英文原文
6 Practices for cultivating happiness, as taught by Thich Nhat Hanh
When Buddhist teachers mention achieving ‘peace in every moment’ or ‘living deeply in the present moment’, they don’t refer only to sitting meditation, deep relaxation, or contemplation, which are intentional moments of mindfulness. Instead, they refer to every moment of our lives.
Buddhism and Christianity both teach about living deeply in the present moment, and “getting in touch with the wonders of life within and around us” without worrying about the future. During this Dharma talk from 2004, Thich Nhat Hanh quotes the Gospel of Matthew, which says that “you should take care of today because tomorrow will take care of itself.”
Practitioners of both these religions aim to reach a place of peace: the Pure Land of the Buddha or the Kingdom of God. Both can be reached through mindfulness and contemplation: “the kingdom is available to us, but we might not be available to the kingdom, so the practice is to make ourselves available to the Pure Land, to the Kingdom that is already there. And that practice is not too difficult.”
“Mindfulness helps us to be established in the here and now and that is the basic condition for us to touch life, to touch the Kingdom of God, to touch the Pure Land of the Buddha.”
Here are a few quick takeaways from this Dharma talk, to help us understand and practice cultivating peace and happiness in every moment:
1. Be more like children
Paying attention to how the children around us unknowingly practice being happy and joyful is a certain way to understand living deeply in the present moment.
Children are much better than adults at enjoying the here and now: “They don’t think too much about the future, they don’t make a lot of projects like we do, and they are not caught in the past.”
So, in Thay’s words, “learning to be more like children is good practice.” To practice mindfulness as children also means fully enjoying doing so.
2. Look for happiness in the ordinary
We needn’t consume anything special in order to be happy. By nourishing our joyful feelings and using the practice of mindfulness to remain aware of the miracle of life, we can find happiness in the present moment:
“You don’t need to consume anything: no alcohol, no cigarette, no wine, no expensive car – and yet there’s a lot of pleasant wonderful joyful feelings nourishing us. Mindfulness helps us to get in touch with the joy inside, with the wonders of life that are all around us. And Buddha advised us to nourish us with healthy, joyful, pleasant feelings, because if we are happy enough then we’ll be able to handle the negative, the unpleasant feeling.
“Because there are lots of pain and sorrow and fear and anger in us, and when they manifest we should be able to recognise them, to embrace them, to take care of them. If we don’t practice being happy and joyful, then we are too weak to do the work of handling the suffering in us.”
We don’t need to sit down for meditation to be mindful; it can be continuous and thus integrated into the most banal of daily activities. From brushing our teeth to putting on our shoes, washing the dishes, or taking a shower (“value each drop of water like a pearl, like a jewel”) – every action and inaction can be a moment of peace or meditation on the miracles taken for granted. It’s the collection of such moments of mindful existence which leads to happiness. It really is an inside job.
“In the morning, when you brush your teeth, brush them in such a way that happiness is possible during the whole time of brushing – which may last only one or two minutes. That is something I do every morning and after each meal: I brush my teeth in such a way that happiness is real during the time of brushing. I don’t say ‘let us brush it quickly in order to do this and that’. Brushing your teeth is a practice and you can be in the Pure Land during a time of tooth brushing. [...] Do everything in your daily life in that kind of spirit and the Kingdom of God becomes available to you right away. [...]
“If we are able to touch the Kingdom of God [...] then we will no longer run after fame, wealth, power, and sex, because we already have happiness; we no longer want to run into that direction. Many of us have been running after these five kinds of craving and [...] have suffered so much.”
3. Look at the practice of mindfulness as music
“Mindful breathing is like when you play violin. The music can be very soft, very soothing. Everyone will be happy.”
This is a beautiful analogy for the practice of mindfulness and the multitude of mental formations trying to take control of our mind.
We have positive mental formations (like confidence, compassion, loving kindness, diligence, lightness, joy) and negative mental formations (like anger, despair, hate, jealousy). By breathing mindfully, we mustn’t struggle to eliminate the negative formations; we must ‘dance’ with them, embrace them, turning them into positive mental formations.
Thay imagines a dialogue where we explain to our negative mental formations that they’ll have a chance to express themselves, but at this moment, “let’s listen to some music.” And the music we play is the music of mindful breathing: breathing in, breathing out.
In other words, we cannot run away from suffering, but we can learn to transform it and not become overwhelmed by it:
“There is a river of feelings flowing day and night in us, and every feeling is a drop of water. [...] We should go home to ourselves and recognise the feelings in us, whether they are pleasant or unpleasant or neutral, and to take care of them.”
4. Perceive our mind as a garden
Like a garden, all our mental formations are organic. And like the gardener, we must be aware of the importance of compost (organic waste) to healthy crops – by turning negative formations into ‘compost’ can nurture positive ones. In other words: no mud, no lotus.
“If you have a beautiful garden and if you are the gardener you know that in your garden there are flowers, of course, but there is [also] garbage – and so [...] if there are flowers there must be garbage too. Flowers are to become garbage, but you don’t mind because you know that rubbish can be transformed back into flowers. Without garbage there is no flower. Without suffering there can be no happiness.
“If you don’t know how to take care of a flower it becomes a piece of rubbish very soon, and if you know how to handle the piece of garbage sometime later it becomes a lotus.”
5. Keep a list of your moments of mindfulness
This Dharma talk took place during a retreat where the participants were given a practice sheet every day for a week, on which they could keep track of their mindful moments. This was aimed at beginners, to help them stick to a mindful routine, but anyone who needs more discipline in their practice could try it.
“Washing dishes is not only for having clean dishes, but the time of washing dishes can be joyful. You can be in the here and now in the Kingdom of God during the time of dishwashing. And every bowl you wash, every dish you wash is sacred, as [if] you are giving the newborn baby Buddha a bath. It is very sacred. If mindfulness and concentration is there, everything becomes sacred, holy, because the energy of mindfulness, the energy of concentration: that is the energy of God, of holiness.”
Daily practice on a retreat starts with waking up and acknowledging the light of the sun, and the joy of being gifted another 24 hours. It can continue with enjoying the morning routine: brushing your teeth, folding your blanket, preparing and eating breakfast, and even opening and closing the door – incidentally, one of Thay’s first lessons in mindfulness from his own master.
“You can enjoy every step. You can stop your thinking; you just focus the attention on just steps and your in-breath and out-breath. And the brothers and sisters who are doing that around you, and the mountains are there, the New Moon is there, the trees are there practicing with you – so every moment of your daily life can be seen as a miracle. And you continue to live miracles of life at each moment and if you can do like that, you no longer complain because you are no longer unhappy.”
6. Practice mindfulness in a sangha
Being on a retreat with many participants, Thay pays special attention to the importance of practicing mindfulness with a sangha. This is seen as a refuge, but also as a place for teaching and practice: “Nowaday people feel cut off. People cannot relate to anything that is beautiful, good, and true; that is why building a good sangha is to provide people with a refuge.”
“If you bring your suffering to the sangha you will not sink. [...] You profit from the collective energy of the sangha. When you practice walking meditation, when you eat lunch. [...] And we are there for you; that is why [when] taking refuge in the sangha, the practice will be much easier, much more pleasant.”
Given all this, we shouldn’t forget that ultimately, “happiness depends on us and not on the other person.”
“And when you are happy, when you have had enough of this energy of mindfulness and concentration, you feel good within yourself; you feel that you are in the kingdom of God and [that] you are in a situation to help other living beings. You no longer complain of anything because you have enough compassion to embrace and to help other living beings.”
You can watch the full Dharma Talk below, and study these other talks if you want to find out more about the Four Noble Truths and the Pure Land.
中文翻译
一行禅师传授的六种培养快乐的修行方法
当佛教老师提到“在每一刻获得平静”或“深刻活在当下”时，他们不仅指坐禅、深度放松或观想这些有意的正念时刻，而是指我们生命的每一刻。
佛教和基督教都教导深刻活在当下，“接触我们内外生命的奇迹”，而不担忧未来。在2004年的这次佛法开示中，一行禅师引用了《马太福音》的话：“你们应当关心今天，因为明天会自己照顾自己。”
这两种宗教的修行者都旨在达到一个和平之地：佛陀的净土或上帝的王国。两者都可以通过正念和观想来达到：“王国对我们来说是可得的，但我们可能对王国不可得，所以修行是让自己对净土、对已经存在的王国可得。而这种修行并不太难。”
“正念帮助我们安住于此时此地，这是我们接触生命、接触上帝的王国、接触佛陀的净土的基本条件。”
以下是这次佛法开示的一些要点，帮助我们理解和实践在每一刻培养平静和快乐：
1. 更像孩子一样
注意我们周围的孩子如何不知不觉地实践快乐和喜悦，是理解深刻活在当下的确定方式。
孩子在享受此时此地方面比成人好得多：“他们不太考虑未来，不像我们做很多计划，他们不被过去困住。”
所以，用禅师的话说，“学习更像孩子是好的修行。”像孩子一样修行正念也意味着充分享受这样做。
2. 在平凡中寻找快乐
我们不需要消费任何特别的东西来快乐。通过滋养我们的喜悦感受，并使用正念修行保持对生命奇迹的觉知，我们可以在当下找到快乐：
“你不需要消费任何东西：没有酒精，没有香烟，没有葡萄酒，没有昂贵的汽车——然而有很多愉快美妙的喜悦感受滋养我们。正念帮助我们接触内在的喜悦，接触我们周围生命的奇迹。佛陀建议我们用健康、喜悦、愉快的感受滋养自己，因为如果我们足够快乐，我们就能处理负面、不愉快的感受。
“因为我们内心有很多痛苦、悲伤、恐惧和愤怒，当它们显现时，我们应该能够识别它们，拥抱它们，照顾它们。如果我们不修行快乐和喜悦，那么我们太弱，无法处理我们内心的痛苦。”
我们不需要坐下来冥想才能正念；它可以是连续的，从而融入最平凡的日常活动中。从刷牙到穿鞋、洗碗或淋浴（“珍惜每一滴水像珍珠，像宝石”）——每一个行动和不行动都可以是一个平静的时刻或对被视为理所当然的奇迹的冥想。正是这些正念存在的时刻的集合导致了快乐。这确实是一项内在的工作。
“早上，当你刷牙时，以这样一种方式刷牙，使快乐在整个刷牙时间内成为可能——这可能只持续一两分钟。这是我每天早上和每餐后做的事情：我以这样一种方式刷牙，使快乐在刷牙时间内真实存在。我不说‘让我们快点刷完以便做这个那个’。刷牙是一种修行，你可以在刷牙时处于净土。[...] 以那种精神做你日常生活中的一切，上帝的王国立刻对你可得。[...]
“如果我们能够接触上帝的王国[...]那么我们将不再追逐名声、财富、权力和性，因为我们已经拥有快乐；我们不再想朝那个方向奔跑。我们许多人一直在追逐这五种渴望，[...] 遭受了如此多的痛苦。”
3. 将正念修行视为音乐
“正念呼吸就像你拉小提琴时。音乐可以非常柔和，非常舒缓。每个人都会快乐。”
这是对正念修行和试图控制我们心灵的众多心念的一个美丽类比。
我们有积极的心念（如信心、慈悲、慈爱、精进、轻松、喜悦）和消极的心念（如愤怒、绝望、仇恨、嫉妒）。通过正念呼吸，我们不必努力消除消极心念；我们必须与它们‘共舞’，拥抱它们，将它们转化为积极的心念。
禅师想象一个对话，我们向我们的消极心念解释它们将有机会表达自己，但此刻，“让我们听一些音乐。”我们播放的音乐是正念呼吸的音乐：吸气，呼气。
换句话说，我们不能逃避痛苦，但我们可以学会转化它，不被它压倒：
“我们内心有一条感受的河流日夜流动，每一个感受都是一滴水。[...] 我们应该回到自己，识别我们内心的感受，无论它们是愉快、不愉快还是中性，并照顾它们。”
4. 将我们的心视为花园
像花园一样，我们所有的心念都是有机的。像园丁一样，我们必须意识到堆肥（有机废物）对健康作物的重要性——通过将消极心念转化为‘堆肥’可以滋养积极的心念。换句话说：没有泥，就没有莲花。
“如果你有一个美丽的花园，如果你是园丁，你知道你的花园里有花，当然，但也有垃圾——所以[...] 如果有花，也必须有垃圾。花会变成垃圾，但你不介意，因为你知道垃圾可以变回花。没有垃圾就没有花。没有痛苦就没有快乐。
“如果你不知道如何照顾一朵花，它很快变成一块垃圾，如果你知道如何处理那块垃圾，一段时间后它变成一朵莲花。”
5. 记录你的正念时刻
这次佛法开示发生在一个闭关期间，参与者每天收到一张修行表，持续一周，他们可以在上面记录自己的正念时刻。这针对初学者，帮助他们坚持正念常规，但任何需要更多修行纪律的人都可以尝试。
“洗碗不仅是为了有干净的碗，洗碗的时间可以是喜悦的。你可以在洗碗时处于此时此地，在上帝的王国中。你洗的每一个碗，每一个盘子都是神圣的，就像你在给新生的婴儿佛陀洗澡。它非常神圣。如果正念和专注在那里，一切都变得神圣、圣洁，因为正念的能量，专注的能量：那是上帝的能量，圣洁的能量。”
闭关的日常修行从醒来并承认阳光的光明，以及被赐予另一个24小时的喜悦开始。它可以继续享受早晨的常规：刷牙、叠毯子、准备和吃早餐，甚至开门和关门——顺便说一句，这是禅师从他自己的师父那里学到的第一课正念。
“你可以享受每一步。你可以停止思考；你只将注意力集中在脚步和你的吸气和呼气上。你周围做这件事的兄弟姐妹，山在那里，新月在那里，树在那里与你一起修行——所以你日常生活的每一刻都可以被视为一个奇迹。你继续在每一刻活出生命的奇迹，如果你能这样做，你不再抱怨，因为你不再不快乐。”
6. 在僧团中修行正念
在一个有许多参与者的闭关中，禅师特别强调与僧团一起修行正念的重要性。这被视为一个庇护所，也是一个教学和修行的地方：“如今人们感到被切断。人们无法与任何美丽、善良和真实的事物联系；这就是为什么建立一个好的僧团是为人们提供一个庇护所。”
“如果你把你的痛苦带到僧团，你不会沉没。[...] 你受益于僧团的集体能量。当你修行行禅时，当你吃午餐时。[...] 我们为你而在；这就是为什么[当]皈依僧团时，修行会容易得多，愉快得多。”
鉴于这一切，我们不应忘记，最终，“快乐取决于我们，而不是他人。”
“当你快乐时，当你有足够的正念和专注能量时，你内心感觉良好；你感觉你在上帝的王国中，[并且]你处于帮助其他众生的境地。你不再抱怨任何事情，因为你有足够的慈悲拥抱和帮助其他众生。”
你可以在下面观看完整的佛法开示，如果你想了解更多关于四圣谛和净土的内容，可以研究这些其他开示。
文章概要
本文基于一行禅师2004年的佛法开示，介绍了六种通过正念修行培养快乐的方法。这些方法包括：像孩子一样活在当下、在平凡活动中寻找快乐、将正念视为音乐、将心念视为花园、记录正念时刻以及在僧团中修行。文章强调快乐源于内在，通过日常正念实践，人们可以接触生命的奇迹，达到净土或上帝的王国，从而减少对名声、财富等外在追求的依赖。关键词“通过佛教仪式培养快乐”体现在这些修行方法中，它们作为仪式化的正念实践，帮助人们在日常生活中持续培养喜悦。
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：一行禅师教我们六种让自己快乐的方法。第一，要像小朋友一样，不想太多未来或过去，就好好玩现在。第二，快乐不用花钱买，刷牙、洗碗时专心做，就能感到开心。第三，把呼吸当成好听的音乐，坏心情来了就听这个音乐，慢慢变好。第四，心里像花园，坏心情像垃圾，但垃圾可以变成花，所以不用怕坏心情。第五，每天记下自己专心的时刻，比如好好吃饭时，这样更容易坚持。第六，和大家一起修行，互相帮助，快乐会更多。总之，快乐是自己给的，专心做小事就能找到。
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：从显宗视角看，一行禅师的教导体现了大乘佛教的慈悲和智慧，强调在日常生活中修行正念，这与显宗的“即事而真”理念相符，认为平凡活动即是佛事。从密宗视角，这些方法类似于准提法的观想和持咒，通过专注呼吸和日常仪式培养内在喜悦，但准提法更注重本尊相应和咒语力量，能更快转化心念。结合《显密圆通成佛心要集》，本文的方法展现了显密圆通的精神：显教的正念修行为密教的基础，而密教的准提法可以在此基础上深化，通过准提咒和观想，将日常活动转化为快速成佛的捷径。准提法的优点在于其简便性和普适性，适合现代人忙碌生活，能有效解决心念散乱问题，提升修行效率。
在修行实践上可以应用的和可以解决人们的十个问题：这些修行方法可以应用于日常生活，帮助人们解决以下十个问题：1. 焦虑未来，通过像孩子一样活在当下减少担忧。2. 物质依赖，通过在平凡中寻找快乐减少对外在消费的追求。3. 负面情绪泛滥，通过将正念视为音乐转化愤怒和恐惧。4. 自我否定，通过将心视为花园接受并转化消极心念。5. 修行坚持困难，通过记录正念时刻增强纪律性。6. 孤独感，通过在僧团中修行获得支持和集体能量。7. 生活压力大，通过日常正念如刷牙、洗碗缓解压力。8. 缺乏幸福感，通过专注呼吸培养内在喜悦。9. 人际关系紧张，通过慈悲修行改善互动。10. 灵性迷茫，通过接触净土或上帝王国的体验找到方向。准提法在这些应用中尤为突出，其咒语和观想能快速稳定心念，增强正念效果，帮助人们更高效地解决这些问题，实现显密圆通的修行目标。