..续本文上一页 what you”re doing, the better you remember it. Again, these two things go together: awareness and memory.

　　If we have gatekeepers who have developed awareness, they will pay attention to the instructions that they are given. If they pay full attention to the instructions that are given, they will be able to remember them and act on them diligently. This is how we should practice mindfulness. We should always give ourselves clear instructions with full attention so that we will remember what it is we are supposed to be doing. The teacher”s job is also to give clear instructions to help us in guiding the mind. That is why I teach in very clear stages: stage 1, stage 2, stage 3, etc. When we make the training in meditation methodical, when each stage is very clear, then it becomes possible to give our "gatekeepers" clear instructions.

　　Instructing the "Gatekeeper"

　　At the beginning of the meditation when you start stage 1, you should remind yourself that there”s a gatekeeper inside -- that which can be aware of what”s happening and can choose where to put that awareness. Tell that gatekeeper something like: "Now is the time to be aware of the present moment." "Now is the time to be aware of the present moment." "Now is the time to be aware of the present moment." Tell the gatekeeper three times. You know that if you have to repeat something, you”re much more likely to remember it. Maybe when you were at school, if you couldn”t spell a word, you”d have to write it out a hundred times. Then you”d never forget it after that. This is because when you repeat something, it takes more effort. It”s harder to do. You have to force the mind a little bit more, and mindfulness has to become stronger. What”s easy to do doesn”t take much mindfulness. So make it a little bit difficult for yourself by repeating instructions such as: "I will be aware of the present moment." "I will be aware of the present moment." "I will be aware of the present moment". Again, say that to yourself three times.

　　Now with the gatekeeper, like any other servant or worker, you don”t have to keep giving the same instruction every second or two. In this way of developing mindfulness just give that instruction to the gatekeeper three times at the beginning, then let the gatekeeper get on with the task. Trust the gatekeeper to know what it”s doing.

　　Instruct your gatekeeper in the same manner as you would instruct a taxi driver. You just tell them clearly where you want to go, then you sit back, relax and enjoy the journey. You trust the driver knows what they are doing. But imagine what would happen if you kept telling the driver every few seconds "Go slower… Go faster… Turn left here… Now go into third gear…Look in your mirror, mate … Keep to the left…" Before you completed a few hundred yards of your journey, the taxi driver would rebel, get angry and throw you out of the taxi. No wonder then, when meditators keep giving instructions to their gatekeeper every few seconds, their minds rebel and refuse to co-operate.

　　So just let the mind get on with the job of being in the present moment. Do not keep interfering with it. Give the mind clear instructions and then let go and watch. If you establish mindfulness in this way, with clear instructions, you will find that your mind is like everyone else”s mind. That is, once it”s given clear instructions, it”ll tend to do what it”s told. It will obviously make mistakes now and again. It will sometimes not go straight to the present moment immediately. Or sometimes it will go to the present moment and then wander off again. However, the instruction which you”ve given it will mean that as soon as it starts to wander off into the past or the future there is something which remembers. Mindfulness remembers the instructions, and mind…

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