上上個月就想花錢買那個特價99的學習英文的專欄的了，但一直沒有時間和金錢。直都近幾天才有了時間和金錢，學習英文的專欄才看了大約30分鐘。其中說到學習英文的正確方法就是把英文當母語來學習，多看多聽多用。今早我就實踐了一下。

在公眾號見到一個很有興趣的文章，不長，有錄音和視頻，最總要是我感興趣的。

Thanissaro Bhikkhu: Imagine

They have done studies of people who've mastered skills,

trying to figure out why some people are simply very good at a particular skill while other people really master it.

And they discovered that one of the most important factors is that for people who master the skill,

it's something that has captured their imagination.

They like to think about it. ?They like to try different ways of practicing the skill, try different ways of using the skill, in unusual and unexpected ways.

And thinking about the various steps that are involved in the skill captures their imagination as they're interested.

And although we often don't think of imagination as being one of the factors involved in meditation—

In fact, we think that meditation is anti-imagination—actually that's not the case.

When you practice concentration,

what are you doing? You're creating a state in the mind。

The noble eightfold path as a whole is something that fabricated, something you put together.

It brings you into the present,

but when you get into the present you discover how much input your intentions have in each present moment.

The practice of the path is designed to make you more and more sensitive to that fact:

to see how you put things together, how you can put things together in a way that creates suffering,

or how you can get more skillful at it

So you can put things together in a way that creates less and less suffering until finally you reach a point

where the whole thing gets taken apart and there's no suffering left.

But to get to that last point you have to understand what you're doing.

You can't simply make up your mind that you're going to be totally uninvolved in the present moment and simply be an observer without participating,

because what happens is that your participation goes underground. You don't see it, but it's still there.

So, instead, you have to be very open about the fact

that you're shaping the present moment simply by choosing what you focus on. That's a decision right there:

The sensations you choose to focus on,

and the way you focus on them, are going to shape your experience of the present moment.

You're creating a state of becoming

—the Pali word here is bhava—

and although one of the things we're trying to learn to overcome is the process of becoming, we can't simply drop the process.

We have to understand it before we can let it go.

We have to understand it to the point of dispassion and then let go.

To do that we have to keep creating more and more and more of these states,

but we have to create a type of state that's ?easy to analyze, easy to take apart—

that's ?comfortable to stay with, which is why we practice concentration.

Someone once asked Ajaan Lee,

“When you're practicing concentration, aren't you creating these states of becoming in the mind?”

And Ajaan Lee said, “Yes, that's precisely what we're doing.”

He went on to say that you can't understand the process unless you keep doing it, until you can do it really well.

This is like having a hen that lays eggs.

You keep creating these little things.

And you get better and better, I don't know how much a hen gets better out of it. But he says, at the meantime, you get...

Some of you take apart to understand how an egg looks like , others of you eat, he says.

The other part is because it gives you something to take apart,

puts the mind in a position where it can take these present states apart.

So when you're conscious of that fact, look at the way you put the present moment together.

You have choices you know: different things you can focus on, different ways you can focus on them.

If you focus on the breath, you discover that there are many different ways of conceiving the breath:

your way of labeling the breath sensations,

the way you decide when an in-breath is long enough, when it's too long, when it's too short.

A lot of these decisions get put on automatic pilot, but as you're meditating you have a chance to examine them, and adjust them.

to see if there are more skillful ways of deciding how long a good long in-breath is,

How long a breath would be just right it would be.

The same with the out-breaths, the depth, the rhythm, the texture of the breath.

There's a lot to play with here, and the word “play” is important

because you've got to enjoy the process.

Otherwise there's no enthusiasm

for the meditation; you simply go through the motions

because it's time to meditate.

And when there's no joy in the process, that's difficult to stick with it.

The mind is going to lose interest, get bored and try to find something else to think about, something else to fill up the hour.

And what you end up doing is filling up the hour with other things that are not nearly as helpful.

For reason we're here, which is to see how the mind is creating unnecessary suffering for itself and to learn how to stop doing it.

One helpful way of

understanding the process is

to look at the ways it's analyzed imagination,

psychologists have looked the process of imagination, discovered that it involves four skills.

The first is being able to

generate an image in the mind—

simply gives rise to an image of one kind or another.

The second is to maintain the image.

Then once you can maintain it, it gives you the opportunity to inspect it, to look at it in its details,

to explore some of its ramifications.

And then the fourth ability is to alter the image,

making changes and then inspecting it again to see what happens as you alter it.

And although the psychologists who discovered these four, that come out these, constitute these four, is comprised of these four steps.

were doing with mental pictures in the mind, you'll discover that any kind of imaginary work

—whether it's writing, developing a skill,

—involves these four steps.

When you compare the four steps to concentration, you find that... the first thing is just to give rise to a nice pleasant state right here in the present moment. Can you do that?

So how do you give rise to that pleasant state? What do you have to do?

You can adjust the breath. You can adjust your focus.

Breathe in such a way that gives rise to a nice feeling in at least one part of the body.

Then the next step, once you've learned how to generate that state, is to maintain it, keep it going.

And you'll discover that you need mindfulness, alertness, steadiness to do that.

Sometimes you find it's like surfing: The wave changes beneath you, but you learn to keep your balance.

In other words, the needs of the body will change.

When you first sit down, the body may need a fairly heavy rate of breathing in order to feel comfortable, but then as it feels more comfortable, the body's needs will change.

And so you have to learn how to ride that change in the wave.

Adjust the rate of breathing so that it's just right for the body right now, right now, right now.

This makes you more and more sensitive to the fact that the body's needs change,

but you can learn how to

maintain a particular balance ?as you get more and more sensitive in responding to those needs, in giving the body the kind of breathing it wants.

Of course, the body's not going to sit there saying, “I want this. I want that,”

but you get more and more sensitive to the areas seem to be starved of breath energy, and you can consciously breathe into them.

The third step is inspection.

You look at the state

you have in the body: Are there places where it's still uncomfortable,

places where it still feels tense, where it feels tight?

Well, you can change it. That's the fourth step.

The third and fourth steps play off each other in this way:

Once you change things, you inspect them again to see if the change has made any improvement or if it's made things worse.

If it's made things worse, you can try another change.

Keep inspecting, keep adjusting. In Pali this is called vicara, or evaluation.

And as things get more and more comfortable, you find that the range of comfort you've been able to create gets larger and larger.

You can breathe in with a sense that the breath energy in the body is connected in all its parts.

You breathe out and the energy feels connected; your awareness keeps filling the body, saturating the body.

After a while you get to a point where you really can't improve the breath any further. It's just right as it is.

When you reach the point of fullness, you stop making so many adjustments, so many changes. You can just be with the breathing.

From this point on it's more a question of how the mind relates to the breath,

whether it feels that it's separate from the breath and watching it, or whether it's more immersed in the breathing.

As it gets more immersed, the rate of breathing is going to change,

not so much because you made up your mind to change it, but simply because you've changed your relationship to the breath.

As you get more in the state of unification and ease.

all the way to the point where the breathing finally stops,

not because you've forced it to stop but because the mind has slowed down enough

to the point where it needs less and less and less oxygen.

The oxygen exchange at the skin is enough to keep the body going so that it doesn't have to keep pumping in, pumping out.

At first, there is a sense of kind of exchange going on,

Ajaan Lee compares this state to an ice cube with vapor coming off of it:

The body feels very still,

but around the edges there's a kind of effortless vapor that you feel with the in-and-out breathing. Then after a while even that stops and everything is perfectly still.

All of this comes from creating that spot in the body where it feels good to stay focused.

Then learning how to maintain it.

Then inspecting it to see where

you can expand it, where you can make it more stable.

And then adjusting it in various ways: using your imagination to

think at least of the possibility that the breath could be more comfortable, the breath could saturate the body.

You could think of all the cells of the body being bathed in the breath—

whatever way you have of

conceiving the breath that makes it more and more comfortable,

a better and better place to stay.

In this way the four aspects of imagination

apply to what you're doing right here,

even though you're not trying to create a mental picture. Sometimes there will be mental pictures behind it,

but you're more concerned with the actual sensation of the breath as you feel it coming in, as you feel it going out,

as you play with it,

as you create a sense of very intense wellbeing right here.

Even though it's something created, it's a good thing to create.

As the Buddha said, right concentration is the heart of the path.

The other factors are its requisites.

And for discernment to do its work of insight in the present moment.

You have to have a good solid basis,

you have to ?create the basis through concentration.

So because it's a created state, you have to be creative about it, imaginative about it.

And you find that the more

your imagination opens up to the possibilities

the more possibilities your imagination opens up.

As long as you're frank about the process, that you're creating this state,

you don't have to worry about getting attached to it—

because deep down inside you know it's something you've created, and eventually you'll have to take it apart.

But in the mean time,

learn how to do it well.

The more solid the concentration,

the more you want to stay here. The more you stay here, the more familiar you get with the territory.

And it's through that familiarity that the practice of concentration turns into the practice of insight,

the kind of insight that can liberate you.

Without this stability and familiarity, your insights are simply ideas you've heard from Dhamma talks, read in books,

notions you've picked up from outside.

They don't seep deep into the mind because the mind hasn't softened up the territory ?here in the present moment.

Only through the practice of concentration can the hardness in the present moment begin to soften up

and give the insights a chance to seep deeper and deeper.

So when you have this kind of understanding about what you're doing, you find it a lot easier to go about it.

And you begin to realize it's not a mechanical process. It's a creative process.

That way it can capture your imagination. When it captures your imagination, you get more interested in what you can do with the breath,

not just when you're sitting here with your eyes closed, but any time of the day.

How you deal with the breath, how you get centered in the breath can help you deal with anger.

It makes you more sensitive to what anger does to the body, and you can breathe through the anger

so that you don't

feel like they've taken over.

When there's fear, you can try using the breath to deal with fear.

Get in touch with the physical side of the fear and breathe right through it.

how it can deal with illness, how it can help deal with pain. There's a lot to explore here.

And as the possibilities of the breath capture your imagination,

you find that this skill is useful, not only when you're trying to sit with your eyes closed, ?but very basic skill for dealing with present experience, wherever the present may be, wherever you may be in the present.

Whatever the context, whatever the situation, you find that the breath has something to offer—

if you explore it.

And to explore it, you have to get a sense that it can capture your imagination.

It gives you that kind of challenge, along with the sense of reward that comes when you've explored something and discovered something new, a valuable skill.

This is how meditation can start permeating your whole life.

When it permeates your whole life,

when you're more and more familiar with it, that's when the insights arise:

unexpected insights many times,

but valuable nonetheless.

看完第一次全英的感覺是能看多少就多少，不執著不恐懼。回想我們小時候看中文的方法，用猜的，之后就知道自己那些學會了那些還不會。對于不會的那些，小時候我們找媽媽找老師，現在我們可以找百度找詞典，現在比以前方便得太多了。有道詞典現在可以裝在手機上，電腦上，IPAD上， 而且還能翻譯句子，記錄生詞等等。

說到底就是當你想學習一樣你覺得你應該要學習的東西時，你的學習能力是最強的效率效果是最好的。這樣就可以很好地馬上找到屬于你自己的學習方式方法啦。特別說明一下，這個學習英文的方法不合適沒有勇氣地學習的人，現在沒有一個人真正是對英文是零基礎的，你只會26個字母就不是零基礎的了。只要每天堅持學習5個生詞，一年后就學會了1825個生詞。二年就能把日常常常用的3000多個都學了，當然每天堅持學習5個生詞，這五個生詞是你有用的常用的你感興趣的，要不我也堅持不下去。要學習一段才學下一段哦。這樣會比較好。最后就是把英語和中文再看一次。

Thanissaro Bhikkhu: Imagine 想象

They have done studies of people who've mastered skills,

有人對技術高手做過研究，

trying to figure out why some people are simply very good at a particular skill while other people really master it.

試圖了解為什么對于某種技能，

有些人只是擅長，另一些人卻是真正地精通。

And they discovered that one of the most important factors is that for people who master the skill,

他們發現的規律之一是，

為了真正地精通某項技能，

it's something that has captured their imagination.

它必須捕獲人們的想象力。

They like to think about it. ?They like to try different ways of practicing the skill, try different ways of using the skill, in unusual and unexpected ways.

他們喜歡思考它。他們喜歡嘗試不同方式練習，

喜歡以不同尋常、出乎意料的方式運用這種技能。

And thinking about the various steps that are involved in the skill captures their imagination as they're interested.

他們思考讓人感興趣，捕獲人們想象力

所涉及的各種步驟

And although we often don't think of imagination as being one of the factors involved in meditation—

雖然我們往往不認為禪定涉及到想象力——

In fact, we think that meditation is anti-imagination—actually that's not the case.

甚至以為禪定是抵制想象的

——實際并非如此。

When you practice concentration,

what are you doing? You're creating a state in the mind.

當你修定時，你在做什么?

你在造作一種心態。

The noble eightfold path as a whole is something that fabricated, something you put together.

八圣道，總體上是一個造作起來的、

合成起來的東西。

It brings you into the present,

它把你帶入當下。

but when you get into the present you discover how much input your intentions have in each present moment.

不過當你進入當下時，你發現，

自己對每個當下時刻，輸入了多少的動機。

The practice of the path is designed to make you more and more sensitive to that fact:

圣道的修練過程，

就是為了使你對這件事越來越敏感：

to see how you put things together, how you can put things together in a way that creates suffering,

看見自己怎樣合成、怎樣以造苦的方式合成，

or how you can get more skillful at it

或者，怎樣可以以更善巧的方式，

So you can put things together in a way that creates less and less suffering until finally you reach a point

來合成，造作越來越少的苦，直到

where the whole thing gets taken apart and there's no suffering left.

整個過程被拆散，不再有苦為止。

But to get to that last point you have to understand what you're doing.

不過，為了達到最后一步，

你必須懂得自己在做什么。

You can't simply make up your mind that you're going to be totally uninvolved in the present moment and simply be an observer without participating,

你不能單單決意不涉入當下、

不參與一切，只當觀察者。

because what happens is that your participation goes underground. You don't see it, but it's still there.

因為那樣一來的結果是，你的參與就轉入了地下。

你看不見它，但它仍然在那里。

So, instead, you have to be very open about the fact

因此，你必須對這件事開放不諱：

that you're shaping the present moment simply by choosing what you focus on. That's a decision right there:

自己藉著對專注對象的選擇，

正在影響[塑形]當下就在那里，那是一個決策：

The sensations you choose to focus on,

and the way you focus on them, are going to shape your experience of the present moment.

你選擇專注的那些覺受、你的專注方式，

都將影響你對當下的體驗。

You're creating a state of becoming

—the Pali word here is bhava—

你正在造作一種“有”的狀態

——該詞的巴利語是bhava。

and although one of the things we're trying to learn to overcome is the process of becoming, we can't simply drop the process.

盡管我們試圖學會克服的事物之一

正是造“有”的過程，它卻不可能被一扔了事。

We have to understand it before we can let it go.

我們必須理解它，才能夠放得開它。

We have to understand it to the point of dispassion and then let go.

我們必須對它理解到無欲的程度，然后放開。

To do that we have to keep creating more and more and more of these states,

為此，我們必須連續地一造再造這些狀態，

but we have to create a type of state that's ?easy to analyze, easy to take apart—

不過制造出來的，必須是

可以易于分析、易于拆解的狀態

that's ?comfortable to stay with, which is why we practice concentration.

——也要能舒適安住，這就是我們修定的目的。

Someone once asked Ajaan Lee,

“When you're practicing concentration, aren't you creating these states of becoming in the mind?”

有人曾經問阿姜李：“當你修定時，

難道不是在心里制造‘有’的狀態嗎?”

And Ajaan Lee said, “Yes, that's precisely what we're doing.”

阿姜李回答說：“是的，正是如此。”

He went on to say that you can't understand the process unless you keep doing it, until you can do it really well.

接下來他說，除非你精通這個“有”的制造過程，

否則你是不可能真正做得好它。

This is like having a hen that lays eggs.

他說：“這就好比有一只下蛋的母雞。

You keep creating these little things.

你一直生產這些小東西。

And you get better and better, I don't know how much a hen gets better out of it. But he says, at the meantime, you get...

你不斷進步，我不知道母雞通過下蛋，

能獲得什么進步，他說，同時，你獲得……

Some of you take apart to understand how an egg looks like , others of you eat, he says.

有些人敲開雞蛋，去了解它的樣子，

另外一些人，吃掉雞蛋。他說。

The other part is because it gives you something to take apart,

另一個作用是給你提供拆解的材料，

puts the mind in a position where it can take these present states apart.

同時又把心放到一個能夠拆解

這些當下狀態的位置。

So when you're conscious of that fact, look at the way you put the present moment together.

因此，當你意識到這回事時，

就要看一看你合成當下的方式。

You have choices you know: different things you can focus on, different ways you can focus on them.

要知道，你是有選擇的：你可以有

不同的專注對象、不同的專注方式。

If you focus on the breath, you discover that there are many different ways of conceiving the breath:

如果你專注氣[觀息]，你會發現，

構想和觀察氣的方式可以是多種多樣的：

your way of labeling the breath sensations,

你自己對氣感的標記方式;

the way you decide when an in-breath is long enough, when it's too long, when it's too short.

你如何決定某個入息何時算夠長、

何時算太長、何時算太短。

A lot of these decisions get put on automatic pilot, but as you're meditating you have a chance to examine them, and adjust them.

這些決策，很多被放到自動駕駛儀上任意不究，

不過禪定中，你有機會對它們作檢驗、調整。

to see if there are more skillful ways of deciding how long a good long in-breath is,

看一看是否存在一些更善巧的辦法，

來決定入息多長算是夠長，

How long a breath would be just right it would be.

有什么跡象顯示它正好夠長。

The same with the out-breaths, the depth, the rhythm, the texture of the breath.

對出息的判斷也是同樣：長度、節奏、質感。

There's a lot to play with here, and the word “play” is important

這其中有許多可以擺弄［游戲，把玩］的余地，

“擺弄”[play]一詞之所以重要，

because you've got to enjoy the process.

是因為你得以享受這個過程。

Otherwise there's no enthusiasm

for the meditation; you simply go through the motions

否則對禪定便無熱衷：你做一遍動作，

because it's time to meditate.

只不過是因為禪定時間到了而已。

And when there's no joy in the process, that's difficult to stick with it.

當喜樂不存在時，堅持下去就難了。

The mind is going to lose interest, get bored and try to find something else to think about, something else to fill up the hour.

心將會失去興趣，轉為厭倦，試圖找別的東西

來思考，找別的填料來充塞時間

And what you end up doing is filling up the hour with other things that are not nearly as helpful.

最終你用其他事情填補時間，

這是沒有什么益處的。

For reason we're here, which is to see how the mind is creating unnecessary suffering for itself and to learn how to stop doing it.

我們在這里不只是為了投入時間，

我們在這里是為了看見，心是如何給它自己

制造不必要的苦，并且學會終止這種做法。

One helpful way of

understanding the process is

理解這個過程的一個有益辦法是，

to look at the ways it's analyzed imagination,

看一看他們是如何分析想象力的。

psychologists have looked the process of imagination, discovered that it involves four skills.

心理學家研究想象的過程，

發現它包含著四種技能。

The first is being able to

generate an image in the mind—

首先，是能夠在心里產生一個意象——

simply gives rise to an image of one kind or another.

想象出這種或那種形象。

The second is to maintain the image.

第二，是能夠維持住那個意象。

Then once you can maintain it, it gives you the opportunity to inspect it, to look at it in its details,

一旦你能審視它，你就有機會研究它，

觀察它的細節。

to explore some of its ramifications.

探索它的一些分枝。

And then the fourth ability is to alter the image,

第四，是能夠對那個意象作出變動，

making changes and then inspecting it again to see what happens as you alter it.

作出改變，接著再審視它，

看看你變換它時會發生什么。

And although the psychologists who discovered these four, that come out these, constitute these four, is comprised of these four steps.

盡管發現這四種技能的心理學家

were doing with mental pictures in the mind, you'll discover that any kind of imaginary work

主要關心的是心造的圖像，

你會發現，任何創意活動——

—whether it's writing, developing a skill,

寫作、發展其他技能

—involves these four steps.

——都包含了同樣這四步。

When you compare the four steps to concentration, you find that... the first thing is just to give rise to a nice pleasant state right here in the present moment. Can you do that?

當你用這四步對照禪定時，會發現，它也適用。

第一步是，在當下升起一種舒適愉悅的狀態。

你能夠做到嗎?

So how do you give rise to that pleasant state? What do you have to do?

你怎么升起這種舒適的狀態？你要怎么做？

You can adjust the breath. You can adjust your focus.

你可以調整呼吸[氣]。你可以調整你的專注。

Breathe in such a way that gives rise to a nice feeling in at least one part of the body.

以一種能夠在身體至少一部分

升起愉悅之受的方式呼吸。

Then the next step, once you've learned how to generate that state, is to maintain it, keep it going.

一旦你學會制造那個狀態，下一步是

維持那個狀態，使它繼續下去。

And you'll discover that you need mindfulness, alertness, steadiness to do that.

你會發現，你需要念住、警覺、

平穩才能后做到。

Sometimes you find it's like surfing: The wave changes beneath you, but you learn to keep your balance.

有時侯，你發現這就像沖浪：身下的水波在變，

但你學會維持平衡。

In other words, the needs of the body will change.

換句話說，身體的需要會變。

When you first sit down, the body may need a fairly heavy rate of breathing in order to feel comfortable, but then as it feels more comfortable, the body's needs will change.

剛開始坐下時，身體也許需要比較深重的呼吸

才能感覺舒適，不過隨著它舒適起來，

身體的需要會發生變化。

And so you have to learn how to ride that change in the wave.

因此你必須學會騎在波浪的形變之上。

Adjust the rate of breathing so that it's just right for the body right now, right now, right now.

調整呼吸的頻率，使得它恰好符合

當下、當下、當下身體的需要。

This makes you more and more sensitive to the fact that the body's needs change,

它使你對身體的需要

會發生變化這件事越來越敏感，

but you can learn how to

maintain a particular balance ?as you get more and more sensitive in responding to those needs, in giving the body the kind of breathing it wants.

不過，隨著你越來越敏感地回應那些需要，

越來越敏感地給提供身體它需要的呼吸方式，

你可以學會維持某種特定的平衡。

Of course, the body's not going to sit there saying, “I want this. I want that,”

當然身體不會坐那里說：“我要這。我要那。”

but you get more and more sensitive to the areas seem to be starved of breath energy, and you can consciously breathe into them.

但是你可以對你身體那些缺乏氣能的部位，

越來越敏感，你可以有意地把氣輸入那里。

The third step is inspection.

第三步是審視。

You look at the state

you have in the body: Are there places where it's still uncomfortable,

觀察身內你所處的狀態：哪些地方仍然不舒適、

places where it still feels tense, where it feels tight?

仍然有張力、有緊張感?

Well, you can change it. That's the fourth step.

那么你可以想辦法改變呼吸［氣］。

那就是第四步。

The third and fourth steps play off each other in this way:

第三和第四步是這樣相互依賴的：

Once you change things, you inspect them again to see if the change has made any improvement or if it's made things worse.

一旦你作了變化，你再審視，看那個變化是

造成了良好的效果，還是使情形更糟。

If it's made things worse, you can try another change.

如果它使情形更糟，你可以再作改變。

Keep inspecting, keep adjusting. In Pali this is called vicara, or evaluation.

繼續審視，繼續調整。在巴利文中，

這叫做vicara，即，評估[伺]。

And as things get more and more comfortable, you find that the range of comfort you've been able to create gets larger and larger.

隨著情形越來越舒適，你會發現，

你能給自己制造的舒適范圍開始擴大。

You can breathe in with a sense that the breath energy in the body is connected in all its parts.

你的入息方式，可以使

身內的氣能在各處相互連通。

You breathe out and the energy feels connected; your awareness keeps filling the body, saturating the body.

你的出息方式，可以使氣能相互連通：

你的覺知連續地填滿全身，飽和全身。

After a while you get to a point where you really can't improve the breath any further. It's just right as it is.

過了一陣，你達到了實在不能

再改良氣的地步。它就是那樣了。

When you reach the point of fullness, you stop making so many adjustments, so many changes. You can just be with the breathing.

當你達到充滿的地步，就可以終止

作這么多調整、這么多變動了。

你可以只與氣住在一起。

From this point on it's more a question of how the mind relates to the breath,

從這里開始，問題主要變成是：心與氣如何相關，

whether it feels that it's separate from the breath and watching it, or whether it's more immersed in the breathing.

它是否覺得它是獨立于氣而在作觀察，

還是沉浸在氣中。

As it gets more immersed, the rate of breathing is going to change,

隨著它越來越沉浸在氣中，

呼吸的頻率會發生變化，

not so much because you made up your mind to change it, but simply because you've changed your relationship to the breath.

主要不是因為你決意改變，

而只是因為你已經改變了你與氣的關系。

As you get more in the state of unification and ease.

隨著你越來越進入一種牢固的合一和安適感。

all the way to the point where the breathing finally stops,

氣會越來越精細，以至于最后停止，

not because you've forced it to stop but because the mind has slowed down enough

不是因為你迫使它停止，

而是心已經減慢到足夠程度，

to the point where it needs less and less and less oxygen.

使得它的需氧度越來越低。

The oxygen exchange at the skin is enough to keep the body going so that it doesn't have to keep pumping in, pumping out.

皮膚表面的氧氣交換足以維持身體功能，

不需要繼續把氣泵進泵出。

At first, there is a sense of kind of exchange going on,

開始的時候，還有一種交換的感覺存在。

Ajaan Lee compares this state to an ice cube with vapor coming off of it:

阿姜李把這個狀態比作一塊冰，

水汽從上面蒸發出來：

The body feels very still,

身體感覺極其寂止，

but around the edges there's a kind of effortless vapor that you feel with the in-and-out breathing. Then after a while even that stops and everything is perfectly still.

不過在［身體］邊緣，隨著出入息，

你會感到一種不費力的蒸汽。

接著，再過一陣，連它也停了下來，

一切全部寂止。

All of this comes from creating that spot in the body where it feels good to stay focused.

這一切，都發源于在身內制造出

一個呆著有舒適感的地方。

Then learning how to maintain it.

然后學會維持它。

Then inspecting it to see where

you can expand it, where you can make it more stable.

接著審視它，看看在哪里你可以擴大它，

在哪里可以使它更穩定。

And then adjusting it in various ways: using your imagination to

然后，以種種方式調整它：運用你的想象力，

think at least of the possibility that the breath could be more comfortable, the breath could saturate the body.

至少思考一下氣可以更舒適，

氣可以飽和身體的可能性。

You could think of all the cells of the body being bathed in the breath—

你可以觀想身內所有細胞浸浴在氣中——

whatever way you have of

conceiving the breath that makes it more and more comfortable,

總之，任何氣的構思方式，

只要能使它越來越舒適、

a better and better place to stay.

越來越變成一個好居處。

In this way the four aspects of imagination

正是以這種方式，想象力的四個側面

apply to what you're doing right here,

適用于你正在這里做的事，

even though you're not trying to create a mental picture. Sometimes there will be mental pictures behind it,

盡管你不是在試圖構造一個心的圖像。

有時，它的背后會有一些心的圖像，

but you're more concerned with the actual sensation of the breath as you feel it coming in, as you feel it going out,

不過你更關心的是氣在進來時、出去時、

as you play with it,

你在擺弄它時、

as you create a sense of very intense wellbeing right here.

你在這里制造出一種高度的康樂感。

Even though it's something created, it's a good thing to create.

盡管它是制造出來的東西，

它卻是制造出來的好東西，

As the Buddha said, right concentration is the heart of the path.

正如佛陀所說，正定是圣道的核心。

The other factors are its requisites.

其它的因子是它的配備。

And for discernment to do its work of insight in the present moment.

為了使明辨在當下作觀，

You have to have a good solid basis,

you have to ?create the basis through concentration.

你必須制造一個良好、牢固的基礎。

你必須透過定，制造這個基礎。

So because it's a created state, you have to be creative about it, imaginative about it.

因此，正因為它是造就的狀態，

你必須有創意，有想象力。

And you find that the more

your imagination opens up to the possibilities

你會發現，你的想象力對現存的

諸種可能性越開明，

the more possibilities your imagination opens up.

它就越能夠開啟更多的新的可能性。

As long as you're frank about the process, that you're creating this state,

只要你坦然面對這個過程，

懂得你在制造這個狀態，

you don't have to worry about getting attached to it—

你不必擔憂自己會粘取它——

because deep down inside you know it's something you've created, and eventually you'll have to take it apart.

因為內心深處，你知道它是你制造出來的、

最終必須拆解開來的東西。

But in the mean time,

learn how to do it well.

不過，與此同時，你要學會善加制造。

The more solid the concentration,

定越牢固，

the more you want to stay here. The more you stay here, the more familiar you get with the territory.

你就越想住在這里。

你越住在這里，你會對地盤越熟悉。

And it's through that familiarity that the practice of concentration turns into the practice of insight,

正是透過那種熟悉，

定的修練轉為觀［洞見］的修練，

the kind of insight that can liberate you.

就是能夠令你解脫的那種觀。

Without this stability and familiarity, your insights are simply ideas you've heard from Dhamma talks, read in books,

沒有這種穩定和熟悉，你的洞見只不過是

你從法義開示中聽來的、從書里讀來的想法，

notions you've picked up from outside.

從外面拾來的觀念而已。

They don't seep deep into the mind because the mind hasn't softened up the territory ?here in the present moment.

它們不會深透地滲入內心，

因為心尚未軟化當下這里的地盤。

Only through the practice of concentration can the hardness in the present moment begin to soften up

只有透過定的修練，

當下的堅硬才能夠開始軟化，

and give the insights a chance to seep deeper and deeper.

給觀賦予滲透得越來越深的機會。

So when you have this kind of understanding about what you're doing, you find it a lot easier to go about it.

因此，當你對自己正在做什么，

有了這等領悟時，你會發現做起來容易多了。

And you begin to realize it's not a mechanical process. It's a creative process.

你開始意識到，這不是一個機械的過程，

而是一個創意的過程。

That way it can capture your imagination. When it captures your imagination, you get more interested in what you can do with the breath,

那樣，它就能捕獲你的想象力。

當它捕獲了你的想象力時，

你對練氣，就會越來越有興趣，

not just when you're sitting here with your eyes closed, but any time of the day.

不僅當你閉眼坐在這里時，

而且在一天當中的任何時候。

How you deal with the breath, how you get centered in the breath can help you deal with anger.

懂得如何操縱氣，如何定在氣中，

就可以幫助你對付嗔怒。

It makes you more sensitive to what anger does to the body, and you can breathe through the anger

你會更敏感于嗔怒的身體效應，

你可以令氣貫穿嗔怒的身體諸癥狀，

so that you don't

feel like they've taken over.

而不覺得被它們占了上風。

When there's fear, you can try using the breath to deal with fear.

當恐懼存在時，你可以嘗試用氣對付它。

Get in touch with the physical side of the fear and breathe right through it.

你設法找到恐懼的身體效應，用氣貫穿它。

how it can deal with illness, how it can help deal with pain. There's a lot to explore here.

你會注意到，氣如何可以幫助你對付疾病、

對付痛感。這里可以探索的地方有很多了。

And as the possibilities of the breath capture your imagination,

隨著氣的種種可能性抓住了你的想象力，

you find that this skill is useful, not only when you're trying to sit with your eyes closed, ?but very basic skill for dealing with present experience, wherever the present may be, wherever you may be in the present.

你會發現，這種技能，不僅在你閉眼入定時有用，

不管當下在哪，不管當下你在哪，都是有用的。

Whatever the context, whatever the situation, you find that the breath has something to offer—

無論背景是什么，無論處境是什么，

你會發現氣都有可用之處——

if you explore it.

假如你探索它的用處。

And to explore it, you have to get a sense that it can capture your imagination.

為了探索它，你必須對它可以捕獲

你的想象力這件事有所領悟。

It gives you that kind of challenge, along with the sense of reward that comes when you've explored something and discovered something new, a valuable skill.

它會給你那樣一種挑戰，同時，隨著你的探索，

發現某種新東西、新技能，

它也會給你一種報償感。

This is how meditation can start permeating your whole life.

這就是禪定如何可以滲透你的整個生活。

When it permeates your whole life,

當它滲透你的整個生活時，

when you're more and more familiar with it, that's when the insights arise:

當你對它越來越熟悉時，那就是洞見升起之時：

unexpected insights many times,

很多時候是意想不到的洞見，

but valuable nonetheless.

盡管如此，卻十分珍貴。

音頻與文本：www.dhammatalks.org中文譯文:www.theravadacn.org根據音頻，對中譯略有調整。All of the content on this page is meant to be released under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 Unported License.本作品采用知識共享署名-非商業性使用4.0 國際許可協議進行許可。

英語出處：https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/dh8ES5vZLJMowpnW6G9t1Q 這有視頻。

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