..续本文上一页ngle piece of cloth across our chest in the very cold of winter. It was a nice break for me since I grew up in Canada, but it was different for the Thais. I could hear them shiver.
The weather is external and easier to recognize and work with, but the mind that flips and flops between extremes leaves a trail of suffering. We need to push up against the extremes: what we want and what we don”t want, what we approve of and what we don”t approve of, what we accept and what we don”t accept.
Precepts is one of the first areas that we recognize as a part of our training. Other virtues include the virtue of sensuous strength (eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind), the virtue of being mindful of the requisites (food, medicine, bedding, robes) and the virtue of livelihood (being worthy of offerings rather than cajoling, developing schisms among donors and using astrology). We learn to follow and apply the precepts in these virtues too. There are major and minor precepts, precepts of comportment and communal harmony. And yet it”s possible to follow the precepts to the letter and still be heedlessly caught up in the senses, such as looking out at the world with our eyes and ears.
One of Ajahn Chah”s emphases and one that I found helpful was that the purpose of all rules and training is to understand intention, volition, the nature of each thought. Karma is created through volition, which is movement toward action that leads to cause and effect. Therefore, to see intention is to understand action. We then disentangle ourselves from creating karma. We investigate the movement of the mind with all actions and complications. The straightforward purpose of the vinaya and our training is about attention and awareness on volition (Sanskrit: cetana). It develops clarity in the heart.
This training is one in which we focus on our own body, mouth and mind, also on living in community. Many are inspired to leave the home-life because they are inspired by the teacher, the wish for enlightenment, or the desire to save all beings; but most people I know don”t recognize clearly that this training is about living with one another. That needs to be made clear. The Sangha is a refuge. Starting the day of Buddha”s liberation, the day of his enlightenment, he established the Sangha. The Sangha is a vehicle for relinquishment.
Living in community is not an abstract principle, it”s about getting along, helping each other, sharing, being patient with each other, admonishing each other skillfully and others. In certain ways, all these are more challenging than meditating. We need to make a very conscious effort to develop these skills. Sometimes it”s easy to think about helping all beings but not the one next to us. One of the monks in our community said: the person next to you in line is responsible for 80 to 90% of the world”s suffering.
良法师：我想再谈谈驯服于出家生活这一点，《华严经》有一卷讲到善财童子53参，有位善知识指点他爬上刀山，然后跳入火坑；他做到了，而那境界化为圣境。这是修道上重要的一项。
巴沙诺法师：出家与在家修道人不同处中，有一点是：于庙上系统中所立制度式的弃舍，不在于你读诵的经典有多少、守持戒相的条数有多少、打坐有多棒，而在于日常弃舍的点点滴滴增进。我们放下，不论是在大众念诵或独处时，把自己交给面对的境界。我们舍时间，也把自己布施给法。
「捐除、弃舍、屈服」等字眼，都不足以捕捉「施与舍」的意味；要布施给法，我们须要能舍。我可以讲无畏寺一个比丘的故事，来说明这个道理。他受法师的训练有五年了，正在进行从纽奥良到加拿大分支道场的游方之旅。他投身在这长途行脚中，对任何状况都放下；他能忍受那些粗鲁的农场工人，并于脏乱处栖息，对供养也很自在。但朝圣之旅才过一个月，他生病了；他接受这个病缘，终于无法完成行脚的理想。成功不是以达到既定的目标来衡量，而是在舍弃感。因病他中止行脚，可是他找到了法。我相信他因病缘放下，而学得更多。
佛陀教育我们，不论世间或佛法上，成功有四种基础，这些为致力于成功的人建立起目标：
1) 欲如意足，
2) 精进如意足，
3) 念如意足，
4) 思惟如意足：观察所行之事中，何者能引发兴趣。以此四者形成循环。
近柔师：熟悉仪式后，久而久之感觉乏味，怎么办？
巴沙诺法师：不论南、北传佛教或基督教的仪式的共通性质之一，就是重复性，我们要时时保持它们的新鲜和趣味。你可以反思乏味的是什么。记得我在英国闭关了一年，六个月后，有位认识多年的女居士问我在闭关时做些什么事？我告诉她，我早晨起身、打坐、经行、午斋、打坐、听法、再打坐多些。她看起来非常惊愕：「好无聊！」无聊，表示你失念了。
我们要把注意力放在所做的事上，我们可以在持咒时观息。我们把心收摄回来，并和心艰苦奋斗；但这不表示要像放狗吃屎那样硬拖，而是找出事情之乐趣。注意身心的紧张或宽松性，便得内明。问自己在自找闲岔吗？
近寂师：阿姜查在教导他的弟子时，曾经有人得到疟疾，他要求弟子还是靠打坐…
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