《美食祈禱和戀愛》Chapter 41 (88):念起咒語
The other problem with all this swinging through the vines of thought is that you are never where you are. You are always digging in the past or poking at the future, but rarely do you rest in this moment. It's something like the habit of my dear friend Susan, who—whenever she sees a beautiful place—exclaims in near panic, "It's so beautiful here! I want to come back here someday!" and it takes all of my persuasive powers to try to convince her that she is already here. If you're looking for union with the divine, this kind of forward/backward whirling is a problem. There's a reason they call God a presence—because God is right here, right now. In the present is the only place to find Him, and now is the only time.
這種動盪不安的思維藤蔓所存在的另一個問題，就是你永遠不活在此刻所處的地方。你永遠在挖掘過去或撥動未來，卻極少停歇於此刻。就像我的朋友蘇珊有個習慣，每當她看見一個美麗的地方，就會近乎恐慌地驚叫：“這兒真美！我希望有天能回到這裏！”我於是竭盡所能嘗試說服她，她“已經”在這裏。你若想尋求與神明之間的結合，這種前後飛轉的想法將是一大問題。人們稱神爲“存在”（presence）不無道理——因爲神就在“此地”，就在“此刻”。唯有在當下這個地方，你才找得到神，而唯一的時刻即是現在。But to stay in the present moment requires dedicated one-pointed focus. Different meditation techniques teach one-pointedness in different ways—for instance, by focusing your eyes on a single point of light, or by observing the rise and fall of your breath. My Guru teaches meditation with the help of a mantra, sacred words or syllables to be repeated in a focused manner. Mantra has a dual function. For one thing, it gives the mind something to do. It's as if you've given the monkey a pile of 10,000 buttons and said, "Move these buttons, one at time, into a new pile." This is a considerably easier task for the monkey than if you just plopped him in a corner and asked him not to move. The other purpose of mantra is to transport you to another state, rowboatlike, through the choppy waves of the mind. Whenever your attention gets pulled into a cross-current of thought, just return to the mantra, climb back into the boat and keep going. The great Sanskrit mantras are said to contain unimaginable powers, the ability to row you, if you can stay with one, all the way to the shorelines of divinity.
可是，若想待在此刻，則需要奉獻於單一的焦點。各種禪坐方法教導各種專一的方法——比方說，眼光集中在一個光點上，或觀察自己的呼吸起伏。我的導師教導的禪坐，是以集中複誦咒語、經文或音節爲輔助。咒語有雙重功效。首先，它讓腦子有事可做。就像給猴子一萬個鈕釦，說：“把這堆鈕釦重新疊成一疊，一次一個。”這比把它扔在牆角叫它不要動容易許多。咒語的另一個目的是送你進入另一種狀態，有如划動小舟一般，航過波濤洶涌的心靈之海。每當你的注意力捲進心靈的逆流中，只要回到咒語，爬回小舟，就能繼續航行。偉大的梵文咒語據說包含難以想象的力量，能載着你——只要你待在其中——一路划向神的海岸。Among my many, many problems with meditation is that the mantra I have been given—Om Namah Shivaya—doesn't sit comfortably in my head. I love the sound of it and I love the meaning of it, but it does not glide me into meditation. It never has, not in the two years.
在我許多許多的禪坐問題當中，其中之一是，我所接受的咒語——唵南嘛溼婆耶——並未安安穩穩地停留在我腦子裏。我喜歡念它，也喜歡它的含義，卻始終未能進入禪修狀態。在兩年的瑜伽修行期間亦從來未曾。
I've been practicing this Yoga. When I try to repeat Om Namah Shivaya in my head, it actually gets stuck in my throat, making my chest clench tightly, making me nervous. I can never match the syllables to my breathing.
當我嘗試在腦中背誦“唵南嘛溼婆耶”的時候，居然如鯁在喉，胸口緊繃，緊張兮兮。我始終無法讓音節與呼吸搭配得當。I end up asking my roommate Corella about this one night. I'm shy to admit to her how much trouble I have keeping my mind focused on mantra repetition, but she is a meditation teacher. Maybe she can help me. She tells me that her mind used to wander during meditation, too, but that now her practice is the great, easy, transformative joy of her life.
結果有天晚上我跟室友科瑞拉討教此事。我羞於向她承認我很難讓心思集中在咒語的背誦上，但她是禪修老師，或許能幫忙我。她告訴我，從前她也經常在禪修時胡思亂想，不過現在，她的修行成了生活中至高無上的喜悅。
