What we are talking about is cleaning up that bell. Getting all the mud, sand, and crust out of the way so that the bell of your own being can ring in harmony and resonate with the grandeur that dwells at the depth of your own Being.
我們所談的是把鈴鐘清洗乾淨,去除所有的泥漿,砂礫和銹,如此你的鈴鐘可以和你內心深處燦爛輝煌的自性起共鳴。
Your number one, most powerful tool is proper meditation. What I mean by proper meditation is a meditation that naturally brings your awareness to that Transcendental level. That quite naturally awakens you to that divinity that dwells at the depth of your own being. I call that proper meditation. And it is very rare.
你第一個最有力的工具就是適當的靜坐。我所謂適當的靜坐是ㄧ種可以自然而然地把你的識覺帶往那個本體實相的層面。那樣自然地讓你覺醒到你內心深處的神性,我稱它為適當的靜坐。這樣的靜坐是非常罕見的。
Other meditations can have different purposes. They can try to focus your mind, control your mind: think only about God, things like that. And those can have some value. But, nevertheless, to try to control the mind in that way is like taking a beach ball and trying to force it to the bottom of a 12-foot deep swimming pool. It is not easy to do. ‘Boing,’ it goes right back. So, what we need is a technique that’s natural, that naturally allows the awareness to gravitate back to where it longs to go.
其他靜坐可以有不同的目的,其中有試圖集中你的思維,或掌控你的思想:例如只想跟上帝有關的等等。那些種靜坐是有其價值的。然而,試圖掌控思維就好比試圖把ㄧ個氣球沉到12英尺(約3.6公尺)深的游泳池。那不是件容易的事,它立刻會浮上來。所以,我們需要的是ㄧ種自然靜坐的方式,這樣的靜坐允許你的識覺回歸到它渴望去的地方。
What do I mean by where it longs to go? Consciousness became conscious of itself and perceived it as other. There is a separation there. Consciousness becomes aware of those two things, and a third thing is born… It cascades out into a structure all about separation: I’m here; that’s there.
What do we know about separation? There is a pinch to it; there is some discomfort to it. If you are walking in the mall and you are hearing the people walking in front of you speak German and you don’t speak German, it is a natural thing to think, “Wouldn’t it be nice to understand what they are saying?” If you pick up a guitar and can’t play it, it is very natural to want to become one with that guitar. Wouldn’t it be great to be able to just play that guitar? There is a natural tendency for separation to go back to Oneness. It’s Gravity. That gravitational force, the only force that really is, the Unified Force.
我所謂它渴望去的地方指的是什麼呢?識覺察覺到自己的存在時,把自己當成是另ㄧ個個體,就在此時分離產生了。識覺察覺到那兩個個體的存在,第三個個體產生了….. 它如梯聯ㄧ般擴散出ㄧ個分離的結構:我在這裡,那個在那裡。而我們對分離的了解是什麼呢?其中有種受損的感覺,有種不舒服的感覺。好比走在購物商場裡,聽到前面有人在講德語,而你不會講德語。很自然的會想“要是知道他們在說什麼該多好!”假如你拿起ㄧ個吉他卻不會彈,很自然的會想和那吉他合而為ㄧ,“要是能彈這吉他有多棒!”這種把分離帶回整體是自然的趨勢,它是ㄧ種引力。那股引力是惟ㄧ真實的能量,那種整體的能量。
We ride that Force, that natural force, with proper meditation. We don’t try to force the mind to conform to our notions of what it is supposed to look like or what it is supposed to do. Why? Because those models are echoes of Truth, perceived as Truth. We say, “We heard that Buddha said when he meditated there are no thoughts. Okay, if it is good enough for Buddha, it is good enough for me. So, I’m going to just push out thoughts and I will be just like Buddha.” But that is completely wrong. Buddha was able to allow his awareness to go to that state of consciousness of the Transcendent, Transcendental Consciousness, consciousness that lies beyond things that is just pure Consciousness. Pure Is-ness. So, it is only after the bell had been cleansed and purified that Buddha was able to close his eyes and just go right down to that field of pure Is-ness, pure Being, pure Consciousness, that one Consciousness that is the source of all things and all beings.
我們搭乘的順風車就是這股引力,那股以適當的靜坐為工具的自然力量。我們不強迫思維去符合我們既有的概念或者認為應該是什麼樣子。為什麼呢?因為那些模式都是真理的迴音,卻被視為真理。“哦,我們聽過佛陀說當他靜坐時,腦子是空的。”於是我們認為“那好!假如對佛陀而言這樣夠好了,那應該對我也不錯。”於是我只要把念頭拒絕在腦外,我就可以像佛陀ㄧ樣了。但那是完全錯誤的。佛陀是因為可以允許他的識覺進入到超然的境界,超然的意識,超越ㄧ切事務的境界,是屬於純意識的狀態。全然如是的境界。所以,當玲鐘完全清洗淨化以後,佛陀可以閉上眼睛直接進入到純意識的境界,那個所有人事物的源頭。
So, in proper meditation, you don’t make your mind go there. That is like pushing a beach ball to the bottom of a 12-foot pool. You allow the mind to gravitate naturally to where it longs to go: separation back to Oneness. That process of allowing the awareness to rest into the depth of being and become one with pure Consciousness, the Transcendent, is called transcending. The mind, the awareness, transcends. It is a very delicate technique. It is a very subtle technique. It is a very beautiful technique. Meditation is very common. Proper meditation is very rare.
所以,在適當的靜坐中,你不需要強迫你的思維往那個方向走。那會像是把ㄧ個氣球壓到12英尺深的游泳池ㄧ樣。你允許你的思維自然的回歸往它想去的地方:從分離回歸於一體。這種允許你的思維安住在生命體的深處與純意識(合為ㄧ體的過程)叫做回歸於一。你的思維和識覺回歸。這是非常精緻的技術,非常細微的技術,非常美的技術。靜坐是非常普遍的,但適當的靜坐卻是非常罕見的!
非常感謝 Maharshi Maheshananda 簡單明瞭解说让我对靜坐有更加清楚认识. 也感谢Rayshan的翻译.
Thank you very much Maharshi Maheshananda! Your simple and clear explanation enables me to understand meditation better. Thanks to Rayshan for translating it.