英文原文
Meditation apps might calm you – but miss the point of Buddhist mindfulness. In today’s stressful world, mindfulness – a type of popular spirituality that strives to focus on the present moment – promises to soothe away the anxiety and stress of modern life. The Internet is full of popular cure-all mindfulness apps targeting everyone from busy urban professionals to dieters, those suffering from insomnia and even children. We are scholars of Buddhism who specialize in social media research. In August of 2019, we searched on Apple’s App Store and Google Play and found over 500 apps associated with Buddhism. The majority of the apps centered on the practice of mindfulness. Do these apps truly promote Buddhist ideals or are they a product of a lucrative consumer industry? As it is practiced in the U.S. today, mindfulness meditation focuses on being intensely aware, without any sort of judgment, of what one is sensing and feeling in the given moment. Mindfulness practice has been shown to counter the tendency in many of us to spend too much time planning and problem solving, which can be stressful. Mindfulness practices, as pursued by the Buddhist apps, involve guided meditation, breathing exercises and other forms of relaxation. Clinical tests show that mindfulness relieves stress, anxiety, pain, depression, insomnia and hypertension. However, there have been few studies of mindfulness apps. The current popular understanding of mindfulness is derived from the Buddhist concept of sati, which describes being aware of one’s body, feelings and other mental states. In early Buddhist texts mindfulness meant not only paying attention but also remembering what the Buddha taught, so that one could discern between skillful and unskillful thoughts, feelings and actions. This would ultimately lead to liberation from the cycle of birth and death. For example, the Buddhist text “Satipatthana Sutta” describes not only being mindful of breath and body, but also comparing one’s body to a corpse in a cemetery to appreciate the arising and ceasing of the body. “One is mindful that the body exists, just to the extent necessary for knowledge and awareness. And one remains detached, grasping at nothing in the world,” the sutra reads. Buddhism encourages practitioners to move away from attachment to material things. Here mindfulness enables one to appreciate impermanence, not become attached to material things and strive to attain greater awareness so that one can ultimately become enlightened. Early Buddhist mindfulness practitioners were those who criticized mainstream societal values and cultural norms such as bodily beauty, family ties and material wealth. Mindfulness apps, on the other hand, encourage people to cope with and accommodate to society. They overlook the surrounding causes and conditions of suffering and stress, which may be political, social or economic. Mindfulness apps are part of a massive and lucrative industry valued at roughly US$130 million. Two apps, Calm and Headspace, claim nearly 70% of the overall market share. These apps cater to a wide audience, which includes religious consumers as well as the growing number of Americans who consider themselves spiritual but not religious. Americans spend over five hours each day glued to their mobile devices. Nearly 80% of Americans check their smartphones within fifteen minutes of waking up. The apps provide a way to do meditation while on the go. The fact that Buddhist apps exist is not surprising, as Buddhism has always been skillful at using new media technologies to spread its message. The oldest known printed book, for example, is a Chinese copy of the Diamond Sutra, a Sanskrit Buddhist text that dates to the ninth century. Are these apps merely repackaging of ancient Buddhism in new digital wrappers? There is no doubt that Buddhist apps are a reflection of real social distress. But, in our assessment, mindfulness, when stripped of all its religious elements, may distort understandings of Buddhism. A core aspect of Buddhism is the concept of no-self: the belief that there is no unchanging, permanent self, soul or other essence. In promoting an individualistic approach to religion, then, Buddhist apps may well rub against the very grain of Buddhist practice. Indeed, our findings show that Buddhist meditation apps are not a cure that relieves suffering in the world, but more like an opiate that hides the real symptoms of the precarious and stressful state in which many people find themselves today. In that case, Buddhist apps, rather than curing the anxiety created by our smartphones, just make us more addicted to them and, in the end, even more stressed.
中文翻译
冥想应用可能让你平静，但偏离了佛教正念的本意。在当今充满压力的世界中，正念——一种旨在专注于当下的流行灵性实践——承诺能缓解现代生活的焦虑和压力。互联网上充斥着针对从忙碌的城市专业人士到节食者、失眠者甚至儿童的各种万能正念应用。我们是专门研究社交媒体的佛教学者。2019年8月，我们在苹果应用商店和Google Play上搜索，发现了超过500个与佛教相关的应用。大多数应用都集中在正念实践上。这些应用是否真正推广佛教理念，还是仅仅是盈利性消费产业的产物？如今在美国实践的正念冥想，侧重于在特定时刻强烈地意识到自己的感受和情绪，而不做任何评判。正念实践已被证明可以对抗我们许多人花太多时间规划和解决问题的倾向，这可能会带来压力。佛教应用所追求的正念实践包括引导冥想、呼吸练习和其他形式的放松。临床测试表明，正念能缓解压力、焦虑、疼痛、抑郁、失眠和高血压。然而，关于正念应用的研究很少。当前流行的正念理解源自佛教的“念”（sati）概念，它描述了对自己的身体、感受和其他心理状态的觉知。在早期佛教经典中，正念不仅意味着注意，还意味着记住佛陀的教导，以便能够辨别善巧与不善巧的思想、感受和行为。这将最终导致从生死轮回中解脱。例如，佛教经典《念处经》不仅描述了正念呼吸和身体，还将身体比作墓地中的尸体，以欣赏身体的生起和灭去。经文写道：“一个人正念身体的存在，仅到知识和觉知所需的程度。并且保持超脱，不执着于世间的任何事物。”佛教鼓励修行者远离对物质事物的执着。在这里，正念使人能够欣赏无常，不执着于物质事物，并努力获得更高的觉知，从而最终开悟。早期佛教正念修行者是那些批评主流社会价值观和文化规范的人，如身体美、家庭纽带和物质财富。而正念应用则鼓励人们应对和适应社会。它们忽视了痛苦和压力的周围原因和条件，这些原因可能是政治、社会或经济性的。正念应用是价值约1.3亿美元的巨大盈利产业的一部分。两个应用，Calm和Headspace，占据了近70%的市场份额。这些应用迎合了广泛的受众，包括宗教消费者以及越来越多的自认为有灵性但非宗教的美国人。美国人每天花超过五个小时粘在移动设备上。近80%的美国人在醒来后十五分钟内查看智能手机。这些应用提供了一种在移动中进行冥想的方式。佛教应用的存在并不令人惊讶，因为佛教一直善于利用新媒体技术传播其信息。例如，已知最古老的印刷书籍是《金刚经》的中文副本，这是一部可追溯到九世纪的梵文佛教文本。这些应用是否仅仅是将古老佛教重新包装在新的数字外衣中？毫无疑问，佛教应用反映了真实的社会困境。但是，根据我们的评估，正念在剥离所有宗教元素后，可能会扭曲对佛教的理解。佛教的一个核心方面是无我概念：相信没有不变、永恒的自我、灵魂或其他本质。因此，在推广个人主义的宗教方法时，佛教应用可能与佛教实践的核心理念相悖。事实上，我们的研究结果表明，佛教冥想应用不是缓解世间痛苦的良药，而更像是一种麻醉剂，隐藏了当今许多人处于不稳定和压力状态的真实症状。在这种情况下，佛教应用非但没有治愈智能手机带来的焦虑，反而让我们更沉迷于它们，最终压力更大。
文章概要
本文探讨了使用佛教冥想应用管理中年压力的现象，指出这些应用虽能提供短期放松，但可能偏离佛教正念的本意。文章基于学者研究，分析了正念应用的流行、健康益处及其与佛教教义的差异，强调佛教正念旨在通过觉知和无常观实现解脱，而应用往往忽视社会根源，成为盈利产业的一部分，可能加剧数字依赖和压力。
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：想象一下，你有一个手机应用，它教你深呼吸和放松，就像在学校考试前紧张时，老师让你数到十一样。这个应用说它能帮你减少压力，让你感觉好一些。但佛教的正念不只是放松，它更像是一种超级注意力，让你注意到自己的身体和感受，同时记住佛陀的教导，比如不要过于在意物质东西，因为一切都会变化。应用可能让你暂时平静，但佛教希望你能真正理解为什么会有压力，并找到长久的内心平静。
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，正念是修行的重要基础，旨在培养觉知和智慧，以破除我执和烦恼。在《显密圆通成佛心要集》中，准提法作为显密圆融的法门，强调通过咒语、观想和正念结合，快速净化业障、增长福慧。本文提到的应用简化了正念，可能忽略了佛教的深层教义如无我和慈悲，而准提法则提供了一个更全面的修行框架，将正念融入密法实践，帮助修行者在日常生活中保持觉照，超越世俗压力，导向成佛。从这一视角，应用虽有益处，但应引导用户深入佛教核心，而非停留表面放松。
在修行实践上可以应用的和可以解决人们的十个问题：基于准提法的优点，修行实践可以应用于：1. 通过正念呼吸缓解日常焦虑；2. 使用咒语增强专注力；3. 观想准提佛母培养慈悲心；4. 结合无常观减少物质执着；5. 定期冥想提升情绪稳定性；6. 应用佛教教义应对工作压力；7. 培养觉知以改善人际关系；8. 通过修行增强内心力量；9. 利用正念管理时间减少拖延；10. 实践准提法促进灵性成长。这些方法可以帮助人们解决诸如压力大、焦虑、失眠、注意力分散、情绪波动、人际关系紧张、物质依赖、自我怀疑、生活失衡和灵性空虚等问题，导向更和谐的生活。