时间：07/12/2025 07/13/2025
地点：星湖禅修中心
主讲：龙示林
佛法知识
正念观照
正念观照，并不是一种用力的专注，也不是对经验的分析或评判，而是一种清醒而开放的在场。它指的是：当身心经验正在发生时，心能够如实地知道，而不急于介入、不立刻反应、不被卷走。正念观照的力量，不来自改变经验，而来自看清经验。
许多人初学正念时，容易把“观照”误解为“盯着看”或“想清楚”。于是，心变得紧绷，试图控制念头、修正情绪，反而失去了正念原本的柔软与清明。真正的正念观照，并不需要把经验变成对象来操控，而是允许经验在觉知中自然呈现。看见本身，就是观照。
正念观照的核心特质，是如实与不黏着。如实，是不加修饰地知道正在发生什么；不黏着，是不把正在发生的经验当成“我”“我的”或“必须如此”。当身体有感受，就知道感受；当情绪生起，就知道情绪；当念头出现，就知道念头。知道之后，不跟随，也不压制。这种不跟随、不压制的中道态度，是正念观照最重要的训练。
在正念观照中，经验不再被划分为“好”与“坏”。愉快的感受被看见，不必抓取；不愉快的感受被看见，不必抗拒。正念并不消除偏好，但它让偏好不再自动主导行为。正是在这一点上，正念观照开始松动苦的根源。
正念观照并不是要让心变得空白。念头可以继续生起，情绪可以继续流动，差别在于：心是否被它们带走。当念头被当成事实，情绪被当成命令，苦便随之而来；当念头只是被看见，情绪只是被感知，它们的力量便会自然减弱。正念观照，让心从“被经验推动”，转向“与经验同在”。
在修行中，正念观照往往从身体与呼吸开始，但它的成熟，体现在对一切经验的平等照见。身体的紧张、情绪的波动、内心的抗拒、潜藏的欲望，都可以成为观照的对象。正念并不选择对象，也不排斥对象。凡是出现的，皆可被观照。
正念观照最容易被误用的地方，在于变成一种自我监控。若观照中夹杂着批评、修正或“我应该更好”的期待，正念便被自我执取所污染。真正的正念观照，是没有敌意的。它并不试图改造自己，而是通过理解，让改变自然发生。
在日常生活中，正念观照并不要求脱离行动。它不是让人停下来什么都不做，而是在行动中保持清醒。说话时知道正在说话，行动前知道冲动正在形成，冲突中知道情绪正在升高。这种“知道正在发生什么”的能力，让行动不再完全由反应驱动。
随着正念观照的持续，心会逐渐体验到一种空间感。经验依然来去，但心不再被挤压。这个空间，并非冷漠或疏离，而是一种不被绑架的自由。在这个空间中，智慧开始生起，因为心终于有条件看清因果与选择。
更深一层的正念观照，会照见无常、苦与无我。经验持续变化，没有任何一刻可以被抓住；试图抓住变化，便带来紧张与不满；而所谓“我”，只是经验流中的一个认同点。当这些被直接看见，正念便不再只是方法，而成为洞见的基础。
最终，正念观照并不是为了成为一个“时时觉知的人”，而是为了减少迷失。当迷失减少，清醒自然增加；当反应减少，自由自然显现。正念观照的完成，并不在于某种理想状态，而在于心不再反复落入同样的困境。
因此，正念观照不是一种技巧，而是一种生活方式。它让人学会在经验中不逃避、不抓取、不对抗。正是在这样持续而温和的观照中，生命逐渐从无意识的惯性中醒来，走向清明、稳定与真实的自由。
Date: 07/12/2025 07/13/2025
Location: Star Lake Meditation Center
Teacher: Shilin Long
Dharma Knowledge
Mindful Observation
Mindful observation is not a forceful concentration, nor an analysis or judgment of experience. It is a clear and open presence with what is occurring. It means that as bodily and mental experiences arise, the mind knows them directly, without rushing to intervene, react, or become entangled. The power of mindful observation does not come from changing experience, but from seeing it clearly.
Many beginners misunderstand “observation” as staring at experience or figuring it out. As a result, the mind becomes tense, attempting to control thoughts or fix emotions, and loses the natural ease of mindfulness. Genuine mindful observation does not require turning experience into something to manage. It allows experience to appear freely within awareness. Seeing itself is the observation.
The core qualities of mindful observation are directness and non-clinging. Directness means knowing exactly what is happening without embellishment. Non-clinging means not taking experience as “me,” “mine,” or “it must be this way.” When sensations arise, they are known as sensations. When emotions appear, they are known as emotions. When thoughts arise, they are known as thoughts. After knowing, there is neither following nor suppression. This balanced attitude is the heart of mindful observation.
Within mindful observation, experience is no longer divided rigidly into good and bad. Pleasant sensations are seen without grasping; unpleasant sensations are seen without resistance. Mindfulness does not erase preference, but it prevents preference from automatically controlling behavior. At this point, the roots of suffering begin to loosen.
Mindful observation does not aim to make the mind blank. Thoughts continue to arise, emotions continue to move. The difference lies in whether the mind is carried away. When thoughts are treated as facts and emotions as commands, suffering follows. When thoughts are simply known and emotions simply felt, their hold weakens. Mindful observation shifts the mind from being driven by experience to coexisting with experience.
In practice, mindful observation often begins with the body and breath, but its maturity lies in evenly illuminating all experience. Bodily tension, emotional fluctuation, inner resistance, and subtle desire can all become objects of observation. Mindfulness does not choose or reject objects. Whatever appears can be observed.
One common misuse of mindful observation is turning it into self-surveillance. When observation is mixed with criticism, correction, or the expectation of “I should be better,” mindfulness becomes entangled with self-attachment. True mindful observation is free of hostility. It does not attempt to remake the self; through understanding, change occurs naturally.
In daily life, mindful observation does not require withdrawal from action. It is not about stopping activity, but about remaining aware within activity. Knowing one is speaking while speaking, recognizing impulses before acting, noticing emotions rising during conflict—this is mindful observation in motion. Such knowing prevents action from being purely reactive.
With sustained practice, mindful observation brings a growing sense of spaciousness. Experiences still come and go, but the mind no longer feels compressed by them. This space is not indifference or detachment, but freedom from being seized. Within this space, wisdom begins to arise, because the mind can finally see conditions and choices clearly.
At deeper levels, mindful observation reveals impermanence, unsatisfactoriness, and non-self. Experience is constantly changing, nothing can be held. Attempting to hold what changes creates tension. What is called “self” appears as a point of identification within a stream of experience. When these truths are directly seen, mindfulness becomes more than a method—it becomes the ground for insight.
Ultimately, mindful observation is not about becoming someone who is always aware, but about reducing confusion. As confusion lessens, clarity grows. As reactivity diminishes, freedom naturally appears. The completion of mindful observation is not a perfected state, but the end of repeatedly falling into the same patterns of suffering.
Thus, mindful observation is not merely a technique, but a way of living. It teaches how to meet experience without avoidance, grasping, or opposition. Through this steady and gentle observation, life gradually awakens from unconscious habit and moves toward clarity, stability, and genuine freedom.
