中的技艺是什么，不只是绘画、写作或技术中的技艺，而是一个人要怎样以技巧和美来过一种完整的生活。技巧和美是不是一回事？一个人能不能——不管他是不是艺术家——以技巧和美来过他完整的生活？生活就是行动，当那行动滋生出悲伤，它就不再是技巧娴熟的了。

So can a man live without sorrow, without friction, without jealousy and greed, without conflict of any kind? The issue is not who is an artist and who is not an artist but whether a human being, you or another, can live without torture and distortion. Of course it is profane to belittle great music, great sculpture, great poetry or dancing, or to sneer at it; that is to be unskilled in one’s own life. But the artistry and beauty which is skill in action should operate throughout the day, not just during afew hours of the day.
所以，一个人能不能没有悲伤，没有摩擦，没有嫉妒和贪婪，没有任何冲突地生活？这个问题无关谁是艺术家谁不是艺术家，而是一个人——你或者别人——能不能没有折磨和扭曲地生活。当然，贬低或者嘲笑伟大的音乐、伟大的雕塑、伟大的诗歌或者舞蹈，是种不敬；那是一个人不擅长过他自己的生活。但是，艺术和美，也就是行动中的技巧，应该整天都在运作，而不是一天只运作几个小时。 

This is the real challenge, not just playing the piano beautifully. You must play it beautifully if you touch it at all, but that is not enough. It is like cultivating a small corner of a huge field. We are concerned with the whole field and that field is life. What we always do is to neglect the whole field and concentrate on fragments, our own or other people’s. Artistry is to be completely awake and therefore to be skilful in action in the whole of life, and this is beauty. 这是真正的挑战，而不只是动听地弹奏钢琴。如果你接触了钢琴，你就必须动听地弹奏，但是这还不够。这就像只耕作一大片土地中的一个小角落。我们关心的是整片土地，这片土地就是生活。我们总是忽略整个领域，只专注于我们自己的或者别人的那些碎片。艺术即是完全的觉醒，进而在整个生活中擅长行动，而这就是美。