問1：尊敬的馬哈希尊者，當您開始四念處內觀禪修的時候，您具有充分的信心嗎？

馬哈希尊者訪談

——采訪馬哈希尊者

Questions and Answers

The following questions and answers are from the booklet 「An Interview with Mahasi Sayadaw,」 prepared (in Burmese) by Thamanaykyaw and translated by U Hla Myint.

問答

下面的問答出自小冊子《采訪馬哈希尊者》，由達瑪奈覺整理(緬文版)，烏•拉明英譯。

Q1: Venerable Mahasi Sayadaw, did you have full faith in Satipatthana Vipassana practice when you started it?

問1：尊敬的馬哈希尊者，當您開始四念處內觀禪修的時候，您具有充分的信心嗎？

「No, frankly I didn』t. I did not initially have full faith in it. So, I don』t blame anybody for not having faith in practice before they start it. It is only because they have little or no experience of it. In 1931, when I was in only eighth Vassa (monastic year in terms of seniority), much to my curiosity and confusion, a meditation master called Mingon Zetawin Sayadawji was teaching: Note going when going; note standing when standing; note sitting when sitting; note lying when lying; note bending when bending; note stretching when stretching; note eating when eating. I got confused by the fact that there was no object to observe in ultimate sense, such as mind and body, and their impermanence, suffering and egolessness. But I gave it some consideration and thought: 「How strange the way Sayadawji teaches, I』m sure 「he is highly learned, and is teaching from his own experience. It may be too early for me to decide whether it is good or bad before I myself practice it.」 Thus, I started to practice with him.

坦率地說，沒有。開始我並沒有充分的信心。我不會因任何人開始禪修前沒信心而責怪他們，因為他們沒有或者只有極少的禪修經驗。在1931年我只有八年戒臘(按出家年數排的資歷)，對禪修大師明貢•則達雯尊者的教導很好奇又很迷茫：走時觀照走，站時觀照站，彎屈時觀照彎曲，伸展時觀照伸展，躺時觀照躺，吃時觀照吃。我迷茫是因為並沒有究竟意義上的所緣可進行觀照，諸如名色及其無常、苦、無我。但我也覺得可以考慮並想：「尊者教導的方法好奇特，我確信他非常有學問並且是根據自身經驗在教導，在我親自修持以前就說它或好或壞都為時過早。」于是我開始跟他禪修。