..續本文上一頁時間來評論剛剛發生了甚麼事。心念思想通常都是對剛剛發生的事情的想法，例如「那很好啊」、「那真惡心呀」、「那是甚麼？」這些評論都是有關剛剛出現過的經驗。當你在用心觀記標名 (noting)，爲剛剛出現過的經驗作出評論，那你便不是在注意著剛剛到來的經驗，你是在招呼舊客人，忽略了此時到來的新訪客！
You may imagine your mind to be a host at a party, meeting the guests as they come in the door. If one guest comes in and you meet them and start talking to them about this that or the other, then you are not doing your duty of paying attention to the next guest that comes in the door. Because a guest comes in the door every moment, all you can do is to greet one and then immediately go on to greet the next one. You cannot afford to engage in even the shortest conversation with any guest, since this would mean you would miss the one coming in next. In meditation, all experiences come through the door of our senses into the mind one by one in succession. If you greet one experience with mindfulness and then get into conversation with your guest, then you will miss the next experience following right behind.
你可想像你的心是一個派對的主人，在門邊恭候賓客到來。如果有位賓客來到，你款待他，開始跟他攀談這些那些，那麼你便沒有盡本分來歡迎新來到門前的客人了。由於每個刹那都有賓客來到門前，你所能做的便是迎接了一位，然後立即迎接下一位。即使是跟客人作最短暫的交談，你也賠不上，因爲這即表示你將會忽略到來的下一位。在禅修方面，所有經驗都是一個接一個經我們的感官之門進入我們心內，假如你以念住來迎接一個經驗，然後跟這位客人攀談，那你便會忽略了緊隨在後的下一個經驗。
When you are perfectly in the moment with every experience, with every guest that comes in your mind, then you just do not have the space for inner speech. You cannot chatter to yourself because you are completely taken up with mindfully greeting everything just as it arrives in your mind. This is refined present moment awareness to the level that it becomes silent awareness of the present in every moment.
當每一個經驗到來你都是完全留守在當下，迎接著每一位來到你心內的客人，那你便不會有空來作內部講話，你不能和自己唠叨，因爲你正專心以念住來迎接每一個剛剛來到心內的對象而不能抽身，這便是精煉了的當下覺知，在每個刹那中都有的當下的默然覺知。
You discover, on developing that degree of inner silence, that this is like giving up another great burden. It is as if you have been carrying a big heavy. rucksack on your back for forty or fifty years continuously, and during that time you have wearily trudged through many, many miles. Now you have had the courage and found the wisdom to take that rucksack off and put it on the ground for a while. One feels so immensely relieved, so light, so free, because one is now not burdened with that heavy rucksack of inner chatter.
在發展這種層次的內部靜默時，你發現到就像放下另一個大負擔一樣，這就好像一直背負著一個龐大沈重的背囊四十或五十年，期間疲憊地走了很多裏路，而現在卻有勇氣也找到智慧來卸下它，把它擱在地下一會兒。你感到多麼的寬慰、多麼的輕松、多麼的自在，因爲你現在不是被那重甸甸的內部唠叨背囊所重壓著。
_Another useful method of developing silent awareness is to recognize the space between thoughts, between periods of inner chatter. Please attend closely with sharp mindfulness when one thought ends and before another thought begins-There! That is silent awareness! It may be only momentary at first, but as you recognize that fleeting silence you become accustomed to it, and as you become accustomed to it then the silence lasts longer. You begin to enjoy the silence, once you have found it at last, and that is why it grows. But remember silence is shy. If silence hears you talking about her, she vanishes immediately!
發展默然覺知的另一個有用的方法便是觀出思想與思想之間的空間、在每一段內部唠叨之間的空間。如果你以敏銳的念住緊密地注意著，當一個心念思想完結，在另一個心念思想開始之前——瞧！那就是默然覺知了！它最初可能只是刹那間的，但隨著你認識到那種一閃而過的靜默，你會習慣它；當你習慣了它，它便會持續久些。當你最終發現到靜默，你便會開始享受那種靜默，這就是它會生長的原因。但要記住，靜默很害羞，如果靜默聽到你在談論她，她便會立刻消失！
It would be marvelous for each one of us if we could abandon the inner speech and abide in silent awareness of the present moment long enough to realize how delightful it is. Silence is so much more productive of wisdom and clarity than thinking. When you realize how much more enjoyable and valuable it is to be silent within, then silence becomes more attractive and important to you. The Inner Silence becomes what the mind inclines towards. The mind seeks out silence constantly, to the point where it only thinks if it really has to, only if there i…
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