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　　有些人以佛像爲集中精神的目標，有些人關注在入出息念，面無論用什麼方法，他肯定會發現禅定能令他獲得輕松和甯靜。禅定對其它方面的幫助也很多，如：身體健康、心理愉快。禅定在必要時，也能幫助我們控製自己的心念。

　　Man can do the highest service to the society by simply abstaining from evils. The cultured mind that is developed through meditation performs a most useful service to others. Meditation is not simply a waste of man”s valuable time. The advanced mind of a meditator can solve so many human problems and is very useful to enlighten others. Meditation is very useful to help a person live peacefully despite various disturbances that are so prevalent in this modern world. We cannot be expected to retire to a jungle or forest to live in ivory towers

　　”far from the madding crowd”. By practising right meditation we can have an abode for temporary oblivion. Meditation has the purpose of training a person to face, understand and conquer this very world in which we live. Meditation teaches us to adjust ourselves to bear with the numerous obstacles to life in the modern world.

　　人類能以謝絕惡行這種簡單的方式爲社會做出高度的貢獻。通過禅定開展的文明心念，對服務他人是最有效的。禅定並不浪費時間，禅修者的精進心解決了很多困擾，同時也對啓發他人有很大的幫助。縱使生活在煩惱多多的現代社會，禅定也有助于人獲得甯靜的生活。在這人口密集，充滿煩惱的現代社會裏，我們無法企望到樹林、山野去過那種遠離塵囂的生活──象牙塔的生活，禅定不是逃避主義，它不一定要求要隱藏自己才能獲得甯靜，禅定講求的是通過訓練心識去面對、去了解、去戰勝塵俗的生活。我們必須學習調整自己，來承受在這世界過禅定生活的種種障礙。

　　Some people practise meditation in order to satisfy their material desires; they want to further their material gains. They want to use meditation to get better jobs. They want to earn more money or to operate their business more efficiently. Perhaps they fail to understand that the aim of meditation is not to increase but to decrease desires. Materialistic motives are hardly suitable for proper meditation, the goal of which lies beyond worldly affairs. One should meditate to try to attain something that even money cannot buy or bring.

　　If you practice meditation, you can learn to behave like a gentleman even though you are disturbed by others. Through meditation you can learn how to relax the body and to calm the mind; you can learn to be tranquil and happy within.

　　Just as an engine gets overheated and damaged when it is run for a prolonged period and requires cooling down to overcome this, so also the mind gets overtaxed when we subject it to a sustained degree of mental effort and it is only through meditation that relaxation or cooling can be achieved. Meditation strengthens the mind to control human emotion when it is disturbed by negative thoughts and feelings such as jealousy, anger, pride and envy.

　　有些人修禅是爲了滿足物質欲望，利用禅定獲得工作或賺取更多的金錢。他們不了解禅定的意義，禅定不是爲了增長，而是爲了減少欲望，物欲的動機不適合于禅定。禅定的目的是超越世間的，追求那些非金錢能夠買到的，或他人不能提供的精神領域。在修禅時受到他人騷擾，要以紳士的風度，冷靜的面對他。透過修禅你將學會如何放松自己和使自己的內心安甯，你將獲得甯靜和愉快的內在。在修禅時，你會否定某些思想和感覺，如：嫉妒、嗔恚、傲慢、和羨慕等等，從而學到如何控製自己的心識。

　　If you practise meditation, you can learn to make the proper decision when you are at a cross-roads in life and are at a loss as to which way to turn. These qualities cannot be purchased from anywhere. No amount of money or property can buy these qualities, yet you attain them through meditation. And finally the ultimate object of Buddhist meditation is to eradicate all defilements from the mind and to attain the final goal--Nibbana.

　　如果你修學禅定，你將學會如何在迷失方向的十字路口，做出適當的決定。如果你修學禅定，你將會發展自己的涵養，涵養不是金錢能夠買到的。佛教徒修學禅定的目的，是從心中滌除所有的汙穢，從而達到終極的目標──涅槃。

　　Nowadays, however, the practice of meditation has been abused by people. They want immediate and quick results, just as they expect quick returns for everything they do in daily life. In Buddhism, as is the case with other eastern cultures, patience is a most important quality. The mind must be brought under control in slow degrees and one should not try to reach for the higher states without proper training. We have heard of over-enthusiastic young men and women literally going out of their minds because they adopted the wrong attitudes towards meditation. Meditation is a gentle way of conquering the defilements which pollute the mind. If people want ”success” or ”achievement” to boast to others that they have attained this or that level of meditation, they are abusing the method of mental culture. One must be trained in morality and one must clearly understand that to be successful in the discipline of meditation worldly achievement must not be equated with spiritual development. Ideally, it is good to work under an experienced teacher who will help his student to develop along the right path. But above all one must never be in a hurry to achieve too much too quickly.

　　今天，禅定已被人們濫用，他們想即刻獲得成就，有如在他們日常生活中所得到的一樣。在佛教和其它東方文化一致認爲耐心是修學禅定的最重要因素。我們必須按步就班的控製我們自己的心識，我們不應該要求不通過專心訓練，就想達到最高的境界，我們理解到某些人對禅定抱著錯誤的觀念。禅定是以一種溫馴的方式來克服我們心靈的煩惱。如果修禅是爲了炫耀我們的成就，就是在濫用禅定。修學禅定必須以道德爲基礎，並清楚的了解禅定必須在有經驗老師的指點下，才能在正道有所發展。總的來說，我們修學禅定，不能渴求在短期內獲得最大利益。

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