你必须突破禅悦

中英文连载

Are You Ready for Happiness? (56)

痛苦其实只是纸老虎

Meditation can reduce stress; at the same time, it can increase intelligence, eliminate fatigue, and control our anger. Although this type of meditation cannot take us to the state of clarity nor eliminate the obstruction of ignorance, it is quite good already. Apart from Buddhism, many ancient religions in India, as well as the meditation taught in psychology, all deal with this aspect of mind in its state of fundamental ignorance. Of course, this is just ordinary meditative concentration.

禅修一方面可以减轻压力，同时也可以提高智商、消除疲劳、控制嗔恨心等等。虽然这种禅修进入的状态还不是光明，还没有突破无明的障碍，但也是很不错的。除了佛教以外，印度很多古老的宗教，包括心理学中所讲的静坐，都是指这种内心进入原始无明状态的层面。当然，这只是普通的禅定。

During meditation, although our consciousness is likened to a ripple with slight undulations, ignorance itself is unaware of it. It’s like when we suddenly come upon peace and quiet after a long day’s work, we feel very relaxed, free from worry. So the more agitated the mind, the greater the sense of suffering and unhappiness that follows, the more likely a happy feeling will naturally emerge once calm sets in; this feeling is called meditative bliss. Many people become addicted to this state of bliss and want to meditate all the time.

禅修的时候，虽然我们的意识就像波纹一样，会有一点点运动，但无明自己却感觉不到。当一个人忙了一天，突然间静下来以后，会感觉非常轻松，没有烦恼。内心越是烦躁，人越痛苦，越不开心，静下来以后，自然而然会出现一种快乐的感觉，这种感觉，就叫做禅悦。很多人会对禅悦上瘾，体验过禅悦的人，随时随刻都想打坐。

A Buddhist practitioner must transcend both ignorance and the joy of meditation, and strive to realize clear light; a non-Buddhist practitioner only needs to enter the state of fundamental ignorance. In Buddhism, this state of mind is also known as store-consciousness, or alaya-vijnana in Sanskrit.

佛教的打坐，必须突破禅悦，突破无明的层面，要设法进入光明的层面，但不学佛的人就不需要这些，只需心静下来以后进入原始无明的状态即可。在佛教当中，这种状态也叫藏识。印度梵文叫做阿赖耶识、阿赖耶。