..续本文上一页en asked why his disciples, who lived a simple and quiet life with only one meal a day, were so radiant, the Buddha replied: ”They do not repent the past, nor do they brood over the future. They lived in the present. Therefore, they are radiant. By brooding over the future and repenting the past, fools dry up like green reeds cut down (in the sun).” [5]

　　有人问佛，为什么他的弟子们过著简单平静的生活，每天只吃一餐，却如此精神焕发？佛说：“他们不悔既往，不瞑索将来。他们生活在现前的时间中，因此他们都神采奕奕。愚蠢的人，又冥索未来，又追悔过去，就像碧绿的芦苇在骄阳中被刈断一般，一下子就枯萎了。”〔注四〕

　　Mindfulness, or awareness, does not mean that you should think and be conscious ”I am doing this” or ”I am doing that”. No. Just the contrary. The moment you think ”I am doing this” you become self-conscious, and then you do not live in the action, but you live in the idea ”I am”, and consequently your work too is spoilt. You should forget yourself completely, and lose yourself in what you do. The moment a speaker becomes self-conscious and thinks ”I am addressing an audience”, his speech is disturbed and his trend of thought broken. But when he forgets himself in his speech, in his subjects, then he is at his best, he speaks well and explains thing clearly. All great work- artistic, poetic, intellectual or spiritual- is produced at those moments when its creators are lost completely in their actions, when they forget themselves altogether, and are free from self-consciousness.

　　修习念住法，并不是要你想或是觉得“我在做这个”、“我在做那个”。不对！恰正相反。你一想到“我再做这个”，你就觉得有个自己而不能生活在你的行为中了。你是生活在“我存在”的意念里，而你的工作也就糟蹋了。你应当完全忘了自己，而全心全意的浸润在工作中。一个演讲者一自觉到“我对听众演讲”，他的讲话就混乱了，思绪也不连贯了。但是如果他一心讲演他的题目，整个地忘了自己，他的表现才是最好的。他一定讲得很精彩，解释的很明白。一切伟大的杰构，艺术的、诗歌的、智识的、心灵的，都是在它们的创作人完全浸润在工作中的时候所产生的，在他们完全忘我而不自觉的时候所产生。

　　This mindfulness or awareness with regard to our activities, taught by the Buddha, is to live in the present moment, to live in the present action. (This is also the Zen way which is based primarily on this teaching.) Here in this form of meditation, you haven”t got to perform any particular action in order to develop mindfulness, but you have only to be mindful and aware of whatever you may do. You haven”t got to spend one second of your precious time on this particular ”meditation”: you have only to cultivate mindfulness and awareness always, day and night, with regard to all activities in your usual daily life. These two forms of ”meditation” discussed above are connected with our body.

　　这个佛所传授的，在一切时中都要念念分明(的念住法)，也就是要生活在眼前的一瞬间里，生活在眼前的活动里。(禅宗的方法，也是脱胎于此项教导。)在这一种修习法门里，你无须实施某种特定的活动才能发展念念分明的能力。你只须随时了知你所做的一切事，你不必专为特定的修习方法花费一秒钟的宝贵时间。你只要养成经常警觉的习惯，不分昼夜，在日常生活中的一切活动上，时刻都了了分明就可以了。上述两种修习方法，都与我们的身体有关。

　　Then there is a way of practicing mental development (”meditation”) with regard to all our sensations or feeling, whether happy unhappy or neutral. Let us take only one example. You experience an unhappy, sorrowful sensation. In this state your mind is cloudy, hazy, not clear, it is depressed. In some cases, you do not even see clearly why you have that unhappy feeling. First of all, you should learn not to be unhappy about your unhappy feeling, not to be worried about your memories. But try to see clearly why there is a sensation or a feeling of unhappiness, or worry, or sorrow. Try to examine how it arises, its cause, how it disappears, and its cessation. Try to examine it as if you are observing it from outside, without any subjective reaction, as a scientist observes some object. Here, too, you should not look at it as ”my feeling” or ”my sensation” subjectively, but only look at it as ”a feeling” or ”a sensation” objectively. You should forget again the false idea of ”I”. When you see its nature, how it arises and disappears, your mind grows dispassionate towards that sensation, and becomes detached and free. It is the same with regard to all sensations or feelings.

　　还有一种发展心智的方法，是关系我们的一切感受的；愉快的、不愉快的、既非愉快亦非不愉快的。举一个例子：比方你正经…

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