英文原文
Is staring down into our phones all day long really a good way to live? This sometimes feels to me like the Emperor’s new clothes – yes, people talk about it sometimes, but is our addiction to the machines causing us to overlook just how weird and robotic we’re becoming?! Nor is this likely to get any better with the staggering incursions of AI and VR. We should not let our habits dominate our behavior or act as if we are sleepwalking.~ Ven Geshe Kelsang, Meaningful to Behold. In a few large groups of people recently, all ages, in a couple of different places, I’ve been asking if anyone does not feel that their phone has taken over their life? So far, fewer than a handful have replied in the affirmative. This is a mass addiction; I think we know that. In the chapter called Guarding Alertness in Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life, the Buddhist master Shantideva gives many practical precepts to address our daily bad habits so that we can lead an ethical and mindful life. I have been wondering what he would have to say about all of this. True, he would have a lot to say about the radio, TV, and early internet as well. But now, never separated now from distraction, I feel that we are passing beyond something relatively quaint into something altogether more ominous. After all, in one of his final teachings, modern-day Buddhist master Venerable Geshe Kelsang pleaded with us to overcome our distractions, citing them as the biggest danger to our spiritual practice. We know that meditation can cure tech addiction! Tech is upending our lives and our society. Many apps are literally anti-meditation, actively undermining concentration, mindfulness, attention, and inner peace. The human brain may have changed more in the past 18 years since the invention of Smartphones than in the previous 180 years! and not necessarily for the better. I am even wondering if this endless distraction at our fingertips represents the biggest single threat to the spread of meditation and Dharma (Buddhism) through our world. Perhaps I am overstating this, perhaps the phones have benefits that can outweigh these disadvantages; and I’d love to hear what you think. Like having an addiction to food, it can be tricky to wean ourselves off a tech addiction cos we do need our phones these days for so many things. But it is by no means impossible to change our habits around the phone. By some counts it only takes 40 repetitions for a new habit to be made, so if we start a small new good habit today, we could be looking at a freer life in as little as a month. Last night we had a meditation, love panel, and party to celebrate Valentine’s Day at our local Kadampa Meditation Center; and people stayed for a long time, chattering happily away. At some point I realized there were no phones in sight, not one; and, as people left, they were saying what an incredibly fun evening this had been. I couldn’t help thinking, this is more like it was in the old days (pre 2007), when people could just talk with each other IRL, making actual eye contact, for two hours straight without feeling the itch to check notifications. It shows we can do this. In particular, addressing the meditators and Kadampas amongst you ... do we need to deliberately set a good example? (I know a lot of you are trying.) Can we talk about this more in our teachings and at our Centers and with our friends, including (especially) those under 35? Can we provide a practical counterculture by giving constant encouragement and ideas on how to address this issue? Can we sometimes provide a phones-free environment? I know Gen Samten talks about this a lot, for example, at the upstate KMC NY temple – he has been on this crusade for as long as I have.* Self-regulation and digital detox. If the attention economy companies won’t increase the friction that allows us to lift our heads from our screens, for example by adding alerts, “Hey, you’ve been doing this for hours!”, we have to do it ourselves, take charge. (Though you can check out some apps such as ClearSpace, AppLock, ScreenZen, and Opal). We have to use our phones for so many things, like I was saying, but don’t we also have to use our car? In our car, we seem to be able to focus on getting to our destination without scrolling through video shorts or veering off course. And, once we’ve arrived, we simply get out of the car. We could have a similar approach to our phone – approach it just for the task we need to perform, perform the task, put the phone away. As with dealing with any attachment, the moment we have control is before the inappropriate attention has really set in – for example, when we notice that part of us doesn’t want to do it, but we can’t stop. We can stop. We’re not fully absorbed into it quite yet, there’s an inch of space. That’s the red flag telling us to step away from the phone. Actually, even better is to nip this attachment in the bud before those itchy fingers pick up the phone in the first place. So here’s one idea I’ve been sharing which people seem to like: Instead of “How are you?”, Buddhist Master Atisha would famously ask people, “Do you have a good heart?” In one of the numerous little gaps in the day, those times when we find ourselves automatically reaching for the phone, we can first ask ourselves this same question – “Do I have a peaceful mind and a good heart?” If no, we can take a few moments to breathe, relax, feel peaceful, and perhaps remember whatever Dharma comes readily to mind. Then, and only then, when sanity is restored, do we give ourselves permission to pick up the phone. That is, if we even still want to. It might well turn out that, “Actually, I was only picking up the phone because I was bored or dissatisfied. I’m not bored any more, I’m happy. I have found what I need inside me.” Even earlier, we could put the phone in a place (with zips, in a drawer, in another room!) where it takes some effort to dig it out! Not on the table right next to our itchy fingers. Another tip I suggested here some time ago, Pausing in the pursuit of happiness to be happy, is now being recommended by sleep experts – namely keeping our phone in another room at night and using an old-fashioned alarm clock. We can put some boundaries up, such as no tech before breakfast or morning meditation, and gaps of digital detox of an hour or two interspersed through the day. Or whatever you can make work. We can soon get used to these liberating new habits – it’s only hard at the beginning. Something else I find helpful is to have (paper not digital) Dharma books strategically placed around the house, including on the bedside table, so that we can easily pick them up when there’s a pause in the day, when we’re eating alone, and especially in the half hour before we go to sleep. We’ll have much better dreams! And most likely wake in a better mood. Talking of mealtimes, if we’re eating with others, that’s definitely a good place to start pocketing the phones and paying attention to real people. All this self-regulation is actually modern-day mindfulness and moral discipline. Shantideva would approve. Curate your mind (update May 2025). Kadam Kyle, a Millennial who teaches at a great Kadampa center in Brooklyn NY, shared this suggestion in the comments to the last article, and I hope you find it as helpful as I do: To me dealing with my own distractions to digital devices, like this one I am on right now a big change happened moving from viewing it as a punitive or stigmatizing view (‘Oh I am so bad with all my distractions’). What worked was thinking “I want to curate my mind, like a beautiful garden or world-class museum. What are the beautiful things I can put into my mind?” And that helps give a sense of standards, like a world-class museum would have for entry. That then lead to a question: “what really makes me feel alive? What brings me deep joy? What makes me get up in the morning with a true sense of thrill? What really PAYS OFF when I put time into it?” Evaluating most digital distractions, it was clear that these things really don’t pay-off well. But some things do.. like what many of us love putting into our mind is Dharma, or thinking about others’ good qualities, or thinking about how kind so many people are in the world, or emptiness, or Venerable Geshe-la, and so on. One last article on this subject is on its way. Meanwhile, your feedback, ideas, and suggestions are welcome & needed!
中文翻译
整天盯着手机真的是好的生活方式吗？这有时让我感觉像皇帝的新衣——是的，人们有时会谈论它，但我们对机器的沉迷是否让我们忽视了我们是多么奇怪和机械化？！随着人工智能和虚拟现实的惊人入侵，这种情况也不太可能好转。我们不应该让习惯支配我们的行为，或者表现得像梦游一样。~ 格西·凯桑尊者，《有意义地看待》。最近，我在几个不同地方的大型人群中，包括所有年龄段的人，问是否有人不觉得手机已经接管了他们的生活？到目前为止，只有少数人给出了肯定的回答。这是一种大众成瘾；我想我们都知道这一点。在《入菩萨行论》的“守护警觉”一章中，佛教大师寂天给出了许多实用的戒律来解决我们日常的坏习惯，以便我们能过上道德和正念的生活。我一直在想他会对这一切说些什么。确实，他也会对收音机、电视和早期互联网有很多话要说。但现在，我们从未与分心分离，我觉得我们正在超越相对古怪的东西，进入更不祥的境地。毕竟，在他最后的教导之一中，现代佛教大师格西·凯桑尊者恳求我们克服分心，指出这是对我们灵修实践的最大危险。我们知道冥想可以治愈科技成瘾！科技正在颠覆我们的生活和社会。许多应用程序实际上是反冥想的，积极破坏专注、正念、注意力和内心平静。自智能手机发明以来的过去18年里，人类大脑的变化可能比之前的180年还要大！而且不一定变得更好。我甚至在想，这种触手可及的无尽分心是否代表了冥想和佛法（佛教）在世界传播的最大单一威胁。也许我夸大了这一点，也许手机的好处可以超过这些缺点；我很想听听你的想法。就像对食物上瘾一样，戒掉科技成瘾可能很棘手，因为我们现在确实需要手机做很多事情。但改变我们围绕手机的习惯绝非不可能。据一些统计，只需40次重复就能养成一个新习惯，所以如果我们今天开始一个新的好习惯，我们可能在一个月内就能看到更自由的生活。昨晚，我们在当地的卡丹巴冥想中心举行了冥想、爱情小组和派对来庆祝情人节；人们待了很长时间，愉快地聊天。在某个时刻，我意识到没有手机在视线中，一部也没有；当人们离开时，他们说这是一个多么有趣的夜晚。我不禁想，这更像是过去的日子（2007年以前），那时人们可以面对面交谈，进行实际的眼神交流，连续两个小时而不觉得想查看通知。这表明我们可以做到这一点。特别是，针对你们中的冥想者和卡丹巴人……我们需要刻意树立好榜样吗？（我知道很多人正在尝试。）我们能在我们的教导中、在我们的中心里、与我们的朋友更多地谈论这个问题吗？包括（尤其是）35岁以下的人？我们能通过不断鼓励和提供解决这个问题的想法来提供一种实用的反文化吗？我们有时能提供无手机环境吗？我知道根·桑腾经常谈论这个，例如，在纽约州北部的KMC寺庙——他和我一样一直在进行这场运动。自我调节和数字排毒。如果注意力经济公司不增加让我们从屏幕上抬头的摩擦，例如通过添加警报，“嘿，你已经做了几个小时了！”，我们必须自己动手，负责。（尽管你可以查看一些应用程序，如ClearSpace、AppLock、ScreenZen和Opal）。我们必须用手机做很多事情，就像我说的，但我们不也得用我们的车吗？在我们的车里，我们似乎能够专注于到达目的地，而不滚动短视频或偏离路线。而且，一旦到达，我们只需下车。我们可以对手机采取类似的方法——仅为我们需要执行的任务接近它，执行任务，然后收起手机。就像处理任何执着一样，我们有控制的时刻是在不适当的注意力真正形成之前——例如，当我们注意到我们的一部分不想做，但我们无法停止。我们可以停止。我们还没有完全沉浸其中，还有一点空间。那是告诉我们远离手机的红色警报。实际上，更好的方法是在那些痒的手指拿起手机之前就将这种执着扼杀在萌芽状态。所以这是我一直在分享的一个想法，人们似乎喜欢：佛教大师阿底峡会著名地问人们“你有一颗善良的心吗？”，而不是“你好吗？”。在一天中无数的小间隙中，那些我们发现自己自动伸手拿手机的时候，我们可以先问自己同样的问题——“我有一颗平静的心和善良的心吗？”如果没有，我们可以花点时间呼吸、放松、感到平静，也许记住任何容易想到的佛法。然后，只有当理智恢复时，我们才允许自己拿起手机。也就是说，如果我们还想的话。结果很可能是，“实际上，我拿起手机只是因为无聊或不满意。我不再无聊了，我很快乐。我在内心找到了我需要的东西。”更早地，我们可以把手机放在一个需要一些努力才能挖出来的地方（用拉链、在抽屉里、在另一个房间里！）而不是放在我们痒的手指旁边的桌子上。我早些时候在这里建议的另一个技巧，“暂停追求幸福以变得幸福”，现在被睡眠专家推荐——即晚上把手机放在另一个房间，使用老式闹钟。我们可以设定一些界限，例如早餐前或早晨冥想前不使用科技，并在一天中穿插一两个小时的数字排毒间隙。或者任何你能做到的。我们很快就能习惯这些解放的新习惯——只是在开始时很难。我发现另一个有帮助的方法是在家里战略性地放置（纸质而非数字的）佛法书籍，包括在床头柜上，这样我们可以在一天中的暂停时、独自吃饭时，尤其是睡前半小时轻松拿起它们。我们会做更好的梦！而且很可能以更好的心情醒来。说到用餐时间，如果我们和别人一起吃饭，那绝对是一个开始收起手机、关注真人的好地方。所有这些自我调节实际上是现代的正念和道德纪律。寂天会赞同的。策划你的思想（2025年5月更新）。卡丹·凯尔，一位在纽约布鲁克林一家伟大卡丹巴中心教学的千禧一代，在上篇文章的评论中分享了这个建议，我希望你和我一样觉得有帮助：对我来说，处理自己对数字设备的分心，就像我现在正在使用的这个，一个大的变化是从将其视为惩罚性或污名化的观点（“哦，我太糟糕了，总是分心”）转变。有效的是思考“我想策划我的思想，像一个美丽的花园或世界级博物馆。我可以把什么美丽的东西放进我的思想？”这有助于给出一种标准感，就像世界级博物馆会有入场标准。然后引出一个问题：“什么真正让我感到活着？什么带给我深深的喜悦？什么让我早上起床时有一种真正的兴奋感？当我投入时间时，什么真正有回报？”评估大多数数字分心，很明显这些东西真的没有很好的回报。但有些东西有……比如我们许多人喜欢放进思想的是佛法，或思考他人的优点，或思考世界上有多少善良的人，或空性，或格西拉尊者，等等。关于这个主题的最后一篇文章即将到来。同时，欢迎并需要您的反馈、想法和建议！
文章概要
本文探讨了数字时代中，特别是中年人群对社交媒体和智能手机的依赖问题，从佛教视角提出应对策略。文章指出科技成瘾已成为大众现象，破坏专注、正念和内心平静，并引用佛教大师如寂天和格西·凯桑尊者的教导，强调克服分心对灵修的重要性。作者分享了实用方法，如自我调节、数字排毒、设定界限、使用纸质佛法书籍，以及通过冥想和社区活动减少手机使用。文章还提出“策划思想”的概念，鼓励将注意力转向佛法等积极内容，以培养更健康的生活习惯。
高德明老师的评价
用12岁初中生可以听懂的语音来重复翻译的内容：这篇文章就像在说，我们很多人整天玩手机，好像手机成了我们的新朋友，但这样可能会让我们变得像机器人一样，忘记怎么和真人聊天。佛教老师告诉我们，这就像一种坏习惯，我们可以通过一些小改变来改掉它，比如把手机放远点，多看看书，或者和朋友一起玩时不带手机。这样，我们就能更开心，更专注。
佛学的各个宗派视角评价，突出《显密圆通成佛心要集》的视角：从佛教显宗和大乘视角看，本文强调正念和道德纪律，与《显密圆通成佛心要集》中提倡的“心要”修行相契合。该经典融合显密教法，主张通过准提法等简便法门净化心性，应对现代烦恼。本文提到的数字成瘾可视为一种“散乱”，准提法以其咒语修持能快速收摄心神，培养专注，正好对治这种分心。从密宗视角，科技依赖可类比“魔障”，准提法作为密法，具有强大加持力，能帮助修行者破除执着，回归内在平静。总体而言，文章倡导的自我调节与佛教修行目标一致，准提法的优点在于其适应性强，适合忙碌的现代人在日常生活中实践，提升灵性。
在修行实践上可以应用的和可以解决人们的十个问题：在修行实践上，本文的方法可以应用于解决以下十个问题：1. 减少手机成瘾，提升生活质量；2. 增强专注力，改善工作和学习效率；3. 培养正念，减少焦虑和压力；4. 加强人际关系，通过面对面交流增进感情；5. 促进内心平静，应对数字时代的干扰；6. 建立健康习惯，如定时冥想和阅读；7. 提升灵性成长，通过佛法学习深化修行；8. 改善睡眠质量，通过远离电子设备获得更好休息；9. 增强自我控制能力，克服冲动行为；10. 创造更有意义的生活，通过“策划思想”关注积极内容。这些实践基于佛教智慧，帮助人们在现代社会中找到平衡与幸福。