..续本文上一页There are two things beginning meditators should search for as external aids to their practice:
对于初学坐禅者而言，有两事外缘需寻求：
1. Suitable companions (puggala-sappaya): Be judicious in choosing people to associate with. Search only for companions who have peace of mind. This can be any group at all, as long as the group as a whole is aiming for mental peace.
1. 同参道友(puggala-sappaya)：当明智选择心静而意趣相投的同参，这可以是任何团体，只要大家都是平和心灵的寻求者即可。
2. A suitable location (senasana-sappaya): Choose a quiet place with an agreeable atmosphere, far from human society. Places of this sort, providing physical seclusion, are conducive to the practice of meditation. Examples listed in the Canon include caverns and caves, the shade of an over-hanging cliff-face, the forest wilderness, and empty houses or buildings where not too many people will come passing by. Places like this are an excellent aid and support for a beginning meditator.
2. 恰当的场所(senasana-sappaya)：选择一处静谧、惬意的所在，远离人群愦闹。像这样的场所可令行人保持隐居的状态，从而易于修禅。经典中对此的描述是：大小山洞，悬崖峭壁上的背阴处，野外森林，或者人迹罕至的空旷房屋。如上所举场所，对于初学坐禅的行者而言，皆可视为理想的助缘。
Finally, according to the Gemstones, if one clings to worldly desires, one is “tied to becoming.” To help detach from desires, one needs to further abandon the five fetters. The Digha Nikāya states that when five hindrances are abandoned, one sees “gladness arises within him; thus gladdened, rapture arises in him; and when he is rapturous his body becomes tranquil.” After these kinds of efforts have been completed, then one is ready for the practice of the śamatha and vipaśyanā meditation. These ideas are respectively presented in the chapter IV, V, VI, VII, and VIII of The Basic Principles. The last two chapters illustrate the benefits that a practitioner of śamatha and vipaśyanā meditation can attain.
如是之后，则需诃欲，弃五盖。《寶石经》云：“贪欲故有生。” 至于弃五盖，《长阿含经》以为：当行人舍弃五盖之后，轻安喜乐随起，则身心寂然。 在具足这样的条件之下，行者可以进而修习止观。这一点，我们可以从《童蒙止观》一书的第四，五，六，七，八章中读到。第九、第十章则阐述了，通过止观的修习，行者可以获得切身的真实利益。
Shi Zhenguan October 17, 2011
Los Angeles
释振冠
2011年冬
于美国洛杉矶
Preface [from Master Yuanzhao]
序
There are four Tiantai texts on meditation. First, The Complete and Immediate Meditation, which Venerable Master Zhiyi once preached at Yuquan 玉泉monastery in Jingzhou 荆州, was recorded by his disciple Zhangan 章安in ten volumes. Second, The Mystic Trance and Wisdom, or Gradual Meditation, which the Master discoursed at Waguan 瓦官monastery, was first recorded by his disciple Fashen 法慎in thirty volumes, later edited to ten by Zhangan. Third, the Irregular Meditation, or the Six Wonderful Doors of Dharma, is the one that once Minister Chen陈尚书 demanded Mao Xi 毛喜to invite the Master to teach; it is one volume in total. Fourth is entitled The Basic Principles of Caming (Śamatha) and Insight (Vipaśyanā) Meditaion, taught by the Master to his lay, elder brother Chen Zhen 陈针.
天台止观有四本：一曰《圆顿止观》，大师于荆州玉泉寺说，章安记为十卷；二曰渐次止观，在瓦官寺说，弟子法慎记，本三十卷，章安治定为十卷，今《禅波罗蜜》是；三曰不定止观。即陈尚书令毛喜请大师出，有一卷，今《六妙门》是；四曰小止观，即今文是，大师为俗兄陈针出。
The keynotes of the great Tripiṭaka and the vital accesses for arriving at enlightenment are śamatha and vipaśyanā, absorption and understanding, silencing and shining, clearness and calmness. They are different in terms but similar in origin. If we delve deeply into the springhead of Ten-thousand Dharmas and verify the accomplishment that all Buddhas have achieved, there should be nothing other than śamatha and vipaśyanā. What the great Master of Tiantai inherited from the peak of Gṛdhrakūṭa is the teaching of śamatha and vipaśyanā; The wonderful enlightenment the Master accomplished on Mt. Dasu大苏山 was the result of the practice of śamatha and vipaśyanā meditation. All stages of Samādhi that the Master had ever achieved were through the practice of śamatha and vipa&…
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