寧靜的森林水池 A Still Forest Pool 第四章 禪坐和外相的修行 Meditation and Formal Practice

Meditation and Formal Practice

第四章 禪坐和外相的修行

In keeping with his general style, of teaching, the meditation instructions of Achaan Chah are simple and natural. Usually he just tells people to sit and watch their breath or to walk and notice their body. Then, after a while, he asks them to begin to examine their heart and mind in both postures, to see their nature and characteristics. Sometimes this is all that is offered for initial instruction.

　　阿姜 查的禪修指導是簡單而自然的 ── 一如他通常的教導風格。通常，他只叫人們去坐，然後看著自己的呼吸，或經行(行禪)並且去注意身體。一段時間之後，他要他們開始在行、坐二種姿勢中去審視自己的心，去洞見它們的本然及特性。有時候，對初階的指導只有這些而已。

Achaan Chah is careful to avoid letting any method of practice be confused with Dharma. The Dharma is what is, and Dharma practice is any way that clearly apprehends the true nature and characteristics of what is, of our world, of body and mind. Therefore, Achaan Chah does not emphasize any particular technique. He wants students to learn inner strength and independence in practice from the beginning, asking questions when necessary, but relying on their own ability to watch and understand the mind and on their own wisdom to illuminate their experience.

　　阿姜 查很小心地避免讓任何修行方法與「法」混淆。「法」就是「如是」而已，而任何能夠使我們清楚地覺察到「如是」、世間、身與心的真實本然及特質的方法，就是「法」的修習。因此，阿姜 查並不強調任何特殊的技巧。他要學生們在開始時學習內心的力量及獨立修行，在必要時才問問題，但平常要靠自己的能力去觀察和了解心，並依自己的智慧去啟開自己的經驗。

Still, after being at Wat Ba Pong for some time, practicing alone, learning from some of the senior monks, and hearing many questions answered and many Dharma talks. one learns certain subtleties of formal practice. A variety of traditional forest meditations such as the simple mantra “Buddho,” or cemetery meditations, or contemplations on the thirty-two parts of the body are also taught when deemed appropriate for particular students. Otherwise, meditation is developed in a simple and straightforward fashion.

　　然而，在巴蓬寺住了一段時間，獨自修行，向資質較長的出家人學習，並聽了許多問題的解答及「法」的開示後，我們才學習到外相修行上的某些微妙之處。種種傳統的森林禪修，例如：簡單的咒語「逋哆」、或塚間禪修、或觀身體的三十二個部份，在認為對某些特殊的學生合適時，也會教授。除此之外，禪修通常是在一種簡單而直接的方式下成長的。

In sitting practice, Achaan Chah says it is best to sit with a balanced and erect posture, legs crossed or in some other position that keeps the back and head straight and the chest open for unrestricted breathing. One should sit quite still, allowing the body to become settled and quiet in preparation for the initial breathing meditation.

　　在坐禪方面，阿姜 查說，最好的姿勢是挺直、保持平衡、盤腿，或是其它能使背部和頭挺直的姿勢，挺起胸來以使呼吸順暢。要坐得平穩，讓身體安定下來，在平靜中為觀呼吸的禪修作準備。

The first direction of sitting practice is to still and concentrate the mind. Focus the attention on the breath in an easy and natural way, allowing it to come and go without interference. Use the sensation, the direct experience of the breath as it enters and leaves the nostrils, as the point of concentration. Silently follow the sensation of the breath for as long as you can. Then, each time you notice the mind has wandered (which will be thousands of times until it is trained), return gently to concentration on the breath.

　　坐禪的第一個方向是將心平靜和集中起來，以一種輕松而自然的方式，將注意力放在呼吸上，讓呼吸在不受干擾下進出。利用呼吸在進出鼻孔時的直接感覺經驗，作為專注的焦點。盡可能地靜靜跟隨呼吸的感覺，然後，每當你覺察到心散亂時(在經過訓練以前，會發生上千次)，輕輕地再回到呼吸的專注上。

This meditation is a way of using our most immediate experience. the ever-changing reality of the breath, to concentrate the mind. One is instructed to patiently continue this simple exercise as a way of strengthening the power of the mind to focus and see. Eventually, this very simple breath concentration can lead to the highest levels of meditative absorption and samadhi.

　　這種禪修方法是利用我們最直接的經驗──呼吸的不變真理，來專注心。我們要接受耐心地繼續這種簡單的練習，做為增強心力的方法，以使我們能夠專注和洞見。最後，這種簡易的呼吸專注法可以導致禪那的最高境界和三摩地。

However, absorption is not the goal of the practice as taught by Achaan Chah, even though for some it may arise naturally in the course of meditation. Students are instructed to use the concentration and stillness they develop through mindfulness of breathing to aid hi the second aspect of their practice. Once the mind is somewhat quiet and focused. one is instructed to begin to examine the workings of the mind and body. To examine or to contemplate does not mean to think about, but rather to feel. to experience directly, how our world is happening. Examine the aggregates of body and mind. Achaan Chah often advises. Notice first the body, which is directly experienced as an ever-changing play of senses. Of elements-hot, cold, bright. dark. soft. hard. heavy, light, and so on.

　　雖然對有些人而言，禪那(定)在禪修的過程中自然地生起，然而，禪那(定)並不是阿姜 查所教導的修行目標。阿姜 查指導學生們去利用他們在透過觀呼吸後所增長的「定」與平靜，來協助他們修行中的第二階段。一旦心平靜、專注後，他教我們要開始去審視身、心的運作。去審視或思惟(觀)並不意味著光空想而已，而是去感覺，去直接地經驗我們的世間正在如何的變遷。阿姜 查經常建議我們，去審視身、心的組成成份(五蘊)。首先，先覺察身體(色)──直接經驗感官和元素的不斷變遷：熱、冷、明、暗、軟、硬、重、輕等等。

Examine the aggregates of feeling pleasant, neutral, and unpleasant-changing each moment. Notice the play of perception, of memory and thought, of reactions and volition, of consciousness, the quality each of these experiences brings anew in each moment. See how life is a dynamic interplay of these aggregates arising, changing, passing away. Sense objects, feeling, recognition, reaction, volition, the same process again and again. Notice what experience is like when desire or expectation arises. Notice the causes of suffering. Notice the stillness when the mind is not caught by desire.

審視感覺(受)的組成成份(蘊)──樂、無記、苦──剎那剎那都在改變。覺察想、行、識的把戲，覺知這些每一剎那的經驗的本質。看看生命為何是這些生、異、滅要素的互動動力。色、受、想、行、識同樣的過程一而再、再而三的發生。當欲望或期待生起時，要覺察那種經驗是怎　樣的。覺察苦的起因；覺察當心不被欲望所束縛時的那種寧靜。

Is there any part of experience that does not share the characteristics of constant change and fleeting instability, any part that gives lasting satisfaction and is not empty of a self, of an I, of an ego? Where is the self in all this? Examine and you will see how absolutely everything is changing. No me exists, no fixed self. Only this process.

　　有任何並不具備遷變、迅速變異之特質的經驗嗎?有任何會永保完美，有「自性」、有「我」、有「自我」的部份嗎?在這一切當中，「我」在那里呢?去審視看看，你就會到一切事物都在變遷。沒有「我」存在，沒有固定的「自我」，有的只是這個過程。

To learn to see deeply into experience and its characteristics is not limited to sitting meditation. Walk and watch. Do the walking meditation back and forth at a natural pace; do it for many hours, if possible. Learn to pay attention, and there is nothing you will not understand. This is the heart of the practice.

　　深入觀察經驗及其特性的學習，並不只限于坐禪而已。走路時也可以觀察，用一種自然的速度來回地經行；如果可能的話，走個幾小時。學習去注意，就沒有什麼不能了解的了。這就是修行的核心。

In many monasteries, daily interviews with the teacher are an integral part of the practice, but Achaan Chah discourages this. Although he is always available to answer questions, he does not conduct formal interviews. Learning to answer your own question is better, he says. Learn about doubting in the mind, how it arises and how it passes. No one and nothing can free You but your own understanding. Still the mind, the heart, and learn to watch. You will find the whole Dharma of the Buddha is revealing itself in every moment.

　　在許多寺院里，和師父每天面談是修行中不可或缺的一部份，但阿姜 查並不鼓勵這點。雖然他會回答你的問題，可是，他並不做正式的面談。他說：「學習去解答自己的問題比較好。向心中的疑惑學習，它如何生起，如何消失。除了你的領悟外，沒有任何東西能讓你得到解脫。靜下心來學習去觀察，你將發現整個佛陀的「法」無時無刻都在顯現著。」