翻译：丁楠

Written by Bhante Bhodhidhamma, an senior Buddhist English monk and meditation teacher.

当一天结束时

我一直认为第二天是从之前的夜晚就开始的。拥有良好的睡眠是多么重要啊，睡得越沉，我们就越感到焕然一新。有时我们会一大早醒来就感到格外愉快，显然，这说明我们的睡眠是安详平静的。那么，如何为睡眠做准备呢？

At the end of the day.

I always think the next day begins the night before. How important it is to have a good night’s sleep. And the deeper the sleep the more refreshed we feel. Sometimes we can wake up early feeling particularly bright. A sure sign that our sleep has been peaceful. How then to prepare for sleep?

最佳的练习是至少在临睡前半小时停止一切活动。

The best practice is to stop all activity at least half an hour before we intend to go to bed.

首先，让我们把白天发生的一切安顿下来。静静地坐着，允许白天发生的事情在脑中上演。最好按照从早到晚的顺序理清。有些事并不让我们感觉那么好，那就放进心里。为伤害别人而在心中道歉，为自己所受的伤害而给予原谅。当令我们开心的事情涌起，感到自己全然地在行动，我们可以沉浸在这份喜悦中，并决心培养出更多潜在的品质。对他人的慷慨心存感激。

First let us put the day to rest. Sitting quietly, allow the events of the day to come to mind. It’s best to do it systematically say from morn till night. As those things arise that we don’t feel too good about, put it right inwardly. Apologise where we feel we have harmed and forgive where we feel we have been harmed. When things arise that please us, where we feel we have acted wholesomely, rejoice in it and determine to develop the underlying attitude even more. When others have been generous towards us, thank them.

每回顾完一件事，就把它放下。让这些文件归档，直到你想要在其基础上展开行动，如向某人道歉或致谢。如果是这样，可以做些笔记。

As you pass each event, put it away. File away the document, unless you wish to act upon it such as apologise to or thank someone. Make a note if so.

接下来可以在脑中大致安排次日的活动。不必太详细，简单地考虑你将有怎样的态度和行动，比如以何种态度和方式去开展工作。然后把这些搁置到明天。

Then let the general outlay of the morrow come to mind. No need to be too specific. And consider briefly what your attitude and actions will be, for instance, the attitude and manner with which to go to work. Then leave that ‘on the back burner’ for tomorrow.

你甚至可能想过要把计划写在日记本里，就算你不去读自己曾写下什么，这样做依然是有效果的。以这种方式结束一天，能为我们的心灵带来平静，使智慧更加成熟。

You may even think of writing it out as a dairy. It works even if you never read what you have written. This sort of end of day reflection brings peace to the heart and matures our wisdom.

一旦清理了白天发生的事情，并使自己能轻松地应对明天，我们便可以稍稍静坐。不过在晚上静坐极有可能会打瞌睡，傍晚静坐的最佳时间是在晚餐前。如果你真的愿意静坐，那么时间不要太久，以防睡意出现。练习慈悲观是更为积极主动的方式，因此也容易让人保持清醒。也可以聆听一些音乐，清声咏唱或唱诵佛经最好，因为它们诞生于寂静，而非由“情绪”引导。任何能让内心平和的音乐都会有帮助。

Once we have cleared the day and set ourselves at ease for the morrow, we could do a little sitting, but at this time of night there is all the possibility of falling asleep. The evening sitting is best done before dinner. If you do wish to sit, make it short and beware of the first signs of sleepiness. There is also metta which is more a pro-active practice and therefore easier to stay awake. Or listen to some music. Plain chant or Buddhist chanting is the best because it comes out of silence and equanimity. It isn’t ‘emotional’. Any music that promotes calmness will do.

通过安顿身体、抚平思绪、平静心灵，我们便放下了所有的激动、痛苦和焦虑。

The overall objective is to rest all excitements and tribulations by stilling the body, quietening the mind and calming the heart.

当一天结束时

灵性的修习之所以需要我们意识到每时每刻的绝对重要性，不仅仅是因为过去和未来都不存在，我们事实上唯一拥有的就是当下，更是因为我们只能在当下这一刻做出改变。

At the end of the day.

Spiritual practice demands that we make every moment absolutely important, not just because it is actually the only moment we have since past and future moments don’t exist, but because it is only in the present moment that we can effect change.

既然我们时常不假思索地重复着“当下”的重要性，怎样才能把它带入日常生活中呢？睡前的准备工作是最好的例子。通常我们会利索地洗漱、更衣，然后钻进被窝（仿佛这是妨碍睡觉的最后一道程序），或者因为想要遗忘而简化这些过程，甚至在一种半清醒的状态下，由于白天的疲惫不堪而睡眼朦胧地直接走向被窝。

How then to bring that sense of importance into everyday routine tasks, the ones we repeat often mindlessly. Preparing for bed is a prime example. The toiletry, the undressing, nestling into the mattress. Often done at speed to get it out of the way. Or hurled through the process by the longing for oblivion. Or in a sort of semi-consciousness, exhausted from the day’s stresses, sleep walking into bed.

不过，有种方法能把我们的例行公事转化成灵性的修习，就是让例行公事也变得有意义。我的意思是，让灵性的目标渗透于日常的行动中。

But there is a way we can make spiritual capital out of habitual rituals, and that is to turn it into a meaningful ritual. And by ritual here I mean to imbue our actions with spiritual purpose.

这样，正念、正志和正业立即就会出现。

Immediately, Right Mindfulness is brought to bear and with it the Right Intention and so on to Right Action.

是时候关注我们的身体了，提醒自己身体的珍贵。这里面居住着将要觉醒的存在，我们正是通过这个肉身证得开悟。所以让我们关心身体吧。让我们把它当做最珍贵的载体来感激。让我们带着尊敬去对待身体，就像对待我们的车，手机，iPods和珠宝一样。

It’s time to care for the body. To remind ourselves of it’s preciousness. Herein is housed the enlightened-being-to-be. It is through the body that this awakening will take place. So let’s care for it. Let us appreciate it as our most valued vehicle. Let’s treat it with the same reverence we treat our cars, our mobiles, iPods and jewellery.

对于我们有意去忽视的行为，应给予同样的关注。拉丁文中的词汇“方便”和“解手”掩饰了人们的厌恶之情，而古老美好的盎格鲁-萨克逊语言将其表达为“尿尿”和“拉屎”——通常这才揭示了我们真正的关系。这种对身体的自然生理行为的否定，除非我们愿意注意，否则如何才能克服呢？当我们怀着“正志”注意这些行为，关爱身体，便会看到何谓“贪爱”：我们被事物的好恶所迷惑，沉迷于快乐之中，而对令人不快的事物避而远之。但是有一种方法能够让我们超越对事情的好恶，即在开放的接纳中收获平静——事情本来就是如此。你会欣喜地发现，快乐的和不快的事情仍然都存在，却不会影响你。

To bring the same attentiveness to those actions that we often care to disregard. To urinate and evacuate, such Latinate words disguise our disgust. But good old Anglo-Saxon - to piss and to shit– often reveals our true relationship. How can we overcome such negativity to what are natural and therefore neutral actions of the body unless we attend to them. When we attend to them with the Right Intention to care for the body, we can see the role of tanha - that deluded distinction we make between pleasant and unpleasant where we indulge the one and annihilate the other. But there is a transcendent way to be with both the pleasant and the unpleasant and that is the equanimity we find in open acceptance – this is the way it is. And the joyful discovery is that the pleasant and the unpleasant still exist and they are ok.

将我们的觉知带入对事物的体会之中。去感觉流经指尖和面颊的温水，去品尝牙膏的味道，去感觉棉被的柔软。

To bring our mindfulness to bear to the feel of things. The feel of warm water on our hands and cheeks. The taste of the toothpaste. The comfort of the mattress.

所以，洗脸时带着呵护，就像一个母亲在为她的宝贝沐浴；刷牙时仿佛我们真的很爱惜牙齿，多么不情愿戴上假牙！更衣的时候，把手里的衣服当做我们唯一拥有的衣服来对待；躺在软绵绵的被子上时，某一瞬间你会想到，能生活在如此奢侈之中是多么幸运。

And so, to wash the face with the care a mother washes her baby. To brush our teeth as if we really treasured them, knowing how much we don’t want dentures! To undress and dress for bed, treating our clothes as if they were the only ones we had. To lie on the cuddling mattress and for a moment bring to mind how lucky we are to live in such comparative luxury.

在这样的夜晚有多少男女老少，没有香皂没有枕头，衣衫褴褛地睡在人行道上？让我们为他们送出慈悲吧！

How many are the men, women and children who, this night, have no soap but a stone, no clothes but rags, no bed but a pavement! Let us send them our metta.

 

当一天结束时

最后我们终于躺在床上，准备好好睡一觉。通过傍晚时分的静坐，慈悲观想的练习和一天的回顾，但愿我们已经清理了一天的碎片，并且用一种正念和平静的方式准备入睡。

At the end of the day.

Finally we are in bed and we want to enter into a deep sleep. Hopefully we have a cleared a lot of the day’s debris with an evening sitting, the metta practice and our end of day recollection. And we have prepared for bed in a mindful and calm way.

好了，现在我们准备“消失”吧。但即使此刻我们仍然被记忆、形象、思维所打扰，其中有些是消极的，如悲伤、愤怒、焦虑等，有些是积极的，如思考着计划、成就、爱情等。我们必须努力保持专注，同时也要放松。有时人们会用“专心”一词，但我认为这个词带来了一些压力，使人联想到学校或工作。“专注”指的是一心一意，不停思索的大脑稳定地安住在一个事物上，最明显的就是呼吸。

So there we are, ready to ‘disappear’. But even now we can be disturbed by memories, images and thinking. They may negative – sadnesses, irritations, anxieties and so on. Or they may positive – thinking around planning, achieving, romance and so on. We must keep up that effort to be focused and yet relaxed. Sometimes the word concentration is used, but this I feel brings with it tension by way of association with school or work. Focused here means one-pointed. The thinking mind steadied on one object. The obvious one is the breath.

呼吸可能又会让人联想到冥想中的努力修习，但是在培养睡眠的平静时，我们需要去体察呼吸仅仅是为了联系身体的平稳感觉。我们需要培养出对平稳、乏味的感知，并逐渐认识到这就是我们的默认模式。一旦开始培养这种模式，我们就可以轻松地在全天与之建立联系。

Again the breath may have become associated with striving in our meditation. But here to develop the calmness for sleep we need rather to feel the breath just for the purpose of contacting neutral feelings. We need to cultivate a taste for the neutral, the unexciting and begin to see this is our default position默认模式. Once this has been cultivated we can contact it easily throughout the day.

为了帮助自己体察呼吸，可以回想某个令我们感到内心平静的时间或地点，比如沙滩、公园、花园等。然后在舒缓的一呼一吸中感到宁静，与身体内的宁静建立联系。这是一种修习禅定与平静的方式。

To help us do this we can recall a time or place where we have felt calm and peaceful, on a beach, in a park, in our garden. And then contacting the feeling of tranquillity in the body we can sense it in the gentleness of the breath. This is a way of developing samatha, serenity.

另一种方法是练习慈悲观，最好选择一个令你十分感激而毫无厌恶的人。如果认为这样比较轻松，我们也可以直接对自己进行慈悲观的练习，在自他之中转换。观想的语言尽量简洁，如“愿你平安、健康、快乐”。这样我们就能够发展出一种渗透着慈爱的精神状态。佛陀曾指出，练习慈悲观的益处之一就是收获良好、安心的睡眠。

Another way is to practice metta. It is best to choose someone whom we feel grateful towards and have no or tiny bad feelings towards. If we find it easy, we can also direct metta towards ourselves, alternating between the two. Keep the phrases short and simple. ‘May you be safe, well and happy.’ In this way we develop a mental state saturated with loving feelings. Good, restful sleep is one of the benefits of metta practice that the Buddha pointed to.

还有一种方式是对身体发出慈悲观，从头到脚，祝福身体的每个部位。当你练习到脚趾之后，从头顶重新开始。回归身体会增强能量。祝福语依然保持简洁：“愿你健康、强壮”。也许你会发现，这样会产生精微而温和的感觉。细胞的确享受着慈悲的滋养。如果你非常紧张，这种感觉会十分强烈，那么试着让自己的动作处于舒服的状态，不要动来动去，用慈悲的观想扫描全身。

Another way is to offer metta to the body. Start from the head and go down body blessing all the parts. After you reach the toes, start again from the top of the head. Coming up the body can lift energy. Keep the blessing simple. ‘May you be healthy and strong’. You may find this creates exquisite gentle feelings. The cellular life enjoys a good watering of metta. This can be very powerful if you feel very restless. If you do feel restless, try putting yourself into a comfortable position and refuse to move and scan the body with metta.

我们的睡眠以一又四分之三小时（即105分钟）为波动周期，共有四个阶段。前面的三个半小时最为关键，因为我们的深度睡眠只发生在这期间。我读过的大部分文章都认为七至八个小时的睡眠足矣。如果生活处于冥想状态，七八个小时确实绰绰有余，可能有时你会在五到六小时后就醒来，精神焕发。

We sleep in one and three-quarter hour waves, passing through four levels. The first three and half hours are the most important since it is only here that we sleep at the deepest level. Most articles I’ve read seem to say seven or eight hours is enough. If we live meditative lives, this is quite sufficient and you may find yourself sometimes waking complete refreshed after five or six hours.

最后，要下定决心在七至八个小时之后醒来。你也许会惊讶自己能准时醒来，不过即使如此，还是不要忘记设上闹铃！

Finally make a firm determination to wake after seven or eight hours. You may be surprised to find you wake up on time. Even so don’t forget to put the alarm on!

 

关于起床

闹钟没有什么不好，但却通常是粗鲁的叫醒方式。想想你在度假的时候是如何醒来的，你不会设定闹钟。人们醒来时的情绪是被设定的。然而闹钟的吵闹和摇晃会让心灵和大脑受惊，所以我们醒来时就带着对这种惊吓的反应。这实在不是一个好的开始。你可以稍微覆盖住闹钟，让闹铃的音量降低一些，或者去买一个闹铃声音渐强的闹钟，以更好的方式唤醒自己。如果起床不那么容易，你总是可以摆上第二个闹钟，保证自己能离开被窝。

Upon Awakening.

An alarm clock is all well and good, but it is often a rude awakening. Consider how you wake up when, on holiday perhaps, you don’t put the alarm on. One wakes into a presenting mood. But the jolt of the alarm creates a shock wave in the mind and heart, and we wake into that reaction. This is hardly a good start for the day. If you can quieten the waking alarm by smothering the clock a little or go to the expense of one with a rising alarm that is the better way to waken oneself. You can always put a second alarm clock which, should you fail to wake, is guaranteed to blast you out of bed.

所以，我们起床时是带着某种特定情绪的，也许很愉快，也许不愉快，或者介于两者之间。中性的情绪是新的一天平和的开始。如果很愉快，情绪就会从大脑的图书馆里抓住这个念头，让你沉浸在白日梦里，这样无异于不愉快产生的效果。开启一天的多种可能性立刻就给了我们练习的机会。

So we awake into a presenting mood. It may be pleasant, unpleasant or neutral. Should it be neutral, that is a peaceful start to the day. Should it be pleasant, the mood will grab an idea from the mind’s library and create a reverie. It will do the same should the mood be unpleasant. These opening moments to the day offer us an immediate practice.

要让一天有一个良好的开始，就需要对起床这件事保持绝对的清醒。只有毅然地下定决心要在闹铃响时起床，我们才能做到。这也许需要一些练习，但是并没有那么困难。我们要集中精神让身体接收立即起床的信号，尤其要专注在两胸之间的区域，因为那儿负责识别情感。一旦我们识出了这个情绪，我们就可以接受它并修习内观。在坐禅中，我们同样会觉知到自己的反应。

To turn these opening gambits to our advantage, we have to be wide awake upon awakening. We will do this if we have made that resolute resolution to wake with the bell. It may take a little practice, but it is not so difficult to develop. We centre that immediate wakefulness into the body, especially attentive to that area in the mid-chest where we distinguish our emotional life. As soon as we recognise the mood, we acknowledge it and practice vipassana. And as in sitting meditation, we become equally aware of our reaction.

如果在平静的状态中醒来，便安住其中，识别平和的情绪，对这份礼物心怀感激。仔细品尝这种滋味。把这种状态当做默认设置，然后决心在一天中的任何时候，都要尽量回归到这种平静之中。

Should we wide-wake into a peaceful state, rest there and acknowledge it, grateful for this gift. Develop a taste for it. See it as a default position and make a resolution to return to this peacefulness as often as we can throughout the day.

如果在愉快的情绪中醒来，无论是为这一天将要发生的事情而激动不已，或是进展中的浪漫关系，美好的回忆等等让你开心的缘由，都要保持足够的清醒而不要被卷入幻想的世界。但是，依然要承认这种状态。我们看得见虚幻世界的危险之处，如果可以的话，等待这种情绪安静下来，最好能将它转化为内在的喜悦。这是在去除对喜悦的执着，然后下决心保有这份安静的喜悦。

Should it be pleasant, from excitement as to what the day beholds, to a flowering romance, to a joyful memory, whatever the cause of the happy mood, be wakeful enough not to be transported into the dream world. But again we acknowledge the state. We see the danger of a make-believe world and we wait, if possible, until it quietens, hopefully into an inner glow. This is to take the attachment out of joy. And we make a resolution to maintain this quiet joy.

如果在不愉快的情绪中醒来，无论缘由是沮丧、焦虑还是愤怒，我们拒绝被它卷入精神的巨大漩涡。再次地，我们要承认这种状态。去看见这种危害，情绪如何利用大脑并使之陷入混乱。把注意力随着这份情绪埋葬下去，静静等待直到它们沉淀。通过这种方式，我们摆脱了不快情绪的刺痛，并下决心不被消极的力量支配。

Should the mood be unpleasant, from depression, to anxiety, to anger, whatever the cause of the unhappy mood, we prevent it from hurling us into a mental maelstrom. So again we acknowledge the state. We see the danger – how the mood uses the mind to wind itself up. Bury the attention into the feeling of the mood and wait at least until it begins to subside. In this way we take the sting out of these unpleasant states. And we make a resolution not to allow negativity to hold sway.

现在到了小睡按钮发挥功效的时候。这并不仅仅是为了提醒我们时间在流逝，也不是为了平息一个人要告别懒惰的根本欲望，恰恰相反，是为了让我们不沉溺于这种种悲惨的后果之中！这才是小睡按钮的光荣职责。

This is where the snooze button comes into its own. Here, not simply for the purpose of reminding us of time passing, nor to appease the base desire to exercise one’s sloth, but the very opposite, to guard us from such indulgence of dire consequence! Such is the noble duty of the snooze button.