奢 摩 他 之 開 示

宗薩蔣揚欽哲仁波切

宗薩欽哲仁波切曾在許多國家和場合，講授奢摩他（或稱為「止」）作為定心與安心的方法，本文是節錄自 仁波切在澳洲雪梨的奢摩他開示，原文登於1997年8月Gentle Voice。

首先我們應找出為何要修習奢摩他的理由，基本上，修止是為了獲得某種程度的自我控制力。這表示目前我們毫無自我控制力。在我們面對的許多難題，我認為我們經歷最深層的焦慮和痛苦之一，是內在的基本不安全感。此不安全感正是我們必須摧毀或至少應了解到的。

我們的基本不安是有關於我們本身，更具體地說，此不安乃關於是否有「我」或「自己」，通常我們不太可能問這個問題，但下意識或半下意識裡一直都在質疑。佛教教義上認為內在不安，乃當我們不斷審視自己的生活，尤其是日常生活時，會發現自我的存在頗為懷疑。

舉例來說：自我介紹時，我們會說「我是某某某」；我們可能將自己的名字印在名片上，或尋求各種途徑以獲得進階或得到某種稱謂，更細一層的探究：我們還經歷像摯愛與爭鬥等等的各種極端情緒，這些情緒，實際上還超乎了對別人的愛著與侵犯，它們產生的原因是為了說服我們「自己存在，我確實存在」。

無可避免的，我們還是常感不安，出於這種不安全感，我們製造了許多無謂的希望與期盼，無以計數的期待都落空了。

事實上，我們也常歷經那些不期望它發生的，實際中，我們不希望發生的，似乎老是出現，當這種情況反覆發生後，人們開始失卻對自己的尊敬，也喪失對周遭環境的尊敬，信任就不再有，這就是為何多數的我們，不易對人或事有崇敬的看法(sacred outlook)。對自己沒有崇敬的理念，就不會有確定性，更不用談對宗教事務上，如對上帝或聖靈等有崇敬的觀點，我們甚至不確定自我是否存在。We\'re always in doubt。即使如此，多數時候我們還是假裝我們存在。但我們也相當聰明，我們知道我們在偽裝，我們想要隱藏，不願自我承認我們正偽裝。為了遮掩，我們可能做一些與別人有關的極端事情，或對別人吼叫。做完這些事情以後，它給予你一種自我存在的滿足感。你也活在這種膚淺的滿足感生活中，實際上你的自信還是不堅固。

於是我們逐漸喪失對生活的認知與欣賞……我認為我們應該對自己的生命develop某種程度的了解與感恩，當我談到生活的欣賞與認知，此生活可是包羅萬象。舉例來說，我吃餅乾時，當餅乾進入我的喉嚨，我應該真實感受到「哇！真不可思議！我能夠實實在在吃到一小塊餅乾，太美妙了！」你知道嗎？也許事情不會是這樣。再舉例來說，當我在嚼餅乾，餅乾在我嘴裡溶化，可能忽然間屋頂塌下來，可能把我壓死了。這片餅乾永遠也不會進入我的喉嚨！所以發展出對生命的認知與欣賞多麼地重要，而「止」的禪修即是一把鑰匙，一把非常特殊的鑰匙，得以進入這種認知與欣賞。

因此我們現在有了兩個目標：藉由禪修建立相當的自信，換句話說即消除基本不安，同時學習如何欣賞分分秒秒的生活。然而這不是真正的佛教，而是很人性的作法。你不能稱其為一種宗教，事實上，許多奢摩他禪修大師常說修止並非是要達到去除各種煩惱，完全捐棄二元對立現象的開悟境地。其目標，正如我較早所說的，是得到自我控制的能力，當能自我控制時，我們可以獲得相當程度的信心，認知與欣賞每一分、每一秒的生命。

敬錄自 悉達多本願佛學會 柔和聲

http://www.siddharthasintent.org/chinese/

Our Basic Insecurity

by Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche

In many countries and on many occasions Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche has taught about shamatha or "calm abiding" meditation as a means to stabilise and focus our minds. Here is an excerpt from the shamatha teaching he gave in Sydney, Australia.

To begin with we must find the reason why we\'re doing shamatha meditation. Basically, we\'re doing it so that we can gain a certain control over ourselves. This means that we have no control over ourselves right now. And out of the many different problems that we face, I think one of the fundamental anxieties or sufferings that we experience is that there\'s a basic insecurity within us. And that insecurity is what we need to destroy or at least understand.

The basic insecurity that we have is about our identity. And more specifically than that, we have this insecurity about whether there\'s such a thing as "I" or "the self". Now we may not ask this question normally, but we do pose this question unconsciously or semi-consciously all the time. The Buddhist reason for having such insecurity within us is that if we go on checking our life, especially our day-to-day life, we\'ll realise that there\'s doubt about our existence. For instance, we introduce ourselves to someone by saying "I\'m so and so". We may print our names on cards or we may try to achieve a certain promotion or a certain title. And more subtly than that we experience all sorts of extreme emotions like passion and aggression. All these are actually more than a person becoming passionate or angry at someone else. The cause of all this aggression and passion is the need to convince ourselves that the self exists, that I do exist.

But still it doesn\'t help. Still we\'re constantly insecure. So out of this insecurity we create lots of false hope and expectations. And millions of expectations aren\'t really fulfilled. Indeed, we often also experience what we don\'t expect. In fact, what we don\'t expect seems to happen all the time. And when this keeps on repeating itself, then people begin to lose respect for themselves, begin to lose respect for the environment, and there\'s no trust. So that\'s why, for many of us, having a sacred outlook towards someone or something is so difficult to achieve. There\'s no sacred outlook towards ourselves. There\'s no certainty. Let\'s not even talk about a sacred outlook as being something to do with religion, like God or pure soul or anything like that. We\'re not even sure of our own existence. We\'re always in doubt. Even though, of course, we do pretend a lot of the time that we exist.

But somehow we\'re quite intelligent. We know that we\'re pretending and we want to cover that up. We don\'t want to admit to ourselves that we\'re pretending. And to cover it up we do extreme things like maybe have an affair or yell at someone. And when you go through that kind of extreme emotion, it gives you a certain satisfaction that you do exist. And you live your life with this sort of shallow satisfaction all the time. But it doesn\'t actually give you stable confidence in yourself.

And then we begin to lose our appreciation of life... I think we should develop a certain appreciation of our life. When I talk about appreciation of life, it includes everything. For example, as I eat this biscuit and it goes down my throat, I should actually feel, "Wow! Incredible! It\'s so good that I can actually eat a little bit of biscuit. That\'s amazing!" You see, it may never happen. For example, while I\'m chewing this biscuit, while it\'s melting in my mouth, suddenly this roof may collapse and I may die. This biscuit may never go down my throat! It\'s so important to develop this appreciation of our life. And shamatha meditation is one key, a very special key, to developing this appreciation.

So we have two goals now. Through the meditation we build a certain confidence, in other words, eliminate that basic insecurity that we have, and we learn how to appreciate our moment-by-moment life. This isn\'t really Buddhism, it\'s a very human thing to do. You can\'t say that this is a religion. In fact, many shamatha meditation masters often say that the aim of shamatha meditation isn\'t necessarily to gain enlightenment in the sense of getting rid of all sorts of emotions and reaching the stage where you completely abandon all sorts of dualistic phenomena. The aim of shamatha meditation has nothing to do with that. The aim of it, as I was saying earlier, is to gain control over ourselves. And by gaining that control, we gain a certain confidence and appreciate our life moment by moment, day by day.

http://www.siddharthasintent.org/gentle/GVAug97.htm