心靈加油站—葛榮導師金句

宏泓道者

心靈加油站—葛榮導師金句 Godwin's quote (17)
"怎樣從早餐開始每一天？"
一個非常重要而實際的問題：怎樣從早餐開始每一天。我會提供一些建議使大家生活得無需像部機器。我知道大家都只有很少的時間去進食早餐。雖然只有很少的時間，請嘗試明天當你進       食早餐時，看看能夠實踐得到多少以下的建議。
當你看見食物放在桌上，這些食物可以是生果、麵包或其他食物。用些許時間，嘗試以一種從未見過的心態去觀看這些食物。從不同的方面來觀看它們，你會體會到些甚麼呢？

在一些佛教的國家有一個非常好的習慣，就是在進食前首先感謝那些為我們準備食物的人；或至少因自己能夠進食早餐而感到欣慰，因為世界上仍有很多人是沒有早餐吃的，所以要去感恩。正如你所知，機器是不懂得感恩的。

第三個建議是當明天進食早餐時請盡量慢慢地及有意識地去咀嚼食物。看看會有些甚麼不同。就如美國印第安人所說，他們是飲食物的。意思是他們咀嚼食物直到變成流質才吞嚥。當你有意識地慢慢咀嚼食物時，便會知道實際上我們不需要太多的食物，你可能會得到這個重要的發現。
另外一點很重要的，是佛陀曾經告訴過一些禪修者進食要避免兩個極端。大家是否知道兩個極端是指些甚麼呢？其一是吃得太多，而另一個極端是吃得太少。一個很有意思的問題：怎樣才能知道吃的份量是適當呢？就是當進食時要聆聽自己的身體。若你進食時聽著音樂的話是不會聽到胃部的感覺的。我很喜歡這說話："聆聽你自己：聆聽你的身體，聆聽你的思惟，聆聽你的情緒。"若你能用這些方法進食早餐，這便是美好一天的開始。而跟著下來的一天中，請嘗試保持這種覺醒。並不是要你們整天時時刻刻都保持覺醒，當然，若你們能夠做得到是極好的。事實上你只要在日常生活中有些時刻能生起這些覺醒，你就不會生活得像部機器了。
（節錄自：講座-1997年10月7日，香港）

"How to start a day with breakfast?"
A very very important practical question: how to start the day with breakfast?  So I'll give some practical suggestions: how to relate to such a situation without being like a machine.  I know with breakfast you have very little time.  But even with little time, please try tomorrow when you eat breakfast how far you can practise these things.
When you see the food on the table, it can be fruits, it can be bread, it can be anything.  Spend a few minutes just trying to see it as if for the first time.  Look at the fruits and the bread very closely and see the different aspects of what you see at that time.
Another very beautiful practice in traditional Buddhist countries is before we eat, to feel grateful for those who have prepared the meal or at least to feel grateful that I'm able to eat my breakfast.  There are people in this world who do not have breakfast early in the morning.  So to feel grateful.  As you know, machines cannot feel grateful.
The third suggestion is, as I said earlier, please feel the difference, make an effort tomorrow when you eat your breakfast, take your time and try to consciously chew your food, eating very slowly and consciously.  There is a saying among the Red Indian Americans that they drink their food which means that they chew their food until it becomes liquid.  And you'll realize that when you chew your food slowly and consciously, you don't require much food, this is a very important discovery you might make.
Another very important point the Buddha had told meditators about eating is to avoid two extremes.  Do you know what the two extremes are?  One extreme is eating too much and the other extreme is eating too little.  So how to know you are eating the right quantity?  Very interesting question.  How do we know it?  By listening to the body while eating.  If you are listening to music while you are eating, you'll not be able to listen to your stomach.  I like this phrase very much: listening to your body, listening to yourself, listening to your thoughts, listening to your emotions.  So if you can eat your breakfast in this way, it's a wonderful beginning of the day and then during the day you can have
this kind of awareness as far as possible, not the whole time, not to have moment to moment of awareness; but if you can have moment to moment awareness, it is excellent.  Then during the day, as I have said, you'll be living not as machines but as human beings.
(Source: Talk on October 7, 1997 in Hong Kong)