The three aspects to watching themind effectively
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不要刻意地等着下一刻什么会生起，这点非常重要。让心理感受或情绪先生起，然后知道它已生起了。下面这个例子示范这个方法，想象一只野狗突然向我们奔扑过来，我们感到害怕，我们知道害怕生起了，我们不能事前预设这件事的发生。
第一，不要寻找现象，不要作假设或预先等待，让心理现象它自然发生，然后，再认出它。
第二，有距离地观察，现象出现时不要把注意力移向它，我们站在外面看。如果我们专注在现象上，这就是修奢摩它（修定），不是修毗婆舍那，智慧之道。
第三，随着心理现象的生起，注意心里是否有喜欢与喜欢产生。经常练习，无论什么现象生起，心将渐渐自动生起平等心。
隆波帕默尊者的简介
The first is to avoid intending toknow in advance. We just need to know the feelings that temporarilyarise in the mind after they do. Let the feeling occur naturallyfirst and then know that it has. If anger arises, know that it has.If greed arises, then know that it has. If the mind has wanderedoff, know that it has happened. Why must we know after the fact?This is because many of the feelings that arise are defilements ofmind (i.e. anger, desire; see glossary for more). Only one mindarises at a time, so a defiled mind cannot arise at the same timeas a non-defiled mind. For example, anger cannot exist in the mindat the same moment that mindfulness (see glossary) notices theanger. The defiled angry mind drops off and is replaced by anon-defiled mind- the one that is mindful of what justhappened.
It is important to not watch intentlyand wait for what will arise next. Let a feeling arise first andthen know that it has. A good way to demonstrate this is to imaginea rabid dog suddenly darting at us. We feel terrified. We thenshould know that fear has arisen. We didn’t intend for thisoccurrence beforehand.
Of course we should still get out of the way of the dog! Wedo not proceed to let the dog bite us and see what happens afterthat. Anyone who says they will just leave it up to their karma, ismaking new karma – stupidity! We do what is appropriate so that weare not harmed. If we are with a friend, we just need to run alittle faster than our friend and we’ll be fine (laughter). Or wecan practice the art of sacrifice and run slower than our friend.But that is another topic altogether. As I am speaking here, manypeople here have their minds wandering out. Some are wandering tome，some are wandering in thought, and some have wandered homealready!
Back to the lesson, we should not intend to watch the mind. Manypeople have too much intention; they wait for the gong to be struckto begin the meditation session and say, ”Ok, when the sessionbegins I’m really going to watch my mind well.” To their surprise,little happens. This is because they focused in beforehand, andmade their minds still. When we hold our attention somewhere, therewon’t be much movement to notice. The mind will be immobilized.Instead, we should practice in the most natural way. Each time themind thinks or the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, or body make contactwith the outside world, a feeling is likely to appear. Be aware ofwhat does. If we hear a song and like it, we should know thatliking has arisen. If someone is shouting, wanting may arise. Wemay want to know what this person is ranting and raving about. Knowthat wanting to know has arisen. Then we listen for a while andrealize it is us that he is going on about! Wanting to know willhave disappeared, and anger crops up. Our job is to know that angerhas arisen. Know after the fact, again and again, as much aspossible. Watching the mind is not about focusing in advance. It isabout knowing what has arisen.
Ok, now I want all of you to start watching the mind right now.Watch it! Can you see that you are starting to freeze up, to getstill? This is because you intended to watch. It is the wrongapproach. Ok , now I would like you to stop watching the mind andI’ll tell you an old story. Can you feel that you are starting torelax again? When something easy and amusing is about to happen ourmind loosens and relaxes. Know that it has relaxed. This is theright approach. Intending to watch will stiffen us up, and thusthings will not arise naturally.
So the right approach is to not intend, and instead, to know whatarises after the fact. This is the first of three aspects to teachregarding watching the mind. I should mention, however, that whenwe know, we need to know quickly. We can’t be angry today andrealize it tomorrow. When anger arises, we need to recognize thatthere is anger while anger is still there. If it has alreadydropped away, and we wake up to it an hour later, it is too late.We should recognize the anger while it is there. We will notice,“Just a moment ago I was angry, and now I am knowing.” We will seethat when we are mindful of the anger, the anger is not there inthat moment of knowing. Know subsequent to their arising ofphenomena, but as close to their arising as possible without priorintention. Once we are able to recognize many different states inthis way, mindfulness will come automatically and the path to thewisdom that will liberate us from suffering will begin.
Now I’ll tell you about the second aspect of watching the mindcorrectly: The mind should not slip down into any of the mentalphenomena or feelings of which you have become mindful. Normally,when we want to know something, our minds will move out to theplace of interest. Try it now. Let’s have a look at our arm see howmany birthmarks there are. Can you see that your mind went out tolook at the arm? I’m not interested in how many marks there are; Iwant us to notice that the mind goes out. The mind is not stable,not rooted in awareness. It is slipping down into what it isknowing. We can easily see this happen when we read something a bitfar away, like a poster on our wall, or a street sign. The mindruns out to see it, and then it goes into thinking, internallyrepeating the words it is reading.
When we watch the mind, we should know what has arisen from adistance, as if we are not involved in what is going on. Don’t movetowards the feeling or mental state once it has been acknowledged.If anger, for example, arises in the mind, see it as if it issomeone else who has just become angry. The mind is just thewatcher; there is a distance between the mind and the anger. Don’tfocus in on the anger. The tendency of meditators is to go in andfocus on what has come up, just like when zeroing in on thetelevision when our favorite show is on. The mind goes out to theTV and gets lost in it. From now on, whenever the mind goes out towatch something, know that this is happening. When we see thishappen, the mind will become stable on its own. We should not tryto force it to be stable in awareness.
Vipassana practice has no force in it whatsoever. It is aboutknowing things as they really are. If there is force, there isstress, which is always a sign that there is something wrong. So wedon’t force it, we just know it when the mind slips down intosomething. If we think of a friend, our mind will slip into theworld of thought and completely lose awareness of our body andmind. We need to know that this has happened, and the mind willbecome rooted on its own.
When we watch football, we don’t watch it from the field. We are inthe stands, watching from a distance. The players are runningaround, but we are stable; there is a space between us and thegame. Similarly, at a concert, we watch the band from our seats. Wedo not take the stage. There is a distance between us and theperformance. We are merely the watcher. This is how we should watchour feeling – from a distance. We should not slip down and cling tothe feelings. When we do, we should know this, as soon as we can,and the mind will loosen its grip on what has arisen and become thewatcher for that moment.
The third aspect of watching the mind applies after we know whathas arisen. We don’t interfere in any way with the feeling ormental phenomenon that we have recognized. It absolutely doesn’tmatter what it is that arises, we let it be. If anger arises, we donot try to make it go away. Our job with regards to the anger isjust to know that the mind is angry. We do our best to be just thewatcher and not get in the way. We are not trying to get rid ofsuffering if it arises; we are to just recognize that it is there.If happiness arises, we don’t try to make it last long. If avirtuous state arises, we don’t try to keep it. We are just to knowwith equanimity: without maintaining, denying or resisting whatcomes up. Formally put, the third aspects of watching the mind isto know what arises with a mind that is equanimous. This means themind is impartial or netutral to whatever phenomena appear.Equanmity is accomplished by seeing the mind either liking ordisliking what it has just recognized. Equanimity is notaccomplished by forcing the mind to be neutral. Force causesstress. In Vipassana, there is no controlling, denying, resisting –we mustn’t really do anything at all! At any given moment whateverstate the mind is in, know that it is in that state.
In summary, we practice the Dhamma so that one day no moresuffering will arise in the mind. The way that we accomplish thisis by the practice of knowing our minds. Each time that sufferingsneaks up in the mind, see it, and eventually it will drop off onits own. There is no need to chase it away. Remember the threeaspects, or the three rules for watching the mind. Firstly, don’tlooking for phenomena to know. Don’t be presumptuous or wait inanticipation. Let one show itself first, and then recognize it.Secondly, watch from a distance. Let’s not move our attentiontowards a phenomenon when it appears. Be an outsider. If we focusin, then we are practicing Samatha, calmness meditation, notVipassana, the path of wisdom. And thirdly, subsequent to thearising of a mental phenomenon, notice when liking or dislikingappears. Do this often and the mind will of its own accord becomeequanimous to whatever arises.
I’m sure you have heard an age old saying, something to the tune of“Learning is a life-long process,” ”life is a school,” or ”We learnuntil the day we die.” This is because there is no end to worldlyknowledge. The world fabricates new things incessantly and there isalways more to learn. Regarding Dhamma, once there is enlightenmentand mind is liberated from suffering, it is no longer fabricating,no longer creating fictions. Once we are free from suffering, thereis nothing more to learn in this regard. Our Dhamma studies arecompleted.
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