..续本文上一页 in fostering the happiness of others, the solid dignity and self‐worth in doing the hard but the right thing. It”s also why his path centers on states of blissful, refreshing concentration. Accessing this refreshment in your meditation gives you immediate, visceral proof that the Buddha was no killjoy. The desires he recommends really do produce a happiness that can give you the strength to keep on choosing the skillful path. That”s the next step: patiently and persistently sticking with the desire to do the skillful thing in all situations. This isn”t a matter of sheer effort. As any good sports coach will tell you, hours of practice don”t necessarily guarantee results. You have to combine your persistence with intent: sensitivity, discernment, ingenuity. Keep an eye out for how to do things more efficiently. Try to see patterns in what you do. At the same time, introduce play and variety into your practice so that the plateaus don”t get boring, and the downs don”t get you down. The Buddha makes similar points in his meditation instructions. Once you”ve mastered a state of concentration, see where it still contains elements of stress. Then look for patterns to that stress: what are you doing to cause it

　　 Find ways to gladden the mind when it”s down, to liberate it from its confinements, to steady it when it gets restless. In this way, as you learn to enjoy rising to the challenges of meditation, you also gain familiarity with subtle patterns of cause and effect in the mind.

　　The fourth step, once you”ve mastered those patterns, is to push their limits. Again, this isn”t simply a matter of increased effort. It”s more a rekindling of your imagination to explore the unexpected side‐alleys of cause and effect. A famous cellist once said that his most exhilarating concert was one in which he broke a string on his cello and decided to finish the piece he was playing on the remaining strings, refingering it on the spot. The most obvious strings in meditation are the specific techniques for fostering stillness and insight, but the more interesting ones are the assumptions that underlie the quest for skill: lack, strategy, dialogue, your sense of self. Can you learn to do without them

　　 There comes a point in your meditation when the only way for greater happiness is to begin questioning these assumptions. And this leads to some intriguing paradoxes: If desire springs from a sense of lack or limitation, what happens to desire when it produces a happiness with no lack or limitation at all

　　 What”s it like not to need desire

　　 What would happen to your inner dialogue, your sense of self

　　 And if desire is how you take your place in space and time, what happens to space and time when desire is absent

　　The Buddha encouraged these queries by describing the awakened person as so undefined and unlimited that he or she couldn”t be located in the present life or be described after this life as existing, not existing, neither, or both. This may sound like an abstract and unreachable goal, but the Buddha demonstrated its human face in the example of his person. Having pushed past the limits of cause and effect, he was still able to function admirably within them, in this life, happy in even the most difficult circumstances, compassionately teaching people of every sort. And there”s his testimony that not only monks and nuns, but also lay people—even children—had developed their skillful desires to the point where they gained a taste of awakening as well.

　　So imagine that. And listen to any desire that would take you in that direction, for that”s your path to true happiness.

《Pushing the Limits Desire & Imagination in the Buddhist Path》全文阅读结束。