蒲团
Meditation Cushions

姚育民/文
By Yuming Yao

I’ve seen all sorts of cushions (lit. rush mats)—round and square, thick and thin, embroidered with lotuses, stuffed with soft rushes or sun-dried reeds.

我见过一些蒲团，圆的、方的、厚的、薄的、上面绣着各式莲花，里面装着松软的蒲花或晒干的苇叶。

I knew these cushions were for kneeling and bowing, and later I found out they were also used for sitting in meditation. Someone once told me, “When a monk sits on his cushion and recollects the past, he starts with the present year and traces back year by year until he reaches the time when he was three, two, and one. Then he continues pushing his memory back to when he was in the womb, and then to his last life, the life before last, and so forth.” I was stunned by this account of what a monk can do while sitting on his cushion.

最先只知道蒲团是用来跪拜的，后来又知道可用来坐禅。有人告诉我，和尚坐在蒲团上回忆往事，今年想着去年，去年想着前年，前年想着大前年，一直往前想，直至三岁、两岁、一岁，母腹之中乃至前世、再前世……好生了得！和尚坐蒲团竟能坐出这样的功夫！当时我惊异得说不出话来。

Later I realized that this was only a kind of technique. Genuine Chan is a state of purity beyond words. Only common people like us need to rely on the method of thinking back year by year in order to discover our origins.

后来才有些明白，此仅是一种技术性的说法，真正坐禅却是无可言说的清净之境。大概只有我们这样的俗子，才能用一年年想过去的办法，追究自己的来处。

While the cushions can be used in the monastery for meditating as well as kneeling, they are used by amateurs primarily for kneeling. Kneeling is a simple movement that doesn’t take much skill—all you have to do is bend your knees till they touch the ground. Easy as this may be, it is extremely difficult for many people to do. In novels and on television, we always see the rebels and the cowards being made to kneel. It’s a form of debasement.

寺庙里的蒲团给僧人提供了坐与跪的方便；对于我们这些门坎外人，只有跪的功能。跪是很简单的动作，不须要什么技巧，只要膝盖一弯曲就行了。但是这个动作对许多人来说，难度相当大。我们常在影视、书本上见到叛徒或软骨头的形象，其中一个典型的动作就是下跪。那是一种丧失人格的下意识行为。

That’s why many people are ashamed to kneel. Their knees represent their self-esteem, integrity, honor, and pride. They would never go down on their knees in public; it would be way too undignified. They would kneel neither to spirits nor to people. On the other hand, some people have knelt thousands of times in wholehearted submission to power, fame, and profit—and it shows in their faces. There are also the tough, macho guys who never kneel to anyone. Now, isn’t their scorn for everyone else an indication of their own sense of self-importance? How many times they bowed to themselves, I wonder?

由此，许多人羞于下跪，他们的膝盖代表自尊、人格、正气，同时也代表着傲慢。何以见得？他们当然不会在众目睽睽之下弯膝，那太失体统，无论是神灵还是俗人，他们一律不跪。可是有的人脸上留着跪了千百次的痕迹，面对权势、名利，他们跪得全力以赴。当然也有见谁都不跪的硬汉，可他的无视一切，不正说明他很看重自己吗？谁知他对着自己下跪膜拜了多少回？

Ever since I’ve had a cushion, I’ve learned that my knees and the things they represent are not that important. The simple act of kneeling wipes away our pride. Since we must cast aside everything when we die, how much could our knees be worth? In the instant of kneeling, the “self” that we ordinarily never can forget has no place to hide and the all-encompassing “true self” arises.

我自有了蒲团以来，开始懂得膝盖是不重要的，依附于它的一切也是不重要的。人的傲气就是在这一弯一曲中跪掉了。人死之时将抛下一切，膝盖算得了什么？人在下跪的一剎那，平时念念不忘的「我」，无处藏身；一个真性的、能容纳一切的「我」，由此立起。

After Shakyamuni Buddha attained enlightenment, his father, King Suddhodana, invited him back to his kingdom. When father and son met for the first time in six years, Suddhodana knelt and prostrated himself before his son. One was a dignified king, the other a mendicant monk. The king knelt before the monk; the father knelt before his son; the afflicted one knelt before the wise one: what a touching and yet spontaneous scene!

释迦牟尼佛刚成道时，他的父亲净饭王迎他回国。相别六年，父子相见，净饭王竟下跪礼拜问讯。一个是堂堂的一国之君，一个是乞食为生的僧人。国王向僧人下跪，父亲向儿子下跪；烦恼向智慧下跪，这一幕是多么动人，又多么自然。

Why don’t we try kneeling? If we cast aside the mundane notion of bowing, we will certainly find ourselves in a new, carefree world that we never knew before. Kneeling is not in itself painful or shameful; the pain and shame come from people’s minds. After all, didn’t we, as children, kneel on the grass or on the beach or by the window, facing a mere grasshopper, a wildflower, or a kite flying in the sky?

我们何妨不跪上一跪？抛开世俗定理的下跪，定然能得到一番轻松，不同于惯常的思惟，可以瞥见新的世界。下跪本不痛苦、羞耻，痛苦、羞耻全是人自造的。难道我们的童年，没有跪在草地上、沙滩旁、窗户前，面对的仅仅是一只蚂蚱、一朵野花和一只飘飞在天上的风筝吗？