Spiritual Yoga, a Cure for Urban Mental Diseases

Spiritual Yoga, a Cure for Urban Mental Diseases

Such defilements as anxiety, fear, and pressure are emotions that are illusory, impermanent, and without intrinsic nature. If you treat them as your opponents, they become existent entities. When you know quite clearly that they have no essential nature, then they are not necessarily existent. As a matter of fact, human life is like a game. All defilements are a game, something illusionary. Once you regard them as something substantial, they will affect your mind and bring you harm.

In the subconsciousness of human beings there is an inexplicable anxiety and fear, which comes largely from death. Some people are able to perceive this clearly, but others are not. Anxiety hovers like a sword hanging above one’s head, making one afraid for no reasons. When a person feels this or when the breath of death is enveloping him, he is bound to be anxious and frightened. In fact, a lot of old people have such fears. Many people find it a torment to be near the end of the road to death.

In some sense, however, it is not a bad thing. If a person is aware of the fact that the sword of death always hanging over his head is likely to fall at any moment – perhaps in only a few seconds – he may think of many issues. Many dying people are virtually philosophers, for they ponder over very deep questions. However, they don’t have the chance to continue living, and their pondering becomes their inner world, which is full of shame or sentimentality.

Therefore, when a person is alive, it is very important for him to set up a meaning for his living. Some people take literature as their belief, some take arts, some take love, and some even take kids. It is the object, the power, and the result of his belief that determines a person’s value.

But there are some people in every age who are able to express the truth very clearly. Even so, the world degenerates inevitably and at an unstoppable speed. It is determined by human nature, for mankind by nature chases after pleasures and desires.

So, it is far from enough to just know about the principle. You have to put it into practice and let wisdom penetrate all your behavior. You should not turn away from your belief and, because you find something mundane more important, leave to other people things beneficial to sentient beings, which you deem very important in principle. No, you shouldn’t do that.

Therefore, I place the emphasis of my practice on my behavior. When I am reading or writing, the wisdom I believe in is still with me and I perceive all my behavior against that wisdom. I do everything with 100-percent concentration, but at the same time, I am not obsessed with it, nor do I think that I am doing something. In other words, when I am doing something, I do it with such concentration that I even can’t remember whether I am fully engaged or not. I am only aware that I am doing something; that something has never left any imprint on my mind, even when I am actually doing it. For example, I eat with full concentration, and I sleep with full concentration. In my eyes, what I am doing at the moment is the most important thing. When I am writing a book, writing a book is the most important thing, and I write with 100-percent concentration. When I am writing, I won’t dwell on eating because I ate with 100-percent concentration just now. When I finish writing with all my energy, I won’t let it interfere with my concentration on something else that requires it. I won’t allow things of the past to disturb the clear, relaxed, free, and liberated state of mind.

We should not be concerned about things of the past and let them disturb and affect every present moment; otherwise, we will feel tired out. If you turn something important into pressure and allow it to load you down or even bring harm to your health and family, that would be bad.

After you have finished doing what you are supposed to do with all your effort, you should get it out of your mind, for the result is out of control. Whatever you do, never think you can change the whole world. How can the world be changed then? When everyone in the world is changed, the world is changed. What we can do is change ourselves and manage our own business well. Do what we are supposed to do every day and then go to bed with a calm mind. Don’t turn what you should do into pressure. Instead, learn to enjoy life and coolness of the present moment.

Closing your eyes may be a pleasure; but if you are always concerned about the feeling of closing your eyes, it will become a pain. In fact, the real pleasure of life lies in the fact that my spiritual guru and I have never separated, that my kinsmen and I have never separated, and that we all live in this world, doing things together, having the same ideals and sharing happiness life has brought us. If you think that you are happy only when your kinsmen are with you, then you will feel painful when they are not. Ultimately speaking, what is in your mind will live with you. Never allow things of the external world disturb your mind, including your yearnings and pure thoughts. Learn to enjoy every present moment of your life. Don’t try to deny the facts before your eyes with your desires. Be grateful to fate for all the adversities it has given you, for it makes our life experience something entirely new. Don’t complain about all the sufferings and tortures adversity has brought you. Apart from the illnesses and hardships inherent in their lives, the sufferings of many people come from their unenlightened mind and from obsession. Obsession is a kind of craving, which in turn comes from ignorance, because of which people want to take things that don’t belong to them as their own.

One should learn to accept things that exist in one’s life, including health, enlightenment, and defilements. Likewise, we should accept our friend’s shortcomings as well as his merits. We should learn to be grateful and feel content. To a real practitioner, a lot of sufferings are caused by one’s own mental state rather than by the outside world. Therefore, you should look for the cure for your disease inside your mind. What should you look for inside your mind? Your original face, or your true mind. When you have found your true mind, you are enlightened.

What are you enlightened about? About the fact that such defilements as anxiety, fear, and pressure are emotions that are illusory, impermanent, and without intrinsic nature. If you treat them as your opponents, they become existent entities. When you know quite clearly that they have no essential nature, then they are not necessarily existent. As a matter of fact, human life is like a game. All defilements are a game, something illusionary. Once you regard them as something substantial, they will affect your mind and bring you harm.

Not only should you understand it in principle, but you should experience it in phenomena and let your body perceive it. When you can feel in phenomena that everything is dreamlike and illusionary, many so-called urban mental diseases will be cured without using any medicine.

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附录：聆听智慧的声音

心灵瑜伽对治都市心理病

好多烦恼，焦虑也罢，恐惧也罢，压力也罢，都是一些情绪，它们是虚幻无常，没有自性的。当你把它们当成对手来对治的时候，它们就是真实的存在；当你明明白白地知道这些东西没有自性的时候，它就不一定存在。实质上，人的生命就类似于一个游戏，任何烦恼也都是游戏，都是一种幻化的东西。当你把它当成实质的东西时，它就会影响你的心灵并伤害你。

人类在潜意识中间，都有一种莫名其妙的焦虑和恐惧。这种焦虑和恐惧更多的来自于死亡。有些人能非常清晰地感受到这些，有些人则不一定能清晰地感受到，但这种焦虑始终像一柄剑悬在头上，让人产生莫名其妙的恐惧。当人感受到这种东西的时候，或者死亡的气息将人笼罩的时候，他定然会产生焦虑和恐惧。这时候，只有他自己才能让自己解脱，别人很难帮他。修行的作用，就是为了让人解除这类焦虑和恐惧。实际上，很多老人都有这种恐惧心理，在一步步接近死亡的路上，很多人是非常难熬的。

但是，从某种意义上来说，这并不是一件坏事。如果人能警觉地感受到死亡像一把剑，一直悬在自己的头上，并且随时都可能落下来——也许就在几秒钟之后——他就可能会思考很多问题。很多濒临死亡的人都是哲学家，他们会思考许许多多非常深刻的东西，但他已经没有机会再将生命延续下去了，他的思考构成了他惭愧或是感伤的内心世界。

所以，人在活着时，就要给自己设置一个活的理由，这是非常重要的。有些人把文学作为信仰，有些人把艺术作为信仰，有些人把爱情作为信仰，有些人把孩子作为信仰……正是这个信仰的对象、信仰的力量、信仰产生的结果，决定了一个人价值的大小。

不过，在任何一个时代，都有一部分人能把真理表达得非常清楚，但这个世界仍然不可避免地、以不可遏制的速度滑向堕落。这是由人类的本性决定的，因为人类的天性就是追求享受、追求欲望。

所以，仅仅明白道理是不够的，必须要把你明白的那个智慧贯穿到你的所有行为当中，用你的行为去实践你明白的东西。不要因为觉得某一种世间法的东西更重要，你就撇开自己的信仰，将你道理上认为很重要的利众之事交给别人去做，而自己不去做。不能这样。

所以，我的修行重点是在行为上用功。在读书写作的时候，我仍然实践着自己信仰的那份智慧，并用智慧观照着我所有的行为。我用百分之百的专注去做每一件事情，但我又并不执著它，也不认为自己做了什么事情。换句话说，当我在做某事的时候，我是百分之百的投入，甚至连投入还是不投入也忘记了。我只知道自己在做某件事，但这件事却从来就没有在我的心上停留过，就连做的时候也是这样。比如，我吃饭的时候是百分之百的专注，睡觉时也是百分之百的专注。在我眼中，当下正在做的事就是最重要的事。比如，我写书时，写书这件事就是百分之百的重要，而且我以百分之百的专注投入地去写。我不能因为曾经百分百地专注于吃饭，就会在写作的时候还想着吃饭。比如，用全部的精力去写书，写完之后，我也不会再叫写书冲淡了其他应该专注的事情。我不会叫过去的事干扰心中的那份清明、轻松、自由、解脱。

人不能牵挂着过去的事，让它们干扰和侵犯每一个当下，否则，就会感到疲惫不堪。如果把某件重要的事情，变成一种压力，把自己压得喘不过气来，甚至付出了健康、家庭等等，这就不对了。

认真地做完自己该做的事情，心中就该了无牵挂，至于结果那不是人能把握的。因为无论你怎么做，都不要妄想去改变整个世界。怎样才能改变世界呢？世界上的每一个人都变了，世界就变了。我们只能改变自己，做好自己的事情就行了。每天完成该做的事情，然后坦然入睡。不要把应该做的事情变成一种压力，应该学会享受当下的生命和清凉。

当人觉得闭上眼睛是一种享受的时候，如果老是牵挂着闭上眼睛的感觉，它又会成为一种痛苦。事实上，真正的享受人生就是我和我的灵魂导师没有分离过；我和亲人也没有分离过，我们共同生存在这个世界上，共同做事，有着共同的理想，共同享受着生活带给我们的快乐。要是你觉得只有亲人在身边时才是一种快乐，那么当亲人不在你身边的时候，你就会痛苦了。从究竟意义上说，心中存在什么，什么就会与你在一起。不要让外界的东西去干扰自己的心，包括那份向往、那份纯洁。人要学会享受当下的生活，不要用一种贪婪的欲望去否定眼前的事实，甚至要感激命运给予的逆境，因为它让我们的生命有了一种全新的体验。不要觉得逆缘给你带来了多少痛苦、引发了多少折磨。除了一些生命本身的疾病折磨外，许多人的痛苦其实源于那颗不明白的心，源于一种执著。执著也是一种贪婪，而贪婪源于自己的愚痴，想将不属于自己的东西据为己有。

一个人要学会接受生活中现存的东西，包括健康、明白，也包括一些不顺心的事。同样，当我们接受一位朋友的优点时，同时也要接受他的缺点，要学会感恩和知足。在真正的修行人看来，好多痛苦其实是自己的心病，并不是来自外部世界。所以，治病的药，也一定要在自己的心里找。向心内找什么呢？找自己的本来面目，也叫真心。那么，找到这个真心的时候，你就明白了。

明白了什么呢？明白了好多烦恼，焦虑也罢，恐惧也罢，压力也罢，都是一些情绪。在对治它们的时候，你不要把它们当成敌人或者对手，不要把它们当成伤害了你的东西。你要明白，它们只是一些现象，是虚幻无常，没有自性的。当你特别在乎一切的显现，把它们当成对手来对治的时候，它们就是真实的存在；当你明明白白地知道这些东西没有自性的时候，它就不一定存在。实质上，人的生命就类似于一个游戏，任何烦恼也都是游戏，都是一种幻化的东西。当你把它当成实质的东西时，它就会影响你的心灵并伤害你。

你不但要在道理上明白这一点，事上也要体验到这一点，让身体产生觉受。当你能够在事上体验到一切如梦如幻的时候，许多所谓的都市心理病也就不药自愈了。

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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