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Becoming One with the Dharma
One of the main themes(主题) of the hinayana is having your mind become one with the dharma. In order to do so, you need to overcome heedlessness(不留心,不注意), perversion(曲解), and laziness, as well as aggression, tiredness, and neurosis. It may seem that overcoming laziness is quite ordinary work, that anybody could do it. It is true—anybody can do it. But that thought has never occurred to most people. So following the path of buddhadharma is quite extraordinary(非凡的,特别的) and unusual.
In order to become one with the dharma, to have the dharma as your path, you have to carry everything along as part of your journey. The path of dharma is unlike the ordinary conception of religion as separate from secular(世俗的) life. Usually when you talk about business, you assume your business hat, and when you talk about religion, you assume your spiritual hat. But in this case, you don’t wear two hats, you have only one hat—in fact, you have no hat.
Whether you feel that things are difficult for you, like climbing uphill(向上地), or that things are easy for you, both are regarded as following the path of dharma. The path includes obstacles and difficulties of all kinds. It includes aggression, passion, and ignorance. It includes the temperature(温度) of the room, the taste of the food, the type of clothes you are wearing, bodily(整个身体) irritations(愤怒,生气) such as aches in your knees and back, even whether or not your ballpoint pen is working. That is all part of the dharma. Anything that occurs, however small, is regarded as a part of the path. Nothing at all is separate from the path. Whatever you do is dharma.
The journey is delightful(令人愉快的), from that point of view. You are totally in the dharma, rather than being a part-time dharma practitioner(从业者). That totality of being completely in the dharma provides tremendous(巨大的) joy, because you are not kidding yourself. That is how I personally feel. Whether I am sick or well, whether I am on a journey, flying in an airplane, or traveling in a car—in whatever I do, I feel that I am at the service of others. I feel that my function, the reason for my existence, is to serve the dharma and the sangha, the community of practitioners.
If you are a practitioner of buddhadharma, you do not take time off. You do not say, “Now I will take a break” or “After that heavy experience, I need a drink.” You do not separate what is dharma from what is not dharma. Putting on your socks, washing your face, combing(梳理) your hair, sending your clothes to the laundry, sitting on the toilet—whatever you do is dharma, the highest dharma, the buddhadharma. Because dharma is based on nonaggression and devotion(献身), your perversion, hypocrisy(虚伪), and egotism(自我主义,利己主义) are all included. So whatever you are doing, the path of dharma goes along without a break, and everything you do is brought onto the path. In that way, you begin to be completely and thoroughly(彻底的) marinated(腌制浸泡) in the dharma.
Through various techniques, you are being softened(温和), rather than becoming a hardened individual or a hardened believer in a certain dogma(教条,武断的意见). The main technique of marinating is by means of the discipline of mindfulness(警觉,留心), or shamatha: the practice of sitting and walking meditation. The technique of sitting practice is both psychological and physical. Psychologically, you are simply trying to pay attention. It is like a mother trying to cut open an infected(被感染的) blister(水疱) on a child’s finger, that kind of simple care and consideration, that quality of being fully there. The physical aspect is your posture(姿势). You hold your head and shoulders properly. You are just like a rock—a sitting rock.
Possibilities of Freedom and Joy
The purpose of hinayana discipline is to attain(达到) cessation(停止), in the sense of no longer struggling. When you feel completely at home when you meditate, it is a marvelous(非凡的,了不起的) experience. Doubtlessness, harmony, tranquillity(安定的), and wholesomeness will take place once you are able to sit and meditate in that way. You will feel, personally, that you are there—you are absolutely there. Because you are able to liberate yourself from pettiness(小气) and wishful thinking, you will begin to enjoy greater possibilities of freedom.
Practice should carry along with it a sense of delight. It is completely secular and not at all religious or pious(虔诚的). When the gong(锣) strikes and you begin your meditation practice, notions of “ought” or “ought not,” “should” or “shouldn’t,” notions of punishment or of being a good boy or good girl automatically begin to come up. You need to let go of such notions. You have to become completely ordinary and not associate(将...联系起来) what you are doing with religion. The problem with holding on to a religious attitude is that when you have bad posture or you miss a sitting session or think that you didn’t meditate properly, you feel guilty. That builds up negativity(消极的), and in turn you are unable to hear the dharma—and because of that, there is no joy in being a buddhadharma practitioner.
As a practitioner, you could actually enjoy yourself. Enjoyment is not regarded as a sin. A good sitting-posture may seem very difficult and may be even painful to maintain; nonetheless(尽管如此), there still could be enjoyment and upliftedness. Sitting practice could be a festivity(欢庆,庆典). You could enjoy being decent(像样的,合宜的), being the best of human beings. Although that is what you always hope for, usually you substitute that with drinking and eating, wearing good clothes, going to parties, or swimming and lying in the dirt. But with sitting practice, you could develop real festivity. You could feel that you are a human being who is able to do wonderful things just by being able to be as you are. That seems to be a key point. It is why the Buddha is referred to as sugata, “he who has gone joyfully on the path.”(善逝) The Buddha is not referred to as “he who sat painfully,” or “he who felt bad about himself,” or “he who managed to get through his pain and has now attained buddhahood.” He is referred to as joyful.
The path is joyful. Being a human being, being yourself, being a member of the sangha, is joyful. You should really enjoy yourself. Enjoyment comes from the sense of things being truly what they are. That brings great joy, and it brings the greater joy of uncovering buddha nature, your inherent(内在的) capacity for awakening. Out of that, you begin to develop a sense of humor(幽默). You feel healthy and have fewer colds and less pain. You begin to feel wholesome because you are one piece rather than divided into different schizophrenic(精神分裂症的) states of being. You are just one piece, one being. At the same time, you also begin to develop tremendous power and strength to help others, which is delightful and wonderful. That is a true miracle(奇迹). |
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发表于 2014-5-24 12:18:02