..續本文上一頁one can stop for quiet reflection or bare attention, accept the refusal, and renounce wish-fulfillment, further complications will be avoided. However, if clamoring words are followed by unwholesome bodily kamma, and if, driven by craving, one tries to get possession of the desired object by stealth or force, then the kammic entanglement is complete and its consequences must be experienced in their full impact. But still, if even after the completion of the evil act, one stops for reflection, it will not be in vain. For the mindfulness that arises in the form of remorseful retrospection will preclude a hardening of character and may prevent a repetition of the same action.

　　The Exalted One once said to his son, Rahula (Majjhima 61):

　　"Whatever action you intend to perform, by body, speech or mind, you should consider that action... If, in considering it, you realize: ”This action which I intend to perform will be harmful to myself, or harmful to others or harmful to both; it will be an unwholesome action, producing suffering, resulting in suffering” — then you should certainly not perform that action.

　　"Also while you are performing an action, by body, speech or mind, you should consider that action... If, in considering it, you realize: ”This action which I am performing is harmful to myself, or harmful to others or harmful to both; it is an unwholesome action, producing suffering, resulting in suffering” — then you should desist from such an action.

　　"Also after you have performed an action, by body, speech or mind, you should consider that action... If, in considering it, you realize: ”This action which I have performed has been harmful to myself, or harmful to others, or harmful to both; it was an unwholesome action, producing suffering, resulting in suffering — then you should in the future refrain from it."

　　2. Tranquillity. We shall now consider how stopping for bare attention also helps one to attain and strengthen tranquillity (samatha) in its double sense: general peace of mind and meditative concentration.

　　By developing the habit of pausing for bare attention, it becomes increasingly easier to withdraw into one”s own inner stillness when unable to escape bodily from the loud, insistent noises of the outer world. It will be easier to forego useless reactions to the foolish speech or deeds of others. When the blows of fate are particularly hard and incessant, a mind trained in bare attention will find a refuge in the haven of apparent passivity or watchful non-action, from which position it will be able to wait patiently until the storms have passed. There are situations in life when it is best to allow things to come to their natural end. He who is able to keep still and wait will often succeed where aggressiveness or busy activity would have been vanquished. Not only in critical situations, but also in the normal course of life, the experience won by observant keeping still will convince us that we need not actively respond to every impression we receive, or regard every encounter with people or things as a challenge to our interfering activity.

　　By refraining from busying ourselves unnecessarily, external frictions will be reduced and the internal tensions they bring will loosen up. Greater harmony and peace will pervade the life of every day, bridging the gap between normal life and the tranquillity of meditation. Then there will be fewer of those disturbing inner reverberations of everyday restlessness which, in a coarse or subtle form, invade the hours of meditation, producing bodily and mental unrest. Consequently, the hindrance of agitation, a chief obstacle to concentration, will appear less often and will be easier to overcome when it arises.

　　By cultivating the attitude of bare attention as often as opportunity…

《The Power of Mindfulness:An Inquiry into the Scope of Bare Attention and the Principal Sources of its Strength》全文未完，請進入下頁繼續閱讀…