..續本文上一頁ngle piece of cloth across our chest in the very cold of winter. It was a nice break for me since I grew up in Canada, but it was different for the Thais. I could hear them shiver.
The weather is external and easier to recognize and work with, but the mind that flips and flops between extremes leaves a trail of suffering. We need to push up against the extremes: what we want and what we don”t want, what we approve of and what we don”t approve of, what we accept and what we don”t accept.
Precepts is one of the first areas that we recognize as a part of our training. Other virtues include the virtue of sensuous strength (eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind), the virtue of being mindful of the requisites (food, medicine, bedding, robes) and the virtue of livelihood (being worthy of offerings rather than cajoling, developing schisms among donors and using astrology). We learn to follow and apply the precepts in these virtues too. There are major and minor precepts, precepts of comportment and communal harmony. And yet it”s possible to follow the precepts to the letter and still be heedlessly caught up in the senses, such as looking out at the world with our eyes and ears.
One of Ajahn Chah”s emphases and one that I found helpful was that the purpose of all rules and training is to understand intention, volition, the nature of each thought. Karma is created through volition, which is movement toward action that leads to cause and effect. Therefore, to see intention is to understand action. We then disentangle ourselves from creating karma. We investigate the movement of the mind with all actions and complications. The straightforward purpose of the vinaya and our training is about attention and awareness on volition (Sanskrit: cetana). It develops clarity in the heart.
This training is one in which we focus on our own body, mouth and mind, also on living in community. Many are inspired to leave the home-life because they are inspired by the teacher, the wish for enlightenment, or the desire to save all beings; but most people I know don”t recognize clearly that this training is about living with one another. That needs to be made clear. The Sangha is a refuge. Starting the day of Buddha”s liberation, the day of his enlightenment, he established the Sangha. The Sangha is a vehicle for relinquishment.
Living in community is not an abstract principle, it”s about getting along, helping each other, sharing, being patient with each other, admonishing each other skillfully and others. In certain ways, all these are more challenging than meditating. We need to make a very conscious effort to develop these skills. Sometimes it”s easy to think about helping all beings but not the one next to us. One of the monks in our community said: the person next to you in line is responsible for 80 to 90% of the world”s suffering.
良法師：我想再談談馴服于出家生活這一點，《華嚴經》有一卷講到善財童子53參，有位善知識指點他爬上刀山，然後跳入火坑；他做到了，而那境界化爲聖境。這是修道上重要的一項。
巴沙諾法師：出家與在家修道人不同處中，有一點是：于廟上系統中所立製度式的棄舍，不在于你讀誦的經典有多少、守持戒相的條數有多少、打坐有多棒，而在于日常棄舍的點點滴滴增進。我們放下，不論是在大衆念誦或獨處時，把自己交給面對的境界。我們舍時間，也把自己布施給法。
「捐除、棄舍、屈服」等字眼，都不足以捕捉「施與舍」的意味；要布施給法，我們須要能舍。我可以講無畏寺一個比丘的故事，來說明這個道理。他受法師的訓練有五年了，正在進行從紐奧良到加拿大分支道場的遊方之旅。他投身在這長途行腳中，對任何狀況都放下；他能忍受那些粗魯的農場工人，並于髒亂處棲息，對供養也很自在。但朝聖之旅才過一個月，他生病了；他接受這個病緣，終于無法完成行腳的理想。成功不是以達到既定的目標來衡量，而是在舍棄感。因病他中止行腳，可是他找到了法。我相信他因病緣放下，而學得更多。
佛陀教育我們，不論世間或佛法上，成功有四種基礎，這些爲致力于成功的人建立起目標：
1) 欲如意足，
2) 精進如意足，
3) 念如意足，
4) 思惟如意足：觀察所行之事中，何者能引發興趣。以此四者形成循環。
近柔師：熟悉儀式後，久而久之感覺乏味，怎麼辦？
巴沙諾法師：不論南、北傳佛教或基督教的儀式的共通性質之一，就是重複性，我們要時時保持它們的新鮮和趣味。你可以反思乏味的是什麼。記得我在英國閉關了一年，六個月後，有位認識多年的女居士問我在閉關時做些什麼事？我告訴她，我早晨起身、打坐、經行、午齋、打坐、聽法、再打坐多些。她看起來非常驚愕：「好無聊！」無聊，表示你失念了。
我們要把注意力放在所做的事上，我們可以在持咒時觀息。我們把心收攝回來，並和心艱苦奮鬥；但這不表示要像放狗吃屎那樣硬拖，而是找出事情之樂趣。注意身心的緊張或寬松性，便得內明。問自己在自找閑岔嗎？
近寂師：阿姜查在教導他的弟子時，曾經有人得到瘧疾，他要求弟子還是靠打坐…
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