第二破有过规。
(b’)) Eliminating flawed methods
《广论》【闻·思·修】Lamrim·Meditation
第二、破有过规：有此邪执是所应破，谓如前说善举策心无分别住，是时虽无少许沈没之过，然由掉举增上，现见不能相续住分；低其举心复缓善策，则见住分速能生起。遂谓此方便是大教授，得定解已，见其高声唱言：“善缓即是善修。”此是未辨生沈及修二者之论，以无过定，须具前说二种差别，唯有心无分别坚固住分未为完足。若谓此有蒙昧令心浑浊，可名为沈，然今无彼，心有澄净明分，故三摩地全无过失。现见此乃未辨昏、沈二法之言，是等下当广说。故若太策举心，令有力时虽有明分，由掉增上住分难生；若太缓慢而修，虽有住分，由沈增上故明无力。其不堕入太急太缓，缓急适中界限极其难得，故难生起俱离沈掉妙三摩地。大德月依此密意说云：“若精勤修生掉举，若舍精勤复退没，此理等转极难得，我心扰乱云何修？”义指“精勤修者，谓太策励，策则生掉；若舍策励太缓慢者，心住其内复起退没。由见此故，俱离沈掉等分安住之心，如理平等而转实属难得”。如是佛静《释》亦云：“言精勤者，此中谓于善品发起勇悍，策励而转。”又云：“由见掉过舍其精勤，弃其功用心于内沈。”《悔赞》又云：“若励力转起掉举，若励缓息生退没，修此中道亦难得，我心扰乱云何修？”其《释》亦明显云：“由极励力，勤策运转起功用时，便生掉散摧坏其心，从功用中心不得住。若如是行即是过失，为遮此故，缓息励力运转之心，弃舍功用，则由忘所缘境等过，令心内缩，生起沈没。”故说“远离沈掉二边修此中道，合理平等运转妙三摩地极属难得”，若善缓即可则无难故；又说从缓发生沈没，故以此理修三摩地，显然非理。
又极缓心仅澄明分犹非满足，犹须执取相策励分，如无著菩萨云：“于内住、等住中，有力励运转作意。”此于九种住心方便初二心时，作如是说。《修次初篇》亦云：“除沉没者，当坚持所缘。”《修次中篇》复云：“次息沉没，必须令心极其明见所缘，当如是行。”言“心明见”故，非说唯是境界明显，是说心执取相极显极坚。修念之规此极切要，未能知此盲修之相，谓修愈久忘念愈重，择法之慧日返愚钝，诸凡此等有过甚多，反见自矜有坚固定。
《广论》 Pg362LL04-Pg363LL05
*《菩提道次第广论》原文改译——大慈恩译经基金会
(b’)) Eliminating flawed methods
There are misconceptions to dispel, such as the following.
Wrong position: If you set your consciousness at a high level as you have explained above and then tightly stabilize it without discursiveness, there will indeed not be even the slightest fault of laxity. However, since this increases excitement, you will see that you cannot prolong stability, and your elevated consciousness is brought down. As you will see that relaxing a well-tightened mind quickly leads to stability, this technique is a great personal instruction.
Reply: With a sense of assurance, these words proclaim in a loud voice, “Good relaxation is good meditation.” Yet, they fail to differentiate laxity and meditation. Thus, as explained above, flawless concentration must have two features; the firm stability of non-discursive attention does not alone suffice.
Wrong position: At that time, laxity is when your mind darkens and becomes clouded; without this, your mind has a limpid clarity, so your concentration is flawless.
Reply: As this statement does not differentiate lethargy and laxity, I will elaborate on them later.
Thus, if you use an intense cognition that is too tight, you may have clarity, but excitement will predominate so that it will be hard to develop stability. If you sustain your meditation after becoming greatly relaxed, then you may have stability, but laxity will predominate so that there is no vivid intensity. It is very hard to find the right balance of tension so as to be neither too taut nor too relaxed, and for this reason it is hard to develop a concentration free from laxity and excitement. With this in mind, the master Candragomin stated in his Praise of Confession:
If I use exertion, excitement arises;
If I abandon it, slackness ensues;
It is hard to find the right balance in this—
What should I do with my troubled mind?
The meaning of this is as follows: “Use exertion” means your mind is too tight; when you do this, excitement arises. When you let the tightness go and relax too much, you produce slackness, with your attention remaining inward. So it is difficult to find the proper balance for an even state of mind, free from laxity and excitement. Again, Buddhasanti’s Commentary on the “Praise of Confession” says:
“Exertion” here refers to tightly focusing your mind on virtue with clear enthusiasm.
And:
After you see the problem of incipient excitement, you abandon your exertion; that is, you give up your effort. Thereupon, your attention becomes slack.
Candragomin’s Praise of Confession also states:
If I strain to engage the object, excitement occurs;
If I relax, slackness develops.
It is hard to find a practice midway between these two—
What should I do with my troubled mind?
Buddhasanti’s commentary on this is clear:
If you strain for a tight focus on the object and exert yourself, your mind becomes excited and distracted, and you thereby destroy your concentration. Therefore, you are not attaining mental stability through exertion. This is problematic, so in order to avoid it you relax your mind, which has been straining to engage the object, and give up your exertion. Then faults such as forgetting the object of meditation lead to slackness and laxity.
Therefore, Candragomin says “it is hard to find” a concentration that is the right balance or midway practice free from the two extremes of laxity and excitement. If getting quite relaxed were adequate, there would not be any problem at all. Since the text says that this leads to laxity, it is obviously improper to use this method to achieve concentration.
It is not enough to have the clarity which is simply the limpid quality of a very relaxed mind; there also must be a degree of tightness in the way you apprehend the object. In his discussion of the method used in the first two of the nine mental states, the noble Asanga says:
For stabilizing and properly stabilizing your mind on this object, there is the attention of tight focus.
Also, Kamalasila’s first Stages of Meditation says:
After you clear away laxity, firmly hold just the object of meditation.
And Kamalasila’s second Stages of Meditation states:
Then, after you have quelled laxity, by all means make it so that your mind very clearly sees just the object of meditation.
When Kamalasila says “your mind very clearly sees,” he does not mean only that the object is clear; he means that your mind’s way of apprehending the object is clear and firm.
The above-mentioned way of maintaining mindfulness is extremely important. Without knowing it your meditation will show a great number of faults, such as slipping into great forgetfulness commensurate with the amount of your meditation or dulling the wisdom that differentiates phenomena. Nevertheless you mistakenly presume that you have a solid concentration.
Lamrim Chenmo Pg50LL02-Pg53L06
References 参考资料:
- 《菩提道次第廣論》全文下載
- The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment (Tib. Lam rim chen mo) (Volume 3), Shambhala Publications
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