摘自《佛陀的女儿》

Meditate all the time.
随时随地禅修。

Practice now. Don’t think you will do more later.
现在就去修行，不要以为你将来有的是时间。

Dipa Ma stated firmly that if you want peace, you must practice regularly. She insisted that students find time for formal meditation practice every day, even if only for five minutes. If that proved impossible, she advised, At least when you are in bed at night, notice just one in-breath and one out-breath before you fall asleep.
蒂帕嬷坚决地说，如果你想平静你就得经常地修习。她坚持认为学生应该每天找时间去进行正式的禅修，哪怕五分钟也好。如果连这都不可能做到，她建议道：“至少，你可以在晚上入睡之躺在床上去注意一呼一吸”。

More importantly, in addition to formal sitting on the cushion,Dipa Ma urged students to make every moment of their lives a meditation. Some of us are busy people who find it difficult to set aside any time at all. If you are busy, then busyness is the meditation, she tells us. Meditation is to know what you are doing. When you do calculations, know that you are doing calculations. If you are rushing to the office, then you should be mindful of rushing. When you are eating, putting on your shoes, your socks, your clothes, you must be mindful. It is all meditation!
除了坐垫上的正式打坐，更重要的是，蒂帕嬷劝诫学生要将生活中的每个时刻都要成为禅修的时间。我们当中的一些大忙人觉得为禅修留出一点儿的时间都很困难。“如果你忙，那么工作就是禅修”。她告诉我们，“禅修是了知你所正在做的事情。当你在计算，了知你正在计算。当你匆匆忙忙赶去上班，你应该对匆忙的行为保持正念。你在吃东西的时候，穿鞋子、袜子、衣服的时候，你一定要保持正念。这些都是禅修！”

For Dipa Ma, mindfulness wasn’t something she did, it was who she was-all the time. Dipa Ma made it clear that there is nothing wrong with lapses of mindfulness, with the mind wandering. It happens to everyone. It is not a permanent problem.
保持正念不是蒂帕嬷“要去做的事情”，正念一直与她溶为一体。蒂帕嬷很清楚，心念散乱、正念流失并非过错。“每个人都会碰到这样的情况。（但）这问题不是恒常的”。

There is nothing ultimately to cling to in this world, Dipa Ma taught, but we can make good use of everything in it. Life is not to be rejected. It is here. And as long as it is here and we are here, we can make the best use of it.
“最终而言，世界上没有什么东西可执著的”，蒂帕嬷如此教导，“但我们可以善用一切东西。我们不应该拒绝生活。生活就在我们眼前，只要它在我们眼前，我们就要善用它”。

Choose one meditation practice and stick with it.
选好一个法门，然后坚定不移地修习。

If you want to progress in meditation, stay with one technique.
如果你想在禅修上取得进步，就要坚守一个法门。

For those beginning the spiritual journey, Dipa Ma was adamant about commitment to one of meditation. Don’t give up, and don’t jump around from practice to practice. Find a technique that suits you, and keep going until you find your edge, the point where difficulties start to arise.
对于那些心灵旅程的启步者，蒂帕嬷坚决认为要坚守一种禅修法门。不要放弃，也不要在这个和那个法门之间跳来跳去。去找一个适合你的法门，然后坚持修习，一直到发现你的“边缘”——也就是困难开始出现的地方。

A common mistake many Western spiritual seekers make is to interpret difficulties as a problem with a particular practice. From the vantage point of that uncomfortable edge, some other practice always looks better. Maybe I should do Tibetan chanting . . . or Sufi dancing. In fact, difficulties usually are a reliable sign that the practice is working.
西方求道者普遍所犯的一个错误是把特定的一个修行法门的困难当作问题。那个一个法门的“边缘”令人感到不舒服，所以另外一些法门看起来总是更好。“也许我应该去试试藏传佛教的唱颂……或者苏非舞。” 事实上，困难通常是修习起作用的可靠迹象。

Take Dipa Ma’s advice to heart. Stick with the practice you’ve chosen through difficulty and doubt, through inspiration and stagnation, through the inevitable ups and downs. If you can stay committed to your practice through the darkest of times, wisdom will dawn.
将蒂帕嬷的忠告铭记于心吧。坚守你所选择的法门，穿越困难和怀疑，穿越激越和停滞，穿越那不可避免的起起落落吧。如果你能坚持修行，能度过最黑暗的时光，智慧的黎明就会来临。

Practice patience.
忍辱。

Patience is one of the most important virtues for developing mindfulness and concentration.
忍辱是培养正念和专注的最重要的美德之一。

Patience is forged by constantly meeting the edge. In the most challenging situations, merely showing up, being present, may be all that is possible-and it may be enough.
忍辱是通过不断地与“边缘”相遇而铸成的。在最富挑战性的情景中，仅仅去面对而不退却，就是我们所能做到的全部了——而这就已经足够了。

One student recounts the effects of this kind of patience in Dipa Ma’s life She had seen her mind go through every kind of suffering and was able to sit through it. Later, when she came out of that fire, there was something very determined, almost frightening about how she could look at you, because she had seen herself. There was nowhere to hide. She exemplified that you can’t just sit around thinking about getting enlightened. You have to take hold of these truths at the deepest level of your heart.
一位学生详细地叙述过在蒂帕嬷一生中，这种耐性的效果：“她已经了知其内心经受每种磨难并且能够坚持到底。后来，当她从那团火走出来的时候，因为她已经了知自我，所以她能够用一种怎样的目光看着你啊！——那是如此的坚定，而又几乎令人震惊。任何东西都不能将其隐藏。她以此说明，你不能坐等开悟——你一定要在内心最深处经受这些事实。”

Patience is a lifetime practice, to be developed and refined over time. Cultivating patience is a large part of maturing the mind, which, according to Dipa Ma, is the highest vocation of all.
忍辱需要终生去实践，需要不断地去开发，不断地去改善。忍辱是心智成熟的最重要的内容——如蒂帕嬷所说，是最高的“使命”。

Free your mind.
放开你的心。

Your mind is all stories.
你的头脑是你所有的故事。

Dipa Ma did not say that the mind is mostly stories; she said that there is nothing in the mind but stories. These are the personal dramas that create and maintain the sense of individual identity who we are, what we do, what we are and are not capable of. Without our being aware of it, the endless series of such thoughts drives and limits our lives – and yet those stories are without substance.
蒂帕嬷不是说头脑是你的大部分故事，她说的是头脑中除了故事，别无它物。这些故事都是个人所上演的戏，它创造出和维持着个体认同感——我们是谁，我们所做的是什么，我们更够或不能够做什么。如果我们对这些故事没有觉知，无尽的思想之流就会驱使并限制着我们的生活，而且那些故事将变得不具实质。

Dipa Ma challenged studentsbelief in and attachment to their stories. When someone said, I can’t do that, she would ask, Are you sure or Who says or Why not She encouraged students to observe the stories, to see their emptiness, and to go beyond the limitations they impose. Let go of thinking, she urged. Meditation is not about thinking.
蒂帕嬷挑战那些信任并且执著他们的故事的学生。当有人说：“我办不到”，她会问：“你肯定吗？”或“谁说的？”或“为什么不能呢？”她鼓励学生去观察他们的故事，去了知其空性，以及去超越他们施诸其上的限制。“离开思想”她如此劝诫，“禅修与思想无关”。

At the same time, Dipa Ma taught that the mind is not an enemy to be gotten rid of. Rather, in the process of befriending the mind, in getting to know and accept it, it ceases to be a problem.
同时，蒂帕嬷教导我们：心不是要去除掉的敌人；在将心当作朋友的过程中，在了解、接受它的过程中，它不再是问题。

Cool the fire of emotions.
冷却情绪之火。

Anger is a fire.
恼怒是火。

When someone came to visit Dipa Ma, it didn’t matter who it was, or what emotional state they were embroiled in, or what the circumstances were. In every instance, Dipa Ma saw each person as someone to be loved. Can we offer the same acceptance to the emotions that arise in us, treating them as visitors to be treated with lovingkindness Can we simply allow them to come and go, without reacting in ways that might be harmful
不论来访者是谁，不论他们处在何种情绪状态、何种境况，蒂帕嬷总是充满慈爱地接见他们中的每一位。我们能够对自己的情绪同样发出接纳之心吗？我们能够像对待访客那样慈爱地对待它吗？我们是否能够允许他们来来去去而不以可能有害的方式去反应吗？

A lot of incidents happen in daily life which are undesirable, Dipa Ma said. Sometimes I experience some irritation, but my mind remains cool. Irritation comes and passes. My mind isn’t disturbed by this. Anger is a fire. But I don’t feel any heat. It comes and it dies right out.
“许多在日常生活中发生的事件都不如人意”，蒂帕嬷说道，“有时候，我经历着一些恼怒，但我的心仍然着保持冷静。恼怒来了又走。我的心并不受它的干扰。恼怒是火，但我没有感到热。它是如此清楚地生起和灭去”。

Sylvia Boorstein, a meditation teacher who hosted Dipa Ma in her home in 1980, said that her husband once challenged Dipa Ma on this point. Dipa Ma was talking about the importance of maintaining tranquillity and equanimity and non-anger, and my husband asked her, would you do that What if someone were in some way to jeopardize Rishi [Dipa Ma’s grandson], to threaten him （Sylvia Boorstein
是位禅修教师，1980年她在家中接待了蒂帕嬷。她说有一次他的丈夫向蒂帕嬷质疑这一点。“蒂帕嬷在谈论保持平静、平等心、不发怒的重要性，我的丈夫问她，如果有人伤害、威胁Rishi（蒂帕嬷的孙子），你会这样吗？”

I would stop him, of course, Dipa Ma replied, but without anger.
“‘当然，我会阻止他’,蒂帕嬷说道，‘但不会发怒’”。

Simplify.
简单生活。

Live simply. A very simple life is good for everything. Too much luxury is a hindrance to practice.
“过简单的生活。简单的生活对什么东西来说都是有益的。过于闲适的生活对于修行是个障碍”。

In every way, Dipa Ma lived in the greatest simplicity. She refrained from socializing. She did not engage in unnecessary talk. She didn’t involve herself in other people’s concerns, especially complaints. Her guideline for herself and her students was to live honestly and never blame others.
蒂帕嬷在各个方面都过着简单的生活。她对社交保持节制。她不会去谈论不必要的东西。她不会引起别人的关注，更不会引起别人的抱怨。她要求自己以及学生的守则是，做人诚实，永不责人。

Often Dipa Ma simply rested in silence. Whenever I get time alone, I always turn my mind inward, she said. She did not spend time at any activity that was unnecessary to her life.
蒂帕嬷经常在静默中简单地休息。“独自一人的时候，我总是返观内心”，她如此说道。她不会把时间花费在对生活没有必要的事情上。

Just as in meditation, where we practice giving our full attention to one thing at a time, Dipa Ma did each thing completely without worrying about the next. Thoughts of the past and future, she said, spoil your time. In whatever she did, she was fully present, with ease, stillness, and simplicity.
蒂帕嬷做每一件事都不会为下一件事忧心，正如禅修中我们练习在某个时段中把全部的注意力放在一个事物上一样。“去想过去和将来的事情”，她说道，“会毁掉属于你的时间”。无论什么事情，她总是全神贯注，从容，平静，简单地去做。

Cultivate the spirit of blessing.
祝福他人

If you bless those around you, this will inspire you to be attentive in every moment.
祝福你身边的人，会让你在每时每刻保持全神贯注。

Dipa Ma continuously offered blessings. She blessed people from head to toe, blowing on them, chanting over them, stroking their hair. Her blessings were not reserved exclusively for people. Before boarding an airplane she would bestow a blessing upon it. Riding in a car was an opportunity to offer a blessing not only to the vehicle but also to the driver and to the men who pumped the gas.
蒂帕嬷不断地祝福。她细致入微地祝福别人——夸奖别人，赞叹别人，抚摸别人的头发……她的祝福对象不局限于人。在登上飞机前，她会为它祝福。坐进一辆汽车，对她而言也是一个发出祝福的机会，她祝福那辆车，也祝福司机和加油的人。

Practicing this spirit of blessing throughout the day can make the ordinary become something special. It’s a way of encountering grace moment after moment.
随时实践这种祝福精神，一个平凡的人也会变得有些特别。这是一种时时与优雅相遇的方式。