..续本文上一页d the pain was even worse. For each of nine days, in the evening he would go to the teacher and, in great pain, ask to go home and the teacher would say, ”Just one more day and the pain will disappear”. It was completely beyond his expectations, that on the final day when he started the first sit of the morning, the pain did disappear! It did not come back. He could sit for long periods with no pain at all! He was amazed at how wonderful is this mind and how it can produce such unexpected results. So, you don”t know about the future. It can be so strange, even weird, completely beyond whatever you expect. Experiences like this give you the wisdom and courage to abandon all thoughts about the future, and all expectation as well.
最近，我听说有一个人参加了一个十天的禅期，这是他首次。一天後，他坐得身体很痛，於是请求回家。老师说：「多留一天吧，我保证疼痛会消失。」这样他便留下多一天，但疼痛却加剧，於是他又再次想回家。老师重复说：「只多一天，疼痛便会消失。」他留至第三天，但疼痛甚至更剧烈。在一连九天中，每天黄昏他都去找老师，十分痛苦地请求回家，但老师总是说：「只多一天，疼痛便会消失。」最後一天，却完全超乎他所想像，在开始早上的第一坐时，痛楚竟真的消失了！痛楚不再出现。他可坐很久，一点痛楚也没有！这个心竟是这么奇妙，他感到惊讶，惊叹它居然能产生出如此出人意表的结果。所以，你不会预知到未来，未来可以是这么的奇怪，甚至怪异，完全超乎你预料之外。像这样的体验会带给你智慧和勇气来抛弃所有有关未来的思虑，以及所有的期望。
When you”re meditating and thinking, ”How many more minutes are there to go
How much longer have I to endure all of this
”, then that is just wandering off into the future again. The pain could just disappear in a moment. The next moment might be the tree one. You just cannot anticipate what is going to happen.
打坐时若想著「还要坐多少分钟？我还要忍受多久？」这其实只是又再回到未来。疼痛可以在一刹那後消失，下一刹那就可能会很顺畅，你实在无法预知将会发生甚么事。
When on retreat, after you have been meditating for many sessions, you may sometimes think that none of those meditations have been any good. In the next meditation session you sit down and everything becomes so peaceful and easy. You think ”Wow! Now I can meditate!”, but the next meditation is again awful. What”s going on here
你在密集禅期中一直坐了很多节，有时可能会认为没有一节是坐得好的。接著的一节，你开始坐，发觉竟然坐得很平静、很舒适。你想，「哇！我现在会禅修了」，可是，下一节又再是这般糟糕。到底出了甚么事？
The first meditation teacher I had told me something that then sounded quite strange. He said that there is no such thing as a bad meditation! He was right. All those meditations which you call bad, frustrating and not meeting your expectations, all those meditations are where you do the hard work for your ”pay cheque” ...
我第一个禅修老师告诉过我一句话，我当时听得莫明其妙，他说，世上没有很糟的禅坐这种事儿！他说得对，所有你认为是很糟、失败、未如理想的禅坐，其实都是「赚取工钱」所要付出的辛劳……。
It is like a person who goes to work all day Monday and gets no money at the end of the day. ”What am I doing this for
”, he thinks. He works all day Tuesday and still gets nothing. Another bad day. All day Wednesday, all day Thursday, and still nothing to show for all the hard work. That”s four bad days in a row. Then along comes Friday, he does exactly the same work as before and at the end of the day the boss gives him a pay cheque. ”Wow! Why can”t every day be a pay day
!”
这就好像一个人星期一上班，工作了一整天，但下班时没得到工钱一样。他想：「我做这些是为了甚么？」星期二，又工作了一整天，下班时仍是没得到工钱，又是糟透的一天。星期三一整天、星期四一整天，所有付出的辛劳，仍是没有回报，一连四天都很糟。然後到星期五，仍是如前一样地工作，然而，下班时，老板发给他一张工资支票。「哇！为何不可以每天都是发薪日？！」
Why can”t every meditation be ”pay day”
Now, do you understand the simile
It is in the difficult meditations that you build up your credit, where you build up the causes for success. While working for peace in the hard meditations, you build up your strength, the momentum for peace. Then when there”s enough credit of good qualities, the mind goes into a good meditation and it feels like ”pay day”. It is in the bad meditations that you do most of the work.
为何不可以每天都是「发薪日」？现在，你明白此譬喻吗？你正是在艰苦的禅坐中积聚功劳、积聚成功因素。你在辛苦的禅坐中为了得到平静而努力，你是在积聚力量、积聚获取平静的动量。这样，当优良的质素足够了，心便会进入精彩的禅定，感觉就有如「发薪日」一样。你正是在很糟的禅坐中耕耘哩。
At a recent retreat that I gave in Sydney, during interview time, a lady told me that she had been angry with me all day, but for two different reasons. In her early meditations she was having a difficult time and was angr…
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