..續本文上一頁tion hall. After forty five minutes of this I went back to my hut and sat down for meditation, and surprise - I found my mind was really quiet. Before it would have taken half an hour to stop the grumbling. But when I sat down, I found, ”Gee, it actually works!” Even though I”d often heard Ajahn Chah”s encouragement to be mindful, it took this particular incident to really understand what he meant.

　　Of all the teachings I heard from Ajahn Chah, the one which I reflect upon most is a very simple one. I still don”t really understand it, so I contemplate it even now. He said, ”Everything is teaching us.” Later on I added my own personal interpretation: ”Everything is teaching us if we”re open to it.” More recently I say: ”Everything is teaching us whether we know it or not.” For me this means that teachings come to us at different levels, even though at our ordinary level of perception it may not seem like we”re actually learning. Sometimes it”s a gut feeling, sometimes it”s just a vague intuition. And that”s why I said that my practice has been like trying to balance out, rather than just receive the teachings at one level, the brain or the heart or wherever. It”s a matter of trying to receive at all different levels. To me this fits in with the Four Foundations of Mindfulness, being mindful of the body, the feelings, the states of mind and dhammas.

　　Sometimes the teachings are coming at a bodily level. Balancing the practice means not only being aware of walking around and getting dressed, for example, as it says in the scriptures, but actually learning the inner language of body. For example, to understand the Thai language, I need to learn Thai. To learn the body”s inner language requires a different learning. There are certain exercises in the scriptures which help us develop awareness of the body. But what I am pointing to is a bit deeper. At times there are experiences going on, and I can”t understand them here or here [pointing at the head and heart]. To understand what the body is saying is not merely about the brain”s interpretation of the body. It is about being open to receive the body, at its own level of reality, its own level of expression.

　　To me, learning the language of the body is like learning a foreign language. The body speaks a foreign language. It doesn”t speak ”rationality.” It doesn”t speak ”emotionality.” I guess you would have to say it speaks ”physicality.” To understand this language, we can make a start by developing awareness with regard to the body; tune in at the bodily level. We listen to the body itself speak, not trying to interpret it through the brain, but just let the body speak for itself.

　　At other times we need to be aware of feeling. ”Feeling” is the usual translation for the Pail word, vedana. In the Buddhist teaching, feeling or vedana has to do with the feeling tone. It”s not to do with emotion. Although this might seem simple, it can be hard to pick up. I remember once in England I led a meditation retreat on the subject of feeling, you know, pleasant, unpleasant, neutral; pleasant, unpleasant, neutral. After three days this man came up to me and said ”I have a question: What is feeling

　　” After three days! I replied, ”Pleasant, unpleasant, neutral.” So simple, and yet he didn”t get it.

　　I realise it”s part of a translation problem. You know, people say ”How are you feeling

　　” You don”t answer, ”Well, pleasant, unpleasant, neutral.” You say, ”I”m feeling fine” or ”I”m feeling great” or ”I”m feeling lousy” or something. You usually answer in terms of emotions. But feeling or vedana is the basic tone of it, the general tone of those emotions, whether they are pleasant, unpleasant or neutral. To put that template on experience gives a different perspective. When it”s already gone into e…

《Rounding Out the Practice》全文未完，請進入下頁繼續閱讀…