..續本文上一頁如是，除此五蓋，其心安隱，清涼快樂。如日月以五事覆翳：煙、塵、雲、霧、羅[目侯]阿修羅手障，則不能明照。人心五蓋，亦複如是。」

　　4. Adjust Five Duties

　　調和第四

　　The meditation practitioners who yearn to carry out the teachings of three periods [i.e., past, present, and future] of the Buddhas of ten directions, should first vow to pursue the way of the Buddhood earnestly, and resolve to save all beings afterwards. They also need to solidify their minds durably and, regardless of their own inpidual lives, valorously progress in doing the good deeds to achieve the enlightenment. They would be able to contemplate the reality beneath all things, had they achieve all Buddha Dharmas. Perceive that good, evil, neither good nor evil, that the passions that come from inside senses nor outside conditions, that the three realms of distress and illusion,[20] and that the stream of the births-and-deaths, all are brought into being by mind. As the Ten-Stage Sūtra observes, “Not otherwise are the three realms. We mind them, therefore they come to being. If the mind has no nature, then much less are all things.”[21] If a person”s mind attaches to nothing, then there will be a clear end of the karma that leads a person to the ocean of the births-and-deaths. Musing thus, one should consequently bear the mind to practice the Buddha Dharma.

　　夫行者初學坐禅，欲修十方叁世佛法者，應當先發大誓願，度脫一切衆生，願求無上佛道。其心堅固，猶如金剛，精進勇猛，不惜身命。若成就一切佛法，終不退轉。然後坐中正念思惟一切諸法真實之相，所謂善、不善、無記法，內外根塵妄識一切有漏煩惱法，叁界有爲生死因果法，皆因心有。故《十地經》雲：「叁界無別有，唯是一心作。若知心無性，則諸法不實。」心無染著，則一切生死業行止息。作是觀已，乃應如次起行修習也。

　　Now, what does it mean “to adjust”

　　 It is much like a potter, who wishes to make wonderful potteries, would first adjust kaolin neither too soft nor too hard, and then, put the attuned kaolin onto a potter”s wheel. Or a musician, who wishes to play fabulous sounds from a certain stringed instrument, would first tune the strings of the instrument neither too tight nor too loose, then, the instrument would be ready to content the musician”s aspiration. So is the Buddhist meditation practitioner who adjusts his/her own mind in order to approach the perfection of Samādhi easily. In practice, there are five duties requiring suitable adjustments, for if unadjusted, these five duties can produce obstructions and thus cause good deeds to be unexploited.

　　雲何名調和？今借近譬，以況斯法。如世間陶師，欲造衆器，先須善巧調泥，令使不強不懦，然後可就輪繩。亦如彈琴，前應調弦，令寬急得所，方可入弄，出諸妙曲。行者修心，亦複如是。善調五事，必使和適，則叁昧易生。有所不調，多諸妨難，善根難發。

　　The first duty to be adjusted is “meals.” To have meals is due to the fact that we need food to progress on the Path. However, here are two things calling attention, i.e., either eat too much or too little. If overfilled, the body will become too heavy to sit down to meditate. Also, the Qi, the vital energy of the body, will come to an uncontrollable state of rushing around, throwing the regular pulse into confusion, and thus preventing the clear mind to contemplate onward stably. On the contrary, if eating too little, the body will become frail, and the mind will turn out to be anxious. The contemplation itself becomes unstable and weak in nature. These two situations are of losing the perfection of meditative absorptions. Furthermore, do not eat anything foul or unseasonal, for food as such can turn one”s clear mind into a dizzy condition, or cause the illness entailed by the inharmonious working of the four elements in the body. To adjust the meals is thus the basic means to the very beginning of the contemplation. Therefore, it has to be considered seriously. As the sūtra says, “The Way will be developed only if your body is healthy enough. So, adjust the food you eat. Take joyance to an unoccupied ground and purify your mind. Then, be progressive on the Buddha path. Such is the teaching of all the Buddhas.”[22]

　　一、調食者，夫食之爲法，本欲資身進道；食若過飽，則氣急身滿，百脈不通，令心閉塞，坐念不安；若食過少，則身羸心懸，意慮不固。此二皆非得定之道。若食穢觸之物，令人心識昏迷；若食不宜之物，則動宿病，使四大違反。此爲修定之初，須深慎之也…

《童蒙止觀(亦名小止觀) The Basic Principles Of Calming(Samatha) And Insight(Vipasyana) Meditation》全文未完，請進入下頁繼續閱讀…