..续本文上一页如是，除此五盖，其心安隐，清凉快乐。如日月以五事覆翳：烟、尘、云、雾、罗[目侯]阿修罗手障，则不能明照。人心五盖，亦复如是。」

　　4. Adjust Five Duties

　　调和第四

　　The meditation practitioners who yearn to carry out the teachings of three periods [i.e., past, present, and future] of the Buddhas of ten directions, should first vow to pursue the way of the Buddhood earnestly, and resolve to save all beings afterwards. They also need to solidify their minds durably and, regardless of their own inpidual lives, valorously progress in doing the good deeds to achieve the enlightenment. They would be able to contemplate the reality beneath all things, had they achieve all Buddha Dharmas. Perceive that good, evil, neither good nor evil, that the passions that come from inside senses nor outside conditions, that the three realms of distress and illusion,[20] and that the stream of the births-and-deaths, all are brought into being by mind. As the Ten-Stage Sūtra observes, “Not otherwise are the three realms. We mind them, therefore they come to being. If the mind has no nature, then much less are all things.”[21] If a person”s mind attaches to nothing, then there will be a clear end of the karma that leads a person to the ocean of the births-and-deaths. Musing thus, one should consequently bear the mind to practice the Buddha Dharma.

　　夫行者初学坐禅，欲修十方三世佛法者，应当先发大誓愿，度脱一切众生，愿求无上佛道。其心坚固，犹如金刚，精进勇猛，不惜身命。若成就一切佛法，终不退转。然后坐中正念思惟一切诸法真实之相，所谓善、不善、无记法，内外根尘妄识一切有漏烦恼法，三界有为生死因果法，皆因心有。故《十地经》云：「三界无别有，唯是一心作。若知心无性，则诸法不实。」心无染着，则一切生死业行止息。作是观已，乃应如次起行修习也。

　　Now, what does it mean “to adjust”

　　 It is much like a potter, who wishes to make wonderful potteries, would first adjust kaolin neither too soft nor too hard, and then, put the attuned kaolin onto a potter”s wheel. Or a musician, who wishes to play fabulous sounds from a certain stringed instrument, would first tune the strings of the instrument neither too tight nor too loose, then, the instrument would be ready to content the musician”s aspiration. So is the Buddhist meditation practitioner who adjusts his/her own mind in order to approach the perfection of Samādhi easily. In practice, there are five duties requiring suitable adjustments, for if unadjusted, these five duties can produce obstructions and thus cause good deeds to be unexploited.

　　云何名调和？今借近譬，以况斯法。如世间陶师，欲造众器，先须善巧调泥，令使不强不懦，然后可就轮绳。亦如弹琴，前应调弦，令宽急得所，方可入弄，出诸妙曲。行者修心，亦复如是。善调五事，必使和适，则三昧易生。有所不调，多诸妨难，善根难发。

　　The first duty to be adjusted is “meals.” To have meals is due to the fact that we need food to progress on the Path. However, here are two things calling attention, i.e., either eat too much or too little. If overfilled, the body will become too heavy to sit down to meditate. Also, the Qi, the vital energy of the body, will come to an uncontrollable state of rushing around, throwing the regular pulse into confusion, and thus preventing the clear mind to contemplate onward stably. On the contrary, if eating too little, the body will become frail, and the mind will turn out to be anxious. The contemplation itself becomes unstable and weak in nature. These two situations are of losing the perfection of meditative absorptions. Furthermore, do not eat anything foul or unseasonal, for food as such can turn one”s clear mind into a dizzy condition, or cause the illness entailed by the inharmonious working of the four elements in the body. To adjust the meals is thus the basic means to the very beginning of the contemplation. Therefore, it has to be considered seriously. As the sūtra says, “The Way will be developed only if your body is healthy enough. So, adjust the food you eat. Take joyance to an unoccupied ground and purify your mind. Then, be progressive on the Buddha path. Such is the teaching of all the Buddhas.”[22]

　　一、调食者，夫食之为法，本欲资身进道；食若过饱，则气急身满，百脉不通，令心闭塞，坐念不安；若食过少，则身羸心悬，意虑不固。此二皆非得定之道。若食秽触之物，令人心识昏迷；若食不宜之物，则动宿病，使四大违反。此为修定之初，须深慎之也…

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