Meditation

禅定

Meditation is the psychological approach to mental culture, training and purification.

禅定是陶冶心智、训练和净化心灵的重要途径。

In place of prayer, Buddhist practise meditation for mental culture and for spiritual development. No one can attain Nibbana or salvation without developing the mind through meditation. Any amount of meritorious deeds alone will not lead a person to attain the final goal without the corresponding mental purification. Naturally, the untrained mind is very elusive and persuades people to commit evil and become slaves of the senses. Imagination and emotions always mislead man if his mind is not properly trained. One who knows how to practise meditation will be able to control one's mind when it is misled by the senses.

佛教徒以修学禅定代替祈祷，从而发展心灵力量、陶冶心性。没有一个人能不透过禅定而发展心识，进而获得解脱。一个人如果无法净化自己的心识，有了再大的功德，也无法完成终极的目标──涅槃。自然的，「心」很容易引起幻觉和犯罪的倾向，「心」引导「人」去做感官的奴隶。如果，「心」没有接受适当的训练，幻觉和波动的情绪将误导人们。当一个人知道如何修学禅定时，就能在他的感官起误导作用时，控制他自己的「心」。

Most of the troubles which we are confronting today are due to the untrained and uncultured mind. It is already established that meditation is the remedy for many physical and mental sickness. Medical authorities and great psychologists the world over say that mental frustration, worries, miseries, anxieties, tension and fear are the causes of many diseases, stomach ulcers, gastritis, nervous complaints and mental sickness. And even latent sickness will be aggravated through such mental conditions.

今天，大多数人所面对的烦恼和错误的观念，就是因为我们有一颗未经训练和不文明的「心」。禅定能有效的治疗许多生理和心理的疾病，很多医学权威和著名的心理学家都认为，当心理受到挫折，忧郁、悲伤、焦虑、紧张和畏惧所干扰时，都是造成疾病的因素，如：高血压、心脏病、肠胃溃疡、胃病、精神病和各种的心理疾病等。同时，其它存在的疾病，也会因为这些心理因素而导致加重或恶化。

When the conscious 'I' frets too much, worries too much, or grieves too long and too intensely, then troubles develop in the body. Gastric ulcers, tuberculosis, coronary diseases and a host of functional disorders are the products of mental and emotional imbalance. In the case of children, the decay of the teeth and defective eye-sight are frequently related to emotional disorders.

当意识到「我」有太多的烦恼、太多的忧郁、太多的悲伤和太紧张时，这些烦恼就在身体中展开，导致高血压、心脏病、肠胃溃疡、胃病、精神病和各种心理疾病，这些疾病都是心理与情绪不协调所产生的。在儿童疾病中，龋齿和眼疾，通常与心情不安有相互的关系。

Many of these sicknesses and disorders can be avoided if people could spend a few minutes a day to calm their senses through the practice of mediation. Many people do not believe this or are too lazy to practise meditation owing to lack of understanding. Some people say that mediation is only a waste of time. We must remember that every spiritual master in this world attained the highest point of his life through the practice of meditation. They are honored today by millions of people because they have done tremendous service to mankind with their supreme knowledge and patience which they obtained through the practice of meditation.

如果，一个人在一天中，能利用几分钟的时间，进行禅定的锻炼，就能避免很多种因身心失调而产生的疾病。很多人不相信或因为懒惰而不修学禅定，是因为对禅定缺乏了解，而有些人却认为禅定太浪费时间了。我们必须知道，在这世界，所有在精神领域有成就，能达到生命至高点的人，都是从禅定中锻炼而来的。

他们今天被千万人所崇敬，因为他们以卓越的智慧为人类做出巨大的贡献，而这些智慧就是从禅定中得到的。

Meditation should not be a task to which we force ourselves 'with gritted teeth and clenched fists'; it should rather be something that draws us, because it fills us with joy and inspiration. So long as we have to force ourselves, we are not yet ready for meditation. Instead of meditating we are violating our true nature. Instead of relaxing and letting go, we are holding on to our ego, to our will power. In this way meditation becomes a game of ambition, of personal achievement and aggrandizement. Meditation is like love: a spontaneous experience?not something that can be forced or acquired by strenuous effort.

禅定并不是强迫自己「咬紧牙关，握紧拳头」的学习，而是放松自己，使自己充满愉悦和灵感，只要有一点强迫性的存在，就不是在修学禅定。我们不去修学禅定，反而去做那些歪悖真性的事，执着于「我」，执着于感官的欲乐，不肯放松自己和放下自我。如果这样的话，禅定将变成野心家的游戏了。为了想达到个人的欲望而自我膨胀。禅定如同爱，是一种自发性的经验，不需要强迫也不需要激烈的努力就能获得。

Therefore Buddhist mediation has no other purpose than to bring the mind back into the present, into the state of fully awakened consciousness, by clearing it from all obstacles that have been created by habit or tradition.

因此，佛教的禅定并没有其它目的，而是把「心」带给现实的生活，进入充满觉醒的意识状态，以觉醒的意识状态来清除业习带来的障碍。

The Buddha obtained His Enlightenment through the development of His mind. He did not seek divine power to help Him. He gained His wisdom through self-effort by practising meditation. To have a healthy body and mind and to have peace in life, one must learn how to practise meditation.

佛陀的觉悟是透过他自己努力精进于心灵的发展，并没有得到「神」的帮助，他从禅定中获得智慧。要想拥有健全的身心和愉快的生活，就必须修学禅定。