Nature of Modern Life
现代生活的本质：
Today we are living in a world where people have to work very hard physically and mentally. Without hard work, there is no place for people in the modern society. Very often keen competition is going on everywhere. One is trying to beat the other in every sphere of life and man has no rest at all. Mind is the nucleus of life. When there is no real peace and rest in the mind, the whole life will collapse. People naturally try to overcome their miseries through pleasing the senses: they drink, gamble, sing and dance
all the time having the illusion that they are enjoying he real happiness of life. Sense stimulation is not the real way to have relaxation. The more we try to please the senses through sensual pleasures, the more will we become slaves to the senses. There will be no end to our craving for satisfaction. The real way to relax is to calm the senses by the control of mind. If we can control the mind, then we will be able to control everything. When the mind is free from mental disturbances it can see many things which others cannot see with their naked eyes. Ultimately, we will be able to attain our salvation and find peace and happiness.
今天，我们的生活非常忙碌，人们不辛勤的工作，就无法生存于现代社会。现代社会充满了激烈的竞争，在每一个生活领域里，都有人想尽办法，无休无止的去打击另外一个人。「心」是生命的核心，如果「心」中没有和平与安宁，整个生命将会崩溃。人们很自然的以感官的乐趣来克制他们的忧虑，他们喝酒、赌博、唱歌、跳舞，把所有的时间幻想于他们在享受并获得心情的愉快，这样一来，就成为感官欲乐的奴隶了，我们的欲望是永远得不到满足的。真正放松的办法是：控制心识来冷静我们的感官。如果，我们能控制心识，就能控制一切。当「心」完全被控制和净化后，就能消除精神的困扰，就能看到别人用肉眼看不到的许多事物。到最后，我们将获得解脱和找到和平与幸福。
To practise meditation, one must have strong determination, effort and patience. Immediate results cannot be expected. We must remember that it takes many years for a person to be qualified as a doctor, lawyer, mathematician, philosopher, historian or a scientist. Similarly to be a good meditator, it will take sometime for the person to control the elusive mind and to calm the senses. Practising meditation is like swimming in a river against the current. Therefore one must not lose patience for not being able to obtain rapid results. At the same time the meditator must also cultivate his morality. A congenial place for meditation is another important aspect. The meditator must have an object for his meditation, for without an object the jumping mind is not easy to trap. The object must not create lust, anger, delusion, and emotion in the meditator”s mind.
修学禅定要有坚韧不拔的决心、努力和耐心，不能企望马上收效。我们应该知道，一名医生、律师、数学家、哲学家、历史学家或科学家，都是经过长时间的学习才获得成就的。禅定也一样，修行者要花很长的时间去控制那不可捉摸的「心」，然后才能获得平静。修学禅定如逆水行舟，一个人不能因为得不到眼前的收获而失去耐心。禅定的修学者必须培养他的道德。在适当的场所修行也很重要。修行者必须为自己订下目标，那颗跳跃的「心」不容易捕捉，所订下的目标必须远离贪、嗔、痴这三种劣根性。
When we start to meditate, we switch the mind from the old imaginative way of thinking, or habitual thought into a new unimpeded or unusual way of thinking. While meditating when we breathe in mindfully, we absorb cosmic energy. When we breathe out mindfully with Metta; loving kindness, we purify the atmosphere. Intellect is necessary for the overcoming of emotionality and spiritual confusion as intuition is necessary for overcoming intellectual limitation and conceptual abstraction.
当我们开始修学禅定时，我们的「心」从旧有的或传统的思考方式，转变为新的、无障碍和不寻常的思考方式。在修禅时，我们以整颗「心」在呼吸，我们吸进宇宙能源，呼出慈悲喜舍。净化了整个胸怀，生起克服欲念和种种不善的智慧，以智慧克服了知识障碍、知识限制和抽象性的概念。
We spend most of our time on our body: to feed it, to clothe it, to cleanse it, to wash it, to beautify it, to relax it, but how much time do we spend on our mind for the same purposes
我们花了很多时间在我们的身体上，如：吃饭、穿衣服、洗澡、洗手、洗脸、化妆等等。可是，为了同样的目的，我们却很少把时间花在我们的「心」。
Some people take the Buddha Image as an object and concentrate on it. Some concentrate on inhaling and exhaling. Whatever may be the method, if anyone tries to practise meditation, he is sure to find relaxation. Meditation will help him a great deal to have physical and mental health and to control the mind when it…
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