..续本文上一页n your attention on it with ease. If you find it difficult to keep attention on your breath then this is a sign that you rushed the first two stages. Go back to the preliminary exercises! Careful patience is the fastest way.
禅修者通常都是当心仍十分活跃地奔跃於过去和未来之间，或当内部评论淹盖了觉知时，便已开始修习观呼吸，他们未有做好准备功夫，於是便觉得观呼吸很困难，甚至不可能修，因而沮丧地放弃，这都是因为他们不是在应在的地方起步之故，他们在把呼吸当做注意力的焦点之前，没有先做好准备功夫。不过，若心已完成了这两个起始阶段，已有好好的准备，那你便会发觉当你转移到呼吸上时，你可很轻而易举地把注意力保持在呼吸上。若果你发觉很难把注意力保持在呼吸上，这即表示你是匆忙地完成两个起始阶段。回到初阶的训练去吧！谨慎地忍耐才是最快的方法。
When you focus on the breath, you focus on the experience of the breath happening now. You experience ”that which tells you what the breath is doing”, whether it is going in or out or in between. Some teachers say to watch the breath at the tip of the nose, some say to watch it at the abdomen and some say to move it here and then move it there. I have found through experience that it does not matter where you watch the breath. In fact it is best not to locate the breath anywhere! If you locate the breath at the tip of your nose then it becomes nose awareness, not breath awareness, and if you locate it at your abdomen then it becomes abdomen awareness. Just ask yourself the question right now, ”Am I breathing in or am I breathing out
” How do you know
There! That experience which tells you what the breath is doing, that is what you focus on in breath meditation. Let go of concern about where this experience is located; just focus on the experience itself.
当你集中注意著呼吸，你是要集中於现在发生的呼吸经验上，你经验到那种「会告诉你呼吸正在做甚么的体验」，到底是正在入，或出，或正在中间。有些老师叫在鼻端处观著呼吸，有些老师叫在腹部处观著呼吸，又有些叫把它移到这儿，然後又移到那儿。我自己凭经验发觉到在哪里观著呼吸都不紧要。事实上，最好是不要把呼吸定於任何地方！若你把呼吸定在鼻端，那便变成鼻子觉知，而不是呼吸觉知，又若你把呼吸定在腹部，那便变成腹部觉知。你应只是在当下问问自己「我是在呼气还是在吸气？」你怎知道呢？哪！那种告诉你呼吸正在做甚么的体验，便是你在观呼吸中所要集中之处。不要理会这种体验是在何处，只是集中注意著体验本身就是了。
A common problem at this stage is the tendency to control the breathing, and this makes the breathing uncomfortable. To overcome this problem, imagine that you are just a passenger in a car looking through the window at your breath. You are not the driver, nor a ”back seat driver”, so stop giving orders, let go and enjoy the ride. Let the breath do the breathing while you simply watch without interfering.
此阶段中的一个常见障碍便是会有种控制呼吸的倾向，因而使到呼吸不舒服。要克服这障碍，你可想像你只是一个坐在车内的乘客，透过玻璃窗观看著你的呼吸，你不是司机，也不是指指点点的「後座司机」，所以，停止发出指令，放下并享受乘车之旅，让呼吸自己呼吸，你只是不干预地看著。
When you know the breath going in and the breath going out, for say one hundred breaths in a row, not missing one, then you have achieved what I call the third stage of this meditation, ”sustained attention on the breath”. This again is more peaceful and joyful than the previous stage. To go deeper, you now aim for full sustained attention on the breath.
当你知道气息是入或出，这样地比如说连续一百个呼吸，没有漏失，那你便已达到我所说的第三阶段「持续地注意著呼吸」了，这同样是比前一个阶段更平静和更令人喜悦。要想再深入一层，你此时的目标便是完全持续地注意著呼吸。
This fourth stage, or ”full sustained attention on the breath”, occurs when one”s attention expands to take in every single moment of the breath. You know the in-breath at the very first moment, when the first sensation of in-breathing arises. Then you observe those sensations develop gradually through the whole course of one in-breath, not missing even a moment of the in-breath. When that in-breath finishes, you know that moment, you see in your mind that last movement of the in breath. You then see the next moment as a pause between breaths, and then many more pauses until the out-breath begins. You see the first moment of the out-breath and each subsequent sensation as the out-breath evolves, until the out-breath disappears when its function is complete. All this is done in silence and just in the present moment.
当注意力增强至对呼吸中的每个刹那都注意到，这时便进入了此第四阶段，「完全持续地注意著呼吸」。你知道吸气时最先的那个刹那，你知道其时生起的第一个感觉。然後，你一直观察著在整个吸气过程中逐渐发展起来的那些感觉，其间连一个刹那都不遗漏。当吸气完结，该刹那你知道，你在心中看到吸气最後的移动。然後，在接著的一个刹那，你看到那是吸和呼之间的停顿，跟著还有更多的停顿刹那，然後才开始呼气。你看到呼气的第一个刹那和随後在呼气过程中的每一个…
《正定初阶 The Basic Method of Meditation》全文未完，请进入下页继续阅读…