..續本文上一頁on you. Then you have the right attitude for letting go of these things, abandoning them freely without looking back. This effort, this attitude, this movement of mind that inclines to giving up, is what will lead you into deep meditation. Even during the beginning stages of this meditation, see if you can generate the energy of renunciation, the willingness to give things away, and little by little the letting go will occur. As you give things away in your mind you will feel much lighter, unburdened and free. In the way of meditation, this abandoning of things occurs in stages, step by step.
我們禅修不是要發展出一顆積聚事物、抓持事物的心，我們是要發展出一顆願意放下事物、願意放下負擔的心。在非禅修期間，我們須要肩負很多責任，就像帶著很多重甸甸的手提箱一樣，但在禅修時，這麼多的行李是不必要的，所以，看看你在禅修時能把多少行李卸下。你把這些東西視爲加諸你身上、把你壓著的重物負擔。這樣，你便會有正確的態度來放下所有這些東西，大方爽快地舍棄，頭也不回。這種精進努力、這種態度、這種轉變，在一顆趣向離執的心中，將會引發出深層的禅定。即使在這種禅法的起步階段，也請看看你能否生起引發舍離的精力，即那種放棄事物的意願。這樣，放下的意願便會逐點兒地生起。當你在心內把東西放棄，你便會感到輕快得多、感到輕松自在。在修禅定的方法中，這種對事物的舍離會逐階段地、逐步地生起。
You may go through the initial stages quickly if you wish, but be very careful if you do so. Sometimes, when you pass through the initial steps too quickly, you find the preparatory work has not been completed. It is like trying to build a town house on a very weak and rushed foundation. The structure goes up very quickly, but it comes down very quickly as well! So you are wise to spend a lot of time on the foundations, and on the ”first storeys” as well, making the groundwork well done, strong and firm. Then when you proceed to the higher storeys, the bliss states of meditation, they too are stable and firm.
若你喜歡，你可以快速完成起始階段，但若這樣做，務必要很小心。有些時候，當你太快通過起始步驟，你會發覺准備功夫還未完成。這就好像在一個很不穩固、很馬虎的地基上建造大廈一樣，樓宇很快建起，但亦會很快倒塌！因此，花多些時間於地基和第一層樓上，使基礎工作做得牢固、堅穩、紮實，這才是明智的做法。然後，當你達到較高的層次時，禅定的妙樂狀態亦會穩固紮實。
In the way that I teach meditation, I like to begin at the very simple stage of giving up the baggage of past and future. Sometimes you may think that this is such an easy thing to do, that it is too basic. However, if you give it your full effort, not running ahead to the higher stages of meditation until you have properly reached the first goal of sustained attention on the present moment, then you will find later on that you have established a very strong foundation on which to build the higher stages.
我教導禅修的方式，是喜歡從很簡單的階段開始，先要抛棄過去和未來這些包袱。有些時候，也許你會認爲這有何難，太初階了。可是，假如你肯全力以赴，不匆忙躍上較高的階層，直至你真正達到第一目標，能把注意力保持在當下，這樣，你隨後便會發覺到，你已建立起一個十分堅穩的根基，可在其上建立更高的階層。
Abandoning the past means not even thinking about your work, your family, your commitments, your responsibilities, your history, the good or bad times you had as a child .." you abandon all past experiences by showing no interest in them at all. You become someone who has no history during the time that you meditate. You do not even think about where you are from, where you were born, who your parents were or what your upbringing was like. All of that history is renounced in meditation. In this way, everyone here on the retreat becomes equal, just a meditator. It becomes unimportant how many years you have been meditating, whether you are an old hand or a beginner. If you abandon all that history then we are all equal and free. We are freeing ourselves of some of these concerns, perceptions and thoughts that limit us and which stop us from developing the peace born of letting go. So every ”part” of your history you finally let go of, even the history of what has happened to you so far in this retreat, even the memory of what happened to you just a moment ago! In this way, you carry no burden from the past into the present. Whatever has just happened, you are no longer interested in it and you let it go. You do not allow the past to reverberate in your mind.
抛棄過去的意思是，連你的工作、家庭、承擔、責任、前塵往事、兒時的甘苦片段等等，也不去想，對所有過去的經曆完全不感興趣、全部抛棄掉，你於禅修時變成一個沒有過去的人，甚至不去想你從何處來、生於何處、誰是你父母，或你的教養如何，所有這些過去經曆在禅修時都要抛棄。這樣，每一個參…
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