..续本文上一页ghout the day. Effort has to be made in this practice, but the effort you make is to be in the moment, while being intimate with, and fully attentive to, whatever you are doing as you are doing it.

　　The beginner is advised to start by keeping a “thread of awareness” on a particular action throughout the day, for example, naming the walking movement as ”walking”, ”walking” without a break. Whenever the mind wanders from the noting of the walking to a secondary object such as thinking, seeing, hearing, mind state - then note the object that has taken your attention as a secondary object, before going back to the noting of walking. Then combine the noting of the walking with the noting of sitting, standing, and lying down, being especially attentive to the transition movements between each posture.

　　Take at least one activity during the day, such as eating, and taking your time try to do it one hundred percent - finding the minutest detail. When you are eating, all the senses are activated: seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and touching, so try and note all the physical movements as well as the biting, chewing, tasting, savouring and swallowing. This detailed noting is dynamic and intensifies the momentary concentration that results in a more in-depth experience.

　　As you can see, the practice of clearly knowing is not a superficial, casual observation, as one must deeply penetrate the object under observation: ”presence” is combined with clear comprehension. That is, one must see the specific characteristics of the phenomena, the subtle and fine nuances, the minute detail of the movement, without identifying with it.

　　Close and sustained attention is the key to the practice. Maintaining close attentiveness for, say, seventy-five percent of daily activities for at least three to four hours in the day will be carried over to and increase the fluency of the practice in the formal sitting and walking sessions. The benefit of this precise and detailed noting is that it will increase and intensify the momentary concentration (khanika samadhi) that is needed to insight deeper into the mind-body phenomena.

　　For meditators whose practice of full attentiveness has matured, they would be able to note or know nearly all their movements and actions - whatever is predominant in their experience - including the specific characteristics of the movements, for most, if not all of the day.

　　Then they will discover that what appears to be one continuous movement is actually a series of inpidual discontinuous movements. Such an insight exposes the illusion of continuity. While this practice is not a slow motion exercise per se, it cannot be emphasized enough that the Vipassana meditator must slow down all bodily movements as much as possible in order to be aware of the subtleties of the movements.

　　A benefit that is not so much appreciated from “attentiveness training” is that, with presence of mind, the mind is wholesome, and so mindfulness intensifies, and insights will follow. Therefore you will feel good, pleasant feelings (piti) will arise, as you are freed from anxiety and worry and experience the blessing of being in the present moment.

　　Having established and habituated the practice of full attention with clearly knowing in the supportive conditions of a retreat environment, one has developed the skill that gives you the potential to integrate the mindfulness training into everyday life. The benefits of an ongoing practice of mindfulness in daily living are that it brings about an increase in well-being for oneself and harmonious relationships with others.

《The Vipassana Retreat: 9· Clearly Knowing Daily Activities》全文阅读结束。