..续本文上一页ors must focus internally and become aware of the mind”s inner world. This is essential.

　　因此，禅修者不应该让心游荡于过去与未来的俗念。这类妄念无疑会受烦恼控制，进而障碍修行。禅修者必须往内专注于觉知内心世界，而不是受烦恼影响往外攀缘注意外面的世界，这点非常重要。

　　Largely because they are not sufficiently resolute in applying basic principles of meditation, many meditators fail to gain satisfactory results. I always teach my pupils to be very precise in their pursuit and to have a clear and specific focus in their meditation. That way they are sure to get good results. It is important to find a suitable object of attention to properly prepare the mind for this kind of work. I usually recommend a preparatory meditation-word whose continuous mental repetition acts as an anchor that quickly grounds the meditator”s mind in a state of meditative calm and concentration. If a meditator simply focuses attention on the presence of awareness in the mind without a meditation-word to anchor him, the results are bound to be hit and miss. The mind”s knowing presence is too subtle to give mindfulness a firm basis, so the mind soon strays into thinking and distraction—lured by the siren call of the kilesas. Meditation practice then becomes patchy. At certain times it seems to progress smoothly, almost effortlessly, only to become suddenly and unexpectedly difficult. It falters, and all apparent progress disappears. With its confidence shaken, the mind is left floundering. However, if we use a meditation-word as an anchor to solidly ground our mindfulness, then the mind is sure to attain a state of meditative calm and concentration in the shortest possible time. It will also have the means to maintain that calm state with ease.

　　许多禅者修不到满意的成果，主要是因为他们对修行的基本原则不够坚持。我通常教导弟子们要有非常明确的修行目标，禅修要有个清晰具体的专注点，这样他们肯定会获得好成果。选择一个适合的专注对象，把心调整好来进行这类工作，是非常重要的。一般上我会建议藉着内心不断持念一个入门的念诵词，把它当作锚，那样禅修者的心会很快静下来入定。假如禅修者只是专注于心当下的知觉，没有以念诵词作为锚拴住心，那修行成果将会是时好时坏，这是因为心的知觉太微细了，无法成为念住稳固的基础，很快的心会受烦恼引诱，迷失于妄想与干扰。这样一来禅修就变得不一贯，有时它会进行得顺畅，不费吹灰之力，然后突然毫无预兆地困难起来，整个修行变得摇摆不定，所有表面的进展都消失无踪。此时信心会受到打击，心会陷入挣扎当中。但假使我们用念诵词作为锚来巩固念住，那么心就肯定能在最短的时间内静下来证入禅定，并能以这个方便轻易地保持住定境。

　　I am speaking here from personal experience. When I first began to meditate, my practice lacked a solid foundation. Since I had yet to discover the right method to look after my mind, my practice was in a state of constant flux. It would make steady progress for awhile only to decline rapidly and fall back to its original untutored condition. Due to the intense effort I exerted in the beginning, my mind succeeded in attaining a calm and concentrated state of samadhi. It felt as substantial and stable as a mountain. Still lacking a suitable method for maintaining this state, I took it easy and rested on my laurels. That was when my practice suffered a decline. My practice began to deteriorate, but I didn”t know how to reverse the decline. So I thought long and hard, trying to find a firm basis on which I could expect to stabilize my mind. Eventually, I came to the conclusion that mindfulness had deserted me because my fundamentals were wrong: I lacked a meditation-word to act as a precise focus for my attention.

　　我会从个人的经验说起。开始禅修时，我的修行缺乏稳固的基础。由于还未找到正确的方法守护我的心，我的修行一直漂浮不定。它会稳定地进展一阵子，然后迅速地退堕，掉回到原来还未修行的程度。由于我在开始阶段勤奋用功，心成功地进入平静专注的三摩地，感觉到像座山那么坚固稳定。尽管此时还未掌握适当的方法保持这个境界，我却漫不经心地满足于自己的成就了。就在这一点，我的修行遭遇退步了。虽然修行开始退堕，而我却不知道要如何扭转情况。这让我花了很长时间艰苦摸索，尝试找出一个坚固的基础来稳住我的心。最后我得出结论：念住弃我而去是因为基础打错了——我缺乏一个念诵词作为念住精确的专注点。

　　I was forced to begin my practice anew. This time I first drove a stake firmly into the ground and held tightly to it no matter what happened. That stake was buddho, the recollection of the Buddha. I made the meditation-word buddho the sole object of my attention. I focused on the mental repetition of buddho to the exclusion of everything else. Buddho became my sole objective even as I made sure that mindfulness was always in control to d…

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