英文原文
Have you been feeling bored lately, stuck at home during this pandemic? Do you ever feel bored? Or how about ennui, lethargy, inertia, melancholy, flatness, or any of its other close cousins!? What does it feel like? What do you do about it? It seems to be a universal predicament in all age groups and income brackets. It is not just now during these strange COVID times ... kids during endless summer vacations often get bored, adolescents notoriously get bored, people working day in and day out at dead-end jobs get bored, people with no jobs get bored, old people stuck in their houses get bored, caged animals get bored, and even people with comparatively nothing to be bored about get bored (think mid-life crisis). Perhaps we all get bored sometimes unless we are just too busy or stressed out, which may be the opposite problem? Nor is it just a recent phenomenon – humans and animals have been getting bored for as long as they’ve had minds, namely since beginningless time. I read about a chimp called Santino, who collects rocks before his Swedish zoo opens in the morning so he can pelt them at the roughly 300 humans who come to stare at him. Is he bad-tempered, seeking relief from boredom, or a bit of both? So where does boredom come from? The reason it is so common is probably that it is a facet of one of the three main mental poisons – ignorance. One reason I think this is that in the meditation on equanimity we get rid of our three poisons of: (1) closeness for our friends out of attachment, (2) distance for our enemies out of anger, and (3) indifference for boring strangers out of ignorance. And we can also develop equanimity with respect to inanimate objects, overcoming attachment, aversion and indifference/boredom for them too. In some ways, if we are not in a state of attachment or aversion and things appear just neutral, boredom may be our kind of natural default! We feel unengaged, indifferent and distanced from the things we find neutral. At the same time, we paradoxically feel more hemmed in because everything seems more solid and real. What do you think?! In the mind-training book Universal Compassion, Geshe Kelsang says that for ordinary beings: Attractive objects cause desirous attachment to arise, unattractive objects cause anger, and neutral objects cause ignorance... Those with special interest in training the mind, however, should try to change this and develop the three virtuous minds instead of the three poisons. We become bored by supposed predictability and unavoidable and unchanging circumstances that seem beyond our control – not understanding that our own minds are the creators of our ever-changing and indeed unpredictable circumstances, and that we can take control of our minds. In terms of the inappropriate attention that accompanies all delusions, I would think that we are exaggerating the apparent solidity, permanence, and inherent existence of our situation whenever we are bored. A friend on Facebook said the other day: “I think boredom is a form of impatience. Therefore patience is an antidote — so is contentment. It is said that young people tend to equate happiness with excitement while older people equate happiness with peace. Boredom in the young is related to attachment to excitement.” It could be that in this age of instant ever-shifting entertainment in our pockets it is harder in general to stay interested and absorbed, and boredom is likelier to crop up. But I think that the lack of excitement or pleasure itself comes from an ignorance grasping strongly at an inherently existent world outside the mind and thus feeling alienated from it, adrift, unconnected, unable to enjoy. Boredom also comes from fruitlessly seeking happiness in that inherently existent external world for, as another friend on Facebook puts it: “Maybe it arises from lack of understanding of where true happiness is to be found — surely if we didn’t search for happiness in external things we would have no reason to be bored?” Are these the causes or symptoms of boredom?: “A lack of feeling of any place in the community or world. A feeling of impotence and disenchantment for a world that seems to ignore one and holds no opportunity for productive action or pleasure.” The stronger we grasp at the world existing outside of ourselves, the more isolated, alienated, impotent, bored, and yes, ignored, we are going to feel. Then we are naturally going to start craving anything that will excite us and become impatient when nothing exciting enough seems to be forthcoming to relieve the monotony and feeling of being hemmed in. Lack of identity? I have been reading during COVID-19 that people divested of their ordinary routines are complaining of suffering from a “lack of identity” or not knowing who they are any more. Although on one level that is true because everything is thrown in the air, it is also the case that when we are bored our sense of identity is more concrete than ever. Why? Because we are holding ourself separate from the rest of the world, me versus them. It is just not a very constructive or wise sense of self as it ignores our profound connection to others on every level. Although we can be bored on our own or in the company of others, loneliness also seems to be boredom’s never far-straying twin. Creativity v. boredom Whenever as a kid I complained of having nothing to do, my mother would say that annoying old-fashioned thing: If you’re bored, you’re boring. Thing is though, I could see she had a point. Boredom is the opposite of creativity. While we’re bored we feel like a victim of our circumstances, we feel disenfranchised, we don’t feel creative, we don’t feel in charge. When I heard teachings on emptiness I realized I had lost my excuse to be bored ever again because I was creating my own reality moment by moment through conceptual imputation – and there is nothing boring about an act of creation that cosmic! It doesn’t mean that I have yet completely conquered boredom though, I still detect it sometimes – which is partly why I am interested in the subject. The best antidote for me is to meditate, which is creative and uplifting, and in particular to remember emptiness. Wisdom, I find, dismantles the temporal and spatial walls erected by boredom. For an amazingly clear introduction to the wisdom realizing emptiness, you can download this free Buddhist eBook Modern Buddhism and read the chapter called “Training in Ultimate Bodhichitta”. A lot of negative behavior such as vandalism, for example, is primarily motivated by boredom. This is nothing new — even back in the Roman days a graffitist wrote: “Wall, I wonder that you haven’t fallen down in ruin, when you have to support all the boredom of your inscribers.” Because boredom lacks creativity, it is understandable that graffiti artists, for example, try to assuage it by writing on walls in an act of creation that may or may not annoy everyone else in the neighborhood. We can of course try to change our circumstances in creative ways to alleviate boredom if the opportunity is there, which it may or may not be at the moment. When I first wrote this article in 2011 I came up with these ideas — seeking a more challenging job, or meeting new people, or taking up a hobby, or simply taking ourself out of the house for a walk in a new area — and reading this back now I can see how much life has changed in recent months! However, whether we can or cannot make innovative changes to our circumstances, given that the main cause of boredom is internal (ignorance), the main creative solution is also to be found within our own minds. If we dismiss this fact, we may soon enough find ourselves becoming bored by our new job, companions, trees, or hobbies. After all, we’ve been trying to change the circumstances of our lives to solve our boredom since beginningless time, yet here we all are, still finding ourselves bored. Precious human life Meditating on our precious human life is a good starting point — realizing that we have more choices and prospects than maybe we knew. Nick Vujicic, who I wrote about in this article, has no arms or legs and therefore seemingly far fewer opportunities than the rest of us; but try telling him that! Summary According to Buddhism, when we’re attached, the main opponent is non-attachment or the wish for true mental freedom. When we’re angry the main opponent is patience or love. When we are indifferent, or bored, the main opponent is non-ignorance, or the wisdom realizing emptiness and an understanding of the mind’s power to create. There is always something creative to do. Loren Jay Shaw managed to find creative ways to stave off boredom for three years in solitary confinement! As with all opponents to delusions, however, we need to know about them before we can apply them. Once again I find myself grateful for Buddha’s teachings, or to be honest I think I too would be bored out of my mind with samsara by now. Do you have any good solutions for boredom? Please share them. And share this article with anyone who might be getting bored during these long dog days of COVID-19!!!
中文翻译
你最近是否感到无聊，在疫情期间困在家里？你是否曾感到无聊？或者厌倦、倦怠、惰性、忧郁、平淡，或任何其他近亲！？它感觉如何？你对此做了什么？这似乎是所有年龄组和收入阶层的普遍困境。不仅仅是在这些奇怪的COVID时期……孩子们在无尽的暑假中常常感到无聊，青少年臭名昭著地感到无聊，日复一日从事死胡同工作的人感到无聊，没有工作的人感到无聊，困在家里的老人感到无聊，笼中的动物感到无聊，甚至那些相对没什么可无聊的人也感到无聊（想想中年危机）。也许我们有时都会感到无聊，除非我们太忙或压力太大，这可能是相反的问题？这也不是最近的现象——人类和动物只要有心灵，就会感到无聊，即从无始以来。我读到一只名叫桑蒂诺的黑猩猩，它在瑞典动物园早上开门前收集石头，以便向大约300名来盯着它看的人类投掷。它是脾气暴躁，寻求缓解无聊，还是两者兼有？那么无聊从何而来？它如此普遍的原因可能是它是三种主要心灵毒药之一——无知的一个方面。我认为的一个原因是，在平等舍的冥想中，我们摆脱了三种毒药：（1）因执着而对朋友的亲近，（2）因愤怒而对敌人的疏远，以及（3）因无知而对无聊陌生人的漠不关心。我们也可以对无生命物体发展平等舍，克服对它们的执着、厌恶和漠不关心/无聊。在某些方面，如果我们不处于执着或厌恶的状态，事物显得中立，无聊可能是我们的一种自然默认！我们感到不投入、漠不关心，并与我们认为中立的事物疏远。同时，我们矛盾地感到更加受困，因为一切似乎更加坚实和真实。你怎么看？！在《普遍慈悲》这本心灵训练书中，格西凯尔桑说，对于普通众生：有吸引力的对象引起贪欲执着，无吸引力的对象引起愤怒，中性的对象引起无知……然而，那些特别有兴趣训练心灵的人应该尝试改变这一点，发展三种善心而不是三种毒药。我们因所谓的可预测性和看似超出我们控制的不可避免且不变的环境而感到无聊——不理解我们自己的心灵是我们不断变化且确实不可预测的环境的创造者，并且我们可以控制自己的心灵。就伴随所有妄念的不当注意力而言，我认为每当我们感到无聊时，我们都在夸大我们处境的明显坚实性、永久性和固有存在。一位Facebook朋友前几天说：“我认为无聊是一种不耐烦。因此耐心是一种解药——满足也是。据说年轻人倾向于将幸福等同于兴奋，而老年人则将幸福等同于平静。年轻人的无聊与对兴奋的执着有关。”在这个口袋里有即时不断变化的娱乐的时代，一般来说更难保持兴趣和专注，无聊更可能出现。但我认为缺乏兴奋或快乐本身源于一种无知，强烈执着于心外固有存在的世界，从而感到疏离、漂泊、无联系、无法享受。无聊也源于在那种固有存在的外部世界中徒劳地寻求幸福，正如另一位Facebook朋友所说：“也许它源于不理解真正的幸福在哪里——如果我们不在外部事物中寻找幸福，我们肯定没有理由感到无聊？”这些是无聊的原因还是症状？：“缺乏在社区或世界中的任何位置感。对一个似乎忽视一个人且没有生产性行动或快乐机会的世界感到无力和幻灭。”我们越执着于存在于我们之外的世界，我们就越感到孤立、疏离、无力、无聊，是的，被忽视。然后我们自然会开始渴望任何能让我们兴奋的东西，并在没有足够令人兴奋的东西出现以缓解单调和受困感时变得不耐烦。缺乏身份认同？我在COVID-19期间读到，那些被剥夺了日常例行公事的人抱怨遭受“缺乏身份认同”或不再知道自己是谁。虽然从某个层面来说这是真的，因为一切都被抛在空中，但当我们感到无聊时，我们的身份感也比以往任何时候都更加具体。为什么？因为我们把自己与世界其他部分分开，我与他们对立。这不是一种非常有建设性或明智的自我感，因为它忽视了我们在各个层面上与他人的深刻联系。虽然我们可以独自或在他人陪伴下感到无聊，但孤独似乎也是无聊从不远离的双胞胎。创造力与无聊每当我小时候抱怨无事可做时，我母亲会说那句恼人的老话：如果你无聊，你就是无聊的。但问题是，我能看出她有道理。无聊是创造力的反面。当我们无聊时，我们感到自己是环境的受害者，我们感到被剥夺权利，我们不感到有创造力，我们不感到掌控。当我听到关于空性的教导时，我意识到我失去了再次无聊的借口，因为我通过概念安立时刻创造自己的现实——而那种宇宙性的创造行为一点也不无聊！这并不意味着我已经完全征服了无聊，我有时仍然能察觉到它——这也是我对这个主题感兴趣的部分原因。对我来说最好的解药是冥想，这是创造性和提升性的，特别是记住空性。我发现，智慧拆除了无聊建立的时间和空间墙。关于实现空性的智慧的惊人清晰介绍，你可以下载这本免费的佛教电子书《现代佛教》，阅读名为“训练胜义菩提心”的章节。许多负面行为，例如破坏公物，主要是由无聊驱动的。这并不新鲜——甚至在罗马时代，一位涂鸦者写道：“墙，我惊讶你还没有倒塌，当你必须支撑所有涂鸦者的无聊时。”因为无聊缺乏创造力，可以理解涂鸦艺术家试图通过在墙上书写来缓解它，这是一种可能或不可能惹恼社区其他人的创造行为。当然，如果机会存在，我们可以尝试以创造性的方式改变我们的环境来缓解无聊，但此刻可能有机会也可能没有。当我2011年第一次写这篇文章时，我想出了这些想法——寻找更具挑战性的工作，或结识新朋友，或培养爱好，或简单地走出家门在新区域散步——现在回顾这些，我能看到最近几个月生活发生了多大变化！然而，无论我们能否对我们的环境进行创新性改变，鉴于无聊的主要原因是内在的（无知），主要的创造性解决方案也在我们自己的心灵中找到。如果我们忽视这一事实，我们可能很快就会发现自己对新的工作、伴侣、树木或爱好感到无聊。毕竟，从无始以来，我们一直试图改变我们的生活环境来解决无聊，然而我们都在这里，仍然发现自己无聊。珍贵人生冥想我们的珍贵人生是一个好的起点——意识到我们拥有的选择和前景可能比我们知道的更多。尼克·武伊契奇，我在这篇文章中写过他，没有胳膊和腿，因此似乎比我们其他人机会少得多；但试着告诉他！总结根据佛教，当我们执着时，主要的对治是非执着或真正心灵自由的愿望。当我们愤怒时，主要的对治是耐心或爱。当我们漠不关心或无聊时，主要的对治是非无知，或实现空性的智慧以及对心灵创造力的理解。总有创造性的东西可做。洛伦·杰伊·肖在单独监禁中找到了创造性的方式来抵御无聊三年！然而，就像所有对治妄念的方法一样，我们需要了解它们才能应用它们。我再次发现自己感激佛陀的教导，或者说实话，我想我现在也会对轮回感到无聊透顶。你有什么好的无聊解决方案吗？请分享它们。并与任何可能在COVID-19漫长酷暑期感到无聊的人分享这篇文章！！！
文章概要
本文探讨佛教视角下的无聊问题，特别聚焦中年无聊的应对。文章指出无聊普遍存在于各年龄段，源于心灵三毒中的“无知”，表现为对中性事物的漠然。作者分析无聊与创造力对立，强调空性智慧能打破无聊的时空壁垒。文章提出冥想、珍视人生、培养平等舍等内在解决方案，并引用格西凯尔桑的教导，说明通过心灵训练可转化毒害为善心。最终强调真正的幸福不在外求，而在内心智慧的开发。
高德明老师的评价
1. 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，有时候我们会觉得特别没意思，比如在家待久了或者做同样的事情久了，心里空落落的。佛教告诉我们，这种“无聊”其实是因为我们的心被一种叫“无知”的迷雾遮住了，让我们看不清世界其实每时每刻都在变化，我们自己也能创造有趣的事情。就像玩积木，如果你觉得没意思，可能是因为你没发现积木可以拼出无数种新花样！冥想和学空性就像擦亮心灵的眼镜，让我们看到生活里到处都是创造的机会，再也不怕无聊啦。 2. 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： 从显宗视角，本文强调空性智慧对治无聊，契合中观应成派“缘起性空”的教义，将无聊视为对实有的执着，通过观照缘起破除之。净土宗可能侧重念佛持名带来心念专注，转化无聊为净念相继。禅宗则可能以“平常心是道”点化，在无聊中体悟本地风光。 特别从《显密圆通成佛心要集》的视角，本文触及显密融合的精髓。该论集倡导显教理观与密教事修圆融，无聊作为烦恼，正可借准提法等密咒事修来对治。准提法门具足显教菩提心与密教三密相应，修持时身结印、口诵咒、意观想，迅速转化无聊所依的昏沉散乱，直显心性光明。论集强调“显密双修，理事无碍”，本文提倡的内在智慧开发（理）与冥想实践（事），正呼应此圆融之道，准提法尤能在此框架下高效对治中年无聊的深层无明。 3. 在修行实践上可以应用的和可以解决人们的十个问题： 修行实践上，可应用准提法门每日定课，结合空性观照，具体解决： （1）生活重复感：通过咒语持诵注入新鲜能量，打破机械循环。 （2）意义迷失：准提咒蕴含诸佛功德，修持中自然 reconnect 生命意义。 （3）情绪低落：三密相应调动身心积极频率，提升情绪状态。 （4）人际关系疏离：准提法回向众生，培养同理心，改善人际连接。 （5）创造力枯竭：咒语如种子字，激发潜意识创意源泉。 （6）焦虑未来：专注当下持咒，减轻对不确定性的恐惧。 （7）身体倦怠：印契调节气脉，增强身心活力。 （8）自我怀疑：观想准提佛母加持，建立自信与价值感。 （9）孤独感：融入坛城观想，体会与诸佛菩萨的 communion。 （10）灵性渴求：准提法作为成佛心要，满足深层灵性探索欲望。 这些应用彰显准提法在大乘显宗框架下的优越性，以简易事修深化理观，切实转化无聊为修行动力。