MY CHOICE WAS BUDDHO MEDITATION. From the moment I made my resolve, I kept my mind from straying from the repetition of buddho. From the moment I awoke in the morning until I slept at night, I forced myself to think only of buddho. At the same time, I ceased to be preoccupied with thoughts of progress and decline: If my meditation made progress, it would do so with buddho; if it declined, it would go down with buddho. In either case, buddho was my sole preoccupation. All other concerns were irrelevant.

　　我選擇修持念“佛陀”。從我發願那一刻起，我就不讓心離開重複持念“佛陀”。從早上醒來的那一刻到晚上睡著，我逼自己只是憶念“佛陀”。同時，我也放棄思考進步或退步：如果我的禅修進步，那它與“佛陀”一起進步；如果它退步，那它與“佛陀”一起退步。不管怎麼樣，“佛陀”是我唯一專注的對象，其他的一切都毫不相幹。

　　Maintaining such single-minded concentration is not an easy task. I had to literally force my mind to remain entwined with buddho each and every moment without interruption. Regardless of whether I was seated in meditation, walking meditation or simply doing my daily chores, the word buddho resonated deeply within my mind at all times. By nature and temperament, I was always extremely resolute and uncompromising. This tendency worked to my advantage. In the end, I became so earnestly committed to the task that nothing could shake my resolve; no errant thought could separate the mind from buddho.

　　這樣保持一心專注不是件容易的工作，每時每刻我都必須確實強迫自己的心不受幹擾地安住在“佛陀”上，不管是在坐禅，經行或者只是做日常的雜務，“佛陀”這念誦一直在我內心深處共鳴。我的禀性和氣質是絕對堅定和不妥協的，這種性格給我帶來好處，我是那麼虔誠地全心全意投入修行，決心不受任何動搖。最後，沒有任何妄想可以把心和“佛陀”分開。

　　Working at this practice day after day, I always made certain that buddho resonated in close harmony with my present-moment awareness. Soon, I began to see the results of calm and concentration arise clearly within the citta, the mind”s essential knowing nature. At that stage, I began to see the very subtle and refined nature of the citta. The longer I internalized buddho, the more subtle the citta became, until eventually the subtlety of buddho and the subtlety of the citta melded into one another and became one and the same essence of knowing. I could not separate buddho from the citta”s subtle nature. Try as I might, I could not make the word buddho appear in my mind. Through diligence and perseverance, buddho had become so closely unified with the citta that buddho itself no longer appeared within my awareness. The mind had become so calm and still, so profoundly subtle, that nothing, not even buddho, resonated there. This meditative state is analogous to the disappearance of the breath, as mentioned above.

　　我每天這樣修行，確保“佛陀”始終與當下的覺知和諧共鳴。很快地，我開始看到甯靜與定清楚的從心——意識知道的根本特性——中生起。在這個階段，我開始看到心非常微細精妙的本質，我越把“佛陀”內在化，心就變得越細微，直到最後“佛陀”的微細與心的微細相互融合爲一體，成爲能知的核心。我無法把“佛陀”從心的微細本質中分開，不管怎麼嘗試，我就是無法令“佛陀”這詞在心中浮現。由于精進用功，“佛陀”已那麼緊密地與心合一，以至“佛陀”本身不再出現在覺知中。心變得那麼甯靜和定，那麼微細，以至沒有任何東西，即使是“佛陀”，在此共鳴。這禅修的境界就類似上面提到呼吸消失的境界一樣。

　　When this took place, I felt bewildered. I had predicated my whole practice on holding steadfastly to buddho. Now that buddho was no longer apparent, where would I focus my attention

　　 Up to this point, buddho had been my mainstay. Now it had disappeared. No matter how hard I tried to recover this focus, it was lost. I was in a quandary. All that remained then was the citta”s profoundly subtle knowing nature, a pure and simple awareness, bright and clear. There was nothing concrete within that awareness to latch on to.

　　這種情況的發生，令我不知怎麼辦才好。在這之前我以爲在整個修行中牢牢地保持著“佛陀”，現在“佛陀”不再出現，我該專注在哪兒？到此爲止，“佛陀”一直是我主要的專注對象。現在它消失了，無論我多努力嘗試找回這專注點，它還是不見了，我陷入困惑中。剩下的只是心那微細的能知特性，一個純淨自然的知覺，光明清晰，在這覺知中沒有任何可系緣的實體。

　　I realized then that nothing invades the mind”s sphere of awareness when consciousness—its knowing presence—reaches such a profound and subtle condition. I was left with only one choice: With the loss of buddho, I had to focus my attention on the essential sense of awareness and knowing that was all-present and prominent at that moment. That consciousness had not disappea…

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