时间：05/17/2025 05/18/2025
地点：星湖禅修中心
主讲：龙示林
佛法知识
修行中的障碍
在修行的道路上，障碍并不是例外，而是常态。许多人初入修行时，容易以为修行应当越来越清净、顺利、轻安，一旦烦恼反复、情绪加重、状态退转，便怀疑自己是否走错了路。事实上，正是因为开始修行，原本被忽略或压抑的心行才逐渐浮现，障碍并不是修行失败的标志，而是修行真正开始的信号。
修行中的障碍，首先来自内在，而非外境。外在的忙碌、关系的复杂、环境的不理想，往往只是触发条件，真正形成障碍的，是心对这些条件的反应方式。贪求进步、厌恶挫折、逃避不适，都会让修行变得沉重。若不认识到这一点，修行者很容易将问题归咎于方法、环境或他人，而忽略了最关键的内心结构。
常见的障碍之一，是懈怠与放逸。有时并非完全不修行，而是流于形式，缺乏真实的投入。打坐时心不在焉，日常中放任情绪，却仍以“我在修行”自我安慰。这种状态并不剧烈，却极具消耗性，因为它让修行停滞，却不易被察觉。真正的障碍，往往不是强烈的烦恼，而是这种温吞的失去觉知。
另一个常见障碍，是急躁与贪求结果。渴望快速突破、期待明显改变，本身就容易制造新的紧张。当现实与期待不符时，失望、自责甚至怀疑修行的价值便随之而来。这种障碍并非源于不努力，而是源于对过程的误解。修行并不是线性进步，而是反复看见、反复调整的过程。
在更深层的修行中，障碍还可能表现为对自我的微细执着。修行带来一些理解、安定或他人的肯定时，“我在修行”“我比以前更好”的认同感悄然形成。这种执着不如粗重烦恼明显，却更具隐蔽性。一旦这种自我形象被挑战，嗔恨、比较或防卫便会出现，反而遮蔽了修行的本意。
情绪的反复，也是修行中常被误判的障碍。有人以为修行应当让情绪减少，一旦愤怒、悲伤、恐惧再次出现，便认为修行无效。实际上，修行并不是让情绪消失，而是改变与情绪的关系。当觉察力提升，原本被压抑的情绪更容易被看见，这并非退步，而是觉知扩展的结果。
此外，对教法的执着，也可能成为障碍。过度依赖概念、框架或某种特定说法，容易让修行停留在理解层面，而无法真正转化心行。佛法本是指路的工具，若执着于工具本身，反而会错失所指向的方向。障碍并不在于学得多，而在于是否愿意放下概念，回到直接经验。
面对修行中的障碍，最重要的态度不是排斥，而是理解。障碍并非敌人，而是提醒。它们揭示了尚未被看见的执着、恐惧或误解。若能以正念与诚实去面对，障碍反而成为深化修行的入口。许多关键的转折，正是在障碍中发生的。
修行并不是一条避开障碍的道路，而是一条学习如何与障碍共处、并从中解脱的道路。当修行者不再急于消灭问题，而是愿意如实看见问题，心便逐渐成熟。障碍不再只是阻力，而成为磨练智慧与慈悲的重要条件。
因此，修行中的障碍，并不否定修行的价值，恰恰证明修行触及了真实的内心结构。只要愿意持续觉察、调整方向、不放弃诚实，障碍终将不再是阻挡前行的墙，而会转化为通向更深清明的阶梯。
Date: 05/17/2025 05/18/2025
Location: Star Lake Meditation Center
Teacher: Shilin Long
Dharma Knowledge
Obstacles in Spiritual Practice
On the path of spiritual practice, obstacles are not exceptions but the norm. Many practitioners begin with the expectation that practice should lead to increasing clarity, ease, and calm. When old habits return, emotions intensify, or progress seems to reverse, doubt arises: “Am I doing something wrong?” In truth, the appearance of obstacles often signals that practice has begun to touch deeper layers of the mind. Obstacles are not signs of failure, but indications of genuine engagement.
The primary source of obstacles lies within, not in external conditions. Busyness, complex relationships, and imperfect environments are usually triggers rather than causes. What turns them into obstacles is the mind’s habitual reaction—clinging to comfort, resisting discomfort, or demanding immediate improvement. Without recognizing this, practitioners may blame methods, circumstances, or others, while overlooking the underlying mental patterns.
One common obstacle is laxity and heedlessness. This does not always appear as complete abandonment of practice, but as mechanical routine without presence. Sitting in meditation while drifting, allowing emotions to run unchecked in daily life, yet reassuring oneself with the label “I am practicing.” This subtle dullness is especially draining because it halts progress without dramatic struggle. Often, the most significant obstacle is not intense disturbance, but unnoticed loss of awareness.
Another frequent obstacle is impatience and fixation on results. The desire for rapid breakthroughs and visible change creates pressure. When expectations are unmet, frustration, self-blame, or disillusionment follow. This obstacle arises not from lack of effort, but from misunderstanding the nature of the path. Practice is not linear advancement; it is a repeated process of seeing and reorienting.
At deeper levels, obstacles may take the form of subtle self-attachment. When practice brings insight, calm, or recognition, an identity quietly forms: “I am a practitioner,” “I have improved.” This attachment is less obvious than coarse emotions, yet more insidious. When this self-image is threatened, defensiveness, comparison, or resentment can arise, obscuring the original intention of practice.
Emotional resurgence is another obstacle often misinterpreted. Many assume that practice should reduce emotions, and when anger, sadness, or fear reappear, they conclude that practice has failed. In reality, practice does not eliminate emotions, but transforms the relationship to them. As awareness deepens, previously suppressed emotions surface more clearly. This is not regression, but an expansion of consciousness.
Attachment to teachings and concepts can also become an obstacle. Overreliance on frameworks and explanations may trap practice at the intellectual level, preventing genuine transformation. Teachings are meant to point, not to be clung to. When concepts replace direct experience, clarity stagnates. The obstacle is not learning too much, but hesitating to let go of ideas and return to lived reality.
The most skillful response to obstacles is not rejection, but understanding. Obstacles are not enemies; they are indicators. They reveal unseen attachments, fears, and misconceptions. When approached with mindfulness and honesty, obstacles become gateways rather than hindrances. Many decisive shifts in practice occur precisely within moments of difficulty.
Practice is not a journey that avoids obstacles, but one that learns how to meet them wisely. When practitioners stop trying to eliminate problems and instead learn to see them clearly, maturity emerges. Obstacles cease to be mere resistance and become conditions for cultivating insight and compassion.
For this reason, obstacles in practice do not undermine its value; they confirm that practice has reached meaningful depth. As long as awareness continues, direction is adjusted, and sincerity remains intact, obstacles will no longer be walls blocking the path, but steps leading toward deeper clarity and freedom.
