Mindfulness In Plain English - Chapter 2: What Meditation Isnt

Mindfulness In Plain English

佛教禪修直解

by Mahathera Henepola Gunaratana

德寶法師著作 梁國雄居士譯

Chapter 2: What Meditation Isn’t

第二章 禪修解惑

Meditation is a word. You have heard this word before, or you would never have picked up this book. The thinking process operates by association, and all sorts of ideas are associated with the word ‘meditation’. Some of them are probably accurate and others are hogwash. Some of them pertain more properly to other systems of meditation and have nothing to do with Vipassana practice. Before we proceed, it behooves us to blast some of the residue out of our own neuronal circuits so that new information can pass unimpeded. Let us start with some of the most obvious stuff.

「禪修」這個詞你應聽過，否則不會拿起這本書──《Mindfulness in Plain English》。思維過程靠聯想運作，因此，「禪修」這個詞令你想起各式各樣的概念，它們之中，有些或許正確，有些卻是虛假的、不可接受的，有些則較接近某類禪修系統，但與「內觀禪」的修習無關。在開始談「內觀禪」之前，我們應清洗一下腦袋，好讓新資訊能順利進入。讓我們由最明顯的東西開始吧。

We are not going to teach you to contemplate your navel or to chant secret syllables. You are not conquering demons or harnessing invisible energies. There are no colored belts given for your performance and you don’t have to shave your head or wear a turban. You don’t even have to give away all your belongings and move to a monastery. In fact, unless your life is immoral and chaotic, you can probably get started right away and make some sort of progress. Sounds fairly encouraging, wouldn’t you say?

我們不會教你留意肚臍(丹田)部位或念誦密咒，你是無法征服魔鬼、邪神或駕馭無形力量的，不會給你彩色帶去標示你的修行成績，不會叫你剃頭或包扎頭巾，也不會要你放棄所有財物和入住寺院。事實上，你若非品德惡劣和活得一團糟，是可以馬上開始及取得一些進展的。聽來很鼓舞吧！

There are many, many books on the subject of meditation. Most of them are written from the point of view which lies squarely within one particular religious or philosophical tradition, and many of the authors have not bothered to point this out. They make statements about meditation which sound like general laws, but are actually highly specific procedures exclusive to that particular system of practice. The result is something of a muddle. Worse yet is the panoply of complex theories and interpretations available, all of them at odds with one another. The result is a real mess and an enormous jumble of conflicting opinions accompanied by a mass of extraneous data. This book is specific. We are dealing exclusively with the Vipassana system of meditation. We are going to teach you to watch the functioning of your own mind in a calm and detached manner so you can gain insight into your own behavior. The goal is awareness, an awareness so intense, concentrated and finely tuned that you will be able to pierce the inner workings of reality itself.

有關禪修的書很多，大部分皆以某一宗派的觀點出發，對此大多作者皆隱而不宣，他們對「禪修」的陳述，看似一般定律，其實只是某類禪修系統特有的程式而已，結果只會令人糊涂。更糟的是：把找來的複雜理論與解釋，全部混雜在一起，結果混亂一片，看來不是彼此無關，就是彼此矛盾；好像把找來的衣物與飾物全部穿戴上身，看來怪異不襯。本書與別不同，我們專為「內觀禪」禪修系統而寫，我們會教你用平靜與超然的方式去觀察自己內心的運作，讓你洞悉自己的行為，目標是覺知力(Awareness)：一種特別強烈、集中且經細緻調整的覺知力，它會助你通達事物本身的實相。

There are a number of common misconceptions about meditation. We see them crop up again and again from new students, the same questions over and over. It is best to deal with these things at once, because they are the sort of preconceptions which can block your progress right from the outset. We are going to take these misconceptions one at a time and explode them.

錯誤的禪修觀念，觸目皆是，它們在初學者中常常出現。最好能馬上處理，否則，在開始禪修時，它們會造成妨礙。我們在下面會檢視它們，並將之逐一擊破。

Misconception #1

Meditation is just a relaxation technique

The bugaboo here is the word ‘just’. Relaxation is a key component of meditation, but Vipassana-style meditation aims at a much loftier goal. Nevertheless, the statement is essentially true for many other systems of meditation. All meditation procedures stress concentration of the mind, bringing the mind to rest on one item or one area of thought. Do it strongly and thoroughly enough, and you achieve a deep and blissful relaxation which is called Jhana. It is a state of such supreme tranquility that it amounts to rapture. It is a form of pleasure which lies above and beyond anything that can be experienced in the normal state of consciousness. Most systems stop right there. That is the goal, and when you attain that, you simply repeat the experience for the rest of your life. Not so with Vipassana meditation. Vipassana seeks another goal–awareness. Concentration and relaxation are considered necessary concomitants to awareness. They are required precursors, handy tools, and beneficial byproducts. But they are not the goal. The goal is insight. Vipassana meditation is a profound religious practice aimed at nothing less that the purification and transformation of your everyday life. We will deal more thoroughly with the differences between concentration and insight in Chapter 14.

錯誤觀念(１)：禪修只是一種放松技巧

這里令人恐懼的，是「只是」兩個字。放松固然是禪修的關鍵部分，但「內觀禪」有較高目標，非止于此。不過，對于很多禪修系統來說，這陳述仍大體可靠。所有禪修程序都著重心意集中，要引導自心安然地停留在某事物或思想領域上，做得有力和徹底，可達至深度的喜樂放松狀態── 定境(Jhana)，只有殊勝的寧靜才可導致那種喜樂，那是一種超越平常意識狀態經驗的快樂形式。大多數禪修系統只能在那里停止，這就是它們的目標，當你到達後，亦只可在余生中重複那種經驗。內觀禪並不相同，它要求另一目標：覺知。寧靜與喜樂只是覺知的前驅、有用而方便的工具和有益的副產品，卻不是內觀禪的目標。內觀禪的目標是靜觀力。內觀禪是深奧的宗教性修持，最終是要淨化和轉化你的日常生活。有關集中力(定力)與靜觀力的詳細分別，我們會在第十四章中處理。

Misconception #2

Meditation means going into a trance

Here again the statement could be applied accurately to certain systems of meditation, but not to Vipassana. Insight meditation is not a form of hypnosis. You are not trying to black out your mind so as to become unconscious. You are not trying to turn yourself into an emotionless vegetable. If anything, the reverse is true. You will become more and more attuned to your own emotional changes. You will learn to know yourself with ever- greater clarity and precision. In learning this technique, certain states do occur which may appear trance-like to the observer. But they are really quite the opposite. In hypnotic trance, the subject is susceptible to control by another party, whereas in deep concentration the meditator remains very much under his own control. The similarity is superficial, and in any case the occurrence of these phenomena is not the point of Vipassana. As we have said, the deep concentration of Jhana is a tool or stepping stone on the route of heightened awareness. Vipassana by definition is the cultivation of mindfulness or awareness. If you find that you are becoming unconscious in meditation, then you aren’t meditating, according to the definition of the word as used in the Vipassana system. It is that simple.

錯誤觀念(２)：禪修是要進入恍惚、如夢幻之境的狀態(Trance)

此陳述亦只可用于某些禪修系統之中，不能用于「內觀禪」。「內觀禪」不是催眠，不想你自致昏沉，變得不知不覺，也不想你變得像草木般無情。要做的恰恰相反，你將越來越能夠調適自己的情緒變化，以及越來越清楚和精確地了解自己。學習此內觀禪技巧時，對修行者來說，某些類似恍惚的狀態是會出現的，但它們與前述的情況並不相同，在催眠的恍惚狀態中，當事者易受別人操控，然而，在深定之中，修行者仍可充分自主。兩者的相似點只是表面而已。不管怎樣，這些現象的出現並非內觀禪的關鍵之處。前面說過，具有深度定力的定境(Jhana)，只不過是達到高度覺知的踏腳石而已。內觀禪的定義是覺知的培育，如果你發覺自己在禪修中變得不知不覺，你就不是做著上述的「內觀禪」了。

Misconception #3

Meditation is a mysterious practice which cannot be understood

Here again, this is almost true, but not quite. Meditation deals with levels of consciousness which lie deeper than symbolic thought. Therefore, some of the data about meditation just won’t fit into words. That does not mean, however, that it cannot be understood. There are deeper ways to understand things than words. You understand how to walk. You probably can’t describe the exact order in which your nerve fibers and your muscles contract during that process. But you can do it. Meditation needs to be understood that same way, by doing it. It is not something that you can learn in abstract terms. It is to be experienced. Meditation is not some mindless formula which gives automatic and predictable results. You can never really predict exactly what will come up in any particular session. It is an investigation and experiment and an adventure every time. In fact, this is so true that when you do reach a feeling of predictability and sameness in your practice, you use that as an indicator. It means that you have gotten off the track somewhere and you are headed for stagnation. Learning to look at each second as if it were the first and only second in the universe is most essential in Vipassana meditation.

錯誤觀念(３)：禪修是深奧難懂的神秘修煉

這陳述似對，但非全對。禪修要處理的，是較一般概念或符號思維更深層次的意識，因此，禪修中某些資訊實無法宣之語言文字，但此言並非說禪修是無法理解的，除了語言文字外，還有較深邃的方法可去了解事物的。例如：你知道如何走路，但你無法描述在過程中自己的神經纖維和肌肉的收縮次序，雖然如此，你仍能走路。禪修亦可作如是觀，只管做就是了，它不是你用抽象術語可學得到的，它是要體驗的。禪修不是靠些膚淺公式，便可自動達到結果，在禪修活動中，你是無法預知什麼事情會發生的，每次都是一種調查、實驗和探險。事實上，此話的真確性，可見于下面例子：假若在禪修中，你真的達到預知的和相似的感覺時，你便用之作指標，那表示你已偏離正軌，轉向沉滯了。內觀禪最重視的，是要學習注意每一秒鍾(正在發生的事情)，好像它是宇宙里的第一和唯一的一秒鍾一樣。

Misconception #4

The purpose of meditation is to become a psychic superman

No, the purpose of meditation is to develop awareness. Learning to read minds is not the point. Levitation is not the goal. The goal is liberation. There is a link between psychic phenomena and meditation, but the relationship is somewhat complex. During early stages of the meditator’s career, such phenomena may or may not arise. Some people may experience some intuitive understanding or memories from past lives; others do not. In any case, these are not regarded as well-developed and reliable psychic abilities. Nor should they be given undue importance. Such phenomena are in fact fairly dangerous to new meditators in that they are too seductive. They can be an ego trap which can lure you right off the track. Your best advice is not to place any emphasis on these phenomena. If they come up, that’s fine. If they don’t, that’s fine, too. It’s unlikely that they will. There is a point in the meditator’s career where he may practice special exercises to develop psychic powers. But this occurs way down the line. After he has gained a very deep stage of Jhana, the meditator will be far enough advanced to work with such powers without the danger of their running out of control or taking over his life. He will then develop them strictly for the purpose of service to others. This state of affairs only occurs after decades of practice. Don’t worry about it. Just concentrate on developing more and more awareness. If voices and visions pop up, just notice them and let them go. Don’t get involved.

錯誤觀念(４)：禪修目的是要變成具神通[1]的超人

不是，禪修目的是要培育和發展覺知。學習他心通(讀心術)不是它的重點，令身體飄浮于空中也不是它的目標，內觀禪的目標是解脫。心靈現象與禪修是有密切關系的，但那關系頗為複雜，禪修者于禪修初期，那些心靈現象可能發生，也可能不會發生。有些人會體驗到一些直覺知識或是過去世的一些記憶，有些人卻沒有這些經驗。無論如何，這些都不能視作高度發展和可靠的神通力(特殊的精神力量)，也無須重視。事實上，對于初學者來說，那些現象是相當危險的，因為它們太誘惑了，可造成自我陷阱，引誘你立即偏離正軌。你最好完全漠視這些現象，如果它們出現，很好，如果它們沒有出現，亦佳；它們是不太可能會出現的。在禪修生涯中，到了某一階段，修行者可能會做些特殊修煉去發展神通力，不過，那是很久以後的事了。事實上，只有證得甚深定境(Jhana)[2]之後，才有足夠能力去修習神通，否則將會失控或喪失生命。到時，禪修者只會為了利益他人才去發展神通，而這種情況，又往往要好幾十年的修持功夫始得。對此不必擔心，只須專心繼續發展覺知，當中若有突發的聲音或影像出現時，只須在覺知後，讓它過去，不可與它糾纏。

Misconception #5

Meditation is dangerous and a prudent person should avoid it

Everything is dangerous. Walk across the street and you may get hit by a bus. Take a shower and you could break your neck. Meditate and you will probably dredge up various nasty-matters from your past. The suppressed material that has been buried there for quite some time can be scary. It is also highly profitable. No activity is entirely without risk, but that does not mean that we should wrap ourselves in some protective cocoon. That is not living. That is premature death. The way to deal with danger is to know approximately how much of it there is, where it is likely to be found and how to deal with it when it arises. That is the purpose of this manual. Vipassana is development of awareness. That in itself is not dangerous, but just the opposite. Increased awareness is the safeguard against danger. Properly done, meditation is a very gently and gradual process. Take it slow and easy, and development of your practice will occur very naturally. Nothing should be forced. Later, when you are under the close scrutiny and protective wisdom of a competent teacher, you can accelerate your rate of growth by taking a period of intensive meditation. In the beginning, though, easy does it. Work gently and everything will be fine.

錯誤觀念(５)：禪修是危險的，審慎者是不會做的

任何事皆有危險，走路時會給車子撞倒，洗澡時會不慎滑倒折傷頸骨，禪修時會挖起過去的傷心事。久遠埋藏心內而又被壓抑著的事情，會令人驚恐，不過，它們的出現也是很有益的。沒有活動是完全沒有危險的，但這並非表示要把自己包進保護囊中，此非生活，而是提前死亡。處理危險方法，首先，要知危險大約有多少？在哪里會碰到？它出現時該怎樣應付？這都是本書要處理的問題。內觀禪是覺知的培育和發展，覺知本身是有益無害的，亦無危險。增強了的覺知力是危險的警衛，做得正當妥善，禪修是個溫和漸進的過程；和緩而輕松地做，禪修將會自然發展，無須勉強。之後，你可進行一個時期的密集鍛鍊，在明師的嚴謹照顧和悉心指導下，可加速你的修持進度。不過，開始時，還是輕松點吧！溫和地做功夫，自會一切順利。

Misconception #6

Meditation is for saints and holy men, not for regular people

You find this attitude very prevalent in Asia, where monks and holy men are accorded an enormous amount of ritualized reverence. This is somewhat akin to the American attitude of idealizing movie stars and baseball heroes. Such people are stereotyped, made larger than life, and saddled with all sort of characteristics that few human beings can ever live up to. Even in the West, we share some of this attitude about meditation. We expect the meditator to be some extraordinarily pious figure in whose mouth butter would never dare to melt. A little personal contact with such people will quickly dispel this illusion. They usually prove to be people of enormous energy and gusto, people who live their lives with amazing vigor. It is true, of course, that most holy men meditate, but they don’t meditate because they are holy men. That is backward. They are holy men because they meditate. Meditation is how they got there. And they started meditating before they became holy. This is an important point. A sizable number of students seems to feel that a person should be completely moral before he begins meditation. It is an unworkable strategy. Morality requires a certain degree of mental control. It’s a prerequisite. You can’t follow any set of moral precepts without at least a little self-control, and if your mind is perpetually spinning like a fruit cylinder in a one- armed bandit, self-control is highly unlikely. So mental culture has to come first.

錯誤觀念(６)：禪修是聖賢的事，常人是做不到的

你會發覺，亞洲人很多持有這種態度，在那里，僧人或是聖者皆非常受人尊敬，有點像美國人崇拜電影明星和棒球英雄的態度一樣。這些人都被定型了，都被夸大了，都被背上各式各樣只有極少數人才能做得到的特質。就算西方人，對于禪修，現也沾上這些態度。我們大多期望，禪修者皆是非比尋常的虔誠之輩，在他們的口中，連牛油也不敢溶化。其實，只要與他們稍為接觸，很快就可消除這種錯覺。他們大多精力充沛和品味高尚，以驚人的活力過其生活。

事實上，大多數聖者皆有禪修，但他們並非因自己是聖者才禪修，那是顛倒的說法，他們是因為禪修才變為聖者的，禪修是他們成為聖者的因由，他們在成為聖者之前，早就開始禪修了，否則不會成為聖者。這是一個重要之點，大多數初學者都覺得，在開始禪修前，個人在道德上必須完滿無缺。這種想法是行不通的，道德首先要有適度的自制力，這是先決條件，沒有少許自制力，你是無法遵守任何道德戒條的；況且，若內心不停運轉，那是萬難自控的。因此，禪修應是第一步。

There are three integral factors in Buddhist meditation — morality, concentration and wisdom. Those three factors grow together as your practice deepens. Each one influences the other, so you cultivate the three of them together, not one at a time. When you have the wisdom to truly understand a situation, compassion towards all the parties involved is automatic, and compassion means that you automatically restrain yourself from any thought, word or deed that might harm yourself or others. Thus your behavior is automatically moral. It is only when you don’t understand things deeply that you create problems. If you fail to see the consequences of your own action, you will blunder. The fellow who waits to become totally moral before he begins to meditate is waiting for a ‘but’ that will never come. The ancient sages say that he is like a man waiting for the ocean to become calm so that he can go take a bath. To understand this relationship more fully, let us propose that there are levels of morality. The lowest level is adherence to a set of rules and regulations laid down by somebody else. It could be your favorite prophet. It could be the state, the head man of your tribe or your father. No matter who generates the rules, all you’ve got to do at this level is know the rules and follow them. A robot can do that. Even a trained chimpanzee could do it if the rules were simple enough and he was smacked with a stick every time he broke one. This level requires no meditation at all. All you need are the rules and somebody to swing the stick.

佛教禪修有三個相互支撐的要素── 戒(道德)、定、慧。隨著禪修的進展，這三個要素亦會一起增長。任何一個要素都會影響其他要素，因此，你是三者齊修的，不是一時修習一個的。當你有真智慧洞悉情況時，對有關人等所起的慈悲心，是會自動自發的，慈悲心可使你自動控制害己害人的思想言行，如是，你的行為自會合乎道德。只因你未曾深入了解事物，才會產生問題，你無法看清楚自己的行為後果，才會犯錯。那些要等到行為完全合乎道德，才開始禪修的人，只是等著一件永遠不會發生的事情。古時的智者曾說：「他是個要等到海洋波浪完全平靜下來才會洗澡的人。」

為了更全面地了解這種關系，讓我們作如下建議：道德是有數個層次的。最低下的層次，是要遵守他人所訂的規則，制訂規則的人，可以是你喜歡的預言家、國家、族長、或是你的父親。不管是誰制訂的，在這層次，你該做的，只是去明白它們、遵守它們。如果規則簡單，機械人能守，訓練過的猩猩也能守，只要在每次牠犯錯時，你就打牠一下。此層次全不需要禪修也可以做，你所需要的，是一些規則和一個打手。

The next level of morality consists of obeying the same rules even in the absence of somebody who will smack you. You obey because you have internalized the rules. You smack yourself every time you break one. This level requires a bit of mind control. If your thought pattern is chaotic, your behavior will be chaotic, too. Mental culture reduces mental chaos.

第二個層次的道德是：即使沒有打手，你照樣能遵守，因為你已經適應和習慣成自然了。若有犯規，你會自己責備自己，這層次是需要一點心念控制的，但是如果你思想混亂，你的行為也將會混亂不堪的，禪修就可以減少心理上的混亂。

There is a third level or morality, but it might be better termed ethics. This level is a whole quantum layer up the scale, a real paradigm shift in orientation. At the level of ethics, one does not follow hard and fast rules dictated by authority. One chooses his own behavior according to the needs of the situation. This level requires real intelligence and an ability to juggle all the factors in every situation and arrive at a unique, creative and appropriate response each time. Furthermore, the individual making these decisions needs to have dug himself out of his own limited personal viewpoint. He has to see the entire situation from an objective point of view, giving equal weight to his own needs and those of others. In other words, he has to be free from greed, hatred, envy and all the other selfish junk that ordinarily keeps us from seeing the other guy’s side of the issue. Only then can he choose that precise set of actions which will be truly optimal for that situation. This level of morality absolutely demands meditation, unless you were born a saint. There is no other way to acquire the skill. Furthermore, the sorting process required at this level is exhausting. If you tried to juggle all those factors in every situation with your conscious mind, you’d wear yourself out. The intellect just can’t keep that many balls in the air at once. It is an overload. Luckily, a deeper level of consciousness can do this sort of processing with ease. Meditation can accomplish the sorting process for you. It is an eerie feeling.

第三個層次的道德，稱之為「倫理(Ethics)」或許較佳，這是一個重大的躍進層次，它與前述的層次截然不同。在此「倫理」層次中，一個人不會盲從嚴格的、不容改變的、由權威制訂的規則，他選擇跟隨一條由靜觀、智慧與悲心作主導的道路。這層次要求真智慧與同時巧妙地處理情況中所有要素的能力，依之可每次作出合適的、獨特的和有創意的反應。此外，作決定的人，要能抽離自己有限的個人觀點，能客觀地認知全局情勢，平衡照顧自己和別人的需要。換言之，他要有不受貪欲、瞋恨、嫉妒等自私情緒干擾的能力，它們經常障礙我們了解別人對問題的觀點。只有如此，他才能作出適切的判斷，準確地選出處理情況最有利的一組行為。除非你是天生聖者，此道德層次絕對需要禪修，別無他途。況且，此層次要求的篩選過程繁複竭力，假若你想用表層意識去處理每一情況的所有要素，你將精疲力盡，智能是無法同一時間在空中擲耍那麼多球子的，這是一種超載。幸好，較深沉的意識能輕而易舉地處理此類篩選，禪修能助你完成這種篩選過程，那是一種奇異的感受。

One day you’ve got a problem–say to handle Uncle Herman’s latest divorce. It looks absolutely unsolvable, and enormous muddle of ‘maybes’ that would give Solomon himself the willies. The next day you are washing the dishes, thinking about something else entirely, and suddenly the solution is there. It just pops out of the deep mind and you say, ‘Ah ha!’ and the whole thing is solved. This sort of intuition can only occur when you disengage the logic circuits from the problem and give the deep mind the opportunity to cook up the solution. The conscious mind just gets in the way. Meditation teaches you how to disentangle yourself from the thought process. It is the mental art of stepping out of your own way, and that’s a pretty useful skill in everyday life. Meditation is certainly not some irrelevant practice strictly for ascetics and hermits. It is a practical skill that focuses on everyday events and has immediate application in everybody’s life. Meditation is not other- worldly.

譬如說：有一天，你遇到一個問題── 要處理何文叔叔最近的離婚問題。表面看來，那是絕對解決不了的事，非常多的「可能」混在一起，令到如所羅門王等智者也會不知所措。第二天，當你洗著碗碟、想著全然無關的事情時，問題的答案會突然出現，它從你內心深處彈出，你靈機一觸的道：「啊哈！」整件事就獲得解決了。只有當與問題有關的邏輯線路被切斷，讓心靈深處有機會醞釀出解決方案，這類直覺才會生起。主因是表層意識活動在不斷構成障礙，而禪修教我們離開思想之流，這是一種走出習性窠臼的心理技藝，在日常生活中是非常管用的。禪修實非與我們無關的、專為苦行僧或隱士而設的修行方式，它與每一個人皆息息相關，它是一種以日常生活事件為專注修持對象的實用技巧，可直接應用于生活，禪修決非另一世界的事。

Unfortunately, this very fact constitutes the drawback for certain students. They enter the practice expecting instantaneous cosmic revelation, complete with angelic choirs. What they usually get is a more efficient way to take out the trash and better ways to deal with Uncle Herman. They are needlessly disappointed. The trash solution comes first. The voices of archangels take a bit longer.

很不幸，這事實常對一些初學者構成障礙，他們加入修行的目的，是想瞬間獲得期望中的宇宙啟示，還要有眾多天神前來隨喜。他們通常得到的，往往是較有效的清除內心垃圾的方法，以及找出解決像上述何文叔叔問題的較佳途徑。他們不必失望，先學懂清除內心垃圾的方法吧，再花多一點時間努力修持，便有機會見到天神了。

Misconception #7

Meditation is running away from reality

Incorrect. Meditation is running into reality. It does not insulate you from the pain of life. It allows you to delve so deeply into life and all its aspects that you pierce the pain barrier and you go beyond suffering. Vipassana is a practice done with the specific intention of facing reality, to fully experience life just as it is and to cope with exactly what you find. It allows you to blow aside the illusions and to free yourself from all those polite little lies you tell yourself all the time. What is there is there. You are who you are, and lying to yourself about your own weaknesses and motivations only binds you tighter to the wheel of illusion. Vipassana meditation is not an attempt to forget yourself or to cover up your troubles. It is learning to look at yourself exactly as you are. See what is there, accept it fully. Only then can you change it.

錯誤觀念(７)：禪修是逃避現實

不對！禪修是走入現實，不是把你與生命的苦難隔開，它讓你鑽進生命及其有關方面之中，直至你可穿透痛苦的障礙，完全超越痛苦為止。修習內觀禪要刻意面對現實、要全面體驗生命實相，然後依你發現的方式去處理。它讓你吹走錯覺，超越心內常常出現的、有禮貌的小謊話，那里的東西是什麼就是什麼，自己是什麼就是什麼。繼續用謊話來掩飾自己的弱點和動機，只會令自己被束縛得更緊一些，在錯覺中團團轉，不會得到解脫的。內觀禪之目的不是要你嘗試去忘記自己，或是隱瞞自己的煩惱或問題，它要你學習觀察自己內心的實況，了解那里有什麼，然後，全面地接受它。只有如此，你才能改變它。

Misconception #8

Meditation is a great way to get high

Well, yes and no. Meditation does produce lovely blissful feelings sometimes. But they are not the purpose, and they don’t always occur. Furthermore, if you do meditation with that purpose in mind, they are less likely to occur than if you just meditate for the actual purpose of meditation, which is increased awareness. Bliss results from relaxation, and relaxation results from release of tension. Seeking bliss from meditation introduces tension into the process, which blows the whole chain of events. It is a Catch-22. You can only have bliss if you don’t chase it. Besides, if euphoria and good feelings are what you are after, there are easier ways to get them. They are available in taverns and from shady characters on the street corners all across the nation. Euphoria is not the purpose of meditation. It will often arise, but it to be regarded as a by- product. Still, it is a very pleasant side-effect, and it becomes more and more frequent the longer you meditate. You won’t hear any disagreement about this from advanced practitioners.

錯誤觀念(８)：禪修是一種令人像酒醉般興奮、情緒高漲、飄飄欲仙的蠻好方法

可說是，也可說不是。禪修有時的確能給你可愛的美好感受，但它們不是禪修之目的── 增強覺知，況且，它們也不會經常出現；事實上，你感到覺知增強的機會，比感到美好的感受還要多。快樂緣于放松，而放松緣于緊張的消除。在禪修中追求快樂反會造成壓力，毀了整個禪修過程的自然發展，令自己陷于兩難的困局。要快樂出現，惟有在禪修中停止追求快樂。幸福感不是禪修之目的，它會間中出現，但只可視為副產品，不過，它仍是非常愉快的副產品，而且，你禪修越久，它出現的頻率就會越高，此話老修行們都不會否定的。錯誤觀念

Misconception #9

Meditation is selfish

It certainly looks that way. There sits the meditator parked on his little cushion. Is he out giving blood? No. Is he busy working with disaster victims? No. But let us examine his motivation. Why is he doing this? His intention is to purge his own mind of anger, prejudice and ill-will. He is actively engaged in the process of getting rid of greed, tension and insensitivity. Those are the very items which obstruct his compassion for others. Until they are gone, any good works that he does are likely to be just an extension of his own ego and of no real help in the long run. Harm in the name of help is one of the oldest games. The grand inquisitor of the Spanish Inquisition spouts the loftiest of motives. The Salem witchcraft trials were conducted for the public good. Examine the personal lives of advanced meditators and you will often find them engaged in humanitarian service. You will seldom find them as crusading missionaries who are willing to sacrifice certain individuals for the sake of some pious idea. The fact is we are more selfish than we know. The ego has a way of turning the loftiest activities into trash if it is allowed free range. Through meditation we become aware of ourselves exactly as we are, by waking up to the numerous subtle ways that we manifest our own selfishness. Then we truly begin to be genuinely selfless. Cleansing yourself of selfishness is not a selfish activity.

(９)：禪修是自私的行徑

表面看來確實如此，看！在那里，一個禪修者正坐在墊子上面，他是去捐血嗎？他忙著賑災或當義工嗎？全都不是！讓我們來檢查一下他的動機，為什麼他要這樣做？噢！原來他要驅除心內的瞋恨、偏見和其他惡念，他正積極從事清除貪欲、緊張、感覺遲鈍等心念，那些都是妨礙他悲憫待人的東西，若不去掉它們，他作的任何好事，亦只是自我意識的延伸，長遠來說，實無助益。

「幫助為名，傷害為實」是個很古老的把戲：西班牙的宗教裁判所[3]所長滿口崇高動機，薩蘭姆的巫術(妖術)審判(Salem Witchcraft Trials)[4]也說是為了公眾利益。稍觀老修行的個人生活，你常會發覺，他們都從事著慈善的人道主義服務，你很少發現他們是十字軍式的教士── 為了某些虔誠的信念而樂于犧牲某些人士。

事實上，我們比自己所了解的更為自私，若無限制，「自我(Ego)」會任性而為，它有方法把最崇高的活動變為廢物。通過禪修，我們念念覺察著自己無數隱微難見的自私行徑，漸漸變得更加了解真的自己，那才可以真的開展名副其實的無私。因此，淨除自私的利己之心，不算是自私的行徑。

Misconception #10

When you meditate, you sit around thinking lofty thoughts

Wrong again. There are certain systems of contemplation in which this sort of thing is done. But that is not Vipassana. Vipassana is the practice of awareness. Awareness of whatever is there, be it supreme truth or crummy trash. What is there is there. Of course, lofty aesthetic thoughts may arise during your practice. They are certainly not to be avoided. Neither are they to be sought. They are just pleasant side-effects. Vipassana is a simple practice. It consists of experiencing your own life events directly, without preference and without mental images pasted to them. Vipassana is seeing your life unfold from moment to moment without biases. What comes up comes up. It is very simple.

錯誤觀念(１０)：禪修時，你要一邊坐著，一邊思維崇高的想法

又錯了。有些禪修系統確實如此，內觀禪卻不是這個樣子。內觀禪是覺知的修習，要如實覺知那里的東西，不管是崇高的真理，或是無用的廢物、垃圾，那里的東西是什麼就要知道是什麼。當然，在修行中，崇高美好的思想有可能發生，不必迴避，也不必追求，它們只不過是愉快的副產品而已。內觀禪是一種簡單的修持，它包括直接體驗自己生命中的事件，沒有偏袒或任何想像。內觀禪是無私地持續觀察自己生命在每分每秒的開展，不管什麼東西出現，全讓它們出現，是非常簡單的。

Misconception #11

A couple of weeks of meditation and all my problems will go away

Sorry, meditation is not a quick cure-all. You will start seeing changes right away, but really profound effects are years down the line. That is just the way the universe is constructed. Nothing worthwhile is achieved overnight. Meditation is tough in some respects. It requires a long discipline and sometimes a painful process of practice. At each sitting you gain some results, but those results are often very subtle. They occur deep within the mind, only to manifest much later. and if you are sitting there constantly looking for some huge instantaneous changes, you will miss the subtle shifts altogether. You will get discouraged, give up and swear that no such changes will ever occur. Patience is the key. Patience. If you learn nothing else from meditation, you will learn patience. And that is the most valuable lesson available.

錯誤觀念(１１)：只須幾個星期禪修，我的一切問題就會消失

對不起，禪修不是速效的萬靈丹。你會開始看到一些即時轉變，但深遠的改變，要經年累月修習始得。這是宇宙的內在規律，有價值的東西是不會一夜之間成就的。在某方面來說，禪修是艱辛的，它要作長期的紀律訓練，間中也要經歷痛苦的修持過程。每次禪修必有得益，但其結果多不明顯，它們發生在內心深處，久而久之，才會顯現出來。若坐禪時，你仍想著巨大的瞬間轉變，必將全部錯過本會發生的微細改變，你會很快氣餒，跟著放棄，還會向人誓言，那些轉變是絕不會發生的。「忍耐」是個關鍵，忍耐啊！假若你從禪修學不到什麼東西，至少學到「忍耐」。「忍耐」是任何深遠轉變所不可或缺的要素。

【注釋】

[1] 神通：又稱神通力、神力、通力、通等。神，指變化莫測；通，指無拘無礙。那是修習禪定(止禪)至四禪的定境(Jhana)時，可以進一步修習得到的無礙自在、超人間的、不可思議的心靈作用或功能。佛教可修得六神通──神足、天眼、天耳、他心、宿命、漏盡(煩惱永滅)等六神通，其他宗教(外道)只能修得前面的五種神通，不能修得佛教所特有的漏盡通。

[2] 定境(Jhana)：修習「禪定(止禪)」所能達致的不同階層的心靈安定境界(安止定或根本定)，佛教稱之為「四禪八定」，此定境成就，非佛教所獨有，其他宗教亦可修得。修習「禪定」要專心歛念，守一不散，經歷大約九個階段(九住心)，才可到達「色界四禪」的初禪── 第一個階層的定境，繼續精進修習，便可相繼達致「色界四禪」其余的二禪、三禪、四禪，甚至可達致無色界的「四空定」── 空無邊處定、識無邊處定，無所有處定、非想非非想處定等。【譯者注：綜合各位大師的講法，佛教並非以定境為究竟，而是以能導致解脫的內觀智慧為究竟，因此，佛教禪修，一般主張：(一)先修禪定(止禪)一段日子，定境最高不用超過四禪，即可轉修觀禪(內觀禪)；或是(二)同時修習禪定(止禪)與觀禪，達致剎那定/瞬間定(Momentary Concentration)或初禪的近分定(Access Concentration)，即有成就內觀智慧的可能。】

[3] 宗教裁判所：亦稱「異端裁判所」，是天主教教廷的司法機關，用以對付異端，以及處罰那些進行煉丹術、施行巫術與魔法的人。西班牙的宗教裁判所，在一四七八年開始運作，稍後又重新改組。早期的刑罰十分殘酷，尤其是西班牙的南部，但相關資料已所剩無幾。[4] 薩蘭姆的巫術(妖術)審判(Salem Witchcraft Trials)： Salem 是美國麻州(Massachusetts)首府波士頓北的城鎮。那里在1692年，發生了一連串的巫術審判案，其間處死了約一百五十名的無辜民眾，未經審判而被無辜迫害至死的更多。牽涉的麻州州郡包括：艾塞克斯(Essex)、薩福克(Suffolk)與米德爾塞克斯(Middlesex) 等。如今Salem 市區還設有巫術博物館，以紀念當年在慘劇中被無辜處死的人。