A Still Forest Pool
宁静的森林水池
by Ajahn Chah
阿姜 查
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CONTENT
Introduction
序 言
前 言
译者的话
阿姜.查略传
编者的话
PART 1 明了佛陀的教导
Understanding the Buddha’s Teachings
PART 2 更正我们的知见
Correcting Our Views
PART 3 生活就是我们的修行
Our Life Is Our Practice
PART 4 禅坐和外相的修行
Meditation and Formal Practice
PART 5 森林里的教导
Lessons in the Forest
PART 6 觉悟
Realization
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Introduction
【序 言】
Suppose you were to go to Asia in the 1980s in search of living teachings of the Buddha, to discover if there are still monks and nuns practicing a life of simplicity and meditation, supported by alms-food, and dwelling in the forest. Perhaps you had read descriptions of the Buddha himself wondering with his monks in the forests of India, inviting men and women of good families to join him in cultivating wisdom and universal compassion, inviting them to live the simple life of a mendicant, to dedicate themselves to inner calm and awareness. Would you find this way of life alive today, twenty-five centuries later? And would its teachings still be applicable and relevant for-our modem society, our modem minds?
也许你要在一九八0年代的亚洲寻求佛陀在生活上的教导，及探求是否仍有出家的僧尼在实践一种单纯生活和禅修，以托钵为生、隐居於森林之中。也许你曾读过佛陀与其弟子们在印度森林中游化，邀诸善男信女一齐加入长养智慧和广大慈悲的行列，邀他们来过托钵僧的简朴生活，献身於内心的平静和觉醒的描述。二千五百年後至今，你还能够发现这种的生活方式吗? 而且，这种教导对我们今日的现代杜会及现在的心仍然适用且息息相关吗?
You would land at a modem airport near Bangkok or Colombo or Rangoon. In your taxi you would drive through Asian city streets, passing cars, crowded busses, sidewalk vendors of tropical fruits. Every few blocks you would see the golden pagoda or spire of an urban Buddhist temple. But these are not the temples you have come to search for. They contain monks and nuns who study the ancient texts, who can chant and preach, and from this they teach. But to find the simple life of dwelling in the forest, the meditative living with robe and bowl, as old as the Buddha himself, you would have to leave the cities and their temples far behind. If it were Thailand, the country with the greatest number of monasteries and monks, you would board the train at busy Hualampong station, leaving early in the morning for the provinces of the far south or northeast.
当你在曼谷、可伦坡和仰光附近的现代化机场登陆後，计程车会带你穿过亚洲城市的街道，来往的车潮、拥挤的巴士及人行道上卖水果的摊贩。每几个路口，你就会看到金色的宝塔和城市佛教寺院的顶尖。不过，这并不是你所要寻求的寺院。居住在这些寺院之中的，都是一些研究古老经文、可以唱诵和布教，并以此教化民众的僧尼。可是，要找到一如佛陀往昔居於森林的简朴生活、依袈裟和钵的禅修生活，你必须远离城市及这些寺院。如果是在拥有最多寺院和僧侣的泰国，你便须要在一大清早出发，到繁忙的华南丰车站，搭车前往遥远的南部或东北部的省份。
The first hour's journey would take you clear of the urban sprawl, beyond the houses, businesses, and shanties backed up along the railway track. Vast plains of central Thailand would roll by, the green rice bowl of Southeast Asia. Mile after mile of paddy fields, checkerboarded into lots by small dikes between fields and rhythmically divided by canals and waterways. On the horizon of this sea of rice, every few miles in four or five directions you would see islands-dense clusters of palm and banana trees. If your train rolled close enough to one of these palm islands, you would see the glint of an orange-roofed monastery and cluster of wooden houses on stilts that make up a Southeast Asian village.
第一个小时的旅途中，火车一路蜿蜒，带你远离喧嚣的都市、远离房子、事业和一路破陋的房子。越过泰国中部的浩瀚平原，东南亚的米乡，一路绵延的稻田，被田间的田梗划出仟陌纵横，并由沟渠和水道有规律的划分。在这一片稻海的地平线上，每隔几哩，就会往四、五个地方上看到由浓密丛生的棕榈树及香蕉树所组成的岛群。如果你的火车走得更近这些棕榈岛群，你便能够看到一座橙色的寺院屋顶在闪烁和一丛丛由支柱架起的木屋所组成的东南亚村落。
Every settled village, whether with five hundred or two thousand residents, has at least one monastery. It serves as the place for prayer, for ceremony, as the meeting hall, and for many years also served as the village school. Here is the place where most young men of the village will ordain at age twenty, for one year or three months, to learn enough of the ways of the Buddha to "ripen" into mature members of their society. The monastery is probably run by a few older, simple, and well-meaning monks who have studied some of the classic texts and know enough of ceremonies and of the basic teachings to serve as village priests. This monastery is an integral and beautiful part of village life, but it is not the temple you have come to search for.
每一个村落，无论有五百或二千居民，至少都会有一家寺院，寺院是提供村民做析祷、仪式、会议的场地，多年来，也一直被充作村落的学校。这些村落大部份的青年男子都会在二十岁时出家一年或三个月，学习佛陀种种的教示，以备“成熟”地进入成人杜会。寺院大多由几位年长、单纯而且曾研读过古经文的慈悲僧侣所主持，他们熟知各种仪式及教示村民的基础教义。这种寺院是乡村生活里不可或缺和最美好的部份，但是，这仍不是你所要寻求的寺院。
Your train heads north toward the ancient capitol of Auddhaya, filled with the ruins of magnificent temples and 'broken palaces that were sacked centuries ago in the periodic wars with neighboring kingdoms. The spirit of these magnificent ruins remains in the enormous stone Buddhas, imperturbably weathering the centuries.
你的火车继续朝北走向古代的首都──奥达雅。当地充满著几世纪前与邻国战争时，惨遭战火掠夺的华丽寺院之废墟与残破宫殿。这些雄伟遗迹的精神仍保留在巨大的石雕佛像之中，沉著地渡过数世纪。
Now your train turns east for the long journey toward the Lao border, across the reaches of the Korat Plateau. Hour after hour the land passes. Still you see rice paddies and villages, but they gradually become sparser and poorer. The canals and lush gardens of Central Thai villages, mango trees, and tropical greenery turn into a simpler landscape. Houses are smaller. Village monasteries still gleam, but they too are smaller and simpler. Here an older, more self-sufficient way of life is preserved. You can see women weaving hand loomed blankets on their porches, while rice farmers work and children tend the water buffalo in wet gullies alongside the railroad tracks.
现在，你的火车转往另一段漫长旅途的东方，穿越克拉特平原，驶向寮国边境。一小时又一小时，越过一哩又一哩的陆地，你依然会看到稻田和村落，但是，它们逐渐变得越来越稀疏和贫穷。泰国中部乡村的运河和青翠的花园、芒果树以及热带植物变成一幅非常单纯的景致。房子比较小了，但村里小而简朴的寺院依旧闪烁。在这儿，仍然保持著古老、自给自足的生活方式。你会看到，当农夫在工作和小孩子在沿著铁轨旁的沟渠中照料水牛时，妇女们在门廊下织毛毯。
The rural countryside in these lesser developed provinces holds much of what remains of the tradition of forest monks and nuns. It still has regions of forest and jungle, small thickly covered mountains, and unsettled borderlands. And for many centuries it has supported forest monks and monasteries dedicated to the preservation and realization of the enlightenment of the Buddha. For the most part these monks do not function as village priests, nor do they teach school, nor study and preserve the language of the ancient written scriptures. Their intent is to live fully and realize in their own hearts and minds the insight and inner peace taught by the Buddha.
在这些低度开发的省份里的乡村，仍保留了许多传统的森林僧、尼。这里仍然有大片的森林和丛林地区，浓密地覆盖著山脉和未开发的边界地带。而几世纪以来，这些乡村一直都支持著森林僧和寺院致力於保存领悟佛陀的觉悟。因为，大抵来说，这些僧侣并不做村落的布教师，也不教书、也不做研究和保留古代手抄的经文。他们的目的是要全心全意地生活，和觉悟佛陀教导的自心内观及内在的平静。
If you left the train and made your way by bus or hired car down some dirt road to such a monastery, one of dozens in northeast Thailand, what would you find? Would the teachings and way of practice be relevant in the 1980s? Would the insight and awareness training address the needs of one coming from a modern and complex society?
如果你下了火车，改坐巴士或租汽车，经过一些泥泞路，来到了泰国东北无数寺院中的任何一座，你会发现什么？这样的教导和修行方法会和一九八0年代相契吗?内观和觉醒的训练可以满足一个来自现代化和复杂杜会的人的需求吗?
You would discover that many Westerners had come before you. Since 1965 hundreds of Europeans and Americans like you have come to visit and learn in the forest. Some came to study for short periods and then returned home to integrate what they learned into their household life. Some came to train more thoroughly as monks for one, two, or more years and then return home. Another group found life in the forest to be a rich and compelling way to live, and these remain in monasteries to this day.
你曾发现很多西方人在你之前就已来过了。自从一九六五年以来，就有上百位像你一样的欧洲及美国人，来到这森林里参访及学习。有些人短期的学习过後，就回到家里，将他们所学的融入在家的生活当中。有些则出家一、二年或更多年，做更彻底的训练，然後才回家。然而一些发现森林生活是一种富足而庄严的生活方式的人，至今依然留在寺院里。
For each of these groups the teachings have spoken directly to their hearts and minds, offering them a wise and conscious way to live. At first the way may seem almost easy, deceptively simple. But upon attempting to put the Buddha's way into practice, one discovers that it is not so easy. Yet, despite the effort it takes, these people feel that nothing could be more valuable than to discover the Dharma* or truth in one's own life.
对这些人而言，教法已直接地与他们的心对话了，供给了他们一种智慧和自觉的生活方式。刚开始，这种方式看起来也许几乎很简单──表面上很简单。但是，在试图将佛陀的方法付诸实践之後，我们会发现并不那 容易。然而，不论需要多努力，这些人仍然认为没有比在自己的生命中发现“法”与真理更值得的东西。
From the moment of your entry into a forest monastery like Wat Ba Pong, the spirit of practice is evident. There is the stillness of trees rustling and the quiet movement of monks doing chores or mindful walking meditation. The whole monastery is spread over a hundred acres, divided into two sections form monks and nuns. The simple unadorned cottages are individually nestled in small forest clearings so that there are trees and silent paths between them. In the central area of the Wat are the main teaching hall, dining area, and chapel for ordination. The whole forest setting supports the atmosphere of simplicity and renunciation. You feel that you have finally arrived.
打从你进入一个像巴蓬寺的森林道场的那一刻，修行的精神便随处可见。那里有树林沙沙作响的宁静和僧侣们做杂事或经行的安详举止。整座寺院占地一百多英亩(目前更大)，分成僧、尼两个部份。简朴而未经装饰的小茅蓬，分别座落在小森林的空地上，所以周遭有树林和树林间的走道。在寺院的中心地带，是主要的讲堂、斋堂和戒坛。整座森林的布局弥漫著单纯而离欲的气氛。你发现你终於到达了。
The monks who live in those monasteries have chosen to follow this uncomplicated and disciplined way of practice called dhudanga. The tradition of forest monks who voluntarily choose to follow a more austere way of life dates back to the Buddha, who allowed a supplementary code of thirteen special precepts, limiting the robes, food, and dwellings of monks. At the heart of this life style are few possessions, much meditation, and a once-daily round of alms-food begging. This way of life spread with the rest of Buddhism into the thick forests of Burma, Thailand, and Laos, places filled with caves and wild terrain, ideal for such intensive practice. These ascetic monks have traditionally been wanderers, living singly or in small groups, moving from one rural area to another, and using handmade cloth umbrella tents hung from trees as their temporary abode. Practical Dharma teachings from one of the greatest forest monasteries, Wat Ba Pong, and its master Achaan Chah have been translated and compiled and are offered to the West in this book.
住在这些寺院里的僧侣选择了遵循这种称作“苦行”的简单而有纪律的修行方式。这些传统的森林僧自愿选择要遵循佛陀时代，佛陀所允许的十三条戒，限制衣、食和住的更严格的生活方式。这种生活方式的核心是，很少的身外之物，很多的禅修，和一天一次的托钵乞食。这种的生活方式传入了充满洞穴、荒野的浓密森林之缅甸、泰国、寮国，这些地方是这类精进修行的最佳理想。这些苦行僧有传统的行脚者，独处或与小团体共住，从一个村落到另一个村落，用手制的伞帐挂在树上，做为他们临时的居所。几座最大的森林道场之一的巴蓬寺及其住持阿姜 查的实用教法，已被翻译及编辑成此书，并且在西方流传。
Achaan Chah and his teachers, Achaan Tong Rath and Achaan Mum, themselves spent many years walking and meditating in these forests to develop their practice. From them and other forest teachers has come a legacy of immediate and powerful Dharma teachings, directed not toward ritual Buddhism or scholastic learning, but toward those who wish to purify their hearts and vision by actually living the teachings of the Buddha.
阿姜 查与其老师──阿姜 通拉和阿姜 瞒(又译曼)，曾多年在这些森林中经行和禅坐，以增长他们的修行。经由他们和其他森林禅师们中，产生了一种即时有力的佛法教示遗产，直指那些期望净化心灵和由实际的生活中观察佛陀教导的人，而非指向那些形式佛教或学术的学习。
As great masters emerged in this forest tradition, laypersons and monks sought them out for teaching advice. Often, to make themselves available, these teachers would stop wandering and settle in a particular forest area where a dhudanga monastery would grow up around them. As population pressures have increased in this century, fewer forest areas are left for wanderers, and these forest monastery preserves of past and current masters are becoming the dwelling place of most ascetic and practice-oriented monks.
当伟大的禅师在这种森林传统中出现时，在家居士和出家人都会把他们请出来教导众生。通常，这些老师为了让自己发挥作用，他们会停止行脚，并在一特定的森林地带安住下来，往往这便形成了一个苦行的道场。正当这世纪的人口压力逐渐增加，造成行脚僧的森林范围愈来愈小，这些由过去及现今的大师们所提供的森林道场於是成为大部份苦行、修行僧的居留处所。
Wat Ba Pong monastery developed when Achaan Chah, after years of travel and meditation study, returned to settle in a thick forest grove near the village of his birth. The grove, uninhabited by humans, was known as a place of cobras, tigers, and ghosts-the perfect location for a forest monk, according to Achaan Chah. Around him a large monastery grew up.
巴蓬寺是阿姜 查在经过了多年的云游及禅修，回到地出生的村落附近之浓密森林里设立後，开始成长的。那片森林罕无人迹，以眼镜蛇、老虎和鬼魅闻名的地方──对阿姜 查而言，这是森林僧最完美的居所。一个大的道场环绕著他逐渐成长。
From its beginnings as a few thatched huts in the forest, Wat Ba Pong has developed into one of the largest and best-run monasteries in Thailand. As Achaan Chah's skill and fame as a teacher have become widespread, the number of visitors and devotees has rapidly increased. In response to requests from devotees throughout Thailand, over fifty branch monasteries under the guidance of abbots trained by Achaan Chah have also been opened, including one near Wat Ba Pong especially designed for the many Western students who have come to seek Achaan Chah's guidance in the teachings. In recent years several branch monasteries and associated centers have been opened in Western countries as well, most notably the large forest Wat at Chithurst, England, run by Abbot Sumedho, Achaan Chah's Senior Western disciple.
刚开始只有稀疏几间草顶的茅蓬散布在森林之中，到後来巴蓬寺却发展成泰国国内最大和运作得最好的道场之一。正当阿姜 查这位老师的善巧及名声广泛传开之际，访客及徒众的数量迅速地增加。为了回应全泰国信众的请求，五十几所(目前有一百多所)在阿姜 查训练的住持之引导下的寺院皆已成立──包括巴蓬寺附近一所为许多来寻求阿姜 查在教法上的教导的西方学生特别设计的道场。近几年当中，在西方国家也成立了许多家分院及联合中心，最著名的大丛林寺，是在英国的chithurst，由阿姜 查资深的西方弟子苏美多所主持。
Achaan Chah's teachings contain what has been called "the heart of Buddhist meditation," the direct and simple practices of calming the heart and opening the mind to true insight. This way of mindfulness or insight meditation has become a rapidly growing form of Buddhist practice in the West. Taught by monks and laypeople who have themselves studied in forest monasteries or intensive retreat centers, it provides a universal and direct way of training our bodies, our hearts, and our minds. It can teach us how to deal with greed and fear and sorrow and how to learn a path of patience, wisdom, and selfless compassion. This book is meant to provide guidance and counsel for those who wish to practice.
阿姜 查的教导包括了被称作“佛教禅修核心”的教导──直接而单纯的静心和为真实内观打开心胸的修行。这种正念或内观的里修方式已在西方佛教修行中迅速地长成。经由这些曾亲自在森林道场和精进禅修中心参学过的僧侣和居士们的教导，提供了一种直接训练我们身、心之方法。这种方法能教导我们该如何处理贪婪、畏惧及悲伤的问题，并且教导我们如何学习耐力、智慧及无私的慈悲之道。
Achaan Chah's own practice started early in life and developed through years of wandering and austerity under the guidance of several great forest masters. He laughingly recalls how, even as a child, he wanted to play monk when the other children played house and would come to them with a make believe begging bowl asking for candy and sweets. But his own practice was difficult, he relates, and the qualities of patience and endurance he developed are central to the teachings he gives his own disciples. A great inspiration for Achaan Chah as a young monk came from sitting at his father's sickbed during the last days and weeks of his father's life, directly facing the fact of decay and death. 'When we don't understand death," Achaan Chah teaches, "life can be very confusing." Because of this experience, Achaan Chah was strongly motivated in his practice to discover the causes of our worldly suffering and the source of peace and freedom taught by the Buddha. By his own account, he held nothing back, giving up everything for the Dharma, the truth. He encountered much hardship and suffering, including doubts of all kinds as well as physical illness and pain. Yet he stayed in the forest and sat-sat and watched-and, even though there were days when he could do nothing but cry, he brought what he calls a quality of daring to his practice. Out of this daring eventually grew wisdom, a joyful spirit, and an uncanny ability to help others.
Given spontaneously in the Thai and Lao languages, the teachings in this book reflect this joyful spirit of practice. Their flavor is clearly monastic, oriented to the community of men who have renounced the household life to join Achaan Chah in the forest. Hence frequent reference is made to he rather than he or she, and the emphasis is on the monks (an active community of forest nuns also exists) rather than laypersons. Yet the quality of the Dharma expressed here is immediate and universal, appropriate to each of us. Achaan Chah addresses the basic human problems of greed, fear, hatred, and delusion, insisting that we become aware of these states and of the real suffering that they cause in our lives and in our world. This teaching, the Four Noble Truths, is the first given by the Buddha and describes suffering, its cause, and the path to its end.
以泰语或寮语自然地陈述，在本书的教导中反映了阿姜 查修行精神的欢喜。其风格很明显是僧院的──针对那些舍弃家庭生活而来到森林中，加入阿姜 查的行列的男众团体。因此例行用字是以“他”来代替“他”或“她”，并且都是在强调比丘而非居士(森林团体中也有尼众存在)。然而，在这里所表现的佛法特质却是立即而普遍的──适合我们每一个人。阿姜 查说，贪婪、恐惧、瞠恚和愚痴的人类的基本问题，他强调我们要觉醒这些状态，了知它们在我们的生活及世界上所造成的真实痛苦。四圣谛的教法，是佛陀初次所演说的，说明了苦、苦的起因、道和苦的熄灭。
See how attachment causes suffering, Achaan Chah declares over and over. Study it in your experience. See the ever-changing nature of sight, sound, perception, feeling, and thought. Understanding the impermanent, insecure, selfless nature of life is Achaan Chah's message to us, for only when we see and accept all three characteristics can we live in peace. The forest tradition works directly with our understanding of and our resistance to these truths, with our fears -and anger and desires. Achaan Chah tells us to confront our defilements and to use the tools of renunciation, perseverance, and awareness to overcome them. He urges us to learn not to be lost in our moods and anxieties but to train ourselves instead to see clearly and directly the true nature of mind and the world.
阿姜 查一次又一次地强调，要去洞见执著是如何形成苦的。在你的经验中学习，洞见色、声和受、想、行永恒的变迁本质。要了解生命的无常、苦、无我的本质是阿姜 查给予我们的讯息，因为，唯有当我们明了和接受三法印(无常、苦、无我)，我们方能在平静中生活。森林的传统直接地对我们对这些真理的领悟和抵抗发生作用，也直接地对冶我们的恐惧、瞠怒和贪欲。阿姜 查告诉我们要去面对烦恼(杂染)，并利用厌离、耐力及觉醒的工具去对冶它们。他策励我们要学习不去迷失在情绪和焦虑之中，训练自己能清楚而直接地看到心和世间的真实本然。
Inspiration comes from Achaan Chah's clarity and joy and the directness of his ways of practice in the forest. To be around him awakens in one the spirit of inquiry, humor, wonderment, understanding, and a deep sense of inner peace. If these pages capture a bit of that spirit in their instructions and tales of the forest life and inspire you to further practice, then their purpose is well served.
我们的感动是来自於阿姜 查的清晰及喜悦，以及他在森林中的直接的修行方式。跟他在一起会唤醒我们内在好奇、幽默、惊叹、领悟的精神，和一种深层的内在平静。假如能从这些章节之中的指导和森林生活的故事捕捉到一点点精神，进而启发你更进一步地去修行，那么此书的目的便已达到了。
So listen to Achaan Chah carefully and take him to heart, for he teaches practice, not theory, and human happiness and freedom are his concerns. In the early years when WatBa Pong was starting to attract many visitors, a series of signs was posted along the entry path. "You there, coming to visit," the first one said, "be quite We're trying to meditate." Another stated simply, "To practice Dharma and realize truth is the only thing of value in this life. Isn't it time to begin?" In this spirit, Achaan Chah speaks to us directly, inviting us to quiet our hearts and investigate the truth of life. Isn't it time that we begin?
因此，仔细地聆听阿姜 查，并将他放入心中，因为他教导的是实践，而不是理论，更何况，人类的幸福与解脱才是他所关切的。早年当巴蓬寺开始吸引许多访客时，沿著入口的步道上张贴了一系列的标语。第一张是说：“你来到这儿拜访，请肃静!我们正在禅坐。”另一张标语简单地说：“修习佛法及觉悟真理是这期生命中唯一有价值的事，何不由现在开始？”在这种精神里，阿姜 查直接地对我们述说，邀请我们来安静我们的心，并去观察生命的真理。现在，不就是开始的时候吗?
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【前 言】
多年来阿姜 查以寮、泰语展开社会弘化工作，而他在西方英语系杜会的影响力，则是由於他那些有能力把寮、泰语译成英文的西方弟子的努力而获致。虽然，目前这些英文作品流传到华人世界已经有一段时间，特别是在新加坡、马来西亚，而最近是台湾，但美中不足的是，读者群仅限於精通英文的华人，而这些从阿姜 查的教导中得到启示、鼓舞的华人读者，对於同胞中有人因为不懂英文或英文能力浅，而没有机会从阿姜 查言语中的智慧得益，一直引以为憾。
本书是在佛教寺院僧俗二众的发心奉献下协力完成。他们来自台湾、香港、新加坡、马来西亚等地。他们不仅熟知中、英文，受重要的是：由於他们对佛法都已有深刻的体验和认知，因而对阿姜 查的教化都能有所领悟且真切理解。也由於他们的善行以及为弘扬佛法不惜一切代价的愿心，此刻，这份作品才能呈现在您的手中。
我们要向所有曾参与制作本书的人士，无论是设计、校对、誊稿、助印等等，都致予无上的谢意，愿三宝之光常照在您们的心里，赐予您们平安、快乐。您曾注意到我们并没有提到任何人的名字，也没有对任何人特别地赞许。这正是遵循阿姜 查的教导：“不要试图想成为什么：不要做阿罗汉、不要做菩萨、什么都别做……”……乃至译者。
一位弟子
【译者的话】
如果有人发现一颗闪亮的星星，他没有权利放进自己的口袋独享光辉，而必须公诸於世，使每个人都能分享这份光耀。基於这个理由，我们很高兴有机会参与将阿姜 查的教示译成中文的工作，因为如此一来，其他人也能同样地得到那从阿姜 查的佛法开示中闪耀出来的智慧之光!
中译阿姜 查的作品，并非易事。如果照句直译，恐怕曾显得生涩难懂：假若以比较自由约方式意译，虽然文句会比较流畅，可是恐怕又会失於准确度不够;还有一种可能是，因译者笔调的关系使译文学术意味太浓，不符合阿姜 查的风格。他本人很少阅读，有一回，他被问到有什么佛书可以推荐给人读时，他指著自己的心说：“只有这一本!”
在译书的过程中，我们尽量以不同的方式求得折衷，希望能既不失去阿姜查简明的开示风格，又能无损他见解的精辟入微。假若由於我们的转译，使阿姜 查的佛法之“星”减损了原有的光芒，我们在此深致歉意。而我们之所以不自量力试译，只是因为我们实在不忍让这颗光辉夺目的星星，只收藏在某人口袋里，却不能普照人间。
任何人的翻译，永远没有所谓最好或最坏的翻译，有的只是风格的不同。原书真正的含义能被译出而且让读者分享，这才是最重要的。
当您手中捧著这本书时，那从阿姜 查内心闪耀出来的法之“星”光，只要能让您捕捉到即使是一丝的微光，进而为您的人生带来方向和启示，那么我们的工作就算圆满完成了。
【阿姜 查略传】
阿姜 查，於一九一八年六月十七日，出生在泰国东北部乌汶Rajathani镇附近的一个小村庄。
九到十七岁之间，他是一位沙弥，在还俗帮助父母务农之前的那段时日里，他接受了基础教育。到了二十岁，他决定回复出家生活，并於一九三九年四月廿六日受了比丘戒。
阿姜 查早期的僧侣生活，遵循一种研习佛教教义及巴利经文的传统模式。在第五年时，他的父亲得重病而逝：人命的脆弱和不确定，直接的提醒了他。这促使他去深思有关生命的真正目的，因为，虽然他已有多方面的涉猎并且精通巴利文，但对於痛苦的灭除，似乎并没有更进一步亲身的了解。厌离之感开始在心中升起，终於(在一九四六年)，他放弃了学业，并开始了托钵行脚。
他走了大约四百公里到达泰国中部，沿途睡在森林，行乞於村落。他在一座能够用心地学习和修习毗奈耶(僧侣戒律)的寺院住了下来。那时，他听说了有关阿姜 瞒——一位备受推崇的禅坐大师。渴望能见到如此一位有成就的老师，阿姜 查出发步行往东北部去寻找他。
这时，阿姜 查正与一项有决定性的问题做挣扎。他研读过戒、定与慧的教理，虽然那些内文陈述详尽且细节精细，但他却不知如何将它们实际地付诸实践。阿姜 瞒告诉他，虽然这些教化的确广博，但在本质上却很单纯;有了“正念”的安置，如果看到了在内心生起的每件事物，当下便是真正的修行之道了。这种简洁而又直接的教导，对阿姜 查来说，是一种启示，也因此改变了他修行的方法。这条路是明确的!
接下来的七年间，阿姜 查在这种简朴的森林传统方式中修行：为了开展禅坐，行遍乡间，寻找安静而隐蔽的地方。他住在老虎和眼镜蛇成群出没的丛林，甚至停尸场；利用对死亡的省思来克服恐惧，并洞察生命的真正意义。
经过多年的流浪，一九五四年，他受邀返回故乡的村子，就在一处热病横行、鬼魅出没，称作“巴蓬”的森林附近住了下来。不顾疟疾的困境、简陋的住处以及稀少的食物，追随他的弟子，人数越来越多。现在被人称为巴蓬寺的寺院就是设立在那儿的，而最後地，分院也在别处被建立了起来。
在阿姜 查寺院里的训练是十分严厉且冷峻的。阿姜 查经常将他们的弟子们推到最极限，去测验他们耐久的能力，期使他们能开展耐心和决心。他有时发起费时且表面上看起来毫无意义的工作计划，由此去顿挫他们对平静的执著。这重点经常放在屈服於事物的本然样子，而最大的强调点著重於严格的毗奈耶(戒)之遵守上。
一九七七年，阿姜 查应邀访问英国，并留下一些比丘僧团在那儿。
阿姜 查於一九七九年回到英国，随後转往美国、加拿大去访问并教学。
一九八一年，再度出游後，由於糖尿病所致，阿姜 查的健康逐渐走下坡，也因此无法於雨季时在巴蓬寺安居。
当病情恶化，他以自己的身体作为一种教导 ──“万物皆无常”的一种活生生的示例。他不断地提醒人们，要努力在他们自心里处找到一个真实的归依处，因为，他不再有很多的时间能教他们了。
在一九八一年“雨期”结束前，他被送往曼谷做一个手术。几个月内，他停止了说话，并逐渐失去了对四肢的控制，终至全然瘫痪而卧病在床。从此以後，他被比丘弟子们全心全力地照顾和服侍;他们都感激且乐於有机会服侍曾经如此有耐性和慈悲地引导一条正道给那么多人的一位老师。
一九九二年，一月十六日，上午五时二十分，阿姜 查在他的寺院，泰国乌汶的巴蓬寺，於随侍的比丘们面前，安详地离开了人间。
【编者的话】
本书内容取自Jack Koinfield和Paul Breiter编著之A Still Forest Pool，原以英文出版。然而，我们并没有取用原版的全部内容，因为有些部份已在阿姜 查早期的书籍中就已出版(泰国国际丛林寺院出版之《菩提智(Bodhinyana)》一书)，如：问与答的部份，已由我们翻译并收录於《静止的流水》一书中。我们希望能藉著这个机会，感谢作者之一的Paul Breiter，鼓励我们翻译此书，如今方能使华语杜会得此受益。
阿姜查个人的修行开始於他人生的早期，并经过多年的行脚和在几位伟大的森林禅师们的严指导下增进。他笑著回忆说，他还是小孩子的时候，当其他小朋友玩扮家家酒时，他已喜欢演僧侣，并拿著一个假的钵向他们要糖果和甜食。但是，他个人修行却非常艰难，他说，他增长的耐力与毅力的特质，是他给弟子们的教导核心。阿姜查仍是一位年青的出家人时，一个很大的启示得自於坐在只剩下最後几天、几星期生命的父床边，直接面对著衰危及死亡的事实。阿姜 查教导：“当我们不了解死亡时，生命是非常困惑的。”由於这个经验，使得阿姜 查在修行中引发强烈的动机，要去发现我们世间痛苦的起因及佛陀所教导的解脱及平静的根源。据他所言，他毫无保留，为了“法”和真理，他舍弃了一切。遭遇过许多困境与苦难，包括各种的疑惑及身体的病痛。然而，他依然待在森林里坐著──坐著和观照──甚至有时候，他除了哭泣之外，什么地无法做。他在修行中增长了一种他所谓的“无畏”的特质。从这“无畏”当中最後长成智慧──一种喜悦的精神，以及一种不可思议的能力去帮助他人。
