The Essence of Vipassana: Observing Your Mind

　　毗婆舍那的核心──审视你的心

Begin practice by sitting up straight and paying attention. You can sit on the floor-, you can sit in a chair. At first, you need not fix your attention on much. Simply be mindful of in-and-out breathing. If you find it helpful, you can also repeat "Buddha," "Dharmo," or "Sangho" as a mantra while you watch the breath going in and out. In this awareness of breathing, you must not force. If you try to control your breathing, that is not yet correct. It may seem that the breathing is too short, too long, too gentle, too heavy. You may feel that you are not passing the breath properly, or you may not feel well. Just let it be, let it settle by itself. Eventually the breath will enter and exit freely. When you are aware of and firmly established in this entry and exit, that is correct breathing.

　　由坐直开始修行，然後再投注精神。你可以坐在椅子上，也可以坐在地上。刚开始时，你不须要太过集中注意力，只要去观照呼吸的进出就可以了。如果你发现这样有帮助的话，也可以将“逋哆”、“达摩”、“桑够”，做为你在观呼吸出入时反覆念的咒语。在这观呼吸中，不可以去勉强它。假如你试图去控制呼吸，那是不正确的。呼吸也许会看起来太短或太长，太细或太粗；也许会觉得呼吸不顺畅或觉得不舒服。就让它去吧!让它自己稳定下来。最後，呼吸会恨自然的进出。当你觉知并稳固地专注在这出入息中时，才是正确的呼吸。

When you become distracted, stop and refocus your attention. At first, when you are focusing it, your mind wants it to be a certain way. But do not control it or worry about it. Just notice it and let it be. Keep at it. Samadhi will grow by itself. As you go on practicing in this way, sometimes the breath will stop, but here again, do not fear. Only your perception of the breath has stopped; the subtle factors continue. When the time is right, the breath will come back on its own as before.

　　当你分心时，停下来，重新再集中你的注意力。刚开始，在你注意呼吸时，你的心会想要控制它，但是，绝对不要去控制或担心它，只要觉察它和让它去，三摩地自然就会生起。就在你如此继续修行之际，有时呼吸会停止，但微细的因素还在继续进行，一旦时间到了，呼吸自然会回复以往的样子。

If you can make your mind tranquil like this, wherever you find yourself-on a chair, in a car, on a boat-you will be able to fix your attention and enter into a calm state immediately. Wherever you are, you will be able to sit for meditation.

　　如果你能够这样使心静下来，无论你在什么地方──在椅子土、在车里、在船上，你都可以集中你的注意力，而立刻进入平静的状态；无论你在什么地方，你都能够坐禅。

Having reached this point, you know something of the Path, but you must also contemplate sense objects. Turn your tranquil mind toward sights, sounds, smells, tastes, touches, thoughts, mental objects, mental factors. Whatever arises, investigate it. Notice
whether you like it or not, whether it pleases or displeases you, but do not get involved with it. This liking and disliking are just reactions to the world of appearances-you must see a deeper level. Then, whether something initially seems good or bad, you will see that it is really only impermanent, unsatisfactory, and empty. File everything that arises into those three categories-good, bad, evil, wonderful, whatever it is, put it there. This is the way of vipassana, by which all things are calmed.

　　到达这一点时，你对“道”便已经有些认知，但是你也必须去思惟(观)外尘。把你平静的心转向色、声、香、味、触、法。不论什么生起，就去审察它。觉察你喜欢它与否，它是否使你愉快或不愉快，但都不要被卷入其中。这种喜恶只是世间外相的反应──你必须洞彻更深的一层。然後，无论起初看起来似乎是好或坏的东西，你都会看到，事实上它只是无常、苦和空的。将一切生起的都归入三法印中；好、坏、善、恶，无论是什么，都归到里面去，这就是昆婆舍那的方法，一切的事物也因此而平定下来。

Before long, knowledge and insight into impermanence, unsatisfactoriness, and emptiness will arise. This is the beginning of true wisdom, the heart of meditation, which leads to liberation. Follow your experience. See it. Strive continuously. Know the truth. Learn to give up, to get rid, to attain peace.

　　不久，对於无常、苦、空的智慧和内观会生起，这就是真实智慧的开始，也是导致解脱的禅修核心。追踪你的经验，观照它，继续奋斗下去。认知真理，学习放下，舍弃以达到平静。

When sitting in meditation, you may have strange experiences or visions such as seeing lights, angels, or buddhas. When you see such things, you should observe yourself first to find out what state the mind is in. Do not forget the basic point. Pay attention. Do not wish for visions to arise or not to arise. If you go running after such experiences, you may end up babbling senselessly because the mind has fled the stable. When such things do come, contemplate them. When, you have contemplated them, do not be deluded by them. You should consider that they are not yourself; they too are impermanent, unsatisfactory, and not self. Though they have come about, do not take them seriously. If they do not go away, re-establish your mindfulness, fix your attention on your breathing, and take at least three long inhalations and exhalations-then you can cut them off. Whatever arises, keep re-establishing your attention. Do not take anything as yourself-everything is only a vision or a construction of the mind, a deception that causes you to like, grasp, or fear. When you see such constructions, do not get involved. All unusual experiences and visions are of value to the wise person but harmful to the unwise. Keep practicing until you are not stirred by them.

　　坐禅时，你可能会有奇怪的经验或幻影，如：见到光、天使或佛陀。当你看见这些东西时，你应该先审察你自己，以寻察心正处於什么状态。不要忘记基本的重点：要集中注意力，不要期望幻像生起或不要生起。如果你跟从这些经验跑，到最後可能会喃喃呓语，不知所云，因为你的心已狂乱不已。如果这些东西真的来了，去观照它们，不要被迷惑。你应该视它们为非你自己，因为它们都是无常、苦与无我的。虽然它们生起了，但不必太在意。如果它们不离去，就重新再提起你的正念，把注意力放在呼吸上，最少做三次深呼吸，如此一来，你便能去除它们。无论什么生起，不断地重建你的专注力，不要把任何东西视为你自己── 一切都只是一种幻觉或心的造作，一种造成你喜爱、执著或恐惧的骗术。当你看到这些造作时，不要被卷进去。所有不寻常的经验与幻象对智者而言是有其价值，但对没有智慧的人而言却是有害的，继续的修行下去，直到你不再受它们所扰动。

If you can trust your mind in this way, there is no problem. If it wants to be glad, you just know that this gladness is uncertain, unstable. Do not fear your visions or other experiences in practice, just learn to work with them. In this way, defilement can be used to train the mind, and you come to know the natural state of the mind, free from extremes, clear, unattached.

　　如果你能这样信赖你的心，就没问题了。如果心想要高兴，就只须知道这种高兴是不稳定的、不稳固的。不要害怕修行中的幻觉或其他经验，只要学习怎样去对治就好。如此一来，就可以用烦恼来训练心，你也会逐渐知道心的自然状态──解脱了极端。清明而不执著。

As I see it, the mind is like a single point, the center of the universe, and mental states are like visitors who come to stay at this point for short or long periods of time. Get to know these visitors well. Become familiar with the vivid pictures they paint, the alluring stories they tell, to entice you to follow them. But do not give up your seat-it is the only chair around. If you continue to occupy it unceasingly, greeting each guest as it comes, firmly establishing yourself in awareness, transforming your mind into the one who knows, the one who is awake, the visitors will eventually stop coming back. If you give them real attention, how many times can these visitors return? Speak with them here, and you will know every one of them well. Then your mind will at last be at peace.

　　依我的看法，心就好像一个单一的点──宇宙的中心，而心的状态就如同到这点上，短期或长期驻留的访客。去深人了解这些访客，并熟悉那些为了诱惑你追随它们所画的生动画面，和所讲的迷人故事。但是不要放弃你的位子，它是四周唯一的一张椅子。如果你继续不停地占有它，问候每位到访的客人，将自己稳固的建立於觉醒中，把心转变为一位觉知者、一个觉醒者，这些访客终究会停止再来。如果你真正地去注意他们，这些访客能回来多少次?就在当下与他们对话，你就会对每一个都了若指掌，如此一来，你的心终会住於平静。