分心工廠
factories
分心工廠
factories
這個世界被分心所俘虜。智慧型手機讓我們陷入一種催眠般的恍惚狀態,而我們心甘情願地用自己寶貴的心智空間,去交換那一點多巴胺的快感。我們如此渴望沉溺於這個矩陣中,渴望迷失自己,因此我們也成了它的奴隸。
想要讓自己沈醉於娛樂或無意識的活動,是清醒的最大敵人。它讓心變得遲鈍、愚鈍,讓一切停滯,奪走所有的動能與銳度。這就像一層厚重的濃霧席捲而來,一旦我們開始投入那永無止境的故事,就已經迷失方向。而這種習慣重複得越多,一切就越混亂。
對許多人而言,這意味著無止盡地滑動臉書、狂追 Netflix 影集,或一邊穿越馬路、一邊刷 Instagram 短影片的「高超技巧」。這就是我們所身處的現實世界,這就是現代人正在修練的「功夫」——一座分心的工廠,正一步步奪取你的注意力。
The world is captured by distraction. Smart phones have us in a trance. And we gladly give up our precious mental real estate in exchange for dopamine. We so badly want to loose ourselves in this matrix. We crave it, and as such, we are slaves to it. Wanting to loose ourselves in entertainment or mindless activity is the enemy of wakefulness. It dulls, dumbs down, it stalls, it removes all and any momentum and sharpness.
It’s like an all encompassing thick fog that blows in, and as soon as we begin to partake in it's never ending story, we go astray. And the more this habit repeats, the more everything becomes a jumble. For many this means endless Facebook scrolling, drilling on Netflix dramas, or putting on a master clinic on how to cross major intersections while filing through Instagram shorts. This is the reality of the world we live in now. This is what many are practicing. It’s a distraction factory, and it’s coming for your attention.
幸運的是,一切都正在此刻發生。這難道不是一種解脫嗎?無論我們多麼深陷於那個虛擬矩陣之中,仍無法逃離這個真理——我們都在這裡。無論我們多麼努力地想透過手機逃避,也無法逃離這一刻。這個當下是無法逃避的、無法穿透的、超越時間的、難以言喻而又深奧的。
但若想真正體驗這份奧秘,我們必須奪回自己的心。我們需要重新取回注意力、重新喚回那份接納的準備,並重新接觸我們情感的敏銳度與這個世界本身的光輝。
我們所做的一切,最終都歸結為一種「練習」。在慾望的驅動下,我們不斷讓心去接觸某個感興趣的對象。透過感官,我們實際上是在用那個對象「觸碰」自己的心。而就在這個接觸的瞬間,學習發生了。
所謂練習,就是一再重複這樣的行為。從這個角度來看,我們其實一直都在練習。而且,就像當下這一刻一樣,只要我們還活著,就一定在練習某些事物。那麼,我們不如選擇去練習那些能帶來自由的事。這,正是修練的核心所在。
Luckily, all things are happening in this very moment. Isn't that a relief? No matter how far we disappear into the matrix, we still cannot escape this truth. We are all right here. Regardless of how hard we try and escape on a smart phone, we cannot escape this moment. It's inescapable, impenetrable, timeless, ineffable and mysterious. But to experience this mystery we need our minds back. We need to regain our attention, our readiness to receive and access to our emotional sensitivity and the radiance of the world.
This sense of what we are up to comes down do a kind of practice. Fueled by desire, we repeatedly expose our mind to an object of interest. Through the senses, we literally touch our mind with an object. And in this contact, learning takes place. Practice is doing this action over and over. From this perspective, we are continuously practicing. And not unlike the present moment, as long as we are alive, we are practicing something. So we might as well practice things which lead to freedom. This is what it's all about.
如果你想要進行「自由的練習」,而不是「習慣性逃避的練習」,那麼有幾個主要的要點可以考慮:(1)開放與接納、(2)回應,以及(3)停留在邊緣,也就是所謂的持續性。
(1)開放與接納
開放與接納,意思是說你真正在此時此地,與正在發生的事物同在。在所有正在發生的事情中——無論是內在還是外在——你能夠辨識出其中最有益、最有幫助的部分。這需要某種願意「如其所是地」去面對一切的意願。
雖然「接納」看起來像是一種被動的行為,但實際上,它更像是一種靜謐的力量,類似一個中介者、緩衝者,能夠承接情緒上的不協調或殘餘,而不被它牽動、反應過度。你可以想像這樣一個中介的存在——它的存在讓你能夠面對當下正在發生的事,讓你同時能夠站穩、放鬆。
(2)回應
「回應」是從接納之後自然產生的行動。這可以包括各種層面的反應——內在的、外在的都有。在內在層面上,這些反應可能從非常積極主動的形式(例如探問、自省、或以某種方式與心理—情感現象互動),到比較被動的方式(例如放手、允許它發生、讓它流過,或暫時將它擱置)。你所採取的方式,取決於當下的具體情況,以及你獨特的業力處境。
如果你只是套用某個被教導的「公式」,你可能會發現這個公式並不總是有效。因此,學會靈活地回應非常重要。舉個例子,你可能曾被教導要「透過呼吸穿越困難」,並專注於呼吸。但有時候,你可能會發現這樣做變成了一種掙扎——你反而失去了對當下實際發生之事的覺察,因為你太執著於「要讓呼吸放鬆」。在這種情況下,最好回到「接納」,去感受此刻到底發生了什麼。有時候,只需要單純地接納與傾聽;有時候,則需要以探問來回應,因為正在浮現的某些內容帶有力量,值得你給予注意與關懷。
整個過程要求我們以創造性的方式投入。這並不是一個被動、放鬆、照著既定路線「放空」的過程。它是活的、有脈動的。它是神秘的(mysterious)、難以捉摸的(enigmatic)。即使當我們採取較為被動的態度時,仍然需要保持內在的挺立與覺醒。而有時候,會有更深層的狀態自然浮現,一切便隨之演化、轉變。
(3)停留在邊緣(持續性)
最後一個面向,是停留在這個邊緣上。這個「邊緣」本身就在發生——我們所要做的,就是與它相遇。無論是在日常生活中、在禪坐中,或任何時刻,它都在。不論你是否意識到、是否選擇去面對,它始終存在。而一旦你真正看見這一點,選擇就變得簡單了。
If you want to do the practice of freedom, rather than the practice of habitually running, there are a main points you could consider: (1) opening & receiving, (2) responding and (3) staying on the edge, aka continuity.
Opening and receiving, is to say that you're here and with what's arising. And out of all the things happening, out of all the possible internal and external things one might focus on, you recognize what is most useful and beneficial. This takes a certain amount of willingness to meet things where they are at any given time. So while receiving seems like a passive act, it's more like a quiet strength which is analogous to an intermediary, a buffer, or something which is able to receive any emotional dissonance or residue and not be reactive. You can conceive of such an intermediary so that you can feel that there is a presence which can allow you to meet what is, stand firm and relax.
Responding is what ones does as a result. This can be a wide range of both internal and external responses. Internally, this range moves from very active and engaged responses like inquiry or applying some form of engagement with the various psycho-emotive arisings, to more passive responses like hands off approaches where one may allow things to be, to pass through or to push them aside. Methods that you use to meet them depend on the specific situation in the moment and your unique karmic predicament. If you are only applying some formula that was laid out for you, you may find that the formula is not always effective. So learning to be fluid in your response can be very helpful.
For instance, you might have been taught to breath through difficulty and follow the breath, but you might find that it's a struggle and you even stop paying attention to what is happening because you're too focused on trying to breath through things so that they relax and begin to ease. In this situation, it's better to return to "receiving" and get a sense of what's happening. Sometimes it's just about receiving and listening in. Or it might be about responding with inquiry because what is arising has some power to it and it needs your attention and care.
The entire process demands our creative engagement. It's not a passive process where we just chill out or follow a set of preplanned directions. It's alive and pulsating. It's mysterious and enigmatic. So even when were are taking a more passive response to things, still we need to hold an upright position. Then there might be a time when a deeper state arises and things evolve and change in that direction.
The last aspect is just to stay on this edge. The edge is happening, and so we are there to meet it in everyday life, on the cushion or whenever. Whether you meet it or not, it's still there. Once you see this, the choice is easy.
邊緣,是你所棲居之處。它就像是一個「相遇之地」,在那裡,人能夠與生命最原始的經驗同在。習慣待在這個邊緣似乎需要一些時間,因為在某種意義上,它要求專注。待在邊緣意味著放棄對當下的逃避,而這並非易事。依我所見,這基本上正是修行的核心——一種連續性的實踐。更具體地說,那是你能夠感受的地方,是情緒升起之處,是思想與印象化為存在的所在。
這些經驗的升起,其實從根本上說並不在我們的掌控之中——並不是說它們「失控」,而是它們根源於過去的事件,以及我們當時對那些事件的回應。因此,在這個升起的過程中,我們同時既在經驗它,也在做出一些非常細微的選擇。
所以,處在這個邊緣上,首先要熟悉那些浮現的素材,以及它們如何成形;接著,觀察它們如何持續或消散。這正是整個經驗的生起與滅去,以一種更完整的形式展現出來。
The edge is where you would reside. It's analogous to a meeting place, the place where one can be with the raw experience of being alive. It feels as if it takes some time to get used to hanging around on the edge, because in a way, it demands attention. To be on the edge is to give up turning away from the present moment, and that's no small thing. As far as I can see, it's basically what the work is. It's a kind of continuity, but more specifically it's the place where you feel, where emotions arise, where thoughts and impressions manifest into being. Because these things arise in a way which is fundamentally out of our control, not that they themselves are out of control, but that they are based on past events, and to the way in which we responded to them. So in that arising we are in a way both experiencing that arising and making small choices that are often very subtle.
So being on this edge is to first get familiar with both the material that arises and how it forms into being; and then how it either persists or falls away. It's the entire rise and fall of experience in its more complete form.
當你找到那個「邊緣」時,會發現其中夾雜著某種不適,因為那往往源自於根深蒂固的慣性——慾望或排斥。我們之所以避之唯恐不及,就是因為那種感覺令人難受。這時,就要運用「讓自己像泥土」的方法:去感受它,但不要做任何事。與它相處,停留一段時間,並放下那股想要被推動去行動的衝動。假裝自己正站在世界的邊緣,除此之外什麼都沒有,也沒有任何時間限制。
與這份感受同在時,選擇那些能讓心保持開放、不需複雜思考的活動;不要選擇能讓心逃避的事。像是散步、靜坐、烹飪、打掃、創作、書寫,或坐在開放的公共場所——咖啡館、公園、廣場。如果發現自己又執著於「要這麼做才對」,那也只是另一層慣性,只需要再為它留出空間,讓它自行消散。
如今,透過我當前的研究與在禪修營之間進出所觀察到的情況,我發現——不意外地——這樣的過程會提升敏銳度。而隨著敏銳度的提高,雖然這讓我能夠更深入地探究體驗,但同時也使得體驗本身的層次變得更為豐富與深刻。正因如此,它也要求更高的清明、覺察與流動性,才能讓一切自然展開而不陷入停滯。
我發現其中最重要的一種能力,是培養某種「堅韌」——或說,一種不沉溺於任何形式放縱的意願。同時,也是不讓對世俗事務的反應引導自己做出或說出那些會留下懊悔、掛念、憂慮或執著痕跡的行為。因為這些痕跡最終會妨礙專注與保持開放的能力。
Now, through my current research, what I am finding from coming in and out of retreat is that, not surprisingly it increases sensitivity. And with this increased sensitivity, although it allows me to go deeper, it also creates more depth of experiencing. And so it also demands more clarity, awareness and fluidity to allow things to develop and not get stuck.
One of the most important abilities, I find, is a cultivating kind of toughness, or willingness to steer clear of indulgence in any form, nor to allow responses to worldly matters allow you to do or say things which will leave marks of regret, concern, worry or attachment in such a way which hinder concentration and the ability to remain open.
但我真正覺得重要的是,當事情有些偏離軌道時,能夠迅速回到「修行式」的心態。要記得,這種心態並不是一般意義上的「練習」——而是一種覺察性的態度,一種願意保持開放、停留在經驗邊緣、去看清正在發生之事的心。隨著你逐漸熟悉這種狀態,它會變成常態,而非例外。這就是關鍵的轉折點。
因此,無論發生什麼事——沒有「正常」、沒有「平常」、沒有「理所當然」、也沒有「絕對的確定」。所以,只需放下這些假設,與眼前的展開同在即可。
But, what I really find true is that when things go a bit wrong, it's at that time that it feels very important to to have the ability to quickly move back to a practice type mindset. Remember, this mindset isn't like practice in the normal sense. it's just the mindful sense of wanting to stay with an open attitude and reside on the edge of the arising experience, to get clear on what is taking place. And as you get used to this, it becomes more the standard, rather than the exception. This is the tipping point. And so, whatever happens, there's no normal, there is no ordinary, there's no for sure, there's no absolute certainty, therefore, simply dispose of these assumptions and stay with this unfolding.