..續本文上一頁n your attention on it with ease. If you find it difficult to keep attention on your breath then this is a sign that you rushed the first two stages. Go back to the preliminary exercises! Careful patience is the fastest way.
禅修者通常都是當心仍十分活躍地奔躍於過去和未來之間，或當內部評論淹蓋了覺知時，便已開始修習觀呼吸，他們未有做好准備功夫，於是便覺得觀呼吸很困難，甚至不可能修，因而沮喪地放棄，這都是因爲他們不是在應在的地方起步之故，他們在把呼吸當做注意力的焦點之前，沒有先做好准備功夫。不過，若心已完成了這兩個起始階段，已有好好的准備，那你便會發覺當你轉移到呼吸上時，你可很輕而易舉地把注意力保持在呼吸上。若果你發覺很難把注意力保持在呼吸上，這即表示你是匆忙地完成兩個起始階段。回到初階的訓練去吧！謹慎地忍耐才是最快的方法。
When you focus on the breath, you focus on the experience of the breath happening now. You experience ”that which tells you what the breath is doing”, whether it is going in or out or in between. Some teachers say to watch the breath at the tip of the nose, some say to watch it at the abdomen and some say to move it here and then move it there. I have found through experience that it does not matter where you watch the breath. In fact it is best not to locate the breath anywhere! If you locate the breath at the tip of your nose then it becomes nose awareness, not breath awareness, and if you locate it at your abdomen then it becomes abdomen awareness. Just ask yourself the question right now, ”Am I breathing in or am I breathing out
” How do you know
There! That experience which tells you what the breath is doing, that is what you focus on in breath meditation. Let go of concern about where this experience is located; just focus on the experience itself.
當你集中注意著呼吸，你是要集中於現在發生的呼吸經驗上，你經驗到那種「會告訴你呼吸正在做甚麼的體驗」，到底是正在入，或出，或正在中間。有些老師叫在鼻端處觀著呼吸，有些老師叫在腹部處觀著呼吸，又有些叫把它移到這兒，然後又移到那兒。我自己憑經驗發覺到在哪裏觀著呼吸都不緊要。事實上，最好是不要把呼吸定於任何地方！若你把呼吸定在鼻端，那便變成鼻子覺知，而不是呼吸覺知，又若你把呼吸定在腹部，那便變成腹部覺知。你應只是在當下問問自己「我是在呼氣還是在吸氣？」你怎知道呢？哪！那種告訴你呼吸正在做甚麼的體驗，便是你在觀呼吸中所要集中之處。不要理會這種體驗是在何處，只是集中注意著體驗本身就是了。
A common problem at this stage is the tendency to control the breathing, and this makes the breathing uncomfortable. To overcome this problem, imagine that you are just a passenger in a car looking through the window at your breath. You are not the driver, nor a ”back seat driver”, so stop giving orders, let go and enjoy the ride. Let the breath do the breathing while you simply watch without interfering.
此階段中的一個常見障礙便是會有種控製呼吸的傾向，因而使到呼吸不舒服。要克服這障礙，你可想像你只是一個坐在車內的乘客，透過玻璃窗觀看著你的呼吸，你不是司機，也不是指指點點的「後座司機」，所以，停止發出指令，放下並享受乘車之旅，讓呼吸自己呼吸，你只是不幹預地看著。
When you know the breath going in and the breath going out, for say one hundred breaths in a row, not missing one, then you have achieved what I call the third stage of this meditation, ”sustained attention on the breath”. This again is more peaceful and joyful than the previous stage. To go deeper, you now aim for full sustained attention on the breath.
當你知道氣息是入或出，這樣地比如說連續一百個呼吸，沒有漏失，那你便已達到我所說的第叁階段「持續地注意著呼吸」了，這同樣是比前一個階段更平靜和更令人喜悅。要想再深入一層，你此時的目標便是完全持續地注意著呼吸。
This fourth stage, or ”full sustained attention on the breath”, occurs when one”s attention expands to take in every single moment of the breath. You know the in-breath at the very first moment, when the first sensation of in-breathing arises. Then you observe those sensations develop gradually through the whole course of one in-breath, not missing even a moment of the in-breath. When that in-breath finishes, you know that moment, you see in your mind that last movement of the in breath. You then see the next moment as a pause between breaths, and then many more pauses until the out-breath begins. You see the first moment of the out-breath and each subsequent sensation as the out-breath evolves, until the out-breath disappears when its function is complete. All this is done in silence and just in the present moment.
當注意力增強至對呼吸中的每個刹那都注意到，這時便進入了此第四階段，「完全持續地注意著呼吸」。你知道吸氣時最先的那個刹那，你知道其時生起的第一個感覺。然後，你一直觀察著在整個吸氣過程中逐漸發展起來的那些感覺，其間連一個刹那都不遺漏。當吸氣完結，該刹那你知道，你在心中看到吸氣最後的移動。然後，在接著的一個刹那，你看到那是吸和呼之間的停頓，跟著還有更多的停頓刹那，然後才開始呼氣。你看到呼氣的第一個刹那和隨後在呼氣過程中的每一個…
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