英文原文
Oren Jay Sofer on the Benefits of Meditation Retreats – Insight Meditation Society. Oren Jay Sofer is a nationally recognized teacher of meditation, mindfulness and Nonviolent Communication. Oren began his study of Theravada Buddhism in 1997 in Bodh Gaya, India, and lived as a renunciate for two and a half years in the Ajahn Chah Thai Forest Lineage. He holds a degree in Comparative Religion from Columbia University, is the author of “Say What You Mean: A Mindful Approach to Nonviolent Communication,” and is the founder of Next Step Dharma, an innovative online program that helps meditators integrate their retreat experiences into daily life. Oren will be teaching at IMS in February and May, 2020, and will be teaching at the Forest Refuge for the month of April with Teacher-in-Residence Caroline Jones. We recently sat down with Oren to examine the value of retreats and how they offer the potential to better our lives and the lives of those around us. Oren, what are the origins of Buddhist retreat culture? If we look at spiritual development and religion throughout history, it is a common phenomenon for human beings to temporarily remove themselves from society or from the regular rhythms and responsibilities of life in order to gain a different perspective. Stepping out of the ordinary, shifting consciousness, and then returning to life in order to allow a new perspective to inform our way of being in the world is probably as old as human beings on the planet. We certainly have records of the Buddha and his monastic followers going on self-retreats and community retreats. For example, it was standard for monks and nuns to remain in one location on retreat for several months each year during monsoon season. In modern times, the particular model of the silent intensive retreat came about in the late 1800’s, early 1900’s. In his book, The Birth of Insight, Eric Braun recounts how Burmese monk Ledi Sayadaw helped lead a renaissance of Buddhism in Burma. Ledi Sayadaw wanted to make the practices more accessible to everyone during a time of British colonialism. This helped reassert a unique national identity as a Buddhist country and holding retreats was an important part of that. In a very important sense then, the contemporary model of lay practitioners going on intensive retreats is a new phenomenon. The roots of retreat culture appear to have settled in the West in the 1960’s and 1970’s and the practice is becoming ever more popular today. Why do you think the act of going on retreat remains so essential for meditators in the contemporary age? Meditation retreats provide a protected space where we can set aside most of the distractions and stimulation of daily life. Within that secluded space it becomes a lot easier to develop sufficient stability (concentration), continuity of mindfulness, and clarity of the mind. The truth of being alive is that we are vulnerable. The world is unreliable. But we live as if the opposite were true. We then struggle and suffer because we don’t fully understand and accept these realities of life. We often end up using a large of amount of our mental, emotional, and physical energy to protect ourselves from these realities. We may avoid unpleasant experiences and chase after or hold onto pleasant ones. We may attempt to control the world around us, to control other people, to control our own mind, and to insulate our hearts from the vulnerability, the uncertainty, the rawness, and pain in life. But this is not the most effective way to use a human life. Retreat practice teaches us the ultimate futility of those strategies. Deeper levels of practice learned on retreat offer a new kind of security and protection. Retreats support a deepening of our natural awareness, a maturing of understanding, and a development of the beautiful qualities of the heart like generosity, integrity, kindness, and compassion. How would you describe the primary benefits of a silent meditation retreat? While on retreat, we strengthen particular qualities of heart-mind in service of seeing clearly and freeing the heart. This is one of the things I find so elegant and amazing about the formal practice; progress isn’t based on the content of your experience. It’s not about seeing light and feeling bliss. It’s about how you are relating to whatever is happening. The most mundane, boring story that is running through your mind can be the condition or cause for the arising of great compassion or patience or generosity or insight. Through the practice of moment to moment awareness we are strengthening a wide range of wholesome qualities and coming to understand the role that they play in our life. Next, we develop wisdom. One aspect of wisdom is understanding the difference between what is helpful or skillful, and what is not helpful or unskillful – both the roots of these forces in our minds, and their manifestation through speech and action. On retreat, we have the space to move beyond an intellectual idea about this to an embodied, felt understanding of the difference between a healthy impulse or mind state, and an unhealthy, unskillful one. The wisdom factor is learning to differentiate. Understanding our own mind, the natural laws of life, the dynamics of human relationship; all of this arises on retreat. And all of the wholesome qualities and wholesome motivations we discover are like the healthy soil for the seeds of insight to sprout. The growth of wisdom matures into an understanding about the causes of stress or suffering, and its ending. How are IMS retreats different from other immersive experiences in meditation and mindfulness? With the popularity of secular mindfulness, we have seen a proliferation of other retreat formats that are less intensive than IMS retreats. Some of these feel more like a workshop; many are not silent, and at some you can get a massage or drink alcohol. They might seem like a vacation with a little meditation thrown in. The retreats we do at IMS and at other insight meditation centers are intended to be intensive trainings; the whole structure of the retreat is designed to support the deepening and the strengthening of healthy mental qualities and insight. IMS retreats promote a more complete and raw encounter with one’s own mind and the experience of being alive and being human. These outcomes are most reliably possible when you take away the distractions and stimulation that we use to insulate or buffer ourselves from the mysteriousness and unfamiliarity of our own mind. The container at IMS – having a schedule, no distractions, a community that is practicing together, the guidance and encouragement of teachers – all of that tends to make it easier to develop the qualities of kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity. IMS serves many long-term practitioners as well as an increasing number of people who are new to the practices. What advice would you offer a novice who may be considering an IMS retreat for the first time? It really depends on the person. Some people find it helpful to ease into attending a silent retreat. Before coming to IMS, they might start with a one day intensive, then go to a weekend or non-residential program, and finally attend a three- or five-day retreat. If you are newer to practice, there can be a lot of benefit in working up to a silent retreat, so that you have a feeling for what it’s like to meditate, sitting and walking, for half a day, a day, two days. Gradually increasing the duration of one’s practice period is a healthy, reliable approach to developing more confidence and internal strength. On the other hand, some people find great value in just diving in. I sat my first 10-day silent retreat at age 20 after about three months of daily practice and one silent weekend. It was a tremendous learning opportunity. And it’s very safe; people have been retreating into solitude to study their minds for millennia. What’s more, if you go to a meditation retreat at IMS (or at any other established Insight Meditation center or with a teacher who teaches at those centers) you are in good hands. You’re not going off into the wilderness with no guide. You can have confidence in the teachers and staff, who are there to support you through the experience. Last, you are not doing it alone; you are doing it with a community of other retreatants. For experienced practitioners, what are the benefits of returning to retreat on an ongoing basis? Wisdom grows when we practice and it wanes when we don’t practice. The habit of mind is to want what we want as quickly, effortlessly, and immediately as possible, with the most pleasure, and in the longest lasting way. That’s the default conditioning. This programming gets applied to spiritual practice; we might want to be able to check a retreat off the list. We may think, “Yes, I did my 10-day vipassana retreat and now I’m done. I’m good for this lifetime.” It doesn’t work like that. It’s not like getting a tattoo or hanging a degree on the wall where you get it once and you’re done. This is a life-long process. In a way, it’s more like learning to play an instrument. You can get to a certain point of proficiency but if you stop practicing long enough, you get rusty. You need to keep engaging those muscles and that perspective in order for it to be alive and available in your daily life. So, sitting retreats regularly is a way to refresh the heart-mind in the wisdom perspectives of the dharma, and to get a stronger, periodic dose of practice. If one’s motivation has waned, one can consider the benefits you have already received through your practice in life. It is easy to forget how far we have come or become complacent and coast, particularly for people who have been practicing for a long time. Often, a lot of the more disturbing and egregious kinds of suffering wear away early and then we are working on more subtle layers of conditioning, delusion, and self-centeredness. Returning to retreat can help us stay engaged in the practice and support the continued unfolding of the awakening process. Can exploring the dharma on a silent meditation retreat help us better serve our communities? Absolutely. The more clear and free our own mind, the more we have to give. Service, generosity, and compassion are both supports for and natural outcomes of the path. I think that anyone who practices sincerely will discover their own deeper suffering, and through that experience, will also discover their connection to other people’s suffering. This whole practice is about ending suffering. So, the conversation today sits within an understanding of the way the institutions and dynamics of our society create and perpetuate oppression and suffering. The very life of the dharma becomes one of ending suffering for all beings through social transformation. I think that we as a community are actively exploring the question, “What does it mean to have a social analysis from a dharma perspective?” It is difficult for many of us to tolerate the tremendous grief and pain we feel in relation to the harm that is being caused by systems and institutions, as well as to grapple with the immense amount of resources they have at their disposal. We need something of a different order to stand up to those forces. I believe that the dharma offers an important piece of the puzzle for many. The dharma alone can’t solve our ecological crisis, racism, income inequality, and the like, but it offers us a powerful and universal method for healing, practices to transform the roots of suffering, and principles to guide our actions. The dharma also provides a training ground to develop the kinds of qualities that allow us to work for social change without burning out. In the end, some people can be very motivated by the promise of freedom for one’s own heart and ending their suffering individually. For others, the potential for compassionate service and the enhancement of our capacity to make a difference for other people is more inspiring and motivating. It is important as we go along this path to continue to investigate what our motivation is and to hone it so it feels alive and clear.
中文翻译
奥伦·杰·索弗谈禅修闭关的益处——内观禅修协会。奥伦·杰·索弗是全国公认的禅修、正念和非暴力沟通教师。奥伦于1997年在印度菩提伽耶开始学习上座部佛教，并在阿姜查泰国森林传承中作为出家人生活了两年半。他拥有哥伦比亚大学比较宗教学学位，是《说你想说的：非暴力沟通的正念方法》一书的作者，也是Next Step Dharma的创始人，这是一个创新的在线项目，帮助禅修者将闭关体验融入日常生活。奥伦将于2020年2月和5月在IMS教学，并于4月在森林庇护所与驻留教师卡罗琳·琼斯一起教学。我们最近与奥伦坐下来探讨闭关的价值，以及它们如何提供改善我们和周围人生活的潜力。奥伦，佛教闭关文化的起源是什么？纵观历史上的灵性发展和宗教，人类暂时脱离社会或日常生活的常规节奏和责任以获得不同视角是一种普遍现象。走出平凡，转变意识，然后回归生活，让新视角影响我们在世界中的存在方式，这可能与地球上的人类一样古老。我们当然有佛陀及其僧伽弟子进行个人闭关和集体闭关的记录。例如，僧尼每年雨季在某个地点闭关数月是标准做法。在现代，特定的密集静默闭关模式出现在19世纪末、20世纪初。埃里克·布劳恩在他的书《内观的诞生》中讲述了缅甸僧人雷迪西亚多如何帮助领导缅甸佛教复兴。雷迪西亚多希望在英国殖民时期让修行更易于所有人接触。这有助于重新确立作为佛教国家的独特民族身份，而举办闭关是其中的重要部分。因此，从非常重要的意义上说，在家修行者进行密集闭关的当代模式是一种新现象。闭关文化的根源似乎在20世纪60年代和70年代在西方扎根，如今这种做法越来越受欢迎。为什么你认为在当代，进行闭关对禅修者仍然如此重要？禅修闭关提供了一个受保护的空间，我们可以放下日常生活中的大部分干扰和刺激。在那个僻静的空间里，更容易发展足够的稳定性（专注）、正念的连续性和心灵的清晰度。活着的真相是我们是脆弱的。世界是不可靠的。但我们活得好像相反才是真的。然后我们挣扎和受苦，因为我们没有完全理解和接受这些生活现实。我们常常最终用大量的心理、情感和身体能量来保护自己免受这些现实的影响。我们可能避免不愉快的经历，追逐或抓住愉快的经历。我们可能试图控制周围的世界，控制他人，控制自己的心，并隔离我们的心免受生活中的脆弱、不确定性、原始性和痛苦。但这并不是最有效利用人生的方式。闭关修行教会我们这些策略的最终徒劳。在闭关中学到的更深层次的修行提供了一种新的安全和保护。闭关支持我们自然觉知的深化、理解的成熟，以及心中美好品质的发展，如慷慨、正直、善良和慈悲。你会如何描述静默禅修闭关的主要益处？在闭关期间，我们加强特定的心性品质，以服务于清晰看见和解放心灵。这是我觉得正式修行如此优雅和惊人的事情之一；进步不是基于你体验的内容。它不是关于看到光和感受极乐。它是关于你如何与正在发生的任何事情建立关系。你脑海中闪过的最平凡、无聊的故事可能是大慈悲、耐心、慷慨或洞察生起的条件或原因。通过时刻觉知的修行，我们正在加强广泛的善巧品质，并开始理解它们在我们生活中扮演的角色。接下来，我们发展智慧。智慧的一个方面是理解什么是有益或善巧的，什么是无益或不善巧的——包括这些力量在我们心中的根源，以及它们通过言语和行为的显现。在闭关中，我们有空间超越关于这一点的智力观念，达到对健康冲动或心态与不健康、不善巧冲动或心态之间差异的具体、感受性理解。智慧因素是学会区分。理解我们自己的心、生命的自然法则、人际关系的动态；所有这些都在闭关中产生。我们发现的所有善巧品质和善巧动机就像洞察种子发芽的健康土壤。智慧的增长成熟为对压力或痛苦的原因及其止息的理解。IMS闭关与其他沉浸式禅修和正念体验有何不同？随着世俗正念的流行，我们看到其他闭关形式的激增，这些形式不如IMS闭关密集。其中一些感觉更像工作坊；许多不是静默的，有些你可以按摩或喝酒。它们可能像是带有少量禅修的假期。我们在IMS和其他内观禅修中心进行的闭关旨在成为密集训练；闭关的整个结构旨在支持健康心理品质和洞察的深化和加强。IMS闭关促进更完整和原始地面对自己的心以及活着和作为人类的体验。当你拿走我们用来隔离或缓冲自己免受心的神秘性和陌生性影响的干扰和刺激时，这些结果最可靠地可能实现。IMS的容器——有日程安排、无干扰、一起修行的社区、教师的指导和鼓励——所有这些都倾向于更容易发展善良、慈悲、喜悦和平舍的品质。IMS服务于许多长期修行者以及越来越多的新修行者。对于可能第一次考虑IMS闭关的新手，你会提供什么建议？这真的取决于个人。有些人发现逐步参加静默闭关有帮助。在来IMS之前，他们可能从一天密集开始，然后参加周末或非住宿项目，最后参加三到五天的闭关。如果你是修行新手，逐步进行到静默闭关可能有很多好处，这样你可以感受禅修、坐禅和行禅半天、一天、两天是什么感觉。逐渐增加修行时间是一种健康、可靠的方法，可以发展更多信心和内在力量。另一方面，有些人发现直接投入有很大价值。我在20岁时坐了第一次10天静默闭关，大约在每日修行三个月和一个静默周末之后。这是一个巨大的学习机会。而且非常安全；几千年来，人们一直退隐独处以研究自己的心。更重要的是，如果你去IMS（或任何其他已建立的内观禅修中心或与在这些中心教学的教师一起）的禅修闭关，你是在可靠的人手中。你不是在没有向导的情况下进入荒野。你可以对教师和工作人员有信心，他们会在整个体验中支持你。最后，你不是独自做这件事；你是与其他闭关者社区一起做。对于有经验的修行者，定期返回闭关有什么益处？智慧在我们修行时增长，在我们不修行时减弱。心的习惯是想要我们想要的尽可能快、轻松、立即，以最大的快乐，以最持久的方式。这是默认的制约。这种编程被应用于灵性修行；我们可能希望能够在清单上勾掉一次闭关。我们可能想，“是的，我完成了我的10天内观闭关，现在我完成了。我这辈子都好了。”事实并非如此。它不像纹身或把学位挂在墙上，你得到一次就完成了。这是一个终身的过程。在某种程度上，它更像学习演奏乐器。你可以达到一定的熟练程度，但如果你停止练习足够长时间，你会生疏。你需要不断运用那些肌肉和那个视角，以便它在你的日常生活中保持活跃和可用。因此，定期坐禅闭关是一种以佛法智慧视角刷新心性，并获得更强、定期剂量的修行方式。如果一个人的动机减弱，可以考虑你通过生活中的修行已经获得的益处。很容易忘记我们已经走了多远，或者变得自满和懈怠，特别是对于长期修行的人。通常，许多更令人不安和恶劣的痛苦早期就磨损了，然后我们处理更微妙的制约、迷惑和自我中心的层次。返回闭关可以帮助我们保持参与修行，并支持觉醒过程的持续展开。在静默禅修闭关中探索佛法能帮助我们更好地服务社区吗？绝对可以。我们自己的心越清晰和自由，我们越有可以给予的。服务、慷慨和慈悲既是道途的支持，也是自然结果。我认为任何真诚修行的人都会发现自己更深的痛苦，并通过这种体验，也会发现自己与他人痛苦的联系。这整个修行是关于止息痛苦。因此，今天的对话基于对我们社会制度和动态如何创造和延续压迫和痛苦的理解。佛法的生命本身成为通过社会转型为所有众生止息痛苦的生命。我认为我们作为一个社区正在积极探索这个问题，“从佛法视角进行社会分析意味着什么？”对我们许多人来说，容忍我们感受到的与系统和制度造成的伤害相关的巨大悲伤和痛苦是困难的，同时也要应对它们掌握的巨量资源。我们需要某种不同秩序的东西来对抗这些力量。我相信佛法为许多人提供了谜题的重要一块。佛法本身不能解决我们的生态危机、种族主义、收入不平等等问题，但它为我们提供了强大而普遍的疗愈方法、转化痛苦根源的修行，以及指导我们行动的原则。佛法还提供了一个训练场，发展那些允许我们为社会变革工作而不倦怠的品质。最后，有些人可能被自己心灵自由和个体止息痛苦的承诺所激励。对其他人来说，慈悲服务的潜力和增强我们为他人带来改变的能力更鼓舞人心和激励人心。在我们沿着这条道路前进时，继续调查我们的动机是什么并磨练它，使其感觉鲜活和清晰是很重要的。
文章概要
本文基于奥伦·杰·索弗的访谈，探讨佛教禅修闭关在中年自我发现中的角色。文章追溯了闭关文化从佛陀时代到现代的历史演变，强调闭关如何提供一个远离日常干扰的空间，以深化觉知、发展智慧并培养慈悲等心性品质。访谈详细分析了静默闭关的主要益处，包括加强心性品质、区分善巧与不善巧行为，以及促进个人与社区的连接。文章还比较了IMS闭关与其他禅修体验的区别，为新手和有经验者提供实用建议，并讨论闭关如何支持社会服务与变革。整体上，文章突出了闭关作为中年自我发现工具的价值，帮助个体面对脆弱性、转化痛苦并增强利他能力。
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，有时候大人会觉得生活很累，有很多事情要忙，心里乱乱的。去参加一个禅修闭关，就像是给自己放一个特别的假期，但不是去玩，而是安静地待在一个地方，学习怎么让心静下来。这样可以帮助我们看清楚自己，变得更善良、更开心，还能学会帮助别人。就像练习乐器一样，经常练习就会越来越好，闭关也是这样，多做几次，心就会变得更强大和聪明。
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：从佛学宗派视角看，本文主要基于上座部佛教的内观传统，强调通过静默闭关发展智慧和慈悲。在《显密圆通成佛心要集》的视角下，闭关修行可视为显密圆融的实践基础。准提法作为大乘密法，同样重视闭关以净化业障、开启智慧，但更强调咒语持诵与本尊相应的密法元素。本文提到的闭关益处如稳定性、觉知深化，与准提法中的“三密相应”有共通之处，但准提法通过身口意三密加持，能更快速积累资粮、转化烦恼。从大乘显宗视角，闭关培养的慈悲心与菩提心相契合，支持利他行愿。总体而言，本文的闭关理念为显密修行提供了宝贵参考，准提法则在此基础上融入密法方便，使修行更全面高效。
在修行实践上可以应用的和可以解决人们的十个问题：1. 帮助缓解日常压力，通过闭关学习放松技巧。2. 提升专注力，减少分心，提高工作效率。3. 增强自我觉察，更好地理解情绪和思维模式。4. 培养慈悲心，改善人际关系，减少冲突。5. 面对中年危机时，提供自我反思和成长机会。6. 减轻焦虑和抑郁，通过正念练习找到内心平静。7. 促进身体健康，禅修有助于降低血压和改善睡眠。8. 增强抗挫折能力，学习接受生活的不确定性。9. 激发创造力，静心环境可能带来新灵感。10. 支持社区服务，闭关后更愿意参与利他活动，提升社会贡献。