[中譯]良稹

Bathed in the Breath

by Ven. Thanissaro Bhikkhu

When theres a Dhamma talk, you dont have to listen. The important thing is to stay with your breath. When the breath comes in, you know its coming in; when it goes out, you know its going out. Try to make that experience of the breath fill your awareness as much as possible. The Dhamma talk here is a fence to keep you corralled with the breath. When the mind wanders off, heres the sound of the Dhamma to remind you to go back to the breath, but when youre with the breath you dont need reminding. You do your own reminding. Thats what the mindfulness does in the meditation. Each time you breathe in, each time you breathe out, remind yourself to stay with the breath. Make just a little mental note: This is where you want to stay, this is where you want to stay.有開示時(shí),你不一定要聆聽。重要的是,跟你的氣呆在一起。氣入時(shí),你知道它在入內(nèi); 氣出時(shí),你知道它在外出。試著盡量使那股氣的體驗(yàn)填滿你的覺(jué)知。這里的開示,是把你和氣攏在一起的圈欄。心游蕩出去時(shí),有法音在這里提醒你返回到氣; 不過(guò)當(dāng)你跟氣住在一起時(shí),就不需要提醒了。你自己提醒自己。那就是念在禪定中的作用。每一次吸氣,每一次呼氣,提醒自己與氣呆在一起。作一個(gè)小小的心理標(biāo)記: 這是你要呆的地方,這是你要呆的地方。

And try not to think of s yourself as inhabiting one part of the body watching the breath in another part of the body. Think of the breath as all around you. Its coming in and out the front, coming in and out the back, down from the top, all the way out to your fingers, all the way out to your toes. Theres a subtle breath energy coming in and out of the body all the time. If youre in one part of the body watching the breath in the other part, youre probably blocking the breath energy to make space for that sense of you in the part of the body thats watching. So think of yourself as totally surrounded by the breath, bathed in the breath, and then survey the whole body to see where there are still sections of the body that are tense or tight, that are preventing the breath from coming in and going out. Allow them to loosen up.試著不把自己想象成居于身體的某處,觀察身體的另一處。把氣想象成四面八方圍繞著你。它在你的身前進(jìn)出,在你的背上進(jìn)出,從頭頂往下走,一直到從你的手指外出,一直到從你的腳趾外出。有一股精細(xì)的氣能,一直在進(jìn)出身體。如果你位于身體的某一處,觀察另一處的氣,就有可能為了造就處在觀察部位的那個(gè)你感,而阻礙了氣能。因此,把自己想成整個(gè)被氣所包圍,沐浴在氣中,接著,審視全身,看還有哪些身體節(jié)段仍然感到蹦緊、勒緊,仍然阻礙著氣的出入。讓它們松開。

This way you allow for the fullness of the breath to come in, go out, each time theres an in-breath, each time theres an out-breath. Actually the fullness doesnt go in and out. Theres just a quality of fullness thats bathed by the breath coming in, bathed by the breath going out. Its not squeezed out by the breath. Its not forced out by the breath. Each nerve in the body is allowed to relax and have a sense of fullness, right here, right now. Simply try to maintain that sense of fullness by the way you breathe. Your focus is on the breath, but you cant help but notice the fullness.這樣, 每一次入氣,每一次出氣,你都讓氣的那股充沛性進(jìn)來(lái)、出去。實(shí)際上,不是充沛性在進(jìn)出,只是有一種充沛的素質(zhì), 被入氣所沐浴,被出氣所沐浴。它不被氣擠出。它不被氣趕出。體內(nèi)的每根經(jīng)絡(luò), 此地此刻,都被允許放松,都有一股充沛感。你只要借著調(diào)節(jié)呼吸,試著維持那股充沛感。你把注意力放在氣上,不過(guò)你不可能不注意到那股充沛。

If you cant get that sense of fullness going throughout the whole body, find at least some part of the body that doesnt feel squeezed out, that feels open and expansive, and then see if you can copy that same feeling tone in other parts of the body. Notice the other different parts of the body where it feels open like that and allow them to connect. At first, nothing much will happen from that sense of connection, but allow it to stay open, stay open. Each time you breathe in, each time you breathe out, maintain that sense of openness, openness, and the sense of connection will get stronger. 如果你不能夠使那股充沛感到達(dá)全身,起碼要找到某個(gè)身體部位,在那里你不感到擠壓,而是感到開通、擴(kuò)展,接下來(lái),看看你能不能把同樣的覺(jué)受基調(diào),復(fù)制到身體的其它部位。注意觀察別處有同樣開通感的部位,讓它們連通起來(lái)。一開始,從那股連通感當(dāng)中,不會(huì)發(fā)生很多事,不過(guò)要允許它繼續(xù)開著、繼續(xù)開著。每一次吸氣,每一次呼氣,都要維持那股開通、開通的感覺(jué),連通感就會(huì)增強(qiáng)起來(lái)。

This is why the ability to stay with these sensations is so important, for your staying with them is what allows them to grow. If you move off to someplace else, if youre thinking of something else, there will have to be a tensing-up in the body to allow that thought to happen. Whatever sense of fullness might have developedsay, in your arms or your legs, in different parts of the body, down your backdoesnt have a chance to develop. It gets squeezed off because youre not paying attention to it any more.這就是為什么,與這些覺(jué)受呆在一起的能力如此重要,因?yàn)檎悄愀鼈兇粼谝黄?才是讓它們?cè)鲩L(zhǎng)的原因。如果你挪到了別處,如果你去想其它事,體內(nèi)必須有一種緊繃,才能那個(gè)想法發(fā)生。不管已經(jīng)發(fā)展出什么充沛感比如在你的胳膊或腿內(nèi),在身體的不同部位,沿背而下就沒(méi)有繼續(xù)發(fā)展的機(jī)緣了。它給擠縮了,因?yàn)槟銓?duì)它不再關(guān)注。

This is why the Buddha talks about concentration as mahaggatam cittam: an enlarged awareness. If your awareness is limited just to one little spot, everything else gets squeezed out, everything else gets blotted outand what is that if not ignorance? Youre trying to make your awareness 360 degrees, all around in all directions, because the habit of the mind is to focus its awareness in one spot here, then one spot there, moving around, but theres always the one spot, one spot, one spot. It opens up a little bit and then squeezes off again, opens up a little bit, squeezes off again, and nothing has a chance to grow. But if you allow things to open up throughout the whole body, you realize that if you think about anything at all you destroy that openness. So youve got to be very, very careful, very, very still, to allow this open fullness to develop.這就是為什么,佛陀把定說(shuō)成 mahaggata? citta?大至心擴(kuò)大的覺(jué)知。如果你的覺(jué)知只局限在一個(gè)小點(diǎn)上,其它一切都給擠了出去,其它一切都給遮了出去那不是無(wú)明,又是什么? 你在試著使你的覺(jué)知達(dá)到360度,立體全方位,因?yàn)樾牡牧?xí)慣是,把覺(jué)知聚焦到這一點(diǎn),接著聚焦到那一點(diǎn),但總是只盯那一個(gè)點(diǎn)、一個(gè)點(diǎn)、一個(gè)點(diǎn)。它略略展開,接著又給擠縮,略略展開,又給擠縮,什么也沒(méi)有機(jī)緣增長(zhǎng)。不過(guò),如果你允許那些東西在全身到處展開,就會(huì)意識(shí)到,你若是想任何事,就會(huì)破壞那股開通性。因此,你不得不極其、極其地仔細(xì),極其、極其地寂止,讓這股開通的充沛繼續(xù)展開。

So these qualities of consistency, care, and heedfulness are important in allowing this state of concentration to develop. Without them, nothing much seems to happen. You have a little bit of concentration, then you step on it, a little bit of concentration, then you squeeze it off as you go looking at something else, thinking about something else. And so whatever little bits and pieces of concentration you do have, dont seem very remarkable. They dont get a chance to be remarkable. Concentration takes timeand our societys pretty extraordinary in fostering the expectation that things should happen quickly. If anythings going to be good, it has to happen quickly, it has to be instant. And so, by and large, weve lost the ability to stay with things as they develop slowly. Weve lost the ability to keep chipping away, chipping away, chipping away at a large task thats going to take time and cant be speeded up.因此,為了讓這個(gè)定境展開,持恒、仔細(xì)、審慎等這些素質(zhì)是十分重要的。沒(méi)有它們,什么也不會(huì)發(fā)生。你有一點(diǎn)定,接著卻踩上它,有一點(diǎn)定,又把它擠掉,因?yàn)槟闳タ磩e的東西,想別的事。這樣,不管得了什么細(xì)碎的定,它們似乎沒(méi)有什么特別。它們沒(méi)有特別起來(lái)的機(jī)緣。修定是費(fèi)時(shí)的我們的社會(huì),在鼓勵(lì)事當(dāng)速成的期待方面,是超乎尋常的。任何東西,若是好的,則必須速成,必須立得。因此,我們多數(shù)人已經(jīng)失去了對(duì)慢慢發(fā)展起來(lái)的事物不棄不離的跟隨能力。我們已經(jīng)失去了對(duì)一樁耗時(shí)長(zhǎng)久、不能速成的大型工件,不停地削鑿、 削鑿、 削鑿的能力。

When the Buddha gives images for practicing concentration, he often relates them to skills. Skills take time, and he was teaching people who had taken the time to master many useful skills. In Thailand, they still sharpen knives against stones, and its a skill you have to learn: how not to ruin the knife as youre sharpening it. If you get impatient and try to speed things up, youll ruin the sharpness, the straightness of the blade. So you have to be very still. The mind has to be still, and you have to maintain just the right amount of pressure constantly as you sharpen the blade. At first it may seem like nothing is happening, but over time the blade does get sharper and sharper. The consistency of your pressure is what guarantees that the blade wont get worn in one particular spottoo sharp in one spot and not sharp enough in another, too sharp in the sense that the blade is no longer straight. Youve worn it down too much in one spot. There are a lot of things you have to watch out for, simply in the act of sharpening a blade. But if you have that skill in your repertoire, then when the time comes to meditate, its easier to relate to what youre doing: that same kind of consistency, that same evenness of pressure, the continual mindfulness and alertness that are needed to maintain the proper pressure.佛陀給修定賦予的形象,常常把它比作諸種技能。技能的培養(yǎng)需要時(shí)間,他是在教導(dǎo)那些已經(jīng)花時(shí)間學(xué)會(huì)許多有用技能的人。在泰國(guó),人們?nèi)匀挥蒙呈サ?。怎樣在磨刀時(shí)不損壞它,是一門需要學(xué)習(xí)的技能。如果你失去耐心,一味圖快,就會(huì)破壞刀鋒的銳利和平直。因此你必須相當(dāng)?shù)仂o止。心必須靜止。磨刃時(shí)你還必須維持那股恰到好處的壓力。起初像是什么也沒(méi)有發(fā)生,然而慢慢地,刀刃就會(huì)越來(lái)越鋒利。你施壓的穩(wěn)定,是保證刀刃不在某個(gè)地方缺刻的原因所謂缺刻就是某處太銳利,另一處又不夠銳利。你把某處磨過(guò)了頭,造成卷口。單單磨刀的動(dòng)作,就有許多需要注意的地方。不過(guò),如果你的庫(kù)存當(dāng)中有那個(gè)技能,等到禪定時(shí),就容易對(duì)應(yīng)自己正在做的事,聯(lián)想到那個(gè)技能: 同樣的持恒、同樣的均勻施壓、維持適當(dāng)?shù)膲憾人匾哪欠N連續(xù)的念住和警醒。

Another skill sometimes used as an analogy is that of a hunter. A hunter has to be very quiet so as not to scare the animals off, and at the same time very alert so as not to miss when a particular animal comes by. In the same way, we as meditators have to be careful not to slip off in either direction: into too much stillness or too much mental activity. You have to find the proper balance. I was once talking to an anthropologist who said that of all the skills in primitive societies that anthropologists try to lean, the hardest is hunting. It requires the strongest concentration, the most sensitivity. So here were not hunting animals, but were hunting concentration, which is even more subtle and requires even more stillness and alertness.另一個(gè)有時(shí)用來(lái)比喻修定的技能是狩獵。獵人必須極其靜止,才不會(huì)把動(dòng)物嚇跑,同時(shí)又必須極其警覺(jué),才不會(huì)在某個(gè)獵物近前時(shí),把它放過(guò)。同樣地,我們作為禪修者,必須極其仔細(xì),不朝兩個(gè)方向滑陷: 一個(gè)是過(guò)度的寂止,一個(gè)是過(guò)度的心動(dòng)。你必須找到適當(dāng)?shù)钠胶狻Ｓ幸淮?我同一位人類學(xué)家交談,他說(shuō),人類學(xué)家們嘗試學(xué)習(xí)的原始社會(huì)所有技能當(dāng)中,難度最高的是狩獵。它需要的定力和敏感度最高。因此我們?cè)谶@里,不是獵獸,我們是在獵定,它更加精細(xì),要求更高的寂止和警醒。

Sometimes we in the West think that we come to the Dhamma with an advantage: Weve got so much education, were so well-read. But we have a major disadvantage in that we lack the patience and consistency that come with mastering a skill. So keep that in mind as youre meditating, when you find yourself getting impatient for results. You have to be watchful and consistent. You need that sense of being bathed by the breath, being open to the breathing sensations in all parts of the body down to every little pore of your skin. Then you learn the sensitivity thats required, the consistency thats required, to maintain that. That way the sense of fullness can grow and grow and grow until it becomes really gratifying, really satisfying, to give your concentration the kind of strength, the sense of refreshment, the sense of nourishment it needs in order to keep going.有時(shí)候,我們西方人以為自己是帶著優(yōu)勢(shì)來(lái)學(xué)法的: 我們受過(guò)這么多教育,我們?nèi)绱瞬┯[。不過(guò),我們有一大劣勢(shì),那就是缺乏伴隨的一門技能的掌握而帶來(lái)的耐心與恒心。因此,你修禪定,發(fā)現(xiàn)自己為求果報(bào)失去耐心時(shí),要記得這一點(diǎn)。你需要那股浴于氣中的感覺(jué),那股對(duì)全身各處乃至每個(gè)皮膚細(xì)孔的氣感開通的感覺(jué)。那時(shí)你就學(xué)會(huì)了必要的敏感、必要的持恒。那樣,充沛感才會(huì)增長(zhǎng)、增長(zhǎng)、增長(zhǎng),直到它變得極其享受,極其滿足,給你的定賦予繼續(xù)下去所需要的那股力量、那股清新感、那股滋養(yǎng)感。

Ajaan Fuang once said that without this sense of fullness, refreshment, or rapture, your meditation gets dry. You need this lubricant to keep things smooth and running: the sense of well-being and refreshment, the immediate visceral pleasure of being in a concentrated state.阿姜放曾經(jīng)說(shuō),沒(méi)有這股充沛、清新、或者說(shuō)喜樂(lè)感,你的禪定就會(huì)變得枯燥。你需要這付潤(rùn)滑劑也就是那股安適、清新之感,那股住于定境的直接、切身的恬愉感才能保持禪修的平穩(wěn)與進(jìn)行。

At the same time, it heals all our mental wounds: any sense of tiredness, of being stressed-out, mistreated, abused. Its like medicine for these mental wounds. Now, medicine often takes time to work, especially soothing and reconstituting medicine. Think of the creams you put on chapped skin. The skin isnt immediately cured when you first rub on the cream. It takes time. The skin has to be exposed to the cream for long periods of time to allow the cream to do its work. The same with concentration. Its a treatment that takes time. Your nervous system needs to be exposed to the sense of fullness for a long period of time, giving it a chance to breathe in, breath out all around so that the mindfulness and the breath together can do their healing work.同時(shí),它修復(fù)我們的一切心理創(chuàng)傷: 疲勞感、緊張不堪感、受虐待感、被欺壓感。它就像對(duì)治這些心理傷痛的良藥。當(dāng)然,醫(yī)藥的生效常常需要時(shí)間,特別是那種撫平性、重建性的藥物。想一想你在干裂的皮膚上涂抹藥膏的情形。最初擦上時(shí),皮膚不會(huì)立即愈合。它需要時(shí)間。皮膚必須長(zhǎng)久地受到藥膏的覆蓋,才能讓藥物做它的工作。修定也一樣。它是一場(chǎng)需時(shí)良久的治療。你的經(jīng)絡(luò)系統(tǒng)需要長(zhǎng)久受到那股充沛感的覆蓋,給它全方位入氣、出氣的一個(gè)機(jī)緣,才能讓念和氣共同做它們的修復(fù)工作。

So dont get impatient. Dont feel that nothing is happening. A lot of things that are very important require time, and they do their work subtly. If you give them the time they need, you find that youre more than repaid. After all, you could be sitting for the whole hour planning next week, planning next month, planning next year. What will you have at the end of the hour? A lot of plans. And part of you may feel satisfied that youve provided for the future, but when you reflect on how many of your past plans have actually borne results, youll realize the odds against your new plans ever amounting to much. What would you have to show for your hour then? Nothing very certain. Maybe nothing but mouse-droppings and straw. But if you give the breath an hour to do its healing work, totally opening up the body to allow the breath to bathe every nerve out to every pore, you know that youll come out at the end of the hour with a body and mind in much better shape. The body will be soothed; the mind, bright and alert.因此,不可失去耐心。不要覺(jué)得什么也沒(méi)有發(fā)生。許多極其重要的事物需要時(shí)間,它們以微妙的方式施展功效。如果你給予它們所需的時(shí)間,你會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn),回報(bào)遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)超出你的付出。畢竟,整整一個(gè)小時(shí),你可以坐著計(jì)劃下周、計(jì)劃下月、計(jì)劃明年。到了那個(gè)小時(shí)的末尾,你有什么? 有許多計(jì)劃。一部分的你,也許覺(jué)得自己為將來(lái)作了貢獻(xiàn)而滿意。不過(guò)當(dāng)你考慮一下,自己過(guò)去的計(jì)劃當(dāng)中有多少實(shí)際生出了果報(bào),將會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn),你那些新計(jì)劃有巨大價(jià)值的可能性并不高。因此你那一個(gè)鐘頭有什么可以展示的成果? 沒(méi)有確定的東西。不過(guò),如果你給氣一小時(shí)做它的修復(fù)工作,徹底開通身體,讓氣浸浴每根經(jīng)絡(luò),從氣從每個(gè)毛孔中排出,到了那個(gè)小時(shí)的末尾,你會(huì)知道,出定時(shí),你的身心的狀態(tài)將會(huì)大有改善。身將會(huì)被撫平,心將會(huì)明亮、警醒。

And you dont need to stop being bathed in the breath when the hour is up. You can keep it going in all your activities. That way, even though you may not be armed with a whole set of plans for facing the future, at least youre in a position where you dont need that kind of armor. Youve got the armor of a healthy body and mind. Youve got an invisible armor: the force-field of this all-encompassing breath, continually streaming out from your center to every pore, protecting you on all sides. Thats something you feel in every cell of your body, something you know for sure, for you can sense it all around you, right here, right now. And you know that whatever the future brings, youre prepared. You can handle it.這一小時(shí)結(jié)束時(shí),你沒(méi)有必要停止浴于氣中。你可以在一切活動(dòng)當(dāng)中維持它的繼續(xù)。那樣,盡管你也許沒(méi)有一整套應(yīng)付未來(lái)的計(jì)劃充作防衛(wèi),起碼你的狀態(tài)就不需要那種盔甲了。你已經(jīng)得到健康的身心這副盔甲: 這股包圍一切的氣的力場(chǎng),連續(xù)地從你的中心流向每個(gè)毛孔,從各個(gè)方面護(hù)衛(wèi)著你。那是你在自己體內(nèi)每個(gè)細(xì)胞當(dāng)中都感受到的東西,是你確知不虛的東西,因?yàn)槟憧梢栽诖说卮丝?感受它籠罩著你。你知道,不管將來(lái)會(huì)帶來(lái)什么,你已經(jīng)作好準(zhǔn)備。你能夠應(yīng)對(duì)。

This sense of fullness, brightness, alertness: Thats all youll need to keep the mind capable, healthy, and strong.

這股充沛、明亮、警醒: 即是你使心保持能力、健康、強(qiáng)壯所需的一切。

(根據(jù)2002年12月某日開示錄音整理,本文來(lái)自坦尼沙羅尊者開示集《禪定》)