Resting the Busy Mind* (安住這忙碌的心)
Resting the Busy Mind

安住這忙碌的心

7th Dzogchen Penelope Rinpoche

第七世 竹慶本樂仁波切

Sometimes we’re angry but forget why. We may not be sure of the real reason for our anger, but our gut feeling says our anger is justified and we hold on to it. We start to think of justifications for our anger: the time our friend forgot to call, insulted the family dog, was late for the movies, never picks up checks, and constantly complains. Suddenly, we have lots of reasons to be angry. The list is endless. That cheers us up, and our busy minds are satisfied for a moment.

有時候後我們生氣，但忘了為什麼。我們可能不確定生氣的真正原因，但是我們的內心告訴我們，生這氣是正當的，然後我們照做了。我們開始想生這氣的正當理由: 朋友忘了打電話，侮辱了家裡的狗，看電影遲到，從不整理發票，不停的抱怨。這個清單是無限長的。這會讓我們開心，我們忙碌的心也在這時刻感覺很滿足。

Whether it’s anger or passion or just our “to do” list, the mind always seems to be actively involved with something. One instant, it runs outward toward something it sees and wants, the next moment, it retreats inward toward some engrossing thought. Then it’s back to our friend and the anger that’s becoming so familiar. Our minds are always busy keeping track of this and that in our inner and outer worlds. It’s like having a job and a family — between the two, there’s hardly any break. One thought leads to another, and that thought leads to a third. At some point, we lose track and can’t remember how we got to where we are. When the mind goes around and around like this, it’s like water that’s stirred up all the time. It never has a chance to settle and become calm and clear. You can even have trouble sleeping because your mind is not at rest.

不管是生氣的或是喜歡的或者只是我們的備忘緣上寫著的，我們的心總是很積極的把事情搞的很複雜。一瞬間，心跑外面去找一些引人注意的東西;下個瞬間，它又退回來找那些有趣的念頭。然後再跑到我們朋友身上，同時這憤怒變的熟悉了起來。我們的心總是忙碌於這樣子做，而且也不記得我們是如何變成這樣的。當我們的心，一次又一次的變成這樣，就像水一次一次的被激起來，所以就完全沒有機會可以沉澱，可以變的平靜與清澈。你也甚至可能因為你的心無法休息而失眠。

If you know your mind is busy and full of thoughts, then that’s actually not too bad. But often that’s not the case. Sometimes we’re juggling five or six trains of thought and the emotions attached to them. With so much going on, the mind starts to get agitated and confused. We can’t see clearly how disturbed our minds have become. We also can’t see that there’s no logic to our confusion. Still, we remain very diligent and patient when it comes to holding on to our thoughts. We try to keep them all alive, to keep up the steady stream of thoughts. If the stream starts to slow down or stop, we immediately try to revive it. We even have gadgets to help us hold on to our thoughts — pocket PCs, Palm Pilots, notebooks, iPhones — so we can record anything. It’s all there: your emails, texts, schedules and shopping lists. That’s not always a bad thing, but with all this going on, it’s easy to see how our minds never get any rest.

如果你知道你的心是很忙碌而且充滿念頭的，那還不算太糟，但通常不是這個樣子。有時候我們同時面對著五，六個念頭，與伴隨而來的情緒。伴隨著這麼多的事情，我們的心開始變的焦慮與迷惑。我們看不清楚我們的心到底變的有多混亂。我們也看不見，我們的迷惑是無邏輯可言。我們仍然很耐心與很努力的幫助自己抓住這些念頭。我們試著去保持讓它們活力，保持這個穩定的思緒之流。如果這個流動開始變慢或是停止了下來，我們馬上試著讓它復甦起來。我們甚至有一些小玩意，可以幫助我們去抓著這些念頭，像是，PDA，掌上型電腦，筆記型電腦或是iphone，於是我們可以記錄一切的東西，像是你的email, 文件，行事曆和購買清單。這也不完全是件壞事，但是伴隨著所有的事，很容易就看見為何你的心從未得到任何休息。

Our problem is that this busy mind can lose its connection to its real nature. When we take time to look beneath all this activity, we discover a sense of spaciousness and awareness, peace and happiness, that doesn’t change from moment to moment. It’s always there for us. The Buddha taught that this is the actual reality of our minds. To reconnect to that reality, we need to slow down and relax — totally let go and rest our minds. Then there is the possibility of the mind clearing up, calming down, and tuning in to its basic state of peace and happiness.

我們的問題是，這個忙碌的心它會與它的真實本性失去聯繫。當我們花時間在看看下面這活動，我們會發現寬廣與覺知，平靜與快樂，這是從每個時刻到每個時刻不曾改變的，它永遠都在那邊等我們。佛陀教導我們，那就是心的真實本性。為了要與實相再接上線，我們需要放慢與放鬆，完全的放手與安住我們的心。然後我們的心才有可能，清明，平靜，還有轉變成它平靜與喜樂的基本狀態。

So how do we rest and relax our minds? There are a number of things that can help. You can nourish and relax your body with a healthful diet and exercise, especially yoga. You can take breaks, go for walks, listen to music, and disconnect for a while from the cyber-, info-, and techno- worlds. But what can help the most is the practice of meditation where you are just watching your thoughts and resting your mind on the coming and going of your breath. This style of meditation is simple, can be practiced anywhere, and has a strong impact on our well being. Once we become comfortable with the basic technique, which is described in many places, we can take a closer look at our thoughts.

所以，那要如何安住與放鬆我們的心呢？這有很多有幫助的東西，你可以滋補與放鬆你的身體透過健康的飲食與運動，特別是瑜伽。你可以休息一下，去散散步，聽聽音樂，並且暫時與這個和電腦、資訊、科技有關的世界中斷聯繫。但最有效的是練習禪修，就看著念頭與在呼吸上安住你的心。這樣的禪修很簡單，任何地方都可以練習，而且對我們的健康有很大的影響。當你對這個基本的方法感覺自在，你可以再更靠近一點看著你的念頭。

The first thing you’ll notice is how many thoughts you have, how they’re always shifting and changing, and how the mind chases after them. The practice is simply to notice when your mind wanders off and bring it back to the present, again and again. The way you come back is by letting go of the thought you’re following. Once you notice it’s there, you don’t hold on to it. Then you’ve cut the momentum of the stream of thoughts instead of encouraging it. There’s a sense of relief when you’re not being dragged around by your thoughts. It doesn’t matter whether the thoughts are positive or negative. If a good thought appears, you don’t need to improve it or rejoice in it; just let it be as it is. If a bad thought pops up, you don’t need to get upset about it or try to block or change it. You can just let it be as it is.

第一，你要注意的是，你有多少個念頭? 它們是怎麼移動與改變? 你的心又是怎麼追著它們的? 這個練習是，很簡單的去注意什麼時候你的心跑掉了，再帶它回來到當下，一次又一次。當你發現它就在這，你不用抓住著它; 此時你已經切斷了思緒之流的動力，而不是再加強它。當你不再被你的念頭拖著跑的時候，會有種被釋放的感覺。這與那念頭是好是壞無關，如果一個好的念頭產生，你不用去加強，或是感到歡喜，就讓保持它的樣子 ; 如果是一個壞的念頭跑出來，你也不用感到失望或是想要去阻止、改變它，你就讓它保持它的樣子。

The way to really rest our busy minds in meditation is to let go of all thoughts about our thoughts. We can simply relax as our thoughts come and go. The more relaxed we become, the more we can see the mind’s spacious, wakeful quality, which we’ve been more or less blind to. When we see this, we are seeing what the Buddha called our “enlightened potential,” which everybody has.

在禪修中真正能讓你忙碌的心安住的方法，就是放下所有關於我們念頭的想法。當我們念頭來來去去時，我們可以就單純的放鬆。越放鬆，我們越能看見心的寬廣，清醒的特質，這是被我們或多或少忽略的。當我們看見這個，我們就看見佛陀所說的我們都具有的”覺醒的潛能”。

What this means is that we can find our own happiness and peace of mind just as we are in this very moment, because it is within us. We don’t have to change our thoughts or change ourselves into someone else. We don’t need to think that who we are, this “me,” is not good enough, smart enough, or lucky enough to be happy. We don’t need to be Mother Theresa, Bill Gates or the people in the Vogue magazine ads to be happy. If we think we do, we don’t have to chase after that thought. We can just let it go like any other, and rest our busy mind.

這指的是，我們可以找到自心的快樂與平靜就像在那個非常時刻一樣，因為那是我們內建的。我們不需要去改變我們的想法，去變成別人。我們不需要去想我們自已是，不夠好，不夠聰明，不夠幸運，去成為快樂的人。我們不用成為德蕾沙修女，成為比爾蓋茲，或是在時尚雜誌廣告中的人，才能快樂。如果我們認為我們可以，那我們不用去追逐那些念頭，就如同放下其它的來放下它們，然後安住這個忙碌的心。

*This is translated from http://www.shambhalasun.com/sunspace/?p=16458