讀日劇、過生活

 
最近，在心境上有些轉變～～
想變得安靜一點。

因為想變得安靜一點，希望可以沉澱下來一些，
因為因緣際會，
於是看了兩本關於冥想、正念與禪修的書。

這應該算是我正式、初次接觸相關的書籍。
我沒有其他的想法，就只是希望藉由這樣的書籍，
讓自己往安靜的那方靠過去一些，
希望讓自己在紛紛亂亂的世界中，
在困頓難解的生命困境中，
找到一個可以安頓自己的所在。

看完這兩本，受益良多。

巧的是，兩本書剛好代表了我正好需要的兩個階段。
其中的第一本「滴水禪　現代人靈性的點滴灌溉法」，（參考連結）
講的是較宏觀的入門概念，
讓我對於現實以外的心靈與精神的世界有個基礎的認識。

正當我在想，嗯～這樣的觀念彷彿打開我心靈的某個門窗，
但是，要怎麼實際做呢？
我看的第二本書「冥想正念手冊」剛好就提供了很多實作上的練習。（參考連結）

這樣的順序也來得太巧，
彷彿一切就這樣水到渠成。
對於能有這樣的機緣，我非常感恩。

由於對這樣的世界而言我只是個初學者，或者該說只是個初接觸者，
我不敢有甚麼評論。
我只知道，光是看完第一本「滴水禪」，
整個人的步調緩慢下來許多，
心境上自然而多了些餘裕和空間～

下面的書摘很長很長。
看不完的、看不下去的歡迎跳過。
因為這只是我個人的閱讀摘要而已。

事實上，我猜，
由於我完全跳過摘錄這本書有關於作者經歷的幾個奇蹟般的故事，
包括他自己的故事，
或許有些人會看不懂我所摘錄的部分．．．

但那也沒關係。
如果你覺得好奇，歡迎去買書來看。
我保證，連我這種完全沒接觸過、自認很沒慧根的人都看得懂，
應該每個人都能看得懂。
但如果你沒興趣，那也沒關係，
我想，那就只是你的因緣還未到。
就像我，如果早個幾年，我也對這樣的書完全沒興趣！
那就等到你想看的時候再找來看吧！

另外，因為我對於本書的中文翻譯用語有些理解上的障礙--
有些翻譯字眼使用了現下一般宗教信仰中會用到的術語，
即便是中文，我也不太懂意思....＠＠
幸好這本書是中英對照！
我對照著英文重新看了一遍，反而覺得看英文比看中文還要更好懂～＠＠
（在此忍不住要小小抱怨一下，
　其實作者在英文原文的使用上是很平易近人很白話很好懂的．．．
　為什麼翻成中文就變得很宗教的感覺呢？？？）

所以，因為是給自己看的摘要，
我就把原文放在前頭，中譯放在後頭了。

要強調的是，這本書裡面談到的概念與宗教信仰完全無關，
請不要用信仰的框架來看這本書了。

最後，提一個小建議。
如果你願意的話，
試試看用緩慢的速度輕聲唸出這些文字。
我一字一句慢慢、輕輕地朗讀這整本書的英文，
這樣的朗讀，就像在誦讀經文，
非常有助於讓我自己靜下心來。
 
好了！以下是我的摘要開始：


----------------書摘文分隔線---------------


You are created with everything you will ever need within you.
The spirit of life, the essence of life created you. And the
spirit, the essence of life can heal you, can heal everyone.


在創造你時，在你的生命之內已經具足了你所需的一切。
生命之靈、生命真我創造了你。
那靈性、真我也可以康復你，康復所有的人。

----------------

And of course, the doctors were very, very surprised. They
didn't understand this. But you see, healing has nothing to
do with understanding. Many times we have to get way beyond
our understanding. Often, our understanding can hold us as
prisoners.

What I have come to learn is that in many ways we are all
prisoners. We are held in prison by our thinking, by our
beliefs, by our understanding, by our fear, even by our
hopes.

當然，醫生們都非常非常驚訝，他們不能理解。
你瞧！ 康復與理解完全沒有關係。
許多時候我們都得超越理解。
通常「理解」會將我們困住，好像關在監牢裡。

我漸漸學到，在很多方面，我們都好像身繫囹圄。
被自己的想法、信念、了解、恐懼、甚至希望綁住了，
好像關在監牢裡。

-----------------

So I want to remind you, in your life today and your future,
please be very, very careful to not be too quick to judge
what is in front of you. Sometimes, the teachings, the wisdom,
the healing come in very surprising ways. They often don't fit
nicely into how we think they should look or feel.

所以我要提醒你們，從此以後，在你生命中，
請小心不要太快對你目前所見的下判斷。
有時，教導、智慧、康復會以令人驚訝的方式出現，
通常與我們認為 該有的表相或感覺不合。

-----------------

But much more importantly, I needed to learn like a baby
again, like a young child, to have a free mind.

Because so much of what I had learned through all my
experiences, so much of what we all learn through our
experiences, almost always ends up limiting us as to who
we really are.

但更重要的是我得像嬰兒一般重新學習，
像個心念自在的孩子一樣。

因為經由經驗所學到的知識，往往就是最後限制了真我的東西。

------------------

One of the things that my teacher Jack taught me was to
meditate hundreds of times a day.  

Silence

It's very important to get beyond the words into the silence
because that really is how our true self communicates.  
.......
But it is the loudness that interferes with our hearing the
silence of our being.  And it is that silence from within that
has what we need. And from that silence, we are guided to take
action.  

For some of us, that silence may ask us to stay in the silence
for many days or many years. For some, it will ask you to help
the world in very different types of ways. What is important is
to listen to the silence and let the silence guide you as to
your actions.

傑克教我的功課之一，就是一天要禪修數百次。


寧靜

超越語言文字進入寧靜是很重要的，
因為那才是我們真我的溝通的方式。
.......

而是那干擾了我們傾聽內心寧靜的嘈雜心。
內心的寧靜之處才有我們需要的東西。
從寧靜中，我們接受指引而行動。

對某些人而言，
那寧靜可能要我們數天或數年停留在寧靜中。
對另一些人而言，
它會要你以各種不同的方式去幫助這世界。
重要的是要去聆聽那寧靜，讓寧靜指引你去行動。

----------------

But it is the silence that's most powerful. It is the silence
that heals. It is the silence that forgives. It is the silence
that understands. It is the silence that we all need.

但是惟有寧靜才是最有力的。
是寧靜在康復，是寧靜在寬恕，是寧靜在了解，
寧靜才是我們都需要的。

-----------------

And if the silence is not your master, then your little mind
will be your master. And I think we only need to look around
at the world to see what happens when the little mind is the
master of life. It creates no end of suffering. It creates so
much unhappiness, turmoil, misunderstanding, and it is only
through the silence that we can understand.

如果寧靜不是你的主人，你的小心識就會成爲你的主人。
我們只需要四處看看這世界就可以明白，
當小我心識成為生命的主人時會發生什麼事。
它創造了無邊的痛苦，
它創造了許多的不悅、動亂、誤解，
惟有經由寧靜我們才能互相了解。

--------------------

Altar of Life

One thing I have often seen, when I have visited different
temples and different churches, is they have an altar.  
They place upon that altar offerings. And usually, they come
with a very open heart when they present these offerings.  

And what I am trying to suggest is that everything you do in
life, to do it as if you were placing it on the altar of the
spiritual life. Everything in front of us is altar.
Everything! Every moment!

And the question we often have to ask ourselves is," What is
it we are placing upon the altar every moment in our life?"
Because what we are placing upon that altar will be reflected
back to us in our life. This altar that I am speaking of is
not in a temple or in a church.  

This is the altar of our everyday life I'm speaking of. And
what is it you are bringing to your life, to that altar?  

Are you worshiping and placing upon this altar anger? For
how long have you been placing this anger on the altar?! Are
you placing disappointment on this altar? Are you placing
fear on this altar? Are you placing blame of somebody else
on this altar? Are you placing judgment on this altar?

生命的供桌

當我參訪不同的廟、教堂，都會看到供桌，
人們會將供品放在供桌上。 通常他們獻上供品時，
都有個開放的心。

我想建議你，把生命中所做的每一件事，
都像將供品供給靈性的供桌。
在我們面前的每一件事物都是供桌，
每一事，每一刻都是！

我們得常問自己一個問題
「生命中的每一刻，我將什麼供在供桌上了呢？」
因為我們放在供桌上的一切
都會反映到我們的生命中。

我講的這個供桌並不在寺廟或教堂，
我講的是我們每日生活的供桌。
到底你會帶給生命，帶給供桌什麼呢？

你有沒有將忿怒放到供桌上？
你這樣把忿怒放在供桌上已經有多久？
你有沒有將失望放在供桌上？ 你有沒有將恐懼放在供桌上？
你有沒有將怪罪他人放在供桌上？
你有沒有將批判放在供桌上？


How many prostrations, how many times have you bowed down
and prayed with those types of offerings? I say these
things because this is part of our humanity to feel those
types of feelings.
 
But if we are not taught how to release ourselves from those
type of thoughts, those types of ideas, that is what we will
place mostly upon our altar. And if that is what we are placing
upon the altar of life, what is it we can expect back from
life?
 
In many ways, one part of life is like a mirror -- it reflects
back to us that which we put forth. Not what we put forth
sometimes, but what we put forth most of the time.

And if we find the reflection that life is showing us is not
what we really want, is not the happiness that we seek for
ourselves and for others, then it is time to take a look at
what we are placing upon this altar. Because many of these
things we place there have become a habit.  

The true meaning of offering

One should never bring to the altar these negative energies,
these negative thoughts, if one is not willing to let them go
and to release them.  

How many times a day, without our realizing it, are we sending
our anger, our frustration, to the altar without the prayer
of releasing it? But this is what we are putting our attention
on every day.  

你有多少次的跪拜，多少次的鞠躬，
多少次的祈禱是用這類東西來供養！
我講這些，是因爲這都是人類會有的感受。

但如果沒有人教我們去釋放這些想法、念頭，
我們多半都會將這些東西放在供桌上。
如果你放在生命的供桌上的都是這些東西，
你又能期望生命回報你什麼呢？

在很多方面，生命就像一面鏡子，
它反映了我們放出去的東西。
不是我們偶爾放出去的，
而是我們經常放出去的東西。

如果我們發現生命的反映不是我們真的想要的，
不是我們或他人所追求的快樂，這個時候，
我們也許該看看自己放了什麼在供桌上！
因為我們將這許多東西放上去，
已經變成一種習慣。


供養的眞義

一個人絕對不要把負面能量帶到供桌，
除非你已經準備好，願意釋放它們。  
一天中有多少次我們在不知不覺中送出忿怒、沮喪到供桌上，
並且沒有祈禱要釋放，而每天卻又將注意力放在這些事上。

------------------

How can we bring to the altar those aspects tha really no
longer serve us, that are interfering with our progress
in our life?  
This is where we spoke about those things, such as hurt,
that don't go away: anger, greed, jealousy, frustration,
resentment, things of this nature.  

These things are like an illness to us. And they steal our
life from us. They take away our peace, they take away our
happiness, and they often interfere with our relationship
with others.
The homework I was suggesting was to bring those thoughts,
bring those feelings, to what I call an altar,  

An altar, meaning a place of worship, a place of prayers.  
That altar can be something very physical, where other people
also come to that same type of altar. It can be as I mentioned
, a temple or a church. It can be in your home, or it can be
in your imagination. That's part of the beauty of the mind
: the imagination can create whatever you need.  

So you come to the altar bringing your willingness, your
genuine and sincere prayer to release the anger, release the
fear, release the worry, release whatever it is that has been
holding you and hurting you or causing you to perhaps hurt
others.
 
And as you offer that up every day as often as you wish to,
you begin to let go, you begin to release all of those very,
very old feelings and thoughts. As you release those, you
create more space in your mind and in your heart. As you
create more space in your heart and mind, more of your true
nature can come forth.

我們如何將那生命中不再利益我們、
干擾我們進步的事物帶到供桌上（來釋放）？
我們說的是那些揮不去的
傷害、憤怒、貪心、忌妒、沮喪、不平等這一類的事。

這些東西就像疾病一樣，它們偷走我們的生命。
它們帶走我們的寧靜，帶走快樂，常常干擾你的人際關係。
我建議的功課是將這些念頭、感受都帶上供桌（來釋放）。
 
供桌就是一個禮拜、祈禱的地方。 供桌可以是個實體，
一般人都可以去這一類的供桌，像是我提過的寺廟或教堂。
也可以在你家中，也可以在你的想像中。
這就是心識的美妙之處，想像能創造你所需要的任何東西。
 
所以你可以將你願意釋放的真誠祈求，
放下忿怒、放下恐懼、放下憂慮、
放下任何曾綁住你、傷害你或可能也傷害了別人的一切，帶到供桌上。

當你每天經常的這樣供養，你就會開始放下、
釋放那些很久很久以前的感受與想法。
當你放下那些事，
你就在心中創造出了更多的空間。
當你在心中創造出更多空間，真我本性便能現前。

---------------------

I'll give you a very simple picture. If you have a room
in your house but it is completely filled with furniture
and paintings and statues, and there is no room for anything
else there because it has so many things, how can you bring
anything new into that room if it is already completely
filled?  

The only way to do that will be to give away or let go of
something that you already have. And that is very similar
to what I am suggesting; we need to let go, release, give
up certain things so that something new can come into our
lives.  

Some people may feel more comfortable having an idea of​​ what
it is that is new they want to bring into their lives. You
can have ideas such as,"I would like to bring in more wisdom,
I would like to bring in more forgiveness, I would like to
bring in more understanding, more compassion, to invite in
those qualities that you want to have more of in your life.
See those things coming into your life. See yourself happier.
See yourself healthier. See yourself being more generous.
See yourself being very understanding.

我給你一個很簡單的例子。 如果你有一個房間，
放滿了傢俱、畫、雕像，因爲已經放了這麼多東西，
再也放不下其它的東西了，如果已經完全塞滿，
你如何還能夠放新東西進房間呢？

能做到的唯一方法，就是你將你已有的東西放下或給出去。
這就與我所建議的很像，
我們需要放下，釋放，放棄某些東西，
新的東西才能進入我們的生命。

也許有人會想知道有什麼是新的，
可以帶入我們生命的。
可以設想我要帶入更多的智慧、
更多的寬恕、更多的了解、更多的慈悲，
就是邀請更多你想要的特質進入生命。
看到那些特質進入你生命，
看到自己更快樂、更健康、更慷慨、更了解。

-------------------

Letting go through offering

Now, I am suggesting you take whatever thoughts or feelings
you have that you are willing, 100% willing, to be freed from.  
Then, those you can bring to the altar because you are willing
to have them sacrificed and to be burned up.  

When we are willing to take responsibility for our negative
feelings by giving them up, that is a very, very big sacrifice.  
That is a sacred thing because we are releasing from the world
that negativity. And it's because we are releasing that
negativitythat, from my perspective, it is a sacred act.
 
With the type of sacrifice that I am speaking of, one has to
be very, very honest with oneself and be wiling to free up the
karma that has been created by those thoughts that have been
holding it for a long time. So really, you are not giving anger
to the altar; what you are really giving is your willingness to
give up the anger. You are offering your sacrifice to let go of
the hurt. You are offering your forgiveness to another or to
yourself.
 
在供養中放下

而現在，我建議你將你百分之百準備好，
將願意釋放的念頭與感受拿出來，那麼，
這些你就可以帶到供桌上，
因為你願意犧牲和火化它們了。

當你願意為放棄負面感受負全責，
這是一種很大的犧牲，也是很神聖的事，
因為這麼做，我們是把世界上負面的事釋放掉了。
依我的觀點，
這是一項聖潔的行為，因為我們釋放了負面的事。

我講的那種犧牲，指的是，
一個人要對自己非常非常誠實，
而且願意釋放由於抓住這些念頭久久不放而造成的惡業。
所以事實上，你不是將忿怒放在供桌，
而是將「你願意放下忿怒」供在供桌，
你將放下所受的傷害當作犧牲來供養。
你將寬恕他人或寬恕自己拿出來供養。

-------------------

If somebody has hurt our feelings, we seem to want to hold to
that for a long time. Have you ever noticed? Sometimes years
later, you still are thinking about something that happened in
one minute's time.  

If you would, for just a moment, think about all the things
you still carry in your mind that you didn't like when they
happened to you.

And think of how much energy, how much time, you have spent
thinking about those things. Has it really helped you? Has
it given you what you were looking for?  

They think it's normal to carry a grudge, to be angry for
years, to be afraid for a very long tinme, to be greedy, to
abuse power. This is how the conditioning of the world makes
waking up a little bit more difficult.  

And this is why it is so important to take as much time as
possible to be with your true self. Because the true self will
begin to help you to heal with this negativity and with these
addictions of the mind. And the true self will also help you if
you need help to find someone else who can help you. It works
this way.  

Just like you found the teachings that help you: how do you
think you found those? Those are the gift from your true self.

如果有人傷害我們的感情，我們似乎想要長久的記著不放。
你曾注意到這一點嗎？ 有時許多年以後，
你還記得那些當時其實只發生了一分鐘的事情。

如果你花點時間想想有多少曾經發生而你不喜歡的事，
你仍舊放在心裡不肯捨棄。

想想你有多少能量，多少時間是花在想這些事情上面。
這樣對你有幫助嗎？ 這樣有給你，你想要尋求的東西嗎？

他們認爲壞脾氣、忿怒多年、長時期恐懼、
貪心、濫用權力都是正常的。
這也是爲什麼喚醒世界有點兒困難的原因。

這也是為什麼，儘量多花時間與真我相處是這麼的重要。
因為真我會開始幫你治療這些負面思考與癮頭。
真我也會幫你找到能夠幫助你的人，
這就是它的運作方式。

就像你找到了能幫助你的法門，
你認為你是如何找到的呢？
這是你的真我送給你的禮物。

-------------------------

The Ocean and the Boat

Now I'd like to try to speak to a concept that I call the
boat and the oceaan. My experience is that while we are in
a human form, we have an opportunity to live in a place
where they touch, where so-called physical and spiritual
join. That to me is what a human being is. The joining of
those two forces.  

We as human beings, with our personalities, with all of our
experiences, are what I would call the boat. And there is
the great ocean. And the ocean is that vastness of being.  
You could call it your true essence. It is the ocean of
beingness.  

And in truth, we really don't go back and forth. The part of
us that lives in the ocean is always aware. The part of us
that lives outside of the awareness of the ocean is the part
that seems to go back and forth. Sometimes it's joined,
sometimes it's apart. But it is really an illusion; it's just
not aware that when it's apart, it's really within the ocean.  

And we as human beings identify a great deal with this little
boat that sets out upon the ocean. And all kinds of things
happen to this boat. There are storms, and then we think the
boat is going to sink. And then sometimes, the boat starts to
rot and have problems. We might call that an accident or
illness or old age.

And the real question is, which do you identify with as being
your real self? Do you mostly identify with the boat, with
all of your experiences, or do you identify with the great
ocean?  

I think the human situation is that most of us identify with
the boat. And we invest a lot of energy in our boat. If we have
spent most of our lives identifying with the boat, what happens
when the boat starts to fall apart? Or what happens if we begin
to die? If what we believe ourselves to be is this boat, what
happens?  

Almost everything in the modern world now is designed to make
you think about your boat as who you are. And most of us believe
that this boat, or the reflection in the mirror, is who we are.  
Every spiritual tradition that I know of is designed to help us
shift our focus from identifying so much with the boat and to
begin to identify more with the ocean.  

First, please understand me, the boat, it's very important to
take good care of it. But it is made out of wood, or out of
flesh and bone. And because this part of us lives in the material
world, we will eventually fall apart. And in case you haven't
noticed, I suggest you look really long in the mirror. And you
will see you have already begun to fall apart. No matter what
you do. That's what happens with gravity and time.  

If we have spent most of our lives identifying with the boat, we
may be very, very scared when it comes time to die. Because we
will believe that that which we think we are will no longer exist.

So, one part of our job as human beings is to begin to shift
our awareness so that we begin to know that our true nature is
the ocean. As we identify with the ocean, then when many
experiences come along that are very rough on the boat, we will
have a very different experience than if all we think of is
we are the boat.
......

I have watched the strongest people, strong in their mind,
strong in their body, who don't believe in anything other
than physical reality, open up to something much bigger right
before they die. A practice that I would encourage all of
us to work with is to spend much more of our day identifying
and relating with this ocean of beingness.

Have you ever looked through a camera, taking a photograph?  
There is what they call what is in front and then what is
behind. One is in focus, and one is not so much in focus. Or
if you watch a movie, you can see with the camera that which
the camera is focusing on is very clear to see, and the
background is fuzzy, not so clear.  

And with the lens of the camera, they can switch this so that
which was up close and clear can all of a sudden become not so
clear, and that which was not clear will become clear. And just
like the lens of a camera, so is our consciousness. What is it
we are focused on?  Where are we placing our awareness?  

Human beings have the ability to place their awareness wherever
they choose. That's part of the gift of being a human being.
That is also the responsibility of being a human being.  

For most people, the way that we are brought up, the way that
our education happens, the way that our culture influences us,
the way that politics influences us, the way that our day-to-day
conversations influence us, we only focus on very few things.  
And nearly everything we focus on is what, in this example, I
call the boat。  

This little boat on this big, big ocean is where most of us live.
We make everything about our life this boat.  

Some people spend millions of dollars on their boat. They spend
all their time, all their energy, working on their boat. Some
people exercise a great deal so their boat looks a certain way.  
Some people go to school for a long time so they have lots of
awards that they put on their boat. Some people's boat is a
little bit bigger than others because they have lots of family
and children and grandchildren and relatives. They need a bigger
boat to hold everybody.

And there is nothing wrong with having those things in life. Those
things can be very, very beautiful. As long ae we don't forget
that's not who we really are. As long as those things that we do
in the world are serving the larger self.  

Perhaps another way of saying it is, who's in the driver's seat?  
In your life, is your personality, your mind, your hopes, your
fears, your wishes, your desires, is that what is driving
everything in your day-to-day life?  

Or is it your true spirit that is in the driver's seat? Because
that's really the driver that you need.

No matter how much attention we give our boat, it is still just
a boat. No matter how beautiful, how shining, how fast, how big,
remember the Titanic--they thought that wasn't sinkable.  Many
of us live thinking we will never sink. I guarantee you we will
all sink. The sooner we admit that we are going to sink, the
better.
 
I once had a very brief meeting with a Zen master. And I didn't
know what to expect. I heard they like to make jokes. Of course,
I was young, and I was expecting some big words of wisdom from
the Zen master。  

And he starts out after he introduced himself, and he says,
"Life is like a boat, setting out on the ocean, that's just
about ready to sink." And then he said goodbye to me. And I
tried to figure out, what? This was the meeting? And then I
realized he gave me a very big gift.  

That no matter what we do, no matter how hard we try, no
matter how smart we are, how strong we are, how rich we are,
how powerful we are, it's going to sink. Our job is to begin
to merge, to understand, to value the great ocean. And it is
only through our coming into contact with the ocean of our
being that we will be fulfilled.  

And I hope you understand I am not really talking about the
Pacific Ocean or the Atlantic Ocean. The ocean I'm speaking
of is much bigger than that. It is the ocean of everything.  
It is that which created all there is. We have many
opportunities every day to begin to practice identifying with
the ocean more than the boat.  

Because we are human beings, it is important to respect and
value the boat. But at the same time, it's very important to
not worship it. That which really deserves our worship is not
the boat, although the boat can take us a certain distance on
our journey across the great ocean. But the real task is to
realize we are the great ocean.  

This ocean is where the blessing of life comes from, this is
where the healing comes from, this is where you come from.  

Then, when it comes time for us-- or what shall I say?-- when
it comes time for the boat to sink or fall apart or to be blown
up, then we have had much experience of being with the ocean.  
Like everything else, if we don't have much experience with
letting go of ourselves, we will be very confused when the boat
starts to fall apart.

If we've begun to practice letting go of the boat long before
the boat falls apart, then it will be much more like simply
blinking your eyes. And perhaps you will then be able to say,
" Oh! Isn't that interesting? The boat is sinking." But most
of us say it rather differently. It's, like," Help! I'm sinking.
Help! Help! Help!"And we run everywhere looking for help.

-----------------------

船與大海

現在，我想講一個我稱爲船與大海的觀念。
我體驗到，當我們有一個人身的時候，
靈性和肉身就有機會結合，
我覺得所謂人，就是物質世界和靈性世界的結合。

我們人類，每個人有自己的個性與體驗，
也就是我所說的「船」。 而還有一個「大海」。
大海就是生命之巨，我們可以稱它為你的真我，
它是生命之海。

事實上，我們並沒有在大海和船之間來回，
我們在大海的那一部分永遠都是覺醒的，
在大海覺醒力之外的那一部分，
才會以為自己在大海和船之間來回，
以為大海和船有時結合，有時分離，其實那只是一種幻境，
覺得大海和船是分離時，只是因爲沒有覺知到，
其實船還是在大海之中。

我們身爲人類總是認爲自己只是在海上航行的船，
船上會發生各式各樣的事。有時暴風雨，
我們就認爲船要沉了。 有時船會開始腐爛，發生問題，
我們也許稱爲意外或生病或年老了。

那麼，真正的問題就是，
你認為那一個才是真正的自己？
你認為自己是那艘擁有許多個人體驗的船，
或認為自己是大海？

我想人們多半認爲自己就是船，然後在船上投入許多精力。
如果我們終其一生認為自己就是船，
那當船開始解體時該怎麼辦？ 或是我們要死的時候怎麼辦？
如果我們認為自己就是這艘船，會怎麼樣？

現代世界的每一樣東西幾乎都是設計來
讓你認爲這艘船就是你。
大部份的人認爲這艘船或鏡中影像就是自己。
我所知的每一個靈性傳統，都設計來幫助我們，
將注意力從認為自己就是船，轉到認同自己是大海。

首先請了解，好好照顧這艘船很重要。
但不論是木製的或骨肉和合的，
因為這一部份存在於物質界，終究要破滅分解。
如果你尚未注意到，我建議你好好看一下鏡中的自己，
你會看到你己經開始分解，不論你做什麼補救都一樣，
這是重力加時間運作的必然結果。

如果我們一生中都認爲自己是這艘船，
那麼在快要死的時候，我們也許會很恐懼，因爲我們相信，
這艘我們認爲是自己的船，從此不會存在了。

所以身為人類的任務之一就是轉移我們的覺知，
開始明白我們的真我乃是大海。
如果我們認同自己是大海，
當許多會讓船覺得很難過的體驗來到時，
我們的感受就會與認為自己是船時大大不同。
 
........

我看到過心志身體都很強的人，除了物質世界什麼也不信，
在臨死前卻都敞開自己迎接那更大的世界。
我想鼓勵大家，每天多花點時間練習，
認同及連繫這生命的大海。

拍照時，你可曾從相機中看出去？
景中有前有後，有對焦以及沒有對焦的物體。
或者你看電影，可以看到鏡頭有對焦的主體就很清晰，
而背景則有點模糊，並不清楚。

相機的鏡頭可以轉換，將清晰的變模糊，模糊的變清晰。
我們的意識就像相機的鏡頭，我們的注意力對焦在何處？
我們的覺知要放在何處？

人類有能力選擇要把覺知放在那裡。
這是身為人類的一項禮物，這也是人類的責任之一。

對大部份人而言，我們被帶大的方式，
我們的教育、文化、政治、每日交談對我們的影響，
使得我們只會注意到極少的事情。
幾乎我們注意到的每一件事，都是這艘船。

在大海中，每個人都侷限在自己生活的小船上。
我們令生命中的一切都是這艘船。

有些人花了數百萬的金錢在這船上，
他們將所有的時間、精力投注在船上。
有些人大量的運動，所以他們的船會看起來是某種樣式。
有些人花很多時間上學研究，所以有許多獎牌放在船上。
有些人的船較大，因爲他們有大家庭，兒孫、親戚眾多，需要更大的船。

有那些東西並不是什麼壞事，
那些東西也可以很美妙動人，
只要我們別忘了那些東西並不是真正的我。
只要我們在人世間所做的一切都是為了大我。

也許另一種說法就是「誰在駕駛座上？」
在你的生命中，是你的個性、心識、希望、恐懼、願望、慾念等，
是這些東西在駕御著你的每日生活嗎？

還是你的真我靈性在駕駛座上？
因為那才是你需要的駕駛員。

不論我們放多少注意力在船上，它仍然只是一艘船。
不論多美、多光亮、多快、多大，
記得鐵達尼號嗎？ 他們以爲它不會沉。
許多人以爲自己永遠不會沉，我可以向你保証我們都會沉。
愈早承認自己會沉愈好。

我曾與一位大禪師短聚一會，
我不知要期望什麼，我聽說他們愛開玩笑。
我當時很年輕，期望從大禪師處聽到一些很有智慧的話。

他在介紹自己後就說：
「生命就像一艘船，航行在大海上，隨時就要沉下去了。」
然後他就對我說再見了。
我還想說：「什麼！這樣就結束了嗎？」後來我才明白，他給了我一個大禮物。

不論我們怎麼做、多努力試、多聰明、多強壯、多富有、多有權力，
都是會沉的。
我們的任務是要開始溶入，了解，珍視大海。
我們也唯有經由與這個我們生命的大海接觸，
我們才會得到滿足。

我希望你明白我不是在講太平洋或大西洋。
我說的海比那大得多，
是萬物的大海，是創造我們的大海。
我們每天有許多機會可以練習，認爲自己是大海而非小船。

因為我們是人類，尊重小船也很重要，
但同時不要崇拜它也很重要。 眞正值得崇拜的並非小船。
雖然船可以在過海的旅程上載我們一程，
但真正的任務是明白我們是大海。

大海是所有生命的福賜的源頭，
所有康復能力的源頭，
也是你自己的源頭。

而當時間到的時候，船要沉了或解體或炸掉的時候，
我們已經對大海很有經驗了。
就像任何其他事一樣，如果我們沒有過放下自己的經驗，
我們在船開始解體時就會很困惑。

如果我們早在船解體的很久以前就開始練習放下，
那麼，時間到了就會像眨個眼睛一樣的容易。
也許你還可以說「噢！多有趣啊，船要沉了！」
但大部份人講得都不一樣，就像「救命！我要沉了，
救命！救命！救命！」然後我們就四處找人救命。

-----------------------

The story of Peter

That the power of transformation, the most full ability, he
would always tell me, was to learn to do absolutely nothing.  
Of course, I would say,"Ok! How?" And he would just laugh
at me. He said," It's the simplest thing in the world, but
not easy! And that will take you a long time." And I still,
40 years later, am learning how to do nothing.

Because we are being nothing, all things become possible.  
Because you are not limiting your true self. And something
very interesting happens when you do nothing. This is where
miracles come from.  

I knew that the only chance of helping Peter was if I let
the spirit of life itself come forward, and not my thinking.  

.....

On the first session together, the first two hours we spent,
I had him lie down on a bed. And I told him, honestly," I had
no idea how to help you."

But I do know that within him there is a great spirit. And that
everybody has been only addressing him, working on him as if he
were a boat. And nobody was relating with him as if he were a
living spirit. That within him, as it is within all of us, there
is a light that knows exactly what he needs. And I said,"
Together we will welcome that light to come forward."

彼得的故事

他（傑克）總是說，轉化的力量達到極致，
就是學會什麼都不做。
當然，我又跟著說：「好啊！要怎麼樣才能做到呢？」
他就會衝著我大笑。
他說：「這是世界上最簡單的事，但是不容易！
而且要花很長的時間才能學會。」
四十年後，我還在學如何什麼都不做。

當你什麼都不做的時候，一切都變成可能，
因為你不限制你的眞我本性。
當你什麼都不做時，很有意思的事會發生。 這就是奇蹟的來源。
我知道唯一能幫彼德的機會，
就是我讓生命之靈現前，而不是用思考。

.....

（彼得的）第一次療程，共處約兩小時，我讓他躺在床上，
我對他老實講：「我完全不知道如何幫你。」

不過我知道，他的內在有個偉大的靈性，
而每一個對治他的人，都只把他當做一艘船。
沒有人把他當做活的性靈。
他的內在就跟每一個人的內在一樣，都有一道光，
知道他真正的需要是什麼。
我說：「我們一起歡迎那光現前。」

--------------------------

Then he started to ask me questions. I told him I had no answers
for him, that he would have to find these answers within himself.  
And that the deeper he went into silence, this is where he would
find his answers.

他開始問我問題，我告訴他，我沒辦法給他答案，
但他可以在自己內心找到答案。
他若愈深入寧靜便能在該處找到他的答案。

--------------------------

When you feel your life is very serious and very difficult, very
frightening, please remember to reverse the focus of your lens
and look at your life from the being that identifies with the
ocean more than with the boat. This will make your suffering
much less. This will make your sense of humor much bigger. And
this will help you to be free. And my prayer for you is for you
to be free. Free of all illusions. Free of that which you are
afraid of. Free of whatever is holding you as a prisoner.

當你覺得你的生命嚴重困難，
請記得將鏡頭焦點轉移，
由大海而非船的觀點來看這一切。
這會讓你痛苦大減，
讓你有更多幽默感並幫你得到自在。
我的祈禱就是願你得到自在，
不再有假相，不再有恐懼，不再受任何拘束囚禁。

-------------------------

We regenerate ourselves every day when we eat properly. I'll
try to give you an example. Perhaps you all heard that inside
our body we have what they call DNA. And this is a verv special
type of code in our body that helps us reproduce ourselves
every day.  

Most of us do not think about this very often, but I think we
imagine that creation happened a long time ago. But every day
creation is happening. Every hour in our body, we create over
10 million new cells. If you can imagine every hour 10 million
new cells being born, and what are we feeding those new cells?  

Every seven days, we have all-new skin throughout the whole body.
Within every 30 days, we have replaced most of the cells in our
body with new cells. And every seven years, we have an entirely
new body, with cells that were not part of us when we were born.
So our bodies are very productive, very creative, and very
energetic.

我們吃得對時，每天都會正常重新生長。
我舉個例子，也許你都聽過我們體內有DNA，
這是體內的密碼，幫助我們每天的重新製造。

許多人不常想到這點，
因為我們都認爲創造新生是許久以前的事，
但其實我們每一天都在重新創造新生。
每小時我們身體會創造出千萬個新細胞，
如果你能想像每小時有千萬個細胞出生，你餵它們什麼？

每七天我們的皮膚全部換新，
每三十天全身大部分的細胞都更新了一次。
每七年我們就換了一個新身體，所有出生時的細胞都已被汰換掉了。
所以我們的身體是很有生產力，創造力和活力。

---------------------

Many people have wounds in their emotional body. They might feel
their parents didn't love them enough. Or kept them from doing
something that they dreamt of doing. Or maybe in their mind,
their parents preferred one of the other children more than
themselves. There could be a hundred different possibilities.

And where those feelings are, it's almost like there is a hose
watering the garden with the water, or the life force, flowing
through, and where we have hurt, there is a little bit of kink
in the hose.

And actually, we have hundreds of these little, tiny hoses
running through our physical body. And if too many of them have
a blockage, from either a physical or emotional concern, then
we are not able to have all the life force that is best for us.

很多人的情感體都受了傷。他們也許覺得，
自己的父母不夠愛他們，或是阻止他們達成自己的夢想。
或是他們認爲，父母比較喜歡其他的孩子。
有太多的可能性了。

我們的生命力就像水流，
在花園澆水的水管內流動一樣，
而那些受傷的情感，就像水管的小扭結。

事實上我們肉體中，有上百個類似的小水管在身體中流著。
不論從肉體或情感體的觀點來看，如果太多的小水管有阻塞，
我們都不會有最好的生命力。

---------------------

Disappointment, life force, and forgiveness

In our own personal life, the emotional body is also where our
disappointments are. There is a difference between a temporary
disappointment that goes on for one to four days - that is very
understandable and very natural -- and a disappointment or a
personal hurt that goes on for longer than that, which actually
begins to steal part of our life energy.

It is as if we have a bucket of water and by the time we walk
back home, we don't realize there is a hole in the bucket, and
the water all leaks out of the bucket and we come home with no
water.  

When we hang on too long to our disappointments, to our sadness,  
that is what happens to us: we leak our life energy through that
disappointment.  

I think sometimes for all of us, we can remember back on a time
somebody hurt our feelings or we were disappointed in something
that happened; many years later we still think about these things.
And I would like to ask everybody here, what purpose does that
serve you to hang on so long until it hurts? Who is it really
hurting? Who is the one whose life energy is leaking?  

It is very important to spend some time every week to forgive, to
forgive others and to forgive yourself. Because if we do not
forgive, then on that altar that we were speaking about, we
constantly put on that altar our hurt, our disappointment, our
anger, our frustration, our sadness, and that is what we end up
praying to the altar. And the way you let that go is through
understanding of another and through forgiveness.

失望，生命力，原諒

在我們個人生命中，情感體也是我們的失望所居之處。
這不同於那種大約持續一到四天的，暫時的失望，
那種情況是很可以理解，很自然的。
而當個人受傷失望長於這段時間時，它就會開始洩掉我們的生命力。

就好像我們有個水桶，裝滿水走回家，
而我們不知道桶底有個洞，到家時，滴水無存。

當我們抓著失望，悲哀過久時，
就像這個漏洞水桶，經由失望，生命力都洩光了。

我想偶爾每個人都會記起某人傷了我們的心，
我們因某件事發生而失望，許多年後我們仍舊想著那件事。
我請問大家，「你抓著那傷痕不放，是為了什麼？
是誰在受傷？是誰的生命在漏失？」

每週花點時間去原諒，
原諒別人也原諒你自己是很重要的，
因為 如果我們不原諒，
那麼我們就是不斷將傷害、失望、
忿怒、沮喪、哀傷供在供桌上，
而這些就變成最後我們在供桌前所祈求的。
放下這些的方法，就是了解與原諒。

-------------------------

Now, one of the hardest things to do in forgiving somebody is
you have to let go of who was right and who was wrong. If we
stay with who was right and who was wrong, you will always be
in a fight with your own mind.

Even if they were wrong, you need to let it go. The reason to
let it go is because the one who's hurting the most is yourself.
The amount of time and energy that you are preoccupied with
your hurt, that is less time you have for the things you like,
the things that are important in your life.  

And when you forgive them, that does not say that what they did
was OK. What it says is," I am choosing to put my consciousness
toward something more important than what has hurt me."

原諒別人最難的一件事，
就是你得放下「誰對，誰錯」這個想法。
如果你總是想誰對誰錯，你永達都是在心中交戰。

就算是他們錯了，你也得得放下。
要放下，因為在其中真正受傷害最深的是你自己。
你花在這受傷害上的時間和精力越多，
你去追求你生命中所喜愛的，重要的事的時間就越少。

而且當你原諒他們，並不是說他們那樣做是對的。
原諒只是說，
我選擇將我的意識放在比受傷害更重要的事情上。

-------------------------

That is how that world works. In my experience, the universe
is really a conspiracy, to our greatest benefit, working with
us always if only we will say yes to it. If only we will allow
all the intelligence, all the wisdom, all the teachings from
what we've been calling earlier the ocean to come flying forward.
...

Every day things happen to us that in an ordinary mind we see
as a nuisance. When they really may be a gift from heaven.  
But you will see it as a gift if you are also open to the unseen
world.

這就是那個世界如何起作用的方式。我的經驗是，
宇宙總是為了我們最大的利益在幫我們。
只要我們願意，它永遠是為了我們而工作。
只要我們願意接受先前所提到的海洋所給予的
所有的信息、
所有的智慧、
所有的教導。
...

每天發生在我們身上，我們平凡人認為是很麻煩的事，
其實也許是來自天堂的禮物。
但你不會明白它是禮物，
除非你敞開胸懷，接受那看不見的世界。

---------------------------

The Energy Body

Now I'll tell you about another body of ours. What I would call
the energy body, or the luminous body. The body of light. This
is the body that is the bridge between the physical and the
spiritual. This is the body that I think many of you have some
experience with.  

When you practice your yoga, when you practice your tai chi or
your chi gong, you are beginning to feel the energy of this body.
This body is connected to the energy of the solar system, of the
sun, of the moon, of the wind, of the rain, and of the earth. And
when one practices healing through their touch, it is through this
body that that healing flows.

This energy does not come from the body. Please understand, we do
not have an energy field. We are an energy field. We are plugged
into universal energy.

光明能量體

現在再談另一個體。 我叫它能量體或光明體，有亮光的體。
這是肉體與靈性之間的橋樑。
這個體，我想你們許多人都有些體驗。

當你練瑜珈、太極、氣功，就會開始感覺到這個體的能量。
這個體連繫著太陽系的能量，
連繫著太陽，月亮，風，雨及地球的能量。
當一個人用接觸來治療時，是經由這個體來傳遞康復力。

這個能量並非來自身體。
請了解我們並不是身體發出一個能量場，
而是，我們本身就是能量場。
我們與宇宙的能量是連成一體的。

.......

And this energy- what we call energy - really, energy is not a
truly accurate term for it. And many people think it's the
so-called energy that heals. It is not the energy that heals.
It is the information inside the energy that reawakens our truth
-- it is that which heals us.  

We can all learn to actually sense and feel this life source, or
life energy. It has its own language. It doesn't speak English
or Chinese or Japanese: it speaks life.  

Our nervous system is actually designed to be able to feel and
interact with this life energy. It's not exactly the same as the
ocean, although it's part of the ocean. But we are actually
swimming in the sea of​​ energy all the time.  

This luminous energy, some people say they can see it. In
spiritual religious art, it is often shown as what they might
call an aura.  

And if it is uninhibited, it is free to flow through us, it does
quite tremendous things.

我們時常講能量，事實上「能量」並不是一個正確的說法。
我們一般認為讓我們康復的是「能量」，
其實並不是能量在康復，是能量裡的訊息，
喚醒了我們的真我本性，這才是讓我們康復的源頭。

我們每一個人都可以學會感受這股生命力或生命的能量。
它有它自己的語言。 它不講英文，中文或日文，它講生命。

我們的神經系統的設計是可以感受到這股生命力，
並跟它交流的。
它並不完全像海洋，雖然它是海洋的一部分。
事實上，我們隨時都在能量之海中游泳。

有些人說他們可以看到光明能量體，
一般宗教圖畫上畫的（人頭上的）光圈，
就是人們用來表示光明能量體。

如果不限制它，如果它能自由的流過我們，
它能做非常不可思議的事。

------------------------

He said this light that I saw is the light within everyone, and
it is the light that is everywhere. He said,“ It is from this
light that you will heal yourself. And once this light is no
longer restricted, you will be able to help other people to
heal also.”

他說我看到的光是每一個人都有的光，
也是無處不在的光。
他說：「就是經由這個光，你會康復自己。
而且一旦這個光被你釋放出來，不受限制了，
你還能夠幫助他人康復。」

-------------------------

Stories you tell yourself

These stories that we tell ourselves and we tell our friends,
we tell our families or other people tell us-- because they
repeat themselves all the time, they actually often limit us
toward our ultimate goal of freedom and peace.  

So one place to begin for changes in your life is to begin to
look at what story you are telling yourself most of the time.  
This is what I had to do when I was in great need of healing.  

The story that I was being told was I'll never walk, I'll never
see, I'll always be in pain, I'll always be afraid, because I
will be so sick most of the time .

So the doctors are telling me a very sad story that is true if
the one-billionth that we are able to perceive is all you're
interested in.

And while I certainly needed to listen to that, I decided, let's
see what happens with all of these if I put my focus, my attention,
my practice, my everything into all the rest of that 999 million.  

I think most of us have that kind of choice in our own lives every
day. Certainly, it's not nearly as dramatic as what happened to me.  

However, every day, many times a day, we have an opportunity to
make a choice--  where are we going to invest our essence?  

When we invest in that one-billionth portion, very little changes
in our lives. And very little changes in the world.  

I'm sure if you would take a moment right now to take a look at
your own life, you will see that you give yourself a message,
almost every day, many times a day, about what it is you will
never attain. We don't even realize it after a while that we are
telling ourselves these negative stories about ourselves and
about others.

Let's just imagine for a moment, what is it you want to put on
the altar for your prayers every day? Do we want to put on that
altar a prayer that says," I am not enough, I am not very good,
this person is not very nice, and I wish so-and-so would leave
me alone"?

Because that is what most of us are doing if we have a repetitive
thought that keeps coming and coming and coming. And usually, this
is not just a thought. You have lots of emotions and feelings
also with these thoughts, which means you have really invested;
you put a lot of energy and effort toward that negativity.  

......

But what happens if it doesn't go away after five minutes, 20
minutes, one day, two days, three days, four days, and you are
still carrying it weeks later, months later, years later,
lifetimes later?  

The question to ask ourselves is, are we willing to let go of
that which is not in our best interest or the best interest of
others? If we are willing to let go of these thoughts, then all
of the energy that has been lost will return to you. The very
same thing that works in our own life, just like I'm explaining
now, also creates the world for everybody.


告訴自己的故事

這些我們告訴自己，告訴朋友，告訴家人
或其他人告訴我們的故事，因爲一再重覆，
它們通常限制我們走向那最究竟的安寧與自在的目的地。

所以改變你生命的起點，
可以從注意你大部份的時候都告訴自己什麼故事開始。
這是我在那極需康復時務必做的事。

別人告訴我的故事，
就是我再也無法走路、會瞎掉、我會永遠在痛苦中，
我會永遠恐懼，因爲我大部份時間都會在病痛中。

醫生告訴我這是個悲劇，
如果你所相信的就是這十億分之一我們所以爲的現實世界，
則那的確是一個悲劇。

雖然我必須聽從醫生的說法，但是我決定看看，
如果我把我的焦點、注意力、我的修習、我的每件事，
都放在其他的九億九千九百萬上，那 將會發生什麼。

我們大部分人每一天都面對像這樣的選擇。
當然沒有像我當時發生的那麼戲劇性。

然而，我們每一天有好幾次機會面對這樣的抉擇：
我們要把我們的生命精華投資在哪裡？

如果投資在這個十億分之一的話，
我們的生活不會有什麼改變，世界也沒有什麼改變。

我確定，如果你現在花點時間看自己走過的生命，
你會看到你幾乎每天都在不斷的給自己訊息，
哪些是你永遠無法達成的任務。
過了一陣子，我們甚至不自覺，
自己是這樣的告訴自己和他人這些負面的故事。

讓我們想像一下，每天你要祈禱什麼，放什麼在供桌上？
你會想供養一個祈禱說：
「我不夠好，這個人也不好，我希望某人別來煩我」嗎？

因為那是許多人常做的事，
就像我們有一個重複的想法一再出現。
而且通常不是只有想法，
你有許多伴隨著這個想法的情緒與感受。
也就是說你非常投入，
有許多能量、努力都投注在那負面情緒上。

......

但是如果（這些負面能量）五分鐘，
二十分鐘，一天，二天，三天，四天後都不走，
你數週，數月，數年，生生世世後仍帶著它，怎麼辦？

問題就是要問自己
「我們是否願意放下這些對我們或他人無益的想法？」
如果我們願意放下這些想法，
那麼所有以前失去的能量都會回來。
同樣地，在我們生命中運作的事，
也創造了大家的世界，就像我現在所說的一樣。

-------------------------

Bless Yourself

Now we will tr​​y the difficult one, and that is to bless
yourself. Forgiving somebody else who was not nice to you,
for whatever you think that they did, that is so easy
compared to blessing yourself. Many of us deep down don't
feel that we deserve to be blessed.  

We feel maybe we did something wrong, or we are not good
enough, or we know how bad our thoughts really have been,
or we did something to somebody, or it's been so many years
that you have felt bad that you don't even know how to not
feel bad anymore.  

That is the situation that most humanity faces. We have
begun to believe the illusion. We have forgotten the
fundamental truth about ourselves, and we've begun to believe
that we are not good enough, or that we can't be well, or
that we will never be happy, or a thousand other kinds of
negative thoughts.

There is nothing that cannot be healed. There is no negativity
that cannot be transformed. There is no karma that cannot
be resolved.  

Yes, some of these things may take time. And many of them will
not be easy at first. But everything that is the illusion can
be resolved when you see it with the truth.

祝福自己

現在要試較難的，那就是祝福你自己。
原諒對你不好的人，不論他們對你做了什麼，
比起祝福自己容易得多。
許多人在內心深處不認爲自己值得被祝福。

我們也許覺得自己做錯事，或不夠好，或自知想法很惡劣，
或會對某人不好，許多年來你都覺得自己很糟，
甚至已經不知道該如何覺得自己並沒有那麼糟了。

大部份的人類所面對的都是這種情形，
我們開始相信這個假相，我們忘了自己的眞我，
相信自己不夠好，沒辦法好，永遠不會快樂，
千百種負面的想法。

沒有什麼是不可康復的，
沒有不可轉化的負面事件，
沒有不能消的業。

是的，這些事也許需要時間，而且初期也許並不容易，
但是當你用眞理來看時，任何假相 都會破滅。

----------------------------

Commitment and Healing Oneself

How can we begin this healing with ourselves? And what do
we need to do for that to happen? Again, it begins with a
commitment. What will help that commitment is for you to
literally, not just in your mind, actually consider going
in front of an altar that maybe you make in your own home,
or going to a temple and bringing in an offering to that
altar. That offering is maybe something of your mind or
maybe something physical.  

Remember, that altar can be something right in the privacy
of your own home. What is important is that altar represents
for you the sacred world. Because those are the energies we
need in order to become more our true self.  

And upon that altar, whether you offer something physical or
with your mind, what you are offering is your humility, what
you are offering is the prayer that says,“I want to be free,
and I am willing to accept the responsibility for what that
means. I will do whatever is necessary to be free.”

After you have said that prayer from your heart, then you
leave that prayer at the altar. Sometimes, you may need to go
to that altar and leave a similar type of prayer many days in
a row because you must empty yourself of all the feelings that
you have held within yourself. When you take something from
within yourself and you give it to the sacred energies, it
actually feeds the spirit.  

The wonderful thing about enlightened energies is that they
have no fear of negativity. They can eat all of our negativity
for lunch and enjoy it. There is nothing that they are afraid
of. We can become more and more like that ourselves.

So you do not have to be afraid if you take from yourself your
hurt, your broken heart, and you put it to the altar; it will
go up as incense to the gods. The more honest, the more pure,
the more truthful your prayer, the more energy to feed them,
the more work they can do with the world.  

Once you have really given this prayer forth, whether one day,
two days, three hundred days, whatever it takes, then because
you will be empty of those feelings, something else can come
in that place. We often have many, many things of which we
must empty ourselves.  

In other words, how can our true self fill us up if we are
already full with our little thinking? So our job is to empty
ourselves every day, all the time.

Offer up your pain. Offer up your fear. Offer up your worry.  
But please understand, when you offer it up, you are not asking
the spirits to fix it or to make it better or to make it easier.
It's like giving a pure gift. This is what prayer is like. When
you give a pure gift to somebody, you do not have expectations.

You are giving it out of the pure joy or the goodness, or because
you know it will help them to give whatever you are giving. But
it's not really a pure gift if you give it and you have that
expectation of what they are going to do with it.

It is the same with prayer. When we pray or give something up,
we must just give it up without any expectation of what's going
to happen. And as we give it up and become empty, this is where
our true nature will start to come forth. And there is no greater
gift that I know of than for this to come forward in our lives.

For three minutes, let us all think of one thing that we feel
we ae ready, we are willing, to put upon the altar. Something we
are willing to give up. Something we are willing to sacrifice
about ourselves. Something we have hung on to for a long, long
time. Something that probably does not do good by you anymore.  

Take a moment to think." What is it I am willing to put on
the altar? What is it that would be so good for me to let go of,
to give up?"

“Not to worry. It can be something very small or something very
large. You get to choose. And you will have thousands of these
that you can do throughout the rest of your lives. You will be
amazed that the more you do this, you just keep finding these
old, old things inside of you.

Things from when you were a little child, things from when you
were an adult, something your mother may have said, something
that happened when you were very sad, or somebody you loved
who passed away. There are hundreds of things that happened to
us in our lives that may have happened in just one moment but
that we have been hanging on to for years.

So just take a moment and see what it is you are willing to put
on the altar of offering. And let us, just for three minutes in
silence, put it on the altar.  

If you empty yourself, do you fill it with something after you
have emptied yourself? Perhaps what you will want to do is simply
invite your true self to come and fill whatever has now been
emptied. Different traditions and different cultures express
this in their own unique way. Some cultures may fill it with
light, some with wisdom, some with love. But what is so important
is to first become empty and then let that which is greater than
you fill you up.


承諾與自我康復

我們要如何開始自我康復，我們必需要做什麼才能啓動它？
同樣地要從一個承諾開始，
幫助這個承諾的方法就是你不僅只是在心裡想，
你要眞的把供品供上供桌，
這可以是家中的供桌或寺廟的供桌，
供品則可以是實物或在你內心的某樣東西。

記得，供桌可以是在你家中很私密的角落。
重點在於供桌代表了那神聖的世界，
因爲我們需要那種能量讓我們更接近眞我。

供桌上，不論供品是實物或來自內心，你供的是你的謙卑，
你的禱詞是「我要自在，我願眞正的負起責任，
我願做一切需要做的以得到自在。」

在你從內心說出祈禱後，你可以將祈禱留在供桌上，
有時你需要許多天連續在供桌上，供養類似的祈禱。
因爲你一定要將你所有內心執著的感受放空。
當你從內心拿出某些東西供給那神聖的能量，
實際上會滋養靈性。

證悟能量的美妙，就在於對負面想法毫無恐懼，
它們可以享用我們的負面想法，把它當做午餐吃掉，
它們什麼都不怕。 我們自己也可以漸漸變成像那樣。

所以你不用害怕，如果你把自己受的傷害、心碎供上供桌，
它們會如香般供養諸神。 你的祈禱愈眞誠，愈純淨，
你供養的能量愈多，它們就能爲這世界做愈多的事。

一旦你眞心奉上祈禱，也許一天，二天，三百天，不論多久，
因爲你放空了那些感受，其它的東西就會替代原來的位子。
我們通常有許許多多的東西需要清理放空。

也就是說，如果我們己經裝滿了小我的想法，
哪裡還有空間讓真我裝進任何東西呢？
所以我們的工作就是每天時時放空自己。

供養你的苦痛，恐懼，擔憂。 不過請了解，當你供出去，
你並不是要求靈性爲你修補或讓它變好，變得容易。
這就像給一個純淨的禮物，祈禱就像這種禮物，
當你將純淨的禮物給某人，你不會期望有任何回報。

你以純淨的喜悅或善良美好的心給予，因爲你知道，
你所給予的，將會幫助他們同樣的去給予。
如果你給了，又期望他們將會如何對待禮物，
那就不是一個純淨的禮物。

祈禱也是如此。 當我們祈禱放下，
我們就一定要放下而不期盼任何事會發生。
當我們放下，放空了，就是真我開始現前的時候了。
以我所知，沒有比真我現前更好的禮物了。

讓我們花三分鐘想一想，
感覺一下我們已準備好，願意供養在供桌上的，
是我們願意放下的東西，我們願意犧牲的東西，
我們抓了很久的東西，也許對你己經沒什麼好處的東西。

花點時間想一下，
「有什麼是我願意放在供桌上的？
什麼是放下，放棄了會對我很好的東西？」

不要擔心，這可以是很小或很大的東西，你自己選擇 ，
在你餘生裡，你會有上千件這種東西，可以慢慢選。
你會訝異，你供上愈多，
就愈發現自己內心還藏了許多很老，很舊的東西。

有的是當你還是小孩時，有的是你已成年，
有你媽媽曾對你說過的，有你傷心時發生的，
或你所愛的人往生了，有千百件過去發生的事，
也許發生當時只是一下子，而我們在許多年後仍舊抓著不放。

所以花點時間看看你願在供桌上供什麼。
讓我們靜默三分鐘將它供在供桌上。

如果你放空自己，你是否在放空後再用什麼將自己充滿？
也許你會想要迎請真我來填滿空處。
不同的文化傳統各自有其獨特的表現方式。
有的文化填滿光，有的是智慧，有的是愛。
但重要的是先放空而後再讓那比你偉大的來填滿你。

--------------------------

Negative Thoughts as Our Teachers

We all have this idea that we're only supposed to think
positive thoughts, that if we have negative thoughts, it's
very bad. Look out! A torpedo is going to come to hit your
boat.  

To try to stop negative thoughts is like telling yourself
not to scratch an itch. And so if you have an itch and you
discipline yourself by thinking,“I won't scratch it,”you
then become obsessed with the itch. And all your focus or
most of your focus stays on the itch, even if you don't
scratch it. Very similar if you tell yourself,”Don't have
negative thoughts＂-- that actually ends up feeding more
negative thoughts.

There is a philosophy in the United States called positive
thinking; you're only supposed to have positive thoughts, no
negative thoughts. And they say negative thoughts make you
sick, make you ill, bring bad things. If that were the case,
I would be dead.  

What I mean is, of course, as we are growing and developing,
we will have negative thoughts; it's not about not having
negative thoughts. It's what you do with them when they
arrive.

You can use negative thoughts as teachers. Because they will
show you where you have mental states that need healing.

I understand negative thoughts are not fun. They can be painful;
they can often interfere or interrupt when other things are
going on in your life in a good way. And they take some time
to release the rhythm or the pattern or the habit of where
they come from.

I want to try to speak more about this because I believe most
of us suffer from this greatly. And while cosmic energies and
psychic experiences might be more interesting, the mind and
what happens is very important.

When you have negative thoughts come, at first, of course,
you're not aware of them; they come and they kind of take over
for, it might be two seconds, but it might be five minutes
before you realize. The important aspect is when you do become
aware of them to stop for a moment, and it's almost as if you
turn to face them, and for me, I bow to them.  

And I thank them. For coming to show me where I need liberation.
Where I still suffer. Where I am unaware.  

And usually, they will then leave rather quickly if they're
acknowledged and not fought with. And then there are those that
we call negative thoughts that don't leave quickly, and they
want to just bother you and bother you and bother you. And I
should bow even more deeply to them. Because they show me even
more how deeply I still have to go.

負面念頭是我們的老師

我們都認為，我們只可以有正面的想法。
我們認為負面的想法是不好的，
我們認為負面的想法就像魚雷，它們會毀掉我們的船。

禁止自己有負面的念頭，等於告訴自己不要抓癢。
如果你覺得癢，但是你告訴自己「我絕不抓癢！」
你反而變成全心都是癢，雖然你不抓它，
但是你會把全部或大部分注意力放在癢上面。
同樣的，你告訴自己不要有負面的念頭，
你反而是在滋養你負面的念頭。

在美國，有一種稱爲「正面想法」的哲學，
你只可以有正面想法，不能有負面的思想，
他們認爲負面思想會讓你生病，會有不好的事情發生。
如果眞是如此的話，我應該早就死了。

我的意思是，在成長的過程中，我們總是會有負面的念頭，
重點不是沒有負面想法，
而是當它們升起的時候，你怎麼處理。

你可以把負面念頭當作老師。
它會告訴你，你的心識的哪個層面需要康復。

我知道負面的心念是不好玩的，有時候是非常痛苦的，
當你事事順心的時候，負面想法會干擾你。
有時候，我們需要一段時間才能從慣性的負面想法中釋放出來。

我想再多講一下這方面的問題，
因為我們之中，大多數人深受其害。
談宇宙的能量，或者是特異功能當然此較有趣，
但是我們的心念，以及心念對我們的影響是非常重要的。

當你的負面念頭升起的時候，它佔據了你，
也許起初幾秒鐘或五分鐘之內，你沒有覺察得出來。
而重要的是，當你覺察出來的時候，就停下來，
等於算是轉身面對它一樣，我在此時會向它頂禮。

我還謝謝它們指引我，告訴我哪方面需要解脫。
哪方面我還在受苦。 哪方面我還沒有覺知。

通常你認可它，而不是與它抗爭的時候，它很快就會離開。
也有一些負面的念頭不會那麼快離開，
它們會一而再，再而三地干擾你，干擾你，干擾你。
對於這類的負面念頭，我更要深深地向它們頂禮。
因爲它們告訴我，在哪一方面，我還要下更大的功夫。

----------------------------

本blog宣言：台灣是主權獨立的國家，台灣不是中國的一部份，我支持台灣獨立（為何出現這段文：［連結］）
----------------------------


本書全名：滴水禪  現代人靈性的點滴灌溉法
作者：米契爾．梅
出版社：琉璃光出版社
出版日期：2007-08-20
ISBN/ISSN：9789868840317