漁夫 Fisherman

〖漁夫〗

我們的禪定(靜慮)的修行可以使我們開解。舉個例子來說吧：譬如有個正在收網的漁夫，網中有條大魚，你能推想他收網時的心情是如何嗎？如果他深怕大魚跑掉，就會迫不及待地硬扯那網子，在他覺察之前，魚兒已經因為他操之過急而讓它跑掉了。

古時候，他們會這樣教我們：你們應該慢慢地來，小小心心地收網，以免讓魚兒脫逃。我們修行也正是如此，慢慢地靠修持來摸索出自己的道路，小心地收網以免遺漏了。有時，我們會遇到不喜歡修行的時候，也許我們不想了解，也不想知道，但是我們卻要繼續修行下去，繼續為修行摸索下去，這就是修行。如果喜歡修行，就去修行；不喜歡修行，也一樣要修行，就是要持之以恆。

我們若是精進修行，那麼，信心就會給我們的修行帶來力量。不過，在此階段，我們仍然沒有智慧，縱使我們非常精進，也無法從修行中得到多少益處。這種情況會持續一段很長的時間，因而使我們生起一種永遠無法尋到正道的感覺，也或許覺得自己達不到平靜，或覺得自己沒有具備足夠的條件來修行，乃至認為「道」是件不可能的事。于是我們便放棄了！

說到這點，我們必須非常、非常地小心，我們要以很大的耐心和毅力，猶如網起大魚一樣——逐漸與它探索出自己的方法，然後小心地把魚網收回，扯那網子才不會太困難，所以我們繼續不斷地收網。經過一段時間以後，魚兒累得不能再掙扎時，我們就能輕而易舉地捕獲它了。這些都是修行通常會發生的事，不過我們只須慢慢地修持和小心謹慎地將修行聚集在一起。我們就是用這種方式來禪修的。

Fisherman

Our practice of contemplation will lead us to understanding. Let us take the example of a fisherman pulling in his net with a big fish in it. How do you think he feels when pulling it in again? If he’s afraid that the fish will escape, he’ll rush and start to struggle with the net, grabbing and tugging at it. In this way, before he knows it, the big fish will have escaped. The fisherman mustn’t try to hard. In the old days, they taught that we should do it gradually, carefully gathering it in without losing it. This is how it is in our practice. We gradually feel our way with it, carefully gathering it in without losing it. Sometimes it happens that we don’t feel like practicing. Maybe we don’t want to look, or maybe we don’t want to know, but we keep on with it. We continue feeling for it. This is the practice. If we feel like doing it, we do it. If we don’t feel like doing it, we do it just the same. We just keep on doing it. If we are enthusiastic about our practice, the power of our faith will give us the energy needed to practice, but we will still be without wisdom. Being energetic alone won’t make us benefit much from our practice. On the contrary, after practicing energetically for long time, the feeling that we are not going to find the Way may arise. We may feel that we cannot find peace, or that we’re not sufficiently equipped to do the practice. Or maybe we feel that this Way just isn’t possible anymore. So we give up! At this point, we must be very, very careful. We must use patience and endurance. It’s just like pulling in the big fish - we gradually feel our way with it, we carefully pull it in. The struggle won’t be too difficult, so continue to pull it in without stopping. Eventually, after some time, the fish becomes tired and stops fighting and we’re able to catch it easily. Usually this is how it happens. We practice gradually and carefully, gathering it together. It’s in this manner that we do our contemplation.