Concentrate on what you are doing and enjoy most of it

 

Episode Three: Get along in harmony with your spirit

 

Concentrate on what you are doing and enjoy most of it

 

Some people looks very calm and collected during Buddhism practice, but as soon as they take up work and begin to get along with others, they become extraordinarily sensitive about personal gains and losses both physically and mentally. They are again seized by negative emotions like anger, jealousy and greed, etc. At this moment, they have forgotten the purpose of self-cultivation. Whenever you are walking, standing, sitting and lying, your mind should keep calm and peaceful and melt down all of the greed, hatred, ignorance, sufferings and enjoyment into your bright awareness. This is not only a method of self-cultivation but also the purpose of it, which is known as extrication.

 

Whenever you are walking, sitting or doing anything at any time, you must keep calm and peaceful.

 

Calm means keeping tranquil and ease in heart, safeguarding your fantastic wise true mind and never lose it. Do not be disturbed by secular affairs, nor allured by illusionary phenomenon in the world. The fantastic wise mind is your true mind .

 

Regardless of walking, standing, sitting or lying in life, you must abide in your bright mind, embrace your self-nature’s light and awareness and melt down all your greed, ignorance, hatred, suffering and enjoyment into your bright awareness. Meanwhile, let the awareness dissolve your discrimination tendency gradually and eliminate your annoyance and inborn habits.

 

Once I talked to a friend of mine about how to cultivate oneself in daily life : when a person is completely occupied by his work, he would often forget to continue practicing. I told him to do like this:

 

“When there are too many distracting thoughts in your mind, you can overcome this by keeping high awareness of current status and focus your enlightened mind on what you are doing. Specifically speaking in a metaphor, you must watch the matter with your eyes, listen to the matter with your ears, smell the existence and changes of the matter with your nose, taste the meaning of it with your tongue and feel like touching the affair with your body.”

 

When all of your eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and consciousness focus on the matter you are doing, it means you keep your fantastic bright mind well. It is the best way of practicing to focus the true mind on the current matter. At this moment, you may forget the intent to visualize or the guidance passed from you guru, but the fantastic bright mind that you hold tight is your true noble guru.

 

Therefore, I emphasize from time to time that the practitioner should always stay awaken and conscious about current affairs. Engage in anything with delight and carefree mood. Take control of your mind and senses without distraction. Handle things like crayons sketching in space. Keep concentrated all the time and let it go when finished. There is no hang-ups in the air or mind. This is the best annotation of the above words.

 

Some people behave differently in practice and life. They can keep inner peace during practice well, but they turn to measure personal gain or loss, the feeling about whether mistreated or not as soon as they begin to get along with others in work, followed by negative emotions such as anger, jealousy and greed, etc. By that time, they have forgotten the purpose of their practicing.

 

Whenever you are walking, standing, sitting or lying, you must abide in your true mind, keep quiet and relaxed, and dissolve all the feeling like greed, hatred, ignorance, suffering and enjoyment into your awareness. This is not only a method of self- cultivation but also the purpose of it which is known as extrication. The word Extrication stands for the state in which the obsession with secular affairs has been rooted up, the annoyance and sufferings in life have been eliminated. Finally you have reached the kingdom of absolute freedom of heart. So, at any time you should bear it in mind the purpose of practice and always remind yourself of it. In any minute throughout one’s life, long or short, you must focus on what you are doing right now, abide in present status, cognize your own inborn heart and your empty nature, never to lose it. You should remember the refreshing, pure , bright and happy wisdom light. Do not lose the awareness when doing anything --- cooking, working, walking  or even sleeping.

 

Bear it in mind that you can not only maintain the feeling when you recite scriptures or practice sitting in meditation and dump it afterwards, but also recall and catch the feeling to be steady all day long. Even if you occasionally forget it, you must hurry back to the awareness once you pick it up. As time goes by, let it become a part of your life, something like air that exists everywhere. And that is called the real practicing Buddhism.

 

You should never lose the enlightened feeling whenever you are sitting in meditation, practicing visualization or chanting scriptures. Safeguard your true mind and the joyful, composed, peaceful and refreshing feeling which is void of any distraction or annoyance. Make sure you embrace it now and later. When you are able to keep it in countless current or present moment, you have the chance to keep it all your life because the spaces of time in life are composed by every single present moment. Only when you succeed in keeping the enlightened awareness in every present moment, can your practice achieve a harmonious whole. Only such kind of practice is up to successful practice.

 

However, this time you still must find a suitable degree between relaxation and alertness, neither let your heart disheveled nor hold it on tightly. In other words, you should maintain both feelings of relaxation and emptiness, away from distractions,and maintain awareness,wakefulness and your true mind.

 

Many practitioners are used to suppressing their distracting thoughts with great strength when sitting in meditation, thinking that could help them quarantined from deceptive desires. They always attempt to encage the heart to be in high allergic status. But in this condition, his delusion is just suppressed rather than eliminated. Just suppose  you press a ball down into water and it will disappear above water surface for the moment. But if you loose your hand, it will bounce back at once.

 

So don’t give loose to your mind nor grasp it too tightly. It’s like pulling a rubber band. If you pull it too hard , it will be snapped. If you do not use enough strength, it will not be stretched. So you must pull it to a certain extent when it won’t be too loose to curl or too tight to be snapped. Both visualization and chanting Buddha entail this state to make loose and tight on the balance.

 

Now some people are likely to set out a goal for something to be accomplished in advance—like a fictitious desired state. And they rigidly wish to achieve it until exhausted by the earnest desire. In fact, it is not the matter that has worn him out but the mind entanglement and nervousness did.

 

There was a writer who claimed to devote all his life to write a novel. And he really did—— died in the end. But it was not writing the novel that exhausted his life but his stress and tensity instead. Nevertheless, if he could stay in the state of bright emptiness, feel calm and free, he would relax and enjoy writing just like enjoying life. He could experience happiness and peace rather than oppressed and overwhelmed by the atmosphere of sorrow and tensity vamped up by him. People who are adept at handling matters can enjoy their life whatever they do. They would not be struck down by the stress in attribute to a sense of tensity.

 

But now, like the writer, many people treat many things above their life, such as money, position, authority and reputation. They would even try to achieve these at the cost of their health. This mentality will bring him breathtaking pressures until finally he becomes worn out and distraught. If one day he finds that others are indifferent about his sufferings and talk about them slightly like feathers fluttering in the air, he will think that they do not respect him. However, that’s not true.

 

A man with true wisdom always looks calm and confident like lifting heavy objects as a piece of feather. Even if he owns the whole world, He won’t think it’s worth to be arrogant; even if he has done tremendous almsdeed, he won’t feel how great he is. He has no infatuation with anything in front of him nor any desired result. He just fully enjoys his life, his work, the present happiness, the whole process of life without a second thought about what he actually had done, what he has obtained or what he has abandoned.

 

In fact, no matter what your mood is like, what you can achieve is just to carry out one hundred percent of your effort and energy as well as your precious life time. However, different attitude decides different process of doing things, ways of life burning and whether you will feel painful or happy. All our practices are aimed to obtain bliss and get rid of pains in the rest of our life.

 

Notice

 

Translated by non-professional volunteers, there would be some inaccuracies in the translation. You are welcome to offer us some advice for emendation. Please feel free to contact us.We also look forward to you joining our voluntary translation team.

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第三辑：与灵性好好相处

 

专注而享受的做

 

有的人修行的时候心里一片宁静，一旦投入工作，开始与别人相处，便时时计较自己是不是吃了亏，是不是受了委屈，于是又开始生气、嫉妒、贪婪等等。这就是忘记了自己修行的目的。在行、住、坐、卧间都安住于真心，保持安然，将所有的贪嗔痴与苦乐都融入觉性当中，这不仅是修行的方法，也是修行的目的，这就是解脱。

 

行走和安住的时候都要安然，任何时候都要保持安然。

 

“安然”的意思是保持宁静自在，守住妙明真心，不要丢失妙明真心，不要被世界上纷繁的万物把你的心引走，也不要被世界上虚幻的假象所迷惑。妙明心就是你的真心。

 

无论是行、住、坐、卧都要安住于妙明真心之中，守住你的自性光明，守住你的那种觉性，把贪婪、愚痴、仇恨和苦乐全部融入自性光明和觉性之中。同时，用这种觉性慢慢地消解你的分别心，消除你的烦恼与习气。

 

我曾经和一位朋友谈过如何在生活中修炼：当一个人工作非常忙的时候，他就会经常忘记修炼。我告诉他：

 

“当心中杂念纷飞时，你只要守住当下的觉性，把你的觉悟之心用于你眼前正在做的事情。具体说，要用眼睛看着这件事，用耳朵聆听这件事情，鼻子好像也嗅到了这件事的气息，舌头仿佛也尝到了这件事的气味，身体更是触到了这件事。

 

当眼、耳、鼻、舌、身、意都专注于你正在做的事情时，你就等于守住了妙明之心。把真心作用于眼前所做的事情，这种专注就是最好的修炼。这时候，你也可能忘记观想，可能忘记根本师，但是你所守住的妙明之心就是根本师。”

 

所以，我常说，要“永远觉醒清明于当下，触目随缘，快乐无忧，督摄六根，心无旁骛。做事如彩笔描空，描时专注，描后放下。空中心中皆了无牵挂。”这就是对上面这段话最好的注解。

 

有的人把修行和生活分得很清楚，修行的时候心里一片宁静，一旦投入工作，开始与别人相处，便时时计较自己是不是吃了亏，是不是受了委屈，于是又开始生气、嫉妒、贪婪等等。这就是忘记了自己修行的目的。

 

在行、住、坐、卧间都安住于真心，保持安然，将所有的贪嗔痴与苦乐都融入觉性当中，这不仅是修行的方法，也是修行的目的，这就是解脱。所谓的“解脱”，就是去除执著，摆脱生活中的烦恼与痛苦，达到心灵上的绝对自由。所以，任何时候都要牢记修行的目的，并常常以此提醒自己。在所有的生命时空中，无论长短，你都要专注于目前在做的事情，都要安住于当下，认知你的本来之心，认知你的空性，不要把它丢掉，守住妙明之心。你要记住那种清凉明白、空空荡荡、明明朗朗、快快乐乐的智慧光明，做任何事情时，都不要丢了这种觉性。做饭时不要丢掉，工作时不要丢掉，走路时不要丢掉，甚至睡觉时也不要丢掉。

 

要记住，并不是在念经或在座上修的时候，你才能保任那种感觉，到不念经的时候就把它丢掉。你应该在二十四个小时里都忆持和保任那种觉受，守住那种觉受。就算是偶尔忘记了，一旦想起来，你也要赶紧回到那份觉悟之中。日积月累，经年累月，让它成为你生命的一部分，成为空气一样的存在，这才是真正的修行。

 

打坐也罢，观想也罢，念佛也罢，都应始终不离那种觉受，守住自己的真心，守住那种没有任何杂念，没有任何烦恼，只有一种快乐、安详、宁静、明白的清凉觉受。现在你守住了它，过一段时间还能守住它，无数个“现在”或“当下”都能守住它的时候，你就可能一辈子都能守住它。因为所有的生命时空，都是由一个个“当下”构成的。只有在每一个“当下”都能守住那种明白的觉性，才算将功夫打成了一片。只有这样的修行，才算是成功的修行。

 

不过，这个时候你仍然要在放松与警觉之间找到一个合适的度，既不能让心流于散乱，也不要紧紧地抓住不放。换句话说，就是既要保持那种放松、空空荡荡的觉受，远离杂念，也要保持觉性与清醒，保任真心。

 

很多修行人在坐禅时，习惯于狠狠压制住自己的妄念，以为这就是远离了妄心。他们总要“擒住”这个心，就是守住心不放松。但是这样一来，他的妄念就会一直处于被压制的状态。这就好像把一个皮球压到水里，虽然它暂时在水面上消失了，但你一松手，它马上就会弹出来了。

 

所以，一定不要放纵心，同时也不要紧紧抓住心。这种感觉就好像扯皮筯，如果扯得太紧它就会断，扯得太松又没有力。所以只有扯到一定份量，让它不松也不紧，不断也不弯。无论观想也罢，念佛也罢，都应该是这种状态，要松弛有度。

 

现在，有些人在做一件事情时，总会事先给自己设定一个目标――某个假想的状态，并且非常执著地希望自己可以达到它，然后，他的那种执著就会把自己弄得疲惫不堪。其实，让他疲惫不堪的，不是他所做的那个事情本身，而是他心中的那份执著和紧张。

 

有位作家在写一部小说时，觉得自己付出了生命在写，到最后他就真的付出了生命。但让他付出生命的，并不是那部小说本身，而是他紧张的心。事实上，假如他安住于明空状态，以宽坦任运、享受生活及生命的心态去写作，完全可以体会到一种快乐和宁静，也就不会被自己制造的那种悲壮和紧张压垮。会做事的人，即使真的做了许多事，也只是在享受生命，他不会被一种紧张带来的压力压垮自己。

 

但是现在，很多人都像那个作家一样，把很多东西看得比生命还重要，比如说金钱、地位、权力、名誉，甚至宁愿为此赔上自己的健康，这种心理会把他压得喘不过气来，到最后他就会变得疲惫不堪，身心憔悴。如果有一天，他发现别人谈到他的“痛苦”时，显得非常淡然，就像在谈论空中飘过的羽毛一样，他便觉得那个人不重视自己。事实上不是这样的。

 

真正有智慧的人一向都是举重若轻的，他做任何事情时，都是从容而淡然的。哪怕他拥有整个世界，也不觉得这值得骄傲；哪怕他做了天大的善事，也不觉得自己有多伟大。他不执著于眼前的一切，也不执著所谓的结果，他只是专注地享受他的生命，享受他的工作，享受当下的那份快乐，享受整个生命的过程，根本不去在乎自己究竟做了什么，得到了什么，又舍弃了什么。

 

其实，无论你抱着怎么样的心态去做事，能够做到的，也只是付出千分之千的专注，以及宝贵的生命时间。但是，不同的心态决定了这个做事和燃烧生命的过程，到底是苦还是乐。而我们修行，就是为了有生之年可以离苦得乐。

 

声明：本文系文化志愿者试译，非专业人才翻译，错误定然不少，如出现疏漏及错误，敬请读者见谅。如有任何翻译上的建议及修正意见，欢迎及时与我们取得联系，我们会加以校对、修改，并希望有专业才能的朋友也能加入我们志愿者群体中来。

 

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