〖蜘蛛〗

像这样观察一只蜘蛛，可以令人生起智慧。蜘蛛会在任何一个适当的角落结网，然后守在中央，静静地不动声色。不久，一只苍蝇飞到牠的网上，当他一触动了网，「碰！」一声，蜘蛛迅速地扑过去，用丝把牠绑住，牠会把昆虫贮藏起来，然后再回来，不动声色的守候在它的网中央。

这与我们的心是一样的。我们的心可喻为蜘蛛，我们的情绪和法尘可以观察各种昆虫。心常被各种环绕的感官所刺激，当根、尘接触时，迅速地传达给心识，经由心识彻底的审视和检查之后，又回到中央来。“回到中央”，意思是住于正念和正知，经常地保持警觉，并正确、精密地做每一件事——这就是我们的中心。事实上，我们不须大费周章，只要照著这个方法小心地生活就够了。但并不是要我们漫不经心地生活，认为“没有必要禅坐或行禅！”因而忘记了所有的修行。我们不能掉以轻心，我们必须保持警觉，就像蜘蛛守候猎物一般。这就是我们要安住的方法——保持警觉，谨慎的行止，时时以智慧觉知。

Spider

Watching a spider can give rise to wisdom. A spider spins its webs in any convenient niche and then sits in the center, staying still. Later a fly comes along and lands on its web. As soon as the fly touches and shakes the web - boop! ' the spider pounces on it and winds it up in thread. It stores the insect away and then returns again to collect itself silently in the center of its web. This is not at all different from our own minds. Our mind is comparable to the spider, and our moods and mental impressions to the various insects. The senses constantly stimulate the mind. When any of them contacts something, it immediately reaches the mind. The mind then investigates and examines it thoroughly, after which it returns to the center. "Coming to the center" means living mindfully with clear comprehension, being always alert and doing everything with precision - this is our center. There's really not a lot for us to do. We just carefully live in this way. But that doesn't mean that we live heedlessly thinking, "No need to do sitting or walking meditation!" and so forget all about our practice. We can't be careless. We must remain alert like the spider waiting to snatch up insects for its food. This is how we abide - alert, acting with precision and always mindfully comprehending with wisdom.